is committed but this is your day and the power of darknesse and the regin of the Lord and the day of the Lord which ye so much talk of shall come hereafter you shall then hide your selves in the dens of the earth and cave of the earth and the mountains shall you desire to fall upon you and the hills to cover you from the presence of the Lamb that sitteth upon the throne and this day to you shall be as you may read Amos 5. a wofull day and a day of darknesse and not light as if a man did flee from a Lion and a Bear met him or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him vers 8 2 but as I said before to you even judgement which ye have turned back let that run down as waters and righteousnesse as a mighty stream But you have borne the tabernacle of Molock and Chion your images the star of your God which you make to your selves and so Christs personal reign which ye are speaking of and expecting and gazing after without as the men of Galilee were shall be upon you and unto you the day of the Lords controversie the day of the Lords vengeance and a time of the Lords controversie unto you and upon you who are not led by the light of the Lord the spirit of the Lord and that none may say that I accuse you falsly and so condemn you you being innocent read a book of Henry Haggers and a book of John Gosnels entituled a discourse of the Baptisme of the water and of the spirit page the 38. Where in plain words he setteth up the water above the Name of the Lord and there he confesseth as Ephesians 4.5 That there is but one Baptism to speak properly which is Baptism of water and the other two are but figurative and metaphorical and thus you may see that ye blinds Baptists are calling water-Baptism which Peter in his first Epistle 3. â—1 calleth but a figure and the one Baptism and the only one that Christ sent his Apostles to Baptize into which is into the Name of the Father of the Son and of the Holy Spirit which ye may read Math. 28.19 20. This he calleth figurative and metaphorical and so he setteth up the figure in stead of the body and life of all figures and shadowes and John saith who was in the figure I indeed Baptize with water I must decrease but he that cometh after me is preferred before me he must increase who shall Baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire and Paul 1 Cor. 12. That by one Spirit whether Jew or Gentile Bond or Free they were all Baptiâ—ed into one Body and was all made to drink into one Spirit and this John Gosnel calls the figure even the Name of the Lord and water which was a figure thereof he setteth up above and Henry Hagger in his Book he saith the Scripture is the ingrafted Word and able to make a man Wise to Salvation and throughly to furnâ—sh a man to every good work and in a Dispute in Stafford-Shire he said it were sufficient that he were saved by the water and he told me that the Letter was the Word of God and the Judger and Tryer of spirits and this in the presence and fear of the Lord God I charge upon you al who are of this perswasion to be guilty of Blasphemy doctrine of Devils and to deny the Lord that bought you and to be in the many bodies and many heads and seeing with the many eyes of the Beast and to have the many names of Blasphemy but know not the one Name nor the one Head neither the Baptism into the one Body and Name whereby man can be saved read and understand Acts â— 12 Neither is there Salvation in any other for there is no other Name under Heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved but the Name which is set at naught by you builders and become a stumbling stone and a Rock of offence but unto us that believe he is precious and a tryed stone and the power of God to Salvation and with him and by him we deny all your shadows and all your figures and all your washings which makes nothing perfect and those which the Scriptures own we deny not any one of them as the brazen Serpent offerings and Circumcision and Baptism all of which had a beginning and were imposed but till the time of a through Reformation 1 Pet. 4.7 and makes nothing perfect but all were to end and do end in him who is the bringer in of the better hope and is not made after the Law of a carnal commandment but after the power of an Endless life Heb. 7. Heb. 9.9 And perfects for ever them that are sanctified and makes peace and keeps in peace all that believe in him and takes away sin as pertaining to the Conscience and so comes the Mystery of Faith to be witnessed to be held in a pure Conscience which Faith I charge upon you to bee Reprobates concerning let your prayers and professions be what they will as Jeremy Ives and William Answorth two of your chief Teachers have denied the Faith which is the Gift of God and calls it the creatures Act which is contrary to the Scriptures 1 Cor. 12.9 Jude 3. Contend for the Faith that once was delivered or given to the Saints and all your faith in general which gives you not power over all sin but in it you can be pleading for and Disputing for sin and say none can be perfect in this life We Rank you altogether and by the power of the Lord we judge you altogether to be Reprobates concerning the faith read Acts 15. and John 9.1 and 3.2 3. to the tenth and your hope is but the hope of the hypocrite which doth not purifie you as Christ is pure but this must needs be so with you who are in your own works and faith which makes nothing perfect and say faith is not the gift of God but an act of the creatures which must needs be imperfect for James saith that every good and perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights James 1.7 With whom is no variableness neither shadow of turning but you that are in the shadows and out of the Light and are in the Errour concerning the Faith verse 16. and are reprobated from the Faith which is the gift of God and was once given unto the Saints Jud. 3. And this was held forth at a meeting by one William Answorth Robert Ward and several others of the Baptist teachers at Henry Smiths at Wythcock in Leicester-Shire upon the twentyseventh day of the twelfth moneth called February in the year of Account 1658. Before a great number of people with many other Blasphemous doctrines a few of the witnesses their names are here written FRANCIS CREEK WILLIAM ATTON WILLIAM SLYEE WILLIAM SMITH JOSEPH HOULT
the Name of the Father Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you and lo I am with you alwayes even unto the end of the World Fifthly You say the commission must needs be water and not the Spirit because it was onely the work of Christ and not the Apostles work to administer the Holy Ghost and Iohn Gosnel in the second page of his book doth conclude that the Baptisme here instituted is with water for the Baptisme of the spirit saith he was never administred by man but Christ was the Minister of it himself Ans To which I say read the words of the commission again and there you shall find that Christ doth commission them to Baptize in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and not into the water 6. And yet so blind are ye as to say this was not the Apostles work neither was it in mans power say you to administer the Holy Ghost Ans To which I say Christ did nothing of himself and all power which he had was of the Father and removed from the Father vers the 18th And greater works then these shall ye do because I go to my Father saith Christ and read Acts. 8. and there you shall find that the Apostles vers 17 18. were the onely administrators of the Holy Ghost not by any power of their own but by the power which Christ received of his Father and gave unto them Then laid they their hands on them and they received the Holy Ghost read Acts. 19.6 when Paul had laid his hands upon them the Holy Ghost came upon them And you do not read in all the Scriptures that Christ did thus act But he made his Apostles the administrators thereof and Iohn Gosnel in his 41 page saith thus That the Baptism of the