and then thou wilt be sure to partake of their plagues And so in love to thy soul we have answered this thy Paper and quaeries and for the clearing of the Truth of God which is innocent and clear of thy scandalls and lyes and slanders the Lord God is our Witness who will plead our cause with our enemies and clear the innocency of those that suffer for him to whom alone we commit our cause and to him alone return to be judged and tryed who alone judges the secrets of all hearts who judgeth righteous Judgement and gives unto every one according to their deeds to him alone we commit our cause for whom we stand witnesses in sufferings in tryalls in buffetings in scourgings in whippings to whom we owe our lives and whose Testimony we are willing to seal with our blood if we be called to it To him who is our Strength and Rock our Preserver and Deliverer be all Glory and Dominion over all to Reigne and Rule and have Dominion who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords Blessed for evermore So now to thee who hath confessed thou hath none other Light nor knows none other way to Christ thy Saviour then the holy Scriptures a few Quaeries to thee and all those thou calls Minister in New-England and elsewhere Quaery 1. WHether God was not the God of Abraham the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob yea or nay 2. If so How they did know him to be their God seeing there was no Scriptures written then 3. How Moses knew God and what God had wrought in so many Generations before him seeing there was no Scripture before Moses writ 4. Whether did the Prophets of the Lord speak from a Scripture without them seeing that they said thus saith the Lord or what they spoke they received immediately from the Lord yea or nay 5. And whether Christ Jesus who is the Saviour of his people was before Abraham yea or nay 6. Whether the Apostles had their Testimony and assurance of salvation from the Scriptures without them or from Christ Jesus whom the Apostle said was within them the hope of glory yea or nay 7. And if so what ground or testimony have you that the Scriptures without you is the Light and the way to Salvation seeing that those who spoke forth the Scripture had a witness and a testimony within them 8. What assurance or certain testimony hast thou or you that Christ that was crucified at Jerusalem so many hundred years ago how do you know him to be your Saviour since that you have no testimony but the writings without you 9. And whether he be not the Saviour of his people from their sins and what sins ye are saved from who knows him not but as you have writings and records of him that he was crucified so many hundred years since at Jerusalem and how you would have known him if you had not had the Declaration of the Scriptures 10. And whether you do not lay wast Scriptures and deny Christ who saith they are the Way and Rule of life whenas the Scripture saith Christ is the way the truth and the life and that there is none that cometh to the Father but by him yea or nay 11. And whether you do not deny Christ Jesus and the Scriptures also who saith the Scriptures is the Light and that you know none other way to salvation whenas Christ Jesus saith I am the Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world and he that walketh in this Light shall have the Light of life and whether you do not deny Christ and the Scriptures in this yea or nay seeing the Scriptures saith the same 12. And whether God in the Scriptures hath not promised a new Covenant which he will make with his people that he will write it in their hearts and put it in their inward parts and whether ye do not cross this Covenant who looks for salvation in outward writings yea or nay 13. Whether God hath not promised that he wil teach his people himself and that they shall not need to say know the Lord but they shall all know me from the least to the greatest yea or nay 14. And whether the Teacher which the Lord hath said shall be no more removed into a Corner by which the Lord teacheth his people whether this be the Letter of Scripture yea or nay And whether the Scripture may not be removed into a corner yea or nay 15. What voice that is which calleth behinde saying This is the way walk in it and whether the Scriptures be this voice yea or nay 16. And what way that is which shall be called the way of holyness which the unclean shall not pass over but it shall be for the waysaring man though fools shall not erre therein and whether this way be the Scriptures yea or nay 17. And whether there may not be errage where there is no way known but the Scriptures yea or nay 18. And whether the Apostle did not speak truth when he said to the Romans That which may he known of God is manifest in them for he hath shewed it unto them and whether that which God did shew to them was Scripture without yea or nay 19. And whether the Scriptures without be the Word of God which was in the beginning yea or nay 20. And whether that Word which Moses