men how soon was he turned Presbyter and in wickedness excelled acting speaking and railing as aforesaid But when the times of refreshing from the presence of God appeared and life and immortality which for ages past had been â—â—â—id was brought to light and witnessed in power by those who were chosen heirs of salvation what a woful persecutor is he become who if he can but obtain a power to do according to his will it s like both Saul and Bonner in comparison of him might be accounted merciful men and therefore I need not spend much time in manifesting him who is so loathsom already to many of his own generation When such a man as Richard Fowler of Westerleigh in the County of Gloucester who about the year 1645 was Preacher to a people without Algate London a man once accounted as famous for Religion and godliness for tenderness of conscience and self-denial as most I then knew in England a man that in the time of the late Bishops was by them accounted factious not submitting to their corrupt decrees but refused to wear a Surpless to take upon him a Parish charge to baptize and administer Sacraments so called to multitudes with the rest of that stuff and declared against Tythes and forced maintenance for preaching and took but a little voluntary contribution from the people to whom he preached and perceiving some of them to give it grudgingly declared it a burthen and much against him to receive that which came not freely and desired his friend that gathered it not to receive it yea and accounted it persecution and a grievous thing in the Bishops and their generation to summon him to their Court for refusing that which thorough tenderness of conscience he could not do complaining grievously under the burthen thereof pressing hard upon his friends to suffer him to depart the Nation for the liberty of his conscience is now so wofully fallen and degenerated become worse then his former persecutors that through him far more cruelty is done unto others then ever was by those unto him who being become a Parish Priest bearing the name of the lawful inducted Vicar of the Parish Church of Westerleigh hath occasioned a Declaration to be put into the Court of Exchequer in the year 1657. against 15. persons of the said Parish for not paying him Tythes four of which cast into prison for refusing to swear how many apples and eggs oblations offerings and Tythes were due to Richard Fowler or to his Elders in his behalf In which Declaration it is said that for years past he the said Richard Fowler hath been invested and inducted into the Vicaridge c. whereby he is lawfully intituled to receive oblations and Tythes and that from the time of his induction into the said Parish Church hath continued Vicar and officiated the Cure in administring the Sacraments c. to the Inhabitants of the Parish and that all kinds of Vicaridge Tythes are due to him as Calves Colts Lambs Wool Milk Piggs Geese Apples Eggs fruits of Gardens Offerings and other Tythes accustomed to be paid to Vicars c. Oh how is it that he doth not blush at this I well remember the time in which he would have been ashamed to own such stuff What! to professe himself a Minister of Christ and a Vicar of a parish Church and a Minister of Christ and inducted into a Vicaridge a Preacher of righteousnesse and officiate Cures in administring Sacraments to parishes for which all kinds of Tythes become due to him a Preacher of the Gospel and the new Covenant or Testament and claim a right to Tythe Colts Calves Lambs Piggs Geese Ducks Hens Bees Milk Wool Apples and Eggs nay to oblations and offerings the very name of which in this kind is loathsom and long hath appeared so to those that believe and know the truth And is not the false Prophet the great Bishops of Rome the chief of Vicars the head of the rest whom Christ the head of the true Church will and doth judge and confound Oh poor man how is blindness happened unto him And how far is he degenerated and gone back from his former tendernesse and honesty hath not only taken upon him the loathsome name but entertained the cruel nature of the enemies of the Lord occasioned a malicious false lying Declaration to be put into the Court of Exchequer against 15 persons for not paying him Oblations Offerings Tyths due to him as the lawful inducted Vicar of the Parish Church of Westerleigh All which being out of the Doctrine of Christ and of the Scripture and in the constitutions and appointments of the chief Vicar of Rome from whence his Title his Office and dues his come all that keep the word of Gods patience in this hour of temptation that hath tryed him do testifie against and deny For which and to ensnare the innocent hath he occasioned a request to the Court of Exchequer that the 15 persons aforesaid might be commanded under certain penalties to appear at the said Court and put upon their corporall oaths to declare what Oblations Offerings and Tythes are due or how many Hens Ducks Geese Pigs Eggs Apples Lambs Calves Colts c. they have kept in severall years O horrible wickednesse how doth he abase himselfe to hell sucking up such filthy stuffe the vâ—râ— excrements of those whom God hath cast out and left their names as a curse to his chosen Was ever Minister of Christ so ignoble and base as to sue people that feare the Lord in Courts for Tythe eggs and apples hens ducks geese beef and pigs And did ever Minister of Christ occasion his people to be commanded upon great penalties to appear in Courts to swear how many apples and eggs they had that of it he might have Tythes when Christ Jesus himself expresly commanded his not to sweare at all And he that was his Minister said Above all things my brethren swear not at all And yet this man who would be accounted a Minister labours to have the servants of God compelled to swear how many eggs apples hens ducks geese and piggs they had that of it he might have tythes due to Vicars as if he had never read in the Scripture That he that breaketh the least of the commands and teacheth men so shall be called least in the Kingdome of Heaven who doth not only teach but to his power compell men to break them that by it he may have gain And is not he in this a Minister of unrighteousness whose end must be according to his works who hath not onely occasioned the foresaid request to be made to the Court but a Writ of Subpoena to be procured by which four of the foresaid persons were commanded under very great penalties to appear at Westminster upon a certain day where they all appeared in their persons to answer the accusations yet because through tendernesse of conscience they could not swear thereby to break the command of
and no fear of God is before your eyes And to you may I return your own words that I stand almost amazed to think unto what an height of impudence and wickedness ye are allreadie come and whether may not poor fallen creatures run if God stop them not since ye arâ—â—â—â—eady so hardened 〈◊〉 Simson saith Thirdly your extream censoriousnesse and rash judgiâ—â—â—…nely of men abroad but also of the Church Mat. 7.1 Rom. 14. 〈◊〉 the Church of Christ an Harlot And ye say Thirdly your extream â—…tiousnesse and rash judging not onely of persons abroad but also of the â—â—urch contrary to Mat. 7.1 Rom 14.3 also your calling the Church an Harlot leaving out the word Christ in which the strength of all did lie But why were these words left out being ye say ye inserted them verbatim the Reader may take notice that after I had received the copy from Robert Simson of what ye had charged upon me viz. rash judging and calling the Church of Christ an Harlot I replied the charge was false and from the father of lies for I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot but do own it dearly but the Harlot is an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and so demonstrated by the spirit that acted you that ye were not the Church of Christ but an Harlot from which ye not being able to vindicate your selves betake yourselves again to this refuge of lies and say ye insert the charge verbatim when ye did it not but left out the main thing therein contained without which your charge hath little weight for though I never called the Church of Christ an Harlot yet I have both said and proved that ye who call your selves a Church are an Harlot and not the Church of Christ and do again plainly say and declare it so and might farther prove it were it needful which it is not since my former proof stands good and not controlled by you nor you giving proof that ye are a Church of Christ And I do once more say and affirm that your charge is false and from the father of lies who was a liar from the beginning And your labour might be saved in using arguments to prove that I said ye were an Harlot and not a Church I had so plainly published it But here ye would perswade the Reader I came in with mental reservations and ask is it honestie or any thing but deceit and hypocrisie because I said I did not call the Church of Christ an harlot but the people in Bristol c. To which I say were ye not quite blind and full of deceit and subtiltie ye might easilie see and know that I spake plainly and truly without your mentals and other carnal stuff when I said and manifested that I dearly owned the Church of Christ which were all living stones c. and did clearly bear testimony against you that ye were not so but an Harlot and herein I appear both just and honest towards the Church of Christ and towards the Harlot in hearing testimony to the former and against the latter in which no deceit nor subtilty appears but just dealing and all your equivocations and mental reservations as ye call them together with your shamelesse unchristian-like practises in which ye appear one with the black spirit of Ralph Farmer is denied together with all lies and the father thereof but the Church of Christ is lovely c. Robert Simpson saith Fourthly your asserting in the Church principles contrary to Truth as first That faith is an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and saith is all one Thirdly That Christ Jesus is not the object of faith And ye say Fourthly Your asserting in the Churches doctrines contrary to truth as first that we did not know what faith was and that faith was an eternal thing Secondly That Christ and Faith is all one Thirdly That Christ is not the object of faith Fourthly Your speaking reproachfully of the blessed scripture affirming they were blind and a plaâ—â—â— to souls and further saying that they were not the