general and yet ye say it s verbatim But in this also not onely your falshood but also your confusion is so fully manifested that I need say no more but leave it to the Reader to judge But ye say It is for speaking against the Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and that they are not the Word of God nor rule of life and this ye would have understood to be verbatim though like the rest it will easily appear to be a parcel of falshood hypocrisie and deceit for besides your own confusions before mentioned in the Coppy delivered to me by Robert Simpson which he saith is true and ye 〈◊〉 testimony he is faithful it is thus Your speaking reproachfully of the pretious Scriptures of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and secondly one of the greatest plagues of the Land and thirdly affirming farther that it is not the Word of God nor rule of life Now let the Reader whose eye is opened judge how these agree The person sent to admonish at the same time or thereahouts gives it under his hand that what he writ out and delivered to me was a true Coppy of what he received And the whole company after they received an answer thereunto deviseth and publisheth another and say it is verbatim though it much differs from the former The latter saith the charge there mentioned was verbatim in these words Speaking reproachfully of the blessed Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls c. the former in these words Speaking reproachfully of the precious Scripture of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and aly one of the greatest plagues of the land The one puts both together The Scripture is blind and a plague the other divides them into two particulars and saith first a blind to souls and 2ly one of the greatest plagues of the Land the one that the Scriptures were blind the other that it is a blind the one that they were blind and a plague to souls and never mentions the Land The other that it is first a blind to souls and 2ly a plague yea one of the greatest plagues of the Land and mentions not souls The one saith The pretious Scriptures of truth The other the blessed Scriptures and mentions not the words of truth And yet if any man is given over to believe lies ye will perswade him all this is true and verbatim that is word for word according to the copy And that notwithstanding this lying spirit which is found in your mouths to which ye give heed ye are a Church of Christ or a mystical body a word of deceit from the bottomlesse pit which may be subject to this spirit as it plainly appears to all beholders ye are by what your selves have published And truly the day hath manifested you very much and ye cannot be hid but by the light your deeds of darknesse are and will be reproved and your pretended admonition farther manifested to be but studied accusations and from your father the devil who was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth Now as that which ye call your admonition and say ye did insert verbatim as a bundle of lies and confusion as hath been manifested so is that which ye call your proof for in page 13. ye say because I said those things that is to say your charge are studied accusations and from the father of lies c. ye shall therefore prove every tittle to be true And in page 18. ye say ye have proved every tittle to be true and clear and in page 26. your 3 Messengers who boast that they received their Commission from God to this work say that the things that they charged me withall are all true in every sillable of it as doth appear by the foregoing answer of the whole Church Now then if ye have not proved every tittle of your charge to be true and if it do not appear by your foregoing answer that every sillable of that with which your Messengers charged me is true then are ye proved both those that did send and those that were sent no Church of Christ but a company of lyars and false asserters But ye have not proved every title and every sillable thereof to be true and therefore are ye no Church of Christ but a company of lyars for first ye charged me for leaving the Church and now ye say that I have left the Church is true but no proof thereof have ye given neither is it true which ye say for the Church I have not left but to witness the Church I have left the harlot and that I have absolutely forsaken left and renounced fellowship with you in all your idolatrous heathenish wayes and worships which stand in the will and time of man and not in the will and power of God and by the mighty arm and power of the Lord am I separated from amongst you never again to have fellowship nor communion with you in those unfruitful works of darkness which by the light are reproved is granted else could I never know nor witness the Church of Christ which is in God the father But that ye are the Church of Christ is denyed and was denyed and by your fruits and what lodged in you were ye proved an harlot a synagogue of Satan c. which stands vvholly unansvvered by you And therefore it is not true but a lie to say I left the Church when I was separated from the Harlot that I might witness the Church But suppose it had been true that I had left the Church by vvhat have ye proved it Why onely your selves say it is so but that is no proof and yet this is more than tittles and syllables it is vvhole sentences ye a general charge not proved except vvhat the harlot speaks to save her head vvhen to judgement she is brought is to be believed and admitted as a proof But ye go on and say that my so doing hath drawn away some grieved others and opened the mouehs of many to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which is clear and plain and not a studied accusation but a real thing which hath been grief and sadness to the Church To which I reply if the Harlot or Synagogue of Satan might be believed in her own case when she speaks not truth then what ye say were of some value But from the Church have I drawn none nor been a grief nor sadness that I know to her with whom in some measure I have unity Neither do I know of any whose mouths I have justly opened to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which are pure and spiritual So that the whorish and adulterous harlot cannot see it who is grieved and sadned at my departure whose judgement is come and her torments from the living God are pouring and therefore hath she opened her mouth very wide and from her unclean fountain
