to the church of Christ and the Doctrine which such do preach is the Doctrine of Devils and not the Doctrine of Christ as T. S. hath truly said And because T. S. saith You follow cunning devised fables Thou saist He calls Gospel Ordinances cunning devised fables and that in sum he saith our Lord Christ and his Apostles were cunning devisers of Fables To which I say Deceit and Falshood hath summed up the matter and by the falseness of the account the wickedness of the Accountant is discovered and he is thereby manifested to be a notorious lyar and a false accuser but if honesty had cast up the sum the account would have appeared otherwise And I have already proved That whilst you remain in that state where you stand at present as appears by your confession in your Tiverton Epistle that all that you do or perform in imitation of others whilst you are not thereunto led by the Spirit of God but your rule is without you abomination reigns within you though you may call it the ordinances of Christ or great Gospel-Ordinances yet it is but Fables and Fancies of your own devisings and such things as Christ nor his Apostles did ever ordain or devise for you to follow or practise and you might as well charge all the rest of your abominations and apparent iniquities upon Christ and his Apostles and say they were the devisers of them as to say that Christ or his Apostles did devise those Fables Fancies and imaginations which you follow plead for practise and call Ordinances of Christ For that which you account the best of all your doings is as great an abomination in the sight of the Lord if not greater then the very worst action or most apparent iniquity which you confess your selves to be guilty of For the very prayers of the wicked are an abomination to the Lord and nothing will sooner or more certainly bring desolation upon you then the setting up of those abominations in the stead of the Worship of God and the Ordinances of Christ and those Exorcists who adjured the unclean spirits in the Name of Jesus whom Paul preached might as well say that our Lord Christ had devised those Exorcismes which they used because he had commanded unclean spirits to come out of people as you to say that Christ and his Apostles devised those Fables which you follow and plead for and call Gospel-Ordinances because you imagine that such things were practised in the church of Christ for it 's possible that those Exorcists were as much in the words of Christ and Paul as you are and I am sure you are as great Enemies to the iife and power of Christ as they were And after thou hast thus wickedly and salsly accused T. S and so impudently and grosly belyed him Thou saist Thou must have done with Salthouse at present and thou thinkest for ever unless there were more truth and honesty appearing in him Oh wonderful that such a notorious lyar and such a vile dishonest person as thou hast manifested thy self to be partly by thy own confession and fully and largely proved both by thy practise and by thy principles should be so impudent as to accuse another for want of truth and honesty But although thou mightest have hopes to shelter thy self and to escape undiscovered by accusing the innocent of the same crimes whereof thy self art guilty yet know that thy covering is too narrow for thy skirts are discovered and thy shame and nakedness doth appear and thy refuge of lyes cannot hide thee and it had been much better for thee if thou hadst ended sooner or that thou hadst never begun this work of darkness and wickedness wherein thou hast so desperately hazarded the loss of thy precious soul to satisfie thy cruel envious blood-thirsty desires against the innocent Lambs of Christ Onely thou saist take this Interpreter with you and T. C. his Answer to his Epistle and this together and you will find them to be a choice pair of Spectacles to help you to see into and understand what you read in T. S. his Books To which I answer The truth as asserted by T. S. in his Books are so plain and clear as they stand that whoever looks on them with a single eye and a mind not stuft with prejudice may easily read them and understand them without an interpreter and all who are not quite blind and given up to believe lyes may easily see and discover thy hypocrisie and deceit thy railing and false accusing thy lyes and thy confusion without the help of a pair of Spectacles But although thou hast done with T. S. I have not yet done wth thee for I have yet to question thee concerning a most horrible false accusation twice charged in thysheet of Paper where thou saist Would not these men as truly judge and condemn Saints and Churches in former ages that were subject to the like failings and passions were it not because they know it will not be born Else what meant the Answer of a Preaching-quaker in a publike meeting of them in Bristol one presenting something concerning the Scripture to him he answers I came not to tell you of Paul and Barnabas and Timothy the serpents of old but we were sent to direct them to look to the light within c. And thou saist The same person at the same time spake the same language of Samuel and the Prophets and this thou saist thou hadst from credible testimony who was present and heard him and proposed to query to him Whether he did own the Scriptures to be a rule for Christians to walk by Now to this I say The righteous Lord God of Heaven and Earth is witness for us against thee in this thing that we the Servants of the Most High God who are in scorn call'd Quakers do from our hearts abhor and detest any such words or thoughts concerning the holy