Corner-Stone the Foundation of the Prophets Apostles and us as is said in John and we are those who have obeythe Commands of Christ who enlightens every Man that cometh into the World that all through it might believe who said Believe in the Light this is his Command that they may become Children of the Light John 12.36 So we know That as many as receives him to wit Christ the Light that enlighteneth every one that cometh into the World to them gives he Power to become the Sons of God John 1.12 And this we Witness and can say Behold what manner of Love is this that we should be called the Sons of God and Heirs of Christ who makes us sit together in the Heavenly Places in Christ Jesus who formerly were dead in Sins and Trespasses Eph. 2. And we have received the Unction from the Holy One through which we come to know all things The Anointing which we have received of him abides in us and we need not any ones Teaching us but as the same Anointing does teach us all thengs and is true and is no Lye and even as it hath taught you ye shall abide in him 1 John 2.27 It taught the Saints in the Apostles dayes and us in ours therefore we must abide in him as they did to wit in Jesus And the Light of Christ which shines in our Hearts which God hath commanded to shine out of Darkness doth give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ Jesus And this is the Heavenly Treasure we have in our Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4.6 7. So as we walk in the Light as he is in the Light we have Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Christ the Son of God which sprinkles our Hearts and Consciences cleanseth us from all Sin 1 Joh. 1.7 And whereas many Lyes and Scandals you have cast upon us to wit our Denying of God Christ and the Scriptures c. They are all False For Christ we know own and believe his Incarnation Passion Death Resurrection Ascension and Glorification And the Scriptures we own to be the Scriptures of Truth And Scriptures signifie Writings and we own the Scriptures to contain the Words of God which we learn of God and given forth by the Holy Men of God and are profitable for Doctrine for Reproof for Correction and Instruction in Righteousness 2 Tim. 3.16 17. And whereas we have been accused for Denying Original Sin and Owning Perfection here in this Life To which we answer That there is an Original of Sin we deny not but your Doctrine of Original Sin we do deny as you state it For doth not Original signifie the Beginning and the beginning of Sin was it not the Devil For we do affirm it was neither God nor Christ And did not Christ come to destroy the Devil and his Works and so destroy the Original So we must tell you we hold Christ and not the Devil who was and is the Original of Sin and Imperfection I say again Christ who was before the Devil was who was glorified with the Father before the World began who bruises the Serpents Head and the Heads of all Deceivers Lyars and Slanderers and False Prophets and Anti-Christs And in him we are to wit Christ Jesus who is our Salvation Mediator and Redeemer And as for your Accusing us for holding Perfection Answ What must we not hold God who is Perfect and must we not hold Christ who is Perfect and his Work and Worship which is Perfect and his Religion which is Perfect that comes from himself and the Gifts of his Spirit and Grace and Faith which are Perfect Are not all his Gifts Perfect and must we not receive them in this Life yea must not our Bodies be the Temple of God and of Christ and of his Holy Ghost And then must we not hold them who are Perfect and own Perfection And is not the Command of Christ to us to be Perfect as our Heavenly Father is Perfect And was it ever the work of the Prophets and Apostles to preach up Imperfection for Term of Life but always both the Prophets Christ and the Apostles pressed and presseth us to Perfection and what do they press us to that which is Impossible to be attain'd unto What will you say that their Words were of no Value What will you liken Christ and his Apostles words unto For were there any that ever denied the Doctrine of Perfection saving only Presbyterians Independants and Baptists and you who have got the Forme of Godliness but deny the Power thereof which brings out of Imperfection to the perfect Head Christ Jesus who is the way to God And therefore you do not only deny the perfect Power but also are short of having the Form of Godliness And will not Christ present his Church Perfect that is without Spot or Wrinkle unto God the Father who is the pure Head of it And how will you present your Church to God What will you present it to God with a Body of Death and a Body of Sin Do not you deny Circumcision in this namely the Circumcision of the Spirit that is made without Hands by putting off the Body of the Sins of the Flesh by the Circumcision of Christ And do not you deny Christ's Baptism who came with his Fan in his Hand to purge his Floor thoroughly whom We see is come and doth increase and do see the decrease of John I say He is come with his Fan in his Hand who will thoroughly purge his Floor and burn up the Chaff with unquenchable Fire and gather his Wheat into his Garner a safe place And this We witness and so must all People before they go to their Graves For this is the Baptism that the Devil would fain have People to deny and his Ministers and Messengers and then he fils them with Chaff For as the Apostle saith to the Church By one Spirit we are all baptised into one Body whether we be Jews or Gentiles Bond or Free He doth not say that by Water we were all baptised into one Body For we see many Bodies baptised with Elementary Water and yet do destroy one another Now mark the Words We are all baptised into one Body that is the Church of the First-born and Christ is the Head of this Body 1 Cor. 12.13 So this is the One Baptism spoken of Ephes 4.4 5. There is one Body and one Spirit even as you are called into one Hope of your Calling one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all who is above all and through all and in you all Mark that Through all and in you all Unto every one of us is given Grace according to the measure of the Gift of Christ praised be his Name forever Grace and Truth is come by Jesus Christ yea that Grace which brings Salvation which hath appeared
