but why doth he call it his Lecture but because for hire he preacheth it and so the hire of about 24 l. a year being his he calls it his Lecture But was it not good counsel she gave the people namely to beware of him that by him they might not be deceived Let the Reader but consider and justly weigh what himself gives forth from pag. 51. to pag. 55. and he may easily see how needful and necessary it was for her that knew him well to give such warning being thereunto moved for if a man will take upon him to be a Preacher and a leader of others who hath not received the Spirit of God to open and reveal the mysteries of the kingdom of God nor to comfort refresh drooping souls nor to strengthen and encourage them with boldness to do and suffer for God to purge purifie cleanse sanctifie and make them holy and fruitful and grow in grace and fill them with meekness and love and make them spiritual and unite them together and to adorn them with spiritual gifts and grace nor to fill them with a spirit of faith and prayer yea if he hath not received that spirit without which he can do nothing well how exceeding needful is it that people be warned thereof and how great is the love of the Lord in giving them warning in time for what can any soul receive from such a blind unholy unsanctified Ministry that can do nothing well except it be by it to be led into the ditch and caused to wander in the dark and blind paths of deceit and delusion towards death and destruction which is your own words to the Reader And if Thomas Ewins be not the man whose condition this is and hath published himself so under his own hand let the sober Reader judg and so Mary Prince is clear of the blood of them that received not warning and Thomas Ewins his accusations turn heavily on his own head but her they cannot reach who hath delivered her own soul by giving them warning And whereas he saith I tell in my Letter I was warned from invisible lights to beware of him and that by visible light he discerned his speaking was but little acceptable to me and others after he began to oppose though before he was the excellentest man that ever I met with I say what high and excellent thoughts he had of himself may be perceived and because he accounted himself so excellent 't is like he perswades himself that I accounted him so too in which he is mistaken for I was so far from it that himself declares that his speaking had so little acceptation with me and others that we were observed often to go out of the meeting when he was to speak which is an absolute lye too though by reason of his flattering daubing and deceit there might be cause enough and grief it is to see men of corrupt minds to oppose the truth And for several years his preaching and devining to me appeared so dry and empty like other of the worlds Teachers that is was truly a grief and burthen to me to sit under it And for what he speaks of my saying I was warned from invisible lights to beware of him it is a visible lye in which he is too much exercised and no such word was published by me but that I was long since warned from invisible sights or manifestations to beware of him is true something of whose woful condition was then manifested and may be accomplished towards which he hastens apace But his enmity and hatred against the light which is the glory of Gods Israel is such that he cannot but belye it And to him I say that which God hath prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles hath discovered and manifested him no Preacher nor Minister of Christ but a persecutor of the life and power of God And in the day of his distress and anguish which is coming from afar in which the men of war shall not find their hands but weep bitterly in which the strong shall be as tow and all hands be weak and all knees be feeble and all faces gather paleness in which our God shall roar out of Sion and utter his terrible voice from his holy Temple before which all the earth shall tremble in which the Lords salvation shall be manifested for his people in the destruction of all his enemies I say in that day which is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty cometh shall he see and know that by the same spirit of Prophesie which was of old in the Prophets and holy men and promised in this day to be poured out upon sons and daughters is hiâ— condition seen and known and of it hath he been truly warned And that it is not for nought that the Lord hath sent his servants in his dread and power to warn the wicked though they turn not from their wicked wayes And also that it is not for nought that those servants of the Lord that stands in his counsel and receive his will from whom God hides not the things he is about to do in the world have not loved their lives unto the death but given their backs to the smiters and their cheeks to them that pull of the hair nor hid themselves from shame and suffering for their reward is before them and their God is with them whose acceptable day to them is manifested though the Aegyptians cannot see it glory to his name for evermore And whereas he tells of his success and prosperousness in his work and the large room he hath got in the peoples hearts since I left him and the use he is of to the desolate Church I say in his work of deceiving souls doth he prosper among you more then whilst I was there to withstand his daubing work who now leads captive a company of silly people laden with sins and lusts enough who hath none to withstand him or tell how long and woe for you was the day in which the Lord left you to such a guide in whose hearts that which makes desolate hath room enough and is of use to lead on towards perdition which is the work of that which is neither called constituted nor ordained to minister for God And now Thomas Ewins whereas in thy conclusion thou sayest thou expectest many sharp arrows of bitter words to be shot at thee both by me and others and that thou matterest it not much having written in plainness words of truth and soberness rather for vindication of the truth then of thy self c. I say Thou hast sorely mist in both and hast written lyes falshood and confusion as is plainly proved to thy own shame and for it must thou come to judgement and no veil of deceit can hide or cover thee And that which I do is plainly to lay it open and manifest it that thou mayest blush and be ashaâ—ed without shooting
and spirit of envie is pouring out of stoods of reviling bitternes not onely when she assembles in her harlots houses and Idol Temples with the rest of the proud and persecuting World where the Churches of Christ after they were gathered did never assemble but in her books and pamphlets speaking evil as she can not only of the Church ways of Christ which she understands not but of Christ Jesus himself who is come a light into the World ane is the light of the World which hath enlightned every man that cometh into the World and this is clear and plain and no studied accusation but a real thing and her proper sentence justly due is gone forth from the presence of the Lord and over her head doth stand And notvvithstanding ye say I gave no vvord or reason of my departure the sober Christian ye mention will easily perceive that this is another refuge of lies for it was reason enough of my departure to deny you to be a Church of Christ and to prove you an harlot a Synagogue of Satan a cage c. And all this I have done notwithstanding ye blush not to say I gave no reason of my departure c. But I perceive that which troubles you is that I who so well knew you and was so long as an Elder amongst you whom ye did so often chuse and elect to that employment and so highly esteemed should now so sadly apostatize as ye call it as not to acknowledge you a Church To which I reply Were ye indeed a Church of Christ how gladly would I acknowledge ye But till ye prove your selves so I may in the words of Thomas Ewins to Ralph Farmer in the 60 page of your book tell you though you be so wise to propose I cannot be so foolish as to grant it lest I make my selfe a transgressor like unto you and rebell against the light which hath manifested you But now let me demand your proof for although ye say ye would prove every tittle and had proved every tittle of what ye charged me withal yet is here no proof at all produced to prove that I drew any from the Church grieved and sadned many or opened the mouths of any to speak evill of the wayes of Christ yet is this more than a tittle or a syllable it is many words and sentences Oh foolish people and unwise how hath the Devill the god of the world and Rulers of the darknesse blinded you why is there no feare of God before your eyes who are adding one iniquity to another as drunkennesse to thirst and yet bespeak your selves a Church And because ye have recovered a veile with which your selves are blinded do think all others must be veiled too but where Christ is witnessed the veile is removed and in the light of Christ which ye have despised and set at nought are ye seen and comprehended and your hypocrisies inventions and traditions will-worships carnall ordinances together with that lying spirit to which ye give heed are in the same light judged denyed and witnessed against as that which to the Lord is abominable and burthensome in which he hath no delight but his soule hates because it is iniquity and a loathsome thing Isa 1.16 But from you whom have I drawn away Why had ye not mentioned one that some colour of truth might appear or that by it also ye might be reproved who of the strong and mighty arme and power of the Lord are ignorant by which he hath powerfully drawn and gathered many from amongst you as well as from others who in the like deceit are worshipping they know not what into his mountain of holinesse which he in this his day is setting up and establishing over your heads and a top of all mountains in which to his people the Lord is making a feast of fat things of which those that pour out a drink offering to that number must not eat in which mountain the Veile is removed the shadows taken away no Lyon or carnall devouring beastly thing can ever come but in it is the way of holinesse known and witnessed and life light and immortality reigns for evermore and the true and living God in spirit life and power known and worshipped who is light and in whom there is no darknesse at all And so although gross darknesse hath overspread the Aegyptian land where the Diviners the Sorcerers the Taskmasters and oppressors dwell yet in Jacobs Tent