generations past And then poor man what hath he to preach or to minister or with what can he quicken comfort and refresh poor souls and turn them to God as he speaks Well may he feed them with ashes winde and confusion with lying visions with a vision of his own heart And by a spirit of Divination may he cause them to erre from the right way like Balaam But with the bread of life the immortall food the power of God the life and quickning of the Spirit the hidden mysteries of the Gospel in which the glory of God is manifested he is not intrusted neither of it can he at all minister to whom it is hid and not opened nor revealed And are not all those blinde and like to fall into the ditch that are led by such a guide expecting to receive joy peace establishment comfort refreshment from him who is out of it all can do nothing vvell but is dry barren and empty in the pollution and defilement not purged cleansed nor sanctified nor adorned with spirituall gifts but is himselfe out of it all and gives it under his hand that it is so And how dares he say his record is on high and that many soules that lay weltring in their blood of ignorance before he came are now turned to God For although the children of the night and of darknesse may flatter and please themselves in their imaginations and lying visions yet how can he be an instrument to turn souls to God who himselfe is out of all c. as is before mentioned and can do nothing well nor knows that God to whom he pretends to turn souls for God is light and in him is no darknesse at all and those that turn souls to God turn them to the light for God is light but of this is he no Preacher but accounts it pernicious doctrine to bid people turn to the light And whereas he saith page 59. it is his daily care and work to preach the Kingdome of God freely to sinners and the Lord Jesus Christ as the vvay to the Kingdome and to invite and encourage poor soules to come into it I say his ignorance both of the Kingdome of God and of Christ the light which is the way is seen and comprehended For the Kingdome of God cometh not with observation but saith Christ who is the true light and the vvay to the Kingdome the Kingdome of God is within you and in his Kingdome he is vvho is light and he that is the vvay and the truth the same is the light that enlightneth every man that cometh into the world And all that are invited and encouraged to come into the Kingdome are invited and encouraged to come into it vvhere it is and that is within and not in outvvard observations and those that are encouraged to vvalk in the vvay that leadeth into the Kingdom are encouraged to receive and vvalk in the light vvhich is the vvay Christ Jesus the light of the vvorld and so all that preach the Kingdome of God preach it vvithin and all that ever preached Christ the vvay to the Kingdome preached the light for he is the true light But against all this hath Thomas Ewins declared not only his ignorance but also his enmity and saith to bid people turn to the light vvithin is pernicious Doctrine of it is he no Preacher and those that preach this Doctrine do shut up the Kingdome against themselves and others Alas poor blinde man vvhat a pittiful thing of a Preacher is he vvhose eye is so utterly darkned and made blinde by the god of the World to vvhom he turns or vvith vvhom he keeps multitudes of souls that novv the day is so much appeared he cannot see but is groping as in the night vvearying himself in his imaginations stumbling at the light which is his condemnation but the glory of Gods Israel vvho receive and believe in the same And whereas he saith he preacheth that Gospel of glad tydings which Christ gave Commandment to be preached to all Nations in which the everlasting love and good Will of God in Christ is declared to lost sinners I say that Gospel of which the Apostles of Christ were not ashamed is the power of God to salvation to all that receive his love and believe in the light but against all that walk after the flesh according to the course of this world in the imaginations of their hearts not believing in the light nor to it are obedient but hold the truth of God in unrighteousness the wrath of God is revealed and thorough the Gospel which is the power of God is tribulation and anguish ministred to every soul that doth evil and against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men and the Gospel of the grace of God teacheth to deny it which Gospel according to the Commandement of Christ is now preached not onely thoroughout this Nation of England and the domions thereof but in most or all other Nations I know in the world so that the chief Cities and Seats of the Pope and Turk are not exempted and the Ministers thereof have not loved their lives unto the death nor accompted any thing too dear or too much to suffer so they may but finish their testimony and the Ministry which by God is committed to them for the Elects sake and from other Heathens do they receive the like measure abroad as they do from their own Country-men at home and account it not grievous to suffer for the name of Jesus whilst the Ministers of Satan that work deceitfully destroying souls for dishonest gain are at ease in their wealthy Parishes and Lectures living in pleasure and idleness not serving the Lord but their own bellies and by pleasing words deceive the souls of the simple speaking evil of that they understand not persecuting the truth and evilly entreating the Messengers thereof for which they must give an accompt And for what he speaks of Mary Prince which he calls Mrs. Prince accusing her of envy hypocrisie railing reproaching jeering scoffing c. I say Alas poor man why had he not first pulled the beam out of his own eye before he had sought motes in anothers eye for Mary Prince for many years past hath had and still hath so large a witness not onely in his own conscience but in the consciences of many other her enemies of her meek sober and good conversation beyond many which he himself accompts the people of God that I need not say a word in her behalf but let wickedness be upon the head of the wicked and false accuser But for what is she accused as aforesaid why for this namely bearing true testimony against his deceit and as he saith called to the people at his Lecture and bid them beware of him for she had heard him say that he had not the Spirit of God To which I say I never read of any of the Ministers of Christ that were owners of a thing called a Lecture
will dispute your power but are proved an Harlot But I must tell you ye must prove your selves a Church of Christ by other manner of Arguments and Demonstrations of power then your meer saying it iâ— so or else no child of Light who walks in the Light and by it is guided can believe it whiles your fruits manifest the contrarie And what if ye that the Scripture may be fulfilled do hate reproach and separate me from your Companie and cast out my name as evil for the Son of mans sake who is the light of the World and hath enlightened every man that cometh into the World Is not this a blessing to me and am I not in that day to rejoyce and leap for joy my reward being great in Heaven Your fathers in like manner dealing with the Prophets Luke 6. And truly ye may spare your labour and save your threat'nings for your powerless pretences are to me as light as vanitie and not worth the mentioning And by the powerful arm of the good shepheard whose voice is heard am I eternally separated and gathered from amongst your ignorant and crooked waies never to return to Egypt again nor have fellowship with you in your unfruitful works which by the light are reproved Ye confess it is a sad sentence and spotted garment with which ye are cloathed and say ye durst not proudly boast as do others and presently justifie your selves and boast that ye never observed so much of the eviâ—s before mentioned in those now together as ye have seen in me and some of those that went away c. To which I say are ye not then wâ—ful hypocrites to profess your selves a Church of Christ and to walk according to