they are wrought in God but he that hates the Light brings not his Deads unto it lest it should reprove them And this is my Testimony with my many Brethren and the Saints of old born to the Eternal and True Light of Christ within the Hope of Glory and to my Call out of Darkness into Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God in which I stand a Witness for God and against all the Worshippers of the Beast who have received his Mark in their Fore-heads or Right hands and therefore plead for his kingdom of Darkness and against the Light Within These must needs be blind Watch-men of the Night saith Luke Howard who forsook the People called Anabaptists and their Water-dipping upon this Account ANd now by way of Reply in Righteousness to this Night Watchman's Scoffing Mocking and Lying Work who begins in his Title Page saying It is a Sober Reply But a sober Man so made by the Grace of God which teaches Sobriety will not so call a Pamphlet made up of Scoffing and Lying for in his Preface he begins to scoff in these word Charles Bayly sometimes a Prisoner upon the Quaking account in Dover As if Quaking were now become a Scorn and By-word if it be so it is but to the Fools in Heart who are ignorant of the Life of Moses Isaiah Job Ezekiel Daniel Habakkuk Jeremiah Joel and Amos who were Prophets of the Lord and all owned Quaking and Trembling in their Day And in the same Preface saith he But to show what Enormities the pretended Light leads them to c. My Answer is We are Real in our Testimony to Christ Jesus the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and this to wit the Light Life and Spirit which moved in the Holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures which the Scriptures bear witness unto which is the old time came not by the Will of Man but Holy Man of God spoke as they were Moved by the Holy Spirit but the Scripture is not that Spirit nor Life but testifies thereof nor yet this Night Watch-man's imagination of them who gives his corrupt Meaning to Peter's word and so Perverts them saying He meant the Scriptures when he spoke of the more sure word of Prophecy unto the which we do well to take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place until the Day Dawns and the Day Star arise in our Hearts these last words to wit the Day-Star arise in our Hearts he leaves out for against that to wit Light in the Heart are all his Arrows shot this he calls Erroneous a dark Light of the Quakers or any thing what his dark Mind is pleas'd to call it and therefore he may think he hath cause enough to wrest the words and to clip some off for if he testifieth against the Quakers Light as he scoffingly calls it then he must testifie against Peter Paul and John and the rest of the Prophets and Apostles for their Testimony and ours are one as may be seen more at Large in the Testimony following unto which I Refer the Reader Then in his first Page he begins with three or four Lyes first he saith that I said Some new converted Friends aid own C. B. when there are no such words in all my Book Then again he saith But the Men-Friends in the Castle did not own him so much These are his own words not mine to make his foul Work seem fair to make them serve his own End and this he calls My appearing with two faces So here is a Brat of his own begetting in his own Image spit out of his own Mouth speaking his own heart of Lyes in Hypocrisie for I never so said nor meant for my words were these Beside there were some at Liberty which did not own C. B. so much as Rich. Hobbs Reported of as may be seen in the Looking-Glass herein Annexed this his Charging of me with words which I never writ alters the Matter and makes it another thing as any may read that is not Blind Then again he saith I Confessed I owned C. B. as much as the Rest There is no such word in all my Book as may be seen and although these things may seem small as here related yet as they stand in his Corrupt Relation in Print they are Great because they so alter the matter and makes his Relation have a Face of Fairness like Truth but read my words as they stand in my own Book and his words would be found a Lye and that a Lye is in his Right-hand and a deceived Heart hath turned him aside And for these and such like causes to clear the Truth is my former added to this Again in pag. 2. he hath this Lye over again that I and three or four in Prison with me did not own C. B. so much as Friends at Liberty And their he makes Lyes his Refuge and under Falshood he hides himself and when he hath frameth up a Lye he sets it up as a Bulwark to batter against with Replies as if his Lies were mine and this Course this Night-watch-Man takes to make a foul thing seem fair and a Lye which is of the Devil seem true Several more Lyes I could gather out of his Lying Pamphlet in several places where he saith I said Many of his Flock were of his Mind my words were these As many of his Flock as were of his Mind which alters the matter and makes it quite another thing for to my knowledge Several of his Flock were not of his Mind Then again he saith that I know my wife reported C. B. had cured her Eyes when I know no such thing but the contrary and this I can prove by several Witnesses But in this work of bundling up of Lyes I have no delight but as constrained thereunto to place a few of them upon the Lyers Head as a Testimony against the Father of them who iâ— the Devil for my Time is precious and in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses is every word established And then he goes on in like manner of scoffing Language in his page 13. That I beguile the Reader into Fools Paradise in my saying in the Baptists Looking Glass That the Quakers worship God in Spirit and in Truth which the Devil and all that do his Works of Envy are out of And now if to worship God in Spirit and in Truth be Fools Paradise then what is the wise Man's Paradise seeing the Lord seeketh such to worship him as we do this Day witness Again in Page 10. he saith here is a great Cry and a little Wool A scoffer indeed And in Page 7 he saith I give my Glass a Rub and that to the Purpose too as I think saith he and thus scoffingly he writes these and many more like them not worth answering which I do Return upon his own head who sits in the seat of the Scorner for it is plain
not the People yet we do not read of any but Blasphemers against God so perverse as this Night-Watch-man is to charge the true Prophets Spirit with the false Prophets Presumption and Wickedness as he doth the Light of Christ our Principle with C. B's Presumption and Wickâ—dness And then again Antichrist the Man of Sin he sits in the Temple of God and saith that he is God and under the Name of Christ doth work in the Mystery of Iniquity and so doth great Evils under the Name of Christianity as this day we see Christendom full of Abomination by which it is become as a Wilderness for Beasts of Prey to live in now is it kind Dealing with the Christians to charge them to be led by the spirit of Antichrist because he pretends to the same â—pirit which the true Christians are led by Nay would not this Watch man think himself wronged to be so charged yea surely but if he were yet were he not so much wronged as we are by his charging our Principle with C. B's spirit and the Effects thereof for if our Fellowship stood only in outward and bodily Exercise as the Fellowship of Water-dipping and Christendom's Fellowship by Sprinkling doth then might our Principle be the easier charged