may ye also say we have sought in the way of Light but our Creator cannot be found there But truly this is my Testimony of my heavenly Father unto whom there is none like in Goodness Mercy and Deliverance That if any one seeketh Him in his Way of Holiness in which sin cannot be committed he will satisfie the desires of that soul in due time and overspread it with his abundant Fulness And therefore to that of GOD in your selves I cannot but commend you which is more safe for you to mind obey and follow than the invented customs wayes and statutes ordained of men which never came to live in that Grace of GOD which was the Light in all their Consciences which could have led them out of all their sins into the true knowledge of the washing by the Blood of CHRIST which cleanseth from all sin which being taken away puts an end to the supposed Purgatory for if any thing purgeth from sin it is the Everlasting Blood of the Lamb of GOD which was slain since the foundations of the World was which washeth away all sin And this also puts an end to the vain thoughts of the Popes remission of sins which stands in opposition to his professed Purgatory after this life for if he forgives all sins excepting one sin how is it that after his forgiveness generally all souls of his Sect must enter into Purgatory to be cleansed from that which he hath formerly forgiven them so that you may see either his profession of forgiveness is deceit and vanity or else that his professed Purgatory is a deceit and vanity because to the one work of forgiveness and cleansing from sin there is not a need of any but one thing to effect it and because I know that the Blood of CHRIST and only the Blood of CHRIST which is his powerful Life doth it I am assured in the Spirit of the holy GOD and therefore do assert it That both the Pope and his Purgatory which stand crossing one the others virtue and authority are both but a deceit and witchery This therefore may awaken you from all slumber of supposed security concerning your way and induce to take heed unto the LIGHT of GOD in your selves that it may lead you out of your own thoughts words and wayes to walk with God in Righteousness all your dayes that of Him you may be made Partakers of his Endlesse Everlasting Kingdom of Life Peace and Joy which will swallow you up in his high Praises who is worthy of the Glory of his Works in the whole Earth even for ever and ever Amen A Concluding Word to those that falsly accuse me and my Brethren of being Papists FInally Whereas there are divers that have accused me and my Brethren as being persons which in the bottom of our hearts are Papists This may plainly serve as a Testimony very substantial that we are so judged upon none other than a wrong and false account as hath been demonstrated by Doctrine Life Example and large Suffering among such persons and in such places as are counted the most reputed Papists upon the face of the Earth Which is more than ever Luther Calvin or any Protestant or other Sect testified or witnessed viz. against the persons in the same place yea than any would be willing to do amongst all the Sects in England that cry against Pope and Popery here at home in their own Liberties or upon soft Cushions on Pulpits yea I can say that I have found many that have falsly accused me of Popery that would not for a King's Ransom go to Rome and cry against it as I have done and therefore their own Consciences may rather accuse themselves of Deceipt or at least-wise as Backbiters whilst they speak that against the Pope in England which they would not speak to the Pope himself at Rome as I sought to clear my Conscience to the Pope's face and therefore are but like the Papists that backbite and speak evil of English Sects in the Countries where their own is tolerated and approved of which is but of one unrighteous nature in them all of all Parties From all which the Accusations of my Accusers do turn upon their own heads as an undeniable Covering of shame who henceforth in prudence may rather choose the keeping of silence than utterance of slanders c. Yet after all the precited Passages I do hereby intimate a few of the Papists Principles which I together with the rest of the People of God called Quakers do utterly deny as not being of GOD'S holy Spirit of Truth but consequently of the spirit which produced all their other invented Traditions which suite not with the holy Nature of the holy Eternal GOD. 1. We deny the Pope and his Cardinals to be of the Election of GOD Angels or Saints and therefore in their Places and Offices not of GOD nor the Truth but contrary to God and the Truth 2. We deny the supposed place of Purgatory which the Papists professe to be after death we owning no Purgatory for the Soul after the Body is departed this life 3. We utterly deny all Images which the Papists worship and bow down before 4. We deny the Masse both matter and manner thereof 5. We deny Prayers to be made unto Saints or Angels which the Papists use seeing Christ saith Ye shall henceforth ask nothing of me but of the Father in my Name Many other things I could insert but at present forbear But whereas lastly that I have denyed the abovesaid five Particulars to be any thing of Truth it lyes upon the Papists to prove them according to the Spirit of Truth if they are able and not according to their own nor their father's inventions else all men may see that they live in Deceit Errour and Falshood of which let all men take heed lest they should be wilfully destroyed John Perrot THE END
the Light and dwell in the Light with thy mind and heart stablished and fixed in it which shews thy own transgression within to have feeling of the Judgment of GOD upon the transgressor in thee And come to the love of the Light and follow the Light by it to be led out of sin and transgression and then with the Light by which all things are made manifest in all matters of Judgment thou wilt reach that of GOD in all which in all will justifie thee in the sight of GOD and so thou wilt stand girded with Justice in the seat of Equity and Truth a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well GOD is coming to search the whole Earth who looketh for the fruit of Judgement from all that sit in the seat thereof Mercy to the Poor Relief of the Oppressed The Poor hath cryed and the Oppressed hath groaned and GOD hath heard it and he who heareth will answer Answer thou alwayes in thy place for the LORD lest the LORD GOD make thee to answer for thy self before Him Though I am but as a suckling of the Lords Flock nevertheless in the simplicity and tenderness of my life as one that hath received Mercy at the Judgment seat of God according to the lowliness of my measure I counsel thee in his pure fear That thou dost look over the Books of the Registers of the Law of thy Nation and see if any one Statute be there written which may stand as a Law to condemn the Just David complained of that in his day for he saw the issue of what came to passe though it was afar off from his dayes We have a Law said the Jews and by our Law he ought to dye by which they in their wilfulness put the LORD CHRIST to death And so it was in all Ages that transgressors for whom saith Paul the Law was made did make such