THE HOLY SCRIPTURES From Scandals are cleared OR An Answer to a Book set forth by the Baptizers to wit Henry Hagger and Thomas Pollard Entituled The Holy Scriptures clearing it self of Scandals But is scandalled or perverted and so scandalized by them as in this Answer to theirs will further appear so by them Entituled or bearing the Title of an Answer to a Book written by Richard Farnsworth called Truth cleared or Truth lifting up its head above Scandals occasioned by a dispute at Harliston in Staffordshire between Richard Farnsworth and Thomas Pallard in the year 1654. Also here is in this the heads of an Order or late Act made at Coventry by the Baptized People there subscribed with the names of seven Elders and Brethren as they say in the behalf of the rest and set forth from them sent to Shittington in Warwickshire shewing whom they denyed to be Ministers and Members of Christ c which is set down in this and several Considerations or Observations and Answers thereunto And something here is in Answer to a false Prophet called John Griffith set out by him and several others in a false Prophesie or Book bearing the Title of True Gospel Faith collected into 30 Articles or in the middle part called A Voice from the Word of the Lord with at least an hundred lies numbred up out of the Books as aforesaid being answered such as are of concernment and they are with the other sent to them back in a bundle or number as herein will appear and being cast out now truth stands pure and clear Pror 18.18 The lot causeth contentions to cease and parteth between the mighty Written by a Servant of the Lord in the sixth Moneth 1655. by R. F. London Printed for Giles Calvert at the Sign of the Black Spread-Eagle at the West end of Pauls 1655. To the Reader and whom it may concerne c. READER instead of an Epistle I shall lay downe a few of the particulers or affirmatives in that act or law made by the water baptized people at Coventry and sent to Shittington signed or subscribed at the end with the names of Mannasses King an Elder and Jefford Youngbone an Elder John Murdock Francis Blabby John Fairbrother George Copson and Thomas Hardway Brethren who from Coventrey say they subscribed it in the name of the rest c. And from them I shall lay downe some observations or answers thereunto The second thing which in that Coventrey law or late Act is that they say they deny any to be Ministers of Christ and the Gospel or to speak in the Church that say they speak from or by an internall light prove it not by the visible rule of the Scriptures c. And by this rule and law though God be light 1 Joh. 1.5 and dwell within in his people 2 Cor. 6.16 1. Joh. 4.4 yet he must be debarred or limitted and not suffered to speake in the Church except he confine himselfe to the letter of the Scriptures and that is contrary to his former actings for to be limitted and who are you that dare presume or offer to seeke to limit the holy one of Israel As much as to say though Abraham Isaack and Iacob were endued with the Spirit of God yet except they could prove what they said by the words of Adam Enoch and Noah they might not be permitted to speake from the Spirit of God in the things of God revailed and made knowne unto them thereby Though Moses Aaron Caleb and Joshuah might be guided by the Spirit of God yet except they could prove by words from Abraham Isaack and Iacob what from the Spirit of God they had to declare they might not speake of the things of God but be denyed to be any Ministers or Messengers of God Though Samuel and the rest of the Lords true established Prophets that were by him called and sent and could witnesse that the Lord God and his Spirit did call establish and send them yet if they said so and said they spake from an internall light or the Spirit of God within and could not prove by Scripture or the writings of Moses and those before them all that that they said they might not be suffered to speake but be denyed to be the Ministers and Messengers of God Though the Ministers of the new Covenant had the light and the heavenly treasure within them 2 Cor. 4.6.7 and were guided by the Spirit of God Rom. 8.14 who made them able Ministers of the new Covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 and they was not to serve in the oldnesse of the letter but in the newnesse of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 yet if they said they preached from an internall light or the Spirit of God within them c. and denyed to prove all they said by the Scripture or to serve in the oldnesse of the letter and not Minister from the Letter but from the Spirit in which their Ministry stood they might not by these baptized people be suffered to speake but be denyed to be any Ministers or messengers of Christ though his true Ambassadors take notice you Baptizsts of your errour herein and acknowledge the same and own your condemnation thereupon And where you say you deny any to be members of Christ that either goe themselves or suffer others to goe heare them that preach from an internall light c. Here you are against Christ the true light and against the Ministry of the Gospel and against the Kingdome of Christ in the Spirit against the new Covenant and the doctrine of the Apostles also that were Ministers from the light and the life of the Spirit within which you deny and they were Ministers of the Spirit and not of the letter and said to others try all things and hold fast that which is good 1 Thessa 5.21 Here you are against the Scriptures also that would deprive people of a Christian liberty that so binde them by your law contrary to the Gospel and contrary to the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles for the true Christ saith Preach the Gospel to every Creature but you would not have every Creature to heare it Preached by the Spirit in the power of light in the endless life that so denies them liberty to heare those that are Ministers of the new Covenant and not of the letter but of the Spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 so hereby your Spirits are discovered and made manifest to be Antichristian Againe you say you deny liberty for any to object in the Churches either in the time of speaking or after c. In this you have denyed the true Spirits order who said If any thing be reveiled and that is not by the letter but by the Spirit 1 Cor. 2.10 to him that sits or stands by let the first hold his peace and let the other speak c. 1 Cor. 14.30 But you say the contrary and therefore you have crossed the Scripture and denyed the
thy lies as I have done That one Scripture thou didst mention of Ananias going to Saul and saying Arise brother Saul and be Baptised and wash away thy sins whereupon I asked thee if your water Baptisme did or could wash away sins and thou stood and gave little or no answer therein as many can witnesse And if nothing can wash away sins but the blood of Christ or the water of regeneration then it must needs be that the Baptisme which washeth away sins is either by one Spirit into one body 1 Cor. 12.13 and so into Christ Gal. 3.27 and into the blood or life of the Covenant or else into the holy unction and water of regeneration where there is but one faith one Lord one God and Father of all them that are borne of the Spirit and so Baptised into that one Baptism Eph. 4.4.5.6 But thou couldest not witnesse that your outward water Baptisme did or could wash away sins then it is not that Baptisme which doth and being confounded in thy selfe thou would have gon forth of the doores but that I took thee by the arme and stayed thee awhile and spoke to thee till thou could not tell what to say for thy selfe but said the letter which thou called the written word and the Spirit were inseparable and then said the letter was a Historie And I told thee if I should have called it a History then others would have been ready to have called that blasphemy and being put to prove thy sayings thou could not but to thy shame got from mee and went away and they of thy own company spoke to thee of it and were grieved to see thy folly so made manifest as many can witnesse but in that I cease and let the other book witnese in that thing and the rest further to and for the truth against thy deceipt And in thy 32 lie Being so accustomed to it thou saies we wickedly speake against Christ and his ordinances But wickednesse and wicked speaking we deny who own honour and dearly love the Lord Jesus Christ and his ordinances speaking wickedly against them shall stand for thy selfe and such liers and false accusers as thou art and that is thy 32 lie And in thy 33 lie Thou saith that when I asked thee whether thy water Baptism did or could wash away sins in thy book to make a cover and manifest thy lying Spirit the more in that as well as in the rest of thy lies thou hast done thou sayes thou told me such words as is expressed in thy 17. page when there was then no such thing by thee done and therefore in that thou hast lyed of thy self but lying is thy work and that Spirit which guides thee is accustomed to it And in page 19 thou sayes we have a spirit of delusion that is thy 34th lie comming from Hell and darkness but cannot prove it yet that spirit by which thou art taught of old Antichrist to delude which hath caused thee to utter these lies is such a one and therefore what thou art guilty of thou would cast upon us but we deny thy spirit of delusion and lies and testifie against it and thee and such hellish darknesse as thou art possessed withall that regards not what falsely against us and the truth thou ventest but it toucheth us not and therefore turnes back upon thee againe and is to be cast into the bottomless pit from whence it came Lie the 35 that spits out such venome against the ordinances of Jesus Christ that is thy own and turnes back upon thee againe for Christ Jesus and his ordinances and worship in Spirit and spiritualI ordination we honour and own but spitting of venom comes out of thy brest take it into thy old bottle from whence it came And for thy 6th thing or head is another of thy lies and makes thy number 36 such words as are there set downe was not set downe in my booke which thou pretends to write this in answer unto therefore the absurdities spoken of and also the lies is turned back upon thee againe pag. 20. 