that was set up in the dayes of Daniel which the Lord did and will confound Answ This being a long Query had need be answered in several parts First thou sayst Now it is come to the formal Quakers turn The Formal Quakers are in reality your selves but we understand thy Speech and know whom thou meanest by formal Quakers even the Antient Brethren and Labourers in the Lords Vineyard with all the faithful Friends that having held fast their Integrity to the Lord have stood and do stand VVitnesses in Gods Power against the deceitful creeping Spirit that hath got an entrance and habitation among and in you and by and through you endeavours to draw back the Lord's People from the true Order of the Gospel and from their diligent Care and Watchfulness over themselves and one another therein into a false Liberty and a licentious Loosness These are those thou Stigmatizes with the brand of formal Quakers And now thou sayest It is come to the formal Quakers turn What is this It that is come to their turn to use Violence Excommunicate east into Prison This is and must be the sense of thy Words if thy Words have any sense in them This String thou hast harped on all along This is it thou taxest the Church of England with in thy second Query Compelling and using Violence In thy third thou queriest Whether the Presbyterians did not do like the Church of England which thou explainest to be Excommuncating and cast into Brison In thy fourth thou askest Did not the Baptists do like the former which was to Excommunicate and cast into Prison In thy fifth thou askest Hath it not been so with all other Sects which still relates to the same thing Excommunicating and casting into Prison is come to the formal Quakers turn This is a false suggestion Leonard and of an high Nature Where 's thy proof Whom have those thou callest the formal Quakers cast into Prison Whom have they used Violence to You and your Company 's shutting Friends out of their Meeting houses and nailing up the Meeting house Door looks somewhat like an act of Violence on your parts to wards those you call formal Quakers But what act of Violence have they done to you Whom of you have they cast into Prison Is not this suggestion of thine an horrible Slander Is not this Libelling What else is this but as B. C. says in your Pamphlet to have an unbridled Tongue tht will accuse and not prove and ask Questions to no purpose except to slander and abuse men Besides we cannot but take notice how slily thou dost link together Excommunicating and casting into Prison as if they were alike evil alike to be avoided and condemned This savours of a loose Spirit that would tolerate all disorderly and scandalous Persons in the Church have none cast out how corrupt soever which is the design of the wicked One against which God's faithful People in all Ages have watched and warred and at all times under every Dispensation as occasion hath offered and need required have used and exercised that just and necessary Power which God hath alwayes invested them with of disowning and casting out and testifying against whatsoever was hurtful and scandalous to the Body and this how grievous soever it be to you alwayes will be as it alwayes has been in the true Church And whereas thou askest Are not they whom thou scornfully caâ—lest formal Quakers with all their Strength and Might c. setting up the Form that they have made c. and giving it higher Names then any that have gone before We answer Nay there is in these Words of thine a base Insinuation For neither have Friends made a Form nor are they setting up any Form but what the Power of god leads into nor do the use Strength and Might outwardly muchless are they getting all the Strength and Might they can in most places as thou most falsly and enviously suggests to set up any other Form but tht the Spirit of the living God in and through his People hath set up as to his divine Wisdom seemed most advantagious and serviceable for his Truth and People and by the strength and might of his own eternal Arms of Power he hitherto hath maintained and will maintain and preserve it against all the poysonous Darts of every envious Tongue Thou sayest Some have had the Confidence to say and Preach penly That what * We neither set up nor contend for any Form but what the Spirit and Power of God leads into and justifies in THEY had set up was to keep things sweet and clean Notwithstanding many things thou sayest have happened amongst them in many places which is a Stink and a shame to mention c. In this we believe thou slanderest those Some thou speakest of Who-ever said or preacht openly or privately that what THEY had set up was to keep things sweet and clean this sounds like Truth but like one of thy slanderous Suggestions We own no Form or Order of Mens setting up any further then men are or may be Instruments in the Lords hand The holy God by his holy pure Spirit hath set up his own holy Order in and among his People and the end of it is to keep things sweet and clean and that 's the Reason the unclean Spirit in you rages so against it and them that stand up for it And it any thing hath hapned which is a shame to mention thou Leonard if thou hadst not been past Shame might have been ashamed to have so much as hinted it knowing whom it will gratifie and also considering how it hath been aâ—d is with many of that Party thou appears an Advocate for Thou goest on and sayest Yet calling them holy Orders c. 