were good as they stood related to the end wherefore they were commanded instance the Worship at Jerusalem and the Service there and the place where God had promis'd to place his Name yet Christ said as foreknowing the End of all the aforesaid Worship which appertained to that Covenant and therefore he said to the Woman Joh. 4.23 but the Hour cometh and now is when the true Worshipers shall Worship the Father in Spirit and Truth for the Father seeks such to Worship him and 24. vers God is a Spirit and they that Worship him must Worship him in Spirit and Truth 2. Cor. 3.17 From hence it is clearly evident for this was before he was offered up that then was the time that neither at Jerusalem nor in the Mountain of Samaria it shall be only said they worship the Father though at Jerusalem was the place Deut. 1.1 2 5. of Worship formerly and the Jews held it then and the Worship was that which was commanded to wit Sacrifices and Offerings and many other legal Services which belonged to them to perform according to the command of God and if Swearing or Oaths was any part of the Service of God as in that Covenant as we with A. S. do grant Deut. 10.20 You shall fear the Lord and serve him and Swear by his Name then I say that Swearing amongst the rest of the Worship is included but saith Christ neither at Jerusalem nor this Mountain but they that worship shall Worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth so that the time was then but came on more afterwards to be fulfilled that both the place and the worship and Service that belonged to the place they should no more Worship the Father with and in but in the Spirit and in the Truth and this may be in Answer to that which A. S. makes a great adoe with in his Book how that Christ said Swear not at all it was before his Death and therefore they that Argue saith he That swearing was prohibited only and ended in Christ's death cannot plead that all Oaths were prohibited but that command of Christ Mat. 5. because he spake this in his Life time I say âo did he this Jo. 20.21 22 23. And he may as well Argue that Christ destroyed the place of Worship at Jerusalem and the Worship also and came not to fulfill it as he saith he did and why but because he spoke this before he was Crucified and so did he Swear not at all and why may not A.S. conclude with us that this is a commodious place to interpret and explain Christ's meaning in those words in the 5 th Mat. 23 and 24. and so the Words may truly be understood thus ye have heard that it hath been said of old time thou shalt not forswear thy sâlf but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oaths Exod 20.7 and Deut. 5.11 but the Hour cometh and now is when I say unto you that say more then the Law hath said Swear not at all neither ây Heaven nor by the Earth but let your Yea be yea and your Nay nay for whatsoever is more then these cometh of Evil and yet whatever may or can be said A. S. will needs conclude That all Swearing is not forbidden and why because it hath been the praââice of holy Men and also an Angel this Argument is of little force so was it the practice of holy Men to offer Sacrifice and burn Incense and as for the Swearing of the Angel Dan. 12. and Revel 10.6 to prove the lawfulness of some Swearing these have been answered over and over and over again though A. S. will take no notice of it though I perceive he hath read the Arguments that have been used as Answers to these things though he will not seem to take notice nor to reply to confute the Arguments but rather minds his own and to assert what may seem to mâke for his purpose as to the matter he hath taken in Hand but as for good Men's Swearing and the Angel's Swearing if their Example would âuâtifie the lawfulness of Swearing yet they could not be any president to us who are under the Gospel of the Son that is greater then the Angels by the dispensation of whom the Law for Oaths Tythes offerings oblations and other legal Rights and Rudiments were given which Son also all the Angels of God are bid to Worship for the Apostle saith Hebr. 2.5 For unto the Angels hath he not put into subjection the World to come but that is committed unto the Son under whose Ministration and subjection we are who said Let your Yea be yea and you nay nay and speak the Truth and do the Truth and bear witness to the Truth who said Learn of me and these things we have learned of him unto whom all Power is committed for he is counted Hebr. 3.3 more worthy of Glory then Moses though Moses was faithful in his House as a Servant but Christ as a Son which is that great Prophet that Moses Prophesied of which all are to hearken unto with whom the Father is well pleased being made so much better then the Angels Hebr. 1.4 as he hath ây Inheritance obtained a more Excellent Name then they vers 5. for unto which of the Angels said he at any time thou art my Son this day I have begotten thee vers 6. Again when he bringeth the first âegotten into the World he saith let all the Angels of God Worship him of the Angels he saith he makes them minâstrâng Spirits and a Flame of Fire but unto the Son he saith thy Throne oh God is forever and ever the Scepter of Righteousness is the Scepter of thy Kingdom for if the Words spoken by Angels wer stedfast and every Transgression received a just recompence of reward how shall they escape Hebr. 2.3 who do not only neglect the command of Christ but labour to pervert through their Strengâh of their own reason the ministration of the Son who is the sum and substance of all Shadowy and Typical Ministrations and therefore A. S. and all concerned look âo it who would introduce Judaism and the Mosaical Observations upon the Neck of Christs Disciples and as Laws in his Kingdom and whether would not this prefer the Servant before the Son yea or nay and his Ministration before the Ministration of the Son though the one is not against the other but the one pointing at the other and in the latter the first is fulfilled the Truth declared the Truth spoken the Truth lived in and the Truth confessed in every matter wherein any Christian is concerned which is the sum and the matter which all Oaths in their highest and greatest Ordination could or can effect In the 40 th page of his Book he saith our Saviour saith Amen Amen 24. times in John's Gospel which he saith St. Ambrose will needs have to amount unto an Oath and he cites Apoc. 3. These things saith the Amen compares it with Isa.
natural Conscience that it is sufficient if we give heed unto it to discover Sin and turn our Minds towards God and that this Light within is the Grace of God and that it is Christ in us Answer Let all that reads that Book see if you be not Lyars and Slanderers and Perverters and are in the Generation of those false Witnesses which bore witness against Christ and here I charge you to be Lyars Where in all the Book doth he say that the Light of a natural Conscience is sufficient to guide to God if it be taken heed to or where doth it say it discovers Sin there is another Lye And where doth he say that natural Conscience is the Grace of God there is a Third Lye and where doth he say that natural Conscience is Christ in us there is a fourth Lye Be ashamed that ever you should go and present so many filthy Lyes to Authority that there is no Truth in at all Oh ye dark Minds would you be judging and prescribing what is Heresie and Blasphemy and call the Light of Christ Paganisme and Heresie But I am bold in the Name of the Lord to declare unto you and unto all the World that Christ is the true Light that hath enlightned every one that comes into the World and that this Light is spiritual and not natural and it convinceth of all Sin he shall convince the world of Sin and whoso obey this Light which shines into the Conscience it leads up to Christ and out of Sin and it turns the Mind towards God and it shines in Darkness but you dark sottish Children know it not yea you that hate it have it and it shall condemn you and when the Book of Conscience shall be opened you shall be judged for all your hard Speeches against the Truth Another thing you present to be Blasphemy and Heresie is that the Worship that is performed in England with those Ministers that sing Davids Psalms baptize Infants wear double Cuffes Boot Hose toops take Tythes say men shall never be perfect in this World and that say the Letter is the Light and the Letter is the Word and that Salvation is in the Scripture and that call Matthew Mark Luke and John the Gospel are Seducers and no Ministers of the Word but shew forth the Spirit of Error Answer All those Ministers in England which abide not in the Doctrine of Christ all those Worshippers and Worships which are Contrary to the Scripture are Heathenish and they worship they know not what and all such Worship is an Abomination to the true God and I charge you and all those that would be counted Ministers in England to prove from the Scripture where the Saints sung Davids Conditions and Psalms in Rhimes and Meeter and where is there any Scripture for baptizing of Infants and whether any of the Ministers of Christ lived in pride and Lusts of the Flesh and where any Ministers of Christ took Tythes which belonged to the first Priesthood and the first Covenant and so they that uphold the first and deny the second and the one everlasting Offering which perfects forever them that are sanctified and where doth the Scripture say that the Letter is the Word and the Light but it witnesses against you and saith God is the Word and Christ is the Light and Christ is the Gospel yea the everlasting Gospel and Matthew Mark Luke and John declared of him and here you be witnesses against your selves ye dark-minded men and I charge you that you deny the Scripture and all those who uphold those things are in the Heathenish nature without God in the World in the Earth where the Devil dwells who is an accuser of the Brethren and doth not the Scripture and they declare it who were Ministers of Christ that there were that ran after the Errour of Balaam and their Hearts were exercised with covetous Practices And were there not such that were Railers and false Accusers and blind Watchmen and greedy dumb Dogs and such as led into VVitchcraft and Anti-christs Deceivers you might as well have called Christ Paul Peter and Jude Blasphemers and Hereticks but you are made manifest to be them and in the same nature that called Christ a Blasphemer and Paul a Pestilent Fellow and a Setter forth of strange Gods and the Ministers of Christ Seditious and thou mightst as well say Christ despised a Governour when he called Herod a Fox And now blessed be the Lord the Hour of his Judgments is come and we freely declare against all Deceit both in Magistrates Priests and People as they did that wrote forth the Scripture and bear witness to his Name as they did in our Measure and we have suffered and do suffer daily by slanderous Tongues such as you have and Imprisonments and cruel Mockings and Stripes and Bonds and can truly say to the praise of his Name We bear in our Bodies the Marks of the Lord Jesus but we must pass through good Report and evil Report and it is our Crown and rejoycing to suffer for his Name and now Gog and Magog and all the Powers of the Earth bend themselves and are angry even the Nations that profess Christ in Words and say the Scripture is their Rule but walk not according to it and against all such hypocrisie are we VVitnesses to the fulfilling our Testimony and the laying down of our Lives that he alone may be honoured who sits upon the Throne of David and of whose Government there is no End to whom be Praise forever who shall break all your Combinations and plots and you shall be Ground to Powder who set your selves against him and be dashed to Pieces as a Potter's Vessel And now to that which you call Anti-magistratical Errours That the Magistrates are not to have Titles of Worshipful or Right Worshipful and that the Subjects of a Common Wealth which is not Israel's Common Wealth are to be disturbed and that no Civil Government is to be acknowledged but the Government of the Law within us Answ. Where readest thou or any that any Magistrate was called Worshipful or Right Worshipful or ever any of the Saints of God did so he that is Righteousness and Truth unto whom all Honour and Worship belongs God blessed forever we own and worship he is no Respecter of Persons And you filthy Flatterers who are in the Curse respect mens Persons and so you are razed out forever from the Faith of Christ and from the Faith which all the Holy Men of God lived in that you know it not but you false Accusers Magistrates we know and they are for the Punishment of Evil-doers and for the Lavvless for Lyars and Slanderers such as you are and for the Praise of them that do vvell and vve honour such in our Hearts and obey their just Commands and are not like him that said he would go and vvent not but are subject for Conscience sake to the Povvers that are of God and
Merchants of the Earth shall weep and mourn over her for no Man buyeth her Merchandize any more Rev. 18.11 And every Ship-Master and all the Company in Ships and Sailers and as many as trade by Sea stood afar off and they cast Dust on their Heads and cryed weeping and wailing saying Alas alas that great City wherein were made rich all that had Ships on the Sea for in one Hour she is made desolate Rev. 18.17 19. Mystery Babylon THE Mother of Harlots DISCOVERED Her RISE and when With many of Her SORCERIES IN the End of the primitive Times when the Apostles had finished their Testimony committed unto them and had gathered many out of the World and converted many unto God and many were established in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ which purifieth the Heart and giveth Victory over the World and were led to the Beginning before the World was made and the Churches which were in God which had received the Anointing by which they knew all things even the invisible things of God and the Mysteries of his glorious Kingdom which God through the Spirit did reveal unto them which Spirit they had received being begotten of God by which Spirit they called him Father and by which Spirit of Truth which was manifest from the God of Truth in their Hearts they were led into all Truth and became Sons of God and Heirs of the Promise and this Spirit was their Direction and led them to worship God aright to obey and glorifie him and his Name which brought Salvation unto them and into this Spirit they were all baptized by the one Spirit into one Body and in this one Spirit they met and worshipped God and were of one Heart and of one Mind and did know their Director near them and in them and the Time did come when they worshipped neither at Jerusalem nor at Samaria but in the Spirit and in the Truth wherein the Father was glorified and came to see that fulfilled which the Prophets bore Witness of even him in whom all the Prophets end in Christ made manifest in them the Hope of Glory whose Voice they heard from Heaven by which they were quickened and raised from Death to Life by the effectual working of the mighty Power of God which wrought in them that did believe and they were in the Unity of the Faith by which all their Hearts were purified who held it which is a Mystery held in a pure Conscience by which they received an Assurance and were made Partakers of the Promises and became Inheritors of Life Light and Immortality and Heirs of the Promise and Joynt-heirs with Christ and they sate together with him in Heavenly Places and eat with him and drank with him in the Kingdom of God which stood in Power and in Righteousness Joy and Peace and did not look like the Pharisees lo here or there but first felt it as a Grain of Mustard-seed in themselves or as a Corn of Wheat which afterwards springs up as a Blade or as a Ear of Wheat to Ripeness to a full Corn and they did walk from Faith to Faith from Strength to Strength and did appear before God in Sion and the Hebrews were come to Mount Sion from whence God shined out in perfect Beauty who became their Satisfaction and Peace who had revealed his Son in them whom God had made unto them Justification Sanctification and Wisdom and so they knew one God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and one Faith one Hope one Baptism the one Spirit into which they were all baptized into which they all did drink by which all that did believe were sanctified and did receive the Inheritance among the Saints in Light and this was the Church that was in God which was begotten by God the Father and preserved in Christ Jesus in the lively Faith and in the lively Hope by which their Souls were anchored and they established in the Truth that made free and they had received the Spirit of Prophecy and did speak one by one according to the Revelation of the Spirit which led out of Confusion into Order and they being in the Power of God did walk by its Order in the Order of the Gospel And now was the Woman cloathed with the Sun who had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head and the Moon under her Feet who stood in that which was unchangeable and immutable and now was the Man-child brought forth which was to rule the Nations and was revealed to the Church which was in God and he was the Head by which all the Members of the Body were united together in one and reconciled to the Father in one and by his Obedience Justification did come upon all that did believe But since the Woman fled into the Wilderness and the Man-child was caught up unto God the Midnight of Darkness came upon the whole World and the Sincerity was lost and the Image of God lost the Heir caught up out of the World's Sight Faith was lost Hope lost the Spirit lost the Saints Rule and Direction and then the Whore appeared and made all Nations drunk with the Wine of her Fornication and they staggered and reeled to and fro hither and thither having lost the Spirit became all Waters and unstable and all the World wondered after the Beast which then arose after the primitive Times and after the Apostles Dayes and admired him and worshipped him who killed the Woman's Seed and made War against it And then the Whore made Decrees who was gone from the Law-giver and she made Confessions of Faith and Articles of Faith being out of the Power of God who is the Author of true Faith being guided by the Power of the Dragon she made Orders of Worship and gave Directions for Worship having gotten on the free Womans Attire the Outside the Scriptures the Form of Godliness but afterwards became more abominable having both lost the Power and the Form worshipped the Devil's Power and the Dragon's Power and came forth in the Image of him and reached out the Cup of Fornication and made the Nations drunk with her Inchantments and Sorceries and she drunk the Blood of the Martyrs the Blood of the Prophets and them that kept the Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy and then prescribed Forms of Worship Forms of Prayer and made Creeds and Faiths and Articles of Faith and many Faiths having lost the Order of the Gospel she made many Orders and sent out many Merchants to carry abroad her Traffick and her Merchandize to the Nations and whole Ships were filled full of it Vessels full of it which went upon the Sea and rode upon the Waters upon Kindreds Tongues Nations and Peoples who received of her Merchandize and bought of several Sorts of Merchandize which the several Merchants traded with who had several Orders prescribed then as Popes Cardinals Jesuites Fryars of many Orders and Monks of many Orders Jesuites of many Orders and all these
this Nature he offered and was not accepted for he was in the Imitation out of the Life out of the Power in Feignedness and this was self and not the Lord that moved him The Jews in the Prophets Time who were in Cain's Nature in Envy and Maliciousness grinding the Faces of the poor and oppressing the needy and chopping them in Pieces as Flesh for the Pot they brought Sacrifices Oblations Burnt-Offerings kept Fasts Sabbaths and New Moons and all these Things and lyed swore and dealt falsly and left no room for the poor and yet they said the Lord was among them the Lord sent his Servant the Prophet to tell them the Lord was weary of them and of their Oblations why they were out of the Faith out of the Life out of the Power and Deceit lodged in their Hearts Covetousness Envy Murder Oppression and Violence as ravening Wolves hunting for their Prey the Prophets prophesied for hire their Priests bear Rule by their Means and people were one with it and liked it and loved it should be so the End of those things was Misery the Judgment of God came upon them they were scattered among their enemies their prophets slain and for their sake Sion became as a plowed Corn-field and Jerusalem a Heap and now he that offered an Ox was no more accepted then if he slew a man no more then if he blessed Chemosh Ashteroth or Baal all was Sin and to be condemned by the power out of which they were gone The Scribes and Pharisees in Christ's Time great Worshippers devout Men devout Women zealous Men for Temple Priests Tythes Dayes Sabbaths Oblations and were acting all those Things that were commanded in or about the Worship of God yet Christ said unto his Disciples Except your Righteousness exceed the Righteousness of the Scribes and Pharisees ye cannot enter the Kingdom of God they might have said which at least they did in their Hearts this Man sayes he is the Son of God and yet saith and teacheth his Disciples another Righteousness then is commanded in the Law and moreover tells them Except their Righteousness exceedours they cannot enter into God's Kingdom where is there in all the Earth any better Righteousness then ours we do not as the Heathen worship Idol-gods we keep the Sabbaths and purifie our selves and pay Tythes and keep the Ordinances given by the Lord to Moses and our Fathers well these Things they were doing but they were but dead Works they were out of the Faith out of the Power and had not God's Word abiding in their Hearts from which their Power and Ability should have come to have answered the will of God here was self-righteousness although they did the outward things which were commanded of the Lord yet they were dead works their Temple left desolate worship desolate Jerusalem compassed about with Armies not one Stone left upon another which was not to be thrown down they scattered among the Heathen their Priests slain and their Oblations ceased Plagues and Judgments pursuing whithersoever they went did all those things save them from wrath all their works dead worships and self-righteousness save them were they accepted oh nay rejected a Seed of Falshood a crooked Generation an hypocritical Generation these things with many more which I could instance all shewing that Man in the Transgression of the Life of the Power whether he sinned or wrought that which he might judge was righteous yet they were but dead works Obâect But some may say What sayest thou to their Generation of Ministers Preachers and Ordinances we live in a Gospel-time and are under Gospel-Ordinances and they teach that Man is redeemed by Christ from Sins past present and to come and the Ordinances that we practise now I hope you will not call them dead Works Answ. I say the Ministry in these Nations made by man's will and by the will of the Flesh and that are seeking their Gain from their Quarter and are suing Men at Law and throwing Men in Dungeons and Holes to the Loss of some mens Lives already and hundreds have been and are like to be spoiled only to uphold their greedy devouring Nature who have ravened and devoured like evening wolves some mens Estates wholly and sometimes taken ten fold the Value who raven from place to place from one end of the Land to another and into other Nations also for filthy Lucre or a greater Benefit I say they are in the Fall in the Transgression Death rules in them over them and they are Ministers of Death and never brought any to God but of them many other Brethren who are in the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ have born a large Testimony which any considerate wise prudent and reasonable man may see them to be Ministers of Death demonstrated by many sound Grounds and unanswerable Arguments and the Scripture of Truth clearly bearing witness to the same and so I refer the Reader to those things and shall content my self at present in what I have said in this particular Now as to the Worship or Ordinances or Practices themselves I come unto and shall speak no otherwise of any thing then God by his eternal Light and Spirit hath made me understand in the true Ground of things else I know well how to be Silent Now this I say to all Sects Opinions and Fellowships though they be divided into many Heads or Societies man acting or performing any thing of worship Ordinance or any practice whatsoever which the Scripture declares hath been or ever was though they should do it in the same manner sutable in every Circumstance to that which others did till all or every man come to believe in the power again which man went from in the Transgression all that he doth is Self-righteousness and dead Works Preaching dead Prayer dead Baptism dead their Communion dead their Conferences dead their exhortations dead their Fasts dead their Offerings like as if one had offered a dead Beast under the Law or a Lame Lamb which had been abomination even so I say till man come to that which he hath lost in the Transgression till man find the Power the Life the Light the Messiah and feel him in them to Work move and lead guide and act all will be accounted with the Lord Self-righteousness dead Works dead Fruit and if all would examine and try they might see the Nations almost spread over with dead men in Adam and dead Works abound and coverings which God will Rent and lay all waste together false Rest imitated Forms and representations without Life I say till men come into the Power again that Adam went from and so died in that Day cannot do any thing well-pleasing to God and whosoever comes to that again passeth every step through Death and denyes himself and all Self-actions self-righteousness and must come to be bare and Naked again even as he was before he came out he and his wife were Naked and were not ashamed
he would abandon and leave that Babylon which is but a siâk of Mischief and of all Ungodliness and keep his Court elsewhere in some place of better Fame and this is the Legate's Testimony of the Seat of the Mother Church of Rome Besides many of her own Members in England in the Year 1245. do manifest what Action has been upon this Nation as may be seen in a Supplication written in the Names of the Nobles and Commons of England to Pope Innocent the fourth shewing how many Subsides and Taxes had been levied and sent out of the Realm and how they had been liberally paid they complaining also how he sent Italians and forraigners to possess theââ Churches and Benefices in England who had no regard of Peoples Soulâ and so were no good Shepherds as they said and how the Italians received threescore Thousand Marks a Year besides other Vails and Excises âheâ do reap more Rents then the King himself and so when he could noâ ãâã his subsides and raise all the Sums which he exacted from Year to Year Pope Innocent perswades the French King to make War with the King of England for his not condescending to the Pope in all things although he was then one of his Sons and of his Church but enough of this it were lârge to enumerate the Actions and Cruelties the Oppressions which have been done in that which is called Christendom since the Emperour ãâã unto the Pope his Power and how much Idolatry Superstitiân ãâã and Doctrine of Devils hath been spread over the Nations these many hundred of Years and how many have been put to cruel Death for not ãâã and conforming to the said Doctrines and Practices Injânctions and Ordinances and how many this false Church hath stirred up ãâ¦ã another and Destroy one another about these things which have ãâã put upon People under the Name of Divine Authority and holy ãâã and Apostolical Institutions by what as it is written all may see that these things are in the Apostacy and in the Fall in the curse and in the Night of Darkness wherein all this Wickedness hath been wrought by the false Church which the Lord God will reward double and dry up ãâã Waters under which she sits and make her Seat desolate and throw down her Pride who hath drunk the Blood of the Martyrs and shed the Blood of the Saints and devoured the Lambs of Christ and made Merchandize of Souls and therefore all who are in part departed from her stay not in the Suburbs but come out of her City and the Adjacent places there that ye be not partakers of the Judgment which is to come upon her But Oh! abundance of Darkness remains yet in the Nations and even in the Protestant Churches who hold up things yet which were invented by her insomuch that one belonging to the Church of Rome Dionysius Petavius a Cardinal layes claim to the ceremonies which were practised in England in the Bishops time For saith he in his Book called the History of the World the Religion of England and Doctrine is Calvinism the Doctrine of Geneva but the Ceremonies are of Rome as they were practised in England in the Year 1640. In the time of Leo the fourth Edelwolphus King of England went to Rome for performance of a Vow that he had made and was courteously received and accepted by the Pope Leo For which cause he ordained a tribute to be paid yearly to the Pope to wit a Peny sterling for every House in England that kindled a Fire Now Protestants look to your Easter-reckonings you have denyed the Popes Supremacy and yet Vicars and Parsons receive his Tribute of every House that kindles a Fire and this stands yet as a good and wholsome Institution amongst you And so for shame let all that profess Reformation and the Doctrine of Godliness and the Faith of Christ and the Practice of the Apostles âs their example come out of things which the Harlot hath invented and say as Abraham said to the King of Sodom that he would not take a Shoe-latchet least he should say he had made Abraham Riâh So let them that profess Reformation not keep a shoe-latchet nor one lap of the Whores Garment nor any piece of her Ornaments that she may not Boast any more that we are made rich by her Merchandize so purge out Horn and Hooff and all the old leven out of your Hearts and out of your Assemblâes and come to believe in Christ the true Light that lighteth every one that comes into the World that he may be your Law-giver whose Institutions are Spiritual and his Ordinances heavenly which makes ãâã and clean and pure the comers thereunto and so let the old Romish ãâ¦ã foolish Ceremonies about Worship alone many of which are ãâã from the Heaâhen and judge not any for deâarting from them ãâã Persecute none for not observing of them for whoso do will maniâest themselves to belong to the City which is to be overthrown and to be in the Apostacy and not Members of the true Church of Christ the Lamb's Wife And many more things which stand yet amongst them called Christians as set discourses have been set up called Hâmilies And the aforesaid W. H. shews the grâând âhere âre they were ãâ¦ã Some complained that their Churches and Universities were ãâ¦ã Error as many are at this day by which there was a want of able Pastors four Sermons were appointed by publick order in the Yâar onely and certain Homilies were devised by learned Men and confirmed for sound Doctrine by the Clergy who made them and the Authority of the Prince which Homilies were appointed to be read by Curates of a mean understanding and them that had but mean pay as five Mark or twenty Noble a Year of which sort we had many in England in the year 1640. I desire we have no more lest more ignorance abound and these Homilies were to be read after a certain number of Psalms read and the Letany and an Epistle and Gospel and it may be Athanasius or Nicen Creed and this was the Worship which hath been holden out even amongst the reformed as spiritual Worship all which while People have been exercising themselves in those things they had been further and further off from God and the Knowledge of his Truth which is manifest to them that believe not by the Injunctions and Ordinances of men but by the holy Spirit which leads out of all Error Superstition and Deceit and all that believe in it come to be taught of the Lord and Worship in that which is pure and are acceptable in his sight CHAP. XV. Something concerring the general Councils since the Apostles Dayes though they have been all of one Faith and though iâ hath been said the Church could not err all which of the several Councils belonged to the Church of Rome yet see the Difference IN that which some call a Council or a Synod at Jerusalem Acts 15. when some
Forms by number and Tale they are as much Idiots as the rest are who know not the Spirit to pray by And so this is no Authority to prove your Practice Apostolical and holy as for variety of Prayers and Worships it delighteth the carnal mind indeed but they that worship God in Spirit and Truth they Pray by the Spirit and in it as David and Christ prayed whether seven times five times or three times and with understanding and that which they prayed in was not various but one and it 's by that one Spirit which is not various by which the Sons of God cry Abba Father and the variety of your formed charms Bablings upon your Beads God hath no regard unto but is a Smoke in his Nostrills all day And they that have exercised themselves in these things have not the Witness of God in their own consciences that they are accepted of God and so I shall proceed to another Doctrine called Apostolical and Holy and that is about Meats whether they may be lawfully eaten at all time The Author confesseth they forbid certain kinds of Meats but it is but aâ certain times and they are forbidden not as they are Evil and the Creatures of God but because they are forbidden by the Church and his proof is the Apple which Eve and Adam eat was not Evil in it self but being prohibited so to eat that which is good of it self is not ill but to eat contrary to the Superiors mind and order this is Evil. The Bible and Scriptures ought not to be read but leave is to be asked of the Superior because there are many hard Passages which they which have little or no learning as Peter testifies in hâs second Epistle chap. 3. some ânderstands it one way and some another and therefore it is the fittest for Learned men to judge of them and they must judge whether People be in a capacity to read them Answ. And why are Meats forbidden aâ certain âimes is this like Apostolick Doctrine are not all Times and Seasons in the Hand of the Lord and are all good to them that believe and to the pure all Things are pure all Times and Seasons all Meats and Drinks being sanctified by the Word which made them all holy unto all that do believe And if you forbid them not as they are Creatures of God but because they are forbidden I say who did forbid them or when were they forbidden by Christ his Apostles or the true Church of Christ in their Dây but on the contrary Christ taught That which goeth in at the Mouth and ân at the Belly doth not defile the Man but that which proceedeth out of the Heart which is corrupted And Paul said What is sold at the Shambles may be eaten and no Question made for Conscience sake for to the clean all Things are clean and to the believing all Things are pure and who hath limited such Meats for such Dayes and such Times the true Church No but the Church of Rome âho are going on in that Doctrine the Apostle spoke of 1 Tim. 4. which he reckoned a Doctrine of Devils but here is your Argument that must bring you off because you forbid it not at all Times I say if it be a Doctrine of Devils to forbid at all Times then it is some Part of the Doctrine of Devils to forbid at any Time seeing Time and Things are all good in the Hând of the Lord but if this Doctrine should hold what would become of your Dog-dayes and of your Lent which has been patched up Week by Week by divers Popes and of your Wednesday Friday and Saturday Fast so by this Account of yours half of the Year is either unholy or else some Meat is unholy for half of the Year but there are few but see your Blindness that in this much need not be said but only thus that which may lawful in it self when it is prohibited by the Lord unto any particular then it becomes evil for whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin But Christ alone unto whom all Power is committed hath the sole Power over the Heart and Conscience and for any to make Injunctions and Prohibitions contrary to him the same is Anti-christ and so the Practice which your Church commands is not Apostolical but you bring Yoaks upon the true Disciples Necks which they that are made free by the Son cannot stoop unto neither joyn with for whosoever doth goes into Bondage And Christ is the supream Power unto whom all Power is committed and when he justifies what superior can condemn And there is no need of asking leave of them that are Superiors which reckon themselves as so seeing every man stands clear in the Sight of God when he transgresses not against the Supream Law of Christ in his Conscience and to offend any Superiors who lay any Injunction contrary to the Command of God is not to offend God neither to break his Command 2 dly It seems all Parts of Religion are monopolized by Mystery-Babylon in which Rome is comprized not only Patents and Pardons sold for eating of Meat but Authority and License must be given to every one that reâds Scripture a Thing which the Apostolick Church before the Pope had a Being knew nothing of but on the contrary some were exhorted to read the Scriptures and some were commended for reading of the Scriptures and for searching whether the Things were so as Paul testified and in this they were counted more Noble then they ât Thessalonica but now it is become an ignoble Thing and not at all to be ãâã to read the Scriptures without Patent or Licence in the Church of Rome's Account who have laid down Ignorance to be the Mother of Devotion but the Danger is because there are hard Passages which are not understood when the People have little or no Learning as the Author saith was it for Want of natural Learning that Peter complained they wrested the Scriptures and therefore is it for Want of Natural Learning that the Scriptures are not understood and for Want of this they must not be read as the Author saith Ignorant Man what was Peter such a great learned Man a poor Boat-man of Fisher-man whom the Scripture saith was illiterate in the Acts When they beheld Peter and John and that they were illiterate Men and saw their Boldness and took Notice they had been with Jesus What! was it Want of Natural Learning that Peter spoke of then he spoke against himself for he was illiterate but it was such a Learning that they wanted as this Author wants who is untaught by the Spirit and unlearned in the Doctrine of Christ and such wrest the Scriptures and do not understand hard Sayings because the deep Things of God are revealed through the Spirit of God and not by natural Learning as this Author who would sell Licences and Pardons for reading the Scriptures as they have done for eating Flesh in Lent but a Story
THE DAWNINGS OF THE Gospel-Day AND ITS LIGHT and GLORY DISCOVERED By a Faithful and Valiant Follower of the Lamb and Labourer in the VVork and Service of God and a Sufferer for the TESTIMONY of JESUS Francis Howgil Who Dyed a Prisoner for the Truth in Appleby Goal in the County of Westmerland the Twentieth Day of the Eleaventh Moneth One Thousand Six Hundred Sixty Eight And the Dragon was Wroth with the Woman and went to make War with the Remnant of her Seed which keep the Commandments of God and have the Testimony of Jesus Christ Rev. 12.17 And they overcame him by the Blood of the Lamb and by the Word of their Testimony and they loved not their Lives unto Death Rev. 12.11 Printed in the Year 1670. To all the faithful Friends and Followers of Christ Jesus in Scorn call'd Quakers Dear Friends THE Remembrance of the Author of these Books is fresh upon me as I believe it is upon many more that knew him and indeed he can never be forgotten by us whose blameless and innocent Life and Conversation when amongst us was a good Pattern unto us for he was a Man of a meek and gentle Spirit and was very careful and tender to all in whom the least Appearance of Truth manifested it self and his Travails and Labours were great for the Truth 's sake to beget People to the Lord being not satisfied to eat his Bread alone as many yet living in England Scotland and Ireland can testifie where he laboured and suffered and he was a Man of a tender and broken Spirit and constant in his Love to all his Brethren and a great Care he had over all the Flock of God and his Faithfulness to the Truth was a Crown unto him unto his latter End and his Name for his Constancy to the Lord and his Truth shall be had in Remembrance by Generations to come I have here drawn up a short Relation of his last Tryals and Sufferings at Appleby which being not heretofore published I thought meet to incert them before his Books as followeth and remain A Friend to all that love the Lord Jesus Ellis Hooks London the 3d Day of the 5th Moneth 1676. A true Relation of the Tryals Sufferings and Death of Francis Howgil who dyed a Prisoner for the Testimony of Jesus in Appleby in the County of VVestmorland the 10th Day of the 11th Moneth 1668. in the 50th Year of his Age. THE said Francis Howgil about the latter End of the 5th Moneth 1663. being in the Market in Kendal about his ordinary Occasions was summoned by the high Constable to appear before the Justices of Peace then present at a Tavern who tendred him the Oath of Allegiance as they said and committed him to Prison till the Assizes at Appleby so at Appleby he appeared and had the same Oath tendered in the Court by the Judges and for not taking it was indicted only he had Liberty to answer to the Indictment the next Assizes in the mean Time a Goal Delivery being at Appleby he was required again to enter into Bond for the good Behaviour only to ensnare and to bring him into further Bonds and for denying was committed Prisoner A further Relation of his Tryal at two several Assizes is as followeth Being at the Assizes he had free Liberty of Speech and good Audience before the Judges and great Men of the Country and many others and indeed the Lord made him without Fear and girded his Heart with Strength and opened his Mouth in Wisdom so that he gained upon his Adversaries for which Glory is given to God who was a present Help to him in the time of Need. Before the Judges sate F. H. spoke to the Clerk of the Assizes and told him he did not know whether they expected his Appearance then or not the Clerk said You have done well and that he would acquaint the Judge and he should only engage to him to appear the next Assizes to answer the Indictment against him and that he should not appear in Court Francis bid do what he would In the mean time Sir Philip Musgrave so called a great Adversary to the Truth and the great and chief Prosecutor of Francis had informed the Judges against him As that he was a dangerous Person a Ringleader and a Keeper up of Meetings of dangerous Consequence and destructive to the Peace of the Nation so then they concluded he should appear in Court and so the Clerk informed him and told him about what time he should be called So the Court began Judge Twisden gave the Charge to the grand Jury in which he said There was a Sort of People who under Pretence of Conscience and Religion who seemed to build upon the King's Declarations from Breda and under Colour of this hatched Treasons and Rebellions and gave the Jury Charge to enquire and present such that the Peace of the Nation might be preserved so they impaneled the Jury and Francis was called to the Bar and the Judge spake as Followeth Judge speaking calmly to him said The Face of things was much altered since the last Assizes made a large Speech to him and the Country telling him That all Sects under Pretence of Conscience did violate the Laws and hatched Rebellions not saith he that I have any thing to charge you with but seeing the Oath of Allegiance was tendered to you the last Assizes and you refused to take it it was looked upon that such Persons were Enemies to the King and Government and said I will not trouble you now to answer to your Indictment but I must do that the next Assizes in the mean time you must enter into Recognizance for the good Behaviour To which F. H. answered I desire Liberty to Speak which he had without Interruption and said as followeth F. H. Judge Twisden thou very well knowest upon how slender an Account or none I was brought before thee the last Assizes where thou were pleased to tender me the Oath of Allegiance though I believe both thee and the rest of the Court did know it was a received Principle amongst us not to swear at all many Reasons I gave thee then many more I have to add if I may have Audience for it may appear to you an absurd thing and Obstinacy in me to refuse it if I should not render a Reason I am said he none of those that make Religion a Cloak of Maliciousness nor Conscience a Cloak to carry on Plots or Conspiracies the Lord hath redeemed me and many more out of such things and seeing I am engaged to appear at the next Assizes I desire no further thing may be required of me Judge You must enter into Bond this dangerous time and therefore consider of it and tell me now or before the Assizes end The second Day of the Assizes he was called again F. H. Seeing thou art pleased to let me answer to my Indictment which I am willing to do I have been of
I was moved to call thy Name Abigail which signifies the Father's Joy or Delight for in thee I was comforted that did mitigate my present Trouble and my Counsel unto thee is That thou remember thy Creator in the Dayes of thy Youth and fear the Lord in thy Youth and learn to know him and serve him all thy Dayes first seek the Kingdom of God and the Righteousness thereof it 's not far from thee it 's within thee it consists in Life and Power and it stands in Righteousness Truth and Equity Justice Mercy Long-suffering Patience Love Light and Holiness this is the Being and Center thereof therefore seek not lo here or lo there without thee in this or that outward Observation for mâny seek there and never find it but seek and thou shalt find wait and thou shalt receive if thou enquire in what must I seek and what must I wait in how must I seek I inform thee thou must silence all thy own Thoughts and thou must turn thy Mind to that which is pure and holy and good within thy self and seek and wait in that in the Light of Jesus Christ wherewith thou art enlightened which shews thee when thou dost Evil and checks and reproves take heed unto that and it will shew the evil Motions and Thoughts and as thou lovest it it will subdue them and preserve thee for the time to come out of Evil for though thou be born into the World a reasonable Creature yet thou must be born again and be made a new Creature or else thou canst not enter into God's Kingdom thou must know the Seed of the Kingdom in thy self of which thou must be born and formed again into God's Image I have told thee God hath sown it in thee a Grain of it a Measure of it a Portion of it a Measure of Light and Truth of Righteousness and Holiness keep in thy Mind to that and love it and thou wilt feel the heavenly Father working in thee ând begetting thee to Life through Jesus Christ that hath enlightned thee and thou wilt feel the Power of the Lord strengthning thee in thy little and make thee to grow in the Immortal Seed of his Kingdom and out grow and over grow all Evil so that thou wilt daily dye to that and have no Pleasure in it but in the Lord and in his Goodness and Vertue shed abroad in thy Heart which thou wilt tast and feel within and have Joy and Comfort therein love the Lord with thy Heart and Soul even him that made thee and gave thee a Being and all things in Heaven and Earth and still wait for the Knowledge of him in thy self he is not far from thee but near unto thee and unto all that call upon him in an upright Heart and do thou enquire of thy dear Mother she will inform thee she knows him and the Way to Life and Peace and hearken unto her Instruction God is a Spirit a pure Spirit of Light and Life and Power he that searcheth the Heart and shews thee when thou dost Evil or think'st Evil or speak'st Evil and shews unto Man and Woman their Thoughts that which shows the Evil is Good and that which shews a Lye is Truth this is within take heed to it this is called God's Spirit in the Scripture believe in it love it and it will quicken thy Heart to Good and it will subject the Evil here is thy Teacher near thee loving it and if thou act contrary it will condemn thee therefore take heed unto this Spirit of Truth and it will enlighten and enliven thee and it will open thy Understanding and give thee to know what God is and to do that which is good and acceptable in his Sight this Spirit never errs but leads out of all Error into all Truth O Abigail believe my Words they are the Words of God and Truth be not wanton but sober minded in thy Youth and wait on the Lord within hearken unto him God is Light immortal Life immortal Truth immortal an everlasting eternal Spirit he speaks spiritually and invisibly within the Hearts and Consciences of Men and Women hear what he speaks and obey his Voice and thy Soul shall live fear to offend him or sin against him for the Wages of Sin are Death therefore prize his Love in thy young and tender Years and do thou read the Scriptures and Friends Books and take heed unto what thou readest to obey it as far as thou understandest and pray often unto the Lord that he will give thee his Knowledge and open thy Understanding in the things of his Kingdom search thy Heart often with the Light of Christ in thee manifest and bring thy Deeds to it that they may be tryed and examine thy self how the Case stands betwixt the Lord and thee and if thou seest thy self wrong humble thy self and be sorry and turn unto him and he will shew thee Mercy and take heed for the time to come that thou run not into the same Evil again keep thy Heart clean watch against the Evil in thy self in that which shews it therein there is Power and thereby thou hast Power to overcome all Evil And dear Child miâd not the Pleasures of Sin which are but for a Moment and the End is Misery but keep under and cross thy Will and Affection so thy Mind will have no Pleasure in the Evil but in Good and thou wilt feel the immortal Seed springing up in thee which God's Peace and Love is to O Abigail these are great and weighty things not to be slighted accompany thy self alwayes with them that fear the Lord and fear and worship him in Spirit and Truth and lead a holy and a blameless Life and Conversation deny not them but love them and suffer with them take heed that thou follow not the hireling Teachers who preach for Gain and Lucre and abide not in Christ's Doctrine believe them not heed them not they do People no Good but thou wilt see them thy self they have an outside Shew of Godliness sometimes but deny the Power of God and true Holiness remember I have told thee who have had perfect Knowledge of them but be sure that thou let nothing separate thy Love from God and his People those are his People that keep his Law and obey Christ's Voice and lead a holy Life and they were ever hated and belyed and persecuted and evil-spoken on alwayes by bad and evil loose People these are God's People and his Love and Peace and Blessing is with them do thou grow as a natural Branch up among them of the living Vine and continue all thy Dayes in Obedience unto God's Will and thou wilt feel Joy and Love in thy Heart which above all things covet after and thou shalt attain and obtain everlasting Peace which the Lord grant unto thee according to the Riches of his Mercy and Love which endure forever and ever Amen And now Abigail concerning thy well
