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
and no fear of God is before your eyes And to you may I return your own words that I stand almost amazed to think unto what an height of impudence and wickedness ye are allreadie come and whether may not poor fallen creatures run if God stop them not since ye arâ—â—â—â—eady so hardened 〈◊〉 Simson saith Thirdly your extream censoriousnesse and rash judgiâ—â—â—…nely of men abroad but also of the Church Mat. 7.1 Rom. 14. 〈◊〉 the Church of Christ an Harlot And ye say Thirdly your extream â—…tiousnesse and rash judging not onely of persons abroad but also of the â—â—urch contrary to Mat. 7.1 Rom 14.3 also your calling the Church an Harlot leaving out the word Christ in which the strength of all did lie But why were these words left out being ye say ye inserted them verbatim the Reader may take notice that after I had received the copy from Robert Simson of what ye had charged upon me viz. rash judging and calling the Church of Christ an Harlot I replied the charge was false and from the father of lies for I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot but do own it dearly but the Harlot is an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and so demonstrated by the spirit that acted you that ye were not the Church of Christ but an Harlot from which ye not being able to vindicate your selves betake yourselves again to this refuge of lies and say ye insert the charge verbatim when ye did it not but left out the main thing therein contained without which your charge hath little weight for though I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot yet I have both said and proved that ye who call your selves a Church are an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and do again plainly say and declare it so and might farther prove it were it needful which it is not since my former proof stands good and not controlled by you nor you giving proof that ye are a Church of Christ And I do once more say and affirm that your charge is false and from the father of lies who was a liar from the beginning And your labour might be saved in using arguments to prove that I said ye were an Harlot and not a Church I had so plainly published it But here ye would perswade the Reader I came in with mental reservations and ask is it honestie or any thing but deceit and hypocrisie because I said I did not call the Church of Christ an harlot but the people in Bristol c. To which I say were ye not quite blind and full of deceit and subtiltie ye might easilie see and know that I spake plainly and truly without your mentals and other carnal stuff when I said and manifested that I dearly owned the Church of Christ which were all living stones c. and did clearly bear testimony against you that ye were not so but an Harlot and herein I appear both just and honest towards the Church of Christ and towards the Harlot in hearing testimony to the former and against the latter in which no deceit nor subtilty appears but just dealing and all your equivocations and mental reservations as ye call them together with your shamelesse unchristian-like practises in which ye appear one with the black spirit of Ralph Farmer is denied together with all lies and the father thereof but the Church of Christ is lovely c. Robert Simpson saith Fourthly your asserting in the Church principles contrary to Truth as first That faith is an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and saith is all one Thirdly That Christ Jesus is not the object of faith And ye say Fourthly Your asserting in the Churches doctrines contrary to truth as first that we did not know what faith was and that faith was an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and Faith is all one Thirdly That Christ is not the object of faith Fourthly Your speaking reproachfully of the blessed scripture affirming they were blind and a plaâ—â—â— to souls and further saying that they were not the word of God nor the rule of life and this ye say is verbatim and therefore must be examined And first I find that the copy saith principles contrary to truth and ye say doctrines contrary to truth and that 's not verbatim But I take notice that I having given true answers to each particular aforesaid contained in the copie and published it in The skirts of the Whore c. which stands in sound and wholsome words unanswered by you by which your shame appears of which being sensible ye labour to recover your vail to hide your falshood and having given heed to lying spirits ye again betake your selves to your wonted refuge and say having the copie by you ye publish it verbatim And say First That we did not know what faith was every word of which is forged and feigned and not in the copie delivered to me and therefore well might ye say whether may not a poor fallen people run if God stop them not And it is no wonder ye began your book pleading for the kingdom of the Devil saying that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so the mystical body by which its like ye mean your selves who are not a spiritual bodie as the Church of Christ is may be subject to distempers and among many other things make mention of windy humors of pride and high mindedness and giving heed to lying spirits c. It s like ye had some sence what spirit ruled you to which ye intended to give heed and with what filth and falshood ye intended to fill your book and the lying refuge to which ye intended to betake your selves before ye drew such false conclusions in the beginning thereof But this is not all in the copie delivered to me in this fourth branch were inserted but three particulars which are before mentioned to which ye adde a fourth viz. your spâ—aking reproachfully of the blessed scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and farther saying they were not the word of God and ru'e of life and this ye say is verbatim notwithstanding that which here ye make as a fourth particular in the fourth general is in the copie a fifth general including three Particulars and so do your selves afterwards reckon it notwithstanding in the wisdom of God ye are lest to ensnare your selves and manifest it to all the world saying it is verbatim when ye have left one of your five things mentioned but the line next before It s like the pangs of a traveling woman are upon you who have so long cryed peace and safety to your selves that the sword of the Lord is upon you and your eyes utterly darkened that ye cannot see But the blind have so long led the blind that ye are all fallen into the ditch and under pretence of recovering a veil have manifested your shame and published things which ye endevoured to perswade the
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
humours of pride high-mindedness and giving heed to lying Spirits violent headiness in stead of well tempered zeal for God and godliness c. All which it's like ye speak from good experience and if ye had added much more of that kind to which ye are subject I know and bear testimonie that it is true But if by mystical bodie ye mean the Church of Christ of which he is head and hath washed from all her sins in his own blood and redeemed from all iniquitie and presents holy and unblamable without spot or wrinkle then do ye speak falsely and wickedly blaspeming the bodie of Christ which is holy in which dwell no lying spirits nor windie homours as ye call it of pride and high mindedness c much lesse is it subject to those things but is more than Conqueror over it and is subject onely to Christ who is the head where other Lords have not dominion but being made free by the Son of God is free indeed while such as you are subject to such distempers and wicked spirits and humours by which ye are overcome and in bondage and never came to witness redemption and freedom by the Son of God who gave himself for us as Paul saith that he might redeem us from all iniquity and purify unto himself a peculiar people Now if Pauls words be true as indeed they are then is your mystical distempered surfeited windie humorous proud high minded feavorish bodie which gives heed to lying spirits no Church of Christ but an absolute Harlot And so have ye your selves manifested your own bodie as filthy as ever I declared it And so what wrong have I done ye ye say in my former book there is contained many things too low and beneath you to read peruse or answer thereby manifesting your Pride for his soul that is lifted up is not upright And the Harlot sits as a Queen and counts it beneath her to answer what is spoken to her in truth But I perceive ye are making good the title of your book covering your selves with such filthie stuff where ye cannot answer and yet he that reads and understands would think ye little regard what ye say or into what confusion ye run so ye can but think to hide your heads for notwithstanding ye