far thou art degenerated from the Life and Truth which the Saints enjoyed and possessed and upon which the Church of God hath ever been builded and stood So be cool and hear what Truth saith for now thy Church comes to tryal Thou hast perverted the right way of the Lord by thy Tradition and hast been setting up thy visible things in the stead of that which is spiritual and hast given them a name out of the nature by which thou hast deceived the Nations and thy things that do appear are not the things of God though thou hast made them very beautiful to behold yet a sandy foundation they stand upon and will not abide the day of tryal for the Foundation of thy Church is of thy own laying and the Building is thy own handy-work and thy Church hath been set up in the midnight of Apostasie since the true Church hath been driven into the Wilderness and the Consecration of it hath been performed by men of polluted lips and thy Eldest son hath been the promoter of it who himself hath lost the key of knowledge and so promotes and sets up what thou generates in thy bowels and this is come to pass since the dayes of the Apostles the Spirit of Truth being lost and ravined from darkness hath overspred and gross darkness hath covered and peoples minds have been blinded that thy Witchcraft and Sorceries hath not been perceived and so hast thou formed a false likeness and given it a true name by which thou hast deceived in drawing the minds of people to believe that thy work is that which it is not But the Foundation of God is more sure and the true Church is built upon it and receives its name from the nature and not from any false conception for the Church is in God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and this is the pillar and ground of Truth and is laid upon Christ the living stone in whom the building is fitly framed and groweth up unto an holy Temple in the Lord and it is presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing and there is the Consecration of it received in the Holiness of his life and he becomes the Head of it and it is truly his own Body which he takes to himself in everlasting Righteousness and espouseth it in his Life for ever and ever and this doth not decay nor wax old but is the same without any variableness throughout all Generations So is thy Church truly tryed and the Foundation of it is found false and the true Church nature it hath not therefore is the name to be blotted out that from henceforth none may be deceived with it Trad. This is strange that my Church should be questioned which through so many Ages hath been much esteemed and promoted and if it be not right then what is become of those that are gone before and did not know it otherwise Truth In thick darkness things seem to be that which they are not but the day makes them manifest as they are and the Light of Christ truly discovers in the ground and being found amiss they must be questioned and also denied And what other Generations have observed and how they walked is not now the question for they knowing no more and being faithful to what they did know they have their reward And this proves nothing for thy false Church and Worship which thou upholdest by thy Tradition and not from the present manifestation of God's Spirit in this Age and Generation Trad. I shall further consider of this but for my Preaching which is a chief thing in my Worship I know that is sound and there can be nothing against it Truth That Preaching which stands in the demonstration of Gods Spirit and in Power is sound Preaching and pierces through the darkness unto that which lies in bondage and revives and raises it in Power But that Preaching which stands in the enticing words of man's wisdom that is not sound and this is the ground of thy Preaching which is so chiefly esteemed by thee in thy Worship and by which thou deceivest many people having got good words and in thy wisdom speakest them forth and labourest in the strength of that wisdom to entice and draw disciples after thee and so dost thou teach for Doctrine thy own Tradition and other mens lines and labours are the strength of thy Preaching and what Ambrose Austine Luther Calvin Gregory and others have said and what Expositions they have made of the Scriptures thou canst say they have well observed And this is the ground of thy Preaching O thou deceiving Tradition And now is thy Preaching found to be out of Truths power and contrary to the Preaching of those that were made able Ministers not of the Letter but of the Spirit Trad. But cannot I have sound Preaching in my Worship though something from the Fathers may be quoted and observed for they have spoken good things and have expounded the Scriptures plainly and given true meanings of them which is a great help in Preaching Truth Sound Preaching is in the Power of God and not from any Exposition or meaning that from others is given upon the Scriptures for who run thither and speak from that they stretch themselves beyond their own measure which the true Preachers dare not do but keep to the gift of God and as it moves in the measure so it is preached and so believed For true Preaching is a declaration of the Truth of God as it doth arise and make it self manifest to