THE DAWNINGS OF THE Gospel-Day AND ITS LIGHT and GLORY DISCOVERED By a Faithful and Valiant Follower of the Lamb and Labourer in the VVork and Service of God and a Sufferer for the TESTIMONY of JESUS Francis Howgil Who Dyed a Prisoner for the Truth in Appleby Goal in the County of Westmerland the Twentieth Day of the Eleaventh Moneth One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight And the Dragon was Wroth with the Woman and went to make War with the Remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 12.17 And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto Death Rev. 12.11 Printed in the Year 1670. To all the faithful Friends and Followers of Christ Jesus in Scorn call'd Quakers Dear Friends THE Remembrance of the Author of these Books is fresh upon me as I believe it is upon many more that knew him and indeed he can never be forgotten by us whose blameless and innocent Life and Conversation when amongst us was a good Pattern unto us for he was a Man of a meek and gentle Spirit and was very careful and tender to all in whom the least Appearance of Truth manifested it self and his Travails and Labours were great for the Truth 's sake to beget People to the Lord being not satisfied to eat his Bread alone as many yet living in England Scotland and Ireland can testifie where he laboured and suffered and he was a Man of a tender and broken Spirit and constant in his Love to all his Brethren and a great Care he had over all the Flock of God and his Faithfulness to the Truth was a Crown unto him unto his latter End and his Name for his Constancy to the Lord and his Truth shall be had in Remembrance by Generations to come I have here drawn up a short Relation of his last Tryals and Sufferings at Appleby which being not heretofore published I thought meet to incert them before his Books as followeth and remain A Friend to all that love the Lord Jesus Ellis Hooks London the 3d Day of the 5th Moneth 1676. A true Relation of the Tryals Sufferings and Death of Francis Howgil who dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus in Appleby in the County of VVestmorland the 10th Day of the 11th Moneth 1668. in the 50th Year of his Age. THE said Francis Howgil about the latter End of the 5th Moneth 1663. being in the Market in Kendal about his ordinary Occasions was summoned by the high Constable to appear before the Justices of Peace then present at a Tavern who tendred him the Oath of Allegiance as they said and committed him to Prison till the Assizes at Appleby so at Appleby he appeared and had the same Oath tendered in the Court by the Judges and for not taking it was indicted only he had Liberty to answer to the Indictment the next Assizes in the mean Time a Goal Delivery being at Appleby he was required again to enter into Bond for the good Behaviour only to ensnare and to bring him into further Bonds and for denying was committed Prisoner A further Relation of his Tryal at two several Assizes is as followeth Being at the Assizes he had free Liberty of Speech and good Audience before the Judges and great Men of the Country and many others and indeed the Lord made him without Fear and girded his Heart with Strength and opened his Mouth in Wisdom so that he gained upon his Adversaries for which Glory is given to God who was a present Help to him in the time of Need. Before the Judges sate F. H. spoke to the Clerk of the Assizes and told him he did not know whether they expected his Appearance then or not the Clerk said You have done well and that he would acquaint the Judge and he should only engage to him to appear the next Assizes to answer the Indictment against him and that he should not appear in Court Francis bid do what he would In the mean time Sir Philip Musgrave so called a great Adversary to the Truth and the great and chief Prosecutor of Francis had informed the Judges against him As that he was a dangerous Person a Ringleader and a Keeper up of Meetings of dangerous Consequence and destructive to the Peace of the Nation so then they concluded he should appear in Court and so the Clerk informed him and told him about what time he should be called So the Court began Judge Twisden gave the Charge to the grand Jury in which he said There was a Sort of People who under Pretence of Conscience and Religion who seemed to build upon the King's Declarations from Breda and under Colour of this hatched Treasons and Rebellions and gave the Jury Charge to enquire and present such that the Peace of the Nation might be preserved so they impaneled the Jury and Francis was called to the Bar and the Judge spake as Followeth Judge speaking calmly to him said The Face of things was much altered since the last Assizes made a large Speech to him and the Country telling him That all Sects under Pretence of Conscience did violate the Laws and hatched Rebellions not saith he that I have any thing to charge you with but seeing the Oath of Allegiance was tendered to you the last Assizes and you refused to take it it was looked upon that such Persons were Enemies to the King and Government and said I will not trouble you now to answer to your Indictment but I must do that the next Assizes in the mean time you must enter into Recognizance for the good Behaviour To which F. H. answered I desire Liberty to Speak which he had without Interruption and said as followeth F. H. Judge Twisden thou very well knowest upon how slender an Account or none I was brought before thee the last Assizes where thou were pleased to tender me the Oath of Allegiance though I believe both thee and the rest of the Court did know it was a received Principle amongst us not to swear at all many Reasons I gave thee then many more I have to add if I may have Audience for it may appear to you an absurd thing and Obstinacy in me to refuse it if I should not render a Reason I am said he none of those that make Religion a Cloak of Maliciousness nor Conscience a Cloak to carry on Plots or Conspiracies the Lord hath redeemed me and many more out of such things and seeing I am engaged to appear at the next Assizes I desire no further thing may be required of me Judge You must enter into Bond this dangerous time and therefore consider of it and tell me now or before the Assizes end The second Day of the Assizes he was called again F. H. Seeing thou art pleased to let me answer to my Indictment which I am willing to do I have been of
read your Cloud of Witnesses who are your Example who persecute the Innocent and turn aside the needy for a Thing of nought you may read in the Scripture what they were and what Manner of Princes Kings and Rulers they were who were Persecutors in all Generations and say not in your Hearts you are Christians and yet walk in the same Footsteps of them who persecuted the Prophets and them that were sent early and late to forewarn them and stood in the Gate and declared in their Tovvns and Cities against the Abominations that vvere committed and Jeremy they put in the Dungeon that his Feet sticked in the Mire and put his Feet fast in the Stocks and Micha in Prison and Daniel in the Den of Lyons and Herod and Pilate were made Friends in the persecuting of Christ and they set him at nought and the Priests and the Rulers conspired against him and sought to entrap him in his Words and the Apostles they put in Prison in the Stocks and whipped them and scourged them and commanded them to depart out of their Towns Villages and Cities and called them seditious and pestilent Fellows and said they bred Tumults in the Cities whenas they were tumultuous themselves and persecuted and mocked and shamefully entreated And novv you that are found acting in those Practices are in the same Spirit you may read your Cloud of Witnesses and your Example and be ashamed O England England and Ireland is this the Fruit of the great Profession you have made so many Years and novv when you are proved the best of you is as a Bryar and the most upright sharper then a Thorn-Hedge What is become of the Promises you made in the Day of your Calamity vvhen Sorrovv Fear and Oppression compassed you about on every Side Hath the Lord broken the Yoak from off your Necks and is your Finger becoming heavier then their Loyns Was there so great Oppression and Cruelty acted among the Bishops and Prelates vvere Prisons so filled vvere there such Gins and Traps laid for the Innocent vvhen their High Commission Court vvas up O Shame Shame that ever it should come in the Ears or be reported in other Nations that ever you should requite the Lord thus for all his Love and Mercies that he should break the Yoak from off your Necks and 〈◊〉 your Enemies on every Side and cut them off in his Wrath and hath given you their Habitations to dvvell in and the Povver into your Hanâ—s shall the Ax boast it self against him that hevvs therevvith and will ye â—â—â—quite the Lord thus for his Love Surely these Things are come before the Lord and a Book of Remembrance is vvritten and all these Things shall stand as Witness against you vvhen the Book of Conscience is laid open But you may be vvill say You know no such that suffer for Conscience sake turn but your Ear and listen but to every Goal and Prison in every County and there may you see many of you poor Brethren stopped up in Holes among Murderers Thieves and Transgressors even they vvho have born a Part vvith you in the Sufferings vvith the Nations in the Heat of the Day and if you say they have transgressed any Law vvhy do you not execute it upon them but some kept in Prison tvvo or three Years and never called to knovv vvhat is the Matter But Friends knovv this many suffer novv for the Transgression of no knovvn Lavv but may be have cryed out in your Tovvns against Iniquity or have declared against the Blindness and Ignorance of some vvho go in the Way of the false Prophets and in the Error of Balaam O! the Land is full of such Deceivers as have flattered the People and her Princes till the Lord bathed his Svvord in their Blood and novv they are flattering you and sovving Pillovvs under your Arm-holes if you say as the Pharisees said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye if you execute those Lavvs and stand to those Lavvs vvhich were made by them that oppressed you the same shall come upon you that came upon them and God vvill break the Yoak from off the Necks of the Oppressed and the Yoak shall be laid upon yours vvho make a man an Offender for a VVord and therefore consider a Warning to you all and be you warned from the Lord God to cease from oppressing the Innocent nay you are left all without Excuse for I know you are not ignorant of these Things And further I say unto you uphold not them by your Power who are flattering the Nations and crying Peace and daubing the People with untempered Morter and telling them they are Christians when they are Heathens and live in that Nature that puts Christ to open Shame for the Hand of the Lord is against them and Prophaneness hath gone from them those Teachers that use their Tongues and say he saith when the Lord hath never spoken to them and therefore the People are lost for Lack of Knowledge and there is not one among them that is able to turn any from his Iniquity And therefore I say unto you stint not nor limit not the Lord by your Wills nor your Laws made in your Wills for if you do he which rents the Heavens and makes the Earth reel as a Cottage will break you and your Laws together and there shall be none that shall be able to deliver you out of his Hand who is pure holy just and true and will not give his Glory to another for he alone works and who shall let and bring his own Work to pass and none shall hinder And therefore take heed you strive not against the Lord and so be broken upon the stumbling Stone to Pieces A Lover of Righteousness and a Friend to all just Power F. H. A VVARNING TO All the WORLD WO Wo unto all the Inhabitants for the Lord God of Power is coming in Power and great Glory with Ten Thousand of his Saints to judge the Earth and to make a Desolation and an utter Overthrow and a Consumption shall come upon all Flesh and its Glory shall be stained for all Flesh hath corrupted its Way and gone a whoring after other Gods and hath committed Fornication with Strangers and Whoredoms with the Uncircumcised and the Land is filled with Monsters and the living God is departed from the Lord is grieved the Lord is weary with forbearing and will no longer forbear now is he arising to excute his Judgment in the Earth and to sift the Nations and all shall now be put into an even Ballance and the Wicked shall be as Dust and as Chaff which the VVind blows away and shall be scattered and never more gathered For a Fire is come out of Sion it s before the Lord of Hosts and it 's tempestuous round about him Coals of Fire are kindled by the Breath of 〈◊〉 Nostrils to burn up all the Stubble and Chaff even by the Breath of his Mouth
one Part of your Worship before another Was not a Psalm in the Church of Corinth acceptable unto God when it was sung in the Spirit and with Understanding as good as Interpretation And was not Prophecy as acceptable as speaking with Tongues If your expounding so called of the Scripture be by the Spirit of God why should that give Way to sprinckling of an Infant till the Spirit cease to speak in him that spake by it Direct The next Piece of Merchandize is of their publick Prayers before Sermon and to pray after this Manner to acknowledâ—e your great Sinfulness by your Original Sin which makes you liable to everlastâ—ng Damnation and doth defile your best Actions if it were not restrained by God's Grace as in Page 15. Answ. What! is original Sin unwasht away and is a deprived Nature alive that poisons all your Faculties and defiles your best Actions What is not this tâ—ken away yet then you have confounded your Orthodox Doctrine or else never have been baptized when you were Infants for did not you use to say that when an Infant was sprinckled That he was regenerate and born again and ingrafted into the Body of Christ's Congregation And furthermore to give Thanks to God on this wise We yield thee hearty Thanks that it hath pleased thee to regenerate this Infant and to receive it for thy own Child by Adoption and to incorporate this Child into thy own Congregation then seeing that all that are baptized are regenerate as you say how is it original Sin and the Guilt is not taken away and how is it that the best of your Actions are defiled for Regeneration is a cleansing Work and the Actions of the regenerate are pure and holy but your best Actions are defiled then you are not regenerate by your own Doctrine and if Sin be restrained by God's Grace then Actions do not defile for Grace is one that which restrains and that which saves for it 's written By Grace you are saved and if you are restrained from Sin or saved by Grace then your Actions would not be defiled what cankered rusty Merchandize is this but I shall proceed to shew more of the like Nature Direct The next Doctrine is to confess your actual Sins the Sins of your Magistrates Ministers and whole Nation and how that you have broken all the holy just Laws of God doing that which is forbidden and leaving undone that which is injoyned and not only ignorantly but presumptuously against the Light of our Minds and Checks of our Consciences but also despâ—sing God's Forbearance and standing out against all the Offers of Grace in the Gospel Answ. Was not the baptized Infant incorporated into a holy Congregation and now you confessed you were a sinful Congregation not only ignorant but presumptuous also and have sinned against the Light of your Minds and the Light of your Consciences what is there any thing in your Minds or Consciences worth taking Notice of what will the Light in the Conscience shew Sin and reprove for it then how is it that you Merchants of this Rank cry out against it as Delusion and heretical Doctrine when any exhort them that they sin not against the Light of their own Consciences and if you stand out against all God's Invitations and Offers of Grace then are you none of Christ's Ministers and never blame me for calling you Babylon's Merchants for the Ministers and Disciples of Christ they came at Christ's Invitation and Peter and Jâ—hn left their Nets and followed Christ when he invited them and they resisted not the Offers of Grace but received it when it was offered and were saved by it and if you walk so unworthy of him in your selves then repent and cease carrying abroad such Trumpery as this to deceive the People withal Direct In the sixteenth Page you Reformers say You ought to bewail your Blindness of Mind and Hâ—rdneâ—s of Heart and Unbelief Impenitency Secureness Luke-warmness and Barrenness and not endeavouring Mortification nor to keep your Garments unspotted Answ. You had need to bewail your State indeed if this be it but see that you be not Hypocrites to confess that before the Lord and your Congregation and if any say you are hard-hearted and Unbelievers you deny it again and so make your Lives transgress and your Tongues utter forth Deceit what are you such a Company of blind Minds and hard-hearted impenitent unbelieving secure luke-warm and barren whâ—m God will spue out of his Mouth who do not so much as endeavour after Mortification nor to keep your selves unspotted and have broken Promises and Vows and Covenants O that ever such a Company as you should carry a Ship to Sea or think in your Hearts to give Directions to oothers to reform when you are unreformed your selves and full of Unbelief what People will take Directions at such a Company of Heart-blind Guides as you If this be Reformation what is Deformity the wise in Heart may judge of this Merchandize Direct Yet you say notwithstanding in the 18th page Let us draw near to the Throne of Grace and incourage our selves with hope of a gracious Answer of our Prayers Answ. He that sits upon the Throne of Grace before whose face the Heavens and the Earth shall fly away he will reject your Offering notwithstanding all the Encouragement you may take to your selves and how can you have Hope to receive a gracious Answer it's but the Hope of the Hypocrite you that are blind in Mind and hard in Heart and do not so much as endeavour after Mortification David a messenger of God said If I regard iniquity in my heart God will not hear my Prayers and you that are so presumptuous and are so full of vain Hopes as to think that God will hear your Prayers who are in Unbelief and endeavour not after Mortification he will send you empty away Direct The next Doctrine is about preaching the Word the subject of his Sermon is to be some Text of Scripture sutable to some emergent Occasions and he may go on in some Chapter or Psalm as he shall think fit Answ. Here Reader thou mayest take notice these Artificers of the last Edition have Traffique of divers Sorts to fit the several Places and Occasions as when they come before some Princes or Courtiers or some Convocations or Counsels then some great swelling Words and new coyned Expressions and Rhetorical Speeches and Philosophical Phrases this will go off at a good rate and by this the Merchant may procure his Discourse to be printed which may procure his Fame and Renown among ignorant People besides it may be he gets Profit by printing his Sermon setting all set-Wages Tythes and Salleries aside but if it be amongst poor country People or an odd Corner of the Land then any ordinary Traffick a Sermon which it may be he hath sold four times over this will go off among ignorant people and make them more ignorant and as you say a Text
said Human Invention and vain Tradition And Trinity of Persons in the Divine Essence where learned you this Article from the Pope from the Mass-book yet the Father Son and Spirit are owned and these three are one and the Father Word and Spirit and these are one but I challenge all you Orthodox Professors to shew me from Scripture where the Holy Ghost or Spirit is called a Person be ashamed of your Ignorance ye illiterate men 2. Or shall deny the Person of Christ to be distinct from the Father and the Holy Ghost or shall deny the Person of Christ to be distinct from every Believer Answ. Do but mark the Madness and Confusion of these mighty Rabbies before there must be three Persons in one Essence and now Christ must be distinct from the Father and the holy Ghost before in God and now distinct from God this is damnable Doctrine which hath been brought in since the Apostacy for the Scripture saith God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself how was he distinct from the Father when the Father was in him And I am in the Father and the Father in me and I and my Father are one Nay say New-England Doctors They are distinct and the Fulness of the Godhead dwelt in him bodily Now prove you that the Father and the holy Ghost are distinct from Christ or how is Christ's Person distinct from every Believer when he that is a Believer hath him revealed in him and he that is a true Believer eats his Flesh and drinks his Blood How is he then distinct What nearer Union can there be exprest Is that distinct from a man that he hath in him But it may be they will say as the rest of the Dreamers do he is in Believers by his Spirit distinct from his Body then I say Christ is not divided a Person without a Spirit or distinct from the Spirit is not Christ but this blind Doctrine came up since the Apostles Dayes and was counted as Orthodox by the Councils at Nice and Lateran a Company of Apostates and hath been counted by the Beast's Followers a great Point of Divinity 3. Or deny the Manhood of Christ to be a Manhood distinct from the Manhood of any other Man Answ. The Man Christ Jesus who was of the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh and the Son of God according to the Spirit his Flesh is distinct from you who live in ENVY whole FLESH is as the Flesh of Horses and as the Flesh of Dragons who devour you know not the holy Flesh of Christ but the Man of God doth who is born of the Spirit and the Flesh of Christ is his Meat and they that believe in him are Bone of his Bone and Flesh of his Flesh you ignorant Dreamers how then is his Flesh distinct But you do feed upon Ashes as your Father doth the cunning Serpent for God's Wisdom is hid from you 4. Or shall deny the Scripture or the written Word to be the Rule Answ. We own the Scriptures which you ignorantly call the written Word as though all the Scriptures were but one Word the Word is Christ which was revealed in the Saints which spake the Words forth and he is the Way and the Rule of Life to them that believe and his Spirit is the Leader and Guider into all Truth and the Rule of Obedience and you are they that deny the Scriptures and the Rule of holy walking you own it in Words and in VVorks deny him witness all your fore-mentioned Deeds of Darkness and Hypocrites and Dissemblers cry Scripture is the Rule of Faith and Life when their Life that they live in stands in Sin Wickedness and Deceit 5. Or shall openly revile either Church or State or Church-VVorship Church-Officer or Ordinances divine or the publick Assembly of the People of God to worship him according to the Prescription of the Gospel Answ. Your Church and State Church-Officers and Ordinances and Assembly and your Worship is manifest to be a Place where Dragons are who sting devour kill and destroy God's Workmanship and he that speaks for you God will condemn him for he that justifies you justifies the wicked and that is an Abomition to the Lord And let the Nation see your Prescription in that which you call your Gospel where Christ commanded the Churches or gave his Disciples such Prescripts as these If the rest of the Jews or Gentiles will not come to your Assemblies fine them 5 s. a Day and 10 s. a Day or 40 s. a Moneth and if any speak any where in my Name but where you meet let him that speaks be fined 5 l. and if they will not pay fetch away their Goods Beasts Horses break open their Houses and take Hatchets and beat down their Doors and take the Names of them that meet and bâ—le them to the Court and there fine them 5 l. a Man and send them to Prison and load their Backs and Stripes and whip them severely and if any refuse to doff his Hat and will not say Reverend Mr Peter and Reverend Mr Paul and Reverend Mr John or if it please you Mr Mark or Mr Andrew and Philip then go you to the Judgment Seat and tell the Magistrates and let them indict them and put in a great deal of aggravating Words as Muteny Sedition Insurrection Rebellion and the like and let them say unto them you are against the laudable Custom of our Country and last of all banish them and if they return again put them to Death and let them say as Richard Bellinghom the Deputy Governour of Boston said to John Copeland John Rous and Christopher Holder We commanded these Men not to come again but they returned again in Contempt of the Magistracy and Ministry and so whatsoever comes upon you Loss of Ears or Loss of Life your Blood be upon your own Heads I say let the Regions know your Prescript in your Gospel and your Rule of Life for these Practices and then you will convince the Quakers and satisfie all People 6. Or shall entertain any such in a Way of Conventicle or private Meeting or shall resort unto the Conventicle of any such who are known Refusers to come to the publick Worship of God in the publick Assembly Answ. These Men would have banished Paul he was a Man publickly known to refuse to go into the Temple and Synagogues except to lead People out of them and yet they have got his Words in their Mouthes and these Men would have imprisoned the Church of Corinth and Galatia and Thessalonica and the Church of Antioch for they met in Houses and denyed the rest of the Synagogue of the Jews and the Temples of the Gentâ—les and they had private Meetings and often by the Sea-side and Mountains and other Places and although Bishop Laud be dead his Spirit speaks and acts in New-England he made such Articles as these against Conventicles and told of the laudable Customs and Worship of
World who is a sufficient Saviour Leader Guider and Director of all they that do believe into all Truth and he treads the Wine-press alone and there 's none besides him but thou art climb'd up into the Judgment-seat and say'st Let us see what this Light is and so thou gives Judgment and despiâ—â—â— him like Herod and his men of War that set him at nought and so upon thy Examination and judgment thou hast concluded it Natural Rom. 1.19 22. yet thou sayest it will discover God and then contradictest what thou hast said and saist That it was hard for them to find out the true God by it and bringst a Proof when they knew God they Glorified him not as God but became Vain in their Imaginations c. It 's yet a Question that may be asked thee By what Nature they knew God and did the things contained in the Law seeing the Law is Just and good and Holy and the fault was not in that which led them to know God but in that which led them to become vain in their Imaginations and not to glorifie him as they knew him and so their foolish Hearts came to be Darkned and so thou art one in thy judgment with him whom I met with of late who said The Light which every man was enlightned withal would lead to know God and teach a man that he should not do to others but what and that he would have others do to him it would lead from Lying and Stealing and discover the Creator and God's Omnipotency and Eternity and yet said this Light was to be understood in Opposition to the Light of the Spirit and contradistinct to the Spirits Light And after he had confessed that it would teach all these good things aforesaid he said it was Darkness yea worse then Gross Darkness And so thou Concludest and sayest We should never have known or believed the Covenant of Grace or that we should be born again had not God revealed them to us by the Scriptures Thou runs too fast to lay a good Foundation by what Scripture did God reveal to Adam The Seed of the Woman should bruise the Serpent's head or by what Scripture did Moses see Christ for he must needs see him before he could follow him and what Scripture did reveal unto Abraham Christ and his day wherein he rejoyced And so he that did reveal doth reveal and will reveal Christ the Covenant of Grace and the New Birth by what way as he pleaseth according to his Power notwithstanding all thy limiting And thou sayest To say that every one that comes into the World is lighted with the Light of the Spirit is the falsest thing that can be for then every Heathen hath the Light of the Spirit who never somuch as heard or knows whether there be a Christ or Spirit and thou bringst Ephes. 4.18 that the Gentils understandings were Darkned being Alienated from the Life of God through the Ignorance that was in them and sayest surely these men were not Born without a Light It is very like that I must be Registred in the Calender as a Blasphemer or a Heretick but however I must not heed that but must indure Reproaches and suffer contradictions from such as thou who call'st the Letter the Light the Letter the Word and the Letter the Gospel as all along in thy Paper is clearly manifest thou contendest for it and so thou art like to condemn and dissallow of the Light in all men in every man or in any man but however thou hast given Judgment That it is the falsest thâ—ng that can be that every one is lighted with the Light of the Spirit And why is it the falsest thing that can be Thou wilt confess that every one is lighted with the Light of Christ and where didst thou learn that great distinction betwixt Christ's Light and the Spirit 's Light we do not say that the Light in every man doth discover Christ unto every man thaâ— cometh into the World but that the Light of Christ waited in believed in and received would discover Christ unto every man is owned the fault is not in the Light but in him that loves it not whoâ—e deeds are Evil and seeing that God is no respecter of Persons Why may not the Heathen and the Gentiles have the Light of Christ or the Light of the Spirit seeing that he who is the Light of the World is given for a Covenant of Light to the Gentiles and to the Heathen whose Eyes are blind to open their Eyes and to open their understandings seeing that both Jew and Gentile are concluded under Sin and there is no difference And if he be not given to the Gentiles or Heathen for a Covenant of Light as well as to the Jew how is it said He is rich unto all is he the God of the Jews and not of the Gentiles also Rom. 2.29 seeing that they that believe in the Light are justified both the Circumcision and Uncircumcision and in Rom. 4.7 8 9. Cometh this blessedness upon the Circumcision only or upon the Uncircumcision also so that it 's evident that Christ the Covenant of Light and Life the Gift of Righteousness who is come into the World for this end that all through him might believe that whoso believeth and receiveth the gift of Righteousness Justification cometh upon all and he who is the Gift of God and Covenant of Light is a propitiation for the Sin of the whole World and the World is taken in Opposition to believers and yet he is come a Light into the World to Convince the World of Sin and of Righteousness and Judgment and them which thou callst Heathens and Gentiles who had not the Law were accused or Convicted which is the Operation of the Spirit compare Rom. 2.14 15. with John 16.8 9. That which was in the Gentiles did accuse or convict them this Christ called the Spirit which Convinced and convinceth Unbelievers And hath not the Grace of God that brings Salvation appeared to all men And who art thou that makest Exceptions and though the Gentiles or Heathen do not know Christ or the Spirit by the Name of Christ and the Spirit yet knowing that which accuseth and excuseth that which Condemneth and Justifieth they have the thing and though the Ephesians being Alienated and Darkned it was not because of the insufficiency of the Light or the Measure of his Spirit but because they were Alienated from it and stangers to it and I say nay these men were not born without Light neither was the Blindness of their Hearts because of its insufficiency but because they loved it not but hated it and so became Alienated and Darkned For sayest thou VVhere the Spirit is there are the Fruits of the Spirit I say the Spirit may be where it is striven against or resisted and gainsayed and there appear little Fruits yet notwithstanding the Spâ—rit hath its Operation in all Believers and Convincement and Reproâ—f is as
is but to set Bryars and Thorns in Battel against the Lord. Thy Book thou callst Hell broke Loose or a History of the Quakers published to preserve Christians against formality of Religion and Apostacy and to the intent that thy Book might not grow old nor stick upon thy Hands as such other moudly stuff hath done thou saist London Printed in the Year 1660. and so hast Printed a lye in the Frontis-piece of thy Book thy Book by that time thou may'st hang up with old Almanacks or sell for waste Paper and if thou beginst with a lye and Scorn how dost thou think that this will be an Antidote as thou callst it against formality and Apostacy Is not a Lyar an Apostate is not he that pleads for Popish Trumpery a formalist in Religion without the Power he that reads but thy Title page may see what thy Book is within if he go no further the Covenant of Death is not yet broken in thee and the agreement with Hell is not yet disannulled and therefore all this Smoke is come out of the Pit in which thou delights to dwell And is this such a worthy Piece in thy account that thou must needs shelter it under the Wings of the Officers of the Army of England Scotland and Ireland art thou so great a Friend to them and in thy Book tell'st them they were the in-let of Heresie and Blasphemy who art but yet an Episcopal stem or at best a Presbyterial Branch I believe many amongst them will savour thy Spirit and know what Uniformity and unity thou art for which may be more properly called deformity and Enmity and so thy Flattering Epistle when they see thy Spirit will hardly merit thanks and so that wicked Spirit which could not be satisfied in the time of the former Parliaments and Protectors still persists in the unsatiable desire to see if the Army will gratifie thee and turn Persecutors but thou hast mist it far in crying a confederacy to the reverend Pastors or Priests of Scotland the Army knows right well or at least might do that the Priests of Scotland whom thou so reverencest have been alwayes Hinderers and Obstructors of the Way of God and of his Work these divers Years instance two â—o three Hundred of them before the sight at Dunbar who Prophesied all like Zedekiah for the poor Scots against the English Army to go up and Prosper and Cursed them and Excommunicated them and gave them up to Satan and for Distruction but such Prophets were made fools and their divinations were Madness and God gave a sufficient Testimony against them and their deceived Followers which I hope the English Army have not 〈◊〉 forgotten and for the Scotish Priests and their Doctrine and Practice 't is so grosly ignorant and abominably Prophane as I believe many of the Army do right well know but such as are not satisfied I refer them to a Book called The Doctrines and Principles of the Priests of Scotland wherein may be seen their deceit and how some of them have said they had Reason to curse the Magistrates from morning to Night because that Allowance was granted unto any to Worship God in Spirit and Truth who could not be subject to their Traditional uniformity and thou tellest the Army in thy Epistle That ruin is like to come upon all Religion and Piety if God prevent it not by you or some other way they may see what Religion thou art of which may be rather called Irreligious and Impious the Government of Religion and Piety lyes upon the shoulders of him who is a wonderful Counsellor and mighty to save and able to defend them that are subject to him and wouldst thou have the Souldiers or any others intrude themselves into Christ's Throne unto whom all Power is committed both to make Religious and preserve pious them that do believe in him this were to derogate from the Honour and Power which belongs to Christ who is the Head of the Church who will not give his Glory to another and let all take notice of this that whosoever hath sought to take Honour from him and glory from him he hath laid their honour in the Dust and their Glory is become as the moth-eaten Garment as hitherto it hath been evident and thou tellst them They know the Scripture is God's written Word and a Holy perfect rule of Faith and Practice and that it holds out that Christ is now in his human glorified Body in Heaven If thou hadst said the Scripture are the Words of God written thou hadst said something for the Word of God is one thing and the Words are another though the words are a Testimony of the Word and the Word and the Spirit which is one which gave forth the Words are the perfect Rule and Foundation of Faith which was before the Words and is greater then the Words as we have often declared to thy dearest Generation though they would not hear and where doth the Scripture hold forth a Human glorified Body in Heaven thy deceit and ignorant mind holds out a Human glorified Body we say according to the Scriptures that Christ's Body is spiritual and he is raised a spiritual Body and is Glorified in a spiritual Body and in a Heavenly Body which thou never knewest neither art like while the Nature lives in thee in which thou now stands And thou say'st in thy Epistle that one day in seven should be set apart for rational Souls to mind the things of Eternity And which is that Day that thou wilt set apart some of Babylon's Merchants have cryed up one day and some have cryed up another day and some have called the seventh day the Sabbath and some have called the first day the Sabbath and whether was Sabbaths made for Man or Man for Sabbaths and whether was dayes made for man or man made for dayes all time is in the Hand of the Lord and they that have Communion with him do mind the things of Eternity every day and so they come to know the day of the Lord in which rest is given to the Soul and the Creature hath rest though he labour in the Creation when that is done away in himself which hath Opprest thou may'st go learn what this means In thy Post-script as thou callst it thou saist If any shall take offence for thy seeking to civil or Military Power to Support Religion thy defence is thy belief is That thou ought to seek to the higher Powers to support Religion and this is the Liberty of thy Conscience and that this thou may do more acceptably then they who Cross their own profest Opinion as they have done of late Years by motions Counsels Books and Papers which they have delivered for these many Years for â—he pulling down the Ministry and Steeple-houses and that their importuning the Magistrate to pull down Ministry and Worship is a yielding of the Cause I say thy belief is without the true Foundation and so
from that time forward began Jesus to shew unto his Disciples how that he must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many Things and be Kill'd and rise again the third Day So that it is manifest that here was distance of time and space betwixt Peter Confession of Christ and of his rebuking of him however the Unbelief was gotten up in Peter and he that had need to be taught came to be a Rebuker of him who was a Teacher this was another State then the former but of these things R. I. is ignorant and let the Serpent feed upon Dust for I desire to give him no other food And further R. I. saith Though Saints Sin not Devil-like unto Death yet if any man say he hath not sinned after the Similitude of Adam ' s Transgression he saith John is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him for when all is done the best men are Men still and the best Earth is Earth ever and will bear Nettles and Brambles and if these things were well considered by F. H. he would not accuse me and E. D. for pleading for Sin or Satan for we plead against those who say they have no Sin Answ. This R. I. is so in love with Sin that by his Arguments which he makes one would judge that he accounts it as necessary as his 〈◊〉 food and these are strange kind of Saints that R. I. would make at the best they are still but sinners and unsanctified but they that are called to be Saints who are begotten by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus they are sanctified and made clean through the washing of Regeneration and through the Sanctification of God's holy Spirit which dwelleth in them by which they have Power to mortifie the Deeds of the Flesh and to overcome and to be made Partakers of the Promises but here lies the difference in R. I. his Account betwixt his Saints and his Sinners The Sinners sin Devil-like yet the Saints sin not Devil-like I say they that sin are in one Nature notwithstanding R. I. his blind Distinctions for they that sin are liker the Devil then God and liker his Image then God's Image for God's Image consisteth in Righteousness and true Holiness and the Devil's Image consisteth in Unrighteousness Sin and Unholiness and now Reader thou mayest judge whose Image R. I. his Saints bear and if thou be one that canst plead against them who are born of God and sin not and who are cleansed from all sin by the Blood of Christ then R. I. will ranck thee with E. D. and himself in his Bead-row of Saints as he calls it And if any man say he hath not sinned after the Similitude of Adam 's transgression he is saith John a Lyar Nay it is R. I. that saith it and not John and so R. I. is the Lyar for the Scripture saith on this wise Rom. 5.14 Death reigned from Adam to Moses even over them that had not sinned after the Similitude of Adam 's Transgression so that it is manifest that there were many that Death reigned over and yet they sinned not after the similitude of Adam's Transgression but this R. I. will accuse every man with whom he hath a mind to quarrel and will not only teâ—l Lyes himself but publish false Doctrine but he will bring the Saints for his Author and John saith not if any man say he hath no Sin And thou that saeyst when all is done the best men and the best Earth will bear Nettles and Brambles and Pricks as I said to E. D. so I may to thee thou hast given thy Verdict for the Devil and not for God and his Saints for They that are born of God sin not and they that are cleansed by the Blood of Christ from all Sin and are clear in his Sight and are kept by his immortal Word which dwells in them that the Evil one touch them not but have overcome the Wicked one and the best Earth is that wherein righteousness dwells which R. I. is altogether a Stranger to and that brings forth no Bryars nor Brambles Nettles nor Pricks for that Grâ—und is curst so this man by his devilish Doctrine hath made the coming of Christ of none effect and the Blood of Christ of none effect and so hath denied the Work of Redemption to the best of Men and Deliverance to the Creature who hath travailed in pain This Dreamer is far contrary to the Prophet Danâ—â— who saw by the Spirit of prophecy which this R. I so deadly hates both in men and Women that if it be not allowed of by such as he iâ— mâ—st 〈◊〉 speak nor they by it this Prophet I say testified of the coming of the just one and of his Work that he should make an End of â—in 〈…〉 Tâ—anâ—gression and bring in everlasting righteousness but saith R. I. Thâ— best Men are Men still and the best Earth Earth ever and the best Saints Sinners though they siâ— not Devil-like and Nettles and Brambles and Pricks they 〈◊〉 all bring forth Now if this Doctrine be true how is the Soul 〈…〉 of Death and where is the restauration of the Creature from under the Bondage of Corruption and where is the redemption of the Seed which is Heir of the Promise Nettles Brambles and Bryars cumber the ground and choak the Seed and these things F. H. hath well considered and I see more and more that thou art a Pleader for Sin and Satâ—n and imperfection for a Spirit of Error for Images Pictures and Crosses for Cuffs Ribbons and Lace for Nettles Brambles and Bryâ—rs and art a Man that doth lay claim to the utmost Borders of the Devils Kingdom and a greater Servant of his Master I have not met with long whose Reward will be according to his Works And the Lye being the cheif cognisance of his Master in which he greatly glories in he goes on and saith Another Error of the Quakers is they do not believe the Scriptures to be true because they deny them to be the Word of God for if they believe what the Scriptures say of themselves and they say of themselves that they are the Word of God and for his proof he cites Mark 7.13 Rom. 10.8 2. Câ—r 2.17 1 Pet. 1.25 Answ. The Scripture we own to be true and whatsoever the Scriptures say of themselves that we own them to be to wit a Declaration Scriptures of Truth holy Scriptures the Words of God of Christ and of his Apostles a Treatise and for his proofs I could whâ—lly refer them to the reader to examine them himself and to discover the ignorance of this R. I. who tenders these Scriptures aforementioned for sufficient proof as that the Scriptures call themselves the Word of God as for Mark 7.13 making the Word of God of none effect by your Tradition he doth not say of making the Word of God the Scriptures of none effect neither doth he sâ—y you make the Scriptures which is the word of
none effect by your Traditions and as for Rom. 10.8 The Word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart and this is the Word of Faith which we preach here the Apostle saith the word is nigh thee in thy Heart but he doth not say the Scriptures is nigh thee in thy Heart which is the Word of God And 2 Cor. 2.17 For we are not as many which corrupt the Word of God he doth not say we are not as many that corrupt the Scriptures which are the Word of God or the Word of God which is the Scriptures And as for 1 Pet. 1.25 But the Word of the Lâ—rd endures forever and this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto yâ—u he doth not say the Scriptures endures forever or this is the Word the Scriptures which by the Gospel is preached unto you And as for 1 Thes. 4.15 For this we say unto you by the Word of the Lord that we whâ—ch ar◠〈◊〉 and remain unto the coming of the Lord shâ—ll not prevent them which are asleep he did not say this we say unto you by the Scriptures for there was not such a Scripture written before and therefore we sâ—y this unto you by the Word of the Lord And what a foolish Mâ—n is this to assert his own Imaginations and then imagines the Scriptures will prove it and what â—n improper speech were this to call twenty â—housâ—â—d Sentences one word and it is called a Declaration and what a Declâ—â—ation would that be thâ—t consisteth but of one word but enough of this hath been published before concerning the particular by divers hands so I shall be brief however R. I doubts his proof already that it will not satisfie F. H. and therefore he thought good to make this Conclusion upon him That he doth not believe the Scripture at all and though F. H say that these Sciptures are nothing at all to prove that thing to deny his Imaginations is not to deny the Scripture but F. H. believes what the Scriptures say of themselves and doth not deny the Scriptures at all but R. I. his Lye and also his false Conclusion And further saith R. I. The Scripture was delivered to the Church in writing that it might be an infallible Standard of true Dâ—ctrine and a determiner of Controversies and the Saints rule of knowing God and living to him Answer Reader take notice here is no room for the Spirit at all the Scriptures and writings have taken up the room of it in R. I. his account for it hath lost its Office if his Doctrine be true the Letter is become the infallible Judge and standard to try Doctrine and a Determiner of all controversies and of the Saints Rule of knowing God and living to him and indeed is become all in this man's Account then what doth R. I. bring Esop's Fables Oviâ—'s fictions Plato's and Diogenes Stories in this Controversie to joyne with this infallible rule and because he hath the Scriptures so high to be a tryer of Doctrines without the Spirit doubtless is the Cause here is no mention made of it and so he shall be Judged by his Rule in the 42th page take his Exposition upon the Words of Joel I will pour out of my Spirit upon Sons and Daughters and they shall Prophesie This is not meant of a ghostly Power but of an extraordinary measure of enlighting Grace Ignorant man is not Ghostly Power or spiritual Power an Extraordinary measure of enlightning Grace and was it not a spiritual Power and an extraordinary Light the Prophets Prophesied by But it is this Mans meaning that must be the Standard when all comes to all and the Determiner of Cases and he speaks contrary unto his own Rule as may be seen through his whole Book who hath either added to the Scriptures or perverted them or otherwise given his false Interpretations or Villified them in calling them the True Cards and so though he extolled them in Words he denyes them in Practice The Jews tryed Christ's Doctrine by the Scriptures and â—udged him a Blasphemer and a breaker of the Law and the Apostles Seditious and so though a man have the Scripture and have not the Spirit it is all as a sealed Book wherein such Unlearned men as this R. I is cannot read and therefore he saith in his 55th page That it is a great fault in us because we say the Law of the Spirit of Life is the Rule and so like him will not say it is imperfect as he doth and so saith R. I. it is not fit to be a rule so Blasphemously he detracts from the Authority and Power of the Spirit and like Anti-christ and his Ministers sets the Letter above it and calls it Living and an infallible standard and saith Thâ— Scripture inclines the Heart unto obedience and like a Drunken man this R I. reels up and down and contradicts himself Before he said The Law of the Spirit chiefly gave Power to conform to the Rule and wiâ—hin four Liâ—â—s Contradicts himself and saith The Scriptures incline our Hearts to the Oâ—edience of the Rule and the Scripâ—ures it self hath caused us to know it as we have it from the Church it is a probable aid and yet giveth but a confused Belief with a light Impression Answ. It is probable enough indeed that thy Faith is confused and the Faith of your Church and that makes thee utter forth all this confused Heap but in what hath been said the Spirit of this man and his Doctrines will be manifest to all whose Eyes God hath opened and so will depart out of his Paths and not give heed to his fabulous Stories It is true saith R. I. There iâ— an inward Law written in our Hearts called the Law of the Spirit of Life Rom. 8.2 And there is the outward Law written in the Scriptures now the outward and external Law is properly the rule of a christian Life and not the inward and internal Law for the outward is perfect in that it declares in what is the Will of God and in what it is not but the inward Law received and written on the Heart is imperfect and therefore unfit to be our rule the Law within is that thing that is to be ruled Psal. 17.4 The outward Law is therefore the rule Answ. This Man would set the sun by his Dial as it might be said although he confess in the very same page that the Law of the spirit of Life giveth Power to the Creature yet now it is become imperfect and not fit to be a rule this man like one unlearned sets the Law which was written in Tables of stone which the Apostle calls the Ministration of Condemnation and was glorious this he sets above the Ministration of the spirit of Life which the Apostle saith is much more glorious but nay saith R. I. the Law written in the Heart is iâ—perfect and not fit to be a rule but to be ruled contrary to
to magnifie the glorious commendation of Martyrs made a Statute that a yearly Oblation should be had in memorial of them and Gregory would that Mass should be said over their Tombs or Graves now Priests read the original of your service over the Graves of the dead and see if this be Apostolical The Fast of Wednesday and Fryday was appointed the one day Christ was crucified and on Wednesday Judas purposed in his Mind to betray him Gregory was he that ordained that neither Flesh Gregory appointed nor any thing that had affinity with it as Cheese Milk Butter Eggs should not be eaten on such days as were Fasts and here came in this Doctrine of Devils Soul-mass-day this was begun by Odilo that was Provost or Provincial of Cluniacensis Order upon the Occasion he heard about Etna the burning Mountain of Sicily oftentimes great Lamentations and Cryings and Weepings were heard which he supposed to be the Weepings of evil Spirits that bewailed because the Souls of dead men were taken from them by the Petitions and Sacrifices of well-disposed Christians therefore he appointed his Covent to make a general Oblation for All-Souls the next Day after the Feast of All-Saints and this great Institution was ordained about the Year 1002. and so all whose Eyes God hath opened will see all this Heap of Invention hath been practisee since the Beast rose out of the Sea and the Whore hath sate upon the Waters which is since the Apostles Dayes CHAP. X. Concerning Priests Vestures and Belâ—s which are practised among Christians as Apostolick Institutions THE Jews high Priests had Vestments and the rest of the Priests who offered Sacrifices and Oblations at the Temple and Tabernacle Lev. â— 6 7 8 9. 13. And Aaron the Priest had a Coat girded with a Girdle and clothed him with a Robe and put a linnen Ephod upon him and put a Breast-plate upon him and a Mitre upon his Head and Aaron's Sons had Coats with Girdles and Bonnets as was commanded by the Lord and in chap. 16.4 and he put on a linnen Coat and linnen Breeches with a Coat and Mitre and girded it with a Linnen Girdle and these were the holy Garments and these Garments were to be put off in the Holy Place and divers other Garments and Vestments which were worn by the Priest about the Temple-Worship and Sacrifice which were Shadows of better things and of more holy Garments but this was in the first Covenant that made nothing perfect which was faulty and was to continue until the time of Reformation But Christ being come and offered up all Shadows had an End and they preached up the everlasting Offering and him who offered up himself once for all Now Christ sent out his Disciples without great Provision as to Attire for they were to take neither Staff nor Sâ—rip nor Shoes nor Money nor Brass in their Purses and yet they were to go among them that were like Wolves renting and tearing devouring and destroying and there was no great Likelihood of obtaining any earthly thing from such while in that Nature but the Apostles liâ—ed by Faith Mat. 10.9 10. and Luke 10.3 4. and they were not to take two Coats and the Apostle in his Travails was often in Necessities in Hunger and Cold and Nakedness and did not go in costly Array nor in disguised Habits but in his old Age wore sometimes a Cloak among the Churches which he sent for to Troas an ordinary Garment 2 Cor. 4 8 9 10. 6.4 to ver 11. 2 Tim. 4.13 and John the Baptist who was a great Prophet had a Coat made of Hair and a leathern Girdle about his Lyons Mat. 2.3 and the primitive Christians wandered up and down in Sheep-Skins and Goat-skins being destitute of whom the World was not worthy Heb. 11.37 38. But after the Apostles Decease deceitful Workers and evil Beasts and they that abode not in the Doctrine and Ordinances of Christ went out into the World and the World went after them and so lost both Power and Form of Godliness and invented things some from the Heathen and much from the Priests under the Law Sextus the first commanded that the Corporis should be of linnen Cloath only and that of the finest and purest and forbad that Lay-men should handle the hallowed Vessels and namely Women were prohibited hallowing the Priests Vestures and Altars and Cloathes Diversity of Vestures of sundry Orders were much what taken from the Example of the Hebrew Priesthood was practised and ordained by Stephen Bishop of Rome and Sabinianus decreed first that the People should be assembled together to hear Service at certain hours by ringing of Bells and John the 22d Bishop of Rome ordained that Bells should be tolled every day three times and that then every man should say three times Ave-Mary as Polidore saith Lib. 6. The Invention of Bells was from Imitation of the Hebrews because the high Priest had in the Skirts of his uppermost Garments little Bells to ring when he was in the holy Place within the Vail And the Banners and Trophies which are hung up in Churches were taken from the Heathen which did bear them to signifie the conquest of their Enemies these have been set up in the Churches so called by some of the Bishops of Rome to declare as they said the Triumph of Christ over Death and Hell Now all Nations who are called Christians look to your original and from whence these Practices have risen and those things are continued even amongst the Protestant Churches are either from the Jews or from the Heathen or from the apostatized Bishop of Rome long after the days of the Apostles and so these Hoods and Surplices and Caps and Bonnets and Cowls and Tippets and Miters and Canonnical-Coats and Girdles and divers strange attires it is like to prove these things we must have Aaron's Breeches brought in and the linnen Ephod and his Son's Girdles and Coats and Bonnets and the high Priest's Mitre and all these Candlesticks for a Gospel-proof CHAP. X. Concerning Mattens and â—inging of Pâ—alms by course in musical Tunes and Supplications and short Prayers called Letany THE Jews under the Law had many Officers which belonged to the Temple-Worship among which were Singers as the Sons of Corah and the Sons of Asâ—ph and Eâ—rahites and the chief Musicians c. and divers Psalms were given forth by the Spirit of God by David and others upon several occasions sometimes after Victories and sometimes when he felt the Presence of God and the working of his Power and who were Eye-witnesses of his wondrous Works as the rest of Israel were many times as at the Dedication of the Temple and also when they came out of captivity Neh. 7.44 12.27.42 43. Psal. 149.3 150.3 4. and all these singers of Songs pertain to the Temple and the first Covenant and to that Priesthood which could not continue by reason of the Faultiness thereof Heb. 8.7
so Repugnant unto the Scripture and to the Truth contained in it this we cannot receive neither believe and this will never be attributed by the Lord unto any for Unbelief although you say it 6. Proposition The Author saith He would fain have Luther and Calvin and the other Sectaries to shew where Matthew 's Writing is called holy Scripture more then Nicodemus his Gospel and seeing they cannot prove the one no more then the other they must needs believe something that is not written in the holy Scripture Answ. I shall let Luther and Calvin alone they were Men that God did honour and I do honour and many more as in their Day they are at rest in the Sepulchres of their Fathers where your reviling cannot touch them they prevailed in their Doctrine and Faith so much against you as you have not recovered in an hundred and thirty Years neither I believe ever will so long as the Church of Rome will have any Cause to call her self Christ's only visible Church upon Earth And I do not believe Matthew's Writing only because it is reckoned by you and us for holy Scripture but becaâ—â—â— we feel by the Spirit of God that gave forth all Words that it is a Declâ—ration of those things which were brought to pass in his Day and likewise Mark John and Luke testifie unto the same Matter but for Nicodemus his Gospel as you are pleased to call it the Spirit of God doth not testifie in us unto the same but that it is repugnant unto the Mind of the Spirit and is a meer patcht up thing in the Corruption of time wherein many things are contained that are in Opposition and contrary to Matthew Mark Luke and John their Declaration And so thy feâ—â—le Argument is answered which thou concludest hath not been alâ—erable these fifteen hundred Years and let not him that puts on his Armour beast but him that hath overcome and puts it off 7 Proposition is That it cannot be shewn for these fifteen hundred 〈◊〉 that there hath been any Catholick that held that the Pope of 〈…〉 or that did rail at the most holy Sacrifice of the Mass or Inâ—ocation of Saints and Angels and usual praying for the dead and such like Worâ—â— of Piâ—ty â—elongâ—â—g to our Faith and Religion which the whole World hath laudably practised and reverenced for fifteen hundred Years It is a Wonder that this Author belonging to the Church of Rome is not ashamed of his Arguments and the silly Propositions that he hath propounded from another Hand It seems neither this Author nor Francis â—esterâ—â— whose Propositions the Author hath vaunted in and boasted of know the Apostles Doctrine who said The whole World lay in Wickedness and if any Man love the World the Love of the Father dwells not in him and Christ said to his true Church Ye are not of the World therefore the World hates you and again I have chosen you out of the World and John in his Day saw through the Spirit all the World wondering after the Beast and worshipping his Image and not the Image of God and saw all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be Waters and the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to drink the Whore's Cup and these the two Aâ—thors bring in for a great Proof and for an unanswerable Proposition as that the whole World lyes in Wickedness in whom the Love of God dwells not and thâ—y that have drunk of the Whore's Cup of Fornication and they that have wondered after the Beast to wit the whole World these are his dark Cloud of Witnesses to prove that the Pope was never called Anti-christ will they that have received the Roman Faith and accounted the Pope Christ's Vicar and the visible Head call him Anti-christ which hath exalted himself and the Church of Rome's Faith over the whole World as the Author boasts That the whole World hath laudably practised and reverenced Invocation of Saints and prayâ—ng for the dead for the Piety Faith and Religion of the Church of Rome for these 1500 Years This proves the Church of Rome to lye in Wickednesâ— aâ—d to be contrary to the Doctrine and Practice of Christ and his Apostleâ— and this doth not clear the Pope at all but rather mâ—kes him to be an Anti-christ and your Church to be the ill-favoured Harlot and not the true Church of Christ Hast thou forgotten how John Bishop of Constaâ—â—â—nople would needs be chief Bishop over all the rest of the Chuâ—ches about the Year two hundred fifty and upwards and how the other Bâ—â—hops cryâ—d out against him for to be Anti-christ but your Bishop he got to be called chief Bishop over all Christian Churches not by Consent of the Elders nor Churches but by the Means of Phocas an Heathen Emperor as before I have said and is not he much more an Anti-christ And as for the Sacrifice in the Mass Invocation of Saints and praying for the Dâ—â—d which thou say'st is a laudable Practice I say none have or do reckon it worthy â—f Praise but they that worship the Beast and his Image and have drunk of the VVhore's Cup and are erred from the Faith and Religion that the Apostles and true Church of Christ were in which all the World did that wondered after the Beast Lastly This I say he that teaches a Faith a Religion a Doctrine contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles is an Anti christ but the Pope these fifteen hundred Years hath taught a contrary Doctrine therefore he is an Anti-christ The 1st Proposition is evident from divers Testimonies of Scripture who teach only to pray unto the Lord in the Name of Christ and for them that are alive in the Body and not for them thâ—t are dead The second is proved by the Author 's own Testimony that the Pope and Church of Rome have prayed unto the Saints and prayed for the dead these 1500 Years to his Shame be it spoken therefore the Consequence must necessarily follow The Pope 〈◊〉 an Antâ—-chrâ—st 8. and last Proposiâ—ion is this That the first Authors of the Christian Faith in Germany Italy Spain France England and Low Countries have acknowledged no other Faith nor brouâ—ht any other to them then the Catholick Roman Faith which the whole Universe hath acknowledged which we have learned of our Fore-fathers therefore they that have brought in another are accursed That which the whole Universe hath acknowledged in the Apostacy which lyeth in Wickedness seeing all have wondered after the Beast and drunk of the Whore's Cup since the Apostles Dayes is but a lame and pitiful Argument as to prove the Church of Rome the true Church and as for the Faith delivering such as it was to the Nations before-mentioned only excepting Spain because it 's probable that the Apostle Paul spread the Faith there seeing that he said he had a Purpose to come there into Spain which if he did thy Boast may cease as for the planting of Religion