word of God nor the rule of life and this ye say is verbatim and therefore must be examined And first I find that the copy saith principles contrary to truth and ye say doctrines contrary to truth and that 's not verbatim But I take notice that I having given true answers to each particular aforesaid contained in the copie and published it in The skirts of the Whore c. which stands in sound and wholsome words unanswered by you by which your shame appears of which being sensible ye labour to recover your vail to hide your falshood and having given heed to lying spirits ye again betake your selves to your wonted refuge and say having the copie by you ye publish it verbatim And say First That we did not know what faith was every word of which is forged and feigned and not in the copie delivered to me and therefore well might ye say whether may not a poor fallen people run if God stop them not And it is no wonder ye began your book pleading for the kingdom of the Devil saying that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so the mystical body by which its like ye mean your selves who are not a spiritual bodie as the Church of Christ is may be subject to distempers and among many other things make mention of windy humors of pride and high mindedness and giving heed to lying spirits c. It s like ye had some sence what spirit ruled you to which ye intended to give heed and with what filth and falshood ye intended to fill your book and the lying refuge to which ye intended to betake your selves before ye drew such false conclusions in the beginning thereof But this is not all in the copie delivered to me in this fourth branch were inserted but three particulars which are before mentioned to which ye adde a fourth viz. your spâ—aking reproachfully of the blessed scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and farther saying they were not the word of God and ru'e of life and this ye say is verbatim notwithstanding that which here ye make as a fourth particular in the fourth general is in the copie a fifth general including three Particulars and so do your selves afterwards reckon it notwithstanding in the wisdom of God ye are lest to ensnare your selves and manifest it to all the world saying it is verbatim when ye have left one of your five things mentioned but the line next before It s like the pangs of a traveling woman are upon you who have so long cryed peace and safety to your selves that the sword of the Lord is upon you and your eyes utterly darkened that ye cannot see But the blind have so long led the blind that ye are all fallen into the ditch and under pretence of recovering a veil have manifested your shame and published things which ye endevoured to perswade the
general and yet ye say it s verbatim But in this also not onely your falshood but also your confusion is so fully manifested that I need say no more but leave it to the Reader to judge But ye say It is for speaking against the Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls and that they are not the Word of God nor rule of life and this ye would have understood to be verbatim though like the rest it will easily appear to be a parcel of falshood hypocrisie and deceit for besides your own confusions before mentioned in the Coppy delivered to me by Robert Simpson which he saith is true and ye 〈◊〉 testimony he is faithful it is thus Your speaking reproachfully of the pretious Scriptures of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and secondly one of the greatest plagues of the Land and thirdly affirming farther that it is not the Word of God nor rule of life Now let the Reader whose eye is opened judge how these agree The person sent to admonish at the same time or thereahouts gives it under his hand that what he writ out and delivered to me was a true Coppy of what he received And the whole company after they received an answer thereunto deviseth and publisheth another and say it is verbatim though it much differs from the former The latter saith the charge there mentioned was verbatim in these words Speaking reproachfully of the blessed Scriptures affirming they were blind and a plague to souls c. the former in these words Speaking reproachfully of the precious Scripture of truth as first affirming that it was a blind to souls and aly one of the greatest plagues of the land The one puts both together The Scripture is blind and a plague the other divides them into two particulars and saith first a blind to souls and 2ly one of the greatest plagues of the Land the one that the Scriptures were blind the other that it is a blind the one that they were blind and a plague to souls and never mentions the Land The other that it is first a blind to souls and 2ly a plague yea one of the greatest plagues of the Land and mentions not souls The one saith The pretious Scriptures of truth The other the blessed Scriptures and mentions not the words of truth And yet if any man is given over to believe lies ye will perswade him all this is true and verbatim that is word for word according to the copy And that notwithstanding this lying spirit which is found in your mouths to which ye give heed ye are a Church of Christ or a mystical body a word of deceit from the bottomlesse pit which may be subject to this spirit as it plainly appears to all beholders ye are by what your selves have published And truly the day hath manifested you very much and ye cannot be hid but by the light your deeds of darknesse are and will be reproved and your pretended admonition farther manifested to be but studied accusations and from your father the devil who was a liar from the beginning and abode not in the truth Now as that which ye call your admonition and say ye did insert verbatim as a bundle of lies and confusion as hath been manifested so is that which ye call your proof for in page 13. ye say because I said those things that is to say your charge are studied accusations and from the father of lies c. ye shall therefore prove every tittle to be true And in page 18. ye say ye have proved every tittle to be true and clear and in page 26. your 3 Messengers who boast that they received their Commission from God to this work say that the things that they charged me withall are all true in every sillable of it as doth appear by the foregoing answer of the whole Church Now then if ye have not proved every tittle of your charge to be true and if it do not appear by your foregoing answer that every sillable of that with which your Messengers charged me is true then are ye proved both those that did send and those that were sent no Church of Christ but a company of lyars and false asserters But ye have not proved every title and every sillable thereof to be true and therefore are ye no Church of Christ but a company of lyars for first ye charged me for leaving the Church and now ye say that I have left the Church is true but no proof thereof have ye given neither is it true which ye say for the Church I have not left but to witness the Church I have left the harlot and that I have absolutely forsaken left and renounced fellowship with you in all your idolatrous heathenish wayes and worships which stand in the will and time of man and not in the will and power of God and by the mighty arm and power of the Lord am I separated from amongst you never again to have fellowship nor communion with you in those unfruitful works of darkness which by the light are reproved is granted else could I never know nor witness the Church of Christ which is in God the father But that ye are the Church of Christ is denyed and was denyed and by your fruits and what lodged in you were ye proved an harlot a synagogue of Satan c. which stands vvholly unansvvered by you And therefore it is not true but a lie to say I left the Church when I was separated from the Harlot that I might witness the Church But suppose it had been true that I had left the Church by vvhat have ye proved it Why onely your selves say it is so but that is no proof and yet this is more than tittles and syllables it is vvhole sentences ye a general charge not proved except vvhat the harlot speaks to save her head vvhen to judgement she is brought is to be believed and admitted as a proof But ye go on and say that my so doing hath drawn away some grieved others and opened the mouehs of many to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which is clear and plain and not a studied accusation but a real thing which hath been grief and sadness to the Church To which I reply if the Harlot or Synagogue of Satan might be believed in her own case when she speaks not truth then what ye say were of some value But from the Church have I drawn none nor been a grief nor sadness that I know to her with whom in some measure I have unity Neither do I know of any whose mouths I have justly opened to speak evil of the wayes of Christ which are pure and spiritual So that the whorish and adulterous harlot cannot see it who is grieved and sadned at my departure whose judgement is come and her torments from the living God are pouring and therefore hath she opened her mouth very wide and from her unclean fountain