one of you dare own nor dare say your Ministry shall nor never did and so not the same nor hath not the same operation and so is not the same Faith nor Word which they preached And now to you who are called Members in all separated Societies and yet in Babylon and Egypt spiritually so called where the Seed is held in Captivity I say come forth of her and return to your Maker from whence you are erred and cast off your Garments of Self-Righteousness and those Coverings you hide your selves under must all be rent they will wax old yea your Heaven shall wax old as a Garment and your Stars will fall and your Towers will be demolished and all your Buildings will fall and your Strength will fail and Egypt cannot save you why gad you abroad why trim you your selves with the Saints Words when you are ignorant of the Life return return to him that is the first Love and the first-born of every Creature who is the Light of the World which Light will shew you that to return back again is the Way from off the Mountains of Leanness and Poverty where you feed upon Wind and Husks and now return home to within sweep your Houses all the Groat is there the little Leaven is there the Grain of Mustard-seed you will see which the Kingdom of God is like and you will see from whence you have erred from the true Shepherd Christ the Light of the World who hath enlightened you with his Light which Light will shew you Sin and let you see what rules in the Mind and Heart which Light will let you see the Way out of the World and will judge Sin in you and bind it and give you Power over it and this is the true Shepherd and if you say you love him manifest your Love unto him by following his Light revealed in you which leads into the true Separation from Sin unto the Lord to see his Presence near you who will guide you with his Eye the Light is the Eye of the Body and here you will see your Teacher not removed into a Corner but present when you are upon your Beds and about your Labour convincing instructing leading correcting judging and giving Peace to all that love and follow him therefore haste I say come away while the Lord is near at Hand while his Grace shines with you he waits and hath waited long to be gracious and you have kept him out so long his Locks are bedewed with the Drops of the Night his Spirit shall not alwayes strive that that checks and strives against Sin is it in Love follow it let it lye in your Bosom Day and Night make it your Comapanion I pity you I pity you my Bowels are troubled for you I am pained for the Seed's sake therefore all slight not this Love quench not the Spirit put not that which reproves Sin away own it that Sin may be seen and the Man of Sin may be revealed by the Brightness of Christ whose Coming is as Light shines from East into the West discovers all dark Pathes and the twining of the Serpent and the crooked Wayes of the old Dragon by this Light and if thus you wait you will see the day revealed in you which the Scripture speaks of which shall declare all things and make manifest the hidden things of Esau who hunts abroad and is a Man of the Field whose Mind is abroad and you whose Minds are abroad hunting after savoury Meat to please the Flesh withal you are of his Birth you will be laid waste and the Mount in which you dwelt Therefore all prize your time and your Visitation if you will return come that he may heal your Backsliding and receive you if you resist the Light Misery will be your End and you will lye down in Sorrow This have I written in Love to all your Souls who am one who did drink of the Cup of Fornication and have drunk of the Cup of Indignation but now drink the Cup of Salvation where Sorrow and Tears are fled away and yet am a Man of Sorrows and well acquainted with Grief and suffer with the Seed and travail that it may be brought forth of Captivity F. H. The Difference shewn betwixt them that learn of Christ and are taught of him and them that follow the Principle of Darkness that leads into Error HE that stumbles at the Light stumbles at the Door and his Mind is erred from the Truth and he follows his own Will and walks after the Imaginations of his own Heart without a Law or a Guide to his Feet and so falls into Snares and Temptations and into the noisome Lusts which do hurt and annoy the Spirit of Grace which should lead and guide man up to God out of the Fall and Transgression He that sees not with the Light he is blind for the Light is the Eye of the Body and makes manifest the Light of the Body which cleanseth from Sin and leads to the Body where Christ is the Head where the Unity stands in one by which all come to be united by one who is the Light and Life of men and come to the one Baptism and all who wait in the Light that is pure come to know the Name of the Father and the Son which is one and here is the one Baptism seen and received and all that come to be baptized into his Name come to be baptized into his Nature and come to see the Word which was in the Beginning and there is no other Name but the Word which sanctifies and washes So all that know not this Baptism nor this Word nor this Name know not Salvation from Sin but live in the Reasonings and Imaginations and know not that Water which is the Gift of Christ nor the Spirit which is given to every one to profit withal of which a man must be born else he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God and all who deny the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightened every one deny the Gift of God which leads to Repentance and so live in Sin Repentance is the Gift of God and this is the Gift of the Father which was promised the Light of the World and all that receive not and believe not in the Light they are in the old Nature and he that is not born of the Light is not born of God for God is Light he that is not born of the Light knows not the Virgin 's Womb where the Man-child is born conceived nor the Day of Christ nor cannot discern his coming but looks for Signs and outward Observations Lo here and there in the outward and is in the Unbelief discerns not the Kingdom where Christ reigns which is not of this World all outward things are of this World and who live and have their Hearts exercised in them know not that which leads to before the World and to the End of the World and know not the true
Truth and have kept the Testimony of Jesus and the Spirit of prophecy the false prophets in all Nations who are from the Testimony of Jesus have called to the Beast to slay and to kill and to destroy the Seed of the Woman which is clothed with the Sun and so the Beast exercising his power which is from below hath killed and destroyed them who were subject to the higher power And what torturing massacring and persecution what burning and strangling there hath been what cruel Death 's many have been put to over all Nations and in all Nations where the Beast hath had power who makes War against the Life so that the Streets have run with Blood and all being gone from the Life and Power of God they set up themselves to be Judges over Mens Consciences and they who were in the Error they cryed out of Heresie and they that are gone from the Truth into a Lye the Ground of Blasphemy they cry out of Blasphemy and under the Horns of the Beast and under the Heads and the Crowns of the Beast what Cannons Constitutions Edicts and Laws have been in all Nations what Traps Gins and Snares have been laid in every Nation yea every Horn hath pushed and every Head hath lifted up it self against Christ the Head and every mortal Crown hath advanced it self against the Crown of Glory and against the immortal Crown so that it might be said as Elijah said The Altar of the Lord hath been broken down and his Prophets and his Witnesses slain none have escaped the Rage of the Beast Yet there have been a few who have kept their Garments clean and were not defiled with Women nor with the Harlot those who feared the Lord and durst not offend the righteous Law of God in their Consciences but have denyed whole Councils who were erred from the Faith and all the powers of the Earth in which the Beast bore Rule but rather chuse to suffer cruel Deaths then to let go the profession and possession of their Faith whose Blood cryes under the Altar How long O Lord holy just and true will it be ere thou avenge our Blood which Blood and Cry is entered into the Ears of the Lord of Hosts who will speedily take Vengeance on the Nations and dash them one against another and will break down that power which hath slain the Witnesses yea and hath gainsaid the power of God and all Nations who are from the Life in which the holy Men of God lived and in that Nature still which persecuted the Life of God wherever it did appear in any Measure yea swelled up and climbed to the very Top of Iniquity which is Satan's Crown and Glory and the Priests and they that went out from the Light into the World in John's dayes and Peter's dayes who then taught for filthy lucre and did subvert whole Houses from the Faith ever since that time have spread themselves over the Nations and have begotten people into a Form and into an Image without the life and so have worshipped the Beast and his Image And the deceit being entred then and Images then being set up one on this wise another on that and some have had an image of many mixtures such an Image as the Priests of England Scotland and Ireland worship and have got a Law to guard it that whosoever will not bow to it the Furnace is heat hotter to throw them into it Object And if any say Why I say so or how do I make that appear Ans. I answer thus the Cardinals Jesuites and other Romish Priests had a Law made to protect their Idol the Mass and if any spoke to him that was sacrificing to the Image or Idol then three Months Imprisonment but now if any declares against the Image that the Priests of England Scotland and Ireland have set up every one is to pay five Pound or six Months Imprisonment in a House of Correction and there be tortured and whipt and shamefully intreated near to the Loss of Life nay it 's now so much the more hotter now then ever None must come near the House of their Idol God or Image but must be counted a Breaker of the Peace nor speak to a deceiver and say he is so nor a Hireling and say he is so nor to a covetous Priest and say he is so and can for proof bring half of his Parish to witness the Truth of this but if he speak the Truth never so clear he must to Prison or pay five Pound or the House of Correction and there be whipt and stocked and fettered and chained and tortured and so ti is manifest that those Magistrates who had a Hand in making of this Law have outstript the Magistrates in the time of Q. Mary when the Pope had Power in his height in these Nations And the Priests now in these Nations who have set up their Image of many Mixtures and one Year they make one and another Year another and what that Power likes the best that is gone out of the Life and Power of God that they present to the Authority of the Nation as an Image of a more comely Stature then the former and then Authority makâs a Law to guard it and so it may truly be said as it was said to Israel Hath any other Nation changed their God but Israel had changed from the Living God to them by Nature which are no Gods And so have these Nations gone from God the Fountain of Life and from the Power of God and have set up an Image in which is no Life in stead nay they are not content with their Image but it grows old and then patch up another of many Mixtures one while the Mass that was held forth as their publick Profession and then Prelacy and the Book of Common-Prayer and then Presbytery and the Directory mixt and made up of Ignorance Blindness and of the Fragments of Popery and their own invention and this now is set up for all to bow to one while one thing which they call Faith and another while another and heaps of confused Confessions but are all out of the Life and from the true Faith And now they have manifested themselves to have no Faith and to be without Faith and are unagreed upon it instance that which is called the humble Petition and Advice presented to O. P. by the late Parliament that there may be a publich Confession of Faith made and recommended as the publick Profession and also that none may speak or write against under a Penalty but this Image the Lord hath by his immediate Hand from Heaven curst and confounded them that would have founded it before it ever came to be set up Ah silly silly that ever they who should profess Godliness should so shame themselves and all their Teachers for the teachers are not agreed yet of their Faith so they have either no Faith or else many Forms which are feigned and in this they
this Life was Death to him and to his Nature and so all who are out of the Faith are dead while they Live Now after the Transgression in Process of time when the Seed of fallen Adam began to increase in the Earth being driven out from that Presence of the Lord they spread over the whole Earth and sought many Inventions being gone from that of God in themselves by which they were united unto him having broken his Covenant and joyned in Covenant with Death Death acts forth it self against the Seed which is not of its Nature and alwayes sought to imbondage it and to kill it as Cain did Abel and Esau Jacob and Ishmael did unto Isaac and unto his Seed Now the Seed unto which the Promise was received the Law from the Mouth of the Lord and they that persecuted the Seed invented and made Laws of their own according to that Nature in which they lived and so became Heathenish in their Fashions Laws and Customs and Cruelty grew up as it was nourished and leavened into its own Nature and Unbelief grew into a mighty Stature and Monsters were brought forth in such a strange Shape in every thing that the Enmity did appear in as had not been seen in the Earâh before and so man being gone astray from the Life of Righteousness every thing is abominable and of a stranger Nature that he brings forth yet take notice of this that as the Seed unto which the Promise was who were in the Faith and obeyed through Faith they had a Law so they in Unbelief had also a Law as the Seed worshipped the living God through a lively and a living Faith and so sinned not in so doing the Seed of the Serpent imitated a Worship and worshipped in Death and Unbelief and as the Laws of one were equal such as David and Solomon the other were unequal such as Jeroboam and Rehoboam and as the one set up Equity by a Law the other made a Law to set up Iniquity And the Seed sought not their own Honour but the Honour of him who was their Reward but the Seed of the Evil-doer sought himself and his own Honour and as the Spirit of the Lord breathed forth it self and spoke the Truth in the Power of God Deceit uttered forth Lyes in Hypocrisie and in the Power of Death and as the upright lived unto God in the Spirit Deceit lived unto the Flesh and unto him who hath the Power of Death which is the Devil and as they fulfilled the Law of God who were led by the holy Spirit of God into all Truth the other followed their own Imaginations and answered the Deceit and foolish Mind and they whose Understanding was darkened loved them and had Pleasure in them So it may be truly said Many Nations Rulers and ruled sit in the Region of the shadow of Death and the living God is forgotten among them and one against another they are seeking one anothers Ruine and all in the Violence and in the Cruelty Therefore all Rulers and Potentates of the Earth Magistrates and Governours under the whole Face of Heaven hearken unto the Words of my Mouth and listen unto Understanding that you may be Partakers of the Happiness and Felicity which God is shedding abroad now in the âââter Dayes that so the Restorer you may know in your Regions and the Deliverer in your Nations and the Maker up of the Breach in your dominâons that he who is the desire of all Nations may be revealed among you He which must restore is not born of man nor cometh not to a People or a Nation in the Will of man neither seeks he himself but the Glory of the Father who hath sent him to seek and to save that which is lost and to heal the Breaches and to destroy that which hath made the Breach that so all Nations who receive him and believe in him may be reconciled unto him and one to another that the Earth may enjoy Rest and the Regions Quietness therefore all be warned not to look forth in your Wills for there you will not receive him but slight him as many before you have done and so lye down in Sorrow and weary your selves in Vanity and lye down in Infamy and never come to see his dignity Now he of whom I declare unto you is the Son of God who is the Light of the World and the Life of Man and hath lightned every man that cometh into the World which Light wherewith all men are enlightened is not contrary to the Law of God which indures forever but one with it and this will let you see Violence Treachery Murder Envy Wrath Maliciousness Drunkeness Whoredom Lying Cursed speaking Stealing Defrauding Cheating Cozening Riotousness Pride Arrogancy Emulation Contention Strife Hatred Persecution Cruelty Oppression I say the Light which comes from Christ by whom the World was made will shew you that all these things is Sin and evil in the sight of God and also will let you see there is a ground from whence these and all other evils proceed which ground is in all the Sons of men in the Transgression till it be removed and these things before mentioned be the fruits that grow from it and bud forth themselves in all Nations and in every man in every Nation so the Earth is filled with Violence and the Grapes are as Sodom and the Fruit as Gomorrah whom God overthrew and till these things be done away and these fruits wither and the root from whence they arise be removed out of every particular man who is a Ruler he cannot be a Blessing to a Nation neither rule for God in a Nation neither will he or can he be a Terrour to all these things before mentioned While he himself is in those for he cannot destroy his own Life neither will Iniquity set up Righteousness nor the Worker of Iniquity advance Christ. Therefore listen to the words of my Mouth and despise not Counsel lest you perish among Fools and go down to the horrible Pit where there is everlasting Misery unto all Perpetuity Now God that made both Heaven and Earth and all things that therein are he is Light and with him is no Darkness at all he never changes his Purity nor alters his righteous Decrees his Eye is pure and alwayes fixed to behold all the Works of the Sons of men and he searches the Heart of man with his eye and pierceth through the secret places and is near to every man although man do not see him he is invisible and eternal and his Law indures forever and the unalterable decree by which Sin is judged and reproved in the World and in every particular man and every man who hearkens and hears the Words of the pure Law which judges all Sin in man receiveth the Sentence of Death in himself and is judged by the righteous Words of his Mouth and so Sin in the particular comes to be condemned and all these changeable things
are trodden under foot which are acted and brought forth from the changeable mind of man and so all Laws Constitutions and Decrees which are made in the Will of man come to be thrown down by his righteous Law which proceeds out of the Mouth of the righteous God who is Light and so as his unchangeable and unalterable Decree comes to be set up in every particular Ruler and Governour and himself judged with the just he comes to bear his rule for the just and answered that which is just in every man and no longer can he act against well doing but is a Leader and an Incourager of it in all and is a terrour to the unjust and so comes to know the Dominion again which man lost through Disobedience and Transgression Now all you Powers of the Earth wait that you may come to see that and feel it revealed in your selves to wit the Law of God from the Mouth of God that so you following it Sin may be judged in your selves and you come to know the one Lord the Lawgiver which leads man back out of Sin and Transgression by his Son whom he hath sent into the World that all men through him might believe in the Father and be restored out of Sin and Transgression unto Life eternal where Death hath no Entrance And so all who wait upon the Light of the Son of God and are obedient to it they come to feel his Power and his Decree which cannot alter its Property or Verity and all who come to be guided by it you will come to see that which unites you unto God and one Nation to another in the Covenant of God Oh! that all your Eyes were opened that you might see that which belongs to your Peace and the well-being of all Nations that so the Power of the Flock might be refreshed among you and this I speak unto you a Change must be witnessed in your selves before you will cease acting in the changeable Mind now the time draws near the Lord will try you for the Earth must be lest without Excuse and he will have all warned for God will no longer be limited and therefore take heed how you gainsay any or resist any who may declare unto you the Counsel of God and cause them not to be persecuted or hurt but all be calm and moderate and learn Wisdom from above from him who hath enlightned you that you may come to deny your selves and follow him who condemns all Self-actings and Self-will in man and all Customs Laws Worships and Traditions that are made in the Will of man that so he unto whom all Power is committed may be feared and worshipped in Spirit in Life Truth and Righteousness that so all Sedition Rebellion Treachery and Unrighteousness may be cleansed out of the Earth and that all quarreling fighting contention may end and people come out of that which the sword is against that so the Swords may be beat into Plowshares and the Spears into Pruning-hooks that so Violence may be done away and Cruelty swept out of the Nations that the Dominion of God may be set over all and his Truth advanced above all that the Kingdoms of the World may become the Lord's and his Christ's and blessed are they that stoop unto his Scepter who judges the Nations in Righteousness and the people with Equity who is the Salvation of all his people for evermore and a hiding Place in the day of Trouble LONDON the 20th of the 2nd Moneth 1658. SOME OF THE MYSTERIES OF God's Kingdom DECLARED As they have been revealed by the Spirit THROUGH FAITH For the Information of all such who have erred for Lack of true Knowledge in their Judgments and have perished for Lack of Understanding to the Intent that they may for the Time to come wait in that which gives the true Knowledge of God and of his Kingdom and of the Mysteries thereof which come to be revealed through Faith to the upright in HEART Also for the Confirmation of such who are made Partakers of the like precious Faith By one who is made Partaker of the Riches of his GRACE and of the SALVATION which is in Christ Jesus revealed through the SPIRIT F. H. The Secrets of the Lord are with them that fear him The Particulars treated on in the following DISCOVRSE I. WHat the Day of the Lord is and to whom it hath appeared and how it is seen and discovered II. What it is and what it will be to the wicked declared III. What it is to the Righteous and how he appears to them and whether we are to look for it while in the Body resolved IV. Where it doth appear and how it cometh and how it is to be looked for declared V. What the Spirit of the Lord is and how it comes to be received which discovers the Things of God VI. How the Spirit of Truth worketh and operateth in them who are convinced and yet have not obeyed it shewed VII How the Spirit of the Father worketh in them who hearken to it and are in some Measure made Partakers of its Power shewn VIII Unto whom the Spirit of the Father bears witness and seals Assurance of the Father's Love and of Justification with God declared IX What the Grace of God is which is free and to whom it hath appeared and where all are to wait to receive it X Whether all have received the Grace of Godor no and whether it be a sufficient Teacher in it self demonstrated XI Some Objections answered XII A Word to the wise Men of this World who are glorying in the Sound of Words XIII Also another to them who are glorying in outward Appearances and worshipping visible Things instead of the Life XIV The Kingdom of God and his Christ declared in some Measure as it is revealed by the Spirit what it is and where it is to be waited for and how it comes to be revealed in them that believe XV. Divers Objections answered TO THE READER Reader IN Times past in the Night of Ignorance when Men groped in the dark as blind Men since the Apostles Dayes and out of thick Darkness have spoke darkly of the Things of God and of his Kingdom and written many things about the Things of God and of his Kingdom which have fed the dark Minds of many who are unconverted unto God And seeing how many People are confused in their Minds and err in Judgment and have lost the Key of Knowledge which should give an Entrance into the Mystery of God's Kingdom and open their Hearts therefore in Compassion unto them who are thirsting after the Lord to find him these few Things I was moved to write for the sakes of those who have no Place to rest in or upon to the Intent that all may wait in that through which God reveals his Mind and manifests his true Knowledge in Man and these Things that I have written as they were revealed to me and in me by his
pure Spirit if thou waitest in the Manifestation of the Spirit these Things thou wilt see to be Truth though hid and vailed from the World that lyes in VVickedness as thou comest out of its Nature I have not written for to please Men of corrupt Minds who glory in VVords and outward Appearances and glory in natural Parts and in Sounds and are erred from the Life but to the simple-hearted and for the strengthening of the weak and for the understanding of the simple and that which thou seest in the following Discourse which thou canst not close with let it alone and judge nothing before the Time in thy Wisdom that is earthly or in thy Reason but in that and to that of God in thee I desire to be approved and to nothing else and shall be made manifest in the day of the Lord that is dawning in the world and many have seen it to appear in Power and Glory wait thou in thy own particular that thou may'st feel thy own Condition and see thy own State and that which lets thee see thy own Condition will let thee see the Lord and what I have declared of him to be true I am thy Friend in Truth and wish Good to all Men. F. H. SOME OF THE MYSTERIES OF God's Kingdom DECLARED As they have been revealed by the Spirit THROUGH FAITH THE Lord God of the whole Earth who lives forever even the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and Jacob whose Throne is established in Righteousness forever who rideth upon the Heavens and shines forth in his eternal Excellency from the Firmament of his Power he is manifesting himself in his Power as in the dayes of old and revealing his Righteousness as in the Years past and pouring forth his Spirit upon his Sons and Daughters according to his Promise and they that believe come to be made Partakers of the Blessing of the everlasting Hills even the Lord who appeared at Sinai unto Moses his Servant in the Bush who rose up from Mount Seir and shined forth in his Brightness from Mount Paran and came with ten thousands of his Saints even he from whose right Hand went a fiery Law so that the People could not behold his Glory the same is he who hath now appeared in this the Day of his Power and is appearing whose Glory shall dazel the Eyes of the World whose Brightness shall make dim all the World's Glory and stain its Wisdom and shut it up in utter Darkness that it shall not appear to have any Existence or Being and the Shadow of Death shall fly away and all the haughty and lofty Princes of this World shall be horribly afraid the Beasts shall go into their Dens when the day appears and the Lambs of the everlasting Fold shall come forth and be fed in the fat Valleys where the Springs of Life compass about all the Banks and rejoyce in their Shepherd and shall say The Lord is my Shepherd which many at this Time do admire and say What hath the Lord wrought who have seen his Wonders in the dayes of old and have seen his noble Acts which the Fathers have told of who are fallen asleep and are at Rest in the Lord and now many is God bringing to see what they witness to be true and to have the same fulfilled in themselves Honour and Praise unto him forever who is the Stay Strength of all his People forever And the day of the Lord is broken and the Light hath appeared that manifesteth all Things which are reproveable and the Day-Star is arisen in the Hearts of many and they are come to see that fulfilled in their Hearts which Peter exhorted them to wait for and to take heed unto the sure Word of Prophecy until the day appeared and did dawn in their Hearts which day when it appears and to whom it appears discovereth all things and maketh all things manifest as it is declared by the Spirit of Truth in the Scripture of Truth and every Man's Work shall be tryed of what Sort it is and of what Nature it is and this day hath appeared to many Praises to the Lord who have waited for it and now they see every thing in its Ground and Rise and every tree and fruit is seen according to its kind whether good or bad and every Man's Work is obvious to every one who are in the day and upon whom the Morning of Righteousness hath appeared and the Sun of Righteousness hath shined upon whereby that is seen in every one by the Light which is truly called day by the Lord who causeth it to spring from on high which is reproveable and condemnable and also whatever is justifiable and unreproveable is seen by the day of the Lord appearing in the Heart The Day of the Lord what it is and to whom it hath appeared discovered and how it is seen GOD is a Spirit his day is spiritual and is seen with a spiritual Eye it 's pure Light pure Brightness the pure shining forth of the Lord in his glorious Excellency the pure shining forth of Eternity Life putting forth it self in its Brightness Holiness shedding it self abroad in its Glory Purity spreading it self in its immeasurable Excellency and can only be seen as it is in it self by the Children of Light that are born of it there is a natural day there is a spiritual Day the natural day receives its Brightness from the Sun the spiritual day receives its Brightness from the Sun of Righteousness by whom it 's brought forth without whom nothing was or is made or brought forth but by him who is the Fountain of Life and as the natural day receives its Clearness from the natural Sun and is discerned by the natural Eye of a natural Man and all things natural are seen and discovered by and in the natural day and are perspicuous and obvious to him that hath his natural Sight even so from the Sun of Righteousness the Lord of Glory Light and Purity the day of God receives its Brightness and is issued out from him by the Rayes of his Brightness and is discerned and seen only by the spiritual Eye of the spiritual Man who is the Image of the Father brought forth in Life and in his own Nature and Quality that is to say from God the Father of Life by Christ Jesus the Life of men the Light of the World and this is the Birth which is born from above which is of the Nature of the Father and the Son and of the day and he only comes to behold this day and discerns all things of the Father's Kingdom by it and likewise discerns all the hidden things of Dishonesty and the Works of Darkness which are brought forth by the Prince of Darkness who is shut up in eternal utter Darkness which is his dwelling-place forever which is his Residence and shall be the Residence of all the Workers of Iniquity that bear his Image forever Object But some
joyned for so far as a man denies himself in acting or joyning to that which the Manifestation of God's Spirit shining forth in its own Purity in him reproveth so he comes nearer and comes to joyn in some measure to the Spirit of Holiness or the holy Spirit and to receive it and to feel the Power of God in some small Measure though but weakly working in him to the purging out those things which the Spirit lets him see is evil which hath been reproved in him and so in some Measure feels in himself what to wait upon and where to wait and in what even in that which gives every one a feeling of their own Condition within and opens their Understandings How the Spirit of Truth worketh and operateth in them who are convinced and yet have not obeyed shewed THough God who is a Spirit hath appeared by his manifestation unto all yet all have not received it he that hates the Light hath not received it The Eye-lids of the morning are unto him as the shadow of Death that which manifesteth and bringeth to Light all evil the evil-doer likes it not heeds it not receives it not but still is without God in the world that lies in Wickedness and without the Spirit in death and Dead in Trespasses and Sins a Sepulcher in which the just lies slain in this state God is not remembred there is no Remembrance in the Grave nor thanks in the Pit yet Light shines in Darkness and a man unconverted yet convinced is that Darkness and that which convinceth him is the Light so Light shines in Darkness in man in the greatest Darkness and this may convince all vain Disputers who say every one is not enlightned neither that the Spirit of God hath appeared to all good men have it bad men it 's near them they that bring forth the fruits of Darkness and bring forth the Deeds of Darkness they are lighted yea they that are in Darkness and are Darkness the Light shines in them the Spirit of God shines there in Darkness manifesteth their Darkness here man is Darkness the Ephesians were Darkness in the unconverted Estate yet had Light shining in them Eph. 5.8 the Spirit 's manifestation they had but were not led by it once they were without God in the world but after it was turned unto it shewed them their Darkness and it leading their minds they came to be made Light in the Lord who is that Spirit whose Manifestation hath appeared to all so all are without Excuse for he had not left himself without a Witness and they that have not God's witness to be theirs that is to say to possess it they have no Faith nor Assurance in God at all but that which should bring Assurance of Salvation unto them it assures their Condemnation and also reveals Sorrow Now as every one is turned to the Measure of God's holy Spirit and keeps his Mind unto it he comes to feel and to see its Reproof and so as the Mind is kept still into it it arises in its Purity and shines forth in the Heart in more Brightness still checking man for Disobedience still judging and as it is listened unto it appears in Strength and layes every man's heart open and lets him see how full of Unrighteousness he is how full of Imagination he is how his Heart is full of vain and idle Thoughts and how lust aboundeth in the Heart this makes his Trouble to increase and his Sorrow to multiply and this is alwayes present none can run from it but it follows him and shall pursue every one to the Pit who obey it not and kindle his Torment and whatsoever the mind may run into to take Pleasure for a Moment and the heart be exercised in yet this Measure of God's Spirit is alwayes present to condemn it and judge a man for it so the Strokes of the Almighty are still heavy upon his Back being still in the Disobedience of the Spirit it never bears witness unto any man in that State but God through it still sounds the Alarum of War and Terror in his Heart so that Fear compasseth him about on every Side and though for a Moment the cry may not be heard and through Disobedience it may seem as dead as unto him yet if ever the Mind be but still and a man sober and calm and ever mind what he is doing it appears again and though a man may take up something and perform something which is called religious and pray in Words and read and talk of the Scriptures and may take up some carnal outward Ordinances and there content himself for a time yet still the Witness of God's holy Spirit for that shews him his Hypocrisie and that he seeks a Cover to shelter himself under that he may live in Disobedience and be at Ease in the Flesh but all in vain for there is no peace within but the Measure of God's Spirit still shews him he serves Sin and follows his own Will and in this Will brings forth a Worship and this is Will-worship nay if a man should practice all those things which others who were in the Life performed and were accepted yet this will not satisfie God hath no Pleasure in this no more then if one slow a man or blessed an Idol or killed Baal all is Abomination to the Lord and though a man may sin so far against the Light of Christ in his own Conscience that the Light be to him as though there were no such thing yet all this will not do for the Lord will thunder from his holy Place though thou hast stopped thy Ear as to him and closed thy Eyes yet he will make thee hear and see and will cause his Terror to strike into thy Heart so that Dread shall compass thee about as a Wall and thou shall be afraid for that which thou shalt see and hear and though the Spirit strives long yet being still disobeyed the long-suffering of God comes to an End concerning him that hath been unfaithful and then his Wrath is kindled as Fire which shall burn to the lowest Hell into which all the rebellious and stiff-necked shall be cast and have their Portion forever among all the Children of Darkness therefore all who have been convinced long and still are by God's holy Spirit of the Way of Truth and yet have not submitted to the leading of the Spirit think on this for it 's the Lord's Truth which I declare unto you or else eternal Misery will be your End And if thou still persist on after the Imaginations of thine own Heart and in thy rebellious Will thou quenchest the Spirit and the Motions thereof and though it be Life in it self yet is as dead unto thee who art in the gainsaying resisting that through which God's eternal Power is manifest in them that believe and thou wilt grow insensible and past feeling and become as seared Flesh and be sensless as to the things of God and
Hardness of Heart will come upon thee and thou wilt be as a Stone which cannot be melted and Wo will be unto such where the Spirit of the Lord in them ceaseth to strive with them having so long rebelled against and gainsaid the pure drawing of it that so the Lord is grieved and wearied with their Impenitency that he gives them up to their vile Affection and to follow the Imaginations of their own Heart who received not the Truth in the Love of it but in the Enmity still remain obstinate doing Despight to the Spirit of Grace his long-suffering comes to an End and his fierce Wrath comes to be kindled against such and that which would have led them out of the World into true pure everlasting Peace now becomes their Tormentor and they banished from his Presence and shut up in Eternal Misery where the Fire is kindled by the Breath of the Lord that burns forever the Sentence of Condemnation being past upon them because they had Pleasure in Unrighteousness and have sold themselves to do wickedly and crucifying the Appearance of God in themselves which Appearance though it lives in the Fountain of Life yet crucified by thee who art out of the Life yet lives still forever in it self to be thy Condemnation eternally How the Spirit of the Father worketh in them who are turned to it and have taken heed unto its Manifestation and are in some Measure Partakers of its Power THere are Differences of Administration but the same Lord and there are Diversity of Gifts but the same Spirit and there are Diversities of Operations but the same God which worketh all in all Now the Spirit of Truth which is Life in it self putteth forth its own pure Act not only to convince and detect him that transgresseth its Appearance and manifesteth Evil which hath been committed by Man but also being turned unto and waited in it shews Man when Motions and Temptations unto Sin arise and as the Creature is still and waiteth in that which manifesteth and singly keeps in his Mind to it it sheds abroad its Power and vanquisheth and subdueth those Lusts which do arise and condemns the Ground from whence they arise and it purely draweth the Mind after it and secretly worketh and breatheth forth its pure Life in him that waiteth in Patience and in Stilness not heeding the vain Thoughts and Imaginations that rise in his Heart but rather heeds the Manifestation of the Spirit at whose bright Appearance all the vain Desires come to be extinguished and there comes to be a Hunger begot within to be made Partakers of its Purity and of its Nature for God through the Operation of the eternal Spirit lets forth his Power which turneth and changeth the Heart and cuts asunder and divides betwixt a man and those Lovers that he hath joyned unto and makes a Separation within and carries a man further from those things which the Measure of the Spirit reproves and this leads nearer unto God And so they that do believe in the Measure of God's Spirit come to feel what Repentance from dead Works is and the Works and the Worker are seen and who it is that hath wrought is manifest in the Light and as there is a diligent waiting upon it there is nothing that passeth through the Mind but it discerns and gives a Discerning unto every particular Heart who singly and quietly wait upon it but yet after the Spirit of Truth in some measure be felt and its living Testimony in something yet it may be a long time before there be a clear Distinguishment in the Understanding so that one cannot clearly discern its Movings from all other false Motions and high Imaginations which are above and hence it is that the hasty and forward Minds follow their vain Motions which lead them into Deceit and then the Questioner gets up and then they question all that ever the Spirit hath made manifest unto them before a Vail then is drawn over and the Enemy lodges in the Vail and in the Darkness which is entered and then as soon as any hearken within to that which is the uppermost and doth abound the Enemy that lodges in that presents Motions as to obey this and that and all is Deceit So therefore all are to keep back that they may sensibly feel between the pure Motions and drawing of the Spirit and the vain Thoughts that arise out of the earthly Heart and when any thing doth arise which the Light doth not bear Witness to it 's not to be followed nor heeded but a quiet still waiting that things may be cleared to the understanding and for Want of this many have run out and have brought forth Satan's Work and acted things forwardly in their Will and so have clean lost the true Sence of that which should guide their Minds and have followed the Spirit of Error have caused the pure Spirit of the Lord to be evil spoken of but as there is a keeping back and a quiet waiting out of willing or running and haste it arises purely and stilly in the Heart shines forth in Brightness in the Heart so that it giveth perfect Evidence and full Testimony of it self that there will be no doubting nor questioning of its Motion for it will apparently shew forth it self in its own transparent Brightness with full Assurance of his own Will and then after it be clearly seen and its Motion then keep under all reasoning and keep out all questioning and give not Way to Temptation and that which moves of the Lord of Life will carry thee through in its own Operation and Power to accomplish the Will of God and so thou wilt have Peace being obedient and thy Strength will be renewed for as any is brought to submit unto the Will of God when it is known and comes to obey by Virtue of its own Power that which is contrary unto God's Spirit in thee comes to loose its Strength and to decay and be weakened but as any disobey the pure Motion of God's holy Spirit after it be known the Enemy is strengthned and that which is of the Flesh nourished and the Spirit comes to be quenched that which would give thee Power if thou submittest to it but yet know this the Spirit in it self never loseth its Purity neither can be quenched in it self but will bear its pure Witness against thee and none shall be able to stop its Reproof thus the Diversity of its Operation comes to be known as it is hearkened unto obeyed loved and believed in it puts forth its pure Power and gives Strength and seals Peace to the obedient but disobeyed and resisted it condemns judgeth reproves and seals Condemnation to the disobedient and yet there is no Variation in it self for it is alwayes one and the same But as it operateth upon different Natures or Objects unto which it joyns or stands at a Distance from that is to say the good Ground it causeth to bring
setting up and conforming to a visible Practice without that will justifie you while that which is in the Transgression and hath transgressed the Life and hath disobeyed the Light in your Consciences is Head in you and above the pure that will not recommend you unto God neither can you have any Access or Acceptation with God in that State till you come out of the Waters upon which the Whore sits which are unstable and boisterous and reel to and fro and unsetled which are all to be dryed up and all the Springs cut off that nourish and you must come to the Rock before you know any thing that will endure to build upon which Rock is Christ who abides for ever but you are all gone from that which should give the Knowledge of him in your selves and do not retain him in your Knowledge neither that which gives the Knowledge of him the Light of his Spirit which shineth in your Hearts making manifest in your Hearts the Intention of your Hearts when Motions unto Evil do arise this must you all come to before God's Salvation or Redemption you come to know in your selves or have the Witness of God's holy Spirit without which there is neither Seal nor Evidence nor Assurance enjoyed or felt of the Love of God The Time of restoring is come and many are restored again into God's Covenant and are delivered out of the Jaws of Death and feel him who is the Healer of the Nations and the Restorer of the desolate Places to dwell in but first you must come to see those Places made desolate wherein the wild Nature lodges before you come to have a Share in the Restoration come off these barren Mountains where you are feeding to Christ the Life of Men who hath lightned you and wait in it that you may feel his Mind in your selves and the Signification of the Spirit of Truth from your own Spirits or else you will still err for Lack of Knowledge and perish for Want of Understanding and so lay down your Heads in Sorrow The Kingdom of God and of his Christ declared in some Measure as it is revealed what it is and where it is to be waited for and how it cometh to be revealed to them and in them that believe that all who are waiting for it may know wherein it consists and so receive the End of their Hope and the End of their Expectation and know the Dominion which hath no End THE Lord hath prepared his Throne in the Heavens and his Kingdom ruleth over all his Dominion is an everlasting Dominion and without End God is a Spirit his Kingdom is spiritual his Habitation is sutable to his own Nature he is immortal his Kingdom is so he is Light his dwelling Place is so a pure Situation in which there is no Uncleanness nor ever shall be It 's eternal Dignity it is an immutable Being that remaineth alwayes in its Purity and Pleasantness Eternally glorious it consists in Power in Righteousness in Purity in Joy in Hope in Peace in Life in Vertue eternal in Quietness it 's a quiet Habitation it is a incomprehensible unsearchable and indeclarable Words are too short they are but as Sounds as Vails It is unexpressible in its is the Treasure-House of Wisdom out of which all that believe in him who is the King of eternal and immortal Glory come to receive of his Wisdom of his Life of his Power Vertue Righteousness and come to enjoy him who is the Fulness that filleth all things whether visible or invisible whether terrestrial or coelestial his Power is over all his Dominion is over all who is eternally Blessedness it self and Felicity it self who makes all that believe in him to partake of his Kingdom of his Grace of his Power of his Dignity of his Dominion and of his Glory caelestiall but these things are hid from the World who are not redeemed from the Earth neither never look to be while they are in the Body Unto such I say God's Kingdom you shall never see nor enjoy while you are in that Faith which is reprobate but may be truly called Unbelief although you imagine a Glory and a Kingdom in your earthly Minds and dream of a thing to come sutable unto that wherein your Glory now standeth but that will all fail and those Imaginations will be confounded and dissolved into nothing because they are centered in that which is out of the Truth Christ and so are without Ground or Bottom and are out of that which should give you the Sight and Knowledge of God in your selves and his Kingdom Christ when he taught them that followed him exhorted them that first of all they might seek the Kingdom of God even while they were in the Body Mat. 6. and 39. the Pharisees were gazing abroad in their earthly Knowledge although they had the Scripture that declared of Gods Kingdom yet they knew it not and this Generation is the same who are in the same Nature and in the same Wisdom which is earthly and litteral and they are imagining as the Jews were and are lo here and lo there in this Observation and the other and look to see it there Nay Christ said The Kingdom of God is within you to the Pharisees And he bad them and others seek it first what strange Doctrine was this might the Pharisees say he saith The Kingdom of God is within us and yet bids us seek it Need we seek that which is in us may Professors say Yea it 's like a Pearl hid in the Field it 's like a Grain of Mustard-seed among many great Seeds which is not easily found it 's like a Piece of Silver lost in the House among much Rubbish till that be swept away thou wilt not find it thou must dig deep sweep clean search narrowly before thou find it although he said to the Pharisees The Kingdom of God is within you he did not say they were Possessors of it or that it was theirs but to the Disciples whom he taught to pray in Faith thy kingdom come and they came to find it that which they prayed for that Pearl that Groat that Grain of Mustard-seed which it was like and having found it and believed in it he said unto them Mat. 5.3 Blessed are the poor in Spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of God And in Luk. 6.20 And he lift up his Eyes on his Disciples and said blessed be ye poor for yours is the Kingdom of God They had seen it and were Possessors of it it was theirs And Christ said unto his Disciples There are some of you standing that shall not taste of Death till ye see the Kingdom of God come in Power And his Words were fulfilled they declared what they had felt and seen and some of them say The Kingdom of God is not in Word but in Power And Paul to the Romans writes Rom. 14.17 who were also made Partakers of the same Power and the same Kingdom he
out of the Psalms or any other Scripture as the Minister shall think fit will serve to treat upon Reader thou mayest take notice that here is no notice taken of the holy Ghost or Spirit what it thinks fit but what he that preaches hath ready must go off and counted as fit for that People Direct And in the 36th page your Direction is to the Merchant not to rest in general Doctrine but come to particular Application which is a Work of great difficulty to himself requiring Prudence and Moderation and to the natural corrupt man it will be very unpleasant Answ. The Doctrines and the Applications of the natural corrupt man will not be profitable nor powerful at all upon the Hearers neither will disarm the Thoughts of the Heart at all and you that give Prescriptions to natural corrupt men what to preach who set them about performing the Work of God that know it not are very ignorant for the natural man understands not the things of God and the corrupt man in Heart sees not God and he that understands not the things of God must needs preach a Divination of his own Brain Well let who will take this Traffique the Children of Light will have none of it it may be such Husks as these will satisfie a Herd of Swine and so let them take it Direct And you say He that preaches is to be perswaded in his own Heart that all that he teaches is the Truth and that he is to walk before his Flock as an Example Answ. How is he like to be perswaded in his own Heart that sins presumptuously against the Checks of his own Conscience And you set Examples indeed but they are but bad ones would you have your Flock to follow your Example would you have every one of your Flock to have a long Gown or a long Robe and make them all like Cardinals Princes Would you have every one to have a Ring on his finger and a company of Points at his knees like a Beasom and a company of Ribbons and Cuffs like a Fidler Or would you have any of your Flock to come and fetch away a Yoak of your Oxen or a couple of your Horses or take his Teem and come into your Field break down the Hedges and throw open the Gates and load his Waggon with Corn if one could not pay it him for Conscience sake Or would you be sued up two hundred Miles into a Court for a Tythe Hen worth four Pence or six Pence and thrown into the Fleet a Year or two for four or five Shilling Many such Evidences and Examples we have from you you late Reformers but to the Light in all Consciences I leave to judge which you have presumptuously sinned against what Examples you are to your Flocks Direct And now Reader I come to Prayer after Sermon and thou shalt see what Traffick is there The Ministers are to give thanks for the blessing received as Eleââion Vocation Adoption Justification and Hope of Glory and likewise to turn the Heads of his Sermons into some few Petitions and after to pray for the Preparations for Death and to entreat of God to forgive the Iniquity of your holy things Answ. Here Reader thou mayest see as bad Merchandize as the Story of the Lady of Lauretta or the Story of Saint Francis which the begging Fryars your fellow-merchants traffick withal First you give thanks for Election Vocation Justification and Hope of Glory and afterwards pray for the Forgiveness of the Iniquity of your holy things How are your things holy when they are full of Iniquity and sinful Is that which is holy Iniquity and sinful Or is that which is Iniquity and sinful holy Are they Elected Justified Adopted and Sanctified whose Sins are not blotted out whose Iniquities are not forgiven let the wise in Heart judge of this Dream What! are not they well prepared for death that are Elected Adopted Justified and Sanctified but they must needs have your Prayers full of Iniquity will that prepare them better What ignorance is here And where learned you this Article of Faith to turn the Heads of the Sermon into Petitions let the wise Judge Was not Prophesie one thing and Prayer another But now Pââphesie must be turned into Prayer and Prayer into Prophesie Sermons into Petitions and Petitions into Sermons what mangl'd Traffick is this Direct In the 38th Page Thâs kind of Prayer fore-mentioned ended a Psalm may be sung if it be convenient if some other Ordinance doth not follow Answ. Then it seems that your Psalm is no Ordinance but if it be it must give Way however if the Priest think fit God must have no Prayers at that Time it may be sprinckling of an Infant may serve in stead Direct And now I come to the great Ordinance Infants Baptism falsly so called in the 40th Page The Minister is to use some Words touching the Institution how that it was instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ that Infants should be baptized and that it is a Seal of the Covenant of Grace and of our grafting into Christ and of our Union with him and of Remission of Sins Regeneration Adoption and eternal Life Answ. Reader take notice Christ never sent them forth as Ministers to tell Lyes as to say he ordained that which he never did and furthermore take notice that the Spirit of the Lord is turned out of Doors there is no Place for it outward Water with which the Infant is sprinckled hath taken up the Authority and the Work of the Spirit the Minister of Christ declared that the Spirit of Promise and the Spirit of Truth was the Seal of the Covenant of Grace and Remission of Sins Regeneration and Adoption and that the Faith and the Spirit are the Seed of Eternal Life but these Reformers have excluded both and have set up a beggarly Element in the room let the spiritual Man judge what kind of Traffick this is Direct And in Page 42. That Children by Baptism are received into the Bosome of the Church distinguished from the World Answ. Now what Kind of Church yours is and what Kind of a Bosome your Church hath distinct from the World the wise in Heart may judge you have confessed that Magistrates Ministers and the whole Nation do not so much as endeavour after Mortification and a Newness of Life and that you are blind hard-hearted full of Unbelief impenitent secure and luke-warm and have not so much as endeavoured to receive Christ into your Hearts by Faith as in the sixteenth Page of your Directory may be seen and how your Church and the Bosome of it is distinct from the World if your Church be as you have said the understanding may judge for you that are impenitent and full of Unbelief and have not received Christ into your Hearts you are of the World and your Bosome full of Deceit and are none of the Church of Christ. Direct And moreover the Minister that baptized the Infant
