Selected quad for the lemma: spirit_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
spirit_n	holy_a	son_n	word_n	14,353	5	4.5058	3	true

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A70985	The reign of the whore discovered and her ruine seen her merchants the priests examined, and with the Romish church (their elder sister) compared and found agreeable in many things ... : some queries also for those people that pay tythes, and priests that receive tythes, to consider and answer : and whereas their cry hath been loud against us the people of God called Quakers, that we are Jesuits, and Jesuitical, in tryal they are found false accusers, and of the same stock and generation themselves ... : also the sustance of a dispute which was the 15th day of the 2d month, called April 1659, at the Bridge-house in Southwark, between VVilliam Cooper, VVilliam VVhitaker, Thomas VVoodsworth, VVieles, Watkins, Cradicut, and others who profess themselves ministers of Christ, and some of the people call'd Quakers ... / written in that which gives to see over all the popish train ... W.S.	Smith, William, d. 1673.; Burrough, Edward, 1634-1662. Following letter containing the substance of the dispute.	1659 (1659)	Wing S204A; ESTC R33983	31,593	40

way of maintenance in your ministry by Tithes and gleab-lands and Easter reckonings and so much a year out of your Parish did not all this proceed out of the Church of Rome and was not in the day of the Apostles nor practised by Christs ministers but from the Whore you have had this also this way of being maintained and suing people at the Law for your Tithes and for your money Christs ministers never did thus but the Churh of Rome hath been the originall of all these things and practises and from whence had you this practice of sprinkling infants and calling it the Baptisme into the faith and into the visible church did not this come from Rome and have not you received it from thence if there was any such Institution or Practice amongst the Apostles prove it by Scripture else we will not believe you but must tell you the originall of this came from Rome and you have drunken the Whores cup and been made drunk thereby so now when we examine you throughly in your wayes and practices we find you agreeing with the Jesuites in many things and while you accuse others your selves are guilty and now people begins to see your shame and you cannot hide it for the witness is risen in people and the seed of God is coming forth which tramples over and treads down the false church and all her false ordinances and institutions and her cup must be broken to pieces and she shall no more make the Nations drunk and as for you false ministers though you pray and preach and cry against Heresie and Error and would beg Laws to suppresse it as ye say yet your selves are found guilty of the error and you want the spirit of truth to guide you and your own hearts are not cleansed and then how can you cleanse others and that which you call error and heresie is truth for your judgements are corrupted and your eye is blind and what you know you know naturally and not by the teachings of the spirit of God but by Traditions and by the words of other men without you and the holy anointing in your own selves you know not for you have not received it And whereas you queried whether the Scriptures were the word of God and the rule of life I do now answer The Scriptures were given forth by the spirit of God and are the words of God the word was in them that gave them forth and Christ is that word and the Scriptures testifie of him the Scriptures are not the rule of life but the spirit that gave them forth that is the rule to the children of God for as many as are the sons of God are led by the spirit of God and them that walk according to that rule of the spirit peace is upon them and so it is the spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures that is the rule of life and not the Scriptures yet where the spirit is the rule it leadeth up according to the Scriptures in the fulfilling of them and as for ye hypocrites who do profess the Scriptures to be your rule and yet walks contrary to the Scriptures your own rule condemns you and out of your own mouths will the Lord judge you Is the Scripture your rule to preach for hire and to have so much a year for preaching and if any will not pay them to sue them at the Law and take their goods by violence and to cast their bodies into prison this is the practice of many ministers in this nation but what rule in all the Scripture have you for these things or vvhat example saving from the false Prophets false Apostles and vvhat rule have you in all the Scriptures for sprinkling of infants and calling it Baptisme into the faith and what rule have you to take Tithes and are not you hypocrites to professe the Scriptures to be your rule and yet act these things which the Scripture neither gives Commandment nor example for but the rather bears witness against but who hath the spirit and walks by that rule sees you and judges you who are out of the life of the Scriptures in the life that is contrary and with the spirit of God are you reproved in all your wayes of darknesse and error And whereas you queried concerning the light within we do say that Christ the second A●am lighteneth all mankind that be come into the world and this light John bare witness of and it shined in darkness and the darkness comprehended it not and that was it that enlightened every man that cometh into the world and this light brings all to receive Christ that doth believe and they that believe not this light is their condemnation and though you stumble at this stumbling stone as your Fathers the Jews did yet unto us that do believe Christ the light of the world is precious and all that comes to the knowledge of God must come to the true knowledge by the light that shines 〈…〉 hearts for it is the light that shines in the heart that gives the knowledge of God and although you wise builders do stumble at the foundation yet it will break you to pieces and confound you utterly for the light is risen in the hearts of many which light gives them the knowledge of God and the knowledge of you and all your false wayes of error and brings men to depart from them all and to follow the Lord in righteousness and so every man is lightened that they may believe and they that believe and walk in the light shall be saved but they that believe not but hate the light shall be condemned and this is their condemnation that light is come into the world and into their hearts and as for you you are but shallow men for you want the knowledge of God and truth stands over you though you oppose it and it will grow to a Mountain where all the Righteous shall be refreshed and the Lord is begun to work in the earth he hath set his hand to pull down Babylon and there shall not one stone be left upon another and all her Merchandise shall fail and her strong holds shall be broken down and all her Merchants shall howl and lament therefore now consider it ye Leaders of the people the day of the visitation is now but it will suddenly be shut up with the night of darkness upon you and you will be wounded and you can never be healed you will be ruined and can never be revived This is from a lover of your Souls EDWARD BURROUGH Something after AND now you Priests the black Clergy of England who count your selves Orthodox men sound able Ministers of the Gospell of Christ know and consider and let it be known to and considred by all people that we slander you not nor do you no wrong in disowning you to be the Ministers of Christ and in comparing you to the black bloody Popish trait your

