there was Bread enough without which I should have perisht forever yet for all this the Spirit of the World prevailed carrying me captive to the Law of Sin and Death but never into Lewd Ranting as falsly accused by this Night-Watch-man in which Day of Distress and great Loss came in the Year 1655 two of the Servants of the Lord preaching the Everlasting Gospel which was as Lightning arising out of the East and shining unto the West even through all in me to the very Thought in the Heart by the Word which is the Searcher and Discerner of them to the reaching unto the Seed of the Kingdom and declaring of a Body of Death standing notwithstanding Men's Profession of Religion unto which the Witness answered so that now I knew He that believeth the Gospel hath the Witness in himself and out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Waters this spake he of the Spirit as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth which are to be read believed and fulfilled Reader this is pretious to read in the Eternal Light and Life and though this was in my Mouth sweet yet afterwards it became very bitter in the Daily Cross to my own Will and a Day of Sorrow and weeping I knew over him whom I had pierced so when it was Day I wished for Night and when it was Night I wished for Day this indeed was a Day of great Distress in which I saw the Abomination which made desolate stand where it ought not Then was I to understand what it meant what God's Will was in it in making of it manifest by his Grace the Light whose Will in the Light and Grace I saw was my Sanctification throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and here we leave the World that lies in Wickedness and the Professors of the Saints Words with all that have a Form of Godliness without the Power behind us in and amongst the many Opinions and Voices of Lo here and Lo there is Christ and so we come to know the Voice of the true Shepherd whose Voice we heard inwardly and abiding with him do forever hear in the Light the Word of Faith in the Heart that we may do it So that now I say By the Grace of God and Light within I am what I am and therefore is my Testimony amongst many Brethren to the Grace and Light within through a living Experience of the good Effects of it and against all these Baptist Watchmen of the Night who plead for Sin term of Life and are Backbiters Slanderers and Persecutors of the Innocent and there will he have his Ministers conclude their doctrine and his Servants their Work who must all be paid off with his own Reward of Torment with him and his Angels forever which will be also the State and Condition of all Hypocrites and Rebellers against the Light if they repent not And this my Testimony agrees with the Testimony of the Servants of the Lord in Ages past But to return to that which was to me bitter when the Lord had lighted my Candle and with it searched my innermost Parts then the Body of Death out of which ariseth all Unrighteousness appeared indeed like a Mountain of Blackness and Darkness So that I saw no Way how to get over it and was ready to faint in my Mind but the Lord whose Love is great and also hath Respect to the bruised Reed and smoaking Flax and will it neither break nor quench until he bring forth Judgment unto Victory supported me by the more sure Word of Prophecy unto the which I did well to take heed as to a Light which shined in my dark Heart untill the Day dawned and the day Star did arise therein and then sprung a secret Hope in God and the Word of his Grace whose promise rise in my Heart That he would cleave the Rocks and the Mountains that the Redeemed of the Lord might come to Sion and now Glory be unto his Name his Promise is fulfilled in a good Measure and all along unto this Day and still is it a support unto me in the midst of all my Troubles and Tryals in my Travels from Death to Life in which my Temptations have been many yea very many both within and without in the Daily Cross but still was and is the Lord in the Light a God at Hand making good his Promises unto his own Seed in whom they are all yea and amen saith my Soul in a living Experience in which I have a Testimony to bear for the Lord to the Grace Spirit Light and Life of Christ Jesus and that it is sufficient for me and all Men in this Age as it was for Paul in that Age and Time of his deepest Exercises for every true Believer hath the Witness in himself by a living Experience and he who hath not hath no just Claim to the Promise of God in Christ Jesus declared of in the holy Scriptures for the Scriptures were given forth in the Light by the Motion of Life in the holy Men of God as in them it moved for after Ages to read and believe and in the Light to wait for the fulfilling of them and not for Men to make a Trade and a Gain of nor yet for Men to live in the Profession of take up a Rest short