sin and iniquity and this hath brought blindness and spread ignorance as a thick cloud which covers the understanding part wherefore you are strangers unto and as a people not having knowledge of the seed of God which notwithstanding the hardships of your outward sufferings and the scourge of your bodyes yet the seed of the Kingdome lyes laden with your lightnesse and is heavily pressed down with the excessive weight of your numberlesse oaths and other abominable sins and transgressions Ye are blinded ye are blinded through the multitude of your corruptions your whole body is become a lump of misery You daily add murder unto mischief without respect or any regard to the life of the innocent and after your adulteries you retain not the thought of the succour of the life of the Virgin Daughter which ye have abused through the lusts of uncleannesse and so you add sin unto sin binding your selves under the perpetual oath and curse of cruelty in the bondage of your own misery and captivity Wo is me for you the love of my bowels to the seed is made a brook of bitterness in my belly For your sakes I am as one that hath eaten affliction and swallowed up sorrows as in the day of trouble Oh how hath the night been tedious to my watchful eyes which the strength of your miseries kept open when slumber had no power to shut them wherefore now I call and with a loud voice lifted over your Land I cry Come forth ye carelesse minds stretch forth your feet ye regardlesse hearts out of the Bed of the miserable slumber of your starved soules Awake awake to the mourning and arise and come forth to the lamentation for your losse O weep weep for the woe is your own for your own wickednesse Consider and lay it to heart should not the hour of distresse bring sorrows and mourning upon your hearts Oh wherefore then hath the Lord looked and behold your Land hath been filled with lightnesse and ye have not forgotten the vain words of the former Generation but with a foolish confidence have believed and trusted in their lyes as if the credit of the deceitfull words of their wicked inventions should stand the salvation of your miserable sinfull souls Seeing therefore unto this day ye have been grossely deluded and deceived under the profession of the name of the Roman Catholique Church I shall answer the vanity of your Faith with a few words of Truth God who in the dayes of old chose unto himself a peculiar people of the seed of Israel according to his promise unto Abraham also in the fulnesse of the dispensation of time sent his onely begotten Son a Light into the world that the world through him who is the Light might believe and have everlasting life by whom the Apostles and Saints in them dayes were gathered unto God and were made Members of the Heb. 12.23 Acts 20.28 Matth. 16.18 Church of the first born which are written in Heaven who is the Resurrection of the dead and of this Church of God and of his Son Jesus Christ of which Christ is now the Head as he was in the dayes of the Apostles who wrote of this Church who therefore was and is the Head Ephes 5.13 Coloss 1.18 That he might present it to himself a glorious Church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy and without blemish and that in all things he might have the preheminence And of this and none other Church did the Lord speak and the Apostles write but as for the Roman Catholique Church neither have I by any testimony heard or by any writing of the true Prophets the Declaration of Christ or in the writings of the Apostles read of any such Church should be as of the Truth or stand as in the Truth or that unto the Members thereof the Truth should be only committed Allthough this I say that the Scriptures do make mention that once there was an assembly of Saints which lived in Rome as there did also in other places and parts of the earth among whom the truth was in power received in the day of the prosperity thereof untill the time of the apostacy came in and the working of the mistery of iniquity waxed great and spread over the face of the earth even among all people who received the sound of the Declaration of the birth of a Son in the City of David Jesus the Christ whom the Prophets prophesied of should come and of this apostacy and falling away Christ himself who is the sum and substance of the Law and the Prophets spake of saying Math. 24.24 There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signes and wonders in so much that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect. And this iniquity began to work in the dayes of the Apostles of which John in this manner did write They went out from us but they were not of us 1 Joh. 2.18 19. by which he knew that it was the last time as they had heard that Antichrist should come and saith he 1 John 4.1 even now there are many Antichrists Wherefore he also exhorted the Brethren that they should not believe every Spirit but to try the Spirits whether they are of God because many false Prophets were then gone into the world And Paul he testifieth his knowledge saying Acts 20.29.30 31. After my departing shall grievous Wolves enter in among you not sparing the flock and also of your own selves shall men arise speaking perverse things to draw many Disciples after them therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with teares And this in measure came to passe whilest John was Paul also John 1.9 10. 1 Thess 2.7.8 9 he bore further witnesse that this thing must be even the falling away else this day which is now come and coming could not come and he said then in his day also That the Mystery of iniquity doth already work only he who letteth will let untill he be taken out of the way and then shall that wicked one be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightnesse of his coming even him whose coming mark his coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signes and lying wonders and with all deceivablenesse of unrighteousnesse in them that perish and for this cause seeing they received not the love of the Truth God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lye that they all might be damned who believed not the Truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse In which state and condition of vanity and unrighteousnesse I find the Roman Catholique Churches as a people miserably spoyled Coloss 2.8 through the deceit of vain Philosophy Walking after the Traditions of men after the Rudiments of