your Idolatry in your lightness pride and high-mindedness How many of you have appeared like a Troop of Robbers in taking and causing to be taken away violently poor peoples Ports and Pans and Kettles and dishes from them sometimes not leaving them things necessary to make ready their food in and Bedding and Clothes and Oxen and Cows and Horses and Harness and Barns of Wheat and Cart-loads of Hey and Corn and their bodies also cast into prison Hath not this been your Work in this Nation Hath not the Lord raised a patient and harmless people to try you which have not striven against you in their Wills that you might manifest what was in your hearts notwithstanding your talk of Christianity Have we not seen the murtherer offer a sacrifice and the prophane person weep for the blessing and the children of the Devil call God Father Hath not our eyes seen this And is it not manifest if the Lord God which is the higher Power unto whom our souls are subject did not over-power chain and fetter and break the horns of the Wicked no less then our lives and blood would satisfie for had not you to wit you especially called Presbyterian Priests rather sit as a Popish Synod or Inquisition then in the spirit of meekness lowlinss and soundness in words in life and conversation and Scripture-example prove your selves Ministers of Christ by your fruits effects Was ever the true Ministers of the Gospel in any age or generation since the days of Christ the Son of the living God manifest at Jerusalem maintained as you are maintained by the ruine of others Did they ever take any thing violently from any man Nay did ever they take or receive any thing at all from those that denied their Doctrine and that would not receive nor own them as Ministers of Christ What are you quite without shame Are you so greedy of filthy lucre that you do not care how much you manifest your shame and uncover your nakedness to all people If you keep a Flock eat the Milk the Flock will give you if you plant a Vinyard eat the fruit the Vinyard will yeild you should you covet your Neighbours goods and take them away because you say he is a Heretick Should you rob your Neighbours vinyard because you cannot have fruit enough to satisfie your covetous desires out of that you have planted Should you go reap your Neighbours field because where you have sown there is little come up but briars and thorns If you do thus may not we yea all people count you greedy of filthy lucre covetous persons and robbers Would you have better come up then you sow They that preach the Gospel lives of the Gospel and they never did nor need petition the powers of the Earth to establish a Livelyhood upon them but you smell much of Popery in this thing and you have no example in the holy Scriptures to justifie you but the Romish black Train is your example and therefore we deny you and cannot but count of you as you are and in so doing we wrong you not But have not you wrong'd us and falsly accused us and charged us to be like or one with those whose example you are found in and whose steps you follow to wit false Prophets false Teachers Popish Priests and Jesuits You shall bear your own Judgement Sixthly Concerning your Doctrine Practices Places and manner of Worship Are you not found and do we nor find you in the popish Doctrine and Jesuitical practices and popish Mass-Houses and in the manner of their Worship in some things and in some other things of later invention which the Scriptures doth not own nor justifie neither did the Ministers of Christ allow of If so may vve not count you such as do not deny the popish vvayes places and manners but lives in them and by them Is it not a popish Doctrine and practice to oppose the light within wherewith Christ hath enlightened every man that is come into the World and to teach some other way to attain the knowledge of God besides the light which shines in the heart notwithstanding the Scripture testifies that the light which shines in the heart must give man the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ And is it not the papists doctrine and practice to deny Revelation and Inspiration and the immediate power of God present now as of old and is not this your Doctrine and practice also Doth not the Scripture say or is it not written That there is none that knows the Father but the Son and he to whom the Son reveals him So do not the papists herein and you with them deny that the knowledge of God is attainable seeing you deny the way wherein the manner how the thing by which he is known seen and revealed to wit the light within and if God be not known onely and alone by the revelation of Christ and you and the papists deny revelation and say it is ceased then by what means do you expect to attain the knowledge of God which is life eternal And how do you that deny Inspiration and immediate power from God believe the Scriptures wherein is promised many glorious things to be enjoyed by the children of the Lord as the pouring forth of his spirit upon his sons daughters and how do you own the New Covenant the fear in the heart and the Spirit of the Lord in the inward parts and you that deny the immediate voice power and presence of the Lord as of old how do you believe Christs words who said to his Disciples Lo I will be with you to the end of the world and is not the presence of Christ the immediate power of God and where two or three are gathered together in his Name is he not in the midst and is not he and his Father one whose abode is with his people But is not this too wonderful for Hirelings without a meaning And why do you talk of the Scriptures for your Rule Is it not for ends to yourselves Doth the Scriptures your pretended Rule justifie you any more then they justifie the Pope Cardinals Bishops Jesuits Fryers Monks and popish priests VVhy do you talk of three persons or Trinity Hath not the Pope learnt you that also Doth the Scripture speake anywhere of three persons And where had you that word Sacrament and the word merit Had you not these from the papists And concerning your places wherein you commonly perform your publike VVorship who founded and named them for you Did not the papists as St. Mary Magdalens Church St. Thomas his Church St. Stephen's Church St. Peter's Church St. Paul's Church Did not the very same spirit that was cast out of Mary Magdalen and that stoned Stephen and that murthered Peter and Paul build and give Names to those Steeple-houses which you have suffered if not taught the people to call Churches and the Houses of God insomuch