to suffer under the Law and put them to death by a Law in whose mouth guile was not found which was the unrighteous Judgment Friend Draw thou thy hand from that And though the people do cry even as it was complained of in Judah concerning the Prophet The Land is not able to bear all his words yet of a truth the Word of the LORD will come to passe and be fulfilled And truly I say unto thee as Jeremy said unto the Elders of Israel with the life of that Prophet Do with me as seemeth good in thy sight but assuredly know I am of God And I also desire that the LORD GOD in Mercy may not lay this thing to your charge in the day of his Judgments forasmuch as you do you know not what I sit not in the seat of the unrighteous in any measure apt to judge any thing before the true time wherefore unless the fruit in this matter did shew the Tree I shall not at the present accuse the Romans with our detainment under their Yoak of Captivity to provoke words from us whereby the Prophet's words might become fulfilled upon your heads in this your Age in making a man an offender for a word but I am rather in expectation of the Appearance of the Nobility of that which hath been reported and written concerning the Romans If we have transgressed the Law of GOD Try us by the Law and give us our punishment according to the Law For the LORD GOD knows I delight in Righteous Judgment If we are not found transgressors why are we innocent strangers and pilgrims stopped of our Voyage if our Bonds hold us by you onely upon the account of suspition we blame you not but prove us and satisfie your selves concerning us only if we have found the favour of Justice before you which the living God requires of you shew us the Cause in truth why we are detained that according to Law and Equity before your seat 〈◊〉 Judgment we may make our open Defence I am a Friend of thy soul J. P. From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome To all in the Colledges of Rome that have any zeal or desire to answer Truth for the Lord and Truths sake MEn fearing GOD are not rash nor heady neither will they judge a matter before the time Wherefore for the better information of your selves concerning the Truth and Life the Way of GOD and Church of CHRIST I have in plain-heartedness queried for you in the honesty of sober minds to give me your Answer in writing plainly and pertinently to each of them without renting any part of my words For which in expectation I shall wait in Rome whilst these Bonds hold me until it come to my hands which you ought to answer as you profess the name of Christianity among the sons of men for the sake of souls Query 1. What is that one thing needful unto Salvation which with the possession thereof a man possesseth all things And whether can a man possess it and not know it yea or nay Que. 2. What is that by which Paul exhorted the Brethren to to try the spirits whether they were of God yea or nay Que. 3. Whether are any of you now called by CHRIST to a further estate of Knowledge than the Disciples were then when Christ said unto them You know not of what spirits you are yea or nay Que. 4. If by Christ you are called further shew me how And whether you have really heard the Voice of Christ but if not called unto or beyond that estate which they were then in not knowing your own spirits by what spirit would you truly judge of my Spirit who am of God Concerning the Way of God Que. 5. Whether are you in the way of God which is but one and How was that one unto Enoch and now but one and the same unto you Que. 6. Whether is not CHRIST the Light of the World that one way yea or nay Que. 7. Whether are sinners in CHRIST who is the narrow way or are they under the power of Satan in the broad way yea or nay Que. 8. Whether are you in that way which was prophefied of and is now manifest which the way-faring men though fools cannot erre therein yea or nay Que. 9. Whether are you in any other way but in that in which an Hypocrite can walk and whether can an Hypocrite walk in CHRIST yea or nay Que. 10. Whether are not all that are in the Church of Christ in the true way of God where the way-faring men though fools cannot erre therein Que. 11. Whether is the Spirit of Truth come unto you which leadeth the Members of Christ's Church into all Truth But if you have not a Member that in life is led out of all Error into all Truth How can you say that you have the Spirit of Truth Que. 12. If all be in Sin and Error in the Life How shall I conclude any one to be of the true Faith seeing the Apostle saith Shew me thy Faith by thy Works Can the Faith be perfect
Battering Rams AGAINST ROME OR The BATTEL of JOHN the Follower of the LAMB Fought with the POPE and his Priests whilst he was a Prisoner in the Inquisition-Prison of ROME ALSO A Certain REMONSTRANCE of Righteous Reason written in Rome-Prison of Mad-men unto all Rome's Rulers Together with a POST-SCRIPT to all tender-hearted Roman Catholicks London Printed for Robert Wilson at the sign of the Black-Spread-Eagle and Wind-mil in Martins Le Grand 1661. To the tender moderate Roman-Catholick Reader Friend THe following Writings being such as have been dispensed in the City of Rome unto which Answers were expected by me from them whom it chiefly concerned but not receiving any unto any of my Queries propounded to Pope Priests c. in Rome even unto this day and being now returned unto this Land of England may expect something of Answer from thee unto the said Interrogations which are of general concernment unto all Roman Catholicks or else I may conclude that Truth is in no wise on your side but absolutely and undeniably against you which I therefore leave unto thy consideration and if from that which followeth thou shalt be perswaded of the Truth which is held forth therein confessing it in singlenesse and simplicity of heart and mind if afterwards thou desirest to be further satisfied touching any thing of our Doctrine or Practices ask it in the Spirit of Moderation either by Word or Writing of me and according to the Light of the Knowledge of GOD given unto me I may meekly answer thee in the tendernesse of my Soul Who am a real faithful and true lover of all Souls Called John Perrott To the READER Reader I Have found it expedient for the satisfaction of many tender Desirers to intimate these few preceding Words to the following Tract shewing the certainty of the thing which many have enquired after yet not as if the relation thereof were able to enduce any Souls to believe in the True GOD forasmuch as Christ said If they will not believe Moses and the Prophets neither would they believe if one should come from the dead Yet every Work of the Lord God to me is of exceeding weight especially such wherein the life and safety of my outward man was very much concerned in the time of my Pilgrimage in Forreign Parts and Countries In brief I give this Relation to wit When I was in Legorn in my Travel onwards to Turky on a certain night an Angel of the LORD awakened me out of my sleep saying Arise and go to the Window the which I did in very much dread and trembling where standing I suddenly heard certain English-men in another Room at a Neighbour's house wickedly conspiring my hurt but blessed be God who sent his