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
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
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
upon the sixth day of the fourth moneth in the year 1658 arrived in the City of Rome with humble desire of attaining sight and speech with the Pope the which not foolishly or presumptuously did I seek but in all sobriety and modesty made orderly proceed in as many steps as I trod in the path of this progress the which is well known unto divers of Eminent Report of your own Sect within your City Walls Forasmuch as first of all I opened my desired Purpose and said End unto Thomas Courtney Jesuite and English Confessor of Peters from whom I received Advice and in due order thereunto made exact progress by passing next and immediately from him to John Crey Irishman and Chaplain to the Pope before whom in like manner I spread my said Desire as an unfolded sheet upon a smooth floor At which time several words passed between us of which I retain a full remembrance though not esteemed of such weight but may be waved at present to the end Lines of more consequence and more properly pertinent to the instant purpose may rule the side of my Paper and therefore do proceed shewing That upon the eighth of the said month and year I was by the Chief Marshal of the City and his Guard taken out of Bed in my Lodging at the sign of the Cock in Piazza Fornase stripped of all things except the Apparrel which I wore and so at a late hour of the night was led bound to one of the New Prisons where the second day I was briefly interrogated by the Governour of the City who at the same time verbally conceaded me consent to my Demand of a sudden fair and publick Tryal at Tribunal of Law the which Equal deed mine Eye never saw put in execution and practice unto this instant day of my Restriction And it came to pass that before six days were expired with a second Guard I was taken from thence bound in a Coach and transported to the Inquisition-Prison at which Office and Prison divers of your Ecclesiastical Orders came to seek and received full and plain speech from me And after that a short space of time had vanished there was adhibited me a free and lawful Priviledge viz. The solid clear and incontradicted Licence to write my mind in whatsoever thing I would to which purpose and as an Authentick testimony of the same him called the Father Commissary of the said Inquisition allowed me Pen Ink and Paper with the use whereof I faithfully forwarded the matter of clearing my Conscience thorow a naked Explication of the words of Righteousness in sundry Manuscrips and an Epistle general to the Romans Moreover it came to pass that I having been about 18. weeks close Prisoner in the said Inquisition was the third time bound and again in a Coach transported from thence unto this Prison of Mad-men where I have rested in the Peace and Patience of the Lord Jesus as one of his Innocent Lambs under much hardship and severity the which I over-pass pressing on in the Progress and succedently to shew forth viz. Concerning my more than two years Persecution under Authority of your jurisdiction Known be it unto you O all ye Heads Rulers and Judges of Rome That there was not an act done by me in your City for which I am persecuted which any Law of God or Precept of his Son Jesus Christ doth condemn and am sure where Righteous Judges perspicuously understanding the matter from no righteous rational Law could judge either worthy of Bonds or of blame for the things which your Sect do call Heresies which were the Writings that were found with me though of a truth my Intention was naked to God the which when apprehended I hid not from you to dispense them as they were directed to you some folded and others sealed yet not any of the said Papers being actually dispensed in this your City before I was Apprehended consequently not matter of Fact to be charged upon me as transgression of a Law and so not worthy of these Bonds the which you may plainly perceive also by the succeeding illustrations First From the word of Affirmation of one of your Fathers a Confessor unto me shewing the Erection of the Inquisition by a Law was not to persecute but purposely and properly to stop the in-courses of such things as the said my Writings which he reputed none other but as a dangerous Impress of Heresies the which when stopt the Law was fulfill'd and in Equity had its uttermost end and so much the clearer because the matter was not a Fact actual but a purpose Intentional the which no Righteous Law calleth criminal seeing not any word therein was carnally evil or relating to any mans person mentally treasonable Secondly Because that whereas in the Inquisition-Office declared to be erected for the prevention of the influences of Heretical and Schismatical Opinions was adhibited me the free and lawful Licence and Priviledge to Write whatsoever things I would the Righteous Judge in his Wisdom will not impute that thing unto me as Transgression of the Law in the City which is a licenced Priviledge adhibited me by the Ruling Power over the City Thirdly Because it is well known that not in any of my Papers which were taken from me there were words which your particular Judgements do esteem Heresies which you could call more dangerous Heresies than in them which I had free and lawful admission of Writing whence the palpability of Reason inferreth the infallibility of Conclusion not worthy as precited either of Bonds or of Blame for before an entrance of the Sentence of Condemnation might judiciously approach me herein it would first take its proper Stage rationally to reach your own Members and thereby if the Law could implead any at the Bar as a Transgressor me in mine Innocency it would acquit and charge the guilt on the heads of them Heads which at the last adhibited me the free Liberty to Write and so to dispence to you whatsoever I would without which I the Prisoner could not have done the thing acted Fourthly Because the said later Writings whilst I was a Prisoner being priviledged do in the perspicuity of Reason hold forth That the former written whilst I was at Liberty do stand with suitable assent of one of these three viz. first Either according to your Law or secondly Not contrary to the rule of your Law that is to say a Law not standing in potential record against them and to that saith the Apostle Where there is no Law there is no Transgression or otherwise at utmost you constantly avouching that they were against your Law Finally the Rule of Equity standeth to test that of a truth it was your selves which by the Act of Assent first nulled that Law and so no more stands in force of a Law to judge me now as a transgressour for except that it were not against a Law or that you had made void and null that Law which you