Kingdome you who are called Jesuits also mark this your figure the Chamelian which lives by the Aire which according to the Law is an unclean Beast which can change himself into all colours perfect white onely excepted Read your similitude and see how you who live in your lusts can without a mock of the Truth be titled with the name of the Church of Christ Jesus in which is neither spot nor wrinkle nor blemish nor any such thing as uncleannesse or unrighteousnesse 1 Cor. 6.11 Although such were some of them but they came to be washed and were cleansed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God Which Spirit of truth the light is this day the Leader of the Saints and servants of God into all truth Now therefore doe ye Read What is the Chaffe to the Wheate And what relation hath the Spirit of truth unto your life which is squared and fashioned in the frame of Error Deceite hath been the Master-builder of the fabrick of your habitation the spirit of Iniquitie working in a mystery the foundation of your walls and the strength of lyes and lying wonders the pillars of your house which by the gilded appearance of the beauty of the wisdome of the ancient and learned in Philosophy Rhetorick and Sophistry is covered with many painted tiles of vanitie under the shaddow whereof you bow to the Images and pictures which the unrighteous hearts of your fathers Invented whose Gods are before your eyes unto which the affections of your naturall sences are joyned whereby with the carnall and naturall according to the motion of the Spirit of Error and Deceit in you you are led to worship the workes of their hands as is manifest by your bowings and bendings to the Image and likenesse of the naturall which the naturall invented and the carnall made And this also came in in the Apostasie when that was forsaken which the Eternall Spirit did command And now through the custome of your forefathers and you in the dayly practice of their invented Ceremonies being setled on the leese of their abominable Idolatries are come in your generation Matth. 15.9 to teach for doctrine the traditions of men And therefore in vaine is your worship as saith the Lord But yet ye have also to speake in the commendation of your fathers seniority and wisdome who gave commandement for such resemblances by Images and pictures not as if they were the gods of your worship but the resemblances of the Lord Christ c. whom by these resemblances you teach the ignorant for to worship Answer The greatest blindnesse is in the hearts of your learned Fathers I speak out of the spheare of their Colledges in mine Answer to their plea for their sinfull Idolatries and over all your Nations doe cry out and lift up my voyce as one in mourning lamenting for the lost seed among you which they that should rather in righteousnesse handle the plow to break up the clods to uncover the seed have used the spade and shovel and have heaped up dirt and stones thereon to the miserable burden thereof Oh horrible Ignorance a people bound with the chaines of darknesse can any thing be the resemblance of the Lord or the likenesse of his Image who is the Infinite Eterternall a pure holy glorious endlesse living Spirit but that which he maketh in his likeness and formeth in his own Image by the power of his own Almighty hand And doth he who is a pure Everlasting Spirit of life make or fashion any whom he fashioneth but in the likenesse of that which all the world by wisdome by Philosophy or by arguments can never attaine to reach unto the sight or understanding thereof Can any make the resemblance of God who is Immortall which the mortall never saw Can the corruptible and mortall which never did nor never shall see incorruption and immortalitie make with their corruptible hands and changeable unrighteous Idolatrous hearts the resemblance or likenesse of the Incorruptible Spirit From the Lord God I say and declare unto you all your bowings to your Crosses and Images and Pictures praying upon Beads to Mary and Saints is abomination to the Lord God of Heaven and Earth and in these things you are but a stinke to the rest of the Heathen who with you doe stand Enemies to the Doctrine Gospel and Crosse of our Lord Jesus for as they in words doe hold the name of our Lord in contempt you with your deceitfull shaddowes doe make a mock of truth and his sufferings in loathsomenesse you are seated as an abomination in the sight of God who created you and in the eye and sight of the servants of the Lord who by the price of blood are redeemed and with pure water are washed from the polutions of the iniquitie and the blood and envie which is among you and the rest of the Nations kinreds tongues and peoples of the Earth and now are the followers of the Lambe whethersoever he goeth Abundantly do the Scripture beare testimony against your practices mark from the precepts and commandements of God Exod 20.4 unto Moses through the house of the Prophets and the life of the Saints search and then see Isa 44.3 might not you with as much confidence make a calfe and say to the ignorant this is the resemblance of God worship ye it and draw the picture of a Monster and say this is the resemblance of the wonderfull Spirit which was in Paul or Peter bowe ye before it Read Jer the 23.11 12 13 14 15 verses Oh miserable blindnesse and the greatest darknesse is the Priests ignorance who teach the people lyes and cause them to erre in their wayes With the light search and see how far you are from being under the power of the word of the Lord who contrary to the letter of the Scriptures Do worship in the forme of the traditions of your fore-fathers Christ said to his Disciples in those dayes Joh 4.23 The houre cometh and now is that the true worshippers shall worship the father in spirit and in truth for the father seeketh such to worship him mark such as are in the Spirit Math 23.29 having one father which is in Heaven but ye being yet in your sins and in the flesh are the false worshippers who have many instructions and traditions and observations given to you according to the wills as the product of the inventions and conceptions of your many fathers and now as ye shall turne your minds to the light of the Lord Jesus which will rip open your hearts you will finde that rule to be the equall measure of your wayes which will give you a true fight that you are not in the truth as it is in Jesus who is the truth in whom and by whom and through whom the Prophets writ their prophesies and the Apostles had their utterance whose words do stand to the bearing