with his spirit but because our Principle the Light the Grace the Word of the invisible God is that in which our Fellowship stands with God in Holiness and Truth therefore not to bâ— judged by the Practice of Evil Men and this to wit their Carnal Fellowship is the cause of their thus Opposing Gain saying and Blaspheming against the Light of Christ which whosoever walketh therein hath Fellowship with God and one with another And this Night-Watch-man saith If this to wit Bayly 's Actions be not a Proof of Bayly being in Fellowship with the Quakers then he knows not what is and here I believe him that our Fellowship he knows not no more then Christendom at large doth and in this his Ignorance must we leave him till he can believe in the Light which will give him to see and know wherein our Fellowship stands Another Proof that C. B. was in Fellowship with the Quakers he had because some joyned with him in Prayer and heard him Preach and one fell on the Ground which is now none of the smallest Quakers in Dover saith this Accuser All this proves not the Matter no more then the Weakness of a Young Child can pâ—ove the Strength of a Strong Man and now is it Reasonable to judge the Principle of the Quakers by the Actions of them which were but just then as it were convinced and being very young and tender as I said before in my Looking-Glass for the Baptists they could not easily discern and were afraid to judge And now to judge the Principle and Fellowship by such surely amongst Wise Men this will be counted Folly and condemned for Prejudice And in pag. 9. he saith If Duke Howard had proved by some convincing Arguments that the Quakers Light is Christ as he Scoffingly calls it and then made it appear that the Baptists had Blasphemed in denying that Men are Redeemed and justified by that Lâ—ght within themselves and not rather by Faith in the Death the Resurâ—ection and Ascension of Christ without us for us which is the châ—ef Point in Controversie between us saith this Opposer of Christ the Life and Light of Men and so indeed it is and now that I have in my first Answer proved and in this second also that Christ is the true Light which lighted every Man that comes into the World is as clear as the Sun But saith this Scoffer at the Light that if he had prov'd that the Quakers Light is Christ c. as if the Quakers Light and the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World were two here we affirm to all the World that we never spoke of any other Light in us but that which all Men are lighted with even Christ a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel and if this Christ the Light Life Wisdom and Power of God be not in us Governing and Ruling we are Reprobate as well as others according to the whole currant of Scripture which is the Mystery hid from the Rebellious in all Ages and Generations but in all the Obedient Christ within the Hope of Glory and Christ in you except you be Reprobates said Paul and this is our Light wherein our Fellowship stands with God and one with another and this all are Ignorant of who make it their Business to Gainsay him in his second Appearance in the Light and Spirit in which we are to know him to our Souls Salvation if ever we be saved from Sin by him And now what is written in the holy Scripture concerning Christ Jesus his Birth Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension we do believe as much as any men living and so I do believe Paul did who said Henceforth know we him no more It is also said by John He that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is born of God Do not the Papists Protestants and all Sects yea even Drunkards and Lyars that are shut out of the Kingdom and all called Christians confess to the truth of God's manifesting himself in the Body of Jesus which he had prepared to do the Will in even from the Birth to the Ascension But will or dares any man say that those are born of God because all those confess God manifested himself in Flesh and this Faith is as much as this Night-Watch-man pleadeth for or doth believe of Christ in point of Justification as his own words witness against him saying But rather in Christ without us for us To which I answer by living Experience That Christ Jesus who offer'd up his Body through the Eternal Spirit and pour'd out his Soul unto Death and tasted Death for every man those his Sufferings have a living Extent unto every one that doth believe and feel the Power by which he laid down that Body and took it up again and these are they unto whom he becomes a Saviour from Sin and gives them an Inheritance into Glory and those which believe only the offering up of the Body and feel not that eternal Power to save from Sin made manifest to them in his spiritual hight cannot have a real Sense and Feeling of the Benefit of his Death whatsoever they may pretend to of Faith in his Blood neither can they have Salvation to their Souls and this is my Answer as a Testimony to the true Faith and Christ of God a Quickning Spirit the same yesterday to day and forever who was Glorified with the Father before the World began from Everlasting to Everlasting the Rock of Ages and so Israel's Rock which they drunk of for they drunk of the Rock which follow'd them which Rock was Christ the Foundation of all the Generations of the Righteous in all Ages Christ
save from Sin and the power of Darkness and Death which rules more or less in the Hearts of all the Children of Disobedience to the Light and those be they that rebel against the Light they know not the Way thereof neither do they abide in the Path thereof for to him that believes it is a Path shining more and more unto the perfect Day and in it doth the Lord meet with Man thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness in thy Way and he that is the Light of men is the Way to the Father and he that knows him knows the Father also for he reveals the Glory which none of the Princes of this World by their earthly Wisdom can come to behold or ever could but we behold his Glory say they which had believ'd in the Light and were Children of it which by the wise Men were accounted Accursed and that they knew not the Law and so it is now To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others in Parables To you which believe in the Light and so receive the Power to walk in it and know the Way of it the Just Man's Path which is a shining Light and rebels not against it To you is the Father become a Fountain unsealed to you iâ— the Wel-spring of eternal Life opened to you is the Power given tâ—â—ec-me the Sons of God now are we the â—on of God but it doth not yeâ—â—ppear what we shall be now can we call God Father and cry to biâ—â— in â—iving Sense of his bâ—getting Power for dayly Bread that we may be strengthened with might in the inward Man and that his Kingdom may come which comes not by Observation as lo here and lo there neither doth it stand in Words but in Power and consisteth of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Spirit And that you may have Fellowship with us herein is the Travel of our Souls and that you may know him whom the Father hath given to be a Leader and a Commander to all that receive him the Light and quickning Spirit and him that hath this Hope purifies himself as God is pure and hath the Witness in himself by his continuing believing and Walking in the Light where the Spring of Eternal Power is witnessed to become the Sons of God without Rebuke and now if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we