abide in its paths And in your own darknesse are joyned every one against the servants of God who bid turn to the light which is pure which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which is no pernitious but sound Doctrine for if it be good to watch and good to walk in the true light then it is good to turn men to that light And if the Lord would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth then it is good that all men be turned to the light which shines in the heart to give the knowledge of it in the sace of Christ and to bid people to take heed to that light to walk in that light and believe in the light which lighteth every man that is sound doctrine and those that love not the light nor walk in the light nor believe in the light are left without excuse and the light come is their condemnation and by the light are they already condemned who believe not in the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world and whatsoever the false Prophets and Ministers of unrighteousness say to the contrary is of little weight Again Robert Sympson in pag. 33. declares that that light which is in me and in all men if not put out would tell me that that thing which he there asserts is true Now here is light confest to be in me and in all men and that light to be in all men which is in me and the Scripture saith that was the true light which lighteth every man which should answer that which he affirms and minds to be truth if not put out And if so then that is a good Ministry which opens blind eyes and turns from darkness to light Then it being so what have those servants of the Lord done for which thou so highly chargest them who are sent of the Lord to bear witness of his name and to declare his truth and bids take heed to the true light and turns to it to the opening of the blind eyes that people may see the way to everlasting life and have their feet guided in the way of peace with whom the Lord of a truth is though Thomas Ewins with the rest of the deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan who love darkness and hate the light do reproach and belye them he uttering his confusion and envy against the innocent telling the world the Quakers as he calls them have done such mischief and their doctrine is pernicious they bid all men turn to the light thereby to draw them from believing in the person of Christ and he is no Preacher of that thing they call Gospel and calls them miserable deluded people Oh vain man who boastest thy self in thine evil way how is night come upon thee and darkness overshadoweth thee And how art thou reeling and staggering like a drunken man who hast spoken and written so of the light thy self as is before mentioned yet art not ashamed to belie and reproach the servants of the living God as thou hast done for labouring to turn people from darknes to the light who having received a Ministery from the Lord as all the Ministers of Christ did not from men as the false Apostles and deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan did they labour not accompting their liberties nor lives dear unto them so that they may finish their course with joy and the Ministry which of the Lord Jesus they have received and therfore in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours by knowledge by long suffering by kindness by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the Word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousness by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true c. do they approve themselves the Ministers of Christ and witnessed it is in the consciences of men And Thomas Ewins words being honestly considered with what is replyed thereunto may not his own sayings be justly turned upon his head pag. 49. may he not blush to speak or write such things Will Jehovah the great and glorious God ever own such railings and revilings to which I add lying and deceiving to be a testifying from him Or will he ever justifie him in what he hath written and published Oh! be ashamed and confounded poor deluded man for how hath he manifested himself a blind guide They that is the Anabaptists think he is too large in his principles and he thinks them too straight in theirs and yet they do not differ but can bear with each other in love Truly the Devil may love his own work which is to lead people in darkness and blindness and there have his instruments fellowship But will any man that fears God and weighs his words believe or own him in what he saith How can it be that they should think one thing and he another he have large principles and they streight they in their light and he in his and yet not differ And may not he be justly reproved as well as the Authour of Satan enthroned in his Chair of Pestilence in that they both agree to charge mischief done in Bristol on those called Quakers And Tho. Ewins is in that joyned with R. F. one walking in his light and the other in his yet they differ not but are both opposers of the true light and the children thereof who in the same do walk as were their fathers in all generations But in it are they both discovered to be out of the right way and the children of light who walk in the light stand witnesses for the Lord against them both and that principle of darknesse blindenesse and deceit in which they walk and from which their corrupted works of reviling and persecuting the innocent without a cause proceeds But the day is come in which the Lord is gathering his people from such to give T. E. his own words an ignorant ungodly lazy proud scandalous soul-murdering ministry who deny the light and with the God of the World are joyned to blinde the eyes of peoples mindes least the light of the glorious Gospel should shine unto them I say least the light which God commands to shine out of darknesse should shine into the heart to give the knowledge of the glory of God of which light and no other the servants of God declare and your folly is manifesting apace glory to the Lord for evermore for although he that preacheth the Gospel witnesseth the new covenant where the law is written in the heart and the spirit put into the inward parts and although the scripture witnesseth that the law is light and written in the heart and that the word is within in the heart and in the mouth Prov. 6.23 Rom. 10.8 Deut. 30.14 the anointing which is true and is no lye and teacheth all things so that the saints need no other teacher abideth with in the
he writ and all that are faithful to the light I may have fellowship and know him that was from the beginning before the Scriptures were given â—orâ—h For John and those to whom be writ had fellowship in the light and so that vvhich they had heard and seen and handled that they declared and that vvhich they declared was that God is light and those that vvalk in the light as he is in the light have fellovvship c. And they that vvalk in darkness and say they have fellovvship vvith God are lyers He that keepeth â—is vvord in him is the love of God perfected The annointing which ye have received of him abideth in you and ye need not that any man teach you but as the same annointing teacheth you of all things and is true and is no lye c. He that committeth sin is of the Devil and the Son of God vvas made manifest to destroye the vvorks of the Devil and whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and iâ— this the children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil This vvas their condition and the doctrine vvhich they preached vvho had an unction from the holy One and knevv all things from and out of vvhich the Antichrist vvent into the vvorld because they vvere not of them for had they been of them they vvould have continued vvith them But novv vvhat is this to you vvho knovv not that vvhich vvas from the beginning And so are declaring that vvhich others have heard and seen but never heard savv nor felt it your selves vvho vvalk in darkness and knovv not God but hate the light condemning that in vvhich their fellovvship stood that cry dovvn the annointing and true Teacher vvithin opposing those that declare that by committing sin the children of God are manifest and the children of the Devil pleading for the kingdom of the Devil vvhiles ye are here and declaring that your mystical bodie may be subject to distempers and vvindie humours of pride headines high mindedness and giving heed to lying Spirits I say vvhat is this to you vvho are as far from the condition of vvhich John vvrites as the East is from the West manifesting your enmitie thereunto And might not the Pharisees vvhose righteousness exceeds yours more fitly applie those vvords to Paul to John and all that turned to the light and by it gathered from amongst them testifying against them that their vvork are evil Or might not the Parish Masters as rightly applie it against you and say you went out from them because ye were not of them as ye do it to me But in this also your covering is too short and your shame appears And vvhereas ye tell me of spreading before the Lord taâ—nts scorns false accusations c. of vvhich ye say my Pamphlet is full but name none I shall not â— need take notice of it farther than to tell you it is a lye framed by you to cover your shame and that taunts scornings and false accusations are denied by all the children of light vvho by the annointing vvithin vvhich leads into all truth are taught and guided and it is to be found vvithout vvhere the God of the vvorld rules and the unclean and cruel beasts inhabit and are distempers of your mystical bodie In page 8. Ye seem to tell me of some absurdities in my proceeding begging the question and drawing inferences