Man and all Men and every Church is fallible and subject to Error and with these and the like Words R.E. was extreamly troubled as he saith and knew not how to answer without shuffing Answ. The true Christian Religion stands not only in Name nor in Words nor in conforming or Transforming to this or that outward Practice which the Disciples of Christ were exercised in which divers in the latter days in their old corrupt minds not having their Hearts renewed have taken on the outside and have got the Form and want the Life and the Power and are not partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ and such a bare Profession as this has no certainty nor infallibility in it neither the assurance but that they may be mistaken and may be subject to Err as well as Turks or Jews or any other but the true Christians Religion indeed whom Christ will own as true Worshippers of him stands in Power in Life and in being obedient unto his living commands and precepts which he giveth forth unto his Disciples and manifesteth by his Spirit his Sheep hear his Voice and know it from the Voice of a stranger And he giveth the Knowledge of his will to all that believe in the measure of his eternal Spirit which he hath given every one a Measure of to profit withal and by it to be guided into all Truth out of all Error and this Spirit is infallible and gives certain assurance to all that receive it that they are in that way which is acceptable to God and they feel Comfort unto their Souls coming daily from the presence of Christ who is the Rock of Ages and the sure Foundation upon which his holy Church is founded which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth and they that are living Members are not Grounded upon a fallible certainty or upon a conâ—ectural supposition or a vain hope which is without bottom but upon that which is sure and stedfast lasting everlasting and all men in the unregenerate Estate are Lyars but they that are Born from above are of the Truth and Lye not and are not subject to mistakes because the Seed remains in them and walk in the pure Religion which keeps unspoted of the World and they that have no other Ground for their Religion but only without them and from the report of others are short of the true Foundation for that may be Truth in it self indeed which is not true to another nor he truly partakes of it and here is all the supposing conjectures and mistakes and fallible certainties which it seems R. E. and his lay Gentlemen too when the Axe is laid to the Root of the Tree indeed and notwithstanding all the laying claim to infallibility and certainty its but grounded upon a report without and the Traditions of men from Generation to Generation For them that believe but only because of the true report without and cometh not to Witness the thing assured in their own Hearts by the Spirit of the Lord these will not be long of that Faith 't is true many did believe because of the Apostles â—eclaration and report but at last came to feel the Witness of God in their own Hearts testifying the same in somuch that they could say and truly too though we have believed through your Words at the first yet now we have heard him our selves that which giveth perfect assurance which admits of no doubts nor fallibleness for such evidence all true Members of Christ's Church have in themselves which carries divine Authority and satisfaction in it to every particular Believer and so I say with P. E. in this it seems unreasonable to perswade any to receive this or that for a Truth when they that so perswade are uncertain in themselves neither dare say their Judgment is infallible which is that old Protestant Principle indeed and also the Principle of many Sects who differ from the pretended Catholick Church of Rome who Persecuted one another about outward things even as the Heathen about their Idols and yet will needs sit as Judge in Mens Consciences with their fallible Spirit though I speak not of every individual Person neither can I justifie the Roman Catholick Church so called who lays claim to infallibility and whatsoever they Judge to be Heresie must be reckoned as such though never so manfiest a Truth and to place infallibility in men that may Err and have erred from the Spirit I like not neither for this is to give that to men that belongs to God and to make the Judgment of fallible men above the Judgment of the infâ—llible Spirit of God and this I look to be great Ambition and Pride in any to lay claim to the greatest things as infallibility and certainty of assurance and the most free of Error and yet fall the shortest of it of any as hath been made appear by many Learned and Grave Men of former Ages and also if a necessity were might be made appear that the Church of Rome who saith she cannot err have been as uncertain both in their Doctrine and Worship as any yea more one Pope contradicting and throwing down that which another did establish and one Council Decreeing and another disanulling as I could easily make appear but that I would not be Tedious to the Reader in things that have been so manifest neither do I desire to wade out into diversity of matters in so short a Discourse But that which R. E. and his Catholick instructer calleth late wild and loosâ— Opinions that men of different Faiths may be saved and this countenanceth schism and breeds Rebellion as it is said 't is true Faith is but one which is saving and there is no difference in that for the difference is among Men where that is wanting and only have words and Name of Faith and want the Life and Power Neither am I so narrow Spirited as R. E. and his Catholick as to exclude all out of the Faith who may differ in their perswasions in some Circumstantial things if yet they hold Christ the Head and what makes R. E. so virilent as to judge all in Errour and to be out of the true Faith seeing the Protestants and all sorts of separates profess Justification and Salvation only through Faith in Christ Jesus as well as the Church of Rome and it were unreasonably judged in me if I should conclude a man to be no man because he is not so tall as another but I see R E. and his Catholick would have all Shoes made by their Last though they will not fit every mans Feet Faith is the gift of God there are divers Decrees and measures accoding to the mind and good pleasure of the giver so that he that hath received any measure or degree must not be excluded as having no Faith though he attain not to that degree that some do enjoy and the Apostle's Doctrine was That 〈◊〉 one should be perswaded in his own mind and if
suffered thy self to be made blind and carried Captive with another Man's Judgment neglected the measure of God's Spirit in thy self at home through which alone the secret things of God are Revealed in which true certainty and infallibility is Witnessed and not in Men who are fallible and changeable If an Arian Jew or Turk should urge their own interpertation of Scriptures which is of no private interpretation contrary to the mind of him that gave it forth I would say he perverted the Words of the Scripture which 〈◊〉 in Harmony Unity one with another as to the states and conditions they were spâ—ken to and are plain and are only read by that Spirit that gave them forth except it be in some Historical or Chronology or Genealogy of Names and Generâ—tions which might be some gathered from anothers Hands and different hands taking notice of them as to Record them there might be some variation yet the substance of the report is true but what is Calculation of Years or Dayes or reckoning up of Genealogies as to the matter of Salvation and what if we had never had them no more then we have other Histories and things that fell out among the Jews but if there be any contradiction for ought I know we may blame the Church of Rome the most of any who will needs affirm they received all or most of the things from the Apostles and if the Translations differ or be some-what uncertain what have they been doing this fifteen hundred Years with their infallible Spirit that they could not have rectified them according to their first Original and if any the foresaid Sects should pretend the certainty of the Spirit and yet not have it I should answer the Spirit is known by its Fruits and the Fruits of the Spirit are manifest and they that pretend to it and bring forth contrary Fruits are manifest to be Deceivers and deceived but their States are different and therefore require different Answers which time will not now permit to insist upon but over and beside all other Arguments perswade any man to or from any thing the witness of God in the party unto whom he speaketh is to be reached and that is beyond the understanding of Man and greater then it and more convincing then any Arguments that can be used without and he that cannot speak to this is not skilful in the Word of Righteousness That Christ was an infallible Guide who is the way the Truth and the Life is granted by all Christians and that the Apostles received the Promise of the Father and the infallible Spirit of God which led them into all Truth and this infallible assurance the Christians had that lived in the Apostles time thuâ— iâ— granted and the Apostles were infallible Guides not as Men meerly but as Men full of the Holy Ghost as Men who were filled with the Spirit of God and therefore the Apostle said be Followers of us as we are Fâ—llowers of Christ and if any controversie did arise as some there did and doubts among the then Christians the Apostles and Elders meeting together in the Power of the Holy Ghost did write their minds and Letters to the Christians to pacifie all and good Reason that they that had believed through their Word should Suâ—miâ— unto the Holy Ghost and unto them by whom they were begotten unto God by the word of Life for the ending of strife about Words and Shadows and outward things and they whose minds were outward then in Ages since and now ran into contention about outward things and such for the most part do Err from the Spirit of God in themselves But I would have thee to take notice of this and all you Catholick Members so called The Apostles of Christ only did exhort and did not force their Decrees by Penal Statutes and to be observed under the penalty of loosing Life and Limbs as since their pretended Successors have done who have Erred from the Spirit and have goâ— the Saints Words and turned against the Life and Power but the Decrees as you call them are not many nor burdensome which the Apostles wrote at Jerusalem as the many Counsels since have made they are so endless and numberless and burdensome and so contradictory one to another in divers things who will but look into the Decrees of the Counsels since the Apostles dayes that we can find little certainty in any of their Decrees but rather as thy Instructer saith the Sword of the Flesh and not the Spirit hath been the Rule and Law to Christianity but the Masters of great wit and Power and Interest have framed and made parties unto themselves and have Wars been raised among your selves about deciding your Controversies hath not the Pope Warred against the Emperour and the Emperour against the Pope were noâ— Wars raised about the Decrees when Pope Eugenius was deposed as a Heretick by the Council of Bazell and one while the Pope must be infallible as Peter's Successor and above all Councils and Churches another while the Council is above the Pope Excommunicates him as a Heretick and excludes his Infallibility and now where is the certainty and whether should one go or appeal for true Judgment so though the Church of Rome boast of Unity yet how hath one Nation made War against another and yet Professing the same Faith at divers times and in sundry Ages And to tell thee plainly and to speak the naked Truth according to the Apostles Prophecy after their Departure there was a great Apostacy and a great Falling away from the Faith and a giving heed to Lying Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils and many were suhverted from the Faith by them that spake Lyes in Hypocrisie and took up the Priests Office for filthy Lucre and they went out into the World and the World wondred after them and they had the Form and the Sheeps Cloathing and the Saints Words but were Enemies to the Cross of Christ and to the Power of Godliness and the Kings of the Earth were bewitched with her Sorceries and then forced all and compelled all to receive and believe such Decrees and such Articles as were then set forth by a Pack of those Hirelings who minded their own Profit and their own Bellies who mingled their own Inventions and Traditions with the Doctrine of Christ and brought the Scripture for a Cloak and the Apostles Practice for a President and could â—ay falsly as the Apostles said in Truth It seems good to us and the holy Ghost that these our Decrees be observed for God hath placed us as Judges and directors as them that are appointed of God himself to which all Christians are to submit and none to question and if any do question and will not obey it is the Kings and Princes Duty in all Countries to cause all to submit to these our Decrees and Orders or else to be punished as Hereticks with Death for we are the Apostles Successors and
had not that Sufficiency which many look upon now they have to wit natural Tongues and Languages yet it was sufficient in them to give them Wisdom to declare the things of the Kingdom of God to the Salvation of many that did believe through their Words it was sufficient to comfort Paul and Silas when they were shut in the inner Room and their Feet fast in the Stocks when there was no outward Cause of Joy but rather of Sorrow yet they were made to sing and rejoyce because of the great Comfort and Joy that the Spirit of God filled their Hearts with again it was sufficient in the midst of great Conflicts and Tribulations which Paul and the rest suffered for the Gospel's sake and for Christ's sake and yet as Suffering did abound it was sufficient to make Consolation to super-abound to ballance the Suffering and to make it easie Fifthly It is that everlasting Covenant which the Lord promised by the Mouth of his Prophets in â—ormer Dayes that he would fulfil in the latter Dayes or after times That he would write his Law in their Hearts and put his Spirit in their inward Parts and that they should not teach every Man his Neighbour saying know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least to the greatest and again in another Place I will pour upon them the Spirit of Prayer and Supplication and they shall see him whom they have pierced and again I will pour out my Spirit upon all Flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall prophecy c. And this was fulfilled at Pentecost in Jerusalem when the Disciples met together and the Promise of the Father came to be fulfilled and the Unbelievers said They were filled with new VVine and the Lord hath a Care of his People through Ages and hath not left them comfortless not without a Guide and a certain and sure one too which Spirit is manifest among some Non-conformists whom thou takest Liberty to call Sects and the Sufficiency of it is witnessed praised be the Lord in our Assemblies both as to convince to convert to save to judge to guide to instruct to comfort and is that alone in which all true Christian Men can worship God in the Silence of all Flesh fleshly Motions Thoughts it 's that that giveth Assurance also of Acceptation with God and is that which makes the Prayers of the Saints as sweet Incense in the Nostrils of the Lord it is that which makes the Words of him like Butter as pleasant as Hony or sweet Oyl who speaks by it through it and from it whereby the Hearts of many have been pricked and the Thoughts of many have been revealed and many have been comforted with Joy unspeakable and filled with pure Love from the sensible Feeling of the Sufficiency of its Power operating in the inward Man even as when the Harvest had been gathered in and the Press been full of Grapes and the Fat 's had overflown with Abundance so that they could have rejoyced and sung and danced for Joy as sometimes David did when the Ark of God was brought from the House of Obed-Edom and placed in Jerusalem when David danced for Joy and all Israel was filled with Gladness what might I say for the Certainty Sufficiency and All-sufficiency of this holy Spirit of God I might fill my Mouth with Arguments and time might fail me in Speech to speak of the Excellency Certainty and Infallibility thereof against all Opposers and Quarellers In a Word it is that alone means through which God conveys Eternal Life to all Man-kind and it is that Rule by which all the Sons of God were led Rom. 8.14 It is that only sure Guide Judge Way Rule in which there is Certainty and Assurance of the Love of God to Man-kind it is that by which the Deeds of the Flesh are mortified and men quickened and enlivened unto God in their Hearts in which the Saints are accepted by which they are regenerated and through which they become Heirs of the Promise what shall I say but this let all Flesh be confounded before it and all Deceit stop its Mouth and all the Sons of Men bow before it all Councils and Churches all Rulers and Elders all Reason and Comprehension all Words and Writings of Men and holy Men yea of the Scriptures of Truth it gave them all a Being it was and is and is to come and will remain when all visible things are past away it is that by which God will plead with all Flesh and bring a Consumption upon all the honourable of the Earth and burn up the Mountains and make the Hills to melt and make all a Plain before him therefore make room make room make way ye Potsherds and cease all your contending and babling and bow to it and learn of it in your Hearts which R. E. like an ignorant Man calls a private Spirit that your Souls may be saved in the Day of the Lord and you may escape his Wrath which is to come against all Resisters of it Sixthly Your Catholick Church falsely so called who hath Erred from the Spirit the infallible Guide though you much boast of it both in Doctrine and Practise abundantly insomuch that your Faces seem altogether to look another way and your course to arrive at another Haven then the Apostles and all the Primitive Christians attained unto to wit everlasting Happiness and Rest of their Souls and acceptation with God in their performances and Sacrifices which they offered unto him in the Spirit of which they and all that believe in it and have received it received perfect assurance in their Hearts by the immediate Spirit of God and likewise the Protestants in general whether Lutherans or Calvinists or other Sects known by denomination are of so narrow and a pinching Spirit as that you would Pinch and shut up the Universal love of God unto all Mankind in a narrow Corner and monopolize the free Grace of God that hath appeared unto all Men that teaches all Men that receive it to deny all Heresie Falshood Opinions and Humours private Spirits and Spirits of Error which leadeth from all these and is sufficient to lead out of all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to do that which is acceptable in the sight of God and this all Sects since the Woman cloathed with the Sun fled into the Wilderness viz. the true Church and all parties have laid claim to and excluded all other that were not of the Opinion as from having any share in it as though it were given only to such a company of Men that succeeded the Apostles and by Arts and parts and Natural Language in the Course and Term or Years and at such such places as the Apostles were sometime conversant at and other Sects besides you who have kept more nearer in Conformity in Doctrine and Worship and unto the Apostles then you have done they have laid claim to the Spirit of God and to
them that bring them forth like them in Bedlam and what though Turks Jews Pagans Mahomet and the false Christians do pretend to the Spirit and guidance by it and yet bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh doth this make the Spirit of God void or the certainty of it to them that believe or do make their Fruits of none effect God forbid thy Ignorance is manifest but here thou ceasest not thy Tongue being thy own and thou being at liberty and speakest thy own words which in the end shall become thy Burden Thou vapours and vants over them to wit all the Nonconformists and saist What can you say for your selves any of you which these Enthusiasts who have gone before you to maintain their Errours but the Rule and judge and then thou concludes That which God hath appointed to be rule and judge to all the World and capable of being known and heard by all and cannot contradict it self nor must be contradicted by any under pain of Damnation if you cannot shew it to have been your Rule you ought to lay aside your Folly as destructive to human Society and them that have pretended the Spirit the strongest party and Sword upon the vote will prove it self the most convincing Spirit and force the weaker Spirits to submit or cry for thou concludes the Nonconformists have no other Testimony to try your contradicting Spirits in matters of greatest moment but force and success if you have I pray you inform me what it is Answ. If the Wind had not turned into another door divers Non-conformists believe we should have had another Song from thee if time had but favoured thee so far as to have granted thee priviledge of thy Troop to be Captain which Name thou holds up yet in the pride of thy Heart though thou hast lost thy force success and Pay which was the greatest plea when time was with thee and not long since too which makest thee measure every Man's Foot by thy Last and thou might receive information before thou hadst made a Conclusion had been the part of a Wise man before thou hadst set thy self as Judge over all thy former Fellowships which thou fianedly pretends so great love to and before thou hadst discovered their nakedness if it be nakedness to all the World in such a publick insulting bravado as this like Goliah of Gath and as for whatsome Non-conformists both of the Church of Rome and to the Church of England to which thou creeping and sneakingly flatters and saist it 's established and therefore thou will not meddle thou might have said dare not for thy Spirit is well enough seen by them only to have the Spirit of a Slave and not a free Member of the true Church of God and it 's no part of a Vertue nor Honour for thee to insult and glory over them who are in suffering and Adversity whenas thou darest not meddle with them who are as contrary to thee as the former this is but the Spirit of a Coward and is ignoble and base and ever so to be accounted by all the Children of Light who dare put all to venture which they do enjoy on this side of Immortality and to suffer the loss of all visible things for their Testimony and the Truth which they believe and for bearing witness against that which is contrary unto their Faith as did the valiant Primitive Christians of old and that which some Non-conformists can say is more then thou canst believe although demonstrated in the evidence of the Spirit of God with sound reason and evident Example from the Scriptures of Truth and though thou and thy former fellowships then and thy new fellowships now have made this vapour which for ought I know might lay your Hands upon your Mouths all considering what contradictory Doctrines and Fruits have been brought forth since the Night of Apostacy entred in and all the World wondered after the Beast some have this to say He that pretends to the Spirit and the thing cometh not to pass that they speak or Prophesie let him be accounted a false Prophet again they that pretend guidance of the Spirit as some formerly have done and yet bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh as variance Hatred Emulation Strife Contention Heresie false Doctrine Persecution force and violence let them be counted as truly they are Deceivers and Delâ—ders which have gone out into the World and deceived a great part of Mankind of which Rome hath not had the least share clear it when thou canst Morever he that pretends to have the Spirit of God and layes down another Foundation to build upon in matter of Faith in matter of Rule in matter of Judgment in matter of Doctrine then that which the Lord of Life and Glory hath laid down he is a Deceiver and an Anti-christ but R. E. hath laid down another Rule another way another Judge another Foundation for Faith and let himself make the Conclusion if he once dare joyn to true Judgment other Foundation can none lay then that which is â—lready laid to wiâ— Christ Jesus the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and of the Church of God by which they were all builded up as a holy Habitation for God to dwell in through the Spirit Again the Apostle saith All Judgment is committed to the Son both in Heaven and Earth and again he saith himself I am the Way the Truth and the Life and none can come to the Father but by me and again the Spirit of Truth shall lead and direct hâ—â— Disciples into all Truth and sealeth unto them their Justification Redemption and Salvation And this R. E. would lay all waste and void and why because many have pretended to it and have fallen short therefore all the aforesaid things must be laid aside as uncertain and not to be trusted unto and a certain sort of Men called the Apostles Successors who have sought their gain and worldly Interest and to enlarge their Dominions and to make themselves Lords over mens Faith and over mens Consciences whatsoever they say though never so contradictory to the Primitive Doctrine delivered in Christ and the Apostles dayes yet all must be received upon pain of Damnation as R. E. saith and this he calls the Visible Church and the infallible Judge and Rule and Director and hath laid waste the Office of Christ and turned the Spirit out of doors and made it ineffectual and would perswade all others to look to this from the Foundation and so is a deceiver and an Anti-christ Again we have this to say he that teacheth a contrary Doctrine then that which was once delivered unto the Saints is a Deceiver and deceived and this was Christ's Doctrine once delivered unto the Saints Swear not at all and love your Enemies pray for them that Persecute you do good to them that hate you And many more precepts which this visible Guide to wit the Roman Church holds not but hath made void
Devil did when he brought it is written to Christ and left out half the words so R. E. hath left out the Conditions on the Disciples part and that which was their duty teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you and then lo I am with you c. But R. E. likes not obedience it seems unto Christ's commands and yet he will needs be a sharer in the Promise and of the Power that was given and bind God unto that and he and his Church to be loose to do and to teach what they will but as to all the Scriptures he hath brought and minced them and cut them in piece-meal and all the inferences he makes this we acknowledge without multiplicity of words that whatsoever was promised to the Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ as the Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ the same Promise of Christ doth belong to the Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ in every Age and stands upon the same condition viz. Obedience unto hâ—s will and that they still do teach and no other thing but what he commands them then he is with them according to his Promise but let not R. E. nor his Roman Catholicks look if they teach things repugnant to his mind and contrary to his will and press upon others to believe that which Christ hath never taught that then the Promise of God will be so intailed to them as that they cannot Err and here the deceit of thine and your Hearts hath led you aside and this is one of the cunning sleights of Men and craftiness whereby you lay in wait to deceive and by this you have deceived many because God hath made such large Promises unto his Church how that they should be led into all Truth and preserved out of Error and you are their Successors and must needs Inherit this Promise by way of intail and you cannot Err you cannot be deceived because the Apostles were infallible therefore you must needs be infallible though you Err and go aside never so much from the infallible Spirit the true Guide and Judge of and in the Church of God as though you had been born to infallibility and the Spirit of Truth had come by succession but the inward Light which thou scoffs at and the Spirit of Truth which thou calls a private Spirit often hath discovered you and your Spirit though thou boastest of fifteen Ages that your Doctrine hath been held by the Pastours and Teachers in your Visible Church as in the fifty seventh Page of thy EPISTLE suppose I should grant the fifteen hundred Years which I neither can nor will but I will lead thee to the sixteen hundred years and try thee your Doctrine that you have held this fifteen hundred Years if it be so as thou saist but this thou likes not but seeing thou plead'st Antiquity let us come on and joyn issue prove us Transubstantiation in the first hundred Years nay I will give thee five hundred more and if I give thee five more thou would'st hardly prove it before the Council of Trent prove us the Doctrine of Purgatory in the first hundred Years and if thou take two it shall not offend me prove us the forbidding of Ministers to marry in the first hundred years and abstinence from Meats as though they were unclean which are created by God for the use of Believers prove us that Man hath a two-fold right to the Kingdom of Heaven as your great Bellarmine saith the one by Christ the other by a Man 's own Works prove us Invocation of Angels and Prayer and Sacrifice for the Dead the first hundred years after Christ prove us their selling of Pardons in Christ's and the Apostles dayes for Money prove us setting up of Images as to put Men in mind of the Saints deceased and of their Works prove us Baptism of Infants with Cream and Spittle and singing with the Cross and God-fathers and God-mothers and let us have some example beyond bare report for we dare not relie upon your infallible Spirit in these things therefore convince us for we are Gain-sayers and upon good Ground and we do look upon all these Doctrines and many more not to be of such a great Age as thou tells on neither to have any affinity or congruity with the Church of Christ in his or the Apostles time nor sundry Years after but rather look upon them as Doctrines of Devils and a very novelty a further Scripture R. E. urges 1. Tim. 3.15 the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth and may we not relie of that Pillar that God hath erected for us saith he and he that hears you hears me and go teach all Nations and I am with you alwayes and yet if after all these Promises if the Church may not be believed except she teacheth according to the Scriptures and be only infallible but when she doth her duty then the Church hath no more priviledge then the Devil hath for so long as he teaches conformable to the Scripture he may be believed and so long as he teaches Truth he may be believed saith R.E. in page 58 59. Answ. The Church is in God 1 Thes. 1. and is the Pillar and Ground of Truth she is in the World though not of the World and though the Members thereof be visible in the World yet the world that lies in Wickedness never owned them as such either saw the Glory of this Church but alwayes Persecuted it and was so far owning it as Rule and Judge as it altogether gain-sayed its direction but they that did believe in the word of Life and were separated from the World and hated by it were willing to hear the Counsel to receive the instruction of the Church of God and the Church only medled with their own Members as in matter of Judgment and not of the World further then by preaching Repentance in it for the Apostle saith What have we to do to judge them that are without and this Church as in God was secure to relie upon for she had the Oracles of God committed unto her every one may relie upon this Pillar if they dare trust it which I see R. E. dares not because he likes not to be tyed to their Doctrine declared of in the Scriptures but would have all to take what they say for granted without the Scripture or the Apostles example or Spirit and is not this unreasonable in thee that would'st have the Church to be believed or that which calls it self so by Name when she teacheth not conformable to Scriptures and to the Faith which was once delivered among the Saints and wouldst thou have a Church reckoned infallible and to be believed when she doth not her duty the Churches priviledges are in speaking Truth and judging Righteously and the Devil was a Lyer from the beginning and is out of the Truth and where hast thou read that he teaches
delighted in Concord and Unity and greatly delighted in the Company of such whom he knew truly feared the Lord and nothing did rejoyce his Heart more then to hear the Truth prospered and that the Churches did encrease in the blessed Fellowship of the Gospel of Christ Jesus And when his Dayes were near spent that Sickness and bodily Weakness came upon him he endured it with very great Patience unto the latter End and his dear Wife and some other Friends being with him he spoke forth heavenly things as one that had obtained the full Assurance of an heavenly Crown and as one whose Heart and Soul was fully fixed upon the Lord who was mightily seen to be with him to his very last End his Soul magnifying of him for his infinite Goodness unto him all his Life long and so he laid down his Head in Peace being he had faithfully served the Lord in his Generation And this is my Testimony for that faithful Servant of God who to the Hour of his Dissolution bore Testimony unto the Truth and my Soul's Desire is his Blood in the Day of the Lord may not be laid to the Charge of some who had a great Hand both in causing him at first to be made Prisoner and also in the continuing of him so to the very last but we leave things with the Lord as knowing Vengeance belongs to him and that he will give a Reward to every one according to their Works By one that loves the Name of the Righteous which shall never rot though the Wicked go down to the Grave and are remembred no more and by one that was a Friend and Country man of the Author of the ensuing Writings R. P. A funeral Verse or Verse in Remembrance of that pious Patriot and Christian Sufferer for the Testimony of his God and his Truth Francis Howgil who faithfully willingly and readily gave up his Life to the Death for the Record which he did bear concerning the Things of Jesus and for obeying the just Commands of Christ. Christian and Moderate Reader IN Silence I had sate and stay'd my Pen Yea as one not appearing till O then Great Pressures suffered me to take no Rest Till that unfolded was which in my Breast Lay cabined then with a mournful Eye Constrain'd I was to wring mine Elegy Love mix'd with Tears made Verse of this my Theam Tears mix'd with Love made tickling Eyes a stream Bedewed Cheeks they then did represent Symptoms of Sorrow weeping Eyes have sent But yet methinks I am not as alone There 's many with me that do make a Moan Yea there are Thousands that do sympathize With me they joyn and stand in watry Eyes When they at first do hear this sorrowing Sound That dear F. H. his Body is laid in 'th Ground But stay what 's need of mourning he 's at 's Rest Perpetual Joyes enjoyes forever blest Redemption from all Pain and Sorrow he Is now attain'd into Eternity Heaven's Joy yea his Soul in solacing The doubled Allelujah now to sing Who was adorn'd who richly beautifi'd Who valiant was for Truth when he was tryd Who stoutly did persist unto the End A Champion like for Christ his Life to spend Like a brave Warriour fighting in a Field Like to a Martyr he his Life did yield O glorious glorious everlasting God Praises to thee Praise sounds to thee abroad Who through thy great Power and wondrous Love Who through thy great Mercy didst approve And him didst call even in his tender Years So that he sought thee daily shedding Tears O this doth speak thy Praise thou living God Who didst so early lay on him thy Rod To bring him home lest he should go astray And step aside from thee another Way Yea this I know that Record he did give That from a Child he sought in God to live Then in process of Time thou by thy Light Remov'd the Darkness of his darksome Night Terrors O Lord from thee took hold of him And Judgment just upon the Man of Sin Thou cut him down with sharpness of thy Word Which was more sharp then a two-edged Sword Thou hewedst him all in Pieces and him try'd That thou mightst cause him to be purifi'd And then O Lord the dawning of thy Day To him appeared in Beauty to array Then did thy bright and glorious Morning-star Yea in his Heart arise and shine right clear Then Lord thy Comliness to him appeared Then Lord thy Mercy to his Soul was heard Speaking great Peace his Soul did consolate Thou madest him happy in a blessed state An Instrument of Praise Thousands give thee Thanks Lord that they his Face did ever see Thou fed'st him in the Valleys where t' was green Where fresh springs run thy Love was therein seen Thou led'st him nigh the Brooks and VVaters still VVith Joy and Gladness thou his Cup didst fill His Ministery in the Truth was great His VVords were piercing powerful and sweet Yea they were soft and tender gentle calm They were as Ointment as a precious Balm To heal to consolate to cure the smart Of many a swooning sorrowed wounded Heart Great was thy Love O God who oft instill'd Thy VVisdom living Vertues of him fill'd Who through thy inspired spirit bright Who with the Glimpses of thy glorious Light Who with the joyous splendour of thy Day Who with thy comely Beauty didst aray Who many Graces didst to him impart Yea Lord great Things revealed in his Heart Let these speak forth thy everlasting Praise By all who know thee now yea and alwayes That thou O living God descended down Into his Heart and there to take up Room So that O Lord nothing to him more dear Was then thy Truth when once it did appear Yea Lord his Life his Liberty his all He gave up freely when of him they call To Prison he resign'd till 's dying Day Truth ballanc'd all and had the greatest Sway Oh shall I now omit and not rehearse His Travails Prisons Perils in my Verse His Beatings Woundings which mine Eyes have seen His Stocking Threatnings Mockings which have been All which for Truth 's sake in his Time did bear Which did confirm his Testimony clear Rest then dear Francis rest in thy glorious Rest Rest in the Lord rest now forever blest Farewel my late dear Friend farewel my Dear Thy Absence causeth me a dropping Tear Thy Countenance thy Comliness to me More joyous was then outward Harmony Thy good Advice thy sound and Serious Words Thy many Writings which to Truth records The loving Aspect which from thee I had When now I do remember O I 'm sad That sweet Salute that from thy dying Lips I did receive in my Remembrance is Thine Eyes my Hands did close thee to thy Rest Once more I bid farewel forever blest Farewel farewel forevermore farewel Thy Habitation's Heaven there to dwell A Well-willer to the Truth who seals his Testimony that he dyed in and for the Truth E. G. Thomas Langhorn's
a Prey no longer they shall find Though their Reward for such things be to come They may be snapp'd as they snapp'd thee ere long Sure Appleby may now its Loss bewail It hath no more such to detain in Goal No Man so fit your Differences to end 'Mongst Lawyers now your Money you may spend None so discreet wherein to put your Trust Your light Esteem declares your Loss is just He well deserv'd why was he disregarded Why was your Love to him so much retarded Oh! Slavery surprized Fear was the Thing Lest you should be counted Rebels to your King The Proverb holds when in Adversities Few Friends appear but many Enemies This is alwayes the temporizing Strain Sight Honesty and Countenance prophane Oh sure thy poor that in thy Prison lies His Loss laments with Sobs and watry Eyes For he to them exhibited Relief And by sweet Counsel often eas'd their Grief He as a nursing Father was to them And all the oppressed that unto him came Yea many a Soul that him to visit came With great Refreshment did return again Those that in Travail Dayes and Miles had spent Him for to see returned not discontent Who ever sought him and returned sad He for all Sorts Relief and Counsel had And what he had he freely distributed So that his Foes his Name have well reputed He never to his Enemies bore Grudge Nor in his Heart no Malice he did lodge He lov'd no Strife but alwayes sought for Peace He cans'd the Love of Friends and Foes encrease There was no State nor no distress'd Condition For which he know not Balm or was Physician Some may object how do I these things know Our frequent Intimacy them did show He certainly was born of the Spirit above His Life declar'd to all he dwelt in Love I well remember when I stood him by At Side of his Death 's Red where he did lye His Weakness great did make my Eyes to run My watry Cheeks he fix'd his Eye upon I from my heart desired God would please Either by Life or Death to give him ease Turning his Eye by his Reply I saw That he was ready but he thought Death slow It breaks my Heart now when I do remember His Care and Love which over all was tender Oh! the Want of him to my Soul is a Loss â—et I contented am to bear the Cross Being God's Pleasure I dare not repine But freely in his Will all Things resign Because I see all outward Comforts fail 'T is Peace with God will only me avail Therefore to that I shall apply my Mind The Residue of those my Dayes behind Desiring to compleat my Course and Faith As piously as I believe he hath That in God's Service I my Life may spend And his Reward my Soul may reap in 'th End Therefore we slight that persecuting Spirit That of Eternal Life would disinherit For who among them now have gain'd their Peace By persecuting him to his Decease But their Reward in the End will sure be Pain Though they at present their proud Will obtain Desist I shall Oh Lord take thou the Praise Throughout my Life of all my Words and Wayes So farewel Reader this I do commend Unto thy View and shall remain thy Friend Thomas Langhorn Thomas Carlton The unchangeable Testament and Will and Counsel of Francis Howgil left to his Daughter Abigail Howgil DAughter Abigail this is for thee to observe and keep and take heed unto all the Dayes of thy Life for the regulating of thy Life and Conversation in this World that thy Life may be happy and thy End blessed and God Glorified by thee in thy Generation these Things I bequeath unto thee and counsel thee ever to observe being the chief Thing alone I have to bestow upon thee which I prize more then outward Riches do thou so also and observe and keep my Sayings and I charge thee before God and by the Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ that thou observe what I say the which I am moved of the Lord to leave thee behind and in tender Love and Affection unto thee my Daughter that the Lord may give his Blessing unto thee and make thy Wayes prosperous and thy latter End Peace First of all know this I was never born to great Possessions or did inherit great Matters in this World but the Lord hath alwayes endowed me with Sufficiency and enough and hath been as a tender Father unto me because my Heart trusted in him and did love the Way of Righteousness from a Child I have no great Portion to bestow upon thee of the things of this World yet of that little which I have and that God hath blessed me with something I shall give thee which I shall not mention here but thou wilt know at my Decease but thy dear Mother I rather commend thee unto whom I trust will provide sufficiently for thee unto whom my Heart hath been upright before the Lord she had a sufficient Portion and Dowry when I married her the which I shall be sorry much to lessen or impair and whatever was hers if it please the Lord I decease before her I freely leave unto her as was ever my Intention and Purpose which hath not neither shall alter through the Strength of God as God only knows and bears me record and shall be manifest unto all in due time as it is unto the Lord who hath been with me in the midst of many Troubles Tryals and Sufferings and hath lifted up my Head above my Adversaries because I only trusted in his Name which at all times I found as a Refuge and a present Help in the time of need and so will be unto thee if thou fear his Name and trust in him forever And now dear Child hearken unto the Words of my Mouth and listen unto my Counsel ponder these things I leave behind me unto thee to observe that thy Dayes may be long upon the Earth and blessed and comfortable unto thee and an Honour to God in thy Generation at that time when thou wast born and brought forth was a time of deep Exercise and Trouble with me not from the Lord who alwayes spoak Peace unto me and did sustain me but by Reason of the Adversary of Mankind who alwayes seeks to devour the Good in all and is the Sower of Discord and Mischief in the Hearts of them who fear not the Lord neither abide in his Counsel in whom he enters as any Place is given unto his Temptations and corrupts the Mind but though it was a great Tryal that came upon me the Lord kept my Heart in Uprightness unto him and gave me much Patience so though the Earth had been removed into the midst of the Sea and all outward things had run into Confusion and Nature had changed his Course the Lord gave me a Resolution and Strength as not to be troubled neither offended because he did support me at that time wast thou born and therefore
I was moved to call thy Name Abigail which signifies the Father's Joy or Delight for in thee I was comforted that did mitigate my present Trouble and my Counsel unto thee is That thou remember thy Creator in the Dayes of thy Youth and fear the Lord in thy Youth and learn to know him and serve him all thy Dayes first seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof it 's not far from thee it 's within thee it consists in Life and Power and it stands in Righteousness Truth and Equity Justice Mercy Long-suffering Patience Love Light and Holiness this is the Being and Center thereof therefore seek not lo here or lo there without thee in this or that outward Observation for mâ—ny seek there and never find it but seek and thou shalt find wait and thou shalt receive if thou enquire in what must I seek and what must I wait in how must I seek I inform thee thou must silence all thy own Thoughts and thou must turn thy Mind to that which is pure and holy and good within thy self and seek and wait in that in the Light of Jesus Christ wherewith thou art enlightened which shews thee when thou dost Evil and checks and reproves take heed unto that and it will shew the evil Motions and Thoughts and as thou lovest it it will subdue them and preserve thee for the time to come out of Evil for though thou be born into the World a reasonable Creature yet thou must be born again and be made a new Creature or else thou canst not enter into God's Kingdom thou must know the Seed of the Kingdom in thy self of which thou must be born and formed again into God's Image I have told thee God hath sown it in thee a Grain of it a Measure of it a Portion of it a Measure of Light and Truth of Righteousness and Holiness keep in thy Mind to that and love it and thou wilt feel the heavenly Father working in thee â—nd begetting thee to Life through Jesus Christ that hath enlightned thee and thou wilt feel the Power of the Lord strengthning thee in thy little and make thee to grow in the Immortal Seed of his Kingdom and out grow and over grow all Evil so that thou wilt daily dye to that and have no Pleasure in it but in the Lord and in his Goodness and Vertue shed abroad in thy Heart which thou wilt tast and feel within and have Joy and Comfort therein love the Lord with thy Heart and Soul even him that made thee and gave thee a Being and all things in Heaven and Earth and still wait for the Knowledge of him in thy self he is not far from thee but near unto thee and unto all that call upon him in an upright Heart and do thou enquire of thy dear Mother she will inform thee she knows him and the Way to Life and Peace and hearken unto her Instruction God is a Spirit a pure Spirit of Light and Life and Power he that searcheth the Heart and shews thee when thou dost Evil or think'st Evil or speak'st Evil and shews unto Man and Woman their Thoughts that which shows the Evil is Good and that which shews a Lye is Truth this is within take heed to it this is called God's Spirit in the Scripture believe in it love it and it will quicken thy Heart to Good and it will subject the Evil here is thy Teacher near thee loving it and if thou act contrary it will condemn thee therefore take heed unto this Spirit of Truth and it will enlighten and enliven thee and it will open thy Understanding and give thee to know what God is and to do that which is good and acceptable in his Sight this Spirit never errs but leads out of all Error into all Truth O Abigail believe my Words they are the Words of God and Truth be not wanton but sober minded in thy Youth and wait on the Lord within hearken unto him God is Light immortal Life immortal Truth immortal an everlasting eternal Spirit he speaks spiritually and invisibly within the Hearts and Consciences of Men and Women hear what he speaks and obey his Voice and thy Soul shall live fear to offend him or sin against him for the Wages of Sin are Death therefore prize his Love in thy young and tender Years and do thou read the Scriptures and Friends Books and take heed unto what thou readest to obey it as far as thou understandest and pray often unto the Lord that he will give thee his Knowledge and open thy Understanding in the things of his Kingdom search thy Heart often with the Light of Christ in thee manifest and bring thy Deeds to it that they may be tryed and examine thy self how the Case stands betwixt the Lord and thee and if thou seest thy self wrong humble thy self and be sorry and turn unto him and he will shew thee Mercy and take heed for the time to come that thou run not into the same Evil again keep thy Heart clean watch against the Evil in thy self in that which shews it therein there is Power and thereby thou hast Power to overcome all Evil And dear Child miâ—d not the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Moment and the End is Misery but keep under and cross thy Will and Affection so thy Mind will have no Pleasure in the Evil but in Good and thou wilt feel the immortal Seed springing up in thee which God's Peace and Love is to O Abigail these are great and weighty things not to be slighted accompany thy self alwayes with them that fear the Lord and fear and worship him in Spirit and Truth and lead a holy and a blameless Life and Conversation deny not them but love them and suffer with them take heed that thou follow not the hireling Teachers who preach for Gain and Lucre and abide not in Christ's Doctrine believe them not heed them not they do People no Good but thou wilt see them thy self they have an outside Shew of Godliness sometimes but deny the Power of God and true Holiness remember I have told thee who have had perfect Knowledge of them but be sure that thou let nothing separate thy Love from God and his People those are his People that keep his Law and obey Christ's Voice and lead a holy Life and they were ever hated and belyed and persecuted and evil-spoken on alwayes by bad and evil loose People these are God's People and his Love and Peace and Blessing is with them do thou grow as a natural Branch up among them of the living Vine and continue all thy Dayes in Obedience unto God's Will and thou wilt feel Joy and Love in thy Heart which above all things covet after and thou shalt attain and obtain everlasting Peace which the Lord grant unto thee according to the Riches of his Mercy and Love which endure forever and ever Amen And now Abigail concerning thy well
I deny them and they and all vvho act in Uncleanness And thou goest on and shevvest as thou hast stollen from other mens VVords from the Prophets and Moses That the Judgment of the Lord was against all Idolaters and false Prophets and Dreamers and how they and them that served strange Gods were to be put to Death Wo unto them saith the Lord that steal my Word every Man from his Neighbour and say thus saith the Lord whenas the Lord hath never spoken unto them thou hast stoln other mens VVords and shalt be judged by thy ovvn mouth and thy ovvn Lavv that thou never hadst the VVord of the Lord made manifest nor never did the Lord speak to thee and therefore thou art that false Prophet and art that Dreamer and he that hath a Dream let him tell a Dream he that hath the Word of the Lord let him speak it novv them that speak the VVord of the Lord from the Mouth of the Lord as the true Prophets did and do then thou callest to the Magistrates to put them to Death And as for the Worshippers of strange Gods many in the County of Durham and many other Places let them declare vvhether they vvorshipped any but a strange God at a Distance and vvent after dumb Idols even as they vvere led vvhile they follovved the ministry vvhich vvas never sent but novv is the Lord made manifest and the strange Gods are put avvay and broken and the false Prophets are seen and the Prophet is raised up vvhich Moses spoak of and vvhosoever hear 's not his Words shall be slain vvith the Svvord And further thou tellest the Magistrates That if any Hypocrite shall presume to speak a Word in the Name of the Lord which he hath not commanded even he shall dye and it is an old Statute unrepeal'd Rep. If thou knevv vvhat thou spoak thou hast given Sentence against thy self I charge upon thee in the Presence of the living God that thou never heardst his Word nor spake his Word but in thy ovvn Name and I charge it again upon thee when did he ever speak to thee that Spirit by which the Prophets of the Lord spoke thou dost deride and call'st it a miraculous Infusion and so thy Spirit is another and not the same and that it is an old Statute thou shalt know that thou hast spoken in thy own Name and what thou hast learned by Tradition but in Christ all the Law and the Prophets is fulfilled and all Statutes who come to witness him he is the Law-giver Judge and King and all is fulfilled as he comes to be witnessed and all strange Gods put away even the Idols of Gold and Silver and all false Prophets by him come to be seen judged condemned and slain and thou that would'st put it upon the Magistrate without to kill Men by a Law and so to usurp the Power which is given to the Son and so make them guilty of innocent Blood thou art a Murderer And now further who must judge of the false Prophets of Heresie Schism and Blasphemy I know thou denyest Revelation and the rest of the Priests in England who trade with other mens Words and I know thou darest not say thou art infallible and thou hast not discerning of Spirits the Apostle exhorted them who dwelt in the Light to try the Spirits but he bad not them who are led by the Prince of the Air and were Children of Disobedience as thou art of a covetous earthly Mind he bad not them to try nor them who were carnal and therefore stop thy mouth thou canst not discern a Lamb from a Dog not a Kite from a Dove And let all Magistrates who fear the Lord either in this Nation or else-where take heed how they judge of Heresie and Blasphemy not that I am ignorant but that there is Heresie and Blasphemy but that none can judge who they are but who have an infallible Spirit therefore it is now as it hath been many have suffered as Hereticks as Christ for a Blasphemer and the Apostles as Setters forth of strange Gods and were persecuted to Death and many do and are like to suffer by this Spirit that dwells in Thomas Ellyson And therefore all you who are Magistrates that sit as Judges and Rulers take heed what you do and take heed of Zeal without Knovvledge for so Paul persecuted and so the Jews slevv Christ the Heir and so many vvould have their Will satisfied but thou must be judged by all vvho dvvell in the Light thou that sittest as Judge over another see that thou be judged in thy self for to take your Knovvledge and Direction from such as these men instead of planting you vvill be Destroyers And thou art offended at some that hold forth new Lights and Gifts which thou say'st the Word of God never taught us Rep. All vvho are taught by the Word vvhich is eternal are guided in one Light for the Light is but one and this is no nevv Light but the same that ever vvas but thou that callest the Letter the Light and the Word thou art blind and art a Hater of the Light from vvhich the Scripture vvas declared And in the Conclusion thou beggest That Schollars and Universities may be preserved for the breeding of able Ministers to preach the Word and hold out the Sacraments Rep. And this is the Sum of all that thou and the rest of false Shepherds may be carryed in the Bosome of the Magistrates and so to preserve you and destroy all that oppose you As for Learning it is Natural I ovvn it in its Place but that it makes and breeds able ministers I deny it and all those ministers for many filthy Frogs and unclean Spirits have come out of the Universities that have spread over the Nations as Locusts vvithout a King and all their Preaching and their Sacraments is carnal and all their Ability that is got by their Trading leads People to be seven-fold moâ—â— the Children of the Devil I speak vvhat I vvas a Witness of vvhile I follovved the chiefest of them And therefore I say unto you vvho are Governours Hold not that up which the Lord hath cursed for that which is Natural cannot lead up to God And therefore be ye all vvarned That you turn not back to build again that which God is destroying who threw out one Power after another because they would needs limit the Lord a Way to walk in And truly God vvill pour you out from Vessel to Vessel till you be emptied of all and till you give him all Power and Honour to rule over his Church and People that they may serve the Lord in Freedom of Spirit and not in the Flesh and if any vvalk disorderly and break any righteous Lavv and vvalk in the Flesh them execute your Lavv upon there is your Place but that you should prescribe a Way for God to vvalk in he cannot he vvill not be bound and you that go about to
natural Conscience that it is sufficient if we give heed unto it to discover Sin and turn our Minds towards God and that this Light within is the Grace of God and that it is Christ in us Answer Let all that reads that Book see if you be not Lyars and Slanderers and Perverters and are in the Generation of those false Witnesses which bore witness against Christ and here I charge you to be Lyars Where in all the Book doth he say that the Light of a natural Conscience is sufficient to guide to God if it be taken heed to or where doth it say it discovers Sin there is another Lye And where doth he say that natural Conscience is the Grace of God there is a Third Lye and where doth he say that natural Conscience is Christ in us there is a fourth Lye Be ashamed that ever you should go and present so many filthy Lyes to Authority that there is no Truth in at all Oh ye dark Minds would you be judging and prescribing what is Heresie and Blasphemy and call the Light of Christ Paganisme and Heresie But I am bold in the Name of the Lord to declare unto you and unto all the World that Christ is the true Light that hath enlightned every one that comes into the World and that this Light is spiritual and not natural and it convinceth of all Sin he shall convince the world of Sin and whoso obey this Light which shines into the Conscience it leads up to Christ and out of Sin and it turns the Mind towards God and it shines in Darkness but you dark sottish Children know it not yea you that hate it have it and it shall condemn you and when the Book of Conscience shall be opened you shall be judged for all your hard Speeches against the Truth Another thing you present to be Blasphemy and Heresie is that the Worship that is performed in England with those Ministers that sing Davids Psalms baptize Infants wear double Cuffes Boot Hose toops take Tythes say men shall never be perfect in this World and that say the Letter is the Light and the Letter is the Word and that Salvation is in the Scripture and that call Matthew Mark Luke and John the Gospel are Seducers and no Ministers of the Word but shew forth the Spirit of Error Answer All those Ministers in England which abide not in the Doctrine of Christ all those Worshippers and Worships which are Contrary to the Scripture are Heathenish and they worship they know not what and all such Worship is an Abomination to the true God and I charge you and all those that would be counted Ministers in England to prove from the Scripture where the Saints sung Davids Conditions and Psalms in Rhimes and Meeter and where is there any Scripture for baptizing of Infants and whether any of the Ministers of Christ lived in pride and Lusts of the Flesh and where any Ministers of Christ took Tythes which belonged to the first Priesthood and the first Covenant and so they that uphold the first and deny the second and the one everlasting Offering which perfects forever them that are sanctified and where doth the Scripture say that the Letter is the Word and the Light but it witnesses against you and saith God is the Word and Christ is the Light and Christ is the Gospel yea the everlasting Gospel and Matthew Mark Luke and John declared of him and here you be witnesses against your selves ye dark-minded men and I charge you that you deny the Scripture and all those who uphold those things are in the Heathenish nature without God in the World in the Earth where the Devil dwells who is an accuser of the Brethren and doth not the Scripture and they declare it who were Ministers of Christ that there were that ran after the Errour of Balaam and their Hearts were exercised with covetous Practices And were there not such that were Railers and false Accusers and blind Watchmen and greedy dumb Dogs and such as led into VVitchcraft and Anti-christs Deceivers you might as well have called Christ Paul Peter and Jude Blasphemers and Hereticks but you are made manifest to be them and in the same nature that called Christ a Blasphemer and Paul a Pestilent Fellow and a Setter forth of strange Gods and the Ministers of Christ Seditious and thou mightst as well say Christ despised a Governour when he called Herod a Fox And now blessed be the Lord the Hour of his Judgments is come and we freely declare against all Deceit both in Magistrates Priests and People as they did that wrote forth the Scripture and bear witness to his Name as they did in our Measure and we have suffered and do suffer daily by slanderous Tongues such as you have and Imprisonments and cruel Mockings and Stripes and Bonds and can truly say to the praise of his Name We bear in our Bodies the Marks of the Lord Jesus but we must pass through good Report and evil Report and it is our Crown and rejoycing to suffer for his Name and now Gog and Magog and all the Powers of the Earth bend themselves and are angry even the Nations that profess Christ in Words and say the Scripture is their Rule but walk not according to it and against all such hypocrisie are we VVitnesses to the fulfilling our Testimony and the laying down of our Lives that he alone may be honoured who sits upon the Throne of David and of whose Government there is no End to whom be Praise forever who shall break all your Combinations and plots and you shall be Ground to Powder who set your selves against him and be dashed to Pieces as a Potter's Vessel And now to that which you call Anti-magistratical Errours That the Magistrates are not to have Titles of Worshipful or Right Worshipful and that the Subjects of a Common Wealth which is not Israel's Common Wealth are to be disturbed and that no Civil Government is to be acknowledged but the Government of the Law within us Answ. Where readest thou or any that any Magistrate was called Worshipful or Right Worshipful or ever any of the Saints of God did so he that is Righteousness and Truth unto whom all Honour and Worship belongs God blessed forever we own and worship he is no Respecter of Persons And you filthy Flatterers who are in the Curse respect mens Persons and so you are razed out forever from the Faith of Christ and from the Faith which all the Holy Men of God lived in that you know it not but you false Accusers Magistrates we know and they are for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Lavvless for Lyars and Slanderers such as you are and for the Praise of them that do vvell and vve honour such in our Hearts and obey their just Commands and are not like him that said he would go and vvent not but are subject for Conscience sake to the Povvers that are of God and