taught Israel and that which the Apostle speaks of to the Romans which is nigh in the heart be not the same Word by which the Lord teacheth his people yea or nay 21. And whether that VVord which was in the beginning and was with God and which VVord was God by which all things were made and without him was not any thing made that was made and whether this be the Scripture without yea or nay 23. And whether this be not him in whom is life and the life is the light of men and whether thou and you do not deny the Scriptures and Christ Jesus who is the word and the light and the life and the way who saith that the Scriptures is the light and eternal life and the way to come to salvation yea or nay 24. What right or title or interest hast thou or you to the Epistles which the Apostles writ to the Saints who received his Ministery and followed and was begotten by him who was a Minister of the Spirit which quickneth and maketh alive 25. And what is this to you who knows not the ministration of the Spirit but all that you know is from the letter without you whenas the Apostle saith The Letter killeth but the Spirit giveth life and the ministration of the Spirit turneth from the darkness to the light and from the power of Satan unto God and what light are you turned to who know no other light but the Scriptures without you which a great part of the world hath and yet lives in darkness and under the power of Satan 26. Whether you do not deceive your own souls who takes these words which the Apostle spoke to a people which was made partaker of the same spirit which he spoke from and was gathered into the light which he spoke from And these words which he spoke to a people in another condition ye take to your selves who knows no light as you confess your selves but the Scriptures without you and what this will avail you to take these words which was spoken to another seed whenas the Apostle saith The promise is not to seeds as to many but unto one seed which is Christ who is the light and the way and the Saviour of his people and what is this to you who have the Scriptures without you for your way your light and eternal life 27. Whether the prophesyings in the Churches of Christ which we read on in the Scripture was from the Letter without or from the Spirit within and whether you can judge of their conditions then or now who are come to the Spirit of Prophesie who have no testimony of Christ but from the Letter without The End
then for evill doing for Jesus Christ hath suffered the just for the unjust that he might bring us unto God And for this Faith do we contend which was once delivered to the Saints and are willing to lay down our lives and to seal the testimony of our Consciences with our blood and this our faith is not to beleeve lies as thou doth which is manifested in thy Paper sufficiently and this is that faith which overcomes and gives victory over the world and beleeves in the Truth as it is in Jesus And thou begins and reckons from the Maryan-times the Generations of men famous as thou saith who stood for Faith and Holiness and the profession of true Religion I answer Thou may see what thy profession of true Religion ends in who art now in thy old age beleeving lyes and false accusations which thou hast no true ground for and are accusing and slandering the pure innocent Truth of God which is clear in the sight of God of these slanders which thou hast cast upon it for which the Just God will plead with thee when thy talking of a Faith will not serve thee nor thy profession of a true Religion when thou art persecuting and detaining the pure Religion and undefiled before God and the Father this is to visit the Father less and the Widow in their affliction and to keep himself unspotted of the world But thou art found in the desilement and casting thy filth of lyes and slanders upon Religion and therefore art thou found in the world one of them Therefore now repent of the evill of thy doings while thou hast time and turn thy minde to that measure of God in thee which tells thee thou should not lye nor slander nor accuse falsly there is something in thee that tells thee these things ought not to be there is that of God in thy conscience which tells thee thou ought not to beleeve lyes nor to take reports from the mouths of slanderers and to cast them upon the innocent who was ever reproached and slandered by the world and so in this thou art become one with the persecutors that ever persecuted the appearance of God where ever it was made manifest So let that of God in thy conscience now examine and search what thou art doing who art slandering those whom thou knows not nor hath nothing to lay to their charge but what thou hath by hear-say and consider whether this be as thou would be done by But in this thou hast manifested thy ignorance of God and of his pure Truth which leads to do unto all men as they would have men to do unto them and here thou art found out of the Truth and out of the Life that gave