probability of truth can be in vvhat they say I affirmed viz. That the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England as if truth could be a blinde and a plague to soules vvhen it is a lying spirit is so to yours And notvvithstanding I never made a trade of the Scriptures nor preach't for hire nor divined for money as others do nor ever coveted any mans gold or silver or apparel amongst you nor accepted thereof vvhen by some I was earnestly prest thereunto but on the contrary have administred something largely of these things amongst you Yet from the Scriptures did I daily discourse as opportunity I had and by it have convinced many amongst you of your pride formality and other evils so that once ye were very much awakened and brought to some sense of your condition after ye had been too much taken with the doctrine of some called Notionists which it may be is the same ye now call Ranters whose principles and doctrines by the Scriptures I did withstand and oppose and with much labour and sore wrestlings was I instrumental to deliver you out of their mouths to whom many of you were become a prey I say much awakened ye were and the spirit which convinceth of sin began to work until another Ministry of unrighteousness came which for the wages of iniquity taught you to erre and when ye were convinced of sin and troubled within and saw your filth and wickedness appear by which your peace was broken and your consciences awakened and true judgement took hold on the transgressor prest you to believe lyes and shut out that which troubled and said it was temptations of the Devil and that your sin was done away and that God saw it not that it was all pardoned daubing with untempered morter crying peace peace to that to which no peace is spoken from God by which your bonds were made strong and the hands of evil doers strengthened that they turned not nor repented which wicked doctrine of the Devil by the Scripture I opposed and withstood perswading you to the last not to build on the sand but come down to the rock and told you your peace was but security which the Devil 's goods may attain and that all your assurance in which ye gloried was but vain confidence which in the time of tryal would deceive you and so far did I dispute it with you dailie by the Scripture that Thomas Ewins your publique Preacher told me I dasht his comforts and weakened his hands so that he was not able to preach but when into the Pulpit he was to go fear and trembling sometimes took hold upon him so that if necessity had not been upon him to speak the people being assembled he should not have spoken a word and told me of retiring to his former Calling and leaving the City with much more Others who loved to have smooth things spoken that they might be at ease in Zion who put far away the evil day complained as he said that all the comforts and joy they received and gathered from his Ministry all the day was dasht and broken by me in the evening Others complaining at last confest I led you safely though not comfortably and all was because the Devils Kingdom was disturbed and his goods not suffered to be at peace and in your consciences do you know that by the Scriptures I demonstrated what I said to which I was as true as any amongst you whatsoever And if in this ye shall say I boast remember it s you that have compelled me and if ye have a mind to gain-say or contradict any particular of it do it honestly plainly and down-rightly not coverty and deceitfullie as ye have done before that when I come to reply I may have something like as from men to speak unto and not as from a company of foolish tost children For although to this was I was at first averse yet by the power and presence of the living God shall I be free and able to quench your thorns scatter your deceit and remove your veil and discover the Harlots skirts But friends suppose all ye say were granted and that I had indeed whilst I was amongst you entertained and asserted many principles contrary to truth and said that the Scriptures of truth were a blinde to souls and one of the greatest plagues of the land which I have and utterly do deny And suppose it were granted an error and a very great sin so to say and affirm yet was not all this done in your meeting whilst I was one and amongst you and not then reproved nor gain sayed And was it not then time for all that feared the Lord and loved the truth to depart out of such an Assembly in which such things are permitted to be entertained and published without rebuke Was there any safety in being one with such an Harlot though she call her self a Church And are not these things spots whilst the true Church of Christ which is his glorious body is without spot or wrinckle Surely little cause have any who know the truth and love and believe in the light to be grieved or sad'ned that any be drawn from such an Assembly and happy for me was the day in which the light manifested you and from amongst you separated me to another people where no such principles are entertained nor permitted to be vented And for mine own part I do freely declare to all the world that since by the power of the good shepherd I was gathered from amongst you I am fan from entertaining or uttering any such things but do dearly own the Scriptures of truth as given by inspiration and see them of great use and service And if I received and entertained such principles contrary to truth amongst you with you I also left them to whom the Scripture is of little use more then to talk of and trade with for an advantage and by wresting and corrupting the same make use of it as a veil to cover your deceipt and filthiness but the life thereof do not witness But I have not yet done with your testimony in pag. 13. where ye say ye insert your admonition verbatim Ye charge me with asserting in the Church doctrines contrary to truth one of which is that the Scriptures are not the Word of God and every tittle of this ye say ye have proved notwithstanding ye have not proved any thing of it to be true but only ask if I did not at a meeting at the Red-lodge in the Garden-house before near twenty people say so one of you being by c. Truly the Harlots fore-head is very hard if at this she do not blush What! Lay a general charge and say ye will prove and have proved every tittle and yet can say nothing but ask me if it were not so And in pag 12. 13. ye lay this thing to be asserted in the Church
in which ye make sore complaint people will rather continue than remove to you since your skirts are discovered 5. That ye are offended with me for using bitter and violent expressions towards you in which ye say nothing of the spirit of Christ appears but the contrarie And that ye are otherwise taught then to render evil for evil and railing for railing but rather to blesse having the example and precept of Christ for it yet notwithstanding your book abounds with â—ayling reviling and evil speaking And where ye cannot amongst your selves frame and make up enough ye endeavour the best ye are able to take up something from others whom ye do not name and perhaps I never saw and cast the reproach of it upon me telling me of Luciferian pride folly impudencie malignity untruths c. All which is the proper fruit of the corrupt fountain from whence it came to which it is again returned But by this the sober Reader may take notice how directly ye are found in the steps of your fathers the Scribes and Pharisees who crucified the just one and said and did not c. And what use it is ye make of Christ his precepts and examples that is to say to make them a veil or covering under pretence of which to hide your selves in your ungodly and wicked practices whiles in words ye would seem to condemn it just â—e the harlot whose words are smooth and pleasant but her pathes lead to the chambers of death and how can ye say nothing in my book appears like the Spirit of Christ when so much of it is the very words of Scripture which ye say is the word of God and the Scripture saith the father the word and holy Ghost are one are they one and not a like are they one and yet contrary or are not ye rather in blindness and confusion understanding neither what ye say or of what ye affirm To your Reader ye expresse your trouble and griese that I a man once famous for professing the truth did upon the coming of the people called Quakers own and plead for them and by so doing drew many a poor soul out of the wayes of Christ as ye say into the wayes of those miserable deluded people To which I reply that I did upon the first publishing of the glad tydings of salvation by the Ministerie of righteousness obtain mercy to own and embrace the same and by it was turned to God out of the wayes of miserie delusion and deceipt in which ye yet abide is true But that I drew any out of the wayes of Christ is false and from your father by whom the eyes of your minds being blinded ye wander and by him are led in the dark and blind pathes of lying deceipt and delusion towards death and destruction And therefore ye tell the Reader I prepared a letre with this inscription for the people called independents and by my subtilty engaged two of your brethren to present it to the Church which is an absolute lye at which ye could not but blush had ye not a whoores forhead for no such inscription at all was upon any letter of mine But for the hands of Robert Simpson and Robert Purnel c. Neither do I know any subtilty used to engage them farther than in plainnes and honesty to read it in their hearing and demand their freedom to comunicate it to those who sent the charge by them to me and this ye term subtility and deceipt when the subtilty and designed deceipt is among your selves who kept my defence from being communicated to those for whom it was intended fearing as ye confesse it might draw away more from amongst you And this was no disappointment at all of my ends neither was I enraged at it as ye say But it is another lye and your torment thereby is encreased because opportunity was thereby administred to discover your skirts and lay open your shame which otherwise its like had not been And whereas ye tell your Reader ye cannot without being guilty of my sin let my folly go unreproved but have set forth these plain words of truth and sobernes c. This is like the rest a refuge of lyes for neither true nor sober it is but full of lyes and deceipt of which I know no page free And so ye need not trouble your selves with the guilt of my sin ye have enough of your own And it is plain and true that the lyers are without and for the lake c. which is your portion from him who will clear the innocent c. with whom ye are not companions in tribulation nor are grieved for the afflictions of Joseph nor sensible of this day of Jacobs trouble nor know the welfare of Sion nor the faith of the Gospel nor the testimonie of Jesus which is the Spirit of prophecie And so I come to your book it self In the first line of which ye demand Did I never read that the Church of Christ in Scripture is resembled to a natural body wherein are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one Spirit and say that as in the natural body there may be many infirmities so in the mistical bodie c. I answer nay I never read such a thing in Scripture but can read you who put this queston as blind as the men of Sodom that saw not the way for where in Scripture is the Church of Christ resembled to a natural body I say a natural bodie in which are many infirmities Again where doth the Scripture say that in the Church of Christ there are many members united each to other and most of them to one head and by one spiritâ— Is there any unitie in the Church of Christ and not by the Spirit And are not all who are by the Spirit united together by the same Spirit united to the head And is not the Lord that Spirit in which the vail is removed But Babilon is your Citie your first building is confusion and had ye not thus exprest your selves ye had not so clearly manifested your gross ignorance both of the true Church her members the head and the Spirit But having thus done ye apply your selves to your blind mistaken conclusions drawn from what before ye had ignorantly propounded And say that as in the natural bodie there may be many infirmities so the mystical body also may be subject to distempers c. To which I say In your tittle page ye stile your selves the Church of Christ though ye never proved it but your language is the harlots and not the Churches In Scripture I read of a natural bodie and a spiritual bodie but never of a mystical bodie so exprest that comes from the Harlot But if by mystical bodie ye mean your selves then I easily grant it is indeed subject to destempers enough which ye number up and say is undigested humours want of closing with truth and receiving untruth windie
