begg thee in the fear of the great Iehovah to consider thy Condition what it is and how the Case standeth with thee the which that thou mayst the better do the Premises being duly weighed Consider 1. What thou wast 2. What thou art 3. What thou shalt be to all Eternity Secondly Consider seriously 1. What thou hast done 2. What thou art now a doing 3. What thou shalt do to Eternity And Thirdly Consider 1. Where thou hast been 2. Where thou art 3. Whither thou shalt go to Eternity O I beseech thee in Gods fear Consider thy standing thy breath is in thy nostrils as well as others and God may as soon send his Messenger Death to thee as to another for the Lord will abhor the Bloody and Deceitful man Psal. 5. 6. For saith the same Prophet Psal. 55. 23. But thou O Lord shalt bring them down into the pit of Destruction for bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days But what man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good Depart from evil and do good seek peace and pursue it For the eyes of the Lord are over the Righteous and his Ears are open to their Cry But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut out their Memorial from off the Earth And should the Lord take thee away in this cruel inhumane merciless violent bloody-minded Condition what would become of thee to Eternity for as Death leaveth a man so Iudgement shall find him If Death put a man into the hole of the Earth a cruel an inhumane a merciless a violent a bloody-minded man so shall Iudgement find him Consider I beseech thee that the Fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness and tempearnce Gal. 5. 22. whilest the Works of the Flesh some of which are manifestly these hatred malice wrath strife envyings murthers the living in any one of which will exclude a man from Heavens Glory Gal. 5. 20 21. And that thou mayest see what I really intend in this my Alarm I shall after the thundring out of Gods Iudgements against Oppression and tyrannical Oppressors I shall I say in Christian Love lay before thee some flashings of pure and glorious Gospel-Light to the refreshing thy soul and to the enlightning the eyes of thy understanding that so thou mayst if thou art willing to it even be recovered out of thy sad condition For as I said in the beginning of my Discourse from Isaiah the first so shall I begin my Conclusion and say to thee and to all Tyrannical Persecuting Spirits Your hands are full of Blood therefore wash ye make ye clean put away the evil of your doings from before the Lord cease to do evil learn to do well seek Iudgement relieve the oppressed judge the fatherless and plead for the widows And then come and plead with the Lord and if ye so do though your sins were as scarlet they shall be as wooll though they be as crimson they shall be as snow For God is a merciful a loving and a tender-hearted God to poor sinful souls who if ye will believe himself saith As I live I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth but that the wicked turn from his ways and live Turn ye turn ye from your evil ways for why will ye die O house of Israel Ezek. 33. 11. For if the wicked will turn from his all sins that he hath committed and keep all my statutes and do that which is lawful and right he shall surely live he shall not die All his transgressions that he hath committed they shall not be mentioned unto him in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live Ezek. 18. 21 22. For The Lord is long-suffering to us-wards not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance 2 Pet. 3. 9. O then Richard Brown and all persecuting and violent spirits in the fear of the Lord be perswaded by the Lord to cast away from you all your transgressions whereby ye have transgressed and make you a new heart and a new spirit for why will ye die O Mayors of London and Iustices of England For I tell you again and again that I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth wherefore turn ye your selves and live Ezek. 18. 31 32. See the willingness of an offended God to be friends and at peace with an offending soul nay he thinks much of every minutes time that ye spend before ye come to him For hear how he crieth out by that Wise man saying How long I pray mind the tearms How long ye simple ones will ye love simplicity and ye scorners delight in scorning and fools hate knowledge Turn ye at my reproof And what then may some Poor Ignorant Malitious Envious Cursing Swearing Rending Tearing Persecuting soul say What shall we have upon our Returning Behold this thou shalt have I will pour out my Spirit upon you I will make known my words unto you Prov. 1. 22 23. I will give you my Spirit that shall lead you into all truth John 16. 13. whose operation in you will produce other effects then Envying Slandring and casting into Prison Strong-holds and Dungeons for the fruits thereof are Love Ioy Peace Long-suffering Gentleness Meekness and Temperance So that if your sins were never so Red though they be of never so deep a dye yet forsake them and the Blood of a Crucified Iesus shall cleanse you from all sins 1 John 1. 7. For he is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours onely but also for the sins of the whole World 1 John 2. 1 2. Therefore take that good advice from the Lord given by his servant Peter to those Iewes that were the Actual Betrayers and Murtherers of the Lord Christ Act. 2. 38 39. Repent ye therefore and be Baptized every one of you in the Name of Iesus Christ for the Remission of Sinnes and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost Which Holy Ghost or Spirit of Truth will lead you into all truth and will make a clear discovery of Truth from Error of Light from Darkness I can through mercy say it will do so I have found it and it is the desire of my soul that you and all the men of the world should find and know it And this is one and the great and main cause why I write this Alarm that so thou mightest be made sensible of what thou hast done and what thou hast to do For for my own part I my self have been as Zealous as thou canst be and had I had but as much Power as thou now hast I do really believe unless Conscience had flown in my face I should have done as much as thou hast done And I knowing thy conditon by mine own and by comparing my past with my present Condition I could do no less in Christian love than what I have done For