there is light by which the deeds of darknesse are seen and reproved And therefore although ye have taken liberty to vent your lies and slaunders and false accusations against the innocent over your high places when ye assemble by troops in harlots houses where the children of light dare not come to reproove and gainsay it except they are thereunto powerfully moved of the Lord to testifie against your deceipt and abhomination Yet must ye learn wisdome and take heed of printing and publishing such stuffe to the world else may ye be sure whilst ye seek to cover it with a veile your iniquities will be marked your filthy sepulchre opened which is already but badly painted your skirts more discovered so that shame and confusion will be your portion for evermore except ye repent And therefore of this be ye warned In your third branch ye lay the charge thus viz. your extream censoriousnesse and rash judging not onely of persons abroad but also of the Church c. And tell the world ye will prove yea that ye have proved every tittle and syllable of these things to be true when ye have not endeavoured so much as a shew of proof for ought ye speak touching persons abroad but past it over as if ye had never spoken it And yet this is tittles and syllables yea words c. But a bridle for your tongue ye want who have so long given heed to lying spirits that now ye appear to love lying more then to speak truth and being out of the fear of the Lord speak ye care not what I come now to your fifth branch and shall not trouble my selfe again with those many lies falshoods and contradictions which I there finde in what you say is verbatim having mentioned some of them before but shall examine your proof of that also and see if every tittle of it be proved or whether ye may not be proved lyars in this as in the rest Ye say I did at a meeting at mine house affirme the first part of this branch viz. That the Scriptures were blinde and a plague to souls And for proof ye again produce your own saying it is so and that some of you sitting over against me do well remember how I spake it Clapping my hand upon the book or table saying That Book or Scriptures was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens souls this day in England And that ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words
c. And so he goes on to manifest how Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists c. are all vailed with the same veile And therefore saith he what I say to one Sect I say to all ye shall speedily receive a totall rout Yee have gathered your selve together but ye shall be scattered yea yee shall be broken in pieces Ye all have built your outward house of externall discipline upon the sand and it must fall because it is not grounded upon the Rock Christ Ye have made your communion the ground of your union and that must fall because it is not the Lords but mans building And himselfe puts the question how he knew Presbytery Independency Anabaptisme and the rest of the Sects must down and answers if Abraham by faith did see the day of Christ coming in the flesh many years before he came why may not I saith he and others see the day of Christ coming in the spirit to destroy all fleshly forms some few years before it be finished And again saith he I have by faith seen all these opinions fall and have heard from many others that they have seen them fall also Therefore that which I have heard and seen declare I unto you that ye might have fellowship with the father and the son in the spirit for then saith he and not till then ye will give over saying as in effect ye do I am of Paul I am of Apollo Then ye will not so much cry up the forme but endeavour the power of godlinesse These with many more are his words as the Reader may see in his foresaid book Now therefore if it be true that all these formes are fleshly and are not built upon the Rock Christ but upon the sand are not the Lords but mens building and therefore must fall and be broken to pieces and scattered and speedily receive a totall rout And that he by faith hath seen it all fall and hath both heard and seen what he declared that is to say Christ Jesus coming in spirit to destroy them that people might have fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit Then are Robert Purnell and you found directly in the steps and practice of your Fathers the Scribes and Pharisees who when Christ came in the flesh according to the Prophecies that went before said It was the Devil a blasphemer a friend to publicans and sinners c. For ye now that Christ in spirit in life and power is appeared mighty in dispensations glorious in revelation and very strong and powerfull in operation making great alterations changes and desolations in the earth and revealing himself from heaven breaking down and scattering what he hath not built nor gathered destroying and breaking in pieces those Forms and Sects of yours which he saith are fleshly not built by the Lord but men not upon the Rock but upon the sand and speedily receives a total rout c. I say since Christ is thus appeared against all those Forms that his people may have fellowship with the Father and the Son in the spirit and not cry up the Form but endeavour to know the power of godliness according to the very words himself hath said both Robert Purnel and you agree to call it the design of the Devil asking if I be not joined with all the Papists Atheists Ranters and ungodly rabble of the world in this one great design of the Devil to break in pieces the Churches of Christ And say hath it not been the attempt of one power after another to rent break and scatter the Congregations in England under the names of Independents Anabaptists Sectaries c And hath any party gone so far in this wicked practice as you c Nay say you was there ever any partie in England or the Nations adjacent that have offered the like violence to the Lord Jesus Christ his person in his Word in his Gospel his Ordinances his Saints his wayes c. as you and your partie have done c Notwithstanding it be the very thing and no other which he in his said Book saith By faith he saw Christ in spirit coming to perform a few years before it was finished which few years its like are now accomplished it being about eight years since the said Book was published so then that which Christ cometh in spirit to perform ye call the great design of the Devil and a wicked practice and those who with Christ in his work are joined bringing to pass his determinations ye say are joined with Papists Athiests Ranters and the ungodly rabble of the world But why do Robert Purnell you now call Independent â—nd baptized Assemblies the Churches of Christ when he had before declared them fleshly Forms and Sects not built by the Lord upon the rock but by men upon the sand and must fall and be broken and scattered and receive a total rout and that he saw Christ in spirit coming to destroy them that his people might have fellowship with the Father and the Son by the Spirit and that what he declared he had both heard and seen manifesting to all the world against your wills that that which ye call and cry up as the Churches of Christ and Assemblies of Zion are indeed but fleshly Forms and Sects not built by the Lord upon the Rock Christ but by themselves upon the sands which Christ comes in spirit to destroy and therefore must fall and be broken routed and scattered and that notwithstanding among your selves it is known and manifested to be so by a spirit of faith as R. P. sayes by which it was seen Yet ye hold the truth in unrighteousness and do erre from the spirit else might ye know that the Churches of Christ which are in God the Father are not fleshly Forms and Sects like yours but is a spiritual house an holy habitation for God by whom it is built upon the rock of ages the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ being the corner-stone against which all the gates of Hell and powers of darkness shall never prevail to break scatter destroy or cause to fall but as mount Zion shall it stand and a burthensom stone shall it be against all fleshly Forms and Sects that fight against it in this day of the Lords appearing in the power and glory of his spirit to break in pieces scatter and destroy all your fleshly Forms and Sects which he never built upon the Rock but your selves have built upon the sands and so are no Churches of Christ but the strong holds of Satan in which he having blinded their minds keeps his goods in peace and under pretence of beating up the form the power of godliness is there denyed and not known But the desires of the flesh and of the mind are there served equally as among other people and this I do see and know otherwise had I not declared it unto you And so into the pit that ye have digged are ye fallen and
that if ye returned an answer ye take care it be to some purpose and not a parcel of weakness and confusion c. yet I find the conception and birth which by you who call your selves a Church of Christ is brought forth into the world is the same in which you have given so much advantage to lay open your shame and discover your skirts beyond and above others yea many of the Parish Assemblies of which you speak that I know not how to let it pass without rebuke 2. I take notice that that little book entituled The skirts of the Whore discovered hath been made effectuall through the power of the mighty God of Jacob so that the dart is struck through the liver and the arrowes of the Almighty stick fast in the hearts of the Kings enemy and torment is upon you on every side because your skirts are discovered that passers by see the shame of your nakedness and that instead of turning unto the Lord who hath smitten and wounded you whose tender mercies are towards you and therefore hath often warned you with foolish Ephraim of old you are running to the Assrians for help and into Aegypts land a place of darkness are ye gone seeking to recover a vail to hide your selves from the face of the Lamb who is the Light of the World and of the Temple in whose light ye are seen and comprehended and the deceit of your Religion and powerless profession known and manifested against which the hand of the Lord is lifted up though ye see it not nor are ashamed but under your traditional and deceitful forms and waies seek to hide and cover your selves as with a vail making lies your refuge and under falshood hiding your selves bringing the wo and the wrath more and more upon your selves who cover with a covering but not of Gods