c. Which also is but your refuge of lyes c. But ye say I stile you a Synagogue of Satan and then heap up threatâ—nings against you as such Repl. I truly stiled you a synagogue of Satan and proved you so by vvhat lodged in and amongst you vvhich vvas by your ovvn messengers acknovvledgâ—d as in my former boâ—k I declared and from which ye have not vindicated your selves but over your heads it stands and the judgement thereof ye cannot escape except ye repent But to your refuge of lyes ye again betake your selves saying I do like the persecutors of old who first wrapt the Saints in skins of beasts and then set dogs upon them to â—ear them Repl. This is your own case and the work in which ye have been employed by your Master some yeares past as well as in your present book in which ye speak of wretched Quakers a title of reproach used by you and others of Ishmaels seed at which the dogs of Aegypt open their months and would rend and â—ear if not by the power of the Lord restrained and with a sheeps skin have I not covered you but aâ—â— laying open and manifesting your wolvish nature though ye would cover your selves with sheeps clothing as with a veil And why should I set dogs and persecutors upon you who are of the same nature and Spirit with them And the world loves its own And because ye are of the world and speak of the world the world hears you and in it you glorie And whereas ye tell me of heaping up Scriptures against you which concern you not and how like it is to Raâ—shakâ—h c. I say it is your own it is your portion from it ye cannot flie nor have ye at all acquitted your selves but over your heads it stands and your vail covers not your shame who by the King of Babylon are employed to reproach and revile the servant of the Lord whom he hath redeemed out of kinreds tongues and people and through the regeneration brought following himself who judgeth the false Prophets and deceivers who are seen and witnessed against thoroughout the Nations wherâ— the voice of Gods thunders is heard and the well-â—avoured Harlot is discovered upon whose neck do I trample who shall never the Church of Christ be found In which I am not mistaken but from his presence your sentence is come forth to whom ye say ye will make your application as David did And whereas ye speak so much af applying prâ—mises to those to whom they belong not c. It is your own case who being proved an Harlot and have not proved your sâ—lves a Church would have that applied to you by others and do apply iâ— to your selves which belongs to the Church and that which is the Harlots portion and Proper to you ye love not to hear nor receive In your 9. page ye pretend three reasons why my defence which ye call my letter could not be received and read amongst you c. But whether it were indeed reasons why ye read it not or else a feigned pretence and lying shift since found out to veil your deceipt that of God in your own Consciences will bear testimonie for ye say your first reason was because it was not directed to the Church but as it were in a deriding manner to the people called Independents Which is an absolute lye for it had no such direction at all upon it but For the hands of Robert Sympson and Robert Purnel c. And how then could that be
general and yet ye say it s verbatim But in this also not onely your falshood but also your confusion is so fully manifested that I need say no more but leave it to the Reader to judge But ye say It is for speaking against the Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and that they are not the Word of God nor rule of life and this ye would have understood to be verbatim though like the rest it will easily appear to be a parcel of falshood hypocrisie and deceit for besides your own confusions before mentioned in the Coppy delivered to me by Robert Simpson which he saith is true and ye 〈◊〉 testimony he is faithful it is thus Your speaking reproachfully of the pretious Scriptures of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and secondly one of the greatest plagues of the Land and thirdly affirming farther that it is not the Word of God nor rule of life Now let the Reader whose eye is opened judge how these agree The person sent to admonish at the same time or thereahouts gives it under his hand that what he writ out and delivered to me was a true Coppy of what he received And the whole company after they received an answer thereunto deviseth and publisheth another and say it is verbatim though it much differs from the former The latter saith the charge there mentioned was verbatim in these words Speaking reproachfully of the blessed Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls c. the former in these words Speaking reproachfully of the precious Scripture of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and aly one of the greatest plagues of the land The one puts both together The Scripture is blind and a plague the other divides them into two particulars and saith first a blind to souls and 2ly one of the greatest plagues of the Land the one that the Scriptures were blind the other that it is a blind the one that they were blind and a plague to souls and never mentions the Land The other that it is first a blind to souls and 2ly a plague yea one of the greatest plagues of the Land and mentions not souls The one saith The pretious Scriptures of truth The other the blessed Scriptures and mentions not the words of truth And yet if any man is given over to believe lies ye will perswade him all this is true and verbatim that is word for word according to the copy And that notwithstanding this lying spirit which is found in your mouths to which ye give heed ye are a Church of Christ or a mystical body a word of deceit from the bottomlesse pit which may be subject to this spirit as it plainly appears to all beholders ye are by what your selves have published And truly the day hath manifested you very much and ye cannot be hid but by the light your deeds of darknesse are and will be reproved and your pretended admonition farther manifested to be but studied accusations and from your father the devil who was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth Now as that which ye call your admonition and say ye did insert verbatim as a bundle of lies and confusion as hath been manifested so is that which ye call your proof for in page 13. ye say because I said those things that is to say your charge are studied accusations and from the father of lies c. ye shall therefore prove every tittle to be true And in page 18. ye say ye have proved every tittle to be true and clear and in page 26. your 3 Messengers who boast that they received their Commission from God to this work say that the things that they charged me withall are all true in every sillable of it as doth appear by the foregoing answer of the whole Church Now then if ye have not proved every tittle of your charge to be true and if it do not appear by your foregoing answer that every sillable of that with which your Messengers charged me is true then are ye proved both those that did send and those that were sent no Church of Christ but a company of lyars and false asserters But ye have not proved every title and every sillable thereof to be true and therefore are ye no Church of Christ but a company of lyars for first ye charged me for leaving the Church and now ye say that I have left the Church is true but no proof thereof have ye given neither is it true which ye say for the Church I have not left but to witness the Church I have left the harlot and that I have absolutely forsaken left and renounced fellowship with you in all your idolatrous heathenish wayes and worships which stand in the will and time of man and not in the will and power of God and by the mighty arm and power of the Lord am I separated from amongst you never again to have fellowship nor communion with you in those unfruitful works of darkness which by the light are reproved is granted else could I never know nor witness the Church of Christ which is in God the father But that ye are the Church of Christ is denyed and was denyed and by your fruits and what lodged in you were ye proved an harlot a synagogue of Satan c. which stands vvholly unansvvered by you And therefore it is not true but a lie to say I left the Church when I was separated from the Harlot that I might witness the Church But suppose it had been true that I had left the Church by vvhat have ye proved it Why onely your selves say it is so but that is no proof and yet this is more than tittles and syllables it is vvhole sentences ye a general charge not proved except vvhat the harlot speaks to save her head vvhen to judgement she is brought is to be believed and admitted as a proof But ye go on and say that my so doing hath drawn away some grieved others and opened the mouehs of many to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which is clear and plain and not a studied accusation but a real thing which hath been grief and sadness to the Church To which I reply if the Harlot or Synagogue of Satan might be believed in her own case when she speaks not truth then what ye say were of some value But from the Church have I drawn none nor been a grief nor sadness that I know to her with whom in some measure I have unity Neither do I know of any whose mouths I have justly opened to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which are pure and spiritual So that the whorish and adulterous harlot cannot see it who is grieved and sadned at my departure whose judgement is come and her torments from the living God are pouring and therefore hath she opened her mouth very wide and from her unclean fountain
