Conditions and neglects his own is the Eye that offends and must be plucked out that the pure Eye may be opened which offends not and the Beam must first be cast out of thy own Eye and let all flesh keep silence before the Lord and let none speak his own Words nor think his own Thoughts but let every Soul be subject to the Higher Power all Power is of God who is from Eternity And this Doctrine we still own and abide in and your Time of Publick Prayer and your imposition putting off Hats which the People called Quakers at first before your Visible Body was heard of declared to be a practice worse than a Heathenish Vanity we deny and will follow the Light in our own Consciences according to the first Doctrine and will let the Dead bury the Dead and will not join with you in your Usurpation who are not ashamed to declare in print that you denied them that contributed with you in the purchasing of a piece of Ground for to lay their Dead in when they had need of such a thing and bid them go else-where for a burial place and you say It is no usurping of their property for they never desired their parts of the Collection and herein you say you are standered If you cannot shew me one Instance of such shameless withstanding the Truth and such boldness in the maintaining your selves in gross Errors after the discovery thereof as you do in these things in any People of any Profession what-ever let all sober-minded People take notice that you have surpassed all Usurpers that went before you for you acknowledg them to be joint-purchasers with you that they contributed with you in the Purchase thereof And as for your saying They desired not their part of the Collection to be returned You manifest your selves to all that read your Testimony to be Usurpers of their Property For what-ever it was that they parted with towards the purchasing thereof be it great or small they had no property therein for that was become the property of him or them that sold the Land So that if your own Testimony be true you did them manifest wrong in denying them their just Right Ahab offered Naboth that he would give him a better Vineyard than his own or the worth of it in Mony Yet Naboth refused it though Ahab was King of Israel and moreover when Ahab went to take possession of Naboth's Vineyard he did not maintain his Argument against the Prophet's Reproof but fell therein saying Hast thou found me O mine Enemy And herein you exceed wicked Ahab in upholding and maintaining your confused Arguments And herein is no suggestion but plain Truth confessed by your selves and needeth no other Name or Testimony but your own Confession for proof against you 1. That you liked not the word Liberty of Conscience as commonly used 2. That you are found in another Doctrine and Practice than the first Quakers in days past were found 3. That you are not slandered in saying That you usurped the Property of others and as for your saying it is baseness to suggest your ill-using of People and none named I find that when they are named you are not at all more ashamed but still wilfully and confusedly you maintain and uphold that wicked persecuting practice of haling and thrusting out of your Assemblies which practice is as contrary to the practice of the people called Quakers about twenty years ago as Light is to Darkness for you will not admit of any Inquirer to be conscientious that will not submit to your prescribed Orders For the Doctrine and Practice of the people called Quakers then was If any thing be revealed unto him that standeth by let the first hold his peace And your Doctrine and Practice now is If any Man speaks in the Meeting that is not conformable unto your Orders let such hold his peace or else be thrust out of the Meeting yea you will not admit such a one to speak without the Door but will thrust him forth into the Streets and this I can witness and stand to my testimony in any of your Assemblies if I am called thereunto And whereas you say of the Author of that Letter to which your answer is addressed that his saying that every Member is equal is false I answer your saying is twofold false For first his saying is not that every Member is equal but that the Assemblies of the true Church are equal having Christ the Light equally present with them and in them See Spirit of the Hat pag. 15. Which saying is true and not false and herein you are found to be the Perverters of true Words and not only so but denying the true Church usurping Authority over the Consciences of your weak Brethren declaring that you have power to injoin the Consciences of Individuals which is contrary to the Doctrine of the People called Quakers at first who admonished every individual Person whatsoever that would hearken unto their Voice then to return unto the measure of God within in his own Conscience and they did not then as you do now challenge a Power over the Consciences of Individuals nor did they warn us to put off our Hats when they prayed to Almighty God but they then admonished us to wait in the Light to be taught of the Light only and not to speak act or move unto any Exercise of Worship unless we were truly moved by our own Measures every one in particular which Doctrine and Practice is quite contrary to your Doctrine and Practice now who claim Power over the Conscience and say that your Orders are Gospel and herein we find you bringing in another Doctrine and preaching another Gospel contrary unto that Gospel preached by the Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ who preached Christ the Word which was in the beginning with God which Word was God to be the true Light which lighteth every Man that comes into the World And this Gospel we own And the Apostle preached Jesus Christ a Stumbling-Block to the Jews and Foolishness to the Gentiles but the Power of God to Salvation unto all them that believe and the Apostles called People to the Light saying you have a Light shining as a Candle in a dark place to which you do well to give beed unto until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts And the Apostle said you have an Vnction the Anointing within you and you need not that any Man should teach you but as the Anointing which you have received teacheth you and it is Truth That which is known of God is manifest in Man Know ye not that Christ is in you except you be Reprobates He that believeth hath the witness in himself And this Doctrine also the People called Quakers at their first coming forth among us brought unto us and this Doctrine we have received and believed and we will not deny this Doctrine and this Gospel and turn again with the
one to himself saying Lord is it I They went not about to clear the Matter but believed it was true and immediately made a thorow search until the thing was brought forth openly and afterwards they sought not to cover the Transgressor but declared the Truth and left it upon Record to be read by Ages to come Neither did they seek to hide the shameful sin of Peter in cursing and swearing that he knew not the Lord neither did Paul seek to cover the hypocrisie of Peter when he found cause of reproof nor did he admonish others to let it fall but published these things and they are upon Record and the Prophet did not seek to hide the shameful Adultery of David the King one of the most eminent Kings in many respects that ever appeared in the World Jesus Christ excepted And although the King made no more ado but confest his sin and although the Prophet upon the next words said Thy Sin is taken away yet notwithstanding all this there is no covering or hiding but it must be recorded and King David did not bid the Prophet let it fall left bad Spirits should know of it as you do and herein you are found out of the Doctrine of the Prophets and Apostles But some Objections may be put 1. We only declare against the envy and malice of the Author and not against his Person 2. We charge him to be a Liar and a false Accuser and our Charge stands good and firm because he dare not appear and stand by his Testimony And 3. we declare against his treachery and combination with our professed Enemies and furnishing those Enemies of Truth with such slanderous lying accusations against us and hiding himself not daring to shew his face Answer 1. His malice and envy could do you no hurt for it is worse to be the bearer of malice and envy than to them that it is born against and therefore it had better become you to have soberly cleared your selves from the things charged than to bear such Testimonies against Malice and Envy which is an inward Principle 2. Seing that in your Answer you justifie most part of the substance of his Charge he is not to be judged a Liar and a false Accuser although that his Name is not at his Charge and moreover in his Letter it doth not appear that his Intention was to have it published and therefore it savours more of Malice and Envy in you for it breaks forth and issues out of your Bottles against them which you call Hat-men without any distinction but he makes a clear distinction between what he declareth against and what he is for and hath not jumbled all Good and Bad together but in plainness of speech declares what it is that he disowns and declares against amongst you and you your selves confess most part of the matter of Fact only you seek to darken Counsel and would have People believe that your meanings are otherwise and herein the Lye and the false Accusation stands upon you for as I said you accuse all the Hat-men as you call them so that if his Charge had been altogether false I dare say there are hundreds of those which you call Hat-men that are innocent and do not know of those deboist filthy Actions which you slubberly seek to hide and cover 3. You in that Book also charge all Hat-men as you term us to be malicious vagabond Apostates and this upon the account of one private Letter written by one which you your selves if there is any truth in your Declarations know not who he is which Letter was published by one that knew not the Author as is related in the Preface to the Reader and in this you appear more like unto Haman than the Hat-men unto Judas As it was too small a recompence in the sight of Haman to have Mordecai himself punished but he would have all the People of the Jews destroyed and the cause was no other but that Mordecai sitting in the Gate would not bow to Haman and there is no other cause of all your Sentences of Condemnation against the Hat-men as you call us but because we sit as you say upon our Briches when you pray to your God and not put off our Hats Another Objection Dost not thou pervert our Declarations concerning the Hat which was only the putting it off to Magistrates we declared against and not the putting it off to God in time of prayer Answer Richard Hubberthorn in his Testimony of the Zeal of Oxford declares these words Doffing the Hat worse than a Heathenish Vanity And Oxford is a place where Men send their Children to learn the Languages for to be fitted as they say to become Preachers of the Gospel and