O London least my Soul depart from Thee least I make Thee Desolate a Land not Inhabited And may not his Servants say especially now they pull them so violently from their Meetings even Men Women and Children as a man may say and force them into Prison-holes and Dungeous I say may not they justly cry out and say with that Prophet Ier. 6. 10. To whom shall I give warning that they may here Behold their Ear is uncircumcised and they cannot hearken Behold the Word of the Lord is to them a Reproach they have no delight in it And vers 13. For from the least of them even to the greatest of them every one is given to Covetousness and from the Prophet even to the Priest every one dealeth falsely And may we not safely say to England at this day with the same Prophet Jer. 5. 30. That a wonderful and Horible thing is committed in the Land The Prophets prophesie falsely and the Priests bear Rule by their means and the People love to have it so But what will ye do in the End thereof For O Richard Brown when the Lord shall make Inquisition for Blood he Remembreth them he forgetteth not the Cry of the Humble Psal. 9. 11. For Precious in the sight of the Lord are the death of his Saints Psal. 116. 15. I mean the peaceable tender Lambs of Jesus that little Flock who are quietly Keeping the Word of Christs Patience waiting upon him in all his Ordinances Appointments and Administrations that are so much slighted villified and under valued by Men in this our Day Therefore know O Mayor that whilst thou art Haling the Lords People to Prison and Indeavouring with all that little Petty Mite of Power thou hast allotted thee to bring them at an under that then thou art but doing the Devils drudgery for so saith the Spirit Revel 2. 10. Pear none of those things which thou shalt Suffer Behold the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison that ye may be tryed And you shall have Tribulation ten dayes From whence O Richard Brown I would have thee and all Persecuting spirits to Note what the Spirit saith in the Text Behold or take notice of it the Devil shall cast some of you into Prison I say again let all persecuting spirits know yea and behold I say again lest they should seem to have some Colourable Excuse at that great day of Account when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to the Gospel Rom. 2. 16 I say I would fain have all persons in Places of Authority know that as they are set as Magistrates they are by the Appointment of God to be a terrour to evil works and a praise to them that do well Rom. 13. 3. But to Imprison Punish or Banish from the Land of their Nativity any that own the Gospel of Christ upon a Scripture Account is to prove themselves Persecutors for I shall challenge the ablest and Learnedest Persons in this Nation that can wash their hands of Roomes Traditions to shew any such Warrant from Gods Word in the least for as I shewed to the King in my Fanaticks Mite cast into His Treasury in the first Impression in Pages 12. and 13. and in the last in Pag. 9. and 10. that a Minister of the Gospel is not to be as a General in a Army to Frighten Beat and Fight men into Faith but as an Embassadour to perswade to Invite gently to treat with and to intreat into the way of God the one being Evangelical or Gospel but the way of force being Diabolical and of the Devil and whilst they are made believe they are doing Gods Work for saith Christ Iohn 16. 2. the time will come that when they shall kill you they shall think they do God good service They are then manifesting themselves to be Drudges to that Evil One for so saith the Text Rom. 12. 10. The Devil shall cast some of you into Prison c. But here some may object and say That this is a Text out of the Revelations and the Revelations is very Mysterious and the Text may mean something else To which I Answer That I judge it is meant literally and that it shall be Actually performed as we see in a Measure it is at this day the which is a great Confirmation of my Faith in the Truth of it So that what I have seen and felt and heard that Declare I as in other so in this case and therefore I shall farther Answer that though the Devil hath not as I know off nor ever had any Power Actually as a Commission Officer as a Mayor or Iustice of Peace so to do yet Instrumentally he may so do in and by Men that are so Commissionated and although I cannot truly say that ever any Mayor either of this or any other City or any Iustice of Peace of this or any other City Town or Borrough was ever a Devil simply so considered yet I must take leave to think who is in Men when they Act so contrary to the very Heathen and have not learned or rather by reason of much Blood-shed are hardened and blinded that they cannot see how to act as meer natural men or Heathens that walk onely by the Light of Nature Even to do by another as freely as they would have another do by them So that though I cannot say that any Mayor or Iustice is a Devil yet I can safely and upon a good account say with our Apostle Ephes. 