to you again the day of the Lord is upon all the. Heathen and as thou hast done it is done unto thee and thy reward is turned upon thy own head Lock back call to mind and remember how over your high places and in your meetings before these whom ye call uncircumcised Prophane Philistines with which your assemblies are filled ye have not spared to blaspheme and to speak evil of that ye understand not some of your mouths being full of cursing and bitterness equal with others of Jacobs enemies with whom ye became as one in the day of his calamitie when he appeared small and descised foaming out your owne shame greatly provoking and enraging the evil spirits in the mindes of your evil hearers against the innocent and harmles who dwelt peaceably in their Tents amongst you moving onely as the Lord moved them for which mount Esau where the prophanenes is the Philistines uncircumcised in heart both Rulers Priests people of all sorts and sects combined to repreach abuse persecute and devour with whom ye have joyned as if your tongues had been your own and no Lord could control them But being a little rebuked by the power and spirit of the living God ye begin to crye out and say who hath his tongue unteid and doth not speak to vindicate the undeceived innocencie c. As if in one hour your glorie becautie and costly attire were laid in the dust and that if it had been a Turk a Heathen or an open enemy that had done this ye could have born it and so tell of sifting up my heel against Christ crucifying him a fresh and putting him to open shame c. All which being your own conditions uttered forth from your fountain of blindness and arrogancie I shall onely return it into your own bosomes from whom it came who cannot look the Lord in the face nor stand in the least of his appearings but with the rest of the untoward generation have set your selves and taken Counsel together against the Lord of life and glory Ye say Little did ye think I would have acted so well like Judas as first to betray you with a kiss calling you friends and then deliver you into the hands of your enemie to scourge you with the tongue c. Reply Did I therefore act like Judas and betray you because I called you friends and in faithfulness told you the truth Know ye not that it was the word of Christ to Judas who was the betraier and never the word of the betraier to the betrayed one And do ye not by this justifie the guilty betrayer and condemn the innocent betrayed one How well may the passers by as ye say clap their hands and wag their heads and say is this a Church that men call an assembly of Zion And are these your gathered Churches about which there hath been so much contending Truly the very heathen amongst you may easily discern you as far from an assembly of Zion as is betwixt Zion and Aegypt And how much more seen and known are ye by the Children of Light who never can believe your self separation to be the way of God nor the Separated Congregations as ye call them the Churches of Christ but the harlot whilest they are only in the outward Separation not separated within the precious from the vile and from that which makes a separation between God and them living in pride and high mindednesse receiving and embracing untruth and rejecting and not closing with truth but give head to lying spirits to which with the rest of the World the heathen who know not God ye are subject Ye seem offended that I stile you the mingled people and call you the Independent Baptized c. To which I say I stiled you as ye were and if ye count it a reproach to be termed so is it not a greater reproach to be so But is it not manifest you can be in covenant with that which is truly a reproach to any people But it is as death to have it published which is the harlots property who sports and pleaseth her self in her evil wates but shames to have it known Ye seem to bewail my condition and labour to perswad the Reader that I spake reproachfully of some blessed institution of Christ which he in his own person practised when he was about thirty years of age and left as a standing ordinance of the new Testament to all generations till his comming again Reply By it I suppose ye mean a commanded or an appointed thing and then I take your meaning to be that your outward washings in rivers of waters which ye call Baptism is a blessed appointment of Christ practised by himself and left a standing Ordinance of his and of the new testament to all generations till his coming again To which I reply Baptism with water was Johns Ministry who came to prepare the way of the Lord and said he shall Baptize you with the holy Ghost I come baptizing with water and how then doth it appear that it is a blessed command of Christ and left by him as a standing ordinance of the New Testament to all Generations it is true Christ was Baptized of John and so it became them to fulfiill all righteousnesse I say to fulfill it and did he by that leave it a standing ordinance of the New Testament to all Generations c. Christ was circumcised and fulfilled the Law and did he by that appoint and ordain Circumcision the Law of Moses to be a standing Ordinance of the New Testament to all generations And Paul who was a Minister of the new Testament made after the death of the Testator when the new Testament was in force said Christ sent me not to baptize but to preach the Gospel c. But ye do alwaies eâ—re not knowing the Scripture nor the power of God But friends in the four and twentieth page it is said it was signed in the name and by the consent and appointment of the whole Church by Robert Purnel Thomas Ewine Robert Simpson Richard Moon John Andrews and Bryant Hanson Now if they signed it not by the consent and appointment of the whole company then have they recorded themselves a company of liars who say and publish that which never was But if they did it by the appointment and consent of the whole â—hen are many if not the greatest part of your company recorded to all Generations a company of hypocrites and deceitful workers of rebellious and disobedient Children who knowing the institutions as ye cal it of Christ which ye say is bles'd which he practised and left as a standing Ordinance of the New Testament to all Generations do neglect and disobey it and are out of the practise thereof To which give ear O earth and hear O heaven and be ye astonished what a people professing themselves the Church of Christ boasting of their abilities in giving account of their faith and of walking
will dispute your power but are proved an Harlot But I must tell you ye must prove your selves a Church of Christ by other manner of Arguments and Demonstrations of power then your meer saying it iâ— so or else no child of Light who walks in the Light and by it is guided can believe it whiles your fruits manifest the contrarie And what if ye that the Scripture may be fulfilled do hate reproach and separate me from your Companie and cast out my name as evil for the Son of mans sake who is the light of the World and hath enlightened every man that cometh into the World Is not this a blessing to me and am I not in that day to rejoyce and leap for joy my reward being great in Heaven Your fathers in like manner dealing with the Prophets Luke 6. And truly ye may spare your labour and save your threat'nings for your powerless pretences are to me as light as vanitie and not worth the mentioning And by the powerful arm of the good shepheard whose voice is heard am I eternally separated and gathered from amongst your ignorant and crooked waies never to return to Egypt again nor have fellowship with you in your unfruitful works which by the light are reproved Ye confess it is a sad sentence and spotted garment with which ye are cloathed and say ye durst not proudly boast as do others and presently justifie your selves and boast that ye never observed so much of the eviâ—s before mentioned in those now together as ye have seen in me and some of those that went away c. To which I say are ye not then wâ—ful hypocrites to profess your selves a Church of Christ and to walk according to his rule and boast of your faith and obedience and yet acknowledge ye saw pride hipocresie slandering envie back-biting railing lying c. which 〈◊〉 the evils there mentioned to break forth more in us then it did in any of you which truly is too too much and never reprove it nor manifest dislike thereof tell now that we are absolutely by the power of the Lord separated from amongst you and have born witness that your works and waies are evil and now ye tell the word those things which are but your lying accusations else why had ye not put them into your pretended admonitions It is like ye are hard put to it that to vail your selves ye must so commonly betake your selves to those refuges of lies And how can one believe a word ye speak who will seem to speak so solemnly and profess as ye say ingenuously things so absolutely false and untrue that by it ye may be vailed c. Truly ye want a bridle for your tongues and the pure fear of the Lord placed in your hearts which might prevent these distempers windie humours and Lying spirits c. In page twelve ye come to the five things in your admonition a coppy of which 〈◊〉 having by you therein ye insert verbatim and yet in numbring ye forget one and make but four In page twenty four ye say ye doubt not of the faithfulness of your Messengers and in page ten do commend Robert Simpson who was one of them for his integrity and godliness and in page thirty four Robert Simpson saith he did engage himself to write out a coppy