faithful Witness the Beginning of the Creation of God and all that wait not in the Light wait not in the Grace of God but wait in that which turns the Grace into VVantonness there Christ suffers and is denyed and another is owned and learned of and another Teacher and where the Grace of God is not taught and learned of Ungodliness is not denyed but Ungodliness is denyed where the Grace teacheth and where another thing is hearkened unto and learned of that which is not like God is learned and Deceit is brought forth and the Child of Fornication which must not inherit and all who learn of this Nature they are blind and ignorant of the Will of God and so know not the Doctrine of Christ but their Eyes are without in the VVorld where the falâ—e Prophets are gone out into the VVorld and there are the Errors and the Sects and Judgments which are many and the Opinions which are out of the Unity and there vain Imaginations and vain Thoughts lodge in the Heart and there the Light of Christ is not known but the VVoman speaks which ought to learn in Silence who was first in the Transgression And all you that put the Letter for the Light are blind and call it the Word and the Gospel you err not knowing the Scripture nor the Power of God for the Word of God is the Power of God which is Immortal Eternal and all that which is visible stands in time and cannot lead to know him which was before time in the Beginning And so all you who are in your Earthly carnal Minds imagining a Rule without you and a Word without you you have not learned of him who is entered within the Vail you are hunting upon the wild Mountains and Forrests and know not the Voice of the true Shepherd who saith Learn of me whose Word is nigh thee in thy Mouth and in thy Heart and thou that hast not hearkened unto this a Separation thou didst never see but Darkness is upon the Face of the Deep and the Word of God is not known by which the Heavens and the Earth were made and all things therein are upholden by the Word of his Power which Word of Power is seen by them whose Minds are turned within and there the Thoughts and Intents of the Heart are by it discerned and seen which Word is quick and powerful and discerns the Secrets of man's Heart and is as a Hammer to break the Rocks and the hard Hearts and this is Immediate and Eternal and all who know not this your carnal Mind stands wholly in you and your hard Hearts are unbroken and the Mountains are unleveled and you walk in the crooked Waves of the old Serpent in Subtilty and Deceit and stand covered before the Lord and the strait Pathes of Righteousness you have not known Therefore awake out of Deceit and Security all Sorts of People where you have been making your Rest in the Lap of the Adulterer and have drunken of the VVine of Fornication and of the old Dregs of Unrighteousness whereby the whole man in enflamed and the whole Course of Nature is set on the Fire of Hell and Filth and Abomination lodge in the Heart and you talk of the VVord of God and of the Law of God and of the new Covenant and yet never see any thing in you which you can own to guide you which is contrary to your VVills which is the VVill of God All Sorts of Professors whether Presbyters Independents Baptists or of what Name soever you are called by who say you are separated let me ask this what are you separated from and what separated you If you deny the Sufficiency of the Spirit 's teaching alone and it to be the Rule and alone Guide unto God who is separated from Sinners and beholds them afar off I say you who cannot own that which shews you your vain Minds and vain Thoughts and that discerns the Thoughts if you cannot own this the VVord of God you never knew nor the Law written in your Hearts nor the VVord of Separation and all are in your Imaginations and vain Conceivings in your fleshly Minds here and there setting up an Image raised from a dead Letter and founded on your Earthly Imaginations and they stand in the Vallies of vain Hopes and there is no Life in nothing you worâ—hip and set up neither Sight nor Hearing and every one of you worship a dead thing and that which makes not the Comers thereunto perfect but you are all pleading for Imperfection and Sin in the Body and all joyn together to oppose the Life and Power of God which the Saints ought to press after and they that stand in the Counsel do obtain Victory and witness of his Righteousness which is perfect Are not many of you turning into the old Bishops Road who would tye all unto their Idols Temple or Parish-Church so called and are not many of you going about to stop all from hearing any but you under Pain of Excommunication Oh the gross Darkness you are led in and the wilful Blindness who have taken up your Rest in that which is carnal and without where all the Hypocrites may come verily I say unto you your Rest will be but as the leaning upon a bowed Wall or as a Reed of Egypt for the Ground of Iniquity stands whole and the whole Body of Darkness is not removed the Earth is whole the Fallow Ground is not plowed up Thorns and Bryars and fruitless Trees which cumber the Ground of the Lord are not cut down and so the Works of Condemnation you are none of you brought from under but self stands and your Wills are alive which are at Enmity against God only talking of a Christ at a Distance and his Righteousness as far from you as betwixt Earth and Heaven and here is your Justification applying this unto your selves while you are disobedient to the Grace of God in you this is your Faith and your Rest and this Faith all the World hath and this Hope but this Faith cannot justifie nor not one of you hath Assurance who hath but this who doth not witness God's Righteousness brought forth in you which is wrought by the Word of Faith which is incorruptible which justifies and gives Assurance and is witnessed through the Death of the Cross. And therefore I cannot forbear but to declare your Ignorance and shew you your Deceit you lye in and your ragged Vails you hide your selves under for I know your Peace you have is that which will not last And therefore be not secure and careless nor obstinate but lay down your Crowns at his Feet and come out of your Ease and Rest and fleshly Exaltation puffed up by the Wisdom of the Flesh and that which you have gathered in and not Witnesses of the same wrought in you all for the Fire yet a little while and time shall be no longer for the End of time shall come upon
Communion which is but carnal and earthly you have none of you the form one of you is for eating before Supper another after Supper another for as much Bread and Wine as you can eat and drink and so your God is your Belly and you mind earthly things and instead of remembring of Christ's Death you crucifie him afresh one with lust another with envy another with Pride and so instead of coming to the Table of the Lord you feed at the Table of Devils and nourish the flesh deceit and uncleanness and as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses by making likenesses so do you resist the Spirit of the Lord because it comes not according to your carnal Will nor your vain Conceptions and so deceit leads you all and the Cross of Christ you know not and those things you have formerly declared against you now take up some pretend sending out to preach and take Tythes others crying out against them in Words and yet uphold them and pay to the Priests whom you say are not Ministers of Christ and so waste the Lord's goods to uphold deceit and betray the Just in your selves and not one of you will suffer for that you judge your Principle and now you begin to creep into the Idols Temples and worship there and seek to the Powers of the Earth to uphold you and one of you preaching up Free-will another down another an Election of Persons and yet you never knew true Faith which is without Respect of Persons another Company of you dreamiâ—g of personal Reign in your carnal Imaginations and judge just such a God and a Christ as your selves that you may live in Pride and Lust and filthy and earthly-mindedness and Envy and yet talk of reigning with him but of being baptized into his Death you know nothing nor suffering with him you know nothing of nor of bearing his Reproach daily nor of suffering the spoiling of all and denying all for him this you are Strangers to you that tell of exercising your Gifts you have no Gift but acquired by long raking in the Letter and the Exercise of your carnal Wit and Knowledge in Contention and Strife you have treasured up a great deal of Stuff in the earthly Memory and this you call a Gift of the Spirit and such an one you make a Pastor or an Apostle of and he begets into his Image but still in the Curse and makes Proselites in the same Likeness leads into Sorts and Opinions from the true Gift of God for who hath a Gift it exercises him first and then he declares unto others of those things which the Gift of God hath wrought in him and he that knows the Gift of God is led out of his own Way Will and Time into his Will from whence it comes and here is the Ministry Christ alwayes blessed not in their own Wills but in his Will and this wrought a real Change in People from Satan's Power unto God's Power and so in all your Separation self shines in all you have not the Form much less the Power Another Sort tell of a Power to come and of a greater Glory to be revealed and a more glorious Ministry then hath been yet yet your Eyes are without and the Glory you look at is in great Words and your Expectation will fail for you neglect the present Measure of Christ's Gift that leads to Repentance and that you are got above and this is too low a thing for you you judge because you heard of this and talked of it therefore you are past this but I shâ—ll say unto you all Adulterers and Adulteresses come down from off your Mountain of Exaltation exalted above the Door and the Cross and you that are here are Thieves and Robbers your Minds are without feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and imitating the best of you in your fallen Wisdom and your Foundation is upon Report as the Vagabâ—nd Jews were in the Name of Jesus that Paul preached they would cast out unclean Spirits and they were Sorcerers and what are you now who only preach of Christ that Paul and Peter and John in the Name of that Jesus they declared of and his Righteousness they spoke of but know not his Name in you nor his Power nor his Righteousness but in Tradition Imitation and conforming in the earthly Will here is all your Worship all of you calling the Letter the Light the Word the Gospel nay some of you so impudent as to call it Spirit and Life And so now you are made manifest and seen and your God and Worship and all your Profession is tryed by the Light is seen comprehended weighed and judged with the Light and all this will be too narrow to cover you in the Day of the Lord which is coming as a Thief upon all the World who make mention of the Name of the Lord but not in Righteousness And therefore strip you make you bare be uncovered cast off your ragged Covers whiâ—h will rust and wax old and mind the first Principle the Light that shews you Evil and own it to lead you and guide you out of Sin or else I testifie unto you you shall dye in your Sins and Wrath Eternal will be your Portion except you repent and cease from your vain Thoughts and Words and wait to see the Law of God revealed in your Hearts that may shew you Sin and condemn this Nature in the Transgression and do it away and slay you and quicken another thing which is dead in Trespasses and in Sins and while you sin the Image of God is dead and Christ suffers So while you have Time prize it To all you who put out the Eye through long and accustoming unto Sin who are near utter Darkness ANd you mingled People of Babylon and Egypt who are in Darkness and love to be so who are blind and love to be so who wallow in your Iniquity and love to be so who live at Ease in the Flesh in Pleasures and Wantonness you are dead while you live you have taken up your Rest in the Earth you are inlarging your Barns you are cieling your Houses and you are building with hewed Stone and Cedars and are laying House to House and Land to Land and are making your selves great in the World and seeking a Name among men you are swallowed up of the Earth and you go upon your Bellies you feed upon Dust Wo unto you that are here you have your Consolation here you lay up your Bags where Thieves break in and steal your Garments are moth-eaten your Gold is rusty and your Silver is cankered and there is your God which you worship which you have set up and worship in your Heart And when you have over-reached your Brethren and cheated and oppressed and defrauded your Brethren and are grown rich then you say God hath given you all this whenas you have stolen it and got it in Usury and Oppression and Deceit and when you have it
have waited for yea come and his Reward is with him and they that see him come find Contentment in him and in his Reward and what is the Reward Joy Gladness Peace of Conscience Assurance of God's Love sealed in their Hearts by the pure Spirit of the Lord the Streams of Life flowing forth continually from the great deep which refresh and keep cool in the greatest Extremity and Heat of Temptation and this is enjoyed by them that have waited and do wait for it even in the Body they bare witness of him and of his coming the Disciples what was their witness The Son of God is come and hath given us an understanding Of what of God of his Day of his Appearance of his Power of his Wisdom of his Kingdom of Hâ—pe of Faith of Assurance of Peace of Joy of Comfort and Consolation what in this life yea a Cloud of witnesses I might bring in former Ages and a Cloud of Witnesses I might bring in this Age blessed be the Lord But my Witness is nearer me that giveth me Assurance and is surer to me then all their Witnesses although they be all true Abraham the Father of the faithful and of the righteous who believed God and was accepted he saw Christ's day and was glad Say literall Professors that 's by Faith yea what else by Faith he and â—ll that ever saw Christ and his day or the Father they saw him by Faith By Faith they saw him who was invisible Isa. 12.2 Behold God is my Salvation he also is become my Salvation what dost thou enjoy it already yea he is become And Simeon who waited for the Consolation of Israel Luk. 2.30 Now let thy Servant depart in Peace for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation And this he said who knew God's Comfort and Consolation as our Suffering for Christ doth abound even our Consolation in Christ doth much more abound and they were made Partakers of his Divine Nature and sate together in heavenly Places in Christ Jesus For heaven is his Throne and they that are in him and enjoy him who is the Power of God and the Wisdom of God know Peace and Rest and Salvation both from Guilt and Act of Sin And the Apostle wrote to the Hebrews After he had purged away our Sins speaking of the Attonement the everlasting high Priest he sate down on the right Hand on the Majesty on high He saw beyond Sin even him who had purged away Sin and this comes to be made manifest unto them and in them that believe by the Spirit of Jesus who is Christ the Lord the Arm that brings Salvation and is the Author of eternal Salvation unto all them that believe who begins it in his day and perfecteth in his day for he works in the day as he himself said Hitherto my Father worketh and I worke but the Night cometh when none can work So that he destroys the Work of the Devil which is his Work in man which they that are come to his day feel and see the handy-work of God in themselves and his own works praise him for they onely can and they that are not come to the day know not God's Work in themselves and they who have not yet heeded that in themselves which manifesteth all things reproveable neither that which doth reprove they are not come to know the Appearance of the glimering of Light or of the day yet in themselves which the Saints witness in them even all they that are sanctified Where the Day of the Lord doth appear and how it comes and how it is to be looked for declared THey that gaze abroad whose Eyes are abroad cannot see his Appearance nor his day which appears he that knoweth not wherein it consists knows not how to look for it no more then the Jews who were Scripture-Professors and learned Men knew wherein the Kingdom of God did consist even no more do the litteral Professors whose Faith is founded on the Letter and upon that which is visible know what I say First All must know wherein it doth consist it is eternal Brightness shed abroad through all Things which pierceth through and searcheth the secretest Place even that which is invisible and maketh manifest all things and the Nature of every Thing by the day of the Lord comes to be seen and it appears in the Heart they were to wait for the day to dawn and to break forth in their Hearts and to wait for its Appearance there and that is it which is to be waited for and upon that which maketh Evil manifest and brings it to Light and declares against that which is contrary to its Nature and so the day cometh to dawn Christ the Covenant of Light God's Gift who is sent and anointed of God to preach and to proclaim the acceptable Year of the Lord and also the day of Vengeance he proclaims in the Heart for he comes not to bring Peace but a Sword and his Sword is the Sword of the Spirit it 's that which divides and discerns the Intent of the Heart and his day discovers the desperate Wickedness of the Heart and where he finds no Faith in the Heart he kindles a Fire in the earthly Heart and executeth his Vengeance and his day unto such is a day of great Perplexity their Spirits come to be wounded the Heart comes to be made faint and Sorrow comes to fill their Hearts and Trouble to be felt and in this State are all who are unconverted he finds no Faith no Hope in the Heart therefore he comes and takes away Peace Many have talked of the day of the Lord but when it comes to draw near them they will not abide it whatsoever makes manifest is Light Now the day makes all Things in every one manifest and when Deceit is seen and Wickedness brought to Light then they that have done Evil cannot abide but would run to any Thing rather then abide the day or to see the Lord of Life appear in his day to execute Vengeance upon his Enemies and to destroy his Adversaries and to kindle an unquenchable Fire to consume all his Enemies and who have not seen this yet in themselves never have seen the Day of Salvation nor of Gladness and this made the Prophet cry out Who may abide the Day of his coming And many have been Eye-Witnesses of the dreadful Day of the Lord which hath appeared wherein all Peace hath been hid from their Eyes and all that ever came to see the Day of Joy and Gladness first did know the Terror and terrible day of the Lord in themselves therefore said the Apostle We knowing the Terror of the Lord do perswade Men now it cometh not with Observation lo here or there so the Pharisees looked the Kingdom should come when Christ told them it was within them so I say if ever any do behold the bright shining forth of eternal Life thou must wait in that which is pure of God through which
joyned for so far as a man denies himself in acting or joyning to that which the Manifestation of God's Spirit shining forth in its own Purity in him reproveth so he comes nearer and comes to joyn in some measure to the Spirit of Holiness or the holy Spirit and to receive it and to feel the Power of God in some small Measure though but weakly working in him to the purging out those things which the Spirit lets him see is evil which hath been reproved in him and so in some Measure feels in himself what to wait upon and where to wait and in what even in that which gives every one a feeling of their own Condition within and opens their Understandings How the Spirit of Truth worketh and operateth in them who are convinced and yet have not obeyed shewed THough God who is a Spirit hath appeared by his manifestation unto all yet all have not received it he that hates the Light hath not received it The Eye-lids of the morning are unto him as the shadow of Death that which manifesteth and bringeth to Light all evil the evil-doer likes it not heeds it not receives it not but still is without God in the world that lies in Wickedness and without the Spirit in death and Dead in Trespasses and Sins a Sepulcher in which the just lies slain in this state God is not remembred there is no Remembrance in the Grave nor thanks in the Pit yet Light shines in Darkness and a man unconverted yet convinced is that Darkness and that which convinceth him is the Light so Light shines in Darkness in man in the greatest Darkness and this may convince all vain Disputers who say every one is not enlightned neither that the Spirit of God hath appeared to all good men have it bad men it 's near them they that bring forth the fruits of Darkness and bring forth the Deeds of Darkness they are lighted yea they that are in Darkness and are Darkness the Light shines in them the Spirit of God shines there in Darkness manifesteth their Darkness here man is Darkness the Ephesians were Darkness in the unconverted Estate yet had Light shining in them Eph. 5.8 the Spirit 's manifestation they had but were not led by it once they were without God in the world but after it was turned unto it shewed them their Darkness and it leading their minds they came to be made Light in the Lord who is that Spirit whose Manifestation hath appeared to all so all are without Excuse for he had not left himself without a Witness and they that have not God's witness to be theirs that is to say to possess it they have no Faith nor Assurance in God at all but that which should bring Assurance of Salvation unto them it assures their Condemnation and also reveals Sorrow Now as every one is turned to the Measure of God's holy Spirit and keeps his Mind unto it he comes to feel and to see its Reproof and so as the Mind is kept still into it it arises in its Purity and shines forth in the Heart in more Brightness still checking man for Disobedience still judging and as it is listened unto it appears in Strength and layes every man's heart open and lets him see how full of Unrighteousness he is how full of Imagination he is how his Heart is full of vain and idle Thoughts and how lust aboundeth in the Heart this makes his Trouble to increase and his Sorrow to multiply and this is alwayes present none can run from it but it follows him and shall pursue every one to the Pit who obey it not and kindle his Torment and whatsoever the mind may run into to take Pleasure for a Moment and the heart be exercised in yet this Measure of God's Spirit is alwayes present to condemn it and judge a man for it so the Strokes of the Almighty are still heavy upon his Back being still in the Disobedience of the Spirit it never bears witness unto any man in that State but God through it still sounds the Alarum of War and Terror in his Heart so that Fear compasseth him about on every Side and though for a Moment the cry may not be heard and through Disobedience it may seem as dead as unto him yet if ever the Mind be but still and a man sober and calm and ever mind what he is doing it appears again and though a man may take up something and perform something which is called religious and pray in Words and read and talk of the Scriptures and may take up some carnal outward Ordinances and there content himself for a time yet still the Witness of God's holy Spirit for that shews him his Hypocrisie and that he seeks a Cover to shelter himself under that he may live in Disobedience and be at Ease in the Flesh but all in vain for there is no peace within but the Measure of God's Spirit still shews him he serves Sin and follows his own Will and in this Will brings forth a Worship and this is Will-worship nay if a man should practice all those things which others who were in the Life performed and were accepted yet this will not satisfie God hath no Pleasure in this no more then if one slow a man or blessed an Idol or killed Baal all is Abomination to the Lord and though a man may sin so far against the Light of Christ in his own Conscience that the Light be to him as though there were no such thing yet all this will not do for the Lord will thunder from his holy Place though thou hast stopped thy Ear as to him and closed thy Eyes yet he will make thee hear and see and will cause his Terror to strike into thy Heart so that Dread shall compass thee about as a Wall and thou shall be afraid for that which thou shalt see and hear and though the Spirit strives long yet being still disobeyed the long-suffering of God comes to an End concerning him that hath been unfaithful and then his Wrath is kindled as Fire which shall burn to the lowest Hell into which all the rebellious and stiff-necked shall be cast and have their Portion forever among all the Children of Darkness therefore all who have been convinced long and still are by God's holy Spirit of the Way of Truth and yet have not submitted to the leading of the Spirit think on this for it 's the Lord's Truth which I declare unto you or else eternal Misery will be your End And if thou still persist on after the Imaginations of thine own Heart and in thy rebellious Will thou quenchest the Spirit and the Motions thereof and though it be Life in it self yet is as dead unto thee who art in the gainsaying resisting that through which God's eternal Power is manifest in them that believe and thou wilt grow insensible and past feeling and become as seared Flesh and be sensless as to the things of God and
Merchants of the Earth shall weep and mourn over her for no Man buyeth her Merchandize any more Rev. 18.11 And every Ship-Master and all the Company in Ships and Sailers and as many as trade by Sea stood afar off and they cast Dust on their Heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great City wherein were made rich all that had Ships on the Sea for in one Hour she is made desolate Rev. 18.17 19. Mystery Babylon THE Mother of Harlots DISCOVERED Her RISE and when With many of Her SORCERIES IN the End of the primitive Times when the Apostles had finished their Testimony committed unto them and had gathered many out of the World and converted many unto God and many were established in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which purifieth the Heart and giveth Victory over the World and were led to the Beginning before the World was made and the Churches which were in God which had received the Anointing by which they knew all things even the invisible things of God and the Mysteries of his glorious Kingdom which God through the Spirit did reveal unto them which Spirit they had received being begotten of God by which Spirit they called him Father and by which Spirit of Truth which was manifest from the God of Truth in their Hearts they were led into all Truth and became Sons of God and Heirs of the Promise and this Spirit was their Direction and led them to worship God aright to obey and glorifie him and his Name which brought Salvation unto them and into this Spirit they were all baptized by the one Spirit into one Body and in this one Spirit they met and worshipped God and were of one Heart and of one Mind and did know their Director near them and in them and the Time did come when they worshipped neither at Jerusalem nor at Samaria but in the Spirit and in the Truth wherein the Father was glorified and came to see that fulfilled which the Prophets bore Witness of even him in whom all the Prophets end in Christ made manifest in them the Hope of Glory whose Voice they heard from Heaven by which they were quickened and raised from Death to Life by the effectual working of the mighty Power of God which wrought in them that did believe and they were in the Unity of the Faith by which all their Hearts were purified who held it which is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience by which they received an Assurance and were made Partakers of the Promises and became Inheritors of Life Light and Immortality and Heirs of the Promise and Joynt-heirs with Christ and they sate together with him in Heavenly Places and eat with him and drank with him in the Kingdom of God which stood in Power and in Righteousness Joy and Peace and did not look like the Pharisees lo here or there but first felt it as a Grain of Mustard-seed in themselves or as a Corn of Wheat which afterwards springs up as a Blade or as a Ear of Wheat to Ripeness to a full Corn and they did walk from Faith to Faith from Strength to Strength and did appear before God in Sion and the Hebrews were come to Mount Sion from whence God shined out in perfect Beauty who became their Satisfaction and Peace who had revealed his Son in them whom God had made unto them Justification Sanctification and Wisdom and so they knew one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Faith one Hope one Baptism the one Spirit into which they were all baptized into which they all did drink by which all that did believe were sanctified and did receive the Inheritance among the Saints in Light and this was the Church that was in God which was begotten by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus in the lively Faith and in the lively Hope by which their Souls were anchored and they established in the Truth that made free and they had received the Spirit of Prophecy and did speak one by one according to the Revelation of the Spirit which led out of Confusion into Order and they being in the Power of God did walk by its Order in the Order of the Gospel And now was the Woman cloathed with the Sun who had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head and the Moon under her Feet who stood in that which was unchangeable and immutable and now was the Man-child brought forth which was to rule the Nations and was revealed to the Church which was in God and he was the Head by which all the Members of the Body were united together in one and reconciled to the Father in one and by his Obedience Justification did come upon all that did believe But since the Woman fled into the Wilderness and the Man-child was caught up unto God the Midnight of Darkness came upon the whole World and the Sincerity was lost and the Image of God lost the Heir caught up out of the World's Sight Faith was lost Hope lost the Spirit lost the Saints Rule and Direction and then the Whore appeared and made all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and they staggered and reeled to and fro hither and thither having lost the Spirit became all Waters and unstable and all the World wondered after the Beast which then arose after the primitive Times and after the Apostles Dayes and admired him and worshipped him who killed the Woman's Seed and made War against it And then the Whore made Decrees who was gone from the Law-giver and she made Confessions of Faith and Articles of Faith being out of the Power of God who is the Author of true Faith being guided by the Power of the Dragon she made Orders of Worship and gave Directions for Worship having gotten on the free Womans Attire the Outside the Scriptures the Form of Godliness but afterwards became more abominable having both lost the Power and the Form worshipped the Devil's Power and the Dragon's Power and came forth in the Image of him and reached out the Cup of Fornication and made the Nations drunk with her Inchantments and Sorceries and she drunk the Blood of the Martyrs the Blood of the Prophets and them that kept the Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy and then prescribed Forms of Worship Forms of Prayer and made Creeds and Faiths and Articles of Faith and many Faiths having lost the Order of the Gospel she made many Orders and sent out many Merchants to carry abroad her Traffick and her Merchandize to the Nations and whole Ships were filled full of it Vessels full of it which went upon the Sea and rode upon the Waters upon Kindreds Tongues Nations and Peoples who received of her Merchandize and bought of several Sorts of Merchandize which the several Merchants traded with who had several Orders prescribed then as Popes Cardinals Jesuites Fryars of many Orders and Monks of many Orders Jesuites of many Orders and all these
rest of the People that buy yet our Merchandize that he holds hereticall Opinions and despises the Ministry and the Ordinances and the Doctrines of our reformed Churches or if any say That the Spirit of the Lord is a sufficient Teacher to lead his People into all Truth without outward Means as natural learning Hebrew Greek and Latin and the ancient Fathers and old Authors and so make void all our Arts and Parts which are the Foundation of our Divinity then let us cry in the Ears of all the People and in the Ears of the Rulers and the Powers of the Earth that this is Blasphemy and Error and ought to be supprest And furthermore if any shall say That he believes he shall be made free from Sin in this Life by the effectual working of Chrâ—st the mighty Power of God which condemns Sin in the Flesh and destroyes the Works of the Devil then let us cry Heresie and Blasphemy and let us tell them that the holiest that ever were upon the Earth sinned and that the Body of Sin was uncut down in them and let us prove it by Paul's Words he complained of a Body of Sin and was never in any other Condition while he lived upon the Earth and so it may be we shall keep them in Blindness that they will continue and trade with us and if any say They are come to the Baptism of the Spirit the one Baptism into which all the Saints were â—aptized in which all other Baptisms end and so being come to this deny all the Figures and the Baptism of Infants then let us cry out that they are Sectaries and deny the Ordinance of God Infants-Baptism and let us give them some Scripture how that Christ took up little Children in his Arms and blessed them and how he hid his Disciples go out into all Nations and baptize them in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost and may be with an Inference or two or two or three Consequences raised from this and the like Scriptures we shall make their Eye blind that we shall put off this counterfeit Ware yet a little while And if any shall deny our Church or Chappel and call it an Holâ— Temple which God never commanded to be built then let us bring some Scriptures how that God commanded a Temple to be built at Jerusalem and how the Jews had Synagogues and how God commanded Store-houses to be built for God's Service and Worship and it may be such a Proof as this will satisfie them that they will come to our Shop another Time at the Hour appointed for the Sale of our Wares when the Marke-Bell rings and the Wares are ready to be set out and so by this Means we may hold on our Trade a while And if any shall deny David's Psalms to be sung in Rhime and Meeter and with Organs and Pipes to be an Ordinance of God in Gospel Times then let us bring them some Scriptures and some Fathers and tell them in the Church of Corinth that he that had a Psalm might sing and it may be they will know no Difference between a Psalm which was given forth by the Spirit the Psalm which is gotten by Tradition from another and let us bring a Proof out of Revelations That they that were redeemed from the Earth played upon the Harps and sung a new Song and it may be they will see no Difference between them that are in the Earth and them that are redeemed from the Earth and so we may keep up this still as an Ordinance invented by our Mother Mystery Babylon And let this be agreed amongst us now when many of us are assembled together whose Lively-hood and Riches stand only in the merchandizing of our Mother Church that to whatsoever Place we sail in our Ships if any be heard to say That the Spirit of the Lord ought to move first before any Teacher Minister or Believer ought to pray that so they may pray with the Spirit and in the Spirit in publick and in private whether with many or few that so without the Spirit none can be edified let us all agree to this that it be voted down as an Error and let us do what in us lyes to prove from Scripture that set Forms of Prayer are lawful and are an Ordinance of God and let us bring the Lord's Prayer called by our Mother-Church the Pater noster and see what that will do and also Hosea 14.2 Take with you Words and turn to the Lord say unto him take away our Iniquity and receive us graciously so with a Deduction from these and the like Scriptures we may happily prove that a set Form of Words invented by our Church or any of us that trade with her Merchandize that this is an Ordinance of God and ought to be practised publickly and privately and is accepted with God although the People have not received the Spirit as they had in the primitive Times and if this will not satisfie then use some prevalent Argument as our reverend Brother and Fellow-merchant with us Mr. Samuel Bolton in the like Case in Hand used this forcible Argument Though you cannot command the Wind said he yet you may spread your Sails and see what such an Argument as this will do but if they will not be content with this as it may be they will not in England Scotland Ireland and Holland and some other Parts who are more quick-sighted then some other Places where we merchandize if we cannot stand it out against them that none can pray to God aright but he that is come to the Spirit and knows by the Signification of it what to ask then let us grant them the thing if we cannot help it if Common-prayer Forms of Prayer will not go off as they use to do amongst our Customers then let us agree to them but let that be the last Shift that without Faith or the Spirit it is impossible to be accepted or heard of God yet before this be granted let us strive as much as in us lyes by forcible Arguments from the Scripture if so be they will not allow the Authority of ancient Fathers nor of our Cannon-Books how that there is a Platform laid down in Scripture and the general Heads of true Prayer are laid down in an Orthodox Method in the Scriptures that is to say Confession Petition Intercession Supplication with giving of Thanks and if this will not stave them off from speaking so much of Prayer by the Spirit and with Understanding for iâ— will be a grievous thing if we let this Ordinance fall of set Form of Prayer which our Mother Mystery Babylon hath allowed so many Years and raâ—â—fied and confirmed in several great Councils as Nice and Lateran and divers others and if nothing will serve them but Prayer by the same Spirit as was in the primitive times before we lose them quite let us grant it them in Words that Prayer by the Spirit
though with the best of all our Commodities though with Cinamom and Odours and Oyntment and Frankincense yet they will buy none of our Ware nor there 's no Hope of trading with them any more for they are come to know the Pearl which is more precious then Rubies and the heavenly Treasure that doth not rust and the Word which is sweeter then the Honey and the Honey comb there 's no Hope of them but this is the Misery they will not be content with what they have found but impart it to others and so beget a Dislike in other Peoples Minds to the best of all our Merchandize However them that are gone from us and deny our Mother and her golden Cup and deny all her Merchants great and small not only them that trade in Wood and Vessels and Brass and Iron but even them that trade with the best Merchandize as Gold Silver precious Stones Pearls fine Linnen Purple Silk and Scarlet however let us excommunicate them and give them up to Satan and let us call to the Beast with his seven Heads and ten Horns who is scarlet-coloured dreadful and terrible and let us accuse them of Heresie Schism and Blasphemy and call them Seducers Deceivers and false Prophets and let us brand them with Names of Reproach as Sectaries and say they are seditious and rebellious and mutinous and they are Enemies to Church and State and all good Government Peace-breakers factious and pestilent Fellows that bring all the Nations into an Uproar and if that will not do let us petition to Kings Princes Dukes Parliaments Protectors and Councils that some speedy and effectual Course may be taken for suppressing of these Hereticks and for stopping of these blasphemous Doctrines as that the Steeple-house is not the Church and sprinckling of Infants no Ordinance of Christ and singing of Psalms by Tradition no Part of the true Worship of God and it may be shall get some Law or Act of Parliament against them or call them Vagabonds and get them whipt abroad and put in Prisons while we take away their Oxen and Goods at home and so by this Means it will stop others whom we traffick withal that they will not dare to hearken unto them for if they will not buy our Wares and take our measures by a Glass in Love to it yet because of Fear of Imprisonment or Loss of their Goods or Estates they will be constrained to trade with us But alas it is otherwise with us now then it was in Queen Mary's Dayes when Mass Mattens and Even-songs Processionings Ave-maries Creeds and Pater-nosters took up most Part of the Time and went off among People for spiritual Worship at a good Rate neither is it with us now as it was in the Dayes of Bishop Laud our great Metropolitan and the rest of our Mother's Merchants then would Common Prayer translated out of the Mass-Book into the English and Creed Letany Pater-noster with a Lord have Mercy upon us or we beseech thee to hear us good Lord forty Times over in a Quarter of an Hour with some of David's Psalms turned into Meeter by Hopkins and Sternhold Masters of Musick sung with Organs with Choristers and Boyes with bowing to the Altar and such like Merchandize which was then precious in the Eyes of our Mother's Children then whosoever would not be obedient to all the Rites and Ceremonies we branded them with the Name of Puritans and Non-conformists and haled them before Sessions Courts and Magistrates cited them to appear before the Bishops served them up to the High-Commission-Court before the Lords Spiritual and Temporal falsly so called and there the Flesh was gnawn to the Bone and Ears cut off stigmatizing and burning with Irons Imprisonment and Banishment Now as People came nearer the Day they began to suspect all this as not to be the spiritual Worship of God having no Ground nor Footing from the Spirit of Truth nor Example from the Scripture nor from the primitive Churches then they over whom our mother once reigned began to question her whether she was the Lamb's Wife yea or nay And whether our Predecessors and Brethren were the messengers sent out by the true Church yea or nay And whether the Ordinances and Practices were the Institution of Christ and his Apostles yea or nay in the primitive Times And the Day dawned upon them and the Spirit came to be revealed and did shine into their Hearts and they began to search the Scriptures and to compare the true Church which was cloath'd with the Sun and crown'd with the Crown of twelve Stars with our mother Mystery Babylon and they began to compare the Apostles and ministers in the primitive Times with our Predecessors Babylon's merchants and also compared the Institutions and Ordinances which were delivered to the true Church with the Institutions Rites Ceremonies and Inventions of our mother Mystery Babylon and so they found all out by the Revelation of the Spirit and by searching of the Scriptures they found out the Rise of our mother after the Woman was fled into the Wilderness and that she sate not as a Queen upon Nations Kindreds Tongues and Peoples till after the Woman did fly away upon the Wings of an Eagle into the Wilderness for a Time Times and half a Time and likewise they found out that our Predecessors and Fellow-merchants were not like the ministers of Christ in the primitive Times neither our Doctrines and Ordinances like the Ordinances and Doctrines which were once delivered to the Saints before ever we merchants set sail or floated in a Ship on the Sea And so finding our City to be raised up in its Glory since the Glory of God was lost in the Earth and finding our Queen Mystery Babylon ruling in our City since the Lamb's Wife fled and finding us merchants to receive her Traffick from her City since the Faith was lost that once was delivered to the Saints and did see our Creeds and Beliefs and Pater-nosters our Prayers and our Hymns that they are quite another Thing which was Part of her Traffick they have concluded and that upon infallible Grounds warranted by a Cloud of Witnesses in the Prophets and Apostles that our mother is a Whore and her Predecessors are her merchants and that our Ordinances are and Traffick hath been invented by some of our mother's children which are Apostates and they have found us out And now alas a Ship will be hardly able to ride any more upon the Waters nor the Sea will hardly bear up our Vessels any more the Nations the Kindreds the Tongues and the Peoples are almost dryed up especially in the North Regions they will not buy our merchandize any more our Ships are like to stand still and our merchandize is like to be all shipwrackt therefore let us take counsel lest all the Sea dry up and we all sit down in Solitariness and our Song be turned into wo worth the Day misery and alas Therefore now it
behoves us all reverend Brethren who are of this last Edition tything Presbyters to deny our mother in her greatest Fornication and Adultery since she hath committed Fornication with Kings and Nobles and since all Nations have drunk of her cup but yet let us own her three or four hundred Years after the Ascension of Christ for then though she was inclining to Adultery and it lodged in her Heart yet it was not so openly known then but only to a few and then she held Part of the Form of Godliness and had Part of the true Church's Attire and Ornaments on the outside and so let us all agree to stick close to her here and vindicate her then and her merchandize the Form of Godliness for if this Traffick will not go off we are at an End for either this must serve in the North Regions of the World or we must pull down our Sails and let our Ships stand still on dry Land let us put on a Resolution there is some Hope that this may serve a while for that our Mother was a true Church three hundred Years after Christ hardly any in this will gainsay us and let us deny all the Popes Cardinals Legates Fryars Monks Jesuites Seminaries and all their several Orders which are one distinct from another and let us deny the rest of our Fellow-merchants or rather Fathers which did ordain us to be Merchants to trade at Sea seeing that kind of Merchandize which they then traded with which they received from our Mother will not go off now for Nations Kindreds Tongues and People now will not buy that kind of merchandize which hath not the Face of Purity upon it and though we were made Ministers by them yet now when they are grown out of Date a Parliament having voted them down it 's not safe for us to hold them up nor none of their Worship nor Merchandize so we having a distinct Order of our own and are ranked into another Fellowship distinct from the Fryars and the Monks let us keep our Fellowship one with another and so we may set up our selves and so may bring Honour to our mother Mystery Babylon under another Name and so let Bishops Arch-Bishops Arch-Deacons Deans and Chapters Prelates Vicars and Curates be denyed and seeing the traditional Traffick before mentioned will not go off and all the Forms of publick Worship have been contrary to the Scriptures and contrary to the primitive Times and seeing we cannot hinder People from seeing of it therefore we must let it all pass and deny both them and it at least in the hearing of them whom we trade with therefore let them merchandize with it in some other Country for our mother where she hath more Reputation and where the Beast hath more Power and the Time may come if we can but perswade People that they cannot understand the Scriptures nor come to know the mind of Christ without our Original Hebrew Greek and Latine in some Time it may be this Traffick will go off if we can keep People but ignorant enough that so we may be a means to bring our mother and her messengers that she hath sent forth into more Reputation then they are Notwithstanding though the Day be dawned and every man's Work made manifest of what Sort it is yet it is well enough that we receive the maintenance which our mother Mystery Babylon gave unto our former merchants as Tythes Oblations Obventions and Offerings Easter-Reckonings and Midsummer-dues and Mortuaries twenty Shillings for a funeral Sermon ten Groats at the Grave twelve Pence an Hour for ringing of Bells and such other like Commodities that befall us and besides all this we have got something out of Bishops Lands and Deans and Chapters and Prebends Lands some good Augmentations out of those so that all the merchandizing and Traffick lyes in our Hands and all the Wages that our mother gave to other Officers and Ambassadors of several Orders which to speak plainly is the very Reins and sinnews of our Gospel which we preach and therefore if we cannot keep the People blind but they will see our Error in most Things yet while we have the Powers of the Earth to make us a Law that all may be forced an compelled to pay that unto us which our mother the Church gave us when she was in her Exaltation while this is kept up we shall carry about her Ships and merchandize though the People have no great Heart to it we shall cry out to the Magistrates to compel them to buy it or else the People will turn Atheists and Barbarians and however get our Price Yet now reverend Brethren seeing we cannot keep the People in Ignorance and Darkness nor hinder the Day from dawning nor the Sun from rising while it is but even yet Twy-light let us work and carry about our Traffick for the best Sort of Merchandize which our Mother hath will hardly please now for now it comes to that that nothing but spiritual Ordinances will be accepted among People now therefore we which are of the tything Presbyterian Order though we have denyed our Mother in some of her Sorceries and though we have denyed the Bishops our Fathers and Ordinances and their established Form of Worship we being Heirs appâ—rent to their Inheritance and Revenews and wages now we being come to Maturity and go under the name of Reformers yet let our Mother Mystery Babylon's Wages stand unalterable as the Law of the Medes and Persians and though the Professions of publick Worship have been denyed and abolished let us perswade the Magistrates and Rulers that if they abolish our Tythes and set Wages then the Gospel will cease to flourish in these Nations and though the Mass-book or book of Common-prayer and the Letany will not go off for Gospel any longer we shall set somthing else up in its stead to be called the Gospel And because we have not the immediate Spirit nor an infallible neither ever look to have its requisite that we prescribe some Form or Directory of Worship to be as a Rule of Direction to all of our Order and if we can get a Parliament to make an Ordinance for the Recommendation of it to the Nations as the publick Worship of God then we may trade yet with our Merchandize and whilst our set Wages is not altered the matter is of less Moment and though the Directory should be discommended as it is recommended and our Form should go down and another thing should be established instead of it yet it were lawful for us to joyn to another and though they should accuse us for Time-servers and Men-pleasers yet we have a Cloud of Witnesses as in Edward the 6. and Henry the 8. how many hundred of our Fellow-merchants denyed driving a trade with the Mass-book and likewise in the Dayes of Queen Mary many thousands owned the Mass-book as the publick Worship of God which was then holden out Again how many thousands of our
Fellow-merchants denyed the Mass-book or publick Profession Doctrine and Discipline and joyned to the book of Common-Prayer and the Letany as the publick Profession of the Worship of God and now of late Years we have denyed it our selves and so we which are of this Order can dispence well enough with this seeing that we trade with some of our Mother's Merchandize under another Name and so the Matter is less grievous because the Orders and Ceremonies about Worship are retained still in our Directory under another Habit and Guise and having these Witnesses before mentioned for our Example and if any seem to contend with us this will take the Edge off People seeing it 's no new thing with us to set our Sails which Way soever the Wind blows and it may be we may bring them a Scripture or two and an Inference from it for a Cloak as to submit to every Ordinance of man for the Lord's sake and let every Soul be subject to the higher Power so Henry the 8th while he stood he was the higher Power and so Mary Elizabeth James and Charles they were the higher Power while they stood and they did ordain that sometime the Mass-book should be the publick Worship and some time the Common-Prayer-book should be the publick Worship and now the Directory a Plat-form of publick Worship it may be these and the like Arguments to them that are dim-sighted will take Place for some time But there is one thing above all which ought to be considered of by us who are allowed to be publick Merchants seeing that we must go under the name of Reformation for that is our Flag we carry in our Ships seeing that generally People of the most understanding will not allow of any preaching to be effectual to the converting of Souls but that which is ministred by or from the Spirit for the reading of old Homilies which served in our Predecessors Dayes will not serve now or if we should speak some Hebrew or Greek or Latin in an unknown Tongue they will conclude that is rather the Wisdom of the Flesh and from natural Wit rather then from the Spirit and therefore it is not much amiss if we conclude to let some of the Ancient Fathers pass and not mention them because it is holden generally that they lived in an Apostatizing time and so it will not be effectual in the Audience of People And so for Austin and Cyprian Jerom and Beda Origen and Damazin their Traffick will hardly go off for they will conclude it 's rather by Art and Study that we preach then by the Spirit and so we being fallen into such a dangerous time as this is now in the break of Day when men begin to be quick-sighted and will not onely espie Hills but also Motes therefore all we which are Merchants of this Order and Rank to our Mother Mystery Babylon had need to trade with the best Merchandize as Gold and Silver and precious Stones and fine Linnen and silk and Scarlet and so let this be agreed upon by us all that we study hard and read the Scriptures and other modern Divines which are Orthodox that so if need require every one may preach extempore for else it will not go upon the Account of the Spirit and so have Words to fit at all Times Occasions and Seasons as before Protectors Parliaments and Councils or Noble men or Classis or Synods or the like and every one labour by Study and Art to raise many Doctrines from one Scripture and make many Uses and Tryals and Motives and so carnal people's minds will be affected with such dex-Tterity and Readiness so that we shall clear our selves from Clamour which some of our Merchants have fallen under because of their Negligence and if any should accuse us for studying and patching up our Sermons out of divers Authors mixt with Scripture and our Inventions then bring such a Scripture as that 2 Tim. 2.15 Study to shew thy self approved unto God it may be some blind People will take that for a good Proof and such a word as that Study to be quiet and because the word Study is found in Scripture therefore with a Consequence or two we may prove in the Ears of people that studying of Sermons is lawful and if any question our set Wages and Heir be sure that all with one accord do study to vindicate this for this is the Life and Sinnews of the Propagation of our Gospel And now Reader I shall give thee an Account of the principal and chief Traffick which is established for the Publick Worship amongst those that are called Gospel-Professors the general heads whereof are laid down in a Directory of the Publick Worship in these three Nations of England Scotland and Ireland and the general Heads of that which they purpose to traffick with is laid down in their Directory so called and what Traffick is of less Moment may be ushered in time will make manifest and in their Preface to their Boâ—k they say as follows Directory That the Liturgy hath been a great Means to encrease an idle Ministry from puttâ—ng forth themselves for putting forth the Gift of Prayer which Christ pleaseth to furnish all his Servants with whom he calls to that Office Answer So then by this Conclusion all their former Fathers and Fellow-merchants were not sent out by Christ because they contented themselves with set Forms of others made to their Hands and if all whom Christ called to this Office be furnisht with the Gift of Prayer then this must needs follow that they that have no Gift of Prayer are no Officers of Christ well their Part being acted and the Exit being come let him go off the Stage and thou shalt see the gifted men come on next Direct In the assembling of the Congregation together the Direction is that the People do reverendly compose themselves to joyn in the Ordinance of God which is then coming in Hand as it is written in the 11th Page of their Book Answ. Here they are putting Self to perform the Ordinance of God which whosoever comes to perform aright or joyn with the Assembly of the righteous they must deny themselves and all their own composings Direct The next Thing is about reading the Scriptures and Expâ—sition of them and in their expounding they are to take heed that preaching and other Ordâ—nances be not streightned Answ. As for reading the Scripture it is a thing so harmless honest just and good that I wish that all their whole Ordinances so called had been all waved and given Place to this and if it were read oftener to the People without adding or diminishing the Understandings of People would be more opened then by their cloudy and dark patched up Speeches which is called preaching but preaching I am not against that is to say to declare the Mind of God as it is revealed by his Eternal Spirit to and in them that speak and why do you prefer
out of the Psalms or any other Scripture as the Minister shall think fit will serve to treat upon Reader thou mayest take notice that here is no notice taken of the holy Ghost or Spirit what it thinks fit but what he that preaches hath ready must go off and counted as fit for that People Direct And in the 36th page your Direction is to the Merchant not to rest in general Doctrine but come to particular Application which is a Work of great difficulty to himself requiring Prudence and Moderation and to the natural corrupt man it will be very unpleasant Answ. The Doctrines and the Applications of the natural corrupt man will not be profitable nor powerful at all upon the Hearers neither will disarm the Thoughts of the Heart at all and you that give Prescriptions to natural corrupt men what to preach who set them about performing the Work of God that know it not are very ignorant for the natural man understands not the things of God and the corrupt man in Heart sees not God and he that understands not the things of God must needs preach a Divination of his own Brain Well let who will take this Traffique the Children of Light will have none of it it may be such Husks as these will satisfie a Herd of Swine and so let them take it Direct And you say He that preaches is to be perswaded in his own Heart that all that he teaches is the Truth and that he is to walk before his Flock as an Example Answ. How is he like to be perswaded in his own Heart that sins presumptuously against the Checks of his own Conscience And you set Examples indeed but they are but bad ones would you have your Flock to follow your Example would you have every one of your Flock to have a long Gown or a long Robe and make them all like Cardinals Princes Would you have every one to have a Ring on his finger and a company of Points at his knees like a Beasom and a company of Ribbons and Cuffs like a Fidler Or would you have any of your Flock to come and fetch away a Yoak of your Oxen or a couple of your Horses or take his Teem and come into your Field break down the Hedges and throw open the Gates and load his Waggon with Corn if one could not pay it him for Conscience sake Or would you be sued up two hundred Miles into a Court for a Tythe Hen worth four Pence or six Pence and thrown into the Fleet a Year or two for four or five Shilling Many such Evidences and Examples we have from you you late Reformers but to the Light in all Consciences I leave to judge which you have presumptuously sinned against what Examples you are to your Flocks Direct And now Reader I come to Prayer after Sermon and thou shalt see what Traffick is there The Ministers are to give thanks for the blessing received as Eleâ—â—ion Vocation Adoption Justification and Hope of Glory and likewise to turn the Heads of his Sermons into some few Petitions and after to pray for the Preparations for Death and to entreat of God to forgive the Iniquity of your holy things Answ. Here Reader thou mayest see as bad Merchandize as the Story of the Lady of Lauretta or the Story of Saint Francis which the begging Fryars your fellow-merchants traffick withal First you give thanks for Election Vocation Justification and Hope of Glory and afterwards pray for the Forgiveness of the Iniquity of your holy things How are your things holy when they are full of Iniquity and sinful Is that which is holy Iniquity and sinful Or is that which is Iniquity and sinful holy Are they Elected Justified Adopted and Sanctified whose Sins are not blotted out whose Iniquities are not forgiven let the wise in Heart judge of this Dream What! are not they well prepared for death that are Elected Adopted Justified and Sanctified but they must needs have your Prayers full of Iniquity will that prepare them better What ignorance is here And where learned you this Article of Faith to turn the Heads of the Sermon into Petitions let the wise Judge Was not Prophesie one thing and Prayer another But now Pâ—â—phesie must be turned into Prayer and Prayer into Prophesie Sermons into Petitions and Petitions into Sermons what mangl'd Traffick is this Direct In the 38th Page Thâ—s kind of Prayer fore-mentioned ended a Psalm may be sung if it be convenient if some other Ordinance doth not follow Answ. Then it seems that your Psalm is no Ordinance but if it be it must give Way however if the Priest think fit God must have no Prayers at that Time it may be sprinckling of an Infant may serve in stead Direct And now I come to the great Ordinance Infants Baptism falsly so called in the 40th Page The Minister is to use some Words touching the Institution how that it was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ that Infants should be baptized and that it is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace and of our grafting into Christ and of our Union with him and of Remission of Sins Regeneration Adoption and eternal Life Answ. Reader take notice Christ never sent them forth as Ministers to tell Lyes as to say he ordained that which he never did and furthermore take notice that the Spirit of the Lord is turned out of Doors there is no Place for it outward Water with which the Infant is sprinckled hath taken up the Authority and the Work of the Spirit the Minister of Christ declared that the Spirit of Promise and the Spirit of Truth was the Seal of the Covenant of Grace and Remission of Sins Regeneration and Adoption and that the Faith and the Spirit are the Seed of Eternal Life but these Reformers have excluded both and have set up a beggarly Element in the room let the spiritual Man judge what kind of Traffick this is Direct And in Page 42. That Children by Baptism are received into the Bosome of the Church distinguished from the World Answ. Now what Kind of Church yours is and what Kind of a Bosome your Church hath distinct from the World the wise in Heart may judge you have confessed that Magistrates Ministers and the whole Nation do not so much as endeavour after Mortification and a Newness of Life and that you are blind hard-hearted full of Unbelief impenitent secure and luke-warm and have not so much as endeavoured to receive Christ into your Hearts by Faith as in the sixteenth Page of your Directory may be seen and how your Church and the Bosome of it is distinct from the World if your Church be as you have said the understanding may judge for you that are impenitent and full of Unbelief and have not received Christ into your Hearts you are of the World and your Bosome full of Deceit and are none of the Church of Christ. Direct And moreover the Minister that baptized the Infant