of the fulfilling of them as all the Night-Watch-men and Children of the Night do who plead against the Light and for Sin term of Life and so can be no true Witnesses for God in their Generation though their Profession may be large of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles words with varieties of Voices and Opinions crying Lo here and Lo there is Christ but he said Believe them not for as the Lightning ariseth in the East and shineth unto the West through all even so shall be and so is the Coming of the Son of Man the Second Adam the Quickening Spirit the Lord from Heaven who according to the Flesh is declared to be the Son of David but according to the Spirit the Son of God by the Resurrection from the Dead which we called Quakers believe and live in the Hope of witness against all the Night-Watch-men and False Accusers which say we deny it and herein according to the Spirit must all come to know him yea and him worship serve fear and obey that ever receive Peace by him And this is a true and Faithful Testimony against the Watch-men of the Night and the Opposers of the Light of Jesus Christ within born through a living Experience to the Light of Jesus which we make mention of and no other in whom is Life and his Life is the Light of Men to lead all into Salvation that follow it and to condemn all the Disobedient unto it for this is the Condemnation that Light is come and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil and he that loves the Light brings his Deeds unto it that he may know
not the People yet we do not read of any but Blasphemers against God so perverse as this Night-Watch-man is to charge the true Prophets Spirit with the false Prophets Presumption and Wickedness as he doth the Light of Christ our Principle with C. B's Presumption and Wickâ—dness And then again Antichrist the Man of Sin he sits in the Temple of God and saith that he is God and under the Name of Christ doth work in the Mystery of Iniquity and so doth great Evils under the Name of Christianity as this day we see Christendom full of Abomination by which it is become as a Wilderness for Beasts of Prey to live in now is it kind Dealing with the Christians to charge them to be led by the spirit of Antichrist because he pretends to the same â—pirit which the true Christians are led by Nay would not this Watch man think himself wronged to be so charged yea surely but if he were yet were he not so much wronged as we are by his charging our Principle with C. B's spirit and the Effects thereof for if our Fellowship stood only in outward and bodily Exercise as the Fellowship of Water-dipping and Christendom's Fellowship by Sprinkling doth then might our Principle be the easier charged with his spirit but because our Principle the Light the Grace the Word of the invisible God is that in which our Fellowship stands with God in Holiness and Truth therefore not to bâ— judged by the Practice of Evil Men and this to wit their Carnal Fellowship is the cause of their thus Opposing Gain saying and Blaspheming against the Light of Christ which whosoever walketh therein hath Fellowship with God and one with another And this Night-Watch-man saith If this to wit Bayly 's Actions be not a Proof of Bayly being in Fellowship with the Quakers then he knows not what is and here I believe him that our Fellowship he knows not no more then Christendom at large doth and in this his Ignorance must we leave him till he can believe in the Light which will give him to see and know wherein our Fellowship stands Another Proof that C. B. was in Fellowship with the Quakers he had because some joyned with him in Prayer and heard him Preach and one fell on the Ground which is now none of the smallest Quakers in Dover saith this Accuser All this proves not the Matter no more then the Weakness of a Young Child can pâ—ove the Strength of a Strong Man and now is it Reasonable to judge the Principle of the Quakers by the Actions of them which were but just then as it were convinced and being very young and tender as I said before in my Looking-Glass for the Baptists they could not easily discern and were afraid to judge And now to judge the Principle and Fellowship by such surely amongst Wise Men this will be counted Folly and condemned for Prejudice And in pag. 9. he saith If Duke Howard had proved by some convincing Arguments that the Quakers Light is Christ as he Scoffingly calls it and then made it appear that the Baptists had Blasphemed in denying that Men are Redeemed and justified by that Lâ—ght within themselves and not rather by Faith in the Death the Resurâ—ection and Ascension of Christ without us for us which is the châ—ef Point in Controversie between us saith this Opposer of Christ the Life and Light of Men and so indeed it is and now that I have in my first Answer proved and in this second also that Christ is the true Light which lighted every Man that comes into the World is as clear as the Sun But saith this Scoffer at the Light that if he had prov'd that the Quakers Light is Christ c. as if the Quakers Light and the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World were two here we affirm to all the World that we never spoke of any other Light in us but that which all Men are lighted with even Christ a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel and if this Christ the Light Life Wisdom and Power of God be not in us Governing and Ruling we are Reprobate as well as others according to the whole currant of Scripture which is the Mystery hid from the Rebellious in all Ages and Generations but in all the Obedient Christ within the Hope of Glory and Christ in you except you be Reprobates said Paul and this is our Light wherein our Fellowship stands with God and one with another and this all are Ignorant of who make it their Business to Gainsay him in his second Appearance in the Light and Spirit in which we are to know him to our Souls Salvation if ever we be saved from Sin by him And now what is written in the holy Scripture concerning Christ Jesus his Birth Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension we do believe as much as any men living and so I do believe Paul did who said Henceforth know we him no more It is also said by John He that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is born of God Do not the Papists Protestants and all Sects yea even Drunkards and Lyars that are shut out of the Kingdom and all called Christians confess to the truth of God's manifesting himself in the Body of Jesus which he had prepared to do the Will in even from the Birth to the Ascension But will or dares any man say that those are born of God because all those confess God manifested himself in Flesh and this Faith is as much as this Night-Watch-man pleadeth for or doth believe of Christ in point of Justification as his own words witness against him saying But rather in Christ without us for us To which I answer by living Experience That Christ Jesus who offer'd up his Body through the Eternal Spirit and pour'd out his Soul unto Death and tasted Death for every man those his Sufferings have a living Extent unto every one that doth believe and feel the Power by which he laid down that Body and took it up again and these are they unto whom he becomes a Saviour from Sin and gives them an Inheritance into Glory and those which believe only the offering up of the Body and feel not that eternal Power to save from Sin made manifest to them in his spiritual hight cannot have a real Sense and Feeling of the Benefit of his Death whatsoever they may pretend to of Faith in his Blood neither can they have Salvation to their Souls and this is my Answer as a Testimony to the true Faith and Christ of God a Quickning Spirit the same yesterday to day and forever who was Glorified with the Father before the World began from Everlasting to Everlasting the Rock of Ages and so Israel's Rock which they drunk of for they drunk of the Rock which follow'd them which Rock was Christ the Foundation of all the Generations of the Righteous in all Ages Christ
for want of power laying to our charge his spirit which we have deny'd ten years ago O ye Fools so soon as ever the King gives you a little Liberty to meet where you were afraid of man to meet but a little time since and so crept into Corâ—ers is this the glorious beautifullest Fruit you have to appear with surely this is not the Wisdom which is from Above which is â—irst Pure then Peaceable and easie to be entreated but that wisdom which is from Beneath where the Serpent's life is which is earthly sensual and devilish which bites at the Heel Surely Dust is and shall â—e the Serpents meat and upon his Belly shall he go all the days of his life â—ere read your selves if you can understand what it means saith â—e who is a true Friend to all mens Eternal Peace Dover the 9th day of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard A Postscript This Baptist Pastor and as many of his Flock as are of his mind would have all people to believe That the spirit by which C. B. was acted when he hâ—d err'd in his heart from God was and is the spirit by which all the Quakers are led by as the very Principle of their Religion This is the thing which his printing is for to possess people with a Belief of and he thinks in his Serpent's Wisdom that he hath made it sure enough in saying That he was owned an eminent Quaker at the time of his Imprisenment and running out to which I have Answered already how he was then looked upon by Friends whom he reputes to be a Poor Misâ—led and Deluded People but in that Way which he accounts Delusion to wâ—t Believing in the Light of Jesus which shines in the Heart and 〈◊〉 manifest in every mans Conscience