a place that the Ministers of the Church of England call The Fountain of Learning and will any Man judg that this Testimony was a particular Testimony only against the Magistrates and not a general Testimony against the practice of Zealots of those Times which held it to be a decent and orderly practice as you do and more especially in regard that there is no exception made throughout all his Book for the reservation of that practice and for the Observation of the time as you would have it to be And herein Naaman the Syrian had a more clearer defence for his bowing in the House of Rimmon because that he reserved that when he declared that he would worship no other God but the God of Israel only when his Master went to worship at the House of Rimmon and leaned upon his shoulders and when he boweth with his Master at the House of Rimmon the Prophet must forgive him But after you have declared against a practice in general terms without any exceptions or reservations you bring in your exceptions after twenty years standing and herein is your daubing with untempered Morâ—er and your confusion appearing far beyond that Man which was one of the Gentiles As for the Author he is as yet hidden as he declares and needeth no Man to take part with him until the Lord be pleased to bring him to be seen and as for his Declaration what you have denied in your first Answer you have confessed much of it in your Rejoinder and have gone about to justifie the matter of Fact therein and turned the other side outwards saying to the Hat-men You have been waiting many years with an evil Eye for our Failings and make Musick of it carrying it unto the wicked Professors but we could make a Book of your Failings And herein it is manifest that the Lord is not pleased with the hiding of Wickedness and Transgression for though Noah was the only Man that found favour in the sight of God in the Old World yet his Failings must not be covered and hidden and though Cain was one of his Sons yet he must pronounce a Curse against him and herein you shew your selves and your Declarations to be contrary to the Declarations of the Holy Men of God of old who allowed of no Transgression to be hid and covered but would bring all things to the Light that the Transgressors might not go free But you with your Elders and Ministers have covered your Failings as long as you could and when the Lord caused it in a special manner to be brought forth you were like mad Men at your weak Brethren who from time to time were grieved in their minds to see how you were fallen and did use all lawful means upon all opportunities to seek a reformation And for your saying you can make a Book of the Hat-mens Failings Why have you not made it Seeing the Hat-men did not bow to your Image you ought to have declared the Truth and bring the Transgression to the Light for I profess I never owned your written Orders but upon all occasions declared against them and the backwardness of the Hat-men in not declaring your Failings to the World for many years since doth not shew that they were too forward in discovering your nakedness but on the contrary if there be any Error it is on the other hand in being too backward in declaring the Truth until such time as the Lord brought it forth in a wonderful manner by those that have no communion with the Hat-men as you have declared in Judas and the Jews p. 126. Neither will the Hat-mens Failings serve you for a covering now after such Declarations are published and such plain confession of such gross Errors found among you which Confession is the most true Evidence as may be had against any People in the World for there is no further inquiry to be made when the Party charged confesseth the Fact charged And you say Behold the Hat-men I say the same Let all sober-minded People behold and have regard and bring all things to the Light there to be judged and tried and as for you I challenge you in the fear of the Lord to enlarge your Books as big as you can and let the Hat-mens Failings be no more hidden nor covered but bring all things to the Light And if there be any other Objections to be made against this Testimony take no more pity but let the Wound be thorowly searcht that all corruption may be purged that if possible by that means the Sore may be cured and if there be any incurable Member that that may be cut off And for taking the Authors part I do declare and testifie that I do not know the Man but knowing that a great part of the things declared in his Letter is true and finding that you in your Answer and Rejoinder have brought other things to the Light against your selves which things I knew not before seeing you so unreasonable in maintaining