'T is thou and you that in your scoffing flouting Spirit use to talk of holy Orders c. We say God is an holy God and he is the god of Order and the Order which he is the God of and hath set up in his Church is an holy Order They that love Holiness love it They tht are for Unholiness and Looseness contend against it And Leonard had not Envy blinded thy Eye and strangely clouded thy Understanding even as a Man thou wouldst not have publisht thy Weakness and Folly as thou hast done in this matter If any thing hath happened amiss among those that profess the Name of the Lord doth that prove either tht the order of Truth establisht amongst us is not Holy or hath not a tendency to keep things sweet and clean Is the Scripture of Truth or the Spirit of God e're the less holy because some unholy Professors of it don't observe it but walk contrary to it Did not the holy Ghost in the Apostles dayes set up an holy Order in the Church of Christ Was not the intent of it to keep things sweet and clean and from running into Disorder Yet too many things happened among them that bore the Christian
A STOP TO THE False Characterizers Hue-and-Cry And a Reproof to their Unfruitful Works of Darkness Wherein the Folly of B. C. and L. K. is Greatly Manifested AND THEIR Malice Envy DETECTED The Soul of the Wicked desireth Evil his Neighbour findeth no favour in his Eyes Prov. 21.10 Wrath is cruel and Anger is outragious but who is able to stand before Envy Prov. 27.4 Vpright men shall be astonied at this and the Innocent shall stir up himself against the Hyprocrite The Righteous also shall hold on his way and he that hath clean hands shall be stronger and stronger But as for you all do you return and come now for I cannot find one wise man among you Job 17.8 9 10. Printed by Andrew Sowle in the Year 1685. To Faithful Friends or others that make a Profession of Truth unto whose view the Pamphlet called The Libeller Characterized hath or may come Friends BEfore we give a particular Answer to the several parts of the fore-mentioned Pamphlet we think it needful to give some Account both why we have for-born to Answer in hitherto and why we have undertaken to answer it now and the rather L. Key whose Name is to the greater part thereof doth in his second and third Pages say That the Observations and Queries made publick were long since delivered to some of the formal Preachers in Reading but no Answer given to them Now as for the Observations he mentions we saw them not till they were Printed The Queries we acknowledge were sent to us in Manuscript inclosed in a Letter from him bearing date the 7th of the 12th Moneth 83. On the 5th of the 1st Moneth following Benjamin Coales his Confederate in this Work had finisht his Hue-and-Cry ready to be made publick and on the 2d of the 2d Moneth L. K. had concluded his whole Work for the Press as by the several Dates thereof appears So that the time his Impatience complains of as long was less then two Moneths and it appears by the date of the Hue-and-Cry that there was preparation made for Printing soon after the Queries were sent to us And therefore if he urges our not answering his written Queries as the Ground or Reason of his Printing them he dissembles and is not plain Now the plain Reason why we did not answer those Queries of his at that time was the Injustice and unfair dealing we had met with from L. K. and some others that took part with him for besides his reading a Paper of his own againâ—t some of us he refusing with his Company to suffer an Answer to be read thereto he had before this sent a Letter to one of us namely William Lamboll to which W. L. gave him an Answer in Writing sealed which Answer soon after L. K. had received he tore into pieces sealed as it was without so much as looking into it to see or take notice what was written therein Which rude unreasonable and unmanly Act of his the Fruit of a froward peevish Mind and of a Head-strong ungoverned Will made us think it not worth our while to write Answers to be tore in pieces without being read This was the Reason why we then for-bore to answer his written Queries which we willingly submit to the Judgment of Truth in every honest Friend whether he had not thereby given just cause so to do And we leave it to the Witness of God in every upright Heart whether L. K's publishing what he hath done to the World doth not proceed from the Spirit of the World and savour more of Strife and Envy than of Peace and true Christian Charity And whether he hath not hereby added a further proof of Friends Charge against them of the same Spirit with himself namely that they are the first Publishers of Differences in Print And if any should question Why we have not answered the Pamphlet sooner after it was printed Our answer is his Impatiency considered we therein followed them wise man's Counsel Prov. 26.4 we