Messenger to warn me by the Power of his own Life delivered and saved me from the Evil of the said Conspiracy Moreover In Greece I met with divers difficulties being in my Pilgrimage led through many Tryals and Tentations by being brought before Rulers and Magistrates and sometimes destitute of any thing to purchase natural food yet still the presence of the Lord was with me both by Sea and Land and in the greatest straits he alwayes appeared in the greatest power of Love caring and providing for me even beyond all that my heart could ever think which things to mention at large would fill up much Paper And therefore in this compendious Preface may only hint one passage more of the powerful Arm of God battelling for mine Innocent Soul in a Righteous Cause which the Romans were well informed of before I arrived at Rome and that by divers hands from Venice by which they might at least-wise understand That God was my God and that I was his faithfull Servant in the Work that he had called me unto It came to pass in proceed of my Pilgrimage as I was returning by Sea from Smyrna to Venice that upon the way near unto Corfu the Sea-men and Captain of the Ship took a wrongful occasion of Anger and Wrath against me at which time I offered my self in much meeknesse and moderation to reason the matter with the said Commander of the Ship but in brief he threatned to cast me on shore on a certain barren Island on which there was no Inhabitant who when he saw that I was in that contented being wholly offered unto God in all place and time desisted that Attempt but forthwith bound himself under an Oath and Curse that when I came to Venice he would have me burnt to death by fire To whom I replyed saying I fear not man whose breath is in his nostrils but the God of life who was my Leader in all that he had called me unto This being at evening suddenly after these passages there was a cessation of many of his words of bitterness though some there were that grinned their teeth upon me and could even have found in their hearts to have bitten off my flesh from my bones which kindled the Anger of the LORD GOD Almighty against them for all that Night his sore Indignation and Vengeance did burn as a flame in his bosom so that it came to pass at the dawning of the next day that he cast down a ball of Fire betwixt the Decks amongst divers Passengers which brake as into the roaring of a Cannon amongst them and slew two persons and wounded one more and besides that the Lord caused Fire to Rain down from Heaven in coals upon them which burned some in their bodies others it smote and wounded and others it slew in the Ship And this is the Account of the slain viz. An English-man the Gunner a Dutch-man the Carpenter and an Italian a Marriner an Armenian Merchant and a Turk a Servant which were five of five several Nations and five others wounded which the Lord God Almighty gave as Examples of his Wrath that the rest that lived might fear his dreadful and terrible Name Moreover the said coals of Fire burned many holes through their Sails and split their Main-Top-Mast in the Puttox and then grievous was the cry of all Flesh amongst them And from thence their perverse Spirits were much more moderated to hear me in causes of Equity and Truth Many things more I might mention of the wonderful Works of my God whom my simple soul serves even in the integrity and uprightness of my whole Heart But in these things I cease at this instant having hinted some things of other Passages in other Writings and therefore at the present do draw to the putting in order the following Writings which were dispensed by me in the Inquisition-Prison at Rome J. P. An Epistle general to the Romans GOD who at sundry times and in divers manners in the dayes of old spake by the mouth of his holy Prophets hath now in these latter dayes spoken unto us by the Revelation of his Son the LORD from Heaven who in the fulness of the dispensation of time came a Light into the world to be
and the Athenians in hearing Paul though first they called him babler either to let your Colledges give me a Publick Dispute or to give me a Meeting by way of audience of the Utterance which GOD may give me or at least to provoke them to answer the 31 and the 12 other last Queries which I gave forth of this Prison else you may be assured as truly as I know although all the former were granted that this is the prick which was too hard for Paul to kick against and so is now unto all Nations you as well as others But of a truth I tell you though you may say that you will not hear the next Generation shall preach my Testimony in the Streets and not withhold their Cry in the Gates of the High places And this is the Word of the Lord God to you all From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. To Fabius Guisius Pope of Rome Fabius Guisius THe Outstretched Arm and exercise of the Hand of Cruelty unto Death is not able to make me to daub a dirty Wall with untempered Mortar The impudent wicked carriages of the Priests Instruments under thee which are set to watch over me do not in the least move me save only to tell thee therein they are not an honour unto thee but on them I may not altogether lay the weight of the matter as knowing that they are but as saudred Pipes of Lead prepared for the Vent and running forth of the stinking corrupted waters of the Priests malice wrath and envy forasmuch as the Truth hath reproved their Iniquity And as for the others they are not worth the naming But as touching thy Priests some I have found in swearing others in lying and dissembling flatteries and hypocrisie which all are sheltred under the shadow of thy skirt Now consider what thy Power doth uphold a Lyar and a Priest a Priest and a Lyar a Dissembler a Flatterer a Hypocrite and a Priest Doth thy Law preserve such in liberty and out of Prison who are in Death's Prison to watch over the Just which cannot lye unto thee nor dissemble nor flatter with thee though in Prison If thou be Peter's Successor shew me Christ's Command unto him for such a practice else be thou ashamed of it and deny thy Priests in their wicked practices For Truth is ashamed of all rottenness and wickedness deceit lyes and corruption but it is not ashamed to stand before thy face neither doth it fear the frowns of all the wicked Powers and Princes of the whole Earth but in Prisons Persecutions Tortures Banishments or Death it stands over them all and rejoyceth over them all and treads upon the head of the Serpent which seeks to bring to passe his vain imagination in or by them all Wherefore I would not that thou shouldst be a Fool to sit in the Council of the number of the Crafty and VVise but rather be wise and bow to the innocency of Fools and then thou wilt discover the ground of the works of the others matter Now let me reason with thee concerning my Imprisonment which if thou answerest Nay saying VVe have it under thy Hand and it is enough unto us I reply It 's true I have given under my hand the Declaration of a VVitness and Testimony for GOD against Iniquity for which cause if God hath foreseen it that the perishing of this Tabernacle under thy Bonds of Cruelty shall be my Crown when the day comes that Inquisition shal be made after my