Heart Henry Stout Rebecca Travese's Testimony A Testimony in the Spirit of Love against that Malitious Spirit that in certain Apostates and their Abettors exercises Tyranny and Hypocrisie every where TO you Friends is my Love who are in the Enquirings after the Lord and his Truth that you may come to be Partakers of the same Inheritance of Life and Glory that many are made Witnesses of through Believing And the Power thereof we cannot but testifie of as by the Effectual Working and Operation in our Hearts we feel not only to set us free from that which imbondaged us in times past as well as others but hath brought us to the Liberty of the Seed of God which above and before all seeks the Glory of God and this hath enriched us with Grace and enduring Mercy whereby we feel all our Iniquities taken away and Transgressions blotted out in and for the Name and Power of Christ which in us is become the sure Hope of endless Glory and this hath made us Us That hold the Faith willing to proclaim the good Will of God unto all that others with us might come to set down in the Heavenly Places with Christ our alone Head and Life and be delivered from those Runnings Strivings and Inventions Tossings Tumblings and Turmilings that all Image-Makers are in not being possible to find Rest but in and by the Light which from the Rest comes and to the Rest gathers into which many are entred and cannot be disturbed or made afraid and it is Everlasting And the Satisfaction and Peace of this true abiding Love rests upon us and constreins us to call and invite them afar off as those near to come freely to the Fountain of Living Water without Money and without Price For a Remnant are come to know that there is and shall be a daily adding of them to us that shall be saved for the Work of the Lord must prosper notwithstanding all the Force and Subtility of them that contrive against it The Building must be finished all things are prepared and preparing thereunto and the House of the Lord shall be established upon the Top of that that resisteth it and the Foundation is already laid sure and steddy and every Stone hewen and fitted thereto is pretious and the Command of our King none can reverse for he is Almighty and works according to the Counsel of his own Will 't is Counsel indeed close hid from all Sorts of Workers in the dark So they fret and are angry the Heathen rage but theirs is a Fury that consumes it self and soon goes out if not added to by new Fewil And these of all Sorts have manned their Weapons to the utmost and done what ever they can to hinder the Increase of this Work yet these are not the worst Enemies for it is the People that imagine vainly that ever withstood the Appearance of God in the World search the Scriptures Christ came unto his own them that profest a Waiting for him and they rejected him they crucified him yea he that walkt with Christ and sometimes cryed Hail Master he and these Pretenders are the Betrayers in all Generations and Hinderers of the Work of the Lord here the Power of Darkness in all Generations wrought mind Scriptures through all that desire to be kept from resisting the Just and Holy One. Though many Enemies Nations and People Withstood the Servant of the Lord Moses in his great Work whereunto God had called him yet none did like Mischief as that gain-saying Spirit in Korah Dathan and Abiram and Balaam that was for and against Israel who had been a Prophet and loving the Wages of Unrighteousness becomes a Tempter and layes the Snare that they might Sin against God and be divided from The Blessing And so mind who hindred the Building of the Temple of the Lord in the time that Deliverance drew nigh when the great and noble Travil of the Holy Servants of the Lord that were Zealous for the Restoring of the Captivated to their former Liberties and Rights in the Place that then was owned and appointed of the Lord and ever to be remembred was and is the Courage Boldness and Constant Watchfulness of those Worthies Ezra Nehemiah and Zerubabel that discerned the Falseness and Treachery of those pretending Friends that did not only seem to approve their Works and offer to build the House of the Lord but to assist them saying Let us build with you for we seek your God as you do and that they had done it for a long time but they being discerned and refused by Zerubabel and the other Worthies of Israel then they manifested themselves to be Hinderers of the Work of God and hired Counsellors against them to frustrate their Purpose whose Work a little before they pretended to be assistent to and after write against them with great Accusasations Ezra the 4th and the 14th and Nehemiah the 4th and the 1st Sambalet and Tobiah they mocked taunted and scoffed to make ridiculous and little Worth the then Endeavours and good Orders that these Noble Men put in Practice for the Restoring of the House of God And so to you Friends to whom my mind is directed that are weak in the Faith I writ that you may be warned that you may be strengthened against this Treacherous Spirit Do not these Scriptures run parallel with them that have brought forth such Accusations whether false or true Is not their End one who have joyned with and taken Counsel of such whom they know were and are contrary to the People and Truth that they formerly seemed to be of and for to make Odious and Ridiculous in the Sight of all Men with their Orders And though some of them under Pretence did act with them and would have Lorded it as much as any until discerned and dealt with for their Unorderly Practice and Unsubjectedness to them that in the Spirit serve the Lord continually So Friends This is it I would have you observe in all things and at all times that that Spirit that professeth Truth and talkes of Truth and seems for it and yet is against it is not of God though it seems so for here first sprang and is continued that monstrous Anti-Christian Brood that hath filled the Earth with Darkness Blood and Cruelty and with these shall those be judged that in this our Day have given and taken Offences to lay Stumblings in the Way of the Simple But Glorified be the Power that hath broke forth before which they must all fly yet here and there a few crawle up to use their Strength against the Increase of his Power the Word of whose Mouth shall destroy them and the Brightness of his Coming shall utterly consume them for they are such of whom the Apostle complained had done him much Wrong for they hindred as much as in them lay the Purpose of the Lord in the Earth And this hath been the Work of many in this our Day of
