of godly Ministry c. Answ. It may be enquired into what you mean by cause them to submit how cause them by force and imposition upon their consciences by outward external personal punishment or threats Is this your meaning Will you set up Religion by violence And must children and servants be compelled by resraint and force This is not the right way to promote Religion and the Worship of God nor to make children and servants truly religious it was the Beast that received power from the Dragon that caused all to worship both small and great children and servants and this causing to worship was in the time of the Apostacy when the true Church was fled into the Wildernesse and all the time ever since hath Nations been caused and compelled to such and such performances and practises of Religion and Worship and such causing I am jealous your meaning is whereby you would force and compell such manner of worship and practises upon people And what do you mean by godly Ministry Will you admit of just tryal according to the Scriptures whether yours be that godly Ministry or no for all sorts of Christians Papists and Protestants and all others they will say that they are in the right way and their Ministry is the godly Ministry but the fruits of many proves the contrary and we cannot believe that yours is the godly Ministry except you will prove it to us by and according to the Scriptures Now it is certain that the Ministry of the Apostles was the true godly Ministry and if yours agree with theirs then we will confesse that yours is the true godly Ministry Therefore tel us plainly Do you agree with them in your Call and in your Maintenance and in your Practises and in your Fruits and Effects in your Lives and Conversations and in your Doctrines Are you justly according to and do you agree with the Apostles in all these things Shall we lay you to the line that you may be judged This is but as a hint at things whereby you might justly be tryed for if you agree not with the Apostles in these case mentioned then it is evident that your Ministry is not the true godly Ministry but hereafter we may have a better occasion to try you And thus the principal parts of your Exhortation is answered and if you can receive it in love TO all you sixty one Teachers in London under whose hands your Exhortation passeth This I say to you in the fear of the Lord God Oh ye men consider and let it enter into your hearts the day of the Lord is at hand upon you and account of your Stewardship must you give and his reward must you have whom you have served and you must reap the fruit of what you have sown Oh look upon your flocks and see what a condition they are in Oh what pride and vain-glory is abounding amongst them Oh how doth wickedness spring forth from them Are they like unto sheep of Christs Fold Or are not they appearing outwardly Christians when as the evil nature is uncut down in them Oh what wickednesse abounds in this City What double-dealing and dissimulation What lying and swearing and drunkennesse Oh high are all the fruits of the flesh grown amongst your Flocks Your Vineyards are not dressed as they ought to be there is abundance of corrupt trees and fruitlesse branches which cumbers the ground Oh it makes the heart of the righteous sad to walk in the streets and to view the abominations that are daily brought forth by a people professing Scriptures Church Ministry and Christ Oh! it burdens the just and grieves the righteous soul to consider how high iniquity is grown among the sheep of your Pastures whom ye should have fed with knowledge and converted unto the fear of the Lord had you been messengers sent of God the very Iewes and Heathens they blaspheme against Christ through the abominations brought forth among Christians that have the name to live but are dead Oh let it enter into your hearts and smite you that your many years Ministry should have so little effect for your vineyard is like untilled ground unploughed and unbroken up Oh there is much hard-heartednesse amongst your people and their hearts goes after covetousnesse even while they professe God with their lips Oh the righteous mourns in secret to see the prophanenesse the scornings and reproaches that are brought forth in your City And oh the idolatry that abounds let it repent you that you have been so slothful and never more seek the fleece but seek the flock that 's gone astray from the Lord who is the true Shepherd whose voice hath not been obeyed and many Pastors have destroyed the Vineyard and many Shepherds have fed themselves and not the Flock Oh consider the day of the Lord is at hand and he will visit with his rod You and your Flocks prepare to meet the Lord for his Kingdome is nigh to come which will be a terrible day to all workers of iniquity And as for this your Exhortation I say as for Exhortation in it self Ministers ought to exhort their Flocks so such a thing in it self I do commend and not oppose but when I had read and seriously considered the aim and intent of your spirits in your Exhortation I found it secretly and in a measure openly opposing and striking at and secretly smiting the people of the Lord whom you have reproached by the name of Quakers who are dear to the Lord and he careth for them though you see no beauty in them but accounteth them altogether vile and in as much as you lifted up your hands against them upon that account was it upon my spirit