of what ye did by them charge as sin upon me which he did truly and deliver to me so then since ye say ye insert it verbatim according to the copy and he saith he writ out and delivered to me a true coppy If what ye published and what he writ out and delivered agree not in every particular then is he or you or all together proved not the Church of Christ the pillar and ground of truth but an Harlot and a company of Hypocritical lyers and false asserters But what ye have published and what he writ out and delivered do not agree in many particulars Therefore are ye no Church of Christ but an Harlot For besides some small difference in the first particular which I shall not mention Robert Simpson saith Secondly your contemning and neglecting some of the Ordinances of Christ and this he saith is a true copie c. and ye say Secondly your contemning of some and neglecting of others of the Ordinances of Jesus Christ and this ye say if ye could be believed is verbatim c. And yet how much it differs let the Reader judge one saith your neglecting of some and contemning of others c. which is much different the one saith of Christ the other adds sayings of Jesus Christ But how comes this to pass that one saith it is a true copy and the other that they insert it verbatim and yet no better agreement The Reader may understand that after I had answered Robert Simpsons copie in my former book and manifested and laid open the deceit and Hypocrisie of this people and reproved them faithfullie and sharplie for pretending to admonish me for that of which themselves are guilty they betake themselves to the refuge of lies to be vailed publishing to the world another thing and say its verbatim And that they sent not to admonish me for neglect of water baptism but for speaking contemptuously against it and that I spake falsely and did them wrong in calling them hypocrites c. for charging me with neglect of water baptism which they say they did not but onely for contemning of it when under the hand of their messenger it appears as before that they sent to admonish me for neglect and and contemt of some of the Ordinances of Christ which said their Messengers were baptism in water and breaking of bread so that it appears evidently to be a plain and studied untruth and feigned thing and not verbatim according to the coppy and yet so impudent and void of the fear of God are they that they dare say they shall leave it to the God of Ordinances to judge c. O horrible falshood and deceit Oh impudent and hard-harted people not onely to speak and publish lies under your own hands one contradicting the other but to entitle the Righteous God to judge c. Thereby thinking to vail themselves and hide their shame but all in vain for the Lord is destroying the vail and the covering cast over all faces c. And ye are seen and comprehended who may read that he that speaketh lies cannot escape and that the lying lips and double tongue cannot stand in the presence of God And how dare ye then contrive and publish such filthie faise things and leave it to God to judge Do ye think he is altogether such a one as your selves c or is the scripture fulfilled upon you and there be none amongst you that understand it c. but are all gone out of the way the throat being an open Sepulchre and their tongues using deceit destruction and miserie being in your waies who the way of â—â—ace have never known
the knowledge ye had of Christ shall profit you nothing and that your habitation was in deceipt and thorough deceit ye refuse to know the Lord c. Ye say in this thing ye did not violently oppose and then its like ye confess it as knowing it was the truth and why then had ye not repented Ye say some of you did often tell me that your comforts stood not so much in a knowing as in an acknowledgement of Christ to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures and that ye own no other knowing of Christ then understandingly to know him in his person without you c. which is the sum of most of the 19. page And so have declared and clearly manifested the ground and foundation of all your Religion comforts joy and peace to be one and the same with the foundation of the Religion of the Pope Jesuits drunkards swearers prophane ignorant and superstitious people of the world namely an acknowledgement of Christ without you to be that which he is said to be in the Scriptures And so the devils in this particular excel you who did not only acknowledge him but knew him who he was Jesus the Son of God And concerning the Ministers of Christ which those of your literal profession opposed and persecuted cryed out these are the servants of the most high God But the comfort joy and peace of the children of light stands not in your ground of general acknowledgement of Christ without them to be what the Scriptures declare him to be but in a particular knowledge of him as by the spirit of holiness he is revealed within them whereby they come to witness him the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead and so Paul knew him and so to know him was and is eternal life and witnessed so to be by those to whom he is so revealed But this is a mysterie hid and unknown to all that lie in the death and never come to witness the first resurrection but declare the ground of their comforts to stand in that in which the wicked of the world with them are one And this is not to slight and nullifie that glorious person in heaven as ye falselie say many of our way do scoffing and jeering at you for speaking of the person of Christ and thinking to be saved by the blood of him that dyed at Jerusalem which is but your false accusations and slanders and proceeds from the same fountain and spirit of envy and wickedness as Ralph Farmers bundles of lies did in which he and ye are one and at an agreement for scoffing and jeering lying and false accusing being the works of darkness in which your generation are exercised is denyed by all that vvalk in the light vvhich is our vvay and the vvay everlasting But to declare against your follie and your thinkings to be saved by the acknovvledging of Christ vvithout ye whilst of him and his life ye are ignorant living in wickedness lying hypocrisie and deceipt hating the light and erring from the right way is no error but love to your souls who pretend honour to the person but hate the light of Christ and know not his Gospel which is the power of God nor his way which is everlasting and lives nor his Ordinances which are living spiritual and true not traditional invented and carnal The consideration of which together with the lying spirits to which ye give heed might justly cause you to mind whether ye are not those that stumble at Christ the corner stone and do cause others to stumble at him who is now come and witnessed in life power and spirit and living demonstrations thereof are given and manifested in thousands who by experience have known and felt the dove-like spirit of Christ of which ye speak though both to you and others who live in envie murthering the just and betraying the innocent pretending honour to the name but hating the light and persecuting the power of Christ This is hid and ye say ye will not believe it And if those that owned and seem to honour the Scripture in which Moses wrote of Christ did not believe but crucified him when in flesh he was made manifest no marvel then if ye do not believe who call the verie words of Scripture in which to you I spake page 21. of my former book strange and unchristian expressions surelie ye are strangelie erred from the way of truth and true wisdom who live in such confusion and deceit one while calling the Scriptures the Word of God and rule of life when by wresting it ye can serve your lusts but when by it ye are reproved for your wickedness then ye call it strange and unchristian expressions and say The Lord rebuke your railing as if the Scripture which ye term the Word of God and Rule of life were railing and the Prophets and holy men of God which gave it forth were railers because it bears true testimonie against your wicked wayes as well as others for the words I mentioned are recorded Isa 57. 4. Psal 2.1 2 c. and in some other Scriptures as the Reader will perceive that reads my former Book But ye say its easie to heap up good words right or wrong Alas poor blind people by what blind guides are ye led Is it strange and unchristian expressions and yet good vvords Are they good vvords and yet vvrong What exceeding confusion are the children of darknesse brought into in this day of the Lords povver in vvhich light is risen out of obscuritie and the Lords glory appeared c. In pag. 21. Ye say Though some of our way have shouted and cryed Hosannah holy holy King of Israel to James Nayler c. To which I reply When will ye be weary of lying and false accusing which is the work of the Devill for none of our way ever so cried to any man But that which is our way is the truth and the life and is everlasting the light and life of men from which whosoever turns aside forsakes the right way and turns to lying vanities as some in this day of the Lords visitation have done who must bear their burthen But ye are easily seen of what generation ye are who watch for an occasion to speak evill of the way of Truth and the Saints and Children of light who in the fear of the Lord do walk and in his Councell abide which to you is not known who are glad with an advantage by any means to speak evill of the way of Truth and the people who being gathered into it are for its sake become strangers in the earth and to their familiar friends and aliens to their mothers sons as all their fathers were But in this again are ye and Ralph Farmer one and by one and the same spirit are ye guided to whom it is known that those that cried as aforesaid are not of our way but denied and witnessed against before