which is a Popish Invention and not an Institution of Christ however he is to press it upon People as such an one and to exhort them to look back to their Baptism and to repent of their Sins against God and to stir up their Faith Answ. Said ye not even now that Baptism with Water was an ingrafting into Christ and of Regeneration and of eternal Life and he that is baptized hath the Seal of all this and yet they are to repent of their Sins and how should their Faith be stirred up that have none which yet have to repent what blind Doctrine is this that these blind Merchants of this last Edition have given out for a Platform Direct In Page 44. The Minister is to joyn Prayer with the Word of Institution for sanctifying the Water to this spiritual Use. Answ. Mark Reader what Sorcery is here was not the Water instituted in the Beginning by the Word and gathered together into one Place by the Word and then it was sanctified holy and how became it unholy again how hath the Water transgressed that it is become unholy that it needs sanctifying again But instead of sanctifying it you abuse it and would make it serve for that End which God never ordained viz. to be a Seal of the Remission of Sins a Seal of Regeneration and eternal Life all which is contrary to the Scripture contrary to the Ministers of Christ and contrary to the Precepts of the Ministers of Christ but are indeed Institutions of your Mother Mystery Babylon Direct And now I come to the Celebration of your great Sacrament of Bread and Wine you say in Page 48. We judge it convenient to be done after the Morning Sermon and that all the ignorant and scandalous are not fit to receive this Sacrament Answ. And why after the Morning Sermon ye great Reformers If you intend that Christ's breaking of Bread and giving the Cup to his Disciples that this must be your Foundation for your Sacrament that was at Supper in the same Night he was betrayed and if he had judged it more convenient why could he not have given it them after some Morning Sermon what Example have you for so doing it may be Saint Gregory Benedict or Damasen or some other of your Mother's Merchants And if they be unfit that are ignorant and scandalous to receive this Sacrament as you call it then none more unfit then your selves none more ignorant and scandalous who have left that undone which God hath injoyned and have done that which he never commanded and that not only out of Ignorance but also presumptuously against the Checks of your own Consciences and Motions of his holy Spirit what not so much as endeavoured after Mortification or Newness of Life but are a blind hard-hearted unbelieving and impenitent People witness the sixteenth Page of your Directory and if such as you be fit to receive this Sacrament as you call it I know none unfit to receive it Direct In Page 50. The Minister is to warn all that are ignorant and scandalous and prophane that live in any Sin or Offence against their Conscience that they come not to this holy Table and on the other hand to encourage and assure them of Refreshment and Strength by coming to this Table if they desire a further Progress in Grace Answ. Whom do you call ignorant prophane and scandalous Is not he a scandalous Person that sins presumptuously and against the Checks of his own Conscience and God's holy Spirit And if such be prohibited all you Reformers are excluded and if you do come you are like to have no Refreshment or Strength here if your own Doctrine must stand good for Refreshment and Strength which you promise to them that have a Desire after the Progress in Grace but say you of your selves we have no Desire after Mortification or Amendment of Life and so you are without Hope come or not come Furthermore Bread and Wine was a Seal of Eternal Life before you said and now Refreshment and Strength is promised to the weak I say as the Apostle said to them who discerned not the Lord's Body but came unworthily For this Cause many are weak and many are sick and many are fallen asleep and though they have come to your Table they have come sick and weakly and have gone away so and have found your Promises and Assurances of no Effect at all Direct And now I come to the Consecration The Minister is to begin the Action with blessing the Bread and Wine setting them aside for this holy Use. Answ. I say Bread and Wine was sanctified by the Word for that End and Use that God created them that is to say for the Nourishment for Man and they were holy and good before ever the Priest touched them as it is written Unto you that believe are all Things clean but if you set them apart for any such End or Use as to be a Seal of Remission of Sins Regeneration and eternal Life then you convert them or rather pervert them to that End which God never intended but this is like the rest of your idolatrous Merchandize Direct In Page 55. Then after the Sacrament is taken the Minister is to put them in Mind of the Grace of God held forth in the Sacrament and to entreat for Pardon for the Defects of the whole Service Answ. The Church of Rome your Mother saith that the Body and Blood of Christ is held forth in the Sacrament and you say the Grace is held forth in the Sacrament and the Seal of Eternal Life what do you think to make it the Fountain of Life from whence all Good comes And in the Conclusion of all the whole a Sacrifice must be offered up for the Defects of your whole Service what pitiful blind Merchandize is its before it was a Seal of the Vocation and Election eternal Life and Pledges of Adoption and by it the Comers thereunto are not made perfect but are full of Defects and sinful and your whole Services full of Iniquity and Sin and Defects will not any who hath but the least Sight abhor your hypocritical Sacrifice and your mouldy rusty cankered Traffick And now their holy Ordinance and their most holy Things are ended in Defect in Sin and Iniquity and these Worshippers the more they offer the more they sin and how the rest of their Ordinances will end thou may'st judge before thou pass any further Direct And now I come to the Sanctification of their Sabbath The whole Day you say is to be celebrated as being the Christian Sabbath Answ. If you intend the first Day of the Week where is that called the Christian Sabbath The Sabbath in the first Covenant was given for a Sign of the Christian Sabbath which was to be revealed when they ceased from their own Works Words and Thoughts then the rest was to be known the Christian Sabbath and whether is the Christian Sabbath a visible or
other Times and gorgeous Attire and lascivious Habits and if any such Thing be the Minister may reprove them at a Fast. Answ. To fast unto the Lord is not to set a Day apart by the Will of man but by being moved thereunto by the Lord and not to hang down the Head for a Day like a Bulrush nor to smite with the Fists of Wickedness but to loose the Band of Wickedness and let the Oppressed go free And as for gorgious Attire Rich Apparel and Ornaments it 's no where found so much as amongst you Steeple-house Fasters and for Delights and Pleasures and these Things which you say is lawful at other times that which so judgeth will not forsake them in your set Times and if they be lawful at any time then the Apostles Exhortation is made void who said Not in Gold nor costly Array nor broidered Hair that which abstains from them one day and takes them up another day is Hypocrisie and Deceit And as for your Abstinence from one set Meal in a day and it may be go to a Banquet or a Riot the next day after this is Abomination to the Lord And how should the Minister reprove any for Pride when it may be hath as many Points at his Knees as a Beasom Ribbons and Cuffs and a long Robe to his Heels and a broad Hatband enough to cover one most Part down the Waste if it were spread out and who do you think will receive this man's Reproof for Pride that thus is gorgiously attired And what do you judge this man will have on the Thanksgiving day Direct The next comes on the Performance of the Worship which is reading preaching with singing of Psalms fit to quicken the Affections and especially Prayer wherein Sin is to be confest with several Aggravations and with greater Inlargement then at other Times Answ. You that have nothing to quicken your Affections but to turn David's Cryings and Tears into a Song and sing You roar for the Disquietness of your Hearts and as Men distracted when your Hearts are whole and unrent and you that think to be heard for your feigned Confessions and if you speak from your Hearts as you say the Ministers ought to do there is no such Hypocrisie and Deceit among any People as among you who do that which is forbidden and leave that undone that is commanded and presumptuously sin against the Light of your own Consciences as you confess and do not so much as endeavour to receive Christ into your Hearts nor so much as endeavour after Mortification and Newness of Life And how can you think for your multitude and Inlargement of Words and seeming Importunacy God will hear you for your much Babling many hypocritical Fasts have been made which I have observed as well as some other men what would be the End thereof the Beginning thereof was Feignedness and the Performance thereof like them that Amos speaks of that howled for their Corn Wine and Oyl and mocked God and drew near with their Lips but their Hearts were far from him Direct But to proceed Such Texts ought to be used for preaching that may best work the Hearts of the Hearers into Humiliation and Repentance and the Minister is to exhort before they depart that their Assembly may improve their whole Life to the Glory of God by re-inforcing themselves and their Families in all private Resolutions towards God which they professed in publick Answ. You that have no other things to bring people to humility and repentance but by a Text as you call it of Scripture which you may judge in your carnal minds will do it and pick and chuse too the Scripture where you like What! was not the Scripture spoken forth by the Spirit of God and cannot be broken And one Scripture is as good as another and is as effectual as another but none is effectual without the Spirit which is that which leads to Repentance and brings down the Pride of the Transgressor and except People come to receive the Spirit and believe in it which convinceth them of Sin and leads them to Repentance all your stirring up and composing and re-inforcing will do no Good at all and re-inforcing of self began your Fast and there it will end without Christ which whoso comes to follow deny themselves and otherwise taught then to take the Kingdom by Force And concerning their humiliation thou hast heard and mayest judge Reader what their Thanksgiving will be like the rest Direct The Minister is to make some pithy Narration of God's Deliverance and sing some pertinent Psalms and choose a pertinent Text to the Occasion Answ. The Thanksgiving doth not arise from any Sensibility that people feel in themselves but it arises from the pithy Story as they call it of the Minister and likewise from his devised Sermon which hath fed the carnal Minds to rejoyce in Words without the Life and then ring the consecrated Bells and get Bonfires and eat and drink and satisfie the flesh and these are the Thanksgivings and the Rejoycings that the World makes over the Witness in themselves Direct And now I come to the singing Psalms and their Mass-house the place of their Worship and so I have done with their Traffique First they say that singing of Psalms publickly in a Congregation with a tunable Voice is a Christian's Duty Answ. Where it was injoyned by Christ or any of his Ministers I am ignorant and yet the Scriptures I know but no where read in it that singing of Prophesies and Prayers and other mens Conditions turned into Ryme and Meeter by Poets and Masters of Musick in an inverted Tune in the same Mind which invents Tunes for Ballet-mongers and to sing such Conditions amongst proud wanton and disdainful People covetous envious and such as have not so much as endeavoured after Mortification or newness of Life as generally your Parochical Congregations are as you have confest in your Directory for publick Worship this is no way accounted as a Christian's Duty for whose Souls are not brought out of Death cannot praise the Lord and you confess Ministers and Congregation that you are blind in Mind hard in Heart full of Unbelief Impenitency Luke-warmness and Barrenness not endeavouring to receive Christ into your Hearts your State is Howling and Lamentation and not rejoycing yet singing with the Spirit is owned and with understanding Direct And now we come to the place of publick Worship They say It is not unlawful or unconvenient for Christians to meet together in the place which was dedicated to Idolatry or consecrated to an idolatrous Use yet we hold it requisite that the Places of publick Worship should be imployed and continued to that use Answ. And upon what Account do you count it lawful convenient and requisite to meet in an Idol's Temple or a Mass-house your Account will be but slender and poor which will be without Example from the Saints Did Josiah or Hezekiah when they had broken
down the Altars of Baal and thrown down the high Places did they say it 's requisite and convenient that our Priests and the Levites and the Congregation do meet at the Altar of Baal or at the high places Or did the Apostles bid the Gentiles who did believe go to their Idols Temple again and say it was a convenient Place to worship the true God in And have you forgotten that Exhortation or Precept Abstain from every Appearance of Evil And though some know an Idol is nothing in the World how be it there is not in every man that Knowledge and is it not yet called by most of you yet The House of God House of Prayer But as you did begin so will you end to carry no Traffiqe but for your Mother Mystery Babylon And thus Reader I have led thee through many things from the rise of the Whore and through the most of her merchants and through the most of her Traffique merchants of divers orders and Ranks but I find them all to trade with nothing but Inchantments and Sorceries which hath long bewitched the Nations but the time is come that she is manifest with her Merchandize and Sorceries and turned from by me and many thousands more which is my exhortation to thee that so thou mayst come to the Church which is in God and to the Elect assembly and to know the Seed which is heir of the promise and of the Life which is without end Which Mystery Babylon with all her merchants have sought to Destroy since she got up to ride upon the Beast who hath compelled all both small and great to worship him and also all Nations to buy the Whores Merchandize and Traffique which hath deceived the Nations and bewitched them but the time is come that she shall be hated of her Lovers and they shall forsake her and her Merchants shall say Alas alas which day is dawning and dawned which discovers the Whore the Beast and false Prophet with all their Sorceries and the Lamb shall reign and the holy men of God and Prophets shall rejoyce over her when the smoak of her Torment ascends up forever and ever which the Lord hasten saith my Spirit Amen A Warning to Friends to beware of such who had departed from the Faith FRiends and Brethren who have heard believ'd and received the Word of Truth as it is in Jesus and kept the Word of his Patience which will preserve all that abide faithful in this Day of Tryal and Hour of Temptation wherein Satan is let loose for a Season to try them that dwell on the Earth even to try your Faith and Patience and Love that you may be made manifest unto all that love the Lord my Bowels earn after you all and my Spirit is vexed in me for the Lord's Inheritance which the old Dragon which was and is a Deceiver seeks to destroy and root out But all who stand on the Rock and are built thereon the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against you therefore dear Friends be more circumspect and diligent because dangerous Times are come and coming wherein many shall depart from the Faith and give heed to the Deceit of their own Hearts and will endeavour to subvert and overthrow the Faith of some and will labour by all Means to make your Hope vain and your Faith void and they themselves having made Shipwrack of Faith and put away that far from them which works the Answer of a good Conscience and now seek to devour all and destroy all especially the weak and unstable Minds but blessed are they that are not offended and that turn not aside for a Thing of nought after lying Vanities which the Wrath of God will come upon and be revealed upon to the utmost because they have not the Truth and this could not have come upon them but that they take Pleasure in Unrighteousness whose Hearts are filled with Mischief and the whole Course of Nature set on the Fire of Hell being filled with Unrighteousness and now it pours out of their unclean Vessels to defile all who come near it or touch it Friends I say all be awakened for this Spirit could not have come forth nor appeared but first there was a Departure from the Faith and then giving heed to the lying Spirit and Doctrine of Devils their Understandings being darkened have brought forth these Fruits whereof all that dwell in the least Measure of Truth will be ashamed and therefore give no Place to the Devil nor to none of their lying deceitful Confusion nor enter not into consulting with it none have done or shall do but they shall be defiled dwell in that which savours Words the Ground from whence they come and that discerns Spirits take heed of feigned Words and feigned Humility and feigned Tears and feigned Joy touch not taste not handle not but all keep your Garments clean lest you be turned out of the Lord's Camp as they are and be a Vexation to the Children of Light which would be a Lamentation And therefore having seen the Deceit and having heard it judged with the Life of God which answers that of God in every Man and being warned and your Eyes have seen and your Ears have heard that which the least Measure of God cannot but abhor therefore stand not gazing and wondring and sparing one and accuse another for from Head to Tail it is all accursed and cursed is the Father of it and the Womb that brought it forth from this time forth and for evermore and all that shelter under it who have been disobedient here shelter and all who would have the Offence of the Cross to cease that so they may glory in the Flesh will find a Shelter here but the End is Death and Bitterness greater Tribulation then before will come which the Lord will hasten that all who have turned the Grace of God into Wantonness may receive a just Recompence of Reward Flames of everlasting Wrath which shall never be quenched never heed it the same came in the Apostles time after they had planted the Devourer entred and there arose from among them that had believ'd Men speaking perverse things and were proud self-willed treacherous high-minded and presumptuous of which Generation these are the same who are turned from the Truth Life and Power of God after their ungodly Lusts and having started aside from the holy Commandments of God and having slain God's Witness now make merry and call it greater Glory this will God confound for thus is the Enmity got up again which is not of himself but of another and he will not give his Glory to another keep out all feigned Love and foolish Pity and all Imitations and all sloathful Spirits and all those that run gadding up and down in Idleness and Foolishness and are not diligent in their Places all such Practices are denyed and therefore every one be diligent in your Places and Callings and there abide and all wait to
Deep smiled and all things that were therein the Springs thereof laughed which flowed forth as though they had issued out of a Womb now every thing that had Breath and lived praised the Lord neither was there any thing but bowed and submitted to their Maker and he Lord and King over all yet in eternal Glory yet let the wise in Heart understand this was in the Beginning and though it was in the Beginning yet this was when the Heavens and the Earth were created and all Things that therein are even then the Lamb of God was alive and the Son of God glorified with the Father and Man in Happiness and in pure Perfection without Sin in Innocency for nothing that was nocent or hurtful had yet appeared neither was there any such Thing in all that God had made Here the Wise may learn and they that have a good Understanding may read the Wisdom of God in a Mystery and also see the dark sottish Doctrine of the blind Apostates who have lost the Power and are keeping People ignorant of the Mystery of God NOw this hath been a common Doctrine and received to be orthodox and as they call it authentick that while we are in this Life there cannot be an overcoming of all Sin nor no Expectation of it in this Life and their main Ground hath been this because we have natural Bodies Now I say had not Adam a natural Body when he was in Purity and Perfection in Innocency in Paradise in the Garden yet was this any Hinderance to him to answer the Will of his Creator No For as the Soul Spirit and Body was moved by the Power out of which Power he was not to stir then I say he had Ability to perform the will of his Maker in the Body for as he was created by the Power in the inward man that led about the natural and earthly or outward form according to its will which Will was pure and kept the Body acting in its Place in the Power for then I say all was good for the Celestial Power in which he was made moved the whole man according to its Will and while he stood in the Power he was in Innocency and Purity and without Blemish and in the Power was his Health and Peace and he knew no Evil. Obâ—ect But some may say What is this as to the Confutation of the Doctrine which hath been taught as to the Freedom from Sin in this Life Answ. This declares that there was such a thing in being to wit a natural Body and an earthen Vessel and yet without Sin as he stood in the power for the earthen Vessel was good as all the rest of God's creation was in its Place to serve the Power as the rest of God's Creatures did in the Beginning and who ever comes to know that state again may come to glorifie God in Soul Body and Spirit though in the Body in this tabernacle but take their own Phrase for the clearing of the thing not to be freed from the committing of sin in this Life I say in the corruptible Life or the Life of Unrighteousness which may be properly called Death there is no freedom from Sin neither of Soul or Body or Spirit but who comes to know Regeneration or the Life of men in which Adam was created in the Beginning in that incorruptible Life there is no Transgression and if he live in man the Body is dead because of Sin and I know none who have preached any other Life who have spoken by the Spirit of God in which freedom from all Sin is obtained but onely the Life of Christ and whosoever comes to know the Lord from heaven who ruled over all in the Beginning and was the Life of all and all moved in his Life before the fall whether they were things visible or invisible and that same Power or Life of Christ the Lamb of God who was alive then if he live in man and man come to be guided by his Power as in the beginning he living in man the Soul Body and Spirit being quickned by his Power and raised from under the Bondage of Corruption then Death hath not power over man but Life and because he lives in them they live also their Souls to praise him and their Bodies and the Members thereof to be Servants of righteousness and so that unbelieving Doctrine of the World is turned into the Pit and Truth is set above it Object But further it will be objected That our Bodies are not like Adams in innocency we are in the Fall and therefore we say they hinder from being freed from all Sin and ever will while upon Earth Answ. That the naked Truth may appear to them that seek after true Knowledge I answer freely that I grant that the Soul lies in Death and the Creature is subject to Vanity and the whole Creation groans in travail and in Pain and waits for the manifestation of the Son of God and the Redemption of the body and in this State is all mankind upon the Face of the whole Earth in the first Adam but he who is the second Adam the Lord from Heaven who was in the Beginning and is now what he was and shall be forever I say as man comes to believe in the Son who hath Life in himself and he comes to be revealed in man and man subject to his leading he brings the Soul out of death to have Union and Communion with himself and restores the Creature from his Bondage and breaks the Bond and knocks that down which hath imbondaged and so changes the Body I do not mean the form of the Body but the quality and Nature thereof for the Form of Adams body was not changed but the quality it was degenerated from its pure Nature wherein it glorified God as he stood in the Power so I say Christ who is the Life of men the true Light which lighteth every man that comes into the World he changes all that follow him into his own Nature restores the Creature into his first estate again into Purity that like as the inward man is renewed and restored by the Power and serves the Power so the Members of the Body are also yielded Servants unto Righteousness and they receive Vertue and Power from the Power the Life and so the whole man comes out of condemnation to glorifie his Maker and the Will of God is done in Earth as it is in Heaven and he saves to the utmost them that come unto him now if he save the Soul and not the Body then hâ— saves not to the utmost But this is a high State blessed are they who wait in the Faith to the end are happy that they may see and know the redemption of their Souls and also the redemption of their body For I deny redemption in the Grave or in Death or after this Life for the holy men of God never mention a cleansing from Sin in the
first Priesthood some borrowed from the Jews as thy Altars thy Vestiments that thy idolatrous Merchants wear when they celebrate thy great Idol the Mass and the rest borrowed fragments from the Heathen and the rest invented in the Night of Darkness and all that you have is invented Trumpery as bad as the Heathen all your Crosses Altars Crucifixes your Cells your Lent your Fasts your Feasts your Hair-cloth your Images Pictures your Reliques of dead mens Bones your Tythes your Offerings Oblations Obventions your Tapers Beads your holy VVater your baptizing of Infants your Purgatory your praying for the Dead your visiting of old VValls and old Tombs and rotten Sepulchres your Pilgrimages your Inquisition all this is come up since the Apostles Dayes and thy consecrated Bread and Wine which thou callest the Body and Blood of Christ about which Idol thou and all that have drunken the Cup of Fornication and the Beast hath slain Thousands of men in your Blood-thirsty Cruelty and all your Works you call meretorious they are all dead and will be sentenced by the Lamb who is risen to be self-Righteousness and so we have found out your visible Church had no being but since the Apostacy since the Apostles Dayes and you are erred both in Doctrine and Practice and all your Ordination of your Ministers your Schools and Colledges are all in the Will of man all this is in the Fall in the Transgression and under the Curse Obj. Some of the Protestants or reformed Churches so called may say We like this well that you declare against Popery we agree with you in that but we have renounced the Whore's Cup and have denyed all the Powers of the Beast long since Answ. Although many of you Priests have denyed your Mother because some Kings and Rulers or Dukes and Magistrates have cast off the Yoak and they protect you and give you Maintenance yet we cannot but remember you of your Genealogy and Descent and your Doctrine and Practice shall prove it and make it manifest and that you take Part with the Beast and worship his Image shall be evidenced more and more even before this Generation pass away are not you a Stem sprung from the same Root do not the Fruits you bring forth evidence it and Pracrice demonstrate it If you grant that Rome is apostatized from the Faith which the Apostles were in and their Practice you must not deny your Fathers who made the Bishops and ordained them did not the Pope who ordained you Ministers of Priests did not the Bishops who set up your Mass-house with all the Pictures and Crosses in and upon them which you call your Church who established Tythes Offerings Oblations Easter-Reckonings Midsummer-Dues did not the Pope first and them that were subject to his Power who invented Schools and Colledges to fit you for the Ministry and qualifie you for the Ministry as you say is not this set up in and since the Apostacy began your set Wages your baptizing of Infants your consecrated Bills which the Pope hallowed or his Emissaries do not you preach up the Letter for the VVord and the Letter for the Gospel and are not you calling your Bread and Wine a Sacrament which Word you have received from Rome your Pulpits and your Hour-Glasses your Cushions your black Robes and long Robes false Prophet like your funeral for the Dead like the Popes Exequies for the Dead your devouring Widdows Houses and suing men at the Law your haling them to Courts and Prisons your taking away mens Goods by force three-fold yea ten-fold that which you claim and from them that you work not for neither dare you say this was the Apostles Practice or any of the primitive Churches if you say yea all that know the Scripture or the least of God in them or to open their Understandings they will see you nearly related to Rome and to the Apostates and Deceivers and false Prophets of old and that you are greatly inflamed with the Whore's Cup and did not the holy men of God speak as they were moved by the holy Ghost and divine Inspiration and as the Spirit of Truth revealed it self in them and do not you all Head and Tail deny any such thing to be now and further conclude that it 's a great Error to look for any such thing then be convinced in your selves you are Apostates and apostatized frâ—m that Faith Hope and Spirit that was in the primitive Times and now read old Authors it may be twenty or thirty Books before you can get an Hours Discourse patched up to hold you dreaming till the Glass be run and dare you be so impudent and confident as to say that you are not Apostates and are you not Followers of the Beast and have you not his Mark and bear you not his Image do not you count that Disorder which the Apostles and the Churches counted Order If any Thing was revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace are not you apostatized from this Order and cry Take him away and yet you would be called Apostâ—lical well these things being true and obvious enough to behold to any who know any thing of God I need not say much more in this thing but all wise men will come out from among you and out of Babylon the Mother of Harlots which hath made you and your Root and Genealogy drunk with her Fornication and this is my Call to separate from her and you that are in the Apostacy and wait to know the Word which was in the Beginning and the Gospel which was preached to Abraham which endures forever whose joyful Sound is come forth in Power and great Glory which will shake the foundation of your great City even Mystery Babylon and not leave one Stone upon another which shall not be thrown down and then the holy men of God shall rejoyce and the Saints of the most high shall sing they that have been as Sheep for the Slaughter shall reign over the Earth and shall say The Lord God Omnipotent reigns and let us rejoyce and be glad and he hath taken to himself great Power and is coming to gather his Lambs out of your Mouthes and to feed in a Pasture you never saw which was manifest to the Saints in Light before you Apostates sprang and shall be again when you and all your dark muddy Traditions and Inventions are gone down into the Pit where there is no Remembrance Object But it may be the pure Reformed Church of Scotland as it hath been called and the old Episcopal and Prelatical Priests of England who have borrowed their Images to set up here will be ready to say We have denyed the Whore and the Beast and the Apostacy and we have pure Reformation we have denyed Bishops which were made by the Apostate the Pope and now we have setled all things according to the primitive Church Answ. There never did spring up any Deceit since the Apostles or before
of the Gospel and the Foundation and the Tryer of Spirits and the Touch-stone and say it 's the Foundation of their Faith and Religion and so are all in the distraction one Envying another and Persecuting one another about the words of Truth spoken from the Spirit of Truth which cannot be understood again but by the same Spirit and so all them that have not the Spirit of Truth are in the Apostacy And all Sects Judgments and Opinions that have risen up since the Apostacy from the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints when the woman Travailed and brought the man-Child which after because of the Dragon's Power fled into the VVilderness and her Child caught up unto God all the Faith and worship that since is sprung up since the VVhore hath sitten as a Queen in Majesty is all denyed the Ground of their Worship Laws Traditions Inventions and all their invented Practices and Forms and Images and Likenesses are denyed and disowned as to be the Dress and Attire of the Whore which hath allured People through her enticing pretences and shews of Holiness when indeed all is but spiritual Adultery and this must be all turned under again the Whore's flesh Burned and her Attire plucked off and her Nakedness appear and her shame to them that have committed Fornication with her and they shall be ashamed of themselves and of her and abhor themselves and abhor her and Destroyed shall she be and the Lamb's Wife shall be beautified and come out of the secret Place into open View out of the Solitary Wilderness into the beautiful place that the Lord will bring her into and the time times and half time is out the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes are at an End and he bears witness of it who saw her fly away upon Eagles Wings into the secret place which was prepared for her for these Dayes and Times appointed and I say he that knows the Counsel of the most High in this matter can account the time times and a half and the Dayes and what shall be after the dayes be expired which is at an end blessed is he that sees believes and Understands he shall see that which yet hath not appeared neither can it be believed by the most though it were declared but yet a little while and the Earth grows ripe and an Ear will be opened in many who cannot yet hear and for a little while in this I shall be silent and Treasure up that which the Spirit hath revealed till the time be fully accomplished which God hath determined and then his Glory shall be revealed and all the former things which have lived since the man of Sin hath been Exalted shall all dye and an utter Consumption shall be of all the changeable Laws made since the Apostacy and the many changeable Dresses of the Whore and Attires in which she hath appeared and Imaginary worships into which all have run since they were Apostatized from the Faith all this shall be disannulled and come to an End and be Blasted forever the Spirit of the Lord saith Amen How the Woman that was clothed with the Sun and had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head which did flee into the Wilderness comes out again after the great Whore is judged and her Child that was caught up unto God comes to appear again NOW after the time times and half a time after the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes she returns after the Whore is judged and the great City Babylon is fallen which hath made the Nations drunk and brought forth Children in Fornication who had drunk the Blood of the Saints in the Apostacy after the Whore was judged and the Voice was heard in Heaven of much People that sang Halelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power who witnessed to the Righteousness of God's Judgment And a Voice came out of the Throne saying praise our God all his Servants and ye that fear him both small and great Rev. 19.5 6. And I heard as it were the Voice of many Waters and as a great Multitude and as the Voice of a mighty Thunder saying Halelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth the Whore is now judged the Mother of Harlots condemned with all her Inchantments and Sorceries Now the Lamb's Wife appears who is the Mother of the man-child which was caught up unto God she that was cloathed with the Sun with the glorious everlasting caelestial Light she is both the Mother and the Wife he that hath an Ear let him hear Now Jerusalem that is from above spiritually so called who was the Mother of all the Saints before the Apostacy she appears again and comes to be the Wife of the Lamb and the City of the Saints and the Mother of them that are born from above this shall be and is made manifest to some but a numberless Number shall see it and the Day hastens greatly and she is appearing again and her solitary Garments shall be put off and as she was beautifull before the VVhore made the Nations drunk clothed with the Sun and had the Moon under her Feet and a Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head and though she became Child-less and also as a VViddow and the Remnant of her Seed slain and destroyed so shall she appear again in Glory and Beauty as before and shall be made ready yea mine Eye hath seen it she is making her self ready as a Bride for her Husband and unto her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white even arrayed in the Righteousness of the Saints which is not self-Righteousness the Garments of the Harlot and her Lovers but in the Righteousness of Christ the Lamb her Husband and Child also and she shall now bring forth many more Children though her Seed hath been slain yet a numberless Number shall appear and ten Thousand Thousand shall be brought forth by her and glory in her and reverence her and rejoyce in her forever and they shall be all clad in the same Robe which the Husband the Lamb is clothed withal and the same the Lamb's VVife this VVoman is â—lâ—thed withall and the same shall all the Children by clothed withal the fine Linnen the Righteousness of the Lamb which was dead and slain since the Foundation of the World but now alive and lives for evermore and here a heavenly Family appears now after the Apostacy and this shall be seen by all that have an Eye that can see through and beyond the Smoke of the Pit that hath darkened the Air while the Beast and Dragon have had Power but now hath her Child appeared again the man-child hath appeared again and he that was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day saw whither he was taken up to the Throne of God Rev. 12.5 and on the same Lord's Day he saw him after the Woman was fled and the Remnant of her Seed was made War with and slain in the Earth where the
but the Quakers see before thee and beyond thee and comprehend thee and have received Eye-salve whereby their Eyes are opened to see thy Deceit the deceit of the Treacherous Generation with whom thou art joyned and thy Rejoynder and Vindication of Samuel Smith whom thou calls Minister of the Word at Cressage in the County of Salop thy Vindication of him and thy pleading for him will not bring much Honour to neither him nor thee and though thou and he both joyn hand in hand in deceit yet you shall not go Unpunished Thou tels the Reader Of wandering Planets who have left their Station who have stepped upon the Stage in the County of Salop who are come forth in this Apostatizing time All who have a good understanding may clearly see not only in the County of Salop but also in every Corner of the Land many wandering Stars that have no habitation in the Firmament of God's Power but are Tossed up and down and are as waters Unstable Tossed to and fro with every wind and the change of one Magistrate or head Governour will make them all change their form and as thou callst it Metamorphize them into another shape witness the many publique Teachers and Parish-masters and Tything Priests in the dayes of Edward the sixth Henry the 8. Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth's dayes and now of late in the Bishops dayes when the Magistrates voted down the Bishops all or most of the Priests denyed their Fathers and their Institution and though they ordained them Ministers yet they still seek after their seats and Benefices and there thy Reader may see the Metamorphosed changlings and the Apostates and I do believe the County of Salâ—p abounds with such like and they have been on the Stage long and have acted such a part in every Generation as would please the present Authority or Power whether they were Papists or Protestants Prelatical or whatsoever but E. D. the Exit will come and when the Day appears the Beasts must go into their Dens again and thou confessest you live in Apostatizing times thou that art among the Apostates and in the Apostatizing Age and time would accuse others Nay thou must hold thy Peace and leave pleading for Apostates and for the Fashions of the Heathen which have got up since the dayes of the Apostacy which the whole scope of thy Book is full of nothing else and we cannot permit or allow them who are in the time of Apostacy and who are one with the Apostates which have wandered after the Beast since the Dayes of the Apostles I say we cannot allow such as you to be Judges for we are come out of the Apostacy and to before the Apostates and to before the wandering Stars and thou hast mist it much that tells the Quakers are they Edward I tell thee we are come to the everlasting Gospel again and have received it and it 's the Power of God which was to be and is to be preached again to the Nations after the Apostacy And as for the Book called Malice stript and whipt I have seen it and he Spirit of thy Mr. Smith whom thou callst Reverend thou hast elevated him as high as the Pope but E. D. what is the Reason thou reverencest him so much as thou dost to thy Reader And in the tenth page thou saist many Souls depend upon his Ministry and thou blessest God for the worâ— of God you enjoy in that Congregation Thou hast extoll'd him too highly or else he hath wronged thee grievously for thou saist thou hast profited much by him Thou mayest call to mind a certain time when he preached as you call it out of the 13 of Luke and when he spoke of the Parable of the mâ—n that planted a Vineyard and 3 Years looked for Fruit and Sam. Smith whom thou so adorest said he had sought for Fruit from your Congregation this 7 Years at Cressage and had found none he shall be an evidence for me against thee that thy glorying of him is Vain and it 's manifest he is one the Lord sent his Prophet to declare against who hath run and the Lord never sent him therefore he hath not profited you at Cressage at all lean Souls are they like to be that depend on him In the first Observation as thou callst it thou hast extracted the Heads of Samuel Smiths Book into five particulars which thou sayst we are ashamed to Answer or else know not what to say for our defences I say unto thee Boast not when thou purst on thy Armour but when putst it off for the Victory may be doutful THe first particular That the Nationall Ministers do maintain the true worship of God and the Doctrine of Christ according to the revealed will of God Answ. So saying and so doing were something the true Worship of God is in Spirit and in Truth which is not Lo here and lo there nor in outward Observations but in Life in Power and in Truth But to be brief both the Doctrine and Practice of the National Ministry in general is contrary to the Scripture which thou callst the Word of God as for Instance their sprinkling of Infants their teaching Men to Swear and calling it part of the Worship of God which is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ who said Swear not at all Their singing David's Psalms put into Meeter by Poets and Ballad-mongers singing them in their invented Tunes which pleaseth the carnal Mind their studied discourses which you call Sermons Invented from the strength of natural wit and not speaking as they are moved by the holy Ghost which the Ministers of Christ in all Ages did In these and many other things which I could instance they are out of the Doctrine of Christ And in a word your whole Worship differs both in matter and manner from the Saints Worship in the Primitive Times But seeing we have denyed the National Ministers divers Years ago and have laid down our Grounds and Reasons to the World wherein we have charged them that their practice is contrary to the Scripture unto which Grounds and Reasons not one Parish-master in England hath yet Vindicated themselves these six years And unto that Book called The Grounds and Reasons why we deny the Priests if the Reader be not satisfied concerning them there he may see how they err both in Doctrine and Practice contrary to Scriptures To the second and third Particulars That the present Government of the Nation is the Ordinance of God and that the Ministers bringing Offenders before the Magistrate is not Persecution As for the present Government of the Nation the lawfulness thereof is not to Question by us but many who are Governours and should be Executors of the Law have acted contrary to the Law being stirred 〈◊〉 by the Priests who bite with their Teeth if one put not into their Mouths and have caused the just to suffer by giving Judgment 〈◊〉 theâ— in their wills contrary to Law or
Covenant shall be broken and your Confederacy disanulled and you confounded in the midst of your Counsels what have you your Law yet to make to serve your Turns It seems you act not by the Law of God which is made already which is equal just and good and is for the Transgressor of Justice Goodness and Equity but takes not hold upon the just equal nor good but you must now have another invented to satisfie your envious Minds and to accomplish your wicked Determinations and you that think to make a Law to banish and to put to Death your Thoughts are vain and wicked and God will bring them to Judgment and condemn you for them for Christ came not to destroy Mens Lives but to save them but the Devil makes Laws to destroy and not to save Read your Example and let Shame cover your Faces and Astonishment fill your Hearts that you should become so brutish and vain in your Thoughts as to think to limit the Lord of Heaven and Earth Can you command the Wind that it blow not can you stop the Bottles of Heaven that they pour not forth Water If you cannot no more can you limit the Lord And if you make any such Law to banish or put to Death it will procure the Indignation and Wrath of God more speedily then if all the Popish Princes that are in the WORLD did enter into the midst of your Land But this is come to pass that your Hypocrisie and Deceit might be made manifest in the Sight of the Sun and that all men may see what Prâ—fession of Words is without the Life of Christ to rule in Men If it should have been told you when you fled from this Nation what you would do in the time to come against God and his Servants you would have said with Hazael Are we Dogs But the Heart of Man is deceitful unconverted and your deceived Hearts have led you aside Thou thinkest they are the worst Hereticks Thy Eye being blinded and thy Understanding darkened and thy Heart full of Envy how should'st thou think otherwise But thy Thoughts shall be discovered to thee and thou shalt be convinced of the Evil of them Thou say'st One whom many think is a Jesuite pressed for a Conference with one of our Teachers called Mr Norton but the Quaker was quickly weary of it You live by your Thoughts and know nothing if he had been a Jesuite it 's like he might have had more Favour from you and the Minister might be very bold knowing before-hand no Evil was like to befall him having the Rulers with their Clubs on his Side the Prison-Doors and House of Correction ready to receive the Quakers the Goalers and Task-masters with their Whips and butcherly Fellows with their Knives to cut of their Ears at the Pleasure and Wills of a Company of envious men before whose Face the Fear of the Lord is not But it is like you will make the Quaker weary soon if he would look out at your Cruelty if you did as sometime some of your Priests and Rulers caused to be done in New-England stop Napkins in their Mouthes and bound Keys over their Mouthes that they could not speak and boast and say The Quaker had nothing to answer Well all these things are recorded and are written as with a Pen of Iron and they are engraven where they shall not be blotted out and you are registred among the Uncircumcised with Mesech and Tubal the great Princes of Gog which make War against the Lamb his Followers but the Lamb and the Saints shall have the Victory and you shall be trodden as Ashes under the Soles of their Feet for they shall melt away that hate the Lord. Reading the 16th of the 12th Moneth 1658. F. H. THE WORKS OF DARKNESS Brought to Light AND REPROVED IN Answer to divers false Doctrines and Principles of John Wells of St. Ives so called in Huntingon-shire Concerning the Word and the Gospel and the Way to Christ and the Tryal of Spirits and the Light which lighteth every Man and the Ministers Maintenance His vain Arguments and Proofsmade void and Truth manifested in all these particulars Also some Queries propounded to John Wells to answer By him that loves the Truth as it is in Jesus F. H. THE WORKS OF DARKNESS Brought to Light HE that hates the Light as it is written will not bring his Deeds to the Light lest they should be reproved and made manifest of which Sort John Wells a pretended Minister of the Gospel at St. Ives so called in Huntington-shire is who hath declared and published unsound Doctrines contrary to Scripture of Truth which were asserted by him and taken from his own Mouth and the Reply thereunto sent and his Doctrines reproved as to be unsound and inconsistent to a true Minister of Christ the which Paper of Information and also of Reproof John Wells in Vindication of his former Assertions hath divulged abroad in his Parish as in Answer to the said Paper delivered unto him and also in Vindication of his former Doctrines which Paper of his hath been read up and down by his Auditors as some great Oracle which could not be gainsayed and he never yet sent his Answer unto them who contradicted and reproved his aforesaid Doctrines and Principles unto which his Answer did properly belong it could never yet be purchased or obtained from him or any of his Auditors and all this he hath done lest his Works should be brought to Light and his Deceit should be discovered and his Kingdom weakened which stands in Darkness but seeing that there is no Work of Darkness must be hid but must all be brought to Light and be discovered in the Day therefore is his Paper come forth by another Hand that he and his Work might be tryed and reproved and that the ignorant might see his Confusion and also that Truth might be made manifest to the Understandings of People that they may no longer continue in Ignorance and Blindness now when the Lord is shining forth in his Brightness and revealing his Glory from the rising of the Sun His first Position is That Eternal Life is to be found by or in the Scriptures II. They are the VVay and Means which God hath discovered for the obtaining of it viz. Eternal Life In the Vindication of his foresaid Assertions he saith he will explain himself and saith That God is pleased by his Infinite Grace and VVisdom to continue this excellâ—nt Plot of Redemption by his Son and then concludeth how shall we believe in him of whom we have not heard therefore was God pleased by the Scriptures to reveal Jesus Christ and none can ever come to the Knowledge of Chrâ—st but in or by the Scriptures This man talks like a Heathen Politician rather then a Minister of Christ who tells of an excellent Plot of Redemption for he who is the Redeemer was with the Father was his Delight before the World began which in
may properly be called unbelief and thou errst in thy Judgment who seekst to civil or Military Power to uphold Religion which as I said before belongs to him who is the higher and highest Power Civil and Military Officers are not for making Religion or setting up Religion but are to keep the Peace and to stop the Violent-doer and to be a Terror to Evil works and workers and a Praise to them that do dwell and that is their place to govern in Righteousness but not to exercise Lordship over the Conscience which Power belongs only to Christ and as for them who have delivered Books and Papers and words and writings to them who are in Authority to pull down the Ministry and Steeple-houses or publick Ministry and Worship if thou intendest the Quakers as I believe thou dost thy Arrows being shot only at them we have delivered or caused to be delivered divers Book and Papers wherein we have shewed them the grievous Suffering of the People of God by the heavy Oppressions which they did suffer under because of the Hirelings Wages and upholding of Mass-houses things which have been introduced since the Primitive times in the Apostacy which aforesaid things have been guarded and upheld by Laws made in the Beast's power now to make null those Laws which were the Ground of many Oppressions and an offence to many tender Consciences this is not to pull down Religionâ— and that Ministry which can be pull'd down by taking away of Tythes and forced maintenance is no Ministry of Christ but Ministers of Anti-christ and to deny paying to Steeple-houses Clark-Wages burying for the Dead and such other like invented Things which many have groaned under is not to pull down Religion for this I say to thee and that which I can say to all which no reasonable or equitable man will deny to be equitable or Just take the Hireling Ministry to thee and give him the fifth part of thy Estate if thou wilt and erect thy Steeple-house like Babel's Tower but trouble not us with none of these things and for declaring to the Magistrates that these things ought to be done away and the Law by which they stood which was made in Transgression ought to be taken away this is not to pull down the Ministry nor true Religion but to overturn deceit and Invocation which hath Obstructed and hindered pure Reformation which hath been talkt on for these are but the rotten Raggs of the Whore's Menstruous Garment so thy defence is made void and ours standeth true that the Magistrate or Military Power hath nothing to do to Prescribe any form of Religion to bind all unto for this is an Intruding into those things that belong not to them Thou say'st That thou dost freely and sincerely affirm that thou hast not knowingly wronged the Quakers in the least but dost engage thy self to make good every Thing thou chargest against them that shall require it of thee That we shall see afterwards how thou wilt make good that which thou hast charged some with hast thou not knowingly wronged us when thou hast brought all those which thou countest Hereticks all Europe over and some Parts else and whatsoever they did or said must be imputed unto us I know thy Envy in Times past with the rest of the Priests was as much agaâ—nst them who were separate from your Assemblies as now against us and all these Things that thou hast raked up in this Book out of Histories of Germany of New-England which I am not credulous to receive from thy Mouth no more then I shall thy History as thou callest it of the Quakers for thou who wilt lye of them which are so near thee may report many Untruths at a Distance and these Things the hireling Priests were wont to charge upon the Baptists and Independents but now we are become the Object of all your Reproach and your Butt to shoot at but we are in that which the Devil cannot prevail against neither the Gates of Hell In thy third Chapter thou say'st Thou wilt treat of the Predecessors of the Quakers and thou reckonest up Simon Magus Menander Saturnus how he taught that Marriage and Generation was of Satan and Arrias who denyed the Divinity of Christ and Pelagius a Monk who held that a Man without the Grace of God was able to fulfil all the Commandment of God and of Basilides that he taught that it was not Jesus but Simon of Cirene that was crucified in his Shape These are none of our Predecessors take them to thy self and whether hast thou not knowingly wronged us in these Things and how wilt thou make every Thing good which thou hast charged us withal These things fore-mentioned and many more which I shall pass over as not to trouble the Reader with in which thou hast charged us falsly wherein thou art required to make good the Charge or else cease thy clamorous Tongue these that thou hast reckoned up you use to call them Arians Saturnians and Pelagians but now thou hast made them all Quakers In thy 13th Page thou manifestest what Spirit thou art of thou tellest of the Old Church-Government being taken away to wit the Common-Prayer-Book tâ—ken out of the Mass-Book then began Sects to arise So that it seems thy chief Reformation and Religion is but the Old Lithurgy which is little better then the Mass and the Ministers the old corrupt Bishops that the Earth groaned with the Burthen thereof whose Ordination and Call is from the Pope their Original and from the Church of Rome your Mother from whence these State-hirelings which burthen the whole Creation sprang forth thou would'st have all confined unto this dark Mist and compelled to worship according unto those Popish Traditions held forth for publick Worship in that time Further thou bring'st a Heap of Lyes out of Baxter a Man at Enmity against all Goodness who hath written many lying Books against the living TRUTH for which the Lord God will call him and thee to Account Thou set'st down some of that which thou call'st our Principles in the 16th Page How that we deny all Officers in a Common-wealth and how we deny all Relation as Brother and Sister Magistrate Master Father Mother Son and Daughter Husband and Wife and that Husband and Wife should part assunder and that all Things should be common all these things shall turn upon thy own Head and now to the Light in thy Conscience I speak which thou despisest whether thou hast not wilfully wronged us And I require of thee according to thy Promise to make these things good but I believe thy Proof is out of our Adversaries Books Baxter's and the Priests of New-castle which things have been answered and their Lyes turned upon their own Heads In the 17th Page thou hast gathered some Words and Sentences out of our Books many of them are so evident and manifest Truths to all that are come to a good Understanding that they need no Vindication for they
in the Life thereof they are judged though the Truth in it self stands clear and so whâ—t as they were in their Principles Practiâ—e in Life or in Doctrine must they give Account for But thou like the rest of the Hireling Priests of England use alwayes to be confuting your Adversaries when they were at a great Distance when they were dead and could not reply or at such a Distance that they could not hear and you are such valiant Champions for the most Part as to Disputation except you have Club-men and Prison-doors standing open to fight or to shut them in you will hardly enter into a Dispute publickly or it may be if they be afraid that they shall be worsted and their Deceit laid open put a Key in the Mouth of one as some did in the Mouth of Humphrey Norton when he was with one of thy Brethren and then cry The Opposite or Quaker hath nothing to say for himself and such dark muddy Stories you used to fill up your Hour with as to confute Arrius and Pelagius men that were Hundreds of Years dead and no such Principles holden in a Nation and such dead Stories you fill Peoples Minds with and confute the Pope when your Elbows were leaning upon the soft Cushions on the Pulpit and twenty or thirty Shillings for such a dead Story as you told People but when have you gone amongst them and reasoned of the Things of the Kingdom of God into their Dominions and convinced them by sound Doctrine and yet you will say Christ said Go into all Nations and preach and plead that for your Commission and it may be stay fourty Years over an hundred Families As for the Heterodoxes of the Quakers concerning the Heads of Religion as thou hast set down this I say to thee and to all the World we do not hold them because any Man before did hold them or may hold them after but because God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit which also may be confirmed by the Testimony of the Scripture of Truth As to those which thou settest down as our Tenets I shall answer on the Lord's Behalf for Truth 's sake and for the rest thou may'st take them home to thy self First Concerning the Trinity thou say'st The confess the Father Son and holy Ghost and yet they deny the Trinity and those to be three distinct Persons for Confutation of this thou bringest Heb. 1. 3. He is the express Image of his Father's Person Thy Trinity is an old Popish Term and we love to keep to sound Words but by Trinity I suppose thou meanest three and thy own Words shall confute thee thou confessest we say there is Father Son and Hâ—ly Ghost and yet but one God or one Eternal Being or Substance in which they all subsist but thy Word distinct is thy own and not the Spirit 's yet to distinguish betwixt Father Son and Spirit we deny not and as for Heb. 1. it is in another Translation rendered The express Image of his Suâ—stance for Perâ—on is too gross a Word as to express an Eternal and Divine Being in and if thou dost hâ—lâ—l three distinct Substances thou errest in they Judgment for that were to make three Gods Secondly They deny Christ to be God and Man in one Person and Christ to be a distinct Person from the Father and they acknowledge such a Christ as unchrists Christ and when they say Christ manifest in the Flesh they mean not as the Scripture but fallaciously Answ. We say according to the Scripture of Truth and not according to thy Fallacy that In the man Christ did the fulness of the God-head dwell and God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself and he saith I and my Father are one and the Father the Son and the Spirit subsist in one Eternal Power Life and Glory which thou with all thy stupid Generation are Ignorant of and that Christ we acknowledge is such a Christ as is able to save to the utmost them that come unto him and receive him and believe in him and is such a Christ as is able to raise them that have been Dead and such a Christ giveth eternal Life to them that believe And so that Christ that we own doth not un-christ Christ but by your Doctrine who plead Imperfection and the continuation thereof and a continuation in Sin for term of Life as one of thy own said Sin will dwell in the House till the House he pull'd down speaking of the natural Body which some other of thy own Generation have called the Body of Sin and so it is you that hold such a Christ as un-christ's the true Christ in thy own Words and when didst thou enter into our Thoughts and into our Heart or with what dost thou search that thou sitst as Judge over the Heart who knowest not Judgment in thy self nor what Spirit thou art of and so thy lyes and deceit are turned upon thee when we say Christ manifest in the Flesh we say that Holy thing which was brought forth and born of a Virgin and Conceived of the Holy Ghost in whom the fulness of the God-head dwells in whom the Eternal Power of the Father was manifested that he was the Christ which was manifested in the Flesh and Justified in the Spirit Preached among the Gentiles seen of Angels and received up into Glory and this is according to the Scripture of Truth and thy Judgment must be judged Thirdly Concerning the Scripture considered as the Rule of Life They deny the Scripture or written word to be the rule of Life and they make the Spirit without the Scripture to be their guide they account Church instituted Worship and waiting upon God for the Efficacious presence and Operation of the Spirit of Grace in the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament for Conversion and Edâ—fication to be Idolatry and the Political order of Church Officers and Members they affirm to be an Image Answ. Concerning the Scripture we say they are Scriptures of Truth and words of Truth spoken from the Spirit of Truth that which gave them a being is greater then they as he that Creates is greater then they that are Created which is perferred above and before and yet no Diminishing or Detracting from the Creature so the Spirit is greater above and before the words and yet this doth not Diminish neither Derogate from the Scripture these and the like sound Words we have spoken to thy deaf Generation yet a Spirit of slumber being upon them all they could not hear that which gives Life and bringeth to Life and preserves in the Life is a rule and a Guide to them that are enlightned the Sons of God who were quickned by the Eternal Spirit of their Father and of Christ and raised from Death to Life this was their rule as it is written as many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and we say it is a sufficient rule of