said but now it was below and beneath a Christian much more a whole Church to read or answer my book yet presently ye say ye shall take the Lords Counsel and answer the Author Is it beneath and too low for you to read or answer and yet doth the Lord Counsel you to answer or doth the Lord Counsel you to answer what is beneath you to read Why should ye thus take the Lords name in vain to cover and hide your deceipt Know ye not that ye cannot be by him held guiltless But this is pitiful stuff to come from a whole Church as ye call your selves need enough ye have to seek a covering to hide your folly Ye say my Pamphlet is stuâ—t in the middle and both ends with many unsavoury and unchristian like expressions and speak of vain boastings absurdities and untruths but mention not the particulars nor make it appear and so I shall let it pass as one of your lying refuges Ye say how sadly is that Scripture Acts 20.30 fulfilled both on us and you c. I answer nay not on you who are far from the condition of the elders of the Church of Ephesus to whom Paul spake whom the holy Ghost had made overseers of the flock of God which he with his own blood had purchased and they did feed who were turned from the darkness to the light but I say this belongs not to you who love darkness and hate the light of which they were children and came to see with open face as in a glass the Lords glorie which condition is witnessed in measure by thousands at this day of those whom ye call miserable deluded people Neither is it fulfilled in me who do not speak perverse things to draw people from the truth which is the light but have declared the truth concerning you Ye say when ye had read the title of my book and considered the people included and intended by me ye could not but stand amazed c. I answer yea and well ye might and be ashamed and confounded that ever a people professing themselves the Church of Christ should be so notoriously found in the Harlots steps without so much as a shew of a true covering in which to hide themselves from the rebuke of what was spoken of them as in your book the Reader may perceive but are driven to so many lying refuges to vindicate your selves and all in vain for your covering is short Ye say Is it not an high degree of Luciferian pride for a poor Creature to set his foot upon the neck of all the assemblies and Churches of the Saints calling them the wâ—ore And then put your silly interpretations upon my words us some of you use to do upon the Scriptures and draw your mistaken meanings thereon and then tell me of Shimei's cursing David and of your resolutions c. To which I reply The assemblyes and Churches of Saints oh how lovely are they unto me because the living presence and power of God is there manifested In which I have chosen rather to be a door-keeper and to suffer reproach with the people of God which was Davids portion than to dwell with you in the ungodly Tent where Shimei that Curser is But the voice of the Lords thunders being heard in the earth and his lightenings gone forth and his just visitations come and coming upon the Harlot or great whore whose judgement is now come I doe according to my measure bear testimony against her your surfeited bodie though she call her self a Church and cover her self with scarlet as with a veil yet upon her neck do I tread and all her glorie do I despise and upon all her pride and Luciferian spirit do I trample for just and true is he that hath judged her And notwithstanding ye begin to wail and lament like them Rev. 18. whose merchandise was destroyed saying O how do the daughters of the Philistines rejoyce and the uncircumcised triumph will not every prophane person that seeth us go in the streets say Lo there goes one of the skirts of the whore one of the synagogue of Satan one of the cage of unclean birds c. And if we reprove them will they not say one of your selves have written and published it And then tell how your enemies will scourge you with the tongue and condemn you c. Reply If this be so and the Philistines and prophane persons in whose nature ye are and with whose spirit ye agree do thus behave themselves towards you yet know and see the Scriptures fulfilled and as ye have loved cursing reproaching or reviling so it is unto you and the measure which ye have meted is measured
but do not and so are lyers in the light which is true and lighteth every man that cometh into the world are ye tried and found so and therefore are no Church of Christ but a synagogue of Satan where the owles the Bats and venemous beasts inhabit in which crueltie and persecution dwels Ye tell how ye have tried some as the Church of Ephesus did and found them who boast of persecution to be lyers and their books and doctrine to be contrarie to the glorious Gospel of grace c. To which I say The condition of the Church of Ephesus ye know not who were quickened raised and set with Christ in heavenlie places not dead in trespasses and sins as ye are They walked not in the vanitie of their minds like other Gentiles according to the course of the world serving lusts and pleasures as ye do but from it were gathered to the light in which they were made able to judge and try both persons and doctrine because it is the light which makes manifest the hidden things of darkness c. But ye who hate the light and like the owles of the desart love to be in darkness not in light and therefore cover your selves with a veil that with open face ye may not see the glorie of the Lord ye are not able to judge or try as they did and therefore in your darkened minds call light darkness and darkness light rejecting the corner stone who is the head of the Church speaking reproachfully of perfection and those that attain it when Christ commanded his to be perfect as their heavenly father was perfect and his Ministers pressed to the attainement of it Ye say Was it ever heard that a man either Prophet Apostel or any that fâ—ared God and expected to give an accompt of his words and actions did assume that boldness as thus to judge a people professing godliness because I said ye were found a synagogue of Satan c. To which I say what I said in that particular stands unanswered by you onely ye would deceitfullie veil it over to evade the matter in hand and in stead of answering what I said propound so pitiful a question was it ever heard c. To which I say was there ever a people so blind as to take to themselves the name of a Church and for so long time profess the Scripture and some of them gain so many hundred pounds for trading with them as some of you have done and novv to say Was it ever heard that any man Prophet Apostel or any that feared God was so bold as thus to judge a people professing godliness as if ye had never read the Scripture Were not Isaiah and Jeremiah Prophets who cryed against the Jewes a people professing godlines and said Ah sinful Nation a seed of evil doers children that are corrupters that have forsaken the Lord provoked the holy one of Israel c. Hear the word of the Lord ye Rulers of Sodom give â—are to the Law of our God ye people of Gomorrha Hell hath enlarged her self and opened her mouth without measureâ— and their glorie and pomp shall descend into it How is the faithful City become an Harlot and with thy whordoms the land is polluted c. Was not John the greatest of Prophets who said to a professing people O generation of Vipers c. And did not Stephen a man full of the holy Ghost say ye stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears ye do alwayes resist the holy Ghost c. And did not Christ Jesus the light of the world say O generation of Vipers how can ye escape the damnation of Hell And to the chiefest professours ye are of your father the Devil c. And did not Babylon the mother of Harlots from whence ye proceeded professe godliness and so bewitched the Nations with her sorcerie c. whom John saw and said she is become the habitation of Devils and the hâ—â—d of unclean spirits and a cage of hateful birds where ye may read yourselves and your condition at this day who are indeed fallen and become the habitation of Devils and foul Spirits and unclean and hateful birds and cruel devouring beasts inhabit your hold who live upon the prey and spoil of that which falls into their net of which sort I perceive your cage is much filled since my departure which happily occasions you to boast and tell the world your number of 60 persons which are not now mingled as it was c. But if I should manifest what I know of some of your washt but yet filthy members 〈◊〉 I forbear many might wonder that ever such a people should accompt themselves the Church of Christ And whereas ye bespeak my condition sad for judging and condemning as ye say near 60 persons c. whose way spirit and principles I am well acquainted with And know ye are without and not in the life as I often told you whiles