force People to observe dayes came not this Power and Wisdom first from the Pope and not from the Apostles nor from Christ Jesus if you have it from Christ Jesus and the Apostles let us see where it is convince us with Scripture And where I say do you find in Scriptures that Christ or his Apostles did ordain the day you call Christ-Mass and the rest of the dayes attending it which you call Holy-dayes But to say the Truth you may rather term them Unholy by reason of the Ungodly and Debaucht Heathenish Practice So that whereas you pretend to Honour the Lord Jesus in and by them you do no other indeed but dishonour him and do Persecute others that will not do as you do and so break the Command of God who saith Six dayes shalt thou labour c. and here your Command is that they must play more then Six Dayes Now tell me if you can how many hundred of years after Christ and the Apostles were these days first observed as Holy-dayes and set apart to be kept as you do now keep them O! the Whoredoms and Debauchery and Drunkenness the Excess Sensual Pleasures Carnal Delights Carding Diceing Dancing that these dayes are filled up with so that the Devil hath more Work done him in these dayes then in many other dayes before or after So let the Witness of God in your Consciences answer Yea or Nay and let all Sober People judge whether or no I speak not Truth when I say God is more dishonoured and his Name prophanened and taken in vain and blasphemed more in the twelve Holy Dayes so called then in three times the number of them let I say your Consciences and all sober people judge So here you may see how the Apostle judged them that did observe days But consider whether or no doth the Kingdom of God stand in Meats and Drinks and Washings and in Days Nay nay it stands only in Righteousness and in Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost which Kingdom all people are in the first place to seek after And then concerning your Fasts in Lent c. the Lord will say Who required these things at your Hands as it is in Isa 58.3 4. Wherefore have we fasted and thou seest or regardest not c. Behold saith the Lord in the day of your Fasts you find Pleasures and exact all your Labours ye fast for Strife and Debate and to smite with the Fist of Wickedness Ye shall not fast as ye do this day to make your Voices to be heard on high Is it such a Fast as I have chosen a Day for a man to Afflict his Soul Is it to bow down his Head like a Bull-Rush And wilt thou call this a Fast see the Contents of the Chapter above where it is reproved for Hypocrisie But is not this the Fast that I have chosen saith the Lord To loose the Bands of Wickedness to undo the heavy Burdens to let the Oppressed go free and that they break every Yoak Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry c. Now whether your Fast be such yea or nay let your own Consciences judge And the Apostle commands us to pray every-where lifting up holy hands without Wrath or Doubting 1. Tim. 2.8 Now consider this are not your hands like those fists of Wickedness and are you not full of Wrath and Doubting or are your Hands Clean and Holy Let the Witness in your Consciences judge and see if those Actions and Practices be not found among you as was amongst them whom the Prophet speaks of here which is called Hypocrisie as was said before And did not Judas carry the bag who was a Thief who betray'd his Master And are not they for his Bag and Money to hold it by intayle even all who are the Betrayers of Christ now in this day where he is made manifest in his People I say do they not betray him now and seek to crucifie him in his members or his members for his sake And is it not the Son of Perdition spoken of 2 Thess 23. who exalts himself above all that is called God whom Christ will destroy with the breath of his mouth and the brightness of his coming Look into your selves and read this if you can But are not such now worse then Judas who carried the Bag for we never read that Judas persecuted any for not putting into his bag as too too many now a dayes do and have done who will not go without the bag And are not all such Transgressors of Christ's Command who bids them go without a bag or Scrip and Freely you have received Freely give How will such answer Christ think you at the day of Judgment when they are brought before his Throne and before him at his Judgment Seat who then will say unto them Depart you Cursed c. but to his Sheep on his right hand Come ye Blessed of my Father c. and so enter thou into the Joy of the Lord and the other into everlasting Punishment who have been persecuting others for Worshipping the living God in Spirit and in Truth which Worship Christ Jesus set up above 1600. years since as you may read in John 4.23 24. Now Friends to look into your Families and into your own Practices are not we to see that first you are to be approved before you do minister both you and your Families For are we not to try all things and to follow you