men of God either Prophets or Apostles as thou most falsly from thy envious heart and slanderous tongue hast cast upon us and we do likewise utterly disown any such to be of us or to have any fellowship with us or to be permitted to speak amongst us without reproof who should declare or hold forth any such wicked damnable unsound unsavoury words as to say that either Paul or Barnabas or Timothy or Samuel or any other of the holy Prophets or Apostles were the Serpents of old for of them and of their words we have a more high and honorable esteem we being made partakers of the same eternal life and have obtained like precious Faith in which they lived and by which they obtained a good report and have received a measure of the same spirit by which they spoke and from which the Scriptures of truth were given forth and so we have the witness in our selves of the truth of what they declared and I do with confidence affirm That it cannot be proved that ever any person who is
AN EQUAL BALLANCE WHEREIN The Ministers and Churches of of the Anabaptists so called are truly weighed c. ALthough many are risen up in this Age and Generation and are joined in confederacy to make war with the Lamb and his followers who hath both with Tongue and Pen set themselves to oppose gain-say and resist the Truth and to raise all manner of false reports and slanders which their wicked hearts can imagine to cast upon it and upon those who in sincerity of heart walk in it thereby to affright the ignorant and deceive the simple lest they should turn from their wickedness and be converted and be healed and so even shut the Kingdom of heaven against men neither entring in themselves nor suffer those to go in that would yet amongst them all I have not observed any more desperately wicked and notoriously impudent then the forementioned Author hath manifested himself in a sheet of Paper as one indeed past feeling given up to a reprobate mind as if his conscience were double seared or as one that cannot blush vvhen he hath done vvickedly neither is it pleasant to me to meddle vvith such noysom stuff or the foame of such an unclean spirit vvho like the raging sea casts up mire and dirt even foaming out his ovvn shame but having considered the said Paper and finding it stuft vvith such notorious lyes and abominable falshoods and in particular one most horrible false Accusation to vvhich I shall speak more particularly in its proper place and knovving it meet that such a forger of lyes should not be hid nor pass without rebuke and also that the truth might be cleared from those false aspersions cast upon it and in love and tenderness towards them who are at present deceived by the lyes and by the lightness of those who usurp Authority over them by whom their hands are strengthened in wickedness so that they cannot return from the evil of their wayes that they might come to see the gross hypocrisie and palpable deceit of those by whom they are now led captive and so come to be redeemed out of the snares of the Devil and come to hear the voice of the true Shepherd and particularly to discover to them the impudency and wickedness of the said Author who hath most maliciously with his venemous Asp-poysoned tongue struck at the innocent and under lyes and falshoods hath endeavoured to hide and cover himself in the absence of Thomas Salthouse For the Truth's vindication I was câ—nstrained to write something in answer to it and although the Author hath so maliciously and wickedly slandered and reproached Thomas Salthouse and others in his said Paper yet I shall not make it my work to vindicate Persons but Truth which is chiefly my aim and end in this undertaking and in clearing the truth from those false Aspersions Reproaches Lyes and Slanders which the said Author hath cast upon it the innocency of those at whom in particular he strikes will not onely be clearly vindicated but also his own folly and wickedness be fully manifested who probably to hide himself from the light hath refufed to subscribe his Name to his Paper which renders it in the esteem of all people of understanding to be of no credit and to be reputed as a slanderous Libel His main work in his Paper wherein he hath so wickedly and impudently slandered and falsly accused the innocent seems to be a Vindication of Thomas Collier and though he hath not named himself yet by his Work he hath manifested himself to be in the same nature with T. C. if not in the same person for whoever hath viewed the Writings of T. C. especially those in which he hath set himself to resist and speak evil of the Truth and the right wayes of God namely his Dialogue his Looking-Glasse so called his Answer to T. S. his Epistle c. compared with this sheet of Paper might almost conclude by the method which he follows That this also is his Work for impudency and lyes are the strength of his Arguments and his own affirmations offered for proof of his Assertions when it is but the same lye told over again onely this last seems to come forth with more impudency then the former as if he had now poured forth some of the very bottom and dregs of that wickedness of which the other was the froth and the scum Now the Author having concealed his Name I could not direct a particular Answer to him and therefore by advice of some Friends drew up this sollowing Paper to make publike inquiry after him and to that end caused it to be posted in several Market Towns in the County of Somerset FOrasmuch as there lately came to our view ae certain printed Paper entitulâ—d The Hypocrisie and Falshood of Thomas Salthouse discovered a noted Quaker