I was amongst you How sad must your condition be who reproach revile belye judge and condemn the generation of Gods children who are many thousands whose way principle and spirit ye cannot know nor comprehend but speak evil of that ye know not calling them miserable deluded people wandering in the dark and blind pathes of deceipt and delusion towards death and destruction but cannot truly demonstrate any thing in which the deceipt and delusion lyeth but belie the light which is their glorie But ye accompt it strange that we run not with you to the excesse of â—iot and therefore speak evil of us for which ye must give an account Ye say ye shall easily grant that my fellowship with you in the things of God was but outward for had it been inward and spiritual I would have continued in it but as it is written 1 Joh. 2.19 they went out from us because they were not of us c. Repl. What fellowship I had with you must needs be in that in which your fellowship stood which is outward things beyond which ye cannot see being covered with a vail and not able to see to the end of what is abolished and so are shut out of that condition and fellowship of which John there speaks And was as truly applied formerlie to you by the Parish Masters and their Companies as it is now to me by you But I shall freelie grant that I went both from the Parish Priests and also from you because I was not of you and that had I been of you I had continued c. But God having prepared better things for me than that which is abolished and waxeth old and is now perishing and in love manifested his Son and by his powerful arm gathered me unto it from amonst you all I was not disobedient but by him am made freelie willing in my measure to renounce and forsake my share in Aegypt and Babylon and all that is on this side the promised land that in it with John and those to whom
he writ and all that are faithful to the light I may have fellowship and know him that was from the beginning before the Scriptures were given â—orâ—h For John and those to whom be writ had fellowship in the light and so that vvhich they had heard and seen and handled that they declared and that vvhich they declared was that God is light and those that vvalk in the light as he is in the light have fellovvship c. And they that vvalk in darkness and say they have fellovvship vvith God are lyers He that keepeth â—is vvord in him is the love of God perfected The annointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things and is true and is no lye c. He that committeth sin is of the Devil and the Son of God vvas made manifest to destroye the vvorks of the Devil and whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and iâ— this the children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil This vvas their condition and the doctrine vvhich they preached vvho had an unction from the holy One and knevv all things from and out of vvhich the Antichrist vvent into the vvorld because they vvere not of them for had they been of them they vvould have continued vvith them But novv vvhat is this to you vvho knovv not that vvhich vvas from the beginning And so are declaring that vvhich others have heard and seen but never heard savv nor felt it your selves vvho vvalk in darkness and knovv not God but hate the light condemning that in vvhich their fellovvship stood that cry dovvn the annointing and true Teacher vvithin opposing those that declare that by committing sin the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil pleading for the kingdom of the Devil vvhiles ye are here and declaring that your mystical bodie may be subject to distempers and vvindie humours of pride headines high mindedness and giving heed to lying Spirits I say vvhat is this to you vvho are as far from the condition of vvhich John vvrites as the East is from the West manifesting your enmitie thereunto And might not the Pharisees vvhose righteousness exceeds yours more fitly applie those vvords to Paul to John and all that turned to the light and by it gathered from amongst them testifying against them that their vvork are evil Or might not the Parish Masters as rightly applie it against you and say you went out from them because ye were not of them as ye do it to me But in this also your covering is too short and your shame appears And vvhereas ye tell me of spreading before the Lord taâ—nts scorns false accusations c. of vvhich ye say my Pamphlet is full but name none I shall not â— need take notice of it farther than to tell you it is a lye framed by you to cover your shame and that taunts scornings and false accusations are denied by all the children of light vvho by the annointing vvithin vvhich leads into all truth are taught and guided and it is to be found vvithout vvhere the God of the vvorld rules and the unclean and cruel beasts inhabit and are distempers of your mystical bodie In page 8. Ye seem to tell me of some absurdities in my proceeding begging the question and drawing inferences c. Which also is but your refuge of lyes c. But ye say I stile you a Synagogue of Satan and then heap up threatâ—nings against you as such Repl. I truly stiled you a synagogue of Satan and proved you so by vvhat lodged in and amongst you vvhich vvas by your ovvn messengers acknovvledgâ—d as in my former boâ—k I declared and from which ye have not vindicated your selves but over your heads it stands and the judgement thereof ye cannot escape except ye repent But to your refuge of lyes ye again betake your selves saying I do like the persecutors of old who first wrapt the Saints in skins of beasts and then set dogs upon them to â—ear them Repl. This is your own case and the work in which ye have been employed by your Master some yeares past as well as in your present book in which ye speak of wretched Quakers a title of reproach used by you and others of Ishmaels seed at which the dogs of Aegypt open their months and would rend and â—ear if not by the power of the Lord restrained and with a sheeps skin have I not covered you but aâ—â— laying open and manifesting your wolvish nature though ye would cover your selves with sheeps clothing as with a veil And why should I set dogs and persecutors upon you who are of the same nature and Spirit with them And the world loves its own And because ye are of the world and speak of the world the world hears you and in it you glorie And whereas ye tell me of heaping up Scriptures against you which concern you not and how like it is to Raâ—shakâ—h c. I say it is your own it is your portion from it ye cannot flie nor have ye at all acquitted your selves but over your heads it stands and your vail covers not your shame who by the King of Babylon are employed to reproach and revile the servant of the Lord whom he hath redeemed out of kinreds tongues and people and through the regeneration brought following himself who judgeth the false Prophets and deceivers who are seen and witnessed against thoroughout the Nations wherâ— the voice of Gods thunders is heard and the well-â—avoured Harlot is discovered upon whose neck do I trample who shall never the Church of Christ be found In which I am not mistaken but from his presence your sentence is come forth to whom ye say ye will make your application as David did And whereas ye speak so much af applying prâ—mises to those to whom they belong not c. It is your own case who being proved an Harlot and have not proved your sâ—lves a Church would have that applied to you by others and do apply iâ— to your selves which belongs to the Church and that which is the Harlots portion and Proper to you ye love not to hear nor receive In your 9. page ye pretend three reasons why my defence which ye call my letter could not be received and read amongst you c. But whether it were indeed reasons why ye read it not or else a feigned pretence and lying shift since found out to veil your deceipt that of God in your own Consciences will bear testimonie for ye say your first reason was because it was not directed to the Church but as it were in a deriding manner to the people called Independents Which is an absolute lye for it had no such direction at all upon it but For the hands of Robert Sympson and Robert Purnel c. And how then could that be