this in the inwards of my Spirit I smote upon my Thigh and said What have I done and was willing to take Shame upon my self and to give Glory to the Lord. How hard it went with me inwardly none knows And he that knows how easie it is to let in a Snare and Temptation and to have the inward Eye blinded thereby will not wonder nor think too hardly of me but his Bowels will rather rowl in the Sense of the Misery I underwent God knows I did not mistake willingly Nay truly The Power was upon me when I wrote those Queries but I did not understand the Signification thereof which would rather have led me then as it hath since against that Spirit which brought up that new Vnprofitable and Vnseemly Practice of keeping on the Hat in time of Publick Prayer in the Assemblies of God's People Now the making use of this against the Infallible Teachings of God's Spirit and the Infallible Way in which he leads his People is not Just True and Equal What! Was I never Infallibly led because the Enemy once blinded my Eâ—e and deceived me Did not the Apostle Peter receive the Infallible Spirit and was not he led thereby And did he not walk in the infallible Way because once he did that which was justly to be blamed and doubtless erred in Judgment concerning the Practice Gal. 2.11 I do not desire that Men should judge me Infallible or hearken to me as to one Infallible but this I desire that I may alwayes understand and follow the Voice and Guidings of God's Holy Spirit and then I am sure I shall alwayes walk in the Certain Vnerring Infallible Way besides which indeed there is no safe Way And I desire also that others with Ears and Eyes opened by the Lord may hear that Living Sound and Testimony which cometh from the Spirit of the Lord in those whom he sends that the Gathering may be to him and the Walking with him in the Spirit of his Son in the Light which is Eternal which ever was and ever will be Infallible which is the Path of the Living in this Day of the Breaking forth of God's Pure Power and Love in the Heats of many Oh Glory Oh fresh living Praises to his Name forever Isaac Penington John Crook's Testimony Having seen a Pamphlet intituled Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected in which is printed a Paper of mine writ by me about Eleaven or Twelve Years since about Gestures and Postures c. it is thus in my Heart to write MY Desires and Breathings from my tender years have been after the Living God and since I have tasted of his Goodness and Mercy I have had a Love for and Longing after the Eternal Welfare of all that in any Measure sought after him in Truth and Righteousness knowing the Enemy's Devices to be many and various seeking by all Means to devour them And from a deep Sense of the same I writ the Paper about Gestures and Postures c. many years since knowing how busie the great Enemy of Man's Soul was at that juncture of time to draw out the Minds of some into the Observation and Innovation of Keeping their Hats upon their Heads in the time of Prayer in the publick Assemblies of God's People hoping that those Lines at that time might have been Successful to stop that Practice in some of them at least and also have allayed any thing in any others which might be of tendency to hinder their Information and Recovery But it was never in the least in my Heart or Intention to Encourage or Strengthen that Spirit and Practice which my own Judgment and Practice was against Neither did I intend any other Liberty then what was in the Lord and the Maintaining Love and Vnity amongst Brethren And truly in these various or contrary Practices of some keeping on their Hats and others putting off their Hats my Heart was affected desiring that the Lord would put a Stop to whatever tended to Discord which since hath appeared manifestly to arise from that Spirit which first brought in that Innovation Therefore in Good Conscience I cannot but bear my Testimony against the Author of this scurrilous Pamphlet for endeavouring not only to fasten such a Sense and Imputation upon me but also for his Attempt and Industry what in him lies to render God's People Odious and his ever-blessed Truth Contemptible to the World and thereby himself becomes a Murderer of Souls in perverting the Right Way of the Lord for which the God of Heaven will undoubtedly rebuke both him and all his Confederates in this wicked Vndertaking and in his time bring them to open Shame if they Repent not of this their Wickedness and Sin For the Epistle subscribed by Edw. Burroughs John Perrot and My Self it was writ when we were Prisoners together in New-Gate where John Perrot forbore the Wearing his Hat on purpose as we supposed to avoid Offence and also at that time be writ a Paper which was Satisfactory concerning the Matter of the Hat and had he made it publick at that time it might have prevented what afterwards befel him At this very juncture when there was such a Compliance and Hopes of his Recovery was the fore-mentioned Epistle writ Now let the Impatrtial Reader judge whether the Author of this Envious Libel hath shewed either Ingenuity or Humanity in his recital of the fore-mentioned Papers to the End for which he hath made them publick John Crook Solomon Eccle's Testimony FRIENDS I Give my Testimony for the Lord and for this blessed Truth this Day The Lord is amongst us and through the Riches of his Love towards us hath he made himself known unto us by his Eternal Light which shines in our Hearts And this Light is exceeding pretious to all that receive it in the Love of it for it is Pure and Divine and to be admired in all that do believe The Life is the Light of Men Jo. 1.4 and to know this is the excelent Knowledge And by believivg in this Light and walking in the same We have Fellowship one with an other 1 Jo. 1.7 and Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ But some are gone out from us and gone from their own Mercies and are turned against the Truth yet pretend to follow the Lamb They would Exclude us that the World might Affect them Of this sort is John Pennyman who hath sought Occasion against me and G. F. and hath printed and caused to be printed three times against me that never did him hurt first in his own Pamphlet next the Baptists called the Spirit of the Hat 3lY the Tyranny and Hypocrisy detected But in this he hath not done any wayes like a Servant of the Lord as he stiles himself nor a Follower of the Lamb for he never came to me in a Brotherly Way according to Gospel Order Mat. 18.15 first in secret by my self to shew me wherein I had done amiss if I had done amiss Nor was he so