no farther then you follow Christ And were not thâ—â—ereans accounted Noble in that they searcht the Scriptures to see whether or no that which the Apostle had delivered them were according to the Law and the Prophets And must we be more ignoble then they think you and now to try whether you are in the steps of the true Prophets and of Christ and of the Apostles or in the steps of those False Prophets they cryed out against must we not try here by the Scripture viz. by the Prophets words and by Christ's and his Apostles Words Then for the Trying you the Apostle saith in 1 Tim. 3.1 2 3 c. A Bishop must be Blameless the Husband of One Wife Vigilant Sober of Good behaviour given to Hospitality apt to teach not given to Wine no Striker not Greedy of filthy Lucre but Patient not a Brawler nor Covetous one that ruleth well his own House having his Children in subjection with all Cravity Now are you Blameless are you Sober of Good behaviour and are you given to Hospitality are you apt to teach 'T is Storied of one Parson Gray of this Island being at a Feast the custom was for the Cups to be often handed about one of Brandy the other of Sack but as for the Sack the Parson cared not much for it having had enough of that Liquor whereupon said the pretended Reverend Parson when he saw the Cup of Sack come about again which he cared not for Lord saith he If thou wilt let this Cup
things cometh the Wrath of God upon the Children of Disobedience Now consider all you that call your selves Ministers and others in Christendom so called Christ Jesus is the Seed's-Man and he sows the good Seed which is in Man's Heart now some Hearts be a High-Way and those Fowls in them that are bred by the foul spirit take it away and some is sown upon Stony Ground where 's not much Earth but is scorch't by the heat of Persecution and some again is sown upon the Thorny Ground Thorny Hearts where it grows a while and then the Thornes the Cares of the World choaks it but that which is sown upon Good Ground brings forth good Fruit abundantly to the Glory of God and Christ the Seed's-Man Now Christ in a Parable 〈◊〉 speaks of a Housholder that sowed good Seed in his Field and his Servants said Didst thou not sow good Seed whence then hath it Tares He answered An Enemy hath done this They replyed Wilt thou that we go and gather them up Nay saith he lest ye gather the Wheat also let both grow together till the Harvest The Field is the World the Good Seed are the Children of the Kingdom of Christ the Tares are the Children of the Wicked One the Enemy that sowed them is the Devil the Harvest is the end of the World and the Reapers are the Angels So Christ he would not suffer his Disciples to gather the Tares lest c. Now what 's the matter with you and others who will be Gatherers when Christ hath forbidden you lest you pluck up Wheat instead of Tares seeing it is the Angels Work to sever the Wheat from the Tares and the Wicked from the Just And therefore whose Servants have you been in all Christendom who will venture the gathering of the Tares and instead of them have been plucking up the Wheat as witness all the Martyrs and Bloody Persecutions since Christ's time but these Tares at the End of the World the Angels shall cast into the Fire where shall be Weeping and Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth c. And Luke 9.55 When Christ sent to a Village of the Sameritans to make ready for him and they did not receive him his Disciples said Lord Wilt thou that we command Fire to come down from Heaven to consume them even as Elias did but Christ rebukâ—t them saying Ye know not what spirit ye are of the Son of Man is not come to destroy mens lives but to save them Now mark If the Disciples of Jesus Christ did not know themselves what spirit they were of who would have had Fire to come down from Heaven upon such as would not receive Christ how do you know what spirit you are of and all those since the Apostles dayes that do persecute people about Religion by Imprisoning them c Now had they and you known what spirit you are of you would not Persecute but seeing you do not therefore it is you will have the People of God persecuted and so are under the Rebukes of Christ who came to Save and nor destroy And therefore since you do not know what spirit you are of your selves we cannot trust our Bodies nor our Souls nor Spirits in your hands And you see you have no Command from Christ or the Apostles to persecute for Christ saith All Power is given to me both in Heaven and Earth c. What to do To destroy the Devil and his Works the Enemy the Adversary and Destroyer of Mankind Christ he is so far from that that he commands us To love one another and to love Enemies but this Command hath been little regarded in Christendom Christ spake to such as built the Sepulchres of the Prophets and garnisht them whom their Fore-Fathers had killed and yet these Builders killed the Son Have not we the same Builders now that would kill him and persecute him where he is revealed in his People Truly ye bear witness that you allow the Deeds of your Fore-fathers who did kill them and their Children built and garnisht their Sepulchres that so all the Righteous Blood from Abel to Zacharias yea to this very day will come upon this Generation of Persecutors whereof in our dayes we have seen sad Examples how the Lord hath cut several of them suddenly off who have been found persecuting his People and Beloved Ones his dear Lambs And saith Christ The Servant that says in his Heart My Lord delays his coming and begins to smite his Fellow-Servants and Eat and be Drunken the Lord will come in a day when he looks not for him