witnesse as within the Kingdom of God is within the light which gives the knowledge of the glory of God shines within even in the heart 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Joh. 5.10 1. Cor. 4.6 Christ is within God is within who dwells and walks in them whose bodies are his Temples yet this blinde ignorant and unlearned man is not ashamed to publish that he is no preacher of that Gospil viz. the light within but declares it pernitious doctrine and that he never read or heard that any of the Prophets Apostles or holy men of God did preach such a Gospel c. And for his speaking of Sarah Latchet asking how I can stile her a Servant of Jesus who is an Apostate and an excommunicated person going on in such rayling and calling him a deceiver Another time saying the prayers of the wicked are an abhomination to the Lord. And another time let fly at him with a multitude of rayling and reviling terms such as he saith they use to give to the Ministers of the Nation c. To this I say In that she did bear true Testimony against him I own it as a service in the Truth and her being excommunicated as he cals it by those who deny the true light proves nothing to the contrary nor her calling him deceiver or saying the prayers of the wicked are abhomination to the Lord for so are their services and sacrifices and to deny and bear Testimony against it is no Apostacy upon a true account and to be hated and separated by such from their company and by them to be reproached and to have ones name cast out as evil for the Son of mans sake who is the light of the World is a blessed thing rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets Luke 6.22 23. and his word excommunication is turned back into his bundle of Popish or Heathenish ignorance as that which was never used by the Ministers of Christ And if Sarah Latchet be excommunicated as he calls it then it s like those that did it are ashamed of their work for she knew it not but saith he she let flie at me with such railing termes as they use to give the Ministers of the Nation To which I say why should not he be testified against as well as they being at least in many things found in their steps and practices But for reviling speeches let him look at home He saith she called him Deceiver and said the prayers of the wicked were abhomination to the Lord and this by him is termed rayling and reviling though it be according to the Scriptures which proceeded from those that spake as they were moved of the holy Ghost But he in his answer to Ralph Farmer saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of Englands misery and consequently of Bristols is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry who have made themselves contemptible and base in the eyes of all good men and in the consciences of many bad Now if this be so the Quakers as he calls them did not all the mischief in Bristoll as he falsly saith they did for now he saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of the misery of England and Bristol is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry And so hath he proved himselfe a lyar and a false accuser which the Ministers of Christ were not But who is the rayler and reviler now They that bear true testimony against him and his generation according to Scripture or Thomas Ewins in speaking his own corrupted words out of his polluted and unsanctified fountain who by his own confession questions whether ever he had received the Spirit to purge and purifie cleanse and sanctifie believers and make them holy But if it be so that the misery of England and Bristoll is such a Ministry as he hath before exprest and which he terms the Ministry of the Nation ought they not to be testified against and he also so far as he is found in their condition And may it not well be said that it is the great misery of many poor souls in Bristoll that such ignorant and blinde guides as ye are are followed which is the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back door of so much confusion as is at this day amongst you one bearing with the other in your darknesse and in your streight and large principles till ye become all quite blinde and stark drunk in your imaginations reeling and staggering so that many poor people are even at their wits end and have followed you so long till their soules are even famished and they fallen into misery But glory to the Lord God of life who hath caused light to shine out of darknesse and out of obscurity by which the deceitfull veiles and coverings of the soul-murthering Ministry are made manifest And were those savoury words for Thomas Ewins to say It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell to worke then to goe about rayling at people as she did Let shame cover his face for ever when he looks back on his own words which are so well like the words and deeds of the Ministers of the Nation which himselfe calls the soul-murthering Ministry that he which reads may easily perceive them to agree and that one and the same spirit leads and guides them all And did not Thomas Ewins let flye at her in envy when he spake such words and hath thus confest it to his shame among those that are not willing to joyn hand with the wicked and to take part with evill doers And for his saying that she cursed and rayled that is but the invented refuge of his lying spirit for the words he sets down as hers are no such things And for his charging her to be idle that is from the same root of lying she having been known to be diligent in an honest employment and lives not by others labours as do the soul-murthering Ministers as he calls them who preach for hire and divine for money and against those that put not into their mouths they prepare war And take liberty to themselves from their high places to reproach revile slander and belye them that feare the Lord and are obedient to Christ the light of the world But if any who feel the burthen of the word of the Lord and witnesse it as a fire in their bones and being weary of holding it in are made to pour it out against the soul-murthering Ministry c. For this they must to the whip to prison to Bridewell c. And in this Thomas Ewins is discovered And for his saying ô be ashamed and confounded poor deceived man because I said she testified from the Lord I say his own words are turned upon his own head and to bear witnesse in truth against his
THE HARLOTS VAIL REMOVED And her lying refuge swept away by the power of Truth with which she was smitten and wounded Being an Answer to a book published in the name of about 60 persons of the Independent-Baptized and mingled peoin the midst of Babylon intit'led The Church of Christ in Bristol recovering her Vail But is manifested to be a bundle of falshood and hypocrisie a refuge of lies and deceit under which they labour to hide themselves as with a vail Likewise an Answer to Thomas Ewins his word in the close of the said book in which he acknowledgeth himself no Minister and is proved no preacher of the Gospel but in confusion and a Minister of Satan and Robert Purnel a false prophet c. Also a Short Rebuke of Ralph Farmer for lying and dissembling in the case of Constant Jessops removing from the Parish of Nicholas in the City of Bristol in which he the said Farmer was a chief solliciter though being got into his place he would excuse himself by lying in print To which are added A few words manifesting the woful fall and degenerated condition of Richard Fowler who in a late declaration put in to the Court of Exchequer against 15. persons for Tithes is stiled the lawful Vicar of the Parish Church of Westerleigh in the County of Glocester And for hire is become a Lecturer in Bristol Who hath occasioned several men that fear the Lord to be cast into prison for refusing through tendernesse of conscience to swear how many Colts Calves Lambs Pigs Geese Hens Ducks Aples Eggs Oblations Offerings c. they possest in several years that of it he might have Tithes Which monstrous practice he once so much disowned that he declared himself burthened to receive voluntary contribution from those that gave it not freely By Dennis Hollister They are all grievous revolters walking with slanders they are brasse and iron and are all corrupters reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit As a fountain casteth out her waters so she casteth out her wickednesse Violence and spoil is heard in her From the least of them even unto the greatest every one is given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly And as Troops of Robber wait for a man So the company of Priests murther in the way by consent for they work lewdnesse LONDON Printed for the Author 1658. THE HARLOTS VAIL REMOVED Friends AFter I received your feigned accusations from the the mouths of your Messengers and under one of their hands I did with much faithfulness and plainness return you an answer which if you had read amongst you and observed I intended no further contest But when through deceit and hypocrisie it was not permited to be read I began to preâ—â—â—â— for the presse and to lay open your deceipt which so far exceeded yet with so much tenderness did I proceed that for your sakes I delayed the printing of it about a year waiting if God would give you the sight of your evil and repentance for the same But perceiving you to wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived setting your mouths against heaven and in your deceit to glory I gave order for its Printing but not to be made publick till my further order Neither did I suffer mâ— books being printed to be published in Bristol no not in my own family