Grave nor after men be Dead for they that have served Sin in their Life time served the Devil as long as they live and have yeelded their Bodies to be Temples for Uncleanness while they live upon the Earth eternal Misery will be their Portion and not redemption Think on this you who are holding this forth for an Article of your Faith in the World among poor Ignorant People that they must not expect redemption from all Sin in this Life and so leads them on to Perpetual Misery Misery will be your End and in the day of the Lord you shall Witness this to be true But to return to the Beginning again where there was no sorrow but pure Joy and Peace both in Heaven and Earth but I go hither and thither as the Spirit leads and shall speak as it gives Utterance though but here a little and there a little yet shall it be in Truth and Righteousness How Peace Joy and Delight possessed every Thing that God had made every Thing which he had formed glorified God their Maker with one Consent in the Beginning before the World was framed that lay in Wickedness NOW the Lord rejoyced in all the Works of his Hands which he had made and rested and all that he had made rested in the Power whether Caelestial or Terrestrial and rejoyced in him walked in him in the Motion of the Power of the Life they were happy and partook of the Life that endures forever and Happiness immortal and knew no Evil for there was none there was no Hell yet prepared Tophet yet was not ordained neither the Devil had yet any Being at all there was no Wrath no Sorrow no Condemnation no Death Vexation Grief or Perplexity no Pit of Darkness no Angel of the bottomless Pit no Shame no Tribulation no Anguish nor Pain no Misery and in a Word there was nothing that did destroy but all in Quietness in Peace in Life in Power in Wisdom glorifying him which sate upon the Throne the Lamb who was living and the Life of the Male and the Female and of every Thing that God had made by the Power subsisted in the Power and in the Motion thereof was good purely good and here was the Goodness of him who was eternally good manifest in all above all and over all God blessed forever even then the Heavens rejoyced and the innumerable Company of Angels were hearty glad and all the holy Host sang for Joy with a living Voice which none that stand in Time ever yet heard or can learn then the Earth and all Things therein that moved and had Life were in pure Solace and Mirth and pleasant Joy unspeakable all knit together in Unity and Harmony in one Consent as one Family and were one Body and there was Health in the Body and it was pure and comely and perfect and pleasant to behold crowned with Dignity covered with Righteousness beautified with the Comliness of the Lamb who was the Life of all and now Man had Right to the Tree of Life while he moved in the Power and went not out Oh happy State oh beautiful State oh admirable State eternal Felicity oh glorious State Life it self the Life of all and all in the Life moving in the Power and man had right to the Tree of Life while he lived in the Lamb's Power had Unity with his Maker and with all the Creatures that God had made and was in God's pure Dominion and Authority and ruled all over all things that God had mâde in God's Wisdom thus in short was the State of all things in the Beginning as they were created and brought forth and these be the Generation of the Heaven and of the Earth and of all Things that therein are in the Day when God created them when the Father was glorified when the Son was glorified and when Man was in Glory and Honour and in Dominion created in the Image of God and yet there was no Evil Time would fail to speak of the State of all Things in the Beginning as it was and as it is revealed by the Spirit of Truth but in that which I have declared they who have a good Understanding may take a Glimpse of the happy State of all Things as God hath revealed them by his Spirit which I never received of nor from man but by the Holy Spirit of God which was in the Beginning with God which saw all this and was an Eye-Witness of this before the World that lyes in Wickedness began and he that hath an Ear let him hear and blessed is his Ear. How Man lost his State and Dominion and Unity with God and all the Creatures and how the Lamb came to be slain and the VVorld that lyes in Wickedness came to be formed and founded and how the Curse came and the Wo upon the Serpent which was blessed before and upon Man and Woman and the Ground that received the Temptation which was blessed before in the Motion of the Power came to be cursed and how endless Misery came in upon all in the Transgression declared to them who have a good Understanding NOW the Serpent was more subtil then all the Beasts of the Field for that was his Nature in which he was created and it was good in the Motion of the Power and therefore Christ said Be wise as Serpents yet as harmless as Doves and though the Serpent was wise and subtil more then all the Beasts of the Field till he acted moved without Commandment and out of the Motion of the Power he was not cursed he that can receive it let him but he moved in the Subtilty and Wisdom out of the Light out of the Power and went out of the Truth out of his Place without Commandment or Authority from the Power and acted and spâke of himself out of the Power and out of the Truth as it is written Joh. 8.44 When he speaketh a Lye he speaketh of his own for he is a Lyar and the Father of it now he knew there was a Law and Command not to eat of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil for God had forbidden it now he went out of the Power without Commandment of his own Accord without Motion now he went and talked with the Woman and she was good before being in the Motion of the Life and Power she also looked out and not in the Power and reasoned with him out of Power contrary to Commandment beyond the Command or before the Power and said unto the Serpent We may eat of all but the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil we may not eat lest we dye this she knew and the Serpent knew now the Tree of Knowledge was good in the Powers Motion though not to live upon or for Food for it was not good for Food therefore God the Truth the Life the Power did forbid to taste of it or to eat of that Tree but the Serpent out of the Power and the Woman
Self-acting was not known now Self-will Self-worship Self-righteousness nay they moved in the Power Righteousness was their covering and as I said before there was no shame I might speak largely in this thing and truly my Tongue is the Pen of a ready writer Oh that all had an Ear to hear that their Soul might live and that every one might be unbottomed of his false rest false and feigned Hope and Faith and of his own ragged Garment and let go his Self-righteousness and his dead Works and come to Christ the Life of men again that man hath run from that so he might have Life and Peace Object But some would say That thou wouldest have all upside down anâ unchristian the Nations and unchurch Churches and throw down all our Worship and then what should we do all would be as Heathens and turn into Atheism I say a time of fanning and sifting and trying is come when nothing shâll stand but that hath the Image stamp and Character of the living God upon it and all that which hath been brought up and raised up since man hath been in the Transgression must be turned down into the Pit again and all that have got a Name of Christian and wants his Life to live among them and in them shall be scattered as Clouds with the ãâã wind and all imitated Worships and will-Worshippers and the feigneâ Faith and the feigned Hope shall be confounded and all will-worships and Worshippers will be overturned who are not come yet to the true Light that lightens every man that comes into the World and till man comes to the Light and tryes his deeds and works by it he never sees what he is doing nor what he is working nor what he works and so all that man doth here in the unbelief it is but Sin or Self-righteousness which is brought forth by him who abode not in the Truth in the Unbelief and so who be come to the Power which was in the Beginning before Sin entered and death by Sin hath and doth measure all deeds and all works and man that is in the loss in the Fall and sees that a dead man cannot act a living work nor bring forth living Fruits unto God nor living works of Righteousness being in the Unrighteousness neither the fruits of Faith being in the unbelief neither the works of the Day being in the Night neither the works of charity being in the Enmity in a word without Christ the Power the Light the Life which was glorified with the Father before the world began I say the said it himself who is the Beginning of the Creation of God the first born of every creature he said and his Testimony will be found true without me ye can do nothing nothing that is well-pleasing to the Lord nothing that ever shall be acceptable and here is the true State of all the Earth discovered and all mankind drove out from God miserable Naked Hâpeless Helpless Faithless and so can do nothing as to the glorifying of God his Maker or to the ordering of any thing in the Creation to his glory having lost his Dominion and God's Wisdom and this being cââsidered seriously by all and brought to the Light in all and their Deeds tryed by it would make the losty bow and the Stout-hearted fear and the conceited sit down in Solitariness that they should so long deceivâ their own Souls with a conceit of Righteousness and redemption whââ as Death yet reigns in them and over them and not Life eterna ãâã the Devil is a distinct being from God and his Works are distinct anâ his Deeds from the Works of God and neither he nor his works ãâ¦ã be numbred among the works of God but he and they thaâ ãâã him and fellow him who is our of the Truth they their work ãâã whât âort soever they may seem unto men to be whose Eyes the ãâã hââh âlinded so I say all is to condemned and shut out from God's ãâ¦ã âârever and to be Destroyed by him who is a consuming Fire ãâã all the Righteousness of man burned as combustible stuff in ãâ¦ã Aâd by what hath been said the Principle of that ãâ¦ã become vain in their Imaginations and foolish ãâ¦ã being Darkned and are seen and their Principle overthââââ As that Light and Darkness is one and good and Evil one and ãâã Righteousness one and Truth and a Lye one and that God is all and doth all and whatever is done is of God and that there is no Evil but to him that thinks it so and it is only a false apprehension of things and that there is no such thing as Sin and that Sin is nothing Unto all these things I might speak but the understanding Reader may by what is before written see each of these plainly declared and the true Ground of things laid down as the Spirit gave utterance and this shall at present suffice in this Matter Object But some may object further and say Will not reading the Scriptures and conforming to the practice of the Saints in the use of his Ordinances will not this make us accepted and bring us out of the Fall and make us good Christians Answ. No while Death hath dominion in man and over man and the vail over the Heart man doth not understand the Mystery of God's Kingdom neither understands the Scripture which was spoken from the Spirit of Truth or any thing of Truth as it is in Christ for none understands the things of God but by the Spirit of God so that every man that comes to have a good understanding must come to know the pure Spirit of God in him to direct him and inform him which Spirit was the Original of the Scripture for the holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost without the holy Ghost in some measure be known and that which is infallible the sayings the writings the Scriptures cannot be understood because of the want of this all the Earth is run into Heads and Sects and Opinions and large Treatises and Volumes and expositions have been written and yet differing one from another and all from the Spirit and in all these particular Sects Persecuting one another and Envying one another and hating one another and would compell others to believe what they believe in what they say if they had but power and for proof of this it is most evident in the Scripture of Truth and in latter Ages since the Apostles it hath been and it is evidently seen both among the Papists and Protestants and among all them that are called the reformed Churches but all this is in the Fall and in the Transgression and in the Apostacy and is an evident token that they are all under the Power of the Beast whom makes War against the Lamb so all compellation and they that do compell are not Worshippers of the Lamb but of the Beast which is to be destroyed and cast into the Lake For the
Church of God when as Christ saith He is the door none comes into the Fold but by him and none comes to the Father but by him and he is the way so who sets up another entrance unto God or into the Fold or into the Church which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth sets up an Idol and prefers an Idol above the Life and so are in the Idolatry But let none mistake that I say Water is an Idol nay it is a good Creature of God or that I say Johns Baptism with Water was an Idol nay he was in the Power and Spirit of Eliah and his Baptism a Figure of a good thing which was to come which afterward was received by the Disciples and Christ's words made good unto them John indeed Baptized you with Water unto Repentance but ye shall be Baptized with the Holy Ghost and with Fire not many dayes hence that was Christ's Baptism I am not Ignorant of the many and great Contests in this Age that have been about these things and I know many Scriptures that speak of Baptism all which I have searched narrowly with the Measure of God's Spirit given unto me into the true Ground of things and the true State of each administration and in this thing I am satisfied fully that the Baptism with Water was John's Baptism and not Christ's and the Baptism of the Spirit ãâã Christ's and now John's I have no desire to Wrangle or Jangle about words or contest about Shadows but that all may come to know him in whom all Ministrations end in and there will be Peace and Satisfaction to wit in Christ But to say something to the main Basis and Foundation which Priests and Separatists build much of their Arguments upon the last of Matthew and the last Verse Go teach and baptize all Nations in the Name of the Father Son and holy Ghost as for all the Priests about their baptizing of Infants here is no Ground at all for here is first teach and then baptize and here is no infants neither and so I know what Consequences have been drawn from this by the unlearned in their Imaginations but them that have the least Measure of true Light will not take a Consequence to build a Foundation on for this is contrary to their own Rule they say the Scripture is their Rule then their Consequence is not the Rule and if the Scriptures be the Rule let all People of your Parishes know if you can by the Scripture shew when John or any Disciple of his or Christ's baptized Infants and taught them Principles of Religion twenty Years after but they are willingly ignorant that see not you to be Idolaters and as for the Baptists Separates who build upon this for their Water-Baptism they are as groundless as the Priests and all their Agruments are as invalid as the rest for here is baptizing the Nations in the Name of the Father in the Name of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and any who are judicious or wise and are in any Measure of God's pure Wisdom will not say that the Name of the Father is Water or the Son or holy Ghost is Water the Name of God is I am and a strong Tower and the Name of the Son is the Word and the Word is the Power but this is not Water but further they say the Disciples had received the holy Ghost and did baptize with Water after and they were baptized with Water after they had received the holy Ghost and they bring divers Scriptures to prove this I shall not deny but Peter baptized with Water and Paul two or three Families and thanks God he baptized no more and said he had declared the whole Counsel of God and he makes not mention in all his Epistles that Baptism was any Part of his Command neither in all his Counsel to the Churches any where doth he exhort either to Timothy Titus or Apollo or any of the Brethren to baptize with Water but as for Peter's baptizing with Water I know no more Command he had then Paul as for the Commission which Matthew writes of Mat. 28. 19. and that Mark mentions Mark 16.15 there is no Water and so it 's the Baptism of John I grant and Christ bearing Witness to John that he was a Prophet and did baptize many and therefore he or they in Honour to John's Ministry might baptize some as well as Paul did circumcise Titus and then in 1 Cor 7.19 said It was nothing and again in another Place Neither Circumcision nor Uncircumcision did avail but a new Creature and because it was a Figure which People did not idolize so much then as they did Circumcision for the Weakness of the People for a time and the wise in Heart may understand that when any Representation or Figure outward was set up it was not easily denyed again nor an easie Thing to be laid down when the thing signified was come for many of the Jews believed in Christ and were said to be Brethren and yet they came from Jerusalem and troubled the Church of Galatia and would have brought them under the Figure Circumcision again and the Apostle in Gal. 4. asks them Now when ye know God why turn ye again to the beggarly Elements Circumcision observing Dayes Moneths Times and Years I would ask the moderate a Question whether Water be not an Element and pertains only to the elementary Part in man which is to pass away and be dissolved when the Seed is raised up whose Nature is not elementary but caelestial I shall say no more to them at this present who are contentious who are so zealous for their Water upon so weak a Ground but take heed that while you are striving about your outward Water you neglect not the washing of Regeneration and the cleansing of the Spirit many have been baptized but which of you have received the holy Ghost there is not one among you dare own or witness an infallible Spirit but count it an Error that any should speak or witness or look to enjoy any such thing in these Dayes well I say unto you your Day is a Day of Darkness and Gloominess you live in and thick Darkness covers your Tabernacle for whoever have received the holy Ghost or Spirit of Truth in any Measure are led by that which is infallible and not fallible and if you look not for this ye are no Sons notwithstanding all your washing the outside For as many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and this is witnessed Praises to the Lord forever the Lord is unto his People an everlasting Light and this is the Sum that Water is owned to be a Figure of the one Baptism and was an Element and pertained to that which is elementary but the Elements shall melt with fervent Heat and be dissolved in the Day of the Lord and then the Seed comes up which is Heir of the Promise which is
for the Life of the World John 6.51 And as Godliness began to work and the Mystery thereof in the dayes of Christ and the Apostles wherein the Lord discovered much of his Wisdom and Power and manifested his pure Presence and poured out his Spirit plentifully upon Sons and Daughters and fulfilled that which Joel prophesied of Joel 2.28 which came to be fulfilled after Christ's ascension Acts 2.17 and They received the Holy Ghost and spoke the wonderful Things of God as they were revealed by the Spirit which shed it self abroad among them that waited for it so also the Mystery of Iniquity began to work even in that time and as the Apostles laid the Foundation of Truth and declared the Truth Christ to be the Foundation even so the Mystery of Iniquity did Work and a Beginning or a Foundation of error was laid by them who were gone out of the Truth the false Prophets Deceivers Anti-christs who were Professors and Preachers but they were such as were Covetous and Greedy of filthy Lucre and made Merchandize of Souls for dishonest gain and denyed the Power of God Christ and were Enemies to the Cross and gloried in the Flesh and spake Swelling words of Vanity and did all live in the Lust of the Flesh and were proud Boasters and denyed the Lord that bought them for denying the Power of God they did deny Christ though in Words they preached him as this Generation who are their Off-springs do out of Strife and Contention as the Apostles writes and they held the Form of Godliness but denyed the Power and they were they that once were Convinced of the Truth and came into the form of Truth but denyed the Power of Truth but were in Craft and Deceit and they subverted whole Houses from the Faith and led them back into the World into Unbelief in the Apostles dayes and yet had a worship and did Worship but not in the Power not the Life and this began to work and wrought more cunningly and Subtilly in the latter Times And the Apostle Paul in many of his Epistles John and Peter and Jude declare against them and Paul prophesied of them before his departure of grievous Wolves which should spring up which should not spare to make Havock of the Flock of Christ so the false Apostles Deceivers Anti-christs and deceitful Workers they went out then and did what they could to lead Disciples after them into the World inwardly they were ravened from the Spirit and were gone from it into the Earth into the world and served not the Lord Jesus Christ but their own Bellies and the God of the world which is the Devil and they went into the World and the World received them and then they and their Disciples turned against the Saints and they held Truth in Words and the Form for a wile but it was in Unrighteousness and here was the beginners and the beginning of the Apostates and of the Apostacy it was began in the Apostles dayes by them that went out of the Truth out of the Light and were ravened from the Spirit and erred from the Faith and were Enemies to the Power of God and these were the beginners and the Layers of the Foundation and then it grew that root of Wickedness faster then the Truth for the Jews resisted and the Heathens resisted and the Apostates and false Prophets resisted and they that were Apostatized they resisted and they caused many to Stumble to Err to make Ship-wrack of their Faith and so the World went after them the World the Nations the Kindreds the Tongues and the People went after Kings Princes and Potentates of the Earth and in process of time they had over-run all and Killed the Saints the Woman fled into the Wilderness and the man-Child was caught up unto God then all Nations who were gone from the Rock became as a Sea reeled to and fro Unstable Unsetled what were they like to settle in the Sea then a great beast arose with his seven Heads and ten Horns and the Whore which had Defiled the bed and She sat upon the Beast and She reached out her Cup of Fornication to the Nations and all Nations were Drunk with her Cup and then the Beast made War and the Nations were Drunk and they loved the beast and received his Mark became Cruel and pushed at the Saints and followed him and made War with them and the Whore she drank the blood of the Saints and the Dragon appeared and with his Tayl drew the third part of the Stars after him to the Earth the false Prophets they are the Tail of the Dragon who were gone from the Testimony of Jesus the Spirit of Prophecy and drew after it the third part of the Stars from the Firmament of his Power into the Earth Rev. 12.4 The man Child was caught up unto God which was to rule all Nations with a Rod of Iron and the Woman fled into the Wilderness where God hath prepared a place for her and then the Dragon went out and made War with the Remnant of her Seed to wit the Woman's Seed And so out of the Sea arose the Beast out of Nations Kindreds Tongues and Peoples which are Waters and the Dragon gave Power to the Beast and his Seat and great Authority Rev. 13.2 And all the World wondered after the beast ver 3. and ver 4. They Worshipped the Dragon which gave Power to the beast and the beast likewise and now the world cryed which wondered after the beast who is able to make War with the beast and ver 6. He opened his Mouth in Blasphemy against God to blaspheme hâs Name and Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven and he made War with the Saints and did overcome them and all that dwelt upon the Earth worshipped him whose Names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life And the Beast deceived the Nations and them that dwelt on the Earth and now Kindreds Tongues People and Nations and all the World which wondered after him they who had lost the Image of God now became the Image of the Beast that blasphemed God and his Tabernacle and them that dwell in Heaven and now the Kings of the Earth that had drunk the Whore's Cup of Fornication and the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People who were become the Beast's Image now the Image of the Beast spoak and caused as many as would not worship the Beast and the Image should be killed take notice of that all who are called Christians it was not Godâs Images who compelled to worship or else be killed but it was the Beasts Image and wheresoever Compulsion ând killing is exercised and practised they worship the Beast Chap. 13. Ver. 16. And he causeth all both small and great rich and poor bond and free to receive a Mark in their Forehead or in their right Hand and none might buy or sell but he which had the Beast's Mark or his Name or the Number of his Name
first Priesthood some borrowed from the Jews as thy Altars thy Vestiments that thy idolatrous Merchants wear when they celebrate thy great Idol the Mass and the rest borrowed fragments from the Heathen and the rest invented in the Night of Darkness and all that you have is invented Trumpery as bad as the Heathen all your Crosses Altars Crucifixes your Cells your Lent your Fasts your Feasts your Hair-cloth your Images Pictures your Reliques of dead mens Bones your Tythes your Offerings Oblations Obventions your Tapers Beads your holy VVater your baptizing of Infants your Purgatory your praying for the Dead your visiting of old VValls and old Tombs and rotten Sepulchres your Pilgrimages your Inquisition all this is come up since the Apostles Dayes and thy consecrated Bread and Wine which thou callest the Body and Blood of Christ about which Idol thou and all that have drunken the Cup of Fornication and the Beast hath slain Thousands of men in your Blood-thirsty Cruelty and all your Works you call meretorious they are all dead and will be sentenced by the Lamb who is risen to be self-Righteousness and so we have found out your visible Church had no being but since the Apostacy since the Apostles Dayes and you are erred both in Doctrine and Practice and all your Ordination of your Ministers your Schools and Colledges are all in the Will of man all this is in the Fall in the Transgression and under the Curse Obj. Some of the Protestants or reformed Churches so called may say We like this well that you declare against Popery we agree with you in that but we have renounced the Whore's Cup and have denyed all the Powers of the Beast long since Answ. Although many of you Priests have denyed your Mother because some Kings and Rulers or Dukes and Magistrates have cast off the Yoak and they protect you and give you Maintenance yet we cannot but remember you of your Genealogy and Descent and your Doctrine and Practice shall prove it and make it manifest and that you take Part with the Beast and worship his Image shall be evidenced more and more even before this Generation pass away are not you a Stem sprung from the same Root do not the Fruits you bring forth evidence it and Pracrice demonstrate it If you grant that Rome is apostatized from the Faith which the Apostles were in and their Practice you must not deny your Fathers who made the Bishops and ordained them did not the Pope who ordained you Ministers of Priests did not the Bishops who set up your Mass-house with all the Pictures and Crosses in and upon them which you call your Church who established Tythes Offerings Oblations Easter-Reckonings Midsummer-Dues did not the Pope first and them that were subject to his Power who invented Schools and Colledges to fit you for the Ministry and qualifie you for the Ministry as you say is not this set up in and since the Apostacy began your set Wages your baptizing of Infants your consecrated Bills which the Pope hallowed or his Emissaries do not you preach up the Letter for the VVord and the Letter for the Gospel and are not you calling your Bread and Wine a Sacrament which Word you have received from Rome your Pulpits and your Hour-Glasses your Cushions your black Robes and long Robes false Prophet like your funeral for the Dead like the Popes Exequies for the Dead your devouring Widdows Houses and suing men at the Law your haling them to Courts and Prisons your taking away mens Goods by force three-fold yea ten-fold that which you claim and from them that you work not for neither dare you say this was the Apostles Practice or any of the primitive Churches if you say yea all that know the Scripture or the least of God in them or to open their Understandings they will see you nearly related to Rome and to the Apostates and Deceivers and false Prophets of old and that you are greatly inflamed with the Whore's Cup and did not the holy men of God speak as they were moved by the holy Ghost and divine Inspiration and as the Spirit of Truth revealed it self in them and do not you all Head and Tail deny any such thing to be now and further conclude that it 's a great Error to look for any such thing then be convinced in your selves you are Apostates and apostatized frâm that Faith Hope and Spirit that was in the primitive Times and now read old Authors it may be twenty or thirty Books before you can get an Hours Discourse patched up to hold you dreaming till the Glass be run and dare you be so impudent and confident as to say that you are not Apostates and are you not Followers of the Beast and have you not his Mark and bear you not his Image do not you count that Disorder which the Apostles and the Churches counted Order If any Thing was revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace are not you apostatized from this Order and cry Take him away and yet you would be called Apostâlical well these things being true and obvious enough to behold to any who know any thing of God I need not say much more in this thing but all wise men will come out from among you and out of Babylon the Mother of Harlots which hath made you and your Root and Genealogy drunk with her Fornication and this is my Call to separate from her and you that are in the Apostacy and wait to know the Word which was in the Beginning and the Gospel which was preached to Abraham which endures forever whose joyful Sound is come forth in Power and great Glory which will shake the foundation of your great City even Mystery Babylon and not leave one Stone upon another which shall not be thrown down and then the holy men of God shall rejoyce and the Saints of the most high shall sing they that have been as Sheep for the Slaughter shall reign over the Earth and shall say The Lord God Omnipotent reigns and let us rejoyce and be glad and he hath taken to himself great Power and is coming to gather his Lambs out of your Mouthes and to feed in a Pasture you never saw which was manifest to the Saints in Light before you Apostates sprang and shall be again when you and all your dark muddy Traditions and Inventions are gone down into the Pit where there is no Remembrance Object But it may be the pure Reformed Church of Scotland as it hath been called and the old Episcopal and Prelatical Priests of England who have borrowed their Images to set up here will be ready to say We have denyed the Whore and the Beast and the Apostacy and we have pure Reformation we have denyed Bishops which were made by the Apostate the Pope and now we have setled all things according to the primitive Church Answ. There never did spring up any Deceit since the Apostles or before
of the Gospel and the Foundation and the Tryer of Spirits and the Touch-stone and say it 's the Foundation of their Faith and Religion and so are all in the distraction one Envying another and Persecuting one another about the words of Truth spoken from the Spirit of Truth which cannot be understood again but by the same Spirit and so all them that have not the Spirit of Truth are in the Apostacy And all Sects Judgments and Opinions that have risen up since the Apostacy from the Faith that was once delivered to the Saints when the woman Travailed and brought the man-Child which after because of the Dragon's Power fled into the VVilderness and her Child caught up unto God all the Faith and worship that since is sprung up since the VVhore hath sitten as a Queen in Majesty is all denyed the Ground of their Worship Laws Traditions Inventions and all their invented Practices and Forms and Images and Likenesses are denyed and disowned as to be the Dress and Attire of the Whore which hath allured People through her enticing pretences and shews of Holiness when indeed all is but spiritual Adultery and this must be all turned under again the Whore's flesh Burned and her Attire plucked off and her Nakedness appear and her shame to them that have committed Fornication with her and they shall be ashamed of themselves and of her and abhor themselves and abhor her and Destroyed shall she be and the Lamb's Wife shall be beautified and come out of the secret Place into open View out of the Solitary Wilderness into the beautiful place that the Lord will bring her into and the time times and half time is out the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes are at an End and he bears witness of it who saw her fly away upon Eagles Wings into the secret place which was prepared for her for these Dayes and Times appointed and I say he that knows the Counsel of the most High in this matter can account the time times and a half and the Dayes and what shall be after the dayes be expired which is at an end blessed is he that sees believes and Understands he shall see that which yet hath not appeared neither can it be believed by the most though it were declared but yet a little while and the Earth grows ripe and an Ear will be opened in many who cannot yet hear and for a little while in this I shall be silent and Treasure up that which the Spirit hath revealed till the time be fully accomplished which God hath determined and then his Glory shall be revealed and all the former things which have lived since the man of Sin hath been Exalted shall all dye and an utter Consumption shall be of all the changeable Laws made since the Apostacy and the many changeable Dresses of the Whore and Attires in which she hath appeared and Imaginary worships into which all have run since they were Apostatized from the Faith all this shall be disannulled and come to an End and be Blasted forever the Spirit of the Lord saith Amen How the Woman that was clothed with the Sun and had the Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head which did flee into the Wilderness comes out again after the great Whore is judged and her Child that was caught up unto God comes to appear again NOW after the time times and half a time after the thousand two hundred and threescore Dayes she returns after the Whore is judged and the great City Babylon is fallen which hath made the Nations drunk and brought forth Children in Fornication who had drunk the Blood of the Saints in the Apostacy after the Whore was judged and the Voice was heard in Heaven of much People that sang Halelujah Salvation and Glory and Honour and Power who witnessed to the Righteousness of God's Judgment And a Voice came out of the Throne saying praise our God all his Servants and ye that fear him both small and great Rev. 19.5 6. And I heard as it were the Voice of many Waters and as a great Multitude and as the Voice of a mighty Thunder saying Halelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth the Whore is now judged the Mother of Harlots condemned with all her Inchantments and Sorceries Now the Lamb's Wife appears who is the Mother of the man-child which was caught up unto God she that was cloathed with the Sun with the glorious everlasting caelestial Light she is both the Mother and the Wife he that hath an Ear let him hear Now Jerusalem that is from above spiritually so called who was the Mother of all the Saints before the Apostacy she appears again and comes to be the Wife of the Lamb and the City of the Saints and the Mother of them that are born from above this shall be and is made manifest to some but a numberless Number shall see it and the Day hastens greatly and she is appearing again and her solitary Garments shall be put off and as she was beautifull before the VVhore made the Nations drunk clothed with the Sun and had the Moon under her Feet and a Crown of twelve Stars upon her Head and though she became Child-less and also as a VViddow and the Remnant of her Seed slain and destroyed so shall she appear again in Glory and Beauty as before and shall be made ready yea mine Eye hath seen it she is making her self ready as a Bride for her Husband and unto her is granted that she shall be arrayed in fine Linnen clean and white even arrayed in the Righteousness of the Saints which is not self-Righteousness the Garments of the Harlot and her Lovers but in the Righteousness of Christ the Lamb her Husband and Child also and she shall now bring forth many more Children though her Seed hath been slain yet a numberless Number shall appear and ten Thousand Thousand shall be brought forth by her and glory in her and reverence her and rejoyce in her forever and they shall be all clad in the same Robe which the Husband the Lamb is clothed withal and the same the Lamb's VVife this VVoman is âlâthed withall and the same shall all the Children by clothed withal the fine Linnen the Righteousness of the Lamb which was dead and slain since the Foundation of the World but now alive and lives for evermore and here a heavenly Family appears now after the Apostacy and this shall be seen by all that have an Eye that can see through and beyond the Smoke of the Pit that hath darkened the Air while the Beast and Dragon have had Power but now hath her Child appeared again the man-child hath appeared again and he that was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day saw whither he was taken up to the Throne of God Rev. 12.5 and on the same Lord's Day he saw him after the Woman was fled and the Remnant of her Seed was made War with and slain in the Earth where the
Tribute of the Nation And for Heresie both in Doctrine and Worship none are to be compared unto you for Unsoundneâs ignorance for I look upon you as the Tail of all the People in the Nation And the Vineyard of God that thou speakst on is no where laid waste so much as among you Mass-house Worshippers for you are like Bryars and Thorns Scratching Rending tearing and hailing and are as a Field untilled and as a waste howling Wilderness that knows not when good comes and that your Ministers are those proud Phantastick Spirits that have taken up them to preach who deny an immediate Call Neither are they approved of his Church which is in God the Pillar and Ground of Truth but only they are approved by man and by the Colledges which were invented by the Pope where more Deceit and foolish Fopperies are practised then in any Society in the Nation besides for them that deny an immediate Call and an infallible Spirit I deny them to be any Ministers of Christ and so doth the Church of Christ who meet in his Name but such are your Ministers therefore we have turned from them many Years ago And the next thing thou art offended at is that a Woman spoke in a meeting near Conil what if ten had spoke if they had spoke by the Spirit of the Lord what offence had it been Did not God promise by Joel that he would pour forth his Spirit upon his Daughters and they should Prophesie and wouldest thou stop them And Priscilla instructed a Minister better then any of your Parish Tything Priests to wit Apollo And had not Philip three Daughters did Prophesie And were there not Women with Clement that were fellow-Labourers in the Gospel And what though she that was in the Transgression was to keep silent in the Church Doth it therefore follow that they are come out of the Transgression are to be silent in the Church Is this good Logick Edward If Christ be in male and in the female may he speak in the male but not in the female Doth not the Apostle say The Man is not without the Woman nor the Woman without the man but both in the Lord And if the Woman be in the Lord as well as the man may not the Lord speak in her Art thou one of them that wilt Limit the Holy one What if he speak in a dumb Ass and reprove the Madness of the Prophet Balaam And if he should do so now to reprove the mad Prophets that are in Balaam's Way loving the Wages of Unrighteousness now as he did then will you reprove God He that reproves him shall answer it and he that Gain-sayes either Son or Daughter shall Perish in the Gain-saying And now I come to thy third Observation The third Observation Thy Eye being evil thou canst not see when good cometh and thou art one of them who watchest for Iniquity that thereby thou mayest Blasspheme the Name of God and his Truth which thou art out of And as for our Tenets which thou sayest thou hast named and shamed thou no more knows us nor our Tenets then thou knowest from whence the Wind comes and whither it goes For all our words are as a Parable to thee and thou knowest not what we say although thou hast Catched and Snatched up some of our words brokenly to quarel with yet we are hidden from thee and a Gulf is between thee and us that as thou canst not apprehend nor Comprehend but first a terrible Day must come upon thee and those things which thou hast laid down to be our tenets thou doubtst whether they be or no manifest by thy own words If we say so and if hold so thou hadst better have been certain before thou hadst shewed thy self too Imperious and arrogant of shaming them when thou knowest not whether we hold them as thou hâst laid them down in thy own words the shame at last will come upon thy self and that Rash hasty Raging Spirit by which thou utterest fârth all this Mudd and Dirt every one may see in this Observation thy deceit manifest And the first thing that thy dark Mind Stumbles at is that some have said That they that have the Spirit of God are equal with God He that hath the Spirit of God is in thaâ which is equal as God is equal and his wayes equal And he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit there is unity and the unity stands in equality it self He that is born from above is the Son of God and he said I and my Father are one And when the Son is revealed and speaks the Father speaks in him and dwells in him and he in the Father In that which is equal in equality it self there is equality in Nature though not in Stature Go learn what these things mean the understanding and Learned will know what I say and this is neither damnable nor Blasphemous but on the contrary it is saving and Precious to them that believe And thou concludest Though they be glorified in Heaven yet are not equal with God Here thou Blasphemest the Son is glorified with the Father in the same Glory he had with him before the World began the Glory is in Purity equality Immortality and eternity but for thy proof thou bringst Pâal 86 8. For who among the Gods is like unto our God And again There is none like unto thee O Lord Here thou hast gone about to prove more Gods then one in Heaven Were the Gods glorified in Heaven which were not like the living God Or were they in heaven which were not like the Lord What Blasphemy is this They that are in heaven are like him in his Image and not like any other but in the World there are Gods many and Lords many but that is not in heaven there are no Gods nor Lords in the World nor in the Earth that is like the living God and living Lord of Heaven and Earth And many such non-sensical Phrases hast thou uttered and foolish Impertinences and thou hast scarce cited one Scripture but thou hast either misapplyed or wrested and perverted being very ignorant and unlearned and thy Masters for whom thou contend'st will never receive much Honour nor credit by thy writing or Vindication of them But to the second Particular which thou calls our tenet is That Christ Jesus is not glorified in his human Nature and that he hath no real Body but hâs Mystâcal Body and this thou sayest is contray to Scripture Luke 24.3 9. and Aââs 3.20 John 17. And in this thou sayest we are shamed I say thou hast shamed thy self and hast cited those Scriptures to no purpose at all none of all these speak of human Nature or Mystical body but this I say he is glorified with the Father in a spiritual Body in the same Glory he had with the Father before the world began And the same Jesus which was of the Seed of Abraham according to the Flesh
though he had been a Block or a Stone altogether insensible Shameless men and full of Impudency and Hard-heartedness in whose Hearts there is no Remorse nor Fear of God witness your cutting off the Ears of John Copeland Christopher Holder and John Rous men fearing God and as well educated as your selves and for no Transgression at all of any Law of God neither of any of your own but when you had none that could reach to be a Cover for your Cruelty you go into the nethermost Hell to invent Laws Christians are ashamed of and all sober People detest it and so let your Actions bear witness to your Faces and let all sober People judge who are in the Malignity and who are Slayers of the Witnesses And these Quakes by open Profession thou say'st tend to ruin all Christian Society compassing Sea and Land to that End Thou vomitest out thy Rage and castest up Mire and Dirt like a raging Wave but thy Bond is set that which the Quakers profess tendeth to the uniting all that believe unto Christ and one unto another in Love and Unity and Peace in Meekness Long-suffering and Patience but all such Societies that thou art of who art associated with Death and Hell and in Confederacy with all the Army of the Beast who is full of Rage Venome Insolency and Wickedness whose Heart is set on Fire of Hell which makes all this Flame and Smoak ascend out of the Pit where thou and the rest are associated with the Residue and have your dwelling-Place And thou say'st Their Religion is to speak Rebellion and Sedition in the Presence and to the Face of Authority God will confound thy lying Lips and bridle thy deceitful Tongue and cause Sorrow to fill thy Heart in the Day of his righteous Judgments for all thy hard Speeches false Accusations slanderous Words all sober People in England Scotland and Ireland know thee to be a Lyar All People in every Sect have been Stirrers up of Parties and have in one thing or other striven to rebell against that Power which hath gone about to limit them in their Ends but the People scornfully reproached called Quakers have born all have suffered under all in Patience and have let many Floods go over them and many Waves compass them and yet have rested in Patience knowing that it is better to suffer Wrong then do Wrong though I tell thee the Quakers so called might more justly in the three Nations claim Property and Liberty for the Exercise of their pure Consciences and also their Persons and Estates then any other People in the three Nations besides for they are they that have stood by the Authority in time of greatest Danger in time of the Bishops when Persecution was the greatest which you like Cowards fled from they staid in the midst of it hearing their Testimony against the gross Ignorance of them who exercised Lordship over the Heritage of God in that time and also in the late Wars in the three Nations there are few of them but have joyned with them that cryed up Reformation and seemed to seek after righteous things and their Fidelity to righteous Government Magistracy and Ministry is manifest to all unbiassed Spirits and though now at last when we expected free Liberty for the Exercise of our Consciences and Preservation of our Persons and Estates which had been a just Recompence for all our sore Tryals Travails and Labours but behold a Troop of Robbers have laboured to nip and spoil the Plant of Renown which God is bringing forth and have made Havock of our Estates and cry up the Powers of the Earth to stand by them for their own Ends only to maintain their covetous greedy Practices behold the Priests of these Nations they are now as they have been in former Generations Fomenters of Mischief Stirrers up of Sedition and Patronizers of Rebellion and seeking to make Parties to hold up their Deceit and call upon Authority to persecute and tell the Magistrates they ought to do so and teach them to abuse their Power to the provoaking of the Wrath of God against a Nation or People And thou say'st In the Presence of Authority they labour to make the Magistrate to be a Man of Blood Thou ignorant man who hast lost thy natural Reason will a Magistrate who is become a man of Blood become advantagious to us But rather have not we suffered And would not you be counted bloody Magistrates then cease your shedding of Blood your whipping your beating your burning and stigmatizing and cutting off Ears for else your own Actions have and will evidence and demonstrate you to be men of Blood and you will be recorded amongst the blood-thirsty and cruel Persecutors and you can expect nothing from the Hand of God but severe Destruction And thou say'st They encourage People against lawful Authority not regarding their Lives so they may attain their Ends. Would you be counted lawful Authority what Sword of God hath authorized you to turn your Sword against the innocent and upright and many love not their Lives to the Death to finish their Testimony against the Dragon and his Power the Beast and his Authority which would compell all both great and small to worship him and were you not blind you might see that you are his Followers and not the Lamb's Followers Thou say'st Was there ever State so bereaved of Reason as to suffer such Things the Honour of God the Safety of Religion the Peace of the Country invaded by these Emissaries of Satan You are that State that is bereaved of Sense and bereaved of Reason who think to defend your Religion by Clubs and Staves Caân's Weapons and think to bring Honour to God by killing his Servants and defacing his Workmanship which he hath made and are amongst the Pharisees recorded who thought they did God Service when they went about to kill his Members and are not your thoughts the same you blind and slow of Heart to believe And shall not the Magistrate be as confident to punish as they to offend capitaââ What is the Offence you had no Law till you had made one to saâââfie your wicked End and your insatiable Cruelty and though you ãâã be confident that this will stop the spreading of the Truth of God over ãâã Earth you shall know ye Potsherds your Confidence will fail and Truth shall go over you Hills as a Flood At this Time thou say'st we have twelve Quakers in Prison in Boston To thy Shame be it spoken who give such Entertainment to Strangers and to Men of your own Nation you are far from Abraham's Spirit and Jacob's or Job's Spirit who opened his Door to the Travailer and entertained the Stranger and you are out of the Law of God who commanded to entertain Strangers and were not you once Sârângers in that Land and do you thus requite the Lord for his Kindness as to shut them up in Holes and Dens and Caves and Pharaâh-like have
your task masters to exercise your Cruelty upon them Oh unheard of Cruelty and unparâllel'd Wickedness the Memorial of your Cry will not easily be blotted out but will sound into the Ears of Generations to come and the Record of you will be Unthankfulness and Ingratitude and your in human Cruelty hath appeared to your own Neighbours who have resided long amongst you Men of great Age and of Fame in your Country for Uprightness have become your Prey and this is fulfilled amongst you which was spoken of by the Prophets her Princes are as ravening Wolves who are greedy of their Prey who gnaw not the Bones till the Marrow Thou say'st They prevail much They have prevailed and shall prevail for strong is the Lord of Hosts that is with them and goes before them whose Arm compasses them about and refresheth them and preserves them in Patience in the midst of all your Cruelty for no Weapon that is formed against him whom they barâ Witness of shall prosper and every Tongue that riseth up in Judgment against him will he condemn Thou say'st There be two Jews amongst them What if there be used not you and the rest of the Clergy to pray for the Conversion of the Jews and are you now angry if any of them be turned from Darkness to Light But none can escape thy slanderous Tongue without Reproach Thou say'st The Juncture between the Jesuites and these Hereticks is strong Thou art nearer joyned to the Jesuites then the Quakers for they and you in New-England are working one and the self-same Work will not most People in the Regions know thy Lyes is it not publickly known in many Countries that two of the Quakers were imprisoned by the Pope and Jesuites at Rome lately and have been put in the Inquisition and one of them prisoned till Death and the other remains in Prison under cruel Bonds to this Day and now read whether the Juncture between the Jesuites and you be not great who are acting in one and the self-same Work and bring forth one and the self-same Fruit the Apples of Sodâm and the Grapes of Gomorrah whom God destroyed which will be the End of all the wicked except they repent There is more Danger thou say'st in this People to trouble and overcome England then the King of Scots and all the Popish Princes in Germany Thy Tongue is set on Fire of Hell which makes thee utter âorth all these horrid Lyes and false Accusations and bitter things against the Lord and his People and will not all sober People in England see thy Envy hath not England had sufficient Proof of our Fidelity And thousands in England shall be Witness for us against thee and all thy false Accusations Thou say'st They strengthen all Disconâents against the present Government and hatâh all Plots and encourage all Combinations and Insurreâtions The present Government of these Nations will be a Witness for us against thee that amongst all the People in the Nations we have been most passive and suffering and the Discontents and Plots and Combinations from time to time have been among the Presbyter-Priests and their Faction of whose Stock and Off-spring you are And further thou say'st They vent horrid Blasphemy against God which ought to be persecuted with the severest Censures Thou art of that Generation that called the Master of the House Beelzebub and in the Steps of the persecuting Jews who said He hath spoken Blasphemy what need we any more Witness But how can we speak Evil or blaspheme him who is our Life And in the Day when he ariseth to judge all the Earth in Righteousness he will justifie us and clear us and condemn thy Malignity and thy hard Speeches and vain Thoughts which lodge in thy corrupt Heart from whence all these unsavoury Words have been uttered forth and is that New-England Divinity to teach Persecution that thou art so impudent to own it in Words that which persecutes with the severest Censures is of the Devil and is in Cain's Way and dost thou lay down this for a Dâctrine in England to appease the Wrath of God towards it I say Persecution and severe Censures is that which kindleth the Wrath of God against these Nations and did overtake the Bishops and all their Confederacy and overthrew the Nobles of the Land the ancient and the honourable which were the Head and all the false Prophets which were the Tâil and that same Wrath shall be over you who are of that Stock and Off-spring manifested by the deadly Actions and Characters of most horrid and wicked Cruelty which the Lord God will confound and blast and set his Truth above it all And John Endâcot thou say'st The Quakers trouble us very much though we cause them to be whipt and sent away again and again yet they return again Thou may'st see there is another Spirit in them then was in you when you fled from Old England from under the Bishops you would suffer nothing for the Truth and therefore were you given up to the same Spirit that was in the Persecutors here in England this is entered into you now and become ten-fold stronger but now he that is stronger then all hath appeared and is coming to trouble you and disquiet you of your Rest which you have taken up in the Earth what hath your Gospel and the Ministers thereof no more Strength in them to convince the Gain-sayers then Gain-sayers have to seduce them that are in the Truth the Day of your Trouble is come and the Beginning of Sorrows is kindled upon you and a greater Wo follows after for the Rod of God is stretched out over you and shall reach unto you and turn your Counsels backward and confound you in the midst of your Combinations where did any Christian-Magistrates whip and imprison any for Religion's sake or Conscience sake or our off their Ears where is your Law did any Minister of Christ perswadâ the Magistrate it was lawful for him to do so Give us some Evidence and let us see your Rule and by what Authority you do these things and fronâ whence you have your Authority I am sure God never authorized it Christ nor his Ministers nor no Christian-Magistrate that ruled for God never countenanced any such thing as to whip again and again to beââ with Ropes till men fall down as dead till mens Flesh becomes as Jelly as some of your own Nation have said and shall not the Saints be bold to tell you that this is of the Devil who was a Lyar and a Murderer from the Beginning in whose Foot-steps you are who shall receive a Reward according to your Works And thou say'st Divers of you do think that unless the Court doth make a Law to banish them not to return upon Pain of Death the Colony will not be rid of them Nay nor then neither though you make Covenant with Death and Agreement with Hell and shake Hands with the Prince of Darkness your