spirit rebeling against the light not knowing its wais nor abiding in its paths 3. That notwithstanding according to the prophesies that went before the true light is now come and the glory of the Lord is arisen and the children of the Lord are walking in the light of the Lord and calling others thereinto yet darkness hath covered the earth and gross darkness the people and therefore thorow the blindness of your minds whilest ye go about to vindicate your selves from the stroak of that which was justly and truly declared of you in The skirts of the Whore discovered ye manifest and prove your selves to be the same that is to say no Church of Christ but an harlot c. And this ye do in the very Title of your book which is The Church of Christ in Bristol recovering her vail out of the hands of them that have smitten and wounded her and taken it away a practise never heard of among those that were the Churches of Christ in whom the vail is done away Col. 2.19 for the Churches of Christ were all baptized by one spirit into one body and united to one head even Christ from which all the body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred encreaseth with the encrease of God And where Christ is witnessed the vail is removed and done away I Cor. 3.13 14 15 16 17.18 yea though it was over the heart in the reading of the old Testament that the people could not see to the end of that which is abolishëd yet in Christ it is done away and his Church who witness him their head and from him have nourishment ministred comes with open face to behold the glory of the Lord and by it are changed into the same image c. But to this are you strangers and aliens who are recovering the vail out of his hands that hath taken it away that with it ye may be covered Gen. 38.14 like Tamar the harlot sitting by the way whiles the witnesses of Christ and Ministers of the new Testament do not as Moses cover their face with a vail that the people may not see to the end of that which is abolished but use great plainness of speech directing the minds of the people to the light to the annointing to the unction which is in them which guideth them into all truth shewing the father and things which are to come to which agreeth the Prophet Isay who speak as he was moved of the Lord and said The mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted above the mountains c. and in this mountain the Lord will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people and the vail which is spread over all Nations c. and to this also do agree those that speak as they were moved of the holy Ghost Isa 25.7 But ye who know not that one spirit nor the Baptism nor the body nor the unity nor ever came to witness the head from which nourishment is ministred to the body and in which the vail is removed and taken away but are recovering it out of his hands who hath smitten and wounded you I sâ—y ye are hereby manifested and proved no Church of Christ but an harlot a Synagogue of Satan a cage of unclean spit it s upon whom the Lord hath stretched forth the lines of confusion and stones of emptiness and made you an habitation for dragons and a Court for owles in which the wild and cruel beasts of the earth who have no habitation in God inhabit 4. That notwithstanding you would seem to reprove me for vain boasting c. though ye know in your own Consciences I speak very soberly of my self without boasting and far beneath what I was in yours and centers account till I told you the truth yet have ye published a book and a pretty big one too mostly to commend your selves and on the other And although ye seem among other things to boast of your stability c. yet let me tell you I well remember the time when but few amongst you stood stable to your own principles of Churches and ordinances as ye call it but were like children tost to and fro with winds of doctrine embracing a Religion which consisted in great swelling words of vanity without power At which time Robert Purnel as stable as he is undertook to prophesie the down-fall of Independency Anabaptism c. and said by faith he saw it full by the comming of Christ in spirit and this he published in his book entitled Good tydings for sinners Great joy for Saints And besides if ye were indeed so stable as ye would have the world believe how commeth it to pass that at this day ye are so rossed with blasts and winds and know no stability but so many of you are of late turned Anabaptists which formerly was so odious and so sad a principle that Hannah Taylor was near casting cut from amongst you for entertaining it But it is true ye hold fast deceit and refuse to return in which ye are as stable as most that I ever knew and equal with those Parish Assemblies
in which ye make sore complaint people will rather continue than remove to you since your skirts are discovered 5. That ye are offended with me for using bitter and violent expressions towards you in which ye say nothing of the spirit of Christ appears but the contrarie And that ye are otherwise taught then to render evil for evil and railing for railing but rather to blesse having the example and precept of Christ for it yet notwithstanding your book abounds with â—ayling reviling and evil speaking And where ye cannot amongst your selves frame and make up enough ye endeavour the best ye are able to take up something from others whom ye do not name and perhaps I never saw and cast the reproach of it upon me telling me of Luciferian pride folly impudencie malignity untruths c. All which is the proper fruit of the corrupt fountain from whence it came to which it is again returned But by this the sober Reader may take notice how directly ye are found in the steps of your fathers the Scribes and Pharisees who crucified the just one and said and did not c. And what use it is ye make of Christ his precepts and examples that is to say to make them a veil or covering under pretence of which to hide your selves in your ungodly and wicked practices whiles in words ye would seem to condemn it just â—e the harlot whose words are smooth and pleasant but her pathes lead to the chambers of death and how can ye say nothing in my book appears like the Spirit of Christ when so much of it is the very words of Scripture which ye say is the word of God and the Scripture saith the father the word and holy Ghost are one are they one and not a like are they one and yet contrary or are not ye rather in blindness and confusion understanding neither what ye say or of what ye affirm To your Reader ye expresse your trouble and griese that I a man once famous for professing the truth did upon the coming of the people called Quakers own and plead for them and by so doing drew many a poor soul out of the wayes of Christ as ye say into the wayes of those miserable deluded people To which I reply that I did upon the first publishing of the glad tydings of salvation by the Ministerie of righteousness obtain mercy to own and embrace the same and by it was turned to God out of the wayes of miserie delusion and deceipt in which ye yet abide is true But that I drew any out of the wayes of Christ is false and from your father by whom the eyes of your minds being blinded ye wander and by him are led in the dark and blind pathes of lying deceipt and delusion towards death and destruction And therefore ye tell the Reader I prepared a letre with this inscription for the people called independents and by my subtilty engaged two of your brethren to present it to the Church which is an absolute lye at which ye could not but blush had ye not a whoores forhead for no such inscription at all was upon any letter of mine But for the hands of Robert Simpson and Robert Purnel c. Neither do I know any subtilty used to engage them farther than in plainnes and honesty to read it in their hearing and demand their freedom to comunicate it to those who sent the charge by them to me and this ye term subtility and deceipt when the subtilty and designed deceipt is among your selves who kept my defence from being communicated to those for whom it was intended fearing as ye confesse it might draw away more from amongst you And this was no disappointment at all of my ends neither was I enraged at it as ye say But it is another lye and your torment thereby is encreased because opportunity was thereby administred to discover your skirts and lay open your shame which otherwise its like had not been And whereas ye tell your Reader ye cannot without being guilty of my sin let my folly go unreproved but have set forth these plain words of truth and sobernes c. This is like the rest a refuge of lyes for neither true nor sober it is but full of lyes and deceipt of which I know no page free And so ye need not trouble your selves with the guilt of my sin ye have enough of your own And it is plain and true that the lyers are without and for the lake c. which is your portion from him who will clear the innocent c. with whom ye are not companions in tribulation nor are grieved for the afflictions of Joseph nor sensible of this day of Jacobs trouble nor know the welfare of Sion nor the faith of the Gospel nor the testimonie of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecie And so I come to your book it self In the first line of which ye demand Did I never read that the Church of Christ in Scripture is resembled to a natural body wherein are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one Spirit and say that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so in the mistical bodie c. I answer nay I never read such a thing in Scripture but can read you who put this queston as blind as the men of Sodom that saw not the way for where in Scripture is the Church of Christ resembled to a natural body I say a natural bodie in which are many infirmities Again where doth the Scripture say that in the Church of Christ there are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one spiritâ— Is there any unitie in the Church of Christ and not by the Spirit And are not all who are by the Spirit united together by the same Spirit united to the head And is not the Lord that Spirit in which the vail is removed But Babilon is your Citie your first building is confusion and had ye not thus exprest your selves ye had not so clearly manifested your gross ignorance both of the true Church her members the head and the Spirit But having thus done ye apply your selves to your blind mistaken conclusions drawn from what before ye had ignorantly propounded And say that as in the natural bodie there may be many infirmities so the mystical body also may be subject to distempers c. To which I say In your tittle page ye stile your selves the Church of Christ though ye never proved it but your language is the harlots and not the Churches In Scripture I read of a natural bodie and a spiritual bodie but never of a mystical bodie so exprest that comes from the Harlot But if by mystical bodie ye mean your selves then I easily grant it is indeed subject to destempers enough which ye number up and say is undigested humours want of closing with truth and receiving untruth windie