spirit is expressed by the pouring forth of the spirit both in the Old and New Testament and that he confesseth is upon all his sons and daughters and upon all flesh and he proves this Ioel. 2.28 29. And yet before in his Book saith the Baptism of the Spirit fell onely on some few at the first but Paul saith that both Jew and Greek Bond and Free were all Baptized by one Spirit into one Body and were all made to drink into one Spirit and thus it fals upon thee that which thou art charging upon some others Esa 24. They have transgressed the Law and changed the Ordinance which I say is Everlasting and a storng Tower to his people and the Saviour and Tried-stone to all that trust in him and in stead thereof ye have set up that unstable water and a carnal Ordinance of your own invention and divers washings which all must perish in the using after the commandments and doctrines of men Col. 2. Seventhly You say that the Bible on the Letter is the Judge of the Spirits Answ To which I say you who have lost the Spirit of the Lord and know not Christ to whom all Judgment is committed must needs erre in Judgement and stumble in vision and put light for darkness and darkness for light and set up a carnal thing in stead of the invisible and unchangeable God and so by the Spirit of the Lord God you who are for Judgement are Judged and by that which you say is your Rule and Judge are Condemned 1 Cor. 2.15 1 John 4.1 4. and John 5.22 Eighthly You say that the Letter is the Sword of the Spirit Answ You who have lost the Word of the Lord and the Light of the Lord which is the Armour of God know not the Sword of Spirit which is the Word of God which is quick and powerful and sharper then any two edged sword and preceedeth out of the mouth of the Lamb Kev 19.15 Ephes 6.17 Ninthly You say that the Letter was the onely weapon wherewith Christ fought and overcame the Devil Answ You who have lost the Spirit of the Lord know no other but a carnal weapon to fight with but the Saints who are guided by the Spirit of the Lord said that theirs were not carnal but Spiritual and mighty through the power of God to the pulling down of every high thought 2 Cor. 10.4 5. And they said they were not Ministers of the Letter but of the Spirit and that is the Reason of all your haling and pulling of all your lies and slanders which ye are forced to use to defend your form but know not the Armour of God nor the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God to defend you and overcome withal Epes 6.11 14. 2 Cor. 3.6 Tenthly You say the Letter is the Law the Testimony and the Light Answ All this is contrary to the Scriptures which you say is your guide for they say Christ is the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World John 1.9 John 8.12 And thy Law is Light sayes Solomon Prov. 6.23 And the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy Rev. 19.10 Eleventhly You say it was not the work of Christ or his Apostles to turn any to the Light within Answ Read the Scripture which ye so condemn us for denying and ye may see that ye are they which deny them and not we Acts 26.18 2 Cor. 4.4 6. where you may read that Paul said I was sent to turn them from the darkness to light from the power of Satan unto God and told them that the light which did shine in their hearts must give them the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 Twelfthly That the Bible is the Living Word of God and able to make a man Wise unto Salvation Answ To which I say All that are in their sins as ye are know not Christ the living Word and to me it is not a wonder to hear you call that living which is dead and cannot give life nor power over sin but the Scripture doth affirm that Christ is the Word and that it is he that ever liveth and is made a high Priest by the power of a life that hath no end and this is he that liveth and abideth for ever read Iohn 1. â— 3. Heb. 7.9 16. 1 Iohn 5.22 Thirteenthly You say that it is false doctrine to say that he that is born of God sinneth not Answ To you which know not the living and immortal Word it is and alwayes was by such and to such as you are who are Reprobates concerning the Faith which should purifie you but to the Children of the Lord this was never false doctrine for they said he that was born of God sinneth not 1 Iohn 3.6 10. Fourteenthly Yon say that the Bible is the Gospel and the power of God Answ To this I say Christ was the power of God and Wisdom of God and the Rock of all his people in all ages and the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and to us he is the same as he was to them in all ages even the power of God to Salvation Rom. 1.16 And so all that are honest hearted among you when you have read the Teachers Principles may see I have not wronged you in saying ye have set up shadowes above the substance and the Letter above Christ that gives Life From him who is in scorn called a Quaker H. W. THE END Page 7. line 1. for them read you p. 13. l 36. for love r. low
A DECLARATION TO THE BAPTISTS Concerning the Name of the Lord and what it is to be Baptized thereinto and the Nature of the Lord and what it is to be made partaker thereof AND SHEWETH That none can be saved but such as are Baptized into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost into which Name and Nature the Apostles were sent to Baptize and not into Water Shewing also That the Apostles were made the Administrators of the Spirits Baptism by vertue of their Commission Matth. 28. Go ye therefore into all Nations teaching them and Baptising them in the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost ALSO A Discovery of the BAPTISTS Foundation and Bottom and many of their principal Doctrines set down herein held forth at a Dispute in Leicester-Shire at one Henry Smiths at Wythcock the 27 day of teh 12th moneth 1658. Before a multitude of people with an Answer thereunto wherein is shewed also that the Baptists are setting up Types and Shadows above Christ and visible carnal created things above the invisible Eternal and unchangeable God Zach. 10.12 And they shall walk up and down in the Name of the Lord. 1 Cor. 12. For by one Spirit are we all Baptized into one Body Written by one who was sometimes one with them in the shadows feeding upon the wind and eating that which died of its self and did not satisfie But have now found the day wherein the shadows flee away and hath received another name Besides HUMPHRY WOLLRICH London Printed for G. C. and are to be sold by Thomas Simmons 1659. A DECLARATION To the Baptists concerning the name of the Lord Mat. 28.18 19 20. FRiends all ye that are called Baptists you are they amongst whom I have sometime had my conversation and as you are now so was I whilst I was among you professing a God and a Christ whom I knew not but by the hearing of the ear and then I was looking at things that were seen as you are building my foundation upon carnal created visible things which all must perish in the using but my self knew not Christ the Rock of Ages who is invisible and eternal and a foundation of many generations and the foundation of his people in all generations him have I found whom Moses and the Prophets wrote of and therefore I leave those things which must decrease as Johns Disciples did and follow him who must and doth encrease even Christ Jesus the Light of the World who hath lighted every man that cometh into the World who is the end of all shaddowes types and figures the end of the Law to his people who are come in to him who was before sin and transgression was the same it is that doth put an end to sin and finish transgression unto which and because of which the Law was added untill the seed came which is made under the Law shadowes types and figures I say when he is come and doth reign and rule in his Saints and hath condemed in them all iniquity transgression and sin to such and none but such is Christ the end of the Law for the Law takes hold of a man so long as he lives