up for all your Weapons are but carnal and that which wrestles with Flesh and Blood which the true Church wrestles not with nor with Creatures but with spiritual wickedness and Principalities and powers of Darkness in the Creature and threw that down and saved the Creature alive and redeemed it who was in Captivity Oh sottish Children when will you learn Wisdom and when will you hearken to reproof of Instruction which is the way to Life but remember this the Beast shall be taken alive with the false Prophet and them that have wrought Miracles before him and then shall be cast into the Lake of Fire They pretend to act from an Infallible Light within them and profess Perfection in Degrees in this Life and publish smart Invectives against Ministers who teach the contrary Answ. We pretend to nothing but to that which God hath given us through his free Mercy which we have a true Right unto having received him as the Father hath tendered him to be a Light to open our Eyes and to be a Leader unto us and all his People and to be God's Salvation even to the Ends of the Earth to them that receive him and he is that infallible Light which the Father sent into the World that all men through him might believe and he is the true Light that lightneth every man though every man hath not received him the Fault is not in the Giver nor in the Gift but in them that will not receive and he that is the Life of all men hath lighted every Man that cometh into the World and he is in us our Hope and our Glory the Riches of the Gentiles and the Riches of all them that do believe he is our VVay and our Life and Peace I say all Glory unto him forever though thou debasest him and settest him thus at nought and for his sake we can bear Reproaches and become Fools in that we have obtained that in which true VVisdom stands and Life eternal And what is this Heterodox to profess Perfection of Degrees in this Life is not this Orthodox Used not you and do not you generally hold Perfection in Part or Parts and is not that which is perfect in Parts perfect in Degrees He that feels Victory over one Sin by Christ the Power of God hath not he some Part in that which is perfect and of that which is perfect And if he witnesses Victory over more is not he come to a greater Degree or Degrees of the Life which is perfect And he that knows the Blood that cleanseth from all Sin is not he perfect and compleat in him who hath made him so But art thou so offended at Perfection that thou dost not admit of any Part or Parts Degree or Degrees thereof that thou set'st this down as a Blasphemy And it 's time indeed to reprove you sharply who are puffed up in Pride and know nothing who teach contrary to the perfect Life of Christ or any Degree or Degrees thereof to be attained unto thou art perfect in VVickedness and a perfect Minister of Anti-Christ a perfect Heathen and it's time to bear Testimony against you lay you open your Deceit in the Sight of the Sun that them that have but the least glimering of the Light may behold you a pitiful Church is that like to be which thou art Pastor of by Appointment of the General Court who cryest out against any Degree of the perfect Life of Christ in this Life to be obtained or enjoyed a Minister of Sin a Minister of Satan and Unrighteousness that is thy Name own it In the ninth page thou art going about to prove thy Trinity as thou callest it and thou say'st The Father is a distinct suâ—sistance and the Son is a distinct Subsistance and the Holy Ghost is a distinct Subsistance and thou bringest John 5. There is another bears Witness likewise speaking of the Holy Ghost he calls him another and this another thou say'st is intelligible of the Essence and then say'st What is more manifest then another Subsiâ—tance and another Subsistance speaks distinct Subsistances and thou say'st The Spirit is called the Band of Trinity Answ. Another is not understood of another being of another Life or another Substance but is understood of another Manifestation or Operation of the same God who subsists in the same Power in which the Father the Son and the Spirit subsist as I said unto thee before another as to distinguish of the Operation and Work of the Spirit and of the Son we do not refuse but to make three distinct Essences and Beings is Ignorance and Error as thou say'st Another is intelligible of the Essence and so thou hast made three Essences three Subsistances three Persons and three Gods but we say there is but one God and there are three that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Spirit and these three are one Now as for Subsistance and Essence they are unsound Words coined of your selves from your dark Imaginations in which there is no Truth at all but to cast a Mist Now where the Holy Ghost is called a Person in the Scripture I have never read and where it is called The Band of Trinity I have never heard of before thee and so thy blind ignorant Conclusions and Sophistical arguing will have little Place with them that are come to know the Teachings with the Spirit and also keep to a Form of sound Words which thou canst not And thou say'st He that sendeth and he that is sent are distinct and so the Father sending the Son and the Son sent of the Father and the Father and the Son sending the Spirit and the Spirit sent by the Father and tho Son are distinct Subsistances and not the same He that sends and he that is sent may be distinguished but he that sendeth and him that is sent are not so distinct and afar off one another but that him that sendeth is with him that is sent and so God was in Christ reconciling the World and then how were they distinct one from the other and by him were all things made and Christ was not so distinct or afar off at a distance when the Heavens and the Earth were made so that it is truly said without him nothing was made that was made and the Spirit of God which may be distinguished in Regard of its Operation yet it was not absent or distinct from the Father and the Son in the Creation neither is absent from the Son in the Regeneration or Work of Redemption And then in thy Answer to an Objection which thou makest thy self How the Doctrine of Life was communicated vocally by the Patriarchs but it is not so now and in thy Answer thou say'st The Scripture is not necessary absolutely but it being God's Will to communicate Life through the Scripture hence the Scripture is necessary and then thou say'st Not the Letter without the Mind of the Author nor the
Spirit without the Scripture and that the Words in the 17th of John 22. That they may be one as we are one these Words give an uncertain Sound thou say'st and further thou say'st Surely they are under â— Rule of Lâ—fe who have not the Spirit since the Canon of the Scripture is closeâ— so far is the Spirit from being a Rule of Life that to us it is not the Spirit except 〈◊〉 move in the written Word Answ. Gross Darkness is thy dwelling Place and out of thiâ—k Darkneâ—s all this pitiful Confusion cometh the Doctrine of Life was communicated according to the VVill and Mind of God sometime by Dream sometime by Vision sometime by Revelation to the Patriarchs and Believers from Abel till Moses and by Faith they were Followers of Christ and doubtless they did communicate in their Generation those â—hings that were â—â—nifest unto them by the Spirit which was the then Rule and Guide to the Feet of the upright in the way of Peace before any Scripture was writtâ—â— and if the Scripture be not necessary absolutely thou hast said as much as we say therefore we speak of a Rule and a Way which is absolute necessary without which no man can know the Father or the Son nor the Way of Peace but by the Spirit of Truth which gave â—orth the VVords of Truth which may manifest and doth maniâ—est it self as it will when where and how it will for it is unlimited and it will not be limited by its own VVords as to Sound but may speak VVords which it never spoke before as for instance Paul by the Spirit said The second Adam the Lord from Heaven is a Quickening Spirit which none of the Scriptures before-written speak in these very VVords and if the Spirit be not Spirit without the Letter then where the Letter is wanting the Spirit is wanting and consequently them that have the Scripture have the Spirit which were no less then Ignorance and Darkness to say and what Rule are they under who have not the Spirit or no Measure of it there is but the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error and they that are not ruled by the Spirit of Truth they are ruled by the Spirit of Error though they may have the words to fight with and quarrel about without the Life but last of all thou hast in plain words set the dead Letter before the living Spirit and say'st That the Spirit is no Spirit except it speak by the Scripture and if the words of Christ in John 17. give an uncertain Sound it is but to thy deaf Ear and to thy blind Understanding for he spoak soundly and certainly and prayed to the Father that as the Father and he were one so they alsâ— might be one being guided by the one Spirit of the Father in the Son and that they might live in the Unity of it and have Unity with one another in it and with the Father and the Son In thy 15th page though thou hast set up the Letter for a perfect Rule of Life yet here thou throwest it down again and say'st It is to be unâ—erstood as including Consequences for the greatest Part of Scripture is Conâ—equences and the Scripture cannot be true without Consequences for Thomas and Mary are neither câ—mmanded Obedience or forbidden Diâ—obedience for we no where read thou Thomas or thou Mary are therein commanded Obedience or forbidden Disobedience such an one by Name do this or that Answ. I told thee the Spirit of God is unlimited and whether it speaks of Degrees or Measures of a greater or less thing or whether it speaks the greater first and the lesser after whether it speaks from Major to Minor or from Minor to Major or what may truly follow either from the greater to the less or from the less to the greater it is all Truth but thy Consequences are no Part of this the Spirit still demonstrates its own Mind by what words and Terms and Expressions it pleaseth and will not be limitâ—ed or confined to this or that Form of words and thou errest grosly neither knowing the Scripture nor the Power of God and thy Consequences are false for there are the individual Persons or Names of Thomas and Mary both commanded Obedience and forbidden Disobedience and if thou hast never read this in Scripture I inform thee and instruct thee thou may'st read John 20.16 17. where Jesus saith unto Mary she turned her self and said unto him Rabboni which is to say Master Jesus said unto her Touch me not for I am not yet ascended here is a Prohibition and forbidding that she should not touch him Secondly here is a Command of Obedience But go unto my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God and in the same Chapter thou may'st read in ver 27. where Christ spoke unto Thomas by Name after his Resurrection Then said he to Thomas reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side here was a Command to be obeyed and be not faithless there is a Prohibition or a forbidding of Unbelief and so thy Foolishness is manifest and Ignorance of the Scripture some of it thou sayest is an uncertain Sound and the Scriptures fore-mentioned thou hast denyed or else never hast read it and so art unacquainted with thy Rule which thou quarrellest and fightest so much about And then thou comest and say'st Thou wilt vindicate some Scriptures and citest 1 John 9. That this was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World hence they affirm that there is a Light in every man which being followed is an infallible Guide and that this Light which lighteth every man is the Rule of Life and not the written Word thy Answer is The Sense of the Text is notoriously false and thy Reason is If Christ the true Light that liâ—hteth every man be the Rule then Righteousness should be by the Law for the Light which is in every Man is not Gospel-Light but there is a natural Light or the Light of Nature which is to be construed in Opposition to spiritual and the Light of Nature and the Light of the Spirit are contra-distinct and by this Light of Nature there is a Difference put betwixt that which is good and bad and it will teach us not to lye nor steal and it will lead to the Knowledge of one God and yet it is in Opposition to one Spirit and it will lead to know Eternity Omnipotency and it will lead to know the Creator yet it is contra-distinct to the Spirit Answ. The Scripture needs none of thy Vindication for thou hast defamed it and sayest Christ's Words are an uncertain Sound and thou hast said that neither Mary nor Thomas was commanded Obedience thou may'st look back of thy Lyes and repent of them and why is the Sense of the Text utterly false that Christ was the
true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World without Exception and why is this utterly false if he be fâ—llowed that he who is the true Light is an infallible Guide and the Rule of Life Hath he not enlightned every man that cometh into the World If thou makest Exceptions where the Spirit makes none then thou pervertest the Scripture doth not he say I am the Light of the World the World in the Scriptures Account is set in Opposition to Believers for Believers are not of this VVorld but are redeemed out of it as for Example God so loved the World that he sent hâ—s Son into the World that whosoever did believe in him might not perish but have Everlasting Life for it is manifest that the Saints and Believes had Life given 〈◊〉 that followed Christ and were his Sheep and saith Christ I put them forth and go before them and give unto them Eternal Life and he said to them who had not Eternal Life While you have the Light believe in it that you may be the Children of it And is not Christ God's Righteousness who is given for a Covenant of Light to the blind and dead and lame and to the dumb to open their Eyes to quicken them to make them leap as an Hart and their Tongue to sing and utter forth Praise we say Righteousness is not by the Law but by Christ that lighteth every man who is the End of the Law and why is not the Light which lighteth every man Gospel Light seeing it is said Go preach the Gospel in every Creature under Heaven go learn what that means And if Natural Light must be construed in Opposition to Spiritual and the Light of Nature contra-distinct to the Light of the Spirit then it must needs be sinful for that which opposeth spiritual Light and is set in Opposition against its leading must needs be sinful and that which is contra or against the Light of the Spirit must needs be sinful and then if it be as thou hast said and if this must be the true Sense of that Scripture that it must be understood of natural Light and that natural Light thou construest in Opposition to spiritual and say'st It is contra-distinct to the Light of the Spirit and in Opposition unto it That which is against the Spirit 's Light or the Light of the Spirit must needs be Darkness sinful and evil and yet thou hast confessed It will teach that none ought to lye or steal and to know one God and the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency and yet it must be taken in Opposition to the Spirit and contra-distinct from the Spirit that which leads to know the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency is that Spirit of God through which God and the Things of God are revealed and that that teaches that a man should not lye that is Truth and that that leads from Sin and accuses for Evil-doing and convicts that is the Spirit 's Light as it is written He shall convince the World of Sin And so thou like a man who hâ—th lost all Aim ramblest up and down in every By-Path and like a blind man gropest but canst not enter into the Treasure-house of Wisdom thou hast called the Light that every one is lighted with the Righteousness of the Law and no Gospel Light and in Opposition to spiritual and contra-distinct to the Spirit and in a Word hast made of it at the best Construction but bad and evil and then when thou hast done thou confesâ—est That it will put a Dâ—fference between Good and Evil and shew that God is to be worshipped and Eternity is known and Omnipotency and are not these the deep Things of God And so Babylon is the Land of thy Nativity and thou reelest and staggerest up not and down like a drunken Man and wouldst be a Teacher and knowest not whereof thou affirmest nor of what thou speâ—kest Further thou say'st That thâ—â— little Light there is is much miscarried and thy Reason is because it is mannaged by the reigninâ— Power of Darkness and the Judgment of Man is corrupt and then thou goest on the Light of Nature siâ—ce the Fall is not to be compared say'st thou with the Light of the Image of God before the Fall and it hath no Proportion with Gospel Light but is gross Darkness nay is worse then gross Darkness Answ. And how did the Light miscarry thou blind-man and when did the reigning power of Darkness manage it seeing that there is no fellowship betwixt Light Darkness and the Light which every man is lightned with hath born witness against Darkness and the Reigning Power of it and though the Judgment of man be corrupt his miscarriage is because he hath not minded the Light and because he hath turned his Back on it and then Sin entered and then came to Reign in the Power of Darkness and corrupted the Heart and this hath made man miscarry and though thou sayst that the Light which lighteth every man is not compared with the Light of the Image of God before the Fall and hath no Proportion I 'le tell thee a Riddle go learn what it means the Light of the Image of God before the fall is the same in it self after the fall and holdeth its proportion and is no whit lessened or diminished in its purity in its self although fallen man do not see it neither can behold it because Sin hath entred and Death by Sin and that is it which obscureth the Image of God from man and it 's Light yet the Light shined in Darkness but thou concludest it is Darkness yea worse then gross Darkness and thou bringst a proof to prove it ye were Darkness the Apostle doth not say that the Light which shined in darkness was darkness or worse then gross Darkness as thou ignorantly saist but he said the Ephesians or the men of Ephesus were darkness and not the Light in them which shined in Darkness though the Darkness comprehended it not but how now John Norton what will the General Court of Boston say when they see thy confusion laid open and the Deceit made manifest to thine and their shame and ignorance thou confest in the 16. page That it would lead to know God and the Worship of God and Teach not to Lye and Steal and so forth and to discover some of God's Attributes as Eternity Omnipotency and the like here was some good in it in thy own account but now it s become gross Darkness in the 18. page and worse then gross Darkness and so hath made as bad if not worse then any Principle that is in a Beast and it may truly be said of thee even in thy own Phrase Qanta sub nocte Jacebat Nostra dies But now thou comes to a further Interpretation of 1 Joh. 9. and thou saist The Light which we are enlightned with it is either the Light of Nature the Light of Reason or the Light of saving
Grace and the Light enlightening is either the Word considered as the second Person or Christ the Son consiâ—ered as Incarnate Answ. It seems that thou knowest not which it is but Guessest like a blind-man and like a wild Archer shoots at Randome and why dost thou make such distinction betwixt the Word the Son of God and Christ the Son of God thou madest but three Persons in the Trinity before but it seems by thy arguing thou wouldst now make four And as for thy Câ—lle â—ive and distributive Light the distinctions is that which would cast a Mist before People Eyes and thou bringst the Judgment of Calvin Beza and Piscator and others that as concerning Man endued only with the Light remaining since the Fall they conclude him to be Darkness and unable to comprehend the Light or to improve it to Salvation their Judgements are more sound then thine though thou wouldst bring them to strengthen thee that the Son of God hath not enlightned every man they confess the Man in the fall is in Darkness and Darkness is over him and in that he is not able to comprehend the Light which is in him and as to the Improvement of it in the Darkness man hath not Power to improve it to Salvation but what doth this invalidate the Light which is in Darkness the Power of improving is in the Light being turned to again and received and what if I say it is the Light of Life in its self though thou deny it I knowest what I speak for in him was Life and is Life and that Life is the Light of men and the Light of the World and so that Light which every man is lighted with is of the Life and from the Life and so may truly be said to be the Light of Life in it self though man in the Transgression doth not feel it so as to him but may truly say it is the Light of Condemnation because he feels it so in the Operation thereof being in the Transgression it convicteth reproveth accuseth and condemneth for Evil and therefore it cannot be the Light of Life to him till it be received closed with obeyed and followed and then the back is turned upon the Transgression and man is come out of the Darkness and therefore the Apostle spoke well and understandingly according to Knowledge that which was ordained for Life wrought Death in him that was because the Law was against him and he in the contrary Nature to it the ignorance of many wise Men so accounted in this Generation is such that when they see or feel contrary Effects they judge there must needs be contrary Subjects or Objects because there are different Effects for now the same Light which shews Evil and accuses for it and Judges for it there is one Operation and excuses him that loves it and obeyes it here is another Operation that which Convinceth the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and that which consolates and gives Peace to the Believer is the self same Spirit so here is not two Spirits or two Lights so that he which kindles a Fire in the Earth and appears in flames of Fire and rendereth Vengeance upon all them that obey not the Gospel which is the Power of God here is one Work or operation of Christ the same bringeth Peace Joy and gladness and refreshment and makes the springs of Life to bubble up in them that believe here is another Operation yet the same Christ these things I write to inform thee and all where this may come that that is truly an Appearance of Christ which sheweth Sin and condemns it in a measure and he alone is the Judge of the Quick and the Dead and if all Judgment be committed to the Son then to be Judged for Lying for Stealing and for wronging any man it is the Work of Christ and the Work of the Son Oh man thou hast much to Repent of and thy Ignorance is great which hast called Christ the Light or the Light of Christ or the Light of Life Darkness and contra-distinct to the Spirit and worse then gross Darkness so this is thy conclusion against the first of John the 9th that Christ hath not enlightned every man or all men that come into the World but all men so qualified of every sort so then by thy conclusion the first of John and the 6. verse gives an uncertain Sound like the 17th of John and 22th so then its Qualifications of men that procures Light from Christ and so it s not of Grace but of debt but if it be of debt which is owing unto a Person so qualified then it is not of Gift but thou err'st in thy Judgement for it is by the gift of Righteousness that Justification comes upon all that believe it is not this or that Qualification before their conversion which is any cause of God's enlightening them but it is the free Love of God unto man without Exceptions or respect of Persons that he hath lighted every man to the intent that all and every man might see his Error and depart from it and turn to him that shews him it who would have all men saved and come to the Knowledge of the Truth and such is the large Love of God unto whole Man-kind which thou wouldst restrict and bind up to such and such Persons so Qualified as though Qualifications of Persons were a Meritorious cause wherefore Christ was Bound to give them Light this is rank Popery and not according to the Doctrine of Godliness And thou citest 2 Pet. 1.19 We have a more sure Word of Prophecy whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a Light that shineth in a dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-star arise in your Hearts hence it is inferred thou say'st that after the Reception of the Spirit there is no need to attend to the Scripture and so thou goest on and say'st the Word of Prophecy is the Scripture of the Old Testament that thou art to take heed unto until the Day dawned and the Day-star arised in their Hearts and that until signifies forever Answ. And here thou art in Confusion I know none that make any such Inference but thy self for the Scripture is seen most clearly who know the Day dawn and the Day-star arisen in their Hearts and first thou say'st We are to understand the Word of Prâ—phecy the whole Scripture and then in the same Page say'st That Peter expounds the Word Prophecy of the old Testament only so then Peter's Exposition by thy Account and thine is different thou say'st he spoke of the old Testament and thy Interpretation is of the whole Scripture but thou hast mist it both of Peter and thy self for Peter wrote to People in that Epistle in several States yet they all might be said to be Believers according to a Proportion of Faith given unto them and in that which thou hast cited 1 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more
a visiâ—le Pâ—litical Ordinance 14. That Baptism is a visible Political Church-Ordinance 15. That to Christ belongs the Prerogative of being the only Politician 16. That there is much Darkness in the Hearts of all Children of Light in this Life pag. 42. Likewise at a Lecture at Boston John Norton taught That the Justice of God is the Armour of the Devil Take a View of thy Doctrines again and be ashamed and blush and repent of thy Deceit and false Doctrines and lying Stories and cease to pervert the Way of the Lord for all this which thou hast waded through will little advantage your Kingdom neither all this Covering which thou hast made will not vindicate your wicked Practices nor shelter you from the Storms and Thunders and Plagues and Terror and Wrath which is to be poured upon all his Enemies and then thy Order from the General Court will stand thee but in little stead when the Terror of God comes upon thee and when the witness of God is awakened in thee to bring all thy Iniquities to Remembrance and thy Deceit that hath been hid to the Light then shalt thou see that thou hast not let thy self only against Man but also against God and his dear Servants whom he hath redeemed by his precious Blood who know a Habitation unto which you cannot reach with your Clubs Whips and Ropes and their Habitation is as the Munition of Rocks their Bread is sure and their Water doth not fail and happy are they who suffer for the Truth 's sake for they shall receive Honour and Glory and Immortality and the Crown of Life which he hath laid up for all them that endure the Cross and despise the Shame which will be given in the Day of his glorious Appearance to them that keep the Word of his Patience and the Word of his Testimony committed to them unto the End London the 12 th Day of the 11 th Moneth 1659. F. H. AN INFORMATION AND ALSO ADVICE TO THE ARMY On both Parts and this present Committee of Safety NEVVLY ERECTED And to the late PARLIAMENT And also to all People who seek Peace and Righteousness and are for the Good Old Cause so much talked on This is presented by him who stands off and from all Self-Interests and Parties and wisheth that the Wisdom of God may guide you all and Division and Destruction may cease F. H. WHat is there not a wise Man among you who seeks not himself but the Good of all that you so blow the Sparks on every Hand and exasperate the Spirits one of another and rather are for Strife then for Healing And would ye have the Fire kindled to rise up in such a great Flame as both to destroy your selves and many innocent People in the Nation What is every one seeking to gratifie his Interests and Party and to satisfie his Will And is there none that seeks that the Will of God may be done in Earth among the Sons of Men that God might once delight to do us good and settle these Nations in Peace and Freedom as men and as Christians I. Consider hath not this been the End which hath been proposed by all good men who have not sought themselves but have ventured all that this might be accomplished which if it had been or were or could be attained unto would be a perfect Recompence and Satisfaction of all and to all who have sought it in their Heart viz. Freedom from Oppression in their Persons and Estates which hath not been by Reason of the many wicked Laws which have been imposed to satisfie the Self-Interests of some particular Men which did imbondage all other Secondly Liberty and Freedom of Conscience in the Exercise of their Consciences to Christ who is God's Anointed according to the Manifestation of his Light and Spirit to them unto whom and before whom all must give an Account and be judged but this hath been hitherto hindered by them who have re-assumed a Power and have usurped Authority to themselves and have made laws to the imbondaging of the dear and precious People of God in these Nations though you have been talking of the Good Old Cause these are not revocated and over-turned by which very many suffer to this Day II. It is not Names Titles Denominations and VVords that we look after and which will effect the Thing proposed which while some have been contending after have let got the Thing in Hand and have lost it and so set up a particular Interest and it clothes it self with the Words and fair Speeches but nothing is brought forth and so by fair Speeches and Flatteries the People have been deceived and cheated III. Should not all Rule and Authority be for the Good and Safety and well-being of a Nation or Common-wealth and not to set up an arbitrary Power in their own Wills to rule in Tyranny and Oppression to satisfie their own to the imbondaging of all the People And when any Power or Authority have deviated or swerved from this they became no other but Tyrants and Oppressors for the Thing intended being lost the Ruler or Rulers rule no more for God neither he account them such whatsoever they may account themselves and therefore hath raised another Thing to overthrow that Power as hath been evident in this Nation in these many Revolutions although that Power which was first in being which was ordained for the End aforesaid being swerved from the thing might say to that which rose up against it That it was Rebellion and Treason and declare it to be such in the Ears of the People as hath been done by divers which is in the Memory of most so that I need not instance when I say it was not so accounted by the Lord and he hath given a Testimony of this by the overthrowing the former and raising up the latter and hath stood by it while it stood in his Counsel IV. Was not Israel governed sometime by Judges sometime by the Elders and sometime by Kings And while they stood in the Counsel of the Lord and the people hearkened to them was not the Lord among them and sometime raised up unlikely Means as to Man's Wisdom as David a Shepherds Boy ' and Gideon a Thresher and he was made a Judge and a Redeemer of Israel out of their Slavery but mind this still while they stood in God's equal Counsel which led to do equally to and for the Good of all according to God's Institution and Appointment then they were blessed but when either Ruler Governour or Governours went from the Power of the Lord in which they only had Authority to rule and to do justly when they went from that and became corrupt in their Minds and Hearts and Blindness came upon them as it is said Blindness happened to Israel through their Unbelief and what was the Effect thereof The Judges judged for Rewards and Gifts the Prophets prophesied for Hire and the Priests divined for Money and the
into the Sea Are they like to deliver you who cannot deliver themselves are they like to settle you who are unsetled themselves are they like to bring Peace unto you who know not the Way thereof are they like to put an End to Wars and Strife who are in the Variance and Strife and War against the Spirit of the Lord in themselves and against one another every one striving that his heady Mind may be satisfied is that it which is like to make the Nation free when that which tends to true Freedom is counted by them Bondage hath not this and the other Party promised great things and have they not all laboured in vain and spent their Strength for nought And is not the Nation further off from Establishment in Righteousness then it was sixteen Years ago and is not more Hypocrisie and Deceit abounding and encreasing who use good Words for a Cloak of Maliciousness and fair Speeches to deceive the Hearts of the simple and have not many been deceived hore and are they not all become broken Bows in which there is no Strength Oh what Brittleness Giddiness and Madness and Instability among the People just carried about as a Tempest blown up and down with every Wind and Oh how do People feed upon Wind and the airy Breath of corrupt men which vanisheth away as Smoak which haâ—h brought no Deliverance at all but rather led farther and farther into slavery Oh what are your Spirits so heightned in and what is it in which you so greatly rejoyce is it not in that which the Lord God hath blasted blown upon and it is withered your Rejoycing is not good and it stirs up the wrong Part in People to rejoyce in Vanity and to take pleasure in Folly what have you made Captains and are you turning again into Egypt Do you love Pharaoh's Power so well and the wise mens Counsels so well and were it not just with the Lord to let you go back into perpetual slavery and chuse your delusion seeing you make your Necks as an Iron sinew and are so stout-hearted against the Lord If you never attain unto that which God intended unto you blame not the Lord for you have made your selves unworthy thereof by neglecting the Counsel of the Almighty despising them with whom the Counsel of the Lord is and therefore it is just to bring one Bramble after another to rule over you and one Bryar after another to scratch and rend and tear you many have born your burden long and have been prest with your Transgressions and the Souls of the Righteous have been vexed from year to year to see you despise the Loving-kindness of the Lord and the tender Offers of Mercy but the Burden at last must come upon your own Shoulders which will bow you down and then shall you see the Lord would have healed you but you would not the Lord would have healed your Breaches but you would not because the Way did not suit with your peevish pettish crooked Minds and therefore you are like to be bowed down under that which you have chosen as Asses under a Burden and you will suffer your Eyes to be put out by the Uncircumcised and have given your Strength to the Beast and now must you grind as Samson at a Mill and they that exercise Rule over you will make Sport with you Be awakned out of your deep Sleep and shake the Spirit of Slumber off you that so you may come to see the State that you have plunged your selves into and the little Inch of Time that is yet left you prize it and wait to feel the Witness of God arise in you above that Rashness and Wilfulness which doth so easily beset you and eye the Lord God and look for Salvation from him for else neither Person Family nor Nation is like to be established have you not run far enough are you not yet weary have you obtained any thing by looking after Men but Breach upon Breach and one Vexation after another the Line of Confusion being stretched out over all and stones of Emptiness brought forth which is never like to do good or to be a good Foundation to build upon for Salvation must be brought to a Nation by a People that are saved by the Lord who have the eternal God for their Rock and Refuge who have the Lord for their God and King for they know how to rule in Righteousness who have denied them selves and all self-Interests take but a View of your Leaders and see in what they have denied themselves or their own Interest and that Person or Man can never be for the general Good of all People neither for the Common Freedom of the Nation who seeks himself and they that know not the Judgment of the Lord against Evil in themselves are never like to judge righteously among the People but will turn it backward and let Equity fall in the Streets and the poor and the needy suffer and will let the Yoak of Bondage lye upon their Necks whom God hath made free and count the Proud happy and they that work Wickedness they will set them up Oh! the Lord is grieved and his Spirit is vexed these divers Years at these things and therefore hath he poured Contempt upon the mighty and is bringing a Consumption upon all the Honourable of the Earth and will make them all as burned Mountains and while your Eyes are upon them for Help your Expectation shall be frustrated and your Hope shall be as the giving up of the Ghost and this is the Word of Truth unto you all which shall not pass away unfulfilled And thou false treacherous Ministry of this Nation who only hast the Power of the carnal Sword to hold thee up and wast made constituted to be a ministry by a carnal Commandment of Man you have been the chief Incendiaries of much of these Commotions Stirs Uproars and Broils War and Strife how have you twined and turned and wheeled about like Weather-Cocks and flattered every Horn of the Beast which exalted it Self though but for a little season like as your Fore-fathers did in former years so have you done in the latter years flattered and set up every thing and Image which though there was nothing it in at alâ— no Life nor Breath you have cried it up for the higher power while it stood and would work your Drudgery and satisfie your Interest and if it went not on as you would have it then you have cried it down and them that you counted the higher Power and have said It hath been by God's Appointment the next Week Usurpers and Traytors and Countenancers of Error and Blasphemy and have kindled a Fire among People and set them up in a Rage one against another and when your Deceit was like to go down then cried Religion was despised and the Gospel was like to fall and to be extinguished Come let us reason together a little is reading
and his Power amongst and their Adversaries will God rebuke for their Sake Therefore O Nation consider and take this one Warning more that thou proceed not further to thy Hurt and thou repent when it is too late ONE OF ANTICHRISTS VOLUNTIERS DEFEATED AND THE TRUE LIGHT VINDICATED In Answer to a Book called Ignis Fatuus published by one R.I. wherein he vindicates Edward Dod and Samuel Smith of the County of Salop in their Lyes Folly and Wickedness and hath added more of his own with divers of his false Doctrines Lyes and Slanders c. brought to Light and reproved As that the Law of the Spirit of Life is imperfect and not fit to be a Christian Rule and also Human Nature may be taken for the regenerate Part of Man and the Soul c. and likewise calls Idolatry Civility and Heathenish Complements Courtesie His Vindication made void and his Weapons broken and he taken Captive and left with E.D. and S.S. among the Slime-pits of Siddim near Sodom with his Ignis fatuus By F. H. a Witness to the perfect Law of the Spirit of Life The Wicked are estranged from the Womb they go astray as soon as they be born speaking Lyes AMâ—ngst all the Opposers of the Truth that yet have appeared among the black Army of the the old Dragon who like the Philistians have alwayes defied Israels God and also their Camp through their ostentation and Boasting and with their Clamorous loud Cryeâ— in the Ears of the People like Rabshekah to dish earten and dismay Israel none hath appeared more out-ragious and virulent then one who Subscribes himself R. I. who in Vindication of his Brethren in Iniquity Eâ—ward Dâ—d Drunkard and Samuel Smith an uprofitable Talker otherwise called a Minister at Cressage who hath preached that which he calls the Gospel these divers Years and yet sees no Fruit at all and yet this impudent R. I. whom I believe to be another Dreamer like him for his Language doth manifest him to belong to Mystery Babylon the great City the Mother of Harlots he saith One may Minister and preach the Gospel and the People not be profited at all as Samuel Smith hath done at Cressage And he saith further that they are barren Professors yet saith R. I. that S. S. need not be abashed at it And for instance he saith Was Pauls Preaching of less credit because there were many Runnagates in the End shewed themselves Hypocrites yet this comparison will not excuse S. S. neither E. D. nor R. I. who would cover them with an old patched Cloak some Pieces he hath scraped up out of Esop's Fables a Book full of Lyes and altogether compacted and patched up of fictions and some out of Oviâ— and Seneca Heathens in their own account and the like frivolous Stories and Plato and Diogenes they must serve for a covering if it will to the two former Opposers of Truth but stay R. I. Did Paul stay seven Years in any place and saw no Fruit And though there were many Unbelievers among the Jews notwithstanding the publication of the Word and the miracles of Christ yet some believed and though the Apostles and Ministers of Christ laboured in the Work of the Lord yet some believed and clave unto them but there is no Fruit at Cressage at all but they barren Professors as R. I. saith but if thâ—s will not serve tâ—ke another of R. I. his arguments that God sends his Word sometimes for the hardening of People and upon this account S. S's teaching and Ministry must be kept in credit A sad thing for the People of Cressage that they should Hire a man for seven Years together and pay him Wages for hardening of their Hearts and for counting them barren Professors yet I judge S. S. E. D. and R. I. counted them fruitful and abounding in Zeal and fervency to God when they came into the Meeting of the Quakers some ringing Pans some Candlesticks and Frying Pans and throwing Water like People void of Understanding and saith this R.I. these yielding a better sound then the Quakers So that thou mayst see what will not this R. I. Vindicate and what Wickedness as can be acted and spoken here they may look for a shelter rather then they shall want a Guardian as Pictures Images Crosses Cuffs Ribbons Laâ—e and such other like things invented by the Devil to draw People from serving and Worshipping the living God R. I. will Patronize them all being brought forth and when they are not brought forth he will reach forth his Hand to help to elevate Iniquity and to under prop the Devil's Kingdom which is exalted in the Children of Disobedience as all along may be seen in his Fabulous Scrole called Ignis Fatuus when like his two Brethren before him he goes about to Vindicate Idolatry Images Hirelings Mass-houses Cuffs and Ribbons Tythes Flattering Titles and vain Customs and Popish Practices Pride Persecution and Lying all those things he pleads for and hath used many vain Arguments and false Interpretations of Scripture so that the two former it may truly be said they have done wickedly but this R. I. Exceeds them all who is so stout-Hearted against the Truth and Power of God that whatsoever he can invent in his corrupt Heart against it and gathers up the rest of the Priests lyes that they have Vomited up before and cast in the Face of Truth and â—enders them as good proof and some Scriptures perverted with Eâ—op's Fables and Ovid and Diogenes's Stories and upon such materials he hath framed his Book called Ignis Fatuus which he hath writ in Vindication of E. D. his Book called A pair of Spectacles for a Dark siâ—hted Quaker and S. S. Malice Stripped and Whipt three Pamphlets whose Title will discover what the Substance of their matter is and whose Work they drive on so that I need not say much some of them Vindicating Persecution and incouraging the Rude behaviour of the People another mocking at Innocency and scorneth them who Tremble at the Word of the Lord and last of all R. I. who hath made a Fortress for both the other and hath cast up a heap of confused Darkness to guard his Brethren he mocks at the Light within and calls it Ignis Fatuus and the Law which is Light which God hath Promised to write in his Peoples Hearts this he calls an Imperfect thing and therefore to be ruled and not fit to be a rule of the Saints as may be seen in the 55 th page of his Book and so hath spoken contrary to the Spirit and Scripture of Truth Prov. 6. and the Law of the Lord which is the Law that endureth forever this saith R. I. is imperfect and the Letter or Law without written is perfect and is a standard as R. I. saith for all Controversies then if it be so perfect and so fit to decide all Controversies why doth R. I. borrow his proofs and raise his Arguments from Esop's Fables Ovid's Stories
Plato's and Diogenes's discourses and to omit Seneca because R. I. saith Ambrose hath reckoned him in the Bead-row of Saints it may be with Saint Dominick and Saint Patrick Saint Francis and some other of the Popes Canonizing but however I shall let many of his Envious and frivolous and impertinent Arguments pass as thing of no Validity or worth being they have been Answered over and over by many Hands and all the Fortresses and strong Holds thrown down so that to any Judicious man they will appear to be but Rubbish however R. I. would be gathering together the Rubbish again and would make it appear as goodly a fabrick as he can when indeed there is no thing in it all so thou may'st see Reader in R. I. his Vindication of this Mouldy cankered Ware of Babylon which he would hold up his own Folly Ignorance and Errour made manifest in the ensuing discourse of his Doctrines and most of his Principles thou may view and see which I have taken up and answer'd and his Confusion and Blindness thou mayst see and also view the Spirits that acts this Man and how this man is like to Convince any who hath not Power over his Tongue but lets it run to utter forth the deceit that proceeds out of his own corrupt Heart thinking thereby to blind Peoples Eyes that they should not see how Ignorant and Light vain and Treacherous these Priests are who would monopolize all into their own Hand nay though God commanded and move by his Spirit yet this must not speak nor declare the mind of God except these Priests will allow of it in whom the Welfare of all People lies if thou wilt believe R. I. in the 11 page of his Book yet if these count it disorderly for any to speak as h1 hath received of the Lord from his Spirit it must go for such and be accounted such as disorderly In the Epistle to the Reader R. I. saith such Schiâ—maticks as these Quakers have torn the Church in Pieces and its Authority condemned and the Ministry slighted and false Religion advanced Answ. It seems that the Church that R. I. is of is none of the true Church which is built upon the Rock Christ which the Gates of Hell prevaileth not aâ—ainst neither any weapon that is formed against it can prosper but R. I. his Church is torn in pieces and may be prevailed against sure it is but Babylon whose Stones must be scattered and whose Building must be thrown down it is but the Whâ—râ—s Aâ—â—re that is sending off that her Nakedness may appear and her Deceit made manifest and the Authority which is condemned and reproved is no Authâ—rity but the Authority of the Beast upon which the false Church hath riden and hath câ—lled it by the Name of the higher Power and the Ministry is but such as traffick with the Whore's Sorceries by which she hath deceived the Nations and this indeed and those Ministers indeed are slighted by us because we know him who is the Minister of the everlâ—sting Covenant whose Spirit is manifest according to his Promise to lead his People into all Truth and so the Religion which standeth only in the Traditions of Men and in Idolatry such things as R. I. goeth about to maintain as Images Crosses and Piâ—â—ures Mass-houses Hireling Prâ—â—sts Popish Tythes and Pâ—pish Ceremonies which R. I. so much pleads for all these are slighted as not to be consistant with the true Religion or the true Church of Christ. Yet nevertheless saith R. I. in his Epistle I have adventured voluntarily to side with those that contend for the Truth agaâ—nst the Quakers and yet in the same Epistle saith He was moved of the Lord thus to declare Answ. What Confusion and Lying and Blasphemy is here hath R. I. adventured voluntarily in his own Wilfulness and Perversness to take part with those Contenders against the Truth in which the Quakers live and worship and God must be made the Author of this and all the Heap of Lyes and Confusion which is declared and uttered forth in his Ignis fatuus which if no more were said then hath been were answer enough unto his railing Discourse and yet what Impudency this Man hath to say he was moved of the Lord when as he hath confest he hath voluntarily took part with the Contenders so that it is manifest to all reasonable men who set thee on work and whose Work thou hast been doing for which thou shalt be sure to receive a Reward in the mighty Day of the Lord. And R. I. saith Forasmuch as their counterfeit Coin hath been offered to me for good Sâ—lver I thought it fit to nail it to the Market pâ—st that it might not decieve others and instead thereof I have here made a tender of other Money viz. this ensuing Treatise which I doubt not but it may pass with Truth 's approbation Answ. That which R. I. calls counterfeit Coin was made publick by our selves and it hath been and shall be received by them that know God's Image and the inscription of the Spirit and though R. I. hath denyed it when it was proffered to him the Value and Worth of that which hath been proffered to him is no worse For though a Price be put into the Hand of a Fool he regards it not And now Reader thou shalt see what kind of Coin he hath tendered and how thou judgest it may pass with Truth 's Approbation as hereafter will be made manifest in his further Discourse Wherefore Reader saith R. I. Have not so great Regard to the Authority of the writer as the Truth of the Matter written by him who was moved of the Lord as thâ— to declare against those who are Adversaries to Truth Answ. Indeed the Authority of a writer or of that which is written is of no great moment seeing he is but one of Anti-Christ's Voluntiers who hath not only belyed them that feared the Lord but also hath uttered forth many damnable Doctrines and yet would fasten all these upon the Lord so that his Deceit might be of more Authority and none might question the matter thereof because the Lord alwayes moveth to Truth and Righteousness and so R. I. is one of them that hath taken the Name of the Lord in vain which will not be holden guiltless but will be found guilty when the Searcher of all Hearts shall make all things manifest And then R. I. further saith That sprinkling of Infants is commanded by the Scrptures and is a Seal of the Covenant and Baptism of Infâ—nts is that which answers to Circumcision for Mortification of the Flesh and Remission of Sins and Admission into the Church are sealed unto Infants by sprinkling or that which R. I. calleth baptizing I say Baptism of infants is a Popish-Tradition as hath been proved by divers so that of it I need not say much but where it is commanded in the Scripture as R. I. saith Coll. 2.11 12. is but a
bad Proof for R. I. for the Collossians were circumcised with the Circumcision made without Hands and they were buried with him in Baptsim baptized into the Death and Sufferings of Christ such a Baptism as the Priests never Administred with their Hands and the Spirit of the Lord was wont to be the Seal of the Covenant to them that do believe but now it must be turned out of doors for visible Water hath taken up its Place in R. I. his Judgement which is currupted how doth sprinkling answer to Circumcision the Males only were circumcised and not the Females and why do you sprinkle Females if Baptism must answer to Circumcision and if the Extent of the one must be as large as the other And as for Mortification of the Flesh and Remission of Sins that which mortifies the deeds of the Flesh hath Life in it and that gives a living Testimony within Remission sins of is in the Blood of Christ and the Seale thereof is by the Spirit unto them that believe but this popish tradition hath taken up all in R. I. his Account if his Argument be true nay the Papists themselves who are as zealous for sprinkling of Infants as R. I. or any of his Brethren can be yet one of their own Bishops at a Council in France of both Protestants and Papists at Pisoy 1561. Claudius Espencius saith many Things are to be believed by Tradition only as the Baptism of Infants which cannot be proved from Scripture but this R. I. would have the Scripture to be a cloak and a coveâ— not only for Popish traditions but for his own invented imaginations which he hath set forth to blind the People withal The next Thing that R. I. goes about to vindicate is Swearing which their Ministers teach Men to swear which ought to be in Rightousness and Truth and for his Proof he brings Deut. 10.20 and saith Christ only prohibits rash and vain swearing and superfluous Oaths Answ. Unto this much hath been said and answered already by many pens and so that in the Answer thereof I shall be brief in the first Covenant it was lawful to swear in Truth and Righteousness and likewise all rash and vain Oaths under the Law were forbidden but Christ who is the End of the Law for Righteousness who is greater then the Prophets and greater then Moses and Solomon and greater then the Angels unto whom they all worship he saith expresly Swear not at all now whereas R. I and ther 's have said Christ only in these Words prohibits vain Oaths or false Oathâ—s then he had reproved nothing but what the Law had reproved but he saith it hath been said of old Time thou shalt not forswear thy self but saith Christ I say swear not at all so that it is manifest that all Oaths are forbidden by him who is the Oath of God and why saith R. I. it is not contrary to the Gospel of Christ for to swear and yet doth account the writings which is called the New Testament the Goâ—pel wherein Christ hath expresly forbidden it and therefore those Ministers that teach men to swear are not the Ministers of Christ but teach those things that are repugnant to the Gospel of Christ For he that breaks one of the least of the Commands of Christ and teacheth others so to do is least in the Kingdom of God The next thing that R. I. would vindicate is their of singâ—ng David's Psalms in invented Tunes such as pleaseth the carnal Mind and for his Proof he brings Mat. 26.30 They went out and sung a Hymn and Paul and Silas sung in Prison and singing is divine Worship for the Praise of God and the Comfort of our Souls and it is a Soul-ravishing and Heart-raising Ordiâ—ance Answ. It is acknowledged and alwayes hath been by us that Praises belongs unto the Lord and that they that are made alive whose Souls are raised out of Death can and do praise the Lord and they that siâ—g with the Spirit and with Understanding are acceptable unto God and they that are in the Spirit do that which the Spirit moveth unto and so worship in the Truth and are accepted of God and Christ and Paul and Silas and many more praised the Lord and many now do praise the Lord and he that hath a Psalm may sing but what of all this what doth this prove for R. I. and the Mass-house-fingers and what doth this prove as to the singing of them that are void of Understanding who sometime sing I go mourning all the Day long and just at that moment are singing and what doth R. I. think it cannot be a Psalm except it be in Meeter or doth he think it is not accepted except it hath a Tune with so many stops and to sing David's Prayers and call it Praises is this with Understanding and even to return R. I. his Words upon himself A more ungrounded Opinion was never invented by the Devil for them to sing or to pretend to praise God whose Souls lye in death and do not know what it is to partake of God's Benefits neither the unsearchable Gift this kind of singing and Immitation doth not comfort the Soul but burden it and this doth not raise the Witness but killeth it and you make merry over it and this kind of singing must be turned into howling and lamentation And saith R. I. Our Worship doth not differ neither in whole nor in Part in matter or in manner from the Saints Worship in the Primitive Times Answ. This Man's Confidence or rather Impudence is in Opposition to Knowledge and Wisdom for it were easily proved that it neiâ—her in whole nor in Part neither in matter nor manner agreeth with the Primitive times as for Example it is no where recorded in the Scripture that any Apostle Minister or Ministers did take a little Water and did sprinkle a few Drops on a Child's Face called this an Ordinance of God and say it is a Seal of the Covenant and Mortification and Remission 〈◊〉 Sins neither any such Doctrine did they declare neither did any of thâ— Ministers and Apstoles of Christ cause People to buy them Bread anâ— Wine and then give it the People back again a Bit of Bread and a Sup 〈◊〉 Wine at the middle of the Day and call this the Lord's Supper or a greâ—â— Sacrament neither had they Bells in their Churches to call People togâ—â—ther neither had they soft Cushions and Pulpits and a Hour-glass 〈◊〉 by them neither did the Primitive Churches prohibit or limit thâ— Spirit of the Lord God amongst any but if any was moved to speak any thing or had any thing revealed from the Lord the first was to hold his Peace These and many more things you differ in both in matter and manner which largely hath been declared by other Pens and so in this I shall be brief neither had the Ministers of the Gospel their Maintenance by force neither had they Easter reckonings
understand that here was seventeen years that he preached publickly before that and where was his Ordination Many of the Brethren who were scattered abroad in the Persecution that was at Jerusalem went every where preaching the Word of God and when or where were these ordained And who ordained the Brethren that were persecuted after Steven's being put to death who travailed as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the Word and the Hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and were turned unto the Lord Acts 11.19 20 21. yet these things I bring not as to deny but that many went out with the consent of the Church and many were ordained and many were ordained Elders who were grown up in the Truth and established who had received the holy Ghost by whom many were confirmed and strengthned in the Faith but what is all this R. I. to your Ordination and who ordained you the Pope a Bishop or a Council or a Parliament and what are they you ordain Such as learn the Art of Speech seven years at Oxford who have read Homer and Aristotle Plato and Diogenes and learn to play on a Fiddle these are no Mechanicks but gifted Men indeed and qualified and fit to be ordained and made Ministers Pastors and Elders to carry abroad the Traffick of Mystery-Babylon but this R. I. is very peremptory and saith it is utterly unlawful for any that are gifted to preach the Word contrary to the Apostle's Doctrine who saith as every one hath received the Gift so let him administer and not such as R. I. would have to be Ministers who have learned an Art to speak and this must be called a Gift and a Qualification and a fit Man to be a Pastor and thus they have ordained one another and have set up a Trade of preaching and with their confused Stories have filled the World with Darkness And as concerning an infallible Spirit saith R. I. None except Christ who was without sin can challenge it or lay claim to it and I may say of such Runnagates and wandering Stars as this F. H. and the Quakers are as John did 1 John 2.9 They are gone out from us because they were not of us Answ. However this R. I. hath cleared himself and the rest of his Brethren for being Ministers of Christ for they do not only deny an infallible Spirit neither look to be made Partakers thereof but quite shut out all the Saints from enjoying it and though in Christ the fulness of the Godhead dwelt who was full of Grace and Truth he is the Root from whence all that believe come to be made partakers of his Virtue and so many of his Members may lay claim to it as they have received it by a free Gift according to the Promise of Christ I will send you the Spirit of Truth whâ—ch shall lead you into all Truth and the Apostle had received the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who had freed him from the Law of Sin and Death and the Sons of God had received it and they were led by it and the Ministers of Christ were made Ministers of it who hath made us able Ministers as it is written not of the Letter but of the Spirit and that Spirit was infallible and true and that Spirit which they declared of was an unerring Spirit and as they were led by it they erred not but were kept by it that the Evil one touched them not and they spoke from it and ordered the Church in it in the wisdom of God But what do these Men minister from who wait not to be made Partakers of this but deny that ever any had it or ever shall have so are but a company of Dreamers and tell their dream that they dreamed in the Night or at best steal the Words from their Neighbour and say Thus saith the Lord when God hath never spoken to them And though thou mayest say we are Runnagates because we sit not dreaming over thirty or forty Families twenty years but travail from City from Country to Country to publish the Word of Truth freely as the Apostles Ministers of Christ did we must by such as this R. I. and his Brethren who have gotten Holes and Nests in the Earth to creep into be counted as Runnagates though John said They are gone out from us because they were not of us this he spoke of them who went out of the Light in which he and the rest of the Disciples had Fellowship with God and one with another and they that went out from this went into the Spirit of the World and you are such as they that are gone out already and blasphemously call the Light of Christ Ignis fatuâ—â— and so all that fear the Lord will come out from you and out from Babylon where the Blood of the Prophets hath been shed and the Witnesses killed you who deny an infallible Spirit are like to be in blindness and follow the Spirit of Error for you have nought else to cleave unto And further R I. saith when the Lord said by Joel that he would pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and his Sons and his Daughters should prophesie the Prophet speaks not of a ghostly Power to open the Kingdom of Heaven given by Christ to his Apostles and Successors but of an extraordinary Measure of enlightning Grace and a more copious effusion of the Spirit and also to Pastors to whom more is given more is required and this Text doth not prove that all Sheep shall be Pastors and all Schollars Teachers An. Nay this Text doth not prove all Sheep to be Pastors neither all that are taught to be Teachers for all are not Prophets neither Pastors nor Teachers for as Christ said the Labourers are but few but this Man 's afraid that there should be too many indeed there are too many hireling Loiterers that are ready to supplant one another for filthy Lucre though many may be said to believe yet all have not received the Spirit of prophecy or a Gift to be Pastors but only they to whom it is given of the Lord for the Work sake yet notwithstanding they who have received it ought not to be limited either Son or Daughter for they who do quench the Spirit and dâ—â—pise Prophecy as this R. I. doth and how should he do otherwise seeing he hath denyed the infallible Spirit from which all the Ministers ministred and all the Prophets prohesied and spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost but R. I. saith the Prophet spoke not of a Ghostly Power to open the Kingdom of Heaven if by ghostly Power he means the Spirit 's Power as I believe he will not deny then was it not by a spiritual Power Sons Daughters prophesied and did not this Power open the Kingdom of Heaven and if it be a more copious Effusion of the Spirit which is given under the Gospel then the Law
The Quakers deny Honour to Superiours and to whom it is due and so blaspheme the Name of God and his Doctrine Ninethly F. H. would never have cryed out of Deceit but a Purpose to deceive the more Tenthly That the Quakers bid open Defiance to the Worship of God Eleventhly That J. N. did say that he was as just and holy and good as God Twelfthly That F. H. said That Christ Jesus was not glorified in Heaven with a real Body Thirteenthly Human Nature is taken for the regenerate Part of Man and the Soul Fourteenthly That the best Men though regenerate bear Nettles Brambles and Pricks Fifteenthly There is an inward Law called the Law of the Spirit of Life which is imperfect and not fit to bear rule but to be ruled Sixteenthly And the Scriptures lead us to the Spirit and encline our Hearts to the Obedience of the rule Seventeenthly And F. H. prefereth Ignis fatuus before the clear Light of God's Word Eighteenthly and lastly when he hath spoken all these Lyes and published them in Print to the World he blasphemously saith in his Epistle to the Reader Have not so much regard to the Authority of the Writer as the Truth of the Matter written by him who was moved of the Lord thus to declare So all these Lyes with many more and all these damnable Doctrines which he hath uttered forth against the Truth these things he would fasten upon the Lord's Motion and so make him the Author of Iniquity and a Cloak for his ungodly Speeches against them who love the Truth as it is in Jesus who have suffered many Reproaches for its sake and have been killed all the Day long by this Generation amongst which R. I. is who hath bent his Tongue to Mischief and his Lips to utter forth Deceit and as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses so hath this R. I. resisted the Truth being a Man of a corrupt Mind and concerning the Faith reprobate but he shall not proceed much further for in what he hath written his Folly will be manifest unto all men and them that fear the Lord will depart out of his Foot-steps which lead to the Chambers of Death and from those dark Paths in which R.I. treadeth which lead into utter Destruction Westmoreland the 15 th of the 4 th Moneth 1660. F. H. To all Friends and Brethren who have been called of the Lord into that Place of New-England to bear your Testimony for the Lord to the answering of his Witness in every ones Conscience FOrasmuch as the Lord through his infinite Love and Goodness which he hath manifested amongst the Sons of Men hath called you and fitted you for his Work and Service which he hath to do you being made Partakers through the Love of God unto you of the like precious Faith with many Brethren which giveth Victory over the World and supporteth all them that keep it in the Day of Tryal My Heart's Desire is that you may all fulfil the Will of God and answer his End in sending you thither that so you may receive your Reward my Heart is drawn out unto you in true Love being sensible of the many Oppositions that you have met with and may meet with by Reason of the Strength and Power of Darkness in those Parts where Satan's Throne is exalted keep all near the Lord and feel his Power in your selves which giveth Dominion and Victory over all the World and over all fading Things which pass away and so you will feel his Strength daily renewed in you to carry you above all Opposition and his Presence to go before you and his Righteousness to be your Reward so will you be preserved in the Peace of God and feel his Life present to refresh you in the Time of Need and as your Tryals and Travails and Sufferings for Christ do abound so your Strength and Joy and Peace and Consolation will also much more abound from his Life manifest and revealed in your Hearts keep in the Power of the Lord over all Deceit and know your own Image in every one to whom you joyn and let no Deceit come near you which may get the Words and not be subject to the Power for those will betray you and rise up in Rebellion against you and glory over you for that only which can receive you through the Cross will stand by you and the other who may receive the Truth in Words into the earthly Part will stumble at the Cross and so get a Knowledge above the Cross these will blow away as Chaff Keep in your Innocency and every one in your own and there you will come to be setled and established as Trees whose Roots are spread in the Earth which cannot easily be plucked up nor a Tempest blow down you know where the Entrance was unto your selves into the Sheepfold into the true Rest thither bring all and keep all down to that to the Measure of God's Spirit through which eternal Life is revealed and the Things of God's Kingdom made manifest and they that would climb up any other Way must come down again and them that walk in any other Way must come back again and they that would strive to enter in any other Thing are shut out forever for you know there is no Communion or Concord with the Spirit of God which is pure and that which resisteth it and gainsayeth it that Wisdom must perish it 's from below that Knowledge must fade away and come to nothing So never heed the Subtilty and cunning Craftiness of the Enemy which would twist and twine every Way to gainsay the Truth and make a Noise in an airy Sound which may satisfie corrupt Minds who vilâ—fie the Truth and set the Corner-Stone at nought look not at them nor never heed that you know in whom you have believed and no other Foundation can be laid then that which is laid already for all to build upon throuâ—h which they that do believe are made a glorious and an holy Habitation for God through the Spirit and any that declare another Way another Door another Life then he that is the Light of Men is accursed So feel hâ—s Eternal Power the Power of his Resurrection in your selves to subdue and bring under all 〈◊〉 Enemies which would hinder your Enjoyment of his Life but he is a tryed Stone and they that have tryed him have found him elect and precious and his Faithfulness Power and Might Love Life and Glory endures forever and ever throughout all the Generations of the Just who are Eye-Witnesses of his Coming Power and Glory which God out of his Everlasting Love and Kindness hath revealed unto Thousands and his Coming is known in Ten Thousands of his Saints and also with them and they with him to judge in Righteousness and to make War with the Sword that proceeds out of his Mouth which slayes the wicked and brings Death and Destruction upon Death that so Life Immortality and Eternity may be brought