World even as I am not of the World Do you call this Blasphemy Then why do you thus seek after my Life and publish Books to set the Magistrates and Ignorant upon me but I will stand to my Tesitmony of my Lord and Saviours Words though you call his Words Blasphemy it is which I desire all People to read and see whether the Spirit of Christ be the Guide of these Men's Actions or the Spirit of Envy for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his but the Spirit of Christ Jesus and of the Lamb which is in G. F. and the Holy Brethren the Heirs of Eternal Life will fall heavy upon these Men yea this Stone which they reject and set at naught will grind them to Powder Mat. 21.44 And farther Christ faith in the same Chapter I pray not that thou shouldst take them out of the World but that thou wouldst keep them from the Evil Jo. 17. and mark J. P. and Baptists and the Spirit of the Hat Hyproscrise Tyranny detect who would tyranize over Christ's Testimony concerning his Saints and Followers then and now as your Fore-Fathers did In the 16th Verse Christ saith They are not of the World even as I am not of the World c. which I keep the Testimony of Jesus and know the Truth that he speaks and do not give Titles to none of his Saints to G. F. nor none beyond what Christ hath spoken and therefore be ashamed who profess your selves Christians call Christ's Words Blasphemy And farther Christ sayes That they all may be one as thou Father art in me I in thee that they may be all one in us And the Glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one as thou Father and I am one I in them and thou in me that they may be perfect in One. And moreover John saith in his 1. Epistle Chap. 4. Ye are of God little Children and have overcome because Greater is he that is in you then he that is in the World They are of the World therefore the World heareth them We are of God he that knoweth and heareth God heareth us he that is not of God heareth not us hereby know we the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error Beloved let us love one another for Love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God and he that loveth not knoweth not God for God is Love And it is very like John the Divine had such Spirits as L. Muggleton J. Pennyman and the Baptists and other to deal withal as I have now And Christ my Lord saith to his Saints and Apostles If the World hate you you know it hated me before it hated you If you were of the World the World would love its own but because ye are not of the World but I have chosen you out of the World therefore the World hates you Jo. 15. Remember the Words that I said unto you The Servant is not greater then his Lord Mat. 40.24 but Christ saith Every one that is Perfect shall be as his Master Luke 6.40 If they persecute me they will also persecute you if they kept not my sayings they will not keep yours Here you may see how that you are not the Keepers of Christ's Sayings but the Persecutors of them that do Ye are my Friends saith Christ if you do what I command c. and saith Christ henceforth I call you not Servants but my Friends for the Servant knoweth not what the Lord doth but I have called you Friends c. Jo. 15.14 You have chosen me but I have chosen you and have ordained you c. And again you say in your Tyranny and Hypocrisie detected that I should say Blessed be the Man that came out of the North Blessed be the Womb that bare him the Paps that gave him suck As to the Former Words I might speak them but the Latter Words once applyed to Christ I do not remember I spake them But herein ye shew your Malice for had a Cursing Man like Muggleton come out of the North such a one would have fitted you J. Pennyman Baptists but Blessed be God I can say He is Blest for God hath Blest him And I can say He is Blest though you do speak Evil with Muggleton against him and others Curse them whom God hath blest and Christ doth bless his People Mat. 5. Glory to the Lord and you cannot curse that which God hath blest and Christ and the Apostles say Bless Curse not and you are offended for my Obeying Christ's and the Apostles Command manifesting What Spirit you are of And was it not Christ which Saul persecuted and thou you Saul like persecute him now yea that true Christ by whom the World was made in his Saints and Holy Ones under a Pretence of following the Lord faithfully but it is manifest that it is the Worlds God you have followed out of whose Mouth comes forth such Envy and Malice But it had been better for thee John Pennyman and thy Confederates that a Milstone had been hanged about thine and their Neks Luk. 17.2 then to have lifted up Tongue or Pen against God's Truth People who art in Muggleton's Spirit speaking against the Truth who art like an old Apostate twice dead pluct up by the Roots if so then how canst thou grow but art gone out amongst the Dogs Vomiting Biting and Devouring And J. Pennyman thou boasts in some of thy Papers of speaking the Word of the Lord suppose it were so Balaam had the Word of the Lord and after was cut off And was not Judas and Apostle Partaker of the Ministry And art not thou turned a Judas and now seekst to betray the Innocent yea to Death if thou couldst according to the Sayings of our Lord Jesus Christ A Brother shall betray a Brother to Death Mat. 10.21 as thou hast done as much as in thee lies like a False Brother in sending thy Papers to Barbodoes where the Baptists and Professors running up and down with them to the Justices of Peace who would have tryed me for my Life Blood-thirsty Men And one Justice of the Peace said that if S Eccles were not hanged he would be hanged for him their Rage was so high against me by Reason of thy Pamphlets but I stayed at the Bridg Town where the Court sat waiting looking every day to be called to my Tryal but the Court broke up and I was not called nor medled withall in the least so the Blood-thirsty Baptists and others their Consederates J. Pennyman's Correspondents mist their Ends. Though the Baptists themselves did confess to the same things here which thou and the Baptists call Blasphemy now yet it is no marvel for Christ our Lord was called a Blasphemer who said that which I testified to in Jo. 17. And as for all J. Pennyman's unsavory Speeches in his Abusive Pamphlets and