in sin for the Law was added because of sin and none are under grace till the Law hath condemned sin therefore all friends who are breathing after the Lord but your minds still without and ye being alienated from that which may be known of God in you which is the candle of the Lord and searcheth all your hearts and tryeth all your reins to you I say let your profession be what it will and your form be what it will it is but your own will and so contrary to the will of God you not being led into it by the pure eternall unchangeable spirit of the Lord God in whom as I have said before there is no variableness or shaddow of changing therefore in love to you all and the welfare of your immortal souls which is of more worth and value then all the World all turn to the Light of the Lord that shines in darkness that convinceth you reproves you and checks you for all your ungodly words and for all your hard speeches which ye have ignorantly and wickedly spoken against the Lord and against his people whom he hath anointed with the oyl of joy and gladnesse above their brethren who have cast them out for his names sake and have said Let the Lord be glorified as you have hated mee and cast mee out as an evil doer as a blasphemer a heretick and as one not fit to live upon the earth though to this day ye can prove no evil against me either in life or doctrine but as Christ his Apostles and Saints in all ages who were innocent suffered as evil doers by this evil and adulterous generation who were gone a whoring from under their God and are run into the things that are seen which are temporal and have got the shaddowes types and figures and a form but are enemies unto and deny the life and power of Godlinesse and in obedience to the Lord because of these things which I found among you I turned from you and separated from you and this is according to the Apostles doctrine and not contrary to Scripture But the Lord commandeth his people to separate from all that walk disorderly under what name or form soever they be and he will be a Father unto them and a God unto them and will dwell in them and walk in them and they shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty and into this state and condition the Lord God is gathering his Sheep which have been scattered in their thoughts and imaginations upon all the dark mountains of Israel crying lo here and lo there even into a sure resting place to sit under their own vine and under their own fig-tree where none shall make them afraid and their place of defence shall be the munition of rocks where their bread is sure and their water given them and they eat of the hidden Manna which hath been hid from many generations where they eat of the bread of life and are refreshed and strengthened in the Inward man where they drink abundantly of the Rivers of pleasures that are at the right hand of God for evermore Into this place is the Lord God of life gathering his children more and more even into this land which flowes with milk and honey where they drink of the Living fountain and eat of the honey out of the Rock which hath followed them in the wilderness and hath led them out of darkness even out of thick darkness and by his Light they walk and are walking through darkness and through the wilderness where they have been long tempted proved and tryed even by a way which we knew not and he suffered us to hunger and he fed us there with Manna which had been hid from us and by a way which we never went hath heled us by
whosoever abideth in him sinneth not whosoever sinneth hath not seen him nor known him and all ye that are commiting sin and preaching for sin and disputing for sin and say none can be perfect and free from sin while they live you are all of your father the Devil for the Devil sineth from the beginning and the work of the Devil hath been wrought in you and the lusts of the flesh and the pride of life is brought forth amongst you and for this purpose is the Son of God manifested that he may destroy the works of the Devil whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God for thus saith the Lord I planted thee a Noble vine and I made thee an upright plant how art thou become the degenerate plant of a strange vine unto me saith the Lord And so you are degenerated from the Lord and estranged from the life which is the Light of man and ye are without God in the World and the world lieth in darknesse and the light shineth in darknesse Jc. 1. and the darknesse comprehendes it not and in this state you are who are pleading for sin and cannot cease from sin as ye may read Ro. 3.12 they are all gone out of the way they are altogether become abominable there is none that doth good no not one their throat is an open Sepulchre with their tongues they have used deceit the poison of Asps is under their lips but the way of peace they have not known and this is the reason why you cannot cease from sin 2 Pet 2.14 15. because ye have forsaken the right way as those cursed children which he speaks of had and had erred in their hearts from the light which is the way the power of God and wisdom of God and so blind are you notwithstanding all this that ye preach and pray sometimes against all sin and say you know it is your duty to abstain from all appearance of evil and to press and to strive after perfection and yet connot see that your striving is sin and your preaching against and striving against sin is sin for all that is not of faith is sin for this is contrary to your belief that men can be perfect and free from sin and your selves being gone out of the waie and striving against sin while out of the waie to you the commands of God must needs appear to be hard and grevious you being gone from the light the power which makes his waies waies of pleasantnesse and all his paths and commands easie and is not this the command of God Be ye holy for I the Lord am holy and be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect and that you should abstain not onely from the evil but from all appearance of evil and Paul who was an Elder and Minister of Christ he praied in the Name of the Lord and his praier was not in vain as yours are who pray for that which ye believe can never be who praied that the Saints might be kept blamelesse and spotlesse both in soul bodie and spirit until the coming of the Lord and to present the Churches as a chaste virgin and loyall spouse to the Lord without spot or wrinkle or anie such thing and was it not Pauls work to present everie man perfect in Christ and did he work and labour in vain as ye do or strive in vain or preach in vain who said he preached wisdom in a misterie to them that were perfect and doth not John say 1 John 2.14 when he spake to the young men and fathers doth not he tell them that greater was he that was in them then he that was in the world 1 John 4.4 And they were such as had the word abiding in them and they kept themselves that the wicked one touched them not and they were led by the spirit it of the Lord and walked in the light of the Lord and brought their words and all their actions to the tryer and touch-stone which is the Law and the Testamony which law is light saith Solomon Proverbs 6. and which Testimony is the spirit of prophesie saith John Rev. 19.10 and this is bound up and sealed with his Disciples Isa 8.19 20. and this is the word of reconciliation and reconciles to the Lord all that follow it and this is the light of the World and all that follow it are led out of darknesse and all sin and this is hated by you whatever you say who live in sin for all that do evil hate Christ all who are full of vain words and use vain words and all which are in the fashions of the World and love and friendships of the World even this is the condemnation of them all because they hate it and love it not and no man is justified in the sight of God nor hath peace with God neither is he reconciled unto God who is not led and guided by that which