they think it is for the Glory of God and the good of their Country as the Jews did thought they did God Service when they shamefully intreated his Servants and Messengers and abused them that were sent unto them in the Name of the Lord and as though making spoil and doing of Violence and devouring and wasting the Estates of their inhabitants would be for the well-being and good of their Country and enrich their Plantations when they that bear a Part of the common charge thereof and have been industrious as for the Benefit of the whole are thus made a prey and a Spol of Verily verily my Heart is grieved and my Spirit is vexed because of these doings Oh! this stains your Glory and causeth the Name of the living God to be dishonoured among them that make no mention of it as you do neither profess Knowledge of him nor Worship of his Name as you do for they may well judge if to bring forth such barbarous actions of Cruelty and Oppression and Violence be the Fruit that Christians bring forth that they will never be Christians for there is a Principle in the Indians and Heathens which abhors this and if these Actions bring Honour to God they may well conclude never to serve your God and that such Oppression should be acted among your own People and upon the People of your own Nation they justly may conclude you to be ignorant and your Government nought Oh! this causeth a bad Savour in the Nations and these are bad Examples to others for this strengthens the Hands of the Wicked and provokes others to Wickedness and also will bring a Judgement upon you for Sin is a Reproach to any People and the Wages thereof is Death and Destruction Therefore Oh you Rulers and Heads of the People who should be for the praise of them that do well and for the help of the upright and for nourishing of the poor and needy repent you of what you have done and confess to the Lord your great evil least his hand be utterly turned against you and you become as chaff before the Wind and as stubble before his Bow be utterly destroyed and cut off consider what you have done how all this hasty furious Work hath not at all advantaged you for there is a Seed that God will gather in those Isles to himself out of the Deceit of the World and out of the vain Customs and Fashions of your Country and out of a feigned Profession without the Life to worship him in Life and Spirit and though you should seek to withstand the Lord as you have done hitherto with a high Hand your Contrivance shall come to nought nay though you would strengthen and harden your Hearts yet more and say in your Hearts as the rebellious Jews of whom the Prophet spoke Though the Bricks be fallen down yet we will build with hewen Stone though what you have done doth not stop that which you would do and so go about to invent further mischief as those uncircuncised Men of New-England have done and should proceed to further Blood-shed at last it would come upon your selves and you would be plunged into misery for the Covenant with death must be broken and the agreement with Hell disannulled and the Strength and Power of darkness overthrown and Innocency Life and Truth set above it all for let me tell you that there is no Weapon formed against this People that shall prosper though you may prevail against their Persons and Estates yet the Spirit which is their Life and Leader is invincible therefore be ashamed and repent and view over your Actions and condemn them and proceed no further to your hurt lest greater Misery come upon you Oh! The cruel Sufferings which this poor People called Quakers have undergone and not for evil doing but for keeping Faith and a good Conscience which many have put away and made Shipwrack of else all these inhumane barbarous cruel works of darkness could never have been brought forth which have shamed their Government and their Profession which all that have any Knowledge of God cannot but abhor and say Oh! my Soul come not into their secrets neither tread in their Paths for these marks are not the marks of them that rule in the Power of God neither these spots the spot of his People but marks of the Beast and marks of the Harlot who hath forsaken her Maker the Lord of hosts and now is gone after other Lovers and the Children that she brings forth are the Children of Fornication and as the Prophet saith As is the Mother so is the Daughter as is the Church so are the Members all corrupted and gone out of the Way so that the Lord hath no Pleasure in them neither his Presence known among them for if it had they would have trembled to have acted any of these cruel things against them who are turned to the Lord out of Cruelty Deceit and Violence which would have been a Blessing to your Country but this is fulfilled He that departs from Iniquity maketh himself a Prey and becomes a Butt for all the Arrows of the ungodly to be shot at but blessed are they that have on the Armour of God they enter not there neither do hurt the Life for by Faith in the Light are all the fiery darts of the wicked one quenched the Bows of the ungodly broken though they be as Steel and their spears snaped assunder the Armies of the Aliens put to flight and the edge of the sword escaped and this Honour have all the Saints who dwell in that which keepeth the Heart clean and do overcome through Faith and through Suffering And therefore all that fear the Lord in that Place heed none of these things for this is the Cup that all must drink of who come to drink of the Cup of Salvation this hath been the Portion which they have had in the World Trouble but in the Life Peace and Christ who hath enlightned you is that Life wait all that you may feel him to be your Portion and then notwithstanding all outward Sufferings you will say and that from a true feeling My Lot is fallen in a fair ground I have a goodly Heritage and this God will give you to enjoy if you continue faithful and stedfast to the End in the Will of him who is near you to direct you and guide you in the Way of Peace and to lift up your Heads above all Opposition and make you more then Conquerors over Death and the Power thereof and over the Grave and over all that which hinders the Love of God from being revealed unto your Souls which as you wait in the Patience strength from the Lord will be administred unto you to carry you through the fire and through the water and through the floods and you shall be preserved and neither burnt nor drowned for his care will be over you who sits upon the floods and the Winds
Uncircumcised over the Nations again for the 〈…〉 re more justifiable in the sight of God then these who Profess him in Words and yet are Reprobate unto every good VVork Therefore come out of Babylon all People and Potentates of the Earth and drink no more of her Cup of Fornication and receive no more of her Traditions nor inventions for the Ordinances of Christ and partake no more of the Sins of this false Church which hath drunk the Blood of the Prophets and slew the Saints under the Name of Blasphemers and under the Name of Hereticks as the Jews of old did who had the Words of the Prophets without the Life and were in Error themselves and in the Blasphemies who killed the just One and Crucified Christ as a Blasphemer and the Members of his Body as Hereticks Plagues and Woes are prepared of the Lord God and Thunders Storms and Tempests are to be poured upon the Seat of this Whore and the Seat of the Beast for dreadful is the day of the Lord which is coming upon all Flesh which shall wither as Grass and the hâ—lls shall melt and the Rocks shall cleave the high and lofty shall bow the strong Men shall be afraid Terror shall come upon all Hypocrites and fearfulness and weakness upon all the Mighty and Valiant and upon all that have Warred and striven with carnal weapons and all Worshippers in the Flesh the Sword of the Lord shall come over all which is ready furbished and brandished which shall be soaked in the Blood of Bulls and the strong and the Fat and the Mighty and the slain of the Lord shall be many for the notable Day of the Lord God is appearing such a day as hath not appeared since the Apostacy for God's Controversie shall be with all the Inhabitants of the Earth at the Sound thereof the Nations shall be afraid and the Isles shall Shreek and the Mighty men shall fail for God hath determined to cleanse the Earth of all the fruitless Trees that cumber the Ground and to makeâ—h overflowing Scourge pass throw the Nations to sweep away the Refuge of Lyes Idolatry and Superstition Will-worship vain Human Traditions of men and to make all Flesh to bow before him Therefore all People who look to escape the Judgement of the Lord God which is coming upon the Nations flee flee for your lives out of Babylon out of Sodom and Egypt spiritually so called hasten and come out to meet the Lord God lest you be overthrown in those cursed Cities whose Sins have reached up to Heaven make haste and come out and be not upon your reserves and consult not with Flesh and Blood partake no more of her Sins lest you partake of her dreadful Plagues and of the Cup of the Lord 's fiery Indignation which is the Portion of all the Inhabitants of that City for they shall drink it And all ye Princes and People in Germany who are called reformed who have denyed the Church of Rome in some things and who judge you are come to a good Degree of Reformation I must needs say unto you that the Reformation your Departure from her is yet but weak poor and feeble and you are come but a little way I may say unto you as the Prophet said you must rise and go from that which you are now in which you judge to be the Worship of the true God for it is not your Rest indeed you have departed and cast off some things which are but circumstances you stick still in the old Ground and if you take not heed the Leaven of the Whore's Sorceries which is yet among you may quickly leaven you all again into one Lump and bring you back again within the Walls of that bloody City and you that are Princes will not want Temptations to draw you back to associate your selves again with the Church of Rome that now thereby you may be strengthned against the heathen for if you should enter into any Association with them or give any consent unto such Temptations you do but go down into Egypt for Help then will your latter End be worse then your Beginning and your Bondage and Thraldom will be greater then it was before and I must tell you plainly the Lord will pare the Heathen and exalt their Horn and they shall be as a Scourge and as the Lord's Battle-axe to bring down the Pride and Haughtiness of that blâ—ody City which hâ—th drunk the Blood of the Saints and they that have yoaked others shall now be yoaked and they that have cruelly tyrannized over others shall be tyrannized over and that which hath led others into Captivity Bondage and Thraldom shall go into captivity bondage and thraldom and the Heathen shall rule over it Therefore ye that are called Protestant Princes or Reformed and to all People within your Dominions look not back for help from spiritual Sodom Oh let it never enter into your Hearts you are yet in the Suburbs of that City therefore come further off and out from it for you still retain too much of the Government of that City and too much of their Form Ordinances Institution and Doctrine and judge them to be Apostolick and Catholick but wait you to know the Power of God in your Assemblies which changes the Mind and Heart within for bodily exercises profiteth little you have had Tryal enough of that but what Life and Power do you enjoy which was from the Beginning before the World began Is there no forcing and compelling amongst you about Religion and Hire for your Ministers And do you not limit and stop that which the generality cannot agree unto and brand it for Error and Heresie and is there no killing about Religion nor making men suffer about matters in Religion may every one speak freely of the things of God what he hath received freely of the Lord as they did in the Primitive Times when the Church was in Purity Forcing ought not to be amongst you and you put too great a Price upon outside things which at the best are but Shadows of spiritual things which are to be revealed in the Heart and know you this that they that worship the Lord aright worship him in Spirit and in Truth and they who come to witness the New Covenant come to know the Law of the Spirit of God and the Life revealed in their Hearts by which the Sons of God are led into all Truth and they need not go back to the Tables of Stone nor to literal Precepts for a Rule for their Rule is within to wit the Spirit of God which the Father hath promised to pour forth upon his Sons and Daughters by the Mouth of his Prophets and that they need not say know the Lord for all shall be taught of him from the least to the greatest who are come to the everlasting Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling which purifies the Heart and sprinkleth the Consciences which speaks better things to all
them that receive it then the Blood of Abel There hath been in those Parts some stirring of the Lord amongst you but the Power of God hath been much abused and great runnings out have been amongst you and many have followed their own devisings and one hating another and have erred from the Spirit and there have been Factions and great Breakin gs amongst you and many seeking themselves until Darkness hath come over again and so are come to be setled into a dead Form so that little of the Presence of God is found in all your Assemblies nevertheless though all these things are so yet the Lord's Love is reaching towards you again and a Visitation and a Day of Mercy there is yet held forth Oh happy and blessed will you be if you do not despise nor reject it and be not offended in the lowest Appearances of Christ to the Sons of Men wherein a greater Glory is revealing and shall be revealed then hath been since the Apostates entered in Now the Way wherein God doth purpose to make known his Mind and his hidden Riches and communicate his Heavenly Mysteries will be in a more hidden secret and spiritual invisible manner then yet ever hath appeared for hitherto Deceit hath transformed it self and Satan's Messengers have conformed and Antichrist hath imitated and the unconverted have been worshipping observing and practising of outward things without the moving of the Life so that Antichrist hath gotten into every outside Appearance and by this means hath sheltered himself with a colour and shadow and the Devil the Enemy of all Mankind hath kept his Kingdom whole by covering himself with the Words Shadows and Outward Performances And now take but a View over all those Kingdoms that are called Christendom and see how much of the Life of Christ is brought forth and how little of the Image of God is manifested and the Kingdom of God revealed among people which stands in the Power and Life of Righteousness therefore the full time of the Lord is come wherein every Word and Work shall be tryed and the Secrets of every man's Heart shall be made bare and the root and ground of every Action shall be weighed And Wo will come upon all who are covered with the words and outside shews and cloathed with outward Performances and not with the Spirit of the Lord God Therefore Friends and People high and low rich and poor bond and free of these things we have a blessed Cloud of VVitnesses whom God hath now raised up in this the Day of his mighty Power wherein God hath shined forth in Brightness From his holy Habitation are these things seen which have lightned the Earth from his dwelling Place he hath given forth his Word and great is the Company of them that publish it and there shall be many more for a numberless number shall hear it yea the dead that are yet in the grave shall hear it and by it shall come to live and we are a great Number who have travailed through many dry Places and barren Wildernesses who have had the tryal and tast of all outward professions and visible Worships and external Performances and visible Ordinances which are contained in hand writings and we have waded through all these things with a great deal of Diligence and strict Observancy and we have travailed many Years with great Pain that so we might have found Rest and Refreshment to our Souls that so we might have sitten down in it and as Seekers and Travailers who are weary were willing to lend an ear unto any who have but said come hither and here is Rest and one hath cryed lo here and another hath cryed lo there and so we wearied our selves at last from Mountain to Hill and spent our Strength for nought for none could truly inform us where we should find him whom our Souls loved and whom our Hearts panted after and our Bowels yearned Until at the last the Eyes of many were opened by the Lord who saw that eternal Life was not to be found in any external visible thing and do know that all they who are exercising themselves after those things in the exactest strictest manner cannot be made perfect as pertaining to the Conscience and all these great Talkers of the Fame of Christ and of his Glory and Power Miracles and Works and of his Death Obedience and Sufferings the bare Report and Sound of these things doth no good at all to him who feels Sin hath full Power and Dominion in his Heart so that the Life of Christ must be felt within enjoyed and possessed within and revealed in the Light or else he cannot stand justified in the Sight of God nor clear when he judgeth neither can he find Rest nor Peace for his Soul so I am one who have found Mercy and Favour at the Hand of the Lord among many Thousands to be a Witness of that Life which was with the Father before the World began which is now manifested in the Hearts of Thousands of his People destroying the Works of the Devil and bringing in everlasting Righteousness So the Love of God which is shed abroad in my Heart through the Bowels of Compassion which I have unto all Mankind knowing that all in the first Adam's State are lost in the Fall I do now give forth these Lines and say unto all seek not the Living among the Dead not in dead Forms not in dead Graves not in dead Worships neither in dead Performances for the Lord is risen out of all these things and is sate down in Glory in a living holy Habitation and now his Appearance unto the Sons of Men is in a more spiritual manner for I have fully tried already what is in all these external things and because I know and have seen his Appearance therefore I speak to the informing of all how they may come to find him who is the Desire of their Souls and the Salvation thereof I say listen and hear that your Souls might live for Christ is that eternal incorruptible pure unchangeable immortal Life which hath ligtned every man that cometh into the World John 1. yea he that hath enlightned every man with his true Light he is that eternal and immortal Life so that I say unto you all high and low who desire Rest unto your Souls cease from your willing cease from your running cease from your own Performances cease from worshipping you know not what and cease from seeking in that Nature which the Lord hides himself from and come ye to learn of Christ and sit at his Feet even at the lowest Appearance of him even at the lower End of the Table must you come before you can be exalted for thou must be contented to sit down there that which climbeth high and exalts it self God will bring down and that which manifesteth Sin is Light and that which reproveth Evil is the same and what is reproved in the Heart of man is manifested
now mark this that by which the Apostle gathered them from the Jewish Temples and Priest-hood and the Gentiles from their Idols Temples was by the Preaching of the everlasting Gospel to wit not the Law nor the Ordinances of the first Covenant but the Power of God and the word of Reconciliation for the first Covenant of the Jews made not the Comers thereunto perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Neither the Gentiles Idols Temples nor Worships made them perfect as pertaining to the Conscience but rather made them worse and more corrupted Heb. 9.9 But the Preaching and publishing of the Word of Reconciliation that did it was committed to the Disciples it was received and believed in by many both Jews and Gentiles as at Ephesus and elsewhere and they were made a Habitation of God through the Spirit Ephes. 2.22 Now mark this they preached not up the Letâ—er of the Law nor that which was written in Tables of Stone for the first Priest-hood that was ended and the Ministry of that and the Vail was over their Hearts while Moses was read and their ability stood not in the Litteral knowledge or in that which was written But they were able Ministers of the New-Testament of the Spirit and so all that did believe both Jews and Gentiles who received the word of Faith which was nigh in the Mâ—uth and in the Heart Rom. 10.8 they grew up in the Knowledge of God and of his holy Spirit and great Gifts grew amongst them as of Prophecy of speaking with Tongues of Interpretation and there was diversity of gifts and diversity of Operations yet all by the same Spirit which the Apostles were made Ministers of and which they that did believe and receive and received gifts from it and knew the Operation of it which wrought in them mightily to the throwing down the strong holds 2 Cor. 10.4 And the principalities and Powers of Darkness and to the Translating and changing of them from Darkness to Light and from Satans Power to the Power of God even into the Kinâ—dom of his dear Son Col. 1.13 And several Congregations in divers Places were all one Body whereof Christ the Life was the Head in which they had believed and of whose Power they had tasted grew up in Knowledge and Wisdom and gifts and the Day of Christ approached which Abraham saw And they exhorted one another and admonished one another and when they met together at several Places every one according to the Gift of God as he had received not from the Letterâ— but from the Spirit did and might administer to the Edification one of another and to the building up and comforting one another in the most holy Faith which gave them Victory over Sin which Faith was wrought in them by hearing of the Word that was nigh them in the Mouth and in the Heart which was the Word of Consolation which was in the Beginning Moreover when they met together they might Prophesie one by one and every one Exercise his own gift to the edification and Comfort of the Body as the Spirit did lead them in Order and if any went out from his Measure he was judged by them that were in the Spirit Furthermore they that had believed the Gospel which was published to them for remission of Sin they grew up into great Enjoyments and Attainments in the righteous Life of Christ which was manifest in them And though first they knew the Ministration of Condemnation and the sentence of Death yet afterwards came to know the Ministration of the Spirit and the sweet Assurance and Testimony of it bearing Witness to the Spirit that they were the Sons of God and they were made Heirs according to the Promise Heb. 6.17 and were made joynt-heirs and co-heirs with Christ in the Kingdom which is Immortal which faâ—es not away and did dome to know Mount Sion and the City of the living God Heb. 12.22 and it were large to speak of the Glory and the Transcendent Excellency of the Church of Christ which became a purchased Possession to him in the Primitive Times or the first hundred Years after the manifestation of Christ in the Flesh. But take notice of this that they that were sent out who had received freely of the Father of Christ and of the Spirit Ministred freely as they had received freely without making any Covenants or enquiries after worldly revenews but went from City to City Preaching the Gâ—spel of Christ freely as they hâ—d received without any conditionâ— frâ—m the People And as many as believed and received the Gospel did Minister freely their Hearts being open unto them who had declared unto them spiritual Things Acts 4.34 Mat. 10.8 c. So that we read of no compulsion or forcing Maintenance from any of the Cities whether they believed or not believed the Father took care of such Harvest-men and and what they received was given freely and there was no Complaint though often they denyed that which was proferred to them and thâ—ir Câ—re was to make the Gospel of Christ not Burdensome or chargeable but rather their Hands should Minister unto their Necessities Acts 18.3 Again though divers gifts were given unto the Disciples before and after Christ's Ascension as some to be Apostles some Prophets some Evangelists some Pastors some Teachers and some Elders or Bishops yet they were all made Ministers by the holy Ghost yet it were large to speak of the Power and of the Wisdom and of the Enjoyments of God in that day and time and of the Gifts and of the order which was in the Church at that time But in a Word the Son of God was made manifest and gave them an Understanding and they knew him that was true Truth it self and Christ was revealed in them and manifested to them the Hope of their Glory Col. 1.27 Furthermore they come to see over the new Moons and Fâ—sts and Feasts and Dayes and Times and Meats and Drinks and none could judge of them or ought to judge of them in those Cases for they saw the Body Christ for the man-Child was brought forth and the Woman was Cloathed with the Sun who had the Crowd of twelve Stars upon her head who brought forth the holy Child Jesus who saves his People from their Sins In whom all Shadows Types Figures Representations end This in short was part of the Glory of the Primitive Church which would be large to speak of as it was in the first State of its Purity But hereafter some fuller thing the Lord may bring forth in his own time and day CHAP. II. Concerning the entring in of the Apostacy and the Declination from the Purity of Doctrine Worship and Practice and when it began downwards from the entring of it in until this present Age and Time CHrist the true Prophet which Moses spake of whom the Lord raised up and manifested in the Fulness of time he prohesied and declared of false Prophets that should arise Mat. 7.15 Beware of
not been spoken and preached bought and sold as a Gospel not only in the church of Rome but also among them that are separated from her even until now this hath been preacht to Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and if the writings be the everlasting Gospel then how doth John say or why did he so say that the everlasting Gospel should go forth again and be preacht again after the Apostacy or to bring out of the Apostacy But it clearly implies the Word had been preached and published and the temporary Writings which were given forth at divers times had been preached up for Gospel these many Hundred Years which many have received by tradition but the Power of God and the Gift of God by which and from which the Ministers of Christ in all Ages ministred hath been wanting if not altogether lost for the most part among them that are called Christians then what is the Quarrel betwixt you and the Romanists it is but in translation at the most and while words translations and Versions have been contented about the everlasting Gospel hath been hid therefore all People are upon heaps and the Nations like waters rowling up and down in Instability now the reformed Ministry so called are in many things in the same practice with the former You deny an immediate Call and set up an outward Ordinatiâ—n and a Form of laying on of Hands without the holy Ghost ordaining such and such who have some Skill in natural Tongues or some Words of Oratory to be a subject matter to make Ministers upon and that which they preach in Words which hath been long held in the Form without the Life you call the Gospel and these are confined to a Parish as the former to such a Cloyster and such a Monastery and these preach for hire and Gifts and Rewards and for Maintenance and kept up all the aforesaid Wayes and maintenance as lawful and will make People believe it is according to Gospel-Institution when alas it is but the Pope's Tythes Oblations Obventions Mortuaries and Prayers for the dead keeping up the Wages but deny the Work And Tythe of all things as Pigs and Geese Hens and Egs Apples and Cherries and Turnips and all nothing excepted this is a feeble thing as to hold out to People for Gospel-maâ—ntenance and the Preachers of the Gospel are ashamed of it Furthermore they that will not give it sue them at Law throw them into holes till they dye take away ten-fold that which is claimed say the man is not subject to Gospel order denieth Ministers Maintenance this hath been Crime enough to take away the Estates and Lives of Men all this is in the Apostacy And seeing it is said we are under a Gospel Administration and Ordinances what do you wiâ—h Organs Whistlers and Pipes in any part of your Services this pertained to the Jews and not to the primitive Church and what do you do with Surplices Tippets and Hoods and other strange kind of Garments it may be the high-Priest's Garments or the Priest's Linnen Ephod or linnen Breeches must be brought in for a Gospel-proof and for an Apostolick Ordinance and what do you with the Pope's Lent and why should the Pope's Lent be among the reformed Protestants churches forbidding Meats and Drinks and why forbidding Marriage in Lent and who ordained these Dayes what have they been borrowed from the Heathen or are they looked upon to be such Dayes as used to be cited in the Calender for the Dog-dayes which have been brought from the Heathen stand to this Day in too much credit among Believer so called And why is one Day preferred before and above another and some counted holy-Dayes as though some others were unholy-dayes and why such a Collect and such a Gospel and such a Chapter and such a Psalm mincing and cutting and severing the Scripture in Pieces and Shreds Is this like Apostolick Doctrine truly Friends many things we have to say if you had an Ear to hear and that upon good Ground we can speak that we look upon all these things to be feeble and poor and beggerly things and have no agreement or congruity with the primitive times And should People be limited or stinted to such a certain Form of words called Service or Prayer and divine Worship was that ever reckoned divine Worship that was not from the divine Spirit But it may be you will say the Words are good or some of them I am not speaking about Words but the Spirit from which every Service ought to be performed to the Lord God and the primitive Christians prayed in the Spirit and with Understanding and sung with the Spirit and with Understanding 1 Câ—r 14.15 And there were some that knew not what to pray for as they ought but the Spirit helped their Infirmities Rom. 8.26 But you know what to pray for and how much must be said on such a Day or such a time and if there be a Homily or a Sermon Letany must be missed Now I say if it be divine Worship or any thing wherein God is honoured and the People bettered nothing of it ought to be wanting But these things the primitive times do not countenance but when the power was lost and the Life gone from and the Spirit erred from these things have come into the latter dayes which have been very perillous times as to them who have kept the Apostolick Faith and in the Order of the Primitive Church Many more things we could instance which are practised as for Discipline and Order and some for Necessity which have no Affinity or union at all with the primitive Churches but rather are things which are too near of kin unto her that sits as a Queen upon the Waters whose Flesh must be burnt with Fire who hath drunk the Blood of the Saints and how many of the Lord's servants have suffered in and about these things not only in the Church of Rome but also by them which have been called reformed many have known and are living Witnesses thereof And all these Temples Bells Hour-glasses Pulpits and Cushions Altars Tables and Fonts which are things that pertain not to them that look they are come out of the Apostacy but the spiritual minded see over them and beyond them and before these things and also see through the Spirit of prophecy the time when they shall be no more adored worshipped and honoured but God shall be feared in the hearts of the Sons of men and Glory shall be given to him and he shall be worshipped in Spirit and in Truth as he was in the Primitive Times when the Beast and the false Prophet and they that wrought Miracles before him and all they that have cryed who is able to make War with the Beast and have cryed worship him all must be taken alive remember that alive in their Strength and cast into the Lake and the Mother of Harlots shall be made desolate her Cup of Fornication thrown
helpers in the Work of the Gospel and all that were ordained were ordained by the holy Ghost although it is true they had the consent of the Brethren and the church in that thing and there were also Deacons ordained which served to look to the Widows and for the Ministration of the poor and these were faithful men and had also a Gift Stephen was one full of the holy Ghost and these were helps unto the Apostles also there were some faithful Widows who were Examples to the younger Women and to instruct them and to be Patterns unto them and were as a Body knit together in Love and served the Lord and strengthned one another in the Faith and served one another in Love and all these forementioned served the Lord freely and willingly and not for Rewards and Gifts and Benefices and earthly things â—n short this was the State and Glory of the church in that time and these are the Minâ—sters we read of in the primitive times But since the Apostacy hath entred in and the power of Godlinesâ— hath been denyed there is such a numberless number of Names crept in we never heard of them and so many Offices and yet none of that Work done which the ministers of Christ did but certain new invented things â—rought in for Worship and Service and the Power despised and men seeking Offices and great Titles and great Benefits and great Revenues and the Heritage of God is laid waste and the Earth become like a Wilderness unplanted with good and the Sheep and scattered And so all may compare these ensuing Names and Offices with the Apostles dayes and the primitive Church and see if they be alike First of all the Pope his Holiness Christ's Vicar Universal Bishop Metropolitane Bishop Lord Cardinals which were but Priests at the first ordained to baptize the Heathen who came to Rome when the Seat thereof began to be had in Honour but now they are swelled big and become Princes and the only Men to govern States also Monks of divers Orders and Fryars of divers Orders Hierom's order of Austin's Order Gregory's order Carmalite Fryars Cross or Crouchet Fryars of Dominiâ—â—s order of St. Francis's order Bennet's order and all of these orders sprâ—â—g up and were ordained in the midnight of darkness within this four hundred Years at the most as were easily proved and Trinity order and Brigandine order of Jesuites and Hermits and Anthony's order and Clunisencies order and Nuns sprung up first of one St. Clara one order then Brigidia a widow to the time of Urban the fifth in the Year 1370. And all these kind of orders were destitute of the true order of the primitive Church and their Service was appointed by them that ordained them and these practised the patched Inventions that were given them for Worship which have not concord with the primitive Doctrine but borrowed from the Jews or Heathen all these kind of Offices and Officers have been acting their parts this many years and have led People into superstitious Blindness and further from the Lord then ever But to come to the reformed Churches so called and there is so many Officers and Names but few that do accord with the Apostles times either in Name or Nature as Metropolitan-Bishops Arch-Bishops Lord-Bishops we heard not of Lord Timothy or Lord Titus Bishops before mentioned but to come on to other orders Arch-Deacons Deans and Chapters Preâ—enâ—â— and these must attend on some old superstitious Buildings call'd Cathedrals or Minsters and there perform a Service somewhat like the former and these are enjoyned their Service like the Levites and Priests of old by turns and course as once in a moneth or two it may be and have a hundred or two hundred pounds in the year for the same and hardly stir from thence till they dye except some greater advance offer it self also Commâ—ssaries Procters and Apparetors and these are subsâ—rvient to the former then Chancellors Vice-chancellors Doctors of Divinity Batâ—hellâ—rs of Divintty Doctors of Art Masters of Art Batchellors of Art Graduates Under-Graduates and these belong to the former then Prelates Parsins Vicars Priests Curates and Church-Wardens all which Titles and Names and Officers if they be but compared with the Scripture there will be hardly any parallel either concerning Office Work or Doctrine And notwithstanding all these Orders and Sorts who are fitted by humane Learning or natural Study though divers years exercised therein are not skilled in the Word of Righteousness neither have the Tongue of the learned to administer a Word in Season to the weary nor to turn the Sinner from his Sins and thus the Form of things Titles and Names are holden up but who seek after the Power of God or to be made able Ministers of the Spirit Litteral Ministers enough while maintenance lasts but the Ministâ—â—tion of the Spirit few are acquainted with and if there be any such it is well if he be not persecuted so in that which I have said the understanding will see that there hath been a great Apostacy since the Apostles dâ—yes in the Ministry in Doctrine in Worship and Practice divers of which I have touched upon to the Intent that they that enquire after the Lord may depart out of the midst of Ignorance and come to worship Gâ—d in Spirit and Truth and in the Temple made without hands and be joyned to the Church which is in God which the Gates of Hell prevail not against though many will claim Authority from the Apostles few will own their Life neither walk after their Example so take but a few more Institutions which are called Apostolick to this Day among them called Christian Churches Cletus the third Bishop of Rome was the first that wrote this Title that is Greeting and Apostolick blessing he ordained the order of Priesthood Everastus the fifth Bishop of Rome ordained that Priests should be honoured and that they should be shaven Alexander the sixth Bishop of Rome ordained that Matrimony should be only solemnized and that the married should be blessed with the Priest there was the beginning of being married by Priests Sixtus about the year 114. after Christ the seventh Bishop of Rome ordained holy water and ordered that it should be strowed abroad in christian Houses and when the People met to worship Telesphorus the eight Bishop of Rome ordained that the communion should be laid upon an Altar and that lay-People should not touch the holy Vessels nor the holy Garments of the Priests he ordained Lent which was to be kept by the Clergy in the year one hundred forty two Higinus the nineth Bishop ordained the Communion to be celebrated three times at Christmas and that Lent should be fasted Pius about the year 147. after Christ the tenth Bishop ordained that chrisme should be ministred as baptism and that children should have God-fathers and God-mothers here was the beginning of this great Ordinance and he ordained that Easter-day should be kept on
esteem them as any way helpfull to the Ministry But that I may not be mis-understood I know each Language and each Tongue hath a proper Signification and is not Evil in themselves Schools of Learning I am not against natural Languages they may be Servicable for natural Uses natural Transactions in civil Affairs betwixt Nation and Nation man and man but as they are extolled and cryed up to be nurseries of Piety and to fit Men for the Ministry as to make it Effectual iâ— utterly false and more mischief is learned and Impiety practised in these Universities then in any other parts of the Nation and indeed it is one of the main Props and Pillars of Anti-christ's Throne and Kingdom and thâ—t which upholds his Seat And that they only are the only fiâ—ted and called men to Minister who have Natural Tongues and have read a little in a few Heathen Authors and thereby are able to comment and make a discourse to the hearing of the Ear but God's Witness is not reached at all and such dispise the Spirit and set light by them that enjoy it which clearly evidences they are out of the Power of God which was among the first Christians who received the Spirit and spoke from it which is only sufficient and able to make a Minister of Christ So let us see what Antiqâ—ity saith Gaudentius de mor sec. Justinian saith We do not read that ever thâ— Aâ—tients did openly in Schools teach Philosophy since they did rather 〈◊〉 and saith a good Author I would fain see a man that could shew thâ—t Chriâ—â—â—ans either before or in the time of Justinian did openly teach Philosophy And Hadrian Saraviah informs us the primitive Christians had no Accademical Schools like to those now adayes yet there was one at Alexandria but in these Schools they read only Catechistical-Lectures and we do not reâ—d of any University of the Waldenses Albigenses and Bohemians fâ—r 〈◊〉 it of their Teachers were Tradsmen and handy-crafts men and did noâ— spend their time in reading Tongues or studying Authors Herald animad in ar nob The Christians in the primitive times living excluded from all Honours and Magistracies did neglect these Studies which were for the discharge of civil Imployments because that Sophisters and Philosophers were the principal Enemies of Christianity therefore upon this Account they condemned also all politick Learning they condemned Tragedies and Comedies and other Poetical writings being the main Part of humane Learning as judging they did not conduce to solid Knowledge Tertullian lib. de Idolat page 138 139. judged that School-masters professing Learning were guilty of great Idolatry because they only explained Names and Genealogies and Fabulous Acts of Heathen Gods And generally Believers in those Dayes harboured a very bad Esteem of natural Learning and generally the Christians were provoked thereunto because the Gentiles did upbraid them that their Teachers were illiterate Persons as Combers of Wooll Weavers and the like these things being objected against the Christians the Christians on the other side rejected all Learning as an useless thing and no way advantagious to Salvation though their Adversaries boasted of it Origen lib. 3. saith The Christians did declare that men of any condition might be saved Servants Idiots and Rusticks and such as the World valued as Fools and that God did confound the wise in their own Wisdom and Celsus as Origen in his book saith that Christians did proclaim it in their Assemblies Let none that is wise enter none that is learned none that is prudent for thus it is appointed us in the Gospel but if there be any unwise unlearned any Foolish let him approach with confidence for these are fit to be the Servants of God Guzentius in his Animadversions page 25. saith that the Gentiles did object against the Christians their rude Stile their harsh Language and how they were destiture of all Addresses calling them Rusticks and Clowns So the Christians did again term the Gentiles the Politick the Eloquent and the Learned Clemens Romanus saith in his Writings lib. 2. chap. 6. Abstain from all the Books of the Gentiles for what have you to do with strange Discourses or Laws or false Prophets which seduce weak men from the Truth In the Council at Carthage there was a Canon made distinct 37. cap. Epist. citante Jac. Laurentio de lib. gentil page 41. Let not a Bishop read Heathen Authors Gracian saith we see the Priests of the Lord neglecting the Gospel and the Prophets they read Comedies and read Loves Verses out of Beuchlies they peruse Virgil and what is a Sin of enforced Necessity in Children is become their Delight Doth not he seem to walk in Darkness and Vanity of Mind who vexeth himself Day and Night in the Study of Logick who in the Persuit of Physical Speculations one while elevates himâ—eâ—f beyond the highest Heavens and afterwards precipitates himself below the nether Parts of the Earth and diveth into the Abyss and chargeth his Memory with the distinct Knowledge of Verses Petrus Belâ—nius saith in Greece amongst the Christians which were very many there were very few learned men because they esteemed not of it 〈◊〉 Necessity to Christianity though they could speak Greek and some Latine â—ut few could write or read In their Libraries were several Manuscripts of Divinity but no Historian no Philosophers for these were anathematized And all Christians not to study Poetry and Philosophy yet Reâ—der thou mayest understand that the Greek Church is highly owned for a true Christian Church and highly owned by the Protestants yet neither they nor the Pickards nor Waldenses in Bohemia did value Learning so far were they from esteeming of it as the proper true Religion Luther de Institu puer inter aper Wittenberg to 7. fol. 444. Paul exhorteth to beware of Philosophy and vain Deceit 2 Col. 2. He had been at Athens and had acquainted himself with that vain glorious humane Wisdom and knew the multiplicity of contradictions which it had procured what then had Athens to do with Jerusalem What Fellowship have the Epicures and Stoicks with the Church of Christ Jerom. lib. 1. contra Pelag. What hath Aristotle to do with Paul or Plato to Peter A multitude of Testimonies might be brought to this Effect how the Christians did in former Ages reject Philosophy and Heathen Authors and all such frivolous Stories as no way lawful for Christians to meddle in nor any way good to propagate Christianity Bishop Usher in Vindication of the Waldenses by way of Apology he saith God did chuse fisher men that so he might not give his Glory to another forasmuch as the little ones had asked Bread came to receive it and the learned being busied about vain contentions and Disputations were sent empty away the Waldenses saith Bishop Usher de succes chap. 6.28 We are not ashamed of our Teachers because they labour with their Hands procuring thereby a livelyhood to themselves because both the Doctrine and Example
should be the greatest and said unto them The Gentiles exercise Lordship one over another but it shall not be so amongst you and though Peter and the rest of the Apostles who were in the Power of God had that which did open into the Kingdom of God and shut out that which did defile yet this we are sure of he sold no Pardons nor Indulgences for Gain and filthy Lucre as many have done whom you call Peter's Successors and Christ's Vicar and Universal Bishop and visible Head but it is manifest how the Pope became visible Head and Universal Bishop not because of any Work or Labour in the Doctrine of Christ or the Work of the Gospel but by means of the Roman Emperor for while the Christians were under Persecution and Suffering there was no talk of visible Heads or much of Universal Bishop for then Rome had no more Priority then the rest for the Churches at Constantinople at Jerusalem at Caesaria at Cyprus and Alexandria for the first three hundred Years they had as much Power in their several Churches as Rome had and often the Elders or Bishops of the afore-said Churches did reprove sharply the Bishop of Rome but at last above five hundred Years or upwards Phocas to aspire to the Empire of Rome he murthered his own Master Mauritius and his Children to attain unto the Empire so at that time Boniface the third was Bishop of Rome and Phocas somewhat fearing and willing to have Boniface his Favour condesceâ—deth to all his Petitions and grants him to be Universal head-Bishop over all Christian Churches and there was the first rise of Rome â—s visible Head for this frivolous Reason of being Peter's Successor could never have raised him to that height but then the Emperor's Power and Authority became to be the more forcible Plea for before that time the Bishops of Rome were chosen by the Emperor's consent but after he had got Power Emperors could not be chosen but by the Popes consent and then came the Bishop of Rome to be a visible Head and be called Universal Bishop Christs Vicar a Lord spiritual over all the Churches and in process of time Lord temporal over all the Empire And thus your Church of Rome became magnificent and great to sit as a Queen upon the Waters Nations Kindreds and Tongues as you acknowledge your Church of Rome hath spread over and here is a Head and a Body which are joyned together in Union Christ is the Head of the true Body which is his Church and his Wife and Antichrist he is the visible Head of his visible Church and Wife Mystery-Baâ—ylon The next piece of Merchandize which the Authâ—r brings forth to view is Purgatory and prayer to be made for the dead and also prâ—yer unto Saints and the Authors proof is 1 Cor. 3.15 wheâ—e he Apostle speaks Every mans Work shall be tryed and that Work whâ—ch will not abide the Fire must be Burnt and this the Author calls The Fire of another World and Prayer for the Dead he proves out of 12 of Maccabees and prayer to the Saints he sayes it's lawful to Pray in this Wâ—rld unto good People and Paul while he lived did Pray for others and also did beg their Prayers And the Angel in the first of Zachary prayed for Iâ—rael and there can be no harm in Praying to them that can Pray for us Answ. They that dwell in the shadow of death are lik to speak out of thick darkness they that have made a Covenant with Death are loath to have it broken and they that have a mind to continue in Sin while they live have a mind to put the Evil day afar off Judgment afar off Evil-doers will never have it time to give account for their Evil deeds and so put it off till they are Dead and to another World and let â—he Devil have Prehemience in their Hearts while they live and reckon their Sins venial and Light faults this is contrary to the Doctrine of the true church of Christ and contrary to the Apostles Doctrine who said The Wages of Sin is death and there is no Sin goes Unpunished nor Unjudged and Sion is redeemed through Judgment and by the Spirit of burning and Purgatory is a Fiaction falshood and a Lye and there is no cleansing from Sin in another World Solomon saith As the Tree falleth whether to the North or to the South so shall the Tree lye and the Word of God who have received it in their Hearts which is as a Fire that purifies and the Blood of Christ is that which cleanseth from all Sin and there 's not any cleansâ—ng from any Sin but by it and there is no cleansing in another World but Purgatory hath been invented and Prayer for the Dead that thereby the Pope might be enriched and sell the invented Prayers and Aâ—e Maâ—â—es and so cheat People of their Money and there 's no Sacrifice to be offer'd for the Dead who dye in their Sins nor no Remission after this Life And as for praying to the Saints the Scripture makes no mention of and though Paul did Pray for others and beg the Prayers of others yet he prayed not for them when they were dead neither did beg the Prayer of the deâ—d but prayed for them who were Believers in the true Church and desired the Prayers of them that were living Members and were alive and lived in the World and were redeemed out of it and the Angel prayed not for the People of Israel when they were dead and that which thou calls Jeremy's prayer in the Maccabees was never spoken by the Spirit of the Lord nor the Offering was not made in the Will of God and the Prophet saith Though Abraham know us not and Israel be ignorant of us yet thou O Lord art our Father And the Lord said unto David Seek my Face and call upon me in the day of trouble and I will hear and Answer Not upon Mary Peter and Paul Dominick and Anthâ—ny Again it 's contrary to the Practice of the Saints in the Primitive times and contrary to the Doctrine of Christ who said unto his Disciples Whatsoever you ask in my Name the Father shall give it to you He doth not speak of any other Name neither is any Prayer or Supplication accepted of the Father but in the name of Christ alone So these Doctrines are false and Doctrines of Devils never commanded nor Practised by any of the Saints in the Primitive time but only have been invented and practised by the Apostatesâ— who have Erred from the Faith and Practice which was onâ—e delivered unto the Saints which the church of Rome hath made Ship-wrack of in many things which I have made appear and I shall proceed to more particulars to manifest it lest any should be beguiled with such deceitful Babylonish Merchandize which the Nations are too much corrupted with already The next false Doctrine which the Author layes down is That
Ishmael Judas and all the Seed of Evil-doers as well as the Image of Christ or Peter Paul or Mary for any thing that they know which they have but received by Story and is but as Old Wives Fables which Paul to Timothy reproved And hath the Church of Rome no better Thing to put them in Mind of the Saints Life then a dead Picture or Image made by the Hand of the Crafts-man upon a Wall or a Board or Parchment or Paper this is Idolatry for Christ promised to his Disciples and to the true Church That he would send his Spirit to lead them into all Truth which is an invisible Thing and to bring to Remembrance whatever Christ had spoken and whatsoever was necessary as to Salvation whether the Saints Life and holy Practices which they lived in or whatsoever else as conduced to their Peace and Justification with God and what Images did God make Use of to shew his Miracles by This is but an old Fable formed by the Apostate Christians whose Minds are turned after Shadows and vain Shews and are erred from the invisible Life and worship the Works of mens Hands 2. Though Moâ—es did put off his Shoe 's according to the command of the Lord where God appeared in Power and Glory to him What is this to your purpose as to Create and form places and Consecrate them as Holy and then command Reverence and Honour unto them this is but to Worship the work of your own Hands and though David say in the 99 Psal. 5 vers Exalt the Lord God and worship at his foot-Stool for he is Holy What of all this doth God call Reliques or Images his Foot-stool And if the Author do judge that it was spoken of Zion and Jerusalem outward where Aaron and the rest of the Priests Worshipped doth not Christ say It â—s not at Jerusalem c. But they that â—orship God Worship him in spirit and Truth What! doth not the Church of Rome profess Christianity and Apostolick Doctrine and will now turn Jews or â—mitaters of them What is Rome Jerusalem or Zion And must Pictures invented and dead Pieces of Bones and Wood be recommended unto the Nations as holy things This is contrary to the Apostolick Church and with the Life of God is judged and the Life of the Saints whom you honour in Words and make Pictures of and worship the Works of your own Hands and Crucifie the Life where-ever it appears that they lived in and teach a contrary Doctrine 3. Confession may be made in Words of the true God and talk may be of his wonderous Works and yet People Idolâ—ters the church of the Jews who acknowledge the true God and had seen and heard of his wonderous works they eat and drank and rose up to Play and these were Idolaters and such is the church of Rome who take Peoples minds up with Garments and Vestments with Altars and Canales with Crucifixes and Agnus Dei with Images formed by Painters with a piece of Bread called a Holy Host and Eucharist an Unbloody Sacrâ—fice who neglect the Life and him that is the Head of the Body and his witness in their Hearts and consciences and lead them to worship and honour visible and carnal things and to busie their minds in the exercise of outward things which profit little or nothing at all and so are Idolaters Worshipping the works of your own Hands which Christ and the Apostolick church bore Testimony against for that which the creature's mind goes out after besides or without that which may be known of God in the Heart is made an Idol of and the true God is not minded and them that Honour God's Friends and Saints walk in their Foot steps live their Life and honour their sayings but your church is contrary who would Kill and have killed about these invented Fopperies which is contrary to the Apostles Doctrine God accepts not Prayers by number or tale nor for multitude of Words which are without understanding and without the Spirit this Christ counted as Evil and reprehended the Pharisees and said It was like the vain repetitions of the Heathen who thought to be heard for their much babling and the Salutation which the Angel gave to Mary is no prayer And that which is called the Apostles Creed is no prayer and them that are unconverted unto God may prattle and prate over the Words in the unbelief and never have any acceptance of God And though the Prophet did pray seven times a day it was according to the motion of God's Spirit in his own Heart which shewed him his State and necessity and what is this to imitators when they pray not with the same Spirit neither in the same words And what if Mary lived threescore and three Years who gave commandment that Hail Mary should be said threescore and three times over The rest of the Saints are like to have but small shares of worship and honour if she go with all this in a day And what five wounds is that which the Church of Rome dreams of that five Pater Nosters must be said for the honour of With Deceit and Ignorance you wound him every day and your Pater-Nosters do not honor him at all pattred 〈◊〉 over with your polluted Lips who are given to speak Lyes and yoâ—r Tongues to speak Mischief which Christ accepteth not What are you all new creatures that say Our Father which art in Heaven Are you born again Are your Natures changed Sin you not Do you hallow his Name who do not love that which shews your Evil deeds Would you see his Kingdom come which stands in Righteousness Where will you appear Or how will you stand when he appears in his Power and Glory to take Vengeance on all them that will not that he should rule in their Hearts who is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World Would you see his will done on Earth as it is in Heaven when you walk contrary to his Doctrine which the Apostolick Church walked in and set up a numberless number of Traditions and Inventions of Men instead thereof which the Lord accepteth not and you pray not with Understanding 5. As for your Beads which are neither Jewish nor Christian but meer Heathenish as to reckon the number or tale of that which you call your Prayers by and though Kings Popes Cardinals and Bishops do the same this is but a small proof as for Authority Kings have drunk of the Whore's Cup and Popes and Cardinals have usurped Power that Christ never gave as to exercise Lord-ship and be Law-givers unto others for the Lord is the Saints Law-giver and the Saints Life and Judge and he will not give his Glory to another for Kings have drunk of the Whore's Cup of Fornication and Popes have usurped Authority and Cardinals have exercised Lord-ship over mens Consciences yea and over great Kingdoms and States too And if they pray by Beads as others do set
Saints Sabbath is a stranger to the church of Rome he that hath overcome the World and the Devil only knows God's rest and the true Sabbath of which the Jews was a Figure and the Sunday thou callst it is no more a Sabbath reckoned by the Lord of Life then that which thou callst Saturday for every day is kept Holy to the Lord by him that witnesses the work of Redemtion and this is according to the Apostolick Doctrine and if because of example the Christians whom you are pleased to Stile Sectaries do observe the first day of the Week in the Power of God for his Worship then they are as much if not more to be heard then you and have as much Solid reason on their side as you and thou must not think to carry the Matter on with such frivolous Arguments as this to advance Mystery Babylon for this is a knowing Age blessed be the Lord wherein the Wisdom of God is revealed and that which comprehendeth all shadows Types Dayes Times Years Meats Drinks Washings and other Figures they are all seen over and he is come manifest which is Head of the true church and not the Pope who was is and is to come Life it self Truth it self Power Strength and everlasting satisfaction to thousands and ten thousands who have believed and to a numberless Number which are yet to be gathered into God's Sheep-fold and into the narrow way of Christ which will deny and doth deny upon good Grounds and infallible Testimony from the Eternal Spirit that the Church of Rome is either in whole or in part any part of the true Church of Christ. And seeing this valiant Champion hath made so fair a Proffer That 〈◊〉 their Priests Jesuites and Catholicks over all the World will turn to the Sectaries Way as he calls them if they can but get a clear and satisfaâ—tory Resâ—lâ—tion to the following Doubts Answ. I am one which do acknowledge my self to be reckoned by him as a Sectarian yet as a Sectarian is reckoned by the true Church of God in the Primitive Time in the Apostles and Christ's Dayes I do not reckon my self as such and that I am a Minister of the everlasting Gospel I dare not deny seeing a Necessity is laid upon me to acknowledge the same yet herein I do not glory but in him who hath call'd me for the Work sake and I know the Teaching of Christ Jesus and his Doctrine and no other Thing these many Years have I published but that which I received of the Lord and from him by his Spirit which is according to the true Faith and Godliness which was in the primitive Church before ever Rome did lay claim to be the only true catholick Church excluding all others but her self to be in the Way that leads to Salvation I which am as one amongst many Thousands which God hath manifested his Mind unto shall answer in clearness and according to Apostolick Doctrine and the Manifestation of his Spirit but when I have so done I am afraid this Champion with the rest of the Priests and Jesuits and the rest of the Catholicks over the World will hardly own his Challenge or confess that Doubts are answered yet however if it satisfie but one of a Thousand I have my Reward and shall put it to Tryal The first thing the Author who it seems knows the Mind of the Church of Rome in all things both as to Doctrine and Practice which they do allow of and the contrary they will deny he knows to the full or else he would never sure have made such a bold challenge The first thing that they would be resolved in is Whether any can clearly shew that any Teachers Doctors or Ministers are sent of Almighty God to preach and reform the Roman Catholick Church and that they are not some who say the Lord saith when the Lord hath not spoken unto them neither sent them Ezek. 13.2 Answ. What the Roman Church and their Members will take for a satisfactory Resolution as to themselves I sometimes question and do doubt the resolving of the most but however by the same Commandment that the Apostles did evidence their commission that they were sent to reform the Church of the Jews also them that had made Defection from the Faith amongst the Gentiles this may be shown 1. The Apostles of Christ Jesus did declare their Commission which they had received from Christ and for other Proof they sought none amongst them that were Auditors or Hearers but the Witness and Testimony of God unto which they desired to be approved in the Sight of God 2. They shewed the Jews that they held the Types and Figures but did not receive or believe him who was the Substance in whom they all ended they were sent to bear Testimony to the true Light that lightetâ— every one that cometh into the World and to preach down Dayes Times Moneths Years Fasts Feasts Sabbaths Circumcision Temples and Offerings the Priesthood and the Sacrifice which were but to continue until the time of Reformation and the bringing in of a better Hope by which they drew nigh unto God and had an Access unto him and they declared their commission against a voluntary Humility and worshipping of Angels all which things the Church of Rome do stick in and vindicate for Apostolick Doctrine and many more things which the Church of Rome is run into contrary to the true Church of Christ and therefore had need of Reformation So that which is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles and Practice of the primitive Church in the first hundred years is in the Apostacy but Rome is in many Practices and Doctrines contrary to the true Church therefore needs reforming And so God hath manifested himself in this his Day of Power and hath discovered the Church of Rome to be contrary in Doctrine and Practice to the true Spouse of Christ and hath stirred up and moved many by his Power and Spirit to preach the everlasting Gospel and to declare also against the Defection of the Church of Rome and her apostatizing from the Faith and they are not of those whom the Prophets spoke of which ran and the Lord sent them not for them were the false Prophets in Israel and they were manifest by their Fruits of which there are great Store in Rome who are manifest by their Fruits and they are such as are in Cain's Way who would kill and such as are Seekers of Gain from their Quarters and such as take the Jews Tythes and these the Lord nâ—ver sent to be Teachers or Ministers to bring to the Knowledge of Christ but we deny all these things and your Church in the very Ground and Foundation and know that it will be swept away when the Beast is taken alive upon which your Church now rides then shall you see that that which you long put off among People as Apostolick Doctrine will not be received any more