vindicate or cover himself from what was truly laid upon him yet from it hath he not delivered himselfe but the charge stands good in sound and sober words in the power of truth and whiles he covereth his sin be cannot prosper And whiles he addeth one iniquity to another he cannot come into Gods righteousnesse And oh that he would consider it and lay it to heart whiles he hath time that in the day of the Lords anger which is at hand and as a destruction from the Almighty shall come he might be hid and find mercy of the Lord with whom his vain speaking of a witnesse he hath in heaven brought from thence into his heart and confirmed by the Spirit of Truth and of his being taken up into the Mount to confer with him who hath all power given him and of a Warrant sealed and given forth from him that hath al power c. is of little accompt whiles he understands not what he speaks For the Kingdom of God cometh not with observation but the kingdome of God is within and in his Kingdom he is who dwells in heaven where the Father the Word and Spirit agree of which all blind Pharisaical Professors are ignorant and cannot know it till in the light and by the spirit it be revealed and made manifest And whereas he saith All that he with the rest laid at my door was to a tittle true and that neither he nor his brethren have any reluctance for it This is all fals for I have before proved it lies and deceit and themselves have confest they found that which boiled like a furnace and scalded all that stand near it and they were near it and so resolved not to stay another time And judgement is now laid to the line and righteousness to the plummet and all refuges of lies and deceit are to be swept away and by truth and soberness such hiding places are overflown and in soberness do I stand and so much to my self am I come that I see many of his words there mentioned to veil and cover himself to be light and vain and not worth answering and that what I writ was both sober and true without fawning and flattery in which many among you are too much exercised who love to have smooth not true things spoken and would have me peaceable gentle and full of mercy to hypocrisie deceit and wickedness all which is for judgement and no peace from God is spoken to it And therefore without partiality do I declare against it in him and you as well as in others and to my self am I not a stranger And this is pure wisdom from above and moderation known unto all that receive and believe in the light by which that spirit appearing in my former book is justified though to you that hate the light and by the light are condemned it is as gall and worm-word And for sporting my self and insulting over him I did it not but it is another refuge of lies for I told him before I did not insult over him nor delight in his wo and misery but was sorely grieved as still I am to see how the wicked one whom the Lord would destroy was exalted in him and you and what I writ is true And whereas he saith I was not a in a sober mind but at a distance from it and true speaking when I mentioned to him the portion of lyars and that not any thing he said was a lie but what he said I had not his hand to as his particular affirmation and so goes on speaking many words but to what purpose I cannot see except it be by words to darken the Readers understanding But if I mistake not that which he would do is to vindicate himself from being a lyar with what else I charged upon him in my former Letter by telling me he said I had not his hand to it as his particular accusation And if this be his meaning then is it gross deceit for I never said or thought it was his particular accusation but a general accusation delivered by him in which himself and each other particular was included and so I spake to him in soberness and pitty my very howels moving towards him knowing my self innocent and that it was a dreadful thing for him in the Name or the Lord to speak a false vision or thing I asked him how he durst come to me and in the name of the Lord tell me I said the Scriptures of truth were one of the greatest plagues of the land when I never spake nor thought such a thing To which he replyed he never spake it nor laid it to my charge though out of his own mouth it came and when I told him I had it under his hand he denyed it When I told him I could shew it him he replied if I could he would acknowledge himself a lyar upon which ground I charged him for it as before and so I do still and good were it for him if he owned the judgement and repented for otherwise he cannot escape But if he forgeting that his hand was to his paper did run himself into the evil of denying it as is before exprest yet if when he came to the sight of his error he had clearly acknowledged it and owned his condemnation and repented to which in love he was advised there had been mercy for him but being convinced and reproved of the evil hardened his neck and labours to hide and cover his sin adding one iniquity unto another here he cannot prosper but brings himself justly under not onely the judgement and condemnation mentioned in my former Letter but more and more misery due to those that rebel against the light by which they are reproved and to those that add iniquity unto iniquity and must not come into Gods righteousness And from it all the waters in Jordan can never wash him not the Rocks and Mountains cover him nor all your outward observations imaginations and will-worships preserve him till he own the light by which he is convinced and reproved and the just condemnation thereof pass upon the rebellious and the transgressor which hath sinned and he brought to repentance and the acknowledgement of the truth and so his soul come to be saved in this mighty day of the Lords power And this is not from a violent heat of wild-fire as he calls it but from a spirit of soberness soundness and truth and is true love to his soul and the time is near in which he that rebuketh plainly shall find more favour then he that flattereth with his lips and my end is not to make him a transgressor before all as he supposeth but according to my measure to advise him into the way the light the life and the truth which leadeth out of transgression into the inheritance of the Saints in light and in this I do not equivocate nor evade as he falsely chargeth me but do speak plainly and truly though at
it both he and ye are offended And both Baptism and the Lords Supper I do own as before I said and all your traditions imaginations inventions carnal observations and will-worships I do deny who in the many things about which ye are troubled oftend all and are not come to the one Baptism by which the Saints were baptized into one body nor know not the Cup of the New Testament nor the bread of life which is the life of men nor the fruit of the Vine of which Christ with his Disciples drank new in his Fathers Kingdom and so are feeding your selves with that which will never satisfie but is corruptible and must perish in the using And the ground on which ye stand and question me is not good but of God is rejected and bryars and thorns doth it bring forth and its near unto cursing And whereas he saith though he was not present when I spake so reproachfully of the Scriptures yet he did believe it and still doth I Reply Here is plainly and without equivocation as he calls it the ground of your lies and slanders false accusations and charges as well as of your windy heady and powerless Religion that is to say your believing things which ye neither heard nor saw but have got by tradition and hearsay from others as he confesseth of himself in this particular and few can believe it besides those that are given over to believe lyes because there is no truth at all in it And although he saith I had not his hand in particular to what he heard not yet I know I had it to the whole of which that is a part and I have it to that which he denies and saith I had it not and well was it that I had it under hand or else how stiffely would it be denyed and gainsayed as it was directly at first and after plain conviction what shuffling and deceit is here used amongst you to hide and cover it though to little purpose And had I not by the wisdom of God had a Coppy of your charge signed by some of your selves how must all your lyes and forged accusations which ye publish and say was verbatim and proved to a tittle and syllable pass for truth because ye say it is so which by the said Coppy is proved not verbatim nor is proved true but the contrary And whereas Robert Simpson declares I had no ground at all to lay that agravavation of lying upon him viz. a lye invented a lye prosecuted a lye denyed and the lye proved and afterwards adviseth me not to evade nor equivocate but speak truly and deal plainly Reply I have before dealt so truly and plainly without flattery that ye are offended yet I shall take his advise and plainly declare the lye was invented amongst you when ye studied your accusations the lye was prosecuted by your Messengers who charged me with the guilt of what ye had falsely contrived The lye was denyed by Robert Simpson when he denied that he spake such a thing or laid it to my charge though I had it under his hand and the lye by me stands proved both on you and him from which ye can never deliver your selves by all your shifting and striving but like a bird in the snare the more ye strive the more ye are intangled till ye acknowledge your iniquitie and own your condemnation and repent And so Robert Simpsons weapons being but the wrath and deceivableness of man and not under promise of a blessing from God are found too carnal as he acknowledgeeth to war against the Lamb and his followers whose weapons are not carnal like his but mighty thorough God to the pulling down and laying low all high things so that no lying refuges nor deceitful coverings are able to stand But the Armies of the world who follow the beast to make war with the Lamb do flie and fall before them Glory to him that sits upon the throne and to the Lamb for evermore A Reply to Thomas Ewins his word as he calls it I Find Thomas Ewins in the beginning of his word as he calls it acknowledging the receipt of my Letter above a year since never intending to answer it but since it is published takes himself bound to answer and makes use of Solomons words to cover his deceitful pretences just like one whom God abhors which teacheth for hire and devineth for money and corrupteth the Scriptures with which he trades for doth he not know that the true reason of his intending never to answer was not lest he should be like unto me as he pretends but rather knowing the guilt dreaded the contest and would gladly bury it in silence but being made publique holds himself bound to answer not lest I be wise c. but lest his wickedness and deceit being made manifest and he proved out of the wayes and out of the life of the Ministers of Christ and in the wayes and steps of those Masters whose gain came in by devination he in this might suffer loss and accompt himself bound to prevent it and by sorcery and wicked art makes use of Solomons words as his covering Now because his word is so large and