THE HARLOTS VAIL REMOVED And her lying refuge swept away by the power of Truth with which she was smitten and wounded Being an Answer to a book published in the name of about 60 persons of the Independent-Baptized and mingled peoin the midst of Babylon intit'led The Church of Christ in Bristol recovering her Vail But is manifested to be a bundle of falshood and hypocrisie a refuge of lies and deceit under which they labour to hide themselves as with a vail Likewise an Answer to Thomas Ewins his word in the close of the said book in which he acknowledgeth himself no Minister and is proved no preacher of the Gospel but in confusion and a Minister of Satan and Robert Purnel a false prophet c. Also a Short Rebuke of Ralph Farmer for lying and dissembling in the case of Constant Jessops removing from the Parish of Nicholas in the City of Bristol in which he the said Farmer was a chief solliciter though being got into his place he would excuse himself by lying in print To which are added A few words manifesting the woful fall and degenerated condition of Richard Fowler who in a late declaration put in to the Court of Exchequer against 15. persons for Tithes is stiled the lawful Vicar of the Parish Church of Westerleigh in the County of Glocester And for hire is become a Lecturer in Bristol Who hath occasioned several men that fear the Lord to be cast into prison for refusing through tendernesse of conscience to swear how many Colts Calves Lambs Pigs Geese Hens Ducks Aples Eggs Oblations Offerings c. they possest in several years that of it he might have Tithes Which monstrous practice he once so much disowned that he declared himself burthened to receive voluntary contribution from those that gave it not freely By Dennis Hollister They are all grievous revolters walking with slanders they are brasse and iron and are all corrupters reprobate silver shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them As a cage is full of birds so are their houses full of deceit As a fountain casteth out her waters so she casteth out her wickednesse Violence and spoil is heard in her From the least of them even unto the greatest every one is given to covetousnesse and from the Prophet even unto the Priest every one dealeth falsly And as Troops of Robber wait for a man So the company of Priests murther in the way by consent for they work lewdnesse LONDON Printed for the Author 1658. THE HARLOTS VAIL REMOVED Friends AFter I received your feigned accusations from the the mouths of your Messengers and under one of their hands I did with much faithfulness and plainness return you an answer which if you had read amongst you and observed I intended no further contest But when through deceit and hypocrisie it was not permited to be read I began to preâ—â—â—â— for the presse and to lay open your deceipt which so far exceeded yet with so much tenderness did I proceed that for your sakes I delayed the printing of it about a year waiting if God would give you the sight of your evil and repentance for the same But perceiving you to wax worse and worse deceiving and being deceived setting your mouths against heaven and in your deceit to glory I gave order for its Printing but not to be made publick till my further order Neither did I suffer mâ— books being printed to be published in Bristol no not in my own family nor among my near relations till by the hand of a faithful Messenger I had conveyed them amongst your selves and into the hands of many amongst you to whom of a truth my love was hoping that upon the perusal thereof your consciences might be awakened and the witness of God therein raised and so your hearts not being hardened his voice ye had heard and to repentance had you been brought by him who is come and calleth unto it and so your sin had been covered and by him forgiven and by me not permitted to be published but in oblivion had it been buried for ever But after I had waited several dayes and found that notwithstanding anguish and torment were upon you who in your consciences were smitten and wounded so that some durst not read my book but presently returned it others beginning to read could not but laid it aside others reading it shed more tears then they read lines as themselves have said and yet against it hardened themselves and repented not And others reading it and reproved by it fell into much rage and fury and therein publishing it themselves amongst their rude companions endeavouring to raise lies and falsehood against it I say when these and such like effects appeared and not till then I consented to the making my books publick by which I perceive the sence of guilt and so of torment being encreased you grew exceeding angry and wrathful But if ye had stood in that which convinced its like I had no longer in publick view contested because I do neither desire nor endeavour your destruction but your salvation God is witness Neither in a spirit of anger and bitterness am I dealing with you whose welfare I am seeking not your hurt But in the fear of the Lord am I faithfully dealing with you of whose state and condition I am not ignorant not daring to use flattering and deceitful speeches as others do crying peace and safety to that against which I know the wrath and righteous judgement of God is near to be revealed but in much plainness in a spirit of soberness and moderation do I tell you the truth and whether ye will hear or forbear the time is at hand in which ye must witness it notwithstanding to hide your selves and cover your shame ye are striving to recover your Vail and vindicate your selves And having given heed to many false seducing and lying spirits ye have writen a book for that purpose which I received from you by the hand of a stranger supposing the conscience ye had of the deceit and falshood ye therein used so far prevailed that none among your selves could appear to deliver it But your Book I have perused and do find that your business therein is not to answer mine entituled The skirits of the Whore discovered But by subtilty and deceit the spirit of falshood and lying to cover and vail your selves from the stroak of that truth which by demonstration and plainnesse is therein declared and manifested against you So that although I had much rather be quiet waiting on the Lord than to be thus contending yet for the sake of truth and further manifesting of the deceit and hypocresie which abounds among you I am once more by you constrained to appear in the publick war which in this mighty day of the Lords power is begun between the Beast the fals-Prophet and the Lamb. 1. And first I must tell you that notwithstanding 1 advised and warned you in my former book
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