up to the commandments of Christ in obedience and conscience and yet be found so rebellious and stiff necked neglecting and disobeying that which themselves have published to be the institutions of Christ Yea those institutions which are blessed which he in his own person practiced and left as a standing ordinance of the New Testament to all Generations c. Know ye not that rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft and to hearken is more acceptable than sacrifice and if he that knowes not his Masters will is worthy of stripes what will your portion be who profess ye know it and can admonish others for neglecting it and yet your selves be found in the utter disobedience I know in this ye will need a vail but it will never hide nor cover your shame And for me to tell such a people they are not a Church of Christ but a harlot a Synagogue of Satan c. is not to blaspheme God and his Tabernacle of both which ye are ignorant and in your blindness worship ye know not what neither is it a writing contemptuously as ye say against any who in conscience are obedient to Christ but it is for your advantage and profit if to it ye give ear And for the accompt ye can give of your faith of which ye boast I say that where true faith is it purifies the heart from lying hipocrisie and deceit and is a mistery held in a pure conscience And Thomas Ewine acknowledgeth in the 52 53 54 pages he doth very much question as I know he hath cause whether ever himself or many of you have received the spirit to establish and confirm or to open and reveal the misteries of the Kingdom or to beautifie and adorn you with gifts and grace to purge purifie cleanse and sanctifie and make you holy or to fill you with the spirit of faith and prayer and when all this is wanting amongst you ye are sure in a very bad condition such as the Church of Christ under the new Testament was never in and so might forbear boasting either of your faith or obedience till another spirit from the Lord is powred upon you And ye might forbear so much washing the outside of your vessel in rivers and brooks tel your infide comes to be cleansed sanctified and made holy In your fifth page ye seem again displeased that I call you a mingled people c. and say if some with me had been faithful to their light and practized baptism they might he mingled too and that but one of those that haue practised that Ordinance as ye call it with you are fallen away Reply It seemeth then ye acknowledge there is a light which convinceth to which people ought to be faithful how dare ye then to reproach and speak evil of it and are not obedient when by it your evil deeds are reproved And if it be the light as ye grant it is that convinceth of the need of your water Baptism how comes it to pass ye were once so near casting out of Hannah Taylor as aforesaid for embracing it and what great glory is it that but one of your Baptists are convinced of truth and turned from darkness to the light c. Know ye not that Christ Jesus the light of the world said Publicans and harlots shall enter into the Kingdom before the Hypocrites And what advantage was it to the priests and their generations when Christ came a light into the world that but few of them believed in the truth and were obedient to that which the world with themselves opposed and said it was the Devil But if ye were able truly to manifest that but few of your company were proud cocovetous envious back-biters oppressors extortioners unjust dealers c. living in the customes and manner of other Heathens but by the power of God were turned from it this had been something and so had not ye been mingled as now ye are Ye say Hath not Christ called and owned you his Church and that I can testify ye were at first rightly constituted and have profest that Christ hath manifested his presence amongst you c. To which I say That ever Christ called such a surfeited bodie as yours a Church of his is denyed and testimonie is born against it But that his presence was amongst you and manifested to many who by the power of it are drawn and separated from amongst you is granted though ye have neither known nor received him but cast him off and were not obedient but have rebelled and vexed his spirit so that by the weapons of his power is he fighting against you with whom it is but the beginning of sorrowes and if ye turn not he is whetting his glittering sword and his hand takes hold of vengeance c. And if as ye say ye were at first rightly constituted then are ye your selves not I nor others with me Apostates and backslidden from that in which at first ye were gathered For then ye did disown those called Anabaptists and their practices in which ye were so zealous that ye did often admonish and reprove and were near the casting out Hanna Taylor as I have said now called Hanna Packer because she owned it But now ye do own the Anabaptists and their practices and ye your selves become Practizers thereof as ye confesse and do admonish and reprove others who in conscience and obedience to the light of Christ cannot conform to your customes and traditions but by his power reproves them standing in that by which at first they were convinced and gathered out of the world and all its pollutions so far as to them it was made manifest And therefore all your feigned words of backsliding and back-sliders Apostatizing and Apostates both in your title page and other places in your book is clearlie turned upon your selves who are the Apostates and back-sliders of which ye speak and to whom belong all the reproofes and admonitions ye pretend to others who are obedient to the light by which the deceipt of your will-worships and inventions is made manifest and denied as was that of Parishes and other assemblies before And as for the Churches of Galatia and Asia Alas what have ye to do with them in whose life ye are not and are shut and cast out an◠〈◊〉 the cursed ground where the briars and thornes grow and the beasts of prey feed and with the persecutors of the life of God which they witnessed are ye joyned against the truth and proudly have ye laboured to trample upon and cast it to the ground but all in vain for over your heads it is exalted and life and immortality is brought to light and reigns for ever more Ye say Those who were stiled a synagogue of Satan were a company of proud boasters that said they were Jewes and Apostles and were not but did lye I answer just so are ye who boast your selves the Church of Christ but are not and his commands to observe
a reason why it was not read Besides If it had been directed To the people called independants was not that a sober direction Was iâ— like deriding except ye begin to be ashamed of that by which which ye have been called and which your selves have owned But he that taught and devised for you that lie hath taught you many more in your book which in its season may be manifested Secondly ye say I refused to hear your messengers and therefore ye had no warrant to receive or hear my letter Which is another absolute lie for I heard them out patiently what they had to say and afterwards replied and theâ— themselves acknowledged some of them staid near an hour and scâ—â—lded c. And so far was I from refusing to hear vvhat they said that after they had spoken I not being able to remember the particulars desired to have it in writing that I might consider it and return an answer which accordingly was done which answer ye received not and have published this lie to the world as the reason of it Ye say some of you understood it was my main designe to draw away some more to me c. which ye give as your third reason To which I reply Who were those some that understood what my designe was in that letter which ye never read nor opened nor saw what was in it till after I published it Is there any diviner among you who by the Spirit of divination can tell what was contained in that which he neither saw nor read or is it another lie devised since my defence was published and pretended to be a reason why ye read it not above 12. moneths before or else is it Robert Simpsen and Robert Purnel to whom I read it before I sealed it that is the some among you that give those reasons If it be the latter then let all the world take notice of their falsehood and deceipt in whose hearing I read vvhat I had vvritten and afterwards demanded their freedom to communicate it to you c. Who replied they were free and saw no reason why it should not be publickly read and therefore promised to do it c. And that after all this they should to you pretend reasons why it should not be read were strange hypocrisie and wicked deceipt But however it is evident ye have been giving heed to some lying spirit in some of your members by whom ye are led which have thus distempered your humorous bodie and caused you thus to erre from the right way for which truely my Soul pitieth you and sorely do I mourn over you As for what ye tell me of jearing at your weakness and feebleness fasting dayes and prayers c. and in page 23 of scoffing scorning and deriding in which ye say I outstrip all others it returns upon your ovvn head who stand guiltie enough of such things But vvhat I writ in that particular I writ in words of soberness and not â—â—â—â—ingly as the sober Reader may perceive and Tho. Ewins confesseth pag. 62. I writ more seriously and did not jeer In pag 10. ye fall a commending your brother Simpson as ye call him for his humilitie integritie and godliness To which I mighâ— reply in the words ye mention pag 18. Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth a stranger and not thine own tips because Rob. Simpson signes this his own commendations But ye say in the margin it was inserted by some of you without his knowledge To which I reply Did he then sign that vvhich he did not know If so then let all that read consider vvhat credit may be given to that vvhich is published and comes forth under your names vvho sign and publish ye knovv not vvhat But if Rob. Simpson did know vvhat he put his hand unto but was ashamed to ovvn his ovvn commendations c. then are ye that are offended that I ovvned you not a Church taken with another lie in your mouth saying some of you inserted it without his knowledge when he did knovv it But if ye think to hide your selves by saying he might not knovv it when ye inserted it though before he put his hand to it he might know it Then I demand Is not here that equivocation evasion and mental reservation found upon your selves which ye would cast upon me because I said I owned Baptism and the Lords Supper vvhich was and is true and dearlie do I love it and long to be more a partaker therein And all your traditions and beggerly elements in which ye deceive your selves I deny and against both it and you do I bear testimonie And as for those many reproachful contemptible reviling expressions ye scatter here and there in your book calling me foolish deluded man c. Comparing me with Rabshekah Judas Ralph Farmer c. I say it s not much to me to be numbred by you amongst transgressors and the worst of men who am so much desirous and by any means pressing to know and witness him which made himself of no reputation but was obedient even him who is the light of the world and the life of men who was a man of sorrowes and acquainted with griefes and hid not his face from shame c. Who was never known to the wisedom of the world but by it in those that profest the Scriptures vvas reproched reviled persecuted and murthered and the servant must not be above his Lord And therefore from those vvho are of the World and speak of the World and the World heareth do I not expect better usage And wo were me if all men spake well of me But over it all do I rejoyce and in it do I glorie knowing that even in your own Consciences a witness I have that vindicates me and condemns you To which it were well if ye took heed before it be too late Ye say ye will not dâ—pâ—e your power but resolve to do your duty c. By which I suppose ye mean some immitation or invention which to your selves ye fancie of separating some from amongst you and the power ye have to do it ye will not dispute c. And so something ye will do and eâ—â—iâ—e God to it to whom ye say to do it and your power ye will not dispute And is not this the Harlots voice Is not here the self same spirit appearing which was and is in the Parishes and their Priests the Pope the Bishops and all that adulterous generation against which you did once bear some testimonie who when any saw the pollutions corruption and defilements that were in their waies and worships and separated from it would be offended and sometimes excommunicate them as they called it and their power they would not dispute which is the practice of the Harlot for the Churches of Christ witnessed the power of God and disputed with small and great c. But ye say ye are a Church though ye never proved it nor
in the works of your own hands are ye snared and not I but ye are found joined with the ungodly rabble ye mention in the great design of the Devil opposing the truth blaspheming and offering violence to the Lord Jesus Christ and well may I return your vain words into your bosoms and say Ah pour deceived people what gross darkness hath now seized upon your minds Where are your eyes and may add what blind guide hath misled and bewitcht you thâ—â— ye should be crying out against me for that in which I am innocent and your selves so notoriously found to practice And this from amongst your selves and out of Robert Purnels mouth are ye judged But if what Robert Purnel hath said be not true but a lying spirit hath led him and that by faith he did not see Christ in spirit coming to destroy the fleshly Forms of Independency Anabaptism and other Sects there mentioned and so declared a false vision which he neither heard nor saw notwithstanding he saith he had heard and seen it Then is Robert Purnel a lyar a false Prophet a deceiver that causeth the people to erre by his lies and by his lightness and his faith by which he saw is vain and he to the true faith found reprobate and the reward of a false Prophet must he receive that hath seen vain visions and spoken lying divinations Ezek. 13.8 9. Because ye have spoken â—â—nity and seen lye therefore behold I am against you saith the Lord God and mine hand shall be upon the Prophets that see vanity and divine lyes they shall not be in the Assembly of my people neither shall they be written in the writing of the house of Israel And his Cabinet richly stored in which he proclaims a remedy for every malady and a ready way to attain salvation as is said its like is filled with deceit and all kind of venemous filthy stuff such as comes out of the mouth of the false Prophet the dreamer that speaks a vision of his ovvn heart and not from the mouth of the Lord and therefore eâ—res in vision and stumbles in judgement vvhich vvhosoever believes and follovvs is like to find the ready vvay to destruction and not to salvation of vvhich let all people bevvare and since you proclaim your selves an Assembly of the Lords people and boast of your obedience to all his Commandements and Ordinances vvritten as you say in his Word and that your feet hath held its steps and not gone back from the Lord nor declined the Commandments of his mouth and tell of your readiness to deal vvith them that are evil c. You are charged every particular of you to look to it and approve your selves faithful and obedient to vvhat is vvritten and as you intend to ansvver before the Lord Dâ—cline not the Commandements of his mouth vvho hath said Woe to the foolish Prophets that follow their own spirits they have seen vanity and lying divinations saying the Lord saith and the Lord hath not sent them c. Because ye have spoken vanity and seen lyes therefore behold I am against you saith the Lord God and my hand shall be against the Prophets that see vanity and devine lyes they shall not be in the Assemblies of my people neither shall they be written in the writings of the house of Israel Ezek. 13. Novv if Robert Purnels Prophesie aforesaid be not true but a lying divination and a vain vision then is he by an express Commandment of the Lord not to be in the assemblies of the Lords people and therefore look to it be not deceitful nor false in what your selves have published for in it you will be observed and your obedience and faithfulness to what you say is your Rule will be tryed and if you are found false and treacherous your iniquity will be marked for you have made your selves publick and must be manifested and remember you are warned of it in time and Robert Purnel is advised to consider it and repent throughly if place for repentance to the false Prophet may be found and with shame and confusion let him manifest the same owning his just condemnation for so horrible a transgression But if his said Prophesie be true and Independency and Anabaptism so called together with other things there mentioned be but fleshly Forms and Sects not built by the Lord but by men not upon the Rock but upon the sand and that Christ is come and coming in spirit to destroy it and therefore must fall and be broken as he declares then let both Robert Purnel and every one of you look to it and repent in time of your horrible wickedness in blaspheming the work of Christ which he in spirit is come to perform in this his mighty day calling it the great design of the devil c. otherwise the just judgements of our God whom we serve who is the Creator of the ends of the earth ye cannot escape who is near to be revealed from heaven in power and great glory taking vengeance of all blasphemers and disobedient ones and will render tribulation and anguish upon every soul that doth evil and in this am I seriously under fence of your condition and therefore do warn you of these things whether you will hear or forbear and as for any other false Prophets and Deviners amongst you to whom the mysteries of Gods Kingdom which to the Saints is given to know is not revealed nor opened and so have seen nothing but vanity and lying devinations revealed The Lord hath said he is against them and they shall not be in the Assemblies of his people and it concerns you to take notice of it least you manifest your selves to be those that flatter with your mouths and lye with your tongues when your hearts are not right with God nor you stedfast in his Covenant And your own words ye may take to your selves O stand still smite upon your thighs and blush for shame at what ye have done for though man Harlots have played the harlot yet thou excellest them all who upon a lofty and high mountain hast set thy bed and speakest loftily and that it is beneath thee to answer many things contained in the skirts of the Whore fulfilling the Scriptures Pro. 30.19 There is a generation oh how lofty are their eyes c But the day of the Lord is dawned in which the eyes of the lofty must be humbled and your lofty looks abased Yea the day of the Lord of hosts is upon every one that is proud and lofty and by him who shall be alone exalted in this his day shall all those be brought down that dwell on high and by the feet of the poor and the steps of the needy is he treading down the lofty Citie to the ground And with you have I no kindred part nor inheritance who inherit lies and falshood and with it would be veiled But a witness against both it and you I stand and the harlots