the understanding and so there comes to be a true witnessing of it in the Experience through the operation of the Power of God from which it is preached as it is known and this is not found among old Authors and Expositors nor in thy Rhetorick and Logick or in thy made Doctrines Uses Reasons Helps Motives Arguments and Applications but in the Spirit 's Demonstration and in Power Trad. What is it I can say that will be received and not opposed Those things that I have long observed and Ages past have looked at them to be very good now are denyed but for my Praying in my Worship that I know is right and without exception for it is mentioned in the Scriptures and was practised very much by the Saints and I have the Lord's Prayer and have made many other good Prayers and have set them forth which be very useful and comfortable for all conditions and upon all occasions and I have put them together in a Book which I call the Book of Common-Prayer and make use of it in my Devotion and Worship Truth Prayer in the Spirit the Saints practised and their Service was accepted but from this thou art degenerated and in thy Tradition hast made and formed such Prayers as the Lord hath not required neither doth he open his ear to hear them though thou makest many of them and that which thou callest the Lord's Prayer which is so often set
down in thy Book of Common-Prayer and with mouths and lips so often repeated be thou silent and make no mention of it for thou hast nothing to do with it and though thou hast the words to speak yet thou dost not perform the duty of Prayer being from the Spirit that maketh Intercession with groans that cannot be uttered For Prayer stands not in words but in power and the breathings go forth in secret and the Father that seeth in secret he rewardeth openly and the Babe receives a supply of what it stands in need of and this is performed in the Spirit that knows the need and makes requests with sighs and groans unexpressible and also moves unto words and expressions and here is the unlimited Power which worketh according to the good pleasure of its own Will which thou hast limited in thy set Forms and made Prayers having given forth thy Directions what must be said and how much at a time and people must say no more nor go no further and sometimes thy Minister must say and sometimes the People must say and sometimes the Clerk must say Is not this thy practice in thy Common-Prayer-Book-Worship hast thou not made Epistles and Gospels and Collects and appointed them for their dayes and times and hast thou not made a Letany for thy Priest to say a part and the People to say a part and hast thou not given directions how People must be Married and hast set a Form and made Prayers for the performance of that Service and also how People must be Buried and what is to be said and done in that Service and what the Priest is to say and what the Clerk is to say And hast thou not set a Form and made many Prayers when Bread and Wine is to be received which thou callest a Sacrament and hast thou not set a Form of words for the Priest to say unto the People when he gives it and how it must be received and what words the Priest must speak kneeling and what standing and when he must turn his face to the People and speak with a loud voice and when he must turn his face another way And hast thou not set a Form and made Prayers for Women to be Churched and what the Priest must say and how he must pray in that Service And hast thou not set a Form and made Prayers for Children when they are sprinkled with Water which thou callest Baptizing and hast thou not ordered that there shall be some people provided to undertake for them and hast not thou given them the names of Godfathers and Godmothers and hast thou not ordered that for a Male-Child there must be two Men and one Woman and for a Female two Women and one Man and hast thou not set a Form in words what the Priest must say unto them and what they must say unto the Priest And hast not thou ordered that after all these things performed which thou hast invented then the Priest to pronounce the Peace of God and the Blessing of God upon all the Congregation and then the Service is concluded And is not this thy Common-Prayer-Book-Worship in which thou art limiting the Holy One through thy Tradition and teaching people to ask and pray when the Spirit is not felt to help them And have not people been long asking in thy formed words but have not received neither are they satisfied Oh thou adulterous Tradition what monstrous births hast thou brought forth and what names hast thou given them and how like are thy names unto that which is true Thou hast given thy formed words the name of Prayer and canst say Come let us pray when thou neither feelest the movings of God's Spirit nor his Power but in thy own words which thou hast made and formed canst speak in thy own will and in thy own time and give it the name of Prayer and with thy names hast thou deceived the Nations who have not understood the nature and thy named Church and Preaching and Praying hast thou vailed over with coverings of thy own making which are now rending off from thee and thou canst not hide thy self any longer under the Names for now is the Nature seen