forth the Scriptures who takes the Scriptures but for a cloak to cover thy nakedness withall but art ignorant of that spirit that spoke them forth as thou makes it manifest in thy next words where thou saith Those men gave not their mindes with Balaam to look out for visions to curse Gods people Here thou hast manifested thy ignorance of the Scriptures for when Balaam looked out at the temptation of Baalack he would have cursed them but he did not look then to the vision of God which said he should not curse them And so all who wil but read that Scripture may see thy confusion and ignorance for in that Vision and Prophesie Balaam did see and know the people of God and could not curse them while he kept to it untill he did hearken and look out at the temptation of Balaack And so here read thy ignorance in Scripture Besides in this thou speaks against all the Holy-Men of God as Moses Samuel Nathan Daniel Isaiah Paul Peter Iohn c. and all that ever was taught by the immediate Spirit of the living God was taught by Vision and Revelation and this thou exhorts those whom thou calls the Church of Christ from Therefore let all that reads thy words mark thy Blasphemy and ignorance of God and of his eternall living Truth as it is in Jesus the only begotten Son which now the Father is revealing in this his day and the Son likewise is revealing the Father Glory and Praises be to the living powerfull God for ever And thou speaks of railing against Magistrates and Ministers which is a false accusation for railing we do deny but we speak the Truth in Christ and lye not our consciences also bearing us witness in the sight of God And the Ministers of Christ we own who are Ministers of the Spirit and not of the Letter for the Letter killeth but the Spirit maketh alive and those who have the Ministration of the Spirit which quickens we own and have unity with them who is made not by the will of man nor the will of the flesh but by the wil of God according to the Promise of life which is in Christ Iesus who have not received their Gospel by man but by the Revelation of Iesus this Ministry we own and this Ministry we witness But that Ministry which is received from man who teacheth for Doctrine the Precepts and Commandments of men which are found in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees which Christ cryed wo against who sit in Moses seat who are sayers but not doers who bindes heavy burthens grievous to be born but will not themselves move them with one of their fingers but all their works they do to be seen of men love the uppermost rooms at Feasts the chief seats in the Synagogues are called of men Master who devour widows houses and for a pretence make long Prayers who are blinde guides such as Christ Jesus cryed wo against who is our Lord and Master and Shepherd of our souls but who are found acting in those things which he cryed wo against we do deny and turn from them for Christ Jesus hath left us a Rule to know them by their fruits which makes them manifest to be the ravening wolves inwardly which Christ Jesus speaks of who have the Sheeps clothing the Saints words and profession but their ravening wolvish nature appears by their persecution and tyranny which they exercise in this Nation of England as most Goals in this Nation can witness who have many of the innocent harmless people of God shut up in Dungeons and Holes for no other cause but for bearing witness for the living God against the deceit by which they keep poor people in blindness and ignorance of God who are the same as ever the Lord sent his true Prophets to cry against who bear rule by their means and commit the horrible and filthy thing which the Lord sent Ieremiah to cry against And who seek for their Gain from their quarter and preacheth for Hire which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against who feed with the sat and clothe with the wool which the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against And such as make the people to erre that bite with their teeth
do wrong nor to accuse falsly this will shew thee the deceit of thy heart and let thee fee thy vain thoughts that lodgeth within thee and the darkness of thy minde which thou hast made manifest by thy words who faith They depend not upon the Scriptures for a Light Here let the Scriptures try thee and judge thee who saith the Scriptures is the Light when the Scriptures saith Christ is the Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world and every one that loveth this Light walketh in this Light and bringeth his deeds to this Light to be proved and tryed by the Light and he that doth evill hates the Light and turns from the Light least his deeds should be reproved And here let the Scripture judge and try thee whether thou doth not deny Christ Jesus who saith I am the Light of the world whenas thou saith the Scripture is the Light here thou denies him who is a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of his people Israel Now