nakedness must I discover and her advice to the contrary is rejected because it is her portion from the Lord and by her to have my name cast out as evil for the Son of mans sake is a blessing at which I may rejoyce and leap for joy And whereas ye wish me to take notice that ye desire your three Messengers to answer for themselves that their faithfulnesse may appeare c. This is a piece of deceipt like the rest for Robert Purnell Robert Simpson and Richard Moon who were the three Messengers to desire themselves to answer and presently put their hands to their own desires with three more two of which were never of the people with which I walked and the other long since removed his habitation near thirty miles distant But however being by themselves desired because they had none else to desire it of them they like themselves begin to answer and after many vain and idle words they say they received their commission from God to this worke and met together and considered the particulars of which they were to admonish their backslidden Brethren and Sisters Reply Here they blaspheme the holy and dreadful name of God by entituling it to their lies and slanders who never gave commission to false Prophets lyars and slanderers to admonish any of his but reproved such saying They run and I sent them not therefore they shall not profit the people And so it is with you But from what did your brethren and sisters as ye call them backslide more than from your deceitfull wayes and practices which to God are abhominable If ye say it is from your outward fellowships wayes and worships Then the Parshes from which ye have separated your selves have the same thing to admonish you of And ye justifie those filthy polluted Priests who cast out the names or persons of some from amongst them â—â—t John â—â—l guilty of 〈◊〉 because they separated themselves from their polluted worships Besides one of the three said by faith he saw the downfall of all these Sects and Forms and that it was not of Gods building and that he saw Christ coming in spirit to destroy it And then how is it that ye are not ashamed to say that to get out of that which God never built is backsliding And that God gave you a commission to admonish any for departing out of that vvhich Christ in spirit came to destroy But your God vvho is the God of the vvorld that gave you such a commission and put you upon those vvorks of vvickednesse is denied together vvith your selves vvho his Commissioners are vvith all your pretended admonitions inventions and deceitfull stuffe vvhich to the children of light are manifest and seen to be as light as vanitie They say They knew much themselves and what they knew not they were fully satisfied by the mouths of many faithfull and true witnesses Reply Where were they found in many particulars sithence ye are already proved an unfaithfull company of lyars and deceitful workers They say In the name of the Lord and in obedience to his command and in a filial feare to God love and pity to our souls they did admonish c. Reply Did they know the name of the Lord which is dreadfull to all deceivers false prophets and hypocrites they would not dare to name it whiles they live in iniquity but out of his name are ye all shut and have no portion in that which is a strong tower to which the righteous run and are saved Who for your rebellion and disobedience against his name who live out of his feare which is the light of the world are by the light judged and condemned who in your vaine mindes talk of love and pirty to soules but never came to witnesse the living soul nor the quickning spirit where the true love and pity comes to be witnessed But did your three Messengers in the name and in the fear and in obedience to the Lord admonish How then came it to passe that they came to a near relation of mine and told her in the name of the Lord c they were sent to admonish her also of something as sin To which she replyed to Robert Simpson that spake Hast not thou something in thee that tells thee thou dost lye in the name of the Lord For what sin do I live in which thou knowest To which he said Dear sister I doe not say in practice but in judgement To which she replying What is my judgement Canst thou tell He appeared confounded and said Doe not you heare those men meaning those called Quakers Now is not here deceit and wickednesse to pretend to admonish people in the name fear and obedience of God and at last know not for what but aske if she did not hear those men which Robert Simpson himself had often done it's like more often than she at that time Now have ye not read that God is not mocked but what ye sowe the same yee must reape Why then doe yee thus to the flesh sowe corruption falshood lying and deceit and make mention of the name of the Lord as your covering To what they said to me in particular I need not say much because what I said before stands unanswered and in power over your heads only they say the things they charged me withal are true every syllable as appears by the foregoing answer of the whole Church which is false and those they call the Church proved lyars And whereas they say they did not feare me neither did their consciences accuse them In this they presently gave themselves the lie and say the reason they staid not was because they found my spirit the time before as a boyling fornace boyling over and scalding all that stand near it which made them resolve not to stay the second time Now what deceit and wickednesse is here Who can believe a word that comes from amongst you who are out of the feare of God and therefore regard not what ye say For I having charged them in my last that they fled as men surprized with feare or accused by their own consciences They deny it and say it is false and that they neither feared me nor were accused c. And yet in 6. or 8 lines have fully granted what I said saying the reason they staid not was because they found my sprrit as a boyling fornace boyling over and scalding c. Now is it not evident they feared lest they should be scalded and what was there that scalded but the witnesse of God within themselves Poor men I knew they were wounded tormented and scalded by the witness of God in their own consciences testifying against their hypocrisie and deceit so that they could not stand nor abide it for the day of the Lord is now great and who may abide it for it is like refiners fire yea it burns as an oven and all that doe wickedly are as stubble and not onely scalded but burned
vindicate or cover himself from what was truly laid upon him yet from it hath he not delivered himselfe but the charge stands good in sound and sober words in the power of truth and whiles he covereth his sin be cannot prosper And whiles he addeth one iniquity to another he cannot come into Gods righteousnesse And oh that he would consider it and lay it to heart whiles he hath time that in the day of the Lords anger which is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall come he might be hid and find mercy of the Lord with whom his vain speaking of a witnesse he hath in heaven brought from thence into his heart and confirmed by the Spirit of Truth and of his being taken up into the Mount to confer with him who hath all power given him and of a Warrant sealed and given forth from him that hath al power c. is of little accompt whiles he understands not what he speaks For the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation but the kingdome of God is within and in his Kingdom he is who dwells in heaven where the Father the Word and Spirit agree of which all blind Pharisaical Professors are ignorant and cannot know it till in the light and by the spirit it be revealed and made manifest And whereas he saith All that he with the rest laid at my door was to a tittle true and that neither he nor his brethren have any reluctance for it This is all fals for I have before proved it lies and deceit and themselves have confest they found that which boiled like a furnace and scalded all that stand near it and they were near it and so resolved not to stay another time And judgement is now laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet and all refuges of lies and deceit are to be swept away and by truth and soberness such hiding places are overflown and in soberness do I stand and so much to my self am I come that I see many of his words there mentioned to veil and cover himself to be light and vain and not worth answering and that what I writ was both sober and true without fawning and flattery in which many among you are too much exercised who love to have smooth not true things spoken and would have me peaceable gentle and full of mercy to hypocrisie deceit and wickedness all which is for judgement and no peace from God is spoken to it And therefore without partiality do I declare against it in him and you as well as in others and to my self am I not a stranger And this is pure wisdom from above and moderation known unto all that receive and believe in the light by which that spirit appearing in my former book is justified though to you that hate the light and by the light are condemned it is as gall and worm-word And for sporting my self and insulting over him I did it not but it is another refuge of lies for I told him before I did not insult over him nor delight in his wo and misery but was sorely grieved as still I am to see how the wicked one whom the Lord would destroy was exalted in him and you and what I writ is true And whereas he saith I was not a in a sober mind but at a distance from it and true speaking when I mentioned to him the portion of lyars and that not any thing he said was a lie but what he said I had not his hand to as his particular affirmation and so goes on speaking many words but to what purpose I cannot see except it be by words to darken the Readers understanding But if I mistake not that which he would do is to vindicate himself from being a lyar with what else I charged upon him in my former Letter by telling me he said I had not his hand to it as his particular accusation And if this be his meaning then is it gross deceit for I never said or thought it was his particular accusation but a general accusation delivered by him in which himself and each other particular was included and so I spake to him in soberness and pitty my very howels moving towards him knowing my self innocent and that it was a dreadful thing for him in the Name or the Lord to speak a false vision or thing I asked him how he durst come to me and in the name of the Lord tell me I said the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest plagues of the land when I never spake nor thought such a thing To which he replyed he never spake it nor laid it to my charge though out of his own mouth it came and when I told him I had it under his hand he denyed it When I told him I could shew it him he replied if I could he would acknowledge himself a lyar upon which ground I charged him for it as before and so I do still and good were it for him if he owned the judgement and repented for otherwise he cannot escape But if he forgeting that his hand was to his paper did run himself into the evil of denying it as is before exprest yet if when he came to the sight of his error he had clearly acknowledged it and owned his condemnation and repented to which in love he was advised there had been mercy for him but being convinced and reproved of the evil hardened his neck and labours to hide and cover his sin adding one iniquity unto another here he cannot prosper but brings himself justly under not onely the judgement and condemnation mentioned in my former Letter but more and more misery due to those that rebel against the light by which they are reproved and to those that add iniquity unto iniquity and must not come into Gods righteousness And from it all the waters in Jordan can never wash him not the Rocks and Mountains cover him nor all your outward observations imaginations and will-worships preserve him till he own the light by which he is convinced and reproved and the just condemnation thereof pass upon the rebellious and the transgressor which hath sinned and he brought to repentance and the acknowledgement of the truth and so his soul come to be saved in this mighty day of the Lords power And this is not from a violent heat of wild-fire as he calls it but from a spirit of soberness soundness and truth and is true love to his soul and the time is near in which he that rebuketh plainly shall find more favour then he that flattereth with his lips and my end is not to make him a transgressor before all as he supposeth but according to my measure to advise him into the way the light the life and the truth which leadeth out of transgression into the inheritance of the Saints in light and in this I do not equivocate nor evade as he falsely chargeth me but do speak plainly and truly though at