innocent blood let this with the rest be produced that the Action may be openly remonstrated Truth Honesty and Wisdom would implead act judge and execute the Judgment of the Law of God in Form Manner and Order and to the proper end that it was given forth and not in blind holes and corners and dark Cells as are wrought the works and deeds of the Devil but openly and manifestly unto and before all as in the Righteousness of Him which rippeth open the secrets of alâ—… hearts and bringeth every man's actions to be discovered by the Light in which the Magistrate Judge and Ruler which judgeth and ruleth for GOD standeth in the honour of the true Dominion a Praise unto the living GOD and openly to the Glory of GOD reigneth in the Righteousness of GOD in dealing and executing his Sentence of just Judgment through the convincement of the Transgressor openly by the Law and so he stands a terror to evil-doers and a praise to them that do well If I have written or spoken any thing which I cannot sufficiently prove openly in the Court of Justice where Truth reigns to that of GOD in every man's Conscience then as I have said as the Law of GOD was given forth for due and publick impleading and execution through open Convincement let me bear the everlasting open shame and spare not by due punishment to make me a publick Example in the face of this Nation as a slanderer For again I say I delight in the execution of the Righteousness of true Judgement but if thou wilt not in Equity hear this Then hear thou moreover the VVord of the LORD GOD GOD by the execution of his Justice upon thee will shorten thy dayes upon the face of the Earth and give thee for an example of his Wrath before men Therefore whilst thou hast time Repent This is the day of thy Visitation And forasmuch as at several times I have given forth Fourty two Queries or more to be answered by the Members of the Colledges in Rome or others And having sufficiently expected forasmuch as considerable time since that hath passed away which in lesse time yea much less Truth would have answered so plain a matter but having not received answer from any of them I now query to thee who art reputed as the Angel over them as him which hath the Keys of the Kingdom which I would first try because of the diversity of Voices in the Earth crying Lo here and lo there and in spirit be convinced of the same before I would as a foolish rash hypocrite confeâ—…s without knowledge or understanding as knowing that when Truth hath convinced the mouth of the Gain-sayer is stopped and that of God in the Conscience is answered and the measure of the Manifestation of the Spirit of Truâ—… beareth witness within unto the Truth bâ—… which all are left without excuse anâ—… therefore in thy thoughts by thy Answers leave me without excuse or else know That hereby thou art left even as all thâ—… rest that will not answer Truth for Trutâ—… and the Lord's sake are without excuse Query 1. What is the Gospel of thâ—… Lord Iesus Christ and the Light of thâ—… glorious Gospel which giveth the Lighâ—… of the Knowledge of the Glory of GOD in the face of Jesus Christ And what iâ—… the everlasting Gospel of God which shall be preached to all Nations of the Earth And whether hast thou immediate Authority from God to send forth any to
it under the Judgment of Penalty To be brief I would draw to the understanding of the Root of a Matter which ought in Wisdom principally to be known in you all that you may know your Root of which I have seen much as ye daily bring forth the fruit thereof Que. 24. Whether the spirit of Oaths Envy Lust and Lyes is not of the ground and original root of Heresie yea or nay Que. 25. Whether that Spirit hath not an absolute and instant Ground and Root universally according to Confession in your Body yea or nay Que. 26. Whether is not all things which are contrary to the Doctrine and Life of CHRIST and his Apostles absolutely and undeniably Heresie and that assuredly Opinion which is the lesser as practice which makes it greater and they both but one in the Ground and Nature yea or nay Que. 27. What Rule of Truth or Precept in the Scriptures of Truth have you to condemn any man as an Heretick which denieth your evil spirit and in the Life utterly abhorreth all your beastly works and wicked words brought forth by the spirit of Heresie And to what purpose think you standeth the judgment of your spirit Do thou mind thy blind-hearted brother Thomas Courtney of these things who told me that Heresie speaking of some Opinion was a worser sin than Murder which weighed in the deeps le ts to see that it breaks a gap for more evil than a thousand of the like his lines is able to reconcile the which was his ignorance as if Murder were not the most abominable desperate act of wilfulness against GOD and a man's Neighbour brought forth by the spirit of Heresie which spirit abounds in all your Coasts which is the real cause of all the Oaths Curses Lyes Dissimulations Hypocrisies Drunkenness Gluttony Adulteries Pride Covetousness Envy all Uncleaness and Murders brought forth innumerably in your Land For which cause if you had all Words and understood all Mysteries yet the Saints interested in the simplicity of Truth dwelling in GOD cannot joyn hands with you to partake of your spirit and so of your evil deeds and lastly of the Wrath to be revealed which the Lord God in his Counsel hath determined shall sweep a secure Land When lastly thou wert with me I saw that thy visage was none of thine own as always unto thy own I desire not to judge thee rashly but let me exhort thee saying Carry not a Bears Paw under thy long Gown nor a Lion's Tooth within thy mincing Lips thy words many of them were as smooth as sweet Butter and fresh Oyl but see thou that under thy tongue there be not hid the poyson of Asps in such things as in the rest of the dead works signs shews and noises as the Magicians of Egypt about the Walls of the Prison and elswhere you may as they themselves did deceive your selves also but by all these things neither in my self nor in you am I at all deceived Settle your selves in Council I am bound within Walls yet blessed be the LORD GOD I savour the deeds of darkness and many of them would not be of good report to be told among your selves You know that I bear all the folly as being 〈◊〉 your Vâ—…ssal to that end but you know not how I trample upon the fruit and the spirit which yeelds it From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. To the Inhabitants of the bloody City the Mother of Cruelties and Murder REad the Declaration of the Righteousness of this Cause let it be spread in an open Parchment upon the Standard of your Host and let it be marked in your Ensign as a perpetual shame in the face of your Camp There was a certain Message sent by the hand of a Servant by the LORD of a strong Army who treated for the Surrender of the City He came not as a Coward to hide in a hole nor as treacherous to slay in secret but to deliver his service to the Chief to depart with the Answer of the Head of the Land He was foolishly entreated by the hands of the jealous and ilâ—… handled by the doubtful and timerous hearted they bound a Man of War in Chains and rejoyced often to smite him with rotten sticks they