reconciles unto the Father therefore all you that speak of being justified by Christ and say you do believe in Christ and yet your selves are found sinners deceive not your selves my friends for it is hard for you to believe against Gods witnesse and to speak peace to your selves while Gods witnesse in your conciences speaks war and condemnation for man must be regenerated and born again of the immortal word which word is like a fire and like a hammer and as you wait lo ye shall feel it so and it will break down and hammer down that which separates you from the Lord it will finish transgression and condemn sin in you it will rent the vail and destroy the covering which is over the heart and so will purifie you and open the pure eye which can see the Lord and open the deaf ear which can hear what the spirit saith the grave shall be opened and the prisoner of hope shall come out of the pit where there is no water and he that hath been your condemnation shall now become your Saviour and he that hath been slain since the foundation of the World shall live in you and the great mistery of Godlinesse shall be made manifest to you which is Christ in you the hope of glory and Satan which hath been exalted in you even in the Temple of God above all that is called God and the abomination which makes desolate and the great misterie of iniquity shall then be seen by the great mistery of Godlinesse and then shall come to passe and ye shall come to witnesse it true without a meaning that which is written by the Prophet Isa 35.1 the Wildernesse and the solitary place shall be glad and the desert shall rejoyce and blossom as the rose then shall the eyes of the blind be opened and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped then shall the lame man leap as an hart and the tongue of the dumb sing for in the
MARGERET BEEBY THOMAS HARVEY ISABEL HACKER ANd because you may not say that I wrong you in saying that you have set up Shadows Types and Figures above the Life and Substance which is Christ and visible carnal perishing things above the Invisible unchangeable Word of the Lord which endures for ever I shall here set down a few of your principal Doctrines by which ye Judge the principals of Christ and they that are found therein to be Apostates and deceivers which I shall here mention and answer something thereunto and so leave it to Gods witness in ye all to Judge whether you are deceivers and Apostates or we And I am troubled for you all my heart is broken for you all who are hardning your selves against the Lord and like the Jewes have painted your selves as the Jewes did who were the greatest enemies of the Lord when he came and I am pained at my very heart for you all and my life bears the Iniquitie of many and I am pressed as a Cart is pressed that is full of sheaves for your mountain is exalted above the Lord and great is the oppression of the Holy seed read and understand Isa 53.5 4. Psal 11.4 The sorrows of death compass me the floods of ungodly men made me afraid the sorrows of Hell compass me about the snares of death prevented me verse 11. He made thick darkness his secret place and his pavillion round about were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies the Lord also thundreth in the Heavens and the Highest gave his voice hail-stones and coals of fire ye he sent out his Arrows and scattered them then the Channels of water were seen and the foundations of the World were discovered read Iames 3.6 If you have an ear to hear what the Spirit saith at the rebuke of the Lord at the blast of the breath of his nostrils he sent from above and took me he drew me out of many waters he delivered me from my strong enemy and from them which hated me for they were too strong for me he brought me forth also into a large place he delivered me because he dilighted in me verse the 18. and 19. Your first principle is this held forth at that dispute 1. That faith is an act of the creatures and not Gods gift But because I have spoken something to this already I shall add these Scriptures for the Reader and leave it Ephisians 2 8 and 1 Cor. 12.9 And all our righteousnesses is as filthy rages but the Lord worketh all our works in us and for us and what is not of faith is sin 2. That a wicked man whilest a wicked mâ—n is justified by Christ and hath accesse unto and may freely lay hold upon all the merits of Christ Ans To which I say you are they which justifie your selves being wicked and out of the faith which should purifie your hearts and seek to be justified by Christ while your selves are found sinners and so would make Christ as you are Ministers of sin Galathians 2.17 But he that justifieth the wicked and he that condemneth the righteous as ye do even they are both an abominateon to the Lord Prov 17.15 3. That the Bible was the life of their souls and comfort of their souls Ans To this I say miserable are you and miserable are all your comforters who have set up another comforter then the consolation of Israel and the comforts of God and the consolations of God are small in you read John 14 16 17. And saith Christ I will pray the Father and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you for ever even the spirit of truth whom the World cannot receive because it seeth him not neither knoweth him but you know him for he dwelleth with you and shall be in you I will not leave you comfortlesse I will come unto you William Ainsworth did affirm and John Brown likewise at his fathers house that Paul in baptising with water and not by commission was wicked and acted wickedly therein Ans First I shall prove what I there then did affirm That Paul was not sent to Baptize neither was his commission to Baptize with water but into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost as you may read Mat. 28. Though Iohn Gosnel be so blind who is one of your chief Teachers in the first page of his book saith it is with water and saith it is not the Baptisme of the spirit but if you will believe John Gosnel rather then the Scriptures which you say is your rule Let it be upon your own heads for ever Secondly I shall prove they did Baptize with Water by permission and not by commission if you can either believe Paul or the Scriptures 1 Cor. 1.14 I thank God I baptized none of you but Crispus and Gaius and I Baptized also the house of Stephanus and I know not whether I baptized any other and this he saith is the reason and ground vers 17. for Christ sent me not to Baptize but to preach the Gospel and I say he did this and many other things by permission as you may read Acts 16.3 where he circumcised Timothy that he might gain and bring some to the true circumcision and one Baptisme Acts 21.24 Where Paul shaved his head and all this was by permission and not by command And I leave it upon you to prove that he acted wickedly therein and so you may see that those things which you are making your foundation and setting up above the Name of the Lord could be done or left undone by them who were guided by the spirit of the Lord and all was to gain some unto the Lord and bring them into the one Baptism which is by one spirit into the Name of the Lord 1 Cor. 12 yet I do not deny water Baptism nor John who had a commission to Baptize with water in their time and in their place for I do believe and know it was a â—ommand of God and they that rejected it rejected the counsel of God in not being baptized with water of John But John saith of himself I indeed Baptize you with water unto repentance I must decrease and he must encrease who baptizeth with the Holy Ghost and fire and you do not read in all the Scriptures that John was sent into all nations but he came preaching the doctrine of Baptisme and repentance in the Wildernesse of Iudea and to the people of Israel but he who was to encrease was found by Iohns Disciples then they left John and followed Jesus and said they had found him whom Moses and the Prophets wrote of Jesus of Nazereth the Son of Ioseph Iohn 1.37.41.45 And herein did the friend of the Bride-groom rejoyce even when he heard of the encrease of the Bridegroom But Christ Mat. 28.18 came and spake unto his Disciples saying all power is given unto me in Heaven and in earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations Baptising them in
