Truth Exalted IN A short but sure Testimony against all those Religions Faiths and VVorships that have been formed and followed in the darkness of Apostacy And for that Glorious Light which is now risen and shines forth in the Life and Doctrine of the despised Quakers as the alone good old way of Life and Salvation Presented to Princes Priests and People that they may repent believe and obey BY WILLIAM PENN the Younger whom Divine Love constrains in a holy contempt to trample on Egypts glory not fearing the Kings wrath having beheld the Magisty of him who is Invisible London Printed in the Year 1668. TO Princes Priests and People JEHOVAH the everlasting Power that spans out the Heavens with his span and measures the Waters in the hollow of his hand before whom all Nations Tongues and People are less than the drop to the Ocean or the Sand to the Sea shoar who said Let all things be and they were and by the same Word of his Might preserves them to this very day is Holy Merciful and Just and as the most excellent part of the whole Creation made he Man the Image of himself by investing him with that Righteous Principle and innocent Life which gave him Dominion and Authority over all his works allowing him to eat of every Tree saving that of Good and Evil of which if he did eat he should certainly die Happy had it been for Adam and his Posterity had he obeyed Gods Commands but transgression by disobedience getting entrance he soon died to his Innocent State in which God created him and became alive in the Dominion sin had over him being now as one without Law in whose fallen State all Nations have been and are let their Professions seem never so great and their Sacrifices never so many that live in the disobedient Nature and so strangers to that Immortality and life Eternal the first Adam became dead and darkened to by his transgression and which the second Adam raises to the knowledge and possession of by the power of his quickning Spirit yet where the Devil that subtile Serpent hath not totally extinguished the notion of a God and the necessity of his being worshipped it has been rather his interest than dis-service to put the selfish part of the Creature upon sacrificing wickedly insinuating that none can be freed from sin and that the performing of Rites Duties and Ceremonies is all God requires and what is necessary to procure acceptance with him Thus 't was that murthering Cain became a Sacrificer whose Sacrifice God rejected because offered in the fallen unrighteous and accursed Nature Such also were those Generations who drew near to God with their Lips and to whom he said of old What signifies the multitudes of your Sacrifices I am full of burnt Offerings bring no more vain Oblations Incense is an abomination unto me the new Moons and Sabbath the calling of the Assemblies I cannot away with it is iniquity even the solemn Meetings I am weary to bear them and when you spread forth your hands I will bide mine eyes yea when you make many prayers I will not heâ—â— them yoâ—r hands are full of blood wash you make you clean put away the evil of your doings c. Therefore O ye Princes Priests and People the sollid necessary and weighty Question I have to ask you all in the dread fear of the everlasting Holy Lord God Almighty by whose eternal Spirit the sence of your present State and Condition I perfectly have received is this What Nature what Heart what Spirit and what ground is it in which your Religions Faiths Works Words and Worships stand and grow Is it the Divine not the fallen Nature It is the broken not the stony Heart Is it the Contrite not the formal Spirit Is it the Gospel increasing good not old Adams corrupt thorney Ground For this know that no performances but by clean hands and a pure heart from whence evil doings are put away can give acceptance with the pure God Come answer me first you Papists whose Popes for many hundred years have sat exalted in the hearts of Nations God's Temple above all that is called God What Scripture ever made a Pope or gave authority to any one to lord it over the Consciences of others since Christ enjoyns that Christians should be Brethren And by what warrantable Tradition can be make dispose and depose Civil Empires Whence came your Creeds but from factious and corrupted Councils dyed in the blood of those who refus'd conformity What Scriptures of the Holy Prophets and Apostles or any Tradition for the first three hundred years mention a Mass-Book speak of Peter's Chair and a successive Infallibility or that say a Wafer is corporially the flesh blood and bones which suffer'd without Jerusalem And where did they adore Images consume many thousands and millions in building carving and painting outward Temples after Jerusalems the Type was destroyed whilst thousands of poor Families languished through extream poverty When did they enjoyn Baby-Baptism Churching of Women Marrying by Priests Holy Water to frighten the Devil hollowing of Bells to scare evil spirits making and worshipping of Crosses erecting of Altars And where did they command Bowings institute Musicks appoint Holy