soberly secretly and frequently dealt withall his Condition represented his Danger shewn and a Station of Safety pointed to him It was the daily Travel of many who sought his Wel-fare and the Churche's Peace to bring him to a Sence of his own Condition But no Argument or Entreaties could prevail no Sighs or Tears could soften him but resolved he was for a Sect-Master and his Mark must be the Hat on in time of Publick Prayer That which yet whetted many simple Hearts to follow his Example was with his Sufferings his Pharisaical Pretences to a higher Dispensation but instead of shewing them a readier Way to an higher State of Holiness he diverted their Minds from the more weighty things of the Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus to contend for that rude and unprofitable Practice of the Hat on in time of publick Prayer an Invention to no Edification but to the great Disturbance of the Church Thus began what rent he sought to make amongst us Before this we were at Peace our Sion prosperous and those Apostate Adversaries allowed us to be God's Church his chosen People I appeal now to the whole World of moderate and impartial People whether we acted herein unlike Christian sober and prudent Men And if any of our publick Enemies who pretend to own a Church-Authority some of them also being Members and Leaders would not have done the like Must we suffer for that which they justifie We rejected a Practice we had no Authority for neither without nor within We saw Who brought it in and What acted him with the bent and tendency of it And it was as much our Duty to withstand the Entrance of that wich was Wrong as to continue in the Practice of that which was Right and setled in the Power of God long before among us We might invert their Plea much more truly The Light within enjoyned us to disown them had we not then sinned to have declined Or is our Light Darkness because they call their Darkness Light In short the Church never knew it when so much admired by her present Enemies And because when it came she rejected it therefore are they become her Enemies which proves Them and not the Church to be changed But supposing we had nothing of this to our Defence What is become of the once acknowledged Blessed Church and her Powerful Ministry If we have lost both who has found them If due to any Body in case our Adversaries be in the Right it must be to them But I know of no Church nor do I hear of any Ministry they have nor the Power of God manifest among them either for the Building up of themselves or the Gathering of others What! Is the Church already returned into the Wilderness and is the Power lost which they acknowledge was once amongst us and to God's Eternal Praise we daily witness in the City and Country to attend our Travels But as they were not of God in their Dissensions so neither have they stood We suffer as we did The World loves them more then it did They are Friends but both Enemies to us Their Sect Master returned with the Dog to the Vomit to Swearing Fighting fine Cloathes Cap and Knee to Men who could sit on his B with his Hat on his Head when he prayed to the most high God Some of his Followers run into Looseness and Rantism others into Enmity and Earthly-Mindedness but far the more considerable returned to their first Love and Workes whom God hath since frequently blest with his heavenly Presence and sealed to them the Comfort of the holy Communion of the Brethren To sum up what we have been saying First The True Church of Christ by the Gift of the holy Spirit from Christ the Head is enabled to try savour and relish Wrong Spirits under never such Right Appearances as that without which she could never be preserved from the Wolves that are in Sheep's Cloathing nor the Deceivers that come with Christ's Words out of Christ's Power and Life Secondly That this Church hath as well Power to reject the false Spirit as to try it Thirdly That men may be in the Words and not the Spirit of Truth that notwithstanding it is the Duty of all Men to act by the Light and Spirit within that hinders not that such as walk not according to the Light within though they may pretend to do it should be known and judged of them that really do so Fourthly That we were this True Church of God by our Apostate Adversaries own Confession And we have proved that not we but our Adversaries have altered since the time that large Confession mentions by giving the Offence and making the first Breach of Vnity notwithstanding the many Christian Courses that were taken to restore them and preserve Concord among Brethren Therefore our Judgment of them is not that of a Dark Dead Body but a Living Spiritual Society and in the Gift Discerning and Authority of God's holy and unerring Spirit which they acknowledge we once had and cannot prove when and by what we lost it And blessed be the Lord God of Heaven and Earth his Living Power is with us be owns our Ministry and Fellowship in the Hearts of Thousands yea Ten Thousands have bowed to the Righteousness of his Scepter since the day that perverse Core first troubled our Israel No Tryals have scattered us nor Sufferings worn us out but to the Honour of the blessed Name of the Lord we have been by it kept to this day whose Goodness renews with the Morning and whose Mercies endures forever Blessed are they that fear him such will he alwayes keep in perfect Peace But the Author of the Spirit of the Hat and his Tyrannical and Hypocritical Defender in his Libel called Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected cry out This is arrant Popery But I will tell such Licentious Spirits That it is plainly Scriptural What if a False Church assume the Priviledge of a True one does that make the True Church a False one for pleading that Priviledge The Papists say God ought to be worshipped must we not therefore worship him because they say so 'T is just as good as to say That because one Man cheatingly calls himself by another Man's Name therefore that other Man must renounce his own Name Prove Discerning and Judgment by the Holy Ghost in any Body or Society to be the Mark of a False Church and ye do your Business otherwise you must acknowledge it to be the Priviledge of a True Church but deny it to be ours as we do that it is the Church of Rome's But we have proved out of your own Pamphlets thâ—t you acknowledge us to have been the True Church and in our own Discourse that we have continued that which we ever were And that God's powerful convincinâ—â—nd converting Ministry remains amongst us Therefore thâ—â— Priviledge upon their own Principles does belong to us But perhaps they will both endeavour