his rule and boast of your faith and obedience and yet acknowledge ye saw pride hipocresie slandering envie back-biting railing lying c. which 〈◊〉 the evils there mentioned to break forth more in us then it did in any of you which truly is too too much and never reprove it nor manifest dislike thereof tell now that we are absolutely by the power of the Lord separated from amongst you and have born witness that your works and waies are evil and now ye tell the word those things which are but your lying accusations else why had ye not put them into your pretended admonitions It is like ye are hard put to it that to vail your selves ye must so commonly betake your selves to those refuges of lies And how can one believe a word ye speak who will seem to speak so solemnly and profess as ye say ingenuously things so absolutely false and untrue that by it ye may be vailed c. Truly ye want a bridle for your tongues and the pure fear of the Lord placed in your hearts which might prevent these distempers windie humours and Lying spirits c. In page twelve ye come to the five things in your admonition a coppy of which 〈◊〉 having by you therein ye insert verbatim and yet in numbring ye forget one and make but four In page twenty four ye say ye doubt not of the faithfulness of your Messengers and in page ten do commend Robert Simpson who was one of them for his integrity and godliness and in page thirty four Robert Simpson saith he did engage himself to write out a coppy of what ye did by them charge as sin upon me which he did truly and deliver to me so then since ye say ye insert it verbatim according to the copy and he saith he writ out and delivered to me a true coppy If what ye published and what he writ out and delivered agree not in every particular then is he or you or all together proved not the Church of Christ the pillar and ground of truth but an Harlot and a company of Hypocritical lyers and false asserters But what ye have published and what he writ out and delivered do not agree in many particulars Therefore are ye no Church of Christ but an Harlot For besides some small difference in the first particular which I shall not mention Robert Simpson saith Secondly your contemning and neglecting some of the Ordinances of Christ and this he saith is a true copie c. and ye say Secondly your contemning of some and neglecting of others of the Ordinances of Jesus Christ and this ye say if ye could be believed is verbatim c. And yet how much it differs let the Reader judge one saith your neglecting of some and contemning of others c. which is much different the one saith of Christ the other adds sayings of Jesus Christ But how comes this to pass that one saith it is a true copy and the other that they insert it verbatim and yet no better agreement The Reader may understand that after I had answered Robert Simpsons copie in my former book and manifested and laid open the deceit and Hypocrisie of this people and reproved them faithfullie and sharplie for pretending to admonish me for that of which themselves are guilty they betake themselves to the refuge of lies to be vailed publishing to the world another thing and say its verbatim And that they sent not to admonish me for neglect of water baptism but for speaking contemptuously against it and that I spake falsely and did them wrong in calling them hypocrites c. for charging me with neglect of water baptism which they say they did not but onely for contemning of it when under the hand of their messenger it appears as before that they sent to admonish me for neglect and and contemt of some of the Ordinances of Christ which said their Messengers were baptism in water and breaking of bread so that it appears evidently to be a plain and studied untruth and feigned thing and not verbatim according to the coppy and yet so impudent and void of the fear of God are they that they dare say they shall leave it to the God of Ordinances to judge c. O horrible falshood and deceit Oh impudent and hard-harted people not onely to speak and publish lies under your own hands one contradicting the other but to entitle the Righteous God to judge c. Thereby thinking to vail themselves and hide their shame but all in vain for the Lord is destroying the vail and the covering cast over all faces c. And ye are seen and comprehended who may read that he that speaketh lies cannot escape and that the lying lips and double tongue cannot stand in the presence of God And how dare ye then contrive and publish such filthie faise things and leave it to God to judge Do ye think he is altogether such a one as your selves c or is the scripture fulfilled upon you and there be none amongst you that understand it c. but are all gone out of the way the throat being an open Sepulchre and their tongues using deceit destruction and miserie being in your waies who the way of â—â—ace have never known
and no fear of God is before your eyes And to you may I return your own words that I stand almost amazed to think unto what an height of impudence and wickedness ye are allreadie come and whether may not poor fallen creatures run if God stop them not since ye arâ—â—â—â—eady so hardened 〈◊〉 Simson saith Thirdly your extream censoriousnesse and rash judgiâ—â—â—…nely of men abroad but also of the Church Mat. 7.1 Rom. 14. 〈◊〉 the Church of Christ an Harlot And ye say Thirdly your extream â—…tiousnesse and rash judging not onely of persons abroad but also of the â—â—urch contrary to Mat. 7.1 Rom 14.3 also your calling the Church an Harlot leaving out the word Christ in which the strength of all did lie But why were these words left out being ye say ye inserted them verbatim the Reader may take notice that after I had received the copy from Robert Simson of what ye had charged upon me viz. rash judging and calling the Church of Christ an Harlot I replied the charge was false and from the father of lies for I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot but do own it dearly but the Harlot is an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and so demonstrated by the spirit that acted you that ye were not the Church of Christ but an Harlot from which ye not being able to vindicate your selves betake yourselves again to this refuge of lies and say ye insert the charge verbatim when ye did it not but left out the main thing therein contained without which your charge hath little weight for though I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot yet I have both said and proved that ye who call your selves a Church are an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and do again plainly say and declare it so and might farther prove it were it needful which it is not since my former proof stands good and not controlled by you nor you giving proof that ye are a Church of Christ And I do once more say and affirm that your charge is false and from the father of lies who was a liar from the beginning And your labour might be saved in using arguments to prove that I said ye were an Harlot and not a Church I had so plainly published it But here ye would perswade the Reader I came in with mental reservations and ask is it honestie or any thing but deceit and hypocrisie because I said I did not call the Church of Christ an harlot but