that it hath been a great crime among poor ignorant people to hear them called otherwise is stil especially in some places of this Nation Were they not the Popes Mass-Houses and places of their Idolatrous Worship And what Rule have you in the holy Scriptures for any to worship the true God in these Idolatrous Dens and Popish Houses and to call them such and such a Saints Church especially without alteration in form in name and esteem Did the children of Israel do so Did the primitive Christians do so VVhere is your example And who made George a Saint and Katherine and Olives Mary Overies and Giles and Gregory c. that your Churches are called by their Names are they not of the Popes making are you not ashamed that people should call those places Churches And then concerning your Manners and Worship in these places Is it not your manner before your Worship begins to ring Bells to call your Hearers your Brethren together and whom do you imitate and who learnt you this but the papists and why do you deny them in words and imitate them in practice And is it not your manner to get an hour-glass to preach and pray by and to sing by and have you not the chief seats in the Assemblies the popish Train hath so and are you not like them Do not they worship and preach and pray and sing by the hour then do you not agree with them Did ever the true Christians and Christian Ministers do so And why must you have a soft Cushion with silken Jobs at the corners to lean on to read your studied devised framed artificial Sermon or speech to the people And by what order was your Pulpit or high place hung with imbroydered Cloath and some other of your stalls lined with cloath when others want it to wear even of your own heap and sect and fold Who are you like in this Have you any such president in the holy Scriptures What and where is your Rule and Example If you must have a Cushion cut off the Jobs and if you must have a Pulpit take off your imbroydered cloaths and cloathe your brethren which are within your own Parish and of your own flesh and do not let them go up and down begging for clothes and food while your Pulpits and Stalls or other chief Seats are clothed imbroydered and laced What manner of Christianity and brotherly love is there among you towards one another And how come you by this manners among you that he that hath a Gold Ring and costly Apparel and is called a rich man must have a sumptuous seat in the principal place and others in vile rayment can scarce have a place to sit on but must stand afar off Where I say did you learn this manners Did you learn it of the Church of Christ or the Pope and his Church And is it not your manner and custom to respect persons places times dayes things Doth not the Heathen so and the Papists so Then who may we compare you with if not with those Did ever any of the primitive Christians do so Was it their manner to respect the person of him or her that had a Gold Ring or costly Apparel Or was it their manner to respect or cry up the Jewish Synagogues or Heathen Idolatrous Temple or any particular place or house whatsoever as the onely place of Worship and call it a Church Or did the Church of God in the dayes of Moses and the Prophets when the Lord had given them victory over the Heathen their Enemies did they I say preserve the Heathenish Idolatrous places of Worship as Altars Groves and Temples and teach the people to call them Churches Was it not as lawful for those places to be called a Church as 't is for these popish Dens builded with observation East and West with a picture of a Cock and a Cross upon it as the Papists devised and appointed to be called a Church Did not the Ministers of Christ gather people out of them and bear their testimony against them and all Temples made with hands Did not the Lord by his Hammer and battel-Ax of War break down burn and utterly destroy those places and Images and Groves set up and consecrated by the Idolaters Did not the Lord begin such a work in this Nation some years since And hath some Instruments proved like Jehu begun in zeal and ended in covetousness which is Idolatry and hath not regarded the Law of God withall their heart And shall that frustrate the work and purpose of the Lord Is he not raising others to accomplish his Work and fulfil his Decree against the Adulterous generation of what name or sect soever and down in esteem if not in form must the Popish Mass-Houses come and which is now the Priests Market place and called a Church and down must your Bells and Pulpit-embroydered cloathes and such like trumpery come which hath been set up in the time of Popery and since the cry was Who is able to make war with the Beast And then is it not your manner to respect times dayes and things Are you not like the Papists in this also And have you not learnt of the Pope Bishops Cardinals Jesuits Priests Fryers and Monks and Heathens how and what to call your times dayes months and quarters c. Have they not all Heathenish and Popish Names The holy Scriptures you are not ashamed to say is your Rule but in what one thing do you walk according to your pretended Rule unless you mean the Popish Heathenish Scriptures or Writings call them your holy Rule if you mean those you shall be believed because you are found walking thereafter but if you mean the Writings which holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Spirit we know you are lyars and cannot believe you for they never learnt you to follow the manners and customs of the Heathen nor Papists as you do in respecting and naming or calling your Times Dayes Months and things the Scripture of Truth teacheth to call Days and Months after this manner First day second day third day fourth day fifth day sixth day seventh day First month second month third month and so to the twelfth month The Heathen and Papists and their Writings teacheth to call the first day of the Week Sunday or dies Solis the day of the Sun the second day Monday or dies Lun● the day of the Moon or the Moons day the third day Tuesday the fourth Wednesday the fifth Thursday sixth Fryday the seventh Saturday according to the Names of the 7. Planets wch the Heathen and Papists talk so much of And the first Month they call March the second April and so on to the eighth Month which is called October which signifieth the eighth Month November the ninth Month December the tenth Month from the Lattin words Octo Novem Decem eight nine and ten and the eleventh Month you call

January and the twelfth Month February Now do you not prefer the Heathenish and Popish Traditions Rules Customs Manners and Writings before and above what is delivered prescribed and taught in the Writings of the holy men of God so that it is come to pass by your so doing that if people are brought to call daies and months and times and places and persons according as those did who had the spirit of God which the Scriptures teacheth and witnesseth unto I say When people are brought to this they become a hissing and a wonder among you and are counted nice and frivolous and unmannerly and when we speak and write of hours dayes and months as they are recorded in the Scripture people cannot tell what we mean nor how to understand us nor when such a time hour day or month is but will rather mock and jeer at first hour first day first month c. and will have no such reckoning of times in their temporal civil or spiritual Accompts these are your Auditors your Disciples or Schollars as you have learnt you teach as you the Priests are so are the people imitators of the Papists and Heathen in this as well as other things and the Christians life words manners and behaviour you are out of and strangers to and may we not justly with the Heathen and Papists compare you whose example you follow And then concerning the manner of your publike Divine Worship as you call it have you not this manner and custom as the first part of your Worship to sing David's Psalms in rime and meeter divised or turned thereinto by Poets or Musicianers as Thomas Sternhold and John Hopkins and others with apt Notes to sing them withall before your prayer and after your Prayer before your Sermon and after your Sermon of all the people together Is not this your own invention Was there any such manner of singing in the