to return something in answer for the information of many that they might be undeceived and not in envy towards any but in love to all to both you and your people and you have occasioned this upon your selves though you are reproved and not as a man of strife or contention have I proceeded but as one that desires the further manifestation of truth and that no false accusastion may rest upon it which you have secretly brought forth with which the Lord is not well pleased that you should set your selves in opposition against his people and if any of you shall receive a just reproof and repent it may prove to you an advantage of much good and be not so proud as to say in your hearts What art thou weak man that reproves us or wherefore art thou so bold thus to deal with us but rather fall under just reproof for in uprightnesse of heart have I proceeded towards you and not in mine own but in the will of the Father And oh that your Flocks would also consider among whom there are many that are zealous in their way Oh that their Zeal and Iudgements were guided by the Spirit of the Lord then should it be well with them Oh that they would be meek and humble
you have said if it were not reproved Again you exhort your Congregations that they manifest sincerity not only by hatred of error but by a love of the truth c. Answ. Sincerity of heart is indeed precious especially where the Spirit of the Lord is the rule of Judgement and doth mannage that sincerity but where a false spirit rules in the judgement the sincerity is often betrayed into a zeal against the truth and against the wayes of the Lord rather than otherwise and thus it was with the Iewes whose sincerity through their error of judgement was turned into zeal and bitternesse against Christ And thus it is to be feared it is with many in your Congregations who may have a zeal without knowledge and be short of true discerning between what is truth and what is error I speak not this of all but of some for it s no small thing to discern between truth and error especially in this day wherein there are so many wayes and professions of Church-Ministry and Worship and yet all professing the Scriptures are their Rule of Faith worship and practise and seeing that all Sects do professe proof from Scripture for what they hold forth what ground have the people to believe you more than others or others more than you for where people receives Doctrine or Religion by report from others without the evidence of the Spirit of God in their own hearts this is not receiving of the truth unto eternal life wherefore I exhort your Congregations that every one amongst them may wait upon the Lord to have a feeling and discerning in their own hearts and that each one may be led and taught of the Spirit of God which leads into all truth that they may deny all false Ministers and false worships and may worship God in Spirit and Truth through the ministration of his own Spirit in their hearts and consciences and thereby will they discern between truth and error and will love the one and hate the other Thirdly You exhort That they keep themselves unspotted from the prevailing corruptions of these back-sliding times c. Answ. Concerning the times many are ignorant but this is certain at the present time wherein we are is the Lord disquieting of men and its the latter daies of Antichrists Reign and Government that hath been in full power and authority for many generations and Babylon that great City her ruine is threatned because of her abominations that have been many and great for the whole earth hath been corrupted as it s written and now the Call of the Lord is that every man come out of Babylon and deliver himself that he may not partake of their plagues and happy are they that are made clean and unspotted from her sins that they may not be found covered with her garments for the day of the Lord is come and coming upon Babilon and all back-sliders from God and his wayes Now Babilon is that great City which hath ruled over the Kings of the earth and in her hath the blood of Souls and of all just men been found Fourthly You exhort to endeavour a healing of those sad breaches and divisions which have been amongst you c. Answ. Now the sad breaches and divisions which is indeed at present in this Nation cannot be healed but as the cause and ground thereof be removed which is the sins of Rulers Teachers and People and this is the cause wherefore the Lord hath brought distraction amongst them Oh what ambition and self-seeking hath been among the Rulers What judging for gifts and rewards what neglect of Mercy and Judgement amongst them And oh how have they oppressed the poor and trodden down the needy and because hereof is the righteous God vexed And oh what covetousness and greediness of gaine are the teachers guilty of How do they preach for hire and divine for money How have they unreasonably caused men to be imprisoned and their goods to be spoiled for wages and tythes and hire Oh how hath covetousnesse and idolatry and superstition abounded amongst the Teachers in this Nation Oh abominable hath been their sins their oppressions and self-seekings and because of these things hath the Lord brought distractions amongst people and the sins of Rulers and People cries for vengeance from the Lord and till these iniquities be removed by repentance and forsaken the fruit and effect thereof shall never cease but breach