which is life eternal and you being wandred from the light which is the first principle and key to open up the oracles and mysteries of God's Kingdom you have come to read the Scriptures with a false eye and have understood them yea and used them as weapons to fight against the appearance of Christ in his people at this day as the Iews did against the same Lord Jesus Christ in his appearance according to the flesh at Ierusalem they disputed against him from the Scriptures whereas they testified of him but the vail was upon their eyes and they had lost the key which was the light and Spirit of Christ that gave them forth which their Teachers had taken from them as your Teachers have done from you Oh let this be a Lamentation for ever that of the rock that begot you yee are become so unmindful and turn'd against that which was the very life marrow and substance of your reformation and you having lost the same what remains but a dead carcass or rather an image of a reformed Church 〈…〉 with a wrong spirit which is the life of the Wâ—â—re Beast and false Prophet who are all for the Pit And Oâ— how have yee betrayed your own cause and given it a way into the hand of your enemies as appears by your arguments yee make use of against us the very self same the Papists took against your Fathers did they not upbraid them with innovations and the novelty of their Religion being but of a few years and dayes standing did not they upbraid them with the fewness of their number did they not upbraid them with their ignorance calling them idiots and unlearned as indeed they were to Humane Learning many of them but they were taught of God which was far better did they not nick-name them calling them after such base and contemptible names whereby to render them odious unto the people did they not raise up many false slanders and reports against them did they not persecute them with fire and faggot imprisonment and spoyling of their Goods which they took joyfully and did they not question them as the Iewes did Christ and his Disciples and as yee do us concerning the authority who gave them a command to preach and reform and had your Fathers any recourse to make but unto that which could well bear them thorough as it does us to day viz. the immediate call of Gods Spirit in their hearts and have yee not so used us have yee not nick-named us and raised many false reports concerning us and greedily sucked in the fame of them from others who invented them Oh how strange have we been and are to you at this day have yee not refused us the name of Christians which yee will not scruple to give to drunkards cursers whoremongers murderers prophane and abominable persons among your selves whom yee own as your Church members have yee not called us worse then the very vilest of men even then Turks or Pagans saying we are unworthy to live and have yee not given it forth that our design is to overthrow and root out of the world the Christ an Religion and that we strike at the very foundamentals thereof Oh that we should be so mistaken by you if your Predecessors were live in the body many of them we could willingly appeal unto and next under God set them to judge betwixt you and us in this matter and we are sure they would not have so mistaken us as yee have done for although they had not come to see things as they are at this day seen and were far short of the knowledge God hath now given to his people being as it were the morning dawning or twy-light unto them so that they had not discovered the bottom of all Babilons treasures nor got rid of the many inventions and traditions of men yet a measure of truth many of them received from the Lord and were gathered in a measure to walk in the Light and life thereof and had confidence in the Lord to seal their Testimony with their blood against the Man of sin and they being in a measure of truth themselves could not but have known us for all the children of light and who are begot of the living word of truth which gives a discerning to know one another in the truth and in the light and spirit which first begot them and this is the true rule of knowing one another and who come hither can dearly own and haue uniâ—n with others as brethren though differing from them in some things if they can feel them in the living word and spirit of truth in which their life stands and their fellowship and communion with God and one with another and it 's not the many opinions agreed upon that is the bond of peace but the unity of the spirit now yee having wandred from the Word of truth and light and spirit of Christ which gives and preserves in the discerning and feeling one another as members of one body yet retaining somewhat of the form of truth and some of their opinions yee could not but mistake and oppose us as your greatest enemies and your fathers enemies also in whose succession ye so much boast though we be much nearer them then your selves both in principles and practices excepting some things they had not got rid of some of Babylons waâ—es and baggage which they brought away with them I mean some Popish opinions custâ—ms and traditions which in that day passed for the matters of God but now they are seen in the light which hath broke up in a greater measure to have Antichrists superscription upon them and Babylon the Whores superscription which we coming to disceâ—n could not but give her what was hers now it hath been so alwaye that such who have got into the form of truth and not into the power spirit and life thereof hath most persecuted these who had come thereunto witness the Professors among the Iews with their Priests Teachers Doctors and Rabies who were the greatest enemies to Christ and his Disciples Oh how shall I bemone and bewail you people of Scotland who have been and are in your own apprehensions exalted unto the Heavens and looked upon your selves and were so reputed by others as the choicest Nation in the World for the purity of the Gospel and Gospel Worship and Ordinances Oh how are yee fallen and become a hissing and reproach to all round about you and the enemy hath gotten this advantage over you saying ah so would we have it this is the day we looked for and it is come is this the royal and magnificent City which gave her self forth to be the praise of the whole earth and a dread and terrour to her enemies round about let our eye look upon her for she is become defiled she is become as one of us how is the stately City fallen how is her glory defaced how is her bulwarks and walls broken down who boasted