Fellowship one with another mark that and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins and this is the Fellowship which the Saints in Light have with God in the Church which is in God and one with another by one Baptism which is our entrance by the one Spirit into the one Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head World without end And this is a Plain Faithfull and True Testimony born through living Experience to the true Light of Christ Jesus which we in scorn called Quakers believe in and declare of to all men in the Love of God and of no other saith Luke Howard Here followeth a few Queries for this Night-Watch-man to Answer according to Scripture before ever he be by his Neighbour searched out the third time and found again as he hath twice been already a raking in the Bottomless Pit to fetch up Matter against the Light of Christ Jesus 1. VVHether the Light of Jesus be not the Light of Men and a Measure of the Spirit of Truth given to every Man as a Talent to profit withal and whether it doth not convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and is not the Condemnation of all that believe not in it seeing that the Condemnation is that Light is come into the World and men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are evil II. Whether ever we called Quakers ever declared of or testified to any other Light then that which John called the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World we saying with Paul That God hath shined into our Hearts with it to give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ and if we or any People else believe not in it then isâ—t not the Condemnation of all such but if we do believe in it we have the Witness in our selves even the Light Life according to the Scriptures which we do believe are to be fulfilled III. Whether all that oppose the Light in the Heart be not Opposers of the Life of Jesus seeing that in him is Life and his Life is the Light of Men and whether all that gain-say and oppose this Light of Jesus be not Fighters against God and Blasphemers against his Temple and the Worshippers therein and so have no part of the Inheritance with Saints in Light IV. What is the Word in the Heart that Man may hear it and do it and what is that Word which is said to be the Name of Christ Jesus the Power and Wisdom of God by which Word we may come to know him who is from Everlasting to Everlasting the same yesterday to day and forever V. What is the Manifestation of the Spirit which is given to every man to profit withal if it be not the Light within and what is the Light which lighteth every Man if it be not the Light within and what is the Quakers Light if it be not that which every Man is lighted with seeing thou makest a Difference crying out The Quakers Light and Wo be to him that walks by the Dark Light of the Quakers VI. What is the Grace of God and where doth it appear which brings Salvation that hath appeared unto all Men mark unto all men if it be not the Light of Christ in the Heart and whether thâ— Quakers have not a share in that Common Grace as well as others seeing it is to all Men then what difference between the Quakers Light and all mens in the first Gift to man VII What is that Leaven which the Woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole was leavened and what is the Grain of Mustard-Seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field the least of all Grains and grows the greatest of all Hearbs and what are the Fowls of the Air which lodge in the Branches of it And what is the Pearl hid in the Field and what and where is the Field and who is the Merchant Man and what is that he parts with for the Field and how and with what doth he dig deep to find the Pearl And what is the Groat the Woman lost and found again when she had sweeped her House and what is the House and Broom with which she sweeped And what is that Talent the Housholder gave to his Servants and then himself went into a far Country for a time and then at his return again called them to an Account And what is the Draw-Net cast into the
years backward to smite with the Fist of Wickedness and persecute the Innocent with your Tongues for want of power in your Hands to effect your Wills whose Opinions we well know and much more then is here said and what is here said is not there a cause for it let the Unbyassed in Heart and Mind judgâ— in the Case and let the Lord judge who judgeth not as man in the Fall judgeth but will judge Righteous Judgement But to return Now this Man your Root is gone and many which knew him not are gotten into his Form crying up your Water-Baptism as the Jews did Circumcision and a Temple with other things which God commanded in its Day as was Baptism to John which was to decrease but the one Baptism of Christ by the one Spirit into the one Body was to increase as John testified of him and stands a Witness in the Holy Scriptures against you all And so we say There is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism to be contended for and to be lived in by all who are of the Church which is in God of which Christ Jesus is the Head World without end when all things which are seen shall have an End And this Testimony lives in my Heart for God That it is neither Baptism nor not Baptism in Water that availeth any thing no more then Circumcision but a New Creature here read yourselves and as many as walk according to this Rule to wit of the New Creature Peace be unto them and to the whole Israel of God and now Wisdom is justified of her Children and every Tree is known by its Fruit so are you to all whose Eyes are open to see your Folly and Envy in raking Ten Years back as if you had sate brooding the Cockatrice Egg all this time to hatch forth the Serpent's Seed of Envy to come behind and bruise the Heel of an Innocent People which have deny'd and do deny and all along our Principle hath been against such spirits as C. Bayly's was of Ten Years since and is of now But Richard Hobbs who takes to himsâ—â—f the name of Pastor of the Baptists in Dover sâ—â—th in pâ—gâ— 7. of their Hatcht up Envy That â—f the Quakerâ— should deâ—â— Charles Bayly to be owned a very eminent Man amongst them at the time of his Imprisonment that then they will render themselvâ—◠〈…〉 Persons that ever professed Religion Thus Caperaâ—â—◠〈…〉 exâ—lts himself as it he spoke Truth and knew all the Qâ—â—â—â—â—s Minds at that time but his Anger over-ruliâ—g his Knowledge 〈◊〉 to seek of his Proof although he seems to provâ—â—t by his comâ—â—â— on Lords Day after as he saith to the Prison and there saw C. B. and most of the Quakers in Town with him and he Pray'd and some of them kneeled A poor Proof He there neglects relating That several of he Men Friends were then Prisoners in Dover Castle and besides amongst them at Liberty there were some which did not own C. Bayley so much as R. Hobbs reporteth of though to him it was not declared and besides Anne Howard my Wife I being then a Prisoner in the Castle did so far disown him that she sent up to London to the Elders of Friends and gave them an Account of his mad Actions who sent down two Friends to look after him and they testified against him when they saw him this Friends did not acquaint the Baptists with who we knew waited for Mischief but Friends Care was of him to preserve him if possible and to restore him in the Spirit of Meekness and Love as our Duty is according to Scripture but when no Recovery can be then deny'd as