when he is not aware of it and will cut him assunder and will appoint him his Portion with Unbelievers Mat. 12. And therefore take ye heed who smite the Servants of God and Hand-Maids of God lest the Lord come in a Day or in an Hour when you are not aware and cut you assunder with his sharp two-edged Sword and appoint you your Portion with Hypocrites and Unbelievers and therefore the People of God are alwayes to be in a readiness waiting for the Appearance of the Lord Mat. 24. And Blessed is that Servant that the Lord finds so doing he will make him Ruler over his House that gives them their Meat in due season Now consider you Strikers this and all you Smiters and Persecuters you do not watch for Christ's coming no no but you put the Day and Hour afar off and you do not know how soon either of them may come of cutting assunder and of your Weeping Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth and your Portion which you are like to have with Hypocrites And Christ further saith Luke 19.27 Those mine Enemies which would not that I should Raign over them bring hither and slay them before me Now consider this you that will not have Christ to Rule and Raign in his People no nor in your selves Do you think that you shall escape the Sword of his Judgments and of his Mouth and the Wrath of the Lamb And did ever Christ though he was called a Blasphemer and as Belzebub and that he had a Devil and a Deceiver yet though he had all Power in his Hands given to him in Heaven and in Earth yet he did not persecute any of them but rebuk't his Disciples Neither did he give any such Command or Advice to his Apostles but rather the contrary viz. That they should love one another and love Enemies Now then who hath given you this Power to persecute and beat another mans Children and Servants Let us know your Original and your Antiquity Now whereas you may say That Lay-men and Mechanick Men are not to meddle with the Scriptures but you onely that have got the Original of Hebrew Greek and Latine I Answer Was not the beginning of the Originals in Babel For was not all the Earth of one Language before And had not Pilate these Originals when he crucified Christ And did he not write a Title upon his Cross in Hebrew Greek and Latine
And had not he your Originals and was not he an Orthodox man and yet could not see Christ And did not the Priests and the Jews speak Hebrew naturally And the Grecians was not Greek their Natural Language and yet they could not see Christ nor could any of the Priests open Scriptures to the People but incensed them against Christ as you may see John 19. And is it not said in the Revelations That the Beast and the Whore had Power over the Tongues Rev. 13.7 And doth not the Apostle there call the Tongues Waters Chap. 17.15 And in 1 Cor. 13.8 Doth he not say That Tongues shall cease And where are your Originals then Now the Original viz. the Word is not that it that makes Divines for was not John the Divine a Fisher-man and who made him a Divine was it not Christ the Word that made him so For they had no Colledges nor Universities nor Schools to serve Seven Years in as Mechanick Men do and when they are out of their Time then they set up where they can have the best Trading And was not Paul a Tent-Maker and Aquila and Priscilla Tent-Makers and was not Luke a Physitian and was not Mathew called from the Custom and Peter and others of the Apostles were they not Fisher-men and yet were they not Preachers And were not Abraham and Noah Husbandmen and Isaac a Husbandman and a Grazier and was not Lot a Grazier and an Husbandman and were not Moses and David Shepherds and did not Moses keep his Father's Sheep in the Wilderness and David his Father's and was not Jacob a Shepherd twenty years with Laban his Uncle whom he faithfully served and was not Elisha a Plowman and Amos a Herdsman a Keeper of Cattel and a Gatherer of Fruits and what were the rest of them And so were not these Lay-men as you term them and these Mechanick-men that gave forth the Scriptures And can you make a Trade of Lay-men's and Mechanick-men's words whom you allow and approve of and yet will not suffer Lay-men and Mechanick-men to Preach and Teach and Speak now adayes I pray you consider and read the Scriptures and read your selves Did any of these serve Seven years at the School before they went to preach and learn the Seven Liberal Arts or Sciences whereof Musick is one are not they accounted by you University men as the Seven Seals of that Book spoken of in the Revelations and so is the Arms of your University at Oxford which is as much as to say That you are the only Persons that are fit to open those Seals and is not this to give John the Lye who said None was found worthy to open the Seals of the Book but the Lamb the Lyon of the Tribe of Judah Rev. 5.1 2 3 4 5. But what Parsonages or Vicaridges and Benefices had these Lay-men these Mechanicks these Husbandmen these Graziers Shepherds Customers Plowmen Herdsmen and other Tradsmen for Preaching and giving forth these Scriptures or what had Paul and his Fellow-Teat-Makers or Peter and his Fellow-Fisher-Men I pray you let 's see some Scripture for your Revenues and Parsonages Christ saith They shall take no Scrip nor Purse no Money with them and they should be contented to eat such things as are set before them And is there any thing more in the whole World got by any Trade now adayes by all them that serve Seven years or by the Husbandmen before mentioned now in the World that get more by their Callings than you do who call your selves and are called Priests and Ministers all Christendom over both amongst Papists and Protestants