containing in it many lyâ—s and â—alse assertionâ— and published in the Vindication of Thomas Collier as by the Contents thereof appears And whereas the Author â—herâ—of being as we have just cause to think conscious of his own guilt in puâ—lishing such lyes and falshoods and to hide himself from the reproof of truth and shame due to such a worker of darkness hath refused to own it by subscribing his Name These are therefore to give notice That if the Author thereof hath not concealed his Name for these or the like reasons let him manifest the contrary by discovering his Name to any one of the Subscribers that so a particular Answer may be 〈…〉 some of us being concerned therein particularly and in the mean time there is no rational man hath ground to credit that which the Author himself appears not to own Jasper Batt John Collins John Dando William Beaton Robert Wastfeild But as yet the Author hath not discovered his Name to any one of us and therefore I shall proceed to speak something in answer to his Paper and so let it go abroad to find out the unnamed Author And first he saith as the Title of his Paper The hypocrisie and falshood of T. S discovered a noted Quaker manifested in a pretended line of true Judgement To which I answer Thou hast plainly discovered thy self to be the hypocrite though under falshood thou hast endeavoured to hide thy self and the Truths asserted by T. S. stands over thee and his Judgement is according to Truth as will more evidently appear when the filth and dirt which thou hast endeavoured to cast upon it is wiped away And this is one of thy marks whereby thou art known to be an hypocrite in that thou hast slandered and reproached persons and Principles publikely in print and then left thy Wickedness should be discovered thy lyes and falshoods be turned upon thee like the Thief or the Murderer which are afraid of the light thou hast endeavoured to hide thy self by refusing to subscribe thy Name in token of owning thy Work Thou sayest The abominable hypocrisie and falshood manifested in T. S. his
no fellowship You further say in the said Epistle The world as a Canker doth eat out your affections to the Lord Jesus Which doth also prove you to be no Church of Christ but to differ from them For the Church of Christ had their affections set on Christ and the Minister of Christ said If ye be risen with Christ seek those things which are above where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God Set your affections on things above not on things on the earth And he saith If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema maranatha And such who are accursed are no Church of Christ And he said Who shall seperate us from the love of Christ And he was perswaded That neither death nor life nor Angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor heighth nor depth nor any other creature should be able to seperate them from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus And the World had not eaten out their affections to Christ Jesus and this was their confidence That nothing could alienate their affections from him And Iohn said Love not the world neither the things that are in the world if any man love the world the love of the Father is not in him and he saith Every one that loveth him that begat loveth him that is begotten of him Col. 3. 1 2. 1 Cor. 16. 22. Rom. 8. 35 38 39. 1 Iohn 2. 15 1 Iohn 5. 1. But you say your affections to the Lord Jesus are eaten out by the World as by a canker therefore the love of the Father is not in you but the god of this World hath blinded your eyes and being in love with the World you are in the enmity against God for the friendship of the World is enmity to God And the World being thus set in your hearts you cannot find out the beginning nor know the end of the Work of God but are without the true sight and sence of his Majesty and without the sence of his Work in your souls and in your Churches and although you may think you are rich and encrease in goods because you call your selves Churches of Christ and because you have heaped up together a bundle of unprofitable carnal Ordinances according to your own imaginations in imitation of the Church of Christ wch you call the Ordinances of Christ which you plead for and follow yet in as much as your affections to the Lord Jesus are eaten out by the love of the World and you pluckt down from your excellency by a wretched worldly spirit you thereby appear to be no Church of Christ neither do you nor can you partake of his Ordinances which are spiritual but are upon tryal found to be miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked Likewise you say in your said Epistle That this Iniquity hath been apparently written on your fore-heads To which I say You are thereby apparently known to be no Church of Christ but to differ from them For their Father's Name is written on their Fore-heads not Iniquity And the Lord caused his mark to be set on the fore-heads of all that did sigh cry for the abominations that were committed by them whose iniquities were exceeding great and the servants of the Lord Church of Christ did receive the seal of the living God in their Fore-heads upon them is written the Name of God and the Name of the City of God and the new Name and such see his Face and his Name is written in their Fore-heads and not Iniquity Ezek 9. 4. Rev. 7. 3. 3. 12. 22 4. And these are redeemed from iniquity and their garments washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb For where Iniquity is apparently written there the Fathers Name is not written and where the Fathers Name is not written and his mark received they are not the Church of Christ For Holy and Reverend is his Name and holiness becomes the House of the Lord which is his Church for ever and his mark is Christs righteousness with which his Church is covered and adorned and his Seal is the holy Spirit of Promise by which they are sealed to the day of Redemption But you on whose Fore-heads Iniquity is so apparently written your gathering together is not into the Name of the Lord which is a strong Tower to the righteous who run in thither and are safe neither are you covered with Christs Righteousness nor sealed with his holy Spirit neither is his mark upon you or his Name written on your Fore-heads but your iniquity is marked before the Lord and Iniquitie being your Mark thereby you are plainly known to be of that number that worship the Beast and his Image and his Name you bear and his mark is on your Fore-heads and whilst you bear this mark so apparently on your Fore-heads to wit Iniquitie you ought not to make mention of the Name of the Lord for he that nameth the Name of the Lord should depart from iniquitie else it would be said unto you Depart hence I know you not ye workers of Iniquity although you may say with them We have eaten and drunk in thy presence and we have pleaded for and followed thy Ordinances Yet I say Notwithstanding this plea if Iniquitie be your mark you must depart with the workers of iniquitie Also you say in your said Epistle That this sin eats out all the divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying Grace And by this also it appears that you are no church of Christ For if that be eaten out by sin which should regenerate you then are you unregenerate and if unregenerate then no church of Christ For the church of Christ are regenerated and born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God and saved by the washing of regeneration and by the renewing of the Holy Ghost and sin had not eaten out that which should regenerate them wch was the Grace of God for they were quickened together with Christ and saved by Grace Tit. 3. 5. 1 Pet. 1. 24. Eph. 2. 5. Again if that be eaten out by sin which should sanctifie you then are you unsanctified and if you are unsanctified then surely you are no church of Christ for the church of Christ were washed sanctified justified in the Name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of God they said they were sanctified by the will o God through the offring of the bodie of Jeâ—us Iude did write to them that were sanctified by God the Father c. 1 Cor. 6. 11. Heb. 10. 10. Iude 1. And thus you being unregenerated unsanctified you cannot enter into Gods Kingdom for except a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God but he which is unregenerate is not born again and therefore cannot enter into the Kingdom of God And without holiness no man can see the
Lord but he that is unsanctified is without holiness and therefore cannot see the Lord And so though Grace hath abounded towards you yet it seems your sins hath much more abounded in so much that sin hath overcome you and eaten out all the Divine sweetness of regenerating and sanctifying Grace but with the church of Christ it was otherwise for though there was a time in which sin had abounded yet Grace had much more abounded in them so that by Grace they were saved from sin and were become dead to sin and alive unto righteousness and had their fruits unto holiness and the end everlasting life And so by all these particulars of which you have confest your selves to be guilty it is evident that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ but on the contrary it plainly appears that you very much differ from them And also there are many other particulars exprest in the said Tiverton Epistle of which you confess your selves to be guilty which time would even fail me to insist upon whereby I could further and more fully and largely prove that you are neither Ministers nor churches of Jesus Christ some of which are as followeth That coldness and deadness is upon your selves and upon the churches formality in holy duties indifferencie and a Laodicean spirit is sallen in upon you that you have been drawing iniquitie with cords of vanitie that there is amongst you personal iniquitie congregational iniquitie national iniquitie familie iniquitie closet iniquitie that you are without soundness from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot full of bruises and putrified sores and the crown is fallen from your head by reason of your iniquities that you have but as it were played with God and not trembled in his presence but have been wanton before him and without the terror of his Maiestie and â—â—at you have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and being gone away presentlie forgot what manner of men and women you were thought no more on your prayers and so confess that you have often mocked God that the World doth eat out your time your strength your zeal and that in the lap of this Dalilah whilst asleep your locks have been cut off and you are but as other men that Satan hath shewed you the Kingdoms of the world and this hath bewitched you and alienated your minds from the Lord that you are remiss in meetings and that you neglect the poor Saints Ministers of Christ whose dailie complaints and addresses you say are living monuments of this reigning abomination That you are cruel to servants and children exacting all their labours and takes no time to counsel or instruct them whereby their souls might be the better for you that slavish fear hath stopped