in the pure Light of Christ which makes all things manifest and thy Common-Prayer-Book is seen to be conceived in thy adulterous womb and to branch forth from the Pope thy Eldest son and thou art made manifest to be out of the Truth and thy Service and Worship contrary to the Scriptures of Truth and to the Saints Practice who prayed with the Spirit and with the Understanding Trad. But what if my Common-Prayer-Book do not fully agree with the Scriptures and the Saints Practice yet there are many good things in it and many Scripture-sentences which may edifie and comfort Truth That which is born of the flesh is flesh and that is against the Spirit and can neither edifie nor comfort though good words and Scripture-sentences may be spoken for it is not speaking the words of others that doth make a true Prayer or a living Sacrifice but the receiving a measure of the same Spirit of Prayer and Supplication and to feel it poured forth by which Intercession is made and a living Sacrifice performed holy and acceptable which is not in thy Common-Prayer-Book to be found therefore it is made of none effect because thy bowels bring it forth and the Pope gives life and breath unto it and from his loyns it draws its strength and not from the Power of God Trad. I see it is a very hard matter to be owned and received in this day for I could not have been believed that I should have ever been opposed or my Church Preaching or Praying denied but my Singing which is another part of my Worship that is so plainly manifested to be the Saints Practice that certainly there is none can deny that Truth Singing is owned where it is rightly used and practised and who are raised out of the day of mourning by the Power of God and have a Psalm given them in the Spirit they may sing and make melody in their hearts unto the Lord and this is a Spiritual Song which is put into the mouths of the Babes who sing with the Spirit and with the Understanding but David's words being rimed and then tuned and the mouths of Hypocrites filled with them is such a practice as the Saints never used so that the mouths of all thy Singers must be stopped who have never mourned nor have not learned to sing with the Spirit and with the Understanding Trad. But there may be some that are joyful in the Lord and though all cannot witness that state yet they may sing whose right it is Truth None in the Fall have any right to sing but the Ransomed return with Songs and these Songs are not David's words put into meeter and then tuned and sung with a vain mind but the living Praises of the Lord sounded forth of the Babes
mouth So thy Singing must come into silence and there sink down untill thou hast passed through the day of mourning to receive a Psalm in the Spirit and with the Spirit and with the Understanding to sing it Trad. What can I say to be received for Truth my Ceremonies they are all denied and disproved and my Fundamentals they are strongly opposed yet I shall not be out of love with them though much hath been said against them for I know my Bishops and Ministers set much by them and chiefly by my Common-Prayer-Book for it is a great help unto them and with the use of it their Service is made easie to them And there can be nothing said against my Bishops and Ministers the Scriptures speake so plainly of them Truth He that desires the Office of a Bishop he desires a good thing and he that is a Minister of Christ and laboureth in the Word and Doctrine he is worthy of double honour and here was the Power of God in Timothy and Titus who were true Bishops and the Power of God set them in that Office and the desire of this is a good thing and by the Power of God they were Redeemed out of the Earth and were not covetous nor greedy of filthy lucre nor proud and lifted up but with all meekness gentleness and patience they were instant in the Word And it may be read in 1 Tim. 3. what Paul did write concerning a Bishop and what manner of person he ought to be and how he is to behave himself And there is nothing spoken of an Arch-Bishop or a Lord Bishop or of a Diocess or hundreds a year for their maintenance but he he saith they must not be Novices lest being lifted up with Pride they fall into the Condemnation of the Devil So it is not the name of a Bishop but the Power of God which is to be desired in which the Office standeth and is a good thing and this makes a Bishop and sets him in his Office and to see to his Place with diligence And he that mindes the Power of God and desires the Power of God he desires the Office of a Bishop and so comes into the good work that is wrought in the Power of God where he is rightly ordered in his Office and in which his Office stands And such a one is not a Novice nor lifted up with Pride but stands in the Power and Wisdom of God and rules in his Office with all meekness and humbleness of mind and he stands ready to watch over the whole Flock of God and to instruct the younger in the Power of God in which he bears his Office and who comes to the Power of God they come to the true Ministry and are true Labourers for God and are instant in season and out of season that they may gather People to God and as they receive the Gift of God in the power so they minister as good