so little of worth or wisdom contained therein being a parcel of dead and dull stuff And because his ignorance lightness and confusion is so plainly to be read in his own lines by all that walk in the fear and counsel of the Lord I shall not trouble my self nor the Reader with answering every particular as it lies but rather out of his heap of confusion take up a little letting the rest remain In the first place he finds fault with me for publishing his acknowledging himself no Minister of the Gospel and declares the grounds on which he denied himself a Minister but not a Preacher of the Gospel but hath mist to insert the true ground upon which I so declared him which was that in serious dispute or discourse he hath not been able by the Scriptures to maintain himself a Minister of the Gospel but made to acknowledge the contrary and that before several witnesses But how is it that he denied himself as he saith to be a Minister but not a Preacher of the Gospel Did any ever preach the Gospel who had not the treasure of it in their earthen vessels Or did ever any who had the treasure within them preach and not minister of the same as good stewards of the grace of God Truly he that is such a man notwithstanding he may vainly boast of his abilities and approbation and being sent forth by men had need to seek a better proof of his Ministry or else must never be owned by Christ as one of his He saith he denyed himself a Minister of any Parish in Bristol a Minister in Office not having been called constituted or ordained c And that he hath put off that honour and dignity from a sense of the weight and excellency of that high calling
abide in its paths And in your own darknesse are joyned every one against the servants of God who bid turn to the light which is pure which lighteth every man that cometh into the world which is no pernitious but sound Doctrine for if it be good to watch and good to walk in the true light then it is good to turn men to that light And if the Lord would have all men to come to the knowledge of the truth then it is good that all men be turned to the light which shines in the heart to give the knowledge of it in the sace of Christ and to bid people to take heed to that light to walk in that light and believe in the light which lighteth every man that is sound doctrine and those that love not the light nor walk in the light nor believe in the light are left without excuse and the light come is their condemnation and by the light are they already condemned who believe not in the light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world and whatsoever the false Prophets and Ministers of unrighteousness say to the contrary is of little weight Again Robert Sympson in pag. 33. declares that that light which is in me and in all men if not put out would tell me that that thing which he there asserts is true Now here is light confest to be in me and in all men and that light to be in all men which is in me and the Scripture saith that was the true light which lighteth every man which should answer that which he affirms and minds to be truth if not put out And if so then that is a good Ministry which opens blind eyes and turns from darkness to light Then it being so what have those servants of the Lord done for which thou so highly chargest them who are sent of the Lord to bear witness of his name and to declare his truth and bids take heed to the true light and turns to it to the opening of the blind eyes that people may see the way to everlasting life and have their feet guided in the way of peace with whom the Lord of a truth is though Thomas Ewins with the rest of the deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan who love darkness and hate the light do reproach and belye them he uttering his confusion and envy against the innocent telling the world the Quakers as he calls them have done such mischief and their doctrine is pernicious they bid all men turn to the light thereby to draw them from believing in the person of Christ and he is no Preacher of that thing they call Gospel and calls them miserable deluded people Oh vain man who boastest thy self in thine evil way how is night come upon thee and darkness overshadoweth thee And how art thou reeling and staggering like a drunken man who hast spoken and written so of the light thy self as is before mentioned yet art not ashamed to belie and reproach the servants of the living God as thou hast done for labouring to turn people from darknes to the light who having received a Ministery from the Lord as all the Ministers of Christ did not from men as the false Apostles and deceitful workers and Ministers of Satan did they labour not accompting their liberties nor lives dear unto them so that they may finish their course with joy and the Ministry which of the Lord Jesus they have received and therfore in much patience in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours by knowledge by long suffering by kindness by the holy Ghost by love unfeigned by the Word of truth by the power of God by the armour of righteousness by honour and dishonour by evil report and good report as deceivers and yet true c. do they approve themselves the Ministers of Christ and witnessed it is in the consciences of men And Thomas Ewins words being honestly considered with what is replyed thereunto may not his own sayings be justly turned upon his head pag. 49. may he not blush to speak or write such things Will Jehovah the great and glorious God ever own such railings and revilings to which I add lying and deceiving to be a testifying from him Or will he ever justifie him in what he hath written and published Oh! be ashamed and confounded poor deluded man for how hath he manifested himself a blind guide They that is the Anabaptists think he is too large in his principles and he thinks them too straight in theirs and yet they do not differ but can bear with each other in love Truly the Devil may love his own work which is to lead people in darkness and blindness and there have his instruments fellowship But will any man that fears God and weighs his words believe or own him in what he saith How can it be that they should think one thing and he another he have large principles and they streight they in their light and he in his and yet not differ And may not he be justly reproved as well as the Authour of Satan enthroned in his Chair of Pestilence in that they both agree to charge mischief done in Bristol on those called Quakers And Tho. Ewins is in that joyned with R. F. one walking in his light and the other in his yet they differ not but are both opposers of the true light and the children thereof who in the same do walk as were their fathers in all generations But in it are they both discovered to be out of the right way and the children of light who walk in the light stand witnesses for the Lord against them both and that principle of darknesse blindenesse and deceit in which they walk and from which their corrupted works of reviling and persecuting the innocent without a cause proceeds But the day is come in which the Lord is gathering his people from such to give T. E. his own words an ignorant ungodly lazy proud scandalous soul-murdering ministry who deny the light and with the God of the World are joyned to blinde the eyes of peoples mindes least the light of the glorious Gospel should shine unto them I say least the light which God commands to shine out of darknesse should shine into the heart to give the knowledge of the glory of God of which light and no other the servants of God declare and your folly is manifesting apace glory to the Lord for evermore for although he that preacheth the Gospel witnesseth the new covenant where the law is written in the heart and the spirit put into the inward parts and although the scripture witnesseth that the law is light and written in the heart and that the word is within in the heart and in the mouth Prov. 6.23 Rom. 10.8 Deut. 30.14 the anointing which is true and is no lye and teacheth all things so that the saints need no other teacher abideth with in the
witnesse as within the Kingdom of God is within the light which gives the knowledge of the glory of God shines within even in the heart 1 Joh. 2.27 1 Joh. 5.10 1. Cor. 4.6 Christ is within God is within who dwells and walks in them whose bodies are his Temples yet this blinde ignorant and unlearned man is not ashamed to publish that he is no preacher of that Gospil viz. the light within but declares it pernitious doctrine and that he never read or heard that any of the Prophets Apostles or holy men of God did preach such a Gospel c. And for his speaking of Sarah Latchet asking how I can stile her a Servant of Jesus who is an Apostate and an excommunicated person going on in such rayling and calling him a deceiver Another time saying the prayers of the wicked are an abhomination to the Lord. And another time let fly at him with a multitude of rayling and reviling terms such as he saith they use to give to the Ministers of the Nation c. To this I say In that she did bear true Testimony against him I own it as a service in the Truth and her being excommunicated as he cals it by those who deny the true light proves nothing to the contrary nor her calling him deceiver or saying the prayers of the wicked are abhomination to the Lord for so are their services and sacrifices and to deny and bear Testimony against it is no Apostacy upon a true account and to be hated and separated by such from their company and by them to be reproached and to have ones name cast out as evil for the Son of mans sake who is the light of the World is a blessed thing rejoyce ye in that day and leap for joy for behold your reward is great in heaven for in like manner did their fathers unto the prophets Luke 6.22 23. and his word excommunication is turned back into his bundle of Popish or Heathenish ignorance as that which was never used by the Ministers of Christ And if Sarah Latchet be excommunicated as he calls it then it s like those that did it are ashamed of their work for she knew it not but saith he she let flie at me with such railing termes as they use to give the Ministers of the Nation To which I say why should not he be testified against as well as they being at least in many things found in their steps and practices But for reviling speeches let him look at home He saith she called him Deceiver and said the prayers of the wicked were abhomination to the Lord and this by him is termed rayling