Church of Christ You say Let us sing to the praise and glory of God and you keep an Officer to read the Psalm to people which are some drunkards some covetous some proud some defrauders of their Brethren dissemblers double dealers some Adulterers and unclean persons some jesters and idle talkers some light and vain wild and wanton some scornful high-minded and mockers some disobedient to Parents unthankful and unholy and of rude unchristian behaviour Of such consisteth your Church and are not the Steeplehouse-singers such And can such persons sing to the praise and glory of God Or are they in a state and condition fit to sing at all Doth not weeping and howling mourning sorrow and lamentation and wo from the dreadful Lord God of Heaven and of Earth belong to such singers Singing with Grace in the heart unto the Lord we own but singing with wickedness with pride and covetousness in the heart we utterly deny Singing with the Spirit and with understanding we own but your singing by Letter with Musical Notes and Tunes customarily ignorantly without understanding we wholly disown and bear our testimony against it as abomination in the sight of the Lord and it was never ordained nor appointed in nor by the true Church but it hath been ordained and appointed by the false Church the Whore and her Merchants in the dark night of Apostacy since the dayes of the Apostles and since the true Church fled in to the Wilderness And is not this singing of David's Prayers Mournings Sighings Complainings and Cryes unto the Lord and his Praises Rejoicings and magnifying the Lord and such like conditions as David was in I say Is not your singing of these things like the Papists singing have you any more rule in the Scripture for your singing then the Papists have for their singing And hath it not been one of the Whores later invention and addition to your Worship even about the time of Queen Elizabeths reign in this Nation but the same pure eternal light which appeared in the hearts of some about the beginning of our English Wars and manifested much of the Popish Trumpery which was then in being of which quiristers and singing-boys in white Surplices was one I say the same pure eternal light hath manifested your singing and noise to be as abominable in the ears of the Lord as theirs and to be denyed and witnessed against for you have no more rule in the Scripture for your singing David's Prayers then the quiresters and singers then had to sing the Prayer which Christ taught his Disciples which they called Pater Noster Which of all you Mass-house Singers are or ever were what you sing as when you sing O Lord I am no● puft in mind and that your eys are not scornful Are you not of such a proud and hard heart and puft up mind and scornful eyes many of you that you will scarce look upon nor walk with nor relieve those that are poor though they be of your own Church Then do you not sing a lye in this And is that to the praise and glory of God Surely you dare not say that God is glorified with a noise of lyes not that David's Psalms are lyes but you being not in the same state condition and life that David was in they are lyes in your mouths David said Mine eys gush out with Rivers of water because they keep not thy law I am afflicted ready to dye from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am d●stracted I am like a Bottle in the smoak I am like an Owle in the desert I am like a Pellican in the Wilderness I am like a Sparrow alone upon the house top all my friends and acquaintance hath forsaken me This David said and you sing these words ignorantly customarily never witnessing the same state condition so they are lyes in your mouths and God is not glorified but dishonored by you in this part of your Worship and your singing and the Papists and quiristers and Surplice-boys singing is abomination alike in the sight of the Lord and in the sight of his servants who are redeemed from amongst you and from under the great Whore which sits upon the Waters but the Lord our God is taking her seat from under her and into the pit she with her golden Cup full of Sorceries Witchcrafts and Fornications shall fall and none shall be able to deliver her neither can she save her self nor those that hath been and still are made drunk with her Sorceries and deceiveable ways of unrighteousness of which this trick craft and art of singing is one James said Is any merry let him sing Psalms He wrote these words to Saints but hear what he wrote to such as you Cleanse your hands ye sinners and purifie your hearts ye double-minded be afflicted and mourn and weep let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy into heaviness Such as these hath no cause to be merry who are sinners whose hands are uncleansed and whose hearts are unpurified and whose minds are double And

are not all ye Mass-house-singers in whole Christendome so called such But the Lord hath redeemed and is redeeming many thousands from among you Babylonish singers and hath brought and is bringing them to godly sorrow which leadeth to repentance never to be repented of and afterwards to the joy which shall never have an end and your rejoicing and singing which is carnal customary and formal before any godly sorrow for sin you know and before you are lead to that repentance which is never to be repented of I say this your rejoicing and singing which is before repentance must of necessity end in sorrow and anguish of heart The Lord grant you such sorrow which leadeth to repentance in time before Eternity seizeth upon you that weeping and howling and gnashing of teeth be not your portion for ever for if the prayers of the unregenerate ungodly or wicked are abomination to the Lord is their praises and singing any better Is praise comely in the mouth of a fool And are not they fools that lives in iniquity yet rejoiceth Consider this ye Priests ye Jesuits and Popish Christians and let the Witness for God in your conscience and in all consciences answer whether ye are not all alike Concerning your praying after you have done singing The Scripture saith I will that men pray every where lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting But what hands do you lift up Are your hands holy c Have not you Wrath Envy and Malice in your hearts and doubtings and waverings in your minds Is not your prayings like the Popish Priests and Papists prayings And like the Scribes and Pharisees prayings Did Christ ever teach you to pray any more then he taught them Are you his Disciples or Schollars or followers any more then they What do you learn of him And whither do you follow him Can you say that he hath taught you to pray as he taught his Disciple to pray Have you not learnt to pray of some other besides Christ And do not you instead of being led to pray by the Spirit of Christ pray customarily You know when you have sung out your Psalm you make and frame a prayer or else the people will wonder at you so instead of waiting and staying for the moving and leadings of the holy spirit to pray by you wait for the end of the Psalm and then you move and stir up your selves and makes a mock of the movings of the spirit of God and so instead of praying by the Spirit you turn up your Hour-glass and prayes by that so that you know how long to pray and how long to preach and how long to sing by your guide the Hour-glass and your eye is often towards it for direction and when 't is a pretty deal run you will tell the people you see the time is far spent therefore you must