upon breach will the Lord make till the Rulers and Priests repent them of their iniquities Gods hand will be upon them both in Judgement and for their sakes that divine for money and preach for hire and judge for rewards Will the Lord make the Nation as heaps and as a ploughed field Therefore let all people repent of their iniquities and return to the light of Christ in their own consciences and become followers of the Lamb and this is the perfect way of healing of all breaches inwardly and outwardly Fifthly You exhort to be diligent in the spiritual and conscientious performances of family duties c. Answ. Men must first be awakened and enlivened unto God before they can act for God in holy duties and as for duties performed in pretence unto God traditionally and without the teachings of the the Spirit of God is but idolatry and the Nation is weary of such a Religion which they have received and held traditionally for thereby the Soul immortal cannot be nourished unto eternal life and while you teach duties towards God by that rule while you teach praying singing repeating catechising by tradition and imitation without the leadings of the Spirit of Christ in them you do but teach idolatry as long hath been taught in the Christian Nations the doing and performing such and such things as Christian duties and practises and the forcing and compelling of doing such things upon people in the unregenerate state and unconverted nature this Religion and such performances of duties have been of Babilon and of Antichrist and a cheat upon peoples Souls whereby many have been murdered and slain in that great City and the form of Godlinesse without the Power hath been practised while duties have been performed unto God without the teachings of the Spirit of God and such their consciences are blinded and the Lord abhors their Sacrifices and people must first come to feel the Word of God in their hearts to regenerate them before they can perform any acceptable thing to God and therefore do not teach people to be hypocrites do not teach them such and such performances in the corrupt nature without the teachings of the Spirit of God in their own particulars for if you do you make them but two fold more the children of the devil and such duties performed in that nature shall not cover nor hide from the Wrath of the Lord which is comming upon all hypocrites Sixthly You exhort that they would cause their children and servants to submit to Catechisings and train them up in there verence
and learn the fear of the Lord Oh that every one of them would consider and turn from their iniquities and become followers of Iesus Christ then should the glory of the Lord be revealed unto them and peace and truth and righteousnesse should be unto them and their Families and their City if they would come into Covenant with God and he taught of him and be exercised by his Law in their hearts then should the countenance of the Lord be upon them and then should they discern between truth and error between the Ministers of Christ and Deceivers Oh! there is a pity for many poor people which are zealous in their way of Religion without knowledge and they think they do God good service while yet their consciences are not exercised by the Spirit of the Lord but a false spirit that rules and leads and many holds the truth in unrighteousnesse and they know not but they do well Oh that such would consider and not be hasty in any thing to performe or professe Religion in their degenerate estate but that they would come to know the Regeneration and the renewing of their minds by the Holy Spirit and that the Immortal Birth might be born in them even the Birth of the Spirit which is Heir of God Oh that that might live and rule in them then should they be Heirs of God and Citizens of the New Ierusalem And oh ye people of London lay it to heart you must be born again or else you can never enter into Gods Kingdome you must be changed in nature and must be crucified to this world that you may live unto God this must you come unto or else you have no part nor portion in eternal life all your duties and performances in your forms of Religion they cannot save you nor justifie you all your preaching praying singing and all your duties whatsoever they are all nothing till you come to know changing and renewing inwardly and do witness the Seed of God raised up in you and the head of the Serpent bruised in you by the Seed of the Woman this must you come to witnesse that your souls may live Oh that you would consider be not so zealous against that which you may call Heresie and Schism for while you erre in judgement you may soon speak evil of truth and persecute it under the name of error many have wofully fallen into that snare and brought sorrow upon themselves thereby The wise Iewes even the chief Priests Scribes and Pharisees they were confident in their way as you can be and yet they erred in judgement and would not receive Christ but persecuted him under the very name of a Deceiver and thus it is possible for many to do in this age What though you have Christs words and the Apostles words yet if you have not the Spirit of Christ that was in the Apostles you know nothing rightly of the Scriptures neither can you understand them nor have Salvation by them for you must know Christ in you your hope of glory else you are reprobates and shut out of the Kingdome of God And search the