such pretended Hereticks as the poor Waldenses then we do in the Case of Burial I say again That as our Friends intended upon their first Purchase of a Burying Place that their Dead Bodies should â—ie together from the People of distinct Wayes which is warranted from Abraham's Practice in Genesis so do they not desire that such as have been of them and have afterwards run out should lie among them unless it be the Desire of the Deceasing Parties or that they declare their Unity with Friends yet we would not by any means be thought to deny any Person whatever a Buring-Place though we could never allow it to them as one of us since that were most unnatural I would fain know if this Adversary would observe no Distinction in this Case or what Injury there is done in making that Difference when Dead which was observed by the deceast Party himself when alive For the Property that he sayes some of them have 't is true and was never denyed but that we usurpt it we did and do reject as a Slander They never desired their part of the Collection that bought it nor did we ever refuse to repay it but are ready to be quit with them when they will a Perverse Apostatized Generation For Ecclesiastical Priviledges I know not what he means and those Scoffs ill become a Man that pretends to Religion Such Priviledges as are the peculiar Right of every true Member of Christ's Church it must be confest that such Starters aside from the Primitive Fellowship of it do deprive themselves of Church-Priviledges we don't But this sayes he is more then any beside the Papist dare pretend to the Protestant or Church of England challenges no such Power p. 5. But he that has ventured to tell so many False Things of us may dare to bestow one upon her especially when it is considered that he is a Concealed Person and may be False and Base with Security Does not the Church of England both Excommunicate and stir up the Civil Magistrate against such as dissent from her in meer Circumstances Does not the long Difference between her and the ancient Puritans Presbyterians and Independents Baptists and Us more particularly sufficiently Disprove that Bold Assertion But we pretend not to Imitate any but really act according to that Understanding and Sense which God given us in these things and in which we commend our selves to him being herein willing to abide his Judgment To the Rest of those Cruelties he makes us guilty of he doth with the Author of the Spirit of the Hat charge us with Pulling down Haling out of our Meetings and consequently wanted only Power to punish them adding That my Appeal to God's Witness in all Consciences for our Vindication shows me greatly to be lamented as either Blind or Impudent That we have also Pusht Pincht Kickt and Trod upon Feet and Toes sending us to Francis Chadwell for Proof thereof But to say nothing of his Ill-Language my Appeal stands as it did and as before so now I will put it between Impartial and Moderate Men if ever we so used any Conscientious Inquirer or Opposer No nor any else after that manner represented by our Adversary and God will plead our Innocency against him in the Hour of his Rigteous Judgments he shall not go Uncondemned down to his Grave For Francis Chadwell he is a Man of no Conscience nor Credit in what relates to us I my self have known him grosly guilty both of Lying and Tipling No frothy Stager is less to be regarded in Religion then this Man's Witness a Light Scoffing Taunting Tumultuous Person who after an Hundred Solid Confutations One of which had been enough to strike an Ingenuous Man to the Heart has continued to Bawl and Disquiet our Meetings time after time His Aim hath been to raise up an Envious and Scoffing Spirit in People against us Jeering Laughing Houting with such Unseemly Carriages as wholely unbefit him for a Witness against us He had as good as confest that he has been Hired by some Professors to Disturb us and told me If I would give him Five Hundred Pounds he would be a Quaker too yet this is our Socinian Adversary's Serious Conscientious Inquirer or Opposer He also brings in one William King whom he sayes We Haled out of our Gallery in Grace-Church Street with such Violence that he hath scarce felt the Stairs but that he hath often felt our Cruel Hands witness G. Whitehead 's Pinching him in the Arm at Jer. Clark 's House and that We would not suffer him a Prisoner among us though for the same Cause and all this for some Disagreement in Judgment I confess I have no great Acquaintance with the Man but first deny that ever he was Haled out of Grace-Church Street or any where else but it may so happen that he offering to keep the Meeting when ended by our Friends the People pressing out and he speaking might bear him away with a Croud which hath fallen out to many that have been Speakers and not Opposers perhaps some disturbed and hindred of Hearing may on their own Account have shoven him or put him by what 's that to us For G. Whitehead's Pinching him it is like the rest full of Slander He is known to be a Man of more Temperance and Command of himself if he had been provoked 'T is true He took him by the Sleeve to turn him to a Looking-Glass that he might behold his Envious and Passionate Countenance as G. W. avers and others present But had it been true how one Pinch can prove that he had OFTEN felt our Cruel Hands Unbyassed Readers may best judge That he was a Prisoner is confessed that we Refused him to be among us is denyed But that we were not in Unity with him we are not afraid to own I know not that I ever spoak to him but once and that was in New-Gate being a Prisoner my self and if he will speak Truth he can say nothing hard of me For G. Whitehead's Charging Henry â—awson not to entertain him is false For what is it but to suggest that we would Refuse him common Hospitality 'T is true that G. W. as in Conscience-bound warned them of him as one of the Ancient Creepers into Houses Disaffected to the Brethren and Prone to Discords as by his frequent Disturbances in our Meetings is evident therefore not to entertain him as one in Unity with us but if he or any of them want supposing first their Lawful Endeavours to procure sufficient Maintenance I know not one among us who would not readily Administer to their Nceessities But we gave out a Paper against John Pennyman when he was in Prison and would not spare that grave ancient Gentle-Woman Ann Mud who being MOVED to speak a few Words T. Matthews pulled her away by Violence and that we were the People in former Dayes that vexed and disquieted all Sorts of Religious Assemblies and clamoured