2. 2. That there are some who walk according to the course of this World according to the Prince of the Power of the Ayre the spirit that now worketh I pray mind it the spirit that now Worketh in the hearts of the Children of Disobedience And there are some that are led Captive by the Devil at his Will 2 Tim. 2. 26. And such shall fall upon the People of God when the Devil their Master hath a Commission Signed and not before for the Devil knew Iob long before he could do him any harm for the Lord said unto Satan Hast thou considered my Servant Iob that there is none like him in the Earth a perfect and an npright man one that feareth God and Escheweth Evil Job 1. 8 9 10. Then Satan answered the Lord and said Doth Iob fear God for nought hast thou not set an Hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side thou hast blessed the Work of his hands and his Substance is increased in the Land therefore we find that the Devil said Put forth thine hand now and touch All that he hath and he will curse thee to thy Face And the Lord said unto Satan Behold All that he hath is in thy Power onely upon him put not forth thine hand So or when he had his Commission Signed Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and the next news we hear of Iob the Sabeans are Commissionated by this
I say if serving of God peaceably and quietly with Reverence and Godly Fear be good in the Sight of God How can those answer the turning the Edge of the Sword of Iustice upon them before the great Jehovah who put that Sword into their hands and if so Why are the poor peaceable People of God that are no Turkish slaves but the free born Commoners of England thus enslaved Why must the Sword of Oppression thus be suffered in the hands of Richard Brown instead of the sword of Iustice Why are the several Justices of Peace in the several Counties of England thus suffered to disturb the Peace of the Innocent Lambs of Jesus in their peaceable Meetings And if any man shall ask me the reason why I question these things I must Answer them in the words of Little David in that 1 Sam. 17. 29. What have I now done is there not a cause Is not that great Goliah of our times defying the Host of the Israel of God that Rome-bred Monster Persecution Is it not now vaunting it self against both the Cause and People of God Is it not now pulling down those that cannot drink drunk go like Anticks Spot and Paint Whore and Rant Rend and Tear Swear and Forswear Is not this a Cause why the People of God who will evidence themselves so to be now to stand up for Purity Piety Peace Mercy Truth and Iustice and in such a time as this boldly Couragiously Manfully to fight the Lords Battel and to lay about them with the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God Joh. 6. 17. and chiefly and more frequently to meet together and with a peaceable gentle holy violence come with great Zeal into their several and respective Meetings to pray to the Lord and set their shoulder to the Work as one Man to offer an Holy Violence to the Throne of Grace that God would let King Charles see what he hath done for him and also what he doth expect from him that so the End of his faithful Subject in casting that into his Treasury may be effected To which purpose it shall be my request to all my Brethren that they would both privately and Publickly Meet at their Publick Meetings to cry Mightily to the Father by the help of the Spirit in the Name of his Son King Iesus that he would Assist King Charles in that needful work of Self-Examination and due Consideration Not forgetting the Great the Mighty and the Noble of the Land nor thee Richard Brown although thou art so cruel But to remember also all Iustices of Peace yea and all the Nation in general that are thus bent against Gods People with such a spirit of bitterness that God would let them see how they requite the Lord for his Benefits bestowed upon him and them and to them in doing so much for him their King To which purpose that it may be the more Effectually done I say to them all as I do to Henry Den about Swearing in my Fannaticks Testimony against Swearing in Page 45 that they would call for and crave the assistance of all in that Page mentioned that so they may if possible have one Word of God from the ablest of their Learned Men for their thus imprisoning and abusing the Fock of God or any man else for their worshipping their God because they cannot worship with them I say again I would have every soul be fully satisfied herein before they proceed farther that so they may have the Word of God for their Warrant as a Foundation of their Faith herein for saith the Apostle Rom. 14. 23. Whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin For Faith is the full perswasion of the heart of Man grounded upon the Promises of God and wrought in us by the Spirit of God So that if thou hast not a Word of God for thy Warrant as a Foundation of thy Faith herein thy Faith is no more Faith but Fancy and therefore have a care Soul who ever thou art though never so great I say again in the fear of the Lord have a care that the Lord say not one day to you that are thus found persecuting his People for worshipping him not at all harming you as once he said by his Prophet to Israel of old Isai. 1. 