Stewards of the manifold Grace of God and such are true Bishops and true Ministers who are born not of the will of man nor of flesh nor of blood but of God and receive their Office and Ministration in the Power of God And now Tradition hearken what Truth saith and give thy Answer to what is demanded of thee Who made thy Arch-Bishops and Lord-Bishops and who gave them those Names and who first divided unto them their several Diocesses and appointed them to rule within their own Diocess And who first made Deans and Prebends Doctors Vicars and Curates and who gave unto them their Names And who first set up certain places for Schools and who gave the name of Universities and who set up the several Colledges and how came they to be called Christ's Colledge and Emmanuel Colledge and John's Colledge and Jesus Colledge with other names severally for them and who gave them such Names and who first ordaiâ—â—â— that men should be made Ministers at these Schools and Colledges and no where else and who first ordered that if he have not been so many years at those places and commenced to his Degrees he cannot be approved and who set up such Commencements and Degrees that a man must be made a Batchellour of Art or a Master of Art before he can be approved to be a Minister in thy Order Who first brought up all these things and from whence have they sprung And who first ordained that the Tenth part of things increasing unto people should be paid to thy Colledge-Ministers and who first made that Law which forces and compells the payment of the Tenth part of things increased unto such a Ministry and whether are such the Ministers of Christ who make use of that Law to force their Maintenance contrary to the freedom of people and to proceed against such as cannot give it them freely by suing and imprisoning their bodies and spoyling their goods Are these thy Bishops and Ministers which thou sayest there can be nothing said against them Open thine eye and behold them for they are Monsters which from thy adulterous Conception are brought forth and they are stamped with thy Image and not with the Power of God and all thy Abominations are denied and testified against being seen in the Eternal Spirit of God to be out of the Truth of God and contrary to the Scriptures and practice of the Saints and thou hast no proof for the lawfulness of any of them but Continuance and Custom through which thou hast brought in thy Tradition which hath received strength from the Pope thy Eldest son who hath set it up for Doctrine and Worship within the bowels of England and hath made Laws and Statutes in the dark night of Apostasie for the upholding of it and compelling all people unto a Conformity to it This is a Charge against thee and if thou hast any thing to say for the clearing of thy self Truth will hear thee Trad. I have esteemed very much of my Bishops and Ministers and looked upon them to be exceeding serviceable in my Worship and having elected them into such Places and put them upon such Offices I judge it but a reasonable thing to provide well for their Maintenance and there is not a more equal way that I could find out than by requiring the Tenth part of things encreased unto people and providing a Law to compel it from such as will not freely pay it and I have setled them in certain Places and over certain People which in their respective Plaâ—â—s are to maintain them by yeelding and paying that part of their Increase as I have appointed for them and though I have not Scripture for the Warrant of it yet I have brought it forth as a thing that is decent and orderly Truth That which is decent and orderly is brought forth in the Power of God and that brings forth all things justly and equally and orders one man to do to another as they would have another to do unto them and this doth not
compel any man to pay or part with any of his Increase contrary to his own freedom or else to sue him and imprison his body and spoyl his goods for he himself would not be so done unto So that what thou hast provided for the maintenance of thy Bishops and Ministers is not according to the Truth of God nor answereth not to the Maintenance of Bishops and Ministers in the Primitive times who first gathered people unto the Spirituall before they reaped their Carnall and they had no need to compel the Carnall by a Law after they had gathered them to the Spirituall and brought them to taste of that there was then an openness and a freeness begotten in their hearts to minister their whole Substance and to lay it down at the feet of them that had begotten them into the Truth and laboured amongst them in the Service of God and here was no seâ—â—ing out any part of what was encreased and a Law to compel it either of the Ninth or Tenth or any other part but the whole Substance freely offered and so much taken of it as there was need And this is as truly trusted in the hands of true Bishops and Ministers now and they receive what they need and no more and whether it be the Tenth or Twentieth or Thirtieth part If it supply their need they are truly contented and so they gather Flocks and feed upon the Milk of those they have gathered and plant Vineyards and eat the Fruit of them but do not compell by any outward