is able to keep us and preserve us unto his Heavenly Kingdom to whom be Everlasting Glory and Dominion Amen Now The Just shall live by Faith but if any Man draw back my Soul shall have no Pleasure in him Hebr. 10.38 And because Iniquity shall abound the Love of many shall wax cold But he that shall endure unto the End the same shall be saved Matth. 24.12 13. And THIS GOSPEL of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a Witness unto all Nations and then shall the End come Verse 14. Several Testimonies Of Persons Reflected upon in the Pamphlet before answered added in Truth 's and their own Defence Thomas Brigges 's Testimony WHereas in page 22. thou or ye say The poor Man was transported into such an Angry Zeal that I told the Opposers It was of the Lord and they Opposed the Mind of the Lord But the Man was so far say thou or ye from knowing the Mind of the Lord in that Matter that he did not know who the Persons were of whom he spake Ans The Mind of the Lord I do know who am in the Truth and walk in it and the Testimony that I had to bear for the Truth and God's Power which thou art out of in which I did then bear testimony in the Blessed Power and Presence of God that I felt in that Meeting That that Marriage was to be permitted among Friends and it was permitted among Friends and accomplish'd And whereas thou or ye say The poor Man was transported into such an Angry Zeal that he knew not who the Persons were of whom he spake Ans I was not Transported out of Truth but in the Truth but thou art Transported out of Truth into a Lye and into the Enmity and into Cain's Way and into Core's Way and of thy Father the Devil who is the Father of Lyes For I have known Elizabeth Bayly this Nine or Ten Years as she can witness and the Man of lesser years and I have no Shame upon me of this Matter but Shame will come upon thee or ye whatever ye be that are gone from the Truth and turned from the Truth and Power of God and the Truth and Power of God in which I live is over all False-Accusers and Lyars and will be your Condemnation who are found in a Lye and False Accusation who hide your Names in the Dark This Testimony I do bear against all Lyars My Name is Thomas Brigges John Whitehead 's Testimony WHereas the Author of the aforesaid Pamphlet doth charge that Faithful Servant of God G. F. with the Opening and Altering a Letter written by me against my Consent I declare That both he and his Author have Malitiously Slandered G. F. in that Case for I ordered W. Kerby by a Letter wherein that Letter was Inclosed and UNSEALED to shew it to George Fox and the rest of the Brethren in Town that he or they might dispose of it as they saw a Service for Truth And it was written as a Testimony against that Spirit which would have brought in the Wearing of the Hat in Prayer and not to Justifie that Unheard of Practice in the Church for I ever Condemned it in my Heart and bore my Testimony against it knowing the Spirit of the Lord did not lead into it though I had a Tenderness to those who intended well and had their Simplicity betrayed by the subtil Workings of that Spirit of Error which I witnessed against and Laboured not in Vain to pluck them as Brands out of the Fire of Contention that with the Light of Christ they might see whither they were going and several did see the Error of their Way and Returned And if any have been so bad as to Mis-apply my Words and Harden their own Hearts through my Tenderness the Hurt will be their own and I shall be Clear in the Day of God though now I am Evilly Requited by those whâ— to their own Hurt give and receive Information agaist me as if I Acted or Lived Wantonly like those which said Come let us Smite him with the Tongue Report and we will Report it But my Innocency in that Case without further Defence is my sufficient Refuge from the Slanderous Tongues of these Ungodly Men And through the Grace of God whereby I am taught Sobriety and Godliness in this World I can and do say The Lord forgive them John Whitehead Isaac Penington 's Testimony A brief Account concerning the Queries relating to Keeping on the Hat in time of publick Prayer mention'd in a Book called Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected pag. 61. AFter it pleased the Lord to give me a Sense of his pretious Truth in the Inward Parts and to turn my Mind thereto I met with great Opposition both Inward and Outward and how hard and long my Travel was God only fully knoweth Every day the Lord visited me and the Enemy was daily tempting me and I felt the Bitterness of his Temptations and was often sore wounded through my not understanding the Appearances of the Lord and through Unbelief God knoweth I did earnestly desire to know the Motions of God's Spirit from the contrary Movings and Stirrings of the Enemy of my Soul who moved in the Reasoning Wisdom out of the True and pure Simplicity but was many times filled with Doubts and Fears till the Season of the Service was over and the Opportunity of keeping out the Enemy was lost When the Business of the HAT fell out I being acquainted with several of them and looking upon them as tender to the Lord and that they did scruple it only in Conscience to him was perswaded in my heart they were to be born with and thought the positive Testimony against it in others too severe and that a thing of that Nature was not to be contended about but every one left to their Liberty yea and somewhat farther did I go in the Sense of my Heart as if possibly the Lord might require such a thing of them In this Frame of Spirit did I give forth those Queries not at all intending the Lord knows to strengthâ—n that Practice thereby but that no tender thing might be hurt but the Unity of Life kept unviolabe notwithstanding such an Outward Difference But at that time I did not discern that the thing came from the Enemy nor was I sensible that the Ministers of the Truth and such as stood in God's Light and Authority and saw the thing coming from the Enemy with the Evil Hurt and Dangerous Consequences of it to many yea and the Grieving the Church of God I say I did not then see and seriously consider that they were Watchmen appointed by God and had Discerning given them for the Good of the Body and that by those Queries I did weaken the Testimony of God's Spirit through them as to others and give Strength thereby to that Spirit which had prepared and was drawing this Snare over many So soon as ever the Lord shewed me
