receiving a False Accusation against thee as thou chargest us with let any reasonable man judge Witness William Gandy John Simcock Thomas Welch John Badely Henry Maddock with many more Afterwards thou camest into the Meeting and I told thee what Tho. Davanport had accused thee with but not willing to have any old matters debated upon we having had too much of them as before I did ask thee this Question Richard Art thou willing Thomas shall come into thy House to the Meeting thou saidst Thy Doors were open c. I asked thee again thou replyedst off the Matter so I said Richard Canst not thou say thou art willing or thou art not what needeth so much ado And when thou couldst not satisfie us with those Answers thou saidst Thou wouldst say no more or words to that purpose and indeed it did trouble many in the Meeting to see thee so stiff and so little of a condescending spirit that though Friends had engaged thou wouldst be willing yet thou wouldst not so much as say thou wert which manner of carriage in thee hath given too much occasion of the then Difference in Chester and when thou hadst refused to answer Thomas seeing we were troubled thereat he said to thee If he had done thee any VVrong he would do what thou wouldst have him to do or words to that purpose and further said he would do what we would have him to do and thereupon we advised and desired him to come to Meetings which accordingly he did and this thing was it that did as thou calledst it p. 7. pinch thee the most of any thing that was done by us and after this thy spirit turned against us and then thou be an'st to speak and write against Womens Meetings and not before since that at London which thou chiefly objectest against though that was done above nine moneth before this I mention yet nothing that I know of said against it by thee till after this time so it may easily be understood the Ground or Reason of thy differing with and separating from us even because thy Mind was not answered in all things according to thy desire by us which is not the Symtom of a mans walking in all Humility and Lowliness with us as thou boastest of thy self though thou now pretendest something else and makest a great noise of the Wrong we have done thee c. which is left to the Reader to consider of and without partiality to judge So I come to shew wherein thou hast wronged me in reporting those for my words in the behalf of the Meeting which were not mine The 19th of the 8th moneth 1676. after a long Debate with thee indeed to small purpose as is proved thou mayst well know the Cause of it if thou wilt but let Truth take place in thy mind the greatest matter thou at that time couldst alledge against us was our Forbearance or as thou callest it neglect c. that we had not given Sentence of Excommunication against Daniel Maddock and wholely rejected him which indeed as by thy Book doth appear was the main thing thou hadst driven at for a season thereupon I said in the behalf of the Meeting That the Church had Power to pass Sentence of Excommunication or to forbear for a time as they saw meet and convenient in the Wisdom of God these were my words witness Tho. Brigs Richard Milner and others and these we will stand by And we do say The time and season of our declaring on disunion with those who break out of the order of truth stands not in the will of any prejudiced man but in the will of God who is Long-suffering and full of tender Mercy who waits to restore the Back-slider Thou sayst in thine pag. 19. I said We had power to suspend our Judgment in which thou shewest either a great deal of Ignorance or Wilfulness for we had given our Judgment long before this against D. M. otherwise why did we require him to make thee satisfaction This manner of dealing is not Friendly nor Christianly but looketh too like Forgery For thy saying that Tho. Brigs and Tho. Wynne told thee plainly thy house was not thy own It is well known to the moderate people of this Nation though thou makest such use of it that we do not deny any man that which is his own nor desire it from him but let me tell thee thou having given Friends leave to meet in part of thy House and they having provided some convenience for that purpose as things to sit upon c. it was not agreeable to the Truth for thee for the Offence of one or two if such a thing were to turn all the rest forth of thy Doors without their Consent and thereby expose them to such Sufferings as did thereupon follow which might have been much worse had not the then Mayor and Recorder of that City used much Moderation and Justice in the Mannagement of the Matter and how sleight soever thou mayst make of this yet it is that which by all thy Papers and Book thou canst not clear thy self from until thou repent of it and condemn it The next thing is to clear my self from the Lye thou wouldst make people believe I am guilty of in saying It is thy Principle and Practice to deny Water-baptism and Breaking of Bread and Drinking of Wine I do say and am able to prove it both by Witness and thy Practice that it is thy Principle and Practice except thou be changed in that as well as in other things to deny both as being now in force or to be practised in the Church of Christ and therefore demand of thee what Scripture thou hast to prove the discontinuing of them seeing thou ownest they were once or what Scripture