nor among my near relations till by the hand of a faithful Messenger I had conveyed them amongst your selves and into the hands of many amongst you to whom of a truth my love was hoping that upon the perusal thereof your consciences might be awakened and the witness of God therein raised and so your hearts not being hardened his voice ye had heard and to repentance had you been brought by him who is come and calleth unto it and so your sin had been covered and by him forgiven and by me not permitted to be published but in oblivion had it been buried for ever But after I had waited several dayes and found that notwithstanding anguish and torment were upon you who in your consciences were smitten and wounded so that some durst not read my book but presently returned it others beginning to read could not but laid it aside others reading it shed more tears then they read lines as themselves have said and yet against it hardened themselves and repented not And others reading it and reproved by it fell into much rage and fury and therein publishing it themselves amongst their rude companions endeavouring to raise lies and falsehood against it I say when these and such like effects appeared and not till then I consented to the making my books publick by which I perceive the sence of guilt and so of torment being encreased you grew exceeding angry and wrathful But if ye had stood in that which convinced its like I had no longer in publick view contested because I do neither desire nor endeavour your destruction but your salvation God is witness Neither in a spirit of anger and bitterness am I dealing with you whose welfare I am seeking not your hurt But in the fear of the Lord am I faithfully dealing with you of whose state and condition I am not ignorant not daring to use flattering and deceitful speeches as others do crying peace and safety to that against which I know the wrath and righteous judgement of God is near to be revealed but in much plainness in a spirit of soberness and moderation do I tell you the truth and whether ye will hear or forbear the time is at hand in which ye must witness it notwithstanding to hide your selves and cover your shame ye are striving to recover your Vail and vindicate your selves And having given heed to many false seducing and lying spirits ye have writen a book for that purpose which I received from you by the hand of a stranger supposing the conscience ye had of the deceit and falshood ye therein used so far prevailed that none among your selves could appear to deliver it But your Book I have perused and do find that your business therein is not to answer mine entituled The skirits of the Whore discovered But by subtilty and deceit the spirit of falshood and lying to cover and vail your selves from the stroak of that truth which by demonstration and plainnesse is therein declared and manifested against you So that although I had much rather be quiet waiting on the Lord than to be thus contending yet for the sake of truth and further manifesting of the deceit and hypocresie which abounds among you I am once more by you constrained to appear in the publick war which in this mighty day of the Lords power is begun between the Beast the fals-Prophet and the Lamb. 1. And first I must tell you that notwithstanding 1 advised and warned you in my former book
in which ye make sore complaint people will rather continue than remove to you since your skirts are discovered 5. That ye are offended with me for using bitter and violent expressions towards you in which ye say nothing of the spirit of Christ appears but the contrarie And that ye are otherwise taught then to render evil for evil and railing for railing but rather to blesse having the example and precept of Christ for it yet notwithstanding your book abounds with â—ayling reviling and evil speaking And where ye cannot amongst your selves frame and make up enough ye endeavour the best ye are able to take up something from others whom ye do not name and perhaps I never saw and cast the reproach of it upon me telling me of Luciferian pride folly impudencie malignity untruths c. All which is the proper fruit of the corrupt fountain from whence it came to which it is again returned But by this the sober Reader may take notice how directly ye are found in the steps of your fathers the Scribes and Pharisees who crucified the just one and said and did not c. And what use it is ye make of Christ his precepts and examples that is to say to make them a veil or covering under pretence of which to hide your selves in your ungodly and wicked practices whiles in words ye would seem to condemn it just â—e the harlot whose words are smooth and pleasant but her pathes lead to the chambers of death and how can ye say nothing in my book appears like the Spirit of Christ when so much of it is the very words of Scripture which ye say is the word of God and the Scripture saith the father the word and holy Ghost are one are they one and not a like are they one and yet contrary or are not ye rather in blindness and confusion understanding neither what ye say or of what ye affirm To your Reader ye expresse your trouble and griese that I a man once famous for professing the truth did upon the coming of the people called Quakers own and plead for them and by so doing drew many a poor soul out of the wayes of Christ as ye say into the wayes of those miserable deluded people To which I reply that I did upon the first publishing of the glad tydings of salvation by the Ministerie of righteousness obtain mercy to own and embrace the same and by it was turned to God out of the wayes of miserie delusion and deceipt in which ye yet abide is true But that I drew any out of the wayes of Christ is false and from your father by whom the eyes of your minds being blinded ye wander and by him are led in the dark and blind pathes of lying deceipt and delusion towards death and destruction And therefore ye tell the Reader I prepared a letre with this inscription for the people called independents and by my subtilty engaged two of your brethren to present it to the Church which is an absolute lye at which ye could not but blush had ye not a whoores forhead for no such inscription at all was upon any letter of mine But for the hands of Robert Simpson and Robert Purnel c. Neither do I know any subtilty used to engage them farther than in plainnes and honesty to read it in their hearing and demand their freedom to comunicate it to those who sent the charge by them to me and this ye term subtility and deceipt when the subtilty and designed deceipt is among your selves who kept my defence from being communicated to those for whom it was intended fearing as ye confesse it might draw away more from amongst you And this was no disappointment at all of my ends neither was I enraged at it as ye say But it is another lye and your torment thereby is encreased because opportunity was thereby administred to discover your skirts and lay open your shame which otherwise its like had not been And whereas ye tell your Reader ye cannot without being guilty of my sin let my folly go unreproved but have set forth these plain words of truth and sobernes c. This is like the rest a refuge of lyes for neither true nor sober it is but full of lyes and deceipt of which I know no page free And so ye need not trouble your selves with the guilt of my sin ye have enough of your own And it is plain and true that the lyers are without and for the lake c. which is your portion from him who will clear the innocent c. with whom ye are not companions in tribulation nor are grieved for the afflictions of Joseph nor sensible of this day of Jacobs trouble nor know the welfare of Sion nor the faith of the Gospel nor the testimonie of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecie And so I come to your book it self In the first line of which ye demand Did I never read that the Church of Christ in Scripture is resembled to a natural body wherein are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one Spirit and say that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so in the mistical bodie c. I answer nay I never read such a thing in Scripture but can read you who put this queston as blind as the men of Sodom that saw not the way for where in Scripture is the Church of Christ resembled to a natural body I say a natural bodie in which are many infirmities Again where doth the Scripture say that in the Church of Christ there are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one spiritâ— Is there any unitie in the Church of Christ and not by the Spirit And are not all who are by the Spirit united together by the same Spirit united to the head And is not the Lord that Spirit in which the vail is removed But Babilon is your Citie your first building is confusion and had ye not thus exprest your selves ye had not so clearly manifested your gross ignorance both of the true Church her members the head and the Spirit But having thus done ye apply your selves to your blind mistaken conclusions drawn from what before ye had ignorantly propounded And say that as in the natural bodie there may be many infirmities so the mystical body also may be subject to distempers c. To which I say In your tittle page ye stile your selves the Church of Christ though ye never proved it but your language is the harlots and not the Churches In Scripture I read of a natural bodie and a spiritual bodie but never of a mystical bodie so exprest that comes from the Harlot But if by mystical bodie ye mean your selves then I easily grant it is indeed subject to destempers enough which ye number up and say is undigested humours want of closing with truth and receiving untruth windie