he was and is to this day And how can be charge the Principle or Body of our Friends with him save Envy it self And besides those Friends which chiefly were with him in the Prison were young Convinced and tender and could not easily discern and afraid to judge not knowing what to say but to us in the Castle Prison when they came up to us they would speak as it was but this did not we see meet to acquaint the Baptists with but rather endeavoured to get him to London which was done in order to his Recovery so that Friends are clear of him in the sight of God and according to Scripture although the Baptists in envy seek to lay Stumbling-blocks in the way of the Simple by it so do transgress the Law of God and Scriptures which they in words call their Rule which say Thou shalt not lay a Stumbling-Block in the way of the Blind but shalt fear thy God But they shew their Spirit to the full and the Lord judge between us and them for his Seed's sake And surely if these men had been in the dayes of Christ and the Apostles they would have done as the Jews did lay blame to the Life and Doctrine of them because of Miscarriages in Judas and others of which the Scripture declares much and that through them the Name of God was blasphemed but surely the Blasphemers were to bear their burden from the Lord as well as the Cause-givers and so musâ— all now for the Lord will not be mocked but as every one sows so must he reap even the fruits of their own doings and so must you for all your Blasphemy against the Light of Jesus which we declare of which every man is lighted withal according to the Scriptures though you presumpuously sometimes call it Natural and scoffingly and enviously the Quakers dark Light with many more blasphemous words as the Jews of old did in whose steps you are found walking and whose works you are found doing in the spirit of envy which said This is the Heir come let us kill him that the Inheritance may be ours now he that envyeth is a Man-slayer or Murderer and we know that no Murderer hath Eternal Life abiding in him and we may justly desire of the Lord to be delivered from such unreasonable men which so shew your Teeth as very ready to bite if you had but power crying out in a publick Assembly of Baptists in Dover That he which answered your false Accusations of eight or mine years Envy deserv'd to have his Ears nail'd to the Pillory for only his setting two Letters for his Name which shews your spirit to all wise men sufficiently And therefore let your Profession be what it will the body of death is standing in you in which the Persecutor and Murderer lives for how unlike a true Christian are your works in raking for matter ten years back to beget in people an evil Opinion of the Quakers and what will you get by it amongst the wise in Heart but shame and contempt for our Rock is not as your rock is as late experience hath shown our Enemies themselves being Judges and now you shew what seed you are of by biting at our Heels and smiting us with the Fist of Wickedness and persecuting us with your Tongues
for want of power laying to our charge his spirit which we have deny'd ten years ago O ye Fools so soon as ever the King gives you a little Liberty to meet where you were afraid of man to meet but a little time since and so crept into Corâ—ers is this the glorious beautifullest Fruit you have to appear with surely this is not the Wisdom which is from Above which is â—irst Pure then Peaceable and easie to be entreated but that wisdom which is from Beneath where the Serpent's life is which is earthly sensual and devilish which bites at the Heel Surely Dust is and shall â—e the Serpents meat and upon his Belly shall he go all the days of his life â—ere read your selves if you can understand what it means saith â—e who is a true Friend to all mens Eternal Peace Dover the 9th day of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard A Postscript This Baptist Pastor and as many of his Flock as are of his mind would have all people to believe That the spirit by which C. B. was acted when he hâ—d err'd in his heart from God was and is the spirit by which all the Quakers are led by as the very Principle of their Religion This is the thing which his printing is for to possess people with a Belief of and he thinks in his Serpent's Wisdom that he hath made it sure enough in saying That he was owned an eminent Quaker at the time of his Imprisenment and running out to which I have Answered already how he was then looked upon by Friends whom he reputes to be a Poor Misâ—led and Deluded People but in that Way which he accounts Delusion to wâ—t Believing in the Light of Jesus which shines in the Heart and 〈◊〉 manifest in every mans Conscience do we worship God in even in thâ—â—â—pâ—â—it and in the Truth which the Devilis out of and all which do his works of Envy And therefore something is yet in my Heart to sâ—eâ—k t◠〈◊〉 spirit of Envy in the Baptist Pastor as he stiles himself and that on thâ— wise Christ Jesus was glorified with the Father before the World was and in time manifested to the World in that Body which the Father had prepared him to do his Will in whose Name is call'd the Word of God by which the World was made who took upon him the Seed of 〈◊〉 and declar'd to be the Son of David according to the Flesh but â—he Son of God according to the Spirit by the Resurrection from the deaâ— who had all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him by which he gave Commission to his Apostles or Messengers to Baptize into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which is into the Nature and Life of each which is one divine Nature and these three being one in Nature and Beeing and every one which is herein baptized knows the Father and the Son bâ— the Spirit which to know is eternal Life which is to increase in which they also know John's Ministry and Baptism which was to decrease else there must be two perpetual Baptisms but there is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism which is to be contended for and lived in by all who are of the true Church which is in God the Father of Spirits and of our Lord Jesus Christ the second Adam the Quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven who in his Body prepared him to do the Will of God in went up and down doing good and chose Twelve and one of them was a Devil not a Devil when he chose him Mark that for when he had part of the Ministry then a Servant of God but he erred in his heart and fell away and it was said Let his Habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his Charge let another take What now Baptist Pastor wouldst thou not here have judged all because he walked and professed among the rest of the Disciples and yet afterwards in eating and drinking with them was called a Devil by him that had chosen him into his Service before in which he had so walked that each Disciple was ready to question himself Is it I and Is it I here would not thy spirit have said Ah! you are all alike led by one spirit here see thy spirit and face thou blind Pastor And Peter he deny'd his Master and cursed and swore he knew him not would not thy enviâ—us spirit have said Ah! they are all alike and led by one spirit for all â—hey have been a preaching up the Light yet would not thy Pharisaical â—pirit have condemned all for Peter and though he found a place of Repentance what is that to thee and thy judgment against the Truth in this â—ase for Judas found no more place then C. B hath yet found and â—et