it he may once finde it a swift witnesse against him it may prove as a fire in his bowels and as a candle to search his in most parts and the condemnation it is of all those that hate it as the Scripture witnesseth And Christ exhorts to believe in it and in it did the Saints walke and in it had they fellowship which condemns the unbeliever But of it he is no Preacher and therefore do we confess he is no Minister for God for though in words he seems to confesse something of the light yet like a man filled with confusion speaks he knows not what but uttereth his owne folly and speaks of a two-fold coming of the Spirit into the hearts of believers The first is that by which the eyes of mens understandings are opened and they turne from darknesse to light faith and repentance wrought in the soul c. Upon which I demand were they believers before they were turned unto the light in which they were to believe or had their eyes opened If yea prove it If nay then by his own confession there were eyes of mens understandings to be opened and light to be turned unto and yet he saith he never read nor heard that the Prophets Apostles or holy men of God preached such a Gospel namely to bid people turn to the light c. Now how shall we trust him or which of his words shall we believe who confesseth he is no Minister but uncal'd unconstituted unordained c. No Preacher of that thing we call the Gospel namely to bid men turn to a light within them and yet the eyes of mens understandings must be opened and they turned to the light and yet saith he to bid men turn to the light within takes them off from believing on the person of Jesus Christ He saith He administers the Lords Supper to this people in Bristol as they are a Church of godly sober Christians believing in Christ though some of them mis-baptized not having light to see right Administrations but reckon infant-baptisme sufficient yet as further light comes in they are willing to walke up in it In the meane time we can beare with them in love as we desire them and others to leave with us in other things But to it I say Though ye be joyned hand in hand in darknesse and deceit agreeing to bear with one another therein Yet the children of light plainly and clearly see your folly and confusion and bear witnesse against it Tho Ewins declares himselfe against bidding turn to the light within yet his mis-baptized people as he calls them have not light to see the right Administrations of Baptisme but reckon Infant-baptisme sufficient yet as further light comes in saith he they are willing to walke up in it So then he acknowledgeth they want light to see And that as light comes in I say as it comes in they are willing to walk up in it yet he says he is no Preacher of this thing to wit the light within It is pernitious doctrine It shuts up the Kingdome against men and takes them off from believing on the person of Christ Poor blind man how is he made to condemn himselfe in that which he in words is forced to allow But these mis-baptized people who have not light to see right Administrations but reckon Infant-baptisme sufficient are his believers and with one another can ye beare in love in your darknesse It is like he knows in his own conscience that infant-baptisme is not sufficient being neither he nor you can prove it an Ordinance of Christ and so follow traditions for Doctrines And it s no wonder that they want light who follow such a guide who hath so plainly denyed the same and would fain be a Teacher but understands neither what he saith nor whereof he affirmeth But he saith truly I know no thorough-paced godly man Anabaptist or others in Bristol but do shew love and respect to me in their way onely in this they walke according to their light and so do I but they thinke I am too large in my principles and I thinke them too streight in theirs Yet saith he we doe not differ but can beare with each other in love Reply Here again is his confusion manifest He denies them who bid turne to the light and he is no Preacher of that and yet his mis-baptized people want light and those he calls thorough-paced Anabaptist or others who shew respect to him in their way They walk in their light and he in his and yet to bid turn to the light is to deny believing in the person of Christ Now let all who feare the Lord consider his words who saith he is no Preacher of that we call Gospel namely to bid every man turn to the light in him And the Quakers doctrine is pernicious they shut the kingdome of Heaven from men they take people off from believing in the person of Christ by bidding them turn to the light in them saith he and yet himselfe acknowledgeth the first coming of the Spirit is to open the eyes of mens understandings and to turne them from darknesse to light and to work faith and repentance in the soule Now according to his own words are not they in darknesse and unconverted who are not turned to the light And is it not good to turn to the light that the eyes may be opened and the soul converted And yet he is no Preacher of this Again he saith the mis-baptized people want light but as further light comes in they are willing to walk up in it Here is want of light confessed and the coming in of light acknowledge and the turning to the light was before granted and yet to bid people turn to the light within is pernicious doctrine By this is the Kingdome shut Oh miserable blinde guide and Idoll shepherd how hath grosse darknesse overspread thy face and thy Sun gone downe at noon-day Again Them he calls thorough-paced Anabaptists they walke according to their light and he walks according to his they think his principles too large and he thinks theirs too streight Here is acknowledged their light and his light and before want of light and coming in of light And yet Quakers have done mischief in Bristol and their doctrine saith he is pernitious how so why they bid men turn to the light within them Poor man what is become of his rule now for turning to the light that is pernicious doctrine To try things by the light were to deny Scripture to be the rule But now with him here is their light and his light streight and large principles and mis-baptized ones that want light to see right administrations c. But now by what are ye guided and where and what is your rule Have ye not all lost it and are all gone out of the right way wandring ye know not where in your imaginations who rebell against the light and know not the way thereof nor
for religious meetings which they called Conventicles and for opening shops upon Popish Holy-dayes which themselves popishly idolized and suffered Ryots Tumults and Insurrections to be made upon the people who then were up stirred to bear testimony against those abhominations And how wickedly fierce and cruell they were in the time of the late Wars persecuting imprisoning and destroying the lives liberties and estates or those called flound-heads contriving and imposing pernicious oaths upon the people to ensnare the innocent as by their own Record it may appear which if any through tendernesse refused how crully they were persecuted and tormented is not easily forgotten And although for a season the people of God were delivered from the jawes of the oppressorâ— and the oppressed ruled over them yet since by the change of times wickednesse is exalted and opportunity is administred for the oppressors to appear how soon and how zealously are they acting as before against an innocent people who feare the Lord and in obedience to him cannot how to their wills and lusts but as they are moved of the Lord do declare his Counsell and assured judgements against false worships and worshippers and other abhominations bearing true testimony for the name of the Lord against it â—â—ld the world that the works thereof are evill yet how cruelly they have for this persecuted them under the name of Quakers as formerly they did under the name of Round-heads Puritans and Sectaries is not forgotten nor the numbers that have been imprisoned to satisfie their wills and lusts when no lavv of the Nation vvas broken nay nor the shedding the righteous blood of severall of them by cruel whippings in their Prison houses c. like the enemies of God in former ages Who eate up the Lords people as bread and accounted them as sheep for the slaughter And whose Minister then is he like to be who by such a generation is sent to preach a Gospel And whose servant is he like to prove that glories in his Call by such a people And where is his rule or example for this except in Balaam the false Prophet and Diviner vvho erring from the Spirit by vvhich he savv the goodly Tents of Jacob and blessed Israel being sent for by the Rulers of Moab the enemy of God for the love of promotion the revvard of divination and the vvages of iniquiry out of severall high places endeavoured to curse the people vvhom God had blessed And vvhereas he declares his consenting to and helping on the accusations vvhich he cals admonitions sent to me and others I say Alas poor man hovv vvilling is Diotrephes to have prâ—-eminence and therefore meddles in things in vvhich he is not concerned prating against us vvith malicious vvords not receiving the Saints but