were not willing to be hasty upon him with an Answer but to give him time to consider at leisure of that which he had hastily and forwardly done desiring if it would have been that he and all others concerned with him in Speaking Writing and Printing against the Truth and People of the Lord might have received in themselves that sentence of Condemnation that 's due to their evil undertaking that from a sence thereof they might have repented of what they had done and of their own accord have called in their envious and naughty Pamphlet but instead thereof after we had waited some Moneths finding the said L. K. to be very busie and forward in spreading his mischievous Pamphlet abroad in City and Country and observing him to grow more confident lofty exalted and conceited than before and having of late received from him another Paper in Writing and of like tendency with what he hath Printed in which he presses earnestly for an Answer but it being not made publick shall take no more notice of it here but say as we said before observing him still to grow more confident lofty c. We remembred what the Wise Man said Prov. 26.5 For which cause partlâ— but principally for the sakes of such who through weakness and want of due consideration may upon the first view of his Queries and Observations according as they are represented by him be in danger of being misled to think otherwise of things then in truth they really are or that by our altogether being silent any should conclude what L. K. hath written is justly charged upon us the following Answer is now made publick by us Reading the 25th of the 2d Moneth William Lamboll John Buy THE False Characterizers Hue-and-Cry stopt c. Benjamin Coale and Leonard Key VVE have read and examined your railing Pamphlet which you call The Libeller Characteriz'd or a Hue-and-Cry sent after him c. In the first Page whereof and in several other parts of it you charge some whom you call An envious Person or Persons with abusing several honest men by sending great Packets by Post thereby as you say not only putting them to considerable Charges but also abusing several with scurrilous Language and Falshood What have been sent by Post to you or others of what Contents or from whom we neither know nor think our selves concerned to enquire sure we are you never received any such from us And if any such Packets have been sent you by any Body else it seems so far as we can gather from your Words to have been some of your own printed Books or Papers that have been written and publisht by your selves or some of your partakers and have been returned to you again for you mention printed Books writ upon between the Lines and wrapt up in a blank piece of Paper And surely if it were so 't is strange you should send forth a Hue-and Cry after him that helpt you to your Goods again
Men use to send the Hue-and-Cry after him that takes away their Goods not after him that finding them stragling abroad sends them home again And as for scurrilous Language and Falshood you speak of if that be it which you have printed in your 5th and 7th Pages who-ever shall impartially view your Work throughout your Book may clearly see who the envious Person is and whose the scurrilous Language is For what Page is there in your whole Pamâ—hlet that doth not shew forth both your Envy and Scurrilousness The Person that sent you your Books again is called in your Pamphlet formal Apostate no less than five times in three Pages envious Person treacherous Person Night Wanderer one that cheats Men little less than picking thâ—ir Pockets false Tongue one that like Lucifer thinks to make his Nest among the Stars This sort of Language is to be found in your Pamphlet And whether this be Scurrilous or no let all that read it judge And also whose Tongue hath been most at Liberty and who have spoken as though their Tongues were their own without fear and regard How often do you call that Person you are so angry with for sending you Packets written between the Lines of your Book Libeller 'T is the title and common strain of your Pamphlet Libeller Libeller But who-ever it be that you mean why do you so often call him Libeller Is it only because he set not his Name to the Packets you say he sent you We can find no other Reason you give in your Pamphlet but this And this you seem to give over and over and call him so often the nameless Author as if ye feared you should have wanted Matter to fill up your Sheet without it And when you had thus vented your Enmity in part against him then you Quarrel about your Money your fourteen and eighteen Pence for Postage as you say and Wrangle about a Name as though they were the two main things that troubled you But that will not cover you for in your 7th Page you say Observe so many as have an Eye to him are zealous for the Form c. What! do you know who it is they that are zealous for the Form as you say have an Eye unto and yet do you not know his Name Is not this an hidden Work of Darkness thus secretly to smite in the dark But through all your Coverings the Light discovers you You say in Postscript Here 's a short Description of him meaning the Person that