them your Original Rev. 14.6 XIX What is the false Prophet and Anti-christ inwardly ravened from and what is the Sheeps Clothing that they wore Mat. 7.15 XX. What is the Anointing in People to teach them that they need not any Man to teach them but as it teacheth them spoken of in the first Epistle of John 2.20 27. XXI What is the Light that shines in the Heart that gives People the Knowledge of God in the Face of Jesus Christ 2 Cor. 4.6 XXII Is any a true Christian but who hath the Law of God in his Mind and in his Heart and need not say to one another know the Lord was not this that that differed from the Jews who had the Law without them have any of these Talkers of Christ the Apostles Words Makers of Trades of them Life except they eat his Flesh and drink his Blood have ye eaten thât and doth any Man eat that that doth deny the Light that hath enlightened every Man that comes into the World Heb. 8.10 11. John 6.53 54 55. XXIII Were not the Steeple-houses which ye call the Churches or Temples the old Mass-houses which ye creep into yea ar nay XXIV Was Ezra's Pulpit set up in the Temple and Synagogue ye or nay or set up in the Street before the Water-gate and how many might stand upon it and whether it was like yours yea or nay Nehem. 8.3 4. XXV And were not your Colledges set up by the Papists to make Ministers by and whether your Colledges and Steeple-houses have not the Papists Names to them and were not the Jesuites the Tribe of Black-coats whether ever yea or nay thou hast deserted at all the Habit wherewith thou wert dâstinguished XXVI Whether dost thou own and believe that Christ doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World yea or nay John 1.9 XXVII Whether ever any Minister of Christ did imprison any for Maintenance but on the contrary they should covet no Man's SILVER and they that were covetous crept into Houses had the FORM and denyed the POVVER whether or no they were not to be turned away from 2 Tim. 3.5 6. XXVIII And whether or no they are Ministers of Christ that swear seeing Christ saith Swear not AT ALL and James saith Above all things my Brethren swear not and whether or no they are not false Brethren that do SWEAR that fall into the Condemnation James 5.12 Matthew 5.34 XXIX Whether ever any Minister of Christ imprisoned for Tythes seeing Christ saith Freely ye have received freely give and whether ever any Minister of Christ runs to the Powers of the Earth for Maintenance seeing the Apostle saith He that feeds the Flock shall eat of the Milk whether these Things be the Fruits of the Spirit in suing men for Tythes and Maintenance they do no VVork for and if so shew the Example by Scripture if not are they not to be turned away from 1 Cor. 9.7 XXX Whether any of the Disciples of Christ carried Bag but Judas the Thief and Betrayer of the Just John 2.6 THE Mouth of the Pit STOPPED AND THE SMOAK That hath arisen out of it SCATTERED BY THE Breath of Truth IN Answer to a lying Story called Hell broken loose or the History of the Quakers published by Thomas Vnderhil a Seller of the Whore's Merchandize otherwise called a Book-seller His Lyes returned upon him his Accusations answered and his Envy declared and Truth cleared from all his Reproaches By one that waits to see Death and Hell cast into the Lake of Fire with the Beast and the false Prophet F. H. THE EPISTLE· Thomas Underhil THou Seeds-man of Lyes and Slanders and false Reports whose Hell is broken loose and is spreading where the Banks are not set nor the Bounds and thy greatest Madness and Rage is at them that tremble at the Word of God and work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling and thy Lyes and Slanders and false Reports we understand are set on Sale in such a Man's Shop to get Gain upon the Innocent and the Ground is seen and the Earth in which thou may'st sow thy evil Seed and thy Lyes Slanders and false Reports who art a Man fitted whom the Devil hath found out to go on in his Will and to do his Work for a long Time hath he been fitting of thee and for a long Time hath the Seed been sown in thee and now it is growing and buds forth and Hell is broken loose but thou art taken and the Hell who art the Seeds man of the Devil that sows Lyes the Prince of Death but all is and shall be taken and cast into the Lake of Fire the Hell the Devil the Author of thy Work and thou except thou speedily repent Was there ever such Thing heard or seen that Thomas Underhil should gather up Lyes Slanders and false Reports and set them to Sale at the Star in Pauls Church-yard as he calls it There is a Refuge of Lyes of his for any to shelter under that are given up to believe Lyes but that will not save you from the Storm nor the Wrath of the Almighty but the Beesome is witnessed that sweeps all the Refuge of Lyes into the Fire and brings the Lyar to Judgment and thou wilt become a Shame and a Stink to all modest and sober People the Witness in thy own Conscience shall witness it And dost thou think that the Nations of England Scotland and Ireland do not begin to see your Priests and such as thee that hold them up and such as thee callest Converts What a Stink and a nasty Smell there is in your Streets in your Towns in your Steeple-houses as though you had never heard Talk of God and Christ your Natures are so unchanged and your Priests haling up and down to Courts and Assizes and cast into Prison till Death for their Bellies and their Mouths such they do no Work for your Prisoning and Persecuting for not swearing to the Priests Bill and the Priests rude Miltitude breaking the Windows breaking up Meetings and breaking the Heads of People the Servants and Messengers of the Lord that you are almost become like a Field of Blood whipping such as warn you to repent and here Hell hath been broken looâe and thou art a Seeds-man of him that is out of the Truth who art an Encourager with thy Lyes and Slanders of these Persecutors but thy own Words shall be thy Burthen G. F. THE Mouth of the Pit STOPPED AND THE SMOAK That hath arisen out of it SCATTERED BY THE Breath of Truth IT is written He that watcheth for Iniquity shall be cut off and the Wicked shall come to an End although the Long-suffering of the Lord be great who waiteth that Men might return and cease to work Iniquity and to strive against his Holy Spirit by which he reproveth the World of Sin and the wicked of their Transgressions and to this End hath he given a Measure of his Spirit to every Man though
R. H. and of E. B. thou hast perverted and not spoken the Truth as afterwards may be made more manifest In the 35th page of thy lying Story thou say'st The Quakers have succeeded much and have prevailed in these Nations and beyond the Seas but thou hopest where-ever thy Book shall arive before them the People will so well know them as to abhor any further Acquaintance with them Here thou hast manifested thy Spirit to be like the envious Jews who crucified the Lord of Life and persecuted the Apostles from City to City sometimes running before them with their Lyes and sometimes after to oppose them and to stir up the Vagabond Fellows and ruder Sort of people to oppose and abuse them yet notwithstanding the Truth prevailed and many believed on the Name of Christ through their Words which they published unto them we have found the like Opposition not only from Strangers but also of our own Country-Men and have had many such lying Stories as thine sent before us and spread over the Nations and yet God hath carryed on his Work notwithstanding all Rage Opposition and Cruelty it hath prevailed and shall prevail for so is the purpose and Will of God and they who shall see thy Book who are but reasonable men will abhor and detest thy envious Spirit and Truth shall be more advanced and that shall be fulfilled the Remainder of the Wrath of Man shall turn to the praise of God Thou sayest They are a very cruel Bloody People if we may Judge the Lyon by his Paw or what is abundantly in their Hearts God will confound thy lying Lips and thy deceitful Tongue whose Blood have we shed can we not say and that of a Truth and have our Testimony by Gods witness in every man that we are clear of the Blood of all men Nay on the contrary hath not our Blood been spilt in your places of Worship which you account Holy and have not many suffered in Bond until Death by the reason of the Oppression of the Blood âhirsty Priests of this Nation and thou mightst well have been silent if thou hadst not had an impudent Face have not we much to lay to your charge and that truly what dost thou Judge of thy godly Ministers in Lancashire and Cheshire whom thou callst the Valient Captains of Christ's Army which preached up the People into Rebellion upon pain of Damnation And others said except they went to the Randevous it was much if they were saved And others said the Nations must be purged with Blood to shed the Blood of all those that withstood them And others said if God would stand as a Newter they had men enough and such Blasphemous Words and Doctrines were uttered which are too tedious to relate and all this Quarrel they said was against the Quakers Now let the Reader Judge the Lyon by his paw and what is in these mens Hearts by their Words and Actions before mentioned And now to conclude this in thy own wrods what would not these men do if they had Power to their will But the Power of the Lord God preserves the Innocent and is against all the Workers of Iniquity I shall not trouble the Reader with what Priest Ford and Fowler of Readding hath gathered up out of Priests Books which they have Vomited forth against the Way of Truth nor what Tho. Underhil hath licked up and vomits out again which is but that which hath been Vomited up before so that it may be said of them all as the Prophet saith Their Tables is full of Vomit and filthy spewing covers them all all which things hath been answered over and over but that Swine love to be wallowing in the Mire and Doggs love to lick up their Vomit and the Envy of the wicked will not cease till he be cut off nor the evil Eye for watching after mischief till it be put out And now Tho· Underhill and the rest of thy party who resist the Spirit if I would recriminate might not I more justly and truly bring many thousands bad Examples acted by your party who are accounted Christians and charge them all upon you then all these things in thy Lying Story which thou hast brought against the Quakers If I should go from Parish to Parish as thou hast done from one end of the Land to another and so also beyond the Seas and should I rekon up all the Fornicatours and Adulterers all the Thieves and Murtherers all the proud and covetous all the Fighters Brawlers Railers Drunkards cheaters and defrauders and should charge all these upon the Presbyterâ what a Volume I might make And were not this a just Retaliation wouldst thou count it an equal thing or would it be accounted Just in the sight of sober Men if I should charge the moderate and guiltless with these things before-mentioned then Judge thy self for thy Envy and Foolishness and let thy Mouth be stopped forever for accusing those whom God Justifies In the 38 page in thy Observation on the whole History That one may talk much of God and Christ and of the things of Religion and all in Vain and how the coming in of Unbelief shuts out Truth Faith and Piety and the great danger the Nation is in by being overturn with Hypocrisie and formality in Religion and how many have the form of Godliness but deny the Power He whose Eye is open may see the intent of thy History is to resist the Power of Truth and to strengthen deceit and this shall stand for thy own lot and for the Congregations and Assemblies thou art pleading for who at the best are but in the Subburbs Babylon who talk of God and Christ and of the Spirit and of Religion but all in Vain for nothing is brought forth among you but formality deceit and Hypocrisie and Error and Unbelief and a form of Godliness hath long covered the Nation and Truth Faith and Piety hath been rejected and the Power of godliness but now hath the Lord appeared and hath rent the Vail and manifested the deceitfull Workers and Hypocrites and though thou be observant as to others Foot-steps yet thou hast not viewed thy self neither pulled the Beam out of thine own Eye neither hast discovered thy Envy nor the murderous Spirit that rules in thy Heart from whence all these muddy Waters flow forth and all this Fog and mists arise which darkens the Air which whosoever receives in their understandings come to be Darkned but all that fear the Lord will see out of thy corrupt Heart all this mischief which thou hast long been Treasuring up doth now come forth upon which the day of Wrath will come both upon thee and it Thou saist The Quakers have no reason in the World to Boast of their sufferings as they do for thy have suffered as Evil-doers for being uncivil to Magistrates and disturbing God's People in their Assemblies and for being busie-bodies and some other known Wickedness and all their charginâ Courts
in the Life thereof they are judged though the Truth in it self stands clear and so whât as they were in their Principles Practiâe in Life or in Doctrine must they give Account for But thou like the rest of the Hireling Priests of England use alwayes to be confuting your Adversaries when they were at a great Distance when they were dead and could not reply or at such a Distance that they could not hear and you are such valiant Champions for the most Part as to Disputation except you have Club-men and Prison-doors standing open to fight or to shut them in you will hardly enter into a Dispute publickly or it may be if they be afraid that they shall be worsted and their Deceit laid open put a Key in the Mouth of one as some did in the Mouth of Humphrey Norton when he was with one of thy Brethren and then cry The Opposite or Quaker hath nothing to say for himself and such dark muddy Stories you used to fill up your Hour with as to confute Arrius and Pelagius men that were Hundreds of Years dead and no such Principles holden in a Nation and such dead Stories you fill Peoples Minds with and confute the Pope when your Elbows were leaning upon the soft Cushions on the Pulpit and twenty or thirty Shillings for such a dead Story as you told People but when have you gone amongst them and reasoned of the Things of the Kingdom of God into their Dominions and convinced them by sound Doctrine and yet you will say Christ said Go into all Nations and preach and plead that for your Commission and it may be stay fourty Years over an hundred Families As for the Heterodoxes of the Quakers concerning the Heads of Religion as thou hast set down this I say to thee and to all the World we do not hold them because any Man before did hold them or may hold them after but because God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit which also may be confirmed by the Testimony of the Scripture of Truth As to those which thou settest down as our Tenets I shall answer on the Lord's Behalf for Truth 's sake and for the rest thou may'st take them home to thy self First Concerning the Trinity thou say'st The confess the Father Son and holy Ghost and yet they deny the Trinity and those to be three distinct Persons for Confutation of this thou bringest Heb. 1. 3. He is the express Image of his Father's Person Thy Trinity is an old Popish Term and we love to keep to sound Words but by Trinity I suppose thou meanest three and thy own Words shall confute thee thou confessest we say there is Father Son and Hâly Ghost and yet but one God or one Eternal Being or Substance in which they all subsist but thy Word distinct is thy own and not the Spirit 's yet to distinguish betwixt Father Son and Spirit we deny not and as for Heb. 1. it is in another Translation rendered The express Image of his Suâstance for Perâon is too gross a Word as to express an Eternal and Divine Being in and if thou dost hâlâl three distinct Substances thou errest in they Judgment for that were to make three Gods Secondly They deny Christ to be God and Man in one Person and Christ to be a distinct Person from the Father and they acknowledge such a Christ as unchrists Christ and when they say Christ manifest in the Flesh they mean not as the Scripture but fallaciously Answ. We say according to the Scripture of Truth and not according to thy Fallacy that In the man Christ did the fulness of the God-head dwell and God was in Christ reconciling the World unto himself and he saith I and my Father are one and the Father the Son and the Spirit subsist in one Eternal Power Life and Glory which thou with all thy stupid Generation are Ignorant of and that Christ we acknowledge is such a Christ as is able to save to the utmost them that come unto him and receive him and believe in him and is such a Christ as is able to raise them that have been Dead and such a Christ giveth eternal Life to them that believe And so that Christ that we own doth not un-christ Christ but by your Doctrine who plead Imperfection and the continuation thereof and a continuation in Sin for term of Life as one of thy own said Sin will dwell in the House till the House he pull'd down speaking of the natural Body which some other of thy own Generation have called the Body of Sin and so it is you that hold such a Christ as un-christ's the true Christ in thy own Words and when didst thou enter into our Thoughts and into our Heart or with what dost thou search that thou sitst as Judge over the Heart who knowest not Judgment in thy self nor what Spirit thou art of and so thy lyes and deceit are turned upon thee when we say Christ manifest in the Flesh we say that Holy thing which was brought forth and born of a Virgin and Conceived of the Holy Ghost in whom the fulness of the God-head dwells in whom the Eternal Power of the Father was manifested that he was the Christ which was manifested in the Flesh and Justified in the Spirit Preached among the Gentiles seen of Angels and received up into Glory and this is according to the Scripture of Truth and thy Judgment must be judged Thirdly Concerning the Scripture considered as the Rule of Life They deny the Scripture or written word to be the rule of Life and they make the Spirit without the Scripture to be their guide they account Church instituted Worship and waiting upon God for the Efficacious presence and Operation of the Spirit of Grace in the Ministry of the Word and Sacrament for Conversion and Edâfication to be Idolatry and the Political order of Church Officers and Members they affirm to be an Image Answ. Concerning the Scripture we say they are Scriptures of Truth and words of Truth spoken from the Spirit of Truth that which gave them a being is greater then they as he that Creates is greater then they that are Created which is perferred above and before and yet no Diminishing or Detracting from the Creature so the Spirit is greater above and before the words and yet this doth not Diminish neither Derogate from the Scripture these and the like sound Words we have spoken to thy deaf Generation yet a Spirit of slumber being upon them all they could not hear that which gives Life and bringeth to Life and preserves in the Life is a rule and a Guide to them that are enlightned the Sons of God who were quickned by the Eternal Spirit of their Father and of Christ and raised from Death to Life this was their rule as it is written as many as are the Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God and we say it is a sufficient rule of
it self and thou may'st as well count the rule of the Sons of God Heterodox and Heretical and the Apostles Position who said as many as are the Sons of God are led by it and Christ promised unto Believers the Spirit of Truth to lead them into all Truth and to bring things to their remembrance and to guide them in the Path of Righteousness what has Envy and Madness eaten all the good out of your Hearts yet the Scripture is not so excluded by us as thou Judgest though we say the Spirit may lead and direct with it or without it yet not contrary to it for the Spirit doth will and may take up what thing it pleaseth to manifest it self and its mind unto the Creature and who art thou and what art thou any thing but an Egyptian who wouldst limit it and tie it to Paper and Ink to words and Syllables sounded and written in diverse Tongues Languages and Characters they that appointed thee for a Minister never knew God's Work and we know that there are several Ministrations and several Operations yet the same God and the same Spirit who manifested it self and formeth and Ordaineth things according to its Heavenly will to represent its Heavenly mind to the Creature and that which Christ hath Ordained and Instituted to be Worshipped in waited in and his presence seen in and the Operation of the Spirit of Grace in the work of the Ministry which is for Conversion and Edification is dearly owned by us as that whereby we have found the Lord and his pure Presence through this or that thing and without and beyond all Creatures or visible Appearances and this is not accounted Idolatry by us as thou falsly say'st which God will Judge thee for in the day when he appears to take Vengeance upon his Enemies in flames of Fire and thou that talkes of trying the Spirit by the Letter knowest no more of God then a Horse but what thou knowest naturally the Jews had it and they tryed and Condemned him for a Blasphemer and the Apostles for breakers of the Law and makers of it void and so condemned the Lord of Life and the Spirit by which the Prophets and Apostles were led even as thou dost with us and I never heard of any Political order of Church Ordinance or Officers or Ordinances not of the most dark and Sottishest Merchants of Babylon that ever spoke or wrote yet there was sundry Gifts given and sundry Institutions in the Primitive times which were single things of things of a more Heavenly and Coelestial Nature which were to be made manifest He gave some gifts to be Prophets some Evangelists some Apostles some Pastors some Teachers but these were Ministerial for the Work and Service which he had appointed but this was all by one and the same Spirit but I never heard of any Political order of the Officers or Political Ordinances ordained in the Primitive Churches but it seems you have got such in New-England in the Church of Rome so called I have heard of the order of Benedict of Francis and Austin and the like and of several Ordinances Instituted by their Mother to perform but I never heard of any such as a Political order of Officers and Ordinances before and this may be called an Image indeed and nothing in the world but deceit and is no Heârodoxy that ever such a Blind fellow as thou should put Pen to Paper who hast crept so into the Mudd and Dirt that gross Ignorance and Darkness is in all thy words But the least of the Children of Light will see thy Ignorance so that I need not say much Concerning the Magistrate they own none are lawful Magistrates who are not of their Way their non-acknowledgement of the Magistrate as now established in all Christian States is more then manifest Answ. If thy Aspersion were full proof no more need be said but the Judicious will not easily believe thee that there is a State of Magistracy is granted by us and that a true Magistrate that Rules well and Rules in the Power of God and is a Terror to evil-doers and a Praise to them that do well and are as nursing Fathers who preserve mens Persons and Estates from devourers as a Father preserves a Child from injury these are Ordained of God and such we are subject unto for the Lord's sake and for Conscience sake and to every Ordinance of man which is consistent with the Honour of God and a pure Conscience but I believe you have few of them in New-England who are rather like Bears and Lyons tearing and rending their Estates and rend and Tear their Flesh and gnaw it like evening Wolves that the Prophet speaks of and wouldst thou have this counted as God's Authority and we tell thee and all the World in singleness of Heart and unfeignedness that our way is Christ the way to the Father the Truth and the Life the Power of God and the Wisdom of God and all that Rule not in his Power Rule in the Devil's Power in the Dragon's Power in the Beast's power who made War with the Lamb and killed the Saints and compelled them to Worship and herein they that Rule in the Power of God and for God are manifest and them that rule in the Dragon and Beast's power for they that Rule in the Power of God answer God's witness in every man and reach to that by his Act of Justice in the Transgressor and he restraineth the Evil-doer within and limiteth that and preserves the Creature as much as in him lies from harm and his Estate from destruction and also saveth the Innocent Meck and Harmless from the violence and from beating and fighting and from them that would Destroy their Persons and Estates and herein the Magistrate that Rules in the Dragon's Power and in the Beast's power he is also made manifest he reacheth not God's witness by his Governing he lets the Transgressor live and is not a Terror to evil Works and workers but a Terrour to them that do well exercise a pure Conscience towards God and man and it may be cannot go into the House of Rimmon neither can bow to Baal nor be subject to that which another may set up in his will and in his Pride then he afflicts the Body the Creature and mars God's workmanship and defaces it and doth Violence to the Creature and rends away his outward substance and saith for his Authority It was so ordered at our General Court I must tell the the false Church the Mother of Harlots has ridden long upon the Scarlet-coloured Beast which has been made drunk with the Blood of the Saints whose Garments have been red with Scarlet colour and I know no where in any Christian State so called where he reigns in more Power then in New-England and you ride upon the Beast which hath risen out of the Sea which is amongst you and the Beast carries you your Church on his back bears it
Spirit without the Scripture and that the Words in the 17th of John 22. That they may be one as we are one these Words give an uncertain Sound thou say'st and further thou say'st Surely they are under â Rule of Lâfe who have not the Spirit since the Canon of the Scripture is closeâ so far is the Spirit from being a Rule of Life that to us it is not the Spirit except ãâã move in the written Word Answ. Gross Darkness is thy dwelling Place and out of thiâk Darkneâs all this pitiful Confusion cometh the Doctrine of Life was communicated according to the VVill and Mind of God sometime by Dream sometime by Vision sometime by Revelation to the Patriarchs and Believers from Abel till Moses and by Faith they were Followers of Christ and doubtless they did communicate in their Generation those âhings that were âânifest unto them by the Spirit which was the then Rule and Guide to the Feet of the upright in the way of Peace before any Scripture was writtââ and if the Scripture be not necessary absolutely thou hast said as much as we say therefore we speak of a Rule and a Way which is absolute necessary without which no man can know the Father or the Son nor the Way of Peace but by the Spirit of Truth which gave âorth the VVords of Truth which may manifest and doth maniâest it self as it will when where and how it will for it is unlimited and it will not be limited by its own VVords as to Sound but may speak VVords which it never spoke before as for instance Paul by the Spirit said The second Adam the Lord from Heaven is a Quickening Spirit which none of the Scriptures before-written speak in these very VVords and if the Spirit be not Spirit without the Letter then where the Letter is wanting the Spirit is wanting and consequently them that have the Scripture have the Spirit which were no less then Ignorance and Darkness to say and what Rule are they under who have not the Spirit or no Measure of it there is but the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error and they that are not ruled by the Spirit of Truth they are ruled by the Spirit of Error though they may have the words to fight with and quarrel about without the Life but last of all thou hast in plain words set the dead Letter before the living Spirit and say'st That the Spirit is no Spirit except it speak by the Scripture and if the words of Christ in John 17. give an uncertain Sound it is but to thy deaf Ear and to thy blind Understanding for he spoak soundly and certainly and prayed to the Father that as the Father and he were one so they alsâ might be one being guided by the one Spirit of the Father in the Son and that they might live in the Unity of it and have Unity with one another in it and with the Father and the Son In thy 15th page though thou hast set up the Letter for a perfect Rule of Life yet here thou throwest it down again and say'st It is to be unâerstood as including Consequences for the greatest Part of Scripture is Conâequences and the Scripture cannot be true without Consequences for Thomas and Mary are neither câmmanded Obedience or forbidden Diâobedience for we no where read thou Thomas or thou Mary are therein commanded Obedience or forbidden Disobedience such an one by Name do this or that Answ. I told thee the Spirit of God is unlimited and whether it speaks of Degrees or Measures of a greater or less thing or whether it speaks the greater first and the lesser after whether it speaks from Major to Minor or from Minor to Major or what may truly follow either from the greater to the less or from the less to the greater it is all Truth but thy Consequences are no Part of this the Spirit still demonstrates its own Mind by what words and Terms and Expressions it pleaseth and will not be limitâed or confined to this or that Form of words and thou errest grosly neither knowing the Scripture nor the Power of God and thy Consequences are false for there are the individual Persons or Names of Thomas and Mary both commanded Obedience and forbidden Disobedience and if thou hast never read this in Scripture I inform thee and instruct thee thou may'st read John 20.16 17. where Jesus saith unto Mary she turned her self and said unto him Rabboni which is to say Master Jesus said unto her Touch me not for I am not yet ascended here is a Prohibition and forbidding that she should not touch him Secondly here is a Command of Obedience But go unto my Brethren and say unto them I ascend unto my Father and your Father to my God and your God and in the same Chapter thou may'st read in ver 27. where Christ spoke unto Thomas by Name after his Resurrection Then said he to Thomas reach hither thy Finger and behold my Hands and reach hither thy Hand and thrust it into my Side here was a Command to be obeyed and be not faithless there is a Prohibition or a forbidding of Unbelief and so thy Foolishness is manifest and Ignorance of the Scripture some of it thou sayest is an uncertain Sound and the Scriptures fore-mentioned thou hast denyed or else never hast read it and so art unacquainted with thy Rule which thou quarrellest and fightest so much about And then thou comest and say'st Thou wilt vindicate some Scriptures and citest 1 John 9. That this was the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World hence they affirm that there is a Light in every man which being followed is an infallible Guide and that this Light which lighteth every man is the Rule of Life and not the written Word thy Answer is The Sense of the Text is notoriously false and thy Reason is If Christ the true Light that liâhteth every man be the Rule then Righteousness should be by the Law for the Light which is in every Man is not Gospel-Light but there is a natural Light or the Light of Nature which is to be construed in Opposition to spiritual and the Light of Nature and the Light of the Spirit are contra-distinct and by this Light of Nature there is a Difference put betwixt that which is good and bad and it will teach us not to lye nor steal and it will lead to the Knowledge of one God and yet it is in Opposition to one Spirit and it will lead to know Eternity Omnipotency and it will lead to know the Creator yet it is contra-distinct to the Spirit Answ. The Scripture needs none of thy Vindication for thou hast defamed it and sayest Christ's Words are an uncertain Sound and thou hast said that neither Mary nor Thomas was commanded Obedience thou may'st look back of thy Lyes and repent of them and why is the Sense of the Text utterly false that Christ was the
true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World without Exception and why is this utterly false if he be fâllowed that he who is the true Light is an infallible Guide and the Rule of Life Hath he not enlightned every man that cometh into the World If thou makest Exceptions where the Spirit makes none then thou pervertest the Scripture doth not he say I am the Light of the World the World in the Scriptures Account is set in Opposition to Believers for Believers are not of this VVorld but are redeemed out of it as for Example God so loved the World that he sent hâs Son into the World that whosoever did believe in him might not perish but have Everlasting Life for it is manifest that the Saints and Believes had Life given ãâã that followed Christ and were his Sheep and saith Christ I put them forth and go before them and give unto them Eternal Life and he said to them who had not Eternal Life While you have the Light believe in it that you may be the Children of it And is not Christ God's Righteousness who is given for a Covenant of Light to the blind and dead and lame and to the dumb to open their Eyes to quicken them to make them leap as an Hart and their Tongue to sing and utter forth Praise we say Righteousness is not by the Law but by Christ that lighteth every man who is the End of the Law and why is not the Light which lighteth every man Gospel Light seeing it is said Go preach the Gospel in every Creature under Heaven go learn what that means And if Natural Light must be construed in Opposition to Spiritual and the Light of Nature contra-distinct to the Light of the Spirit then it must needs be sinful for that which opposeth spiritual Light and is set in Opposition against its leading must needs be sinful and that which is contra or against the Light of the Spirit must needs be sinful and then if it be as thou hast said and if this must be the true Sense of that Scripture that it must be understood of natural Light and that natural Light thou construest in Opposition to spiritual and say'st It is contra-distinct to the Light of the Spirit and in Opposition unto it That which is against the Spirit 's Light or the Light of the Spirit must needs be Darkness sinful and evil and yet thou hast confessed It will teach that none ought to lye or steal and to know one God and the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency and yet it must be taken in Opposition to the Spirit and contra-distinct from the Spirit that which leads to know the Creator and Eternity and Omnipotency is that Spirit of God through which God and the Things of God are revealed and that that teaches that a man should not lye that is Truth and that that leads from Sin and accuses for Evil-doing and convicts that is the Spirit 's Light as it is written He shall convince the World of Sin And so thou like a man who hâth lost all Aim ramblest up and down in every By-Path and like a blind man gropest but canst not enter into the Treasure-house of Wisdom thou hast called the Light that every one is lighted with the Righteousness of the Law and no Gospel Light and in Opposition to spiritual and contra-distinct to the Spirit and in a Word hast made of it at the best Construction but bad and evil and then when thou hast done thou confesâest That it will put a Dâfference between Good and Evil and shew that God is to be worshipped and Eternity is known and Omnipotency and are not these the deep Things of God And so Babylon is the Land of thy Nativity and thou reelest and staggerest up not and down like a drunken Man and wouldst be a Teacher and knowest not whereof thou affirmest nor of what thou speâkest Further thou say'st That thââ little Light there is is much miscarried and thy Reason is because it is mannaged by the reigninâ Power of Darkness and the Judgment of Man is corrupt and then thou goest on the Light of Nature siâce the Fall is not to be compared say'st thou with the Light of the Image of God before the Fall and it hath no Proportion with Gospel Light but is gross Darkness nay is worse then gross Darkness Answ. And how did the Light miscarry thou blind-man and when did the reigning power of Darkness manage it seeing that there is no fellowship betwixt Light Darkness and the Light which every man is lightned with hath born witness against Darkness and the Reigning Power of it and though the Judgment of man be corrupt his miscarriage is because he hath not minded the Light and because he hath turned his Back on it and then Sin entered and then came to Reign in the Power of Darkness and corrupted the Heart and this hath made man miscarry and though thou sayst that the Light which lighteth every man is not compared with the Light of the Image of God before the Fall and hath no Proportion I 'le tell thee a Riddle go learn what it means the Light of the Image of God before the fall is the same in it self after the fall and holdeth its proportion and is no whit lessened or diminished in its purity in its self although fallen man do not see it neither can behold it because Sin hath entred and Death by Sin and that is it which obscureth the Image of God from man and it 's Light yet the Light shined in Darkness but thou concludest it is Darkness yea worse then gross Darkness and thou bringst a proof to prove it ye were Darkness the Apostle doth not say that the Light which shined in darkness was darkness or worse then gross Darkness as thou ignorantly saist but he said the Ephesians or the men of Ephesus were darkness and not the Light in them which shined in Darkness though the Darkness comprehended it not but how now John Norton what will the General Court of Boston say when they see thy confusion laid open and the Deceit made manifest to thine and their shame and ignorance thou confest in the 16. page That it would lead to know God and the Worship of God and Teach not to Lye and Steal and so forth and to discover some of God's Attributes as Eternity Omnipotency and the like here was some good in it in thy own account but now it s become gross Darkness in the 18. page and worse then gross Darkness and so hath made as bad if not worse then any Principle that is in a Beast and it may truly be said of thee even in thy own Phrase Qanta sub nocte Jacebat Nostra dies But now thou comes to a further Interpretation of 1 Joh. 9. and thou saist The Light which we are enlightned with it is either the Light of Nature the Light of Reason or the Light of saving
Things to me and happy are they that can receive them for in this I am not alone for many Thousands will bear Testimony hereunto So I rest in the Peace of God which no Man can hinder me of Subscribing my self a faithful Friend to the Common-wealth and all the good People therein F. H. ONE Warning more UNTO ENGLAND BEFORE She give up the Ghost and be buried in the Pit of Darkness To awaken the Inhabitants thereof out of their deep Sleep to see themselves what Misâry is coming upon them through their Degeneration and horrible Ingratitude that the People therein may be left without Excuse in the Day of the Lord. By him that pities thee in this languishing State F. H. OH England Is thy dry Land all become a Sea Is not thy Mountains from whence thou hast look'd for help cast all into the Waters and Floats up and down and is driven up and down and carried about with every Tempest insomuch that hardly any dry Land appears any where in thee but all like raging Waves and like Boisterous Floods which have no Bounds but over-flow all the Banks which fill all with slime Mire and Dirt Oh Nation whither art thou Posting and after what dost thou so hastily pursue Hast thou chosen Madness for thy Crown and Folly for thy Diadem Hast thou fixed thy Eye upon the Land of Darkness that thou so hastily runs Art thou become benummed and altogether past feeling Hath not the Lord intended good unto thee but thou rejects it Did not the Lord break off the Bonds from thy Neck and take the Burdens from off thy shoulders that thou mightst have been a Free People that thy People might have been a free People that thou might have served the Lord God in Truth and Righteousness and mightst have been established by his Free Spirit that Righteousness might have run down the Land as a Stream and Equity as a River that violence might have been done away and the heavy Yoak removed that so the Nation might have rejoyced in God's saving Health which he was about to shower down as a mighty Rain that the Land might have been refreshed that the People thereof might have rested under the almighty Shadow of the Lord that every one might have eat the Fruit of his Labours with Joy and have been satisfied therewith and every Precept of Man have been taken off the Conscience and that Yoak which hath limited the Lord would the Lord have broken that so his People might have rejoyced in him and in his saving Health But Oh Nation how art thou betrayed the treacherous Dealers have dealt treacherously with thee and have robbed thee of thy Glory and of thy Crown and now art thou like to be crowned with Infamy and Reproach and to be as a Hissing-Stock as a Proverb and a By-word to all the Nations who will rejoyce in thy Calamity and be glad at thy Destruction and because the Love and Mercy of God was manifest in thee more then to any Nation of late besides therefore the Nations were angry at thee but now seeing thy base Ingratitude Unthankfulness for all the Kindness of the Lord unto thee which thou hast wonderfully abused which hath been a Cause which hath provoaked the Lord against thee because thou hast chosen the Way of Death rather then Life and chosen Darkness rather then Light and therefore art thou hurled and tossed in all this Sea of Confusion and what will the Nations say who are round about thee Is not this the Nation from whence Light did shine forth that is now filled with Darkness Is not this the Nation which was strong and mighty that is now bâcome feeble Is not this the Nation the Fame of whose Righteousness was spread far that is now filled with Violence and Cruelty Is not this the Nation which made the Nations and Isles about to tremble whose Hands are become so weak that they cannot help themselves Is not this the Nation whose Sound and Fame for Liberty as Men in the Nation and as Christians without being imposed upon which the Lord was bringing to a perfect Freedom who now are putting the Yoak of Bondage upon the Inhabitants Necks and laying heavy Burdens upon the Necks of the righteous and are imposing Things upon the Consciences of his People whom God would have set free Oh this causeth the Name of the Lord which hath appeared in thee to be dishonoured and the noble Acts which the Lord hath done in thee to be vilified O England what shall I compare thee unto thy State is sad Oh! what might I do to make thee sensible thereof thou art as a Ship in the midst of the raging Sea whose Mast is lost whose Tacklings are broken and the Men all dead and nothing left but a bare Hull ready to be blown with every Gust of Wind upon every Rock and art wholly like to be split never more to be builded up it may truly be said of thee as it was once of Israel when they had revolted from the Lord God and followed after the Imaginations of their own Hearts The Head is sick and the whole Heart is faint and every Member which should move in the Body is become feelde and benummed thy Breach is great who can heal thee or who can bind thee up what is there no Balm in England is there no Physician there to heal the Breaches and Wounds of this People what not one wise man among all her Rulers are they all like wild Bulls in a Net fit to be taken and destroyed not one Interpreter amongst all her Prophets which can discover the Disease not one Physician that can apply a healing Medicine to these grievous Wounds What not one Leaf of the Tree of Life amongst you all by which the Nations are healed not a healing Spirit amongst Ten Thousands of England Oh sad and deplorable is thy State for all is out of Order and it may truly be said of her Rulers of her Priests and her Prophets and of her People as it was said of Israel when they had forsaken the Lord and Blindness happened to them through their Unbelief A People laden with Sin and Iniquity they are all gone out of the Way there is not one that doth Good no not one a Seed of Evil-Doers a treacherous Generation a false-hearted People who eat up Iniquity as Men eat Bread and drink it up as Oxen Water Oh Nation consider thou art upon thy languishing Bed and thy Eyes are almost closed and thy Ears stâpped and thy Understanding besâtâed all thy Vitals are decaying the Characters and Symptoms of Death are upon thee the Form of thy Countenance is changed the Flower of thy Beauty is passing away old Age and Decrepedness is coming upon thee all thy Joynts are growing feeble what wilt thou now do in a Day of Adversity whether wilt thou go in the Day of Calamity which is approaching the Grave is opened to receive thee and thy Enâmies stand
Plato's and Diogenes's discourses and to omit Seneca because R. I. saith Ambrose hath reckoned him in the Bead-row of Saints it may be with Saint Dominick and Saint Patrick Saint Francis and some other of the Popes Canonizing but however I shall let many of his Envious and frivolous and impertinent Arguments pass as thing of no Validity or worth being they have been Answered over and over by many Hands and all the Fortresses and strong Holds thrown down so that to any Judicious man they will appear to be but Rubbish however R. I. would be gathering together the Rubbish again and would make it appear as goodly a fabrick as he can when indeed there is no thing in it all so thou may'st see Reader in R. I. his Vindication of this Mouldy cankered Ware of Babylon which he would hold up his own Folly Ignorance and Errour made manifest in the ensuing discourse of his Doctrines and most of his Principles thou may view and see which I have taken up and answer'd and his Confusion and Blindness thou mayst see and also view the Spirits that acts this Man and how this man is like to Convince any who hath not Power over his Tongue but lets it run to utter forth the deceit that proceeds out of his own corrupt Heart thinking thereby to blind Peoples Eyes that they should not see how Ignorant and Light vain and Treacherous these Priests are who would monopolize all into their own Hand nay though God commanded and move by his Spirit yet this must not speak nor declare the mind of God except these Priests will allow of it in whom the Welfare of all People lies if thou wilt believe R. I. in the 11 page of his Book yet if these count it disorderly for any to speak as h1 hath received of the Lord from his Spirit it must go for such and be accounted such as disorderly In the Epistle to the Reader R. I. saith such Schiâmaticks as these Quakers have torn the Church in Pieces and its Authority condemned and the Ministry slighted and false Religion advanced Answ. It seems that the Church that R. I. is of is none of the true Church which is built upon the Rock Christ which the Gates of Hell prevaileth not aâainst neither any weapon that is formed against it can prosper but R. I. his Church is torn in pieces and may be prevailed against sure it is but Babylon whose Stones must be scattered and whose Building must be thrown down it is but the Whârâs Aââre that is sending off that her Nakedness may appear and her Deceit made manifest and the Authority which is condemned and reproved is no Authârity but the Authority of the Beast upon which the false Church hath riden and hath câlled it by the Name of the higher Power and the Ministry is but such as traffick with the Whore's Sorceries by which she hath deceived the Nations and this indeed and those Ministers indeed are slighted by us because we know him who is the Minister of the everlâsting Covenant whose Spirit is manifest according to his Promise to lead his People into all Truth and so the Religion which standeth only in the Traditions of Men and in Idolatry such things as R. I. goeth about to maintain as Images Crosses and Piââures Mass-houses Hireling Prââsts Popish Tythes and Pâpish Ceremonies which R. I. so much pleads for all these are slighted as not to be consistant with the true Religion or the true Church of Christ. Yet nevertheless saith R. I. in his Epistle I have adventured voluntarily to side with those that contend for the Truth agaânst the Quakers and yet in the same Epistle saith He was moved of the Lord thus to declare Answ. What Confusion and Lying and Blasphemy is here hath R. I. adventured voluntarily in his own Wilfulness and Perversness to take part with those Contenders against the Truth in which the Quakers live and worship and God must be made the Author of this and all the Heap of Lyes and Confusion which is declared and uttered forth in his Ignis fatuus which if no more were said then hath been were answer enough unto his railing Discourse and yet what Impudency this Man hath to say he was moved of the Lord when as he hath confest he hath voluntarily took part with the Contenders so that it is manifest to all reasonable men who set thee on work and whose Work thou hast been doing for which thou shalt be sure to receive a Reward in the mighty Day of the Lord. And R. I. saith Forasmuch as their counterfeit Coin hath been offered to me for good Sâlver I thought it fit to nail it to the Market pâst that it might not decieve others and instead thereof I have here made a tender of other Money viz. this ensuing Treatise which I doubt not but it may pass with Truth 's approbation Answ. That which R. I. calls counterfeit Coin was made publick by our selves and it hath been and shall be received by them that know God's Image and the inscription of the Spirit and though R. I. hath denyed it when it was proffered to him the Value and Worth of that which hath been proffered to him is no worse For though a Price be put into the Hand of a Fool he regards it not And now Reader thou shalt see what kind of Coin he hath tendered and how thou judgest it may pass with Truth 's Approbation as hereafter will be made manifest in his further Discourse Wherefore Reader saith R. I. Have not so great Regard to the Authority of the writer as the Truth of the Matter written by him who was moved of the Lord as thâ to declare against those who are Adversaries to Truth Answ. Indeed the Authority of a writer or of that which is written is of no great moment seeing he is but one of Anti-Christ's Voluntiers who hath not only belyed them that feared the Lord but also hath uttered forth many damnable Doctrines and yet would fasten all these upon the Lord so that his Deceit might be of more Authority and none might question the matter thereof because the Lord alwayes moveth to Truth and Righteousness and so R. I. is one of them that hath taken the Name of the Lord in vain which will not be holden guiltless but will be found guilty when the Searcher of all Hearts shall make all things manifest And then R. I. further saith That sprinkling of Infants is commanded by the Scrptures and is a Seal of the Covenant and Baptism of Infânts is that which answers to Circumcision for Mortification of the Flesh and Remission of Sins and Admission into the Church are sealed unto Infants by sprinkling or that which R. I. calleth baptizing I say Baptism of infants is a Popish-Tradition as hath been proved by divers so that of it I need not say much but where it is commanded in the Scripture as R. I. saith Coll. 2.11 12. is but a