general and yet ye say it s verbatim But in this also not onely your falshood but also your confusion is so fully manifested that I need say no more but leave it to the Reader to judge But ye say It is for speaking against the Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and that they are not the Word of God nor rule of life and this ye would have understood to be verbatim though like the rest it will easily appear to be a parcel of falshood hypocrisie and deceit for besides your own confusions before mentioned in the Coppy delivered to me by Robert Simpson which he saith is true and ye 〈◊〉 testimony he is faithful it is thus Your speaking reproachfully of the pretious Scriptures of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and secondly one of the greatest plagues of the Land and thirdly affirming farther that it is not the Word of God nor rule of life Now let the Reader whose eye is opened judge how these agree The person sent to admonish at the same time or thereahouts gives it under his hand that what he writ out and delivered to me was a true Coppy of what he received And the whole company after they received an answer thereunto deviseth and publisheth another and say it is verbatim though it much differs from the former The latter saith the charge there mentioned was verbatim in these words Speaking reproachfully of the blessed Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls c. the former in these words Speaking reproachfully of the precious Scripture of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and aly one of the greatest plagues of the land The one puts both together The Scripture is blind and a plague the other divides them into two particulars and saith first a blind to souls and 2ly one of the greatest plagues of the Land the one that the Scriptures were blind the other that it is a blind the one that they were blind and a plague to souls and never mentions the Land The other that it is first a blind to souls and 2ly a plague yea one of the greatest plagues of the Land and mentions not souls The one saith The pretious Scriptures of truth The other the blessed Scriptures and mentions not the words of truth And yet if any man is given over to believe lies ye will perswade him all this is true and verbatim that is word for word according to the copy And that notwithstanding this lying spirit which is found in your mouths to which ye give heed ye are a Church of Christ or a mystical body a word of deceit from the bottomlesse pit which may be subject to this spirit as it plainly appears to all beholders ye are by what your selves have published And truly the day hath manifested you very much and ye cannot be hid but by the light your deeds of darknesse are and will be reproved and your pretended admonition farther manifested to be but studied accusations and from your father the devil who was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth Now as that which ye call your admonition and say ye did insert verbatim as a bundle of lies and confusion as hath been manifested so is that which ye call your proof for in page 13. ye say because I said those things that is to say your charge are studied accusations and from the father of lies c. ye shall therefore prove every tittle to be true And in page 18. ye say ye have proved every tittle to be true and clear and in page 26. your 3 Messengers who boast that they received their Commission from God to this work say that the things that they charged me withall are all true in every sillable of it as doth appear by the foregoing answer of the whole Church Now then if ye have not proved every tittle of your charge to be true and if it do not appear by your foregoing answer that every sillable of that with which your Messengers charged me is true then are ye proved both those that did send and those that were sent no Church of Christ but a company of lyars and false asserters But ye have not proved every title and every sillable thereof to be true and therefore are ye no Church of Christ but a company of lyars for first ye charged me for leaving the Church and now ye say that I have left the Church is true but no proof thereof have ye given neither is it true which ye say for the Church I have not left but to witness the Church I have left the harlot and that I have absolutely forsaken left and renounced fellowship with you in all your idolatrous heathenish wayes and worships which stand in the will and time of man and not in the will and power of God and by the mighty arm and power of the Lord am I separated from amongst you never again to have fellowship nor communion with you in those unfruitful works of darkness which by the light are reproved is granted else could I never know nor witness the Church of Christ which is in God the father But that ye are the Church of Christ is denyed and was denyed and by your fruits and what lodged in you were ye proved an harlot a synagogue of Satan c. which stands vvholly unansvvered by you And therefore it is not true but a lie to say I left the Church when I was separated from the Harlot that I might witness the Church But suppose it had been true that I had left the Church by vvhat have ye proved it Why onely your selves say it is so but that is no proof and yet this is more than tittles and syllables it is vvhole sentences ye a general charge not proved except vvhat the harlot speaks to save her head vvhen to judgement she is brought is to be believed and admitted as a proof But ye go on and say that my so doing hath drawn away some grieved others and opened the mouehs of many to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which is clear and plain and not a studied accusation but a real thing which hath been grief and sadness to the Church To which I reply if the Harlot or Synagogue of Satan might be believed in her own case when she speaks not truth then what ye say were of some value But from the Church have I drawn none nor been a grief nor sadness that I know to her with whom in some measure I have unity Neither do I know of any whose mouths I have justly opened to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which are pure and spiritual So that the whorish and adulterous harlot cannot see it who is grieved and sadned at my departure whose judgement is come and her torments from the living God are pouring and therefore hath she opened her mouth very wide and from her unclean fountain
To which I say There was a time in which many false witnesses were brought against him who was the truth and the light but they agreed not And when by the truth ye are examined it will be found that ye also are far from agreeing in testimony for proving what your selves affirme if your own testimony were admitted in your own case which it is not Ye say ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words And what words are they Not the same in the charge which ye say is verbatim but is much otherwise and so the charge is fall'n and false as the Reader may see And who are they that will affirme and set their hands to it Are they the whole company or but a part If it be the whole then many or most of you will affirme and set your hands to that which themselves have confest they never heard If it be but a part and not the whole then that which yee have already said is altogether false and untrue and your testimony invalid For what is said is said by the whole or else those that signed it are in this as in other things abhominable lyars Again in what ye say ye will affirme and set your hands unto there appears much uncertainty for ye say I clapt my hand on the book or table but on which I perceive ye are ignorant And ye say I said that booke or Scripture Now if ye so well remember the manner of speech as ye say ye doe it is much ye cannot remember the matter But having before accused me for saying the Scriptures were a blinde to soules and a plague to the Land Now ye say It was the booke or Scriptures that I said was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England Manifesting your selves to be at a losse and in confusion not able to say whether it were the Book or the Scriptures or what it was for indeed it was neither And so the charge or accusation is quite fallen and by your selves brought to nought And why are these words viz. one of the greatest plagues c. in England now added being left out in the place where ye say ye did insert verbatim Is here no designed subtilty and deceipt Is all proved Are here no tittles nor syllables neglected in the proof Or is what ye have published like to be true or fit to be believed Let the Reader consider it But ye say some of you sitting over against me it's like at the Table do well remember c. But why had ye not told me who these some were that sate over against me and do remember it For I know but four that were wont to sit with me at the Table and with three of them have I spoken neither of which could to my face say or affirme they ever heard me speak such things and then the some is but one and that is an hireling too a Diviner a deceitful worker that daubeth with untempered morter and cries peace peace to that to which the Lord speaks no peace and his testimony is little worth for if ye say he sate over against me at the Table when I spake such words Jane Frye contradicts him who is the only person besides himself that ever I heard or could learn had the shamelesse confidence to say she heard me speak these things with whom I had conference in