in a former Book and it might have been sufficient to Reasonable Men For as I then said I did not Deny what I had spoke at the former Meeting but being Mis-understood I Explained it which gave Satisfaction We pretend not to be above Mis-hearings and Mis-apprehensions though above Wilful Evils It s well they have no greater Crime to accuse me of who are so Envious as to make use of such Trifling Inconsiderable Matters as this to Discredit us Well this I have further to say concerning the siad book That Hell hath opened her Mouth and the Dragon hath cast out Floods against the Church that is coming out of the Wilderness which the Lord our God is building upon the Rock Christ Jesus and the Gates of Hell shall never prevail against it And many hath the Lord established upon this Rock who are Inhabitants thereof and can sing for Joy in the midst of all Tryals and Excersises Storms and Tempests knowing that our Foundation stands sure and as there we abide we can never be moved having Salvation for Walls and Bulworks and being kept as in the Munition of Rocks where our Bread is sure and our Waters never fall Praises to the Lord forever James Claypoole John Osgood's Testimony I Having seen a Pamphlet called Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected in which my Name is inferred in pag. 17. saying That whilst I in general terms deny all I do in particular deny nothing at all I say My Answer stated the Matter truly as it was and many are the yet Witnesses that know it to be so and to J. P. at his House it was so proved to be since the said Answer was printed And as to his Query in pag. 28. What is become of the Integrity of J. O. that he should put his Name among such Men as these I answer As for these Men I believe they would not affirm a thing with Pen or Toungue that they knew to be Untrue as this Pamphlet basely insinuates nor did I so much as in the least know of their Answer till I saw it printed And as for my Integrity it is known unto the Lord and to him have I approv'd my self in faithfulness even in Reproving the Extravagancies of him that I believe was the Grand Informer to him or them that made this Pamphlet and Sorrows many the Lord knows I have and had for him and oh that he had not been above Counsel then had he not been found Running the Race of Core nor Furnishing with Spears the Goliahs of Gath that this day Defie the Host of the Living God How have they made the Haerts of the Uncircumcised Glad How doth Askalon Rejoyce and Atheism say Ah! ha thus would we have it How is this Pamphlet furnished with Scoffs as Foxonians King Fox and Ironically Oh Innocent Holy Harmless People Well the Righteous Terrible Dreadful God will Avenge for these things What thought the Apostle said There where those things amongst the Corinthians that were not so much as to be named among the Heathens what must be their Portion that unto the Heathens made known this and thereby the God of the Christians Blaspheamed and the Way of Truth Reproached as it is at this day But with this sad Difference some of them that now are Agents in this Work have Tasted of and Witnessed unto theat Immortal and heavenly Power that was and is manifest amongst us and have gone from it and given heed to Fables Being Heady and High-minded they have stumbled and caused others to stumble they have Offended and treasured up the Offences of others unto their own Hurt John Osgood William Gosnell 's Testimony This is my Faithful Testimony for God his Truth and People and the Clearing of mine own Conscience As also given forth for Information of the Sober Enquirer and for'Condemnation of J. P. and his Confederates against whose Works I am and hope shall terminate my dayes in Judgment against that Spirit they serve Warning all to take heed of them who tender the Good of their Souls knowing their Ways and Works lead unto Death by Means whereof the Way of Truth is Evil-spoken to the Dishonour of God and Strengthening of the Wicked in their Doings FOr that my Soul loves the Truth and such who are the Faithful Servants thereof I do therefore reckon my self concerned with my Brethren as also for their sakes who have any Desires in their Hearts after the Way of Truth as it is by a Remnant Despised of Men in this our Day made known and testified unto to write something in Answer to what is charged against me in a Libel called TYRANNY AND HYPOCRISIE DETECTED which to the truly Sober and Unprejudiced Reader can be accounted nothing less then impious Railing and from an Ishmaelitish Spirit and from the Enemy of all Good in his Instruments manifested against such who are Resisters of Tyrrany and in the Uprightness of their Hearts Denyers of Hypocrise and in that give my Testimony against the said Pamphlet believing that whosoever is the Author thereof or Contributory thereto shall receive of the Lord our God the Just Judge of all who hath pleaded and will plead the Cause of his Truth and People the just Recompence of Reward according as their Work hath been which unto them who walk in the Light are seen to be Evil and They the Workers thereof bound in Chains of Darkness reserved to the Judgment of the Great Day nevertheless my Soul's Desire is if possible the may find a place for Repentance In Pag. 45. called Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected are these words When I first saw Gosnell ' s Name in the Spirit of Alexander I expected nothing less then a Denyal of what is related to have been said by G. F. viz. Friends Although I have not told it you I do now declare That I have Power to Bind and to Loose whom I please In that thou didst nothing less then expect a Denyal c. doth manifest what Spirit thou art of viz. That which watcheth and waiteth for Evil and expecteth nothing less Why didst thou not set thy Name to that which thou hast heaped up that so we might have known ther and made some Enquiry after thee It s written That Fear surprizeth the Hypocrite Were thy Works such as would bring Honour to thee it may be we might have had thy Name at large but thy Works are manifest to be Evil and of the Flesh as are Railings Envious and Scoffing Speeches Slanders and Evil Suggestions So though thou concealest thy Name yet by thy Fruits thou art manifested to be an Evil Tree For an Evil Tree bringeth forth Evil Fruit. And why thou shouldst Expect a Denyal whilst sayest thou it seems is true let the Sober judge And so thou goest on as one of Ishmael's Brood with a Scoff saying How can it be otherwise that so Great a King and Prophet as G. F. should not have Power to Bind and Loose That there is a Power to Bind and