a way which is hid from the eyes of all living and kept close from the fowls of the air there did he lead us by the hand of Moses and Aaron the saint of the Lord there did he lead us from one Nation to another people and rebuked mighty Kings yea famous Kings for our sakes saying Touch not mine Annointed and do my Prophets no harm and we have been Baptized with Moses in the Sea and in the Cloud and we have heard the voice of the Lord speaking out of the cloudy Pillar and his Light is arisen and his arm is made Bare in us and darkness is under his feet Now he who is the Light of the world and shined in the darkness is risen out of darkness and in him and by him we comprehend all you who are yet in the darkness in the diverse washings and carnal ordinances which were imposed but till the time of Reformation and no longer and we see your bottom and know your ground and we know your house of Imagery and see with the eye of God that ye are looking with beastly eyes which are many in you which are in the many bodies who are alienated and reprobated from the one body the Light which is the Eye of God by which his Children are led and guided into all truth which truth sets free from iniquity transgression and sin a thing which ye never look to be set free from in this life but are preaching and disputing against it Therefore to you all This is the Word of the Lord God and a charge from the Lord God to you all that are high in your profession above the Door Christ Repent and turn to the Light of the Lord God in you for there is not one of ye all that is yet come to the first principle which is Repentance from dead works for he that is dead sinneth not therefore come out of Babylon out of all your inventions imitations and likenesses into which ye are run and the Spirit of the Lord God never led you by your own Confession who say the Letter is the Leader Guider and Teacher which is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and the Scriptures which say Christ is given for a Covenant of Light for a Leader and for a Teacher of his people therefore the leaders of this people causeth them to Err and they that are led of them are destroyed But they that are the sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and are Redeemed out of all your types and figures and shadowes and divers washings for which you have nothing to say or prove them by but by the Hand-writing which we know he hath taken away and abolished and nailed to his Cross which are a shadow of Good things to come But the Body is Christ into which body by one Spirit we are all Baptized whether Jewes or Greeks Bond or Free and have all been made to drink into that one Spirit in which Spirit is found the life of all types shadows and figures and in whom there is no variableness nor shadow of changing and him we witness in us to be greater then he that is in the world he himself is not of this world but he leadeth all that follow him out of the world which passeth away and gives us an entrance and by him an entrance is ministred into the Kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and this is the Saviour of the Soul even the ingrafted word of the Lord which ye that say ye are wise have rejected and cast his Law behind your backs and to you all he is become a stone of stumbling and Rock of offence and the preaching of his Cross is to you foolishness who gird your selves and esteemed by you in that wisdom nothing but confusion babling and non-sence though unto us that are saved the power of God and the wisdom of God Therefore in the fear of the Lord God and in the dread of the Lord God I charge you all again Repent whilst wisdom uttereth her voice in the streets saying turn in and the Lord calleth by that of himself in you and reproveth you by his pure witness and smiteth you in your Consciences I say all turn to that which smiteth checketh and reproveth that the Lord God may pour forth his Spirit upon you and cause you to know the mind of the Lord and to feel the word of the Lord which is nigh you in your hearts and is quick and powerful sharper then a two edged sword and searcheth your hearts and sheweth you your hearts and sheweth you all your hypocrisie and how you are hypt from the pure Spirit of the Lord God and have lost the Image of the heavenly and bears the image of the earthly sensual and divelish and in that wisdom you are with all the world which is enmity with God and brings not any to the knowledge of God no more then it brought the Jews to the knowledge of Christ when he came and this is your woful and sad Estate and herein are you crying as they were of old that ye are the Church of the Lord and keep the Ordinances of the Lord and are crying out against them who witness Christ the substance the body the end of all types and figures who is the Everlasting Day in which all shadows flee away and he was before all shadows was and they that are out of him are in the shadows and not they that are in him And your actions plainly declare and make it manifest unto all that are not blind and have not utterly lost the feeling of the Lord God that ye are wholly degenerated from the Lord and inwardly ravened from the Spirit of the Lord God which gave forth the Scriptures For both of them bear Testimony against you that ye have lost the spiritual weapon and knows not the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God to defend your shadows types and figures and all your ordinances which you in your immaginations have set up and have made to your selves many likenesses and fall down to them and worship them and would have all to do the like as if they were the true God but God is a Spirit and all that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth therefore all come down and feel the spirit of the Lord the power of the Lord God in you leading guiding you out of all the Worlds wayes and the wickedness thereof and it will lead you by a way which you never went and in a path which the vulters eye hath not seen nor the fierce lionish nature hath not troden therein But the Children of the Lord and the redeemed of the Lord walk therein and a fool cannot erre therein Therefore all cease from your own wisdom which is foolishness with God and own Gods wisdom in you even the Light which is accounted foolishness by you and all wait low in it and a secret strength and
power you shall feel Rise in you as you wait out of all your thoughts and reasonings and imaginations and then shall you feel and not before that Gods thoughts are not as your thoughts nor Gods wayes as your wayes neither doth the Lord reveal his secrets to any who are out of the Babes nature and childes nature for there is not any of them as yet that is become as a little child or as a weaned child before the Lord as David was and how then should you see the Kingdom of God for Christ saith a man must be regenerate and become as a child before that he can see the Kingdom of God and again he saith whosoever receives not the Kingdom as a little child shall in no wise enter therein Therefore I say again unto you who are in the halings pullings and tearings and using Antichrists weapons which are not spiritual but carnal when any is moved of the Lord as I have often been to come to your meetings and have spoken unto you in the Name and dread of the Lord then have you made it appear that you are yet in the Lions nature which never trod in the way of the Lord honestly consider and search the Scriptures which you say is your rule to walk by where did you ever find therein that any of the Saints or people of the Lord did ever pull and hale any out of their meetings or elect officers or