hearts for they are not come to the Light and Word of Truth whereby to discern the true upright genuine desire from the false and hypocritical and this thing hath proved also a great share unto the people who hath heaped up to themselves Teachers after their own hearts lusts who might speak false peace unto them and that whereon there is so much stress laid to wit the calling of the people or Patrons is not of God but of Babylon for in the state they are in they will be loth ever to call a good man unto them supposing he could be found but such who will wink at their faults and run with them thereinto and when at any time they let a reproof fall it stinks out of their mouths being guilty of the same things themselves and away with the education of youth at Universities and Colledges of Philosophy so called I may say of them which Luther stuck not to call them in his day That they are the stews of Antichrist for out of them comes this ignorant profane scandalous Ministry wherein they learn to talk of things they understand not and to prate in mans wisdom which is carnal earthly and devillish And the Philosophy so called which is taught them is but meer deceit and pedantry which even I came to see when among them and many of themselves see it and confess it to be but vanity and none can teach either the knowledge of God or of the creation but such who come to be indued with a measure of the wisdom of God which made the creation in number weight and measure according to it 's pure holy Law and neither God nor the work of his hands can be truly known but in the light which makes all manifest which the Doctors and disputers of this world are strangers unto and it's follishness to them and many among themselves have attempted the reformation of their so called Philosophy and squeezed their brains to find out a new one but all in vain it shall never be found out till they come to the Cross of Christ and under his cross denying their own wisdom become the disciples of Christ and learn of him in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom knowledge the true Science of the creation as well as the of the Creator for the world was made by him and he can best teach it and in him manifest in man the invisible things of God from the creation of the world are clearly seen being understood by the things that are made which carry upon them indeed the characters of infinite wisdom goodness and power but are a sealed book no less then the Scriptures to such who are not come to the teachings of him who made them and can only give an eye to read them with a true understanding and to advantage And this I testifie who have had a tryal and experience both of the one and the other the wisdom of man wherein I laboured much and long and profited above many of my nighbours and the wisdom of God in which now I see and for which I truly account that other loss and dung even for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ the Wisdom which was vvith the Father before the World began and I certainly know the humane Wisdom or learning is one of the main Bulwarks of Antichrist against the Revelation and setting up the Kingdom of Christ in the Earth and because this is arising and shall rise down must the other go and all who seek to uphold it shall fall therewith And away with the many Doctrins and opinions yee have drunken from your teachers who have abused the Scriptures and you both giving you to believe they were grounded on Scripture and are nothing but their own imaginations which the erring mind through Sathans suggestions hath begot both in them and you and rid your selves of all whatsoever yee have taken upon trust and what yee have not seen and learned in the openings and manifestation of the Word and Spirit of truth in each particular and make the revelation of the Spirit of truth in all things the rule and analogy of your faith believing nothing less or more then what is revealed to you therefrom and where that opens not keep wholy back from passing any determination for or against And away with that manner of interpreting Scripture and searching truth by drawing and knitting consequences by the fallible erring mind and natural understanding keep close in all things to the judgment and determination of the Spirit of God and where that leads you as it did lead Christ to infer upon the Saduces the Resurrection from the dead from that Scripture I am the God of Abraham and God is not the God of the dead but of the Living to draw a consequence or frame an argument do it else forbear And away with determining of things as yee have hitherto done by Plurality of Votes it 's not the way of God and will never further the Lords work or truth their votes or consents not being in the unity of the Spirit of truth And away with thinking general Assemblies Counsils or Parliaments in the state they stand in will do you any good in order to a perfect and through Reformation they will certainly marre it but never help it forward being out of Gods wisdom and its foolishness unto