the presence of other witnesse and demanded where it was spoke she replyed in mine owne house at a meeting I cold her it was much many others heard it not as well as she To which she replyed it was after the meeting was done and I was risen from the Table and stood out in the roome and there clapt my hand on the Booke and spake as before And that her selfe with her sister Hassard and her sister Anne Davis went out into the streets and bewailed it which I knowing not to be true sent to Anne Davis to enquire the truth of it by a relation of hers who answered that she never heard me speak such words nor any thing like it So that it is evident false witnesse do not agree for ye say some of you sitting over against me which must needs be at the Table upon which or upon the book ye say I clapt my hand when I spake But she saith it was after the meeting was done and I was gone from the Table in which is no agreement She said Anne Davis with her selfe and another went into the streets and bewailed it but Anne Davis denies that ever she heard it She said standing out in the room I clapt my hand upon the booke and said the Scriptures were a plague c. But ye say I clapt my hand upon the book or table and said the book or Scriptures were blinde and a plague but cannot agree whether it was a Book or a Table a book or Scripture And so are all in confusion being led by a lying spirit and able by agreement to prove nothing Besides ye say the book or Scriptures but in the copy delivered to me it was said the Scriptures of truth in which is no agreement Besides all this one of you being asked if ever he heard me speak those words answered that hee heard me speak to this effect That the Scriptures as men goe to worke with it making it a pattern of all manner of vice and wickednesse was one of the greatest plagues c. And being demanded then why ye had not laid the charge in the very words that were spoken he was silent as to that and said he had already purchased jealousie from some in the Church as one that was in danger c. And this I have under the hand of him to whom it was spoken Now let all to whom true judgement is known judge what differing testimonie here is and how like it appears to that of old in which no agreement could be against the innocent And how desperately-wicked ye appear under a cloak of Religion accusing for something but cannot manifest for what but in it contradict your selves And in some things Jane Frye is nearer the matter than the other 59. or thereabouts who false witnesses are found because after a meeting was ended in which Thomas Ewins had been speaking about that Idol called Divinity and the people mostly gone and I rose from the Table and standing neer the middle of the room did there say and declare that that accursed thing called the body of Divinity was a plague to the land or words to that effect of which I told you before though ye wickedly shut your eyes and not observed it because it was the truth And were it not so it had been one with that spirit to which ye have taken heed But suppose credit vvere to be given to such a generation vvho in testimony do not agree but are proved as before c. yet to the Reader vvould I say vvhat
the knowledge ye had of Christ shall profit you nothing and that your habitation was in deceipt and thorough deceit ye refuse to know the Lord c. Ye say in this thing ye did not violently oppose and then its like ye confess it as knowing it was the truth and why then had ye not repented Ye say some of you did often tell me that your comforts stood not so much in a knowing as in an acknowledgement of Christ to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures and that ye own no other knowing of Christ then understandingly to know him in his person without you c. which is the sum of most of the 19. page And so have declared and clearly manifested the ground and foundation of all your Religion comforts joy and peace to be one and the same with the foundation of the Religion of the Pope Jesuits drunkards swearers prophane ignorant and superstitious people of the world namely an acknowledgement of Christ without you to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures And so the devils in this particular excel you who did not only acknowledge him but knew him who he was Jesus the Son of God And concerning the Ministers of Christ which those of your literal profession opposed and persecuted cryed out these are the servants of the most high God But the comfort joy and peace of the children of light stands not in your ground of general acknowledgement of Christ without them to be what the Scriptures declare him to be but in a particular knowledge of him as by the spirit of holiness he is revealed within them whereby they come to witness him the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and so Paul knew him and so to know him was and is eternal life and witnessed so to be by those to whom he is so revealed But this is a mysterie hid and unknown to all that lie in the death and never come to witness the first resurrection but declare the ground of their comforts to stand in that in which the wicked of the world with them are one And this is not to slight and nullifie that glorious person in heaven as ye falselie say many of our way do scoffing and jeering at you for speaking of the person of Christ and thinking to be saved by the blood of him that dyed at Jerusalem which is but your false accusations and slanders and proceeds from the same fountain and spirit of envy and wickedness as Ralph Farmers bundles of lies did in which he and ye are one and at an agreement for scoffing and jeering lying and false accusing being the works of darkness in which your generation are exercised is denyed by all that vvalk in the light vvhich is our vvay and the vvay everlasting But to declare against your follie and your thinkings to be saved by the acknovvledging of Christ vvithout ye whilst of him and his life ye are ignorant living in wickedness lying hypocrisie and deceipt hating the light and erring from the right way is no error but love to your souls who pretend honour to the person but hate the light of Christ and know not his Gospel which is the power of God nor his way which is everlasting and lives nor his Ordinances which are living spiritual and true not traditional invented and carnal The consideration of which together with the lying spirits to which ye give heed might justly cause you to mind whether ye are not those that stumble at Christ the corner stone and do cause others to stumble at him who is now come and witnessed in life power and spirit and living demonstrations thereof are given and manifested in thousands who by experience have known and felt the dove-like spirit of Christ of which ye speak though both to you and others who live in envie murthering the just and betraying the innocent pretending honour to the name but hating the light and persecuting the power of Christ This is hid and ye say ye will not believe it And if those that owned and seem to honour the Scripture in which Moses wrote of Christ did not believe but crucified him when in flesh he was made manifest no marvel then if ye do not believe who call the verie words of Scripture in which to you I spake page 21. of my former book strange and unchristian expressions surelie ye are strangelie erred from the way of truth and true wisdom who live in such confusion and deceit one while calling the Scriptures the Word of God and rule of life when by wresting it ye can serve your lusts but when by it ye are reproved for your wickedness then ye call it strange and unchristian expressions and say The Lord rebuke your railing as if the Scripture which ye term the Word of God and Rule of life were railing and the Prophets and holy men of God which gave it forth were railers because it bears true testimonie against your wicked wayes as well as others for the words I mentioned are recorded Isa 57. 4. Psal 2.1 2 c. and in some other Scriptures as the Reader will perceive that reads my former Book But ye say its easie to heap up good words right or wrong Alas poor blind people by what blind guides are ye led Is it strange and unchristian expressions and yet good vvords Are they good vvords and yet vvrong What exceeding confusion are the children of darknesse brought into in this day of the Lords povver in vvhich light is risen out of obscuritie and the Lords glory appeared c. In pag. 21. Ye say Though some of our way have shouted and cryed Hosannah holy holy King of Israel to James Nayler c. To which I reply When will ye be weary of lying and false accusing which is the work of the Devill for none of our way ever so cried to any man But that which is our way is the truth and the life and is everlasting the light and life of men from which whosoever turns aside forsakes the right way and turns to lying vanities as some in this day of the Lords visitation have done who must bear their burthen But ye are easily seen of what generation ye are who watch for an occasion to speak evill of the way of Truth and the Saints and Children of light who in the fear of the Lord do walk and in his Councell abide which to you is not known who are glad with an advantage by any means to speak evill of the way of Truth and the people who being gathered into it are for its sake become strangers in the earth and to their familiar friends and aliens to their mothers sons as all their fathers were But in this again are ye and Ralph Farmer one and by one and the same spirit are ye guided to whom it is known that those that cried as aforesaid are not of our way but denied and witnessed against before