chused not to plead with him in open field nor to deal with him as do the Valiant and Honourable they bound him in their seat of contempt and sent Scorners to view him in secret he looked at the works of their hands and wrote them in the soals of his feet he setled his heart in the righteousness of the Message of his LORD and rather chose the Chain of his Enemies Yoak than to yeeld unto Cruelty and Flattery he was faithful to his Enemy in what he was sent as he was to his LORD that sent him he washed his hands of the Blood of the City and possessed the Peace of his LORD What will you say for your selves when this Servant's Cause shall be publickly pleaded to your faces I know your purpose concerning the Heir and the purpose also of the LORD of the Vineyard as the Reward of your wilful works You have been well warned but you have not well received but have ill rewarded and requited Yet in all I desire not that God may requite you as ye have requited me and therefore I have Consolation and you know not my Crown The putrified head of the corrupted body and rotten tayl yea the whole body even from head to tayl I tread upon for ever J. P. Rome from the Inquisition-Prison To the Priests appointed as Inquisitors and Keepers of the Inquisition-Prisons thereunto belonging A Visitation of the Lord God to you all is come ARise arise It is high time to Awake and Arise from the Seat of Blood For the LORD GOD is arisen to make Inquisition for the Blood of every Innocent Soul which hath been starved and slaughtered upon the face of the whole Earth Indignation flyeth with him as a pointed Arrow Vengeance is in his Right hand as a Spear for the Battel and Wrath as a Dart to pierce the Liver of the Wicked The LAMB is arisen for Slaughter as a Lion to devour the Prey a Burning fire proceedeth out of his mouth The Ungodly shall be consumed before him and because Iniquity is plentiful in the Land he hasteth the Iudgment of the Day neither Covering nor Cloud shall hide the Wicked nay nor the Clifts of the craggy Rocks from the fierceness of his provoked Fury He will smite suddenly even in a moment in the Land and bereave the habitation of the Dweller He will catch as a snare in the night and none shall deliver from his Wrath He will abide as burnings in the Earth Corruption shall not dwell in his Presence the Evil-doer is for the Wine-press of his Wrath but the Just shall dwell in his Pleasures It is at hand It is at hand the Day of Vengeance of the LORD according to the Prophecy The abundance of
Iniquity in the Land yea the fulness of the measure of Sin hath dragged the fulness of the determination of Time for the Revelation of Woe in the Earth and Vengeance upon the Inhabitants thereof Long have you made Inquisition after evil for evil banished the good from your Presence and shut it up in the Dens of Dragons Arise and draw out of the ground of the Curse where the righteous Blood of Abel was spilt For your sin is as Sodom and your transgression as the evil of Gomorrah Your Glory is the Kingdom of this World your Seats are as the dwellings of Princes You have fulness and ease in your houses you eat not the bread of carefulness You make the miseries of others your mirth and their mourning your song of rejoycing You stretch your Carcasses upon the burden of their sorrows and take pleasure to heap weight upon weight You make the simple to bend at your Bow and the wayfaring man to bow at your beck You stretch forth your necks in pride and bend your brows in presumption You have slain the Lamb in your streets and trampled on his blood in your secret habitations You crucifie the Lord afresh and put him to open shame You are not ashamed to say Lord though your lyes and your lightness abound You have provoked the LORD unto Jealousie and raised his Anger by constraint And therefore behold he cometh as with Voices and Lightning and will search your dark corners as with Candles He will rent the Coverings of your body and set you as in the day wherein you were born and place you as Butts for his Shafts even as you made the Innocent your mark to shoot your Arrows at in secret You are planted the Judges of the Citadels as the Chief of the Munitions in the Land and as the principal Castle of Refuge among all the Forts of the City But the LORD will make the Staff of your Trust as for a shout in Battel against you your Wallings he will make as a Wilderness and your houses as an habitation of Bitterness your pleasant Dreams shall have their end in sorrows and your Divinations of gladness be finished with the compass of trouble Vnbelief hasteth the Wo because Iniquity waxeth ripe in the Land And the LORD said unto Jonah Go down unto Niniveh and preach And Jonah cryed in the City Yet forty dayes and Niniveh shall be destroyed And when Tydings came to the King he questioned not the matter but considered the sins of the Land and through Faith there was Repentance found among them and the Lord turned back his Anger and spared the City Remember your Visitation which is come from the LORD in the day that you cry Peace peace in the Land saying none evil shall happen unto us had I turned to another Land the Lord would have had followed me with Storms even as he did Jonah with displeasure And God who said Go unto Rome said also Thus shalt thou say which things I have given forth among you and am clear from your works of Iniquity and from the Blood of the Land and City which else as the Lord liveth in Judgment and Righteousness he would have required the thing at my hand Concerning your Judgment I have this at least-wise to say You sit as Lords in the Land and your Wills are the Precepts of the People You constrain your words for a Law and make Envy the Judge thereof The mouth of Malice dealeth the Sentence for the instruments of Cruelty to execute your Wrath You will not that your Judgment be judged for you deal it in craft among the simple but this the LORD willeth although you will not I say the Lord willeth it and it shall come to passe For the LORD GOD will enquire after Judgement and bring Judgement as a spoyler of your Seat You will seek to escape the Day which cometh as a Thief in the night But the LORD will compass you as Fish in the Net and entrap you as Birds in the snare and you that have digged a Pit for another shall fall your selves therein Iudge judge the sin of your own hearts and the liberties of your own lusts and make inquisition after Judgment for the sake of the Righteousness of the Judgement of Truth which standeth against the Iniquities of your life and until it be perfected in you Judge not lest you be judged For ye have not received the measure in love for Judgment to justifie you in the sight of GOD and wanting the measure in your selves you heap up Oppression upon the head of another and wherein you judge another you are left inexcusable your selves for wherein you judge another you stand guilty of transgression in the self-same nature yea you judge as the Jews judged Jesus whom they blindly accused for Blasphemy and perversly condemned his Innocency to cover their Seat of Iniquity O man Judgest thou another as an Heretick and hast thou Oaths and Curses in thy mouth Judgest thou another for Heresie and thou an Hypocrite and Lyar in thy