spirit Ans I say it is true for that is but done to delude the simple through hypocrisie to make their lyes more feizible as so the Ministers of Sathan are sometimes transformed as if they were Ministers of Righteousnesse as hath been shewed before and so are they 9. That our directing to observe the light in the Conscience is nothing else but to advise them to obey Sathan Ans I say true in such cases wherein I instanced to wit to them in whom hee Ruleth it is no better but so 10. That wee direct people to eye and observe that lying spirit that is in them Ans So they doe by such directions to all those whom they so direct in whom hee raigneth 11. That Naylors doctrine is quite contrarie that any that lacke wisdome should aske it of God Ans I say in my booke Just so and shew my Reasons for it because I finde it not in any of his bookes But onely a direction to seeke it within before they have it And if they have it not already then they want it and ought to aske it of God and not to seeke it where it is wanting and not to be found but it is a grosse directorie so to advise them as so I call it in my booke 12. That Sathan hath got a Commission to be a lying spirit in my mouth Ans Very true and if hee call this a lye hee must father all these lyes himselfe and so be a Devill and the father of lyes for it is not God hee cannot lye 13. That James Naylor is sent with strong delusions to some that they might beleeve a lye Ans True and that to very many of those that beleeved not the truth but had pleasure in unrighteousnesse as so I say it againe and shewed reasons for it in my booke 14. That I would needs be accounted some great Prophet and to have some extraordinary revelations that no man else had knowne before and yet teacheth us nothing except lyes c. Ans I say it is true hee that teacheth us nothing except lyes but what wee knew before now this except lyes hee leaveth out and putteth in c. as was usuall in the Bishops times when they were ashamed to declare all 15. That James Nayor utterly denyeth the manhood of Christ Ans So hee doth by cleare consequence from his doctrine as is prooved in the Treatise for that hee blameth us for owning a Christ without and at a distance to wit his body being in heaven as well as hee is present with us in spirit 16. That I blame men for praising and singing of Psalmes in spirit unto God as the Apostles did Ans In spirit and with the mouth and voyce hee doth calling them Devills Rymes most wickedly and prophanely as is shewed but not answered yet 17. That I often produce the non-proficiency of the people as a ground of disparagement to the word it selfe Ans So hee doth as a disparagement to the Scripture it selfe which I call the expresse word of God and as a disparagement to the teachings of men also which hee cannot deny and therefore this is his lye 18. That James Naylor counteth himselfe the highest and all below him either dwarffes or nothing like Christians Ans And this is true for Reasons therein shewed but is his Recitall hee leaveth out those words to wit either like dwarffes and also the reasons which hee cannot answer 19. That I Reproach and disparage those that take heede to the sure word of prophesie Ans True for so hee doth all that take heede to the Scriptures which the Apostle meant when hee so called it 20. That how the word was made flesh James Naylor understandeth not Ans True I said so let him proove the contrary by shewing it if hee can 21. That James Naylors Directorie is quite contradictorie to the directorie of Scripture Ans True and it is so prooved in the booke 22 That I Naylor requireth Scripture grounds for what hee asserteth which hee never yet gave Ans It is I that require Scripture grounds of him for what hee asserteth the which hee hath not yet nor cannot give and that maketh him to put it in the quite contrary sence as I suppose least the simple should discerne him 23. That wee have no faith in God but in a lying spirit within Ans It really appeares that spirit within them is a lying spirit and yet in that they beleeve but the Spirit of God is not a lying spirit therefore their faith is not in God 24. That wee would make the blood of Christ of none effect Ans It is true your doctrine doth so what in your lyeth as it is prooved in the Treatise and not yet answered 25. That our spirit teacheth us not to put off our hatts when wee pray Ans I was so informed by those that have seene you pray that your practise is so and then I suppose your spirit so teacheth you so that if it be not true yet it not my lye because I was so informed Thus his twenty-five lyes that hee would father upon mee I Returne backe to himselfe in this short dresse And shall passe over his language hee giveth mee as grounded hence because it wanteth footing and come to his last maine charge And lastly saith hee thou goes on to plead for a deale more