the people in Bristol c. To which I say were ye not quite blind and full of deceit and subtiltie ye might easilie see and know that I spake plainly and truly without your mentals and other carnal stuff when I said and manifested that I dearly owned the Church of Christ which were all living stones c. and did clearly bear testimony against you that ye were not so but an Harlot and herein I appear both just and honest towards the Church of Christ and towards the Harlot in hearing testimony to the former and against the latter in which no deceit nor subtilty appears but just dealing and all your equivocations and mental reservations as ye call them together with your shamelesse unchristian-like practises in which ye appear one with the black spirit of Ralph Farmer is denied together with all lies and the father thereof but the Church of Christ is lovely c. Robert Simpson saith Fourthly your asserting in the Church principles contrary to Truth as first That faith is an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and saith is all one Thirdly That Christ Jesus is not the object of faith And ye say Fourthly Your asserting in the Churches doctrines contrary to truth as first that we did not know what faith was and that faith was an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and Faith is all one Thirdly That Christ is not the object of faith Fourthly Your speaking reproachfully of the blessed scripture affirming they were blind and a plaâ—â—â— to souls and further saying that they were not the word of God nor the rule of life and this ye say is verbatim and therefore must be examined And first I find that the copy saith principles contrary to truth and ye say doctrines contrary to truth and that 's not verbatim But I take notice that I having given true answers to each particular aforesaid contained in the copie and published it in The skirts of the Whore c. which stands in sound and wholsome words unanswered by you by which your shame appears of which being sensible ye labour to recover your vail to hide your falshood and having given heed to lying spirits ye again betake your selves to your wonted refuge and say having the copie by you ye publish it verbatim And say First That we did not know what faith was every word of which is forged and feigned and not in the copie delivered to me and therefore well might ye say whether may not a poor fallen people run if God stop them not And it is no wonder ye began your book pleading for the kingdom of the Devil saying that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so the mystical body by which its like ye mean your selves who are not a spiritual bodie as the Church of Christ is may be subject to distempers and among many other things make mention of windy humors of pride and high mindedness and giving heed to lying spirits c. It s like ye had some sence what spirit ruled you to which ye intended to give heed and with what filth and falshood ye intended to fill your book and the lying refuge to which ye intended to betake your selves before ye drew such false conclusions in the beginning thereof But this is not all in the copie delivered to me in this fourth branch were inserted but three particulars which are before mentioned to which ye adde a fourth viz. your spâ—aking reproachfully of the blessed scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and farther saying they were not the word of God and ru'e of life and this ye say is verbatim notwithstanding that which here ye make as a fourth particular in the fourth general is in the copie a fifth general including three Particulars and so do your selves afterwards reckon it notwithstanding in the wisdom of God ye are lest to ensnare your selves and manifest it to all the world saying it is verbatim when ye have left one of your five things mentioned but the line next before It s like the pangs of a traveling woman are upon you who have so long cryed peace and safety to your selves that the sword of the Lord is upon you and your eyes utterly darkened that ye cannot see But the blind have so long led the blind that ye are all fallen into the ditch and under pretence of recovering a veil have manifested your shame and published things which ye endevoured to perswade the
To which I say There was a time in which many false witnesses were brought against him who was the truth and the light but they agreed not And when by the truth ye are examined it will be found that ye also are far from agreeing in testimony for proving what your selves affirme if your own testimony were admitted in your own case which it is not Ye say ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words And what words are they Not the same in the charge which ye say is verbatim but is much otherwise and so the charge is fall'n and false as the Reader may see And who are they that will affirme and set their hands to it Are they the whole company or but a part If it be the whole then many or most of you will affirme and set your hands to that which themselves have confest they never heard If it be but a part and not the whole then that which yee have already said is altogether false and untrue and your testimony invalid For what is said is said by the whole or else those that signed it are in this as in other things abhominable lyars Again in what ye say ye will affirme and set your hands unto there appears much uncertainty for ye say I clapt my hand on the book or table but on which I perceive ye are ignorant And ye say I said that booke or Scripture Now if ye so well remember the manner of speech as ye say ye doe it is much ye cannot remember the matter But having before accused me for saying the Scriptures were a blinde to soules and a plague to the Land Now ye say It was the booke or Scriptures that I said was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England Manifesting your selves to be at a losse and in confusion not able to say whether it were the Book or the Scriptures or what it was for indeed it was neither And so the charge or accusation is quite fallen and by your selves brought to nought And why are these words viz. one of the greatest plagues c. in England now added being left out in the place where ye say ye did insert verbatim Is here no designed subtilty and deceipt Is all proved Are here no tittles nor syllables neglected in the proof Or is what ye have published like to be true or fit to be believed Let the Reader consider it But ye say some of you sitting over against me it's like at the Table do well remember c. But why had ye not told me who these some were that sate over against me and do remember it For I know but four that were wont to sit with me at the Table and with three of them have I spoken neither of which could to my face say or affirme they ever heard me speak such things and then the some is but one and that is an hireling too a Diviner a deceitful worker that daubeth with untempered morter and cries peace peace to that to which the Lord speaks no peace and his testimony is little worth for if ye say he sate over against me at the Table when I spake such words Jane Frye contradicts him who is the only person besides himself that ever I heard or could learn had the shamelesse confidence to say she heard