understand that here was seventeen years that he preached publickly before that and where was his Ordination Many of the Brethren who were scattered abroad in the Persecution that was at Jerusalem went every where preaching the Word of God and when or where were these ordained And who ordained the Brethren that were persecuted after Steven's being put to death who travailed as far as Phenicia and Cyprus and Antioch preaching the Word and the Hand of the Lord was with them and a great number believed and were turned unto the Lord Acts 11.19 20 21. yet these things I bring not as to deny but that many went out with the consent of the Church and many were ordained and many were ordained Elders who were grown up in the Truth and established who had received the holy Ghost by whom many were confirmed and strengthned in the Faith but what is all this R. I. to your Ordination and who ordained you the Pope a Bishop or a Council or a Parliament and what are they you ordain Such as learn the Art of Speech seven years at Oxford who have read Homer and Aristotle Plato and Diogenes and learn to play on a Fiddle these are no Mechanicks but gifted Men indeed and qualified and fit to be ordained and made Ministers Pastors and Elders to carry abroad the Traffick of Mystery-Babylon but this R. I. is very peremptory and saith it is utterly unlawful for any that are gifted to preach the Word contrary to the Apostle's Doctrine who saith as every one hath received the Gift so let him administer and not such as R. I. would have to be Ministers who have learned an Art to speak and this must be called a Gift and a Qualification and a fit Man to be a Pastor and thus they have ordained one another and have set up a Trade of preaching and with their confused Stories have filled the World with Darkness And as concerning an infallible Spirit saith R. I. None except Christ who was without sin can challenge it or lay claim to it and I may say of such Runnagates and wandering Stars as this F. H. and the Quakers are as John did 1 John 2.9 They are gone out from us because they were not of us Answ. However this R. I. hath cleared himself and the rest of his Brethren for being Ministers of Christ for they do not only deny an infallible Spirit neither look to be made Partakers thereof but quite shut out all the Saints from enjoying it and though in Christ the fulness of the Godhead dwelt who was full of Grace and Truth he is the Root from whence all that believe come to be made partakers of his Virtue and so many of his Members may lay claim to it as they have received it by a free Gift according to the Promise of Christ I will send you the Spirit of Truth whâch shall lead you into all Truth and the Apostle had received the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus who had freed him from the Law of Sin and Death and the Sons of God had received it and they were led by it and the Ministers of Christ were made Ministers of it who hath made us able Ministers as it is written not of the Letter but of the Spirit and that Spirit was infallible and true and that Spirit which they declared of was an unerring Spirit and as they were led by it they erred not but were kept by it that the Evil one touched them not and they spoke from it and ordered the Church in it in the wisdom of God But what do these Men minister from who wait not to be made Partakers of this but deny that ever any had it or ever shall have so are but a company of Dreamers and tell their dream that they dreamed in the Night or at best steal the Words from their Neighbour and say Thus saith the Lord when God hath never spoken to them And though thou mayest say we are Runnagates because we sit not dreaming over thirty or forty Families twenty years but travail from City from Country to Country to publish the Word of Truth freely as the Apostles Ministers of Christ did we must by such as this R. I. and his Brethren who have gotten Holes and Nests in the Earth to creep into be counted as Runnagates though John said They are gone out from us because they were not of us this he spoke of them who went out of the Light in which he and the rest of the Disciples had Fellowship with God and one with another and they that went out from this went into the Spirit of the World and you are such as they that are gone out already and blasphemously call the Light of Christ Ignis fatuââ and so all that fear the Lord will come out from you and out from Babylon where the Blood of the Prophets hath been shed and the Witnesses killed you who deny an infallible Spirit are like to be in blindness and follow the Spirit of Error for you have nought else to cleave unto And further R I. saith when the Lord said by Joel that he would pour out his Spirit upon all Flesh and his Sons and his Daughters should prophesie the Prophet speaks not of a ghostly Power to open the Kingdom of Heaven given by Christ to his Apostles and Successors but of an extraordinary Measure of enlightning Grace and a more copious effusion of the Spirit and also to Pastors to whom more is given more is required and this Text doth not prove that all Sheep shall be Pastors and all Schollars Teachers An. Nay this Text doth not prove all Sheep to be Pastors neither all that are taught to be Teachers for all are not Prophets neither Pastors nor Teachers for as Christ said the Labourers are but few but this Man 's afraid that there should be too many indeed there are too many hireling Loiterers that are ready to supplant one another for filthy Lucre though many may be said to believe yet all have not received the Spirit of prophecy or a Gift to be Pastors but only they to whom it is given of the Lord for the Work sake yet notwithstanding they who have received it ought not to be limited either Son or Daughter for they who do quench the Spirit and dââpise Prophecy as this R. I. doth and how should he do otherwise seeing he hath denyed the infallible Spirit from which all the Ministers ministred and all the Prophets prohesied and spoke as they were moved by the holy Ghost but R. I. saith the Prophet spoke not of a Ghostly Power to open the Kingdom of Heaven if by ghostly Power he means the Spirit 's Power as I believe he will not deny then was it not by a spiritual Power Sons Daughters prophesied and did not this Power open the Kingdom of Heaven and if it be a more copious Effusion of the Spirit which is given under the Gospel then the Law
then how is it that R. I. would straiten or lessen the effusion thereof under the Gospel for there were Daughters that prophesied under the Law and many Sons that spoke by the Spirit of God but now all must be confined to the Letter and your Pastors now have far less of the Spirit if any at all who speak from the Strength of natural Parts and deny the unerring Spirit and so shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men. And R. I. is so grieved at this infallible Spirit or this Spirit of Prophecy that he cannot endure that a Daughter should prophesie or speak by the Spirit of God in the Assembly of the Saints and the main stress of his or their Argument is 1 Cor. 14.34 Let your Women keep Silence in the Church for it is not permitted for them to speak and if any Woman speaks in the Church it contradicts the Spirit and though they have a Gift they ought not to improve it in a disorderly Way Aosw That which hath been said in this particular unto E. D. is sufficient to them whose Eyes God hath opened but this R. I is one of the Evil Beasts that the Apostle speaks of whose Mouth must be stopt And so I further say that the Apostle writ to the Church of Corinth which were Believers which few will deny but that it consisted both of Men and Women and he expresly saith Ye may all prophesie one by one and furthermore if a Woman prophesie with her Head uncovered dishonoureth her Head so that it is manifest that there were Women did prophesie and also laboured in the Gospel but saith R. I. That was but in a private Way or amongst some few this had been lawful or orderly in R. I. his account and if she might speak to two or three or twice two or three it may be as there is in many houses is not this called a Church and doth not Christ say Where two or three are gathered together in my Name I will be in the midst of them Moreover was not that a Church which was in Aquilla and Priscilla's House 1 Cor. 16.19 and was not Priscilla a Daughter that did prophesie What must Priscilla go out of her House in which was the Church if she had any thing to speak by the Spirit was it lawful to speak without doors and not in the House and if she might speak in her House then she spoke in the Church and R. I. would have said she contradicted the Spirit of God and is not Christ one in the Male and in the Female and is not male and female both one in Christ Jesus is Christ's Power the Spirit 's Authority any whit less efficacious or powerful when he speaks in the female or is it the Sex only that addeth or diminisheth from the authority of the Spirit thou ignorant man who art void of the Knowledge of God was not Mary a Woman and did not she preach Christ's Resurrection to the Disciples and were not they the church but this it is like will not satisfie R. I. his unreasonable mind who doth not believe that a woman may prophesie or speak in the church for this would contradict Paul's saying not at all I grant Paul's words to be true this was spoke occasionally to one church concerning them that were unlearn'd untaught of the Spirit that usurped Authority over the man and such as were disorderly whose Spirit was not subject to the Prophet and what must this be a binding Example as to quench the Spirit and limit the Lord from Generation to Generation as to bind or limit them who are in subjection to their Husband and who usurped not Authority for it is one thing to have Authority and another thing to usurp Authority now they that are come to feel the Power of God and thereby be moved to speak the Power gives her Authority to speak but she that is not in the Power neither doth feel the Motion of the Spirit such a one Usurps Authority and is unlearned and such and they only were prohibited by Paul and no other for if it had been extended unto all then the Women before mentioned had been Transgressors and likewise further for the satisfaction of all Anna a Prophetess the Daughter of Phanuel of the Tribe of ãâ¦ã coming into the Temple gave thanks unto the Lord and spake of Christ unto all them that looked for Redemption in Jerusalem and that was in a publick Place and in a publick Congregation Luke 2.36 37 38. And last of all if E. D. and R. I. will not confess that the Meeting near Cond in which the Women spake was a Church which F. H. justifies then E. D. and R. I. have lost their Cause and wrangled about nothing and the thing proved against them both viz. That a Woman declaring speaking or prophesying by the Spirit of the Lord and in the Authority of God is a lawful and a commendable and a justifiable Act in the Sight of God and all the Children of Light and therefore cease your foolish clamour and let no such ignorant stuff come in Print again lest your Folly be more and more made manifest and the Stone fall upon you which will grind you to Powder The next thing which R. I. quarrels about is a Lye which Ed. Dod asserted that some of the Quakers should say they were equal with God unto which F. H. replied and said he that hath the Spirit of God is in that which is equal and he that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and that Unity stands in Equality and these Expressions saith R. I. offer Violence to God and his Glory Answ. This R. I. is so in Love with the Spirit of Error for he hath denyed the infallible Spirit and is in such Love with an unequal Spirit that he cannot endure to hear that any should be joyned to the Lord in an equal Spirit and so quarrels with plain Scripture and saith it doth Violence to the Majesty of God the Spirit of the Father and the Spirit of Truth is an equal Spirit and they that are led by it and are in it are in that which is Equal and so are joyned to the Lord and are nearly related to him but that I said or any other that the Creature is Equal to the Creator in Power or in Glory is false and a Lye and let E. D. and R. I. know that Lyars are for the Lake R I. saith Chrâst is glorified in ãâã human Nature and human Nature and Flesh may be understood âf the regenerate Part and human Nature may be understood both of Soul and Body and this may confute F. H. that doth contend against human Nature and goes and tells another lye as every pâge is filled with some and saith F. H. saith Christ hath no real Body Answ. This man speaks out of thick Darkness and intrudes into those things he hath not seen being vainly puft up in his fleshly mind
to Lighc in the Hearts of the Sons of Men that they may see his saving Health and feel him and have Union with him who is the Author of Eternal Salvation in all that believe which Salvation God hath shed abroad richly in the Hearts of his People and his plenteous Redemption which many are made Partakers of and therein their Souls are satisfied and their Flesh rests in Hope and their Hearts are filled with Joy and Gladness and he which hath revealed this will perfect his own Work which he hath begun in them that believe and keep the Faith unto the End shall see the Top-Stone brought forth with Shouting and Victory with Joy Therefore Dear Friends and Brethren look not out neither faint when you are tempted and tryed but eye the Lord who is near to deliver and to administer Strength in Weakness of which I do not doubt but you have felt whose Arm is made bare to save and to defend all the upright in Heart in the Hour of Tryal and in the Time of Temptation and your Work shall not be in Vain for that whâch is ministred from the Life shall not pass away unfulfilled but every one shall answer and bear Witness unto it in the Day of the Lord So in the Long-suffering and in the Patience and Meekness all dwell and in Love with one another and bear with one another and strengthen one another and be subject one to another in the Truth knowing your Works are one and the Message one which you have all to bear Witness of impose not upon one another but leave every one free to the free Spirit of the Lord in himself to be directed and guided in his Service and judge all that down which would beget into Strife for that Spirit will not gather unto God but scatter there hath been Hurt done already in that Place in striving and Contention which hath done Hurt for they that should be Builders should not bite one another and devour one another and so come to destroy them selves and others for that which would be greatest must be least and he which is least and Servant of all shall be exalted for with the humble God dwells and the lowly he leads in the Way of Peace for we are not sent to preach our selves neither to set up our selves but the Lord 's Christ who humbled himself to the Death of the Cross and gave his Life a Ransom for many and he is our Example and he alone is to be exalted and to have the Preeminence and they that exalt him he will exalt and they that honour him he will honour and self is excluded and glorying and boasting excluded by all the Children of Wisdom and that alone to be gloryed in which crucifies to the World and leads to Unity with God and Fellowship with Christ in the Eternal Rest. The Arm of the Lord be wâth you all and keep you in hâs Wisdom that you may finish your Testimony in Faithfulness and be clear of the Blood of all Men and so lay down your Heads in Peace when the Work is finished which the Lord hath appointed unto you that you may come to inherit the Crown of Glory which fadeth not away and be Partakers of God's eternal Excellency which doth excel eternally all the Glory of the World and the Renown thereof which fadeth away We have received divers Letters from divers of you and also we have heard how two dear Brethren have given up their Lives as a Sacrifice unto the Lord whose Life and Death was precious in his Sight in which I heartily rejoyce that they suffered so valiantly and boldly for his Names sake who laid down his Life for them and by it they are redeemed up unto God to live with him in that Life and Love which is everlastingly pure and satisfactory of which I am most certainly perswaded they had an Enjoyment of and Assurance and thereby had Joy and Peace and strong Consolation in him who hath reconciled all Things unto himself in one who is the Head of the Body which he hath redeemed which is his Church by the Blood of the Everlasting Covenant by which every Member thereof is compleated and presented Perfeââ in Jesus Christ our Light and Life our Crown and Rejoycing to whom be Glory forever and ever Amen And be tender and watchful over them that are convinced and let all your Lives preach before them and be their Example in all Things and keep them all down to their own that they may feel the Power of the Life immortal which you have born Witness of and exhort all to Stedfastness and not to look out at the Rage of the Enemy for that hath appeared which must conquer which cannot be subject to the Wills of corrupt Men Christopher Hâlder is arived here who declared unto us the Affairs of the Gospel in those Parts and all the Letters which came over unto our Hands will be sent carefully as they were directed So the everlasting God of Life Power be with you all is the Prayer of him whom God heareth Who is your dear Brother in the Suffering and Long-Suffering of God and in the Fellowship of the Gspel of Peace F. H. THE DECEIVER OF THE NATIONS DISCOVERED AND HIS CRUELTY Made manifest How he hath deceived the Nations and wrought his Works of Darkness more hiddenly under the Mask of Higher Power Holy Church and so persecutes the Righteous Seed and makes them suffer under the Name of Evil-doers in these latter Dayes More especially his Cruel Works of Darkness laid open reprov'd in Mariland in Virginia and the Sad Sufferings of the Servants of the Lord there by his Cruel Instruments Sent back unto them again that they may view their Work again and repent and be ashamed lest the Wrath of God sink them into the Pit as it hath done many before them who have opposed the Lord. GReat and many have the Tryals and Sufferings been of the Faithful Witnesses of God in all Generations by the Seed of Evil-doers who would not that Righteousness should reign and Truth have the Dominion because then the Glory of their Kingdom that standeth in Falshood and Deceit would be stained and blasted and not be had in Honour and Admiration Therefore the Devil who was a Lyar and a Murderer and an Oppressor from the Beginning hath labour'd by all his Power to deceive Mankind that he might exalt his Throne and Kingdom which consisteth wholely of Iniquity in the Hearts of the Sons of Men that so he might be honoured and worshipped and his Unrighteous Decrees fulfilled and himself admired above the true God which made both Heaven and Earth and all things that are therein who alone ought to be worshipped and honoured above all who is blessed forever whose Kingdom stands in Righteousness Equity Truth and Peace forever Therefore Satan being cursed and banished from the Presence of the Lord forever being full of Enmity Wrath and Rage Murder
they think it is for the Glory of God and the good of their Country as the Jews did thought they did God Service when they shamefully intreated his Servants and Messengers and abused them that were sent unto them in the Name of the Lord and as though making spoil and doing of Violence and devouring and wasting the Estates of their inhabitants would be for the well-being and good of their Country and enrich their Plantations when they that bear a Part of the common charge thereof and have been industrious as for the Benefit of the whole are thus made a prey and a Spol of Verily verily my Heart is grieved and my Spirit is vexed because of these doings Oh! this stains your Glory and causeth the Name of the living God to be dishonoured among them that make no mention of it as you do neither profess Knowledge of him nor Worship of his Name as you do for they may well judge if to bring forth such barbarous actions of Cruelty and Oppression and Violence be the Fruit that Christians bring forth that they will never be Christians for there is a Principle in the Indians and Heathens which abhors this and if these Actions bring Honour to God they may well conclude never to serve your God and that such Oppression should be acted among your own People and upon the People of your own Nation they justly may conclude you to be ignorant and your Government nought Oh! this causeth a bad Savour in the Nations and these are bad Examples to others for this strengthens the Hands of the Wicked and provokes others to Wickedness and also will bring a Judgement upon you for Sin is a Reproach to any People and the Wages thereof is Death and Destruction Therefore Oh you Rulers and Heads of the People who should be for the praise of them that do well and for the help of the upright and for nourishing of the poor and needy repent you of what you have done and confess to the Lord your great evil least his hand be utterly turned against you and you become as chaff before the Wind and as stubble before his Bow be utterly destroyed and cut off consider what you have done how all this hasty furious Work hath not at all advantaged you for there is a Seed that God will gather in those Isles to himself out of the Deceit of the World and out of the vain Customs and Fashions of your Country and out of a feigned Profession without the Life to worship him in Life and Spirit and though you should seek to withstand the Lord as you have done hitherto with a high Hand your Contrivance shall come to nought nay though you would strengthen and harden your Hearts yet more and say in your Hearts as the rebellious Jews of whom the Prophet spoke Though the Bricks be fallen down yet we will build with hewen Stone though what you have done doth not stop that which you would do and so go about to invent further mischief as those uncircuncised Men of New-England have done and should proceed to further Blood-shed at last it would come upon your selves and you would be plunged into misery for the Covenant with death must be broken and the agreement with Hell disannulled and the Strength and Power of darkness overthrown and Innocency Life and Truth set above it all for let me tell you that there is no Weapon formed against this People that shall prosper though you may prevail against their Persons and Estates yet the Spirit which is their Life and Leader is invincible therefore be ashamed and repent and view over your Actions and condemn them and proceed no further to your hurt lest greater Misery come upon you Oh! The cruel Sufferings which this poor People called Quakers have undergone and not for evil doing but for keeping Faith and a good Conscience which many have put away and made Shipwrack of else all these inhumane barbarous cruel works of darkness could never have been brought forth which have shamed their Government and their Profession which all that have any Knowledge of God cannot but abhor and say Oh! my Soul come not into their secrets neither tread in their Paths for these marks are not the marks of them that rule in the Power of God neither these spots the spot of his People but marks of the Beast and marks of the Harlot who hath forsaken her Maker the Lord of hosts and now is gone after other Lovers and the Children that she brings forth are the Children of Fornication and as the Prophet saith As is the Mother so is the Daughter as is the Church so are the Members all corrupted and gone out of the Way so that the Lord hath no Pleasure in them neither his Presence known among them for if it had they would have trembled to have acted any of these cruel things against them who are turned to the Lord out of Cruelty Deceit and Violence which would have been a Blessing to your Country but this is fulfilled He that departs from Iniquity maketh himself a Prey and becomes a Butt for all the Arrows of the ungodly to be shot at but blessed are they that have on the Armour of God they enter not there neither do hurt the Life for by Faith in the Light are all the fiery darts of the wicked one quenched the Bows of the ungodly broken though they be as Steel and their spears snaped assunder the Armies of the Aliens put to flight and the edge of the sword escaped and this Honour have all the Saints who dwell in that which keepeth the Heart clean and do overcome through Faith and through Suffering And therefore all that fear the Lord in that Place heed none of these things for this is the Cup that all must drink of who come to drink of the Cup of Salvation this hath been the Portion which they have had in the World Trouble but in the Life Peace and Christ who hath enlightned you is that Life wait all that you may feel him to be your Portion and then notwithstanding all outward Sufferings you will say and that from a true feeling My Lot is fallen in a fair ground I have a goodly Heritage and this God will give you to enjoy if you continue faithful and stedfast to the End in the Will of him who is near you to direct you and guide you in the Way of Peace and to lift up your Heads above all Opposition and make you more then Conquerors over Death and the Power thereof and over the Grave and over all that which hinders the Love of God from being revealed unto your Souls which as you wait in the Patience strength from the Lord will be administred unto you to carry you through the fire and through the water and through the floods and you shall be preserved and neither burnt nor drowned for his care will be over you who sits upon the floods and the Winds
more for fear of Wrath and to please Men then to serve and please the Living God whose Throne is established in the Heavens whose Kingdom is over all how be it Man whose Eyes were Blind the Sons of Adam in Transgression in the fallen State know not the Kingdom nor his Throne further then by report and hear-say and Traditions and Customs though by him Kings Rule and Princes Decree Justice yet few do know him who is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the God of the whole Earth neither do they know that in themselves in which Justice is decreed who are rather continuing Ruling in an usurperd Estate then ruling in the Power of the Lord which would be a Terror to Evil-doers but fallen Man calls well-doing Evil and Evil good and so Judges and Rules according to that in his own Eyes so punishes and afflicts them who do that which is evil as it appeareth in his eyes though it be good in the eyes of the Lord. And upon this Account the Righteous have suffered and such as are dear unto the Lord have been made a prey of through many Generations from Cain downward who slew his Brother and who are in the first birth Born of the Flesh judge that Evil which is born of the Spirit and their Wayes evil who walk in the Spirit and their Worship evil who worship in the Spirit and thus many Kings of Judah and Israel made the Righteous Seed to suffer when they were revolted from the Lord then they set up their own Imaginations Decrees and Laws to be observed who laid the Commandments of the Lord waste and made Havock of them that kept them and caused such to suffer as Evil-doers and as Traytors as Factious and Rebellious in the sight of all the People as Jeroboam Ahab Ahaziah Rehoboam and divers others and the Princes and Dukes of Edom made War against Jacob and his Seed unto which the Promise was and the Blessing was and so accounted them vile that were pretious in the sight of the Lord and reckoned them Righteous that were vile in the Eyes of the Lord. And since the Kingdom of Heaven hath been Preached and Christianity the Name thereof hath been in Reputation and the Gospel hath been published abroad and the Uncircumcised have got the Sound and the unregenerate have got the Fame and the Unconverted have got the Name of Christians and yet alwayes turn against them that were in the Nature of Christ these have made the Righteous to suffer and killed the Children of the free-Woman the true Church the Lamb's Wife And know ye this that since Christ hath been Preached and since the true Church hath been brought forth there hath been a great falling away by many from the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints by which Faith they had Victory over the World and Conquered spiritual Enemies and overcame the Grave and witnessed Victory over it Now the Words of them which had this Faith are retained and the Form of the out-side Practices was held for a while but the Power was denyed And Paul saw many such getting up to a Head and growing into a Body in his time who had the Form but denyed the Power who subverted whole Houses who were covetous and Heady and high-Minded then and lovers of Pleasures more then lovers of God and this kind of false Apostles and Satan's Messengers and false Prophets that Christ said should come Mat. 24. and John saw already come in that Age and Peter Jude and divers others wrote of and yet these were Preachers of the Name of Christ and got the form of Words and the Name of Gospel and yet denyed the Lord that bought them and redeemed them as in 2 Peter 2.1 to wit him in whom was Life and the Life was the Light of men Thus they denyed the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World and yet would be preaching up the Name of Christ and Jesus in Words but denyed the Life which is a Mystery and many followed their Pernicious wayes by whom the Truth was Evil-spoken of these were Enemies to the Cross of Christ which mortifies the Deeds of the Flesh and so lived in the Flesh and yet had the good Words the Sheeps cloathing the out-side but were Erred and ravened from the Spirit greedy after filthy Lucre greedy after Covetousness and worldly Honours greedy after Pleasures and these false Teachers went out into the World from the Light and from the Life and fellowship of the Gospel which is a Mystery and from the Saints Communion and from the Apostles fellowship and from The true Church in God the Ground and Pillar of Truth and then withstood the Apostles and spoke all manner of Evil of them and falsely accused them to be in Bondage and these separated themselves and crept into Houses and lead many away Captive and Captivated their Understanding Captivated the minds of those that were laden with Sin and divers Lusts who were ever learning but never came to the Knowledge of the Truth in which the discerning is And these became great Teachers and the whole World went after them and proselyted many into their false Faith which was Fained and into that Hope which was but as a Spider's webb and into a Profession of Christianity without the Life of Christ and those went into the World and those that were in the Perishing state wondered after them and admired them and set them up who admired them because of Advantage and received them and so held up one another in Deceit and so grew into a Body and got the Name of a Church though they were adulterated from the true Faith and run away from Christ the true Husband after other Lovers and yet because the Name of Christ and Christianity had a good Sound therefore they retained the Name for a Cloak that they might not be discovered And so many Children and false Christians which were not begotten and Born again of the Light Immortal and of the Immortal Word of Life were brought forth and these were adulterated Children and Children of Fornication and Children of falshood who would Lye as the Prophet said as the Mother was so was the Daughter and so are the Children And here did the false Church and false Members arise and false Christians and false Children grew Numerous in so much that they spread themselves over Nations Kindreds Tongues Languages and People and so came to be a Universal Visible Church though indeed an deceitful and abominable Harlot who spread her Feet unto every one that passed by as it is easie to make appear neither did she retain long the Practice and form of the true Apostles but joyned themselves to the Heathen and took in their Practice and mixed themselves with the Jewish Worship and took in their Types Figures Shadows Dayes Fasts and Feasts and mixed all these things together and at last called those Inventions the Apostolick Institutions and Ordinances
of the true Church and so came the Nations to be Cheated then she reached forth her Golden Cup of Fornication her fair out-side to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and they were made Drunk and there they Stumbled Reeled and Staggered till at last they became all like a Sea like Waters which swell and roar and Foam and stand at no stay take notice of this here was the false Church's Foundation laid in the Waters upon this was the fear of the Mother of Harlots which John saw fourteen hundred Years ago but the Foundation of the true Church which was before this was Planted in Christ in the Apostles dayes and was builded upon the True Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World upon Christ the Power of God the Corner-Stone the Rock of Ages and the Members of her Body which were Elect and Precious a few at Corinth at Jerusalem at Asia at Antioch at Colos Ephesus and other places who believed and were changed into their Hearts by the word of God which the Ministers of Christ preached which was in their Hearts and them who came to be established in the Truth in Meekness Patience Long-suffering who walked together in Love to wit in the Love of God which was shed abroad in their Hearts became a Habitation for God through the Spirit and Christ was the Head of this Body and ruled over it and in it and by him were they led and were subject to him who was their Husband and Shepherd Who preserved them and ordered and provided for them Who gave unto them the Bread and Water of Life and reached unto them the Cup of Salvation and Blessing whereby they came to be Nourished and grew in Wisdom and Knowledge Obedience and Subjection and in the Power and in the Dominion so were more then Conquerers thorow him that was their Law-giver King Judge and Saviour and these as I have said came to know the Truth Christ in their Hearts ruling and this was the seat of the true Church And herein is the true Church of God and her Seat and Members manifested and the false Church her Seat and Members manifested the one upon the Rock the other upon the Sand the one in the Life the other on the Words without Life the Seat of the one amongst those that were established in the Truth who bore the Image of Christ and did walk in Love and the Seat of the other was in the Waters and upon the Waters and upon unstable Minds and upon them that were in Cain's Way and the Seat of the one upon them and among them who had received freely of the Lord and Ministred freely out unto others of that which they had received but the Seat of the other upon them and among them that went in Balaam's Way who were greedy of filthy Lucre and followed after Gifts and Rewards the Seat of the one upon and among them who had submitted unto the teachings of God's holy Spirit in them the Seat of the other upon them and among them who had Erred from the Spirit and Quenched it and cryed Revelations were ceased who went in Corah's Way in the Gain-saying and resisting of the Holy Ghost the one upon them that were in the Power of God the other upon them who had the Form but denyed the Power the one among them who were the Servants of Righteousness the other amongst them whose Throats were as an open Sepulchre whose Feet were swift to shed Blood and Eyes full of adultery who could not cease from Sin the one among them who took up the daily Cross of Christ and denyed themselves and the other among them who followed their own Wayes and not the Cross of Christ but denyers of it the one amongst them who were Crucified to the Flesh and the deeds thereof the other among them that were alive in the Flesh and following the Affections and Lusts thereof So much more I might say according to the Wisdom given of the Lord but by what hath been said herein you may see the differences betwixt the true Church of God and the Mother of Harlots betwixt Jerusalem which is above a Mystery and the Mystery of Babylon and betwixt The Bride of the Lamb's Wife and the Harlot that hath run from her Husband and the differences of the Members of each Body and the differences between each Seat made manifest by their Effect and Fruits which is brought forth by each sort so read your selves whether you are in the Apostacy or out of the Apostacy whether of the Members of Christ and of his Body or of Anti-christ and so Members of the Harlot and of her Body to the Measure of God's Spirit in all your Consciences as you take heed to it will give you a true Understanding And so when these Waters Nations Tongues Kindreds and Peoples came to be drunken with the Cup of Fornication not only the Common sort of People but also the Kings the Captains and Nobles were polluted amongst all these professing Christians who had the Name of being Christians but are not arose the great Scarlet coloured Beast who had the Names of Blasphemy written in hâs forhead with seven Heads and ten Horns Perfect cruelty and great Strength who compelled all to Worship him and here was the Beginning of earthly Powers who came to meddle and compel in Spiritual Matters and the Kings of the Earth gave their Aid force and Strength to the Beast who compelled all both great smal whose Names were not written in the Lamb's Book of Life to Worship him and he Killed the Saints and Persecuted them which kept the Testimony of Jesus and the Word of God and the false Church which had laid her Foundation and sate as a Queen got upon the Beast and travelled in the greatness of his Strength made War against the free-Woman the Lamb's Wife made her flee into the Wilderness for two times and a half and all this was since the Apostles dayes that so now they that boast of Visibility and Universality alwayes since the Apostles dayes by this Argument they overthrow themselves for that which hath alwayes been so Visible in Power Force and Strength and so Universality seen and spread over all Nations Kindreds Tongues and People cannot be the Church of Christ for she hath been in the Wilderness and Christ the Head of his Church the Body compelleth none by carnal Weapons to Worship the Lord but he that takes hold of the Sword shall Perish by the Sword and he said again Love your Enemies do good to them that hate you and Pray for them that Persecute you and this is he who is the higher Power unto whom all Power is given both in Heaven and Earth and unto him the Spouse is subject and the Body is subject and they fear him and Honour his holy Name for he is worthy to be Praised and to receive all Honour Glory and Strength forever But the Beast compelleth all who
worshipping falsly he is to this Day under the Anti-christian Reign who hath exalted himself and sets himself in the Temple of God and sits as Judge thereof that which belongs only to the Lord 's Christ and so intrenches upon the Soveraignity which belongs to Christ the King of Righteousness and such will do Violence to the Subjects of Christ's Kingdom Therefore all Kings Princes and Potentates of the Earth who profess the Name of Christ Jesus cast off those heavy Yoaks which the false Church and Harlot have perswaded you to put your Necks in only to raise her City and to put off her Merchandize and to make the Church of the free Woman the Church of Christ suffer and this above all Things hath brought great Detriment and Hurt unto you Princes and People of Germany for they have been led by a blind Zeal to do that which they have been perswaded unto by her which hath sate as a Queen and as the Lady of Kingdoms and a Mistress over God's Houshold to do that which hath provoaked the Lord against them whereby their Dominions have been rent from them and many of the dear Lambs have causelesly suffered and many of their Subjects have been evily entreated and some have been put to Death so thereby have lost the Hearts of the People by such Actings only to satisfie the blood-thirsty Mind of her that hath drunk the Blood of the Saints Therefore ye Kings and Princes of the Earth and Emperours and all People who have been beguiled through the falshood and Sorceries of this false Church who have Drunk of her Cup of Fornication and have given your Strength and Power to the Beast and so have wrought their Works and not the Lord's shake off the Yoak from off your Necks and draw back your Authority and Power that you have given to the Beast who hath Killed and compelled all to Worship him and all People to buy the Whore's Sorceries shake off her Inchantments and Witch-crafts and intanglements and stand upon your own Legs and come to wait upon the Lord and upon the Light of the Lord which you are lighted withal that so you may answer God's End and rule for the Lord and keep Peace among all People under your Dominions and then it will be easier for you to do that when you leave all men's Consciences free to the Lord and every man to that of God in him according to which every man must be judged and then People will be more ready to obey your just Commands which are for Peace and Prosperity which are for the welfare of a Nation and Country for since the Apostles dayes the Apostacy hath come and covered them and many People have been forced into a Worship and unto Services and unto a Religion by outward compulsary Laws and by the outward Sword and great Penalties and Imprisonments if not subject to their Commands and all this hath come up since the Apostles and spread it self over Kindreds Tongues and Nations in the mid-Night of Darkness have many Countryes been vassaled and this I testifie you all that this is no true Christian Religion nor in Christ's way search diligently and read through the Writings of the Apostles and Saints in the Primitive time and see if ever the true Church of Christ or the Ministers thereof Christ or his Apostles gave any such Commandment or did ever lay any such injunction upon they that believed Rulers or Governours or others as to force or compel them to believe their Worship or Forced Killed or Banished them that Opposed but unto the contrary they Exhorted all and Commended every one to that in their own Consciences in the sight of God and so left them unto that which they knew would inform their Understandings and perswade their Minds and when they were informed and perswaded of the Truth of what was declared then they pressed Obedience not by any force or Awe but they knew that they which would not be Obedient unto that of God manifested in them they should be judged of the Lord and never have Peace and this brought down the disobedient and Rebellious Spirit and the Gâin-saying Spirit and yet saved the Creature alive and herein were the Ministers of the second Covenant more Excellent then the first Therefore Awake ye Princes of Germany out of the Spirit of Slumber and shake your selves out of your deep sleep which hath been upon you and wait upon the Light of the Lord in all your Consciences that you may come to see the day of the Lord God which is now a dawning and dawned that so you may distinguish between the Precious and the vile and also of every Work and Action and Worship you may truely discern of what sort and kind they are of for he that doth not Witness the quickening Spirit which enlivens the mind unto God and deads it unto Sin his Works actions and worship is but of a bad Sort these are the Works that must be burnt with Fire and that is the Worship which God is not pleased with which is performed from the earthly corrupt part in man by Tradition all this kind of Profession is God's Controversie against and this kind of Professors and this kind of false Church is God's Anger kindled against and hath been dishonered by this deceitful kind of Christianity and the Name of God hath been more dishonoured then by the Heathen who have not Professed any part of Christianity at all yea what wicked Barbarous Inhumanites have been brought forth by this false Church who got the form at the first and denyed the Power Oh! what Killing Murdering Blood-shed Persecuting Destroying the Creatures laying whole Nations desolate and whole Countries waste who could not conform to their Hypocrisie and invented Injuctions of Men Oh what Pride and Arrogancy Covetousness fraud and deceit Cosening and Cheating envying and hating Cursed speâking filthy Communications Oaths and Drunkenness and Riotousness Whoredoms and Uncleanness have been brought forth so aboundantly that the very Heathen are not found in the like Practices and well might they conclude if the God of the Christians be such an one as leads his People into such Practices then they would never believe in him nor Worship him in the Christians wayes for these Practices have hardned their Hearts and made them out of love with the Name of the Living God Oh! a bed of Torment is prepared for this Abominable Harlot who hath denyed Christ her Husband who hath enlightned every man that cometh into the VVorld with a Measure of his Light John 1. and the day hastens that her Flesh must be Burnt with Fire and all her Lovers shall hate her and the Kings and Nobles and mighty Men of the Earth which have committed Fornication with her shall withdraw their Love from her and assistance from her who have given their Power to her and so have made them selves as Waters so that it is Just with the Lord God to bring the Heathen and
Uncircumcised over the Nations again for the ãâ¦ã re more justifiable in the sight of God then these who Profess him in Words and yet are Reprobate unto every good VVork Therefore come out of Babylon all People and Potentates of the Earth and drink no more of her Cup of Fornication and receive no more of her Traditions nor inventions for the Ordinances of Christ and partake no more of the Sins of this false Church which hath drunk the Blood of the Prophets and slew the Saints under the Name of Blasphemers and under the Name of Hereticks as the Jews of old did who had the Words of the Prophets without the Life and were in Error themselves and in the Blasphemies who killed the just One and Crucified Christ as a Blasphemer and the Members of his Body as Hereticks Plagues and Woes are prepared of the Lord God and Thunders Storms and Tempests are to be poured upon the Seat of this Whore and the Seat of the Beast for dreadful is the day of the Lord which is coming upon all Flesh which shall wither as Grass and the hâlls shall melt and the Rocks shall cleave the high and lofty shall bow the strong Men shall be afraid Terror shall come upon all Hypocrites and fearfulness and weakness upon all the Mighty and Valiant and upon all that have Warred and striven with carnal weapons and all Worshippers in the Flesh the Sword of the Lord shall come over all which is ready furbished and brandished which shall be soaked in the Blood of Bulls and the strong and the Fat and the Mighty and the slain of the Lord shall be many for the notable Day of the Lord God is appearing such a day as hath not appeared since the Apostacy for God's Controversie shall be with all the Inhabitants of the Earth at the Sound thereof the Nations shall be afraid and the Isles shall Shreek and the Mighty men shall fail for God hath determined to cleanse the Earth of all the fruitless Trees that cumber the Ground and to makeâh overflowing Scourge pass throw the Nations to sweep away the Refuge of Lyes Idolatry and Superstition Will-worship vain Human Traditions of men and to make all Flesh to bow before him Therefore all People who look to escape the Judgement of the Lord God which is coming upon the Nations flee flee for your lives out of Babylon out of Sodom and Egypt spiritually so called hasten and come out to meet the Lord God lest you be overthrown in those cursed Cities whose Sins have reached up to Heaven make haste and come out and be not upon your reserves and consult not with Flesh and Blood partake no more of her Sins lest you partake of her dreadful Plagues and of the Cup of the Lord 's fiery Indignation which is the Portion of all the Inhabitants of that City for they shall drink it And all ye Princes and People in Germany who are called reformed who have denyed the Church of Rome in some things and who judge you are come to a good Degree of Reformation I must needs say unto you that the Reformation your Departure from her is yet but weak poor and feeble and you are come but a little way I may say unto you as the Prophet said you must rise and go from that which you are now in which you judge to be the Worship of the true God for it is not your Rest indeed you have departed and cast off some things which are but circumstances you stick still in the old Ground and if you take not heed the Leaven of the Whore's Sorceries which is yet among you may quickly leaven you all again into one Lump and bring you back again within the Walls of that bloody City and you that are Princes will not want Temptations to draw you back to associate your selves again with the Church of Rome that now thereby you may be strengthned against the heathen for if you should enter into any Association with them or give any consent unto such Temptations you do but go down into Egypt for Help then will your latter End be worse then your Beginning and your Bondage and Thraldom will be greater then it was before and I must tell you plainly the Lord will pare the Heathen and exalt their Horn and they shall be as a Scourge and as the Lord's Battle-axe to bring down the Pride and Haughtiness of that blâody City which hâth drunk the Blood of the Saints and they that have yoaked others shall now be yoaked and they that have cruelly tyrannized over others shall be tyrannized over and that which hath led others into Captivity Bondage and Thraldom shall go into captivity bondage and thraldom and the Heathen shall rule over it Therefore ye that are called Protestant Princes or Reformed and to all People within your Dominions look not back for help from spiritual Sodom Oh let it never enter into your Hearts you are yet in the Suburbs of that City therefore come further off and out from it for you still retain too much of the Government of that City and too much of their Form Ordinances Institution and Doctrine and judge them to be Apostolick and Catholick but wait you to know the Power of God in your Assemblies which changes the Mind and Heart within for bodily exercises profiteth little you have had Tryal enough of that but what Life and Power do you enjoy which was from the Beginning before the World began Is there no forcing and compelling amongst you about Religion and Hire for your Ministers And do you not limit and stop that which the generality cannot agree unto and brand it for Error and Heresie and is there no killing about Religion nor making men suffer about matters in Religion may every one speak freely of the things of God what he hath received freely of the Lord as they did in the Primitive Times when the Church was in Purity Forcing ought not to be amongst you and you put too great a Price upon outside things which at the best are but Shadows of spiritual things which are to be revealed in the Heart and know you this that they that worship the Lord aright worship him in Spirit and in Truth and they who come to witness the New Covenant come to know the Law of the Spirit of God and the Life revealed in their Hearts by which the Sons of God are led into all Truth and they need not go back to the Tables of Stone nor to literal Precepts for a Rule for their Rule is within to wit the Spirit of God which the Father hath promised to pour forth upon his Sons and Daughters by the Mouth of his Prophets and that they need not say know the Lord for all shall be taught of him from the least to the greatest who are come to the everlasting Covenant and to the Blood of sprinkling which purifies the Heart and sprinkleth the Consciences which speaks better things to all
by the Light of Christ so keep in all your Minds to this and stop all other Motions in your Minds and keep down all Thoughts and Reasonings in the mind and so keep to few Words and be slow to speak and swift to hear then will you come to know the heavenly Voice of Christ the quickning Spirit which divideth assunder and separateth betwixt the precious and vile in THOUGHTS WORDS or DEEDS and shews you the Ground of each and as you love this Light which Christ Jesus hath enlightned you withal and bring your Deeds to the Light which Christ hath placed in your Consciences which is God's faithful Witness if unto it you take heed then you will feel his Power in you at all Times near at Hand to help you and to subject every vain Thought and every vain Desire and bring them into Captivity and this is the Word of Faith which is nigh in the Heart which doth discern the Thoughts and Intents and Purposes of the mind before ye act or speak them forth I say hearken ye unto this that Faith may be begotten in you and here you will all know your Teacher present and Shepherd and him that said Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden who will give Rest unto your Souls and learn of me for I am meek and lowly in Heart saith Christ and then you will come to see the Differences between the motions of the Flesh and the motions of the Spirit within and come to know each Birth and know what must enter and what must not enter and all who follow this Light which Christ the Light hath enlightned them withal shall come to know the Immanâel and Bishop of their Souls for he that hates the Light which he is enlightned withal he hates Christ and he that hates the Light hates that which is the Gift of God in him and he that believeth not in the Light is reproved by the Light and judged already in himself by the Light of the Word and Justification cannot be witnessed where there is Reprehension and Reproof by him that is the Justifier And whoever receiveth Christ must receive him as the Father hath tendered him for he is given for a Covenant of Light to the Gentiles in whom the Gentiles should trust and to rejoyce at the Brightness of his rising and the Isles should be glad and wait for his coming a Leader of his People and Justification is not felt in the Heart of any man but where his Leadings are known and obeyed and none can come out of the Regions and Shadows of Death but as Christ is closed with the true Light who hath enlightned every Man that cometh into the World for he is appointed of the Father a Leader out of the World and all that follow the Light that they be enlightened withal deny themselves for it judges self-Love and self-Actions and self-Righteousness and here the Cross of Christ you will come to know which slayes the Enmity that which crosseth the carnal corrupt Part in man and takes it up and bears it and herein you will come to know what it is to be crucified to the World and the Lusts and Affections thereof and the World within and the Cross being known and loved which is the Power of God the carnal Mind which is Death cometh to be slain within and dyeth to the Fashions of the World and the goodly Noise thereof that passeth away but that which maketh it pass away endures forever the Word of the Lord which was in the Beginning So mind that which endures forever and take diligent heed and watch against the carnal Mind and worldly Thoughts and keep them down and so Power you will come to receive in the Light to rule over all that which hath ruled over you and then you will come to know a transforming of your Minds and that which quickens and enlivens your Hearts to God and crucifies you to Evil and here is the Way in Part declared by which all must come to the Father to the Kingdom to the Power and to the Glory there which is by Christ the true Light who hath enlightned every man that cometh into the World who is the Way the Truth it self the Love it self who is one with the Father And here you will come to know the Minister of the Tabernâcle which God hath pitched and not man and his Ministry and the Operation of his Spirit that which reproves for Evil is the Spirit of God wait all that you may receive it for it is given unto all but all have not received it God is kind and bountiful unto unto all and herein is every man left with out Excuse he that receives it receives Power to come out of that which it reproveth for and thus it is known by its Operation and as any errs from it and takes not heed unto it it checks him but as it is loved and closed with it gives Peace and Joy and brings Comfort and this is another Operation And now cease from all Teachers which are only Ministers of the Letter and Ministers of others Words made ready to their Hands for such can never turn any to God and from all such who preach for Hire Gifts and Rewards these are all out of the Doctrine of Christ in Balaam's Way and the false Prophets Way and not in the Apostles and Ministers of Christ's Way who testified Freely of that which they had received Freely and from all such Teachers as take Tythes which deny Christ come in the Flesh for that Priest-hood is changed and the Law is changed and the Jewish Priest in the first Covenant which had a Law to take Tythes of the People is changed and a better Hope is brought in and there is not another Law to be given forth which commandeth such a Maintenance for Gospel Ministers and though such Ministers may tell you of the means of Grace and that you must attend upon their Teachings and Discourses which they call means which are but dead Stories and feed but the corrupt part in the carnal Mind the Grace is near you even the free Grace of God the saving Grace of God that hath appeared unto all and yet all are not saved by it because they have not received it nor love it but all they that love it are taught to deny all Ungodliness and improving of it is the means to obtain more of it and whenever you are Tempted unto Sin the Grace of God which sheweth you the Temptations will save you that you enter not into it nor defile your Consciences thereby and this Grace is God's free gift unto all mankind and is in man and is the means whereby he that loves it comes to be saved from the Power of the wicked One that he touch him not And all must come into silence for the Earth must keep silent and all Flesh must be silent before the Lord be known within or his Voice heard and so all