of thy Masters stuffe wherewithall hee houlds up his kingdome of pride and partialitie and such like stuffe as none ever pleaded for but the Devill and his Ministers who is afraid that his kingdowne should goe downe And thou sayes Sathan tells us that it is our dutie to observe the language held forth in Scripture and the example of Christ and his Apostles and upon paine of damnation not to varie from it And this thou brings to plead against speaking the word thou to a particular I answer If it be laid upon us as an injunction and that upon paine of damnation And no such injunction to be found in Scripture it must needs be of Sathan But James Naylor knoweth there is no such Injunction upon that penaltie in all the Scripture as to threaten damnation for using the custome of the Countrie wherein there is no sinne though they varie from the customes in old time As so If James Naylor should tell mee that in Regard Christ wore a coate without seame therefore I may not weare any but such and that upon paine of damnation I should also say that it came from the Devill nor doe I thinke that James will teach the Quakers to follow the example of Christ in this thing But hee saith hast thou been all along crying up Scriptures in thy booke for a Rule and is now the language of it and the examples of Christ and his Apostles therein become a perswasion of Sathan with thee hast thou not heere shewed what broode thou art one who preferres the Devills pride and the worlds fashions before the examples of Christ and his Apostles and would
every one had need But James Naylor dare though hee hath his ground to seeke for hee sheweth no reason worth mentioning I suppose hee was affraid with Judas least hee should not seeme charitable to the poore for under pretence of the poore so hee could keepe it from the Ministers of Christ and so from Christ himselfe hee would have it for himselfe and the Quaker-Ministers to fill their baggs though they are theeves and Robbers spiritually as Judas was carnally For it is evident that hee accounteth no poore deserving nor no Ministers deserving but the Quakers poore and Ministers Though hee saith if they be found Ministers of Christ farre be it from mee to hould from them that maintenance which Christ ever allowed his Ministers But that hee alloweth none to be found his Ministers but the Quaker-Ministers is evident for as for all such as preach in our publike places which hee calle 〈◊〉 our Idoll Temples are condemned by him as Ministers of Antichrist and not sent of God So that hee and I are at a great distance from accordance though hee seemeth to graunt to all that I plead for or ever intended it to wit such as are found to be Ministers of Christ Nor have I in the least pleaded for any other if they be knowne to be such And therefore though hee Imperiously commandeth mee when I write againe first to prove them so and then call them so I answer I called not any by name nor doe I know but few of very many that are knowne faithfull labourers in Gods harvest therefore I cannot enter into any particulars it would be too large to proove every particular Minister of Christ sent of God by the particular grounds and Reasons to cleare every man that yet is cleare in the sight of God But I am not so omnitient yet if I heare them preach in the cleare evidence and demonstration of the spirit and of power by that I can know them though I cannot demonstrate the same unto James Naylor as such I know many that preach in our publike places which yet are but a few in comparison of what there is that I know not nor ever saw Nor will I goe about to decipher them out by their markes so as to condemne all as hee hath done yet if they be Wolves that come in sheepes cloathing or meere hirelings or clearely Antichristian or if by any of their fruits I can certainly know them to be theeves and Robbers and such as are carnall and worldly and proud and vaine boasters or heretickes or schismatickes and such like I shall and doe disowne them as much and more then James Naylor doth But amongst the Rest I disowne James Naylor in particular for being so much as like any Minister of Christ that ever was in the world But dare maintaine him for one of the primest of all that â—athan hath and the most audacious in a bad cause Now hee telleth mee further that another argument I use saying wee ought to account them as spirituall Fathers And saith that if any so doe whom they have not spiritually begotten such account of a lye and thou teaches them to it I answer That is one of James Naylors lyes for if they be fathers to others and I know it though they did not beget mee yet I ought to account them so else I account of a lye above the truth oh shamelesse lyar who but will know this to be a lye at the first reading If they be fathers they are so though not to mee But for all those markes that James Naylor