c. And so he goes on to manifest how Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists c. are all vailed with the same veile And therefore saith he what I say to one Sect I say to all ye shall speedily receive a totall rout Yee have gathered your selve together but ye shall be scattered yea yee shall be broken in pieces Ye all have built your outward house of externall discipline upon the sand and it must fall because it is not grounded upon the Rock Christ Ye have made your communion the ground of your union and that must fall because it is not the Lords but mans building And himselfe puts the question how he knew Presbytery Independency Anabaptisme and the rest of the Sects must down and answers if Abraham by faith did see the day of Christ coming in the flesh many years before he came why may not I saith he and others see the day of Christ coming in the spirit to destroy all fleshly forms some few years before it be finished And again saith he I have by faith seen all these opinions fall and have heard from many others that they have seen them fall also Therefore that which I have heard and seen declare I unto you that ye might have fellowship with the father and the son in the spirit for then saith he and not till then ye will give over saying as in effect ye do I am of Paul I am of Apollo Then ye will not so much cry up the forme but endeavour the power of godlinesse These with many more are his words as the Reader may see in his foresaid book Now therefore if it be true that all these formes are fleshly and are not built upon the Rock Christ but upon the sand are not the Lords but mens building and therefore must fall and be broken to pieces and scattered and speedily receive a totall rout And that he by faith hath seen it all fall and hath both heard and seen what he declared that is to say Christ Jesus coming in spirit to destroy them that people might have fellowship with the Father and the Son in the Spirit Then are Robert Purnell and you found directly in the steps and practice of your Fathers the Scribes and Pharisees who when Christ came in the flesh according to the Prophecies that went before said It was the Devil a blasphemer a friend to publicans and sinners c. For ye now that Christ in spirit in life and power is appeared mighty in dispensations glorious in revelation and very strong and powerfull in operation making great alterations changes and desolations in the earth and revealing himself from heaven breaking down and scattering what he hath not built nor gathered destroying and breaking in pieces those Forms and Sects of yours which he saith are fleshly not built by the Lord but men not upon the Rock but upon the sand and speedily receives a total rout c. I say since Christ is thus appeared against all those Forms that his people may have fellowship with the Father and the Son in the spirit and not cry up the Form but endeavour to know the power of godliness according to the very words himself hath said both Robert Purnel and you agree to call it the design of the Devil asking if I be not joined with all the Papists Atheists Ranters and ungodly rabble of the world in this one great design of the Devil to break in pieces the Churches of Christ And say hath it not been the attempt of one power after another to rent break and scatter the Congregations in England under the names of Independents Anabaptists Sectaries c And hath any party gone so far in this wicked practice as you c Nay say you was there ever any partie in England or the Nations adjacent that have offered the like violence to the Lord Jesus Christ his person in his Word in his Gospel his Ordinances his Saints his wayes c. as you and your partie have done c Notwithstanding it be the very thing and no other which he in his said Book saith By faith he saw Christ in spirit coming to perform a few years before it was finished which few years its like are now accomplished it being about eight years since the said Book was published so then that which Christ cometh in spirit to perform ye call the great design of the Devil and a wicked practice and those who with Christ in his work are joined bringing to pass his determinations ye say are joined with Papists Athiests Ranters and the ungodly rabble of the world But why do Robert Purnell you now call Independent â—nd baptized Assemblies the Churches of Christ when he had before declared them fleshly Forms and Sects not built by the Lord upon the rock but by men upon the sand and must fall and be broken and scattered and receive a total rout and that he saw Christ in spirit coming to destroy them that his people might have fellowship with the Father and the Son by the Spirit and that what he declared he had both heard and seen manifesting to all the world against your wills that that which ye call and cry up as the Churches of Christ and Assemblies of Zion are indeed but fleshly Forms and Sects not built by the Lord upon the Rock Christ but by themselves upon the sands which Christ comes in spirit to destroy and therefore must fall and be broken routed and scattered and that notwithstanding among your selves it is known and manifested to be so by a spirit of faith as R. P. sayes by which it was seen Yet ye hold the truth in unrighteousness and do erre from the spirit else might ye know that the Churches of Christ which are in God the Father are not fleshly Forms and Sects like yours but is a spiritual house an holy habitation for God by whom it is built upon the rock of ages the foundation of the Prophets and Apostles Christ being the corner-stone against which all the gates of Hell and powers of darkness shall never prevail to break scatter destroy or cause to fall but as mount Zion shall it stand and a burthensom stone shall it be against all fleshly Forms and Sects that fight against it in this day of the Lords appearing in the power and glory of his spirit to break in pieces scatter and destroy all your fleshly Forms and Sects which he never built upon the Rock but your selves have built upon the sands and so are no Churches of Christ but the strong holds of Satan in which he having blinded their minds keeps his goods in peace and under pretence of beating up the form the power of godliness is there denyed and not known But the desires of the flesh and of the mind are there served equally as among other people and this I do see and know otherwise had I not declared it unto you And so into the pit that ye have digged are ye fallen and
that if ye returned an answer ye take care it be to some purpose and not a parcel of weakness and confusion c. yet I find the conception and birth which by you who call your selves a Church of Christ is brought forth into the world is the same in which you have given so much advantage to lay open your shame and discover your skirts beyond and above others yea many of the Parish Assemblies of which you speak that I know not how to let it pass without rebuke 2. I take notice that that little book entituled The skirts of the Whore discovered hath been made effectuall through the power of the mighty God of Jacob so that the dart is struck through the liver and the arrowes of the Almighty stick fast in the hearts of the Kings enemy and torment is upon you on every side because your skirts are discovered that passers by see the shame of your nakedness and that instead of turning unto the Lord who hath smitten and wounded you whose tender mercies are towards you and therefore hath often warned you with foolish Ephraim of old you are running to the Assrians for help and into Aegypts land a place of darkness are ye gone seeking to recover a vail to hide your selves from the face of the Lamb who is the Light of the World and of the Temple in whose light ye are seen and comprehended and the deceit of your Religion and powerless profession known and manifested against which the hand of the Lord is