we were Worshippers of Angels which is indeed Idolatry To which I am called to say something as being presented with others whom I am bold to say believe all Obedience Honour and Thanks-giving belongeth unto him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore and are not guilty of what this malitious Spirit would present them to be But being acted by the same Spirit that they were that said this Man sayes he is the Son of God and therefore ought to dye So they not being in the Spirit that revealeth the Son of God thinks we worship Man for him but he that knew Christ revealed in him bids follow him as he followed Christ and that if I forgave any I forgave it saith he in the Person of Christ This I speak to the Simple and Upright-hearted that they may be delivered out ot the Snare of the Cunning Hunter that seeks the pretious Life and to such it will be given to know what is hid from the Serpent that is still blind and on Dust feeds and the Children's Bread I nor any in the Faith dare give unto them But that every honest Heart may see what Spirit acts in these Purposers of Evil I take notice of another Passage where this Libeller names my Name and indeed I knew not of it when I writ the former Part but an honest young Man in the Street told me of it and then I looked on that which they accuse me with some times before that and after it I read and being by the Power of the Lord whom I serve in my Spirit made as willing to remove any Offences as these by whom the Offences come and on whom the Wo must come are to lay Stumblings and I shall freely confess to that which is true in their Charge and deny the Falshood in this as the former and I shall begin with that in the 19th Line pag. 44. It 's not unusual say they with the Quakers to give as much Credit to one another as is the setting their Names to things they know not Answ Friends take notice how Ignorant the Carnal Man is of the things of God and not knowing that Nearness and Strength of Love that is among the Disciples of Christ he brings it among the rest of the Rabble of his Accusations that the Quakers credit one another in such matters as indeed no Money-Lover nor Unbeliever could never do for every Deceiver is afraid to be deceived but who out of the Deceit is brought into the Faith and Love that is unfeigned cannot fear that a Brother will deceive or hurt him and had rather bear the harm of a False Brother if it should so be suffered to be then mistrust or think Evil of him that is the Faith But the Accuser of the Brethren with all his Adherents are out of this Faith and are Strangers to this Love by which it works And though I never knew such a Practice among the Quakers not in one President ever offered to me or any to put their Hands to what they know not but this here rehearsed and is this only by what he himself and my Maid said some of which I know to be true and some false but I had Joy that all should know in this Pack of Falshoods this Truth That the Quakers have and do still credit one another But whether it was so or no that G. F. sent to our House to have J. P. and my Husband put their Hands to such a Paper as they knew not all I know of it I may speak of My Maid-Servant then living with me many Years since told me in a Morning when I came down that there was a Man with a Paper to have some Friends put their Hands to and that J. P. was a wise Man because he refused it and this I upon some Occasion told J. P. of for I do not believe he ever heard my Maid say so to him but he being affected with his own Commendations hath repeated it before me more then once that my Maid should say he was a Wise Man What was said was said to me and from me he had it and to my Knowledge I never heard my Maid to say Nor did I ever tell him or hear him speak those words That she believed her Master would have done it until now I see it in Print so I cannot but take notice of their adding that which is False to make their Matters hold together nor do I remember that Time or Day or Week that I said any thing of George Fox these words that he repeats as though I spoak them at the same time but that I did at some time speak those words to J. Pennyman and it may be to some others I deny not for in the Love of the Lord I travelled for him and some others of them that were in Danger by their Imaginations to fall into the Pit of Perdition and so as one that lived in the Love of God I according to the best of my Understanding endeavoured their Return and Safety by imparting to them what I had found to be my Profit and Safety and bowed to him and several of them in telling them that in the Light none errs yet that I was such a Child as for many years I might not know my Right-Hand from my left and if there were a Motion or Revelation did arise in me that I might think was true and we that are in Unity in the Spirit of God may and do speak our Motions one to another for the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets and the Order of the Church was that they might Prophesie one by one and the rest might Judge yet if G. F. should deny it to be of the Lord I should be subject to his Judgment therein as one in Christ before me This or to this purpose I spoke and deny it not But that this Despiser of Dignities may attain his own End to pervert the Good Way of God by giving them to know what I was he said A Great Prophetess Now if he did believe what he saith though it was then a young time with me being nigh Ten Years ago he should have followed my Example and have brought his Motions to some in Christ before him to have tried his Motion and so by Counsel have been delivered from those Wanderings and Runnings and Mad Actions that he ran into when he brought that Truly-Valued Book called the Bible that I and many are come to the Comfort of and know that it hath been the Mighty Power of God that hath preserved it from the Hands of those that would have utterly Extinguished or Destroyed it to be burned But Praises be to the Lord that hath preserved iâ— unto this Day to give Testimony to the Light and Spirit which gave it forth though J. P. may be reckoned among the Intenders that would Destroy the Bible who brought it to the Exchange with other serviceable Books in their Places