let all see what thou hast to see or to judge with who denies the light of the body which is the eye for when the eye is single the whole body is full of Light but when the eye is evill the whole body is full of darkness And here thou art found now who art looking at the Letter without thee but thy body is full of darkness confusion and enmity against the Truth of God as thou hath manifested in this thy Paper And Christ Jesus said unto his Disciples Ye are the light of the world a city that is set on a hill cannot be bid Let your Light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorifie your Father which is in heaven But thy works and thy Light is made manifest by thy envy that thou hast uttered forth against the harmless which thou knows nothing by But thou that hath no other Light to judge with but the Scriptures without thee which was spoken forth from another spirit then thou speaketh from now thou that taketh these words and speaketh them forth from a lying spirit which was spoken forth from the Light and Life and Power of God from the just and the living Truth was the Scriptures spoken forth from But thou who hath no Light to walk or speak by but what thy dark spirit gathers out of the words without thee were not like to speak truth for they that spoke forth the Scriptures the Truth was made manifest in them they did not speak from another or by hear-say as thou doth thy spoke what they knew and what they witnessed and bare testimony to the Truth and all who cometh into the same Truth beareth witness unto them and knoweth the same Truth as they did But this thou art ignorant of who hath nothing but the Husk and the outside the Kernal and the Substance thou knoweth nothing of but blessed be the Lord God for evermore the same Life and Power as they spoke from is witnessed and they that spoke forth the Scriptures are witnessed to be true by the same life and all such as thou who hath nothing but the Declaration of that life are seen and known and weighed and all your profession which is without the life and profession denyed and here is the Lambs war betwixt you and us you have the words and Declaration which the life sple we have the Life and Substance which spoke these words and so you have the outside who are born after the flesh persecutes us who are born after the spirit And so now read where thou and you all are who are found in this persecuting nature for I am sure if you will be tryed by the Scriptures you cannot finde that ever any of the Saints of God persecuted any but were ever persecuted and ever suffered persecution by those who had a profession as Christ Jesus was crucified by the chief Priests and the Elders Scribes and Pharisees who were the strictest professors of the Scriptures which spoke of him and prophecied of him which that age and that Generation had besides all the Saints Servants Prophets and Apostles that ever suffered did suffer by a people professing Religion So let the Scriptures be judg between you and us and if you will come to be tryed by the Scriptures you will be found of the same generation of Persecutors as ever was before you And whereas thou saith VVe depend not upon the Scriptures for Light hut from what we receive from a Spirit which casteth us into a Trance and what this Spirit is thou confesseth thou knows not and yet thou lakes upon thee to judge of this Spirit though thou confesseth thou art weak c. but thou saith thou tells what thou thinks Now here thou hast uttered forth thy weakness and thy nakedness appears in these words and thy bitter spirit in slandering that which thou knows not for that which tries the Spirits is Truth and Eternall and Infallible and speaks that is knows and beleeves not every spirit but tries the Spirits whether they be of God And from this Spirit thou hart shut thy self and by this Spirit do we try thy Spirit to be a Spirit of Error and Delusion a Spirit of Darkness which hath no light in it but thy Light is without thee that thou judgeth by and thou judgeth by thinking and this is for judgement Christ Jesus said Take heed that the Light which is in thee be not darkness he doth not say take heed that the Letter without thee be not darkness and he saith again If thy Light be darkness how great is that darkness and so here thou art in the darkness and yet judgeth of the Light but thy spirit is a fallibe Spirit and so cannot give true judgement upon that which is infallible and eternall But that Spirit which is infallible and eternall gives true judgement on thee and knows thee and tries thee and thy Light which is thee Letter without thee which is none of thine but anothers and with the same spirit as spoke forth the Scriptures thou art judged and thy spirit to be a fallible lying spirit and the same good spirit of God as spoke in the Holy Prophets Christ and his Apostles which is not divided but is one and the same for evermore the same spirit do we witness not another but the same as was before ever the Scripture was written and by this Spirit which was before Scripture was written do we judge thee and thy Light which thou hath from the Declaration Here thou confesseth that if thou had had no Scripture thou had had no Light but God is Light and all who knows him knows him in the Light and all who sees him sees him in the Light for the immortallity dwols in the Light but this thou knows nothing of and we do accord with and own and witness and have unitywith the same Spirit with all that spoke forth the Scriptures the Prophets Christ and his