he had a part and might be and was reckoned a Disciple as well by â—he rest of the Disciples as C. B. was reckened a Quaker by some of the Quakers for to some he was manifest as I said before though you Baptists knew is not And then Demas he forsook Paul and embraced â—he present World what wouldst thou have said less then Ah! they are â—ll alike led by one spirit let them profess what they will for those â—hich said the Apostles turn'd a the World up-side down and contradicted â—nd blasphemed their Doctrine What do you Baptists in this your Work â—iffer from them And those which had the Form and not the Power â—hich were to be turned away from what would thy Jewish spirit â—ave said Ah! they are all alike led by one spirit for they speak â—like and act alike as this blind Pastor said Charles Baily did â—â—st as the Quakers in all things both in Words and Actions â—herefore all one spirit said he And then John said They went â—ut from us because they were not of us that it might be made â—anifest they were not all of Us He doth not say They had never â—een among them Mark that but They were not of them â—ere wouldst not thou have been the Accuser of the Brethren and in â—nvy have been ready to have â—rinted against them and have â—aked Ten Years back to have proved them that went out from them to have been of them at such a time and at such a time and especially at that time when they held out their Golden Cup of Profession in good words as you do Here may you see your selves if the God of this World hath not blinded your Eyes And then in the Churches there was some Fault found with the most of them in some things if thou Pastor of Dover-Baptists hadst been in those dayes and heard of it would not this thy spirit have said It is all their Principles and one spirit leads them all as thou dost say concerning the Quakers against whom thou watchest for Evil both in words and action and then bringst it forth Ten Years after it is done so much out of Time that it
was high time it had been buried long since that it might have been rotten before now but now to Print such long-past things shews thy spirit and thy self to be but a Woolf in the Sheep's Clothing and so a very unfit Pastor to over-look a Flock and especially the Flock of Christ when thou art alwayes a snarling at our Heels as the Serpent's Nature is bringing back Blows of Ten Years old and of that which we are no more to be charged with then the Saints of old as before declared might be with the false spirits which were once amongst them and then went out into the World as C. Baily is gone Now all had a beginning of the Work in themselves before they went out from the Church and at the first appearance of that spirits working in the Mâ—stery of Iniquity and transforming of it self as an Angel of Lâ—ght for to â—udge a whole Body and Church of People to be all led by that spirit is not this to be the Accuser of the Brethren and especially when that people deny testifie against that spirit in due time as you Baptists know in your own Conscience we have done is not this Wickednesâ— and Envâ— drunk in by you as an Ox drinks in Water and surelâ— if you had not made your selves drunk with the Whore's Cup of Abominations you must needs have been Wiser Men but having drank deep the dreggs so stick in your Throats that makes you thus vomit up your own shame and that Nature nothing will clense you of short of the Divine Name of Christ Jesus which leadeth to God but you in the Old Man's Nature and Envious Holiness can get the words to talk of and profess in the Ravening Nature feâ—ching up such old Matter against the Quakers of Ten Years standing and Print it as if People should believe it were now our Principle Spirit and Practice against which with the Pastor and his Flock which have a hand or consent to it we have a Testimony for the Lord to bare in the Truth which is Christ Jesus our Light and Life For he that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life he which hath the Son hath the Father also unto whom be Everlasting Praise And blessed are they which are not offended in Christ Jesus the Light of men who is the Foundation that God has laid and chief Corner-stone of this Age as in Ages past though the wise Master-builders refuse now to build thereon as the Generations of old did but now is the Lord a taking of the Wise in their own Craftiness with the little Foxes which destroy the Vineyard from and by whom Offences come but We be to them by whom they come because if they do not fall on this stone Christ Jesus and so be broken to pieces it will certainly fall on them and grind them to powder when there shall be none to deliver Therefore the Wise in Heart will prize their time whilst it is called to day and whilst they have the Light to believe in it that so they may be the Children of it lest darkness comes upon them and so their feet stumble upon the dark Mountains even at noon day for Light was in Goshen when Darkness was and is in Egypt even such darkness as may be felt of Sodom and Egypt spiritually so called where our Lord was and is Crucified he that can read let him understand and prize his day and live to God and not to himself that so in all things God may he glorified in all and through all and over all who is Blessed forever and forever Amen saith The 14th of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard THE Water-Baptists Reproach REPELD Being A further REPLY Answering a Defence of R. Hobbs to his pretended Impartial Narrative of one C. Bayly hereto a pretended Quaker A Story of 11 years standing IN Defence of an Answer to the said Narrative clearing the People call'd Quakers of the Water-Baptist's Calumny and Abuse blabbed out against them By T. R. Printed in the Year 1673. TO THE Impartial Reader HAving lately read a Pamphlet whose Epistle to his Reader is subscribed Richard Hobbs weighed the Arguments and consider'd the Tendency of that Discourse I could do no less then write a few Lines as reasonâ—ble Remarks upon it The Piece is averred by the Author to be a Sober Reply to Luke Howard which had the Author perform'd he neither had thus abused thee nor occasion'd me this Trouble And truly Reader I must tell thee I have not often met with more Impertinency or Abuse wrapt up in so small a Fardle which confirms me that the Promise of a Sober Reply in the Front of his Pamphlet was to Gild the Poyson-Pill to swallow the more glib without which Artifice I doubt not but he 's sufficiently sensible the Palate of this Age would not easily touch much less take his Potion How considerable Richard Hobbs is amongst his Brethren I determine not but as a Prâ—acher and Water dipper at Dover amongst them of his Perswasiâ—n he is exercised and has been for some years past and writ a Supplement to a strange Prodigy or Miracle pretended to be wrought by his brother R. James a Preaching Dipper or Water-Baptist in Lincolnshire The first piece of Abuse I mean that out of Lincoloâ—shire presentâ— the World with a Miracle and I must say a strange one too a Leprosie and diseased Family miraculously cured by them whose known and owned Belief and Principle are that Miracles are ceased which exceeds the very Power of Christ's Apostles that could not so much as cure the Lunatick having not Faith Mat. 17.16 17. And gain that they should he so kind to a Quaker and his Family as to cure them whom of all Persons they hate and which of all Persons they say have not Faith is beyond all Bounds of Romance And this usher'd in as a late piece of strange Providence and Finger of Heaven of few days or weeks standing before publication although the Cheat was Eight or Nine some say Twelve Years past acted by those Water-Baptists and now brought to light to their Shame and their Sophistry discovered by W. S. in Answer to Ralph James his Subterfuge c. to which I refer the Enquirer But to return to R. H. whose Sober piece as he would insinuate it to be I have now under hand and shall as a Friendly Reader to whom he directs his Defence of a pretended Narrative formerly publish'd concerning Charles Bayly sometimes a Prisoner in Dover make such reasonable Remarks and Observations as may give thee to understand the Author's Drift and Depth in his former and renewed appearing in Print against us and by which the Impartial and Vnprejudiced may judge Whether it be a Sober Râ—ply or an Envious Retort to his Opponent whether writ in Love or in â—â—â—roach whether in solid and sound Judgment or an airy and corrupt Mina And I affirm the Matter will