than you do I say by these Shepherds words and Plowmen Fishermen and Tent-makers words who never served seven years at your Colledges which were given freely forth at first by which you now get such great Revenues that you will not suffer any others neither Shepherds Plowmen nor Husbandmen nor Fishermen nor Tole-Gatherers hardly to meddle with their Fellow-Fishermen Fellow Plowmen Fellow-Husbandmen Fellow-Shepherds words I pray take the right Measure and the right Weights and measure your selves and see whether you would be so served your selves And do you think that you can open such men's words before mention'd with your Tongues and Languages now Whereas Pilate and the Jews and the Grecians could not open them then and are there better Tools think you to open them now then there were then not a whit It was said by one of your acknowledg'd and own'd Fathers St. Augustine so called upon that verse The Kingdom of Heaven suffers Violence c. saith he to this purpose A company of poor Mechanick and Tradesmen Tinkers Weavers and Cobblers c. do take the Kingdom of Heaven by Violence when such great Doctors and Learned as we are thrown down to Hell But further Is it not written in Isa 54.13 c. All thy Children shall be taught of the Lord and great shall be the Peace of thy Children In Righteousness shalt thou be Established c. And many shall gather together amongst them but not by me saith the Lord. Whosoever shall so gather together against thee shall fall for thy sake and no Weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper and every Tongue that shall rise up against thee in Judgment thou shalt condemn c. Now mark Is not this fulfill'd now adayes upon them that are Taught of God yea by you Ministers so called And in John 6.45 where Christ speaking to the Jews saith he It is written in the Prophets They shall be all taught of God every man therefore that hath heard and learnt of the Father cometh unto me Now this we witness this day and therefore it is that there is so much murmuring against us And in Rom. 10. The Word of God is nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart That is the Word which we Preach saith the Apostle which every one is to Hear and to Obey And the Apostle relates in Acts 2. when the professing Jews mockt the Apostle saying They were drunk with New Wine Peter answering told them it was the third Hour of the Day and so not likely to be in Drink But this is that which was spoken of by the Prophet Joel And it shall come to pass in the last dayes saith the Lord I will pour out of my Spirit upon all Flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall Prophesie and your young Men shall see Visions and your old Men shall dream Dreams and on my Servants and on my Hand-maids I will pour out in those days of my Spirit and they shall Prophesie Now this same we witness in our days as the Apostles did in their days And we see your Sun is turned into Darkness and your Moon into Blood verse 20. and your Sun is gone down and your Stars are fallen from Heaven as was prophesied in the Revelations And in Heb. 1.1 2. God at sundry times and in divers manners spake in times past unto the
unto all men without Exception Teaching us to deny all Ungodliness and Worldly Lusts and to live Soberly and Righteously and Godlily in this present Evil World Tit. 2.11 12. And this Grace seasons our Words and establishes our Hearts So we have a Teacher which brings us Salvation Glory be to God forever and forever And this Teacher is with us where-ever we are to wit the Grace of God by which we are saved and not of our selves And we can say this Grace is Sufficient which brings Salvation though you look not upon it to be Sufficient who keep People alwayes under your Teachings that they may be alwayes Learning of you and alwayes paying of you and yet never come to the Knowledge of the Truth in themselves nor their Talent in themselves to improve For have you not been like the Pharisees who stopt their Ears and closed their Eyes and like Saul who kickt against that that pricks him and then kickt against others and persecuted others And were they not them who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men who would not enter themselves nor suffer others to enter See that Blessed Doctrine of Christ in Luk. 17. who said to them The Kingdom of Heaven when they demanded when it should come Christ's Answer to them was comes not with Observation Lo Here Lo there But saith Christ The Kingdom of Heaven is within you And we have found his blessed Words to be true Blessed be his Name forever who hath stood at our Door and knocks as He doth at yours Yea I say at the Door of our Minds and at the Door of our Hearts and Souls and we have let Him in who now Sups with us and we with Him the Heavenly Supper with the Heavenly Man the Second Adam the Lord from Heaven our Blessed Lord Jesus Christ and our Alone Saviour O! Glory be to Him forever and for evermore Rev. 3. And you say There is no Overcoming of Sin and Death on this side the Grave but must have alwayes a Warfare Ans But did not Paul say that He had fought c. then surely he was not then fighting he was not then warring though 't is true Time was that He had been in the War and led Captive to do those things he would not have done But if there be no Overcoming on this side the Grave then there is no Eating of the hidden Manna on this side the Grave nor no Getting of the White Stone on this side the Grave nor of that New Name written in the Stone which no man knoweth saving He that receiveth it Rev. 2.17 The Reason there rendred because it is a Gift only to Him that Overcometh that is on this side the