had Paul to prove the discontinuance of Circumcision seeing God said It should be for an Everlasting Covenant in their flesh Gen. 17.13 For no rational man can in reason judge that I should charge thee to deny that they never were seeing the Scriptures are so full that they were in their time and season therefore needless is it for thee to say they were of Service in the Church c. but to prove by plain Text of Scripture that they are not not that I say they are seeing thou wilt be so exact for Scripture-proof for what we do for that was the occasion of my so writing not that we in the least deny the Scriptures as thou well knowest but own and esteem them in their place yet prefer the holy Spirit before them by which the holy Scriptures were given forth and the Leadings of that Spirit which leadeth into all Truth so into the Truth in them In the next place I come to speak of my Answer to thy Queries and therein to prove unto thee and others what I said before viz. that thou hast in all or most of them either added or diminished in my first Answer pag. 26 27. thou in thy
Book endest with these words Though they pretend Scripture for their Rule in what they do in mine to thee there is this further We have an evident Testimony that we can give for Womens Meetings from many faithful Witnesses that God owneth them by accompanying them with his living Presence in their Assemblies yet we go not about to impose them upon Believers but as the Lord perswades them This word Imposition hath often been used upon other occasions as thou well knowest by such as have gone forth of the blessed Unity of Truth when there hath been no occasion for it now if this be fair or right to say as thou dost in the Margin p. 26. it is my Answer and yet leave this forth which answers to the latter part of thy Query pag. 22 23. I leave it to any rational man to judge in answer to thy Reply I shall only say thus We go not about to speak write or act any thing contrary to the Scriptures of Truth nor to dis-esteem of them as thou well knowest therefore it is not friendly so to write as though we did pag. 27. and for thee to go about to make void my assertion in answer to thy Query p. 26. to wit that the power and authority of that unlimited Spirit is the same in the Female as in the Male by saying pag. 27. was ever the same in any Female as in the heavenly Male Christ Jesus shews much wilfulness in thee for thou canst not be so ignorant as so to understand the intent of my words that I should compare either Female or any other Male with him in whom dwell the fulness of the Godhead â—odily and of whose fulness we receive Grace for Grace but though he was anointed with the Oyl of Gladness above his fellows and did not receive the Spirit by measure yet it has pleased the Father in his infinite to Goodness that His should be anointed with the same Anointing and receive a measure of the same Spirit as to nature and quality and therein is one with that in those Males he breathed upon I am not speaking of quantity so my assertion is not contrary to the Apostles Doctrine as thou pag. 27. sayest it is but agreeable thereunto who said There are diversities of Gifts by the same Spirit mark that dividing to every man severally as he will and we say women too for God said who cannot lye He would pour forth his Spirit upon all flesh and your Sons and your Daughters shall prophesie Joel 2.28 So my assertion stands good and will do against all that thou canst say against it That the Power and Authority of that unlimited Spirit is the same in the Female as in the Male and in that they are labourers together for God Consider what thou art about to do and take heed left through thy own wilfulness darkness cover thy understanding Thou needest not tell us That the Church hath no Power but what it hath from him who is the Beginning for I say in my answer pag. 27. of thy Book That the Church of Christ had and hath Power given them not that they take it wrongfully as thou in thy Query p. 22. wouldst charge us with neither are we five that Church but through Gods Grace Members of it Those words of thine in the Margin pag. 27. But may not I justly question whether you five he that Church which hath Power given to add this c. favours more of a cavilling spirit that will be critical then the Spirit of Truth Thou sayest in thy Reply to my second Answer pag. 29. And now of late for you to set up such things as these meaning Womens Meetings as are no way in themselves necessary to the accomplishing of the other aforesaid to wit a holy and upright Life and yet there sayest thou art not against them or any other to meet to pray exhort strengthen build up one another in their most holy Faith This is strange that they may meet together to pray exhort strengthen and build up one another in their most holy Faith and yet be no way in themselves necessary to the accomplishment of an holy and upright Life this indeed is such a Paradox to me that I have not heard of the like by one that pretends so much as thou dost and if they may do this which is the greater why may they not do that which is the lesser to wit take care of some widows fatherless and such as want relief and that the younger women elder also walk orderly c. we do believe they may do both according to the ability that God giveth them and we do not dispise them because they