life Thou shalt bear the burden of thy Judgment for thy own spirit gave the entrance and yeelded the encrease of Heresie in the Earth and thou shalt not be excused in the sight of the LORD GOD And you shall all know That the Judgment of GOD is according to Truth against every one that doth evil Concerning your Restraints let me shew you the general Issues and Effects thereof A man that breaks the Covenant of your Wills as having eaten Flesh upon a sixth day of the week which you call Venus day after the manner of ascribing glory to a Heathen Goddess for so doing or otherwise you offending though not against GOD transgressing he is judged by you as a sinner against your Church and therefore receives the sentence for restraint in your Inquisition-Prison-house and then he is yours as the wild Ass that is caught in the Coller and knowing the nature of your own lusts you work upon the strength of the same in another you are experienced to deal with your own as the Falkoner to bring Hawks to the waving of the Leuer Man in the Fall as your Members have said not one of you restored unto the first Adam's estate in Paradise dwells in the cursed ground of Corruption Lust standing head over the whole Life which being a little curbed with your bridle of Restraint quickly languisheth in the Creature and with it also the mind of the Creature unto the bereaving and robbing the false Rest which through the subtilty of the Serpent was planted in the Creature A Sea of misery then floweth into the heart and the mind gathers up the remembrance of the delight of every pleasure that is past and painfully pleadeth in it self I have lost the fulness and choice of the Bread and Wine which I had in my liberty here is no vent for the performing of what my heart desireth either fulness or want doth but heap
may say that my Writings were against then as aforesaid could not I have written the things which I have written in your Inquisition-Prison Fifthly Because that all Righteous Laws of GOD in Nations touching Facts Criminal and Crimes Capital are no more to one person particular than unto all men in general And therefore my adhibition at last to write things of the same nature and purpose in Prison which at first I did in the fruition of Liberty demonstrates that your said self-nulled Law Under which contrary to the tenure of GOD's righteous Law I am yet irrationally and compulsively held in your house of Captivity was not at first so much a stable Law as an aiery variable nicity for that which in such cases adhibits to one and prohibits the same to another is rather like a wind of vanity than a body or pillar of solidity seeing that it will admit of the respect of persons in Judgement and consequently what equality there is in restraining of persons more than two years upon the account of a changeable curiosity and aiery nicity judge thee O thou righteous Iudge in the high seat of superiority Sixthly Because the Eternal Spirit of Righteousness my Maker which searcheth all hearts and tryeth all reins which is the greatest Witness of all Witnesses beareth testimony in my spirit that in all which I have written have stood and do stand in my Conscience clear naked and void of all and every part of a prejudicial mind or conception of Envy Wrath Malice Scorn or despightful Contempt of any man's person neither have I thereby wronged any man whatsoever for all that is therein inserted is none other but wholsom Admonitions exciting to a more peculiar holy and blessed life towards GOD and a man's Neighbour with certain solid sober Interrogations which tend not to the custom of heathenish strifes and contests in the envious and malicious spirit of bitterness but purely sincerely and reverently in the humble spirit of fear of the LORD GOD to the proper and sole end of the Glory of GOD through the Salvation of Souls by his heavenly enlightning of Understandings with the Glory of his holy Spirit And savoury reprehensions of that spirit which sinneth and testimony against the Evils of the Land and the insertion of sundry spiritual Mysteries of the heavenly Kingdom with the spiritual Witness of the Father Son and holy Ghost and nothing therein contrary to the New Testament of GOD the Blood of the Covenant and immaculate Life of the Lamb nor any thing in opposition to that chast Spirit of Sanctity which was in Mary or any which was or is as that blessed Virgin was which upon further and due tryal I am able in the grace and power of GOD and the Life of our Lord Jesus to make appear unto that of God in you and all men whatsoever which my Language can understand upon the face of the Earth In which thing being justified First by GOD which sent me Secondly By example of the holy Prophets of old Thirdly By the practice of CHRIST and his Apostles which at large through the Mercy of the Lord God Almighty I am also able to hold forth unto you in the day of due tryal according to the undeniable Record and Witness of the holy Scriptures of Truth And therfore Righteousness saith Because that the nature of the matter was of a pure purpose should rationally have been recompenced by you with none other than a pure and Christian-like practice Seventhly Because the sweet savour and good report of our Innocency came to your City before us which God made divers of your Ecclesiastical Members to confess in plainness of speech to my face Eighthly Because the Witness of GOD which is greater than the Witness of Man testified in my spirit That all my honest Queries sweet and holy Admonitions pure Advertisments godly Reprehensions proceeded from no other but as Crystal streams from the fountain of the Father's Love which he hath made as a Well of Waters in my bowels And principally because that Reprehension is an infallible token of the Father's Love to his Seed in all Nations and Lands testified by the Spirit to John the Apostle saying Whom I love I rebuke and chasten be zealous therefore and repent Ninthly Because it is the undeniable Duty of all men upon the face of the Earth to love the Rebukes of the LORD as it is purely the LORD's Mercy and of his infinite Love to send them as Visitations of his Love unto all Nations Tenthly Because the resisting of the Rebuke is the resisting of the token of the Favour and Love of GOD which renders men unworthy of the Love and Mercies of GOD their Maker And because it vails the heart from the life of the true Zeal in spirit and hardens the heart in the Wrath of Cain towards Abel of Esau to Jacob and of the Jews to Jesus 11. Because the Righteous Law of God is of the same nature full of Judgment and Reprehension of every Evil not respecting the Person of any man and is at unity with every such spirit of its own nature in so good a work for the which cause it was righteously added of GOD for if there were no bridle how should the Beast be tamed if no Helm how should the Ship be sailed And without Correction there is no perfect Instruction 12. Because the Rebuke of Life is as a Steel which smiteth at the Flint of man's heart and kindleth in his Internals the fire of the fear of his Creator which is the beginning of Wisdom which reveals the knowledge of the countenance of the Father whom to know is Life eternal and because of Solomon's proverbial