lifted up though ye see it not nor are ashamed but under your traditional and deceitful forms and waies seek to hide and cover your selves as with a vail making lies your refuge and under falshood hiding your selves bringing the wo and the wrath more and more upon your selves who cover with a covering but not of Gods spirit rebeling against the light not knowing its wais nor abiding in its paths 3. That notwithstanding according to the prophesies that went before the true light is now come and the glory of the Lord is arisen and the children of the Lord are walking in the light of the Lord and calling others thereinto yet darkness hath covered the earth and gross darkness the people and therefore thorow the blindness of your minds whilest ye go about to vindicate your selves from the stroak of that which was justly and truly declared of you in The skirts of the Whore discovered ye manifest and prove your selves to be the same that is to say no Church of Christ but an harlot c. And this ye do in the very Title of your book which is The Church of Christ in Bristol recovering her vail out of the hands of them that have smitten and wounded her and taken it away a practise never heard of among those that were the Churches of Christ in whom the vail is done away Col. 2.19 for the Churches of Christ were all baptized by one spirit into one body and united to one head even Christ from which all the body by joynts and bands having nourishment ministred encreaseth with the encrease of God And where Christ is witnessed the vail is removed and done away I Cor. 3.13 14 15 16 17.18 yea though it was over the heart in the reading of the old Testament that the people could not see to the end of that which is abolishëd yet in Christ it is done away and his Church who witness him their head and from him have nourishment ministred comes with open face to behold the glory of the Lord and by it are changed into the same image c. But to this are you strangers and aliens who are recovering the vail out of his hands that hath taken it away that with it ye may be covered Gen. 38.14 like Tamar the harlot sitting by the way whiles the witnesses of Christ and Ministers of the new Testament do not as Moses cover their face with a vail that the people may not see to the end of that which is abolished but use great plainness of speech directing the minds of the people to the light to the annointing to the unction which is in them which guideth them into all truth shewing the father and things which are to come to which agreeth the Prophet Isay who speak as he was moved of the Lord and said The mountain of the Lords house shall be exalted above the mountains c. and in this mountain the Lord will destroy the face of the covering cast over all people and the vail which is spread over all Nations c. and to this also do agree those that speak as they were moved of the holy Ghost Isa 25.7 But ye who know not that one spirit nor the Baptism nor the body nor the unity nor ever came to witness the head from which nourishment is ministred to the body and in which the vail is removed and taken away but are recovering it out of his hands who hath smitten and wounded you I sâ—y ye are hereby manifested and proved no Church of Christ but an harlot a Synagogue of Satan a cage of unclean spit it s upon whom the Lord hath stretched forth the lines of confusion and stones of emptiness and made you an habitation for dragons and a Court for owles in which the wild and cruel beasts of the earth who have no habitation in God inhabit 4. That notwithstanding you would seem to reprove me for vain boasting c. though ye know in your own Consciences I speak very soberly of my self without boasting and far beneath what I was in yours and centers account till I told you the truth yet have ye published a book and a pretty big one too mostly to commend your selves and on the other And although ye seem among other things to boast of your stability c. yet let me tell you I well remember the time when but few amongst you stood stable to your own principles of Churches and ordinances as ye call it but were like children tost to and fro with winds of doctrine embracing a Religion which consisted in great swelling words of vanity without power At which time Robert Purnel as stable as he is undertook to prophesie the down-fall of Independency Anabaptism c. and said by faith he saw it full by the comming of Christ in spirit and this he published in his book entitled Good tydings for sinners Great joy for Saints And besides if ye were indeed so stable as ye would have the world believe how commeth it to pass that at this day ye are so rossed with blasts and winds and know no stability but so many of you are of late turned Anabaptists which formerly was so odious and so sad a principle that Hannah Taylor was near casting cut from amongst you for entertaining it But it is true ye hold fast deceit and refuse to return in which ye are as stable as most that I ever knew and equal with those Parish Assemblies
up to the commandments of Christ in obedience and conscience and yet be found so rebellious and stiff necked neglecting and disobeying that which themselves have published to be the institutions of Christ Yea those institutions which are blessed which he in his own person practiced and left as a standing ordinance of the New Testament to all Generations c. Know ye not that rebellion is as the sin of witch-craft and to hearken is more acceptable than sacrifice and if he that knowes not his Masters will is worthy of stripes what will your portion be who profess ye know it and can admonish others for neglecting it and yet your selves be found in the utter disobedience I know in this ye will need a vail but it will never hide nor cover your shame And for me to tell such a people they are not a Church of Christ but a harlot a Synagogue of Satan c. is not to blaspheme God and his Tabernacle of both which ye are ignorant and in your blindness worship ye know not what neither is it a writing contemptuously as ye say against any who in conscience are obedient to Christ but it is for your advantage and profit if to it ye give ear And for the accompt ye can give of your faith of which ye boast I say that where true faith is it purifies the heart from lying hipocrisie and deceit and is a mistery held in a pure conscience And Thomas Ewine acknowledgeth in the 52 53 54 pages he doth very much question as I know he hath cause whether ever himself or many of you have received the spirit to establish and confirm or to open and reveal the misteries of the Kingdom or to beautifie and adorn you with gifts and grace to purge purifie cleanse and sanctifie and make you holy or to fill you with the spirit of faith and prayer and when all this is wanting amongst you ye are sure in a very bad condition such as the Church of Christ under the new Testament was never in and so might forbear boasting either of your faith or obedience till another spirit from the Lord is powred upon you And ye might forbear so much washing the outside of your vessel in rivers and brooks tel your infide comes to be cleansed sanctified and made holy In your fifth page ye seem again displeased that I call you a mingled people c. and say if some with me had been faithful to their light and practized baptism