Grave And Rev. 3.12 13. Him that Overcometh will I make a Pillar in the Temple of my God and He shall go no more out and I will write upon Him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God New Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God So that mark this Promise will not be made good unless we Overcome on this side the Grave But it may be you have not the Ears to Hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches And in the 21. Vers To Him that Overcometh will I grant to Sit with me in my Throne even as I also overcame and am Set down with my Father in his Throne He that hath an Ear let Him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches But I fear you have none of these Ears open that the Spirit speaks to here namely The Church of the Living God whereof Christ is the Head Again Rev. 3 5. He that Overcometh the same shall be Clothed in White Rayment and I will not blot out his Name out of the Book of Life But I will confess his Name before my Father and before his Angels He that hath an Ear let him hear c. But as I said before I question your Ears of hearing what the Spirit saith that there must first be an Overcoming Now this was the Spirit 's speaking to the Church that did Overcome But it may be you will say That the Spirit doth not speak to you in your Church and therefore you may question your Church and your selves too And Rev. 2.26 He that Overcometh and keepeth my Works unto the End to him will I give Power and I will give him the Morning Star He that hath an Ear let him hear what the Spirit saith to the Churches Now we can and do witness that Spiritual Ear to hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches Glory to God forever and we do heartily desire that you had the same And as for the LIGHT which you call Natural and Created and a Made Light that really and truly is the Light of Christ Jesus the Heavenly and Spiritual Man and it is a Heavenly Light and a Spiritual Light wherewithal He Enlightens every one that comes into the World which he commands us to believe in through which we become Children of Light as was said before For in Him was Life to wit Christ by whom the World was made and this Life that is in Christ is the Light of Men. And so as men are turned to the Light and believe in the Light they are ingrafted into Christ who is the Root or Stock and they the Branches So that this Light is neither Natural nor Created nor Made for it is the Heavenly Light which is the Life in Christ by which we coming into Christ the Light we receive Life And as Peter speaks of the Light which was a more Sure Word of Prophesie whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a Light that shines in a dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts signifying that this Light was sufficient to bring them unto the Day-dawning and unto the Day-Star arising in their Hearts yea this Light that shines in a dark Place And what dark Place was this and where was it was it not in their Hearts which they did well to take heed unto signifying thereby that they do not well that do not take heed unto it and so they do well that do take heed unto it in the Light they see more Light and it shines more and more to the perfect Day So this Light that comes from Christ Christians waiting in it they receive Christ the Bright Morning-Star which Thousands do witness and have received Him Glory to God for evermore and with their Hearts they do believe and with their Mouthes Confession is made unto Salvation and that their Salvation is their Wall and Bulwork against all Persecutors And so we follow Him to wit Christ Jesus the Captain of our Salvation and the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sins of the World against whom the Dragon Beast and Whore and their Followers are Fighting but the Lamb will have the Victory For He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords who is the First and Last
the Alpha and the Omega the Bening and the Ending Hallelujah A Copy of the Priests Petition To the Honourable President and Council of his Majesty's Island of Barbadoes the Humble Petition and Address of the Clergy of the said Island Sheweth THat whereas many of us in the Publick Discharge of our Ministerial Function upon the Lord's Day in the Time of Divine Prayer and Sermon have been Frequently and Irreverently Interrupted and Holy Mother the Church of England Scandalously Vilified as if she were both in Doctrine and in Discipline False and Erroneous and Antichristian the Honest and Learned Clergy thereof even in the Face of their own Congregations not only taxed as Seducers Hirelings Teachers of Lyes and such like but Uncharitably Pursued and Anathematized with Words and Execrations and Bitter Invectives by a Base Sort of Phanatick People commonly termed Quakers Men whose Practices and Opinions seem not less repugnant to Civil and Ecclesiastical Government which tends to the Disparagement of us and Prostration of our Order to Contempt but also and chiefly which is the saddest Evil of all to the Poysoning if not the utter Ruin of many Well-meaning Souls in our Flock who being infatuated and inveighed with their Pernicious Tenents do desert the Publick and Consecrated Places of God's Worship to with-draw into Private and Unlawful Conventicles which we are credibly informed they do repair to Duty Four Times in the Week contrary both to Common and Ecclesiastical Laws and to Acts of Parliament in the Raign of Edward the sixth Queen Elizabeth and King James and King Charles the first and of our now Gratious Soveraign Charles the second in such Cases Wholsomely Provided May it therefore please your