Law Milk to be given them out of another Flock nor Fruit out of another Vineyard So that thy decent Order which thou speakest of is proved Confusion and Disorder being out of the life and power of Truth and all thy vain Tradition is seen with the pure Light of Christ in which all things are made manifest and with the Light and Truth thou art reproved Trad. Certainly this thing which makes such discoveries of my practices and with such boldness reproves me for them it is of God for it is not in any fear of me or my Power which now is strong and in great authority and unto which I had thought all would have bowed without disputing or questioning but I see there is that risen that appears against me and makes such discoveries of me that I cannot keep hid any longer therefore I shall let it alone and deal with others that I can cause to be subject for the more I deal with this Manifestation of Truth the more is my Tradition discovered and opened unto all People so that it is safest for me to be quiet and let it alone lest by striving to uphold all I come to lose all and so be rejected and disesteemed and all my Honour and Dignity wherein I now stand be laid in the dust and trodden upon And if I had thought that there had been such a thing made manifest in this Age as the Truth I should have been more reserved and retired but I had thought I might have boasted and gloryed in my own handy-work and that it would have passed without being questioned as heretofore it hath done but now I see it is otherwise therefore I shall be silent Truth That which doth discover thee and thy deceitfull practice that is a Manifestation of God and is the Truth of God which was before thou hadst a name and will abide when thy name is lost and it doth boldly reprove thee and is without any fear of thee or thy power and hath opened thee and ript up thy bowels and discovered thy adulterous womb and all the false conceptions that have been conceived therein and it hath made manifest thy first-born and eldest son unto whom thou hast given a name and calls him the Pope of Rome and thy younger Children are also by the Truth discovered and the names which thou hast given them by which thou hast deceived the Nations Now behold ye Arch-Bishops Lord-Bishops Deans Prebends Doctors Vicars Curates and all Prelaticals here is the womb of your conception opened and that made manifest from which you draw your breath and prolong the length of your dayes with all your Service and Worship which you so much esteem and promote and labour to compel a Conformity to It is here discovered in the Power of Truth and you may see by perusing this Catechism in moderation your great degeneration from the Life of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles and how the Names invented and the Worship by you practised differ in the ground from the Practice and Worship that the Saints performed in the Power of God's Spirit Where have you from the Scriptures or the Saints Practice any Precept or President for your builded Church of Wood and Stone your Bells hanging in the end of it and to toul and ring them when you would have people come together to your Worship your set-time before mid-day and your set-time after mid-day to meet together and perform your Worship your Common-Prayer-Book and your Letany and your Prayers divided and appointed when and how to be said your Preaching in your methods and forms your Text taking and your Doctrines raising with your Uses Reasons Helps Motives Arguments and Applications your Singing in the riming and tuning your Bishopricks and Diocesses your Deanries and Prebendries your Doctors Vicars and Curates your Tithes and set Maintenance your great Livings and lesser Livings your Parishes and places of Settlement your Mattens and Evensong your Organs Rails Altars Fonts Sacraments Crossing Children in their foreheads and sprinkling Water in their faces and calling it Baptism your Anthems and your Singing-men and Boyes to sing them your Hoods Surplices and Tipits with many other things which by you are observed in your Service and Worship that the Lord never commanded nor the Saints ever practised nor any Scripture to prove the lawfulness of them Therefore consider the rise of them and the truth of them before you pursue so eagerly to impose them or compel a Conformity to them for tender people who are come to the least manifestation of Truth they cannot bear such an Imposition upon their Consciences though by Laws and Statutes you may strive to impose them and proceed against them as transgressors if they deny submission to them yet will not your Cruelty bring tender People into a Conformity to your Traditions and if you will but consider coolly and pursue this Catechism soberly you will see that it is not reasonable to compel a Conformity unto those things that you are setting up and practising in your Devotion and Worship or to impose them upon the Consciences of any people but rather leave all to stand in their own liberty and to chuse or refuse as they are perswaded in their own Conscience which is but a reasonable thing to be granted for if you see no further in your selves than that which Tradition hath brought in and set up and you in your Conscience be perswaded of