Dayes Canonize Saints chaffer and merchandize about Indulgences pray for the Dead preach or write for a Purgatory And what Book or Chapter in the Old or New Testament mentions the degrees of Popes Cardinals Arch-Bishops Deans Prebeuds Jesuites Franciscans Dominicans Urselines Capuchines Benedictines with other such like lazy Nuns and Fryars for the edification of Christs Church But above all when and where did they authorize or indulge your Cruel Persecuting Whipping Racking Inquisition Murdering Spirit Whose Popes Faith Church-Government and whole Religion were founded and are maintained by inhumane bloodshed as your own Histories plainly manifest Who gave life to these things but the Devil who was a murderer from the beginning Thus have you Papists through many Generations received for Doctrine the Precepts of Men who for much speaking and sacrificing of your own Inventions expect to be heard whilst in the lustful wanton ignorant and killing Nature which has been alwayes shedding the precious blood of those whom God in every Age raised to testifie against your Superstitions will-Worships Therefore WOES from God Almighty to that Romish Whore who has corrupted the Nations and sits upon a Scarlet coloured Beast full of names of Blasphemy drunk with the blood of Saints and Martyrs of Jesus the hour of her desolation is nigh and in the Cup which she hath filled shall it be fil'd unto her double for strong is the Lord God of Hosts who judgeth her Come now you that are called Protestants however denominated or distinguished who profess the Scriptures for the Rule of Life and Doctrine stand your Tryal by them and first those who are called Episcopalians who date your Religion from the Martyrs that those who first protested against
the darkness and gross Idolatry of the Popish Antichrist were directed thereto and supported therein by the mighty Power of God is not denyed and that the Seals of blood they set to recommend their Testimonies to posterity are with us in high esteem I openly affirm and declare But that you of the Church of England have any more to do with them who now persecute us than had the Jews and Pharisees with Abraham Moses and the Prophets who crucified the Lord of Life is as positively disowned for as they were out of the Life and Spirit of those Holy Men though building and garnishing their Sepulchres and making great profession with their words insomuch as that they slew those whom God sent in the same Spirit to preach a farther Glory and to discover a more excellent way so are you out of the Power and Spirit your fore-Fathers lived and died in professing their words but persecuting the same Spirit in others and crucifying it in your selves No wonder therefore you have made so little progress since the first dawning of Reformation being not yet got out of the Borders of Babylons form and altogether in her lustful proud persecuting and wicked Nature For have not you Protestant Princes condemned that in others which you have and do allow in your selves contrary to your fore-Fathers Protestations Did you not return severe Persecutions not onely upon the heads of the Roman Catholicks in Queen Elizabeth's time who esteemed it Antichristian in them but even your fellow Protestants who through zeal for God declared against your back-slidings witness her severity and what followed in the Reigns of James and the deceased Charles but more particularly the many thousands now of late that have been club'd bruised imprisoned exiled poisened to death by stinking Dungeons and ruined in their outward Estates contrary to Laws Christian or Humane Therefore well may I take up the lamentation and reproof that was of old Ye make men offenders for a word and lay a snare for him that reproveth in the Gate Ye turn aside the Just for a thing of nought and lay burthens upon the backs of the Righteous whilst evil doers pass unpunished You store up violence in your Pallaces and many are the oppressed that are amongst you Yet do not your Priests prophesie smooth things that sew Pillows under your Arms and cry Peace who provoke you to slay those by executing cruel acts that should not die and preach safety to them that should not live like greedy Dogs Shepherds that cannot understand they all look for gain from their Quarters they teach for hire they divine for money and You all judge for rewards for all which abominations God is departed Vision is ceased the Sun is gone down over you and your day is turned into thick darkness Therefore it is you deny the necessity as well as the present enjoyment of Revelation to any though without it as Christ saith No man can know God whom to know is Life Eternal and place the ground of Divine Knowledge in humane Arts and Sciences that thereby you may ingross a Function to your selves and keep up your Trade of yearly gain upon the poor people preaching sin for tearm of life thereby rendring invalid the glorious Power of the second Adam and indulging people in transgression though be that sins is of the Devil and without Holiness none shall see God Ministers he never sent but were commissionated