ever they did those actions But if I should go about to gather up the actions and expressions contrary to truth which I have known and heard passe from some of your vvay which is a very broad way how abominable filthy would it appear But I forbear farther then it may be for your advantage Yet let me aske if none of your way which is the broad vvay leading to destruction did tell me it vvas the pride of Mordecais heart that bovved not to Haman And another that the Rulers and Elders had sinned if they had not crucified or put Christ to death because they judged him a blasphemer And another that the Pope and Jesuits do believe in Christ But this I cast not upon you vvhom I knovv not particularly guilty but that ye may see the unjustnesse of your ovvn accusations and that the guilty ones may see it and be ashamed Ye fall a vvondring at my shamelesnesse as ye call it in mentioning that some of you did beate in your meetings like the enemies of Christ in the synagogues And say yee will declare to all the world the truth of this story To vvhich I say if ye can at last declare truth it 's vvell and fit ye had done it sooner But ye tell hovv Sathan hath raged at your vvomens praying in vvhich its like ye mistake and that it vvas the vvitnesse of God that strives against your hypocrisie as it did of old against your fathers vvhen their vvaies vvere corrupt before the Lord And vvoe unto you vvhen it shall strive no more Ye say Two wretched women came rushing into the roome one of which had been an old Ranter the other a late member of this Church Whereas they had been one as much a member vvith you as the other and neither are Ranters but in sobernesse do vvalk and so came into your meeting and as ye say told you the prayers of the wicked is an abhomination to the Lord With vvhich you vvere disturbed and the Woman forced to give over reply It s like then there was power in what was spoken and its manifest the very words of the Scripture are your disturbance And therefore like the Gadarens who in this are your pattern ye desired as ye say these disturbers to depart your room as they did Christ to depart their Coasts But when they departed not ye exceeded your pattern as ye your selves confess and would have put them out its like by force which ye say is all the beating and occasion of it Which is an absolute lie for down the stairs yee would have thrown them as your fathers would have thrown Christ down the brow of the hill which to do ye did attempt haling beating and pinching them till their bodies were sore in which your marks they did bear a long time after So that here appears no truth nor ancient godlinesse but the contrary in them that did it and this wickednesse do I not justifie being condemned by the light to which it is abhomination and a more wicked thing than for two sober women to come soberly into your meeting and declare amongst you the truth whether ye hear or forbear In page 23. ye endeavour the best you can to veile your selves from the stroak of truth contained in Psalm 83. and in the Prophesie of Obadiah But all in vain for it is your portion and ye must bear it from him who with righteousnesse doth judge the poor and your demanding what grosse darkness is upon my minde that I should be crying out against you that are innocent will not veile you Nay notwithstanding ye demand again whether I be not joyned with all the Papists Atheists Ranters and all the ungodly rabble of the world in this one great designe of the Devil to break in pieces the Churches of Christ c. And then mention under the name of Anabaptists Independents Sectaries Schismaticks c. To which I answer nay with the Harlot I am not joyned for then must I be one body with you But from among you all am I separated by the power of the Lord to witnesse his presence And therefore your selves with all Papists Atheists Ranters and ungodly rabble of the world who in the great designe of the Devill are joyned to hate the light and persecute and oppose the life power of God do I deny and stand a witnesse against And although ye are the many-headed Beast in divers forms sects and opinions under the name of Papists Atheists Independents Anabaptists c. and upon a like ground pretend to Christs person Gospel and Ordinances as before I said and with one mouth and with one shoulder cry out against and oppose his light and living presence for which ye associate and take counsell together of one and the same lying spirit yet ye must be broken and as a new threshing instrument is the Lord making the worm Jacob to thresh your mountains as chaffe and your little hills as dust And the day of your distresse and visitation is begun in which all that see you shall wag the head who with the most embittered enemies are joyned against the light and life of God and with Atheists Drunkards and prophane persons who live in scoffing scorning reproaching and deriding in slandering falshood and lies do ye assemble teaching the wicked of the world your wayes and the Children that have not understanding to blaspheme the light and living way to the Father which is your own returned But can ye be honest and own what ye say and novv flie from it If so then I demand Is it indeed the great designe of the Devil to break in pieces the Congregations in England under the names of Independents Anabaptists Sectaries c. as ye pretend it is If nay then are ye false and deceitfull in what ye have written If yea then is there a false Prophet and Minister of Satan to be found amongst you in whose mouth he hath been a lying spirit to which ye ought to give no longer heed For Robert Purnell in his book entitled Good newes to sinners great joy to Saints declares the contrary And in pag. 65. undertakes to be a Prophet and saith a few words by way of prophesie of the downfall of Presbytery Independency Anabaptisme c. And then he calls upon all the servants of the most high and mighty God heirs of promise and sons of Zion to look for great alterations and changes and to see what desolations God will make in the earth and for nothing but the Lord to be revealed from heaven which saith he will be mighty in his dispensations exceeding glorious in his revelation and strong and powerfull in his operation and will bring to passe his determinations and destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veile that is spread over all Nations which veile he saith is knowing Christ and Christians after the flesh which Paul did not do after his eyes were opened
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
not in word but in power And no other Gospel do we own but that which is the Gospel of the kingdom the power of God to salvation which is not in word but in power and is the mystery hid from ages and generations but is revealed by the Spirit to those whom God would make known the riches of his glory c. But saith he namely to bid every man turn to a light within What then doth he bid them turn to the darknesse and to follow the darknesse Doth he think that good Doctrine Luke 11.34 The light of the body is the eye therefore when thy eye is single thy whole body is full of light but if thine eye he evill thy whole bodie also is full of darkness Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not darkness Where there is a single eye is not the body full of light Where the eye is evill is not the body full of darknesse And was not this Christs doctrine who bids people take heed that the light within them be not darkness And were they not to take heed to that which was indeed light within them of which the body was full where the eye was single and to walk in it And the Apostle who was a Preacher and a Minister of the Gospel declared that the light maketh manifest the things that are to be reproved And also that which may be known of God is manifested even in them vvhich vvere vvicked and committed uncleannesse yet still they knevv the judgements of God against such things And is it not good to take heed to that vvhich manifests sin unrighteousnesse and deceit and brings to a knovvledge of the judgements of God against