make it the work of their Deacons which should be full of the Holy ghost to pull or hale any violently out of their meetings as Thomas Lamb and William Allin did who say the Holy Ghost hath made them overseers of the Church of Christ with many more such like actions which ye be found in besides many damnable doctrines which would be too much here to repeat some of which I shall set down in the following discourse And this is the judgement of the Lord and the wrath of the Lord upon you all for your wickedness in that you are still calling your selves Christians and the Church of the Lord and will not see how unlike Christ and his Church you are in all these actions And many of you who are called Baptists have had much tendernesse in you formerly and then was the Lord nearer you and ye nearer to him then now you are and then could you begin to say that all the World lay in vanity by reason of which there is nothing but vexation of spirit and then did many of you begin to deny respect of Persons which you saw to be sin But are now contending for and practising of that which you once saw vanity in and are again building that which you once destroyed and so are become transgressors of the Law But it is happened unto you according to the true proverb the dog is returned to his vomit and the sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire And many of you in those dayes began to deny the worlds fashions in casting off your gold and silver and costly attire which you saw to be needlesse and contrary to the Scripture and practises of the Saints and not the adorning which the daughters of Sarah and the holy women of old were adorned with and many of you have cast off your points fancies and needlesse toyes which then you did wear but now there is many of you have got again your silk garters and fancies and wear your silver and gold laces and plead for them and say they are needful things and that by your own rule the Scriptures with which rule you could formerly plead against them so that if one come to your meetings one can behold no difference between you and the world which you say you are separated from and who in all the Steeple-houses can be more full of vanity then some of your Teachers and Pastors are in wearing your cuffs and silver hat-bands and your hats licked like a spotted Leopard therefore all your separation from the world is but in words for you are not yet redeemed out of the Worlds wayes fashions friendships and customs which are all enmity with God and must passe away but he that doth the will of God abideth for ever and can never be moved And when I consider these things and whether and from whence ye are fallen and how ye have hardened your hearts against the Lord as Pharaoh did in whose presence and before whom I was altogether unwilling to write unto you so that I may truly say that I do it rather by constraint then willingly But the spirit of the Lord constraineth me which is contrary to mans will in all things and in obedience to him whose wayes and wisdom is not as mans do I write whether you hear or forbear to hear And concerning the order of your Church which you say is the Church of Christ and you say your selves are in the Gospel order and Members thereof answer these queries following First where do ye find or read in the Scriptures that the Ministers of Christ did set up an hour-glasse to preach by as ye do and when that is out to say the time is spent whether your time be in the Fathers hand or in the hour-glasse or whether the Spirit of the Lord is or ever was limited to an hour-glasse or whether the Saints did not all speak one by one as the spirit gave them utterance Secondly Whether the Saints or Ministers of Christ did invent what to say before-hand and writ it down as some of ye do and then read it to your Church or whether they did not speak as the unlimimitted Spirit gave them utterance Thirdly Where did the Church of Christ ever appoint a certain number of their members to speak at set times and call it disorder for any to speak besides them whom they did appoint and whether they might not all speak one by one that all may be edified and all might be comforted whether this was not the order and not counted confusion in any of the Churches of the Saints But Alas alas so are you fallen and so far degenerated from the Lord and apostatized from the Apostles life doctrine and practise and so ignorant are you of the letter of the Scriptures which ye say is your rule and so far hath the God of the World blinded your eyes that now you are seting up things that are seen which are temporal created visible things and must perish in the using thereof in stead of the invisible eternal and unchangeable God you are setting up carnal water in stead of the Name of the Lord which is the nature of God and is invisible and is unchangeable and one with himself and unchangeable as he is unchangeable and so far are ye gone from the Name of the Lord which is a strong tower which is the Rock of Ages and the foundation of many generations into which name Christ gave his Apostles commission to teach and Baptize as ye may read Mat. 28.
and the three last verses and Jesus came and spake unto them saying All power is given unto me in Heaven and Earth Go ye therefore and teach all Nations baptising them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost teaching them to observe and to do all things whatsoever I command you and Lo I am with you alwayes unto the end of the Word where there need not that any man teach them and this you are crying up to be water who have lost the Name and power of the Lord which should lead you and guide you into the Scriptures of Truth and instead of this name which is but one and this body which is but one into which bodie the Saints was Baptised into the body by one spirit Ephe. 4.5 whether they were Jewes or Greek bound or free and was made to drink into one spirit and in stead of this name ye have got the beasts names and the beasts doctrines which are Doctrines of Devils and names of blasphemy and this in particular I charge upon ye all in presence of the Lord and by the power of the Lord God Rev. 17.3 who are crying up water and preaching up water in stead of the Name of the Lord God to be a Doctrine of Devils for Christ sent not his Disciples to baptize with water but to preach and to baptize in the Name which Name of the Lord consists not in words and sillables 1 Cor. 17.1 but in purity Righteousnesse and holinesse and is the Divine nature and the Name of the Lord as you may read Exod. 34.5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the Name of the Lord and the Nature of the Lord and the Lord passed by him and proclaimed the Lord the Lord God merciful and gracions long suffering and abundant in goodness and truth keeping mercy for thousands forgiving iniquity transgression and sin and this is the Name of the Lord and the Nature of the Lord and besides this there is not another name whereby man can be saved but the Name of Jesus Acts 4.11 But alas alas how doth this stagger ye and how are you in your inventions seeking to find it out in your own wisdom are Judging and Condemning them as that Generation did in all Ages Condemning the Children of the Lord who had made the Name of the Lord their Tower and were led by the Spirit of the Lord as Deceivers Blasphemers and Seducers and so he who is the Lord our Righteousness and the Foundation of many Generations both he his Name which ye are gone from is become the stone of stumbling and the Rock of offence and set at naught by you builders of Babylon and so all in the fear of the Lord God who are crying up water and setting upwater in stead of the Name of the Lord God honestly sink down to the light of Christ who is the true light and lighteth every man that comes into the world and ye shall see ye have not as yet so much as known the Name of the Lord nor heard thereof but by the hearing with the carnal ear as they who were