21. For the Scriptures I own and that holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost 2 Pet. 20.21 but liers like thee I deny and against testifie Eph. 5.11 and the Scriptures serves to be a witnesse against such as professe them in words and walke contrary to them in life and conversation but liers slanderers and false accusers doe so as thou Haggar and Griffith and such like doth and therefore the Scriptures doth witnesse against you and your generation and seed of evill doers And such hath the benefit and comfort of the Scriptures as are guided by the holy Spirit into the life and power from whence good Scripture words proceeded yet the letter is not the life Joh. 5.39.40 and power of God to salvation but Christ and the Gospel is which the letter or Scriptures declares and testifies of Joh. 14.6 1 Joh. 5.12 Act. 4.12 Hebr. 5.8,9 Rom. 1.16 But thou seems as if thou would have a letter God a letter Christ a letter Spirit and a letter power to salvation or set the letter or Scripture up as God and Christ and power of God to salvation for thou saies faith comes by hearing the Scriptures preached which thou calls the Gospel and if by it thou saies then not without it and so according to that no Scripture no faith no salvation for without faith it is impossible to please God and be saved but according tothy saying or false doctrine no Scripture no faith and so making Scripture the moving cause of mens salvation for if there can be no saith without the Scripture then Christ might not be the author of it neither upon that account could he give faith if the Scripture were wanting and if there an be no faith without the Scripture thou would not have Christ to be the author and finisher of it but the letter and so sets the Scripture in the roome of Christ saying take away the Scripture which thou calls the cause and then the effect thou saies ceaseth so no Scripture no savtation upon thy account as much as to say the Scripture is the cause of mans salvation and not Christ and rake away the Scripture the cause and the effect ceaseth mind your Error or Lies herein Christ cannot give faith nor save without them and by that meanes or according to that saying or false doctrin of Haggars and thine for he hath backed thee in it no faith without the Scripture though Christ be the way to faith and the moving cause of it and so both the beginning and ending or author and finisher of it as the Scripture saith and saith Christ without mee you can do nothing then not beleive without him for he is the way to the Father Joh. 14.6 and so to faith who is both the author and finisher of it Hebr. 12.2 and here thou hast shewed thy ignorance of the Gospel and
aske for them all and returne us an answer if he please But however Godwilling I shall to stop his boasting returne in short an answer to his onely spareing the labour of setting most of his downe but those that would compare the answers and Queries may take his book and see them and in this see an answer to them for the boaster Henry Hagger in his proud challenge faith thus much by Henry Hagger and as he saies a setvant of the Lord Jesus Christ and the congregations of the Saints which a desire of an answer by any who will or can But this I say that lyers slanderers and false accusers and such as joynes and partakes with them helping Antichrist to carry on his designe in such an evill work of falshood and deceipt and by a number of lies 70. and odd makes opposition against the truth they are no Servants of Jesus for he doth not imploy his in such an evil work neither are they sanctified and so of the Congregation of Saints but enemies to them and the work of sanctification c. Yet such a one is Henry Haggar who hath joyned himself with Pollard and backed his number of lies slanders false accusations and therefore he is no Servant of Christ but of Antichrist and the Congregations of Saints are ashamed of him and denies him and Pollard and also denies the workes of their hands proceeded from their evil hearts which long hath lien hid but now is brought to light which manifests their Antichristian spirit in their book of slanders with the number of lies as it doth appear and is left to the view that others may thereby take warning and feare And further it is considered and known that false Apostles were and are deceitful workers in that work of iniquity c. so are lyars slanderers and false accusers c. But such are Thomas Pollard and Henry Hagger and deceitful workers c. as it is manifest by their book of lies and wicked deceitful mischievous slanders therefore they are false Apostles that so acts Antichrists part under a refined subtlety and are such false accusers and deceitful workers 1 Cor. 11.13 c. Rom. 1.29 c. 2 Thes 2.7 c. 2. Consideration I answer that it is considered and known that the false Prophets that come to deceive did as you do preach the words of others and say thus faith the Lord when he never spoke to them Jer. 23. and they preached the Letter as you do and their brain imaginations but knew not the spirit and word that were as a fire and a hammer Jer. 23.29 c. which were within in the true Prophets and were as a fire in the bones Jer. 20.9 which words within you being ignorant of you preach the Letter of the Scripture and others words with your brain Imaginations added thereunto and are not guided by the same spirit from which it did proceed as your lies maketh it manifest and therefore you ate like the false Prophets also that as thou sayes pretended to come in the name of the Lord to preach their lies as you have done yours and therefore in that you are considered and known to be as the false Prophets were that said thus saith the Lord when he never spoke to them And as John Griffith in that Book called the Gospel-faith collected into 30 Articles and subscribed with the names of Thomas Lover John Foxwell John Parret Francis Smith John Griffith who in that Book called the Baptized Believers Faith or a Voice from the word of the Lord c. hath taken upon him to prophesie lies in the name of the Lord and the ground of his Prophecy is from the imaginations and corruptions of his own heart who speaks from that and from the Letter and the words of others and not from the voice of the Lord unto him and where did any of the true Prophets take upon them to go and prophecy to a people from anothers writings when they were not called by the Lord and sent so to say by his spirit and word within for they spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost and that was from the spirit and word within 2 Pet. 1.21 and the spirit of Christ was within them 1 Pet. 1.11 and they were not sent by a printed Book to preach and prophecy but by the Lord God and his spirit Isay 48.16.17 and therefore they spoke and prophecyed truly that were so taught called and sent by the Lord God and his spirit moving in them but the false Prophets took the words of others without them and spoke from them a divination of their own brain as John Griffith hath done and spoke not from the word and voice of the Lord God and his spirit within and therefore they prophesied lies in the name of the Lord and were reproved for it c. as this John Griffith the false Prophet is that speaks the brain imaginations and divinations of his own heart from others words and not from the mouth of the Lord as the false Prophets did and therefore the said John Griffith is a false Prophet as such was which the Lord was against therefore he is against him that hath prophesied lies in his name as they did Jer. 23.21 30. 31 32. verses The beginning of John Griffith's false Prophecy where he prophesieth lies in the name of the Lord saying thus saith the Lord to thee Oh Quaker thou art fleshly minded John Griffith that is thy lying spirit that hath told thee so and thou that pretends to speak so from the Scriptures without thee and calls thy saying a word from the voice of the Lord I charge thee in the presence of the Lord to shew that Scripture that faith O Quaker thou art fleshly minded or else I charge thee here to be a lier both of the Scripture and of the Lord for such as walk in obedience to the word and spirit of the Lord are not fleshly and carnally but spiritually and peaceably minded Rom. 8.6 Phil. 2.5 1 Cor. 2.15.16 But they that walk in obedience to the word and spirit of the Lord and are born again not of corruptible seed but incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever 1 Pet. 1.22.23 and are in Covenant with God though reproached by the name of Quakers c. 1 Pet. 4.14 for the name of Christ c. are spiritually and peaceably minded and not as John Griffith hath said therefore he hath taken upon him to prophesie or publish a lie in the name of the Lord And the said John Griffith in his second lie and false Prophesie page 2. saith Oh fleshly minded men whom the God of this world hath blinded that is a third lie because you believe not that is a fourth lie for such as walk in the light of the Gospel 2 Cor. 4.4,5,6,7 and are born of God and in the faith which purifies the heart and overcomes the world as such was Act 15.9.1 John
true Spirits order to further make manifest your disorder and also your Spirit of delusion and errour And again you say God will judge the secrets of all hearts by the written word or letter of the Scripture when the Minister of Christ saith the contrary who saith that God will Judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ Rom 2.16 then not by the lettet of the Scripture and the Son saith All judgment is Committed unto him and the Father hath given him authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son but he hath not given authority to the letter of the Scripture to execute judgment because it is the letter of the Scripture and declareth or testifieth of the Son but is not the Son then the Scripture is not the judge of all hearts but the Son is so to wit the judge of all hearts as the Scripture declareth Joh. 5.22 and Joh. 5,26.27 Act. 17 31. Take notice how you would deprive Christ of his Kingly office and take the authoritie from him to put upon the letter and hath againe thereby further manifested your Spirit of errour THE HOLY SCRIPTURES Are cleared of Scandals OR AN ANSWER TO A BOOK Written by Thomas Pallord Henry Hagger As they say In Answer to a Book set â—orth by Richard Farnworth wherein they pretend to clear the truth of Scandals but are found Lyars and the Lyes is sent them back in a bundle or number that they may see their deceipt and Spirit or Lies Errors and Slanders THo Pallord and Henry Hagger who are mighty in the work of your Father John 8.44 you pretend to clear the truth of Scandals but of it are Lyars and Scandallers and evil Speakers and false Accusers and therefore that you may take notice of the fruit of your Fathers Spirit by which you are guided and taught to lie I have viewed your work or scandalous and deceitful Book and gathered out of it being numbred up the sum of 60 and odde or Threescore Lies and more besides many that I have passed by these being sufficient for to manifest your Spirit and the deceit of your heart as also severall lies gathered out of a Paper written or caused to be Printed under the name of John Griffith oue of the water Baptizers with you or in your number and I hare also sent them back amongst you into the lyars Generation again take them and keep them for they are returned back upon you and into the lyars generation from whence they came that Truth may be kept clear and you appear in your lying colours or be laid open who are such great deceivers unto your shame who hath