me speak these things with whom I had conference in the presence of other witnesse and demanded where it was spoke she replyed in mine owne house at a meeting I cold her it was much many others heard it not as well as she To which she replyed it was after the meeting was done and I was risen from the Table and stood out in the roome and there clapt my hand on the Booke and spake as before And that her selfe with her sister Hassard and her sister Anne Davis went out into the streets and bewailed it which I knowing not to be true sent to Anne Davis to enquire the truth of it by a relation of hers who answered that she never heard me speak such words nor any thing like it So that it is evident false witnesse do not agree for ye say some of you sitting over against me which must needs be at the Table upon which or upon the book ye say I clapt my hand when I spake But she saith it was after the meeting was done and I was gone from the Table in which is no agreement She said Anne Davis with her selfe and another went into the streets and bewailed it but Anne Davis denies that ever she heard it She said standing out in the room I clapt my hand upon the booke and said the Scriptures were a plague c. But ye say I clapt my hand upon the book or table and said the book or Scriptures were blinde and a plague but cannot agree whether it was a Book or a Table a book or Scripture And so are all in confusion being led by a lying spirit and able by agreement to prove nothing Besides ye say the book or Scriptures but in the copy delivered to me it was said the Scriptures of truth in which is no agreement Besides all this one of you being asked if ever he heard me speak those words answered that hee heard me speak to this effect That the Scriptures as men goe to worke with it making it a pattern of all manner of vice and wickednesse was one of the greatest plagues c. And being demanded then why ye had not laid the charge in the very words that were spoken he was silent as to that and said he had already purchased jealousie from some in the Church as one that was in danger c. And this I have under the hand of him to whom it was spoken Now let all to whom true judgement is known judge what differing testimonie here is and how like it appears to that of old in which no agreement could be against the innocent And how desperately-wicked ye appear under a cloak of Religion accusing for something but cannot manifest for what but in it contradict your selves And in some things Jane Frye is nearer the matter than the other 59. or thereabouts who false witnesses are found because after a meeting was ended in which Thomas Ewins had been speaking about that Idol called Divinity and the people mostly gone and I rose from the Table and standing neer the middle of the room did there say and declare that that accursed thing called the body of Divinity was a plague to the land or words to that effect of which I told you before though ye wickedly shut your eyes and not observed it because it was the truth And were it not so it had been one with that spirit to which ye have taken heed But suppose credit vvere to be given to such a generation vvho in testimony do not agree but are proved as before c. yet to the Reader vvould I say vvhat
probability of truth can be in vvhat they say I affirmed viz. That the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England as if truth could be a blinde and a plague to soules vvhen it is a lying spirit is so to yours And notvvithstanding I never made a trade of the Scriptures nor preach't for hire nor divined for money as others do nor ever coveted any mans gold or silver or apparel amongst you nor accepted thereof vvhen by some I was earnestly prest thereunto but on the contrary have administred something largely of these things amongst you Yet from the Scriptures did I daily discourse as opportunity I had and by it have convinced many amongst you of your pride formality and other evils so that once ye were very much awakened and brought to some sense of your condition after ye had been too much taken with the doctrine of some called Notionists which it may be is the same ye now call Ranters whose principles and doctrines by the Scriptures I did withstand and oppose and with much labour and sore wrestlings was I instrumental to deliver you out of their mouths to whom many of you were become a prey I say much awakened ye were and the spirit which convinceth of sin began to work until another Ministry of unrighteousness came which for the wages of iniquity taught you to erre and when ye were convinced of sin and troubled within and saw your filth and wickedness appear by which your peace was broken and your consciences awakened and true judgement took hold on the transgressor prest you to believe lyes and shut out that which troubled and said it was temptations of the Devil and that your sin was done away and that God saw it not that it was all pardoned daubing with untempered morter crying peace peace to that to which no peace is spoken from God by which your bonds were made strong and the hands of evil doers strengthened that they turned not nor repented which wicked doctrine of the Devil by the Scripture I opposed and withstood perswading you to the last not to build on the sand but come down to the rock and told you your peace was but security which the Devil 's goods may attain and that all your assurance in which ye gloried was but vain confidence which in the time of tryal would deceive you and so far did I dispute it with you dailie by the Scripture that Thomas Ewins your publique Preacher told me I dasht his comforts and weakened his hands so that he was not able to preach but when into the Pulpit he was to go fear and trembling sometimes took hold upon him so that if necessity had not been upon him to speak the people being assembled he should not have spoken a word and told me of retiring to his former Calling and leaving the City with much more Others who loved to have smooth things spoken that they might be at ease in Zion who put far away the evil day complained as he said that all the comforts and joy they received and gathered from his Ministry all the day was dasht and broken by me in the evening Others complaining at last confest I led you safely though not comfortably and all was because the Devils Kingdom was disturbed and his goods not suffered to be at peace and in your consciences do you know that by the Scriptures I demonstrated what I said to which I was as true as any amongst you whatsoever And if in this ye shall say I boast remember it s you that have compelled me and if ye have a mind to gain-say or contradict any particular of it do it honestly plainly and down-rightly not coverty and deceitfullie as ye have done before that when I come to reply I may have something like as from men to speak unto and not as from a company of foolish tost children For although to this was I was at first averse yet by the power and presence of the living God shall I be free and able to quench your thorns scatter your deceit and remove your veil and discover the Harlots skirts But friends suppose all ye say were granted and that I had indeed whilst I was amongst you entertained and asserted many principles contrary to