Baptized with water had not so much as heard whether there were a Holy Ghost as ye may read Acts 19.2 to the 7. verse When they heard this they were Baptized in the Name of the Lord Jesus but how should it be otherwise with you who are yet in the worlds fashions customs and who is so blind as he that is perfect in ye in whom the god of this world hath blinded the eye which should be your leader teacher and instructor and leadeth in the way of Righteousness and causeth all that follow him to inherit substance he it is who is the Light of the world and is not of the world but leadeth all that follow him out of the world its friendships fashions and customs which ye are in and yet say you are separated from them and say you are Jewes and are not but are of the synagogue of Sathan and are found Blasphemers therein and thus ye have set up the Idol in your hearts and put the stumbling block of Iniquity before my face saith the Lord God and turned away the face of mine Annointed and have cast the Law of the Lord behinde your backs and have rejected the Light of the Lord in you which is the Word of the Lord and know not God Christ nor his Spirit but in your thoughts where God is not to be found and therein have ye imagined a God above the Clouds and afar off but know not the Christ who is the express Image of the Fathers person to reveal the Father in you even he who is born of the Spirit and is Spirit and the onely begotten of the Spirit the Glory of him I say you are changeing in your vain Imaginations into the glory of a corruptible man Rom. 1.21 to the end read your state there And you are speaking of a Christ some of you of five foot long and asking how he can dwell in a man calling it blasphemy to say that Christ which suffered at Jerusalem of five foot long can be in a man thus you are in your imaginations and therein have set up a carnal Christ in your carnal minds but to this day are altogether ignorant as Philip was John 3.8 Read and understand John 14.8 if you have an ear to hear what the Spirit saith and see how you are gazing and are at a loss as the men of Galilee were while the vail is over your hearts and the Cloud hath taken him out of your sight and the are you scattered upon all the dark mountains of Israel and have wandred from the Lord the living Fountain and are like Noahs Dove tossed upon the waters and knowes not a resting place for the sole of your foot Therefore all Return Return to the light of the Lord in your Consciences that you may feel a Rock to stay and lean upon and he is not far from any of you there is none of you need to say who shall descend or ascend to fetch him up from beneath or bring him down from above but what saith it the word is nigh thee in thy heart that thou mayest obey it and do it and this is your fallen estate saith the Lord God which know not Christ in you the hope of glory Even the same that was before the world was one with the Father and filleth Heaven earth and was never seen with any carnal eye nor his voice heard by any carnal ear but in the pure eternal unchangeable light is he revealed and seen more and more as it is written Psal 36.9 For with thee is the Fountain of life in thy light shall we see light and so the way of the Just and the seed of the Just which is as a grain of Mustard seed is as a shining light that shineth more and more
until the perfect day Hosea 6.3 Then shall we know the Lord whose goings forth is prepered as the morning therefore none despise the day of small things nor none reject the weakness of God but come tot his help against the Mighty nor reject the seed of Israel because it is in bondage and lieth in thick darkness and shineth in thick darkness but all sink down that ye may feel the Arm of the Lord and witness Israel to do valiantly and to smite down all and break and hammer down all which is exalted and hath been exalted above him and lick up Nations and lick up people as the Oxe licketh up grass and scatter Nation and scatter people and thresh the Mount of Esau and scatter the dust thereof and burn up the thorns and bryars thereof as the wind doth scatter the chaff and the fire devoureth the dry stubble but read within thus shall it be when the Lord ariseth in you to shake terribly the earth overturn the mountains by the roots and dry up the Sea by his Power and smite through the proud by his Power Jude 26.11 12. And so who waits love in patience upon the Lord God shall come to know what it is to be Baptized into the Name of the Lord God when they feel the Name of the Lord and see the Name of the Lord to be exalted in them above every name and to know the Mountain of the Lords House established a-top of every mountain Then shall come to pass that saying not till then which is written Isa 58.14 Then shalt thou delight thy self in the Lord and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy Father for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it then shall ye know the builder of the waste places and the raiser up of the foundation of many Generations the repairer of the breach the restorer of the pathes to dwell in then shall the beast and his many names the King and his many Nobles be all brought under and bound with fetters of iron as ye may read Psal 149.9 Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud upon their beds let the High praises of the Lord be in their mouths and a two edged sword in their hands to execute vengeance upon the Heathen and punishments upon the people to bind their Kings with chaines and their Nobles with fetters of Iron to execute upon them the Judgements written this honour have all the Saints Praise ye the Lord Mark read and understand not shall have as you turn it hereafter but this honour have all the Saints who were in all ages bound fettered themselves by the wicked Rulers of the earth But before you can see or believe these things that eye which ye now see with must be blinded and the eye which the god of the world hath blinded must be opened then he that speaks not of himself but of the Father nor receives honour of man but of the Father then and not till then will his Words be plain unto you and not parables But all ye that are speaking of yourselves know neither the Son nor the Father ye that can pray when you will and preach when you will and when you will can be silent and all this is but in your own will and in your own time but ye have neither heard the voice of the Father at any time Jo. 5.37 nor seen his shape but are inwardly ravened from the Spirit of the Father in whose hands your time should be rather then in an hour-glass which ye think the Spirit of the Lord will be limitted unto for when that is run ye say the time is expired and this is contrary to the Apostles practice which spake as the Spirit gave them utterance which ye may read was until midnight Acts 2â— 7 And thus the Scripture which you say is your Rule to walk by beareth witness against you that ye walk contrary to it And yet so blind are ye that are Condemning us as Apostates which are led by the Spirit of the Lord and not contrary to the Scriptures and will not see that ye your selves are led neither by Letter nor Spirit But in your thoughts and imaginations ye are and ye see with the beasts eyes which are many and so are in the many minds and many heads and divided into the many bodies being led by the many eyes of the beast and with his many horns are thrusting and kicking one against another but know not the body nor discern not the body of Christ which is but one neither know the one eye which is the Spirit of truth to be your guider leader into all truth But one is crying I am of this mind and another I am of this and ye being many are of many minds and see with the beasts eyes which are many and all about the meaning of some one particular Scripture but are all gone from the Spirit of the Lord which gave forth the Scriptures and did speak as it meant which Spirit is but one in all his Children and all