the waves of temptations passing over your weary minds you shal not always mourn like doves for a mate nor grieve like Widows for the losse of their Beloveds neither shall your dayes be alwayes Tribulations nor the continuance of your time as surpassing pangs of pains But surely you shall draw into a good time wherein Beauty shall be given into your souls for Ashes the Oyl of Joy for Mourning and the Garments of Praise for the spirit of heaviness in which time the strength of the LORD your Maker shall be the Pavillion of you Peace and you shall rest in his Joys for ever Well therefore O ye tender Friends whom my soul is seeking in the Love of my Father to be united unto Him in his Holiness Come and experience this Doctrine and prove this new and living Way of the LORD though not another than that which from the beginning was but only new unto the old nature of all flesh which corrupteth its way in the sight of the Lord God which is the Way wherein the holy Apostles and suffering Servants of JESUS lived and walked and being but one as the Apostle saith There is one Way one Truth and one Life as ye believe and confess there is but one True GOD and therefore as ye find in your way coruption abounding ye have cause also to confess that the Way of God being but one cannot be the Way in which you walk Forasmuch as GOD hath said by the mouth of his holy Prophet speaking of the Messiah I will give him for a Way and for an high way which the wayfaring-men though fools shall not erre therein Who also spake by the same Prophet saying I will give Him for a Covenant to the People for a Light to the Gentiles that He may be my Salvation unto the ends of the Earth of whom also in the fulness of the dispensation of time John the Baptist bore Witness testifying Him to be the True LIGHT that lighteth all mankind coming into the World as Christ himself said I am the LIGHT of the World he thot believeth in me shall not abide in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life This is the Way even the true Way of the LORD GOD which I desire through proof your souls may experience And to the end that you may have the true Witness within you of the Power of Holiness which leads into perfect Unity with the Perfect GOD in the Innocent Life of the Lamb of GOD that taketh away the sin of the World I tenderly exhort counsel and advise you to turn your minds unto that Light of the Lamb of GOD which shineth into all your Souls convincing you in all your Consciences of all your sins and joyning your minds unto it in perfect Love of it because it is of the pure Nature of your pure Creator you shal come in due time to find and see assuredly that as that same Light which shineth in all your Consciences is of such a powerful and virtuous Nature as that it not onely searcheth your hearts and tryeth your reins and finds out your most secret sins but also convinceth you as well of the least as of the greatest of your sins so it will likewise free deliver and ease you from the burden of your sins which is the cause of your dissatisfaction and many sorrows because that as it is of GOD pure perfect and altogether virtuous in its nature cannot change from its property nature and vertue but as it convinceth of the least sin being loved and lived in must also deliver from the least sin and being still of the same vertue and nature of GOD convincing your souls of your greatest sins being loved and lived in must also free and deliver you from your greatest sins and being found of so pure and powerful a nature and vertue to free and deliver your souls from your least and from your greatest sins must also of necessity in the same love deliver you from all your sins The which all must confess excepting some in Atheism might say That the perfect Grace and Light of the Alsufficient GOD is an Insufficient Medicine to heal the soul perfectly of all its maladies and infirmities But I am better perswaded of all you that desire the true Knowledge of the true and living God having a sensible Understanding in you that there is such a Light shining into your souls that sheweth you all your sins the which ye may remember you have had from your Childhood because you cannot otherwise say but that from your Childhood it accused you of all your sins in the secrets of your Consciences which no one else could accuse you of but yet ye were not then directed unto it as you are now counselled and therefore could not know the power and virtue because you never proved its force strength and virtue through a perfect love yeelding in obedience unto its motions and often checks of your minds Wherefore this is the happy day of your Visitation wherein it is told you that if you love that LIGHT which shews you the nature of all Temptation unto Evil and joyn unto the LIGHT so as to be guided by the LIGHT which is contrary to all Evil it will deliver you from the end of the Tempter which presents the Temptation by saving you from the Evil which Light you will then know in the invisible power of the holy God which is given you for the perfecting of his Praise in your hearts through the forming and new-creating your hearts into the mind of his own Righteous Spirit which thing you cannot know but through the experience and tryal which in the tryal I am sure as God is holy and that measure of Light in your Consciences is of GOD which is holy vertuous and powerful will purifie you from sin and perfectly save and deliver you from all evil And therefore I must needs conclude that he is most extreamly sinful and desperatly evil that saith he desireth to be delivered from all sin and evil which will not try to experience such a power and virtue of the Grace of GOD given into his soul which is able to save and deliver him from all evil Be ye therefore wise O People unto your own Salvation having had experience of the vanity of your own way and wayes try ye now the Righteous Way of GOD in which you cannot transgress and that because in your wayes you have not found rest to your desirous and thirsty souls which of all things would choose rather to be cloathed with the Righteousness of the living GOD and after tryal by pure obedience in pure and undefiled love if ye find not deliverance from your sins which is the cause of your pressures and burdens and afterwards the peace of your poor souls and satisfaction of your simple tender minds even in fulness of Content and Joy in the Pleasures of Immortal Life which is the end of all your Desires Requests and earnest seekings Then
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