taken upon you to slander and revile the Lotds people by you in disdain called Quakers and also to Prophesie or publish your lies in pretence of the Lords Name But to bo wort I shall lay several of them down return them back upon you from whence they came Tho Pollard Thou hast set down things which I neither spoke nor writ and says I affirmed them when I did not and therefore thy gronnds being lies that which springs out of them is so as well as thy Grounds or Heads but I turn them under and drive them back with the rest of thy Lies into the Serpents seat ugain lyars Generation from whence they came Eâ—…or or Lie the first In thy third page Thou says it is such a deceipt that they that say they have no sin the truth is not in them but thou cannot prove thy saying therein whose fallacy is laid down in that word they which includes any when the Scripture says not so as thou dost and therefore in that thou hast lyed of the truth and truths friends as it appeareth And here thou goes about to prove that Christ and such as are in him hath no truth in them and that is contradiction to the Scripture and the Spirits Doctrine for thou fetbheth Christ in with them and includes all in that word they saying They that say they have no sin the truth is not in thom as much as to say They that are without sin are without truth and have no truth in them but Christ and such as are in him are without sin Therefore if they say they are without sin there is no truth in them as thou says for that is contrary to thy proofless Argument Pollard or Hagger whether of you laid it down take notice of your folly therein here thou would by that have Christ and such as are in him to have no truth in them see what a trick the deceit hath taught thee in that for first it is said of Christ That he sinned not and so was without sin for no guile was found in his month and therefore he was without sin and the truth was in him contrary to thy lying of him for he is both the way the truth and the life Joh. 14.6 and is without sin but full of truth and such as abide in him they sin not as saith the Scripture 1 Joh. 3.5,6 then such as abide in Christ sin not as the Scripture saith they are without sin 1 John 3.9 and the truth is in them for such said That as he was so was they in this present world 1 John 4.16,17 Pallard take notice of thy Errors and Lies and also of thy contradiction of the Scripture For they that did abide in Christ and sinned not 1 John 3.6 they were so far trom being without truth or having no truth in them that they were full of grace and truth for the Spirit of God was in them which was truth and no lie 1 John 3.24 And secondly the word of God was in them 1 John 2.14 and they were strong in the Lord and the power of his truth for they had overcome the wicked one and the word of God were abiding in them and so the truth of God abode within them for saith Christ to his Father Sanctifie them with thy word thy word is truth John 17.17 Then they that had overcome the wicked one and were sanctified through the truth and were without sin having also the word of God abiding within they were full of truth and not without it or no truth in them take notice of thy absurdities and lies for they had the holy Unction within them that were without sin and that was truth and no lie 1 John 2.20 and 27. and greater was he that was in them then he that was in the World 1 Iohn 4.4 take notice of thy lie and that trick of thy deceit Error or Lie the second Thy second Lie is that thou saies we boast of perfection perfection in and by Christ we own else we should deny the truth and the worke of grace according to the working of the Spirit of God as it is witnessed according to the Scripture and by the Ministrie of Christ in the new Covenant Math. 5.48 and Eph. 4.11.12.13 1 Cor. 2.6 Heb. 6.1 Heb. 12.22.23 but though we witnesse
moving cause of faith and salvation and thou hast contradicted the Scriptures and preferred them before Christ and without them thou would have no salvation and so would not have Christ to be a perfect Saviour without them nor to be perfectly able to save to the uttermost all those that come unto God by him though he be as the Scripture witnesseth Hebr 7.27 neither is there any salvation without him Act. 4.12 and as he is the author of faith so he is the author of eternall salvation to all that obey him Hebr. 5.8.9 And thou saies to destroy the ordinances of preaching the Scriptures for that is thy drift by which faith comes must needs tend to destroy faith thou saies and then please God who can That is thy saying but thy designe instead of these men is weighed that goes about to give the Scripture all the preheminence and set it up as God and Christ and no salvation without it but thou art contradicted by it who saith also that the Scripture brings to Christ then it must needs be the ground and cause of faith and salvation if so but thou hast therein erred and lied of Christ and the Scriptures in that thy 37th lie for Christ and the Scriptures will both contradict thee in thy lies and errours for Christ brings to understand the Scriptures Luke 14.32 and saith without mee ye can do nothing then he is the ground of faith and knowing God who giveth an understanding to know him that is true c. as the Scripture witnesseth 1 Joh. .20 and the Spirit revealeth even the deep things of God but thou saies if they can once bring a poore soul into this condition to disowne the Scriptures when he stands most in need of it to bring him to Christ and shew him how he ought to walk so as to please God c Here thou hast confirmed thy former saying and strengthened thy deceipt with thy lies and set the letter of the Scripture in the roome of the Spirit for the Spirit doth guide into all truth Joh. 14.16 Joh. 16.13 and shew things to come and so how to walke to please God for they that are guided by the Spirit of God are the Sons of God Rom. 8.14 c. and walke in the Spirit whereby they please God Rom. 8.1 for God hath sent the Spirit of his Son into the hearts of his Children Gal. 4.6 to teach and guide them 1 Joh. 3.1 Rom. 8 and shew them how to walk to please him Gal. 5.22.23.24 c which Spirit of God and his teachings thou hast shewed thy ignorance in and of now as well as before that said the letter which thou calledst the written word and the Spirit were inseparable and said the scripture were a History and that book which thy lies hath not weakened stands still with this to witnesse against thee and thy deceipt and such as thou art the 37. Error or Lie The Scripture thou saies is a perfect rule to walke by that confirmes thy other lies also page 22. Here thou contradicts the promise and doctrine of Christ Joh. 14.15.16,17 who promised and gave his Spirit to be a perfect rule to walk by and guide into all truth Joh 16,13 Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8. and here thou hast manifested another errour or thy 37 lie Againe thou saies the Scriptures is the guide into the way of truth and peace so hath put the letter to guide instead of the Spirit which Spirit Christ calls a guide to guide into all truth John 16.13 and so into the way of truth peace Joh. 14.20.26 here thou hast lied of Christ the Spirit which is the true guide hath set the letter of the Scriptures to guide into the way of truth peace but they have not guided thee out of errour lying and deceipt nor into the way of truth peace that art charged here with thy 37. or 38 lies besides what followeth after therefore thy Spirit is tried knowne to be the Spirit of errour who hath made lies thy refuge which thou art found in so out of the way of truth peace And where thou saies thou hast given them his principles thou might have said thou hast laid them downe thy own errours to wit the lies slanders which I have left charged upon thee in severall particulers And where thou seemes to be offended because I said that thou came on purpose to the meeting at Harleston to cavill that thou did as thy fruits and lies made thee manifest and many may witnesse the same Secondly thou saies I say thou told of a visible Church in the world that is not denied but witnessed unto as it stands in my book Thirdly thou saies I say in my book that thou said the letter c the Spirit was inseparable And that the officers overseers in that Church which Christ had purchased with his blood were made by the holy Ghost I do not deny but witnesse unto Act. 20.28 thy shuffles doth not prove what thou would compasse by thy reason to have a temporall or carnal Church temporal or carnall officers therein for that which is seen is temporal but that which is not seene is eternal they looked not carnally at things which were visible and seene as thou dost as they do witnesse 2 Cor. 4.17 18. who said For our light affliction which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternall weight of glory while we look not at the things which are visible or seene but at the things which are invisible and not seene and 2 Cor. 4.17 and 18 for we walke by faith and not by outward and visible sight in the things of the Spirit of God c 1 Cor. 5.7 which are spiritually enjoyed and the holy Ghost who is invisible dwelleth within Joh. 14.17 and is invisible where the world seeth him not to guide into all truth such as obey and follow the same and though Paul and the rest as to the outward were visible men yet their knowledge were not after the flesh as thine is neither did they looke carnally at the things of God as thou dost who argues so carnally for they knew no man after the flesh 2 Cor. 5.16.17 and as their knowledge stood in the Spirit and spirituall things about the worship of God Joh. 4.23 Phi. 3.3 in the Spirit so their offices were in the Spirit overseers made by the holy Ghost and they preached by the Spirit Act. 2.4 and 2 Cor. 3.6 and prayed with the Spirit 1 Cor. 14.15 and went forth to preach by the Spirit in the power of the holy Ghost Acts 1.8 Act. 2.4 Act. 6.10 Acts 7.54.55 Acts 6.3 and Act. 13.4 Gal. 1.11.12 and 15 16 and the Spirit had the rule and government in the Church and the spirituall man but not the natural because the things of the Spirit of God are were spiritually discerned reveiled 1 Cor. 2.10 and where thou