truth and said that the Scriptures of truth were a blinde to souls and one of the greatest plagues of the land which I have and utterly do deny And suppose it were granted an error and a very great sin so to say and affirm yet was not all this done in your meeting whilst I was one and amongst you and not then reproved nor gain sayed And was it not then time for all that feared the Lord and loved the truth to depart out of such an Assembly in which such things are permitted to be entertained and published without rebuke Was there any safety in being one with such an Harlot though she call her self a Church And are not these things spots whilst the true Church of Christ which is his glorious body is without spot or wrinckle Surely little cause have any who know the truth and love and believe in the light to be grieved or sad'ned that any be drawn from such an Assembly and happy for me was the day in which the light manifested you and from amongst you separated me to another people where no such principles are entertained nor permitted to be vented And for mine own part I do freely declare to all the world that since by the power of the good shepherd I was gathered from amongst you I am fan from entertaining or uttering any such things but do dearly own the Scriptures of truth as given by inspiration and see them of great use and service And if I received and entertained such principles contrary to truth amongst you with you I also left them to whom the Scripture is of little use more then to talk of and trade with for an advantage and by wresting and corrupting the same make use of it as a veil to cover your deceipt and filthiness but the life thereof do not witness But I have not yet done with your testimony in pag. 13. where ye say ye insert your admonition verbatim Ye charge me with asserting in the Church doctrines contrary to truth one of which is that the Scriptures are not the Word of God and every tittle of this ye say ye have proved notwithstanding ye have not proved any thing of it to be true but only ask if I did not at a meeting at the Red-lodge in the Garden-house before near twenty people say so one of you being by c. Truly the Harlots fore-head is very hard if at this she do not blush What! Lay a general charge and say ye will prove and have proved every tittle and yet can say nothing but ask me if it were not so And in pag 12. 13. ye lay this thing to be asserted in the Church
the knowledge ye had of Christ shall profit you nothing and that your habitation was in deceipt and thorough deceit ye refuse to know the Lord c. Ye say in this thing ye did not violently oppose and then its like ye confess it as knowing it was the truth and why then had ye not repented Ye say some of you did often tell me that your comforts stood not so much in a knowing as in an acknowledgement of Christ to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures and that ye own no other knowing of Christ then understandingly to know him in his person without you c. which is the sum of most of the 19. page And so have declared and clearly manifested the ground and foundation of all your Religion comforts joy and peace to be one and the same with the foundation of the Religion of the Pope Jesuits drunkards swearers prophane ignorant and superstitious people of the world namely an acknowledgement of Christ without you to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures And so the devils in this particular excel you who did not only acknowledge him but knew him who he was Jesus the Son of God And concerning the Ministers of Christ which those of your literal profession opposed and persecuted cryed out these are the servants of the most high God But the comfort joy and peace of the children of light stands not in your ground of general acknowledgement of Christ without them to be what the Scriptures declare him to be but in a particular knowledge of him as by the spirit of holiness he is revealed within them whereby they come to witness him the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and so Paul knew him and so to know him was and is eternal life and witnessed so to be by those to whom he is so revealed But this is a mysterie hid and unknown to all that lie in the death and never come to witness the first resurrection but declare the ground of their comforts to stand in that in which the wicked of the world with them are one And this is not to slight and nullifie that glorious person in heaven as ye falselie say many of our way do scoffing and jeering at you for speaking of the person of Christ and thinking to be saved by the blood of him that dyed at Jerusalem which is but your false accusations and slanders and proceeds from the same fountain and spirit of envy and wickedness as Ralph Farmers bundles of lies did in which he and ye are one and at an agreement for scoffing and jeering lying and false accusing being the works of darkness in which your generation are exercised is denyed by all that vvalk in the light vvhich is our vvay and the vvay everlasting But to declare against your follie and your thinkings to be saved by the acknovvledging of Christ vvithout ye whilst of him and his life ye are ignorant living in wickedness lying hypocrisie and deceipt hating the light and erring from the right way is no error but love to your souls who pretend honour to the person but hate the light of Christ and know not his Gospel which is the power of God nor his way which is everlasting and lives nor his Ordinances which are living spiritual and true not traditional invented and carnal The consideration of which together with the lying spirits to which ye give heed might justly cause you to mind whether ye are not those that stumble at Christ the corner stone and do cause others to stumble at him who is now come and witnessed in life power and spirit and living demonstrations thereof are given and manifested in thousands who by experience have known and felt the dove-like spirit of Christ of which ye speak though both to you and others who live in envie murthering the just and betraying the innocent pretending honour to the name but hating the light and persecuting the power of Christ This is hid and ye say ye will not believe it And if those that owned and seem to honour the Scripture in which Moses wrote of Christ did not believe but crucified him when in flesh he was made manifest no marvel then if ye do not believe who call the verie words of Scripture in which to you I spake page 21. of my former book strange and unchristian expressions surelie ye are strangelie erred from the way of truth and true wisdom who live in such confusion and deceit one while calling the Scriptures the Word of God and rule of life when by wresting it ye can serve your lusts but when by it ye are reproved for your wickedness then ye call it strange and unchristian expressions and say The Lord rebuke your railing as if the Scripture which ye term the Word of God and Rule of life were railing and the Prophets and holy men of God which gave it forth were railers because it bears true testimonie against your wicked wayes as well as others for the words I mentioned are recorded Isa 57. 