neither Traditions nor Inventions of Men for the Worship of God The second Doubt which the Author would be resolved in is whether we can make good what Luther and Calvin with all Protestants have boasted that they would do to reform convincingly one of the silliest Roman Catholicks that is and to begin do it in the Matter of the real Presence after Consecration What Luther and Calvin have said unto you as about your Worship Doctrine and Practice hath been made good by themselves while they were living and in the Body and what they said did not only inform the Minds of many of the Roman Catholicks but reform'd them too which were not of the silliest amongst you not only one but thousands did see your Error and Deceit though they in some Particulars did but differ from you But now that is manifest which denyeth your Foundation in the very Ground And what I have said as about the real Presence of Christ's Body being in the Bread and Wine after Consecration if thou dare put it and endeavour the Trial thereof according as I have in Reasonableness propounded unto thee it will convince many of the Roman Catholicks of their Error or else many of the Protestants of their Error and so if thou darest adventure it make no more Boasts but let come to Tryal as before is propounded unto the Church of me if she or any of her Agents dare admit of it 3. The third Argument which he promiseth If it can be proved from the Scripture which he calls God's written Word that the Sabbath-day is commanded by God to be kept on Sunday and that little Children are to be baptized Answ. What others have said as to these two Particulars who were but departed a little Way from you in divers things as to their Judgments I shall not stand to vindicate because the Church was rather but a coming out of the Wilderness rather then come already into her first Purity but I am one of those amongst many thousands in Europe who deny the Châ—rch of Rome as to be the Bride the Lamb's Wife and yet I shall not vindicate either the one or the other but deny both as amongst Christiâ—ns viz. as to keep the Jewish Sabbath upon Sunday as the Author calls it and sprinkling of little Children is like the other an Invention in the Apostacy never that we read of commanded commended or practised in the Apostles Dayes as such The first Day of the VVeek the Apostles met together and worshipped God not by Virtue of the Jews Commandment but in the Power of God and you only have them both and keep them both by tradition and custom without commandment and so are out of the Power of God and out of the Saints Life 4. The fourth Argument Can the Sectaries with Reason and Ground sufficient condemn all Catholicks that were so many Ages before Luther and Calvin for being no better then Heathens and convince me that adhering to you I shall be more secure in my Salvation then injoyning to them that have Time out of Mind been of the only saving Religion Answ. The Sectaries have not gone about to condemn every individual man before Luther and Calvin for no better then Heathens we believe some were and we believe many were as bad if not worse they that walk in the Practice of the Heathen and bring forth Fruit but not unto God are in the Heathens Nature but the Generality of the Church of Rome have for these many hundred Years brought forth no better Fruit then the Heathen and therefore are in the Nature of the Heathen for like as the Heathen persecuted the Christians in former Dayes even so hath the Church of Rome persecuted the true Christians in their Day aâ—d in this are no better then Heathens instance the Blood-shed Murder cruel Deaths you have put many unto since you have had the Name of a Church and therefore are no better then Heathens in Nature and for Antiquity it proveth nothing without Verity And there can be no Assurance in your Church seeing that it stands upon Tradition and Hear-say and outward Performances and bodily Exercises that profit little but some whom you call Sectaries have more Assurance for it 's the Spirit of God that gives it and as there is Obedience yielded unto the Lord that Spirit he giveth them Assurance and them that are born of it do overcome the World and his Spirit beareth Witness to their Spirit that they have overcome by which they cry Abba Father and this Spirit of Truth that leadeth into all Truth bringeth more Assurance unto them that are led by it and worship in it then can be had in all your outward Formalities Ceremonies and Traditions 5. Can you make evident at least that in your Flock and Luther and Calvin their Guides there is more Holiness and Virtue then can be found among the Catholicks and that you go the narrow way that leads to Life I answer yes I am one among many thousands who are not of the Church of Rome yet am of Christ's Flock which he hath cleansed by his Blood and revealed his Virtue in and his holy Life and it 's made manifest that they are in the narrow Way more then the Church of Rome they are in the Way that leads to Life and abide in Christ's Doctrine we love them that hate us we bless them that curse us we pray for them that persecute us but so doth not the Church of Rome but kills them and persecutes them that oppose her we say without Righteousness and Holiness be revealed and wrought in our Hearts we can bring forth no Fruit unto God neither can be Members of the true Church but if any conform unto the Practice of your Church in outward things he is counted a good Member of your Church though Righteousness and Holiness Self-denyal Humility and Love be wanting Therefore we are the Church in which there is more Holiness Virtue and Life enjoyed then in the Roman Church 6. Can you shew us any Miracles that ever were wrought in Testimony of your Religion or that the Catholicks Miracles are wrought by Beelzebub and now thou hast askt us a resolution of the Doubts and let all that are Illuminated judge how we are deluded Answ. It 's an adulterous Generation that seeks a Sign and what Christ wrought was reckoned as no Miracles by them that are in the Unbelief yet these Signs have accompanied the Gospel which is the Power of God the blind have been restored to Sight and the dead have been raised and the deaf have heard and the lame have been made whole and this hath been witnessed by many and we have a cloud of Witnesses which your Church knowâ— not of and by the effectual working of God's Power these things have been done which do give Testimony and confirm our Religion And for your Miracles the most that ever I heard of have been done by Pictures and Images as you have testified
little to satisfie their vulturous Eye And if they can get a Scrowl under any Hand that hath Authority they will break open Doors pull down Hedges carry away the Corn at their Pleasure drag away Pots and Kettles and tugg away Bedding and Cloaths of all Sorts Childrens Night-beds as a Priest of this Order did in Kent lately yea Curtains and Vallans drink Bear of the Cellar and if it be but half a Cheese and this is their Plea He that preâ—cheth the Gospel shall live of the Gospel and the aforesaid Husbandman Fatherless and Widdows have not any Part or Share in the aforesaid falsly claimed Tythes but all is too little to satisfie the insatiable Covetousness of these Evangelical Priests falsly so called O how can ye know and behold these things and not blush and be ashamed and shall the Laws which have been made in the Night of Darkness and Popery of Necessity be a Rule in this Age to Magistracy and Ministry which pretend they are in a more pure Light Oh that the Lord would open all your Eyes to consider but however them unto whom his marvelous Light is shed cannot but call unto you and also bear their Testimony against the aforesaid Grievances and Disorder which are executed beyond Measure upon the poor Pâ—ople in this Nation which certainly if not amended will draw down God's heavy Judgments upon the Nation and so I cannot but as one among the rest give in my Testimony for God and his Truth against such cruel Actings and falsly pretended Maintenance of Black-Coats and Turn-Coats and my Testimony is true and to seal it I have given up my Life and Estate By a Servant of the Lord M. L. To all who say you are gathered out of the World into Church-Fellowship these Queries are for you to answer I. WHat was the Woman that was cloathed with the Sun and crowned with twelve Stars which travailed in Pain to bring forth 2. What was the Sun she was cloathed withal and twelve Stars she was crowned withal and when was she so cloathed and crowned 3. And what was the Man-child that was brought forth seeing Chrâ—st was born of the Virgin in Bethlehem long before John saw this in the Isle of Pathmos 4. And when did the Woman fly into the Wilderness and what is the Wilderness into which she fled and what is the Wings of the great Eagle which she did fly withal 5. And what is the Time Times and the half Time which she is to be in the Wilderness and when did it begin and when will it be expired and whether is the Woman ever to come out again and when shall be the Time of her Return 6. When was the Time that the Man-child was caught up unto God which the Woman brought forth seeing Christ was ascended long before this Man-child was caught up to God which was to rule the Nations and how long it is since 7. And whether is he ever to descend again and be made manifest to rule the Nations and when shall he begin to reign 8. When was the Dragon in Heaven and how came he there seeing that it 's written No unclean thing can enter there or nothing that doth defile 9. And when was he cast out of Heaven into the Earth and how long hath he to reign in the Earth 10. When began he to persecute the Remnant of the Woman's Seed and how long shall his Reign be 11. When begin the one thousand Years that he shall be bound or whether is it begun or to come 12. When shall he be taken hold of and with the Beast and false Prophet thrown into the Lake of Fire 13. What is Mystery Babylon and when had she her Rise when was her City raised up over which she rules as a Queen 14. And what is the golden Cup of Fornication she hath made the Nations drunk withal 15. And what is her Merchandize which her Merchants trade withal and the Sea upon which they carry their Traffick and upon which the Ship-Masters and Ships ride and when shall it be dryed up and what shall dry it up 16. When shall the City over which she hath reigned be destroyed and when shall her Flesh be burnt with Fire and what is the Gospel that shall be preached again 17. And how long hath it been since it hath been preached to the Nations seeing it 's to be preached again to the Nations and whether is the Time begun or not when was the Gospel lost seeing all Europe is professing it or whether is it yet to come when shall it begin to be preached again to Kindreds Tongues and Nations 18. And what is the Light of the Lamb the Nations that are saved shall walk in after the seven Vials be poured upon the Seat of the Beast Declare if thou hast Understanding F. H. A General Epistle to all who have believed in the Light of the Lord Jesus and are called of God to follow the LAMB through the great Tribulation Dear Friends WHom God called out of the World and the Vanities of it to serve the living God in Newness of Life and to be Worshippers of him in Spirit and Truth and to be Followers of Christ in the Regeneration and to be baptized with him into his Suffering and Death that so you may be partakers of his Resurrection and Life and manifest unto all that you are risen with him out of the Grave of Sin Wickedness and Death by having your Hearts renewed and your Affections and Minds set to seek those things which are above which are not transitory and visible but everlasting and immortal by which the Souls of all the righteous and obedient Children are refreshed and nourished up unto eternal Life and through the eternal power of the Son of God which hath been and is manifest among them that believe in the Measure of his Spirit and keep their first Love and Integrity unto the Lord all his are preserved out of the Temptation of the Adversary within and without who seeks to root out that which God hath planted and to nip the Blossom and the Bud which God hath caused to spring forth through his tender Love in your Hearts so that you might dye to the Good and be spoiled in that wherein all your Happiness lyeth now and forever Oh therefore all watch and be circumspect so much the more against Temptations lest you be ensnared and your Faith fail and you fall short of the promise of God in not continuing Faithful to the End Friends a Care and a tender Love and a godly Jealousie is in my Heart to you and over you all that have believed that none of you may be lost and scattered again in the Desarts and Mountains and dry and parched places where you have sometimes been in the time of Unbelief where the Goats who are rough can feed that must go to the left Hand and have the Curse The Zeal of the Lord and his Truth who so gloriously hath
Good and mind not only one Member but the whole Body heed not them that draw back that is no President for you to follow but them that press forward and are not offended in the time of Hardship heed not them thâ—t will tell you they can keep their Hearts upright to God and retain their Love to Truth and Friends and yet will not afford their Presence in your Assemblies but escape Suffering and deny the Cross and neglect their present Duty for that is Deceit and their own Hearts will deceive them put not off till to morrow defer not the time till you can see some more Ease and some greater Calm beware of that for then Coldness Fearfulness and Slavishness will enter in and you will lose your Strength Moreover if any have begun well and be perswaded of the Truth of that they have believed and continue not unto the End and do not finish such will be reckoned foolish Builders that could not finish and all will mock them and neither God nor Men can or will believe them but our Adversaries will glory over you Again when any suffer or are brought into Bonds for Christ and the Gospel sake seek not to get out by any indirect Means neither make any Covenant with thy Adversary who would sell both thee and all Faith and Hope for Money that encourages Deceit and that Spirit would buy it self out of the Service of God and grow weary give no Place to that be content every one with your present Condition till God arise and plead our Cause and make our Innocency and Righteousness appear as Noon day and make his Adversaries his Foot-stâ—ol which undoubtedly he will do and make all know the most high ought to rule and will rule in the Kingdoms of Men and not give his Glory to another neither suffer another to take it be conformable to none that go about under Pretence of Love to perswade or counsel you from your Duty to God neither submit to them that would betray you of your Peace heed not the Frowns of corrupt Men nor the Counsel of them who mind their own Bellies Pleasure Ease Profit and earthly things let not natural Affections and Love either to Lands Wife or Children blind your Eyes but love them and receive them in the Lord and enjoy them as though not stand loose from all things and out of all Entanglements and cast your Care upon the Lord who careth for the Fatherless and the Widdow and them that have no Helper in Earth give no Occasion or Advantage to any that would turn your Hearts aside from following the Lord left their Love betray you give up all you have and enjoy to the Lord and his Service and your Souls Bodies and Spirits as a Sacrifice unto the Lord that he may accept you and pour forth and continue his Blessing amongst you never heed the Threats of them that are as the Oaks of Bashan nor of the great Men of the Earth that mind their Pleasure and Lusts who shut you up in Prison and hale you before Judgment-Seats for the Worship of God and falsly accuse you and condemn you when God justifies you the Moth shall eâ—t them up as a Garment and stain the Glory of all Flesh that withstand the Lord and they shall melt away as Snails and as the Fat of Lambs and as the Kidneys of Rams and God will bring the Recompence of their own Deeds upon their own Pates and wound the hoary Scalp of every one that doth wickedly who toucheth God's anointed and doth Harm to his Prophets and persecutes his Children surely Judgment is not far from the Dwellings of them who have requited the Lord thus as to render him Evil for Good and God will be avenged on such a faâ—thless merciless perfidious People as this and of such a Spirit which rejoyceth in Iniquity and makes a Mock of Sin and hates all Reproof and would clock over all Mischiefs with the Name of pure Laws and Authority and Decrees of the holy Church and yet persecutes and gainsayes the highest Power of God in things spiritual that pertain to the Conscience The Beast and false Prophet and Mother of Harlots have joyned together and flatter one another and joyn their Strength together against the true Church and Heir of all the World and would under Pretence of doing Honour unto him shut him out of the Earth and kill his Subjects and destroy the Children of the free Woman under Pretence of suppressing Heresie turn Judgment into Gall Hemlock and Wormwood and instead of relieving the Oppressed add to their Burthen Friends dwell above all these things and the Devil and his Rage the Earth is the Lord's and the Fulness of it we cannot be banished from God's Presence neither shall they fulfil their Determination or ever be able to root out that Testimony which is among us for Princes shall be given for its Ransome and Kingdoms and Nations for its Prosperity The God of Power strengthen you all that you may quit your selves like men of God like Children of the most high whose Inheritance is not here in the World but in the Kingdom that fades not away The Lord God of Power be with you and make you consider what I say and to receive this my true Love unto you all for the Lord's sake who partakes with all the suffering Members of Christ in their Bonds and shall and can rejoyce in all your Comfort and Joy The Peace of God dwell in your Hearts and his heavenly Light shine upon all your Tabernacles that you may be as beautiful in the Eyes of the Lord as the Roses of Sharon and blossom as the Lillies of the Valley and yield your Fruit as the Fig-tree that casteth not his Fruit The Lord takes our Part let none doubt of that and pleads our Cause let all consider that our Enemies shall see it and be troubled at this and time shall manifest it therefore be of believing Hearts and trust in the Lord so shall you never be confounded neither be ashamed but be as Mount Sion that cannot be moved and as the Mountains are round about Jerusalem so shall the Mercies of the Lord compass you about from this time forth and forevermore Friends Faith is sealed in my Heart and Love in my Reins and Gladness in my Soul and Peace in my Conscience so that none doth or can hinder my rejoycing praised be the Lord forever and ever Amen The Lord's Servant and yours in all true unfeigned pure Love F. H. THE TRUE Rule Judge and Guide OF THE TRUE CHURCH OF GOD DISCOVERED AND Born Testimony unto what it is and wherein it consisteth In Opposition to the pretended Catholick Church of ROME her Rule Foundation Guide and Judge Being returned in Answer to Captain Robert Everad his Book tituled An Epistle to all Non-conformists wherein his main Reasons Grounds and Allegations laid down in his Book are examined and discoursed with wherein the Faith once
any were otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever People or Church though they claim infallibility that teach a contrary Dâ—ctrine unto this we have good Reason to suâ—peâ—â— it to be that hasty dâ—â—ving and overdriving Spirit that would force a Faith 〈◊〉 God hâ—th not given it not to be the infallible Spirit of 〈…〉 the Church of Rome hath given a vehement 〈…〉 and Tortures they have exercised towards them who 〈…〉 their Principles and own their Judgment in all things Bâ—t 〈…〉 Gentleman blinded thy Eye 〈◊〉 he made thee 〈…〉 question 〈◊〉 truth of Scripture and â—hat it proceeâ—ed from the iâ—fall his Testimony of God's Spâ—râ—t and if thou hadst a certain feeling of the same in thy 〈…〉 Conscience to let this go and mâ—ke this void as an iâ—â—uffâ—cient Ground to receive Christianity upon and to lean to a Prop without thee and to â—e judged by men who have been as fallible and changeable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the Name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instrucâ—er I perceivâ— told thee ought to be received concerning what was pretended to be revealed or not revealed by God yet all must be obliged to stand to their Judgment though never so repugnant to the Doctrine of Christ and Practice of the Church of Christ in the first Primitive times truly so called yet it is granted that the Church of Christ are the dispersed Members through the World though not of it agreeing in one Faith being in the Power of God and being led and guided by the Holy Ghost their Judgments ought to be received which cannot as lead by the Spirit fail in giving true Judgment in matters of Faith which pertains to Salvation but as men they may fail and as erring from the Spirit they may fail and infallibility is not intailed to the Persons of any men but as they continue in the Grace of God and walk in the Spirit and bring forth the Fruits thereof nor to any place or City but as they continue in Covenant with God for the Promise of God was to Jerusalem and Mount Zion and to many other places and People in divers Cities where the Glory of God once appeared but now through their Apostacy and unbelief and disobâ—dience they are desâ—late as to the presence and Power of God and their Sun is set and they are covered as with the Shadow of a Cloud but this true Church whereof I have spoken was seen to Fly into the Wilderness for time times and half and that since the Apostles dayes and then was she not so Visible and Universal as she had been before the Man-child was caught up unto God now if thou reckonst the Roman Church to be this true Church shew the time times and half a time wherein she fled into the Wilderness and how long she hath been there and when was the time of her return and if ever she was there how that will hang together with yâ—ur assertion that she hath been visiâ—le and so Universal these fifteen hundred Years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demostrate her to be the Whore that sate upon the many Waters which Waters are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and what Church instance if thou can doth lay claim to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be your and to Rule over so many Kings of the Earth as you lay claim to be Universally of your Faith and of your Church which gives us a shrewd Character to believe that indeed you are Mystery Babylon besides the Blood of the Saints hath been shed under the Name of Hereticks by thâ—â— vâ—sible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve hundred Years doth give clear evidence that it can be reckoned or imputed unto none but you But I would not Grate too hard upon thee being but a new Convert but when thy instructer had made thee doubt of thy won state and questioned the Foundation whereupon thou hadst received Christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou didst lay claim to but I feel had little Portion in what thou saidst at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this Spirit which thou hadst spoken on might for ought thou knew be the Spirit of Error and thou not able to distinguish betwixt the Spirit of God in thy self which is infallible and the Spirit of error nor to distinguish betwixt their Operations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any Spirit of Faith in ones own particular which is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the World so to judge For if there be no certainty or assurance given to any man or means to every man wherein he may be assured of the certainty of God's will then whither should any go or upon whom should any lean seeing that no credit can be given to any thing that any man believes and this were but tossing up and down Men from Mountain to Hill that they might never have Rest for their Souls And as for Jer. 17. and Eccles. 9. Rev. 3. The Heart of man is deceitful c. No man knows love or hatred And because thou sayest I am Richand increased with Goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures were brought unto thee to make thee more Blind the first is spoken of the Degenerate estate where deceit bears Rule and not Truth the second is spoken of visible enjoyments which are common to all and the third was spoken to one who had erred from the Spirit and was exalted in Pride because of external performances but having lost the Power was miserable c. But what of all this doth this any whit at all detract from the certainty assurance of the Spirit of God in them that have it what shall we Reason thus because some have been led aside and are deceived by their own Hearts Lusts that therefore all may be deceived even them that have the Spirit of God God forbid and we have some-what more to Answer an Arian a Jew or a Turk if they should urge the like knowledge and feeling with the like confidence to prove they were in the Truth and Christianity a delusion and thy intructer said what would you reply to them We have more to reply in such Cases then time will permit now or the state of the Case require seeing it is but a supposition and we take no thought what to answer the Gain-sayers of Truth withall but rely upon the Promise of the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples take no thought for it shall be given you what to answer in that day which Promise all that are true Disciples shall find true to the end of the World but some-what more we have to say it may be then thou said when thou
we are the Elders of the Church and we have the infallible Spirit and though we make Decrees contrary to what the Apostles made in their Day yet none are to question that the Church was but in its Infancy then as unwasht and unswadled and in Persecution but now she is grown up to a greater Statuâ—e and Power and endowed with greater Priviledge and that may be necessary now that was not necessary then and last of all called themselves the Clerâ—y which signifies the Heritage of God and so excluded all others but themselves And these things are true and certain and have been made good by many Sufferers for Christ and this kind of Clergy or Heritage made the Heritage of God indeed to fly into the Wilderness who had the infallible Spirit and the Witnesses to prophesie in Sack-cloth and then Mystery-Babylon began to sit as a Queen and to gild her Cup and to fill it full of Abomination and brought in Judaism and the Practice of the Apostles and their own Inventions and patched up an Endless kind of Worship and Service consisting of out-side things in a great Part in Postures and Gestures and Meats and Drinks and Days and times and Vestures and Bonnets and Caps and Coules and such other like Trumpery which they made the Nations drunk with and greedy after and if any scrupled at any of those things or any other the Holy Catholick Church hath decreed it and she cannot err for she is infallible though the Errors thereof cannot be numbred And this R. E. thou rests satisfied in as thy only Rule and Judge and Director and thou hangs all thy Faith herein and sayest Thou shalt not scruple to believe what Authority teacheth thee to be revealed by God no more then if thou heardst God himself speaking I say unto thee as the Apostle said The Serpent hath beguiled thee as it beguiled Eve and further say as the Prophet said Thou must arise and get thee hence for this is not the Rest for thou wilt see thy self plunged into such a Labyrinth of Uncertainties as thou never wast before if the Lord ever open thine Eye And R. E. gives an Account that after his reading of some controvertal Books hath made some Collections as to himself and also declares That all dissenting Judgements grant there must be a Way and a Rule appointed to teach us to deside all Doubts to judge of all Matters and to teach us the true Way to Heaven with Certainty but who this Rule or Judge is is not agreed upon by all which he hath collected into four Heads First Some set up the Spirit to direct them and to be this Means Secondly Another will have every Man 's own Natural Reason to be this Rule and Judge Thirdly Others will set up sole Scripture And the fourth assigns the Holy Catholick Church to be that Judge and Director Other then these he saith he never heard of any for he saith he alwayes esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or Natural Reason but which R. E. doth not know and all the four before-mentioned he saith he hath examined and treateth largely upon them all wherein he goeth about and giveth Grounds and divers Reasons and divers Interpretations of Scriptures he layes waste all the former three and establisheth as he thinks the fourth as to be that Way and Rule and Judge and governing Power to decide all Doubts as that whereby all are oblieged to submit unto as to Christ himself and this was that Question which he was to gain Satisfaction in and therefore he saith He ceaâ—ed â—o enquire of their Doctrine or this or that Article of Faith and hang altogether upon this Point before-mentioned Answ. 'T is true it is granted by all that there must be a Way and a Rule as the Means appointed of God to answer all Doubts and to give Satisfaction to every Man of the Certainty of that which he believes and who this Way and Judge and Rule is every one ought to be satisfied and the four Heads into which thou hast collected the whole Controversie of all dissenting Judgments in Christianity take up the whole as to this Particular which have ordinarily been holden forth among Christians But I judge thou deal'st not wisely in thy Inquisition and Search for Satisfaction to hang all on this Pin but rather to have examined further as concerning Matters of Doctrine and Matters of Faith held forth most especially of this Party to whom thou wast so much inclined and see how thou could'st have swallowed down that Doctrine of Purgatory and Sacrifice for the Dead and Justification by a Man 's own Works and of Bread and Wine after the Words of Consecration by the Priest is transubstantiated into the very Body and Blood of Christ and becomes whole God their Saviour and Redeemer for these are principal things either greatly necessary to Salvation or greatly unnecessary and when thou had'st tryed and found these to be so repugnant unto the Doctrine and Faith once delivered among the Saints in the first Plantation of the Gospel this might have put a Stop unto thee that thou could'st not so easily close with their Judgment and pretended Infallibility who pretend to be only Guides and yet lead into the greatest Errors in Matters of greatest Moment But as to the four Particulars mentioned I shall not stand to trouble either my self or the Reader as to speak much what of that which is no Part of my Faith or Judgment but only to vindicate the Truth against the many false Conceptions of changeable Men And first of all R. E. begins to treat of the Spirit and perverts the Scripture at his first Onset and saith As touching the Spirit â—earing Witness in secret with our Spirits or he saith in plain Terms the priâ—ate Spirit this saith R. E. I considered could not be the Means to convey Faith unto the World nor the Rule Judge or Guide which I enquired after nor indeed the true Spirit of God which he promised to be Apostles Secondly Those who pretend this Guidance do not believe Godâ— but themselves only and their own Perswasions which tell them they have the Spirit of God but they can give no other Account but that they are verily perswaded so or no other Answer but I am sure it is the Spirit of God and I am a good Man and an honest Man and I believe my self but â—ther Reasons or Evidence can they give none Thirdly This pretending of a private Spirit is against 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophecy of Scripture is of private Interpretation Answ. This Man beats altogether beside the Anvil whatever the Matter is but that he is blinded and confounded in himself he sets but up a Shadow and then fights with it for instead of proving the Spirit of God not to be a competent Rule Judge and Guide and Instructor in all Matters of Faith necessary to Salvation he goes about to prove a private Spirit a pretended
Spirit a Spirit of Error is not a sufficient Guide and Judge and in this he fights without an Adversary and fills the World with Noise and Darkness and the Air with Smoak and would cloud Peoples Understandings with Multitudes of Words that tend not to Edification with a quarreling wrangling Spirit which is not for Peace but I see he hath delighted in Contention and sported himself in Variance and like the Son of the Bond-Woman his Hand against every Man Secondly â— wonder why R. E. quotâ—s so much Scripture for the Proof of his Matter in Hand seeing that it is one of his great Pleas that it is insufficient to be a Rule or a Guide or a Judge as to answer any Doubts or give any satisfactory Solution to him that is enquiring and seeing he hath given in so many Reasons against it as insufficient and as much as in him lay to invalidate and set it at nought and hath laboured to set it at Odds and to make Contradictions in it as to render it insufficient for Matter of Probation in any thing which is in Controversie or how he can judge that others should receive them and his sometimes false rendering of them or his own Interpretations upon them seeing he denyes them as uncertain as they are translated and insufficient and not fit to be a Rule and who this man hath conversed with I know not that should ever affirm a private Spirit or their own Spirits to be a sufficient Rule or Guide to walk by such I deny and leave them and thee to quarrel together about your Imaginations Thoughts and Conceptions or else the Conceptions of other Men who are as uncertain and fallible as the first and shall assert the Sufficiency of the Spirit of God teaching ruling guiding and judging all true Christian Men in that certain everlasting infallible Truth which is necessary and satisfactory to the Souls of all them that do believe in it and shall deny all the Pretenders to it who run into Heaps and Heads and quarrel and fight one with another about Shadows and can give no other Account or Manifestation then I am sure I have the Spirit of God and I ought to be believed and I am a good Man and the like which thou say'st thou could'st never receive any other Evidence or Testimony and what though many have pretended to the Spirit and the Guidance thereof and in the mean while have brought forth the Fruits of the Flesh and their own imaginary false Conceptions and have put on Confidence enough to say so as thou thy self it may be hast had a Share in times past shall this make the Spirit of God insufficient and uncertain in its Teachings to them that believe in it and have received and bring forth the Fruits of it and have the Deeds of the Flesh mortified by it God forbid Thirdly Why hast thou perverted the Scripture as I said at the first Onset Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self bears Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and this thou hast put in in a distinct Character to be taken Notice of as though it were Scripture and render'st it thus The Spirit being Witness in secret with our Spirits or in plainer Terms the private Spirit thou must repent of this and take Heed how thou callest the Spirit of God a private Spirit for it was that publick Spirit which manifested it self among all the Patriarchs and Prophets and by which they spoke forth the Words and Mind of God unto the People and prophesied of things to come and through it alone is the deep and weighty things of God revealed and was and is the only Way and Means by which Christ promised after his Ascension to lead guide instruct and comfort his Disciples in all Truth and that it should bring to their Memory whatsoever he had spoken and that they were to be without Care or Thought for through it the Father should give them what to speak and what to answer before Rulers and Council for his Name 's sake And here the Sufficiency of it is proved to any reâ—sonable Man who hath the least Savour or Discerning of the things â—f God and this is that publick Spirit by which the Apostles published the Everlasting Gospel of Peace and which Christ the Head of the Body his Church had received without Measure and this is a private tâ—â—ining creeping Spirit of thine who hath been lost in thy own Imaginations and following thy own forward rash Spirit and hast found no Certainty in thy self of God's Spirit to stay thy Mind upon nor no Patience to wait upon it but reaching 〈…〉 at things in thy dark Mind and last of all hast brought in thy 〈◊〉 for the Devil against the Sufficiency of the holy Spirit of God 〈◊〉 Guidance amongst his People in the latter Dayes and that is thy fond Conception to say that the Spirit of God is expresly against 2 Pet. 1.20 which thou callest a private Spirit all along 't is true no Prophecy of Scripture is of private Interpretation but the holy men of God spoke it forth as they were moved by the holy Spirit which was publick and conversant among them with them and in them and they that have it can receive them as they are written and can read them and understand them as they were spoken and do see the Intent of the Holy Ghost in so speaking unto different States and Conditions notwithstanding the many Copies thou tellest on and Diversions and different Translations which thou would'st make a great Mountain on and raise it up so high to make the Scripture uncertain and low as not fit to be taken Notice on as to answer any Doubt or to be any Rule and Guide or any Example or President for any thing that I can perceive by the Courâ—e of thy Spirit which in the Truth is fathomed and comprehended though it is as uncertain as the Way of a Serpent upon a Rock yet they that have the Spirit of God see beyond all and have Unity with the Words and Mind of the Spirit of God notwithstanding the many Corruptions and Defects in Translations and the many foul Hands it hath passed through Fourthly The Spirit of Christ is the Gift of God which he giveth unto all that wait for his Appearance and his Sheep have it they that are Christ's have it for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his it is that which is every Way sufficient no Way insufficient it is every Way sufficient to lead into all Truth according unto Christ's Promise and to convince the VVorld of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment again it is that which Christ promised for a Director which was with them when they healed the sick and cast out Devils and which was in them to consolate them and comfort them in the midst of Affliction as it did Peter and John and made them bold who were yet illiterate Men and
would 〈◊〉 it up in a Corner and tye it to one sort of Men or Sect or Opinion and the Mâ—sters thereof would assume it to themselves as though the Spirit of God and Grace of God were only among them and must be conveyed from them to other People before they have it and the direction and Guide of every Man must be sought from their Mouths as though God had not given a measure of his Spirit unto every man to profit withal and to be led and taught and guided by it into all Truth out of Error according to Christ's promise and according to the Lord's Promise in the dayes of old that though his People might eat the Bread of adversity drink the Water of affliction yet their Teacher should not be removed into a Corner and from this quickning enlightening enliveâ—ing Spirit of God the Saints of God and Ministers of Christ in the Primitive times received Power and Authority to propagate Righteousness and to judge deceit and the Mystery of Iniquity where-ever it appeared and in this their ability stood for they were made able and fit Ministers by it not of the Letter nor of Mens Traditions nor of foolish fopperies which have been introduced since and shuffled in among Christians under the Name of Power and Authority of the Holy Church and the Church of God that had received this Spirit walked in it and brought forth the Fruits fit whereby they were a good savour in the Nostrils of the Lord and by which they adorned the Gospel of our Lord Jesâ—â— Christ by a holy Conversation which did manifest them to be of God and Convince and stop the Mouths of gain-sayers And thus we are bold to tell thee and all that the Spirit of God which is given a measure of it to every Man and more fulness of it to them that believe that it is the Rule and the way and means whereby all the Actions Words and Works of all Men are weighed tryed measured and judged and Objections Answered and is the alone Judge of all matters and answerer of all doubts and giveth only true and perfect satisfaction and therefore R. E. may blush and be ashamed to ever publish such a thing abroad in the World as to say That the Spirit of God is not a sufficient director Teacher and Judge but calls it a private Spirit Opinion humour and fancy to make the Eyes of them blind who wait for its appearance only to trust to Men who plead Antiquity and Power without verity And further he goes on and sayes in the 22 th page of his said Epistle There is neither Jew Turk Pagan or Christian but he may put on confidence enough affirming that he is taught by the Spirit of God 〈…〉 this and yet teach contradictions and further saith that it hath no effect among them who pretend to it and that they can no more satisfie another that they are guided by the Spirit of Truth then many who are cast into Bedlâ—m Answ. 'T is true many are confident and impudent enough but confidence without Ground and impudent proves but little and he thâ—t â—â—ith he is a Jew and is not but of the Synagogue of Satan will soon be found out by his Doctrine and Fruits and he that saith he is a Christian and led by the Spirit and keeps not the commands of Christ neither brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit is soon discovered to be a Deceiver and deceived and such are like to teach contradictions but all such are denyed shut out with the Spirit of Truth but them that have the Spirit of God witness a blessed effect among them for they are turned from Satan's Power unto God and do witness Remission of Sin and Reconciliation with God and are not at difference but at Unity one with another and are brought out of the obstinate and perverse Estate which all pretenders are in and as for contradictions they are more to be seen in the Church of Rome then many wheres else they who are but pleased and have leisure to view over the Decrees and Constitutions of several Popes and Councils since he was elevated to be Universal Bishop over all Christian Churches by that Hâ—athen 〈…〉 Emperour Phocas who slew his Master Maâ—ritius to obtain 〈…〉 did gratifie the Pope so far that he might be cryed up as Emperour as thâ—â— he should be Universal Bishop and this proved a better pleâ— for the Pope because the Emperour had Power to defend him and to compel all to receive his Decrees then that he was Peter's Succesâ—oâ— I say who will but look into the Constitutions and Decrees shall find such setting of and throwing down and such decreeing and such disannulling as twenty 〈◊〉 Champions as Robert Everard will never be able to free his Catholick Church from contradictions although he is very forward to charge otheâ—â— though he is but a new Convert but let him not boast till he haâ—h put off his Armour and it is thâ—t mad Bedlem Spirit of thine that saith That among all the Nonconformists there is no one that can satisfie another that he hath the Spirit of God I tell thee yes there are thousands satisfied in one another that they have the Spirit of God besides he that hath it can speak to the witness of God in another which shall testifie the same and moreover their Works and Fruits shall and do manifest unto others that they are born of the Spirit because the Fruits of it are seen as they are manifest to be born of God and do the Works of God and thou must first know the Spirit of God in thy self if ever thou look for it there and not hang altogether upon others belief as thou dâ—st upon thy Catholick Church before thou canst know it in another and first be Convinced by it and judged by it for thy ill deeds and ill thoughts and Hypocrisie and timeâ— serving and flattery and Men-pleasing before thou canst be Convinced of others Righteousness and also be Convinced of the unbelief of thy own Heart before thou canst believe others but thou hast been so busie abroad in quarrelling and contending about Words Names and empty shews without Substance and Life that thy mind is all over grown with Thorns and Bâ—iers scrawling and scratching and entangling thy self and others so that that which should Savour the things of God is over-grown in these and is buried and to them that are like Heaths in a desert know not when Good comes neither do know what they enjoy that dwell in the fat Valleis and the Pharisees had such unbelieving Hearts though Christ was the express Image of God and did the Works that never Man did yet being without Faith and without Reason they said he was a Blasphemer and all his Works were done by Bellzebub and would never be convinced that any thing he did was of God and that Spirit is near thee which would represent the Fruits of the Spirit to be delusion and
First it teacheth its Members to Swear and again gives Absolutions to remit them of their Oath if she think fit and both must be reckoned infallible and them that are your Enemies instead of praying for them you Curse them and instead of doing good to them you Hate them and stir up all your strength against them to Destroy them instead of Convincing of them in love and sound Judgment Instance the dayes of King John and divers other Princes which felt your Fury and Wrath and also Frederick the Emperour after he was Interdicted was made to go to Rome before the Popes Palace and to stand bare Foot and bare Leg with his Wife and Children two or three dayes in Winter waiting for Peter's Successor his Absolution But it may be thou wilt say this was in love to them and in Charity to their Souls but let all unbyassed Spirits judge and whether have not you when you have been the strongest party made force Violence and success your greatest engin and plea to plead with all Nations whatsoever People that dissented from you either in matter or form instance Germany Bohemia Moravia and divers other Kingdoms and Provinces besides the Indians in America which you Destroyed chiefly for their Gold and Treasure under this pretence that they were Infidels and forced a Faith upon some and a belief by the violence of your Cruelty and Swords which made the Noble Man of India say he had rather go to Hell with the Infidels of America as you call them then to Heaven with the Spainards so cruel a People Members of your Catholick Church What might I speak of the King of Castile against the poor Moors of Grandia who were put to cruel Torments by force and violence which is a Reproach upon this sort of Christianity unto this day And what Persecution was raised against the Pyedmount Christians by the force of this infallible Judge falsly so called and what Massacres in France and also in Ireland in latter Years propagated by the Popes Nuncio a chief Embassadour from the Roman Sea to carry on that design to root out the Hereticks what destruction of People in a most Barbarous Inhuman preposterous and prodigious Cruelty some killed in their Beds some knocked in the Head like Oxen some stripped naked in cold Winter and bereaved of all their Enjoyments and driven as Sheep naked to the Shambles and at last driven by scores into Lakes and Rivers and drowned some Burned alive in their Houses some tender Woman strangled in Childbed and their tender Infants taken from their Mothers Breasts and tossed upon Spears points and to my knowledge license and Pardons given and sent from Rome to divers of their Emissaries there that it should be lawful for any Servant or Catholick bondman to Steal waste and Purloyn their Masters Goods if Hereticks for the weakening and disenabling of them to resist the Roman Enterprise begun these things and many more are legible in Bloody Characters which I hope this Generation will not easily blot out of their Memories so as to commit all Faith all Hope all Religion and all infallibility and Judgment to such a degenerated Generation as R. E. would have us do and with such Audaciousness is not ashamed to blow his Trumpets as in the head of an Host to animate and encourage all to come to this Black Standard for protection and direction Judgment certainty and infallibility under no less then pain of Damnation and why but because Peter was sometime Bishop of Rome as they say and had given unto him the Keyes of the Kingdom of Heaven and whatsoever he bound on Earth was bound in Heaven and whatsoever he loosed in Earth was loosed in Heaven and because Christ said giving an Answer to Peters's Faith upon this Rock I will build my Church therefore all the Bishops and Popes as heirs apparent succeed him in laying claim to headship and do none of his Office nor none of his Work and this foolish foppery and private interpretation hath been put off at a very great rate for Catholick Doctrine which brings to my mind a pleasant Story I have some time read of a certain poor Man meeting a certain Bishop at a certain time in great Pomp and Glory which the poor Man beholding took up a Laughter and being enquired of by the Bishop wherefore be laughed said he That Peter should be such a Fool as to live such a poor miserable Life as he did and Persecuted in the World and to leave his Successors so Rich to inherit such Pomp and Glory With that the Bishop replyed and said Thou fool I am not in this Glory as I am Bishop of such a place but as I am Duke of such a place at that the man smiled again and said When the Duke was in Hell for his Pride where then would the Bishop be But to let this pass I am sure them that lay claim to be Peters Successors as to Patrimony and Riches which he was never endowed with for sometime he said Silver or Gold have I none but do little of his Work in Converting of Souls or feeding of the Flock of Christ and do lay claim unto his Priviledge and Power but will not come near him in doctrine labour and Suffering for his Members and therefore I say to thee in thy own Words lay aside thy Folly with the consequences of it as destructive to the Church of God to hang all their Faith upon such uncertainties but even to human societies which I have mentioned and might instance more but that I would not be too tedious to the Reader Lastly Yes some have some other Testimony by which Spirits are tryed and may be tryed to be of God otherwise then by Force carnal Sword a strong Party or Success that 's thy own and not ours we have the holy Unction which is poured forth whereby the Saints knew all things and tryed the Spirits whether they were of God or no and he that confesseth not that Christ is come in the Flesh is Anti-christ and he that confesseth that Christ is come in the Flesh only in Word and because others have said so and doth not witness Sin condemned in the Flesh and turned from and to have Power over it the same is a false Witness and is an Anti christ also and also we have other Things to try Spirits by we know a proud angry hasty perverse Spirit is not the Spirit of God a persecuting lording Spirit is not the Spirit of God and again they that teach a contrary Doctrine to the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles they have the Spirit of Error again they whose Practice and Conversation is not suitable to the Practice and Conversations of Christ and the Apostles and primitive Christians that they are in the Spirit of Error again they that would force a Faith by any human Constitution or Law which is repugnant to the Law of God or by Force of the Sword or any carnal
of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all Matters of Faith and of all Matters that â—ver have been or ever shall be in Controversie to the End of the VVorld without the Spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant Mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit are inseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but VVranglers for the most Part about VVords and Contenders against the Power of God and Godliness and bring the VVords to oppose the Life and them that have the Spirit and walk in it for a natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the Mind of the Spirit but wrest to their own Destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned and untaught by the Spirit 's Teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or dis-esteem them as uncertain or of no Use or of little Use but whatever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the Words of Christ the Words of the holy Prophets and Patriarchs and Apostles who were endued with the holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several Ages of several things and unto several States and Conditions as they were led thereto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain Declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jews under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy Precepts and Commands Doctrines Examples Exhortations Admonitions Reproofs and Instructions and are as lively Examples and holy Patterns for all the Saints in Light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what Mercy what Long-Sufferings what Consolation what Virtue and what Inheritance the Saints in Light were made Partakers of through Faith in Christ Jesus likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what Practice they used in the primitive times when they walked in the Order of the Gospel and had Fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the Light of the Gospel which is the Power of God through which they witnessed Salvation Remission of Sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifie of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that thereby every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good Works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are Witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another Spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another Faith then was once delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other Precepts Constitutions Orders and Practices in Point of Worship in Opposition and contrary unto those Practices which were held forth in the primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by Word or VVriting such are manifest to have the Spirit of Error and are Innovators and Bringers in of other things as necessary in Point of VVorship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no Part of the Counsel of God for Paul said He had declared the whole Counsel of God and furthermore they said We have the Mind of Christ and Christ's Mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the VVritings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers Places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear VVitness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last Age are not lest without Example and President which all ought to have an Eye unto and a diligent Regard and though there be divers Copies of that which is called the Original Tongue and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the Measure of Christ's Light shall receive it doth â—ee and shall see the Mind and VVill of God in every Age and the Mind and Intent of the Spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the Matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translators were Men yet I have such an honourable Esteem of their Labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Copies that were extant in their Age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good VVork which conduced to the Benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good VVork and there be many Figures and Tropas Improprieties of Speech Mysteries and Diâ—â—iculties yet all these come to be made easie and plain to them that are Witnesses of the same Spirit that gave them forth and though there be Diversity of Judgments Professions of Religion one clashing against another thwarting and contradicting another all will seem to bring the Scripture for their Proof which yet cannot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another this is granted it is only their private Interpretation and not the Scripture and for Wâ—nt 〈◊〉 â—hâ—t Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true Understanding of iâ— and they that are without this are like to kill one another about Words and Names Sounds Tittles and Jottas but still want the Key that opens and gives an Entrance into the Knowledge of the things of God which alone is the Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures Last of all R. E. after he saith The three former Props which are the Basis of the whole Foundation and glided over as slightly as he possible could although he hath never stated the Matter right indeed as to remove all things out of his Way which might hinder him in his Cause which he drives so hard on in to wit to set up a certain Company or Multitude of men Visible and Universal as he saith to be the only infallible Judge to convey Faith to the World and to be the certain and infallible Judge in all Matters that either pertain to the Worship of God and to be believed under Pain of Damnation as
his Term is all along without questioning at all either their Doctrine or Principles or comparing them with the Doctrine of Christ or Primitive Christians whether they be true or false whether they be with or against but all is to be received by an implicite Faith Hand over Head and by whole sale for it will admit of no Examination or Doubt but all must be received of Necessity as infallible and upon so great a Necessity too as R. E. saith if you will believe him would make it so that all forfeit eternal Salvation for not receiving all the Doctrines of this Church and consequently procure eternal Damnation unto themselves who refuse it so that if I should say no more but even lay down his Assertions which are scattered up and down his Book called An Epistle to all Non-conformists it were Answer enough I hope to many whose Mouths I hope would be filled with Arguments and sound and grounded Ones too or at least with Faith in their Hearts to oppugn and not receive all these bold Assertions without Examination or Tryal only upon the Account of Infallibility from the universal Church of Rome falsly so called but R. E. having removed away all the stumbling Blocks which are in his Way as he judges the private Spirit he hath concluded not to be this Rule and Judge which I judge he hath no Opposers in though he hath spent much Paper and Time in his scribling Humor which hath been his manner in former Dayes as he confesseth in the first Page neither Reason nor the Scriptures are this Rule and Judge but he hath concluded the Catholick Church is but all along he hath waved that which indeed is the only and alone Rule and Judge infallible viz. the Spirit of God but either calls it the private Spirit or concludes it is intail'd upon the Church so that she cannot err Page 54. which I shall say something further unto That there hath been a Church of God and a peculiar People whom God hath singled out as to be Objects of his Love which feared him in their Hearts and bore a Testimony of him and worshipped him according to the Manifestation of his Spirit unto them whether by Word or Revelation which was certain and infallible unto them that received it is granted and this was alwayes but little in Comparison of the Multitude of the fallen Sons of Adam and the rest of the Nations and People that served and worshipped strange Gods and never made such a Boast of Universality and Visibility as this supposed Catholick Church hath done sincâ— the Apostacy entered in which the Apostles fore-saw and prophesied of before their Departure out of this Tabernacle and since many have believed in Christ and the Worship of the Jews extinguished and a fatal Overthrow of their Civil Government and Kingdom are two main Reasons of extinguishing their Worship and hath been no Invitation to any to turn Jews or hold in their Worship seeing they have lost their Government and Dominion and are as scattered People without Priviledge and is no Inducement for the World to joyn to them therefore seeing the Face of that Government was demolished and their Worship ended but only as to themselves who remained in their Unbelief and seeing that the Doctrine of Christ did so far prevail as to extinguish it and put out the Glory thereof in the Apostles Dayes and sometime afterwards and also the Gentiles Worship and their false Gods and dumb Idols which they were led after the Power of God prevailing through the Apostles the Ministers of Righteousness by whom many were converted unto the Faith of Christ the Sum and Substance of all Shadows many being converted to the Faith did hold forth a publick Testimony and it became in some Reputation and many preached him of Envy Contention and Strife and for filthy Lucre Covetousness and Self-Ends and many followed their pernicious Wayes and yet held the Name of Christ and Christianity and thus began the Mystery of Iniquity to work and the Devil to turn so far Christian in Name only because it was in vain among many to hold forth the Jews Worship or the Gentiles Worship because they had an Inclination another Way after Christianity that came into more Repute with the World and therefore suffered the Name or many to profess it and under this Name and under this Cover to bring forth his Work of Darkness and the Fruits of the Flesh and the Nature of Christ wanting and here was the Beginning and Rise of your universal visible Church Secondly For the first two Thousand Years before the Scriptures were written R. E. saith the Church of God was this Rule and Judge and infalliâ—le Director which might to some indifferent men have been granted but that I see which Way his Course bends viz. to the setting up of men as Judge and Rule and Guide and detracts from the Spirit and Power of God in which the Ability and Power of the Church of God stood and from which alone they received this proper Power and Right because their Understandings were enlightened and their Judgments informed to declare the Mind of God freely according as it was revealed and to give true Judgment why is not this attributed rather to the Spirit and Power of God that was manifest in them rather then to Persons seeing their Ability stood and their Power only as they kept in Covenant with God as any erred from that in any Age or fell from that they came to be blind Guides and to give false Judgment as some such there were in all Ages Thirdly R. E. saith That after the Scripture was written the Church of the Jews was Rule and Judge unto the Jews and cites Deut. 17.8 Thou shalt come unto the Priests Levites and unto the Judge and enquire and they shall shew thee the Sentence of Judgment and according to that which they shall tell thee thou shalt do And likewise he quotes Mat. 23.2 3. The Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses 's Chair whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do c. And from thence he infers would God direct them unto and punish with Death for not obeying an Authority which might deceive them and was this Authority committed to them that were capable of mistaking Answ. It seems R. E. would narrow and pinch up the Church of God among the Jews in a straight Compass when he would confine it only to the Priests and Levites and to the Judges in those Dayes whenas all the Tribes were called the Church as well as Levi again it is said Jacob is my Portion and Israel is the Lot of my Inheritance comprising the whole Tribes and Families of the Jews but it seems these must be no Part of the Church with R. E. he pinches narrower now then he will do when he tells us of the Vastness of the Universal Church but let that pass as by the Way and to come to the Matter in Hand