in Unconsecrated Ground forsaking the Sepulchers of their Fathers Hospinian saith that at last it became so Superstitious in being buried in order near the Church that they judged it material even to their Salvation De Orig. Temple Lâb 3. chap. 1. The Waldenâes said the use of Church-Yards is Superstitious and invented only for Lucre sake and it is no matter in what Ground any one is buried see Usher de Succes Eccles. Christ. chap. 6. And how much there is of this Superstition in England now and what excessive rates are paid for breaking up Ground all is sensible of that it is only one of the Popish Nets which is holden up to get Money by And so I shall conclude these things and say with John Come out of Babylon and be not partakers of her Sins lest you partake of her Plagues for the Hour of her Judgment is come and the time wherein her Filthiness and Loathsomness shall be made manifest to the Nations and her Skirts shall be uncovered and her abominable Practices discovered of which in part I have declared unto all in this discourse that all may see the Abominations and depart out of the Snares that led to Death and these Practices which tend to Destruction THE Rock of Ages EXALTED ABOVE ROME's Imagined Rock ON WHICH HER CHURCH IS BUILDED She proved not to be the only Church of Christ her corrupt Doctrines proved not to be Apostolick but contrary to the true Church of Christ in the Apostles Dayes Also divers Arguments answered which may convince the Papists that they are not the true Church wherein a Book is also answered called A Catechism against all Sectaries newly published by C. M. in the Year 1661. By F. H. a Member of that Church which is coming out of the Wilderness A TABLE of the principal Things contained in this BOOK COncerning the true Religion what it is and where it ãâã demonstrated The Church of Rome proved to be the false Church The Pope proved not to be the Head of the true Church aâd Christ proved to be the Head of the Body which is his Church and the ãâ¦ã which ãâã Church is built Purgatory proved to be an erroneous Doctrine which is held forth by the Papists and their praying for the Dead proved to be another false Doctrine not commanded nor practised by Christ or his Apostles The Papists Doctrine which saith Christ is really and personally in the Mass and in the Eucharist proved to be Blasphemy and great Idolatry The Papists Mass and their Ceremonies proved not to be Apostâlical The Papists honouring of Reliques and Images of Saints and praying by Beads proved to be but the Inventions and Traditions of Men and contrary to the Doctrine which the Apostolick Church held forth The Doctrine of forbidding certain Kind of Meats and forâidding the Scriptures to be read by all answered Câncerning Miracles Answers to eight Propositions set forth by C. M. in his Catechism aforesaid THE Rock of Ages EXALTED ABOVE ROME's Imagined Rock ON WHICH HER CHURCH IS BUILDED GReat hath been the Havock and Spoil that the Beast which John saw rise out of the Waters made against them in destroying them who received not his Mark in their Foreheads and the Cry hath been long Who is able to make War with the Beast and great hath the Suffering been these many Ages of the Children of Light and still is of the Members of the true Church of Christ which is in God which hath proceeded from her who sate as a Queen upon the Waters which are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People which have been the Seat of Mystery-Babylon the Mother of Harlots who hath held out her golden Cup of Fornication full of Abomination false Doctrine and Error which the Nations have drunk of and the Kings of the Earth have been made drunk with and all have been in Instability and have reeled and staggered up and down in the dark in the Night of Ignorance and have wildered in the Mists of Error and lost the true Foundation and are gone from the Rock upon which the true Church is builded which is neither Peter nor his Successor but Christ the true Foundation which abideth sure and all that believe in him and have their Minds staid upon him know Settlement and Establishment in that which the Gates of Hell prevail not against But blessed be the Lord he is come revealed and made manifest who is able to make War with the Beast and his Followers and a Discerning is given unto his Servants that they can distinguish betwixt the Cup of Fornication and the Cup of Blessing and betwixt the Table of the Lord and the Table of Devils betwixt the true Church the Lamb's Wife and Mâstery-Babylon the Mother of Harlots betwixt the heavenly Treasurâ which is communicable to the Saints in Light who are Members of the ãâã Church and the Merchandize and the corrupt Treasure of the Harlot which the Nations Kindreds and Tongues have been forced to buy ãâã Reason of the forcing and compelling Power of the Beast and so the Nations have been begotten into a strange Nature into the cruel Nature killing one another about the Forms of Worship and Shadows and the Substance hath been known but to a few neither the Lamb's Nature which is meek and innocent and the Leaves of the Tree of Life which heal the Nations have been known but to a few which is the Cause of all the ãâã Murders and Massacrees Imprisonments and cruel Torments which the Nations have afflicted one another with who have professed Christianity but have been out of the Life and out of the Nature of the true Church which Christ is the Head of which is Wife unto the Lamb and herein is the true Church manifest from the false the false Church hath propagated and encreased her Number of Members by Force and Awe and Cain's Weapons and many have been forced into a Belief and a feigned kind of Profession rather then by sound Doctrine or answering God's Witness in Peoples Hearts and Consciences but the true Church who is of the Husband's Nature her Weapons have been are and will be spiritual and yet are mighty through God to beat down strong Holds of Sin and Wickedness in People and hath by sound Doctrine and a good Example answered God's Witness in peoples Consciences without forcing to any thing but recommended themselves to every ones Conscience in the Sight of God and would have every one perswaded in their own Hearts by the Lord of the Truth which they believed and not to take things by Tradition and Hear-say as the false Church and her Members have done and so have had no Assurance of God's Spirit in their Hearts for what they did and so Doubts have arisen in the Mind because whatsoever is not of Faith is Sin But God is Opening the Eyes of many and enclining the Hearts of many to seek after the Assurance of God's blessed Spirit in their Hearts for what they
as well as that which is unconsecrated then we will deny our Faith and confess that you are the true Church Lastly If you be not Idolaters there were never any in the World who say that to adore or worship the Bread and Wine after Consecration is no more Bread but whole Christ your God and Redeemer who placeth himself there upon the Altar by Miracle it 's a miraculous Thing indeed that that which is given unto you by the Priest which enters in at the natural Mouth and goes into the Belly should be the Body of Christ and whole Christ and very God and Redeemer as thou say'st that one Person should contain whole God seeing the Scripture saith that the Heaven of Heavens cannot contain him for he is the very Fulness that filleth all Things Oh gross Darkness and palpable Ignorance which you have led People to believe and call this Idol that Rats and Mice may eat whole Christ God and Redeemer and you have destroyed and burnt to Ashes many for Hereticks who could not believe this Doctrine Therefore all People it 's Time to look about you and see where you stand and what you joyn unto if you cannot receive this Doctrine for Holy and Apostolick by the Church of Rome not worthy to live and without Doubt might not if this Church had but that Authority which sometimes it hath had in England but I hope the Eyes of many are open to see and detect this damnable Doctrine The Author sayes That Ceremonies were used by Christ at his last Supper and they excite People to their Devotion during the Sacrifice but for Proof you must expect none from this Author and the Scripture is silent in the Thing and Ceremonies and Formalities are so far from stirring up the Mind to God that they ândeed draw the Mind to be busied in the Exercise of them from waiting upon God and from worshipping him in the Spirit and such Worshippers are only accepted of him The Mass is said in Latine and the rest of Divine Service for if it were not ignorant People might easily be mistaken if these Mysteries were done in the vulgar Language and because the Scripture hath been written in Latine Greek and Hebrew and these three Languages were written upon Christ's Cross and therefore these three Nations ought to use them at their Mass and Divine Service but the Priestly Garments and Ceremonies gâve enough to understand what is done at the Mass and Divine Service Answ. This looks with a black Visage to be Apostolick Doctrine but however I shall search into it and examine it by the Apostle's Doctrine before it be condemned it 's a good Shift indeed to keep People from Mistakes not to let them know what they say or do but this is contrary to the Apostle's Doctrine 1 Cor. 14.7.8 9 10 11 14 15. If a Trumphet give an uncertain Sound who can prepare to Battel and except Words uttered be understood how shall it be known what is spoken If the Meaning of the Voice be not known unto him to whom it is spoken the Speaker and the Hearer are Barbarians one to the other And when one understands not what is spoken how can he be edified And all Services ought to be done to Edâfication So your Church is erred from the Apostolick Doctrine and your Mass and your Service doth not edifie at all but you are as Barbarians one to another for your Worship goes on in such a back Road that the vulgar People would soon learn it and know it and it may be slight it if they should know the Worthlesness of it and therefore the only Way you âudge is to keep them in Ignorance And what Mystery is there in the Mass and your Service seeing that it stands in Crossings Cringings and Abundance of endless Ceremonies and Reiteration of Words which are patcht up by many Authors contrary to Christ and the Apostles Doctrine But it seems the Priests Garments and Ceremonies give Understanding enough to the Auditors a dumb shew is enough for them like a Poppet-play to make them understand the Mysteries of your Mass an unbloody Sacrifice indeed in which there is no Remission nor Acceptation And here thou hast acquainted us with a Mystery indeed Because Latine Greek and Hebrew were written by Pilate upon the Cross of Christ therefore they are called sacred Languages sure the Church of Rome hath lost both Faith and Reason will any that hath a Friend that should be crucified upon a Cross and an Enemy who condemned him should set over him Words in Latin Greek and Hebrew in contempt that therefore a man should count the Cross holy and the Language sacred as the Church of Rome doth is great Ignorance and Idolatry of which she is full and therefore is not Apostolick nor the one true Church in which Salvation is to be looked for as the Author would make People believe The next false and superstitious Doctrine which this Merchant of the Church of Rome holds for Apostolical is the Reliques and Images of Saints and also Prayer by the Beads by Number and Tale as Brick-makers sell their Bricks and this the Church of Rome would put off unto us as Apostolical Doctrine The Reliques and Images of Saints are honourable in Regard of the Saânts which they have Relation unto and God himself makes Use of them for his Mâracles Moses was enforced to honour the holy Ground where the Angel appeared Exodus 3. And David commanded the Ark to be adored because it was God's Foot-stool Psal. 99.5 And to honour the Reliques and Images of Saints is no Idolatry for that is Idolatry to worship false Gods and Châist doth not take it ill that we honour his Saints and Friends And to number our Prayers if Hail Mary be said upon Beads threescore and three Times it 's because Mary lived so many Years and the Prophet prayed seven Times a Day and Christ three Times in the Garden and it 's not evil to say our Prayers by Number and if five Pater-nosters be said it 's in Honour of the five Wounds and what would there be amiss in this And it 's not Idiots that pray ây Beads but Catholick Kings the Pope Cardinals and Bishops make Use of them an Variety delighteth the Mind and there are no better Prayers then the Pater-noster Ave and the Creed Answ. The Reliques or that which remains for all the Saints and Members of the true Church of Christ to follow and to honour is to live in the same Life that they lived in and to honour him who was their Life by whose Power they fulfilled the Will of God and to walk in the same Foot-steps is to honour him that was their Life and them also who walked as Examples of Righteousness and that Power by which they became Examples of Holiness and Righteousness but for the Church of Rome to worship Pieces of cloth dead Bones painted Images which may as well be called the Images of Cain
of Robin Hood a Comedy or a Play is more frequently read by the Members of the Church of Rome which begets into Looseness and Prophaneness a Thing which this Generation is in Love with rather then the Scriptures and though the Scriptures be applauded in Words as for the Rule of Life by many and a Judge of Controversies yet how should they be rul'd that may not read them without a Licence or a Toleration from the Superior if it be lawful to read with Toleration it 's lawful to read without Toleration for the Toleration of Men neither addeth to nor diminisheth from any spiritual Exercise and Timothy read the Scriptures of an Youth and who gave him his Toleration And Apollos was a mighty Man and a knowing Man in the Scriptures from whence had he his Licence 3. Because thou judgest according to the Judgment of this present evil World that they are only fit to read the Scriptures and give Interpretations upon it who are naturally learned and have the Wisdom of this World I say nay the World by Wisdom knew not God neither know him now and them that had Natural Learning rejected the Foundation them that had the Hebrew Language set Christ at nought they that had the Greek Tongue withstood Paul and called him a Babler them that had the Latine Tongue the Tongue of the Whore your Mother persecuted the Christians in the first three hundred Years after Christ as your own Histories do relate So according to all these who had only the Knowledge in the Natural Languages they did not understand the Things of God and it was the wise Builders which builded by Art and Skill in the earthly Wisdom that rejected the true Foundation and corner-stone but on the contrary we say according to the Apostolick Doctrine That the Scriptures may be read and ought to be read for they are profitable for Insturction and Correction and Information to make the Man of God perfect and throughly furnished to every good Work through Faith in Christ Jesus and I would have the Author know that we do not look upon Cardinals Fryars Monks and Bishops to be the alone Men of God so that they alone have the sole Power to tolerate the reading of Scriptures for he is a Man of God who is born of the Spirit which sanctifieth and leadeth into the clear Pathes of Equity and Righteousness who walk not after the Flesh neither fulfil the Lusts thereof and such there are and have been which have been unlearned in Natural Tongues but this is the Way to keep your Church in Reputation to believe as you believe and every Man to put out his own Eyes and live by anothers Sight and hang his Faith upon anothers Shoulders this is not like Apostolick Doctrine for the Apostle said Let every one be perswaded in his own Mind not by other Mens Minds and he that believeth hath the Witness in himself and hath it not to seek among the literal Rabbies who darken Counsel through Words and it is not for Want of Natural Learning that one understandeth the Scriptures this way and another that way but because they want the Understanding of that Spirit that gave forth the Scriptures which Spirit universally is given to all Men and Women a Measure of it to lead into Truth and through which the deep Things of God are revealed And it s not your Traditions Inventions Natural Learning Schools and Colledges Fryeries and Covents in which the Spirit of God is only limited but every one that seeks finds whether learned or unlearned for of a Truth God is no Respecter of Persons and so the Mind of Christ is manifest unto them that believe and the one Spirit into which the Saints were baptized is that which opens the Scriptures truly as they are and discerneth the Times and Seasons and fulfilleth it in the Hearts of them âhat believe and manifests the State unto which they were spoken And if the Scriptures be so hard to âe understood by Reason of the hard Sayings or because of the Translations what have you been doing these fourteen hundred Years with all your Learning with all your Councils Popes Bishops and Clergy that you have not translated them aright or so plain that they may be understood by all that read But then your Doctrine Worship and Practice would be soon manifest not to be Apostolical nor consonant and agreeing to the Practice of the true Church of Christ. And now I come to the effectual Arguments and pregnant Wayes which the Author tells of which will work upon the Sectaries to make them return to the Catholick Church which he saith they have groundlesly forsaken and now I shall come to try his Arguments and search the Force of them which he layeth down as the most efficacious VVay to convince all Sectaries as he is pleased to stile them to come to the Church of Rome but the Hope of this Man will be like a Spiders VVeb for all whose Eyes God hath illuminated in any Measure will come to see the VVeakness of this Philosophy and vain Deceit which he hath laid down as a chief Instrument to convince all that the Roman Church is the true Church and that Salvation is only concluded in her 1. The first Argument he takes from Mat. 18.17 Christ sends us to the Church saith he if any neglect to hear her they must be counted as Heathens and Publicans from hence this is the Argument That that Church is to be heard in which there is most Assurance to be had that one iâ in the Way to Salvation but in the Roman Church there is most Assurance therefore the Roman Church is to be heard Answ. The Minor is false and also the Conclusion That church which hath the Foundation of its Assurance without it is not the true church of Christ neither is to be heard but the Roman church hath only their assurance of Salvation without them therefore are not to be heard it is manifest their assurance stands only in outward things as Antiquity and Visibility which are not the alone Marks of the true church Cain was Ancient enough and there were them that were in Cain's way before Rome was so highly elevated and that for Universality and Visibility there is no assurance in that for all the World hath wondered after the Beast and the Whore hath sitten upon Nations Kindreds and People and so the first Argument is denyed and proved to be false I shall lay down another 1. That church which hath alwayes been so Visible and Universal since the Apostles dayes as hath had its seat over Nations Kindreds and Tongues is not the true church of Christ but the Harlot but the church of Rome hath been Universal over Nations Kindreds Tongues and People therefore the church of Rome is the Harlot and not the true church of Christ. But I shall not traduce thee in thy vain Deceit but return thy Arguments upon thy self which thou chargest upon others
Saints Sabbath is a stranger to the church of Rome he that hath overcome the World and the Devil only knows God's rest and the true Sabbath of which the Jews was a Figure and the Sunday thou callst it is no more a Sabbath reckoned by the Lord of Life then that which thou callst Saturday for every day is kept Holy to the Lord by him that witnesses the work of Redemtion and this is according to the Apostolick Doctrine and if because of example the Christians whom you are pleased to Stile Sectaries do observe the first day of the Week in the Power of God for his Worship then they are as much if not more to be heard then you and have as much Solid reason on their side as you and thou must not think to carry the Matter on with such frivolous Arguments as this to advance Mystery Babylon for this is a knowing Age blessed be the Lord wherein the Wisdom of God is revealed and that which comprehendeth all shadows Types Dayes Times Years Meats Drinks Washings and other Figures they are all seen over and he is come manifest which is Head of the true church and not the Pope who was is and is to come Life it self Truth it self Power Strength and everlasting satisfaction to thousands and ten thousands who have believed and to a numberless Number which are yet to be gathered into God's Sheep-fold and into the narrow way of Christ which will deny and doth deny upon good Grounds and infallible Testimony from the Eternal Spirit that the Church of Rome is either in whole or in part any part of the true Church of Christ. And seeing this valiant Champion hath made so fair a Proffer That ãâã their Priests Jesuites and Catholicks over all the World will turn to the Sectaries Way as he calls them if they can but get a clear and satisfaâtory Resâlâtion to the following Doubts Answ. I am one which do acknowledge my self to be reckoned by him as a Sectarian yet as a Sectarian is reckoned by the true Church of God in the Primitive Time in the Apostles and Christ's Dayes I do not reckon my self as such and that I am a Minister of the everlasting Gospel I dare not deny seeing a Necessity is laid upon me to acknowledge the same yet herein I do not glory but in him who hath call'd me for the Work sake and I know the Teaching of Christ Jesus and his Doctrine and no other Thing these many Years have I published but that which I received of the Lord and from him by his Spirit which is according to the true Faith and Godliness which was in the primitive Church before ever Rome did lay claim to be the only true catholick Church excluding all others but her self to be in the Way that leads to Salvation I which am as one amongst many Thousands which God hath manifested his Mind unto shall answer in clearness and according to Apostolick Doctrine and the Manifestation of his Spirit but when I have so done I am afraid this Champion with the rest of the Priests and Jesuits and the rest of the Catholicks over the World will hardly own his Challenge or confess that Doubts are answered yet however if it satisfie but one of a Thousand I have my Reward and shall put it to Tryal The first thing the Author who it seems knows the Mind of the Church of Rome in all things both as to Doctrine and Practice which they do allow of and the contrary they will deny he knows to the full or else he would never sure have made such a bold challenge The first thing that they would be resolved in is Whether any can clearly shew that any Teachers Doctors or Ministers are sent of Almighty God to preach and reform the Roman Catholick Church and that they are not some who say the Lord saith when the Lord hath not spoken unto them neither sent them Ezek. 13.2 Answ. What the Roman Church and their Members will take for a satisfactory Resolution as to themselves I sometimes question and do doubt the resolving of the most but however by the same Commandment that the Apostles did evidence their commission that they were sent to reform the Church of the Jews also them that had made Defection from the Faith amongst the Gentiles this may be shown 1. The Apostles of Christ Jesus did declare their Commission which they had received from Christ and for other Proof they sought none amongst them that were Auditors or Hearers but the Witness and Testimony of God unto which they desired to be approved in the Sight of God 2. They shewed the Jews that they held the Types and Figures but did not receive or believe him who was the Substance in whom they all ended they were sent to bear Testimony to the true Light that lightetâ every one that cometh into the World and to preach down Dayes Times Moneths Years Fasts Feasts Sabbaths Circumcision Temples and Offerings the Priesthood and the Sacrifice which were but to continue until the time of Reformation and the bringing in of a better Hope by which they drew nigh unto God and had an Access unto him and they declared their commission against a voluntary Humility and worshipping of Angels all which things the Church of Rome do stick in and vindicate for Apostolick Doctrine and many more things which the Church of Rome is run into contrary to the true Church of Christ and therefore had need of Reformation So that which is contrary to the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles and Practice of the primitive Church in the first hundred years is in the Apostacy but Rome is in many Practices and Doctrines contrary to the true Church therefore needs reforming And so God hath manifested himself in this his Day of Power and hath discovered the Church of Rome to be contrary in Doctrine and Practice to the true Spouse of Christ and hath stirred up and moved many by his Power and Spirit to preach the everlasting Gospel and to declare also against the Defection of the Church of Rome and her apostatizing from the Faith and they are not of those whom the Prophets spoke of which ran and the Lord sent them not for them were the false Prophets in Israel and they were manifest by their Fruits of which there are great Store in Rome who are manifest by their Fruits and they are such as are in Cain's Way who would kill and such as are Seekers of Gain from their Quarters and such as take the Jews Tythes and these the Lord nâver sent to be Teachers or Ministers to bring to the Knowledge of Christ but we deny all these things and your Church in the very Ground and Foundation and know that it will be swept away when the Beast is taken alive upon which your Church now rides then shall you see that that which you long put off among People as Apostolick Doctrine will not be received any more
of Men and sport themselves over the Heritage of God what doth he that sits in Heaven and they that are in the heavenly Places in Christ Jesus and will not the Lord have them in Derision who mâke a Mock of Sin and rejoyce in Iniquity as though it were the high Way to Felicity Well though the Archers have shot hard at you and hâve come in their Strength against you yet the Lârd hath preserved you that you do not break your Ranks and I feel the Lârd hath put Courâge in you and Wisdom in your Mouthes to withstand yâur Adversaries and the Lord is on your Side the Cause is his the Worship is his the Glory is his you suffer for and be assured he suffers with you and so are his People afflicted with you and in this be comforted that you are not alone though you be counted Fools it 's for Christ's sake though reckoned disobedient it 's because you keep his Commânds and though you be represented as vile and evil and as Transgressors so was Christ so have his Saints been in every Generation since the Devil hath had Dominion in the Hearââ of the fallen Sons of Adam What should you be troubled at thiâ nây rather rejoyce that the Scripture is fulfilled of you in our âge as Christ prophesied unto his Disciples That they should speak all manner of Evil falsely for my Names sake and be ãâã out of their Assembly and hailed before Rulers and Judgment-Seats for my Names sake but rejoyce and be exceeding glad And also it cannot but appear unto all People who are moderate that it 's only his Names sake you suffer for yea even the Lips of your Adversaries and the Words of your Judges do demonstrate no less that it 's not for any Evil at such a Meeting then it must needs be for your good doing there and to worship God any where but where they would have you is reckoned Crime enough to banish you Oh have not they bewrayed themselves and will not this enter into other Hearts not yet concerned to consider O surely yea and the Devil and his persecuting Enemies shall loose by it and the Truth shall be a Gainer Well Dearly Beloved you know even as the Gospel was preached to others before and as it came unto us and as we did receive it so it was declared unto you in all Simplicity and you have not been beguiled by it nor the Messengers of it of whom some are at Rest and fallen asleep and their Life and Spirit is with you and among you It hath been told you that all must be given up and all must be denyed and the Cross must be born and all must dye to the World before they could receive Christ or be made alive unto him and before the Enmity could be slain or the Peace witnessed which you have found true and happy are you that have believed and keep in the Faith And now beloved though our Adversaries think this is a loosing time and this is the Way to bring us and Truth in which we have believed into Disesteem I tell you the Truth in the Word of God unto you this is the Time of gaining unto many and shall be unto more and this is the Way the Lord hath suffered to come pass Persecution that your Faith and Hope may be tryed from Hypocrites and that it may be made known unto others that you possess something that others possess not that makes you willingly and cheerfully deny that which otherwise might be precious unto you if could be enjoyed in the Truth and them that have lifted up themselves against us may see and be convinced of their Weakness and that they overprized that which now in this Day stands in no stead and have undervalued that which is able to carry them that truly believe through all Difficulties and Distresses as it hath done you hitherto blessed be the Lord and will confirm you and establish you forever When they had crucified the Lord of Life they thought they had brought all to an End but then his Life Power and Glory was more and more manifest and Thousands more did believe and they thought to have stiffled all in Jerusalem and then it came to be preached to all Nations though they think to dam up the Way of Truth and stiffle it here and us I tell you nay the Fame thereof shall reach to the Ends of the Earth and the Sound thereof unto the VVorld's End and Salvation through it shall be known from Sea to Sea we have a glorious Effect thereof in our own Day as ever was in any Age and in so short a Time as I may truly say as the Prophet said The Lord hath wrought a Work upon the Wheels and hath done it through weak poor Instruments that his Arm and Power might only appear and that he alone might have the Glory and therefore be of believing Hearts and look not at the Blackness and Darkness of the present Time but before it and let none trouble you neither be ye troubled at the Words or VVritings of any evil Spies or discontented Minds for that would weaken some Papers I have seen of that Nature abroad which the Life of God judgeth And moreover if any come unto you with any new Doctrine try it in the Light your selves before you joyn to it or if any come with a Shew of Humility and tell you of another Appearance or in another Way then through the Light of the World and gather not to you but seek to make Dissension and Discord and to beget a Dislike in you either of the Truth or Persons of any who have believed receive not that into your Hearts Moreover you know how many have doted about needless Disputes and have busied Friends Minds about Trifles and have begot a Heat in them and have been hurried up and down in the Wind a while and all hath erâed in nothing Moreover if any come and tell you that they who have preached the Word of Truth among you would reign over you and usurp Authority over you and seek Dominion mark for such are unsubjected Spirits for I know the Lord bears Record and be you also Record that they which have laboured among you have not preached themselves But Christ and have not sought yours but you and the Good of all your Souls I have heard such Murmuring sometimes of the Sons of Corah against some who were faithful Men who are fallen asleep and against some living who so have done their End hath not been good But I can say unto you with a clear Conscience and of them who are deceased and them that are living as Gideon said to the Men of Ephraim when they said he should reign over them he answered and said The Lord shall reign over you even I speak of all the ancient Brethren who have laboured and suffered in the Work of the Lord until now I know they only sought that the Lord might reign in
to discern the same lest they decree and uphold that which in this Case they ought not to wit Tythes lest the Lord be angry for their so doing it being so repugnant to the Testimony of Truth And so let every honest Reader weigh and diligently and seriously consider whether he ought to uphold Truth or Error Light or Darkness I assume he will say that he ought to uphold and maintain the Truth and to stand by it and for it then let me ask him a Sober Question in the Sobriety and Calmness of Spirit and I desire that in the Coolness of the Day he may answer it according to the Witness of his Conscience my Question is this whether he doth not believe after that he hath had a serious View of this Piece that he meets with such valid Arguments such Clearness of Demonstration as may or doth convince him that the Imposition of Tythes now in Gospel-dayes is absolutely out of the Doctrine of Truth and ought not so to be and if so convinced whether he ought not to side and adjoyn with that of God in his Conscience in a Testimony of this Nature and so partake with Truth which is a duty ought to be and is incumbent upon every Christian Man's Heart which is the desire of him who is a Well-willer to Sion's Prosperity E. G. THE Great Case OF TYTHES AND Forced Maintenance ONCE MORE REVIVED SInce the Seat of Anti-christ hath been set and his Throne Exalted so high as it now is and he himself exalting himself above all that is called God and not only so but he hath laboured to make void the Laws and Commands of the Lord and his Christ concerning his Church and likewise to set up his own Institutions and Commandments which are repugnant and eontrary to the commands of Christ and the Practice and Example of the Apostles and Holy Martyrs of old who laid down their Lives for the Testimony of that Doctrine and Faith which they had received of the Lord Jesus Christ the Saviour of Man-kind and knowing the Practice and the examples of Christ and his Apostles and holy Witnesses they continued in their Doctrine to hold forth still the same in Purity and to keep it unviolated even to their Death that they might shew themselves forth to be followers of their Master Christ Jesus and to abide in his Doctrine and walk according to the Primitive Example notwithstanding all the Opposition and contradiction of Anti-christ and his Followers which hath been great through many Ages since the Nations have drank and the Kings of the Earth of the Wine of the Whore's Fornication and the way that Anti-christ and the false Church have had to exalt themselves hath been by Policy Craft and Deceit in perswading the Nations that that which was once given and offered freely unto the Lord for his Works sake is now made of necessity and claimed as Divine right to them and their Ministers notwithstanding both the Doctrine the Worship and Practice be altogether inconsistent with the Primitive times truly so called But seeing the Ministry of the false Church who abode not in the Doctrine of Christ but hath violated it and now hath turned against the Saints the Ministers and Seed of the free Woman hath not had Power by vertue of their Doctrine to work upon the Hearts and consciences of People so as to open them and make them freely willing to minister earthly things to their Ministers because indeed most People in the Nations ãâã not perswaded that they have ministred Spiritual things And therefore the false Church hath perswaded the Powers of the Earth who have drunken of her Cup that is their duty to force and compel all to give ãâã her and her Ministers as of divine right whether People be perswaded ãâã no that they are sent of God and make the Scripture a Clââk to cover their force or Injunctions and produceth the Example of the ãâã Christians for a cover though they do nothing at all of the Work of the Apostles or Ministers of Christ in converting of Souls but rather Ministring their own Inventions and vain Traditions of men instead of the true Ordinance of Christ yet however Maintenance they must and will have though they do none of Christ's Work and are so Imperious and Arrogant as to reckon Tythes the tenth part of the encrease of the Earth whatsoever and of every man's labour and Merchandize yet this they would perswade all People is by divine right and a Gospel-institution And this hath been received by many in our last Generation whose minds have been darkned with the cloud of Ignorance for a Truth and for any to withstand or deny it hath been counted Error and Heresie no less then a curse from Mystery Babylon did come upon all such as did Gain-say also some with loss of lives as Hereticks upon this account and in this last Age many Imprisoned for divers years even until Death and many have suffered great Spoiling of their Goods ten or twenty Fold more then that which they pretended due and yet all this People must believe is Gospel institution and divine right The consideration of which thing hath been an inducement unto my Heart of late to make a true and a narrow search of the Lawfulness or unlawfulness of this particular thing not only enquiring the true State of Tythes amongst the Jews but also in the Primitive time and amongst the ancient Fathers of the Church whose Doctrine hath been approved among the most faithful Members of the Church of Christ downward untilâ this last Age. First of all to speak of the tenths which were given before the Commandment was given forth to the Jews Abraham in his return from redeeming his Nephew Lot after the Pursuit of Chedâlaoâer the King of Elam with the rest of the Kings âoyned with him having recovered his Nephew Lot with all his substance and all the substance of Sodom Gomorrah was met by Melchizedeck King of Salem and Priest of the most high God who blessed Abraham and brought forth Bread and Wine and gave unto ãâã and to the rest who were with him unto whom Abraham gave the Tythes of all the Spoil that he had taken from the aforesaid Chedorlaomer and the rest of the Kings Chryââstome understands the Text only to âe of the Spoils whereof Abraham made Melchizedeck a partaker by giving him the first fruâts of his Martial performance And Jerom often stiling it Decimas spoliorum praââ and Victoria that is the tenth of the Spoil of the prey and of the Victorâ And this is made one of the main basis or Ground for probation of Tythes due before the Law which is but only a free gift of Abraham to Melchizedeck of the Spoil he had taken and that but once that we read of take notice of that not of his Familys Labours or industries but of the spoil of what he had taken And it is very clear that it was a
Man and all Men and every Church is fallible and subject to Error and with these and the like Words R.E. was extreamly troubled as he saith and knew not how to answer without shuffing Answ. The true Christian Religion stands not only in Name nor in Words nor in conforming or Transforming to this or that outward Practice which the Disciples of Christ were exercised in which divers in the latter days in their old corrupt minds not having their Hearts renewed have taken on the outside and have got the Form and want the Life and the Power and are not partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ and such a bare Profession as this has no certainty nor infallibility in it neither the assurance but that they may be mistaken and may be subject to Err as well as Turks or Jews or any other but the true Christians Religion indeed whom Christ will own as true Worshippers of him stands in Power in Life and in being obedient unto his living commands and precepts which he giveth forth unto his Disciples and manifesteth by his Spirit his Sheep hear his Voice and know it from the Voice of a stranger And he giveth the Knowledge of his will to all that believe in the measure of his eternal Spirit which he hath given every one a Measure of to profit withal and by it to be guided into all Truth out of all Error and this Spirit is infallible and gives certain assurance to all that receive it that they are in that way which is acceptable to God and they feel Comfort unto their Souls coming daily from the presence of Christ who is the Rock of Ages and the sure Foundation upon which his holy Church is founded which is the Pillar and Ground of Truth and they that are living Members are not Grounded upon a fallible certainty or upon a conâectural supposition or a vain hope which is without bottom but upon that which is sure and stedfast lasting everlasting and all men in the unregenerate Estate are Lyars but they that are Born from above are of the Truth and Lye not and are not subject to mistakes because the Seed remains in them and walk in the pure Religion which keeps unspoted of the World and they that have no other Ground for their Religion but only without them and from the report of others are short of the true Foundation for that may be Truth in it self indeed which is not true to another nor he truly partakes of it and here is all the supposing conjectures and mistakes and fallible certainties which it seems R. E. and his lay Gentlemen too when the Axe is laid to the Root of the Tree indeed and notwithstanding all the laying claim to infallibility and certainty its but grounded upon a report without and the Traditions of men from Generation to Generation For them that believe but only because of the true report without and cometh not to Witness the thing assured in their own Hearts by the Spirit of the Lord these will not be long of that Faith 't is true many did believe because of the Apostles âeclaration and report but at last came to feel the Witness of God in their own Hearts testifying the same in somuch that they could say and truly too though we have believed through your Words at the first yet now we have heard him our selves that which giveth perfect assurance which admits of no doubts nor fallibleness for such evidence all true Members of Christ's Church have in themselves which carries divine Authority and satisfaction in it to every particular Believer and so I say with P. E. in this it seems unreasonable to perswade any to receive this or that for a Truth when they that so perswade are uncertain in themselves neither dare say their Judgment is infallible which is that old Protestant Principle indeed and also the Principle of many Sects who differ from the pretended Catholick Church of Rome who Persecuted one another about outward things even as the Heathen about their Idols and yet will needs sit as Judge in Mens Consciences with their fallible Spirit though I speak not of every individual Person neither can I justifie the Roman Catholick Church so called who lays claim to infallibility and whatsoever they Judge to be Heresie must be reckoned as such though never so manfiest a Truth and to place infallibility in men that may Err and have erred from the Spirit I like not neither for this is to give that to men that belongs to God and to make the Judgment of fallible men above the Judgment of the infâllible Spirit of God and this I look to be great Ambition and Pride in any to lay claim to the greatest things as infallibility and certainty of assurance and the most free of Error and yet fall the shortest of it of any as hath been made appear by many Learned and Grave Men of former Ages and also if a necessity were might be made appear that the Church of Rome who saith she cannot err have been as uncertain both in their Doctrine and Worship as any yea more one Pope contradicting and throwing down that which another did establish and one Council Decreeing and another disanulling as I could easily make appear but that I would not be Tedious to the Reader in things that have been so manifest neither do I desire to wade out into diversity of matters in so short a Discourse But that which R. E. and his Catholick instructer calleth late wild and loosâ Opinions that men of different Faiths may be saved and this countenanceth schism and breeds Rebellion as it is said 't is true Faith is but one which is saving and there is no difference in that for the difference is among Men where that is wanting and only have words and Name of Faith and want the Life and Power Neither am I so narrow Spirited as R. E. and his Catholick as to exclude all out of the Faith who may differ in their perswasions in some Circumstantial things if yet they hold Christ the Head and what makes R. E. so virilent as to judge all in Errour and to be out of the true Faith seeing the Protestants and all sorts of separates profess Justification and Salvation only through Faith in Christ Jesus as well as the Church of Rome and it were unreasonably judged in me if I should conclude a man to be no man because he is not so tall as another but I see R E. and his Catholick would have all Shoes made by their Last though they will not fit every mans Feet Faith is the gift of God there are divers Decrees and measures accoding to the mind and good pleasure of the giver so that he that hath received any measure or degree must not be excluded as having no Faith though he attain not to that degree that some do enjoy and the Apostle's Doctrine was That ãâã one should be perswaded in his own mind and if
any were otherwise minded they were to be let alone till God revealed it to them And whatsoever People or Church though they claim infallibility that teach a contrary Dâctrine unto this we have good Reason to suâpeââ it to be that hasty dââving and overdriving Spirit that would force a Faith ãâã God hâth not given it not to be the infallible Spirit of ãâ¦ã the Church of Rome hath given a vehement ãâ¦ã and Tortures they have exercised towards them who ãâ¦ã their Principles and own their Judgment in all things Bât ãâ¦ã Gentleman blinded thy Eye ãâã he made thee ãâ¦ã question ãâã truth of Scripture and âhat it proceeâed from the iâfall his Testimony of God's Spârât and if thou hadst a certain feeling of the same in thy ãâ¦ã Conscience to let this go and mâke this void as an iââuffâcient Ground to receive Christianity upon and to lean to a Prop without thee and to âe judged by men who have been as fallible and changeable in their Judgments as the Moon which have assumed the Name of Catholick Church whose Testimony thy Instrucâer I perceivâ told thee ought to be received concerning what was pretended to be revealed or not revealed by God yet all must be obliged to stand to their Judgment though never so repugnant to the Doctrine of Christ and Practice of the Church of Christ in the first Primitive times truly so called yet it is granted that the Church of Christ are the dispersed Members through the World though not of it agreeing in one Faith being in the Power of God and being led and guided by the Holy Ghost their Judgments ought to be received which cannot as lead by the Spirit fail in giving true Judgment in matters of Faith which pertains to Salvation but as men they may fail and as erring from the Spirit they may fail and infallibility is not intailed to the Persons of any men but as they continue in the Grace of God and walk in the Spirit and bring forth the Fruits thereof nor to any place or City but as they continue in Covenant with God for the Promise of God was to Jerusalem and Mount Zion and to many other places and People in divers Cities where the Glory of God once appeared but now through their Apostacy and unbelief and disobâdience they are desâlate as to the presence and Power of God and their Sun is set and they are covered as with the Shadow of a Cloud but this true Church whereof I have spoken was seen to Fly into the Wilderness for time times and half and that since the Apostles dayes and then was she not so Visible and Universal as she had been before the Man-child was caught up unto God now if thou reckonst the Roman Church to be this true Church shew the time times and half a time wherein she fled into the Wilderness and how long she hath been there and when was the time of her return and if ever she was there how that will hang together with yâur assertion that she hath been visiâle and so Universal these fifteen hundred Years and if this could be proved that Rome hath been so whether doth it not rather demostrate her to be the Whore that sate upon the many Waters which Waters are Nations Kindreds Tongues and People and what Church instance if thou can doth lay claim to the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People to be your and to Rule over so many Kings of the Earth as you lay claim to be Universally of your Faith and of your Church which gives us a shrewd Character to believe that indeed you are Mystery Babylon besides the Blood of the Saints hath been shed under the Name of Hereticks by thââ vâsible Catholick Church among the Nations this twelve hundred Years doth give clear evidence that it can be reckoned or imputed unto none but you But I would not Grate too hard upon thee being but a new Convert but when thy instructer had made thee doubt of thy won state and questioned the Foundation whereupon thou hadst received Christianity the next thing he labours to make void is the Spirit of God its Testimony which thou didst lay claim to but I feel had little Portion in what thou saidst at last he makes thee doubt of the infallibility of this Spirit which thou hadst spoken on might for ought thou knew be the Spirit of Error and thou not able to distinguish betwixt the Spirit of God in thy self which is infallible and the Spirit of error nor to distinguish betwixt their Operations he perswaded thee that all was uncertain and therefore no confidence to be given to any Spirit of Faith in ones own particular which is the most absurd and ridiculous thing in the World so to judge For if there be no certainty or assurance given to any man or means to every man wherein he may be assured of the certainty of God's will then whither should any go or upon whom should any lean seeing that no credit can be given to any thing that any man believes and this were but tossing up and down Men from Mountain to Hill that they might never have Rest for their Souls And as for Jer. 17. and Eccles. 9. Rev. 3. The Heart of man is deceitful c. No man knows love or hatred And because thou sayest I am Richand increased with Goods and have need of nothing c. These Scriptures were brought unto thee to make thee more Blind the first is spoken of the Degenerate estate where deceit bears Rule and not Truth the second is spoken of visible enjoyments which are common to all and the third was spoken to one who had erred from the Spirit and was exalted in Pride because of external performances but having lost the Power was miserable c. But what of all this doth this any whit at all detract from the certainty assurance of the Spirit of God in them that have it what shall we Reason thus because some have been led aside and are deceived by their own Hearts Lusts that therefore all may be deceived even them that have the Spirit of God God forbid and we have some-what more to Answer an Arian a Jew or a Turk if they should urge the like knowledge and feeling with the like confidence to prove they were in the Truth and Christianity a delusion and thy intructer said what would you reply to them We have more to reply in such Cases then time will permit now or the state of the Case require seeing it is but a supposition and we take no thought what to answer the Gain-sayers of Truth withall but rely upon the Promise of the Father and of his Son Jesus Christ who said to his Disciples take no thought for it shall be given you what to answer in that day which Promise all that are true Disciples shall find true to the end of the World but some-what more we have to say it may be then thou said when thou