and reviling though it be according to the Scriptures which proceeded from those that spake as they were moved of the holy Ghost But he in his answer to Ralph Farmer saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of Englands misery and consequently of Bristols is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry who have made themselves contemptible and base in the eyes of all good men and in the consciences of many bad Now if this be so the Quakers as he calls them did not all the mischief in Bristoll as he falsly saith they did for now he saith the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back-door of much of the misery of England and Bristol is an ignorant ungodly lazie proud scandalous soule-murthering Ministry And so hath he proved himselfe a lyar and a false accuser which the Ministers of Christ were not But who is the rayler and reviler now They that bear true testimony against him and his generation according to Scripture or Thomas Ewins in speaking his own corrupted words out of his polluted and unsanctified fountain who by his own confession questions whether ever he had received the Spirit to purge and purifie cleanse and sanctifie believers and make them holy But if it be so that the misery of England and Bristoll is such a Ministry as he hath before exprest and which he terms the Ministry of the Nation ought they not to be testified against and he also so far as he is found in their condition And may it not well be said that it is the great misery of many poor souls in Bristoll that such ignorant and blinde guides as ye are are followed which is the in-let and out-let the fore-door and back door of so much confusion as is at this day amongst you one bearing with the other in your darknesse and in your streight and large principles till ye become all quite blinde and stark drunk in your imaginations reeling and staggering so that many poor people are even at their wits end and have followed you so long till their soules are even famished and they fallen into misery But glory to the Lord God of life who hath caused light to shine out of darknesse and out of obscurity by which the deceitfull veiles and coverings of the soul-murthering Ministry are made manifest And were those savoury words for Thomas Ewins to say It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell to worke then to goe about rayling at people as she did Let shame cover his face for ever when he looks back on his own words which are so well like the words and deeds of the Ministers of the Nation which himselfe calls the soul-murthering Ministry that he which reads may easily perceive them to agree and that one and the same spirit leads and guides them all And did not Thomas Ewins let flye at her in envy when he spake such words and hath thus confest it to his shame among those that are not willing to joyn hand with the wicked and to take part with evill doers And for his saying that she cursed and rayled that is but the invented refuge of his lying spirit for the words he sets down as hers are no such things And for his charging her to be idle that is from the same root of lying she having been known to be diligent in an honest employment and lives not by others labours as do the soul-murthering Ministers as he calls them who preach for hire and divine for money and against those that put not into their mouths they prepare war And take liberty to themselves from their high places to reproach revile slander and belye them that feare the Lord and are obedient to Christ the light of the world But if any who feel the burthen of the word of the Lord and witnesse it as a fire in their bones and being weary of holding it in are made to pour it out against the soul-murthering Ministry c. For this they must to the whip to prison to Bridewell c. And in this Thomas Ewins is discovered And for his saying ô be ashamed and confounded poor deceived man because I said she testified from the Lord I say his own words are turned upon his own head and to bear witnesse in truth against his
deceit I call a testifying from the Lord And it 's apparent it reacht him and his bottome was stirred up to give forth such filthy unsavoury words more like a persecuter then a Minister of Christ so that he may well blush to write his own folly and confusion for me his words reach not But he would devise a thing of his own and make a little Logick as he calls it to shew his skill and to evade the thing in hand And when he hath uttered his abhominable lyes asks is this good Logick I say it is his own and not being good he may be ashamed of it for they that read his lines may read his folly He saith in my letter I endeavour to parallel her with Paul and her sufferings with Pauls sufferings him with Pauls persecutors All which is so notoriously false and from the father of lyes that were he not past feeling a man would marvail how without blushing he can write such plain lyes and untruths when nothing like such a thing appears in my letter to him as the Reader may see In which letter I do not so much as once mention her name much lesse do I endeavour to parallel her with Paul or her sufferings with Pauls sufferings But that which I did was to reprove Thomas Ewins for his unsavoury words and practices in opposing the truth and them that come to witnesse against his deceit whom he threatned with Bridewell with whipping c. And by his fruits I tryed him according to the Scriptures found him out of the practice of the true Ministers of Christ and directly in the steps and practices of the enemies of Christ and his Gospel and therefore plainly told him it was the Devill that cast the Saints into prison It was wretched Pilate that scourged Jesus It was those Masters whose gain came in by divination joyning with the rude multitude that carryed Paul and Silas before the Magistrates and caused them to be beaten and cast into prison It was Jesus that told his Disciples they must be so used by the world the generation of vipers c. It was Paul the able Minister of the Spirit and not of the Letter that proved himselfe the Minister of God in patience in tumults in stripes in imprisonments c. But it was Thomas Ewins a Minister of the letter and not of the Spirit that is threatning the servants of God witnesses of Jesus with stripes with whips with Bridewel Now let all that read but honestly consider hovv from these expressions and the like a man vvho hath any fear of God vvithin him can be so knovvingly wicked as to affirme in print that I endeavour to compare her with Paul and her sufferings with his And hovv vvofully it is like by vvicked art he can corrupt the Scriptures and bely the Prophets and Apostles and holy men of God that gave them forth vvho are deceased that dares to affirme things so directly false and untrue as done and published by a man vvhom he knovvs to be yet alive and able enough to see and discover his vvickednesse And hovv blinde and like to fall into the ditch are all those that vvill believe or receive for truth all that comes from so false a speaker vvho I might easily prove is far out of Pauls condition vvho vvas a Minister of Christ and Preacher of the Gospel and called to the vvork But Thomas Ewins hath denyed that he is a Minister either called constituted or ordained And therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Paul vvas sent to turn the Gentiles from darknesse to the light But Thomas Ewins saith to bid people turn to the light vvithin is to cause them to cease from believing in the person of Christ And he is no Preacher of that namely to bid people turn to the light Therefore is he no Preacher of the Gospel Again Paul and the Ministers of Christ in meeknesse instructed those vvhich opposed themselves But Thomas Ewins vvhen one came to oppose him in his deceit said It were fitter such an idle huswife were whipt and sent to Bridewell Paul vvent into the Temple and Synagogues to declare against them that held up the Idols Temple and shadovvs from vvhence he vvas haled out imprisoned and abused But Thomas Ewins stands up in the chiefe place of the assembly and Pharisee like he stands praying in the Idols Temple and some that bear vvitnesse against him he threatneth vvith vvhips and Bridevvel and some are haled out and imprisoned for he confesseth pag. 58. in the margin that one is novv imprisoned for disturbing him Therefore Thomas Ewins and Paul are not alike Again Paul vvas not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel and to turn to the light But Thomas Ewins doth either baptize as he calls it that is to say wash the outside of the people in brooks and rivers when the inside is full of hypocrisie deceit and wickedness not being sent or else he was sent to do it and from the light doth hee turn And of that Gospel is he no Preacher therefore no preacher of that Gospel which Paul preached Again it is the work of the Devil the god of the World to blind the minds of those that belive not in the light lest the light of the glorious Gospel of Christ should shine unto them and into their hearts to give the knowledge of the glory of God And Thomas Ewins is no Preacher of the light but lest the light which God commanded to shine out of darkness should shine into peoples hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ he labours hard to blind their minds with prejudice against the light telling them it is pernicious doctrine they that preach it shut up the Kingdom and take people from believing in the person of Christ Therefore is Thomas Ewins a Minister of Satan and a Co-worker with the Devil in blinding peoples minds and turning them from the light And now all this being considered will it be unequal for me to couple him with Ralph Farmer though he would couple me with him and say he wondred that I and they who are so different in other things can all agree to cast stones at him which is a lye for I joined not with Ralph Farmer to cast stones at him whose blood-thirsty spirit I do deny and with it have I no union but in soberness and seriousness I write the truth concerning him But he asketh me if I be not joined a brother in bitterness with him that is to say R. F. I answer nay I am no brother in bitterness with him but all brotherhood and affinity with that bitter envious bloody persecuting spirit with which ye both are acted and ruled I do utterly renounce and disclaim who in my measure have unity with that meek and gentle spirit which with God is of great price and therefore hated and persecuted by Satans instruments but