commendation of the work of Reprehension saying The Reproof of the Righteous is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver 13. Because as the matter of my said Writings is manifestly composed of Righteousness and covered with the Countenance of the Word of GOD so the manner thereof stands in unity with the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles which were in the nature of Divinity which covereth not Iniquity with daubing Iniquity 14. Because Moses the Messenger of GOD justified him which prophesied in the Camp whom the People complained against thus answering and saying Would God all the Lords People were Prophets And because GOD Almighty is unchangeably the same as yesterday so this day and for ever of these stones able to raise a Seed unto Abraham 15. Because of the amiable Example of the gesture of David the King under the sharp Reprehension of Nathan the Prophet who persecuted not the Prophet but with a contrite spirit repented of his own sin And the like of the King and People of Niniveh who persecuted not Jonah though he cryed their Destruction in the Streets 16. Because the Prophet Isaiah prophesied it as the great Evil of such a People which would make a man an Offender for a Word 17. Because that for the same things like
be made manifest The LIGHT is all your Consciences is your Condemnation within who hate the Light and will noâ—… come to the Light by the Light which convinceth of sin to be led out of all sin Verily I say unto you neither Wit Craft noâ—… Guile the Horse nor his Rider Sword Boâ—… nor Battle nor Angels nor any otheâ—… creatures but the Light which you hate and persecute the Witness of it shall deliver in the day of Wrath which is near you And this is the Word of the LORD GOD to you all Remember you are warned Therefore whilst you have time Repent and henceforth blot out the vain imaginations of your minds and let it be written upon the table of your hearts If God's Everlasting Covenant be changeable then may our cruelty change them from the Lord their God Given forth in fear and trembling before the God of all dreadful Power From the Inquisition-Prison in Rome J. P. THese are to this blind-hearted Generation which are smooth to the rough and rough to the smooth and cannot discern the rough from the smooth the crooked from the streight the right from the left Your love the love of the everlasting Father holdeth in an irreconcileable hatred for ye love the smooth words of the men of this world which stand in the rough places of the Earth Ye love their Titles Daubings Flatteries Dissimulations and Hypocrisies and your selves smooth in the same nature unto this their nature of roughness But ye are rough to the smooth which deal with you in honesty and plainess which are not smooth to your rough nature of dissimulations Wherefore you are rough in your consultations secret reports and actions and bend your selves in crookedness against the streightness of the smooth things of Gods Kingdom Your hatred the LORD despiseth even as your love he hateth For the thing which you hate is the seal of the love of the Father to be holden in love unto death as a testimony against the roughness and crookedness both of the love and hatred of your Life you love not to come unto the smooth stone of David which sank into the forehead of the Philistine The Philistine liveth in you and curseth the Dominion of the GOD of David he spake roughly to the smooth thing in the Stripling but the smooth did smite his roughness even so must it be by the Philistine in you ere the GOD of David be known to be God among you And this is to you all that the smooth which is rough to the smooth thing of God may dye in you that the Lord 's smooth thing may live in dominion over the rough things of the Earth Rome dispensed from the Inquisition-Prison J. P. To a Franciscan of the Irish Convent in Rome Irish Priest THou hast desired something from me that thou mayest answer it And I hereby proposing let thy own words stand thy own obligation to be as faithful in answering as thou wert forward in promising I have sometimes born witness unto divers of you Priests of the Roman Catholick Assemblies manifestly shewing unto you how that CHRIST is the LIGHT of the World which lighteth every man that cometh into the World and unto that LIGHT in all your Consciences approving my Message and the Testimony of the Faith of JESUS which I hold in a pure Conscience to be of GOD which in you all shall stand a Witness for me everlastingly unto Judgement though now you rise up as false witnesses against it and so bear false witness against me and will not come unto the Light that you may have Life but do chuse to your selves the antient path of the Serpent's way setling your selves in the inventions of your own hearts lurking in the secret dens of craft and subtilty stretching out your hands in the corrupted fallen apostatized Policy and so whatever is brought forth by you is but the birth or age of Iniquity Divers of you have confessed unto me and lastly as next unto this present time Thou didst acknowledge that there is not one of all your Catholick Church which is restored unto Innocency or redeemed from sin and the daily act of transgression and then I shewed thee if not one in Innocency then all in the contrary which is Iniquity If all in the daily act of transgression then all wallowing in the miry place in the apostatized ground fallen from the Life of the Lord Jesus who leads out of sin Now therefore understand you who are setled in the obstinacy and perversness and hardness of heart Read your unbelief and the desperate end thereof who will not that the Devil's kingdom should come to an end in you you may have all the words of Christ and the Apostles as the Jews had Moses and the Prophets and yet perish in the same desperation through refusing to come unto Him who is the Life You may say The Lord liveth and yet therein be false swearers as said Jeremiah You may have all tongues and many gifts you may give all your goods to the Poor and your bodies to be burnt and yet want the Charity saith Paul You may as the Magicians of Egypt shew many Signs yea and in the Name of CHRIST Preach in the Streets do many wonderful things and cast out Devils and at the last day say Lord these things have we done in thy Name But not coming unto the LIGHT and LIFE of CHRIST which leads out of Iniquity and to dwell in the LIGHT unto the End above Iniquity Unto such I will profess unto them I know you not depart from me ye cursed workers of Iniquity saith Christ What therefore availeth your Doctrine what also hath it profited any of you in confessing so much of Truth unto me saying that my words are true and just and are as Jewels and Diadems and Precious Stones and ought exceedingly to be owned and honoured Except you come to the Life and Truth of the Substance from which they were offered unto you not that you should catch at the shadow and shell as the Hypocrites in the whole Earth who are smooth in confessing and saying but cursed in doing for know ye that it is one thing to be enlightned and to walk contrary to the Light in such the Light is their condemnation and another thing to dwell and walk in the Light in which God dwelleth in such the Light is their justification You may read the declaration of another man's state without you but cannot read more than your own states with a true witness within you you may dream of sweet Wine but be awakened unto a potion of Wormwood There cannot be plainer proof than the Witness of your own Confessions to conclude your Professions of God vanity your wicked sinful life a scandal to Honesty and all Truth and of Christ but an occasion of the contempt of the reproachful shame and ignomy which sometime past I have in my understanding read among the Turks and Jews Ponder these things and be awakened