hasten and when your Glass is out you tell the people the time is spent and you see the time is past and therefore you shall conclude Oh what do ye mean ye Priests that ye are not yet ashamed of this divice and Popish Invention in this day of the light 's breaking forth in the hearts of people Ye search the Scriptures which you falsly call your Rule and you say you are Ministers of Christ and succeeders of the Apostles but in trial you are found lyars and your pretended Rule the holy Scriptures witnesseth against you as transgressors out of the life of the holy men that gave them forth wresting their words to serve your private ends to your own and others that are led by you destruction and out of the Apostles and Ministers of Christs steps life manners behaviour doctrine and practices Where is it written in the holy Scriptures and which of the Apostles and Ministers of Christ appointed and ordained that their succeeders should pray and preach and sing by an Hour-glass and to meet together by the sound of the Bells to worship Where is that written And which of the Ministers of Christ appointed Bells to call their Brethren together In which of the Christian Churches before the Apostacy was there Hour-glasses and Bells and Pulpits with embroydered Cloath about them and lined Stalls for the rich with a lock and key to keep the poor out and many such like devices which are found amongst you I say Where is your Rule● Where is your Example for any of these and such like things in the Scriptures of the holy men of God Come Priests look out the Chapter and Verse if you can and let us know where it is until then we shall conclude yea and it is concluded already That you walk not nor worship not as the Christians before the Apostacy did neither have you them for your example or pattern but that your example and pattern is the false Romish Church your elder Sister and the great Whore your Mother we know and the Beast she rides on we have seen which is of a Scarlet colour and the blood she hath drunk of the Prophets Saints and Martyrs the Lord is enquiring after and making inquisition for and a bed of Torment she shall be laid on Hearken and rejoice ye Saints ye Children of the Most High a Bed which betokeneth a place of Rest shall be the Whores place of Torment her resting place shall torment her Alas alas Weeping and wailing and mourning over her shall be the greatest comfort her Merchants that hath been made rich by her and her children she hath delicately brought up shall yeild her yea all ye Ship-Masters and all ye company in Ships and Saylors and Kings and Merchants shall stand afar off for fear of her torment and cast dust on their heads and cry weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great City wherein were made rich all that had Ships in the sea by reason of her costliness for in one hour is she made desolate Rejoice over her thou Heaven and ye holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on her you have seen the Angel take up the great stone and give the sign of her perpetual downfal and a great voice of much people in Heaven is heard saying Halelujah Salvation and Glory and Honor and Power unto the Lord our God for true and righteous are his judgements for he hath judged the great Whore which did corrupt the Earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his Servants And again they said Halelujah c. And now you National Priests are not you the Ship-Masters or Parish-Masters Merchants or Traders by Sea here spoken of And the gathering together of the waters he called Sea And the Beast with seven heads and ten horns rose out of the Sea The wicked are like a troubled Sea And the waters thou sawest where the Whore sitteth are peoples kindreds tongues and nations So the sea is Waters and the Waters is Peoples Multitudes Tongues and Nations whereon the Whore your Mother hath long sate and in or among

whom you her Merchants have built your Ships and set up your Trade by the Authority of the Beast which rose out of the same place the Whore sate on He that hath Wisdom let him understand I say By the Authority of this Beast who hath seven heads ten horns ten Crowns upon his horns upon his heads the name of Blasphemy unto whom the Dragon gave his power have you and all Parish-Masters and others of the Whores choice Merchants in whole Christendom sate and advanced your Trade above and beyond all the Crafts-mens Trade beside in the whole World And this may appear plain to the view of all people if these few particulars following are considered First You have got a Market-place where none must sell any Wares but your selves though it be never so much better then yours neither must any come into your Market-place to give freely to poor people whose souls are ready to starve for want of the Bread of life notwithstanding they buy of your deceitful Wares Secondly You have had and some of your Brethren still have a compulsive Law to compel and constrain all people within such a compass or quarter to come to your Market-place and buy of you and none other Thirdly Whether those people within such a compass or quarter or parish come to your Market or no or receive any of your Merchandize notwithstanding you will make them pay as much as if they did or else you will take or cause to be taken from them violently it may be three four or five times as much as the price was you first set upon your Commodities Fourthly Though your Merchandize be never so deceitful and insufficient yet none must refuse them neither will you bate of your price and if any come to see the deceitfulness and insufficiency of what you sell at a very deer rate and declare against it that people might not be deceived and defrauded always with deceitful words and devillish Doctrines you wil sue such at the Law for slanderers and get one of the Beasts Horns that hath a Crown upon it to grant you 100. l. damage or some other punishment as whip or prison or banishment or life if ye can get it for the Whore loves blood and so doth her Merchants and children Fifthly Another thing that makes your Trade exceed all the Crafts-mens Trade beside in the whole World is That when poor people have bought your Merchandize and paid you or at least are liable to pay you you take them home again in your Pockets or Bibles or Note-Books and lay them up in your Ware-house to wit your Liberary and as you see occasion and opportunity you carry them to Market again and they wil yeild you as much as they did at the first and yet after you have sold your Imagery Work over and over you can trim it and dress it a little and put the title Doctor of Divinity to it or Batchellor of Divinity or Mr. William or Mr. John such a one Ministers of God's Word at such a Church in such a place and find a Chapman some Bookseller or Printer or other to give you money for it Much like this might be mentioned but this is sufficient to let all people which are not quite blind see wherein this whores Merchants trade exceeds all other Arts Crafts and Trades in the whole world And also the reason may here be seen wherefore these Parish-Masters and others of Mystery Babylons Merchants strives and petition that their trade may be upheld even in this Nation under this notion Propagate or hold up the Gospel when if they would speak as they mean it is thus Propagate hold up or maintain our Mothers Authority by which Authority we have had a good trade a great while and our profits hath been great and our incombs sure and let the Romish Churches our elder