saies Farnsworth follie is discovered in thy 24 page instead of his it is thine that art so ignorant of the worke of the spirit and the hidden man of the heart and knowes not the office of the holy Ghost that would ascribe his worke to the outward man when such as were endued with it said that though their outward man did decay yet their inward man were renewed day by day and as the worship of God stood in the spirit so the offices government in the Church were by the Spirit spirituall and he that was spiritual Judged all things 1 Cor. 12.15 and not he that was naturall and carnall as thou art and would have it who wants salt to savour withall and therefore art good for nothing but to be cast out and troden under c And that saying shall stand thy selfe where thou calls me a Child of the Devill in pag. 24 who thy selfe art the lier in such a measure and so of thy Father the Devill Joh. 8.44 and thou continues doubling thy lies saying I should say all ordinances ceased when Christ ascended that is but one of thy former lies renewed over who may see plainly as thou saies from whence thou art sent and whose errand thou art going on not of Christs who art such a lier c but of Antichrists and it is plaine that thou art of thy Father the Devill who was a lier from the beginning and he hath taught thee thy gradations in his Antichristian schoole and made thee his Nuntio or publisher of lies and in lying he hath taught thee to be cunning and deceiptfull in the worke of that sort as thy book of lies errours and standers maketh it appeare Thou demands of mee where ever any of the words of Christ or his Apostles are called letter and to answer thy own demand by thy busie minde and shew thy follie or self confutation in the same page 25 where thou speaks of the sufficiency of the Ministers of Christ in the new Covenant thou saies God made them able Ministers of the same covenant not of the letter but of the Spirit there is thy own answer and words called letter by Christs Apostles 2 Cor. 3.6 which serves for thy confutation and saith Paul an Apostle of Christ to the Galatians Ye see how large a letter I have written unto you c. Gal. 6.11 And what are writings but letters Paul wrote to the Corinthians but not without letters 1 Cor. 5.9 and 11. and John wrote not a new commandement when he wrote with Paper and Inke such a letter 2 Epistle of John 5. and 12 verses and the writings are Printed and set downe in letters but that the foole must needs utter his follie in that foolish demand which a wise man would not have done but it is good that presumptious proud fooles utter their follie and the deceipt of their heart that others who truly feares God may learne to be wise least they do as in this filthy standerous book Thomas Pollard and Henry Hagger hath done And where thou saies page 25 thou art sure if Paul and the other Apostles were alive you would call them Pharises c. But in that thy assurance is false and thy imaginations hath misinformed thy mind and taught thee to lie and speake falsly in that as well as the rest to manifest thy number or 41th lie in thy book of slanders And in thy 26 page Thou utters more of thy lies saying we reject the holy Commandement and ordinances of Christ because we submit not to your will worship but the holy Commandements and ordinances of Christ we do not refuse nor reject who are subject to his power and obey his commands and the truth through the spirit whereby our souls comes to be purified as such that were subjects to Christ was 1 Pet. 1.23.23 therefore the slander shall stand for thy selfe which is thy 42 lie And where thou saies O you scorners how long will ye delight in scorning to call the holy scriptures deaa letter and carnall as you doe but scorning and delighting in it that we deny and therefore thou hast added thy 43 lie And the Scriptures calls themselves letter and speaks of a carnall Commandement and if thou be offended at that thou seemes to be offended at the penmen and writers of them for calling them so in their writings Gal. 6.11 2 Cor. 3.6 who served not in the oldnesse of the letter but in the newnesse of the Spirit Rom. 7.6 Rom. 2.29 in the new Covenant which Christ did establish Heb. 10.9 who was made the Saints high Priest not after the law of a carnall commandement but after the power of an endless life Hebrew 7.16 And in thy 44 lie thou saies we speake reproach fully against the Gospel of Christ but all such as obey the Gospel of Christ which is to them the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 and are sufferers for it such do nor reproach it but are reproached as we are by thee and such like as the Saints were but we are called not only to beleive but also to suffer for his namessake Philip 1.29 which is our joy in that he hath counted us worthy And where thou saies that I said thou called the Bible a Historie so thou did as many can witnesse and how thou would put it off with a lie saying thou said what will you call it a Historie Historie when thou did not so say except it were after and there thou hast told thy 45 lie And then thou saies if there be a mysterie in the Scripture there must be a History and thou goes about to prove a mystery and so a History to uphold thy deceipt withall but thy covers are too narrow for thee they wil not hide thee but leaves thee bare for when thou hast laboured to prove a mystery in thy conclusion thou findes it in man for thou saies great is the mystery of godlinesse Christ in you the hope of glory citing Col 1.27 then Christ in man is the mystery and man is the History in which he is kept according to thy saying take notice of that but yet thou art left with thy saying and hath not yet cleared thy selfe with thy shuffle but goes on in lying saying deare freinds these men destroyes not the ordinances of Christ only but Gospel order also But Gospel order we own and honour the ordinances of Jesus Christ in our souls and they are kept by that power that preserves them for being destroyed and therefore thou hast in thy slanders told other 2 lies which makes thy number amount to the summe of 47 lies to and in thy 27 page And where thou art speaking of Christs coming to John to be Baptised of him saying it became them to fulfill all righteousnesse c. If John and Christ fulfilled all righteousness in that administration and dispensation what was there left behinde for you to fulfill in it But passing by that I come to thy 48
5.4.5 c. they ate not as John Griffith falsely saith and these Scriptures and the faith and birth spoken of in them and the light we also own who walk in it and are not as John Griffith saith therefore he hath prophesied or spoken other three lies and more also in the name of the Lord and hath manifest thereby his false Prophecy and himself to be a false Prophet as it is considered of and known And he goes on with his lies and speaks them in pretence of the name of the Lord saying and saith falsely thus saith the Lord ye have said it is in vain to serve God and what Profit is it that we have kept his Ordinances c. John Griffith when didst thou hear us say so here thou false Prophet that art without proof for thy lies I testifie unto thee from the witness for God that the Lord never so said unto thee nor sent thee to prophecy those lies in his name neither didst thou ever hear us and the righteous seed say as thou falsely hath done and therefore thou art one that prophecies lies in pretence of the Lord who never said that he would fire root and branch of the righteous seed though reproached by the name of Nazerens or Quakers c. as thou sayes and so thy lies and false Prophecies hath laid thee open and made thee manifest to be a false Prophet And we who fear the living God and serve him that keep his Ordinances and walk humbly or mournfully before him do testifie against thy lies and false Prophecies whom thou and the Serpents seed revilest and reproachest under the nick-name of Quakers And since we knew God and his word Oracle Worship and Ordinances never said that it was in vain to serve him and therefore thou hast added thy fifth lye Neither did we say that are in Covenant with God that it was in vain to keep his Ordinances since they were delivered unto us God is our witness which witness is greater than the witness of men 1 John 5.9.10 c. therefore in that thou hast prophecied falsely and added thy sixth lye Neither did we say nor ever declare it to thee that it was in vain to walk humbly or mournfully before the Lord in that as well as the other God is our witness before whom we appeal and to the truth of it his â—pirit doth witness with ours that obey him and walk humbly before him Rom. 8.14,15,16 And therefore John Griffith thy prophecy is false and in that thou hast added thy seventh lye in thy false Prophecy And therefore from the spirit of the Lord in obedience to the word of the Lord this do I declare and testifie which shall stand a witness against thee and thy lying and false Prophecy wherein thou sayes we are spiritually proud when we are not for that is by us denied as well as all other pride and therefore in that thou hast prophecied falsely and added thereunto thy eighth lye Wherein thou goes on in lying saying that we are proud Pharisees and Hypocrits c. but hath not so proved it therefore thou hast added thy ninth lye Thou sayes that we boast of our light within but boasting we deny and all Pharisaicallism and Hypocrisie and that is thy tenth lye Yet the light we own and follow else we should deny Christ who is the light of the world that lighteth every man that commeth into the world John 1.9 and such as follow him as he hath said are by the light led out of darkness into the light of life as the Scripture declareth which we witness with Col. 1.27 John 8.12 Thou sayes in thy false Prophecy that we neglect the weightier matters of the Law that is thy eleventh lye And the Law it self that is thy twelveth lye p. 3. For righteousness mercy and true judgement c. is the weighty matters of the Law for he hath shewed it unto us and therefore walking humbly before him and doing justly loving mercy c. Mica 6.8 we do not neglect neither the weightier matters of the Law nor the Law it self Rom. 8. for the righreousness of the Law is fulfilled in us that walk not after darkness and the flesh but after the spirit and spiritual light and Law within which doth condemn unrighteousness and sin Rom. 8.2,3,4 as the Scripture witnesseth And thou sayes amongst the rest of thy lies that the Scriptures is the Rule of faith and conversation when Christ and his Spirit is both the way and guid into all truth John 14.6 John 16.13 and so into faith Heb. 12.2 and a holy Converstion for without me saith he ye can do nothing then not believe without him and he is both the Authour and finisher of faith that calleth also into an holy Conversation for saith the Apostle as he that hath called you is holy so be you holy in all manner of coÌ„versation 1 Pet. 1.13,14,15 Take notice of thy contradiction to Scripture and thy error in that who hath thereby added thy thirteenth lye Thou sayes we erre not knowing the Scriptures nor power of God that shall stand for thy selfe which is also thy fourteenth lye For the Scriptures are they that testifie of Christ and that we know as they also witness of themselves where Christ saith search them but he is the life and ye will not come to him that ye might have life that are such enemies to him like their example that were lyars and false accusers like you And as the Scriptures testifie of Christ John 5.39.40 so do they also testifie of the power of God unto salvation Rom. 1.16 which power we know and witness unto and in with the Scriptures that testifie of it and therefore thou John Griffith hath told that fourteenth lie And thou sayes we are they that perish page 3. but such as are kept by the power of God and are thereby saved do not perish which power and salvation by and in it through the Lord Jesus we witness and so do not perish as thou falsely saith and therefore thou art charged with that lie which makes the number fifteen Thou sayes that the Scriptures without faith in Christ for thou leaves that out is able to make a man wise to salvation and to furnish him thoroughly to every good work page 3. when it is Christ that doth it and thou hast belied the Scriptures for thou hast left out the chief and moving cause to wit Christ and faith in him and sayes the Scriptures are able to do it when the Apostle tells Tymothy that the holy Scriptures were able to make him wise to salvation c. Through faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3.15,16,17 and he saith that Christ is the giver and so both the Authour and finisher of faith Heb. 12.2 and the Apostle prayed that the Colossians might be strengthened and so furnished according to the working of his glorious power giving thanks unto the Father which made them meet to be partakers of the