not escape the Judgments of the Lord who hatest the Light and comest not thereto for Reproof But certainly thou comest up to if not exceedst the vilest of Men to charge gross Miscarriages upon that which many of thy own Party acknowledge God's Gift and good in its place they will at least say It s the Light of a Natural Conscience or of the Mosaical Law or the Reliques of that Impression that was in our first Parents which shews Moral Duties and to know there 's a God c. But sayes this Water Baptist it leads them to Enormities which yet he neither has nor can prove I must acknowledg that if he takes this for good Argâ—ment If a Person having been Water-dipt and owned the Water-Baptist Faith and whilst amongst them commits one or other Enormous Crime or Wickedness for which they disown him or cast him out of their Fellowship or Communion if the Cause of his Miscarriages must be charged upon their Faith-Ordinances and not his Disobedience to what he profest then R. Hobbs deals with us as he would be dealt withal else not Again the Episconalian Presbyter Independent Water Baptist c. all pretend the holy Scriptures to be their Rule for Faith and Worship daily Miscarriages being acted and fallen into by Persons under those Names or Distinctions shall it be said See what Enormities the Holy Scriptures lead them into No nothing less no more is the Light of the Son of God to be charged by Reason of him who professed his Truth but held it in unrighteousness but as the Scripture saith If we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we Fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all Sin So the Light is clear from R. Hobb's his dark Impositions and our Fellowship clear from him and all such unfruitfull Workers of Darkness But to close his Charge he exhorts against the Light within Terming it the dark Imaginations of our own Heads and rather to follow the Council of the Apostle Peter which he Sophistically words thus we have a more sure word of the Prophets saith he meaning the Scriptures to which we do well if we take heed mark as to a Light that shineth in a dark place c. when as our Translation is word of Prophecy and not Prophets as the Water-Baptist insinuates and whence he comments that the word of Prophecy there spoken of is the Scriptures and not the Testimony of Jesus Rev. 19.10 the Spirit of Prophecy although the Latin and Greek as well as English has it word of Prophecy Lat. verbum Propheticum and the Greek 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 And if at this rate he can for his wicked End thus make bold with the holy Scriptures I Question not but he will wrest and expound his Opposers words to the like Purpose yet I doubt not but to his own shame and Confusion which I shall descend to examine 4. That I may not wrong R. Hobbs who truly speaks the Substance of his matter at the first take his own words at large saith he This Quakers Looking Glass is false it presents two Faces one as if they did another as if they did not own Charles Bayly for an eminent Quaker And that this is so see what he saith Pag. 10 viz. some new converted Friends saith he did own Charles Bayly But the Men-Friends saith he meaning himself and three or four more Prisoners in the Castle did not own him so much Here 's the Water-Baptists Charge naturally dividing it self into these particulars which I shall briefly examine and answer 1. R. Hobbs affirms that L. Howard in Pag. 10 of his Book should say that some new converted Friends did own Charles Bayly viz. for an eminent Quaker 2. But the Men-Friends meaning himself and three or four more Prisoners in the Castle did not own him so much 1. Then to the first Charge that L. Howard saith that some new converted Friends did own C.B. for an eminent Quaker I Answer that in Pag. 10. or any other page of his whole Book there is not any such matter or any such Expression of L. Howard nay so much from it and L. H's words so far distant to what this Impostor would impose that they are clearly otherwise for Luke reciting R Hobbs his Expression in his Letter of June 10 1672. Where Hobbs alledges Pag. 17. of their Narrative that if the Quakers should deny Charles Bayly to be owned as a very eminent Man amongst them at the Time of his imprisoment that then they will render themselves the falsest Persons that over professed Religion Which Averment of the Water-Baptist L. Howard fully answers and at the Close of his Discourse to that Point he tells them Amongst them at Liberty which then few were there were some which did not own C.B. so much as R. Hobbs reporteth of which Luke descends to particulars to shew Which way of Answer to the Water-Baptists Charge is both proper and full giving not the admittance to his Constructions much less to affirm that Luke Loward saith Some own'd him to be a very eminent Man amongst them 2. The Water Baptist charges L. H. for saying the Men Friends meaning himself and three or four more Prisoners in the Castle did not own him so much 1. Here R. Hobbs turns Critick advancing his bald Criticisms to such a bulk that they bear the Burthen of his ensuing Discourse Not so much four or five times repeated in two Pages yet an absolute Forgery Had the Man spoke this only to his Watery Auditory it might upon his ipse dixit have passed for Orthodox but he must give us leave to tell him that he by his Lines in Print has horridly wronged his Opposer and as considerably abused his Reader for L. Howard has neither word or Sentence that imports any such matter as he most audaciously charges nay so far were the Men from little or more joyning with C. Bayly in Prayer which is the Water-Baptist's charge of owning of him that they had not Liberty of Access to him being then Prisoners in Dover-Castle yet insinuates the Water-Baptist from this and that as the words of L. Howard The Men owned him but not so much Certainly the Man was hard put to it that thus straind to ease himself could not self-Evidence of this Antiquated Relation against an Apostate separated from us so many Years ago have been a Probatum sufficient to have decided the Controversie betwixt us but it must be thus redoubled not only once nor twice but with more renewed Instances of Lying Abuse and Imposture to the Shame of himself and Sorrow of the Flock to whom he affirms to be a Pastor 2. And out of these very words so much has this mighty Artist framed the very Pillets of his Building so by Theft and Violence makes be a Fortress against us Remember R. Hobbs though stoln Waters be sweet her Guests be in the Depths of Hell