by men void of the Holy Ghost and therefore ye profit not the people 's a badge inseparable to lying prophets who run in their own name Come and tell me now ye of the Church of England that say the Scriptures are your Rule where do they own such Persecutors false Prophets Tythmongers denyers of Revelation Opposers of Perfection Men-pleasers Time-servers unprofitable Teachers witness the abominations of the Land Extollers of humane Learning as the only way to know God Admirers of Universities signal places for idleness looseness prophaneness prodigality and gross ignorance and where do we find the Prophets Apostles and Servants of the Lord to live in worldly pomp possess hundreds and thousands a year be called Lords of their Brethren and exercise Civil and Spiritual Jurisdiction over the Bodies and Souls of Christians in their dayes Whence came your Forms of Prayers and Church-Government from the Scriptures of Truth and the practice of the Primitive Christians or the Mass-Book and Popish Canons Where is it that Mass-Houses are called Churches and what president do you find for Litanies Responses Singing Queristers Organs Altars Bowings Surplices square Caps Hoods Rockets Fonts Baby-Baptism Holy Dayes as you call them with much more such like dirty trash and foul Superstition Are these your Scripture Doctrines and this the Spiritual Worship of Holy Jesus his Apostles and the Antient Christians Stand up and answer me ye Members of the Church of England but are they not the off-spring of that Idolatrous Popish Generation amounting at best to will-Worship which is abominable to the God of Heaven who is now breaking forth in vengeance to thunder down and consume all the fair Buildings and pleasant Pictures of Babylonish Inventions Therefore from you may I expect an Answer to the Question I ask'd the Romanists In what Nature and Spirit is iâ— O Princes Priests and People you hold and profess Religion and Worship towards God Is it the Divine and Heavenly One which is pure and perfect Are you Baptized by the Holy Ghost and with Fire Crucified through the daily Cross to the World born again and your affections set on things above But alas poor Souls are you not at Have mercy upon us miserable sinners there is no health in us from seven to seventy And as in truth it is to the shame of Religion and destruction of humane Society How do you abound in evil Equalizing if not outstripping Papists Heathens against whom you protest in words in all kinds of impiety Therefore woe unto you Protestants that are mighty to drink strong drink that give your Neighbours drink and put the bottle to them that they may be drunk that put far away the evil day and cause the seat of Violence to come near that lie upon Beds of Ivory and stretch your selves upon your Couches that eat the fat of the Flock and drink the sweet of the Vine that anoint your selves with the chief Ointments that chant to the sound of the Viol and invent to your selves Instruments of Musick but consider not the afflictions of Joseph How sport you away your precious time as if ye were born not to die at least never to be judged O what Swearing what Uncleanness what Drunkenness what Prophanation what Vanity what Pride what Expence what Patching what Painting what lascivious Intrigues what wanton Appointments what publick unclean Houses what merry Masks what lustful insinuating Treats at your Playes Parks Mulberry and Spring-Gardens with whatsoever else may please the
lustful eye and gratifie the wanton mind Is not this your case and practice ye Gallants young and old Men and Women And by these courses have not Debts surprized your Estates Poverty Plenty Diseases Health Debauchery Chastity Whole Families ruin'd both in Soul and Body yea such a deluge of Intemperance has so overwhelmed the Nations that hard it is to light upon sobriety and virtue Well my Friends when I ruminate on these things my heart affects mine eye and grief overcomes my Soul for yor sakes Repent therefore O ye Protestants or else know that for all these things God Almighty will bring you to Judgment and in the day that his Indignation shall be kindled your Religion of words shall fly away and your Lord Lord cryings shall be rejected because you were strangers to the Spiritual Nature though bablers of the Name of true Christianity and therefore shall ye perish by the Sword Now as for you Separatists of divers Names although I shall not disallow the Zeal that once you had yet must I on God's behalf bear my Testimony concerning you Therefore be it known unto you all that you are teaching and receiving for Doctrines the Traditions of men running and striving in your own Spirits compassing your selves with the sparks of your own fire being not yet come to stand still and know that Will done on Earth which is done in Heaven You tell people Christ Jesus has suffered and satisfied for sins past present and to come and though never so corrupt vile and polluted in themselves yet reconciled to and justified in the sight of God by his Personal Righteousness imputed unto them and not from a Work of Grace or