Sisters her Institutions Ordinations Customs Manners Practices and Places stand else we shal have no certain Trade for if we lose our Elder Sisters Law which gives us Tythes and that compels people to buy our Gospel we shal be undone peoples hearts are so hard they wil give us little freely though they have been and stil are our Auditors and we have taught them some ten some twenty thirty or forty years yet we are afraid if we lose our elder Sisters Law that those that have been our constant customers would hate us much of our price and those that do not like our Doctrine and Church-discipline and our chargeable Gospel will give us nothing at all is not this the very language of your hearts whose cry is Propagate the Gospel let that which searcheth your hearts and discerns the secret intents thereof the light of Christ in your Consciences answer for the Gospel is Christ the power of God which propagates or holds up all things and 't is ignorance and blasphemy to cry and petition to an arm of flesh to propagate this Gospel but 't is another Gospel that they who have brought it are accursed that wants propagating and this shall all your Merchants of Babylon know in the dreadfull day of the Lord our God when all the blood you have drunk and Tortures and Racks Whips and Prisons Stocks and Inquisitions and other carnal weapons you have used to propagate your Gospel shall rise up in Judgement against you then will ye cry to the Rocks and the Mountains to fall upon you to hide you from the Wrath of the Lamb And now is the wondrfull day at hand wherein the Wolves Bears and Lions shall be afraid and seek to hide themselves from the presence of the Lamb Consider this all ye hirelings that rend and tear and make a prey upon the innocent lambs of Christ for to serve your own bellies and covetous unchristian greedy desires how greatly do you dishonour the name of Christ in calling your selves his Ministers have not you and all your Brethren the Popish Christians in whole Christendome sent an ill savour throughout the Nations and Regions round about you yea and many of those you count heathens shal rise up in judgment against you even against you who have the sheeps cloathing the Prophets words Christs vvords the Apostles words but inwardly ravened from the Spirit of God in your selves and so have appeared devouring wolves and destroyers of the sheeps life scatterers of the flock of God hear the Word of the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Ezekiel against such as you Wo be to the Shepherds of Israel that do feed themselves should not the shepherds feed the flocks ye eat the fat and ye cloth you with the wool ye kill them that are fed but ye feed not the flock the diseased haue ye not strengthened neither have ye healed that which was sick neither have ye bound up that which was broken neither have ye brought again that which was driven away neither have ye sought that which was lost but with force and with cruelty have ye

and treasure up to themselves which belongs no more to them then to the Widows Strangers and Fatherless Put the Popes Lavv aside the Magistrates of England and if Tithes and priesthood must stand let them stand according to the Lavv of God by Moses and not according to the Papists Law and covetous priests desires 4. Did not the Pope and the false Church which hath risen since the dayes of the Apostles who invented Tithes for the maintenance of his Ministers exclude and shut out the poore the Fatherlesse the Widows and Strangers from having a share with him and his priests of the Tithes and people why do you love to uphold a popish invention and the false Churches Synodicall Decrees Edicts and Ordinances and is not this one popish Decree that Tithes are due to God and holy Church do you not know what God the Pope and papists mean and what and where the Holy Church is that Tithes are due to by his or their Decree is not their God their belly and their glory their shame and their Holy Church a Cage of unclean birds a den of Idolaters which murthers prisons racketh and tortureth and persecuteth those that are indeed the members of the Holy Church which is in God and did ever the ministers of Christ who were members of the Holy Church preach up Tithes to be due to them or covet after them or receive any of them did they not on the contrary preach against Tithes and deny them and the priesthood that received Tithes and the Law that gave Tithes they denied also and witnessed the change of the Law and priesthood both as in the 7. of Pauls Epistle to the Hebrews Then are not those priests that preach for Tithes and plead for Tithes opposers of the true Ministers of Christ and their Doctrine and upholders of the Pope Papists and their Decrees and Orders 5. Did not Christ Jesus who is the substance of all the Mosaicall administrations send forth his Ministers freely saying to them Freely ye have received freely give did ever Christ bid them demand Tithes from the people they preached to then surely they did never sue them at the Law for that they never demanded of them as those that call themselves the Ministers of Christ do now in this age who have been rifling mens houses and fields for Tithes People do you not believe that it is a great abomination and blasphemy against the Lord for such to call themselves the ministers of Christ is not Christs glorious Gospel of God dishonoured by them is not the Pope that ordered Tithes to be paid to the Priests Bishops and Clergy men onely and that excluded the poore from having part of the Tithes more honoured and obeyed then Christ by all the Tithe-mongers and hirelings in Christendome and people that own them Christ said Freely you have received freel● give The Pope and Popish Clergy said and saith We have not received freely and we will not nor cannot give freely and if people will not give us freely we will compell them by force and cruelty and whose Ministers are such and whose Commands and Ordinances do such obey Christs or the Popes hath not your fruits and works answered already that the Popes Command and Order is preferred above Christs and obeyed rather then Christs Command and Order Did not Christ say Into whatsoever Town or City you enter enquire who in it is worthy and there abide till ye go thence c. this he spake to them which he sent forth Did he ever send his Ministers into any Town City or Countrey to enquire how much money by the year they would give them to preach to them and to enquire after Tithes and Augmentations and such like and to agree and make bargains with people for a 100. or 200 l. by the year if Christ sent any such Ministers forth and if the true Christians ever owned such Ministers priests and people answer and declare when till then we shall reckon you with the popish priests and Papists This following Letter containing the substance of the Dispute was given into the hands of William Cooper about the middle of the third Month enclosed with some Directions for him to convey it to the rest of his Brethren which were at the Dispute if peradventure they might be shewed their blindness and ignorance in the things of God and William Cooper soon after sent word by one of his Communicants That we should have a speedy Answer but no Answer hath appeared And now therefore are they further examined and their practices and manners of Worship more fully enquired into in the former Treatise And in both all people may see that are not quite blind how that much and many relicks of Popery are yet standing