them And your looking too much to these things in former times hath been a great snare unto you And thus now I have showed you good advice and councel concerning your becoming a perfect and thoroughly reformed people and the witness of God in all your Consciences as yee heed it will not fail to answer me to the truth and expedience of these things I have laid before you And principally every one mind the through reformation and change of your own hearts and lifes by turning in your minds to the Light of Christ in all your consciences which must do the work else it never will be done and as the reformatiâ— of particulars grows so will the same do in the general And now what I have declared unto you and the manifestation of the Spirit of truth will shew you much more even the perfect patern of the house of God in the Mount concerning these things which are necessary and expedient in order to a thorough cleanly and perfect reformation we the people of the Lord called Quakers have fallen upon them being taught and directed thereto by the wisdom of God which buildeth the house else the building is in vain and we have found and do find the blessed usefulness of them as ye shall also find if ye be followers of us as we are of Christ And now ye who say or shall say Tush all this is but vanity and folly we will not daine to take councel from you we are wiser then your selves we will not learn at you and yee but boast of things yee know not and we expect a glorious comfortable breaking up of the day of God in order to a more perfect and thorough reformation then as yet hath been among us but it shall never come to us through your airth we can never expect good of you for yee are but a pack of poor silly deluded brainsick fools therefore get yee from us we will none of your councel the day shall never dawn upon us if it rise not in another airth then yee tell us of To such I say Oh yee foolish and unwise how like are yee to the former generations who ever were enemies to the wisdom of God through their carnal earthly and devilish wisdom and to the Iewes of old who despised the son of God and crucified him the Lord of Glory whom at that very time they were expecting to come the promised Messiah and when he came they mistook him and received him not because of his weak lowly contemptible appearance to the carnal eye but such who had the eye of Faith saw the glory of the only begotten of God upon him thorough the vaile which covered him from the sight of others and he disappointed them in all their carnal expectations and they are yet looking for him and have looked these sixteen hundred years but have never seen him nor shall see him in the way they look for him as neither shall yee and your judgment shall be one with theirs you being shut forth into utter darkness and plagued with hardness of heart if yee do not speedily repent And now whether ye will hear or forbear this I do declare unto you in the name and power and authority of the living God the day of the Lord is of a truth broken up among us and ye shall look till your eyes fail you and rote within your eye-holes e're ever yee see another day or appearance of Jesus Christ to your comfort then what we the people of the Lord called Quakers do witness come and yet more abundantly coming and if yee will not hear my soul shall mourn for you in secret places and weep before the Lord on your behalf And yee who in the perverseness and obstinacy of your hearts gain-stand and oppose with all your might and power the appearance of Jesus Christ in this day and yet are calling for the day of the Lord To what purpose do yee call for it that I may use the Prophets words in the like case Wo unto you that desire the day of the Lord to what end is it for you the day of the Lord is darkness and not light as if a man did flee from a Lyon and a Bear met him or went unto the house and leaned his hand on the wall and a Serpent bit him shall not the day of Lord be darkness and not light even very dark and no brightness in it Writ about the beginning of the 11 Month in the year 1664. THE END ERRATA IN Page 5. line 38. for and read an p. 16. l. 39. f. live r. alive p. 17. l. 39. f. these r. those p. 20. l. 30. r. in the world p. 22. l. 37. f. this r. his p. 30. l. 4. f. Laâ—ely r. Layety p. 44. l. 35. f. ease r. case p. 60. l. 8. r. did arise p. 63. l. 38. f. one r. an p. 64. l. 21. f. an r. one p. 66. l. 4. f. hear r. heart p. 68. l. 29. f. their r. her
in Synods with them and coming in the ordering of Church affairs together and your obeying their commands a disowning them Nay yee cannot say it except yee bewray your exceeding folly well then ye neither own them nor disown them and is not this the detestable neutrality yee vowed against and if perhaps some of you have not given any oath or promise to these men and it is rare if it be so yet your practice is as real a breach as an hundred oaths and promises and whereas yee say obedience may be given to their lawfâ—l commands I answer such as are not lawfully constitute Rulers but Usurpers as many of you affirm no command proceeding from them is lawful as such though never so lawful upon the matter for there are a great many Circumstances required more then the matter of the thing commanded to make it lawful one maine is that the imposer of the command have a just and lawful authority and power from God thereto for there is no power but from him the powers that be are ordained of God Romans 13. And as for your alledging these things are not so weighty required of you as that yee should be put from your preaching I answer admitting yee were true Preachers or Ministers for I argue according to your own principles yet e're the least circumstance yee should yield unto 〈◊〉 which is sinful and forbidden of God yee were to