Certainly had R. Hobbs taken a dose of Opium he could not have more intoxicated his Brains then he has by this Occasion of Contest And to see an instance hereof take his own Words 3. In pag. 1. of his Reply speaking of his Antagonist we know not saith he but that he owned Bayly as much as the Rest did well them where 's the Owning Said R. Hobbs pag. 1. It appears by their then affirming and justifying him to be led by the True Light as they did by their hearing him preach and devoutly joyning with him in prayer Is this proof sufficient Said R. Hobbs pursuing the Question If this be not a sufficient proof they own'd him I know not what is or can be sufficient nor do I know any Rule the Quakers have by which I shall know when they own one another Here our water-Baptist tells us if this be not the Quakers Rule â—o own one another he 's at 's wits end for he knows no other But what will not he turn back and shew us his other side yes after R. Hobbs has told his Reader this fair Tale that L. Howard own'd C. Bayly as much as any and the only proof of owning him was by joyning in Prayer c. and if that was not sufficient Proof he knew not what was he bringing again an Objection of L. Howard that he and some more were in Prison did not own him so much observe L. Howard uses not that Expression of so much but its Hobbs his Forgery which Negation of L. Howard the Author thus answers If by so much you mean you did not joyn with him in his Devotion I grant it for your Restraint from him hindered you in that What 's now become of the only owning all this so much faln in the Dirt by a down-right contradiction How well then our Water-Baptist has proved his Charge upon his Antagonist I leave it to the Considerate Reader But more of Confusion I have not often found in so brief a Writer And I cannot but take notice of this Impostors Confidence that in despight of all his forgeries and lying Citations of L. Howard's Answer to his first confused Relation yet he 's so audacious to affirm that he says no more of Luke then he himself confesseth when Luke Howard's words sentences and expressions are as opposite to the Water-Baptist's protests and averments of them as Light to Darkness it self R. Hobbs let me advise thee as a Friend to receive Luke Howard's Book and thy own Reply and pass Just Judgment upon thy own Work if not give me thy Reason Let not thy Zeal and rage against us so blind thy understanding to produce such monstrous effects and after thou hast inspected thy own untimely Birth and seen as well as thy Reader of how little weight thy way of Argument is to rectifie the mistakes or resolve the Doubts of the unprejudiced and unbyassed Inquirer at this day Answer me whether if thy old piece of envy and new-vampt story of C Baily were really true as to him-wards what do's it more concern us then the many hundreds that about the year 1660. and since Apostatized from you yea many of your Pastors and Teachers that have Revolted and some to that Perswasion you frequently stigmatize us with all as being most obnoxious to the Gust of the people We have generally forborn to put them and their Miscarriages in Print as being weak Arguments to found Religion knowing that as well in the primitive times and the first Apostolick dayes as in these Latter Ages there were still such who made Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience and caused the Name of God and his Truth to be blasphemed and evil spoken of and so it is now But why dost thou quarrel that an Account of our Friends dealing with C. B. was not daily brought to thee It s more then the Roman Priest's themselves desire of persons not nearer related then thou and us Must thou be a Confessor else no plain dealing must we acknowledge to thee all passages of Christian Care to one or other else justifie an Evil-doer strange Inference It s scarce that time of Day when thou hast power command it till then thou and thy Calumny rest together I cannot but observe how natural it is for this water-Baptist to correct his Antagonist yet himself double guilty of being more like a Scold then a sober Christian truly next after a personal knowledge of both I recommend their Books to the Considerate Reader who may with ease determine where the fault lies besides Luke Howard's solid behaviour in Dover has not bespoke him the scurrilous term of wanton and lewd Ranter as this wicked water-Baptist most falsly insinuates whose upright Life and sober Conversation never merited such unjust dealing from this Traducer or any other And so I Justly Charge it upon him as a false Accusation And to evidence what spirit he is of the very dialect he writes in and his own Work will easily Discover Have we more Modest Expression from him then the vilest or debauchest of men canting at us as if meer Lascivious and wanton It he mentions the Women of our Friends guibing at them thus Their Female Companions and such like airy Epithetes if Sufferers upon the quaking account and quaking Principles with many more out of that Treasury of Envy and Hatred which in store he has long horded up against us and now belches it out as an unsavoury stink in the Nation I have read over the whole Discourse of two Sheets and truly I think the Press is not very often troubled to so little or so ill purpose and did not the Covetousness of the Printer exceed the Ingenuity of the Writer I Judge he had never passed hâ—â— pittiful Pamphlet As to what is more in his piece it s either such as falls under the apparent nullity of the Forgers Arguments or with the confused heaps of his meer Imposturs and Abuse And if any thing else remains deserving Regard 't is in the Knowledge of such whose personal acquaintance with the Forger and Fact can more properly answer if not stop the Mouth of this envious and confused Babler with whom I leave him and his Piece as they see cause for further Reproof and Examination London the 1st Mon. 1673. Thomas Rudyard A Postscript THe Word of the Lord came unto the true Prophet Ezekiel against the false and foolish Prophets who followed their own Spirits and therein prophesied Lyes and false Divinations and caused people to Err And he said Wo unto the Foolish Prophets who follow their own spirit and have seen nothing And God said Mine Hand shall be upon the Prophets that see Vanity and that divine Lyes they shall not be in the Assembly of my People Ezek. 13.1 2 3 6 7 8 9. And hath raised True Prophets in this Age to cry against the False Prophets and particularly against Charles Bayly who was many Years ago judged and denyed by the Prophets and Servants of the Lord because he prophesied Lyes and false Divinations by the Leadings of his own unclean spirit which ruled in his deceitful Heart and because of these things he hath been shut out of the Assemblies of God's People in Scorn called Quakers for many years although he sometimes appeared amongst them as the false Apostles and deceitful Workers did in the dayes of the true Prophets and Apostles appear amongst them and as the true then judged and denyed the false so have we done unto C. B. in and with the Light Life and Spirit of God and of his beloved Son Jesus Christ and in and with the same we do and shall judge all Dreamers and Prophesiers of Lyes and false Divinations who follow their own corrupt sinful and unclean spirits from which the Mysteries and Secrets of the holy pure God lie hid And now Richard Hobbs who sayst That C. B. was led by the Quakers Spirit in that Delusion which he was given up to If by the Quakers Spirit thou dost mean the Quakers Light which thou so much scoffest at which I have cause to believe by thy own words in thy Book thou dost mean then I do tell thee thou dost speak Blasphemy against God who is Light and against his beloved Son who is the express Image of his Substance Brightness of his Glory For I do tell thee and all others unto whom these Lines may come That we the People of God called Quakers have never preached up or directed any man or woman unto any other Spirit or Light wherein and whereby Salvation is brought unto the Immortal Souls of Men and Women but the Spiritual Light of God and Christ who is that Light who lights every man that comes into the World John 1.9 and 8.12 1 John 1.5 6 7. God who commanded Light to shine out of Darkness hath shined in our Hearts to give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ and his Treasure have we in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 4.6 7. W. G. THE END