Regeneration in the Creature therefore no wonder at your vehement cries against a state of perfect separation from sin as being a dangerous Doctrine who preach acceptation with the Holy God whilst in an unholy state You generally scoff at Revelation as being ceast most of you also abetting God to have ordained a Remnant absolutely to Salvation consequently making sin as well as torment unavoidably necessary to the major part whereby the Glorious God of Mercy is represented more infamously unjust than the worst of men Doctrines of Devils indeed and grounds of all looseness and Ranterism and tho pleaders fighters for Liberty of Conscience when opprest the greatest Oppressors when in power not minding the end of Gods loving kindness but because of your wanton neglect is your day darkned and your Sun set and grovelling you are in beggarly Elements imitations and shadows of the Heavenly good things relating to the dispensation of the second Covenant hoping by your many duties to be heard and find acceptance whilst very strangers to the covering of Gods Spirit and ignorant of him whom to know is life Eternal from the Revelation of his Eternal Spirit and Operation of his Mighty Power but from the conceivings and apprehensions of other men and Books well reputed whereby Gods Grace and Light have lost their Office of leading and teaching and thus true Counsel becomes darkned the Fountain shut the Book sealed and you in this state strangers unto God so that you perish for want of sound knowledge for I declare and testifie on the behalf of Gods everlasting Way to Life and against you all that you are yet in the mans spirit which works not Gods Will and Righteousness being found helpers of the mighty against that pure and unchangeable Principle of Light Grace and Life in which God only did does and will reveal and manifest himself unto the Sons and Daughters of men for which cause you are yet in your ups and downs tossed to and from not knowing the Rock of Ages and Foundation of many Generations which is that only Holy Seed wherein the Duties and Performances of all Nations only can be blessed and from whence proceeds that Pure Righteous and Immortal Birth to whom is the promise of an everlasting Inheritance but are sticking in your own imaginations and patching out a peace unto your selves from your Duties Performances and the imitations of weak times and seasons in some perishing Observations that no way relate to the Nature of the Pure Spiritual and Internal Kingdom of Peace Righteousness and Joy in the Holy Ghost Therefore well may I say as once of old Wee unto thee Capernaum which art exalted unto Heaven for if the mighty works that have been done in thee had been done in Tyre Sidon or Sodom they would have repented in Dust and Ashes and would have remained unto this day Wherefore O ye zealous Professors who in the Spirit of a man are striving to comprehend the Mystery of God unless ye repent and believe in that Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned every man that you may obtain to the true discerning of the Spirit and Nature in which you live and worship that so you may come to witness the Work and Will of God It shall be more tollerable for them in the day that God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ God will make them of the Synagogue of Sathan who say they are Christians and are not Therefore unto you Princes Priests and People whether Papists or Protestants or any other separated way that are in your Idolatry Superstition Carnal Ordinances and will-Worship whose Faith in and fear towards God are grounded on other mens apprehensions perswasions and precepts and not from the teaching of God's Holy Spirit or Grace to you all am I constrained to sound forth proclaim That unto us the most despised afflicted and forsaken by all the Families of the Earth is a Child born unto us a Son is given We call him Wonderful Counsellor the Mighty God the Everlasting Father the Prince of Peace of the increase of whose Government there shall be no end this is he the Prophet stiles A Light unto the Gentiles and for Salvation unto the ends of the Earth unto whom John Baptist bore this certain record That he was the true Light which enlighteneth every man that cometh into the World who also gave this testimony of himself That whosoever followed him should not abide in darkness but have the Light of Life and the Blood of Jesus saith the Beloved Disciple shall cleanse you from all sin This is the second Adam the quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven the New and Spiritual Man the Heavenly Bread the True Vine the Flesh and Blood that was given for the Life of the World the Second Covenant the Law writ in the Heart and Spirit put in the inward Parts the way in which the Fool cannot err the Truth before deceit was the Life that 's hid in God eternal in the Heavens glorified before the World began the Power the Wisdom the Righteousness of God the Plant of Renown the Royal Seed that bruiseth the Serpents Head in short That Grace which hath appeared unto all men teaching them to deny ungodliness