hath given to know them by I will not follow him throughout Because that this I know That if they be such who have the manifestation of the Spirit and preach in the evidence and demonstration thereof and that with power Though I see in them many humane frailties and that they be subject to like passions as other men are nay though Jonas-like they should shew themselves angerie with the Lord himselfe and that for shewing mercy and say they doe well to be angerie even to the very death yet I shall not deny but they are sent of God and ought to be maintained as his faithfull Ambassadours and hee that denyeth them denyeth Christ and hee that condemneth and Judgeth them as no Ministers of Christ because of such passions and frailties doth also condemne and Judge himselfe for the same censure that hee casteth upon them if hee doth the same or worser things It Redoundeth to himselfe by the Judgement of the Lord for saith hee With what Judgement yee Judge yee shall be Judged And therefore James Naylor hath cause to feare that Judgement attendeth him and will befall him and that ere long if hee doth not repent especially after Conviction in his owne Conscience of his injurious Censures and blasphemous Reproaches cast like a flood out of his mouth and penn to make them all odious amongst the people of God But I must not stand any longer upon this third particular but shall fall to answer breifly his Catalogue of lyes that hee would father upon mee but may keepe them himselfe as more properly his owne For 1. Saith hee Thou sayes our spirit teacheth us to pull downe mens faith and hope they have in God Ans True and that by calling men carnall and damned when you cannot proove any such thing 2. That wee give no honour or worship either to God or man Ans Not that I know off let them shew wherein 3. That we have no knowledge of God at all but a wicked lying malicious spirit that is an enemy to all goodnesse Ans And so I verily beleeve and that for those reasons rendred in the booke 4. That our wicked lying spirit teacheth us to speake evill of all men that embrace not our lying doctrines and wayes Ans The truth of this I Referre to the Judgements of all that know their Rayling and Reviling of the Ministers and professors of all sorts the Quakers excepted who onely embrace their wayes 5. That the Elect may be so farre lead away with the errour of the wicked as to fall from their owne steadfastnesse Ans I say from their owne proper steadfastnesse they may which word proper hee leaveth out to deceive the simple And so I say they may else the Apostles exhortation was needlesse 2 Pet. 3.17 6. That the case is Just with us deluded Quakers as it is with Witches Ans And so it is in those Respects therein mentioned as I could have prooved it by examples of some of those people 7. That wee bitterly Revile and Reproach all the Saints and servants of God almost over all the world Ans And I said true for they Revile and Reproach all professors but of their owne way and those are no Saints but more like Devills 8. That our pleading for so many good things and sharply reprooving of evill and our coming to the light with the deeds can be no other but from a deluding
who are at enmitie with the Scriptures and cannot afford them a good word nor such as love and owne them as the word of God but seeke by all meanes to disparage them by calling them a dead letter and carnall and vaine till men have them inspired by the Spirit of God As though it were wholy in vaine to reade them or search them or heare them preached and opened till they be inspired by the Spirit of God into their minds Rea For in his 5th page he ownes that Scripture 2 Tim 3.16 To wit that all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine for reproofe for correction for instruction that the man of God may be perfect c. Saying that to whom they are given by inspiration they are so but what is this to the Devill and false Prophets who steale them and have them not given by inspiration are they so to them I answer Here hee discovers his old fathers policie and serpentine craftines this wisdome is herein manifest not to be from above but earthly sensuall and devillish for it proceedeth meerely from envie and strife see James 3.14 15 16 c. And where envying and strife is there is sedition and every evill worke But suppose wee aske James Naylor whether we may not lawfully reade the Scriptures which were written for our learning till they be inspired into us and that we have them by inspiration without reading them What he would answer is a great question but in all likelihood hee would make some evasion and not answer properly either yea or no least the Serpents head should be too visible and so in danger to be broken by the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God yet wee may gesse at his minde to wit that he accounteth it in vaine