your mouths until the mouth of this Iniquitie hath almost devoured your poor churches That these evils are so deeplie rooted in your hearts that it is hard to get them out that they have wrested all weapons out of your hands that have been formed against them so that you have laboured in vain and that which you have brought forth hath been to little purpose Several other such like things as these you confess your selves and your churches to be guilty of in the said Tiverton Epistle To all which I say If you are indeed guiltie of all these reigning abominations and apparent iniquities according to your confession then assuredlie may I conclude That you are neither Ministers nor churches of Christ and that the Ordinances which you practise are not the Ordinances of Christ but the Ordinances of the man of sin which is exalted and bears rule in you for of these abominations and apparent iniquities the church of Christ was never guiltie as hath been proved And if you say you are not guiltie thereof according to your confession then is this confession of yours a most abominable piece of hypocrisie wherein you have even mocked God as you say you have done often which will render you no less culpable of his fierce wrath and heavy indignation then the former And thus are your skirts discovered your deeds brought to light you weighed in an Equal Ballance â—nd true judgment pass'd upon you and therefore although you call your selves churches of Christ Ministers of Christ yet your presumption is hereby discovered who call your selves churches of Christ and are not as their blasphemie was known who said they were Jews and were not and you with them are found lyars And although you boast of the Ordinances of Christ and say it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures and would seem to deck your selves with precious Stones and Pearls yet whilst these abominations reign in you and such iniquities so apparentlie written upon you your Name is Mysteris Babylon the Mother of Harlots and Abomination of the Earth a Synagogue of Satan a habitation of Devils a hold of every foul Spirit and a cage of every unclean and hateful Bird And therefore though Joab flie to lay hold on the horns of the Altar yet from thence he must be taken because he is a man of blood and so on his head must the blood of Abner be charged and rest for ever that Davia and his house may be clear before the Lord for ever And thus the Spiritual Man which is Christ the true light with his Ordinances and Administrations which are spiritual are exalted above the man of fin and above his Ordinances which are weak and unprofitable and which doth not make the comers thereunto perfect and above that imagined false Christ which doth not save his people from their sins and above that Justification which justifies people in their sins and above that blood which doth not reach to the purging of the conscience from dead works and above that faith which doth not purifie the heart and give victory over the world and above that baptism which is not by one spirit into one body whereby sin and transgression reigning abominations and apparent iniquities are washed away and above that Church-fellowship which is not with the Father and with the Son and with the Assembly of the first-born and with the spirits of just men made perfect and above that Bread which is not the Body of Christ and above that cup which is not the cup of blessing of consolation and salvation even the Communion of the Blood of Christ the spiritual Rock of which the Israel of God drunk And above those Prayers which are but lip-labour which are so soon forgotten and no more thought upon and wherewith God is so often mocked which comes not from a pure heart and holy hands lifted up without wrath and doubting and above that Worship which stands in the will of man in conformity to a Rule or Law without them not being thereunto led by the Spirit of the living God whose Worship is spiritual and who will be worshipped in the
ver. 12 13 14. which T. C. mentioneth where the Apostle saith The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armor of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strike and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ c. Doth the Apostle here charge them with walking dishonestly because he exhorts them to walk honestly Nay assuredly for he saith to them I am perswaded of you my Brethren that ye also are full of goodness fill'd with all knowledge c. Rom. 15. 14 And if they were full of goodness then there was no room for dishonesty and rioting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness strife and envying are works of the night and of darkness but he saith The night is far spent the day is at hand let us put on therefore the Armor of light Now if they had not been come to the day how could they put on the Armor of light And if they were come to the day then the night was past and the works of darkness put off this exhortation he gave unto them to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance as the Apostle Peter did likewise who said Wherefore I will not be negligent to put ye alwayes in remembrance of these things though ye know them and are established in the present truth 2 Pet. 1. 