suffered thy self to be made blind and carried Captive with another Man's Judgment neglected the measure of God's Spirit in thy self at home through which alone the secret things of God are Revealed in which true certainty and infallibility is Witnessed and not in Men who are fallible and changeable If an Arian Jew or Turk should urge their own interpertation of Scriptures which is of no private interpretation contrary to the mind of him that gave it forth I would say he perverted the Words of the Scripture which ãâã in Harmony Unity one with another as to the states and conditions they were spâken to and are plain and are only read by that Spirit that gave them forth except it be in some Historical or Chronology or Genealogy of Names and Generâtions which might be some gathered from anothers Hands and different hands taking notice of them as to Record them there might be some variation yet the substance of the report is true but what is Calculation of Years or Dayes or reckoning up of Genealogies as to the matter of Salvation and what if we had never had them no more then we have other Histories and things that fell out among the Jews but if there be any contradiction for ought I know we may blame the Church of Rome the most of any who will needs affirm they received all or most of the things from the Apostles and if the Translations differ or be some-what uncertain what have they been doing this fifteen hundred Years with their infallible Spirit that they could not have rectified them according to their first Original and if any the foresaid Sects should pretend the certainty of the Spirit and yet not have it I should answer the Spirit is known by its Fruits and the Fruits of the Spirit are manifest and they that pretend to it and bring forth contrary Fruits are manifest to be Deceivers and deceived but their States are different and therefore require different Answers which time will not now permit to insist upon but over and beside all other Arguments perswade any man to or from any thing the witness of God in the party unto whom he speaketh is to be reached and that is beyond the understanding of Man and greater then it and more convincing then any Arguments that can be used without and he that cannot speak to this is not skilful in the Word of Righteousness That Christ was an infallible Guide who is the way the Truth and the Life is granted by all Christians and that the Apostles received the Promise of the Father and the infallible Spirit of God which led them into all Truth and this infallible assurance the Christians had that lived in the Apostles time thuâ iâ granted and the Apostles were infallible Guides not as Men meerly but as Men full of the Holy Ghost as Men who were filled with the Spirit of God and therefore the Apostle said be Followers of us as we are Fâllowers of Christ and if any controversie did arise as some there did and doubts among the then Christians the Apostles and Elders meeting together in the Power of the Holy Ghost did write their minds and Letters to the Christians to pacifie all and good Reason that they that had believed through their Word should Suâmiâ unto the Holy Ghost and unto them by whom they were begotten unto God by the word of Life for the ending of strife about Words and Shadows and outward things and they whose minds were outward then in Ages since and now ran into contention about outward things and such for the most part do Err from the Spirit of God in themselves But I would have thee to take notice of this and all you Catholick Members so called The Apostles of Christ only did exhort and did not force their Decrees by Penal Statutes and to be observed under the penalty of loosing Life and Limbs as since their pretended Successors have done who have Erred from the Spirit and have goâ the Saints Words and turned against the Life and Power but the Decrees as you call them are not many nor burdensome which the Apostles wrote at Jerusalem as the many Counsels since have made they are so endless and numberless and burdensome and so contradictory one to another in divers things who will but look into the Decrees of the Counsels since the Apostles dayes that we can find little certainty in any of their Decrees but rather as thy Instructer saith the Sword of the Flesh and not the Spirit hath been the Rule and Law to Christianity but the Masters of great wit and Power and Interest have framed and made parties unto themselves and have Wars been raised among your selves about deciding your Controversies hath not the Pope Warred against the Emperour and the Emperour against the Pope were noâ Wars raised about the Decrees when Pope Eugenius was deposed as a Heretick by the Council of Bazell and one while the Pope must be infallible as Peter's Successor and above all Councils and Churches another while the Council is above the Pope Excommunicates him as a Heretick and excludes his Infallibility and now where is the certainty and whether should one go or appeal for true Judgment so though the Church of Rome boast of Unity yet how hath one Nation made War against another and yet Professing the same Faith at divers times and in sundry Ages And to tell thee plainly and to speak the naked Truth according to the Apostles Prophecy after their Departure there was a great Apostacy and a great Falling away from the Faith and a giving heed to Lying Seducing Spirits and Doctrines of Devils and many were suhverted from the Faith by them that spake Lyes in Hypocrisie and took up the Priests Office for filthy Lucre and they went out into the World and the World wondred after them and they had the Form and the Sheeps Cloathing and the Saints Words but were Enemies to the Cross of Christ and to the Power of Godliness and the Kings of the Earth were bewitched with her Sorceries and then forced all and compelled all to receive and believe such Decrees and such Articles as were then set forth by a Pack of those Hirelings who minded their own Profit and their own Bellies who mingled their own Inventions and Traditions with the Doctrine of Christ and brought the Scripture for a Cloak and the Apostles Practice for a President and could âay falsly as the Apostles said in Truth It seems good to us and the holy Ghost that these our Decrees be observed for God hath placed us as Judges and directors as them that are appointed of God himself to which all Christians are to submit and none to question and if any do question and will not obey it is the Kings and Princes Duty in all Countries to cause all to submit to these our Decrees and Orders or else to be punished as Hereticks with Death for we are the Apostles Successors and
we are the Elders of the Church and we have the infallible Spirit and though we make Decrees contrary to what the Apostles made in their Day yet none are to question that the Church was but in its Infancy then as unwasht and unswadled and in Persecution but now she is grown up to a greater Statuâe and Power and endowed with greater Priviledge and that may be necessary now that was not necessary then and last of all called themselves the Clerây which signifies the Heritage of God and so excluded all others but themselves And these things are true and certain and have been made good by many Sufferers for Christ and this kind of Clergy or Heritage made the Heritage of God indeed to fly into the Wilderness who had the infallible Spirit and the Witnesses to prophesie in Sack-cloth and then Mystery-Babylon began to sit as a Queen and to gild her Cup and to fill it full of Abomination and brought in Judaism and the Practice of the Apostles and their own Inventions and patched up an Endless kind of Worship and Service consisting of out-side things in a great Part in Postures and Gestures and Meats and Drinks and Days and times and Vestures and Bonnets and Caps and Coules and such other like Trumpery which they made the Nations drunk with and greedy after and if any scrupled at any of those things or any other the Holy Catholick Church hath decreed it and she cannot err for she is infallible though the Errors thereof cannot be numbred And this R. E. thou rests satisfied in as thy only Rule and Judge and Director and thou hangs all thy Faith herein and sayest Thou shalt not scruple to believe what Authority teacheth thee to be revealed by God no more then if thou heardst God himself speaking I say unto thee as the Apostle said The Serpent hath beguiled thee as it beguiled Eve and further say as the Prophet said Thou must arise and get thee hence for this is not the Rest for thou wilt see thy self plunged into such a Labyrinth of Uncertainties as thou never wast before if the Lord ever open thine Eye And R. E. gives an Account that after his reading of some controvertal Books hath made some Collections as to himself and also declares That all dissenting Judgements grant there must be a Way and a Rule appointed to teach us to deside all Doubts to judge of all Matters and to teach us the true Way to Heaven with Certainty but who this Rule or Judge is is not agreed upon by all which he hath collected into four Heads First Some set up the Spirit to direct them and to be this Means Secondly Another will have every Man 's own Natural Reason to be this Rule and Judge Thirdly Others will set up sole Scripture And the fourth assigns the Holy Catholick Church to be that Judge and Director Other then these he saith he never heard of any for he saith he alwayes esteemed the Quakers Light to be either the Spirit or Natural Reason but which R. E. doth not know and all the four before-mentioned he saith he hath examined and treateth largely upon them all wherein he goeth about and giveth Grounds and divers Reasons and divers Interpretations of Scriptures he layes waste all the former three and establisheth as he thinks the fourth as to be that Way and Rule and Judge and governing Power to decide all Doubts as that whereby all are oblieged to submit unto as to Christ himself and this was that Question which he was to gain Satisfaction in and therefore he saith He ceaâed âo enquire of their Doctrine or this or that Article of Faith and hang altogether upon this Point before-mentioned Answ. 'T is true it is granted by all that there must be a Way and a Rule as the Means appointed of God to answer all Doubts and to give Satisfaction to every Man of the Certainty of that which he believes and who this Way and Judge and Rule is every one ought to be satisfied and the four Heads into which thou hast collected the whole Controversie of all dissenting Judgments in Christianity take up the whole as to this Particular which have ordinarily been holden forth among Christians But I judge thou deal'st not wisely in thy Inquisition and Search for Satisfaction to hang all on this Pin but rather to have examined further as concerning Matters of Doctrine and Matters of Faith held forth most especially of this Party to whom thou wast so much inclined and see how thou could'st have swallowed down that Doctrine of Purgatory and Sacrifice for the Dead and Justification by a Man 's own Works and of Bread and Wine after the Words of Consecration by the Priest is transubstantiated into the very Body and Blood of Christ and becomes whole God their Saviour and Redeemer for these are principal things either greatly necessary to Salvation or greatly unnecessary and when thou had'st tryed and found these to be so repugnant unto the Doctrine and Faith once delivered among the Saints in the first Plantation of the Gospel this might have put a Stop unto thee that thou could'st not so easily close with their Judgment and pretended Infallibility who pretend to be only Guides and yet lead into the greatest Errors in Matters of greatest Moment But as to the four Particulars mentioned I shall not stand to trouble either my self or the Reader as to speak much what of that which is no Part of my Faith or Judgment but only to vindicate the Truth against the many false Conceptions of changeable Men And first of all R. E. begins to treat of the Spirit and perverts the Scripture at his first Onset and saith As touching the Spirit âearing Witness in secret with our Spirits or he saith in plain Terms the priâate Spirit this saith R. E. I considered could not be the Means to convey Faith unto the World nor the Rule Judge or Guide which I enquired after nor indeed the true Spirit of God which he promised to be Apostles Secondly Those who pretend this Guidance do not believe Godâ but themselves only and their own Perswasions which tell them they have the Spirit of God but they can give no other Account but that they are verily perswaded so or no other Answer but I am sure it is the Spirit of God and I am a good Man and an honest Man and I believe my self but âther Reasons or Evidence can they give none Thirdly This pretending of a private Spirit is against 2 Pet. 1.20 That no Prophecy of Scripture is of private Interpretation Answ. This Man beats altogether beside the Anvil whatever the Matter is but that he is blinded and confounded in himself he sets but up a Shadow and then fights with it for instead of proving the Spirit of God not to be a competent Rule Judge and Guide and Instructor in all Matters of Faith necessary to Salvation he goes about to prove a private Spirit a pretended
Spirit a Spirit of Error is not a sufficient Guide and Judge and in this he fights without an Adversary and fills the World with Noise and Darkness and the Air with Smoak and would cloud Peoples Understandings with Multitudes of Words that tend not to Edification with a quarreling wrangling Spirit which is not for Peace but I see he hath delighted in Contention and sported himself in Variance and like the Son of the Bond-Woman his Hand against every Man Secondly â wonder why R. E. quotâs so much Scripture for the Proof of his Matter in Hand seeing that it is one of his great Pleas that it is insufficient to be a Rule or a Guide or a Judge as to answer any Doubts or give any satisfactory Solution to him that is enquiring and seeing he hath given in so many Reasons against it as insufficient and as much as in him lay to invalidate and set it at nought and hath laboured to set it at Odds and to make Contradictions in it as to render it insufficient for Matter of Probation in any thing which is in Controversie or how he can judge that others should receive them and his sometimes false rendering of them or his own Interpretations upon them seeing he denyes them as uncertain as they are translated and insufficient and not fit to be a Rule and who this man hath conversed with I know not that should ever affirm a private Spirit or their own Spirits to be a sufficient Rule or Guide to walk by such I deny and leave them and thee to quarrel together about your Imaginations Thoughts and Conceptions or else the Conceptions of other Men who are as uncertain and fallible as the first and shall assert the Sufficiency of the Spirit of God teaching ruling guiding and judging all true Christian Men in that certain everlasting infallible Truth which is necessary and satisfactory to the Souls of all them that do believe in it and shall deny all the Pretenders to it who run into Heaps and Heads and quarrel and fight one with another about Shadows and can give no other Account or Manifestation then I am sure I have the Spirit of God and I ought to be believed and I am a good Man and the like which thou say'st thou could'st never receive any other Evidence or Testimony and what though many have pretended to the Spirit and the Guidance thereof and in the mean while have brought forth the Fruits of the Flesh and their own imaginary false Conceptions and have put on Confidence enough to say so as thou thy self it may be hast had a Share in times past shall this make the Spirit of God insufficient and uncertain in its Teachings to them that believe in it and have received and bring forth the Fruits of it and have the Deeds of the Flesh mortified by it God forbid Thirdly Why hast thou perverted the Scripture as I said at the first Onset Rom. 8.16 The Spirit it self bears Witness with our Spirits that we are the Children of God and this thou hast put in in a distinct Character to be taken Notice of as though it were Scripture and render'st it thus The Spirit being Witness in secret with our Spirits or in plainer Terms the private Spirit thou must repent of this and take Heed how thou callest the Spirit of God a private Spirit for it was that publick Spirit which manifested it self among all the Patriarchs and Prophets and by which they spoke forth the Words and Mind of God unto the People and prophesied of things to come and through it alone is the deep and weighty things of God revealed and was and is the only Way and Means by which Christ promised after his Ascension to lead guide instruct and comfort his Disciples in all Truth and that it should bring to their Memory whatsoever he had spoken and that they were to be without Care or Thought for through it the Father should give them what to speak and what to answer before Rulers and Council for his Name 's sake And here the Sufficiency of it is proved to any reâsonable Man who hath the least Savour or Discerning of the things âf God and this is that publick Spirit by which the Apostles published the Everlasting Gospel of Peace and which Christ the Head of the Body his Church had received without Measure and this is a private tââining creeping Spirit of thine who hath been lost in thy own Imaginations and following thy own forward rash Spirit and hast found no Certainty in thy self of God's Spirit to stay thy Mind upon nor no Patience to wait upon it but reaching ãâ¦ã at things in thy dark Mind and last of all hast brought in thy ãâã for the Devil against the Sufficiency of the holy Spirit of God ãâã Guidance amongst his People in the latter Dayes and that is thy fond Conception to say that the Spirit of God is expresly against 2 Pet. 1.20 which thou callest a private Spirit all along 't is true no Prophecy of Scripture is of private Interpretation but the holy men of God spoke it forth as they were moved by the holy Spirit which was publick and conversant among them with them and in them and they that have it can receive them as they are written and can read them and understand them as they were spoken and do see the Intent of the Holy Ghost in so speaking unto different States and Conditions notwithstanding the many Copies thou tellest on and Diversions and different Translations which thou would'st make a great Mountain on and raise it up so high to make the Scripture uncertain and low as not fit to be taken Notice on as to answer any Doubt or to be any Rule and Guide or any Example or President for any thing that I can perceive by the Courâe of thy Spirit which in the Truth is fathomed and comprehended though it is as uncertain as the Way of a Serpent upon a Rock yet they that have the Spirit of God see beyond all and have Unity with the Words and Mind of the Spirit of God notwithstanding the many Corruptions and Defects in Translations and the many foul Hands it hath passed through Fourthly The Spirit of Christ is the Gift of God which he giveth unto all that wait for his Appearance and his Sheep have it they that are Christ's have it for they that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his it is that which is every Way sufficient no Way insufficient it is every Way sufficient to lead into all Truth according unto Christ's Promise and to convince the VVorld of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment again it is that which Christ promised for a Director which was with them when they healed the sick and cast out Devils and which was in them to consolate them and comfort them in the midst of Affliction as it did Peter and John and made them bold who were yet illiterate Men and
the free Grace of God only extending it self to them under such a Qualification as though the Spirit of God and free and saving Grace of God had come by Generation or by Succession or because of such and such a Qualification or Conformity in outward practice as I said as though the free Grace of God and the infallible Spirit of God had been given to you and had been bequeathed and intailed to you or any of you under such and such a deââmination and because inhabiting at such a place and thus you would limit the holy One of Israel and to stop the Wind to blow where it lifteth and Circumscribe the Infallible means which God hath given unto all Mankind for a direction and a Guide a Rule and a Iudge and pinch it up into a narrow Corner and yet shut up all under Condemnation who do not believe and yet exclude all but your selves from the sufficient means and Guide and way whereby they may believe away away with this narrow partial pinching Spirit for God will not be limited neither can be either to Men time or place but as they keep in Covenant with him and keep their first love and integrity in the certain Truth revealed in the first publication of the Gospel which the Roman Church above all others hath wonderfully Apostatized from especially in this one thing which she can never clear her self of to wit Persecution in taking away the Lives of many under the name of Hereticks and suppose any had been so as doubtless there are such yeâ we never read that it was Christ or the Apostles way to kill them and destroy them but on the contrary denyed them and warned others so ãâã âhem and to have no Fellowship with them and so left them to the World neither that they Exhorted or stirred up either Kings of Princes to take away the Lives of any who did believe or not believe what they declared ãâã be Truth but on the contrary when the Disciples in the dayes of their ãâã would have commanded Fire to have come down from Heaven as did Elias Christ Rebuked them told them they knew not what Spirit they were of and again love you Enemies and do good to them that hate you How your Catholick Church hath kept this precept I leave all Nations to judge where your Power hath been known suppose real Schismaticks and Hereticks as some such there have been in the World how you have done good to them and how you have loved them is manifest except you judge that shutting them up in Prisons Racking Torturing and cruel Torments and at last of all Death was in love to them and in doing good to them which methinks any reasonable Man should blush and be ashamed to think or say But an old Plea comes to my mind which some of the Members of the Church of Rome have alledged to me in the dayes of my Youth when I was conversant with them and among them in a Friendly Neighbourly and sober discourse of things of this Nature before mentioned it was said unto me The Roman Catholick Church is that Church whereby Christianity hath been conveyed to all Nations and the great Oracles thereof delivered unto us and the Scriptures also came from us by which you know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God and the Knowledge thereof came unto all and all her Children ought to be subject unto her as the true Mother that brought them all forth and if any went astray either into Heresie or Schism which might not only hurt themselves but also others ought not the Mother in Natural love to her Children to correct them and ought not they to bear her correction and submit unto it and hath not she Power to correct her Children when they go astray unto which is Answered Christianity that which is truly such and them whom God will own to be Christians were dispersed through the Nations by the Power of God and we say that the Church of Rome hath begotten Christendom into that Mould and Frame into which they are now cast more by force and awe then any sound Doctrine and as for the Scriptures coming from her that we deny We know they came from the Apostles and from the Primitive Christians according to the will of God and have been preserved to this day though through many polluted hands they have come and we know how much your Rage was kindled that ever it should be Translated into the English Tongue and many felt the Effect of it to the loss of their Lives as I hope many in England do well consider But suppose a true Mother hath many Children and suppose some do Swarve and go astray from her precepts and under pretence of correcting of them she shut them up in Goals and nasty Holes and afflict them with sundry kind of Torments and at last of all kill them and destroy them what Judgment will be given by reasonable Men of such a Mother but this that she is become unnatural and Cruel and Hard hearted and degenerated from the Nature of a loving and tender Mother and deserves not to have or ever to have had any Children and such a kind of Mother hath you Church been to all that have dissented from her that I may say of her as the Prophet Jeremiah said especially in these lâtter Ages the Sea Monsters and Dragons of the Wilderness draw out their Breasts to feed their young Ones but the Daughter of my People is become Cruel Seventhly and lastly We know that God will that all Men should be saved and come to the Knowledge of Truth and hath given that and doth give that unto every man that is come into the World whereby every man that doth receive it is capable of fulfilling the will of God and this gift comes not by the will of Man nor is received in the will of Man but in its own will even in the will of the giver and this free gift of God ãâã the free and saving Grace of God which hath appeared unto all Men to wit every Man that is come into the World which teaches all the Saints would teach all Infidels to deny ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Godly and Righteously and soberly in this present Evil World Howbeit all are not so taught because they heed it not and because they receive it not and so they make the free gift of God of no effect as to Life to them but it is their condemnation yet however herein appears the equal ãâã and Universal love of God who is no respecter of Persons but ãâã distributed a measure of this unto all to the intent that they might ãâã Power âo fulfil his will and keep his Statutes and so the ãâã is not in God but in them who slight and despise his gift and so condâmnation ãâã of every one that doth not believe and is of himself and this reprehends that âalse Erronious narrow pinching Spirit which
would ãâã it up in a Corner and tye it to one sort of Men or Sect or Opinion and the Mâsters thereof would assume it to themselves as though the Spirit of God and Grace of God were only among them and must be conveyed from them to other People before they have it and the direction and Guide of every Man must be sought from their Mouths as though God had not given a measure of his Spirit unto every man to profit withal and to be led and taught and guided by it into all Truth out of Error according to Christ's promise and according to the Lord's Promise in the dayes of old that though his People might eat the Bread of adversity drink the Water of affliction yet their Teacher should not be removed into a Corner and from this quickning enlightening enliveâing Spirit of God the Saints of God and Ministers of Christ in the Primitive times received Power and Authority to propagate Righteousness and to judge deceit and the Mystery of Iniquity where-ever it appeared and in this their ability stood for they were made able and fit Ministers by it not of the Letter nor of Mens Traditions nor of foolish fopperies which have been introduced since and shuffled in among Christians under the Name of Power and Authority of the Holy Church and the Church of God that had received this Spirit walked in it and brought forth the Fruits fit whereby they were a good savour in the Nostrils of the Lord and by which they adorned the Gospel of our Lord Jesââ Christ by a holy Conversation which did manifest them to be of God and Convince and stop the Mouths of gain-sayers And thus we are bold to tell thee and all that the Spirit of God which is given a measure of it to every Man and more fulness of it to them that believe that it is the Rule and the way and means whereby all the Actions Words and Works of all Men are weighed tryed measured and judged and Objections Answered and is the alone Judge of all matters and answerer of all doubts and giveth only true and perfect satisfaction and therefore R. E. may blush and be ashamed to ever publish such a thing abroad in the World as to say That the Spirit of God is not a sufficient director Teacher and Judge but calls it a private Spirit Opinion humour and fancy to make the Eyes of them blind who wait for its appearance only to trust to Men who plead Antiquity and Power without verity And further he goes on and sayes in the 22 th page of his said Epistle There is neither Jew Turk Pagan or Christian but he may put on confidence enough affirming that he is taught by the Spirit of God ãâ¦ã this and yet teach contradictions and further saith that it hath no effect among them who pretend to it and that they can no more satisfie another that they are guided by the Spirit of Truth then many who are cast into Bedlâm Answ. 'T is true many are confident and impudent enough but confidence without Ground and impudent proves but little and he thât ââith he is a Jew and is not but of the Synagogue of Satan will soon be found out by his Doctrine and Fruits and he that saith he is a Christian and led by the Spirit and keeps not the commands of Christ neither brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit is soon discovered to be a Deceiver and deceived and such are like to teach contradictions but all such are denyed shut out with the Spirit of Truth but them that have the Spirit of God witness a blessed effect among them for they are turned from Satan's Power unto God and do witness Remission of Sin and Reconciliation with God and are not at difference but at Unity one with another and are brought out of the obstinate and perverse Estate which all pretenders are in and as for contradictions they are more to be seen in the Church of Rome then many wheres else they who are but pleased and have leisure to view over the Decrees and Constitutions of several Popes and Councils since he was elevated to be Universal Bishop over all Christian Churches by that Hâathen ãâ¦ã Emperour Phocas who slew his Master Maâritius to obtain ãâ¦ã did gratifie the Pope so far that he might be cryed up as Emperour as thââ he should be Universal Bishop and this proved a better pleâ for the Pope because the Emperour had Power to defend him and to compel all to receive his Decrees then that he was Peter's Succesâoâ I say who will but look into the Constitutions and Decrees shall find such setting of and throwing down and such decreeing and such disannulling as twenty ãâã Champions as Robert Everard will never be able to free his Catholick Church from contradictions although he is very forward to charge otheââ though he is but a new Convert but let him not boast till he haâh put off his Armour and it is thât mad Bedlem Spirit of thine that saith That among all the Nonconformists there is no one that can satisfie another that he hath the Spirit of God I tell thee yes there are thousands satisfied in one another that they have the Spirit of God besides he that hath it can speak to the witness of God in another which shall testifie the same and moreover their Works and Fruits shall and do manifest unto others that they are born of the Spirit because the Fruits of it are seen as they are manifest to be born of God and do the Works of God and thou must first know the Spirit of God in thy self if ever thou look for it there and not hang altogether upon others belief as thou dâst upon thy Catholick Church before thou canst know it in another and first be Convinced by it and judged by it for thy ill deeds and ill thoughts and Hypocrisie and timeâ serving and flattery and Men-pleasing before thou canst be Convinced of others Righteousness and also be Convinced of the unbelief of thy own Heart before thou canst believe others but thou hast been so busie abroad in quarrelling and contending about Words Names and empty shews without Substance and Life that thy mind is all over grown with Thorns and Bâiers scrawling and scratching and entangling thy self and others so that that which should Savour the things of God is over-grown in these and is buried and to them that are like Heaths in a desert know not when Good comes neither do know what they enjoy that dwell in the fat Valleis and the Pharisees had such unbelieving Hearts though Christ was the express Image of God and did the Works that never Man did yet being without Faith and without Reason they said he was a Blasphemer and all his Works were done by Bellzebub and would never be convinced that any thing he did was of God and that Spirit is near thee which would represent the Fruits of the Spirit to be delusion and
them that bring them forth like them in Bedlam and what though Turks Jews Pagans Mahomet and the false Christians do pretend to the Spirit and guidance by it and yet bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh doth this make the Spirit of God void or the certainty of it to them that believe or do make their Fruits of none effect God forbid thy Ignorance is manifest but here thou ceasest not thy Tongue being thy own and thou being at liberty and speakest thy own words which in the end shall become thy Burden Thou vapours and vants over them to wit all the Nonconformists and saist What can you say for your selves any of you which these Enthusiasts who have gone before you to maintain their Errours but the Rule and judge and then thou concludes That which God hath appointed to be rule and judge to all the World and capable of being known and heard by all and cannot contradict it self nor must be contradicted by any under pain of Damnation if you cannot shew it to have been your Rule you ought to lay aside your Folly as destructive to human Society and them that have pretended the Spirit the strongest party and Sword upon the vote will prove it self the most convincing Spirit and force the weaker Spirits to submit or cry for thou concludes the Nonconformists have no other Testimony to try your contradicting Spirits in matters of greatest moment but force and success if you have I pray you inform me what it is Answ. If the Wind had not turned into another door divers Non-conformists believe we should have had another Song from thee if time had but favoured thee so far as to have granted thee priviledge of thy Troop to be Captain which Name thou holds up yet in the pride of thy Heart though thou hast lost thy force success and Pay which was the greatest plea when time was with thee and not long since too which makest thee measure every Man's Foot by thy Last and thou might receive information before thou hadst made a Conclusion had been the part of a Wise man before thou hadst set thy self as Judge over all thy former Fellowships which thou fianedly pretends so great love to and before thou hadst discovered their nakedness if it be nakedness to all the World in such a publick insulting bravado as this like Goliah of Gath and as for whatsome Non-conformists both of the Church of Rome and to the Church of England to which thou creeping and sneakingly flatters and saist it 's established and therefore thou will not meddle thou might have said dare not for thy Spirit is well enough seen by them only to have the Spirit of a Slave and not a free Member of the true Church of God and it 's no part of a Vertue nor Honour for thee to insult and glory over them who are in suffering and Adversity whenas thou darest not meddle with them who are as contrary to thee as the former this is but the Spirit of a Coward and is ignoble and base and ever so to be accounted by all the Children of Light who dare put all to venture which they do enjoy on this side of Immortality and to suffer the loss of all visible things for their Testimony and the Truth which they believe and for bearing witness against that which is contrary unto their Faith as did the valiant Primitive Christians of old and that which some Non-conformists can say is more then thou canst believe although demonstrated in the evidence of the Spirit of God with sound reason and evident Example from the Scriptures of Truth and though thou and thy former fellowships then and thy new fellowships now have made this vapour which for ought I know might lay your Hands upon your Mouths all considering what contradictory Doctrines and Fruits have been brought forth since the Night of Apostacy entred in and all the World wondered after the Beast some have this to say He that pretends to the Spirit and the thing cometh not to pass that they speak or Prophesie let him be accounted a false Prophet again they that pretend guidance of the Spirit as some formerly have done and yet bring forth the Fruits of the Flesh as variance Hatred Emulation Strife Contention Heresie false Doctrine Persecution force and violence let them be counted as truly they are Deceivers and Delâders which have gone out into the World and deceived a great part of Mankind of which Rome hath not had the least share clear it when thou canst Morever he that pretends to have the Spirit of God and layes down another Foundation to build upon in matter of Faith in matter of Rule in matter of Judgment in matter of Doctrine then that which the Lord of Life and Glory hath laid down he is a Deceiver and an Anti-christ but R. E. hath laid down another Rule another way another Judge another Foundation for Faith and let himself make the Conclusion if he once dare joyn to true Judgment other Foundation can none lay then that which is âlready laid to wiâ Christ Jesus the Foundation of the Prophets and Apostles and of the Church of God by which they were all builded up as a holy Habitation for God to dwell in through the Spirit Again the Apostle saith All Judgment is committed to the Son both in Heaven and Earth and again he saith himself I am the Way the Truth and the Life and none can come to the Father but by me and again the Spirit of Truth shall lead and direct hââ Disciples into all Truth and sealeth unto them their Justification Redemption and Salvation And this R. E. would lay all waste and void and why because many have pretended to it and have fallen short therefore all the aforesaid things must be laid aside as uncertain and not to be trusted unto and a certain sort of Men called the Apostles Successors who have sought their gain and worldly Interest and to enlarge their Dominions and to make themselves Lords over mens Faith and over mens Consciences whatsoever they say though never so contradictory to the Primitive Doctrine delivered in Christ and the Apostles dayes yet all must be received upon pain of Damnation as R. E. saith and this he calls the Visible Church and the infallible Judge and Rule and Director and hath laid waste the Office of Christ and turned the Spirit out of doors and made it ineffectual and would perswade all others to look to this from the Foundation and so is a deceiver and an Anti-christ Again we have this to say he that teacheth a contrary Doctrine then that which was once delivered unto the Saints is a Deceiver and deceived and this was Christ's Doctrine once delivered unto the Saints Swear not at all and love your Enemies pray for them that Persecute you do good to them that hate you And many more precepts which this visible Guide to wit the Roman Church holds not but hath made void
Weapons they have the Spirit of Error for the Weapons of the Lamb and his Followers are not carnal Weapons but spiritual and yet mighty through God to the beating down of the strong Holds of Wickedness and to prevail over the Powers of Darkness again the Testimony of God in every Man's Conscience which is an unerring Testimony this savours the things of God and by this things that be not of God are discerned and this will put a perfect Difference between the Spirit of Truth and the Spirit of Error but what can be said to a man in Unbelief that hath closed his Eyes The next thing which R. E. saith he considered was That the Natural Reason of every Man could not possibly be the Rule and Judge that I sought for for saith he if Reason were to be Rule and Judge then it would follow contrary to Scripture that it 's not impossible to please God without Faith and it would likewise follow that every Religion would be Truth consequently Contradictions would be true consequently there would be many Religions and no Faith at all for Reason excludes Faith as in the 26th Page of his Book Thy Tongue is thy own and thou art at Liberty and goest whether thou wilt and speakest what seems Good in thy own Eyes and hast never yet known another to gird thee and lead thee whither thou would'st not I stand not to vindicate every Man's Judgment neither to prove other Mens Conceptions but seeing thou hast taken in Hand to lay all Mountains waste before thee that stand in thy Wayes thou hast raised up some in thy Discourse for others to stumble at and hast spoken many false things without distinguishing and putting a Difference between Light and Darkness between Natural Reason and Spiritual Reason I could not chuse but say somewhat Although it is no Part of my Belief that the Natural Reason of any Man or every Man is able to be Rule Judge and Guide to any Man in the things of God yet Faith is not in Opposition unto pure Reason neither is pure and spiritual Reason in Opposition to true Faith but in Harmony with it and one with another as they are the Gifts of God but the Natural Reason of all the fallen Sons of Adam is corrupted and is too short and too narrow too cross and too perverse to be Rule and Judge in the things of God for the Natural Man by all his Endowments in the Transgression perceives not the things of God for they are spiritually discerned and the things of God that are spiritual and eternal are above the Reach of Natural Reason and yet thy Consequence is false for Faith doth not exclude pure Reason and Faith doth not make blind the Understanding but enlightens it and though it is impossible to please God without Faith yet it is impossible that that Faith should be without Reason the Apostle desired to be delivered from unreasonable men that had not Faith so it is manifest they that have Faith have Reason and they that have no Faith are unreasonable and where thou hast borrowed this Rule I know not That a man must believe that he doth not understand seeing the Apostle saith to the Romans even of the Gentiles who had not the Law nor the Scripture that that which may be known of God was manifest in them for by that it is manifest they understood the Mind of God and knew him for Paul saith further When they knew God they glorified him not as God but were unthankful c. and again He that believes must know that God is for none can believe in that which is not for to perswade any to believe in Uncertainties which are not manifest in the Understanding doth rather beget Unbelief and Doubting then true Faith but thy Paths are so full of Darkness I shall not traduce them and thy Consequences are false for pure Reason teacheth not Contradictions neither doth teach that there is no Faith at all neither is Faith excluded by pure Reason as thou ignorantly say'st in the 26th Page and is it not Reason that I should believe in him whom I know is the Creator and Governour of all the World and pure Religion is so far from excluding Faith that they that have true Faith have Reason and stand not in Opposition to Faith but this I conclude that the Reason of fallen men is corrupted and is an uncertain thing to rely upon and so not a competent Judge in Matters of so high Concernment as touching everlasting Salvation The third thing which thou treatest upon is against them who have pleaded that the sole Scriptures are sufficient of themselves to teach true Faith from time to time to direct rule and govern us and to be Rule and Judge and to supply the Place of Christ and the Apostles As I said it is not my Intention to vindicate other mens Quarrels which is no Part of my Faith notwithstanding I should be sorry but that every thing had its true Weight and Measure and shall not in the least detract from the Price Value and true Worth of the Words of Truth to wit the Scriptures of Truth which were spoken forth by the Spirit of Truth and by the holy Ghost as it gave Utterance but as men erring in their Judgments run sometimes to the right Hand and sometimes to the left Hand and walk not in a straightâPath some men are setting them up above that which they were intended for and placing them in the Stead of God Christ and the Spirit and others are too much debasing them and dis-esteeming them as that they would set up the Judgment of Variable and Changeable Men who hold and teach Things in Contradiction to the Scriptures and repugnant to the Mind of the Spirit in them that spoke them forth But first of all I say not against thee in this thing that the sole or whole Scriptures are not sufficient of themselves to teach true Faith and give the Knowledge of God without the Spirit for many have got the Words and yet have not received the Spirit nor the Power which the Scriptures declare of such wrangle and contend with the Words and oppose the Life and the Power the Jews had the Scriptures and knew by them where Christ should be born and knew by them what his Works should be when he was manifest and yet rejected him unto whom all the Prophets bore witness from Moses to Samuel and from him to John and they were never intended by God as to be set up as Judge Guide to wit the Words without the Power and Spirit of God yet notwithstanding though I cannot set them up in the Place of God Christ and the holy Spirit nor contend ignorantly as some have done that they are the Author of True Faith and that they are the Eternal Word of God which the World was made by that they are the Light and the VVay the Truth and the Life and that they are the Decider
of them yet they said falsly Thus saith the Lord in their revolted Estate for they were erred from the Spirit and gone from the Seed and joyned to another Seed and their holy Flesh was departed from them though as Men they had the same Flesh still go learn what that means and yet notwithstanding all this the Promise of God was not violated neither unfulfilled on God's Part for the Promise was not then neither now is to Natural Generations or that which is born after the Flesh or to men as men and Creatures but as they are the Seed and as they are Men of God and as they are born again and new Creatures and if thou wilt have an intailing here it is intailed which cannot be cut off for the Covenant stands not to Men in such a Place that carries the Name of Office or Authority but as they are led by the Spirit the infallible Judge Rule or Guide as they walk by this and in this they cannot err and they erring from this they are subject to be deceived and to be mistaken in all things and every thing of which there are evident Examples in the Scriptures of Truth in divers Ages of them that professed themselves Members of the Church of God and so visible as R. E. speaks of yea and the greater Part too that have erred and their Pathes have been reckoned by the Lord as crooked and perverse and their Habitations full of Cruelty and this is given for an Instance the visible Church of the Jews did err and go aside notwithstanding all the Promises of God to them and as they looked that it still belonged to them because they were in visible Profession though they had turned their Backs upon the Lord and their Hearts too and violated his Covenant yet still as I said the Promise of God and the Covenant of God is not made of none Effect nor broken on God's Part but stands with the Seed forever who are circumcised in Heart and who worship God in Spirit and Truth and in Uprightness of Heart and hath no Confidence in the Flesh nor fleshly Priviledges nor external Performances but only trusts unto the Gift of Righteousness manifest in them by which Justification comes upon all that believe and the Fulness of the Blessing of the Gospel of Christ and the Fulness of the Promise of God but these things I know though they be Holy Faithful and True are a sealed Book and hid from all Eyes living in the Flesh who have not been baptized into the Death and Suffering of Christ. Fourthly That Christ by his own Mouth and the mouths of the Apostles did Promise that there should be a Church which the Gates of Hell should not prevail against and this Church was established upon the everlasting Foundation and the Rock of Ages and was endued with Power from on High and with a great measure of the Spirit of God according unto Christ's Promise which more plentifully was poured forth after Christs departure and after his Ascension and great Gifts were given unto them the Word of Knowledge the Word of Wisdom the Interpretation of Tongues and the gift of Tongues the Gift of Prophesie the gift of discerning Spirits healing the Sick working of Miracles c. and all these foresaid gifts were given for the Work of the Ministry for the perfecting of the Saints for the edifying of the Body of Christ till we all come into the Unity of the Faith and the knowledge of the Son of God and unto a perfect Man and to the measure and Stature of the fulness of Christ Ephes. 4.11 12 13. And all these were instrumental though the Spirit of God which was with them and in them the only means to bear witness unto those things that they had learned and believed and to publish the word of Faith abroad unto the World and for these aforesaid ends above-mentioned which though R. E. and his Catholicks will needs lay claim to the Succession by way of Office yet by their Doctrine deny in part the very end wherefore such gifts were given to wit the Doctrine of Purgatory for if they did perfect the Saints or were brought up to the knowledge of the Son of God and to perfect Men in Christ Jesus and to be without Sin what need had there been of raising up this damnable Doctrine out of the Pit to purge from Sin after they be dead seeing they were to be perfect Men while they were alive and the Ministry was given for this End but yours it seems cannot have these effects on this side of the Grave and therefore they perfect them in the grave and so be ministers in another World And this Church thus gathered and endued before-mentioned with the infallible Spirit of God if any that did sometime believe and were joyned unto it did walk disorderly as not becoming the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ they were to be admonished and Exhorted and if they persisted in their disorder it was to be told to the Church or the whole Body and if such a one would not hear the Church he was to be reckoned as a Publican or a Heathen and to be denyed as to have any Fellowship with him till manifest Repentance was shewn but we never read that this Church did shed any man's Blood or Burn any or give consent to Destroy any iâstance if thou canst though obstinate and Hereticâ too and in this amongst many other things the Spirit of your Church is seen to be contrary to the Primitive Church and you out of Christ's Doctrine but R. E. Argues further and saith but if Christ by his Spirit doth not preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching Error instead of Truth I may receive such Errors as may damn me unto which I say Christ by his Spirit doth preserve this Church from all possibility of teaching error if they continue in the Guidance thereof and Err not from the Spirit of Christ as some Churches did which were as truly Christian and might lay claim unto Christ's promise of preservation out of error as ever Rome could do and yet six of the Seven Churches of Asia were reproved by the Spirit of Christ some of them for holding gross Error and some for suffering it but where was the fault did not Christ perform his promise to his Church or to these and other particular Churches as Corinth and Galatia yes but there was an erring from the Spirit but all that R. E. goes about is to prove which he will never be able to do that Christ is bound by Promise to make it good to them that he hath once Promised unto though they perform nothing of their part in taking heed to his direction and thus would limit the Lord and let Men go free with obedience to his commands and he cites Mat. 28.20 how the promise of Christ was and lo I am alwayes with you even to the end of the World but he hath done as the
Devil did when he brought it is written to Christ and left out half the words so R. E. hath left out the Conditions on the Disciples part and that which was their duty teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I command you and then lo I am with you c. But R. E. likes not obedience it seems unto Christ's commands and yet he will needs be a sharer in the Promise and of the Power that was given and bind God unto that and he and his Church to be loose to do and to teach what they will but as to all the Scriptures he hath brought and minced them and cut them in piece-meal and all the inferences he makes this we acknowledge without multiplicity of words that whatsoever was promised to the Church of Christ and the Disciples of Christ as the Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ the same Promise of Christ doth belong to the Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ in every Age and stands upon the same condition viz. Obedience unto hâs will and that they still do teach and no other thing but what he commands them then he is with them according to his Promise but let not R. E. nor his Roman Catholicks look if they teach things repugnant to his mind and contrary to his will and press upon others to believe that which Christ hath never taught that then the Promise of God will be so intailed to them as that they cannot Err and here the deceit of thine and your Hearts hath led you aside and this is one of the cunning sleights of Men and craftiness whereby you lay in wait to deceive and by this you have deceived many because God hath made such large Promises unto his Church how that they should be led into all Truth and preserved out of Error and you are their Successors and must needs Inherit this Promise by way of intail and you cannot Err you cannot be deceived because the Apostles were infallible therefore you must needs be infallible though you Err and go aside never so much from the infallible Spirit the true Guide and Judge of and in the Church of God as though you had been born to infallibility and the Spirit of Truth had come by succession but the inward Light which thou scoffs at and the Spirit of Truth which thou calls a private Spirit often hath discovered you and your Spirit though thou boastest of fifteen Ages that your Doctrine hath been held by the Pastours and Teachers in your Visible Church as in the fifty seventh Page of thy EPISTLE suppose I should grant the fifteen hundred Years which I neither can nor will but I will lead thee to the sixteen hundred years and try thee your Doctrine that you have held this fifteen hundred Years if it be so as thou saist but this thou likes not but seeing thou plead'st Antiquity let us come on and joyn issue prove us Transubstantiation in the first hundred Years nay I will give thee five hundred more and if I give thee five more thou would'st hardly prove it before the Council of Trent prove us the Doctrine of Purgatory in the first hundred Years and if thou take two it shall not offend me prove us the forbidding of Ministers to marry in the first hundred years and abstinence from Meats as though they were unclean which are created by God for the use of Believers prove us that Man hath a two-fold right to the Kingdom of Heaven as your great Bellarmine saith the one by Christ the other by a Man 's own Works prove us Invocation of Angels and Prayer and Sacrifice for the Dead the first hundred years after Christ prove us their selling of Pardons in Christ's and the Apostles dayes for Money prove us setting up of Images as to put Men in mind of the Saints deceased and of their Works prove us Baptism of Infants with Cream and Spittle and singing with the Cross and God-fathers and God-mothers and let us have some example beyond bare report for we dare not relie upon your infallible Spirit in these things therefore convince us for we are Gain-sayers and upon good Ground and we do look upon all these Doctrines and many more not to be of such a great Age as thou tells on neither to have any affinity or congruity with the Church of Christ in his or the Apostles time nor sundry Years after but rather look upon them as Doctrines of Devils and a very novelty a further Scripture R. E. urges 1. Tim. 3.15 the Church of the living God the Pillar and Ground of Truth and may we not relie of that Pillar that God hath erected for us saith he and he that hears you hears me and go teach all Nations and I am with you alwayes and yet if after all these Promises if the Church may not be believed except she teacheth according to the Scriptures and be only infallible but when she doth her duty then the Church hath no more priviledge then the Devil hath for so long as he teaches conformable to the Scripture he may be believed and so long as he teaches Truth he may be believed saith R.E. in page 58 59. Answ. The Church is in God 1 Thes. 1. and is the Pillar and Ground of Truth she is in the World though not of the World and though the Members thereof be visible in the World yet the world that lies in Wickedness never owned them as such either saw the Glory of this Church but alwayes Persecuted it and was so far owning it as Rule and Judge as it altogether gain-sayed its direction but they that did believe in the word of Life and were separated from the World and hated by it were willing to hear the Counsel to receive the instruction of the Church of God and the Church only medled with their own Members as in matter of Judgment and not of the World further then by preaching Repentance in it for the Apostle saith What have we to do to judge them that are without and this Church as in God was secure to relie upon for she had the Oracles of God committed unto her every one may relie upon this Pillar if they dare trust it which I see R. E. dares not because he likes not to be tyed to their Doctrine declared of in the Scriptures but would have all to take what they say for granted without the Scripture or the Apostles example or Spirit and is not this unreasonable in thee that would'st have the Church to be believed or that which calls it self so by Name when she teacheth not conformable to Scriptures and to the Faith which was once delivered among the Saints and wouldst thou have a Church reckoned infallible and to be believed when she doth not her duty the Churches priviledges are in speaking Truth and judging Righteously and the Devil was a Lyer from the beginning and is out of the Truth and where hast thou read that he teaches