that are led by it are led into oneness and they are of one heart and one Soul as they that were guided by this one spirit in all ages was what ever you may imagine who are far from knowing such a state but one of you is crying I am for general Redemption and another I am for particular Election one is for eating of blood and another is against it some for washing of feet and others own it not one for laying on of hands and another against it and some that have preached it up as an Ordinance of Christ as William Allen and Thomas Lamb and without it said they could not admit any into the body of Christ and now themselves are gone from that also and look upon it as an indifferent thing and some of them are so blind that they say they cannot call any Brother until they have been Baptized in the water though it be but an hour before they are Baptized and yet a moneth before that when they have Examined them about their Faith and have judged them believers and I say that all are the Sons of God by Faith and therefore read Gal. â— 26 And consider what an Idol you have made of carnal water that cannot have fellowship with the Sons of God until they fall down to worship the Idol which ye in your Imaginations have set up for which ye have neither the Spirit nor the Letter of the Scriptures to own you in Some of you say that Christ shall come and reign among you a thousand years hereafter but that ye say ye know not when it shall be and many of you are for a Supper before that which ye call the Lords Supper and many of you deny both these thus are yow Babels builders scattered and confounded among your selves in your Imaginations
where you are building up and flinging down that which ye have built and so makes your selves transgressors and upon you all this is the plague of the Lord God for many of you have been convinced in your Consciences when I was amongst you that all things were out of Order and that ye were not as ye should be but now are again pleading and contending for them and are licking up that which ye sometime vomited out and thus are you restless and out of peace as the wicked are who are like the troubled Sea and ye are gone from the Rock of ages Isa 58.12 and know not the Foundation of many generations and have laid another foundation then Christ Jesus the Corner-stone which is smiting at the feet of your Image which ye in your Imaginations have set up and the Lord God of life and power will over-turn over-turn over-turn until he Reign whose Right it is to Reign and the Lord hath dryed up the Sea hath discovered to his Children your Foundation you who know not what it is nor how any can be Baptized into the Name of the Lord which is the Nature of the Lord which Name none knowes saving he that hath it as Rev. 2.17 He that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the Churches to him that overcome will I give to eat of the hidden Manna and I will give him a white stone and in this stone a new Name written which no man knowes saving he that receiveth it Rev. 3.12 And I will write upon him the Name of my God and the Name of the City of my God which is new Jerusalem which cometh down out of Heaven from my God and I will write upon him my new Name he that hath an ear let him hear what the Spirit saith But you who are in the Mystery of iniquity are comprehended with the Mystery of God and your bottom seen and your sandy foundation discovered and the Beast Rules and Reigns amongst you as I have said before and ye are kicking and thrusting down one another who are gone from the Name of the Lord and power of the Lord and ye are in the many heads and many bodies Rev. 13.1 And I saw a beast rise up out of the Sea and here is all your foundation even in the waters and ye have all drunk of the Cup which is in the right hand of the Whore with whom the Kings of the earth have committed fornication which sitteth upon many waters Rev. 17.2 4. And upon her fore-head was a name written Mystery Babylon the great Mother of Harlots and the great abomination of the Earth and I saw the woman of the Martyrs of Jesus and when I saw her I wondered with great admiration And here is the mind that hath wisdom for the woman which thou sawest is that great City which reigneth over the Kings of the Earth ver 18. And he said unto me the waters which thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are Peoples and Multitudes Nations and Tongues and this is the state of all Nations and Multitudes an Peoples whatsoever of all Sects and Opinions Bodies and Heads who we gone from the one Body and one Head but know not the Name of the Lord and are not Baptized into the Name of the Lord 1 Cor. 12. For by one Spirit were they all Baptized into one Body and this is your state in particular who are called Baptists who are tossed up and down in your Imaginations and are as unstable as waters Gen. 49.4 and wavering as the waves of the Sea and are contending for shadowes and variable and changing things and are gone from the Rock of ages and from the sure Foundation and Tried-stone which standeth above the waters and in whom there is no shadow nor variableness neither shadow of turning Therefore to you all this is the Word of the Lord God come down to the Rock feel the Rock out of all your Thoughts Reasonings and Imaginations that you may eat the Bread of Life and be satisfied not as the fathers did eat Manna in the Wilderness and are dead neither as you are eating your carnal bread or drinking your carnal wine which bread must perish and go into the drought and that which eateth it must return to the dust as it was but that a man eat hereof and live for ever John 6.46 to the 61. Therefore all own that which will purifie you which is the Spirit of the Lord God a measure of which Spirit is given to every one of you to profit withal and so that will create in you a clean heart and anew heart as you obey it and then shall you come to witness the new wine in the new bottle and so both are preserved and neither spilt and saith Christ I will not henceforth drink any more the fruit of the vine until I drink it new with you in my Fathers Kingdom for the Spirit was not yet given nor the day was not yet come nor the shadows fled away But you are eating and discern not the Lords Body and ye are drinking Condemnation to your selves and wo be to all that eat and Christ is not with them in their eating for they know not the Word to sanctifie that which they eat but you are eating in the contention in the striving about words wherein there is no profit and one is covetous and another is proud and this is not to eat with singleness of heart as they did whom ye say ye imitate who was then of one heart and one Soul as the children of the Lord who are led by the light of the Lord are now whatever you may falsly slander them withal and so your table is become a snare unto you in whom the God of the World ruleth and hath blinded the eye which should discern the Lords body and your table is a table of Devils and ye cannot pertake of the Table of the Lord and the table of the Devils But the Lord hath blessed us and we are blessed and cursed is every one that curseth us and we sit round about our Fathers Table and we eat bread in our Fathers house and sit under our own vine and we drink of the new wine with him in our Fathers Kingdom and blessed are all them that eat bread in the Kingdom of God for they eat their bread with singleness of heart out of all strife and contention out of all transgression and sin and we witnesse him who doth finish transgression and puts an end to sin and brings us into his everlasting righteousness and his righteousnesse we know which is not as filthy raggs even the white linen which is the Saints righteousnesse and it is become unto us as a garment and to us it is a Helmet of Salvation and we are in him and not in our own righteousnesse and he that is in him and followes him is led in the way of righteousnesse and sinneth not John 5.1 John 3.6