forbidding them that vvould And according to your ovvn principles vvhat hath he to do in consenting to or helping on admonitions in the Independent Church so called in Bristoll vvho is himself an Anabaptist and a member as he saith of another Church in London and vvas never admitted a member by those of Bristoll onely by them vvas sent for to preach for hire And by the Mayor some Aldermen Councellors Gentlemen and Commissioners as he calls them had the revvard of Divination promised vvhich as I remember vvas a 100 l. or 120 l. a year vvith promotion to the honour of a publique Lecture so called in the middle of the City But I say what hath this man to do being a meer hireling and never admitted nor received a member to trouble himself in helping on accusations against â—hose who have denyed him and never approved his carnall observations nor large principles only like Balaam his elder brother being sent for as aforesaid hath a minde to comply with the Rulers of Moab in cursing those whom God hath altogether blessed And blessed shall they be of the Lord whose living presence they know and feel in the midst of them And neither the Rulers of Moab nor all the false Prophets in Bristoll nor England shall be able to reverse it and this may you all know in the day wherein ye will desive to ayâ— the death of the righteous and that your latter end may be like thens And whereas he tells of many who can say the Lord is with his Ministry comforting refreshings and quickning their souls c. I say the blinde may lead the blinde till they all fall into the ditch But how can it be that the Lord is with his Ministry who himself is no Minister as he hath confest And how can there be comforting and refreshing administred from him who hath not received the Spirit to comfort and chear drooping souls and fill them with refreshment as he gives it under his hand But this I say I knew many poor souls who before he came had some sensibleness of their conditions moving in them by which they began to be awakened out of that security and deceit in which they had been aâ— ease who after they had suckt in and embraced his deceit he dawbing them with untempered motter strengthning the hands of evill doers by promising them peace healing the hurt of the people lightly crying peace peace to them while they walk in the imaginations of their hearts perswading them to believe lyes and that their sins are pardoned forgiven and blotted out when their lives and conversations declare the contrary quenching and grieving the good spirit of God and crucifying afresh the Son of God who is the faithfull and true witnesse who is come and doth convince the world of sin and bears true testimony within against all ungodlinesse and unrighteousness of men which by him was called the temptations of Satan I say after this wofull Doctrine came to be received and embraced they again fell asleep in ignorance and security and now live in pleasure and much wantonnesse whose last estate is worse then the first And this is for some amongst you to observe for your good And how well might he save his labour in many pages in which he so vainly boasts and commends himselfe for a Preacher and publisher of the glorious Gospel that needs no proof of man c. And the many hundreds that can say the Lord is with his Ministry c. I say how well might he be silent in this his own commendations who presently gives it under his hand that he much questions whether he hath received the Spirit of the New Testament to open and reveal the mysteries of the Kingdome which to the Saints is given to know For that Gospel which the Ministers of Christ did and do preach and is indeed glorious is the Gospel of the Kingdom and that Gospel was and is a mystery hid from ages and generations but was and is manifested and revealed to them by the Spirit which Spirit he having not received the mysteries of the Kingdome and of the Gospel thereof to him are not opened but are hid as it was from ages and
that I durst never trust him since but have declared against him and to severall of his acquaintance manifested much of the substance of what is here published But whether Ralph Farmer knowing himselfe in comparison of Constant Jessop so inconsiderable that till he was removed himselfe had no hopes of preferment by that generation did more secretly endeavour his casting out and when it was done declared against it that he might not be suspected by his friends and people but with the more ease might obtain his place I shall not determine but leave it to the witnesse of God to manifest though time hath pretty well manifested him to all that are not blinde And so far was it seen before that Constant Jessop himselfe before he was cast out being in company with some of the Parish and speaking of the businesse in hand told them he feared that his place would be farmed over his head meaning as he exprest himselfe that Farmer would get it from him And of this his friend Thomas Bub among others may inform him and all this I suppose was about the time in which he tells the world some of our powers were so great that the life and death of mens preferments lay in our hands And so it 's like for preferment sake he did it for which also whiles he thought our power so great he had a minde to be one with us then called Independents And therefore at another time applyed himselfe to me telling me he was convinced of the necessity of being in a Church-way and propounded his desire both for himselfe and his people which to himselfe he had gathered to joyne with us and make but one Church provided as he said that we would consent to the compleating it with officers in which he spake so much that I perceived he sought for preferment among us after which he had laboured else-where in vain And therefore told him how vain it was for him to effect such a thing from us who I thought vvere so far from it that before he could be accepted as a member satisfaction would be required touching his leaving a Church so called in Canterbury c. By which its like he saw such little hopes of preferment for him through my hands that I heard no more of him about the business But having obtained the end of his sollicitation in his brothers remove he applyes himselfe both to his place and people and when by the change of times vile men were exalted he rode over both and conquered it as his own and now calls it his and so is become a blinde guide to those called Presbyterians and an enraged enemy to those with whom under a cloak of Religion for the sake of preferment he assayed to joyn whiles as he saith the life and death of it lay in their hands But saith he one of the Congregation told him if he would be one of the Congregation he might be chosen Pastor and that she was told if he might be chosen Pastor he would joyn with them which it's like made the man very confident of the business and was the end of his foresaid proposition to me notwithstandinng all his feigned deceitfull pretences to the contrary a thing so common and usual with that generation of hirelings that who is it that may not see it But were they not wofully blinde that could entertain the least thought of choosing so pittifull a piece of ignorance confusion ambition as Ralph Farmer to be their guide who had before proclaimed himself not able to preach for want of Books told the people he could but expound till they came And was it not my crossing of him in his ambitious thoughts and desires that filled his heart vvith poyson and rage vvhich he poureth forth in so many corners though in neither of his books hath he found vvherevvith to hit me But all his lyes slanders and false accusations being as light as vanity and not vvorth the mentioning do I trample upon And surely woe were me if such a man as he a worse than which is rarely found spake well of me But why doth he so much reproach belye and abuse me for being a member of the little Parliament Doth he not know how honourably Oliver Cromwell declared them in his speech in the Councel Chamber And why is he so envious that my self with others were so truly serviceable there to our generation according to the will of God with our Bibles in our hands and were willing to spend and be spent in the service of our Countrey not seeking our selves but the ease and profit of the people and did not like other Governours eate the bread of the people nor were at all chargeable unto them read Neh. 5.14 15. For he might know that the memory of the just will be blessed when the name of the wicked hireling Priesthood shall rot For a spirit of Justice and Government was God powring sorth upon that Assembly which made unclean spirits and devouring beasts that live upon the prey and spoyl of others to tremble of which he its like was not unsensible And had they sate but a little longer it 's like the Land had been cleansed of such and the people delivered from many sore and heavy yokes of bondage and slavery under which they have been held for ages and generations past by Popes Bishops proud domineering Priests and other Tyrants and England had known a day in which there had not been a Diviner a false Trophet a parish Priest a Hireling Shepherd a cruell Beast a devouring Wolfe nor an unclean spirit left in the Land guarded with a law to destroy souls for dishonest gain to rob the poor the widow and the fatherlesse and fill the prisons with innocent men as they do at this day But a howling of the Shepheards had been heard whose pride and glory had been spoyled and a year of rejoycing to the people had it been in which no devouring beast had been permitted to live by the sweat of their brows not to devour the fruit of their labours but every man in quietnesse peace preserved under his onw Vine and Fig-tree to fit without feare of imprisoning their persons and ruinating their families and estates to satisfie the beastly lust of the devouring Priests who like greedy Dogs can never have enough But to the everlasting shame of their profession to all generations for ever have occasioned more just and innocent men to suffer and to be cast into prisons and holes for not satisfying their filthy desires than is by all the rest of the Parish besides To whom be it known that though Joseph liberties and priviledges by the unrighteous are betrayed and he through envy be sold into Aegypt and by the Aegyptians be falsely accused imprisoned and abused yet is he a fruitful bough by the Well his branches run on the wall his enemies must serve him and all his brethren how before him and over all the Aegyptian