4. Psal 2.1 2 c. and in some other Scriptures as the Reader will perceive that reads my former Book But ye say its easie to heap up good words right or wrong Alas poor blind people by what blind guides are ye led Is it strange and unchristian expressions and yet good vvords Are they good vvords and yet vvrong What exceeding confusion are the children of darknesse brought into in this day of the Lords povver in vvhich light is risen out of obscuritie and the Lords glory appeared c. In pag. 21. Ye say Though some of our way have shouted and cryed Hosannah holy holy King of Israel to James Nayler c. To which I reply When will ye be weary of lying and false accusing which is the work of the Devill for none of our way ever so cried to any man But that which is our way is the truth and the life and is everlasting the light and life of men from which whosoever turns aside forsakes the right way and turns to lying vanities as some in this day of the Lords visitation have done who must bear their burthen But ye are easily seen of what generation ye are who watch for an occasion to speak evill of the way of Truth and the Saints and Children of light who in the fear of the Lord do walk and in his Councell abide which to you is not known who are glad with an advantage by any means to speak evill of the way of Truth and the people who being gathered into it are for its sake become strangers in the earth and to their familiar friends and aliens to their mothers sons as all their fathers were But in this again are ye and Ralph Farmer one and by one and the same spirit are ye guided to whom it is known that those that cried as aforesaid are not of our way but denied and witnessed against before
vindicate or cover himself from what was truly laid upon him yet from it hath he not delivered himselfe but the charge stands good in sound and sober words in the power of truth and whiles he covereth his sin be cannot prosper And whiles he addeth one iniquity to another he cannot come into Gods righteousnesse And oh that he would consider it and lay it to heart whiles he hath time that in the day of the Lords anger which is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall come he might be hid and find mercy of the Lord with whom his vain speaking of a witnesse he hath in heaven brought from thence into his heart and confirmed by the Spirit of Truth and of his being taken up into the Mount to confer with him who hath all power given him and of a Warrant sealed and given forth from him that hath al power c. is of little accompt whiles he understands not what he speaks For the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation but the kingdome of God is within and in his Kingdom he is who dwells in heaven where the Father the Word and Spirit agree of which all blind Pharisaical Professors are ignorant and cannot know it till in the light and by the spirit it be revealed and made manifest And whereas he saith All that he with the rest laid at my door was to a tittle true and that neither he nor his brethren have any reluctance for it This is all fals for I have before proved it lies and deceit and themselves have confest they found that which boiled like a furnace and scalded all that stand near it and they were near it and so resolved not to stay another time And judgement is now laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet and all refuges of lies and deceit are to be swept away and by truth and soberness such hiding places are overflown and in soberness do I stand and so much to my self am I come that I see many of his words there mentioned to veil and cover himself to be light and vain and not worth answering and that what I writ was both sober and true without fawning and flattery in which many among you are too much exercised who love to have smooth not true things spoken and would have me peaceable gentle and full of mercy to hypocrisie deceit and wickedness all which is for judgement and no peace from God is spoken to it And therefore without partiality do I declare against it in him and you as well as in others and to my self am I not a stranger And this is pure wisdom from above and moderation known unto all that receive and believe in the light by which that spirit appearing in my former book is justified though to you that hate the light and by the light are condemned it is as gall and worm-word And for sporting my self and insulting over him I did it not but it is another refuge of lies for I told him before I did not insult over him nor delight in his wo and misery but was sorely grieved as still I am to see how the wicked one whom the Lord would destroy was exalted in him and you and what I writ is true And whereas he saith I was not a in a sober mind but at a distance from it and true speaking when I mentioned to him the portion of lyars and that not any thing he said was a lie but what he said I had not his hand to as his particular affirmation and so goes on speaking many words but to what purpose I cannot see except it be by words to darken the Readers understanding But if I mistake not that which he would do is to vindicate himself from being a lyar with what else I charged upon him in my former Letter by telling me he said I had not his hand to it as his particular accusation And if this be his meaning then is it gross deceit for I never said or thought it was his particular accusation but a general accusation delivered by him in which himself and each other particular was included and so I spake to him in soberness and pitty my very howels moving towards him knowing my self innocent and that it was a dreadful thing for him in the Name or the Lord to speak a false vision or thing I asked him how he durst come to me and in the name of the Lord tell me I said the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest plagues of the land when I never spake nor thought such a thing To which he replyed he never spake it nor laid it to my charge though out of his own mouth it came and when I told him I had it under his hand he denyed it When I told him I could shew it him he replied if I could he would acknowledge himself a lyar upon which ground I charged him for it as before and so I do still and good were it for him if he owned the judgement and repented for otherwise he cannot escape But if he forgeting that his hand was to his paper did run himself into the evil of denying it as is before exprest yet if when he came to the sight of his error he had clearly acknowledged it and owned his condemnation and repented to which in love he was advised there had been mercy for him but being convinced and reproved of the evil hardened his neck and labours to hide and cover his sin adding one iniquity unto another here he cannot prosper but brings himself justly under not onely the judgement and condemnation mentioned in my former Letter but more and more misery due to those that rebel against the light by which they are reproved and to those that add iniquity unto iniquity and must not come into Gods righteousness And from it all the waters in Jordan can never wash him not the Rocks and Mountains cover him nor all your outward observations imaginations and will-worships preserve him till he own the light by which he is convinced and reproved and the just condemnation thereof pass upon the rebellious and the transgressor which hath sinned and he brought to repentance and the acknowledgement of the truth and so his soul come to be saved in this mighty day of the Lords power And this is not from a violent heat of wild-fire as he calls it but from a spirit of soberness soundness and truth and is true love to his soul and the time is near in which he that rebuketh plainly shall find more favour then he that flattereth with his lips and my end is not to make him a transgressor before all as he supposeth but according to my measure to advise him into the way the light the life and the truth which leadeth out of transgression into the inheritance of the Saints in light and in this I do not equivocate nor evade as he falsely chargeth me but do speak plainly and truly though at