never found guilty of But it was alwayes the portion of the Elect of God to receive from by generation such slanders and accusations as thou hast here vented in thy Paper which hath made thee manifest to be none of Gods Elect nor none of that Faith neither can they abide in that which they never came in So thou dost but utter forth thy folly in thy Exhortation And thou goes on in thy confusion and vanity and thou askest three questions and thou answerest two of them thy self according to thy folly emptiness and shallowness and in the third thou hast set thy self fast and knows not how to get out and so thou leaves us to answer it and so it is like we shall answer a fool according to his folly First Thou askest by whom do we hope to besaved We deny the ground of thy Answer and we answer from another ground and principle which thou art ignorant of and art an enemie to We hope to be saved by CHRIST JESUS who is the Light of the world and hath lighted every man but cometh into the world and this Light is thy condemnation who saith the Leeter is the Light and so the same CHRIST JESUS which dyed at Jerusalem which witnessed a good Confestion before Pontius Pilate who is the way to the Father the Light hath leads to life this is our Saviour and the same that saves us condemns thee who loveth darkness rather then Light because thy deeds are evill Secondly Thou askest how we came to know there was ever such a man in the world And this thou answers according to thy publike faith from a Testimony without thee but we deny thy Answer and our answer is That we know that the Son of God is come who hath given us an understanding and we know him that is true And hereby we know that we dwell in him and he in us because he hath given us of his Spivit and we have seen and do testifie that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world And we know that we are of God and the whole world lyes in wickedness and we are in him that is true even in his Son Iesus Christ this is the true God and eternall life He that hath an car let him hear but thy car which should hear is deaf Thirdly thou saith If Christ be the Saviour and that the light and knowledge of him doth spring from Holy Scripture thou asketh whether the Scriptures be any Rule of Faith and Life in these dayes or are they ahorgated and put an end to by Christ And hath he appointed another way for bringing his Elect to eternall salvation This quaery thou saith thou must leave to your selves to answer only sayest thou for my part I know no other way to come to Christ my Saviour then the Holy Scriptures which he hath commanded me to search and in which he promiseth life eternall and wherein he curseth all men that addeth to or detracteth from them what you have to say to these things I know not but this I know that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Iesus execrable and what do they else that-vilifie and slight his word and Ordinances and depends upon a Spirit which crosseth and contradicteth Christ and his word and Ordinances Answer In this quaery thou hast given a Testimony of thy Light and of thy Spirit and of thy Way and of thy Faith and of thy God for thou hast taken Christ Jesus among the rest and hath belyed him in plain words now in the latter end of thy Paper And thou art so blind led with the God of the world which hath so blinded thy eye sure thou thinks all looks with that blind eye as thou doth Thou confesseth that thou hast none other Light but the Scriptures and yet thou art run away from it and art now adding to it and thou saith thy self he curseth all men that addeth to it therefore own thy portion now when thou seeth thy self there for thou art now so blinde thou sees not where thou art but when thou cometh to a search thou wilt finde thy self there Where is it that Christ promiseth thee eternall life in searching the Scriptures Doth not Christ say in the verse before Ye have not his word abiding in you for whom he hath sent him ye believe not Thou hast made it manifest what life thou hast but it is no wonder seeing thou hast no other Light nor no other Way to come to Salvation nor no other life but what thou hast out of Scriptures Thou art dead in sin but it is no wonder Oh that thou dare so belye Christ Jesus Doth not that Scripture say on which thou builds these words Search the Scriptures for in them ye think to have eternall life and they are they which testifie of me but ye will not come unto me