they might he mingled too and that but one of those that haue practised that Ordinance as ye call it with you are fallen away Reply It seemeth then ye acknowledge there is a light which convinceth to which people ought to be faithful how dare ye then to reproach and speak evil of it and are not obedient when by it your evil deeds are reproved And if it be the light as ye grant it is that convinceth of the need of your water Baptism how comes it to pass ye were once so near casting out of Hannah Taylor as aforesaid for embracing it and what great glory is it that but one of your Baptists are convinced of truth and turned from darkness to the light c. Know ye not that Christ Jesus the light of the world said Publicans and harlots shall enter into the Kingdom before the Hypocrites And what advantage was it to the priests and their generations when Christ came a light into the world that but few of them believed in the truth and were obedient to that which the world with themselves opposed and said it was the Devil But if ye were able truly to manifest that but few of your company were proud cocovetous envious back-biters oppressors extortioners unjust dealers c. living in the customes and manner of other Heathens but by the power of God were turned from it this had been something and so had not ye been mingled as now ye are Ye say Hath not Christ called and owned you his Church and that I can testify ye were at first rightly constituted and have profest that Christ hath manifested his presence amongst you c. To which I say That ever Christ called such a surfeited bodie as yours a Church of his is denyed and testimonie is born against it But that his presence was amongst you and manifested to many who by the power of it are drawn and separated from amongst you is granted though ye have neither known nor received him but cast him off and were not obedient but have rebelled and vexed his spirit so that by the weapons of his power is he fighting against you with whom it is but the beginning of sorrowes and if ye turn not he is whetting his glittering sword and his hand takes hold of vengeance c. And if as ye say ye were at first rightly constituted then are ye your selves not I nor others with me Apostates and backslidden from that in which at first ye were gathered For then ye did disown those called Anabaptists and their practices in which ye were so zealous that ye did often admonish and reprove and were near the casting out Hanna Taylor as I have said now called Hanna Packer because she owned it But now ye do own the Anabaptists and their practices and ye your selves become Practizers thereof as ye confesse and do admonish and reprove others who in conscience and obedience to the light of Christ cannot conform to your customes and traditions but by his power reproves them standing in that by which at first they were convinced and gathered out of the world and all its pollutions so far as to them it was made manifest And therefore all your feigned words of backsliding and back-sliders Apostatizing and Apostates both in your title page and other places in your book is clearlie turned upon your selves who are the Apostates and back-sliders of which ye speak and to whom belong all the reproofes and admonitions ye pretend to others who are obedient to the light by which the deceipt of your will-worships and inventions is made manifest and denied as was that of Parishes and other assemblies before And as for the Churches of Galatia and Asia Alas what have ye to do with them in whose life ye are not and are shut and cast out an◠〈◊〉 the cursed ground where the briars and thornes grow and the beasts of prey feed and with the persecutors of the life of God which they witnessed are ye joyned against the truth and proudly have ye laboured to trample upon and cast it to the ground but all in vain for over your heads it is exalted and life and immortality is brought to light and reigns for ever more Ye say Those who were stiled a synagogue of Satan were a company of proud boasters that said they were Jewes and Apostles and were not but did lye I answer just so are ye who boast your selves the Church of Christ but are not and his commands to observe
world to believe is true and verbatim according to the copie which in three or four pages your selves contradict manifesting your falshood at which so many of you as are not given up to hardness of heart may be ashamed and blush for if such things had been pubpublished by a diviner or a particular person amongst you that had been to your shame but for a whole company of sixty persons who call themselves a Church to agree in such works of darkness and wickedness and no one amongst you free is such a thing as hath hardly been heard before in our daies c. And notwithstanding my former answers to the three particulars mentioned in the copie stands good and not toucht by you yet I find you deceitfully nibbling at the heele and going on falsely to accuse saying I asserted that as Christ was the great light of the world so he was the great faith of the world none of which was in the copie nor I suppose spoken by me but is another lie invented among you because I then knew him not the light of the World that lighteth every one that commeth into the World while among the diviners and sorcerers I stood by whom the light is denied And I could not say he was the great faith of the World because both to you and the rest of the world who are of the world and speak of the world and believe not in the light both Christ and faith is a Mistery hid and unknown and is none of theirs who in their imaginations talk of objects c. and deny the light and know not the onely foundation but by sorcerie and wicked art would divide that which God hath joyned And so ye go on telling many words spoken by one and the other which truly I take to be but so many lies invented to serve you as a vail for if your memories are so short and your wits so confounded that ye are not able or willing to draw sixteen or twenty lines out of a copie which ye say is by you without so much falshood and untruth as is before mentioned how can a man believe ye are able and willing to remember and truly publish without forgery and falsehood so many words and passages which so many years past were spoken as ye say in several meetings And whereas in my answer to what ye say touching faith being an eternal thing ye say I alleadge 1 Tim. 1.9 and tell me I shew my weakness in abusing the words and sence of the Apostle this is another lie as the Reader may perceive who reads my book for I said faith is a mistery held in a pure conscience and unknown to all ignorant and vulturous eyes as well as to yours c. And asked whether that faith by which the Saints are justified by which they overcame the world saw him which is invisible by which their hearts are purified by which Enoch was translated that he saw not death and is the substance of things hoped for c. be eternal or carnal c. In stead of answering which ye publish a down-right lie and say I aâ—leadged such a scripture and abused the words and sence of the Apostle which I did not as the Reader may see so that although those who are given over to believe lies may happilie embrace what ye say yet none whose eyes are truly opened by him that is given a light to