within them so was his word nigh them for the word of faith and so of grace was within in their hearts Rom. 10.8 and 1 Joh. 2.14 And Paul commited them to God and the word of his grace which was able to build them up and give them an inheritance amongst them that were sanctified even by the Spirit of their God 1 Cor. 6.11 and that was also within them Gal. 4.6 1 Joh. 3.24 and therefore Paul did commit them to the power of God and his light and word also within them for saith he the word is nigh thee in thy heart even the same word of faith and so of grace which we preach and God hath said that he will dwell in you and walke in you saith Paul to the Corinthians as in the Scriptures above mentioned And saith Iohn in his Epistle to the freinds of God let that saith he abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remaine in you ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father 1 Joh. 2.24 and the light was in them which thou so much despiseth so was the holy unction which thou shews thy selfe to be ignorant of 1 Joh. 2.27 that art such an enemy to the light as by thy book doth appeare who art so blind in the things of the Spirit of God as the Serpents seed ever were that maketh lies thy refuge as they do did To thy 6th thou saies thou observes that they that pretend to walke by the light within them were in the greatest darknesse to the which I answer that they that did but pretend so to do and did not they were in darkness as thou art but such saith Christ as follow me and so the light in them Colos 1.27 they shall not walke in darknesse but have the light of life Joh. 8.12 and such as did and now do obey and so follow the true light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world Joh. 1.9 they are led into the light of life and so are called out of darknesse into the marvellous light 1 Pet. 2.7.8.9 And in thy 7th thou saies God hath sent forth his light and truth to guide men to his holy hill and then saith in the latter end of it the light is not able to lead unto hapinesse see thy confusion that light which leads to the holy hill leads unto happiness which light is Christ and thou saies after to confute thy selfe that Ghrist the true light Joh. 1.9 who is in man Colos 1.27 is not able to lead into happinesse But therein thy darkness is seene who would put the letter for the light and take the authoritie from Christ and his Spirit saying the light in man is not able to lead to happinesse but the Scriptures which thou calls the word is able to save your souls thou saies if you receive it with meeknesse citing Jam. 1.21 and if thou knew the word that James there speaks of thou would know it within to be an ingrafted word not in Paper and Inke but deviding assunder betwixt Spirit and soul Heb. 4.12 but thou that saies the light in man it he obey and follow it is not able to lead to happinesse thou art a contrary witnesse and messenger to the former witnesses and messengers of God if Christ and his Spirit be light and not darknesse and be in man then according to thy saying though Christ and his Spirit which is light and not darknesse be in man yet they are not able to lead out of darknesse and into the light of life and true happinesse but Christ saith such as follow him the true light shall not walk in darknesse but have the light of life and so true happiness for he is the author of eternall salvation to all that obey him Heb. 5.8.9 but so is not the letter though it declare of it therefore take notice of thy deceipt and be ashamed of it And to thy 8th the Commandements of God that are pure enlightening the eyes of the understanding are pure and spirituall and was in them before they proceeded forth and the same Spirit doth now enlighten our understanding and the enterance of the word of life that devides betwixt soul and Spirit give light and understanding which word is not the letter though the letter declare of it yet witnessed unto by it which word giveth us an understanding dwelling within us as it did them that witnessed the same Heb. 4.12 Rom. 10.8 1 Joh. 2.14 and 1 Ioh. 4.4 1 Ioh. 5.20 And therefore we being enlightened with it having an understanding given thereby we do not speake against the law and testimony 1 Ioh. 3.4 Rom. 8.2.3.4 Rev. 19.10 but according to them because there is light within us Isa 8.20 2 Cor. 4.6,7 as in thy 8th consederation Consideration the 9th that the true Prophets did not follow the imaginations of their own hearts yet the light and Spirit of God with them they did follow as those people doth that thou in thy 9th seeks to cast thy slander upon but it turnes off from them and stands for thy selfe who forsakes the light within to follow the imaginations of thy heart which makes thee to accuse falsly and slander and so speaks not accoâ—ding to the law and testimony therein because darknesse hath blinded thy minde And where thou saies in thy 10th that the false Prophets was eminent in that worke and saith it is an evident marke of the false Prophets so to do to lie and speake fasly as you do but not to follow the light as thou would have it except thou would make false Prophets of the true for they was eminent in following the light and Spirit of God within and said To the law and testimony if any man speake not according to them it is because there is no light in him Then they that spake and now speake according to the law and testimony there is light in them so was there in the true Prophets and they was eminent in following the light within them but so did not the false Prophets thou art to prove that for such as did not follow the light and Gunsaile of God they were false Prophets and false teachers as thou art and all liers slanderers and false-accusers And to thy 11th That all those teachers now that come after God hath sent the light of the Gospel and his Spirit to guide into all truth such as obey and follow the same Luke 2.32 Ioh. 8.12 Ioh. 16.13 Rom. 8.14 Gal. 4.6 and all people from the light and the teachings of the Spirit to follow carnall inventions and despise and undervalue the true light and spirituall teachings and stick in Paper and Inke and are Ministers of their brain-imaginations from the letter and are not of the new Covenant and light and Spirit 2 Cor. 3.6 2 Cor. 4.4.5.6.7 they are false Apostles and false teachers that are such liers slanderers and false-accusers as Thomas Pollard
Henry Hagger and Iohn Griffith are though they may have a forme of godlinesse from the letter yet denying the light and life or power of godlinesse in the Spirit they are to be turned away from and denied Thy Queries and considerations differs somthing in the name yet little in the nature or matter but to them I shall returne this answer as followeth To thy first that the light which is of the Spirit of God in man which doth convince him of sin the transgression of the law 1 Joh. 3.4 if it be obeyed and followed it will lead as it doth us him out of darknesse and sin into the light of life Joh. 8.12 and so into the life of the law and not from it which is the end of thy Queries for the righteousnesse of the law is fulfilled in such as walke not after darknesse and the flesh but after the light and so after the Spirit Rom. 8.3,4 or in short and to thy Question in breife that the light of God in man doth not lead him contrary to his law and testmony in the Spirit But according to it and so through the law into the Gospel so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus who walke not after the flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8.1 and therefore thy lie and slander in thy first Querie turnes back upon thee againe and also those in thy second who art given over to lie and speake falsly as thou hast done And to thy second such as despise the light of the Spirit and the living truth and undervalue the light of life Joh. 8.12 preferring the letter before it and set the letter above the Spirit they must needs be in darkness and so the God of this world hath blinded their mindes as he hath done thine and such liers and false-accusers of the light and the truth least the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ which is the image of God should shine unto you and unto them 2 Cor. 4.3.4 But the Scriptures we do not undervalue as thou saies nor dispise these are two of thy lies neither do we walke in darknesse no more then such did that preferred the light of the Gospel above the letter and were Ministers of the light and Spirit within and not of the letter 2 Cor. 3.6 and they preached not themselves but the light and the Lord Jesus as we do and said God who commanded the light to shine out of darknesse did shine within them even in their hearts as it doth in ours to give us the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ and this treasure have we in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us And they that preached the light and the Lord Jesus they had the same light c within them which thou being in darknesse stumbleth at 2 Cor. 4.5.6,7 Colos 1.27.28.29 3. That true light which is of God in man the Scriptures declareth of and according to Psal 119 130 where it saith The enterance of thy words giveth light which words had enterance in David before he spake or writ them then the words that giveth light or the teachings of the Spirit of God that giveth an understanding is within as David witnessed who said Light was sowne for the righteous and gladnesse for the upright in heart Psal 97.11 and the law of his God was within him even in his heart Psal 37.31 and the word were hid in Davids heart Psal 119.11 which word were as a lampe and so a light to him even the word of God in his heart but thou would have the letter to be the word and the light and there thy designe