Scriptures and see if they do not witnesse this Do not they say Christ is in you except you be Reprobates and do not they say The Law of God is written in the heart and the Spirit of God is put in the inward part And do not they say That Christ hath lightened every man that comes into the world with the true light And do not they say that the Apostle exhorts people to hearken to the Word of God in their hearts and to be followers of the Spirit of God that was in their hearts And do not the Scriptures say That it was the light that shined in the heart that gave the knowledge of God unto the Saints Search the Scriptures and see whether these things be so and must not men be born again of the immortal seed Oh consider and let not these doctrines seem new unto you neither reject them though they come unto you in weak appearance not with words of mens wisdome but in simplicity and in sincerity and in the Power of God And search the Scriptures whether these things be so were not they false Prophets that preached for hire and divined for money and sought for their gain from their quarter Were not such deceivers in the true Prophets time and them that preached for filthy lucre and for money and for gifts and rewards were not such false Brethren and false Apostles Search the Scriptures whether these things be so for the day of tryal is now come wherein all must be searched and that Religion and Worship and Ministry which is not according to the Scriptures which was given forth by the Spirit of God let that Religion Worship Church and Ministry be utterly condemned of the Lord and all his people and let such Ministers as cannot prove their call their maintenance and practises to be according to the Scriptures let such Ministers be confounded and silenced for ever and come to try this matter when you will For whereas you cry out against us as if we were deniers of Scriptures as if we were enemies to Church and godly Ministry and Religion and as if we were Deceivers Hereticks Papists c. But I say unto you these things have you never yet justly proved against us but rather accused us behind our backs to make us odious among people and though for divers years together we have been publike yet when did ever any of you Ministers seek by lawful means to convert us or shew us our errors if we were as you say of us oh it had been your time to have sought our conversion and not to have persecuted to have sent to prisons houses of correction and by such weapons of an outward force and cruelty have you dealt with us and not in meeknesse and by the Spirit of the Lord as Ministers of Christ ought to do but hath cried to the Magistrates to defend you and your Church and worship being unable as it were by the Authority of Gods Spirit to defend your selves Therefore I say unto you now lay down your carnal weapons and come out in in the spirit of meeknesse and come out in the Authority of Gods Spirit if you have it convince us thereby if we be in an evil way as you say let us hear your soundest arguments by the Spirit of God and according to the Scriptures to prove those things which you say of us prove it by evident arguments that we deny Scriptures and that we are Hereticks and that we are Papists I challenge you all in the Name of the Lord even all your Ministers of London let us hear your sound reasons openly in the spirit of meeknesse and do not back-bite nor slander in the dark neither let us be bawled against by your rude members as often we have been even in the spirit of wickednesse but come out you Ministers we are willing to be tryed according to the Scriptures and by the Spirit of God in our Religion and in every part of it and if you be the same then come forth in the spirit of meeknesse like Ministers of Christ and lay down your carnal weapons and let us have fair dealing openly that truth may be manifested publikely and errour may be discovered and let us not envy one anothers persons seek to destroy one anothers lives but let us seek to destroy the evil in one another that men might be saved and this would be a Christian-like way we would hear what you have to charge against our Religion by sound arguments in meeknesse that we may answer it and then we will charge something upon your Ministry Church Religion and Worship and we will prove what we say against you according to the Scriptures and we will not impose our Religion upon you by the force of outward Powers and outward Lawes neither would we have you force your Religion Ministry and Church upon us by such means but we will leave the effect of all things to the Spirit of God and come out when you will in such a way as this and this would satisfie thousands and let meeknesse and the fear of God be amongst you and this is the way to exalt Religion and we would think it a happinesse more then otherwise to be joyned in sober debate and dispute against you that you and we in your Religion Church and Ministry and in ours also might be tryed according to the Scriptures that all may be satisfied who are doubtful and may hear your principles and our principles discussed in the presence of the people who may judge by the light and witnesse in their own consciences for to that in all we do appeal and in such a proceeding come forth when you will lay down your carnal weapons and take the weapons of the Spirit and come to the tryal for the day of the Lord is approaching upon all the world THE END