sent home the Books A short Description indeed but a long Villification and foul Reproach In the 2d Page thou saâ—est Benjamin If this Libeller will come forth and own his Work he shall have a fair hearing But we must tell thee if he have thou and some others must Repent and amend first for it is more then some of us can say we have had from you since you have gone into such Work as is here discovered Further thou sayest This is to give notice that whosoever mark the Word Whosoever you intended your Pamphlet it seems for all sorts of People can give certain Intelligence of his Name and place of Residence or Habitation shall have reasonable satisfaction for his Pains And yet in Postscript Leonard thou sayest It is left to some that have made a great talk of their inward sence to make a further discovery of this nameless Author What shâ—â—â—…ing and juggeling is here between you Is this the way you intend to â—aâ—e who call your selves honest men first to say Whosoever can give certain Intelligence shall have reasonable satisfaction and afterwards say It is left to some that have made a great talk of their inward sence to make a further discovery What do you intend your Scoff at last shall be the reasonable satisfaction for your pâ—omise you made at first Is that reasonable Is this like honest men as you are fain to call your selves Is this like men of understanding which you are so desirous to be taken for first to propose it to whosoever and then say it is left to some One while to all without exceptions and another while to some and that with a limitation to such as have an inward sence What silly contradiction is this are not you now found to be Libellers who call the Person you write against formal Apostate five times over without any shew of proof thereof And yet you say You do not know his Name nor place of Habitation Your work is seen by them that keep their Habitation in the Light to be a Work of Darkness and the Fruit of Envy Strife and Contention are in your Hearts Rage and Anger possesses your Breasts your Spirits fret and are disquieted within you Contradiction is among you and the line of Confusion stretched over you for you are fighting against that divine Power that will be too hard for you and all that rise up against it And now having thus far taken notice of the first Part of your Pamphlet to which thy Name Benjamin is subscribed we shall go on to Answer the other part also to which thy Name Leonard is underwrit or put But in the way we take notice that between your two Parts there is this Scripture set down Ephes 5.11 12. To which we say that as a Testimony That we have no fellowship with your unfruitful Works of Darkness we do reprove them and because it is indeed a shame to speak as well as a grief to think of those things which have been done by some in secret we do in Modesty forbear to mention them Now Leonard to being with thy Preamble to thy Queries thou sayest Here is the Work of a formal Apostate manifested and some Observations and Queries made publick c. Herein Leonard thou hast said true thy Work is indeed the work of a formal Apostate the Observations and Queries which thou hast made publick do sufficiently manifest it so to be For hadst thou not apostatiz'd from the Truth and fallen from the living Power and inward Vertue of it into a dry withered lifeless Formality thou wouldst never have publisht those Queries and Observations which so directly tend to Reproach and Vilifie the People of God and expose the holy Truth which they profess to the Scorn and Contempt of every prophane Reader By thy self therefore and out of thy own Mouth is thine own Work condemned to be the work of a formal Apostate and therefore to be the less regarded However we are willing to look through thy Work and manifest more particularly of what sort it is thou joynest thy Observations and queries together saying Some Observations and queries made publick that was long since delivered to some of the formal Preachers in Reading Now Leonard we make no question but by formal Preachers thy flouting Spirit meaneth us two for to us two thou knowest thou didst send they Queries whom in a lofty but empty conceit of thy self being a powerful Preacher thou scornfully
callest formal Preachers we see thy Sting blessed be God though we do not feel it Thy scornful Spirit reaches not our Life which is above the stroke of Envy But Leonard thou shouldst have regarded to have written Truth which herein thou hast not done for though it be true that thy Queries were delivered to us some time before they were made publick which how long it was and why we did not answer them then we have given the Reader account before yet that the Observations which make up a great part of the Pamphlet were ever delivered to us before they were made publick is utterly untrue as thou thy self well knowest And therefore in saying Some Observations and Queries made publick that was long since delivered to some formal Preachers in Reading thou hast publisht a plain Falshood which perhaps is worse than to be a formal Preacher So that thy Work has but a bad beginning and therefore thou canst not well