To which I say There was a time in which many false witnesses were brought against him who was the truth and the light but they agreed not And when by the truth ye are examined it will be found that ye also are far from agreeing in testimony for proving what your selves affirme if your own testimony were admitted in your own case which it is not Ye say ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words And what words are they Not the same in the charge which ye say is verbatim but is much otherwise and so the charge is fall'n and false as the Reader may see And who are they that will affirme and set their hands to it Are they the whole company or but a part If it be the whole then many or most of you will affirme and set your hands to that which themselves have confest they never heard If it be but a part and not the whole then that which yee have already said is altogether false and untrue and your testimony invalid For what is said is said by the whole or else those that signed it are in this as in other things abhominable lyars Again in what ye say ye will affirme and set your hands unto there appears much uncertainty for ye say I clapt my hand on the book or table but on which I perceive ye are ignorant And ye say I said that booke or Scripture Now if ye so well remember the manner of speech as ye say ye doe it is much ye cannot remember the matter But having before accused me for saying the Scriptures were a blinde to soules and a plague to the Land Now ye say It was the booke or Scriptures that I said was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England Manifesting your selves to be at a losse and in confusion not able to say whether it were the Book or the Scriptures or what it was for indeed it was neither And so the charge or accusation is quite fallen and by your selves brought to nought And why are these words viz. one of the greatest plagues c. in England now added being left out in the place where ye say ye did insert verbatim Is here no designed subtilty and deceipt Is all proved Are here no tittles nor syllables neglected in the proof Or is what ye have published like to be true or fit to be believed Let the Reader consider it But ye say some of you sitting over against me it's like at the Table do well remember c. But why had ye not told me who these some were that sate over against me and do remember it For I know but four that were wont to sit with me at the Table and with three of them have I spoken neither of which could to my face say or affirme they ever heard me speak such things and then the some is but one and that is an hireling too a Diviner a deceitful worker that daubeth with untempered morter and cries peace peace to that to which the Lord speaks no peace and his testimony is little worth for if ye say he sate over against me at the Table when I spake such words Jane Frye contradicts him who is the only person besides himself that ever I heard or could learn had the shamelesse confidence to say she heard me speak these things with whom I had conference in the presence of other witnesse and demanded where it was spoke she replyed in mine owne house at a meeting I cold her it was much many others heard it not as well as she To which she replyed it was after the meeting was done and I was risen from the Table and stood out in the roome and there clapt my hand on the Booke and spake as before And that her selfe with her sister Hassard and her sister Anne Davis went out into the streets and bewailed it which I knowing not to be true sent to Anne Davis to enquire the truth of it by a relation of hers who answered that she never heard me speak such words nor any thing like it So that it is evident false witnesse do not agree for ye say some of you sitting over against me which must needs be at the Table upon which or upon the book ye say I clapt my hand when I spake But she saith it was after the meeting was done and I was gone from the Table in which is no agreement She said Anne Davis with her selfe and another went into the streets and bewailed it but Anne Davis denies that ever she heard it She said standing out in the room I clapt my hand upon the booke and said the Scriptures were a plague c. But ye say I clapt my hand upon the book or table and said the book or Scriptures were blinde and a plague but cannot agree whether it was a Book or a Table a book or Scripture And so are all in confusion being led by a lying spirit and able by agreement to prove nothing Besides ye say the book or Scriptures but in the copy delivered to me it was said the Scriptures of truth in which is no agreement Besides all this one of you being asked if ever he heard me speak those words answered that hee heard me speak to this effect That the Scriptures as men goe to worke with it making it a pattern of all manner of vice and wickednesse was one of the greatest plagues c. And being demanded then why ye had not laid the charge in the very words that were spoken he was silent as to that and said he had already purchased jealousie from some in the Church as one that was in danger c. And this I have under the hand of him to whom it was spoken Now let all to whom true judgement is known judge what differing testimonie here is and how like it appears to that of old in which no agreement could be against the innocent And how desperately-wicked ye appear under a cloak of Religion accusing for something but cannot manifest for what but in it contradict your selves And in some things Jane Frye is nearer the matter than the other 59. or thereabouts who false witnesses are found because after a meeting was ended in which Thomas Ewins had been speaking about that Idol called Divinity and the people mostly gone and I rose from the Table and standing neer the middle of the room did there say and declare that that accursed thing called the body of Divinity was a plague to the land or words to that effect of which I told you before though ye wickedly shut your eyes and not observed it because it was the truth And were it not so it had been one with that spirit to which ye have taken heed But suppose credit vvere to be given to such a generation vvho in testimony do not agree but are proved as before c. yet to the Reader vvould I say vvhat
probability of truth can be in vvhat they say I affirmed viz. That the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England as if truth could be a blinde and a plague to soules vvhen it is a lying spirit is so to yours And notvvithstanding I never made a trade of the Scriptures nor preach't for hire nor divined for money as others do nor ever coveted any mans gold or silver or apparel amongst you nor accepted thereof vvhen by some I was earnestly prest thereunto but on the contrary have administred something largely of these things amongst you Yet from the Scriptures did I daily discourse as opportunity I had and by it have convinced many amongst you of your pride formality and other evils so that once ye were very much awakened and brought to some sense of your condition after ye had been too much taken with the doctrine of some called Notionists which it may be is the same ye now call Ranters whose principles and doctrines by the Scriptures I did withstand and oppose and with much labour and sore wrestlings was I instrumental to deliver you out of their mouths to whom many of you were become a prey I say much awakened ye were and the spirit which convinceth of sin began to work until another Ministry of unrighteousness came which for the wages of iniquity taught you to erre and when ye were convinced of sin and troubled within and saw your filth and wickedness appear by which your peace was broken and your consciences awakened and true judgement took hold on the transgressor prest you to believe lyes and shut out that which troubled and said it was temptations of the Devil and that your sin was done away and that God saw it not that it was all pardoned daubing with untempered morter crying peace peace to that to which no peace is spoken from God by which your bonds were made strong and the hands of evil doers strengthened that they turned not nor repented which wicked doctrine of the Devil by the Scripture I opposed and withstood perswading you to the last not to build on the sand but come down to the rock and told you your peace was but security which the Devil 's goods may attain and that all your assurance in which ye gloried was but vain confidence which in the time of tryal would deceive you and so far did I dispute it with you dailie by the Scripture that Thomas Ewins your publique Preacher told me I dasht his comforts and weakened his hands so that he was not able to preach but when into the Pulpit he was to go fear and trembling sometimes took hold upon him so that if necessity had not been upon him to speak the people being assembled he should not have spoken a word and told me of retiring to his former Calling and leaving the City with much more Others who loved to have smooth things spoken that they might be at ease in Zion who put far away the evil day complained as he said that all the comforts and joy they received and gathered from his Ministry all the day was dasht and broken by me in the evening Others complaining at last confest I led you safely though not comfortably and all was because the Devils Kingdom was disturbed and his goods not suffered to be at peace and in your consciences do you know that by the Scriptures I demonstrated what I said to which I was as true as any amongst you whatsoever And if in this ye shall say I boast remember it s you that have