Dog to his Vomit and the Sow to her wallowing in the Mire to Capping and Kneeling to observations of Times monthly Weekly Quarterly Yearly a set time to Pray and another to Preach a time to serve God and a time to serve self As for your saying that we are followers of John Perrot and his mark is the Hat on in time of Prayer I answer that 's not true for we have seen several of John Perrot's Books brought forth by you relating of his Travel and Sufferings for a long time after the dissention and difference did arise amongst you about your corrupt rotten confused hypocritical dissembling Ministries and that you were drawn into parties crying as in the days of the Apostles I am of Paul I am of Apollos I am of Cephas I am of Christ And so you the followers of James the followers of George the followers of John Perrot And it is not true as you say that the grand cause of that dissention first began by John Perrot and it is not the Truth of the matter as you affirm it of his Spirit for he was but a Creature Manking and as in that estate was Dust and to return to Dust again and for his Spirit it was to return also to its own place and this shews your madness about Spirits And as for the Hat it is a dead Creature and has no Spirit in it and herein you make manifest that you are led by a delusive lying and wicked Spirit who say Hat-Spirit for the Hat hath as I said no Spirit in it and the Spirit of the Hat is a lying Expression given forth by the Devil and his Instruments and it is the evil Spirit that first invented such a Name for the Devil is the Father of Lies and the Tree is known by its Fruit herein your Fruit makes you manifest who call People Hat-Spirits and we do not declare in the dark against your secrets but against the fruit of the Spirit that moves you to utter forth these lying Expressions I was Imprisoned in the days of Oliver the Protector so called because I could not acknowledg and declare that the Scripture was the Word of God as some of you well know to remain for three Months without Bail or Mainprise and yet I did and do own the Scripture which was declared by the holy Men of God to be a true Declaration and I do also own the Word that was in the beginning of which Word the Apostles did bear a true Testimony to be the Word of God and the Light of God and was before the Scripture was written and before time and in that Word and the Light of his Countenance do we pray do we move and have our Being And we find that all the holy Men of God recorded in Scripture from Time to Time received their Wisdom and Strength to Speak and to Write from that Word which was in the beginning Moses prophesied of him saying The Lord will raise unto you a Prophet like unto me Him shall you hear in all things Esay prophesied of that Word and said He should eat Butter and Honey until he should come to chuse the Good and refuse the evil John said In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God and the Word was made Flesh and dwelt among us and we saw his Glory To his own he came and his own did refuse him but as many as received him he gave them Power to become the Sons of God This Word we have received and this Word we will follow and in this Word will we put our whole Trust and Confidence This is He of whom we have received a Measure and in that Measure do we wait continually our Measure is our Teacher which teaches us as we abide faithful unto Him how to Pray when to Pray how to Speak and when to Speak unto that measure did the People called Quakers at their first coming forth amongst us direct us to turn our Minds and our Minds were turned accordingly and we will not leave that our Measure unto which our Minds are turned and return again to the observation of outward Traditions And if any People come among us to spy out our Liberty we will not thrust them out of our Houses and if they will speak that which is not Truth that hurteth not us when we are waiting in the Light we do know that you are shut out from the knowledg of our Conditions as you do confess and how we do build up one another in our most holy Faith for we do not complain against those that come in among us to wait with an evil Eye And I do challenge you to set forth what you can against my Words and Actions ever since the time that I declared against your Formality And we know that there is no such jarring and jangling in the true Church and the Ministers of Jesus Christ never gave forth such large Testimonies in the Name of the Lord in Writing or in Print and afterwards recant and condemn those Testimonies and publish that they were given forth by the dark Spirit in an hour of Temptation and that their Testimonies were fit for the Fire as you have done and with such confidence maintain such confused stuff and with open Faces stand in the Justification thereof and jumble one thing with another to seek to blind Peoples Eyes one while bearing a Testimony in the Name of the Lord that there was no such thing as was declared and you said that five great and manifest Lies meet together therein See Alexander the Coppersmith c. pag. 24. And in a while after quite contrary maintain and justifie the very thing before denied in your Book Judas and the Jews c. pag. 49 50. With these unfruitful Works of darkness we cannot join Thus we were used in those days when we parted with the formal Traditions of those Professors among whom there were many tender hearted People but their Pastors Teachers and Elders preached unto the People the very same Doctrine as you now Preach to wit that the Quakers came forth to disturb the Churches peace and when a Man would come in among them in a peaceable and quiet manner and sit or stand civilly and orderly in the Meeting if he would but speak or ask a question in sobriety they would presently bestir themselves in such a disquiet manner that the Meeting would be in an uproar and for that cause thrust the poor Quaker out of the House saying that he came to disturb their Peace And as then it was with those Professors so it is now with you who say that the Hat on in Prayer disturbs the Churches peace and herein we find you in the same persecuting Doctrine as those persecuting Pastors and Elders were in when at first we left their outward Traditions and betook our selves to follow the Light And as they then said that our Light was darkness so say you now And