of Faith for that had been contrary to the Apostles Commission and their Doctrine for saith the Apostle We have not preached our selves but Christ the Lord and our selves your Servants for his sake And I may say to thee R. E. as Paul said to the Corinthians when they were striving about Men Cor. 3.21 Therefore let no Man glory in Men for all Things are yours or as he saith in Chap. 1. Ver. 13. was Paul crucified for you or were you baptized in the Name of Paul were they not carnal that so glorified was Peter crucified for us or were we baptized in the Name of Peter is not your visible Church carnal who thus judgeth that Christ intended Peter to be the Foundation of his Chruch for what was he or the rest of the Apostles but Ministers by which many believed ãâã and if thou hadst been present it is very like would have instructed Christ what to have said and bidden him have spoken after the Grammer Rule and Construction upon that Rock I will build my Church for Peter 's Faith in Christ is too mediate it seems and his Confession too remote and antecedent to be the Rock meant in Mat. 16.18 and therefore Peter must be immediate and the Rock upon which Christ hath doth and will build his Church but as immediate as he was and as sure a Rock as he was when he began to rebuke Christ he turned him about and said unto Peter Ver. 23. Get thee behind me Satan thou art an Offence unto me for thou savours not the Things of God and so say I to R. E. and his Catholicks they savour not the things of God but it is thy private Spirit and your own Interpretations and not the Mind of Christ and how far antecedent is Peter's Confession of Christ the Son of the living God is it not in Vers. 16. and wherein was Peter blessed but in this that it was revealed to him that Christ was the Son of the living God the Rock of Ages and the Foundation of his Church and as for thy visible Church with its two Heads independent Head and dependent Head which sure must have two Bodies where they can be found but that I shall leave to R. E. and I hope from the Grounds that thou hast here laid which did appear so clear to thee that none will be afraid nor judge that such a visible Church with two Heads is to be Rule and Guide to all to whom all are to submit under Pain of Damnation which is to have Peter for its Rock which if he had been living he would have denyed you all as Setters up of Men and Slighters of Jesus Christ the Rock of Ages the Foundation of the Church the Head of the Body the Rule of Life the Judge of Quick and the Dead the Law-giver Director Instructer and Preserver of his Church forever but R. E. goes on and saith It only remains that we consider which among all these Congregations now on Earth which pretend themselves to be this Church of Christ for having once found her and knowing that she is so assisted with the holy Ghost that she cannot teach us an Error we shall no more dispute the Verity of her Doctrine then we would have questioned the Articles of Faith taught by the holy Apostles or the Words of Christ himself wherefore if this Church this infallible Guide shall teach us that Infants ought to be baptized and that it is as lawful to desire the Saints departed to pray for us as to desire the Prayers of them that are alive and that the Body of Christ our Saviour is really and truly present in the Sacrament of the Altar or any other Article of Faith we shall no more doubt it then the first Christians did the Verity of what the Apostles taught them Among all those Congregations on Earth that look upon themselves to be the Church and Spouse of Christ there is one if thy Eye could behold or if thou could'st discern it but before thou canst there is an Eye in thee must be put out and there is a Wisdom in thee that must be confounded and turned into Foolishness before thou canst discern it in its Glory as it is but however that is it undoubtedly which is begotten into the Faith through the Publication of the immortal Word of Life and who are translated from Death unto Life and who have received the Power and Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ and meet in his Name and Power and do witness his Presence among them and have received a Measure of that infallible Spirit of Truth which leadeth into all Truth and out of the Pollutions of the World and are dead unto the World and baptized into the Sufferings of Christ and are crucified with him who keep unviolated his Statutes and Commands without adding to or diminishing from who walk in the Order of the Gospel and are not conformable to the World nor to that which fallen Men set up but to the Power of God that worketh in the Hearts of all that believe to the framing of them a meet Habitation for God to dwell in and abide in the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and are Sayers and Doers speak the Truth and do the Truth and hold the Truth in Righteousness and the Faith once delivered to the Saints in a pure Heart and a pure Conscience who pray in the Spirit and with Understanding who publish the Truth and declare it in the Spirit reaching to the Consciences and to the Witness of God in all that hear who rejoyce only in Christ Jesus the great Power of God and the Wisdom of God and have no Confidence in the Flesh nor fleshly Performances whose Faith stands not in Words but in the mighty Power of God which she hath received according unto the Promise of God this Congregation or Congregations which is one and doth hold the one Head by which all the Members of Christ are knit together in the one Faith by which they overcame the World this undoubtedly is the Church of Christ and the Spouse of Christ But whether R. E. will not dispute against the Verity of her Doctrine I question notwithstanding all his Submission in Words and if this Church should teach that Infants are to be baptized with Cream and Spittle and signed with the Cross as absolutely necessary to Salvation or that it is the Duty of the Saints alive to pray to the Saints departed this World or to teach that Christ's Body which was broken for us and hanged upon the Tree at Mount Calvary that this should now be in a Morsel of Bread and a Sup of Wine and conveyed thither by the Priest and this to be really the Body of Christ if this Church should teach any such Doctrine there were good and weighty Reason to Question seeing that R. E. before hath said that they cannot be infallible who contradict one another and teach two contrary Doctrines and yet say they are both
Angels Worshipping Relicks worshipping Images Transubstantiation Purgatory sprinkling of Infants prove to us from the Scripture in thy next that these were Apostolical and Infallible Doctrines delivered and taught by the Church of Christ in the Apostles time or in the first hundred Years after Christ and thou will not only gain me but many more to receive and imbrace the Catholick Church of Rome for an absolute Rule and Guide unto which all on Earth ought to be subject unto which if thou dost not we will take it for granted thou darest not lest thou ingage thy self in such a Controversie as thou never ingaged in yet by which thy and your Folly will more and more appear unto all I shall not trouble neither my self nor the Reader any further in traducing R. E. in his multiplicity of Words although the main and weighty Arguments and Reasons as R. E. looks upon them are answered which I commend unto thee and to the Witness of God in every Man's Conscience to try and search out where the difference and weight lies and the Truth and as the measure of God's Spirit in every Man's Conscience doth close with or against if it can what I have said about R. E. his Epistle for unto that I dare stand to the Judgment of and in it as every one believes and walks I bid my Reader Farewell Westmoreland this 18 th of the 5 th Moneth 1665. F. H. A General Epistle To the Dispersed and PERSECUTED FLOCK OF Christ Jesus IN THE DOMINION OF ENGLAND AND All Parts and Regions where this shall come who have believed in Christ the Light of the VVorld and now suffer for his Names sake DEarly Beloved whom God hath called and redeemed out of the World and the Vanities thereof to follow the Lamb in the Regeneration through the Cross and Suffering in this Age wherein the Whore Beast and false Prophet and all that have drunk of her Cup and have received the Mark of the Beast and are led aside to believe Lyâs that proceed out of the Mouth of the time serving flattering deceitful Workers of this Generation who are all joyned together iâ theiââârength and Power to act every Way against the Lamb and his meck Appearance who takes away the Sins of the World and against all them that are made clean through his Blood and are come out of the Pâllutions of the Wârld and to make War against the Râmnânt of the Seed of God who are begetten again to the lively Hope of Christ Jesus and to the Inheritance that fâdes not away and to root out and destroy and weary out through cruel Suffering the Saints of the most high that so the Prince of Darkness might rule in his full Power and Authoriây in his Instruments and Servants without Opposition or any Gain-saâing And as God out of his everlasting Love hath redeemed and translated many from great Darkness wherein they have bin hâld in the time of Unbelief into his marvellous Light to walk in it and to bring forth the Fruits of the Day of Light Faith and Righteousness to the Praise and Glory of his Grace who hath called them and translated them for that very End to shew forth his Power and Glory in the Earth who have been quickned and raised by it out of the Grave that they might bear Witness thereunto and testifie of it both in Word and Work against the World and the God thereof who now rules in the Children of Disobedience therefore is his Wrath the more kindled and his Fury great against them that are departed out of his Kingdom and will not yield their Hearts and Necks to be subject any more unto his Yoak by whom they have been enslaved and held Captive under many and divers Lusts which the Wrath of God is revealed against and to be revealed against and because they are made free by the Frightness of the glorious rising of the Sun of Righteousness in his Power and quickning Life in their Hearts which hath broken his Yoak of Bondage and destroyed the Law of Sin and Death which sometimes had Power over them but now being made Conquerors of them through the Power of Christ the old Dragon the Deceiver of the Nations who is out of the Truth labours by all means to bring them back again under his Yoak and his Devices are not a few which are set on Foot at this Day to make all bow unto him which the Children of Light are not ignorant of who are and have been watchful against the mysterious working of his Power within and also without in his Instruments who have received great Power from him to propagate his Kingdom that stands in Wrath Evil doing and Cruelty And therefore all had need to watch and be circumspect that they that are escaped be not ensnared and entangled again lest their Bondage be greater and the Yoak heavier then before Therefore the Lord moveth often in my Heart to exhort all unto Watchfulness and Diligence and so much the more because the Dayes are perilous and the Times dangerous and the Temptations many on every Hand so they that look out are in Danger to be ensnared and let in the Enemy and Fears and Doubts and Unbelief enter and questioning in the Haste Can God deliver or will he deliver or hath he any Regard unto our Afflicâion And because the time seems long and they cannot see to the End thereof their Hearts fail and their Faith is in Danger to be shaken and they lose their States therefore it concerns every one to watch and pray that they enter not into Temptations neither be overcome with the wicked One neither of the fading Pleasure Profit and Ease that the Children of this World do enjoy which is but for a Time and then is the Beginning of endless Misery Therefore all dearly beloved look over all the Sufferings and Troubles and Temptations and Necessities and over the Devil and all his Works to the Beginning and to that have an Eye which was before they had a Being to the Lord God everlasting who made Heaven and Earth have an Eye and let your Eye be fixed on him which destroyes the Devil and all his Works and will reward the Workers of Iniquity according to their Deeds with everlasting Torments Dearly Beloved who have been under great Sufferings Losers for Christ's sake and the Gospel's in this Age like as many faithful Witnesses have been in former Ages I am a Sufferer with you and am sensible of your Griefs Affliââions Necessities and Tribulations which are many and do bear and suffer with you all in my Heart and in the true Sence and Feeling of you all dispersed every where where God hath placed you in the Earth my Heart Soul Life and Spirit breatheth forth unto you all and your Burden is mine your Afflictions are mine your Sufferings are mine I do weep with them that weep I am sorrowful with them that are sorrowful and what which is a Grief
and Vexation unto the Spirit of God in any in the Spirit of Christ which is but one in all I am burdened with them and do bear a Part of their Grief I speak without Ostentation or Glorying for what have I to glory in any but the Lord or to rejoyce in but that which all the World hates because it testifies against it and therefore we are become the Objects of Scorn and Hatred in this World by them that are of it who glory in Sin who rejoyce in Iniquity whose End is Destruction and perpetual Misery and their Rejoycing shall be turned into endless Sorrow and Grief Elected of God our Portion in this World is to be Sufferers in it and by it because God hath chosen us out of it and its Nature therefore we are hated despised and persecuted in our Generation like as all the People of God were in former Generations we cannot be exempted from drinking of the same Cup which Christ the Heir of all things drank neither be exempted from being baptized into his Suffering and therefore Christ told his Disciples In the World ye shall have Trouble and the Apostles and Ministers and Believers in Christ did drink of the same and were baptized into the same Baptism and therefore testified That them that will live godly in Christ must uffer Persecution for the World loves only the Children of it but alwayes hated the Children of God and them that were redeemed out of it and they bore Witness against it and the Works thereof it 's no new thing or strange thing for it 's that Portion which all the Prophets and holy Men of God were Partakers of Christ and the Apostles and all true Believers in every Age and the nearer any came to be unto God in their Life and Practice the more they were hated and the more vilified slandered and evil spoken of sometime by the Jews sometime by the Heathen and now by the Apostatized Christians for the Nature is one through all Ages and Diversity of Names in Profession do not at all alter Man or Men at the Heart the Jews who professed God in Words and cryed up the Temple and Moses and the Law in Words slew the Prophets and laid false things to their Charge Jeremiah when he prophesied against Jerusalem and spake to the Princes and Rulers when they were revolted from God in the Dayes of Zedekiah and denounced Evil against the City and People because of Transgression they put him in the Dungeon and where his Feet sticked in the Mire and said He was fallen away to the Caldeans and did alienate the Hearts of the Jews from them and their Law and despised their Government Christ was accounted a Friend of Publicans and Sinners and had a Devil a Transgressor of Moses's Law though he came to fulfil it and an Enemy to Caesar and a Blasphemer and what not who said so the Elders the Doctors the Rabbies and Rulers of the People and they crucified him as an Evil-doer though none could convince him âââin the Apostles of Christ as seditious Men Ring-leaders of Sects Authors of Uproars Turners of the World upsiâe down as disobedient Enemies to Peace as discontented Men with the present Laws and Customs then established and judged as not fit to live And therefore many suffered long for holding out their Testimony faithfully they had received and last of all suffered Death not as Saints and Prophets but as Evil-doers at last some by the Jews some by the Heathens The primitive Christians of whom the World was not worthy were falsly accused by the Romans Heathens and Pagans in the great Persecutions that arose were evil spoken of and falsly represented and rendered odious and as Objects of Hatred through the Envy of the Devil because they opposed his Kingdom of Darkness Tertullian saith The Heathen commonly reputed the then primitive Christians incestuous men Killers of Children Enemies of all Mankind Enemies against the Gods against the Emperours against the Laws they made an Out-cry upon them it 's not lawful they should live And when any Judgment did befall them Augustine saith it was become a Proverb Our Rain fails us because of these Christians and Eusebius saith The Religion of Christ was called the Heresie of godless Christians Likewise after the Name of Christ and Christians became in Repute and Esteem many Hypocrites and Formalists took on the Name when it was countenanced by the Kings and Princes of the Earth and then turned against them that were more in the Life and Power then they were as the Bohemians and the Waldenses and first Protestants in Germany how were they branded with Heresie and Schism as seditious factious Enemies to the Laws Church and State and to the Princes and how was the Hatred of the Pope and Emperour kindled against them and War raised upon them and many suffered Death in their Account as Evil-doers who persecuted them Likewise come nearer our own Age in the Dayes of Queen Mary how were the best of Men and the best of Christians in that Age censured as Enemies to the Queen 's Lawâ and Government Enemies to the Church seditious Hereticks and such as were not fit to live and therefore many suffered in the cruel Flames of Fire and did undergo many great Torments and Sufferings and last of cruel Deaths many suffered and by them called Christians and yet slew him and persecuted him in his Members Last of all God hath brought us forth in our Age to bear witness unto him and unto that Life Power and Light by which we are quickned and raised out of the Grave of Sin and Death to live unto him and serve him in Newness of Life and to confess unto his holy Name and Power by which we are saved illuminated and directed and to worship him in Spirit and Truth according to the Manifestation of his Spirit to us and in us and according to the Scriptures of Truth for the Lord God of Heaven and Earth judge and all his holy Angels and all just Men that are anointed with the holy Unction that know Truth from Error whether we hold any thing either in Doctrine or Practice but that which the primitive Christians bear Witness of and also the Scriptures bare witness unto and that which we are perswaded in our Consciences by the unerring Spirit of the Lord which doth give us Assurance of his Acceptation and Peace in our Hearts And how often have we declared our selves both by Word and Writing which is sufficiently manifest unto all who have not wilfully closed their Eyes and stopped their Ears against us that we are of no other Faith Hope or Religion but that which Christ and his Apostles and primitive Christians were of which they did hold forth both in Doctrine and Practice as in Respect of Worship and how peaceably and humbly we have walked towards all Men without seeking the hurt or detriment of any thou righteous Judge of Heaven and Earth knowest and
plain Words of the Scripture and Interpretation to prove his false Assertion that he laid down at the first that Christ did not forbid all Swearing I say I could willingly have been silent rather then to be found over and over again contending with every new Opposer of those old Truths that have been believed and received long before the Apostacy entered in which hath been answered by that People I own in Judgment and Conversation long ago to let pass those Disadvantages we have adventured upon our low persecuted imprisoned and in a Manner condemned Condition so that we may expect our Words how true soever yet they are not like to gain much Credit against such an eminent Man as Doctour Smalwood Again considering how we expose our selves to the Lash and Severity of a sharp Law which some Men in their blind Zeal are far more rigid and severe in their Prosecution of it then I am apt to believe the Supream Enactors of it were in their Intentions when they did enact it all which notwithstanding are no Discouragement unto me forasmuch as the internal and eternal Truth of our God which we have known received and believed is very precious in our Eyes yea far more then either Life or Liberty and Estate which some have forfeited and lost upon Truth 's Account or any external Treasure or outward Enjoyment whatsoever so that considering how the Truth lyes at Stake we cannot be silent lest thereby we should appear to some Mens Apprehensions as to be satisfied with what the Doctour hath said and own his Arguments and Reasons that he hath laid down for positive Truth I could do no less then to show our Dislike of his Doctrine and to manifest the Weakness of his Arguments about this Particular of Swearing at all under the Gospel though he hath strained very hard to prove his Assertion That Oaths may lawfully be taken by Christians in some Cases notwithstanding Christ's ârohibition and Command to the contrary but of how little Effect or Force hiâ Reasons are thou wilt see in the ensuing Discourse although his Book be looked upon by some to be sufficient Force to convince all Gain-sayers and although he say he hath had divers Papers and Books of Dissenters who are of a contrary Judgment where he found any Reason offered against what he has laid down for Doctrine he hath answered though indeed he hath over-riden the most weighty Matters in them and hath said little but that hath been said before by other Opposers of Christ's Doctrine though it 's very like the Doctour will count this but a loose Discourse as he hath done others of very great Weight yea indeed of more Weight and Reason in them then any thing he hath exhibited to the contrary and so count it not worth taking Notice of but though he do not it 's not of much Moment for that End only have I writ to bear my Testimony for Christ's Doctrine against all the false and feigned Interpretations of Men being that which I have stedfastly believed and is of that Force and VVeight upon many Consciences so evident by the Spirit of Christ that they can receive nothing of Mans fallen Reasons and Conceptions which are variable and changeable to answer or weigh down the Doctrine of Christ and his Apostles and primitive Christians who walked in the Order of the Gospel and obeyed the Commands of Christ before the Apostacy entered in and the Power was lost and the Life and Spirit of Christ erred from and mingled the Ordinances of the first and second Covenant together the Injunctions of Men among them for Doctrine and then compelled all to receive it all this long Time of Antâchrist's Reign and the false Church's Visibility wherein she hath sitten as a Queen upon the Waters which are the Nations Kindreds Tongues and People which A. S. brings as a great Argument to prove Swearing in Use among Christians since Christ gave out that Command Swear not at all the Reasons the very strength of them I have laid down as A.S. hath published them without varying from his own Words the Answer thou may'st peruse and read without Prejudice and weigh with the Measure of God's Spirit in thy self for unto that I appeal which is a more certain Thing then Councils or Nations or Consent of Multitudes who have the Name of Christian and walk not in his Doctrine neither live his Life nor do the Things he saith I am shut up in a Corner and have not that Advantage that some Opposers have of others Labours as to bring Authors of divers Ages that denyed to swear though not only some there were but many but alas they are condemned by A. S. and others for Phanaticks and Heterodox and so their sayings will seem of less Force but however I have not much striven neither shall to fetch Things from far in the Apostacy but rest in that which makes all Things evident even the Spirit of God in thy own Heart and the Scriptures of Truth which were spoken by the Spirit which are so clear unto many that there needs not Multitude of Words to demonstrate this Truth of the Prohibition of all Oaths among true Christians but I shall not detain thee from the Matter it self and the Lord give thee an Understanding OATHS NO Gospel-Ordinance But prohibited by CHRIST THere being a Book lately published by A. Smalwood D. D. as I understand Doctor of Divinity first preached in a Sermon at Carlile I suppose before the Judges at the Assizes then holden the 17 th day of August 1664. since which I perceive many Additions by Reasons and Paraphrases are added thereunto and Printed at York In which Discourse he hath Vindicated the lawfulness of Swearing under the Gospel and hath gone about to prove it by many Reasons and Authors how that Christ upon that subject Mat. 5.34 Swear not at all did not intend an absolute Universal prohibition of all manner of Swearing under the Gospel which Book of his I have perused with an upright Heart and an impartial Eye seriously to the End I might own that which is good in it not as one being glued to an Opinion or Judgment but what as carries demonstration of Truth with it upon my Conscience and in my Heart it being a Principle well known and believed amongst us to have our Consciences void of offence towards God and towards Man and seeing my self and many more are great Sufferers at this day upon this very account which I look upon being truly and Conscientiously grounded upon the Doctrine of Christ and consonant to the Primitive Christians and seeing so large things have been written by other Hands in asserting the Truth of what we have believed which yet stands as a Witness unto the Doctrine of Christ notwithstanding all opposition and gain-saying that it hath had by many Hands I could have been wholly silent and have referred all that hath been said to the Judgment of the Lord and to
that of God in every Mans Conscience but that I perceive A. Smalwood hath rendred that People which I own in Judgment and Practice to be in Error and hath greatly gain sayed Villified all such as ever did or do deny Swearing upon never so Conscientious account As erroneous and as only sprung from the Pelagian Heresie and Manicheus and I know not who and have rendred all with Reproach and disdain as Phanaticks who discent from him with disdainful and reproachful Names to represent us as Odious as may be to the Magistrate and at such a time as this when tender and Conscientious People who fear the Lord in their Hearts and desire to live and be at Peace and seek it with all Men are sufferers and great Sufferers too upon this very account whereby many are stirred up to more Persecution Wrath against us and besides this Discourse it seems is cryed up as the most exquisite that ever was or can be and as unanswerable and that we who deny to Swear would abolish all judicable proceedings and make them nothing this Discourse is printed as A. S. in his 12. page saith To induce us to forsake so irrational an Opinion and to Convince us of our Error and it seems he himself besides many other exspects it must effect some great matter Reply I say all these things being considered were a strong inducement to me to write something in reply thereunto through in very deed I love not Contention neither strife about Words but seeing it is the Doctrine of Christ and that which hath been and is stedfastly believed by divers faithful Professors and Sufferers both formerly and now however by A. Smalwood accounted and reproached by that disdainful Name of Phanaticks a Word lately invented in the Pit of Darkness where many of those and the like reproaches come from I was engaged in my Heart to bear my Testimony against this said Book and for the Truth of Christ's Doctrine not out of obstinacy and wilfulness but in duty as by Conscience to God his Truth which is dearer to me then my outward Liberty or all I have to loose for it which I and many more at this day choose rather to suffer then to be found violating the commands of Christ or deny that which I have stedfastly believed being perswaded thereunto by the Spirit of the Lord and evidence of the Scripture of Truth The subject A. Smalwood hath taken to treat upon and in the End to gainsay and pervert are no less then Christ's own Doctrine Mat. 5.34 But I say unto you Swear not at all who would have believed or thought that one who accounts himself a Doctor a Divine and a Minister of Christ should choose Christ's own Words to plead against Christ and them that do abide in his Doctrine or that ever any should go about to prove Swearing lawful from these words in Gospel-times or that Swearing is not forbidden but what would this Man encounter with or what would not he oppose if he hath but the Power of this World on his side it is a small thing to gain-say what we say and pervert our Words and make them seem Erroneous and to make our intentions one thing and our words another when he is so bold as to make Christ's Doctrine his express words Swear not at all and his intentions contrary to his words what do we judge of a Man that speaks one thing and intends another it's fearful to think what conclusions some will make to carry on their intended designs but methinks A. S. might have been more considerate then to have taken Christ's own Doctrine and Words to oppose Christ's intention or to be so bold as to assert the intention of Christ was otherwise then his words import but rather have chosen some other Subject but what matter makes many of subjects for with a Consequence or two and a little Logick they will seem to turn things any way and go about to prove darkness is Light and Light is darkness and what as in them lyes make it so to appear if they take a matter in Hand and therefore the Apostle Exhorted to beware of Philosophy and vain deceit for by this Men have been cunning and crafty and lie in wait to deceive the Innocent and Harmless and to lead them out of the way In the fourth page he saith He will clear his intention and that there are two sorts of Men that do Violence to this Text the one winds it up to too high a note as though Christ had forbidden all Swearing whatsoever And in the tenth page he saith This error is masked under a fair Colour of a more then ordinary Piety but tends to overthrow all Judicatures and takes away the decision of all emergent Suites and Controversies and were it granted saith A. Smalwood we should be necessitated if not to disown the Magistrates Authority yet to disobey their loyal command as having a counterâand from Christ Swear not at all and the other sort of Men are such who in despight of this Text to commonly rashly prophanely and falsely Swear Answ. Who doth the greater violence to this Scripture whether A. S. who in his Doctrine he hath raised from these Words to be the Foundation of his Discourse who makes Christ's plain and express words one thing and his intentions another I leave to all unbyassed Spirits to judge off or they that say Christ intended what he spoke and spake what he intended I say let all see and consider where the violence lies and in whom and whether he doth not wind it up by that note or contrary to it to use his own Words otherwise then Christ intends it as after will be made more eviently to appear we say it 's not error but Truth to believe Christ's Words whoare Truth more then A. S. his conjectural supposition neither do we believe it to be error masked but Truth revealed and Christ spoke and declared it that we might believe it and obey it And we believe that A. S. and many more have put a mask and a vail upon Christ's Words and would hood-wink all and lead them blind-fold after their Imaginations and crooked Pathes winding and turning this way and that way that lead into Darkness and trouble and Confusion from the Path of Life And what doth Christ's command viz. Swear not at all doth it overthrow all Justice and Judicatories Is it not the Seat of Judgment established in Righteousness and Truth and they that sit in Judgment ought they not to give Sentence and Judgment in Righteousness and Truth and as the causes are represented unto them and brought before them and may not every Truth be confirmed out of the Mouth of two or three Witnesses and all emergent suits Controversies ended according to the best evidence after diligent Inquisition and Judgment given accordingly and that without the needless and cumbersome formality of an oath which is sometime this and
neither was there any necessiây or just occasion whatever A. S. mây call just occasion we cannot for he hath left such a great compass for himself to turn in though here and thâre he seem to disallow of customary Oaths and frequent Oaths yet notwithstanding his Discourse rather tends to an allowance of Swearing frequently and unnecessarily for we reckon it to be a piece of ordinary Communication for a Christian Minister to write a Letter of admonition or Exhortation or an Epistle unto the believing Hearers and that there is no necessity of Oaths in such a Discourse for what-ever A. S. sayes this would make the Apostle guilty of frequent and unnecessary and common Swearing which we are far from believing forasmuch as they did believe through the word of Life declared by the Spirit of God in him neither through his Epistles written being assisted by the Holy Ghost they were not like to believe him for Swearing if he had Sworn but saith A. S. If his words had really been believed which he spoke and wrote what occasion would there have been for him to have written so to the Roman 's Rom. 9.1 I say the Truth in Christ I Lye not The Apostle knew what occasion he had to speak these Words and the occasion was this that the Jews sought to be justified by the Righteousness of the Law and by the Works thereof and would needs look upon themselves as the Children of God because they were of the stock of Abraham according to the Flesh but the Apostle knew and also gave them to understand that the Children of the Promise were counted for the Seed and again for they are not all Israel which are of Israel Rom. 9.6 7 8. And thus he spake Truth unto them as it was revealed by Christ whom the Father had revealed in him and why might he not say I speak the Truth in Christ seeing that Christ was in him and he in him I Lye not my Conscience also bears me Witness in the Holy Ghost he might also as well say that Paul Swore by his Conscience seeing that he took it for a witness away away with such perverting and straining of the Scripture beyond and beside the mind of the Holy Ghost for God is witness and I speak the Truth in Christ they are no more then arden and Zeâlous or fervent expressions as the Spirit of God at several times did stir up in his Heart both to speak and write for the end that they unto whom he spoke or wrote might believe and therefore we conclude not as A. S. would needs have it that the Apostle spoke these fervent words unnecessarily for we know and see his end and purpose was good and therefore he spoke with fervency and with boldness the Spirit of the Lord beâring witness in his Conscience that he spoke the Truth which we are fâr from believing is either juration or abjuration and for ought can be perceived by A. S 's disdainful Spirit all that do dissent from him in his Opinion he calls Phanaticks and Paul shall hardly go free nor divers of the ancient Fathers as Origen Chrysostome Jerome Theophilaââ and others who denyed not only Swearing in private Conversation but to Swear at all but now these must be called Phanaticks who dissent from all men but themselves by A. S. and such as he who Sail with Wind and âide and exalt and applaud that which hath praise among men and hath not the praise of God and so the last of all he makes this Conclusion that so help me God is the most certain expression of an Oath which form of Words that though he count them certain we find not either under the Law or under the Gospel and I look upon it mâre as a piece of flattery in A.S. because this is the Form and the Câstom which ãâ¦ã câlled Swearing which is in use in this Nation and it's stranger to us that they will reckon this so great a piece of peculiââ Service which is incommunicable to any Creature but only to God whenas indeed we never find it written or commanded either among the Jews or commended or used amongst all the writings of Christ and the Apostles that hath relation to Christianity Indeed I remember that I have read that in the days when the Pope's Authority was in full Power here in England how that the Chancellour then of England said to one of John Wickliff's followers being brought before him in Examination he said unto him Lay thy Hand upon the Book thou Heretick and Swear so help me God and holy doom An old Superstitious Popish Form I look upon it to be and hath no consistance with an Oath in its true matter and Form under the Law when iâ was commanded and for ought I see A. S. will rather take part with the Church of Rome and her Members who Persecuted rather then Wickliff that famous Reformer who had his Bones taken up and burned 41. Years after his Decease and his Books and these Articles condemned by the Council of Coâstance who also burned John Hus and Jerome of Prague for holding John Wickliff's Opinions which was That all Oaths under the Gospel be unlawful I say A. S. might have been more modest then with the Council of Constance condemn them for Error seeing they were the only People in their Age and time that opposed and suffered for opposing the Church of Rome in the Apostacy seeing that they are fain to own them if they look for any Reformation before Luther to be their Witnesses against the Church of Rome which I have heard many Protestants say that they were on their part against the Church of Rome and though A. S. tells us of a Generation of People quos non persuadebis etiam si persuaseris who as they will not be perswaded so they will not be counselled who will have nothing else to be the formality of an Oath but by God but this he sayes only of his own Head except he knew some People that we know not of for we say to Swear the Lord liveth as an Oath and again as the Lord lives is an Oath or by the Lord that lives forever and ever is an Oath and yet we must needs deny that Paul Swore in the 1 Cor. 15.1 when he said by your rejoycing I die daily And we never said A. S. mistook himself in saying that by as the only mark and Character of an Oath and if Austin said upon these words of Paul as A. S. tells us per vestram gloriam juratio est upon Paul's words I suspect his judgment and therefore shall not so much regard it But A. S. seems not to be at Unity in his Book with himself notwithstanding all his raveling out where he seems in his 41. page to dislike of Nicholas Fuller's Judgment viz. that there is no Oath where God is not interposed and yet in the 56. page he saith That the Substance of an Oath consists in the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ open all your Hearts and keep them open that he according to his Promise may come in and sup with you and make his Abode with you and us all Amen Amen Brethren I might and could write largely unto you but that I know that Word of Truth hath been and is plentifully from time to time published among you which I would have you all prize as a Mercy and Blessing from the Lord it was said in the Dayes of Eli the high Priest That the Word of the Lord was scarce in those Dayes and Amos prophesied against Israel when they slighted the Commandment of the Lord and said to the Sâers see not and were out of Love with the Word of the Lord That there should come a Famine of it and they should wander from Sea to Sea and should not hear which was a great Judgment for that End I speak that you may prize that Plenty God hath scattered and sown among you and not loathe like Israel what nothing but Manna nothing but Manna or lust after new or unknown things as some prophane Minds say What one and the selfsame thing still we hear if we go from Year to year yest indeed the Truth is one the Way to Life one the everlasting Covenant of Life is one by which Salvation Peace and Reconciliation comes to all that believe and Union with God known and perfect Satisfaction to the faithful so that they say and believe in their Hearts he is come and the Way is declared that leads to everlasting Felicity and we look not for any nor after any other I say I might write largely unto you but you are written in my Heart even all that keep their Integrity feel my Love unto you all in the Life that hath quickned you that it runs as fresh and freely as Euphrates that watered the Garden of Eden and is no other then the bubling and springing of the VVater of Life of Love which the Lord caused to flow forth and in it to salute you all the Peace of God rest in all your Habitations Amen Appleby the 22 d of this 6 th Moneth 1668. Your Dear Brother in Suffering for Christ F. H. Cause this to be read in the Assembly of the Church of God in and about London Hartford and Kingston THE TABLE OF THE Principal Things contained in this BOOK A Warning to the Priests and People of Kendal page 1. The Word of the Lord to Oliver Cromwel p. 5. An Answer to Tho. Ellison 's Petition to O. Cromwel p. 7. The fiery Darts of the Devil quenched In Answer to a Book called The second Beacon fired presented to Oliver Cromwel then Protector p. 17. A Warning to all the Rulers in these English Nations p. 24. A Warning to all the World p. 26. A General Epistle to the Camp of the Lord in England p. 28. The Inheritance of Jacob discovered after his Return out of Egypt p. 37. A Lamentation for the scattered Tribes p. 65. I. The Difference shewn betwixt them that learn of Christ and are taught of him and them that follow the Principle of Darkness that leads into Error p. 72 II. The Difference betwixt the Faith which is feigned which is the World's and the Saints Faith p. 77. III. Concerning Hope and the Difference betwixt true and false Hope p. 79. IV. True Faith how it is wrought and what it is in its Effects and Operations p. 80. V. A Word to all the Ministers of the World in all Opinions and Sects and to all your People in every Sect p. 81. VI. To all you who put out the Eye through long accustoming to Sin who are near utter Darkness p. 84. VII To all them that are tossed and find no Rest for the Sole of their Feet but are still lead aside into Pollutions and Sin and know not how to come forth nor where the Power is p. 86. The measuring-Rod of the Lord stretched forth over all Nations p. 89 Some of the Mysteries of God's Kingdom declared p. 109. I. What the Day of the Lord is and to whom it hath appeared and how it is seen and discovered p. 114. II. What the Day of the Lord is and what it will be to the Wicked declared p. 115. III. What the Day of the Lord is to the Righteous and how he appears to them and whether any are to look for it whilest in the Body resolved p. 116. IV. Where the Day of the Lord doth appear and how it comes and how it is to be looked for declared p. 118. V. What the Spirit of the Lord is and how it comes to be received which discovers the Things of God p. 119. VI. How the Spirit of Truth worketh and appeareth in them who are convinced and yet have not obeyed showed p. 121. VII How the Spirit of the Father worketh in them who are turned to it and have taken Heed unto its Manifestation and are in some Measure Partakers of its Power p. 125. VIII Vnto whom the Spirit of the Father bears Witness and seals Assurance of the Father's Love and of Justification with God declared p. 125. IX What the free Grace of God is and unto whom it hath appeared and where all are to wait to receive it declared as it hath been revealed by the Spirit p. 127. X. Whether all have received the Grace of God or no declared and whether it be a sufficient Teacher in it self to wit that Grace that hath appeared to all if it be received demonstrated p 129. XI A Word to the Wise Men of this World who are glorying in the Sound of Words and worshipping outward Appearances to all Wise and Litteral Professors who think you are worshipâing God aright who think to search into the deep Things of God by your Natural Wisdom Learning Parts and Study p. 134. XII The Kingdom of God and of his Christ declared in some Measure as it is revealed what it is and how it comes to be revealed to them and in them that believe that all that are waiting for it may know wherein it consists and so receive the End of their Hope and the End of their Expectation and know the Dominion which hath no End p. 137. An Epistle to Friends in London p. 141. Mystery Babylon the Mother of Harlots discovered p. 145. The Invisible Things of God brought to Light by the Revelation of the Eternal Spirit p. 173. I. The Work of the Lord declared which was in the Beginning when the Word was with God and was the Father's Delight and Man made in the Image of God c. p. 179. II. The Vndârstanding may read the Wisdom of God in a Mystery and also may see thi sottish Doctrine of the Apostates p. 182. III. An Objection answered p. 183. IV. How Peace Joy and Delight possâssed every Thing that God had made how every Thing which he had formed glorified him with one Consent in the Beginning p. 184. V. How Man lost his
of all Controversies and sole and absolute and only Judge of all Matters of Faith and of all Matters that âver have been or ever shall be in Controversie to the End of the VVorld without the Spirit of God neither am I of that ignorant Mind as some are that the Letter and the Spirit are inseparable as that whosoever hath the Scripture must needs have the Spirit or whosoever hath the Scripture must needs be infallible without the Spirit all that are of the aforesaid Judgment are but VVranglers for the most Part about VVords and Contenders against the Power of God and Godliness and bring the VVords to oppose the Life and them that have the Spirit and walk in it for a natural man may read the Scriptures and yet not perceive the things of God neither perceive the Mind of the Spirit but wrest to their own Destruction as Peter saith because they are unlearned and untaught by the Spirit 's Teaching though otherwise learned enough in Languages Tongues and Speeches Secondly Yet I cannot detract from them neither undervalue them or dis-esteem them as uncertain or of no Use or of little Use but whatever themselves declare themselves to be that I own them to be to wit the Words of God the Words of Christ the Words of the holy Prophets and Patriarchs and Apostles who were endued with the holy Ghost and spake forth the Scripture as they were moved thereby in several Ages of several things and unto several States and Conditions as they were led thereto by the holy Spirit and they are a certain Declaration of things that were done and believed and practised by the Jews under the first Covenant and by the Apostles and primitive Christians in the New Covenant and contain many precious and holy Precepts and Commands Doctrines Examples Exhortations Admonitions Reproofs and Instructions and are as lively Examples and holy Patterns for all the Saints in Light to follow by which we are given to understand what Faith what Hope what Patience what Love what Mercy what Long-Sufferings what Consolation what Virtue and what Inheritance the Saints in Light were made Partakers of through Faith in Christ Jesus likewise what Doctrines were held forth and what Practice they used in the primitive times when they walked in the Order of the Gospel and had Fellowship with God the Father and the Son and one with another in the Light of the Gospel which is the Power of God through which they witnessed Salvation Remission of Sins and published it unto others that they might believe Thirdly The Scriptures testifie of Christ and were written that they might be believed and received and read that thereby every one that believed might be made wise to Salvation through Faith in Christ Jesus 2 Tim. 3. and instructed in Righteousness that the Man of God may be perfect throughly furnished with all good Works and whosoever doth teach any Doctrines contrary unto the holy Men of God who spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God which dwelt in them the Scriptures are Witnesses against such that they have not the Spirit of God but are led by another Spirit which brings forth contrary Doctrine and another Faith then was once delivered among the Saints and whosoever brings in sets up other Precepts Constitutions Orders and Practices in Point of Worship in Opposition and contrary unto those Practices which were held forth in the primitive times and would set up other Traditions then the Apostles delivered either by Word or VVriting such are manifest to have the Spirit of Error and are Innovators and Bringers in of other things as necessary in Point of VVorship among Christians which the Apostles and Ministers of Christ did not see necessary then and yet they wanted no Part of the Counsel of God for Paul said He had declared the whole Counsel of God and furthermore they said We have the Mind of Christ and Christ's Mind is not variable Fourthly Though divers of the VVritings of the Prophets and Apostles be lost doubtless as is evident by divers Places of Scripture yet blessed be God that there are those preserved which do bear VVitness of the one thing absolutely necessary unto Salvation of the Ministrations that were appointed of the Lord for the Church of God to observe both in the first and second Covenants so that Christians of this last Age are not lest without Example and President which all ought to have an Eye unto and a diligent Regard and though there be divers Copies of that which is called the Original Tongue and divers Translations yet he unto whom the Spirit of God is given and waiteth in the Measure of Christ's Light shall receive it doth âee and shall see the Mind and VVill of God in every Age and the Mind and Intent of the Spirit in them that spoke forth the Scripture and can receive the Matter therein contained as though they had heard them speak that spoke it at the first and though the Translators were Men yet I have such an honourable Esteem of their Labour that I believe they have not varied wittingly and willingly from the best Copies that were extant in their Age neither that they were altogether void of the Spirit of God in such a good VVork which conduced to the Benefit of Mankind but were assisted by it for so good VVork and there be many Figures and Tropas Improprieties of Speech Mysteries and Diââiculties yet all these come to be made easie and plain to them that are Witnesses of the same Spirit that gave them forth and though there be Diversity of Judgments Professions of Religion one clashing against another thwarting and contradicting another all will seem to bring the Scripture for their Proof which yet cannot maintain and prove every thing good especially when their Doctrines contradict one another this is granted it is only their private Interpretation and not the Scripture and for Wânt ãâã âhât Spirit that gave it forth for that alone gives the true Understanding of iâ and they that are without this are like to kill one another about Words and Names Sounds Tittles and Jottas but still want the Key that opens and gives an Entrance into the Knowledge of the things of God which alone is the Spirit of God that gave forth the Scriptures Last of all R. E. after he saith The three former Props which are the Basis of the whole Foundation and glided over as slightly as he possible could although he hath never stated the Matter right indeed as to remove all things out of his Way which might hinder him in his Cause which he drives so hard on in to wit to set up a certain Company or Multitude of men Visible and Universal as he saith to be the only infallible Judge to convey Faith to the World and to be the certain and infallible Judge in all Matters that either pertain to the Worship of God and to be believed under Pain of Damnation as