do we worship God in even in thâ—â—â—pâ—â—it and in the Truth which the Devilis out of and all which do his works of Envy And therefore something is yet in my Heart to sâ—eâ—k t◠〈◊〉 spirit of Envy in the Baptist Pastor as he stiles himself and that on thâ— wise Christ Jesus was glorified with the Father before the World was and in time manifested to the World in that Body which the Father had prepared him to do his Will in whose Name is call'd the Word of God by which the World was made who took upon him the Seed of 〈◊〉 and declar'd to be the Son of David according to the Flesh but â—he Son of God according to the Spirit by the Resurrection from the deaâ— who had all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him by which he gave Commission to his Apostles or Messengers to Baptize into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which is into the Nature and Life of each which is one divine Nature and these three being one in Nature and Beeing and every one which is herein baptized knows the Father and the Son bâ— the Spirit which to know is eternal Life which is to increase in which they also know John's Ministry and Baptism which was to decrease else there must be two perpetual Baptisms but there is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism which is to be contended for and lived in by all who are of the true Church which is in God the Father of Spirits and of our Lord Jesus Christ the second Adam the Quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven who in his Body prepared him to do the Will of God in went up and down doing good and chose Twelve and one of them was a Devil not a Devil when he chose him Mark that for when he had part of the Ministry then a Servant of God but he erred in his heart and fell away and it was said Let his Habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his Charge let another take What now Baptist Pastor wouldst thou not here have judged all because he walked and professed among the rest of the Disciples and yet afterwards in eating and drinking with them was called a Devil by him that had chosen him into his Service before in which he had so walked that each Disciple was ready to question himself Is it I and Is it I here would not thy spirit have said Ah! you are all alike led by one spirit here see thy spirit and face thou blind Pastor And Peter he deny'd his Master and cursed and swore he knew him not would not thy enviâ—us spirit have said Ah! they are all alike and led by one spirit for all â—hey have been a preaching up the Light yet would not thy Pharisaical â—pirit have condemned all for Peter and though he found a place of Repentance what is that to thee and thy judgment against the Truth in this â—ase for Judas found no more place then C. B hath yet found and â—et he had a part and might be and was reckoned a Disciple as well by â—he rest of the Disciples as C. B. was reckened a Quaker by some of the Quakers for to some he was manifest as I said before though you Baptists knew is not And then Demas he forsook Paul and embraced â—he present World what wouldst thou have said less then Ah! they are â—ll alike led by one spirit let them profess what they will for those â—hich said the Apostles turn'd a the World up-side down and contradicted â—nd blasphemed their Doctrine What do you Baptists in this your Work â—iffer from them And those which had the Form and not the Power â—hich were to be turned away from what would thy Jewish spirit â—ave said Ah! they are all alike led by one spirit for they speak â—like and act alike as this blind Pastor said Charles Baily did â—â—st as the Quakers in all things both in Words and Actions â—herefore all one spirit said he And then John said They went â—ut from us because they were not of us that it might be made â—anifest they were not all of Us He doth not say They had never â—een among them Mark that but They were not of them â—ere wouldst not thou have been the Accuser of the Brethren and in â—nvy have been ready to have â—rinted against them and have â—aked Ten Years back to have proved them that went out from them to have been of them at such a time and at such a time and especially at that time when they held out their Golden Cup of Profession in good words as you do Here may you see your selves if the God of this World hath not blinded your Eyes And then in the Churches there was some Fault found with the most of them in some things if thou Pastor of Dover-Baptists hadst been in those dayes and heard of it would not this thy spirit have said It is all their Principles and one spirit leads them all as thou dost say concerning the Quakers against whom thou watchest for Evil both in words and action and then bringst it forth Ten Years after it is done so much out of Time that it