and in spirit be provoked unto Holiness which stands not in the wilful afflictions and penance heaped upon the vessel of the creature Man or by hanging down the head like a Bulrush for a day but by a due and diligent search of the hidden man coming unto the Judgment of Truth and revelation of the Indignation and Wrath of the Lamb which is slaughtered in the streets of Mystery Sodom That you may come to the Testimony of the DAY of Vengeance and the acceptable Year of the LORD until which the works of your wills in all your daily services are but as the offering of the sacrifice of Cain who killed the Just. And furthermore hereby I give you to understand That there are but two Seeds known unto all in the Substance two Wills two Natures two Spirits and each of them the ground and root which yeelds the fruit of good or evil in all whether Prayers Preaching Plowing or Planting even all which is brought forth within or without by either of them the one the Redemption out of the Fall and from the ground of the first Apostacy in lost Adam and the Restauration unto the first state of Innocency the other the Plant of Perdition which holds in the Captivity even all the Professors of the Name of Christ who are alienated from the Life of Christ in the ground of the second Apostacy under which you have concluded your selves as Christ said The Tree is known by the fruits which thing well understood by you in heart and faithfully owned in life would put a stop to all your vanity of enquiring after more things until first you have found and do come to live in the one thing which is only needful unto Salvation with which all things else come to be possessed Nevertheless to thee I query a little concerning your Doctrine Practice and Example to be plainly and particularly answered in writing by the words of the Declaration of the Doctrine Life and Example of Christ or any of his holy Apostles as written in the Record of their Scriptures of which some were given forth before the Apostacy came in and others before it fully entred and came in prophesying the full succession thereof What since them is brought forth among you thou mayest omit to mention in thy Replication for I know your spirit and do also know what you can and do live unto and this as the former to your Body for the Truth 's sake simply I give forth that if haply thou and the rest may come down from your Mountain into the Valley of Jehosaphat unto the Righteousness of the Judgments of the LORD of the whole Earth who else with Vengeance will dash you in pieces as a Potter's Vessel Remember you are warned to prize your time and Repent Query 1. Why call ye Christ LORD and do not the things which he saith Que. 2. Why delight ye Priests to wear long Robes like as the Scribes and Pharisees Que. 3. Why delight ye in Salutations and Greetings in the Market-places and love the Uppermost Rooms at Feasts Que. 4. Why love ye to be called of men Lords and Masters or to call men Lords and Masters Que. 5. How can ye believe in Christ who seek the honour which comes from man Que. 6. Why teach ye for Doctrine the Traditions of men Que. 7. What Precept of CHRIST or President of the Apostles have you to warrant your worshiping before graven Images or painted Figures Que. 8. What Precept of CHRIST or President of the Apostles have you to warrant the owning and confâ—…ssing of more than ONE Intercessor Advocate and Mediator Que. 9. By whom was it prophesied or practised as in the Declaration of Truth and Record of the Scriptures That besides Prayers for all Saints in the Churches Prayers should be made unto any Saints in Heaven seeing CHSIST taught Not unto Himself henceforth but only to the Father in his Name Que. 10. VVhat Precept of CHRIST or President of the Apostles have you to warrant often Repetitions and vain Bablings and to yeeld unto God in your manner but one Prayer of eleven that is to say Ten Ave Maries and but One Pater Noster Que. 11. What Precept of CHRIST or President of the Apostles have you to keep count of the tale of your Prayers by Bracelets or Beads upon strings Que. 12. VVhat Word of the Record of Truth have you to warrant a place of Purgatory for Sin after this life under that cloak granting liberty to your selves to sin unto death Que. 13. VVhat Word of GOD or Precept of CHRIST have you to warrant unto any soul which requireth a reason of you to shew how possibly can any one of you sanctifie Bread and Wine to dispense it under the denomination of a Sacrament seeing you are all confessed to be of corrupt hearts and unclean hands which never could touch the holy thing Que. 14. VVhat Precept or President recorded in the Scriptures of Truth have you to warrant the Administration of Water sprinkled upon Infants with unclean hands in the corruption of your hearts to be the Baptism which taketh away the Original Sin How is the Original taken away from any one whilst the life of you all is a continual issue and open fountain of all sin Que. 15. How can an evil heart blesse any thing or the spirit of Satan make Holy Water Which of you being daily washed in that Water will it clense from the Corruption and rottenness of his heart Que. 16. VVhat Precept of CHRIST or Doctrine of the Apostles is your Warrant to deny the general use of the Scriptures of Truth among your Church-members and to allow Books of lying Stories and Tales and beastly Songs and bewitching Playes and Sports and such abominable beastly things openly in the Streets and in Houses as are not meet to be named Que. 17. What Precept of CHRIST have you to call men Fathers upon Earth Que. 18. What Prophecy is there recorded in the Scriptures of Truth for the succession of Popes Cardinals Chaplains White-Fryars Black-Fryars Gray-Fryars Iesuites Nuns and Queristers to come in the Truth Que. 19. What Precept or President have you in the Scriptures of Truth to worship in Idols Temples made with hands there seeking GOD where GOD dwelleth not Que. 20. What Scripture is it that warrants your going Processions Que. 21. What Scripture-Example have you for your Begging Brothers going about hood-wink'd and disguis'd with Money-Boxes and others with great Wallets and Wine-bottles from house to house a begging Que. 22. What Example in Scripture have you which sheweth that the Saints and Apostles in the Primitive times did live in the observation of the Dayes or Times of CHRIST's Conception and with his also of one another's Day yearly of Births or Deaths Que. 23. What Commandment of GOD have you for the time called Lent and in it the abstinence from flesh and so in like manner sixth and seventh dayes of the Week alwayes besides commanding