Honour either to Revive and Inforce the Statute against them or that some other Speedy Expedient against those Growing Distempers may be considered of whereby our People may be less exposed to the Danger of the Wicked Insinuations and our selves by your Pious Care succoured from such Rude Affronts and Scurrillities for the future may be Enconraged with more Alacrity to proceed in the Faithful Discharge of that High Calling wherein God hath placed us and we shall continue your Daily Chaplins and Orators William Lessley John Bernad William Johnson John Hopwood Mathew Grey John Page The Priests of this Island about the beginning of the 10th Moneth 71. did Petition the Assembly to make Laws against the People called Quakers and to suppress them amongst which Will. Lessley and Will. Johnson and Priest VValker were very active But after their Paper was read in the House it s credibly affirmed they were advis'd to put it into their Pockets lest the Quakers by some means or other might procure the Copy of it and so they did their Deeds of Darkness being ashamed of the Light lest it should Reprove them Here follows George Foster's Testimony concerning Priest Lessey's Striking and Kicking of him INasmuch as William Lessley Priest of the Parish called St. John's doth revive his Rage and Malice against the People of God called Quakers and against the Precious Truth of God which they hold forth to all even That Christ Jesus is the True Light of the VVorld and that he hath Enlightened all Mankind with a measure of his True Light I say Inasmuch as he revives his Rage I think it not amiss to revive my Testimony which once I bore against him in his publick House of Speaking so far as I was permitted to speak which is That he is no True Minister of Christ Jesus the Lord of Life and Glory for his Fruits make him so manifest Once I went to his House Civilly to ask for some Goods that were due to me and he did fall upon me with several hard Blows and with Violence Thrust me out of his Porch and gave me one bad Kick in the Small of my Back as I went or was down the steps of the Porch Now let all Sober People judge and to God's Pure Witness in all Consciences I leave it to be judged Whether Priest Lessley's Dealings with me do not manifest him to be one of those whom Christ Jesus speaks of saying Many shall come in Sheep's Cloathing but inwardly they are Ravening Wolves by their Fruits ye shall know them George Foster This Paper was sent us about the 26th of the 8th Moneth 1671 somewhat before his Death To VVilliam Lessley VValker VVilliam Johnson VVilliam Frith Dyke and the rest of the Priests and Ministers in Barbadoes Friends IN much Terderness of Love and Yearning Bowels of Compassion some of us called Quakers but indeed True Christians came here to this Island through the Tender Mercy and Good Providence of our Heavenly Father to visit our Brethren in Spirit being thereunto moved by him as was the Practice of the Servants of the Most High in the Primitive Times before the Grand Apostacy so to do as you may read in Acts 15.36 37 c. and verse 40. Paul took Silas being recommended by the Brethren unto the Grace of God Now since I have been fully informed that you as your Fore-Fathers ever did in Ages past are the Main and Principal if not the only Instruments in the Hands of Antichrist to provoke and incite the Civil and Military Powers here in this Island to draw out their Swords against us to exercise I mean their Power to disturb our Peace and Quiet and to Persecute us as we read how Saul persecuted the Christians in Acts 9.1 2 c. which great Wickedness he acknowledgeth with much Ingenuity after he became Paul a Convert Gal. 1.13 1 Cor. 15.9 yea persecuted unto Death and into Prisons Acts 22.4 and 1 Tim. 1.13 I was saith he a Persecutor and a Blasphemer and Injurious but I obtained Mercy because I did it Ignorantly in Unbelief And even Paul himself after he I say became a Convert and a Preacher of Righteousness was sorely Persecuted but by whom Mark by the Chief Priests and Elders of the Jews who by one Tertullus their Orator informed the Governor against him saying We have found this man a Pestilent Fellow Mark and a Mover of Sedition among all the Jews throughout the World and a Ring-Leader of the Sect of the Nazarens who also hath gone about to Prophane the Temple c. Acts 24.1 2 3 c. and in the 14th verse they call that Way of Worship Heresie mark that For do not you so if not worse of us Christians in terming our Ministry Heresie and Blasphemy and what not as they did his then And you may read how Christ himself the Beloved Son of the Father the Saviour and Redeemer of the World who did no Sin who knew no Sin then whom no man spake like did not escape their Persecution viz. of the Priests So then this is plain that this has ever bin the usual and constant Practice of the Priests in all Ages and of the false Prophets false Apostles and Clergy and Ministers of Antichrist who falsly term themselves the True