chiefly in the Presbyterian Churches so called and that the true Christian life and primitive Church-Order is not among them And if they can say otherwise let them lay aside that wisdom which man teacheth and which they have learn'd at School by natural Education and answer without logical Arguments in plainness according to the holy Scriptures Friends YOU that profess your selves to be Ministers of Christ and have put on the sheeps clothing but are erred from the spirit of the Lord the time of tryal is now come wherein secret things are brought to light and the great Mystery of Babylon is discovered and all false Ministers are made manifest and the judgement of the great Whore is come and your judgement also that hath drunk her Cup And now something is upon me as to mind you of and to lay something of your own ignorance and weakness before you which appeared in you at that time of the Dispute in the Bridge-House to the intent that you and the people that are under your Ministry may come to see the error of your ways and may be converted to God and live for it truly appears that death reigns in you and over you and the fruits and effects thereof doth spring from you and the cursed Tree is yet standing that brings forth the branches of darkness of unbelief and of great ignorance and the Sword of the Lord which is the words of his mouth will utterly slay you And whereas you asked If we owned you to be Ministers of Christ Unto which in part we answered and I do here more plainly testifie No we cannot own you to be Ministers of Christ nor sent of him for we know the contrary because you are different and contrary to the Ministers of Christ that were in the dayes of the Apostles in Call in Practice and Conversation in Maintenance and in your Fruits and Effects in all these things we say and can prove that you are not according but different and contrary to the Apostles and Ministers of the true Churches before the Apostacy and therefore I hereby certifie you That we to wit the People of God called Quakers do not own you as the Ministers of Christ but do look upon you

to be Deceivers and false Teachers and of Antichrist and your fruits and works doth manifest it and thereby do we know you not to be the Ministers of Christ but false Teachers as I have said And whereas you affirmed your selves to be Ministers of Christ and went about to prove it by your Arguments of invented Logick and the substance and intent of your first Argument was Those that have the Characters and Signs upon them spoken of in 1 Tim. 3. are Ministers of Christ but you have those Signs and Characters upon you and therefore You are Ministers of Christ Ans. Now this Scripture which you have mentioned for proof of your Ministry when you are truly laid to the line and measure thereof will prove that you are not true Ministers for you are not thus qualified in your Spirits and Conversation as this Scripture doth signifie but the contrary fruits and effects doth appear from you then is set down in this Scripture Are you blameless in your conversations And are you sober and of good behaviour and given to Hospitality and apt to teach And are you not given to Wine and filthy Lucre And are you patient not brawlers nor covetous And are you not lifted up with pride And are you of good report And do you hold the mysterie of faith in a pure conscience These things were required to be in the Ministers of Christ and have you these characters and are you such as is here spoken of And have you these fruits and marke upon you now are you to be tried and and I am searching your own proof whether it holds sound to confirm that for which you brought it No it is manifest by your fruits according to your own proof that you are men of another generation and are bringing forth fruits and works clean contrary to them whom the Apostle allows of for Ministers For you are not blamelesse nor sober nor of good behaviour for you are guilty of the pride and vanity of this world and live in envy and bitternesse and so not blamelesse nor sober nor of good behaviour neither apt to teach for you want the Spirit that was in the Apostles and you cannot speak as that Spirit gives you utterance but you speak from humane study and what you have gathered from other mens works and many of you are given to wine and strong drink and are greedy of filthy lucre and sue men at Law for wages and remove from one place to another for more means and for greater hire and this is covetousnesse and greedinesse of filthy lucre which you to wit genrally the Priests are known to be guilty of through the whole Land and ye have an ill report to be covetous men and proud men and ambitious and self-seeking men this report you have of many that are without and the poore unconverted people they know you to be guilty of these things and your Consciences are not pure neither do ye hold the mysterie of faith in it but your consciences are defiled with the evil and sinfull practises of this wicked world and that faith that you professe is not the true faith that the Apostles had which gave them victory over the world and over all sinne for you are in the pollutions of the world unsanctified and the guilt of sinne lies upon you these things are true as the Witness in your own consciences may testifie● so that your own proof and evidence hath condemned you and the Scripture by which you thought to prove your selves Ministers of Christ it hath turn'd upon your own heads and manifested the contrary and though you have said you were qualified according to that Scripture and therefore you were called into the mini●st● and were the true Ministers yet the contrary is discovered and that you are qualified by a contrary spirit and have the marks and characters upon you not of the true ministers of Christ but of 〈◊〉 spoken of in 2 Tim. 3. and according to that sort of false Teachers are you qualified and therefore in Practice and conversation you do not agree with the Apostles but are different and contrary to them and are according to the false Teachers and false Apostles and with them you do agree in spirit and in practice in many things And as to your call to the Ministry you are not able to make any good proof thereof at all nor did not at that time but some of them did deny that the anointing the unction of the holy Spirit was necessary unto the Ministry and this was the Argument That all things were mentioned for the qualification of a Minister in that 1 Tim. 3. but the holy unction is not mentioned therefore the unction of the spirit is not necessary to the Ministry Answer Something was spoken to this before as to shew the ignorance of it and the wickednesse of this Argument and some of you were partly ashamed of it your selves and had not the man and you been vvholly ignorant and blind this would never have proceeded from amongst you and are you like to be Ministers of Christ who hath asserted That the spirit of God and the anointing is not necessary to the ministry Was ever the like ignorance uttered by any before you even your Fathers the Friars at Rome would be ashamed of you herein to utter such dark and ignorant assertions Is this your Learning and your wise Logick to prove the anointing unnecessary to the ministry and such ministers we believe are you that have not the holy unction of the spirit but are ministers of the letter and by the will of man and not by the spirit nor of the spirit and so your call is not the same as was the Apostles but contrary to them and different from them so that we cannot own you to be ministers of Christ for ye are different and contrary to them both in your call and in your conversations And though you seemed to deny to be made ministers by your Learning and Education yet it is manifest that through that you received the ministry through the attainments of such Arts and Sciences and at last you came to attain to the Office of Ministers as you say and it was not by the call of the spirit nor by the gift of the holy Ghost for that you have in part denied and saith the unction is not necessary to the Ministry so it is but your hypocrisie to deny that you are made Ministers by your natural learning for we know that thereby onely and without the Gift of the Holy Ghost did you attain to that Ministry which now you hold cannot convert sinners to God nor turn the wicked from his evil way for it answers not the testimony of God in people but people remains always blind and ignorant under it and you go on dreaming for carnal ends unto your selves seeking for your hire and for your gain and therefore we do deny that you are true Ministers of Christ for you