such things and if turned unto and vvalked in leads out of unrighteousnesse and all deceivablenesse But the light vvhich shines in the heart to give the light of the knovvledge of the glory of God he likes not to retain But hath shewed his ignorance or vvickedness if not both and is joyned amongst the vaine rabble and vvicked company not only of the people but also of those called Teachers vvhich himselfe calls an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soul-murthering Ministry vvho have made themselves base and contemptible in the eyes of all good men and in the consciences of many bad And well were it if he knew what that is in the consciences of many bad which joyns with all good men against such a Ministry who himselfe with the bad is joyned in denying and opposing the light of which the servants of God declare and direct unto and which the Prophets Apostles and holy men of God in Scripture did beare testimony of and that true light and no other do those whom he calls Quakers direct unto which the Scriptures abundantly make mention of The Prophets who spake as they were moved by the holy Ghost preached and directed to the light and groaned after the enjoyment thereof saying Ah! send out thy light and thy truth and let them lead and bring me to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacle and accounted it misery enough to go to the generation of their fathers and not to see the light which say they was sowen for the righteous And Isaiah by the spirit of Prophesie declared that the people that sate in darknesse saw a great light and upon them that sate in the shadow of death hath the light shined And that the light of Israel shall be for a fire and his holy one for a flame which should burn and devour his bryars and thorns in one day And that a light to the Gentiles would God give that should be his salvation to the ends of the earth To which light the Gentiles should come and Kings to the brightnesse of his rising And the Sun shall no more be thy light by day nor for brightness shall the Moon give light unto thee but the Lord shall be thine everlasting light and thy God thy glory And Christ who is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world saith I am come a light into the world c. Believe in the light And John who prepared his way did beare witnesse of him that he was the true light which did enlighten every man that cometh into the world And this is prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles to give light to them that sit in darknesse which is the glory of his people Israel And after Christ was ascended and people were not to say in their hearts Who shall ascend to bring Christ down or descend to fetch him up c. Paul a Minister of the Gospel was sent to turn peoples mindes from darknesse to the light and to the light did he turn them and said God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse hath shined into our hearts but to what end Why saith Paul to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God c. But of this Thomas Ewins is no Preacher to wit to turne people to the light within which shines in the heart to give the knowledge of the glory of God c. But against this saith he came Henry Jesse from London to establish and confirm the people of Bristol c. This he calls the pernicious Doctrine of the Quakers and would perswade his Reader that those who bid turn to the light within do shut up the Kingdome of Heaven against men and do thereby take them off from believing in the person of Christ But this is an absolute lye and in this he is one with the Pharisees for they denyed the light and opposed the truth which enlihgtneth every man And he proclaims himself no Preacher of that namely to tmrn to the light So in this is he joyned with the Pharisees to shut the Kingdome of heaven against men by denying the Light For no man can ever knew God nor into his kingdome did enter whilst he denyed or opposed the light in him but they that entred did owne it and the saying of the Reprobate is not much to be heeded He saith he supposeth we would have him give over Preaching and come to our way and that one told him hee kept many from receiving and embracing the light To which I say He doth his uttermost to hinder if his words or writing may do it and with the God of the world and all his Ministers throughout the Nations is he joyned to do what they can to keep blinde the mindes of all that believe not in the light lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine into their hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Yet indeed the good of his and all mens soules we do desire but all his hypocrisie falshood and deceit we do deny And if he own our way which is the true light the true and living way his mouth would soon be stopt for declaring against it And for all his denying
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
abide in its paths And in your own darknesse are joyned every one against the servants of God who bid turn to the light which is pure which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which is no pernitious but sound Doctrine for if it be good to watch and good to walk in the true light then it is good to turn men to that light And if the Lord would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth then it is good that all men be turned to the light which shines in the heart to give the knowledge of it in the sace of Christ and to bid people to take heed to that light to walk in that light and believe in the light which lighteth every man that is sound doctrine and those that love not the light nor walk in the light nor believe in the light are left without excuse and the light come is their condemnation and by the light are they already condemned who believe not in the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world and whatsoever the false Prophets and Ministers of unrighteousness say to the contrary is of little weight Again Robert Sympson in pag. 33. declares that that light which is in me and in all men if not put out would tell me that that thing which he there asserts is true Now here is light confest to be in me and in all men and that light to be in all men which is in me and the Scripture saith that was the true light which lighteth every man which should answer that which he affirms and minds to be truth if not put out And if so then that is a good Ministry which opens blind eyes and turns from darkness to light Then it being so what have those servants of the Lord done for which thou so highly chargest them who are sent of the Lord to bear witness of his name and to declare his truth and bids take heed to the true light and turns to it to the opening of the blind eyes that people may see the way to everlasting life and have their feet guided in the way of peace with whom the Lord of a truth is though Thomas Ewins with the rest of the deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan who love darkness and hate the light do reproach and belye them he uttering his confusion and envy against the innocent telling the world the Quakers as he calls them have done such mischief and their doctrine is pernicious they bid all men turn to the light thereby to draw them from believing in the person of Christ and he is no Preacher of that thing they call Gospel and calls them miserable deluded people Oh vain man who boastest thy self in thine evil way how is night come upon thee and darkness overshadoweth thee And how art thou reeling and staggering like a drunken man who hast spoken and written so of the light thy self as is before mentioned yet art not ashamed to belie and reproach the servants of the living God as thou hast done for labouring to turn people from darknes to the light who having received a Ministery from the Lord as all the Ministers of Christ did not from men as the false Apostles and deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan did they labour not accompting their liberties nor lives dear unto them so that they may finish their course with joy and the Ministry which of the Lord Jesus they have received and therfore in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours by knowledge by long suffering by kindness by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the Word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousness by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true c. do they approve themselves the Ministers of Christ and witnessed it is in the consciences of men And Thomas Ewins words being honestly considered with what is replyed thereunto may not his own sayings be justly turned upon his head pag. 49. may he not blush to speak or write such things Will Jehovah the great and glorious God ever own such railings and revilings to which I add lying and deceiving to be a testifying from him Or will he ever justifie him in