the Gentiles is like to believe what ye say though ye together joyn to frame and to publish so false an accusation which is so visible that all that read both our books may perceive it and it had been well if ye had taken my former advice and been silent till by the true light ye had been guided and known how to speak truth for though hand joyn in hand the wicked shall not go unpunished nor he that speaketh lies escape But as I said the sool will be medling c. In your sixteenth page ye labour to cover your selves the best ye are able that all beholders may not see your shame by what is charged upon you in The skirts of the Whore where it is demanded why ye had not questioned me for these things sooner and whiles I was amongst you And why ye would suffer principles contrary to truth to pass without rebuke c. To which ye reply that I was presently opposed though for a solemn dealing ye did it not till I had left the Church which ye say perhapâ— was your sin But considering the state of the Church ye knew not how to set about it though some saw ground enough to do it c. To which I replie O woful Church in a woful sad state and condition indeed which is worthy thy serious consideration who with thine own pen hast confest and published to the world that thou knewest thy duty and saâ—est ground enough to do it but knewest not how to set about it Art not thou worthy to be beaten with many stripes Oh wicked and sloathful servant whose judgement is come and into darkness art cast and so no marvel that some amongst you did oppose some manifestations of truth whiles I was amongst you of which you speak for I know some son of Baliel was there who knew not the Lord some blind guid who leads the blind into the ditch who for the wages of iniquity hath laboured to curse the Israel of God and to make you stumble at the stumbling stone who often opposed the life and power of truth as it was made manifest and against it contradicted as I before made mention whose judgement lingers not c. But I take notice how unwilling the harlot is to confess her own guilt and therefore saith perhaps it was her sin which is but a deceitful shift from a just stroak for her hypocrisie and if ye could speak truth in this particular ye might have told the world plainly that whilest I was amongst you ye had not whereof justly to accuse me of which I know I have a witness in your consciences so that most that then were of the company loved and prized me dearly and many were sorely grieved at my departure But when nothing could prevail because into Aegypt again I could not go then and not before some Diotrepes that loved preheminence prating against the innocent with malicious words by degrees made a partie and devised those pretended accusations and with much deceit and deceivableness of unrighteousness prevailed with you to charge upon me c. which if ye had clearly manifested and not drawn this further guilt of lying c. upon your selves some had been excusable but now ye must bear your shame and judgement whatsoever ye are But now ye come to a fifth branch of that ye call an admonition though in pag 13. where ye say ye insert it verbatim ye number but four and that which here ye put as a fifth general branch ye there make a fourth particular in the fourth
and spirit of envie is pouring out of stoods of reviling bitternes not onely when she assembles in her harlots houses and Idol Temples with the rest of the proud and persecuting World where the Churches of Christ after they were gathered did never assemble but in her books and pamphlets speaking evil as she can not only of the Church ways of Christ which she understands not but of Christ Jesus himself who is come a light into the World ane is the light of the World which hath enlightned every man that cometh into the World and this is clear and plain and no studied accusation but a real thing and her proper sentence justly due is gone forth from the presence of the Lord and over her head doth stand And notvvithstanding ye say I gave no vvord or reason of my departure the sober Christian ye mention will easily perceive that this is another refuge of lies for it was reason enough of my departure to deny you to be a Church of Christ and to prove you an harlot a Synagogue of Satan a cage c. And all this I have done notwithstanding ye blush not to say I gave no reason of my departure c. But I perceive that which troubles you is that I who so well knew you and was so long as an Elder amongst you whom ye did so often chuse and elect to that employment and so highly esteemed should now so sadly apostatize as ye call it as not to acknowledge you a Church To which I reply Were ye indeed a Church of Christ how gladly would I acknowledge ye But till ye prove your selves so I may in the words of Thomas Ewins to Ralph Farmer in the 60 page of your book tell you though you be so wise to propose I cannot be so foolish as to grant it lest I make my selfe a transgressor like unto you and rebell against the light which hath manifested you But now let me demand your proof for although ye say ye would prove every tittle and had proved every tittle of what ye charged me withal yet is here no proof at all produced to prove that I drew any from the Church grieved and sadned many or opened the mouths of any to speak evill of the wayes of Christ yet is this more than a tittle or a syllable it is many words and sentences Oh foolish people and unwise how hath the Devill the god of the world and Rulers of the darknesse blinded you why is there no feare of God before your eyes who are adding one iniquity to another as drunkennesse to thirst and yet bespeak your selves a Church And because ye have recovered a veile with which your selves are blinded do think all others must be veiled too but where Christ is witnessed the veile is removed and in the light of Christ which ye have despised and set at nought are ye seen and comprehended and your hypocrisies inventions and traditions will-worships carnall ordinances together with that lying spirit to which ye give heed are in the same light judged denyed and witnessed against as that which to the Lord is abominable and burthensome in which he hath no delight but his soule hates because it is iniquity and a loathsome thing Isa 1.16 But from you whom have I drawn away Why had ye not mentioned one that some colour of truth might appear or that by it also ye might be reproved who of the strong and mighty arme and power of the Lord are ignorant by which he hath powerfully drawn and gathered many from amongst you as well as from others who in the like deceit are worshipping they know not what into his mountain of holinesse which he in this his day is setting up and establishing over your heads and a top of all mountains in which to his people the Lord is making a feast of fat things of which those that pour out a drink offering to that number must not eat in which mountain the Veile is removed the shadows taken away no Lyon or carnall devouring beastly thing can ever come but in it is the way of holinesse known and witnessed and life light and immortality reigns for evermore and the true and living God in spirit life and power known and worshipped who is light and in whom there is no darknesse at all And so although gross darknesse hath overspread the Aegyptian