expect it should have a good end Thy first Query is Was not Peoples going from the Light and Spirit in their own particulars many Ages since the cause why so many forms of Prayers were made to be said by the Church of England Answ This Query most properly concerns the Church of England what and how many forms of Prayers they have for what cause and upon what occasion made the Church of England is fittest to answer Yet this we say and you may do well to take notice of it that the Form used in the Church of England of publishing their intentions of Marriage three times and having a Certificate if either party live in another Parish out-does and condemns that loose liberty which some of thy Spirit have contended for and appeared in But since thou mentionest Peoples going from the Light and Spirit in their own particulars we tell thee It was they that went from the Light and Spirit of God in their own particulars many Ages since tht went out from the true Apostles and Church of Christ into vain Janglings Strife and Opposition as thou and others of thy Spirit have done And if thou hadst not first gone from the Light and Spirit in thy own particular thou hadst never published this your envious dark Pamphlet the Work of a formal Apostate Qu. 2. And did not their Compelling and using Violence to those that were otherwise minded proceed from the Spirit that made the Form Answ This Query as well as the former relates to the Church of England who may answer for themselves Thy Snare is therein seen and we may truly say of thee what B. C. in page 2. suggests of some as he says asks Questions to no purpose except to stander and abuse men Such is this Query of thine concerning the Church of England's using Violence which concerns not us more than to suffer it while others shrink from it If thou dost not intend hereby to insinuate that the Quakers use Violence then are thy Queries to no purpose And if thou dost so intend then are thy Queries to an ill purpose viz. to accuse and not prove to slander abuse and bespatter as R. C's words are Yet we do say Persecution and Violence proceed from that Spirit that is out of the Truth which Spirit as Jude testifies wrought in some in the Apostle â—â—â—s that went in the way of Cain in Envy which is the ground of Persecution as thou and thy Company have done in Printing and spreading your spiteful envious Books a means to raise up Persecution against Friends and in the way of Korah to cast stumbling Blocks through your opposition and gait-saying to the Work of Truth and orderly Proceedings thereof in the Church of Christ which hath so corrupted the Minds of some that they have appeared in a light airy scoffing Spirit which is both out of the form of Godliness and contrary to the true Liberty which is in Christ Jesus Qu. 3. Did not the Presbyterians with their Church-Faith and Directory that they had made do like the Church of England when they had Power Excommunicate and cast into Prison such as could not bow to their Image which they had set up Answ What the Presbyterians have done hath been manifest but what thou and thy company have done are doing some simple-hearted do not yet clearly see but the day hath in a great measure to many and we believe will more and more discover of what sort your Work is and what the tendency of it is and what Spirit you are of who endeavour to fill weak and unstable Minds with evil Surmizes jealous Thoughts which you with subtilty and craft insinuate into them to disaffect them to the work of Truth and beget in them first a slight esteem thereof and then an open opposition thereunto in which your Enmity against Goods Truth and faithful People is no way short of the Presbyterians However we observe you here explain the Violence used by the Church of England to be Excommunicating and casting into Prison of which some use may be made hereafter Qu. 4. Did not the Baptists with their Form which they did cry up do like the former And hath not all the Lo here 's and Lo there 's arisen when the People in every Generation have gone from the Spirit 's Teaching Answ Whether the Baptists did do like the former that is Excommunicate and cast into Prison we cannot certainly resolve but we think thou hast little Reason to reflect upon the Baptists about their Form considering how formal and envious thou art thy self for there was a time when some of them were tender and conscientious to God-ward in the Practice of their Form but thou and thy Company are found in the Practice of a part or piece of a form which one of your company compared to your Marketting in Strife and Opposition and whilst you are crying against all Forms for have not some of your company preached That the Way of Truth is without Track like the way of a Ship in the Sea and like the way of a Young man with a Maiden Did not one of them say If there were no impression of Form left behind he liked in well And another That he consented to a Paper tht had some such words in it And on the contrary have not some of you preached That God is a God of Order as faith the Apostle in all the Churches of the Saints And hath this Order in all the Churches of the Saints no form Had not the Decrees that were sent by the Saints from Jerusalem by which the Churches were established a Form And were they not of Gods Order Doth not the Apostle say to Timothy Hold fast the Form of sound words which thou hast heard of me 2. Tim. 1.13 And the things that thou hast heard of me among many Witnesses the same commit thou to faithful Brethren who shall be able to teach others also 2 Tim. 2.2 Doth not the same Apostle write to the Thessalonians Therefore