give up the service of your Ministry were it never so useful for that yee are not to ballance your Ministry with the smalness of the things upon the matter on the one hand and the service yee can do on the other but to look alwayes to the command of God and the honour of his name and truth which is weighty enough to down-weigh all other considerations though never so weighty 13. And your Fathers the Primitive Protestants affirmed that when any thing contrary to sound Doctrine was set up and brought in the Ministers who stand upon the watch tower should not keep silence but testifie against such a thing and forewarn the people to be aware thereof and they judged silence to be a sinful connivence witness the Protestations made several times against such things and but of late dayes the Protestation made at the Cross of Edenburgh on the 22. day of the Month called September in the year 1638. wherein they largely shew backing what they spoke with pertinent Scriptures to that purpose that they ought not to be silent Likewise it was a principle among them the first Reformers that they should not forbear to preach though all the powers on earth should forbid them whatever punishment could be inflicted upon them therefore and it was their practice also for they put their lives in hazard and many of them lost their lives bearing their testimony and they accounted the winning of souls of people of more worth then the saving their bodily lives and as yee may read in the History of the Reformation in Scotland to such who queried why was not obedience given to the Magistrates command it was answered its better to obey God then man as Peter answered the Rulers of the Iews Now such of you of the National Ministry who stuck to take the Canonical oath or to make an active complyance with the Bishops as the rest of you have done yet have yee not shamefully shrunk he ein yee who could open your mouths wide against these things now set up before they were brought in among you when there was no hazard of speaking and talk boldly against the Bishops and their corruptions and spend a good part of the hour glass on such a purpose but now are yee not shrunk dumb with a panick fear that hath overtaken you and yee have quit your Ministry at the command of man far unlike the good Shepherd that flees not when the Wolf comes but stands up to defend the flock from the Wolf and laies down his life for the sheep but the hireling flies because he is an hireling as yee have done and have yee not rather obeyed man then God if ever the Lord called you to your Ministry had man power to have taken it from you is it not too manâ—fest a proof that your call and power to preach was but of men who as they gave it you can take it from you as they have done and yet poor men ye think ye are suffering for a testimony of a good conscience but alass it 's a thred-bare testimony so to speak and as it stands the Lord will not take it off your hands for have yee not chosen a lesser suffering to shun a greater your stipends are taken from you but is that enough to make you leave off feeding the flock I speak according to your own principles regard yee no more their souls nor your bodily maintenance or is there any other put in your Pulpits is that enough either can yee not preach elsewhere then in a Pulpit may yee not preach in a field or from house to house as did Paul and many others yea your Fathers did so or do the people refuse to hear you then yee have but badly learned them they are not taught so much love as to stick to their Pastor when the wolf comes but should yee not preach to them whither they will hear or forbear as Ezekiel did and was commanded of the Lord so to do or have they commanded some of you to go over Seas should yee have obeyed that unjust command or if they had taken you away by violence what hinders but yee may return to the flock were not the fear of man over you I know nothing in the will of God but prisonment or death or some such outward violence could hinder a true Pastor from the Flock or hath the so called Church commanded you silence but if their sentence be unjust as yee think it is should yee have obeyed it and yee have but a poor plea when yee say it 's for peace sake yee so do for the peace which is in hazard for the testimony of the truth is but false and so not worth the keeping but that it was not the peace sake of your Church or any reverence to their authority though this be your main defence but the fear of man that hath prevailed with you to quit your charge manifestly appears by your practice but a very few years ago when you called Church men could either 〈◊〉 the Magistrate or when he winked at you then yee were busie with your Protestations and yee became divided into two parties or factions called Protestators and publick resolutioneâ—s and your brethren charged you who either protested or adhered to the Protestation with breaking the peace of the Church and disobedience to its Authority and in that day yee could roundly answer them that yee were to be more careful for the preservation of the truth then of a peace that could not stand therewith and their authority yee