can neither prove that you are so neither doth your fruits and works prove it but the contrary is manifest And whereas you further said The gift of the holy spirit is not sufficient to make a Minister This is also your ignorance for as I said they also have receiv'd the spirit have received the fruits thereof and the Apostle saith As every one hath received the gift of the spirit so he may administer of the same to another who have received the spirit of Christ they are Christs and if any man have not that spirit such are none of his but how full of confusion are you I cannot but mind you of it Some time you say the Spirit is not necessary to the Ministry and again you say The spirit alone is not sufficient to make a Minister and here is Babylons stuff Confusion brought forth by you her Merchants and such as these hath deceived the souls of men one saying one thing and others another and thus is your kingdom divided and that is a sign that it cannot stand but it must fall when the kingdoms of this World becomes the Kingdom of Christ And whereas you affirmed One may be called into the Ministry by Christ and yet at the same time be under the power of the Devil and the self-same man at the very same time may be a Disciple of Christ and yet a Devil Ans. I cannot but mind you of your ignorance and return your words to you again For a man that is under the power of the Devil he is the servant of the Devil and not Christs servant and that man that is a Disciple of Christ and learns of him is a child of God and not of the Devil for the Devil is out of truth and so are all that are under his power but the Disciple of Christ is in the truth and learns of Christ who is truth and though you would seem to prove these things by Judas Peter yet as for Judas he turned from Christ and against him and the Devil entered into him and he lost the power of God and erred from it and then he was a Devil and a betrayer of the just but whilst he followed Christ and was faithful in his Ministry he was not a Devil Neither was Peter Satan he that was Christ's Disciple but he that savoured the things that was of man and not the things of God and he that denied Christ he was the Satan for the Disciple of Christ and Satan are two and not one they are contrary and not the same though you in your ignorance would make them one but ye know not of what spirit ye are of nor whose work you are doing And whereas you held it forth That you had the fruits of the spirit because you shew forth faith and repentance therefore c. Now I did and do deny that you shew forth faith and repentance for your Works doth manifest the contrary And to prove that you have repentante you say you detest all sin and therefore c. Now this I did and do deny again and do assert the contrary and thus I prove it Whosoever breaks the commands of Christ and acts those things which he cryed wo against those things which the holy Prophets cryed against they do not detest all sin but thus you do to wit you that profess your selves to be Ministers you act those things which Christ forbad which the holy Prophets cryed against therefore you do not detest all sin and so have not the fruits and marks of the Holy Ghost upon you that you act these things that Christ forbad and which the Prophets cryed against it is plainly manifest Christ forbad his Ministers to be called of men Masters but you are called Masters Christ cryed wo against them that loved the uppermost Rooms and the chief Seats greetings in the Markets and these things are you guilty of And the holy Prophets cryed against them that preached for hire and divined for money and against them that fed themselves with the fat and clothed themselves with the Wool and did not feed the flock and these things you are guilty of and thus it is manifest you do not detest all sin but lives in it for in the fruits and works of the flesh you do abound in pride and covetousness in wrath and bitterness and in many other things whereby it is clearly manifest that you have not your own noted signs of the holy spirit upon you and so we cannot own you but must deny you to be the Ministers of Christ And as for your carriages and proceedings at that Dispute they were not agreeing with the spirit of truth for you were wild and vain and scornful which practices becomes not Christs Ministers And why did you run so soon away Why had not you longer patience for the tryal of all things Were you afraid to be discovered and that your shame should have appeared Were you hit upon your sore which made you fling away so suddenly that you could not abide any longer Many things more I had to have spoken if you had not left us in that manner which a shame unto your selves and to your companie who used such wildness and violence and laid violent hands upon me thrusting me forth and threatning of us with Constables and these things ought not to have been nor had you been Ministers of Christ would they have been but your fruits makes you manifest and by your fruits we know you as Christ hath told us for your fruits are the fruits of unrighteousness and not the fruits of the holy Spirit of the Lord which fruits are pure and peaceable but your fruits are otherwise to wit the fruits of the spirit of this world that lies in wickedness And whereas you accused us to be Jesuites or such like these were your false accusations and we see you to be nearer to agreement with the Jesuites then we are and the Church of Rome is your Mother from her you have descended in your Call and in your Maintenance and in the most part of your worship and practices therefore come let 's reason with you Had not you the Professed Ministers of England this way of making Ministers at Schools and Colledges by natural learning from the Church of Rome Was not she the first that instituted these Colledges gave the maintenance to them and gave all these names to Schollers as Batchellour of Arts and Master of Arts Batchellour of Divinity and such like names which yet remains amongst you the originall of which came from the Church of Rome and was first set up in England by the Whores Authority Did these things come from the Church of Christ or was there such names amongst Christs true Ministers or have not you received these things and wayes from the Whore and drunken her cup this way of making ministers have you had from the Whore of Rome and from whence had you this