Sea and what is the Sea and what are the Fish and what is the Vessel and the Good Fish that are put therein and the Bad Pish that are cast away VIII What is that Baptism that is to remain seeing the Scripture saith there is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism is it Johns or is it Christs or is it Water or is it Spirit or must there be two And what is that true Bread which comes down from God the flesh of Christ which he gives for the Life of the World and whether he that eats of it shall not live for ever and whether any have Life but those that eat thereof and whether your Bread be that yea or nay which you give each other as an Ordinance of God as you call it IX What Baptism is that now which gives an Entrance into the one Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head seeing the Scriptures of Truth which we believe and own say That by one Spirit are we all baptized into the one Body and who is the Administrator of this Baptism and when may it truly be said of any Man that he is baptized with this Baptism Luke Howard A Looking-Glass FOR BAPTISTS Being A Short Narrative of their Root and Rice IN KENT Wherein the Erroneous Spirit of Richard Hobbs Pastor of the Baptists in Dover with some others therein concern'd with him is Reprehended By Luke Howard Be sober be vigilant because your Adversary the Devil as a roaring Lyon walketh about seeking whom he may devour Whom resist stedfast in the Faith knowing that the same Afflictions are accomplish'd in your Brethren that are in the World But the God of all Grace who hath called us into his Eternal Glory by Jesus Christ aftâ—r that you have suffered a while make you perfect stablish strengthen settle you To him be Glory and Dominion for ever and ever Amen 1 Pet. chap. 5. vers 8 9 10 11. Printed in the Year 1673 THis Narrative is for the Unbyassed Minds to look into whether Baptists or others in which short Narrative by all such may be seen the Rice and Root of the Baptists in Kent And the Face of an Envious spirit ruling in Richard Hobbs Pastor of the Baptists in Dover as he pretends himself to be with all concerned with him in it except he has beguil'd any to set their Names to an Envious Story of one Charles Bayley Ten Years by past to which Story there is Nine Names but five of them dead for several Years and C.B. of whom the Story is was by the Quakers deny'd ten Years since and so is to this Day as in this Narrative will appear to the Authors shame because they have known he was deny'd for several years as their own Consciences will testifie against them This they joyn'd to another like it self at the Re-printing of it which before was sufficiently Answered and the Forgery therein detected to all unbyassed Minds READER I Hearing of and this day seeing a Scandalous Narrative from the Baptist-People of Dover at the reading of which I could not but very much strange that men should so much lose their Reason as men that as soon as they have a little Liberty given them to abuse it so as to imploy themselves in such dirty work once and again of Nine and Ten Years by past and so to make themselves a Scorn to Fools and the innocent Principle of the Quakers the Worlds Talk whom they hate as Ahab did Micaiah and therefore is their work like themselves whose Envy destroys their Reason which is the Cause they Print such things as are filled with Mischiefs and no good to any though such as envy and hate the Light of Jesus and perfect Way of the Lord and so bring not their deeds to it may rejoyce thereat The tendency of which Narrative was of C. Baily's spirit and works manifested in Dover in the 8th Month call'd October 1661. to crown the rest of their work in their other Narrative to which this of C. B. was added in the Reprinting of the same as the Baptists in subtilty thought or might think Therefore it was something upon me to give forth a true Relation according to my knowledge of C.B. and his being denyed long since by us and so not to be by Wise Men accounted of us And also for the Truth 's sake to make a sure Discovery of the Rice of the Baptists in the County of Kent who shew what spirit they are of by their works in Print that they should not be lifted up and glory in the flesh above their sphere and so preach and affirm they know not what unto the people which are more simple some of them and cleaner in heart and mind before they are Dipped then ever they come to be again after once they are proselited into their Yoak of Bondage and therefore is this plain Discourse for the Simple sake given forth The 9th day of the 5th Moneth called July 1672 L. H. A LOOKING-GLASS for Baptists c. IN the Year 1643. and 1644. the People call'd Baptists began to have an entrance into Kent and Anne Stevens of Canterbury who was afterwards my Wife being the first that received them there was dipped into the Belief and Church of W. Kiffin who then was of the Opinion commonly called The particular