God having experience of the saving work of his right hand on their hearts who speak because they believe and are indued with power from on high and filled with the holy Ghost whereby they are made able Ministers of the new Testament having received gifts by the ascending of Christ on high even for the rebellious that he may dwell among them for the work of the Ministry to the perfecting of the Saints and edifying of the body and such Minister from the Light and from the Life and from the power and Spirit and Word of God whereby those to whom they Minister may come into the fellowship of the mystery with themselves and be made partakers with them of the Unction or anointing from the holy one which may be with them for ever and a teacher unto them of all things good necessary and expedient for them to know even to bring them unto the Spirit of truth which may lead them into all truth and instruct them in the will councel and commandement of God at all times whatever it be and to espouse them unto Jesus Christ the great King and Lawgiver in and to his People the great high Priest from whose mouth the Law is to be received the great Prophet by whom God speaketh now to his People wherof Moses writes who is the head in all things and who so will not hear that Prophet shall be put to death and this Prophet Jesus Christ is nigh unto us yea more nigh then all the men or books upon the face of the earth he is both our Maker and our Husband the anointed of the Lord the breath of our nostrils so that our fellowship and communion with him is most intimate and immediate and nothing else does satisfie our souls but the immediate imbraces of his dear and sweet love the seeing of his Countenance which is comely and the hearing of his voice which is pleasant and powerful and glorious and full of Majesty and the Bride rejoyceth greatly because of the voice of the Bridegroom himself and now we need not say who will go down into the grave and bring up Christ to us or who will ascend to Heaven to bring him down to us or who will go over the Seas and bring us tidings of him from Ierusalem where he suffered in the flesh him whose name is the Word of God Rev. 19. we of a truth witness nigh us even in our hearts so that we need not either ascend or descend or go forth the word of life the word of power the word of faith which Paul preached and Moses before him and all the true Ministers and pointed people to this which was able to save them as they turned their minds thereto and gave up to be taught and led thereby And this the Ministers and Servants of the Lord among the People called Quakers do preach without money or price being the free gift of God and many have believed and received it not as the Word of Men but as it is indeed the Word of God and found it after diligent attendance turning their minds inward thereto to spring up in themselves and to be living and powerful and sharp as a two edged Sword to the dividing of soul and spirit and discerning every thought and intention of the heart and though one evil and unbelieving Generation will not give credit thereto no nor yet those of the National Ministry who give themselves forth for the Ministers of Christ but are found lyars they call it a fancy and delusion and turn People from it which is the only Rock that can save them yet we know it to be the Word of God and we have tasted the Heavenly sweetness of it yea and our very hands have handled that Word of Life and we have hid it in our hearts as an only Treasure and we do daily and hourly witness the pretiousness and worth thereof for it is the food of our souls the food of Angels the living bread which came down from Heaven to give life unto the World the Manna incorruptible which feedeth us unto life everlasting and when we are an hungred it refresheth us and satisfieth our souls with good things it 's milk to the babes and flesh to the strong it 's health to our navil and marrow to our bones it 's the bread which strengthneth mans heart and the wine which maketh it glad and oyle which maketh his face to shine and when we thirst living water springeth forth from this word of life in our hearts and ministreth drink unto us out of the living fountain and we witness the promise fulfilled he that believeth in me Christ the Word out of his belly shall flow a well spring of liveing water and when we are weak and our hands hang down and our knees wax feeble the Word maketh us strong and lifteth us up as an Eagles wings so that we run and are not weary and walk and are not faint and when we are heavy through sorrow the Word springeth forth in streams of pure joy and consolation from the presence of the Lord which causeth us to forget all our former troubles and we are comforted in our God in all our straits and difficulties and when temptations from the Devil and his Instruments assault us and the powers of darkness environe and surround us as if they would swallow us up the Word sendeth forth sweet and comfortable beams of Light and openeth the eye-lids of the morning upon us and breaketh through the thick Egiptian darkness as a fiery flaming sword and divideth asunder and giveth us victory and deliverance And when we are hated of the World the Word saith peace in us and causeth it to flow into our souls like the waves of the Sea and when Sathan transformes himself with his Messengers into an Angel of Light that he may deceive us coming up out of the deep with Samuels Mantle the Word of truth which searcheth into all the depths of Satan and to the bottom of the mystery of iniquity discovereth to us the foulers snare and the voice of the inchanter so that our souls escape as a bird out of the net and the Word defends us by night and by day so that we need not fear the terror by night nor the arrow that flyeth by day nor the pestilence that walketh in darkness being girded with the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God and the Word is a light to our feet and a Lanthorn to our pathes the Vâ—im and the Thummim by which the Lord answers us and giveth us counsel in all things pertaining either to the temporal or eternal life and herein we meditate day and night and by it are we made wiser then our Teachers and it 's sweeter to us then the honey and the honey comb and more precious then thousands of gold or silver and in the Word our fellowship stands with God and one to another whereby we know and enjoy and have communion one