that ye may have life Doth he say here that life is in the Scriptures or doth he say that he is the Scriptures when he saith ye will not come to me that ye may have life And art not thou here found thinking to have eternall life in the Scriptures and wilt not come to Christ that thou may have life and this he spoke to the Scribes and Pharisees who were in the same life that thou art in to whom he said they had neither heard his voice at any time nor seen his shape but this is all the life that thou knows And thou speaks of god walking in the midst of the seven Golden Candlesticks but he doth not walk in the midst of the midst of thy Candlesticks who hath no Light but the Scriptures and before thou see the seven Golden Candlesticks and he that walks in the midst of them thou must be turned from where thou art if thou hast an ear thou may hear what the Spirit saith And thou saith this is thy light and thy way to salvation and thou confesseth thou knows none other Answer This hath all drunkards and all prophane persons that hath the Scriptures hath that which thou hath and if it brings salvation to thee then it brings salvation to them and so see what a publike faith thou art of Now see whether thou be not in the broad way that leadeth to destruction and now this is thy Testimony and this is thy Light that we are speaking of all this while and this is thy way but this way we do deny for thou and all who are where thou art are gone out of the way and there is none of you that doth good no not one And Christ Jesus who was before Abraham and before the Scripture was written is our Light and our Way and our Rule and our Truth and our Life and this is life eternall to know the onely true God and Jesus Christ whom he hath sent and this life is in his Son and he that beleeveth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself and he that beleeveth not God
and by the eternall infallible spirit we ijudge it to be false judgement and of the living God of heaven and carth shalt thou be judged for thy false judgement which thou hast given of the Spirit of Truth and this thou shalt eternally witness one day when thou art arraigned at the barre of Justice as thou saith and we judge and bids stand off all unclean spirits all lying dark Satanicall Spirits which knoweth not the living God nor joins not to the living God for who is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit and this is that Spirit which we speak from which leads and guides up to God And thou that speaks of trances and quakings and humbling and confessing and Originall Sin and vileness and casting down and such like which thou hast gathered out from the Letter and speaks them with another spirit then spoke them in the Scriptures thou that hath not the same Spirit as spoke these words in the Scriptures we deny thy spirit and judg it to be the Spirit of Error by the same spirit as spoke forth the Scriptures we do try thee and know thee and we deny all false Doctrine and contradictions and rediculous and foolish things which thou mentions and all thy confusion which thou haft uttered forth in thy Paper not worthy mentioning and the Spirit that spoke it we do utterly deny and the Spirit of the living God we own and witness and cleave to which proceeds from the Father and the Son which is the judge of all unclean dark fallible lying Spirits this is our Leader and Teacher and Guider Judge and Law-giver and King Glory and Praises be to our living and powerfull God for ever And after that thou hast judged the Spirit of God to be the Spirit of the Devill thou confesseth that thou hast not waded very deep into the matter Here thou hast made manifest thy shallowness and sinfulness of Truth indeed and uttering forth thy folly and ignorance of God But thou art comprehended and the depth of thy deceit is known and seen and the bottom and foundation on which thou stands is sandy and the words thou hears but doth them not and therefore art thou likened unto the foolish man that hath built thy house upon the Sand for when the winde blows and beats upon thy house it will fall and great will be the fall of it And thou speaks of Iesuits which was known in London to quake and to speak in the Congregations and thou saith These men no doubt might make a Covenant with the Devill and by the finest way of witchcraft and sorcery convey it unto others by an implicit Covenant seducing men thinking no such thing but rather as though God had more abundantly declared his love to them then to any people in the world when as the matter is nothing else but Satan transformed into an Angel of Light and so then thou goes on to tell thy story Answer Here let all who reads thy words and hath any measure of Justice Equity or Honesty in them behold thy blindness and ignorance of God and of his Truth who hath given such a manifest lye as this is under thy hand and yet hath the boldness to judge the Spirit of Truth to be the Spirit of Satan at that very instant when thou art