to us whom thou call'st so mal Preachers in Reading thy Queries were first directed and sent before they were printed as thou sayst in pag. 3. And in the written Coppy thou sentest us they are directed to be answered by any in Reading so that it seems as if thou hadst thought the Packets had been sent by some of us in Reading But if so thou wert out for we sent no such Packets nor do we think any body would send Packets by the Post on purpose to put honest men to charges as thou B. C. often suggestest without any other reason But were not the Packets you speak of your own Books that you have printed and spread about the Countries And have not you and W. R. and others of your Company expended a great deal of Money in printing and spreading your malicious spightful and conceited Books And although you have been at so much pains and charge to do Mischief we never heard you thought much or complain'd of that so that we may well think your clamour about the charge of Postage is rather to vent your bitter Minds against those you call formal Preachers than for parting with your Money which at the highest Reckoning you have set down amounts not to above 3 s. 8 d. But it is most likely it is your state and condition open'd unto you in what was written upon those Books or in those Packets you speak of that hath so much disquieted you tho now you go about to place it upon the charge it may be thinking that may have the fairest shew in it to carry off your work with a shew of Justice in your Complaint but that Covering is too narrow Qu. 10. And are these the Fruits of a Christian Spirit or from them that are apostatized from it Let any that have any understanding of the things of God judge Answ We don't think it the fruit of a Christian Spirit for any to send great Packets by Post on purpose to put honest men to charge neither is it at all likely the Packets you speak of were sent on purpose to put any of you to charge To us it seems far more probable that whoever sent the Packets you mention had a better end and purpose in sending them than to put honest men to charge But you should do well to consider what Fruit of a Christian Spirit you have shewed in taking occasion from this 3 s. 8 d. charge to publish your envious and scandalous Pamphlet to the World thereby as much as in you lies making the Truth a Scorn and the Professors of it a Reproach and a By-word to the Ungodly and Prophane whom you have feasted with your own Folly Is this the Fruit of a Christian Spirit Let any that have any understanding of the things of God judge whether you have not preferr'd your 3 s. 8 d. before the honour of god and the Prosperity of his blessed Truth Had you been of a Christian Spirit you would have valued the honour and Reputation of Truth above Three Shillings and Eight Pence But your opposing the good Order of Truth your Writing Printing Publishing to the World your Malicious Scandalous Books and Pamphlets your shutting Friends out of their Meeting-house and denying them their Rights and Properties are such Fruits as sufficiently demonstrate to all that have an Understanding of the things of God what Spirit you are of Qu 11. And have not you according to your Power been like them before mentioned considering your standing in giving bad Names both in your Prayers and also Preaching calling such dark Spirits that could not joyn with you about your Forms and that they were gone in the way of Cain c. when you know in your Consciences that many that you so brand are blameless both in Life Conversation and Doctrine Answ If by them before mentioned thou meanest the Church of England Presbyterians c. thou shouldst remember thou chargest them in thy second and third Queries with using Violence and casting into Prison which thou knowest in thy Conscience we have not done and therefore not like them And whether they give bad Names in their Prayers and Preaching we know not but we know whom thou art like in thy fly Suggestions of Slander and Falshood What those Forms are that thou hast so o ten reflected upon us for thou hast not yet particularly mentioned so thy general Clamour does but beat the Air Thou seemest to run against all Forms without distinction as some others of thy company have done one saying The way of Truth is without Track and another said It was like the way of a Young man with a Maiden And if there be no Impression of Form left behind one liked it well though it be contrary to the Scriptures of Truth where the Apostle bids Timothy hold fast the form of sound Words And if such of you as have 〈◊〉 these things and the like be called dark Spirits we think you have no cause to be offended thereat for none but