what he hath written and published Oh! be ashamed and confounded poor deluded man for how hath he manifested himself a blind guide They that is the Anabaptists think he is too large in his principles and he thinks them too straight in theirs and yet they do not differ but can bear with each other in love Truly the Devil may love his own work which is to lead people in darkness and blindness and there have his instruments fellowship But will any man that fears God and weighs his words believe or own him in what he saith How can it be that they should think one thing and he another he have large principles and they streight they in their light and he in his and yet not differ And may not he be justly reproved as well as the Authour of Satan enthroned in his Chair of Pestilence in that they both agree to charge mischief done in Bristol on those called Quakers And Tho. Ewins is in that joyned with R. F. one walking in his light and the other in his yet they differ not but are both opposers of the true light and the children thereof who in the same do walk as were their fathers in all generations But in it are they both discovered to be out of the right way and the children of light who walk in the light stand witnesses for the Lord against them both and that principle of darknesse blindenesse and deceit in which they walk and from which their corrupted works of reviling and persecuting the innocent without a cause proceeds But the day is come in which the Lord is gathering his people from such to give T. E. his own words an ignorant ungodly lazy proud scandalous soul-murdering ministry who deny the light and with the God of the World are joyned to blinde the eyes of peoples mindes least the light of the glorious Gospel should shine unto them I say least the light which God commands to shine out of darknesse should shine into the heart to give the knowledge of the glory of God of which light and no other the servants of God declare and your folly is manifesting apace glory to the Lord for evermore for although he that preacheth the Gospel witnesseth the new covenant where the law is written in the heart and the spirit put into the inward parts and although the scripture witnesseth that the law is light and written in the heart and that the word is within in the heart and in the mouth Prov. 6.23 Rom. 10.8 Deut. 30.14 the anointing which is true and is no lye and teacheth all things so that the saints need no other teacher abideth with in the
witnesse as within the Kingdom of God is within the light which gives the knowledge of the glory of God shines within even in the heart 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Joh. 5.10 1. Cor. 4.6 Christ is within God is within who dwells and walks in them whose bodies are his Temples yet this blinde ignorant and unlearned man is not ashamed to publish that he is no preacher of that Gospil viz. the light within but declares it pernitious doctrine and that he never read or heard that any of the Prophets Apostles or holy men of God did preach such a Gospel c. And for his speaking of Sarah Latchet asking how I can stile her a Servant of Jesus who is an Apostate and an excommunicated person going on in such rayling and calling him a deceiver Another time saying the prayers of the wicked are an abhomination to the Lord. And another time let fly at him with a multitude of rayling and reviling terms such as he saith they use to give to the Ministers of the Nation c. To this I say In that she did bear true Testimony against him I own it as a service in the Truth and her being excommunicated as he cals it by those who deny the true light proves nothing to the contrary nor her calling him deceiver or saying the prayers of the wicked are abhomination to the Lord for so are their services and sacrifices and to deny and bear Testimony against it is no Apostacy upon a true account and to be hated and separated by such from their company and by them to be reproached and to have ones name cast out as evil for the Son of mans sake who is the light of the World is a blessed thing rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets Luke 6.22 23. and his word excommunication is turned back into his bundle of Popish or Heathenish ignorance as that which was never used by the Ministers of Christ And if Sarah Latchet be excommunicated as he calls it then it s like those that did it are ashamed of their work for she knew it not but saith he she let flie at me with such railing termes as they use to give the Ministers of the Nation To which I say why should not he be testified against as well as they being at least in many things found in their steps and practices But for reviling speeches let him look at home He saith she called him Deceiver and said the prayers of the wicked were abhomination to the Lord and this by him is termed rayling and reviling though it be according to the Scriptures which proceeded from those that spake as they were moved of the holy Ghost But he in his answer to Ralph Farmer saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of Englands misery and consequently of Bristols is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry who have made themselves contemptible and base in the eyes of all good men and in the consciences of many bad Now if this be so the Quakers as he calls them did not all the mischief in Bristoll as he falsly saith they did for now he saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of the misery of England and Bristol is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry And so hath he proved himselfe a lyar and a false accuser which the Ministers of Christ were not But who is the rayler and reviler now They that bear true testimony against him and his generation according to Scripture or Thomas Ewins in speaking his own corrupted words out of his polluted and unsanctified fountain who by his own confession questions whether ever he had received the Spirit to purge and purifie cleanse and sanctifie believers and make them holy But if it be so that the misery of England and Bristoll is such a Ministry as he hath before exprest and which he terms the Ministry of the Nation ought they not to be testified against and he also so far as he is found in their condition And may it not well be said that it is the great misery of many poor souls in Bristoll that such ignorant and blinde guides as ye are are followed which is the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back door of so much confusion as is at this day amongst you one bearing with the other in your darknesse and in your streight and large principles till ye become all quite blinde and stark drunk in your imaginations reeling and staggering so that many poor people are even at their wits end and have followed you so long till their soules are even famished and they fallen into misery But glory to the Lord God of life who hath caused light to shine out of darknesse and out of obscurity by which the deceitfull veiles and coverings of the soul-murthering Ministry are made manifest And were those savoury words for Thomas Ewins to say It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell to worke then to goe about rayling at people as she did Let shame cover his face for ever when he looks back on his own words which are so well like the words and deeds of the Ministers of the Nation which himselfe calls the soul-murthering Ministry that he which reads may easily perceive them to agree and that one and the same spirit leads and guides them all And did not Thomas Ewins let flye at her in envy when he spake such words and hath thus confest it to his shame among those that are not willing to joyn hand with the wicked and to take part with evill doers And for his saying that she cursed and rayled that is but the invented refuge of his lying spirit for the words he sets down as hers are no such things And for his charging her to be idle that is from the same root of lying she having been known to be diligent in an honest employment and lives not by others labours as do the soul-murthering Ministers as he calls them who preach for hire and divine for money and against those that put not into their mouths they prepare war And take liberty to themselves from their high places to reproach revile slander and belye them that feare the Lord and are obedient to Christ the light of the world But if any who feel the burthen of the word of the Lord and witnesse it as a fire in their bones and being weary of holding it in are made to pour it out against the soul-murthering Ministry c. For this they must to the whip to prison to Bridewell c. And in this Thomas Ewins is discovered And for his saying ô be ashamed and confounded poor deceived man because I said she testified from the Lord I say his own words are turned upon his own head and to bear witnesse in truth against his