compelled me and if ye have a mind to gain-say or contradict any particular of it do it honestly plainly and down-rightly not coverty and deceitfullie as ye have done before that when I come to reply I may have something like as from men to speak unto and not as from a company of foolish tost children For although to this was I was at first averse yet by the power and presence of the living God shall I be free and able to quench your thorns scatter your deceit and remove your veil and discover the Harlots skirts But friends suppose all ye say were granted and that I had indeed whilst I was amongst you entertained and asserted many principles contrary to truth and said that the Scriptures of truth were a blinde to souls and one of the greatest plagues of the land which I have and utterly do deny And suppose it were granted an error and a very great sin so to say and affirm yet was not all this done in your meeting whilst I was one and amongst you and not then reproved nor gain sayed And was it not then time for all that feared the Lord and loved the truth to depart out of such an Assembly in which such things are permitted to be entertained and published without rebuke Was there any safety in being one with such an Harlot though she call her self a Church And are not these things spots whilst the true Church of Christ which is his glorious body is without spot or wrinckle Surely little cause have any who know the truth and love and believe in the light to be grieved or sad'ned that any be drawn from such an Assembly and happy for me was the day in which the light manifested you and from amongst you separated me to another people where no such principles are entertained nor permitted to be vented And for mine own part I do freely declare to all the world that since by the power of the good shepherd I was gathered from amongst you I am fan from entertaining or uttering any such things but do dearly own the Scriptures of truth as given by inspiration and see them of great use and service And if I received and entertained such principles contrary to truth amongst you with you I also left them to whom the Scripture is of little use more then to talk of and trade with for an advantage and by wresting and corrupting the same make use of it as a veil to cover your deceipt and filthiness but the life thereof do not witness But I have not yet done with your testimony in pag. 13. where ye say ye insert your admonition verbatim Ye charge me with asserting in the Church doctrines contrary to truth one of which is that the Scriptures are not the Word of God and every tittle of this ye say ye have proved notwithstanding ye have not proved any thing of it to be true but only ask if I did not at a meeting at the Red-lodge in the Garden-house before near twenty people say so one of you being by c. Truly the Harlots fore-head is very hard if at this she do not blush What! Lay a general charge and say ye will prove and have proved every tittle and yet can say nothing but ask me if it were not so And in pag 12. 13. ye lay this thing to be asserted in the Church
the knowledge ye had of Christ shall profit you nothing and that your habitation was in deceipt and thorough deceit ye refuse to know the Lord c. Ye say in this thing ye did not violently oppose and then its like ye confess it as knowing it was the truth and why then had ye not repented Ye say some of you did often tell me that your comforts stood not so much in a knowing as in an acknowledgement of Christ to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures and that ye own no other knowing of Christ then understandingly to know him in his person without you c. which is the sum of most of the 19. page And so have declared and clearly manifested the ground and foundation of all your Religion comforts joy and peace to be one and the same with the foundation of the Religion of the Pope Jesuits drunkards swearers prophane ignorant and superstitious people of the world namely an acknowledgement of Christ without you to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures And so the devils in this particular excel you who did not only acknowledge him but knew him who he was Jesus the Son of God And concerning the Ministers of Christ which those of your literal profession opposed and persecuted cryed out these are the servants of the most high God But the comfort joy and peace of the children of light stands not in your ground of general acknowledgement of Christ without them to be what the Scriptures declare him to be but in a particular knowledge of him as by the spirit of holiness he is revealed within them whereby they come to witness him the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and so Paul knew him and so to know him was and is eternal life and witnessed so to be by those to whom he is so revealed But this is a mysterie hid and unknown to all that lie in the death and never come to witness the first resurrection but declare the ground of their comforts to stand in that in which the wicked of the world with them are one And this is not to slight and nullifie that glorious person in heaven as ye falselie say many of our way do scoffing and jeering at you for speaking of the person of Christ and thinking to be saved by the blood of him that dyed at Jerusalem which is but your false accusations and slanders and proceeds from the same fountain and spirit of envy and wickedness as Ralph Farmers bundles of lies did in which he and ye are one and at an agreement for scoffing and jeering lying and false accusing being the works of darkness in which your generation are exercised is denyed by all that vvalk in the light vvhich is our vvay and the vvay everlasting But to declare against your follie and your thinkings to be saved by the acknovvledging of Christ vvithout ye whilst of him and his life ye are ignorant living in wickedness lying hypocrisie and deceipt hating the light and erring from the right way is no error but love to your souls who pretend honour to the person but hate the light of Christ and know not his Gospel which is the power of God nor his way which is everlasting and lives nor his Ordinances which are living spiritual and true not traditional invented and carnal The consideration of which together with the lying spirits to which ye give heed might justly cause you to mind whether ye are not those that stumble at Christ the corner stone and do cause others to stumble at him who is now come and witnessed in life power and spirit and living demonstrations thereof are given and manifested in thousands who by experience have known and felt the dove-like spirit of Christ of which ye speak though both to you and others who live in envie murthering the just and betraying the innocent pretending honour to the name but hating the light and persecuting the power of Christ This is hid and ye say ye will not believe it And if those that owned and seem to honour the Scripture in which Moses wrote of Christ did not believe but crucified him when in flesh he was made manifest no marvel then if ye do not believe who call the verie words of Scripture in which to you I spake page 21. of my former book strange and unchristian expressions surelie ye are strangelie erred from the way of truth and true wisdom who live in such confusion and deceit one while calling the Scriptures the Word of God and rule of life when by wresting it ye can serve your lusts but when by it ye are reproved for your wickedness then ye call it strange and unchristian expressions and say The Lord rebuke your railing as if the Scripture which ye term the Word of God and Rule of life were railing and the Prophets and holy men of God which gave it forth were railers because it bears true testimonie against your wicked wayes as well as others for the words I mentioned are recorded Isa 57. 4. Psal 2.1 2 c. and in some other Scriptures as the Reader will perceive that reads my former Book But ye say its easie to heap up good words right or wrong Alas poor blind people by what blind guides are ye led Is it strange and unchristian expressions and yet good vvords Are they good vvords and yet vvrong What exceeding confusion are the children of darknesse brought into in this day of the Lords povver in vvhich light is risen out of obscuritie and the Lords glory appeared c. In pag. 21. Ye say Though some of our way have shouted and cryed Hosannah holy holy King of Israel to James Nayler c. To which I reply When will ye be weary of lying and false accusing which is the work of the Devill for none of our way ever so cried to any man But that which is our way is the truth and the life and is everlasting the light and life of men from which whosoever turns aside forsakes the right way and turns to lying vanities as some in this day of the Lords visitation have done who must bear their burthen But ye are easily seen of what generation ye are who watch for an occasion to speak evill of the way of Truth and the Saints and Children of light who in the fear of the Lord do walk and in his Councell abide which to you is not known who are glad with an advantage by any means to speak evill of the way of Truth and the people who being gathered into it are for its sake become strangers in the earth and to their familiar friends and aliens to their mothers sons as all their fathers were But in this again are ye and Ralph Farmer one and by one and the same spirit are ye guided to whom it is known that those that cried as aforesaid are not of our way but denied and witnessed against before