12. Who hath required this at your hands Why have you Ensnared Inslaved Imprisoned and evilly Intreated my People when I have done so much for you when I have given you so much Liberty so much Freedom so many Priviledges and Injoyments and can ye not suffer the Members of that Body of which my Son Iesus is the Head no Liberty at all When King Charles wanted his Kingdoms Wealth Liberty Subjects Armies Arms Ammunition Magazines and Store-houses Sumptuous and Fair Buildings Parkes and Chases Meadows Fields and Pastures Ships and Shipping with all that He hath and all that He doth enjoy and all this He hath by His own shewing again and again from the hands of our Father that Loved us and gave his Son to Die for us yea He hath what He hath from the hands of our Father who is so to us by Promise not onely by Creation but also by Regeneration and Adoption yea we have his Word for it 2 Cor. 6. 17 18. And by his assistance have performed the conditions and I have his Seal for my Son-ship Ephes. 1. 13. and through Mercy I speak not Parrot-like but what I have through Grace seen and known felt and looked upon and handled that I declare it is that which giveth me boldness now Acts 4. 13. and will give it me at the day of Judgement 1 Iob. 4. 17. And although we are his peaceable and quiet Subjects by the appointment of our Father yet he careth not for us but is desirous to be rid of us and no Roome fit for us in all his Territories but a Prison and in these Prisons the Dungeon and that by many thought to good for us too although we never deserved such things at his hands I am sure he promised us better things and that upon conditions too the which on our parts were never yet broken nor never shall be let him deal with us however he pleaseth yet our peaceable Meetings are broken and our Forms and Accommodations in those Meetings broken to pieces Demollished and burned and that by the Rude Rabble and should we were it our Principle be but half so Tumultuous as these are that at every turn have to do with us we should then be looked upon as very dangerous Persons such as there might be some colour of Imprisoning but blessed be the Lord we are not such and yet are and have been Imprisoned and in Kent several have been Haled away to Maidestone who now lie there and our Brother Crosse who a short time before with his own hands presented a moderate and an honest Petition into the Kings Hand in order to the procuring a Liberty according to the Kings Promise
destruction of the flesh or of that fleshly part that caused him so to offend that so the Spirit might be saved in the day of the Lord 1 Cor. 5. 5. Even so it is with me it is in Love I bear to thy soul that I do it and for the ease of Gods People and therefore I shall let thee know that a desperate Wound must have a desperate Cure for Extreams must have Extreams to Cope withall and Ulsers must have flesh to feed upon not skin It is neither Smoothing nor Soothing thee up in thy condition that will do thee any good but harm therefore in the faithfulness of my Soul I must tell thee that thy condition is not to be dallyed withall And as the honest Lawyer as aforesaid dealeth with his Clyent so shall I with thee and let thee know That if that grim Sergeant Death shall but once Arrest thee upon an Action of Battery in the Name of the great Iehovah at the Suit of King Iesus for Persecuting him in his Poor Members and shall charge thee in his Declaring with a Brown Brown Why Persecutest thou me He will recover such dammages of thee at that Great Tribunal that he will deliver thee to the Iaylor he will commit thee to Prison and so thou shalt not come thence till thou hast Paid the uttermost Farthing Therefore be perswaded to agree with thy Adversaries quickly whilst thou art in the way Mat. 5. 25. And take that advice of the Prophet Isai. 55. 6. Seek the Lord whilst he may be found and call upon him whilst he is near Let the wicked forsake his Wayes and the unrighteous man his Thoughts and let him return unto the Lord for he will have Mercy and to our God for he will have Compassion And secondly I must also with the honest Physitian let thee know that thou hast a very soul Body and overflowing with gross Humors that are very apparent the which may easily be distinguished without either feeling thy Pulses or casting thy Water for thou hast several confused Distempers as thy Belly swelling with a Timpany of Pride and thy Body full of the dropsical Humors of Uiolence and Oppression And thou art deeply infected with that unsatiable disease against the People of God called Apetitus Caninus And yet in a deep Consumption of common humanity pitty and true piety patience penetency and purity love lenity and true loyalty meekness moderation and true manhood yea and like Ephraim of old Hos. 7. 9. thou hast gray hairs here and there upon thee and thou dost not know it and like that Angel of the Church of Sardis Rev. 3. 1. thou hast a Name to live and art dead and with that Leader of that Laodicean Church Rev. 3. 17. supposest thy Condition to be very good and that thou art Rich and that thou hast need of nothing and knowest not that thou art poor and wretched and miserable and blind and naked For thy Actings plainly discover thee to be what thy Profession is not But saith our Saviour By their Fruits ye shall know them Do men gather grapes of thorns or figgs of thistles Matt. 7. 16. Do men pretend to be Christians and yet act so unlike Christ and the Primitive and Present Christians What! a Child of God and of a Persecuting Spirit I must confess a Wolves Nature wrapt up in a Sheeps Skin is that which our Saviour hath foretold we must expect in these latter days and they 〈◊〉 so far from being his as that he forewarneth his People of them and requireth his to beware of them What! a Son to the God of Peace Rom. 16. 