he writes one thing and meanes another which shews a Tongue without a Bridle and his work to be with two Faces and by the Scriptures which he calls his Rule is he found in the vain Religion My last Testimony it needed no Rubbing for I here testifie again it is clear Truth and clear enough to manifest the Deceit of him and those concerned with him in it and it is here offered again for him with other hypocrites to see their Faces in and also to the unbyassed mind and to answer both his pieces of Envy Lyes Scoffs and Mocks and were I not constrained for the Light and Truths sake I should rather chuse Silence then to Answer either of his pieces of dirt which at best is but Food for the Serpent and his Seed to feed upon Again in Page 9. he accuses me with being a lewd Ranter in Dayes past Now behold his Envy for I have believ'd in the Light of Christ and have been called a Quaker about Seventeen or Eighteen Years and known to my Neighbours from my Childhood which is above Fifty Years and therefore the less Answer may serve this Man's Envy who is a fierce Accuser and a worse Judge and my answer is by Way of Challenge to him and all his Abettors in Envy To prove in Dayes past any thing against me more then the foolish Course of the World which the Men thereof through Profession take a Liberty in yet short of bodily Vncleanness Murder and such like gross Enormities but if I had been as bad as he renders me and worse also to wit If seven Devils Mary Magdalene's State had been my Condition why should his Eye or any Man's be evil because the Lords is good She loveth much because much was forgiven her And now from sensible Experience to our own Souls we can testifie for God That his tender Mercies is over all his Works and reaches to the end of the Earth follows Man calling to him in his vile Estate yea in the high-Wayes and Hedges when the proud Pharisaical Professor refuseth the Wedding-Dinner though bidden and invited as this Nights Watch-Man with many more have been and have done Then he goes on in his former Manner in battering against his own raised up Bulwark saying I contradicted my self in the Relation of Nicholas Woodman in Page 9. because I said Many were baptized by William Kiffin This is not Contradiction at all to my saying Nicholas Woodman was the first Baptist Preacher raised up in the County of Kent and so I say again for they are my Words in my Book to which I refer the Reader and then Judge who is the Two-Fac'd Man and a Perverter of Words and compare my Testimony to his and then judge whether he hath answered singlely or may not be justly called a Watchman of the Night by his vailing of himself with his Night-Garments under a Hood with two Faces and then Harlot like wipe his Mouth as if all were well and lays his Lyes to my Charge of which I could make a large Bundle and of slanderous Aspersions and scoffing Language which his untimely Birth is filled with I have been short considering the large Advantage I might and could have taken as for Lyes I can prove at least Six or Seven more then I have answered unto And then his slanderous Words of Woodman's being my Brother and plucking out mine own Bowels to besmier them as for Woodâ— an I deâ—iâ—d him in Time past before I lest the Carnal Baptists and their Carnal Worship and beggerly Elements which he continued in long after preaching up and down so no Brother of mine but theirs Root and Branch And as for the plucking out of my Bowels an Inhuman or Unchristian like Word to besmeer them in saying That he was the first Baptist Preacher raised up in the County of Kent for they were my Words which I still affirm for Truth though by this Night-watch-Man Perverted into another Sence now wherein are they besmeered by me by calling him their Root more then they have fouled themselves by continuing in his foot-steps only in this they differ he was for the Particular Election and they for the General as more at large may be seen in my Looking-Glass And as for my being a lewd Ranter as he slanderously and maliciously accuses me if it were true as it s notoriously false that would not now help his bad cause for what saith the Apostle such were some of you but now ye are wash'd but ye are sanctified and you who were sometimes Darkness are now Light in the Lord c. Yet this blind Watch-Man thinks in his dark Heart that his accusing me for Time past for want of present matter to accuse me now of or ever since I have been call'd a Quaker will help his bad and dark Cause and Pharisaical Profession or crying out I thank thee O Father that I am not as this Publican is or once was c Tedious would it be to answer all at large but this day is this Scripture Isa 28.21 22. fulfilled upon this Mocker God is a doing of his Work his strange Work and bringing to pass his Act yea his strange Act now therefore be ye not Mockers lest your Bands be made strong And all whose Eyes are in their Head may clearly see this Man's Bands of Darkness made strong indeed that dares so Presumptuously Preach and Print against the Life and Light of Christ Jesus and this is all he hath to cover himself with and Hole this Fox hath to creep into to wit in calling it the Quakers Erroneous Light and the Dark Light of the Quakers but that Cover is too narrow to hide him under and that Bed is too short to stretch himself on and will be so found in the Day of the Lord when his Blasphemy shall be charg'd upon his own Head But now I shall return to his three Particulars in pag. 1. to prove C. B. in Fellowship with the Quakers and led by their Spirit saith he First Bayly Prophesied saw false Visions and pretended to Miracles 2dly He was then in Fellowship with the Quakers 3dly He was led by their Spirit Now if his last be false as it is on which his whole Building depends and by the Truth being removed then must all his Work and Labour fall as dirt cast into a Dunghil And that his last is false take this Answer as followeth Christ Jesus prophesied That false Prophets should arise and deceive many who transform themselves into many things like the true Prophets to deceive as their Father the Devil did those whose Minds are outward yea and if possible the very Elect whose Minds are inward yet who dare charge the true Apostles to be led by the same Spirit the false were except Cain and Ishmael's Off spring and the false Prophets under the Law that stole their words from their Neighbours and they ran and prophesied when the Lord never sent them and therefore they profitted