Election and Reprobation of Persons and by him was also dipped Nicholas Woodman of Canterbury my self and Mark Elfreth of Dover with many more both Men and Women who were all of the Opinion of the particular Point and who reckoned themselves of the Seven Churches in that Day who gave forth a Book call'd The Faith of the Seven Churchs which was then opposit to the Baptists that held the general and is still the same at which time there was great contest betwixt those Baptists called The General as Lamb Barber and those which held the Vniversal Love of God to all and Kiffen Patience Spillman and Colyer and those that held the Particular Election so that if any of the particular Men or Women of the Seven Churches aforesaid did change in their Opinions from the Particular to the General that then they were to be baptized again Because said they You were baptized into a wrong Faith and so into another Gospel using that saying That if any man bring any other Gospel then that which we have received let him he accursed whereupon several denied their Belief and Baptism and were baptized again into the General Opinion or Belief But N. Woodman aforesaid with M. Elfreth with all of then in Kent except Daniel Con of Canterbury which never baptized any held their Baptism in the particular but changed their Opinions to the General some to Free-will and the Mortality of the Soul and many other things too redious here to relate from whence did arise almost all the Baptists which now are in Kent whose Root is Babel and Confusion which so much boast themselves in this day of a little
years backward to smite with the Fist of Wickedness and persecute the Innocent with your Tongues for want of power in your Hands to effect your Wills whose Opinions we well know and much more then is here said and what is here said is not there a cause for it let the Unbyassed in Heart and Mind judgâ— in the Case and let the Lord judge who judgeth not as man in the Fall judgeth but will judge Righteous Judgement But to return Now this Man your Root is gone and many which knew him not are gotten into his Form crying up your Water-Baptism as the Jews did Circumcision and a Temple with other things which God commanded in its Day as was Baptism to John which was to decrease but the one Baptism of Christ by the one Spirit into the one Body was to increase as John testified of him and stands a Witness in the Holy Scriptures against you all And so we say There is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism to be contended for and to be lived in by all who are of the Church which is in God of which Christ Jesus is the Head World without end when all things which are seen shall have an End And this Testimony lives in my Heart for God That it is neither Baptism nor not Baptism in Water that availeth any thing no more then Circumcision but a New Creature here read yourselves and as many as walk according to this Rule to wit of the New Creature Peace be unto them and to the whole Israel of God and now Wisdom is justified of her Children and every Tree is known by its Fruit so are you to all whose Eyes are open to see your Folly and Envy in raking Ten Years back as if you had sate brooding the Cockatrice Egg all this time to hatch forth the Serpent's Seed of Envy to come behind and bruise the Heel of an Innocent People which have deny'd and do deny and all along our Principle hath been against such spirits as C. Bayly's was of Ten Years since and is of now But Richard Hobbs who takes to himsâ—â—f the name of Pastor of the Baptists in Dover sâ—â—th in pâ—gâ— 7. of their Hatcht up Envy That â—f the Quakerâ— should deâ—â— Charles Bayly to be owned a very eminent Man amongst them at the time of his Imprisonment that then they will render themselvâ—◠〈…〉 Persons that ever professed Religion Thus Caperaâ—â—◠〈…〉 exâ—lts himself as it he spoke Truth and knew all the Qâ—â—â—â—â—s Minds at that time but his Anger over-ruliâ—g his Knowledge 〈◊〉 to seek of his Proof although he seems to provâ—â—t by his comâ—â—â— on Lords Day after as he saith to the Prison and there saw C. B. and most of the Quakers in Town with him and he Pray'd and some of them kneeled A poor Proof He there neglects relating That several of he Men Friends were then Prisoners in Dover Castle and besides amongst them at Liberty there were some which did not own C. Bayley so much as R. Hobbs reporteth of though to him it was not declared and besides Anne Howard my Wife I being then a Prisoner in the Castle did so far disown him that she sent up to London to the Elders of Friends and gave them an Account of his mad Actions who sent down two Friends to look after him and they testified against him when they saw him this Friends did not acquaint the Baptists with who we knew waited for Mischief but Friends Care was of him to preserve him if possible and to restore