20. and yet a Persecutor A Brother to Christ the Prince of Peace Isa. 9. 6. and yet a hater of his Church which is his Body Col. 1. 24. A man pretending to be led by the Spirit of God for if a man have not the Spirit of Christ he is none of his Rom. 8. 9. whose fruit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness meekness and temperance Gal. 5. 22. against which there is no Law Yet thou shewest thy self to be so far from being led by that Spirit as that thou wouldest fain find out a Law to be put in rigid execution against those peaceable quiet Baptists that are led by that Spirit And because thou nor thy cruel Brethren Magistrates in several Counties as you pretend your selves to be godly and christian yet finding no Law of King Iesus for any such cruel abominable actings as you execute upon persons to fulfil your own lust and malice therefore ye are forced to lay claim to the Proclamations of King Charles and before there came forth one for your turns some in Lincoln-shire made use of that against Swearing and Debauched persons who imprisoned Iohn Watts and others in that County and William Iefferyes Matthew Caffin and our Brother Millar with others were questioned upon that Proclamation also as evil doers in the West Countrey near Dorchester So that common Proverb in them is fitly to be applied which saith It is an easie matter to find a stick to beat a Dog withal yet if King Charles had not made that Proclamation against our quiet and harmless Meetings ye had missed of your cruel and malicious Ends And I must plainly say that if he had not made it he had shewed some respect to us for then he had continued us as he found us till a Parliament had restrained us but the making of this and refusing to take it off till a Parliament looks with such a dreadful face as that it hath frightned many a poor weak soul into a perswasion to Swear contrary to the Requirement of Christ who saith Matth. 5. 34. Swear not at all but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay Nay for what is more than this cometh of evil or of that evil One For saith he Except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye shall in no wise enter into the Kingdom of Heaven So that our Yeaes and Nayes should be more than other mens Swearings and therein we should be as faithful to King Charles in what we undertake as our Brethren of Holland are to their States But see O Richard Brown whether thy violence herein doth not evidence thee to be one that is acting in the fruits of the flesh the consequences whereof are very dangerous for saith our Apostle Gal. 5. 20. The works of the flesh are manifest some of which are these which are so predominant in thee even hatred variance emulation wrath strife and envyings of which I have tould you in times past that they that do such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God Thou that art so eager to force persons to Swear against the Pope dost thou fight with Roms Engines Imprisonment Banishment the Gallows Fire and Faggot And now let me ask thee O R. Brown Where are thy sences Dost thou pretend to own the Gospel of Peace Eph. 6. 15. the God
I through mercy have taken out this Lesson in what the Lord requireth me in what he said to Peter that when I am Converted I should strengthen my brethren And herein I desire to do by another as I would have another do by me And I would if another saw me running headlong to destruction that he should let me know the danger that so I might if possible escape and avoid it And thus O Richard Brown I have done to thee I profess in the presence of the Lord no otherwise than I would have thee or another do to and for me and as I have spoken boldly to thee to let thee know wherein thou hast failed and run thy self into an eminent Danger so I shall be as ready to shew thee a Remedy and shall let thee know what Relief I have found by whom that so thou with me mayest have cause to magnify the free Grace Love and Mercy of that God who hath done such great things for poor worthless sinful rebellious malitious and persecuting Spirits as now thou art and I my self have been And therefore I shall let thee know that there is one Iesus of Nazareth a man approved of God who â—mongst the Iews by Miracles Signes and Wonders was owned of God Act. 2. 22. who was sent forth of God to be a Propitiation through his Blood to declare his Righteousness for the Remission of sins that are past through the forbearance of God Rom. 3. 25. For there is no other Name given under Heaven by which men can be saved Act. 4. 12. For him hath God the Father sealed John 6. 27. And herein was the Love of God manifested towards us because that God sent his onely begotten Son into the World that we through him might live 1 John 4. 9. For saith our Apostle Iesus Christ came into the World to Save sinners of whom I am Chief 1 Tim. 1. 15. For there is one God and one Mediator between God and man the Man Christ Iesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time 1 Tim. 2. 5 6. Who came to Seek and to Save that which was lost Luk. 19. 10. Who was that Lamb of God that taketh away the sins of the World John 3. 29. For God so loved World that he gave his onely begotten Son that Whosoever believed in him should not Perish but have everlasting Life For God sent not his Son into the World to Condemn the World but that the World through him might be Saved John 3. 16 17. For vers 14. As Moses Lifted up the Serpent in the Wilderness so also must the Son of Man be Lifted up that Whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have Eternal Life And this is Life Eternal that they might Know thee the onely True God and Iesus Christ whom thou hast sent John 17. 