and also deceipt is seene And in thy 5th thou asketh what that light which is in any man teacheth him more then the Scriptures teacheth him I answer that the Scriptures witnesseth with the light and the teachings thereof yet the light teacheth such as obey it when they have not the Scriptures or Printed Bible to looke on and teacheth such as obey if they be not book learned and teacheth them more then the Scriptures yet hath taught thee that art given over to lie as in thy latter part of that Querie also where thou saies thou hast seene an end of all perfection then an end thou saies of that light that these men pretend c The light that we do not pretend only but witnesse also is that light which is without end and was in the beginning with God Joh. 1.1.2,3,4,5 which light darknesse cannot comprehend therefore take notice of thy slander and lie if thou have seene an end of that light hast thou not seene an end of God who is light 1 Joh. 1,5 and also of his work When thou hast considered of it acknowledge thy rashnesse and folly for the light which is our witnesse will witnesse against thee for it and reprove thee in secret for acting and speaking so contrary to it which light is the condemnation of such as hate it which light doth reprove and forbid thee for doing evill which light the Scriptures witnesseth with as in thy 5th yet the letter is not the light as thou would therein have it and though the Scripture be profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction in righteousnesse that the man of God may be perfect and thorowly furnished unto all good works it is through faith in Christ Jesus and so through the light Joh. 1.9 Joh. 8.12 as the first and cheife or moving cause and therefore the light is more then the letter take notice of that for the light and Spirit is the convincer and guides such as obeyeth it into all truth and sheweth things to come revealing also the deepe things of God so doth not the letter do that which is the worke of the light and Spirit of God though it declare of it and witnesse unto it Iohn 16. 1 Cor. 2.9.10 Thy sixth is whether there was not a greater light in the Lord Iesus then ever was in any man else or ever shall be and thy seventh is whether he did not declare it and make it known by his words and actions more then ever any man else could do I answer that Iesus was the true light and is according to those two Scriptures which thou hast cited John 1.9 and John 8.12 And as he is called the light of the world so did he call them that saw with his light and were in it the light of the world also as in Mat. 5.14 and for manifesting it more by actions c he said that it was the Father which was in him that wrought the works John 14.10 and he said also that what he did some should do and greater works also John 14.12 and there was great works done by others from the same light and power or working of the Father in them and for words there was such spoken after he had sent them the Holy Ghost
but could not prove their saying therein and yet is to prove and the question to answer in the ground and true meaning which thou hast but made a poore shuffle in Error or Lies 58. 59 60. But to come on to turne thee thy lies back upon thee againe in page the 38. there is thy 58. 59. and 60 lies where thou saies as the Pharisees were without mercy so are you but thy testimony is false therein and where thou saies you look for justification by the law and by following the imaginations of an evill heart in you And thy 60 lie is where thou saies you are now through unbeleife departed from the pure way of the Lord those lies shall stand for thy selfe for the pure way of the Lord which is Christ the true light we are not departed from but walke in Joh. 1.9 Joh. 14.6 Joh. 8.12 And such as say we are departed from the pure way when we walk in it they must needs be guided by a lying and an erring Spirits as thou art and as we walke and so abide in him he keepeth us and teacheth us also to shew mercy to the objects of it and being mercifull we obtaine mercy and are blessed as to such Christ in his doctrine hath said Mat. 5. vers the 7th but we are taught also to reprove the deceipt and to have no fellowship with the unfruitfull works of darkness Eph. 5,11 at which thou and the Serpents seed are offended as they were at Christ our example in mercy and way to the Father who called them a generation of vipers and said how shall you escape the damnation of hell Mat. 23.33 And he who is our peace and way to the Father to wit Christ Jesus is our justification and sanctification also for by his blood are we justified and by his life are we saved Rom. 5.8.9.10,11 1 Cor. 1.30 and not as thou falsly saies therefore thou art left charged with those three lies that I have here answered which makes thy number 60 And being given over to lie thou art doubling or trebling them where thou art slandering and accuseing us falsly for thou saies As the Pharisees boasted more of themselves then any other people that shall stand for your selves that stick in the shadows as they did after the substance was come but thou saies so are these men boasting of perfection But boasting we deny yet we witnesse to the truth as before is said and therefore thou art here charged with another lie so making thy number 61 and thou saies we boast of perfection as the book declares but the book doth not say or declare that we boast of perfection perfection and therefore thou hast belied the book as the wise hearted may see and that shall stand for thy 62 lie And going on to lie making it thy work so to do thou saies they make it their whole work to overthrow the rule of the Scripture and all the ordinances thereof but we do not as thou saies and therefore thou art left charged with other 2 lies which makes thy number 64 The Rule or ground of the Scriptures is that from which they did proceed but the holy Scriptures and ordinances thereof proceeded from God and his Spirit and to say that God and his Spirit and so the rule of the Scriptures c can be overthrowne that is absurdity or meere blasphemy and we do not seek to do it neither is it any part of our worke to do as thou saies therefore take notice and be for ever ashamed of such thy absurdities or blasphemy and lies that makes it thy businesse to lie and-goes on in it saying they throw aside all the Laws and Ordinances of the Lord Jesus that is but to fill up thy number of lies and makes it amount to 66 and many more which I passe by which is not here mentioned but these may serve to let thee see thy folly and that others may see by what a lying and erring Spirit thou art guided and led that makes it thy businesse to lie and so to sin and serve thy Father the Devill Joh. 8.44 Rom. 6.16 and see thy portion for thy Fathers worke and remember that liers are for the lake Rev. 21.8 And where thou would raise severall lies upon mee from what is written in the beginning of my book about the worships of God c it is but as the rest of thy lies and deceitfull worke and therefore lies having no force in them to weaken the truth the book shall and doth cleare it selie of thee And this shall be a witnesse or further testimony against thy lying refuge which truth sweeps away or turnes back upon thee and thy partakers againe and keeps it selfe pure and cleane so for to remaine Take notice of another trick which the deceipt and that lying Spirit hath taught thee where thou art speaking against the plaine and proper language of thee and thou which thou saies is a proper language to any single person and afterwards saith it is not binding or to be performed If the wicked used it as well as the godly in former ages what a poore shift is that for thou saies if in all ages we finde the Lords people useing this terme and proper language of thee and thou to a single person c. and they only useing of it then thou saies it is granted that you err in that thing if you do it not but if the worst of men used it as well as the best of men then it is not binding or to be performed thou saies As much as to say though truth be truth and right and proper and ought to be obeyed and walked in yet because wicked men and enemies to it profess it as well as the godly and upright that in obedience to the Lord do practise it then it is not binding and to be walked in c. Oh horible delusion And as much as to say because the Devill and his disciples made use of the Scriptures for their own ends as well as the godly did for the truths defence yet according to thy argument they are not binding to be walked in c. because the Devill and wicked men made use of them as Christ and his disciples and the best of men did c And so thou saies the terme thee and thou is the proper or true and right speech to any single person yet because the Devill and the worst of men used it as Christ and the best of men did therefore it is not binding to be performed and practised thou saies oh horible deceipt Though I passe by many of thy lies yet I cannot but put thee in minde of some more of them and turne them back upon thee againe in page 29 first thou art Quering and saies Quisitively is not your mercy and pittie turned into bitternesse and hatred c here thou shews thou knows not but art quiering by thy darke minde into the things then presently after in the
same page thou adds 4 lies as thy proofe after thou haye fasly affirmed the same which makes thy number of lies 70 or threescore and tenn Thou in thy false affirmative raised from thy dubious dark quisitive saith that our mercy and pittie is turned into hatred and bitternesse that is one lie and as appears by your words calling the Church of Christ Antichrist that is a third lie calling Saints deceivers that is two lies and thirdly your calling the Gospel letter that is a fourth lie and calling thy Ordinances Carnall that is thy fifth lie which encreaseth thy number to one more here thou brings four lies to back thy false affirmative from thy dubious dark quiâ—…tive before mentioned and so thou all along hath made lies thy refuge as in this book appeareth but where thou hast out of dubiousnesse and darknesse asked the question in saying is not your mercy c turned into bitternesse towards all men c instead of letting us have answered therein thou affirmes falsly in thy slander or answer to thy selfe saying your mercy is turned into bitternesse c and thy proofe for the same is four lies as aforesaid But we call not the Church of Christ Antichrist as thou hast said for we call it the body of which Christ is head as the Scripture witnesseth Eph 1.22.23 and therefore that lie turnes of from us and back upon you againe secondly we call not Saints deceivers but we call them the beloved of God 1 Joh. 3.1 and the freinds and brethren of Christ as the Scripture witnesseth even the faithfull in Christ Jesus Eph. 1. Colos 1. Joh. 17.16.17 Joh. 15.15 and Hebrew 2.11 Thirdly we call not the Gospel letter but we call it glad tidings and also the power