are the weaker Vessels though it may be some of us have been of that mind with thee And for thee to say That we saying if any professing the Truth shall either by word or deed directly discountenance or weaken the hands of either men or women in that work or service let such be admonished according to the Order of the Gospel and if they receive it not but resist counsel and persist in the work of Division we cannot but look upon them as therein not in the unity with the Church of Christ and order of the Gospel is to excommunicate such or call that Excommunication as thou dost I would have thee read thy self as thou sayst to us for I thought Excommunication had been a further thing then to say we cannot but look upon them therein not in the unity with the Church of Christ and order of the Gospel for if this be Excommunication as thou hast often said it is then was Daniel Maddock excommunicated by us for we did not in those things which thou chargedst against him look upon him to be in unity with the Church of Christ and order of the Gospel and therefore we exhorted him to condemn them and so we have done and do thee thy writing and speaking so much against Womens Meeting as thou dost to say they are contrary to the Scripture of Truth and that they are in themselves no way necessary to the accomplishing of an holy and upright life c. yet we say Excommunication is a further thing viz. in the Power and Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh 1 Cor. 5.4 5. So thou mayst read thy self either ignorant or wilful in thy saying and writing that our so saying as before is Excommunication for doubtless Paul had not unity with Peter in that thou mentionest in thine to the Reader pag. 4. neither did he look upon him therein in unity with the Church of Christ and order of the Gospel yet this was not to excommunicate that good man who did not persist therein and though the Government be upon Christ's Shoulders yet he hath given his Power to govern under him and what they do in his Power he owns and though the Apostle had not dominion over
other Faith or at least did bear with such as were weak in the faith yet he they had Power to judge and reject Gain-sayers and Opposers and so have his true Church now we do say such as keep to the Doctrine and Practice which was first amongst us and continue in the unity of the Spirit which first united us but that thou leavest forth such ought not nor are not by us accounted Makers of Division c. but a man or men and people may hold both the doctrine and practice and yet be forth of the unity of the Spirit as thou art and divers more before thee in our day and time have been and are so thou mayst mourn for thy self for time will come thou must mourn for this and other of thy doings as well as several have done who are gone to their place and once bigned themselves and stiffned their Necks against us as much as thou now dost but when they came to lie upon their Dying Bed it was otherwise with them and then they could take the shame to themselves and clear the Lords Truth and them that abode faithful thereunto and this was God's Love unto them and this thou must come to sooner or later or it will be worse for thee whether thou wilt hear or forbear In my Answer to thy 3d Query thou endest pag. 31. And against such the Spirit and Power of the Lord is c. in mine there is thus much further God is and doth judge as I with many more through God's Goodness am a living Witness and had such a living Testimony in my heart from God against that dividing separating spirit upon occasion that it left such a seal therein which I hope through Gods Grace I shall never forget In thy assertion in thy latter-end of thy Query thou art too confident as upon occasion may appear Now why thou shouldst do thus in my first and this also except to cover that separating spirit from the Testimony that many can give against it I know not In thy Reply p. 31. thou sayst If you had continued in that where true unity was you would not have innovated such things as would have broke it or infested the Church and disturbed her Peace Here thou settest thy self a Judge over us all to censure us to be gone forth of that in which the true Unity was so makest thy self guilty of that which thou wouldst charge upon us viz. to be Lords over others faith as thou didst in thine of the 21th of the 5th moneth 1676. to me in which thou wrotest It had been better those words had not been writ meaning those of the 27th of the 3d moneth 1675. or being writ that we would recal them so as I wrote in answer to thee we must not write or speak that which is upon our spirits upon good ground as I to thee there signified but by thee be censured it were better they had not been writ or being writ to recal them and now further by thee be censured to be gone forth of that in which the true unity waâ— so as W. Penn wrote to thee instead of querying thou judgest us but that is known and felt in our Men Womens Meetings in which our Unity was and doth continue blessed be the Name of the Lord and it is not some going from us now as others have done before that can break our Unity as in the Power we keep though it may be and is cause of godly Sorrow to us to see such things Neither do honest godly Women Meetings infest or disturb the Peace of the true Church it is a bad saying from thee and thou must