Light wherewith you are lightned even by so much you are short of the true way of the Kingdom of God John 14.6 John 8.12 John 1.9 For be it known unto you of a truth That the way is but one the truth is but one and that one is Christ the Light of the world which lighteth every man that cometh into the world Ephes 4.4 5 6. 1 John 1.5 James 1.17 Wherefore be ye not ignorant that there is only one true body one spirit one hope of the true calling one Lord one Faith one Baptisme and one communion of the Lords body one God who is Light the eternal Father of all who are children born of the Light wherewith they are lighted which cometh from God the Father of Light unto life everlasting This then is the witnesse to the whole world and the message to the whole world and the tryal of the whole world their wayes their words their works and their worships all whose deeds are wrought in the Light they in the Light have peace and their hearts doth not condemn them but such who professe God and the Truth in Christianity and yet are Swearers and Lyars Thieves Whores Whoremongers Cheaters Covetous Proud Envious Hard-hearted Mockers Scorners Drunkards Gluttons Abusers of themselves with mankind who in worse nature than the beasts nature change the naturall use of the creature into that which is against nature these walking working and acting contrary to the Light in all their consciences with the Light are judged and condemned and this is the condemnation of all the wicked world John 3.19 That Light is come into the world and men love darknesse rather than Light because their deeds are evill And such are not an honour unto God nor a praise unto Christ whose life savours not of the Truth nor of the nature of Christianity their profession shall in no wise be unto their Justification But in how much they have professed the name of Christ who is the Light and made the profession of his name the Cloak of their unrighteousnesse even by so much the more will the Light in all their consciences be the aggravation of their misery through judgement unto condemnation Unto this one therefore must all come to be made partakers of the everlasting inheritance of salvation even unto the Light which cometh from Christ by it to be led unto Christ who is the Life and Light of men John 1.4 Isa 42.6 Isa 49.6 Luke 2.32 who is the salvation of the Prophets whom they prophesied of saying I will also give thee for a Covenant of the people for a Light of the Gentiles to open the eyes of the blind to bring out the Prisoners from the Prison and them that sit in darknesse out of the Prison house that thou mayest be my salvation to the ends of the earth On whom also the Apostles believed who through Faith in the Light and obedience to the Light wherewith they were lightned were made partakers of the purchase of the blood and promise of the Covenant to wit the salvation of their souls And behold this is the Ensign and Standard of the Lord which was set up for the fall and is now setting and set up for the rising again of many in Luke 32.34 35. Israel and for a sign which shall be spoken against by whom shall come the revelation and ripping open of all thoughts and hearts Ye people all upon the face of the whole earth unto that in all your consciences which revealeth unto you all unrighteousnesse and the prophanesse and rottennesse of your own hearts and the wickednesse of your own thoughts words and works which also is the revelation of the terrible indignation and of the wrath of God against all the ungodly and workers of iniquity even unto that light in all your consciences must ye all be joyned your hearts must be given unto it to be led and to be ordered and guided by it that you may come to witnesse a new Life begotten by the Light in you John 3.3 for except a man be born again he cannot see nor enter into the Kingdom of Heaven As your minds come therefore to be joyned to the Light wherewith you are lightned you by the witness of perfect subjection and obedience to the pure motions of it will come to know the true and everlasting testimony of the Lord and be made partakers of the hope of the heavenly calling and your confidence not as in the dayes of vanity sin and death will be gathered into the one substance of the spirit of Life in which you will come to see what is the glory of the living body which liveth by the faith of the Son of God Your baptisme will not be as in the dayes under the power of the Elements For as much as the Testimony of the life of Jesus is the fulfilling of Scriptures John he said that Christ who was the substance should increase but he who baptized with the Elements as the figure should decrease Math. 3.11 signifying also the baptisme of Christ that it should be with fire and the Holy Ghost which he testified concerning him John 1.26 27. of whom he said There standeth one among you of whom ye know not he it is who cometh after me is preferred before me the same also is he which hath been in the world John 1.11 as a stranger upon the earth who came unto his own but his own received him not whose life is manifest through the Revelation of the light wherewith the whole world is lightned which leadeth unto the knowledge and witnesse of his Baptisme Eph 4.5 Crosse Death Resurrection Life and Communion of his eternal body and this is the baptisme which the Apostle testified is only One even the baptisme of the Holy Ghost and with fire which John said should encrease through the decrease of the water Flesh and blood revealeth none of these things concerning the Kingdome of God which is a mystery unto all the world how great therefore is the ignorance of the world to administer those things which they call Ordinances unto Infants which things are Parables and altogether hidden things in the substance from the wisdome of the world which if the Revelation and Life of the substance be not unto the elder what profiteth then the Traditional washings or sprinklings which neither is by commandement or manifest example in the Scriptures unto the infancy of the younger and what can their Infancy through the figures reach fathom or feel concerning the substance let the worlds Fathers answer this for them Unto the crosse therefore of the Lord Christ Jesus ye ought to come which neither is gold nor silver nor brasse nor iron nor any other mettal nor wood nor stone nor Image of bone or any other dead creature but this is the everlasting testimony of the Crosse of Christ Jesus Luke 22.42 Father not my will but thy will be done he that hath