must ye be and neither root nor branch shall be left And the false Prophets that see vanity and divine lies and all that imbrace and receive them who must not be in the assembles of Gods people are not in a capacity as they say for those that feare the name of the Lord to converse withall Neither is dried stubble in a capacity to contend with those in whom the spirit of judgment and burning is left thereby they be both scalded and burned But Robert Purnell and Robert Simpson were it not meet for you to take liced beware lest whiles ye pretend a Commission from God to admonish others for backsliding who are not at all drawn back but are of those that believe to the salvation of their souls who for the hope set before them doe endure the Crosse despise the shame and with much patience through many tribulations the race doe run and through good report and evil report as deceivers and yet true do passe pressing on if by any meanes they may attain to the resurrection of the dead and to apprehend that for which they are apprehended of Christ Jesus Ye your selves be not found in Satans work and indeed gone back by many degrees into the world and the pollutions thereof being intangled and overcome by that which once ye seemed in a measure to have escaped and so your latter end become worse then your beginning And therefore to you or to one of you I say do not eate and drinke with the drunken do not fill your selves with wine and ftrong drink nor spend the creation of God upon your lusts Do not spend your time out of the feare of the Lord in pleasure and wantonnesse in lightnesse and vanity abusing the servants of the Lord For he is at the door and ye know him not that will cut you asunder except ye repent and all your inventions traditions foolish customes and carnall washings will not hide nor help you And this is a warning to those of you that forget God and cast his law which is light behinde your backs to consider lest he teare you in pieces and there be none to deliver you who as unsavourie salt are become whose ill savour is gone abroad from Alehouses and Taverns too much frequented sporting your selves with the enemies of God with which ye now begin to appear as one rather than to be grieved for the afflictions of Joseph or to become companions of those who for witnessing the power and life of Jesus do suffer by the world the generation of Vipers as ever they did of old And this is all the fruit I know that your invented washings have brought you to and yet for this time I do very much spare one of you But why are Robert Simpson and Thomas Ewins so much troubled that my letters to each of them are made publique for what is published was written to them many moneths before without an intent to publish it and in all that time which one of them acknowledgeth was above a yeare no answer was given in word or writing nor any word spoken to me about it by them testifying dislike as if all were quiet and well But now it 's made publique and brought to light and their deeds seen and openly reproved how angry do they appear crying out of wrong lies c. and after me pour their floods of contempt reproach and scorn notwithstanding under their hands it may appear I was before called their honoured Brother and when of worldly honours I could accept though I did not as others seek it and when into his mouth I could freely put Thomas Ewins to me cryed peace and in my absence declared he had little or no encouragement to abide in Bristol were it not for me But since to the light I have been turned and by it convinced of the blindness and falseness of your minds and worships and could not put into his mouth as before hovv doth he bite with the teeth and prepare war against me though his weapons appear too weak and carnall to prevail against which the bowe is in strength and the Reader whose eyes are opened will easily perceive that had not the things been true which to each of them I writ and not at all to be gainsaid nor contradicted they would in all that time either in words or writing plead their own innocency against me who had so much wronged them as now they pretend But being very true and not to be gainsaid the subtilest beast in the field it's like perswades them to be quiet that it be not noised abroad but in oblivion kept But since beyond their expectation it is come to light and they cannot prevent it some course if it be possible must be taken that it be not believed And therefore how falsly soever accused it must be of lyes falshood and folly though themselves feel the power of it standing in truth and wisdome and have not told the Reader in what the folly and falshood lies But by all the means they are able labour to recover a veil though but little have either they or you done more then to ensnare your selves in your own vvorks whose webb is not become a garment neither do your works profit for your works are works of vanity But how comes it to passe that my letters were true and not to be contradicted before they vvere published but are not so novv Why onely thus our skirts are discovered our sepulchre is opened and our nakednesse is novv made manifest that people as vve passe the street point us out Notorious and at us vvag the head so that before the people that are not vvilfully blinde vve and our povverless hypocritical profession vvhich stands in vvords and forms not in spirit and povver are like to receive but little honour Novv because they have vvritten severally I shall reply particularly And first to Robert Simpson in vvhom me thinks I see most honesty though it be clouded and covered vvith much deceit and hypocrisie vvhich the light reproves And had I not a desire very much to spare him for the honesties sake the second stroak vvould exceed the first And because I perceive his main vvork as vvell as yours is to seek a veile of deceipt under vvhich to hide himselfe from the stroke of truth and to attain it spends himselfe in many light vaine and angry words which have little weight I shall not trouble my selfe nor the Reader in speaking much to it for of it selfe it falls yet I would not that he should so often take the name of the Lord in vaine as he doth in the beginning of what he speaks for the Lord will not hold him guiltless But in page 29. he saith If the charge I laid upon him were so indeed how sad were his condition Well might his countenance be changed and his thoughts trouble him To which I reply That though he hath laboured till he saith he hath forgotten himselfe to
deceit I call a testifying from the Lord And it 's apparent it reacht him and his bottome was stirred up to give forth such filthy unsavoury words more like a persecuter then a Minister of Christ so that he may well blush to write his own folly and confusion for me his words reach not But he would devise a thing of his own and make a little Logick as he calls it to shew his skill and to evade the thing in hand And when he hath uttered his abhominable lyes asks is this good Logick I say it is his own and not being good he may be ashamed of it for they that read his lines may read his folly He saith in my letter I endeavour to parallel her with Paul and her sufferings with Pauls sufferings him with Pauls persecutors All which is so notoriously false and from the father of lyes that were he not past feeling a man would marvail how without blushing he can write such plain lyes and untruths when nothing like such a thing appears in my letter to him as the Reader may see In which letter I do not so much as once mention her name much lesse do I endeavour to parallel her with Paul or her sufferings with Pauls sufferings But that which I did was to reprove Thomas Ewins for his unsavoury words and practices in opposing the truth and them that come to witnesse against his deceit whom he threatned with Bridewell with whipping c. And by his fruits I tryed him according to the Scriptures found him out of the practice of the true Ministers of Christ and directly in the steps and practices of the enemies of Christ and his Gospel and therefore plainly told him it was the Devill that cast the Saints into prison It was wretched Pilate that scourged Jesus It was those Masters whose gain came in by divination joyning with the rude multitude that carryed Paul and Silas before the Magistrates and caused them to be beaten and cast into prison It was Jesus that told his Disciples they must be so used by the world the generation of vipers c. It was Paul the able Minister of the Spirit and not of the Letter that proved himselfe the Minister of God in patience in tumults in stripes in imprisonments c. But it was Thomas Ewins a Minister of the letter and not of the Spirit that is threatning the servants of God witnesses of Jesus with stripes with whips with Bridewel Now let all that read but honestly consider hovv from these expressions and the like a man vvho hath any fear of God vvithin him can be so knovvingly wicked as to affirme in print that I endeavour to compare her with Paul and her sufferings with his And hovv vvofully it is like by vvicked art he can corrupt the Scriptures and bely the Prophets and Apostles and holy men of God that gave them forth vvho are deceased that dares to affirme things so directly false and untrue as done and published by a man vvhom he knovvs to be yet alive and able enough to see and discover his vvickednesse And hovv blinde and like to fall into the ditch are all those that vvill believe or receive for truth all that comes from so false a speaker vvho I might easily prove is far out of Pauls condition vvho vvas a Minister of Christ and Preacher of the Gospel and called to the vvork But Thomas Ewins hath denyed that he is a Minister either called constituted or ordained And therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Paul