dark Spirits would ever have broached or held such dark things as these nor do we know or believe such to be blameless in Doctrine to say nothing of their Conversation that hold such dark Doctrines as these Dost thou think him blameless in Doctrine that holds the Way of Truth to be like the Way of a Ship in the Sea and the way of a young Man with a Maider which the Scriptures compare to the way of an Adultrous Woman Is this blameless Doctrine or the Doctrine of dark Spirits Dark Spirits indeed you are who are gone from the Light of Christ Jesus in your selves and are joyned to the Spirit of Darkness which hath prevailed over you So that what the Apostle said with joy to the Ephesians Ye were sometimes Darkness but now are ye Light in the Lord may with grief be turned backward upon some of you unto whom it may be as truly said Ye were sometime in some measure Light in the Lord but now Darkness is come over you again and your Spirits are become dark And though ye retain a Notion of the Light and Spirit to talk of and deceive by yet the Work thereof you resist and set your selves in your dark Minds to oppose and revile what is brought forth thereby And the ENVEY you have manifested plainly shews you are going into the way of Cain And the calling such Dark Spirits is not giving bad Names but giving suitable Names to bad things But surely if you had intended to charge others with giving bad Names you should have forborn to have given so many bad Names your selves as your Pamphlet in almost every page is stuft with Qu 12. And was it not the Elders of Israel in days that are past that gave unrighteous judgment and did condemn the Innocent And hath it not been so in our days witness the Paper that was signed by sixty six against their Innocent Brethren in the North And may not the same Cry be sounded
of a Truth the persecuting Spirit is entred you and these are some of the Fruits of it Have not Friends of late if not at this very day been kept out of their Meeting-houses and their Meeting-house doors nailed up by the Worlds People And have not you done the like and led them the way thereto See now how you and the World have joyned together in one and the same Spirit to do one and the same thing against Friends Thus by your Fruits your Spirit is judged and found to be the same with the Persecuting Spirit of the World But sayest thou What 's all that to B. C 's Answer 'T is to B. C. and all the rest of you tht are liked together in that Spirit of PERSECUTION and have joyned hand in hand in a Confederacy against the Righteous But if thou wouldst have something that more particularly hits him the other Instance does it The shutting the Womens half years Meetings out of the Meeting-house at Reading which several of them had a Right in which was his Act and which it seems thou durst undertake to defend him in But because the Women friends being shut out of the Meeting-house were fain to meet in a Mault-house thou scornfully playest upon that in a frothy jeering Spirit saying I confess that was hardly well taken by those that came from London and other place to help to settle the Government of the Womens Meeting And again But he need not be so much offended with the Mault-house for it is no such inferior place to sit in at â—ummer So here is Cain and Ishmael the Persecutor and the Scoffor found together among you by which we hope all Friends will judge what Spirit you are of And in the same flouting strain thou goest on for when upon your shutting Friends out of their Meeting house it was queried Is this your Liberty of Conscience Thou scoffingly answerest Surely the Women in the Mault-house in Reading there met and assembled together might have brought forth as good Edict as they did that met at Barbadoes Thus without fear or wit hast thou run on in a scornful scoffing frothy loose Spirit uttering many unsavoury light Expressions without Solidity or Weight which shews thou art departed from the Fear of the Lord and art become Unsavoury Salt the end of which thou may read Matthew 5. ver 13. hast no Bridle to thy Tongue And in many places your Pamphlet abounds with Scurrilous Language Bad Names and Reviling Terms flowing from that Gaul of Bitterness and Rancour of Mind that lodgeth in you against the Innocent And as this on the one hand shews your Envy so your straining so often for ocasion to call your selves Honest Men such of you as pretend to have Packets sent you which you do at least eight times over is a plain demonstration of your Folly The Wise man would have taught you better Proverbs 27.2 Now having Answered plainly without fear of you or flattery the most material Passages in your Pamphlet and cleared our Consciences to you we have done with you at present till further occasion be given Yet in that Christian Spirit that can pray for Enemies we heartily desire that God will be pleased if it stand with his Determination to give you yet an Eye to see and an Heart to Repent of the Mischief you have and are yet doing This is our sincere desire who are Lovers of Truth Righteousness and good Order And Friends to all that are found therein VVilliam Lamboll John Buy THE END