him in the Spirit of Meekness and Love as our Duty is according to Scripture but when no Recovery can be then deny'd as he was and is to this day And how can be charge the Principle or Body of our Friends with him save Envy it self And besides those Friends which chiefly were with him in the Prison were young Convinced and tender and could not easily discern and afraid to judge not knowing what to say but to us in the Castle Prison when they came up to us they would speak as it was but this did not we see meet to acquaint the Baptists with but rather endeavoured to get him to London which was done in order to his Recovery so that Friends are clear of him in the sight of God and according to Scripture although the Baptists in envy seek to lay Stumbling-blocks in the way of the Simple by it so do transgress the Law of God and Scriptures which they in words call their Rule which say Thou shalt not lay a Stumbling-Block in the way of the Blind but shalt fear thy God But they shew their Spirit to the full and the Lord judge between us and them for his Seed's sake And surely if these men had been in the dayes of Christ and the Apostles they would have done as the Jews did lay blame to the Life and Doctrine of them because of Miscarriages in Judas and others of which the Scripture declares much and that through them the Name of God was blasphemed but surely the Blasphemers were to bear their burden from the Lord as well as the Cause-givers and so musâ— all now for the Lord will not be mocked but as every one sows so must he reap even the fruits of their own doings and so must you for all your Blasphemy against the Light of Jesus which we declare of which every man is lighted withal according to the Scriptures though you presumpuously sometimes call it Natural and scoffingly and enviously the Quakers dark Light with many more blasphemous words as the Jews of old did in whose steps you are found walking and whose works you are found doing in the spirit of envy which said This is the Heir come let us kill him that the Inheritance may be ours now he that envyeth is a Man-slayer or Murderer and we know that no Murderer hath Eternal Life abiding in him and we may justly desire of the Lord to be delivered from such unreasonable men which so shew your Teeth as very ready to bite if you had but power crying out in a publick Assembly of Baptists in Dover That he which answered your false Accusations of eight or mine years Envy deserv'd to have his Ears nail'd to the Pillory for only his setting two Letters for his Name which shews your spirit to all wise men sufficiently And therefore let your Profession be what it will the body of death is standing in you in which the Persecutor and Murderer lives for how unlike a true Christian are your works in raking for matter ten years back to beget in people an evil Opinion of the Quakers and what will you get by it amongst the wise in Heart but shame and contempt for our Rock is not as your rock is as late experience hath shown our Enemies themselves being Judges and now you shew what seed you are of by biting at our Heels and smiting us with the Fist of Wickedness and persecuting us with your Tongues
was high time it had been buried long since that it might have been rotten before now but now to Print such long-past things shews thy spirit and thy self to be but a Woolf in the Sheep's Clothing and so a very unfit Pastor to over-look a Flock and especially the Flock of Christ when thou art alwayes a snarling at our Heels as the Serpent's Nature is bringing back Blows of Ten Years old and of that which we are no more to be charged with then the Saints of old as before declared might be with the false spirits which were once amongst them and then went out into the World as C. Baily is gone Now all had a beginning of the Work in themselves before they went out from the Church and at the first appearance of that spirits working in the Mâ—stery of Iniquity and transforming of it self as an Angel of Lâ—ght for to â—udge a whole Body and Church of People to be all led by that spirit is not this to be the Accuser of the Brethren and especially when that people deny testifie against that spirit in due time as you Baptists know in your own Conscience we have done is not this Wickednesâ— and Envâ— drunk in by you as an Ox drinks in Water and surelâ— if you had not made your selves drunk with the Whore's Cup of Abominations you must needs have been Wiser Men but having drank deep the dreggs so stick in your Throats that makes you thus vomit up your own shame and that Nature nothing will clense you of short of the Divine Name of Christ Jesus which leadeth to God but you in the Old Man's Nature and Envious Holiness can get the words to talk of and profess in the Ravening Nature feâ—ching up such old Matter against the Quakers of Ten Years standing and Print it as