vvas sent to turn the Gentiles from darknesse to the light But Thomas Ewins saith to bid people turn to the light vvithin is to cause them to cease from believing in the person of Christ And he is no Preacher of that namely to bid people turn to the light Therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Again Paul and the Ministers of Christ in meeknesse instructed those vvhich opposed themselves But Thomas Ewins vvhen one came to oppose him in his deceit said It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell Paul vvent into the Temple and Synagogues to declare against them that held up the Idols Temple and shadovvs from vvhence he vvas haled out imprisoned and abused But Thomas Ewins stands up in the chiefe place of the assembly and Pharisee like he stands praying in the Idols Temple and some that bear vvitnesse against him he threatneth vvith vvhips and Bridevvel and some are haled out and imprisoned for he confesseth pag. 58. in the margin that one is novv imprisoned for disturbing him Therefore Thomas Ewins and Paul are not alike Again Paul vvas not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel and to turn to the light But Thomas Ewins doth either baptize as he calls it that is to say wash the outside of the people in brooks and rivers when the inside is full of hypocrisie deceit and wickedness not being sent or else he was sent to do it and from the light doth hee turn And of that Gospel is he no Preacher therefore no preacher of that Gospel which Paul preached Again it is the work of the Devil the god of the World to blind the minds of those that belive not in the light lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them and into their hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God And Thomas Ewins is no Preacher of the light but lest the light which God commanded to shine out of darkness should shine into peoples hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he labours hard to blind their minds with prejudice against the light telling them it is pernicious doctrine they that preach it shut up the Kingdom and take people from believing in the person of Christ Therefore is Thomas Ewins a Minister of Satan and a Co-worker with the Devil in blinding peoples minds and turning them from the light And now all this being considered will it be unequal for me to couple him with Ralph Farmer though he would couple me with him and say he wondred that I and they who are so different in other things can all agree to cast stones at him which is a lye for I joined not with Ralph Farmer to cast stones at him whose blood-thirsty spirit I do deny and with it have I no union but in soberness and seriousness I write the truth concerning him But he asketh me if I be not joined a brother in bitterness with him that is to say R. F. I answer nay I am no brother in bitterness with him but all brotherhood and affinity with that bitter envious bloody persecuting spirit with which ye both are acted and ruled I do utterly renounce and disclaim who in my measure have unity with that meek and gentle spirit which with God is of great price and therefore hated and persecuted by Satans instruments but
I perceive there is something in what I writ that hath discovered his deceit and he is much hurt that his works of darkness are laid open Surely there is an arrow that hath reacht the heart of the Kings enemie he saith I writ a Letter to him about a year ago and now published it to the world in such a subtile manner as that he who reads my title page would verily believe he were some dreadful Persecutor Alas poor man how is he handled and troubled that his works of darkness are made manifest and his skirts discovered Oh! Had the deceit been hid and the wicked persecuting spirit been covered he would have born it but to have it published that Passers by behold and take notice of it this he likes not but is sorely troubled and wounded at it And did he not on this consideration lest deceit should be made manifest conceal the answers to the Antiquaeries but suffered them to be printed long time after he received the answers as if no answer at all had been given to them Poor blind man he is of a large principle and can bear with those that think vain traditions sufficient and not differ from those that are thorough paced in other things But to be plainly and truly dealt withal to have the deeds of darkness reproved and manifested not to daub not to sow pillows not to cry peace to them that go on in their imaginations But to reprove sharply to lay open the skirts of the Whore to cry aloud and not to spare but declare against transgression and sin and to reprove it in the gate O this is accompted harsh the false Prophet cannot endure it it disturbs his peace This with him is not modest but Ralph Farmer who he confesseth jerks jeers quibbles and scoffs and utters such words as he look upon to be the fruits of a frothy brain and the product of a spleenish temper which he saith might better become the mouth of a Stage-player then the pen of a Minister is more modest then I. But how so Why he doth not name me one may read his words and yet not know whom he meaneth but saith he you have named me ye have laid me open ye have published only name in your Frontispiece which whoso reads will think I a 〈◊〉 a Persecutor Oh! how is he troubled at this that deceit and wickednesse should be brought to day-light and that they that go about to hide their work in the dark should be laid open And this was the condition of his generation all along they could not endure to have their deeds discovered and therefore it was that the servants of God who were sent to bear witness against them found such hard and cruel measure which he is now filling up who have all one purse he hath cast in his lot amongst them and if his councel be taken one must to the whip and another to the prison as he saith for disturbing him and hath published it to his own shame and what disturbs him he hath manifested but is not he an evil doer that hates the light and will not bring his deeds to it to be tryed least the light should reprove him but he is no Preacher of the light To which I say the day hath manifested him and others and no veil nor deceitful covering can any longer hide them from the manifestation of the light though they can bear with one another even in those things which his own words bespeak quite contrary and not differ yet they who fear the Lord cannot join with you but as the Lord calls them to it must bear witness against you all and the Lord is now gathering his people from amongst you and he is your friend that deals plainly with you and tells you the truth though ye may account me your enemy for so doing and say I have acted like Judas But what have I done Why published your deceit openly and discovered the skirts of the Whore and now her children bestir them to recover her veil but all in vain for all your veils of deceit must be pluckt off and naked must ye be and open rebuke is better then secret love and those that deal uprightly cannot cry peace to the wicked And seriously did I write and was not immodest towards him nor you though ye have all vented out your selves against me and bidâ—ne be ashamed and confounded but neither ashamed nor confounded am I nor shall I be for bearing witness to the truth against all your deceit and with Ralph Farmer may Thomas Ewins be yoked or coupled for he confesseth R. F. gave him the right hand of fellowship and in his steps is he found he in his light and the other in his the one straight in his principles and the other large in his yet in this ye differ not Ralph Farmer denies the light and speaks and writes against it which none of the Prophets Apostles or holy men of God ever did but it was their glory even that which was prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the Gentiles and so doth Thomas Ewins Ralph Farmer is found among that generation that preach for hire and devine for money and so is Thomas Ewins Ralph Farmer stands praying in the Synagogues which some call a Church hath the chief place in the Assembly and is called of men Master and so it is with Thomas Ewins some of those that come to bear witness against Ralph Farmer are imprisoned sent to Bridewel and cruelly whipt and many strips laid upon them being the same usage that the Messengers and witnesses of God in former ages received from the adulterous and wicked generation of ignorant soul-murthering Teachers Rulers and persecutors and one of those that came to bear witness against Thomas Ewins he confesseth is now in prison and he gives his judgement against another that it was fitter such an idle Huswife were sent to Bridewell and whipt c. But saith Thomas Ewins I did it but once upon which you conclude I am no Minister of the Gospel but a persecutor of the truth I answer And well I may for he that is a persecutor of the truth is no Preacher of the Gospel and he that lusts after a thing hath committed the thing in his heart and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh and a clear fountain sendeth not forth such filthy stuff but by such fruits is the devouring wolfe known And for that that he pleads it was but once I say Cain killed his brother but once Herod slew the innocent children but once and Judas betrayed his Master but once and yet sin did so lye at their doors that the just judgements and vengeance of the Lord they could not escape Again Ralph Farmer speaks and writes against those people called Quakers whom he revile slanders and belies and seeks occasion to speak evil of them as was the manner of blood-thirsty persecutors and Thomas Ewins