one else For there is something in them that tells them That they should not Practice those Evils or any other before mention'd Which if notwithstanding they should do them that there are but two Ways the one that leads to Heaven where the Righteous go the other that leads to Hell where the Wicked and Debancht Whoremongers and Adulteres Murderers Lyars Thieves go To the one the Lord of Heaven and Earth will say Come ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the Foundation of the World but to the other he will say Depart ye Cursed into Everlasting Fire prepared for the Devil and his Angels The Wicked into Everlasting Punishment but the Righteous into Life Eternal Mat. 25. Now consider Friends that it s no Transgression for a Master of a Family to instruct his Family himself or else some others in his behalf but rather that it is a very great Duty lying incumbent upon them As Abraham did and Joshua did as to the first the Lord said I know that Abraham will command his Children and his Houshold after him and they shall keep the Way of the Lord to do Justice Judgment that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him And as for Joshua said he Josh 24.15 And if it seems Evil unto you to serve the Lord choose you this Day whom you will serve whether the Godds which your Fathers served that were on the other side of the Flood or the Godds of the Amorites in whose Land ye dwell But as for me and my House we will serve the Lord. And further consider this That it is a Duty lying upon us to Pray and to Teach Instruct and Admonish those in and belonging to our Families it being the Command of the Lord the Disobedience to which will incur the Lord's Displeasure as you may see in Jer. 10.25 where it s written Pour out thy Fury upon the Heathen that know thee not and upon the Families that call not upon thy Name Now Negars Tauny Indians make up a very great part of Families here in this Island for whom an Account will be required at the Great Day of Judgment when every one shall be Rewarded according to his Deeds done in the Body whether they be Good or whether they be Evil In that Day I say of the Resurrection both of the Good and of the Bad of the Just and of the Unjust when the Lord shall be revealed from Heaven with his Mighty Angels in Flaming Fire taking Vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with Everlasting Destruction from the Presence of the Lord and from the Glory of his Power when he shall come to be Glorified in his Saints 2 Thess 1.8 Here follows the Addition VVHereas divers Reproachful Speeches by some of the Priests and People of the Island of Barbadoes were cast upon George Fox since his arrival here its manifest that the Devil was the Author of them to prevent and pervert the Minds of People from the Living Truth of God and the Right Way to God to wit Jesus Christ of whom the said G.F. inform'd the People that so they might all come to inherit Christ Jesus and so inherit the Substance viz. Christ their Teacher their Way their Prophet of whom Moses prophesied long since That him they should Hear their Bishop to Over-see them and their Shepherd to Feed them and their Minister that Ministereth Grace and Life and Truth unto them who is their Rock and Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and of us who in Scorn they call Quakers yea of that Christ who bruised the Serpent's Head and destroyes the Devil and his Works So he is the Way to God to the pure God who is the Pure Foundation of many Generations is the Life of all Mankind that have Life for as they all dyed in the first Adam so the Life they have is in the second Adam to wit Christ Jesus by whom the World was made who was Glorified with the Father before the World began Now I say every one must receive him in whom they have Life Eternal who is the Son of God and so receiving him they receive the Faith of the Son of God and receive his Blood that sprinkles their Hearts and Consciences from dead Works that so they might serve God in the new Life in Christ Jesus I say that Christ Jesus that was Crucified without the Gates of Jerusalem who was born of the Virgin Mary and was Dead and Buried whom Judas betray'd to the Chief Priests for thirty pieces of Silver who afterwards arose out of the Grave even the third day though the Magistrates and Priests set a Watch a Guard of Souldiers upon his Sepulchre and the chief Priests gave the Souldiers large Money to say That his Disciples stole Him away by Night This Christ I say is our Life who Dy'd for our Sins and is Risen for our Justification who remains in the Heavens at the Right hand of God until the restitution of all things And we say He is Manifested and Revealed in us and we are in him by his Light Power and Spirit and he hath taught us what to believe in to wit the Light as you may see in John who saith He is the Light and commands us to believe in the Light that we may be the Children of Light And so we are Believers in the Light to wit Christ Jesus and have the Witness within our selves And after we believ'd we were seal'd by the Spirit of Promise and we can set to our Seal That God is True in all his Prophets and Promises concerning his Son and the Doctrine of the Apostles that preacht Christ's Birth and Life Miracles Sufferings his Death and Resurrection So we do confess him before men to be our Shepherd our Way and our Foundation and the Head of his Church and he is our Bill op our Minister and our Priest who is made higher then the Heavens Holy and Harmless and this we are not ashamed to confess before men Now as for the Filthy and Unsavory words that have been cast upon me they are all False O! that People should bend their Tongues to invent filthy Lyes and that others should be given up to believe a Lye So that Say … of Christ is fulfilled They shall speak all manner of Evil◠you for my sake But yet this we can truly say The Lord forgive them if it be his will if that they have not sin'd out their day and we do earnestly desire their Repentance if there be any place found for Repentance But truly it is much if God's Wrath and his Sore Judgments do not fall heavy upon them in this Island a great measure whereof they have seen and felt already and that not long since both by the Plague that swept Multitudes away as with a Besom and by a very great Fire that