found in the Devils work venting and vomiting lyes and slanders upon the pure Truth of the living God which shall be found clear and pure and innocent and guiltless of all these false slanders which thou hast cast upon it God and his Truth shall be found true and all such men as thou found lyars as hundreds in London from whence thou fetcheth this lye shall witness that this which thou hast spoken to be a lie and slander and all lyes is of the Devill and he is the Father of all lyars and I do beleeve that thou wilt not finde one in London of so many thousands as there is in the same nature as thou art in that will say they saw Jesuits quake there but I am sure that hundreds there are that are convinced of the living Truth of God which will testifie against thy lyes and bear witness for the Truth against thy false slanders And those men which thou saith are seduced by witchcraft and sorcerie and an implicite Covenant Answer but those men whom thou speaks as being contemptible will quickly see thee to be a poor deceived seduced creature who utters forth thy confusion and darkness and ignorance and makes thy folly manifest And thousands there are at this day who have not come so far up to the Truth of God as to own us yet will see thee to be a dark ignorant deluded besotted spirit who knows nothing at all of God but what thou knows it is naturally as a bruit beast which Iude speaks of And thou that doth ground and raise such scandals as thou hath done in thy Paper upon such lyes and untruths as these that thou tells let all honest hearted judge what spirit it is that guides and leads thee for I am sure that hundreds will set to their hands and seals that this which thou speaks is false and yet from this ground dost thou raise thy Exhortation thou saith to the Church of Christ so now whether any Church which hath but the name and profession of Christ will receive such reports and lyes and slanders and give it under their hands as thou hast done let all the professed Churches though there be many that can talk of Christ and God as thou doth and serve the Devill as thou hath done here I say Let all the professed Churchches as thou calls them both in New-England and elsewhere blush and be ashamed of thee who hast given such manifest lyes and slanders and scandals of the pure Truth for a testimony of thy Faith which thou confesseth thou hath but by report But thou hast made thy self manifest to be a defamer of the Truth of God who saith Report and we will report it And so thou goes on with thy Report and Story which thou saith is credibly reported to be in or about Bristol There was a mans wife that desired to go to one of the Quakers Meetings her husband was unwilling but after importunity he gave her leave but she was so wrought upon in that Meeting that when she came home again she was fill'd with Revelations and spoke as though she had spoken with the tongue of Angels to admiration far above her self her husband told her she was bewitched but she was far enough from beleeving that but he could not satisfie himself but would search her body to see what tokens he could finde about her arm he found a silk thred he inquired how that came there she serious professed she knew nothing of it wel saith he this shall not remain here and he took it away and then she returned to the same woman that she was before she went to the quakers Meeting and saith thou
if this be a true Story as I credibly beleeve tell me if there was not witchcraft used in this quakers Meeting yea or nay Now let all honest hearts who reads this thy Story read thy Spirit and thy envy who hatcheth Cockatrice-Eggs and weaves Spiders-webs and he that eateth of these Eggs dyeth and that which is crushed breaketh into a Viper Now if thou be not blind thou may read thy Spirit in this Scripture but for this cause God hath sent thee strong delusions that thou should beleeve lyes and I know assuredly that thousands there is about Bristol from whence thou fetcheth this lye that will witness and testifie that this is a gross lye also and that there was never any such thing done or acted there by those people called quakers And therefore let all who have but any moderation or dram of honesty in them judge thy boldness and impudence in lying who should send such a lying pamphlet as this is into another Nation which thou professeth love to but thy hands is defiled with blood and thy fingers with iniquity thy lips hath spoke lyes and thy tongue hath utterd perversness and thy trust is in vanity and lyes thou hast conceived mischief and brought forth iniquity and this is the fruits of thy Profession which thou tells such a story of in the beginning of thy Paper and of so many Generations which thou calls Churches of Christ but there was never any Generation but might have such a Church as this is whereof thou art a Member which is grounded upon lyes and reports and stories the Pope and Iesuits which thou speaks of can have no worse Foundation then thou hast