of God to salvation as the Scripture witnesseth Rom. 1.15.16 and fourthly we call not the ordinances of Christ carnall but spirituall therefore Hagger and Pollard and such deceivers your lies are turned back upon you againe and they shall stand for your selves and such as you are and being turned back into the liers generation that they may there remaine and tarrie with you and the Serpents seed from whence they came and so your lies doth not prove our mercy and pittie to be turned into hatred and bitternesse for hatred and bitternesse we do deny but mercy and pittie we own and therefore the hatred and bitterness shall stand for your selves and liers such as you are and where thou saies so by your words page the 39. we may easily see what your hearts be full of instead of mercy malice that stands for your selves and makes your number of lies 71 and instead of pittie persecution that is 72 and that also stands upon you for instead of persecuting we are for our love and faithfullnesse to the Lord Jesus by such as you persecuted and therefore malice and persecution turnes off from us and runs into your ground and into the Serpents seate where it is found And where thou tells of persecuting with the tongue saying it is a weapon that strikes deepe that shall stand for thee Pollard and Hagger and for liers and fals-accusers like you who bend your tongues like your bowes for lies to shoot your slanders and arrowes of reproaches at the innocent and Children of light which you in scorne call Quakers and such hands thou saies thou shalt suspect would perâ—ecute with weapons as thy words implies page 39 if they had power out that slander turnes off from us take it in againe and keepe it with thee whose heart is seene and as thou saies â—…led with malice but there is thy deceipt hatched and brought forth out of thy malicious heart and thy ground of judgment is false suspicion who hast made a lie thy proofe and grounded it upon deceipt thereby to manifest the malice and wickednesse of thy heart and thy judgment and slanders being false turnes back upon thee againe from whence they came with the rest of thy lies which I do not here name but those that searches thy book and Haggens may meet with the same therefore passing by much of thy filthinesse and deceipt that it may remaine from whence it came I shall come on after a while to Henry Haggers considerations and Queries or rather lies fals-accusations and wicked slanders and I shall speake somthing in answer to them AN Answer in short to Henry Haggers consideration and Queries as he calls them with a reproof to his lies and slanders also and for joyning with the lier and slanderer in his deceiptfull book which this is in Answer unto HEnry Hagger that pretends his Queries to search and try Spirits and shews his deceiptfullnesse and forwardnesse therein before he had propounded them he might have answered us those that Pollard hath left unanswered and also the Queries that we sent to the baptised people at Lough-borrow side Earlshilton and Coventry side to his Brethren there which they never yet sent us an answer of though we answered theirs by or from Fairbrother that were sent unto us that so by the answer to them and those sent in the end of the book to Coventry side his Spirit might have beene a little more manifest and tryed as theirs was that subscribed their late act with the names of six or seven Elders and brethren in that Coventry law in which the baptised people said that they denied any to be Ministers of Christ that preached from an internall light c and so denied the Ministers and ministry of Christ in the new Covenant therein and shut themselves out as in the answer I shewed them there errour therein And secondly in that late Coventry law the baptized people there said that they denied any to be members of Christ that either went themselves or suffered others to goe heare them that preached from internall light c and so shewed their darknesse and Crossed the Scriptures and ministry of the new Covenant therein but that was in the same book answered wherein their Spirit was tried who in that Coventry act did also deny liberty in the Churches for any to object in the time of preaching or after c. And they said also that the secrets of all hearts should be judged at the latter day by the written word or the letter of the Scripture so taking the ministry and judgment from Christ and the Spirit to put upon it the Scripture but therein their weaknesse and errour was seene and their spirit was tried and the written book in answer to those particulers will manifest the same as did and doth to their shame in so much that some of them denied or were ashamed of what therein by them was done though he had subscribed it as the rest did with his own name and the Queries about that and the rest were never answered and sent yet unto us to manifest the more what therein they had done or brought forth by them And seeing they have not answered them let Henry Hagger
Inheritance of the Saints in light for they were compleat and furnished in and by Christ the head of all principality and power for in him and not in the letter of the Scripture dwelleth all the fulness of the God-head bodily Colos 1.9.10,11,12 29. Col. 2.9.10 and here again take notice how thou hast lied of the Scripture and shewed thy spirit of errour in this thy sixteenth errour or lie Thou â—aith we are perverters of the word but that is by us denied and stands for thy self who art a wrester and so a perverter of the Scripture which thou calls the word and thou art there taken in thy own snare where thou hast added thy seventeenth lie And after thou hast given the preheminence to the Scripture so taking it from Christ and contradicting it therein Col. 1.18 saying the Scriptures are the rule of faith when Christ is the rule and Authour of faith Heb. 12.2 and saying the Scriptures are both the rule of faith and also able to make the man of God wise to salvation and furnish him throughly to every good work page 3. without Christ and faith in him the moving cause both of faith and salvation c. for thou hast left faith in Christ and that out and so there in that page thou hast been labouring to set the Scripture up in the room of Christ and belied it also and to confute and contradict thy selfe in thy confusion and self-contradiction that it may appear thou hast made it manifest except thou would make the Scriptures Christ and Christ the Scriptures and if thou would do so that would be contradiction upon contradiction and more make manifest thy self-confutation In page 12. where thou art writing or speaking to those thou calls Saints thou therein saith that Christ is Gods treasury and if Christ be Gods treasury then fulnesse is not in the letter or Scripture but in him for in him thou also sayes to wit Christ are hid the treasures of wisdom and knowledge if in him then not in the Scriptures except thou make the Scriptures Christ and here thy own words serves to be thy own confutation which is manifest in thy self-contradiction for thou sayes it hath pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell to wit Christ and if all fulness dwell in Christ then not in the Scripture take notice of that and how doth it also crosse thy third page where thou hast manifested thy errour And after thou hast confessed and said that all fulness dwells in Christ thou sayes where then shall we go for wisdom and knowledge but to Christ page 12. If all fulness dwell in Christ and there be no whereto go for true wisdom and knowledge but to him then it is he that furnisheth thorowly to every good work and also makes wise to salvation and then how doth it crosse thy other sayings where thou sayes the Scriptures are the rule of faith and the Scriptures are able to make wise to salvation and able to furnish thoroughly to every good work and here thou hast contradicted all that except thou would have the Scriptures to be Christ and Christ to be the Scriptures and then thou again contradicts that for thou saith life is in the Son but the Scriptures is not the Son therefore the life is not in them for thou sayes that Christ is the life of Saints then the Scripture is not their life because the Scripture is not the Son and thou tells those thou calls Saints if they forsake Christ they forsake the life page 12. and then thou goes from the Son and so from Christ to the letter and therefore from the life according to thy own saying in thy confusion and contradicts those sayings of thy twelfth page in page 13. For there again thou art run from Christ to the Letter and saith the Scriptures are able to make wise to salvation and must be the rule in point of faith and conversation and if they must be so then by that necessity thou would not have Christ to be so yea thou saies the Scriptures they will furnish unto every good worke And if they must do it and will do it then Christ must not and doth not except the Scriptures be Christ and that is not so for they do but testifie of him Joh. 5.39.40 and thy 13 page doth crosse and contradict thy 12 and thy 12 page doth confute thy 3 page therefore after thou have prophecied many lies take notice how thou have run upon two rocks even self contradiction and selfe confutation and here it is to be observed that it is thee that errs not knowing the Scripture and power of God and not the Quakers as in thy false Prophecie thou did affirme and there thou hast even split thy selfe upon such Rocks even selfe contraction and selfe confutation Here take notice of your folly and remember what you have done for it is considered and knowne That such as say they write and speake from the word of the Lord and Prophecie falsly and writes and so speaks lies and selfe contradictions must needs be false Prophets But Iohn Griffith in that book called A Voice from the word of the Lord he hath so done therefore Iohn Griffith he is a false Prophet as it is considered and knowne as well as Thomas Pollard and Henry Hanger are false Apostles as before is proved And by their books of lies and slanders is further against them made manifest Oh lier thus saith the Lord the lake is prepared for thee and all liers take notice of that and read Rev. 21.8 to witnesse here with me in the same and thither must the false Prophets and liers be cast as it is written Rev. 22.15 and Rev. 21.8.27 Rev. 20.10 to be tormented day and night c And thine Henry Hagger as well as John Griffiths is considered and you are found to be those that refuse the light of Christ and walks after the jmaginations of your own hearts and not the light within who dispise the light and word of the Lord that are such liers and false accusers doing such deceiptfull works and so are works of iniquity under a refined subtilty which Christ saith he knows not according to thy saying or third consideration and Math 7.22.23 And you are they that preach and publish lies as your number makes it manifest and not the word of God for it witnesseth against liers like you who are such as those in thy 4th consideration and the deceivers shall stand for your selves that are such liers and therefore deceivers as in thy 5th consideration And where thou in contempt to the light and so to the truth thou saies Paul did not commit thÌ„e to the light within thÌ„e to the which I answer that lie did commit them to God he is light 1 Joh. 1.5 was within them for greater was he that was in them then he that was in the world 1 Ioh. 4.4 2 Cor. 6.16 and as God who was light was