3. But he that saith he Knoweth him and Keepeth not his Commandments is a Lyar and the Truth is not in him 1 John 2. 4. So that to Know God upon a Scripture account is to Obey God For Samuel said unto Saul 1 Sam. 14. 22 23. Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifices as in Obeying the voice of the Lord Behold to Obey is better than Sacrifice and to Hearken than the fat of Rams but Rebellion is as the Sin of Witchcraft and Stubbornness is as Iniquity and Idolatry So we see evidently that what God Requireth from a Soul if that Soul do not Obey God in that Requirement God looketh upon that Soul to be a Rebel against him And this is that which maketh many a poor man lie in Prison at this very day that dares not transgress the Requirement of the Lord Christ lest they be found Rebels against Christ who saith Mat. 5. 34. Swear not at all O Richard Brown it is said Rom. 5. 6 8. That When we were without strength in due time Christ died for the Ungodly For God commended his Love towards Us or to the Bulk of Mankind in that whilst we were yet Sinners Christ Died for Us And there is more Ioy in Heaven over One Sinner that Repenteth than over Ninety and nine Iust men that need no Repentance Luk. 15. 7. For this was one End why Jesus Christ came into the World Not to Call the Righteous but Sinners to Repentance Matt. 9. 13. For Christ himself said Luk. 24. 46. Thus it is written and thus it behoved Christ or the anointed One to Suffer and to Rise from the dead the third day and that Repentance and Remission of Sins should be preached in his Name among all Nations beginning at Ierusalem And now I am come to preach it to thee O Richard Brown and to all in this Nation to whom this my Alarm shall come that are of a Persecuting Spirit and to all that are in a Carnal Dead Sleepy and a Drousie Condition as to their souls eternal good and shall say to thee and them as once the Lord Christ said to thy Brother Saul Act. 9. 4. O Violent Turbulent Envious Malitious and Inveterate Spirits why Persecute ye Christ in his Poor Peaceable Harmless Innocent Members And therefore I shall say to every such soul that is of this Bitter Spirit as once Peter said Act. 8. 22 c. Repent therefore of this thy wickedness and pray God if perhaps the thoughts of thy heart may be forgiven thee for I perceive thou art in the Gall of Bitterness and in the Bond of Iniquity And let me assure thee O Richard Brown and all others who are so spirited that ye need not desire as Simon desired Peter vers 24. to Pray for him for that God that heareth Prayers unto whom all flesh come Psal. 65. 2. I say that God that heareth Prayers knoweth right well that it is and constantly was my Request at the Throne of Grace yea and when I was in the Dungeon too That God would open the eyes of your Understandings that so ye might have a perfect fight of your Conditions that so both You and your King might be truly sensible of what God hath done for Him and what God hath done for you And that God would shew you all what he doth expect both from Him and You And that he would shew you sensibly how you are but evilly requiting him in Persecuting his peaceable People when he hath given you peace on every side and thus whilst you were and are seeking our Ruine I both am and was praying for the good welfare and benefit of your souls And whilst you were striving to Ruine Us and our Little ones in Our Temporal Estates here I was Praying for You and the Eternal welfare of Yours in Glory And thus I shall tell thee O Richard Brown and all men and that in the very faithfulness of my soul that be as Malitious and as Hateful against me as you will and do with me for this My Alarm My Mite cast into the Kings Treasury My Fannaticks Letter or My
likeness of his Death we shall also be in the likeness of his Resurrection Rom. 6. 5. And saith our Apostle 1 Cor. 3. 6. I have planted and Apollo watered in a Gospel Church and saith Hosea of the Church of old Ephraim is Planted in a pleasant Place Hos. 9. 13. though Ephraim did not bring forth good fruits to God and therefore Ephraim must be weeded for Ephraim shall bring forth his Children to the Murtherer Therefore thou and such as thou art O Richard Brown are but Weeders of Gods Garden those Plants that are of our Heavenly Fathers Planting thou mayest root up For my Father saith Christ John 10. 29. is greater than all and no man is able to pluck them out of his hand Then look about you O you Seed of God for ye are made partakers of Christ if ye hold fast your Confidence stedfast unto the End Heb. 3. 14. I must confesse it is high time the Weeders were at work for the Weeds are grown high in the Church of Christ but if thou shalt pluck up and offer violence to the choice Flowers and fruit-bearing Branches to God our Gardener will be very angry with thee nay I question whether he will not turn thee out of his service therefore it is requisite thou beest good in thine Office and for the Information of thy Judgement in order to the Reforming of thy violent Actings Read I beseech thee what God hath done with such violent Weeders Isaiah 10. from 5. to 20. Amos 1. and Isai. 13. all the whole Chapters And as Gods People are his Garden So Christ taketh a delight in them For he walketh in the midst of the seven golden Candlesticks Rev. 1. 12 13. Revel 2. 1. Yea saith the Spouse Cant. 6. 