deceit I call a testifying from the Lord And it 's apparent it reacht him and his bottome was stirred up to give forth such filthy unsavoury words more like a persecuter then a Minister of Christ so that he may well blush to write his own folly and confusion for me his words reach not But he would devise a thing of his own and make a little Logick as he calls it to shew his skill and to evade the thing in hand And when he hath uttered his abhominable lyes asks is this good Logick I say it is his own and not being good he may be ashamed of it for they that read his lines may read his folly He saith in my letter I endeavour to parallel her with Paul and her sufferings with Pauls sufferings him with Pauls persecutors All which is so notoriously false and from the father of lyes that were he not past feeling a man would marvail how without blushing he can write such plain lyes and untruths when nothing like such a thing appears in my letter to him as the Reader may see In which letter I do not so much as once mention her name much lesse do I endeavour to parallel her with Paul or her sufferings with Pauls sufferings But that which I did was to reprove Thomas Ewins for his unsavoury words and practices in opposing the truth and them that come to witnesse against his deceit whom he threatned with Bridewell with whipping c. And by his fruits I tryed him according to the Scriptures found him out of the practice of the true Ministers of Christ and directly in the steps and practices of the enemies of Christ and his Gospel and therefore plainly told him it was the Devill that cast the Saints into prison It was wretched Pilate that scourged Jesus It was those Masters whose gain came in by divination joyning with the rude multitude that carryed Paul and Silas before the Magistrates and caused them to be beaten and cast into prison It was Jesus that told his Disciples they must be so used by the world the generation of vipers c. It was Paul the able Minister of the Spirit and not of the Letter that proved himselfe the Minister of God in patience in tumults in stripes in imprisonments c. But it was Thomas Ewins a Minister of the letter and not of the Spirit that is threatning the servants of God witnesses of Jesus with stripes with whips with Bridewel Now let all that read but honestly consider hovv from these expressions and the like a man vvho hath any fear of God vvithin him can be so knovvingly wicked as to affirme in print that I endeavour to compare her with Paul and her sufferings with his And hovv vvofully it is like by vvicked art he can corrupt the Scriptures and bely the Prophets and Apostles and holy men of God that gave them forth vvho are deceased that dares to affirme things so directly false and untrue as done and published by a man vvhom he knovvs to be yet alive and able enough to see and discover his vvickednesse And hovv blinde and like to fall into the ditch are all those that vvill believe or receive for truth all that comes from so false a speaker vvho I might easily prove is far out of Pauls condition vvho vvas a Minister of Christ and Preacher of the Gospel and called to the vvork But Thomas Ewins hath denyed that he is a Minister either called constituted or ordained And therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Paul vvas sent to turn the Gentiles from darknesse to the light But Thomas Ewins saith to bid people turn to the light vvithin is to cause them to cease from believing in the person of Christ And he is no Preacher of that namely to bid people turn to the light Therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Again Paul and the Ministers of Christ in meeknesse instructed those vvhich opposed themselves But Thomas Ewins vvhen one came to oppose him in his deceit said It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell Paul vvent into the Temple and Synagogues to declare against them that held up the Idols Temple and shadovvs from vvhence he vvas haled out imprisoned and abused But Thomas Ewins stands up in the chiefe place of the assembly and Pharisee like he stands praying in the Idols Temple and some that bear vvitnesse against him he threatneth vvith vvhips and Bridevvel and some are haled out and imprisoned for he confesseth pag. 58. in the margin that one is novv imprisoned for disturbing him Therefore Thomas Ewins and Paul are not alike Again Paul vvas not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel and to turn to the light But Thomas Ewins doth either baptize as he calls it that is to say wash the outside of the people in brooks and rivers when the inside is full of hypocrisie deceit and wickedness not being sent or else he was sent to do it and from the light doth hee turn And of that Gospel is he no Preacher therefore no preacher of that Gospel which Paul preached Again it is the work of the Devil the god of the World to blind the minds of those that belive not in the light lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them and into their hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God And Thomas Ewins is no Preacher of the light but lest the light which God commanded to shine out of darkness should shine into peoples hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he labours hard to blind their minds with prejudice against the light telling them it is pernicious doctrine they that preach it shut up the Kingdom and take people from believing in the person of Christ Therefore is Thomas Ewins a Minister of Satan and a Co-worker with the Devil in blinding peoples minds and turning them from the light And now all this being considered will it be unequal for me to couple him with Ralph Farmer though he would couple me with him and say he wondred that I and they who are so different in other things can all agree to cast stones at him which is a lye for I joined not with Ralph Farmer to cast stones at him whose blood-thirsty spirit I do deny and with it have I no union but in soberness and seriousness I write the truth concerning him But he asketh me if I be not joined a brother in bitterness with him that is to say R. F. I answer nay I am no brother in bitterness with him but all brotherhood and affinity with that bitter envious bloody persecuting spirit with which ye both are acted and ruled I do utterly renounce and disclaim who in my measure have unity with that meek and gentle spirit which with God is of great price and therefore hated and persecuted by Satans instruments but