obeyed leadeth out of darknesse errour and deceipt into the light of life Ioh. 8.12 Ioh. 16.13 and so into the truth of the Gospel spoken of in thy last Querie and that slander of the undervaluing of the words of Christ shall stand for thy selfe c that speaks against and undervalued the inward spirituall and true light which leadeth into true happiness happinesse such as follow and obey it and so it leadeth out of darknesse errour and deceipt into the light of life though thou lier say it do not therein thy testimony is false and not true and thou art found to be a false witnesse of the light and the truth and thy testimony is denied and against testified as is required Eph. 5.11 And thou that would have the words as they are printed in the Bible there to be Spirit and life as in thy last Querie But thou shews by that that thou art ignorant of the eternall word and so of the word of life and knows not the true spirituall life that would put the letter for the life And where thou saies how can ye know that the dead shall rise and come to Judgment but by the Scriptures page 54. I answer even as they knew the things declared of in the Scriptures by that Spirit of God that revealeth the deepe things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 and also sheweth things to come as the Scripture witnesseth Joh. 16.13 That the dead shall rise and come to Judgment is one of the deepe things of God And also a thing to come But the Spirit of God revealeth and searcheth or maketh knowne the deepe things of God without the letter as the letter witnesseth which Spirit also sheweth things to come as the Scripture declareth Therefore the Spirit of God so revealing and making knowne even the deepe things of God could make knowne the day of judgment and things to come as the Scripture witnesseth but the blind like thee sees it not who stumbles at the light and knows not the eternall word not yet the worke of the Spirit of God as thy booke of slander maketh manifest Where did any true Prophet or Apostle of the Lord Jesus goe either to prophecy or preach with a printed Bible in their hand and from that say Thus saith the Lord c. And if printing had not of late beene invented what would you have preached here in England who knows not within you the eternall life and word of God Therefore they being out of the truth and false accusers they must needs be also cut of Gospel-order And in that thou hast told another lie and Thomas Pollard when thou had accused Richard Farnsworth falsly at the meeting at Harliston Hugh Read said unto thee why would thou stand charging things upon him which thou could not prove and Humphyry Beeland who had beene a teacher to the Baptised people he said to thee Thomas Pollard Instance any one particuler and prove against him which thou taxeth him withall c but thou then made no answer as to prove any one thing which thou had falsly charged upon him and accused him withall and therefore art a false accuser of him and the truth and thy lies heads of deceit and false accusations are witnessed against by some that were present at the meeting at Harliston that time by name Hugh Reed Anthony Briklay Humphey Beeland and John Smith If there want any of thy number of lies it is but for want of setting them downe for I have as many numbered up in writing out of Iohn Griffiths and thine as amounts to the number of one hundred fifty and four lies c. Which fruits may cause you to blush if you consider thereof and serve to be a shame to your profession that are attended with such a company of lies cover your faces with shame and learne to amend bring forth better fruits even such as are meete for amendment of life and make not lies your refuge as you have done for it maketh you manifest that you are not yet come into Johns doctrine and so instead of fulfilling all righteousnesse you are adding one lie to another and sin unto sin being fulfilling deceipt or filled with all unrighteousnesse c Rom. 1.28.29 THE END
that the adversaries were not able to resist the spirit by which they were spoken as the Scripture witnesseth and behold the Tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them Rev. 21.3 and the Lord God and the Lamb is the light and the Nations which are saved shall walk in it Rev. 21.23,24 so the light according to the manifestation of it is the forme that it was and as Christ hath said At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father and you in me and I in you John 14.20 but thy drift is to set up the letter of the Scripture instead of the light and here thou sayes in thy 8th did not the Apostles of our Lord Iesus declare and testifie the same things to others that they hear and say who shunned not to declare to others the whole Counsel of God yes in that the Apostle John said that the Message which they had to declare was the light 1 John 1.5 which thou seems to be so much offended at and Paul that Apostle declared and said that God which John called light would dwell and walk in his people 2 Cor. 6.16 and he also declared of the light and the glory of God and the heavenly treasure within 2 Cor. 4.6,7 and of the life of Christ to be manifest in mortal flesh verse 10. 11. and and the mystery of Godliness he said was great and also within Col. 1.27 But thou being blind and ignorant of the things and workings of the light and the spirit of God thou would have all without in the letter of the Scripture which doth but declare of them for in the 9th thou askes whether you can know the things which Christ and his Apostles did but by the Scriptures If thou know not thou knows not the Father dwelling in thee that so wrought by his power and spirit in them John 14.10.11,12 Gal. 1. Col. 1.29 And so if thou be in doubt and question the thing out of ignorance and darkness thou shews that thou knowes not the same spirit of Christ within Gal. 4.6 to bring to rememberance what Christ hath said John 14.26 which is the guid into all truth and shews things to come John 16.13 And being without the life of the spirit of Christ and of God to rule and guid in thee Gal. 4.6 Rom. 8.14 which spirit searcheth and revealeth the deep things of God 1 Cor. 2.10 which in the Prophets did also testifie before hand of the sufferings of Christ and doth now witness with them 1 Pet. 1.11,12 and thou that knows not the spirit to guide thee and reveal the things of God now as they did then thou art not of the spiritual but carnal minded men and so knowes not the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ that shineth within as such did and do that witness the power of God to salvation Rom. 1.16 and the holy unction within whereby they knew all things 1 John 2.20 But thou would have the Scripture to be the same which thou queries of and about in thy tenth and eleventh Queries and therein thy design is seen who thy self that followeth not the light walks after the dictates or evil sayings of thy own heart which is as thou sayes deceiptful and desperately wicked yet it is known and with the light reproved which thou art offended at And it is no better then folly and madness in thee and such like that would put the letter of the Scripture for the light and Gospel which is the power of God to salvation which light thou sayes is not sufficient to lead to happinesse c. And so denies Christ the true light to be sufficient to lead unto happinesse and denying the true light thou denies the true guide that leads into true comfort such as do follow the Counsel of it and that light which leads the obedient into true comfort it therefore leads them into true happiness and such did witness the consolation and so the happiness within that said As the sufferings of Christ did abound in them so their consolation also abounded by him 2 Cor. 2.5 and the light which shined in the face of Iesus through the new Covenant did shine within them and the glory and heavenly Treasure as well as the light which the Scripture declareth of therein was revealed within them and so the true comfort and comforter was within them who did experience the sufferings before Rom. 8.18 John 14.26 2 Thes 1.10 2 Cor. 3.17,18 and 2 Cor. 4.5,6,7 But the Letter is not that light c. as thou would have it though it declare of it c. which light of the glorious Gospel thou art a stranger unto for thy dark reason cannot comprehend it who art in those and so thy brain expectations thou speaks of and art out of that Covenant which thou out of darkness art quering after and about that art such a lyer and false accuser and with the liers and false accusers art a partaker as this Book maketh manifest which stands a witness against thee and them c. Henry Hagger that refuseth the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ and would set the Letter up instead of the light spoken of or queried about in thy 11th refusing it to follow or walk by as thou sayes instead of his thy own imaginations or dictates and sayings of thy evil heart which is so deceitful and desperately wicked the heart thou speaks of in thy Query And now according to thy 12th such as thou art being found out after query or search that hath so lyed and sought as thy Brethren hath done to set up the letter of the Scripture instead of the light and spirit or power of God unto salvation which is the Gospel of Christ and refusing the light within also and that which Paul and the Gospel-Ministers witnessed in them who called it the glorious light of the Gospel of Christ in the face of Jesus which was in them and shined within in their hearts 2 Cor. 4,4,5,6,7 in which light the Nations that are saved shall walk Rev. 21.23,24 which light we chuse to walk by and in as Paul and the faithful in Christ did giving thanks unto the Father of lights James 1.17 who of his own will begot us with the word of truth James 1.18 who hath made us meet to be partakers of what the Saints doth inherit of the Inheritance of the Saints in light Col. 1.12 And so we are required to hold such accursed as denies Christ within which Paul preached and said to the Colossians great is the mysterie of godliness Christ in you whom we preach c Col. 1.27.28.29 and such we are to deny as denies the light within which the Gospel preachers witnessed in them 2 Cor. 4.6.7 which thou opposeth and stumbleth or art offended at as the Serpents seed ever was But the light and the Spirit of truth we own to be within us which is not darknesse as thou would have it but being