12. And so this proves nothing at all for T. C. that the church of the Romans were guiltie of the same or as great sins and abominations as is mentioned in the Tiverton Writing And as touching the church at Corinth although the Apostle did write to them concerning Fornication yet he doth not say that such Fornicators were of the church of Christ neither doth he tollerate them though T. C. saith that Fornication was tollerated amongst them but doth exhort the church of Christ when they were gathered together in the spirit and power of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such to Satan and bids them to have no fellowship with such nay not to companie with such nor to eat with such especially if any such were called a Brother that was a Fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner but they were to put away from among them that wicked person 1 Cor. 5. chap. And surely this was not to tollerate them as T. C. hath affirmed For although such might creep in amongst them as Jude saith in his Epistle ver. 4. That there were certain men crept in unawares who were before ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the Grace of God into laciviousness yet these ungodly men were none of the church of Christ for though they might creep in amongst them yet they were not of them and such Iohn saw and said of them They went out from us Mark They went out Therefore they had been in or had crept in They went out from us that they might be made manifest that they were not of us 1 Ioh. 2. 19. And the Apostle did say to the church of Christ at Corinth That neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And if they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God then assuredly they are not the church of Christ and this would be but small advantage to T. C. and his Brethren in iniquitie if they could shelter themselves under such Fornicators Idolaters Railers Drunkards Revilers c. and cover themselves with the Name of the church of Christ whilst as wicked and as abominable in the sight of God as the worst of them I say This covering would be of small advantage to them seeing the portion of such is to be shut out of God's Kingdom And the Apostle makes a noted distinction between the church of Christ and such wicked persons saying And such were some of you mark They had been such but saith he Ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And this shews your blindness that you cannot make a distinction between such ungodlie sinners here spoken of and the church of Christ you may trulie say that you live short of the true sight and sence of God's Majestie in his churches and among his Saints who are thus blind that you cannot distinguish between a member of the church of Christ and a Fornicator especiallie where the Scripture hath made such a noted distinction Might not T. C. as well have instanced Iudas for a Member of the church of Christ as these Fornicators and unclean persons Yea rather for the Disciples were not for bid to keep him companie nor forbid to eat with him nor bid to excommunicate him as the church of Christ was those before-mentioned and therefore his being tollerated amongst the Disciples might better have served for your purpose from his example to endeavour to perswade people that you are and may be accounted a church of Christ notwithstanding your great abominations confess'd in your Tiverton Epistle trulie your blindness may even be felt and if you were not quite insensible you might blush and be ashamed of your gross ignorance But T. C. saith The Apostle did not unchurch them as the Enemies of Christ do in these dayes Take notice Reader Did not he unchurch those whom he delivered to Satan and those whom he commanded the church of Christ to have no fellowship with or not to company with them nor to eat with them but were commanded to put away from amongst themselves such wicked persons Is not this to unchurch them according to T. C. his own expressions What doth he call unchurching if this be not to unchurch them He saith The Churches of Galatia were so deeply corrupted that the Apostle wondered they were so soon removed to another Gospel c. yet notwithstanding saith he he owns them to be the churches of Galatia and wisheth Grace and Peace to them c. To which I say If the churches of Galatia were removed from the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God then the churches of Galatia were not the churches of Christ no more then the churches of the Anabaptists in whom such abomination reigns are the churches of Christ neither doth his owning them to be the churches of Galatia prove them to be the churches of Christ any more then T. S. his calling you the churches of the Anabaptists proves you to be the churches of Christ And whereas he saith he wisheth Grace and Peace to them and endeavours their reformation I say Your reformation likewise hath been endeavoured by the servants and messengers of the Lord whose counsel ye have rejected and Grace hath been tendered and hath appeared
distinguished from other people by the name of Quaker did ever either in Bristol or elsewhere either publikely or privately speak utter or declare these or any such like words and therefore be it hereby known unto thee who art our accuser and to all that own thee and to all people wheresoever this shall come that thou art hereby charged and required to bring forth the Author or Authors of this false accusation which thou call'st credible testimony that so the whole sum of this matter may be found out to the end that those who are guilty may be discovered and their wickedness disclosed that to shame they may be brought and from them and their wickedness all that fear God may turn away and of them beware and also that the innocent may be cleared and the truth vindicated and for this cause chiefly it was that publike inquiry was made after thy Name to the end the truth of this matter may be known and therefore if thou shalt