at least if not unlawfull to reade the Scriptures For he telleth us plainly that there is nothing gotten from Scripture but braine knowledge and that the famine is greatest of hearing the word of the Lord where men trade most with Scripture see page 7. And he would gather from that Scripture 2 Pet. 3.16 that because men that are unlearned and unstable wrest some things contained in the Scriptures to their owne destruction Therefore it is a way for men to destroy themselves to use the letter of the Scripture or expect any helpe thereby as a way to God whereof I forewarning them saith he and bidding first minde the light of Christ and his Spirit to lead into the truth of thee I am hated saith he and all the Devills instruments who sayes I may as well exhort them to looke to the Devill himselfe for teaching or leading as to the light within I answer Yea and this I said and say it here againe that such in whom the Devill ruleth for the present as so he doth alwayes in the children of disobedience if they turne their minds inward and follow such light and motions as he suggesteth and doe but once get perswaded that it is no other but the Spirit of God their condition is sad but how much sadder is his condition that so perswadeth them as if the light of Christ and that onely were in every man oh wicked doctrine what wisdome is that before specified then that cometh not from above but is earthly sensuall and devillish and is therefore marked out by the Apostle that it might be knowne whence such wisdome cometh and be avoyded But though there is a wisdome that cometh from above I never read in all Naylors writings that he noted that out from Scripture as the Apostle James doth but telleth us further that the Devill had much rather keepe people doing in the letter that with the fallen wisdome they might wrest them then to be lead into the truth that the Scriptures declares of by the Spirit of truth which leads into all truth without which no truth is knowne alledging John 16.13 I answer Oh devillish doctrine Nay rather a Doctrine of Devills This maketh me Recant that ever I charged such doctrines upon James Naylor for he was but an instrument this is most manifestly a doctrine of Devills I meane the Devill writeth and teacheth and speaketh such doctrines by him as an instrument For what minde hath the Devill or ever had that men should reade or heare or obey the Scriptures doth not the Devill know that faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God I meane by the essentiall word who is pleased to open mens understandings that they might understand the Scriptures and that they might attend to the things that are spoken by the Ministers of God and by the Lord himselfe in his holy Word as hee opened the heart of Lidia that shee attended to the things which Paul spake And shall we thinke that it is of the Devill and pleaseth him when men frequent the preaching and hearing of the Word and the reading and searching of the Scriptures Is there any Scripture in all the Bible that so much as hinteth such a doctrine And how shall men know what the Scripture declareth if they doe not reade or heare them And what is that to the matter because some heare and reade them and doe not understand them nor receive or beleeve and obey the same must that be charged on the Scripture as the cause and must the Scripture be called carnall and a dead letter because it doth not quicken and give life to all that heare it Is it not purposely sent and made knowne to some that it might convince them of sinne for their greater condemnation and might be the savour of death unto death to such as perish But it alwayes is the savour of life unto life unto them that beleeve And as faith cometh by hearing of such as are sent so faith c the Spirit are ministred together for he that hath faith hath a measure of the Spirit for the Spirit is ministred by the hearing of faith preached One would have thought all the Devills in hell could not have devised such a devillish doctrine to keepe men from hearing and reading the Scripture If James Naylor would aske that lying spirit by which he is acted how he may certainly know the spirit of truth from the spirit of errour the Spirit of God from the spirit of Satan especially when hee is transformed as an Angel of light and comes with faire shews and pretences I verily beleeve hee would never bring him such texts of Scripture as the Apostles have propos'd to be as certaine rules and markes of tryall but would rather tell him those markes and rules are too carnall for them to observe that have already such measures of the Spirit and have been so proficient and active thereby and so indeavour to put them out of all doubt nor will hee suffer them to hould forth any such markes unto others but onely ingage them to obedience unto him as he shall move and act them and to beleeve and