of them yet they said falsly Thus saith the Lord in their revolted Estate for they were erred from the Spirit and gone from the Seed and joyned to another Seed and their holy Flesh was departed from them though as Men they had the same Flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the Promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on God's Part for the Promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the Flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the Seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou wilt have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a Place that carries the Name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge Rule or Guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there are evident Examples in the Scriptures of Truth in divers Ages of them that professed themselves Members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater Part too that have erred and their Pathes have been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitations full of Cruelty and this is given for an Instance the visible Church of the Jews did err and go aside notwithstanding all the Promises of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were in visible Profession though they had turned their Backs upon the Lord and their Hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the Promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none Effect nor broken on God's Part but stands with the Seed forever who are circumcised in Heart and who worship God in Spirit and Truth and in Uprightness of Heart and hath no Confidence in the Flesh nor fleshly Priviledges nor external Performances but only trusts unto the Gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believe and the Fulness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the Fulness of the Promise of God but these things I know though they be Holy Faithful and True are a sealed Book and hid from all Eyes living in the Flesh who have not been baptized into the Death and Suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own Mouth and the mouths of the Apostles did Promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was endued with Power from on High and with a great measure of the Spirit of God according unto Christ's Promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great Gifts were given unto them the Word of Knowledge the Word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues and the gift of Tongues the Gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the Sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the Work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come into the Unity of the Faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect Man and to the measure and Stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4.11 12 13. And all these were instrumental though the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of Faith abroad unto the World and for these aforesaid ends above-mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will needs lay claim to the Succession by way of Office yet by their Doctrine deny in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect Men in Christ Jesus and to be without Sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the Pit to purge from Sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect Men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this End but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they perfect them in the grave and so be ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before-mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and Exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole Body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any Fellowship with him till manifest Repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any man's Blood or Burn any or give consent to Destroy any iâ—stance if thou canst though obstinate and Hereticâ— too and in this amongst many other things the Spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christ's Doctrine but R. E. Argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching Error instead of Truth I may receive such Errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his Spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the Guidance thereof and Err not from the Spirit of Christ as some Churches did which were as truly Christian and might lay claim unto Christ's promise of preservation out of error as ever Rome could do and yet six of the Seven Churches of Asia were reproved by the Spirit of Christ some of them for holding gross Error and some for suffering it but where was the fault did not Christ perform his promise to his Church or to these and other particular Churches as Corinth and Galatia yes but there was an erring from the Spirit but all that R. E. goes about is to prove which he will never be able to do that Christ is bound by Promise to make it good to them that he hath once Promised unto though they perform nothing of their part in taking heed to his direction and thus would limit the Lord and let Men go free with obedience to his commands and he cites Mat. 28.20 how the promise of Christ was and lo I am alwayes with you even to the end of the World but he hath done as the
conformable to Scripture and so may be believed is not the Promise of God to his Disciples as they continued to the End and as they kept his Commandments and were they not known to be the Church of God and Disciples of Christ by this and was not the Promise to them that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and to them that did overcome and was not the Exhortation to the Church of Philadelphia hold fast that which thou hast that none take thy Crown Rev. 3.11 12. Was there not a possibility of letting go that which they had and of loosing the Crown or else why is the Exhortation But I see R. E. would lay claim to Promises and Priviledges without all condition and will not be tyed to keep the commands of Christ nor would not have the Church tyed to follow the Doctrine of the Primitive Church noâ— will not admit of any possibility or probability of failing or Erring nay not so much as a mistake but as to infallibility and certainty I have said enough before and the confidence or rather the impudence of R. E. is easily seen and to make up all he concludes the Apostles as Men were subject to error in their private affairs yet were they by the assistance of God's Spirit infallible in delivering matters of Faith I say as they were assisted by the holy Spirit of God they neither erred in private affairs nor matters of Faith but as they were not assisted by this they were subject to Err for in this stood their only Ability to Teach Instruct Exhort and judge and as they were guided by this Spirit they were infallible and so R. E. saith That the Prelates â—f the holy Catholick Church as Men they are fallible in their own private actions and affairs yet when they are assembled in a general Council with their supream Pastor they are still made infallible in determining matters of Faith It is well that R. E. will grant that there is any possibility for their Prelates to fail either publick or private but I say he that is not faithful in his own actions affairs can never be faithful in the Lord's but it seems â— General Council cannot faâ—l when the supream Pastor the Pope is there but if he be not it seems by R. E's discourse it is more doubtful the like he also judges if the eleven Disciples and the seventy too with the Brethren and Elders if they had all been to define matters of Faith if Peter had been wanting which this Catholick Church calls the Prince of the Apostles there had been some doubt of their infallibility in point of Faith as though the Promise of God and the Spirit of God had not been with the rest of the Apostles as well as Peter but a word or two and more hereafter of the infallibility of General Councils the Nicean Council decreed flat Idolatry about Worshipping of Images the Council at Constantinople condemned their Proceedings and made void their Decrees yet both these in R. E's account must needs be infallible the Council at Basil as Albertus Phigious saith Decreed against all Reason and against Scriptures the Council of Calcedon which was one of the four that Gregory the great compares to the four Gospels that their Decrees were as certain and infallible yet Pope Leo did not stick to condemn it and all them as unadvised Stephanus Bishop of Rome made void the Decrees of Formosus and Sabinian the Pope commanded that Pope Gregory's Mass and all his Writings should be Burned Leo the fourth abrogated and made void the Acts of Adrian the Basil Council determined that the Council of Bishops was above the Pope but the Latteran Council under Leo determined that the Pope was above the Council and they decreed also that he that should think otherwise should be held for a Heretick but the Council of Basil aforesaid decreed that they that judged that the Council was not above the Pope they were Hereticks Innumerable more instances I might give but that I will not trouble my Reader with such unprofitable Stories and all these Popes said They were Peter's Successors and had the Keys of binding and loosing and all these Councils and many more which were of the Roman Faith which in R. E's account could not err but must needs be infallible and yet are as contradictory one to another as Light is to Darkness and black to white and look with their Faces several ways like Sampson's Foxes and therefore let not R.E. nor none of his Catholicks think that the Church of Christ now coming out of the Wilderâ—ess again can receive all their contradictory Decrees and invented Fopperies Constitutions of Men for infallible the Day is broken the Light hath taken hold of the Ends of the Earth the Sun is risen which shall make all Foggy mists of Darkness Clouds of Ignorance to fly away But R. E. ceases not here but heaps up one Peice of Darkness upon another till Blackness of Darkness appears and he tells of a Visible Church Mat. 16. which is builded upon Peter that Visible Rock for that Rock there spoken of is not Christ saith he but Peter for immediately after he names Peter whereas saith he if he had meaned himself or Peter 's Confession for that saith he is too remote or mediate and antecedent for if Christ had meaned himself or Peter's Confession he should have spoken according to the Grammar Rule and Construction Upon that Rock or upon this Rock I have built I do build and not I will build In the 63d Page and in the 64th Page he tells of a Church Visible having two Heads of an Independent Head and a Dependent Head and in the 66th Page he saith He hopes that it will appear clear to all as it did to him that the Visible Church is that Rule and Judge appointed by God and all upon Pain of Damnation are to submit unto it Where R. E. hath read of a visible Church with two Heads I know not and to take it for infallible I intend not and where is Peter called a visible Rock and the chief Pastor among the Apostles doth not this contradict Scripture doth not Christ say The Gentiles exercise Dominion one over another but it shall not be so amongst you he that will be greatest among you let him be your Servant and he that will be chief let him be your Minister and as for thy visible and militant Church we read no such Words in the Scriptures of Truth we read of a Church of God of the first-born whereof Christ was the Rock and the Foundation and another Foundation can no Man lay then that which is laid which is Jesus Christ 1 Cor. 3.11 And Paul saith in ver 10. As a wise Master-Builder I have laid the Foundation I hope R.E. will not be so impudent as to say he had laid Peter or that he had preached up Peter to believe in for Remission of Sins nor for the Foundation
of Faith for that had been contrary to the Apostles Commission and their Doctrine for saith the Apostle We have not preached our selves but Christ the Lord and our selves your Servants for his sake And I may say to thee R. E. as Paul said to the Corinthians when they were striving about Men Cor. 3.21 Therefore let no Man glory in Men for all Things are yours or as he saith in Chap. 1. Ver. 13. was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the Name of Paul were they not carnal that so glorified was Peter crucified for us or were we baptized in the Name of Peter is not your visible Church carnal who thus judgeth that Christ intended Peter to be the Foundation of his Chruch for what was he or the rest of the Apostles but Ministers by which many believed 〈◊〉 and if thou hadst been present it is very like would have instructed Christ what to have said and bidden him have spoken after the Grammer Rule and Construction upon that Rock I will build my Church for Peter 's Faith in Christ is too mediate it seems and his Confession too remote and antecedent to be the Rock meant in Mat. 16.18 and therefore Peter must be immediate and the Rock upon which Christ hath doth and will build his Church but as immediate as he was and as sure a Rock as he was when he began to rebuke Christ he turned him about and said unto Peter Ver. 23. Get thee behind me Satan thou art an Offence unto me for thou savours not the Things of God and so say I to R. E. and his Catholicks they savour not the things of God but it is thy private Spirit and your own Interpretations and not the Mind of Christ and how far antecedent is Peter's Confession of Christ the Son of the living God is it not in Vers. 16. and wherein was Peter blessed but in this that it was revealed to him that Christ was the Son of the living God the Rock of Ages and the Foundation of his Church and as for thy visible Church with its two Heads independent Head and dependent Head which sure must have two Bodies where they can be found but that I shall leave to R. E. and I hope from the Grounds that thou hast here laid which did appear so clear to thee that none will be afraid nor judge that such a visible Church with two Heads is to be Rule and Guide to all to whom all are to submit under Pain of Damnation which is to have Peter for its Rock which if he had been living he would have denyed you all as Setters up of Men and Slighters of Jesus Christ the Rock of Ages the Foundation of the Church the Head of the Body the Rule of Life the Judge of Quick and the Dead the Law-giver Director Instructer and Preserver of his Church forever but R. E. goes on and saith It only remains that we consider which among all these Congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ for having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted with the holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an Error we shall no more dispute the Verity of her Doctrine then we would have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the holy Apostles or the Words of Christ himself wherefore if this Church this infallible Guide shall teach us that Infants ought to be baptized and that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of them that are alive and that the Body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar or any other Article of Faith we shall no more doubt it then the first Christians did the Verity of what the Apostles taught them Among all those Congregations on Earth that look upon themselves to be the Church and Spouse of Christ there is one if thy Eye could behold or if thou could'st discern it but before thou canst there is an Eye in thee must be put out and there is a Wisdom in thee that must be confounded and turned into Foolishness before thou canst discern it in its Glory as it is but however that is it undoubtedly which is begotten into the Faith through the Publication of the immortal Word of Life and who are translated from Death unto Life and who have received the Power and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and meet in his Name and Power and do witness his Presence among them and have received a Measure of that infallible Spirit of Truth which leadeth into all Truth and out of the Pollutions of the World and are dead unto the World and baptized into the Sufferings of Christ and are crucified with him who keep unviolated his Statutes and Commands without adding to or diminishing from who walk in the Order of the Gospel and are not conformable to the World nor to that which fallen Men set up but to the Power of God that worketh in the Hearts of all that believe to the framing of them a meet Habitation for God to dwell in and abide in the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and are Sayers and Doers speak the Truth and do the Truth and hold the Truth in Righteousness and the Faith once delivered to the Saints in a pure Heart and a pure Conscience who pray in the Spirit and with Understanding who publish the Truth and declare it in the Spirit reaching to the Consciences and to the Witness of God in all that hear who rejoyce only in Christ Jesus the great Power of God and the Wisdom of God and have no Confidence in the Flesh nor fleshly Performances whose Faith stands not in Words but in the mighty Power of God which she hath received according unto the Promise of God this Congregation or Congregations which is one and doth hold the one Head by which all the Members of Christ are knit together in the one Faith by which they overcame the World this undoubtedly is the Church of Christ and the Spouse of Christ But whether R. E. will not dispute against the Verity of her Doctrine I question notwithstanding all his Submission in Words and if this Church should teach that Infants are to be baptized with Cream and Spittle and signed with the Cross as absolutely necessary to Salvation or that it is the Duty of the Saints alive to pray to the Saints departed this World or to teach that Christ's Body which was broken for us and hanged upon the Tree at Mount Calvary that this should now be in a Morsel of Bread and a Sup of Wine and conveyed thither by the Priest and this to be really the Body of Christ if this Church should teach any such Doctrine there were good and weighty Reason to Question seeing that R. E. before hath said that they cannot be infallible who contradict one another and teach two contrary Doctrines and yet say they are both
infallibly directed so to teach I hope R. E. will grant that the Church in Christ's time and the Apostles was infallible it taught no such Doctrine but to the contrary therefore that Church which pretends infallibility and yet teacheth such Doctrines as before mentioned contrary unto Christ and the Apostles cannot be infallible neither led by the infallible Spirit all have good reason to Question the Verity of these things more then what the Apostles taught seeing they are contradictory to Christ and the Apostles teaching and contrary to Scripture and contrary to the witness of God in all Consciences and as I said before this Church of God whereof I have spoken now though not denominated by any other name then the Church of God is and hath been assisted so by the Holy Ghost as she hath not erred when she only hearkened to its instruction and direction but when the Wisdom of the Flesh and the Worldly part and States and Governments and Policies and Princes have been minded more then the Spirit of God then Error hath been taught and the greater Part in a Council have overswayed the rest established Error by Decree and have enjoyned it under Penalties to be received as Sacred and Holy and Infallible of which we find the Church of Rome exceedingly guilty and therefore do conclude notwithstanding the promise of God to his Church that kept in Covenant with him that this Church of Rome hath erred and doth err both in Faith Doctrine and Practice of the infallible Church in the Apostles dayes and therefore their Doctrine is more to be questioned then the Apostles and they not fit to be this Rule and Guide and director unto which R. E. saith All are to submit under pain of Damnation Scar-Crows will hardly affright Men of understanding but unreasonable Creatures they may And last of all R.E. saith He will conclude his whole Proof with an Argument from Heaven of the highest Nature make it evident That the Roman Church must be this Guide and Judge which God hath appointed because of the Gift of Miracles cites John 15.24 If I had not done among them the work that no other Man did they had not had Sin And now I say that the Roman Church hath done Works and Miracles such as no other Church hath done therefore if we refuse to believe her we shall have Sin and shew our selves haters of God And he instances St. Ber. St. Mal. St. Dom. St. Fra. which wrought Miracles and of Austin the Monk which taught Christian Faith first in England and his fellow Monks which was then confirmed by wonderful Miracles from Heaven not in confirmation of those Points and Articles of Faith which you had with us but of those which you call Popish and Superstitious as the Sacrifice of the Mass and about Respect and Veneration which is given to Saints Reliques and Images and about the Doctrine of Purgatory and Payment of Tythes and R. E. concludes if we will not believe what you have not seen you destroy Faith which is an evidence of things not seen Although R. E. makes a great boast of the Miracles of the Church of Rome which no other Church hath wrought the like therefore concludes that she is this Rule and Guide which all are to give Ear unto under pain of Damnation and these Miracles he saith are an Argument from Heaven and proof of the highest Nature believe him who can If time would but permit and the Reader have patience to read most or many if not all the Miracles he so much cries up might be declared to his and their shame the very report and relation thereof cannot but be reckoned as fabulous and fained Stories and proceed from that lying Spirit which was in the faâ—se Prophet which wrought Miracles before the Beast and deceived them that had received the mark of the Beast and them which Worshipped his Image which must be taken alive and cast into the lake of Fire Rev. 19.20 It is an adulteroâ—s Generation that seeks a sign and yet did not believe when they had Miracles wrought by the Finger of God amongst them yet they said it was by Beelzebub The Scribes and Pharisees said If he be the King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and we will believe but the Power of Christ was not to be shewed at the Blind will of the Phariâ—ees neither would they have believed if he had come down Though Miracles have been wrought by the Power of God and are according to his Heavenly will and are not limited either to Men time or place yet it is not so sufficient an Argument from Heaven as R. E. saith to prove the Church of Rome this true Church seeing that the Devil and Satan and Anti-christ shall come with Signs and lying Wonders and if it were possible deceive the Elect And Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses in working Lying Miracles before Pharaoh to the hardning of his Heart And Chrysostome in his Hom. upon Mat. 19. saith In the end of time Power shall be given to the Devil to work Signs and Miracles So that the Ministers of Christ cannot be known by working of Miracles but by working none at all And Augustine saith though some said Prayers at the Tombs of the dead and obtained their desires as they said Away with these things they be either juglings and mockeries of deceitful Men or else delusions of lying Spirits Chrysost. in his Hom. upon Mat. 49. In old time it was known by Miracles who were the true Christians and who the false but now Miracles are rather among them that are false Christians And as for your great Miracles which thou sayest the Chronologies and Histories speak of J. L. as Bed and Holingshed Stow and others we look upon them not at all as material in this thing seeing they have had the Reports from other Hands and Pens of certain Mâ—nkiâ—h Stories which they have found scattered here and there published themselves and left their Fables upon Record to deceive poor People withal for their own advantage and most of the Miracles that we hear of are either wrought about your Tombs and Sepulchers and your holy Mass and your Reliques and Images I have heard indeed how that from the skirt of an Image of yours which one in a Bloody Flux did but touch and immediatly vertue came from it and Water and Blood issued forth whereby the party was made whole by washing therein Also I have heard of the Image of the Virgin Mary first honoured by Christians in Nazareth afterwards Translated into Sclavonia and when Images began to be vilified there and dis-esteemed it removed it self from place to place as discontent did arise in it it seems at the place and People where it was situated sometimes and at lâ—st it removed a whole Island with it nearer Rome now call'd Loretta and commonly known by the Name of Our Lady of Loretta to which all the Pilgrims
were good as they stood related to the end wherefore they were commanded instance the Worship at Jerusalem and the Service there and the place where God had promis'd to place his Name yet Christ said as foreknowing the End of all the aforesaid Worship which appertained to that Covenant and therefore he said to the Woman Joh. 4.23 but the Hour cometh and now is when the true Worshipers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth for the Father seeks such to Worship him and 24. vers God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth 2. Cor. 3.17 From hence it is clearly evident for this was before he was offered up that then was the time that neither at Jerusalem nor in the Mountain of Samaria it shall be only said they worship the Father though at Jerusalem was the place Deut. 1.1 2 5. of Worship formerly and the Jews held it then and the Worship was that which was commanded to wit Sacrifices and Offerings and many other legal Services which belonged to them to perform according to the command of God and if Swearing or Oaths was any part of the Service of God as in that Covenant as we with A. S. do grant Deut. 10.20 You shall fear the Lord and serve him and Swear by his Name then I say that Swearing amongst the rest of the Worship is included but saith Christ neither at Jerusalem nor this Mountain but they that worship shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth so that the time was then but came on more afterwards to be fulfilled that both the place and the worship and Service that belonged to the place they should no more Worship the Father with and in but in the Spirit and in the Truth and this may be in Answer to that which A. S. makes a great adoe with in his Book how that Christ said Swear not at all it was before his Death and therefore they that Argue saith he That swearing was prohibited only and ended in Christ's death cannot plead that all Oaths were prohibited but that command of Christ Mat. 5. because he spake this in his Life time I say â—o did he this Jo. 20.21 22 23. And he may as well Argue that Christ destroyed the place of Worship at Jerusalem and the Worship also and came not to fulfill it as he saith he did and why but because he spoke this before he was Crucified and so did he Swear not at all and why may not A.S. conclude with us that this is a commodious place to interpret and explain Christ's meaning in those words in the 5 th Mat. 23 and 24. and so the Words may truly be understood thus ye have heard that it hath been said of old time thou shalt not forswear thy sâ—lf but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Exod 20.7 and Deut. 5.11 but the Hour cometh and now is when I say unto you that say more then the Law hath said Swear not at all neither â—y Heaven nor by the Earth but let your Yea be yea and your Nay nay for whatsoever is more then these cometh of Evil and yet whatever may or can be said A. S. will needs conclude That all Swearing is not forbidden and why because it hath been the praâ—â—ice of holy Men and also an Angel this Argument is of little force so was it the practice of holy Men to offer Sacrifice and burn Incense and as for the Swearing of the Angel Dan. 12. and Revel 10.6 to prove the lawfulness of some Swearing these have been answered over and over and over again though A. S. will take no notice of it though I perceive he hath read the Arguments that have been used as Answers to these things though he will not seem to take notice nor to reply to confute the Arguments but rather minds his own and to assert what may seem to mâ—ke for his purpose as to the matter he hath taken in Hand but as for good Men's Swearing and the Angel's Swearing if their Example would â—uâ—tifie the lawfulness of Swearing yet they could not be any president to us who are under the Gospel of the Son that is greater then the Angels by the dispensation of whom the Law for Oaths Tythes offerings oblations and other legal Rights and Rudiments were given which Son also all the Angels of God are bid to Worship for the Apostle saith Hebr. 2.5 For unto the Angels hath he not put into subjection the World to come but that is committed unto the Son under whose Ministration and subjection we are who said Let your Yea be yea and you nay nay and speak the Truth and do the Truth and bear witness to the Truth who said Learn of me and these things we have learned of him unto whom all Power is committed for he is counted Hebr. 3.3 more worthy of Glory then Moses though Moses was faithful in his House as a Servant but Christ as a Son which is that great Prophet that Moses Prophesied of which all are to hearken unto with whom the Father is well pleased being made so much better then the Angels Hebr. 1.4 as he hath â—y Inheritance obtained a more Excellent Name then they vers 5. for unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee vers 6. Again when he bringeth the first â—egotten into the World he saith let all the Angels of God Worship him of the Angels he saith he makes them minâ—strâ—ng Spirits and a Flame of Fire but unto the Son he saith thy Throne oh God is forever and ever the Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom for if the Words spoken by Angels wer stedfast and every Transgression received a just recompence of reward how shall they escape Hebr. 2.3 who do not only neglect the command of Christ but labour to pervert through their Strengâ—h of their own reason the ministration of the Son who is the sum and substance of all Shadowy and Typical Ministrations and therefore A. S. and all concerned look â—o it who would introduce Judaism and the Mosaical Observations upon the Neck of Christs Disciples and as Laws in his Kingdom and whether would not this prefer the Servant before the Son yea or nay and his Ministration before the Ministration of the Son though the one is not against the other but the one pointing at the other and in the latter the first is fulfilled the Truth declared the Truth spoken the Truth lived in and the Truth confessed in every matter wherein any Christian is concerned which is the sum and the matter which all Oaths in their highest and greatest Ordination could or can effect In the 40 th page of his Book he saith our Saviour saith Amen Amen 24. times in John's Gospel which he saith St. Ambrose will needs have to amount unto an Oath and he cites Apoc. 3. These things saith the Amen compares it with Isa.
denyes the veracity of his word or the immutability of the most high yet notwithstanding I cannot set up the changeable Priesthood and Covenant and the Ordinances belonging thereunto against the unchangeable and everlasting Priesthood and Covenant and as hath been said before as though that all the precepts therein were so unalterable as that of necessity they must needs continue as obligatory to Generations I might truss up together many Scriptures and thwack them one on the Back of another which belong to the Jews and the first Covenant most properly till the Seed Christ was revealed and offered up and I might bring in Scripture to prove that many things were commanded by the immutable God and by him who is uncapable of alteration and multiply many words as A. S. doth to little purpose and say what was written in the old Testament was by the Inspiration of God and that his precepts are no more alterable then the Laws of the Medes and Persians and therefore they must needs still be observed by all Christians to the World's end or else conclude they that do not are atheistical and deny God's veracity and make the Law of God void and what would all this in arguing prove nothing at all the Jews will confess as much and plead as hard as A. S. can who yet have not believed in him of whom the Prophets prophesied neither have received him who is the Substance of what Moses and the Prophets bore witness and in whom the Law is fulfilled and the Promises made good and confirmed with and in whom all the Shadows end and the vail done away and all the Worship precepts belonging thereunto who hath manifested and revealed the Father in all that believe who is the new and living way whose Worship is not now in the Letter nor in the Shadows nor Types nor in any outward Observations but in Spirit truth is he worshipped for he seeketh such to Worship him for the great Promise of reward was to as ever was to Swearing yet when they resisted him whom the Father had sent all their observances though never so strict did not avail but their Circumcision became Uncircumcision and their Worship and service became Prophaneness when they despised the substance by whom Grace and Truth came to all the Children of promise and we grant with A. S. that he came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it and to end both Sin and Transgression and the Law which was added because of it and to bring in everlasting Righteousness and it to rule in the Hearts of all that believe and against such there is no Law and though Christ enjoyned the Disciples Mat 23. to observe what the Scribes and Pharisees bad them who sate in Moses's Chair and read the Law and performed those services in part commanded that was the time before he was offered up and the Ministration of that Covenant was not fully ended yet I hope A. S. with us will grant that they were not to heed them or to obey them in their vain traditions and false glosses and Interpretations and Evil manners which he cryed wo against Mat. 23.13 14. neither after his Resurrection did he enjoyn them to hear the Pharisees neither to observe the Legal Ordinances of the first Priesthood but they declared against them and their practice which continued in the Observation of those things which did not make perfect as pertaining to the Conscience Heb. 8.9 Heb. 9.9 and for all these Texts he alledges out of the Old Testament Mat. 6.13 Psal. 63.11 Jer. 12.16 unto these it hath been answered that this proves nothing that Christians under the second Covenant should Swear as they did in the first for these Precepts were only to keep them from Idolatry for Jer. 12.16 If you will diligently learn the wayes of my People to Swear by my Name the Lord liveth as they taught my People to Swear by Baal then shall they be Builded in the midst of the People And the 6th of Deut. 13.14 is to the same Effect You shall fear the Lord and serve him and Swear by my Name And Verse the 14. Ye shall not go after other Gods All these only prove that the Nations went after other Gods and Sware by them and served them and Israel too prone to follow their manners did so also and therefore he gave them these Precepts to serve him and fear him and acknowledge him to keep them from Idolatry as hath been said in the state of their Minority and weakness and that before the Seed was revealed and that which A. S. calls a Prophecy by Isa. 19.18 of Christians Swearing under the Gospel it 's no such thing but a Prophesie of Egypt his joyning to the Jews and owning their Worship and their God and acknowledge him and do Sacrifice and Oblation yea and vow a vow unto the Lord and perform it ver 21. Which clearly hath relation to the Law and the Worship of the Jews and not to the Gospel so that A. S. might have as well said it was a promise how Christians under the Gospel should offer Sacrifice and Oblations as under the Law as well as Swear But the Doctor hath traversed many Paths which are crooked winding and turning to gather something together and hath fetched it far to prove Swearing under the Gospel but all his proof falls short of his matter by much And that of Isaiah 5.23 is a Prophecy of Israel's return out of the Captivity of Babylon in the days of Cyrus whom the Lord called his Anointed and shepherd Isa. 44.28.45 who made a Decree for all Israel to go out of Assyria to Jerusalem and build their City and their Temple and Worship their God according as he had commanded as may be seen at large in the Book of Ezra and Nehemiah and this was fulfilled then when they builded the City and the Temple in those days long before Christ was manifest in the Flesh and then did Israel return and every Knee did bow and every Tongue did Swear by the Lord which before the Captivity had not bowed nor served nor acknowledged his Name but Idols which provoked the Lord and therefore gave he them into the hand of the Babylonians for seventy Years till they were humbled and then brought them back according to Jeremiah Isaiah Haggai and Zachariah's Prophesies for this was fulfilled then is spoken by Isaiah in this Prophesie Isaiah 5. ver 23 24 25. without contradiction to Christ's command and his command entrencheth not upon this prophesie neither doth this make the Gospel thwart the Law beyond all terms of Reconciliation as A. S. vainly suggests in his margent for this Prophesie was fulfilled long before Christ gave forth this command Swear not at all Moreover if this prophesie have any relation to the state of the Christian Church as A. S. supposes upon what Ground I know not saving his own affirmation then we shall consider and see how it is fulfilled under the
The Papists honouring of Reliques and Images of Saints and praying by Beads proved to be but the Inventions and Traditions of Men and contrary to the Doctrine which the Apostolick Church held forth p. 512. VIII The Doctrine of forbidding certain kinds of Meats and forbidding the Scriptures to be read by all answered p. 515. IX Concerning Miracles p. 519. X. Answers to eight Propositions set forth by one C. M. in a Book of his called A Catechism against all Sectaries p. 521. A General Epistle to the Seed of God p. 536. A Visitation of Love Peace and Good-Will from the Spirit of the Lord sent unto the whole Flock of God now in their Day of Tryal and Hour of Temptation p. 537. An Epistle to all the beloved Prisoners and Fellow-Sufferers in Newgate and else-where in Bonds about the City of London and to Friends of Bristol and Hartford who have lost their Liberty for Christ's sake whom the World is not worthy of p. 543. The great Case of Tythes and forced Maintenance once more revived p. 548. The State thereof enquired into before the Law under the Law and among the Jews likewise under the Gospel The true Ministers of Christ their Allowance shewn Likewise the Corruption of Time since Christ how Tythes have been introduced wherein Antiquity is searched and the Judgment of the Fathers of the Church in several Ages produced A general Epistle to all who have believed in the Light of the Lord Jesus and are called of God to follow the Lamb through the great Tribulation p. 604. The True Rule Judge and Guide of the true Church of God discovered and born Testimony unto what it is and wherein it it consisteth in Opposition to the preâ— tended Catholick Church of Rome her Rule Foundation Guide and Judge being in Answer to a Book writ by Captain Everard entituled An Epistle to all Non-conformists p. 611. A General Epistle to the dispersed and persecuted Flock of Christ Jesus in England and else-where who have believed in Christ the Light of the World and now suffer for his Name 's sake p. 657. Oaths no Gospel-Ordinance but prohibited by Christ being in Answer to A. Smallwood's Sermon published which he preached at Carlile wherein he laboured to prove Swearing lawful among Christians p. 668. To all the well-beloved Flock of Christ whom he hath gathered into his Fold to seed in his heavenly pasture in and about London Hartford and Kingston p. 732. THE END Claudius Espontius ordained at a Council at Pysoy in France that Infants Baptism should be receiv'd by Tradition because it could not be proved as a Command from the Scriptures Ignatius Bishop of Rome was the first Ordainer of Infants Baptism that they should have God-fathers and God-mothers c. Victor Bishop of Rome instituted that Children might be christened by Lay-men Lay-women in case of Necessity Pius Bishop of Rome built the first Temple after the Apostacy in Honour to Prudentia Dionysius in the yea 267. divided bâ—th Rome and other Places intâ— parishes and Diocesses for Bishops Abraham and his Wife buried in Hebron in a piece of Ground he bought Justinian the Emperour ordained that men should Swear by the Gospel or Book called the Gospel lay their hands thereon and Kiss it saying So help me God Silvester Bishop of Rome ordained that all Churches should be christened and should be anointed with oyl Clement Bishop ordained confirmation of Children and said none was a perfect Christian if he wanted this and thus children should be smote on the cheek signed with this Cross. At Lyons in France they appointed Holy-days to encrease their Religion Boniface the fourth ordained Stephen Innocents Laurence Michael Martin John-Baptist and all Saints to be kept holy Corpus-Christi day was ordained by Urbanus the fourth Silvester Bishop ordained Lammas day in memorial of Peter 's pains Gregory ordained that Mass or short prayer should be said over the Tombs of the dead Gregory appointed Wednesday and Fryday should be fasted Soul-mass-day was ordained by Odilo Sextus commanded that no Lay-People should touch the Priests Garments Sabinianus ordained that People should come together to hear Service by ringing of Bells John 22 d. Bishop ordained Bells to be tolled three times a day Singing of Mattens at set times Hierom appointed Pelagius the second commanded Priests to say them daily Telesphorus appointed that Lent should be kept before Easter and fasted Concerning Mass Letany many Authors patched it up at sundry times Acts and Monuments vol. 2. Fol. 55. Euseb. lib. 6. chap. pag. 98. In his Book de succes cap. 6. Act and Mâ—n vol. 1. â—â—l 527. Folio 653. Exâ—â— 20.7 Aâ—ts and Monum vol. 2. fâ—l 701. De Succes cap. 6. Acts 11.29 Euseb. lib. 4. cap. 22. Cyprian Epist. 27.34.36 Hom. 11. in acta Hom 16. in Evan. and dist 5. de conser Acts and Mon. pag. 536 537. Prosper de vita contempt lib. 2. cap. 4. Cyril de adorat in spir ver lib. 4. ad finem Oriâ—en hom 15. in Levit. Gen. 14.9 11 12 13. Gen. 18.20 Hebrews 7.4 Gen. 14.18 Gen. 28.22 Gen. 28.13 14 Ver. 19. Ver. 2â— Exod. 13.1 Tertul Lib. advers Judoeos alii â—â—tm Sepius Gen. 4.6 Ambros Lib. de Cain and Aâ—el Chap. â— 1.6 Galat. 3.17 Levit. 18 4. Ezek. 45.13 〈◊〉 23.19 Lev. 23.10 Num. â—5 20 Deut. 18.4 Ezek. ch 45.11 Numb 12.21 Num. 18.2 8. Stat. 26. Hen. 8. Deut. 14.23 Levit. 27.30 31. Deut. 16.12 Rabbi Ben majemon in jad chaz chahast de Therumah ch 1 and mis 5. Kotzi inp x. cept 133. 2 Chro. 31. Mal. 3. c. Neh. 13. Rambam de decmis ch 9. Luke 1. Heb. 7.16 Heb. 7.13 Heb. 7.12 v. 18. Gal. 5.2 Rom. 4.11 Gal. 6.13 Matth. 10.7 Matth. 10.8 ver 11. Matth. 10.10 Luke 10.7 Acts 4.34 Acts 11.29 Vide Ockam in Opera 90. duum ch 107. Vide Synod ianger can 66. Tertul. his Apolog ch 39.2.42 Offerings continued 340. Years Eusebius lib. 4. ch 22. Cyprian in his Epist. 37 34 36. The Council of Antioch Anno 340. Chrysost. Hom. 11. Cypr. de unit Eccles. ch 23. Greg. Hom. 16. in Evang. and dist 5. de Cons. Jerom. in Epist. ad Nepotian devita clericorum In Serm. de 10 th temp in tem 10. Chrysost. Hom. 43. upon the Epistle 1 Cor. 1.16 Cyril de adorat in spir ver lib. 4. ad finem Prosper de vitae contempt lib. 2. chap. 14. Origen Hom. 15. in Levit. Mascon 8. Can. 5. Cap. 53. in ext tot de des cap. 33. cum non sit vide a Baput prox sec. 7. Selden Selden his hist. upon Tythes c. 7. Ad Tt. de paroch al paroch extra significavit So Cora Aenvias Varviar resolute l. 1. c. 17. Vide Sona in Concil Gang. 7. Nantz Council Council Trent Non sunt ferendi qui varjis artibus decimas Ecclesiis c. Bed l. 1.26 Extat in Bed exemplaris Saxoni lib. 3. Linwood in constit pro vincia Tit. dec sancino gâ—tiom Pro meo remedio animae regni populi John Wickliff's complaint out of Fox his Act. and Mon. Aeneas Sylvius in his Bohemian History Fox his Acts and Mon. pag. 69. Acts and Monuments p. 605. Ambrose upon the 16 th of Luke Bernard upon 17. Luke Eusebius upon Jerom. Isidore de Summo Bono chap. 42. Heb. 7. Acts and Monuments pag. 607. Acts and Monuments pag. 621. Paul Grisaldus apud camell borell in consiliorum parte Antho. Bishop of Spaletto ac repub Eccles. lib. 9. Luke 9.58 Luke 8.1 2. Mat. 10.9 1 Cor. 9.5 Gen. 28. and 2.22 Basils â—istorâ—es by â—eneas Sylvius Ex libello diâ—o the complaint of Loderics Mors oâ—â—m impress Gene 2.3 ‖ ‖ Without an Oath as under the Law in divers causes where no Oath is mentioned but Witnesses Deut. 19.15 ‖ ‖ Deut. 19.6 In case of Life and Death no Oath was used we read of * * For he is called God's Covenant Isaiah 53.5 and God's Covenant is his Oath which he sware Luke 1.72 73. ‖ ‖ Deut. 19.16 Exod. 20.10 * * Adjure doth often signifie to charge or Oblige by bare Promiâ—e as well as Oath for if the phrase I adjure thee by God be a command to Swear by God then thâ—s would make Acts 19.12 13. absurd when the Exorcists did adjure the evil Spirit in the Name of Jesus not to Swear but to come out or depart oâ—t of the Man
but it called it self by the best Name as for the Priests of Scotland their Doctrine and Practice is made manifest and their Reformation by their Principles which I refer the Reader to intituled The Principles of the Priests of Scotland their Reformation and discipline is nearly related to the Spanish Inquisition for their Doctrine they say Grace is not free and Faith is not without Sin and the Letter is the word of God and that they are Cursed that say there is Light within which will lead up to God and as one said although it meant Christ and if any will not submit to their words and conform to their Practice and Traditions then they call a Counsel together as their fore-fathers at Trent and pronounce him a Heretick and within these few Years Banished them or else took their whole substance outward from them and if any out of Conscience could not submit unto their Invented Tradition then if he ever came to have any converse with them again he must have a Pennance before he could get an Indulgence from them like the Pope and furthermore if any deny them because they are out of the Doctrine of Christ and are contrary to the Scripture then as I said they Excommunicate them and charge all People neither to buy nor sell nor eat nor drink with them nor work for them and so the Beasts Power is exercised compelling to come to their Mass-houses and as for the denying the Bishops then you have denyed your Fathers that begat you and Ordained you then you have no Ordination but may be you have Cryed so for setling your Gospel you have got a Committee to ordain you or one Company to lay Hands on another but when receive ye the holy Ghost Oh that is an error in your Church but are not you got into the old Cathedrals so called and into the Steeple-houses and the old Mass-houses and where you had may be 20 Pounds or Forty in the Year now you have gotten a Hundred it may be two here 's Reformation indeed well we must needs remember you of your race and Stock the Apostates since the Apostles dayes and the former Practices which is found among the old Protestants and Papists is among you and you are still Drunk with the whore's Cup and are crying for Cain's Weapons to guard you well I say you are part of the Dragon's Tail that draws to the Earth and to the Pit which will be the end of all Idolaters and Apostates except they come to Repent And as for the Independants Churches so called you are a Branch of the same Root you have declared against the Bishops and court Prelates and said they were in error and many of you declared against them for Pluralists because they had too great Benefits and declared against Tythes as to be Anti-christian and whoso received Tythes denyed Christ come in the Flesh who are wheeled about and now take them your selves and Creep into the old Mass-houses and have taken that up which you condemned in others and so have made your former Testimony void and all sober People see your Hypocrisie and Deceit who have gathered a company together which you call Select People or Members of your Church and you exclude the rest who have as good right to your Ordinance as you for they profess Christ in Words as you do And yet you will receive their means whom you judge not capable of your Ordinance and your Church will no more maintain you then it would maintain them that you have denyed in Words if you had not the Beasts Power to compel your Vineyard would Starve you your Gospel and your Preaching is one with the former and the People is the same in Nature they were before you have got Bishops Lands Augmentations and Stipends more large then your fore-fathers had for the most part and sue Men at the Law and hale them before Judgments Seats and take away their Goods whom you loook upon to be in error yet this stands as good with you as any Article of your Faith to force to compel to Sue to hale into Prison to take away their Goods and get a Scripture for your Cover and say He that Preacheth the Gospel must live of the Gospel and them that neither hear you nor receive you neither believe your Gospel yet you conclude it 's lawful to take their Goods and if you cannot get them hale the party into Prison are not you drinking still the Whore's cup and do not you follow the Beast and do not you own that Law to be Just that compels People to pay Money to you who deny your Ministry and are none of your Sheep and are not your Ordinances and Worship Imitated Things from the Scripture the Saints words and yet out of their Life and Practice are not you in the Apostacy have you not your Profession and Confession of Faith to make year after year as the Magistrate changes doth not this Evidence that you are Unstable and are yet in the Waters upon which the whore Sits and situated in Babylon the Mother of Harlots who yet makes you Drunk and that makes all the Filth and Vomit appear in the Earth that Stains the Earth and your Idols corrupt the Earth all Separates under what Name soever who have not denyed the Ground of Apostacy but are in the Apostacy for all Sects since the Apostles dayes have taken up some part and left another since the Life hath been lost and the Power lost all hath been in the Idolatry and the Protestants who have denyed the Papists yet they have not denyed them in the Ground of their worship but have retained some part and have kept some part of their worship and all Sects sprung out of the Protestants in them all there is some part remaining for they have not denyed the Ground of the worship set up in the Apostacy the Whore's cup is Drunk of and the Dragon hath Power which sought to destroy the man-Child and made war with the Remnant of the Seed of the Woman who was Clothed with the Sun you all stick yet in Babylon and the best of you all are but yet in the Suburbs thereof For since the Apostles dayes their Foundation hath been either Traditions Imitations Inventions of their own or Borrowed things from the Jews in the first Covenant or at the best the Letter hath been the ground of their Faith and their Foundation which they have twined and translated this way and that according to the wit and Reason of every particular Sect and Opinion and according to the understanding of their private Spirits now all these buildings and Towers that mâ—n have builded up in the Apostacy they would fasten upon the writings of the holy men of God and so have raised an Imagination of their own and so would have the Scripture prove what they say and the writings of the Apostles theâ— all call the Gospel and the word of Faith and the Light
in Unconsecrated Ground forsaking the Sepulchers of their Fathers Hospinian saith that at last it became so Superstitious in being buried in order near the Church that they judged it material even to their Salvation De Orig. Temple Lâ—b 3. chap. 1. The Waldenâ—es said the use of Church-Yards is Superstitious and invented only for Lucre sake and it is no matter in what Ground any one is buried see Usher de Succes Eccles. Christ. chap. 6. And how much there is of this Superstition in England now and what excessive rates are paid for breaking up Ground all is sensible of that it is only one of the Popish Nets which is holden up to get Money by And so I shall conclude these things and say with John Come out of Babylon and be not partakers of her Sins lest you partake of her Plagues for the Hour of her Judgment is come and the time wherein her Filthiness and Loathsomness shall be made manifest to the Nations and her Skirts shall be uncovered and her abominable Practices discovered of which in part I have declared unto all in this discourse that all may see the Abominations and depart out of the Snares that led to Death and these Practices which tend to Destruction THE Rock of Ages EXALTED ABOVE ROME's Imagined Rock ON WHICH HER CHURCH IS BUILDED She proved not to be the only Church of Christ her corrupt Doctrines proved not to be Apostolick but contrary to the true Church of Christ in the Apostles Dayes Also divers Arguments answered which may convince the Papists that they are not the true Church wherein a Book is also answered called A Catechism against all Sectaries newly published by C. M. in the Year 1661. By F. H. a Member of that Church which is coming out of the Wilderness A TABLE of the principal Things contained in this BOOK COncerning the true Religion what it is and where it 〈◊〉 demonstrated The Church of Rome proved to be the false Church The Pope proved not to be the Head of the true Church aâ—d Christ proved to be the Head of the Body which is his Church and the 〈…〉 which 〈◊〉 Church is built Purgatory proved to be an erroneous Doctrine which is held forth by the Papists and their praying for the Dead proved to be another false Doctrine not commanded nor practised by Christ or his Apostles The Papists Doctrine which saith Christ is really and personally in the Mass and in the Eucharist proved to be Blasphemy and great Idolatry The Papists Mass and their Ceremonies proved not to be Apostâ—lical The Papists honouring of Reliques and Images of Saints and praying by Beads proved to be but the Inventions and Traditions of Men and contrary to the Doctrine which the Apostolick Church held forth The Doctrine of forbidding certain Kind of Meats and forâ—idding the Scriptures to be read by all answered Câ—ncerning Miracles Answers to eight Propositions set forth by C. M. in his Catechism aforesaid THE Rock of Ages EXALTED ABOVE ROME's Imagined Rock ON WHICH HER CHURCH IS BUILDED GReat hath been the Havock and Spoil that the Beast which John saw rise out of the Waters made against them in destroying them who received not his Mark in their Foreheads and the Cry hath been long Who is able to make War with the Beast and great hath the Suffering been these many Ages of the Children of Light and still is of the Members of the true Church of Christ which is in God which hath proceeded from her who sate as a Queen upon the Waters which are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People which have been the Seat of Mystery-Babylon the Mother of Harlots who hath held out her golden Cup of Fornication full of Abomination false Doctrine and Error which the Nations have drunk of and the Kings of the Earth have been made drunk with and all have been in Instability and have reeled and staggered up and down in the dark in the Night of Ignorance and have wildered in the Mists of Error and lost the true Foundation and are gone from the Rock upon which the true Church is builded which is neither Peter nor his Successor but Christ the true Foundation which abideth sure and all that believe in him and have their Minds staid upon him know Settlement and Establishment in that which the Gates of Hell prevail not against But blessed be the Lord he is come revealed and made manifest who is able to make War with the Beast and his Followers and a Discerning is given unto his Servants that they can distinguish betwixt the Cup of Fornication and the Cup of Blessing and betwixt the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils betwixt the true Church the Lamb's Wife and Mâ—stery-Babylon the Mother of Harlots betwixt the heavenly Treasurâ— which is communicable to the Saints in Light who are Members of the 〈◊〉 Church and the Merchandize and the corrupt Treasure of the Harlot which the Nations Kindreds and Tongues have been forced to buy 〈◊〉 Reason of the forcing and compelling Power of the Beast and so the Nations have been begotten into a strange Nature into the cruel Nature killing one another about the Forms of Worship and Shadows and the Substance hath been known but to a few neither the Lamb's Nature which is meek and innocent and the Leaves of the Tree of Life which heal the Nations have been known but to a few which is the Cause of all the 〈◊〉 Murders and Massacrees Imprisonments and cruel Torments which the Nations have afflicted one another with who have professed Christianity but have been out of the Life and out of the Nature of the true Church which Christ is the Head of which is Wife unto the Lamb and herein is the true Church manifest from the false the false Church hath propagated and encreased her Number of Members by Force and Awe and Cain's Weapons and many have been forced into a Belief and a feigned kind of Profession rather then by sound Doctrine or answering God's Witness in Peoples Hearts and Consciences but the true Church who is of the Husband's Nature her Weapons have been are and will be spiritual and yet are mighty through God to beat down strong Holds of Sin and Wickedness in People and hath by sound Doctrine and a good Example answered God's Witness in peoples Consciences without forcing to any thing but recommended themselves to every ones Conscience in the Sight of God and would have every one perswaded in their own Hearts by the Lord of the Truth which they believed and not to take things by Tradition and Hear-say as the false Church and her Members have done and so have had no Assurance of God's Spirit in their Hearts for what they did and so Doubts have arisen in the Mind because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin But God is Opening the Eyes of many and enclining the Hearts of many to seek after the Assurance of God's blessed Spirit in their Hearts for what they
do believe And now Reader I shall present thee with a great Fardel and Bundle of the Whore's Merchandize and of the counterfeit Ware which she hath long deceived the Nations with which hath long laid as mouldy and rusty in this Nation but now new trim'd up and presented again to this Nation as for precious Treasure and it is not to be concealed in a narrow Corner nor put off under-hand so that this Merchant of Babylon hath presented it to publick View with a great Confidence that People that have been tossed up and down and have found no Rest for their Souls at lâ—st may come to make a trial of this Merchandize and see what it will do but lest any should be cheated and deceived with such counterfeit traffick I could not chuse having the Knowldge thereof but declare against the Deceit thereof and to give Warning unto all to beware how they touch taste or handle it lest they be defiled and corrupted by it and their Understandings darkned and their Consciences defiled and the Merchandize is thus tituled A short Catechism against all Sectaries by Way of Question and Answer wherein all the Doctrines and Practices of the Church of Rome are asserted for Infallible and Apostolical wherein also is holden out that the Church of Rome is the only true Church out of which there is no Salvation and some Arguments to prove the same also in this said Book all that are not of the Church of Rome are condemned already as Hereticks and Sectâ—ries wholly to be without Salvation newly published and translated by C. M. and London printed for P. S. 1662. And though we have given publick testimony both in Word and Writing in divers Nations in Doctrine and Practice yet such hath been the Envy of many Professors who have denyed the Church of Rome that they have accused us for holding Popish tenets yet now on the other Hand by this Popish Author we are condemned as Hereticks and Sectaries and to be without Salvation And thus they who have been under the Beast's Power in the Apostacy have tost us upon their Horns from one to another and have pushed us this Way and that Way and every Party and Sect hath reckoned us and joyned us with them whom they judged to be Transgressors but it is a small thing to us to be judged by Man's Judgment for our Judgment is with the Lord and he judgeth in Righteousness and unto him we appeal who in his own Day when Righteousness comes to be revealed in Peoples Hearts they shall come to know us as we are and the Truth which we believe and walk in as it is in Jesus But that such a Heap and Bundle of false Doctrine and superstitious and idolatrous Practices may not go unreproved God hath put it into my Heart to bear my Testimony against it and all the confused Heap of Darkness which is laid down for Catholick Doctrine and to discover the Deceit thereof lest any should be beguiled and led into the dark Paths of Ignorance and Error and should become an Inhabitant of that City which hath shed the Blood of the Prophets and Martyrs where now Christ is crucified First of all the Author saith There is but one true Religion wherein any can be saved Answ. 'T is true there is but one true Religion in the which Salvation is witnessed which is confessed by all who profess Religion and every one will needs lay claim to it and many have contended even by Force and Arms since the Apostacy entered in and have killed and destroyed one ather about the Name or Sound without the Thing it self and all Professors of Religion who are in that Nature are not in the true Religion in which Salvation is witnessed The true Religion standeth in the Power of God and to be exercised in those Things which the Power of God directeth every one in who believe in it and to be obedient unto the Commands of Christ and to keep his Sayings and to follow his Example in Righteousness and Holiness and in that which overcometh the World and giveth Victory over it and keepeth out of the Pollutions of it and this is the pure Religion which purifies the Heart and Conscience from dead Works and teacheth to love Enemies Now the Church of Rome is manifest not to be in the one true Religion but hath departed from this Faith and this Doctrine let all Nations bear Witness where your Religion hath been professed how you have kept this Faith and walked in this Religion if any have dissented from you these many hundred Years and that upon good Grounds as Luther and Calvin which thou art so angry at â—nd bring'st many Calumnies against and slanderous Things and Lyes â—f which thy Vessel is full Now they with all others that dissent from you you have reckoned and do as Sectaries and Hereticks and in case it were really so if you were in the true Religion and in the Faith of Chrisâ— yâ—u would not destroy so many mens Lives as you have done within these thousand Years I appeal to all Nations where your Authority hath been exâ—râ—ised how many have you killed tortured burnt to Ashes and destroyed the Workmanship of God but it may be thou â—udgest such a Distinction as this will cover a little as To hate their Heresie and to love their Person but how you have loved their Persons I hope Englâ—nd hath not yet forgotten instance John Wickliff whose Bones you took up and burnt forty one Years after his Decease and how many Hundreds more have been burnt to Ashes in England in later Years as Hereticks and Sectaries whose Blood yet speaks and cryes for Vengeance upon that City that Church or Religion which hath drunk the Blood of the Prophets and Martyrs So in what I have said the Church of Rome to all unbiasâ—ed Spirits will appear to be out of that one true Religion and that Faith and Doctrine which Christ delivered and so Salvation is not to be looked for amongst Killers and Destroyers And so what I have said may convince the Author of this Book that they are not in the one true Religion in which Salvation is witnessed And this Roman Church hath been alwayes visiâ—le and universal since the Apostles Dayes and Infidels have alwayes been obliged to joyn unto her yet one cannot be bound to seek that which is invisiâ—le and the Marks and Signs of thiâ— Roman Church are four comprized in these Words I believe in the True Church which is One Holy Catholick and Apostolick Answ. That there was a Church at Rome in the Apostles Dayes is not denyed so there was at Antioch at Philippi at Thessalonica at Corinth and divers other Places that I might instance which were as visible as Rome was and as much a City set on a Hill as Rome was and not inferiâ—r in Doctrine Gifts and good Works to Rome at all but as to Prâ—â—edâ—ncy and Antiquity may claim Priority before Rome and if