2. My beloved is gone down into his Garden to the Beds of Spices to feed in the Gardens and to gather Lillies to smell those Fragant Gifts and Graces of the Spirit which are so delightful to me as that I even feed upon them I pluck them even with as much delight as men pluck Lillies and their Choice Ripe and full blown Fragant Flowers and vers 11. I went down into the Garden of Nuts to see the fruits of the valleys and to see whether the Vines Flourished and the Pomegranates Budded to see how the young Ones those Babes those Lambs those young Men in the Faith have profited in the Profession of the Gospel and those Vines how they flourish those strong Men and Fathers whether they bring forth Fruit as well as Leaves whether they have the possession as well as Profession of the Gospel how they flourish yea how they abound in every good Work And in Cant. 4. 16. The Spouse being sensible of the want of the constant breathings of the holy Spirit which saith our Saviour is as the Wind Blowing where it listeth she cryeth out Awake O North Winde and come thou South blow upon thy Garden that the Spices thereof may flow out Let my beloved come into his Garden and eat his Pleasant Fruits as if she should say without thee by the incomings of thy Spirit we can do nothing we cannot shew forth Love Joy Peace Patience Long-suffering Gentleness nor Goodness Meekness nor Temperance without the Breathings of that Holy Spirit of thine therefore give us what thou requirest from us and then come into thy Garden and feed of thine own And now O Weeder consider what thou hast done thou shuttest up the Garden Doors that are within thy Jurisdiction thou rootest up the Flowers Vines and Plants throwest them on heaps and lockest them up in noysom Prisons Holes and Dungeons amongst noisom and very infectious Weeds Indeed more I might say but I shall forbear yet not forbear to tell thee that the Mr. Gardener seeth and beholdeth it And I shall mind thee of the words of that Kingly Prophet Psal 10. 13 14 15. Wherefore do the wicked contemn God he hath said in his heart thou wilt not require it But thou hast seen it O Lord thou beholdest mischief and spite to requite it with thy hand the Poor yea every one of thy poor Flock committeth himself unto thee thou art the help of the Fatherless Break thou the Arm of the Wicked saith that Holy Man vers 15. and of the Evil man seek out his wickedness till thou find none But I shall say and that in the singleness of my Soul O Lord give Richard Brown a sence of the Evil of his wayes let him see O Lord the ugliness of a Persecuting Spirit and whence it is shew him wherein he hath failed in all his Acts of Violence and Oppression and cause him to hear a Word from Heaven and that from thy Son for the Eternal good Benefit and well-fare of his poor Soul saying Brown Brown why Persecutest thou me and let him know that thou O Lord God of recompences wilt surely requite cause him O Lord to be so sensible of the Evil of his wayes as that he may search out his own Iniquities Transgressions and Sins and that he may set them before him and may be sensible of them in their several aggravations as that he may see himself a nothing Creature without a Saviour And that he may so close with thy Son Jesus upon his own terms as that of a Persecuting Saul he may become a Preaching Paul that so he may Build again that which as to thy People he hath destroyed and may destroy as to himself that which he hath builded that so he may purge out that old Leaven as he may become a new lump unto thy self when he shall be translated out of the Kingdom of darkness into the Kingdom of thy Dear Son that so as he hath Squandered away thy Portion ruined thy Heritage troden down thy Vineyard and as much as in him lieth slain thy tender Lambs Sheep and Flock shut up thy Garden rooted up thy choice Vines Fragant Flowers and Budds of Spices So O Lord for the time to come he may as much as in him lieth repair thy Portion rebuild thy Heritage repair thy Vineyard Re-inliven thy Flock and replant and replenish thy Garden that so thy People O Lord may see that Prophesie of the Prophet Isaiah in a good measure fulfilled to them in their days that Kings Rulers and Governors may be their nursings Fathers their Queens shall become their nursing Mothers Yet Holy God if it shall be thy will to suffer thy People yet to undergo the hand of Persecution Teach every one of thy faithful Ones readily and willingly to say Not as I will but thy Will be done And as thou hast brought them forth in Suffering times So for the sake of thy Son Jesus give Suffering Spirits and Suffering Resolutions that so they may in the midst of their distresse Glorifie thee by their Patient willing couragious and undaunted behaviour And O Lord Inable them by the Incomings of thy own Spirit so as that they may suffer purely and alone for their
bearing their Testimoey for Iesus against Iesuits and Romes Abominations against Tyrannical Oppression of Oppressors and against all things that are contrary to sound Doctrine Truth and true Piety to the pulling down of Vice and the establishing of Vertue to the undeceiving the Deceived the Confirming them that do stand to the healing the Backslider even to the showring down of Gods blessings upon the Nation that so in our Sufferings our God may support us Inable us in and under our Sufferings so as that when we come to die we may so die as that we may live in Glory Eternally And now Richard Brown that thou mayst the better consider of thy wayes I shall lay before thee what God hath done to the Persecutors of his People formerly that so if possible thou mayest be Reclaimed Then first consider Pharaoh King of Egypt in those ten Plagues he suffered in his own Country