repent of it it is that dividing spirit which would be Lord though it pretends a great deal of Humility that seek to infest and disturb her Peace but the Lord hath hitherto preserved it and will do to the end as his keep faithful to him against all that hath or may rise to break it either from amongst our selves or others And for thee to say Setting up of Womens Meetings runs parallel with the Bringers in of Circumcision amongst Believers Not at all for the Apostle preached Circumcion down though he had no Scripture for it and said Gal. 5.2 That if ye be circumcised Christ shall profit you nothing but he never spoke against Womens Meetings when he went where they used to pray but rather encouraged them exhorting the Elder Wowen to teach the Younger neither did Moses that Man of God speak against or forbid Miriam and all the Women went out after her Exod. 15.2 here were women apart from the men and questionless a great assembly or meeting this was for doing what they did he might have said have not I sung with the Children of Israel unto the Lord and what need you women go apart to sing but he was not of such a spirit as to stop or gainsay any thing that was good in which there could be no hurt or tendency of evil nor in our Womens Meetings But thou wilt be ready to say This was upon another account then to take care of the Churches business it is true but this part of our womens business in their Meetings to praise the Lord for his goodness and Deborah was a Judge in Israel the Children of Israel came unto her for Judgment Judg. 4.4 5. and Israel was the then Church of God This may serve for answer to that in thy Reply to my Answer to thy 4th Query p. 33. where thou sayst it lieth upon our part to prove that ever Females were intrusted to look after the Government of the Church which I have here done to wit that a Female was intrusted with the Government of the Church In my answer to thy 4th Query thou endest and there was the first breach of unity in mine there was this further As many can witness whose Testimony I hope thou wilt not deny So have I shewed wherein thou hast either added to or diminished from all or most of my answers for what end is known unto thy self and as a Conclusion there was written before I subscribed my Name Thus have I in plainness according to what was in my mind given thee an Answer and if herein thou be not satisfied I leave thee to more abler Brethren for further satisfaction but this I know Richard were the Truth and the simplicity thereof kept unto there would not be so much a do about honest Womens meeting together for the end before-mentioned and I am really sorry upon serious consideration that thou which hast been a strength unto others should now become a weakner of the weak not only in this but also and more particularly in other things of weighty concern which I desire may in the measure of that blessed Spirit of Light and Life be seriously by thee considered and amended that so the Vnity of the Spirit which is the Bond of Peace may be truly known From thy real Friend and Welwisher Alexander Lawrence And for thee in thy Reply to my fourth Answer so to make use of my words as that I should say That the Scriptures should so far differ pag. 34. from that Spirit that gave them forth as to be compared to Babel 's Builders because I compare theâ— thereunto who wilt one while have an instance from Scripture for what we do and another while have not others a measure of Gods Spirit to direct them what to do and what to leave undone this I said lookt like Babel's Builders and for thee to make such use of my sayings as aforesaid is little less then wilful Wickedness But what Scripture had John for his Baptism or Paul for his preaching down Circumcision Priesthood Tythes Temple Offerings c. and setting up new Institutions so that which was once done and set up by and according to the Command of God was afterwards by the Revelation of the divine Power preached down and another thing set up by which it is plain that the holy Spirit in all Ages was the Rule of God's People which was before Scripture was and was Abel's Rule Enoch's Rule Noah's Rule Abraham's Rule c. and this is the Rule of his at this day for it is the everlasting unchangeable Rule and unto this have our hearts bended and by it been broken blessed be his holy Name and unto this must thou bend by it be broken more then yet thou art or it will be worse for thee and this holy Spirit leads none to preach any other God Christ Spirit Gospel Truth c. then what the holy men of God that gave forth the holy Scriptures preached and testified of as thou reflectingly upon us writest pag. 26. yet the Scriptures speak of another God and Spirit viz. the God of this World the spirit that ruleth in the hearts of the Children of disobedience and this is the ground of Division Thus having for the Information and Satisfaction of the sober impartial Reader given a short account of the truth of things and also hinted at some of thy Wrestings and Perverting of our Words and Doings knowing it would be tedious both to the Reader and my self to trace thee through them all I leave the issue of all unto the Searcher of hearts knowing it is not he that commends himself but such as God approves that findeth acceptance In the Title Page line 9. for Cheshire read Chester pag. 7. lin 2. for no read to THE END