land where the Diviners the Sorcerers the Taskmasters and oppressors dwell yet in Jacobs Tent there is light by which the deeds of darknesse are seen and reproved And therefore although ye have taken liberty to vent your lies and slaunders and false accusations against the innocent over your high places when ye assemble by troops in harlots houses where the children of light dare not come to reproove and gainsay it except they are thereunto powerfully moved of the Lord to testifie against your deceipt and abhomination Yet must ye learn wisdome and take heed of printing and publishing such stuffe to the world else may ye be sure whilst ye seek to cover it with a veile your iniquities will be marked your filthy sepulchre opened which is already but badly painted your skirts more discovered so that shame and confusion will be your portion for evermore except ye repent And therefore of this be ye warned In your third branch ye lay the charge thus viz. your extream censoriousnesse and rash judging not onely of persons abroad but also of the Church c. And tell the world ye will prove yea that ye have proved every tittle and syllable of these things to be true when ye have not endeavoured so much as a shew of proof for ought ye speak touching persons abroad but past it over as if ye had never spoken it And yet this is tittles and syllables yea words c. But a bridle for your tongue ye want who have so long given heed to lying spirits that now ye appear to love lying more then to speak truth and being out of the fear of the Lord speak ye care not what I come now to your fifth branch and shall not trouble my selfe again with those many lies falshoods and contradictions which I there finde in what you say is verbatim having mentioned some of them before but shall examine your proof of that also and see if every tittle of it be proved or whether ye may not be proved lyars in this as in the rest Ye say I did at a meeting at mine house affirme the first part of this branch viz. That the Scriptures were blinde and a plague to souls And for proof ye again produce your own saying it is so and that some of you sitting over against me do well remember how I spake it Clapping my hand upon the book or table saying That Book or Scriptures was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens souls this day in England And that ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words
To which I say There was a time in which many false witnesses were brought against him who was the truth and the light but they agreed not And when by the truth ye are examined it will be found that ye also are far from agreeing in testimony for proving what your selves affirme if your own testimony were admitted in your own case which it is not Ye say ye will again affirme and set your hands to it that I spake those very words And what words are they Not the same in the charge which ye say is verbatim but is much otherwise and so the charge is fall'n and false as the Reader may see And who are they that will affirme and set their hands to it Are they the whole company or but a part If it be the whole then many or most of you will affirme and set your hands to that which themselves have confest they never heard If it be but a part and not the whole then that which yee have already said is altogether false and untrue and your testimony invalid For what is said is said by the whole or else those that signed it are in this as in other things abhominable lyars Again in what ye say ye will affirme and set your hands unto there appears much uncertainty for ye say I clapt my hand on the book or table but on which I perceive ye are ignorant And ye say I said that booke or Scripture Now if ye so well remember the manner of speech as ye say ye doe it is much ye cannot remember the matter But having before accused me for saying the Scriptures were a blinde to soules and a plague to the Land Now ye say It was the booke or Scriptures that I said was one of the greatest blindes and plagues to mens soules this day in England Manifesting your selves to be at a losse and in confusion not able to say whether it were the Book or the Scriptures or what it was for indeed it was neither And so the charge or accusation is quite fallen and by your selves brought to nought And why are these words viz. one of the greatest plagues c. in England now added being left out in the place where ye say ye did insert verbatim Is here no designed subtilty and deceipt Is all proved Are here no tittles nor syllables neglected in the proof Or is what ye have published like to be true or fit to be believed Let the Reader consider it But ye say some of you sitting over against me it's like at the Table do well remember c. But why had ye not told me who these some were that sate over against me and do remember it For I know but four that were wont to sit with me at the Table and with three of them have I spoken neither of which could to my face say or affirme they ever heard me speak such things and then the some is but one and that is an hireling too a Diviner a deceitful worker that daubeth with untempered morter and cries peace peace to that to which the Lord speaks no peace and his testimony is little worth for if ye say he sate over against me at the Table when I spake such words Jane Frye contradicts him who is the only person besides himself that ever I heard or could learn had the shamelesse confidence to say she heard me speak these things with whom I had conference in the presence of other witnesse and demanded where it was spoke she replyed in mine owne house at a meeting I cold her it was much many others heard it not as well as she To which she replyed it was after the meeting was done and I was risen from the Table and stood out in the roome and there clapt my hand on the Booke and spake as before And that her selfe with her sister Hassard and her sister Anne Davis went out into the streets and bewailed it which I knowing not to be true sent to Anne Davis to enquire the truth of it by a relation of hers who answered that she never heard me speak such words nor any thing like it So that it is evident false witnesse do not agree for ye say some of you sitting over against me which must needs be at the Table upon which or upon the book ye say I clapt my hand when I spake But she saith it was after the meeting was done and I was gone from the Table in which is no agreement She said Anne Davis with her selfe and another went into the streets and bewailed it but Anne Davis denies that ever she heard it She said standing out in the room I clapt my hand upon the booke and said the Scriptures were a plague c. But ye say I clapt my hand upon the book or table and said the book or Scriptures were blinde and a plague but cannot agree whether it was a Book or a Table a book or Scripture And so are all in confusion being led by a lying spirit and able by agreement to prove nothing Besides ye say the book or Scriptures but in the copy delivered to me it was said the Scriptures of truth in which is no agreement Besides all this one of you being asked if ever he heard me speak those words answered that hee heard me speak to this effect That the Scriptures as men goe to worke with it making it a pattern of all manner of vice and wickednesse was one of the greatest