refuse thus to do then in the presence of the Lord God upon thy own head shall this false accusation be charged to stand for ever and all that either own thee or believe what thou hast said and shall not endeavour to bring this matter to a just tryal are not onely willing to be deceived by thee but also guilty of thy most abominable wickedness therefore until thou hast done according to what I have said this also shall be numbred amongst the rest of thy lyes and false accusations But it seems though thou hast done with T. S. thou haft not emptyed out all the abominable broth out of thy boiling pot or unclean vessel under which the fire of Envy doth continually burn but John Collins must also have a part of it something to asswage thy malice and allay thy burning heat and although thou canst not touch him concerning any thing which he hath written yet thou wilt assault him with a company of lyes and false accusations which thou hast mustered up against him which should they be severed from the rest of that wch thou hast written there would remain very little to be answered unto But I shal not need to trace thee in all thy crooked waies and by-pathes I having alreadie sufficientlie laid thee open and discovered thy follie and wicked lying spirit to all who have an eie open to see thee therefore I shall speak brieflie to some particulars and so conclude Thou saist He confesseth he was one with you in the form of Truth But where is that confession I am sure he doth not say any such thing in that Book to which this sheet of thine is a pretended Answer nor I think no where else For it is a very easie matter to prove that you are neither in the form nor power of Truth but out of both But this he confesseth That he was owned a Brother by you whilst running into the same excess of riot but since in mercie visited he hath been hated and despitefullie used by some of you which is not the Form of Truth to use any one despitefullie Thou saist A day will come that John Collins and others shall not boast of their gain in leaving you when they shall know it to be the saddest seperation that ever they made And yet thou saist in the same Paper over and besides all the great wickednesses reigning abominations and apparent iniquities whereof you confess your selves to be guiltie in your Tiverton-Epistle Thou knowest that you are bad and that you need purging and more of the sence of the evil of your own hearts and that you need a lamentation c. And wouldst thou perswade J. C. or any other that ever they shall repent their leaving you or repent that the Lord hath seperated them from such a companie Verilie when ever they look back upon you and remember the deliverance that the Lord hath wrought for them in seperating them from amongst you they have as much cause to rejoice if not more then Lot had when he escaped out of Sodom or the Israelites when delivered from Aegyptian darkness and bondage Thou saist They have seperated themsslves from the Law and Word of Truth I say They are seperated from a companie of hypocrites who have cast the Law of Truth behind their backs and have hated instruction and rebelled against the light following their vain imaginations which they call Ordinances of Christ who confess they have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and presently forget what manner of men and women they were and think no more on their prayers and so have mocked God often it is from such they are seperated But to the Word of Truth which is Christ the light of the World are they turned and his Law which is light which is written in the heart have they received and the Word at which you stumble is a lanthorn to their feet and a light unto their pathes who in times past did wander with you in dark and sollitarie places and in the valley of the shadow of death stumbling upon the dark and barren Mountains wandering from Mountain to Hill after those who cryed Lo here and lo there and where you are yet wandering in your vain imaginations who knows not the Law nor Word of Truth Thou saist If you could or dare to lye as fast as they you could quickly be as perfect and as free from sin as they c. I say Witness T. Colliers Writings and this Sheet of thine whether you dare to lie or no I verilie believe more impudent Liars did never appear in Print and you have attained to as great a measure of perfection in that part of your Fathers Work who was a Liar from the beginning and the Father of it as any people that ever I heard of who pretend they plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ But this is not our waie of perfection or freedom from sin it is Christ the Truth and the Light that is our waie of perfection and by him alone it is that we have freedom and remission of sins not through lying though you make use of that waie to cover your selves in your sins but the light hath discovered you your bed is too short and your covering too narrow Your iniquities are apparent and your abominations and transgressions cannot be hid and the day is come wherein your refuge of lyes unto which you have leaned and into which you have fled for shelter from the stroke of truth must be swept away Thou saist Heaven and Earth and our own consciences doth witness that what T. C. hath written concerning our principles is truth To which I say That both Heaven and Earth and the Witness of Truth in our own consciences doth testifie against thee that thou art a most abominable Lyar and a false Accuser and were not thy conscience seared thou wouldst tremble to utter such damnable lyes but know assuredlie that the righteous God will bring thee