if People should believe it were now our Principle Spirit and Practice against which with the Pastor and his Flock which have a hand or consent to it we have a Testimony for the Lord to bare in the Truth which is Christ Jesus our Light and Life For he that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life he which hath the Son hath the Father also unto whom be Everlasting Praise And blessed are they which are not offended in Christ Jesus the Light of men who is the Foundation that God has laid and chief Corner-stone of this Age as in Ages past though the wise Master-builders refuse now to build thereon as the Generations of old did but now is the Lord a taking of the Wise in their own Craftiness with the little Foxes which destroy the Vineyard from and by whom Offences come but We be to them by whom they come because if they do not fall on this stone Christ Jesus and so be broken to pieces it will certainly fall on them and grind them to powder when there shall be none to deliver Therefore the Wise in Heart will prize their time whilst it is called to day and whilst they have the Light to believe in it that so they may be the Children of it lest darkness comes upon them and so their feet stumble upon the dark Mountains even at noon day for Light was in Goshen when Darkness was and is in Egypt even such darkness as may be felt of Sodom and Egypt spiritually so called where our Lord was and is Crucified he that can read let him understand and prize his day and live to God and not to himself that so in all things God may he glorified in all and through all and over all who is Blessed forever and forever Amen saith The 14th of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard THE Water-Baptists Reproach REPELD Being A further REPLY Answering a Defence of R. Hobbs to his pretended Impartial Narrative of one C. Bayly hereto a pretended Quaker A Story of 11 years standing IN Defence of an Answer to the said Narrative clearing the People call'd Quakers of the Water-Baptist's Calumny and Abuse blabbed out against them By T. R. Printed in the Year 1673. TO THE Impartial Reader HAving lately read a Pamphlet whose Epistle to his Reader is subscribed Richard Hobbs weighed the Arguments and consider'd the Tendency of that Discourse I could do no less then write a few Lines as reasonâ—ble Remarks upon it The Piece is averred by the Author to be a Sober Reply to Luke Howard which had the Author perform'd he neither had thus abused thee nor occasion'd me this Trouble And truly Reader I must tell thee I have not often met with more Impertinency or Abuse wrapt up in so small a Fardle which confirms me that the Promise of a Sober Reply in the Front of his Pamphlet was to Gild the Poyson-Pill to swallow the more glib without which Artifice I doubt not but he 's sufficiently sensible the Palate of this Age would not easily touch much less take his Potion How considerable Richard Hobbs is amongst his Brethren I determine not but as a Prâ—acher and Water dipper at Dover amongst them of his Perswasiâ—n he is exercised and has been for some years past and writ a Supplement to a strange Prodigy or Miracle pretended to be wrought by his brother R. James a Preaching Dipper or Water-Baptist in Lincolnshire The first piece of Abuse I mean that out of Lincoloâ—shire presentâ— the World with a Miracle and I must say a strange one too a Leprosie and diseased Family miraculously cured by them whose known and owned Belief and Principle are that Miracles are ceased which exceeds the very Power of Christ's Apostles that could not so much as cure the Lunatick having not Faith Mat. 17.16 17. And gain that they should he so kind to a Quaker and his Family as to cure them whom of all Persons they hate and which of all Persons they say have not Faith is beyond all Bounds of Romance And this usher'd in as a late piece of strange Providence and Finger of Heaven of few days or weeks standing before publication although the Cheat was Eight or Nine some say Twelve Years past acted by those Water-Baptists and now brought to light to their Shame and their Sophistry discovered by W. S. in Answer to Ralph James his Subterfuge c. to which I refer the Enquirer But to return to R. H. whose Sober piece as he would insinuate it to be I have now under hand and shall as a Friendly Reader to whom he directs his Defence of a pretended Narrative formerly publish'd concerning Charles Bayly sometimes a Prisoner in Dover make such reasonable Remarks and Observations as may give thee to understand the Author's Drift and Depth in his former and renewed appearing in Print against us and by which the Impartial and Vnprejudiced may judge Whether it be a Sober Râ—ply or an Envious Retort to his Opponent whether writ in Love or in â—â—â—roach whether in solid and sound Judgment or an airy and corrupt Mina And I affirm the Matter will