plagues c. And being demanded then why ye had not laid the charge in the very words that were spoken he was silent as to that and said he had already purchased jealousie from some in the Church as one that was in danger c. And this I have under the hand of him to whom it was spoken Now let all to whom true judgement is known judge what differing testimonie here is and how like it appears to that of old in which no agreement could be against the innocent And how desperately-wicked ye appear under a cloak of Religion accusing for something but cannot manifest for what but in it contradict your selves And in some things Jane Frye is nearer the matter than the other 59. or thereabouts who false witnesses are found because after a meeting was ended in which Thomas Ewins had been speaking about that Idol called Divinity and the people mostly gone and I rose from the Table and standing neer the middle of the room did there say and declare that that accursed thing called the body of Divinity was a plague to the land or words to that effect of which I told you before though ye wickedly shut your eyes and not observed it because it was the truth And were it not so it had been one with that spirit to which ye have taken heed But suppose credit vvere to be given to such a generation vvho in testimony do not agree but are proved as before c. yet to the Reader vvould I say vvhat
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
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
sharp arrows of bitter words against thee that being the practice of the men of thy generation the soul-murthering Ministry of which thou declarest who do not only speak bitter words but also act cruel actions against the innocent and thou helpest it on so that if thy counsel were taken some must to the whip some into prison and into Bridewel for testifying against vain and deceitfull worships which thou canst not prove to be according to the Scriptures but are traditions of men And indeed you are plainly manifest to be not onely out of the power of godlinesse but also out of the true forme in which the Saints were One sort following your strait principles and another your large till ye become drunk in your imaginations and have quite lost the right way setting up your own inventions which the Lord our light and life is come to discover destroy and confound glory and honour to his name for evermore And with thy flattering severall persons that little regard thee and the badnesse of thy spirit therein appearing I shall not meddle nor yet declare how much thou contest under the black spirit of Ralph Farmer But as brethren in wickednesse and lying I shall leave you together Onely I must a little correct Ralph Farmer whose book entituled The Impostor dethroned c. I have seen and part thereof have read and finde it so like the former that a man might wonder how you that differ so much in some things being in your streight and large principles and various lights should agree so well in the works of darkness to oppose the true light but that ye all having given heed to the same lying spirit in your distempered humorous bodies are by it led in the self-same way of lying deceit and wickedness which is the Devils work And although I am not willing to trouble my selfe much with the filthy spirit of that worthlesse man nor to take into the loathsome channell of his monstrous birth Yet seeing how abhominably filthy wicked and impudent he is in the businesse of Constant Jessops removing out of the Parish of Nicholas in which I know he was a chief Actor or Sollicitor notwithstanding by shameless lying in his foresaid book he labours to cover his deceit and excuse himselfe I cannot let it passe but for the information of all those that are concerned therein who can believe and receive truth and for the manifesting the wofull deceit and false-heartedness of this loathsom man declare that notwithstanding he there affirmes that all he spake to me of that business was that the opposition in publique was not fit to be suffered to hinder a settlement and to alienate mens affections c. And that this was occasional by his coming to my house and staying for the coming in of Mr. Cradock as he called him who he was informed lodged there and that what he spake had respect to another brother as well as to Mr. Jessop he saith of whose casting out he did not know nor had any hand in one way or other by writing speaking or suggestion to any person whatsoever and that outing and banishing from the City was so far from his expectation and seemed to him so rigorous that he publiquely taxed and declared against it and that he never spake with me at any time after that occasionall discourse aforesaid which saith he was before Mr. Jessop preached that Sermon for which he was cast out And that he never used that argument to me that till Mr. Jessop was removed the City would not be in quiet c. Yet after Constant Jessop had preached that Sermon for which he was cast out and after the Committee of which I was a member had questioned the same and after the businesse had there lyen still a while and little or nothing done in it by reason of his many friends therein that pleaded his excuse did Ralph Farmer come to my house and after his wonted complement set his back against my Chest and looking hard upon me said to this effect Mr. Hollister what do you intend to do To which I replying to this effect what do I intend to do why what 's the matter why said he about Mr. Jessop To which I replying to this effect what have I to do with Mr. Jessop he said he heard I lay still and did not prosecute him or words to that purpose To which I replying that I was no prosecutor of him neither did I hear him But if any man had ought whereof to accuse him and brought it before the Committee when I was present it was like I might do what was just or as became me or to that effect With which he not being pleased used many words to provoke and stir me up against Constant Jessop and at length something passionately or zealously said these very words or to the same effect Mr. Hollister I shall seriously tell you my judgement If you neglect to take the advantage of this present opportunity for casting him out I profess we are never like to have peace nor quiet in the City And in many other words declared against his Presbyterian spirit and the bitternesse of it and spake of his subtilty by reason whereof another opportunity might not be gained if this was lost with much more of like nature So that I may truly say that to my knowledge I was not so much nor so earnestly prest and sollicited by any other man whatsoever against Constant Jessop as I was by this fals hearted and deceitfull man though he is so impudent and void of shame to deny it and publish it as aforesaid And I say again all this was after Constant Jessop had preached that Sermon for which he was cast out and not before as he falsly pretends neither do I know nor can believe he had any other business in the world to me at that time but only to endeavour to provoke and stir me up against his brother that he might be cast out And that what he speaks of his coming and staying for Walter Cradock is absolutely false for in many years together he lodged not at my house but at the Governors and else-where Neither can I remember or do think that at that time he spake a word to me against any other of his brethren besides Constant Jessop against whom his sole businesse was thinking him not prosecuted vigrously enough And of this his coming to my house and speaking as aforesaid or to the same effect other sufficient testimony that then were present and heard and observed it may be produced And what I have said is true in substance and as near as I can remember in words and syllables And it 's true that when the effect of his own solicitation vvas accomplished in his brothers remove I was informed before the people he declared against it as if he vvere innocent and had been no actor against him vvhich to me appeared so loathsome a piece of hypocrisie deceit and double-dealing