and Habitation after he had contrived the ruine of Gods People when he himself sought to bring Gods People at an under he himself was suddenly brought Low Exod. 1. and Exod. 7. and 8 9 10 11 12 Chapters and whilst he still retained his Malice against them Gods Iudgements are renewed when he pursues Israel to destroy them all God utterly ruines him and all his that prusued them and that most Miraculously for the Red Sea was before them and Pharaoh and his Host behinde them and now in all probability the People of God must perish but Israel waits upon God and God most Miraculously devides the Sea and causeth Israel to go over dry-shod But when pharaoh his Host and his Chariots pursued them the Waters returned and over-whelmed them all Exod. 14. from 22. to 30. Again we see in Hamans case that when he had so far prevailed with King Ahasuerus as that all the Iews must be put to death proud Haman himself was hanged on the Gallows he had prepared for Poor Mordecai Behold O Richard Brown doest thou not remember an old English Proverb that saith Harm watch harm catch in plain English I must tell thee that Israels God is a Just God and I would have all those also know so much that do tell King Charls as Haman told Ahasuerus that there are a certain People scattered abroad and dispersed among the People in all the Provinces of his Kingdom and their Laws are diverse from all People neither keep they the Kings Lawes for when he saith by his Proclamation Meet not yet they will Meet as through Mercy it is at this day Therefore it is not for the Kings profit to suffer them therefore say they If it please the King let it be written that they may be destroyed but I would have all such Persecuting spirits know that Israels God doth neither slumber nor sleep but is a Covenant-keeping God and will never leave nor forsake those that depend upon him For when an upright-hearted Daniel shall faithfully serve his God and his King in so much that he is hated of the rest of the Princes and Presidents Dan. 6. 4 5. And that they can find no fault in him save in the matter of his God then a Decree must be Cogged for a Royal Statute as they call it that must be made after the Law of the Medes and Persians which altereth not which is That whosoever shall ask a Petition of any God or man for thirty dayes save of the King shall be cast into the Den of Lions But when Daniel knew that the Writing was Signed what then did he do as the Professors of our dayes generall have done I answer to their shame No he turned not his Back upon his God nor upon the waiting upon his God in his constant course times place and manner For as soon as Daniel knew that the Writing was Signed he went into his House and his Windows being opened in his Chamber towards Ierusalem he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did aforetime It is worthy our serious consideration as he did Afore time so he doth now the Kings Royal Decree altereth not his serving his God nor the fear of the Den of Lyons but he prayes and gives thanks three times a day as he did afore-time whereupon faithful Daniel must be cast into the Den of Lyons but that God sent his Angel to shut the mouthes of the Lyons that Daniel so constantly and faithfully served and Daniel must be released But shall his Accusers escape No for they dig a pit for another but are fallen into the ditch that they have digged for no sooner Daniel out but his Accusers in for saith the Text The King Commanded and they brought those that had Accused Daniel and cast them into the Don of Lions them their children and their wives and the Lions had the mastery of them and brak all their bones in pieces ere ever they came at the bottom of the Den Dan. 6. 24. Will the mighty men in Nebuchadnezzars Army by the appointment of the King cast Shadrach Meshach and Abednego into the seven times hot fiery Fornace The Flame shall fasten on them and shall destroy them Dan. 3. 22. Thus evil shall slay the Wicked and they that hate the Righteous shall be desolate Psal. 34. 21. And that I may the better set home the certainty of this truth upon thy heart O Richard Brown I shall lay before thee something out of the History of the Church that so thou mayest see how the Iudgements of God have all along followed Tyrannical Oppressors even to the advancement of his own Glory and his Peoples good Eusebius Pamphilius in his first Book of the Life of Constantine and the 50. Chap. telleth us that the Emperour Maximinius was a great Persecutor of the People of God insomuch that he exprest his rage against them with great fury but before he could satisfie his thirst with the Blood of Just and Religious men God began to lay Iudgements on him and began to invade his body that so he might recover his mind for an ulcerous Fistula did breed in his secret parts which in time did eat into his bowels having a number of wormes which did breed in it and yeeld a deadly stinck insomuch that he became a Lamentable spectacle to all men thus being full of pain and misery and troubled in Conscience for Oppressing the Church presently in all haste he confessed his fault to God and commanded them to make their accustomed Supplications and Prayers for him to God And thus we see God many times meets with men for their misactings against his People as he did of old Psal. 105. 14 15. when he suffered no man to do them wrong yea when he reproved Kings for their sakes saying Touch not mine Anointed and do my Prophets no harm And let me tell thee O Mayor I am perswaded it would be a benefit to thy soul if God should so gently lay his hand on thee that so thou mightest