Therefore let all that profess this Faith that thou art of be ashamed of thee and the fruits that thou brings forth who hath made lyes thy refuge and with falshood hast thou covered thy self as with a garment And thou goes on and saith no doubt the devill can very wel paint men to come to the Lords table and to preach Christ for thou saith he hath sometime been a Preacher of Christ himself Answer At that Table where thou sits the Devill may paint men to come to and the Devill may preach Christ as he doth in thee talk of a Christ and yet the Doctrine and Foundation and Ground from whence thou speaks is lyes and untruths and all lying comes from the Devill And so let all who have any thing of God in them to guide their mindes judge and try thy Spirit and what Scripture thou hath to prove thy words or when it was that the Devill preached Christ but though in words he might speak of him as thou dost and thy preachers that thou speaks of but the Apostle saith that there is none can preach except they be sent and wilt thou say that God sent the Devill to preach Christ or thou wilt deny the Apostles words and Doctrine or thou wilt blaspheme God choose which of these thou wilt taste And the Apostle said they could not sit at the Lords table and the table of Devill And thou saith the Deville an paint men to come to the Lords table Now wilt thou deny the Apostles Doctrine there or wilt thou confess thy self be at the Table of the Devill feeding among lyars and envious persons which holds the Truth in unrighteousness Therefore expect the wrath of God to be revealed from Heaven upon thee which is against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who are back-biters haters of God despitefull proud boasters inventers of evill who have changed the truth of God into a lye Here read thy self and thy spirit and thy practise and thy portion for God is the same he changeth not and according to thy works shall thy reward be So thou goes on in thy accusing and back-biting and slandering and thou brings up Grimdleton whom thou sayes came up to Trances and Revelations which thou saith fell at last to Popery and prophaneness But this which we have only from thy own mouth which is so stuft with lyes and slanders who is set on back-biting and slandering and accusing and thy ground is but by hear-say we shall give little credit to what thou speaks either of Grimdleton or any else for we know thy ground is falsity and lyes and so there can no truth spring from that Root But I do beleeve that thou does accuse Grimdleton falsly and belye them in that thou saith they are turned to Popery but thy throat is grown so wide that thou canst swallow any thing and thou never heeds who thy Informers are so that it feed that Root which grows in thee which brings forth bitter fruit And thou saith It is the main thing that the Devill drives at now ' because Jesuits have been the chief Fomentrrs of this quaking Religion Let all behold and see now thy gross ignorance and emptiness and shallowness that thou should speak things that thou hast no president not ground of truth for where can thou say or where hast thou heard that ever the Iesuits quaked Oh that thou should not be ashamed of such idle groundless untruths that all who reads thy words may read thee to be a lyar and slanderer Thou cannot produce any that ever knew a iesuit quake and so let all who reads thy words read thy gross error and ignotance of Scriptures who talks of Iesuits quaking which they never did and art so blinde that thou cannot see who they were in Scripture that quaked Was Moses a Iesuit who said I exceedingly fear and quake And was the people of Israel Iesuits who came in the morning to the Mount where there was thunders and ligntnings and thick Clouds upon the Mount and the voice of the Trumpet exceeding loud so that all the people that was in the camp exceedingly trembled was this Trumpet sounded among the Iesuits Oh thou miserable creature who art thou contending against And was Ezekiel a Iesuit to whom the Word of the Lord came saying Son of man eat thy bread with quaking and drink thy water with trembling and carefulness And was Daniel a Iesuit upon whom fell great quakings and tremblings Now see and read thy ignorance of the Scriptures which thou saith is thy Light Now see if thou be not blinde who yet knows not that which thou looks upon to be thy guide who casts a Reproach upon that which thou never came to know nor never was made partaker of But to an account and reckoning thou shalt come for all thy hard speeches And whereas thou saith That thy hearts desire is that they may be established in the Faith of Gods Elect. Thy heart is deceitfull and desperately-wicked nor the Faith of Gods Elect thou nor them that thou writes to never know for the Elect of God is pure and none can lay any thing to the charge of Gods Elect So concerning that Faith be thou silent for thou art here charged with many lyes and slanders and false accusations which Gods Elect was