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
ever they did those actions But if I should go about to gather up the actions and expressions contrary to truth which I have known and heard passe from some of your vvay which is a very broad way how abominable filthy would it appear But I forbear farther then it may be for your advantage Yet let me aske if none of your way which is the broad vvay leading to destruction did tell me it vvas the pride of Mordecais heart that bovved not to Haman And another that the Rulers and Elders had sinned if they had not crucified or put Christ to death because they judged him a blasphemer And another that the Pope and Jesuits do believe in Christ But this I cast not upon you vvhom I knovv not particularly guilty but that ye may see the unjustnesse of your ovvn accusations and that the guilty ones may see it and be ashamed Ye fall a vvondring at my shamelesnesse as ye call it in mentioning that some of you did beate in your meetings like the enemies of Christ in the synagogues And say yee will declare to all the world the truth of this story To vvhich I say if ye can at last declare truth it 's vvell and fit ye had done it sooner But ye tell hovv Sathan hath raged at your vvomens praying in vvhich its like ye mistake and that it vvas the vvitnesse of God that strives against your hypocrisie as it did of old against your fathers vvhen their vvaies vvere corrupt before the Lord And vvoe unto you vvhen it shall strive no more Ye say Two wretched women came rushing into the roome one of which had been an old Ranter the other a late member of this Church Whereas they had been one as much a member vvith you as the other and neither are Ranters but in sobernesse do vvalk and so came into your meeting and as ye say told you the prayers of the wicked is an abhomination to the Lord With vvhich you vvere disturbed and the Woman forced to give over reply It s like then there was power in what was spoken and its manifest the very words of the Scripture are your disturbance And therefore like the Gadarens who in this are your pattern ye desired as ye say these disturbers to depart your room as they did Christ to depart their Coasts But when they departed not ye exceeded your pattern as ye your selves confess and would have put them out its like by force which ye say is all the beating and occasion of it Which is an absolute lie for down the stairs yee would have thrown them as your fathers would have thrown Christ down the brow of the hill which to do ye did attempt haling beating and pinching them till their bodies were sore in which your marks they did bear a long time after So that here appears no truth nor ancient godlinesse but the contrary in them that did it and this wickednesse do I not justifie being condemned by the light to which it is abhomination and a more wicked thing than for two sober women to come soberly into your meeting and declare amongst you the truth whether ye hear or forbear In page 23. ye endeavour the best you can to veile your selves from the stroak of truth contained in Psalm 83. and in the Prophesie of Obadiah But all in vain for it is your portion and ye must bear it from him who with righteousnesse doth judge the poor and your demanding what grosse darkness is upon my minde that I should be crying out against you that are innocent will not veile you Nay notwithstanding ye demand again whether I be not joyned with all the Papists Atheists Ranters and all the ungodly rabble of the world in this one great designe of the Devil to break in pieces the Churches of Christ c. And then mention under the name of Anabaptists Independents Sectaries Schismaticks c. To which I answer nay with the Harlot I am not joyned for then must I be one body with you But from among you all am I separated by the power of the Lord to witnesse his presence And therefore your selves with all Papists Atheists Ranters and ungodly rabble of the world who in the great designe of the Devill are joyned to hate the light and persecute and oppose the life power of God do I deny and stand a witnesse against And although ye are the many-headed Beast in divers forms sects and opinions under the name of Papists Atheists Independents Anabaptists c. and upon a like ground pretend to Christs person Gospel and Ordinances as before I said and with one mouth and with one shoulder cry out against and oppose his light and living presence for which ye associate and take counsell together of one and the same lying spirit yet ye must be broken and as a new threshing instrument is the Lord making the worm Jacob to thresh your mountains as chaffe and your little hills as dust And the day of your distresse and visitation is begun in which all that see you shall wag the head who with the most embittered enemies are joyned against the light and life of God and with Atheists Drunkards and prophane persons who live in scoffing scorning reproaching and deriding in slandering falshood and lies do ye assemble teaching the wicked of the world your wayes and the Children that have not understanding to blaspheme the light and living way to the Father which is your own returned But can ye be honest and own what ye say and novv flie from it If so then I demand Is it indeed the great designe of the Devil to break in pieces the Congregations in England under the names of Independents Anabaptists Sectaries c. as ye pretend it is If nay then are ye false and deceitfull in what ye have written If yea then is there a false Prophet and Minister of Satan to be found amongst you in whose mouth he hath been a lying spirit to which ye ought to give no longer heed For Robert Purnell in his book entitled Good newes to sinners great joy to Saints declares the contrary And in pag. 65. undertakes to be a Prophet and saith a few words by way of prophesie of the downfall of Presbytery Independency Anabaptisme c. And then he calls upon all the servants of the most high and mighty God heirs of promise and sons of Zion to look for great alterations and changes and to see what desolations God will make in the earth and for nothing but the Lord to be revealed from heaven which saith he will be mighty in his dispensations exceeding glorious in his revelation and strong and powerfull in his operation and will bring to passe his determinations and destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people and the veile that is spread over all Nations which veile he saith is knowing Christ and Christians after the flesh which Paul did not do after his eyes were opened