there was Bread enough without which I should have perisht forever yet for all this the Spirit of the World prevailed carrying me captive to the Law of Sin and Death but never into Lewd Ranting as falsly accused by this Night-Watch-man in which Day of Distress and great Loss came in the Year 1655 two of the Servants of the Lord preaching the Everlasting Gospel which was as Lightning arising out of the East and shining unto the West even through all in me to the very Thought in the Heart by the Word which is the Searcher and Discerner of them to the reaching unto the Seed of the Kingdom and declaring of a Body of Death standing notwithstanding Men's Profession of Religion unto which the Witness answered so that now I knew He that believeth the Gospel hath the Witness in himself and out of his Belly shall flow Rivers of Living Waters this spake he of the Spirit as it is written in the Scriptures of Truth which are to be read believed and fulfilled Reader this is pretious to read in the Eternal Light and Life and though this was in my Mouth sweet yet afterwards it became very bitter in the Daily Cross to my own Will and a Day of Sorrow and weeping I knew over him whom I had pierced so when it was Day I wished for Night and when it was Night I wished for Day this indeed was a Day of great Distress in which I saw the Abomination which made desolate stand where it ought not Then was I to understand what it meant what God's Will was in it in making of it manifest by his Grace the Light whose Will in the Light and Grace I saw was my Sanctification throughout in Soul Body and Spirit and here we leave the World that lies in Wickedness and the Professors of the Saints Words with all that have a Form of Godliness without the Power behind us in and amongst the many Opinions and Voices of Lo here and Lo there is Christ and so we come to know the Voice of the true Shepherd whose Voice we heard inwardly and abiding with him do forever hear in the Light the Word of Faith in the Heart that we may do it So that now I say By the Grace of God and Light within I am what I am and therefore is my Testimony amongst many Brethren to the Grace and Light within through a living Experience of the good Effects of it and against all these Baptist Watchmen of the Night who plead for Sin term of Life and are Backbiters Slanderers and Persecutors of the Innocent and there will he have his Ministers conclude their doctrine and his Servants their Work who must all be paid off with his own Reward of Torment with him and his Angels forever which will be also the State and Condition of all Hypocrites and Rebellers against the Light if they repent not And this my Testimony agrees with the Testimony of the Servants of the Lord in Ages past But to return to that which was to me bitter when the Lord had lighted my Candle and with it searched my innermost Parts then the Body of Death out of which ariseth all Unrighteousness appeared indeed like a Mountain of Blackness and Darkness So that I saw no Way how to get over it and was ready to faint in my Mind but the Lord whose Love is great and also hath Respect to the bruised Reed and smoaking Flax and will it neither break nor quench until he bring forth Judgment unto Victory supported me by the more sure Word of Prophecy unto the which I did well to take heed as to a Light which shined in my dark Heart untill the Day dawned and the day Star did arise therein and then sprung a secret Hope in God and the Word of his Grace whose promise rise in my Heart That he would cleave the Rocks and the Mountains that the Redeemed of the Lord might come to Sion and now Glory be unto his Name his Promise is fulfilled in a good Measure and all along unto this Day and still is it a support unto me in the midst of all my Troubles and Tryals in my Travels from Death to Life in which my Temptations have been many yea very many both within and without in the Daily Cross but still was and is the Lord in the Light a God at Hand making good his Promises unto his own Seed in whom they are all yea and amen saith my Soul in a living Experience in which I have a Testimony to bear for the Lord to the Grace Spirit Light and Life of Christ Jesus and that it is sufficient for me and all Men in this Age as it was for Paul in that Age and Time of his deepest Exercises for every true Believer hath the Witness in himself by a living Experience and he who hath not hath no just Claim to the Promise of God in Christ Jesus declared of in the holy Scriptures for the Scriptures were given forth in the Light by the Motion of Life in the holy Men of God as in them it moved for after Ages to read and believe and in the Light to wait for the fulfilling of them and not for Men to make a Trade and a Gain of nor yet for Men to live in the Profession of take up a Rest short of the fulfilling of them as all the Night-Watch-men and Children of the Night do who plead against the Light and for Sin term of Life and so can be no true Witnesses for God in their Generation though their Profession may be large of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles words with varieties of Voices and Opinions crying Lo here and Lo there is Christ but he said Believe them not for as the Lightning ariseth in the East and shineth unto the West through all even so shall be and so is the Coming of the Son of Man the Second Adam the Quickening Spirit the Lord from Heaven who according to the Flesh is declared to be the Son of David but according to the Spirit the Son of God by the Resurrection from the Dead which we called Quakers believe and live in the Hope of witness against all the Night-Watch-men and False Accusers which say we deny it and herein according to the Spirit must all come to know him yea and him worship serve fear and obey that ever receive Peace by him And this is a true and Faithful Testimony against the Watch-men of the Night and the Opposers of the Light of Jesus Christ within born through a living Experience to the Light of Jesus which we make mention of and no other in whom is Life and his Life is the Light of Men to lead all into Salvation that follow it and to condemn all the Disobedient unto it for this is the Condemnation that Light is come and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil and he that loves the Light brings his Deeds unto it that he may know
they are wrought in God but he that hates the Light brings not his Deads unto it lest it should reprove them And this is my Testimony with my many Brethren and the Saints of old born to the Eternal and True Light of Christ within the Hope of Glory and to my Call out of Darkness into Light and from the Power of Satan to the Power of God in which I stand a Witness for God and against all the Worshippers of the Beast who have received his Mark in their Fore-heads or Right hands and therefore plead for his kingdom of Darkness and against the Light Within These must needs be blind Watch-men of the Night saith Luke Howard who forsook the People called Anabaptists and their Water-dipping upon this Account ANd now by way of Reply in Righteousness to this Night Watchman's Scoffing Mocking and Lying Work who begins in his Title Page saying It is a Sober Reply But a sober Man so made by the Grace of God which teaches Sobriety will not so call a Pamphlet made up of Scoffing and Lying for in his Preface he begins to scoff in these word Charles Bayly sometimes a Prisoner upon the Quaking account in Dover As if Quaking were now become a Scorn and By-word if it be so it is but to the Fools in Heart who are ignorant of the Life of Moses Isaiah Job Ezekiel Daniel Habakkuk Jeremiah Joel and Amos who were Prophets of the Lord and all owned Quaking and Trembling in their Day And in the same Preface saith he But to show what Enormities the pretended Light leads them to c. My Answer is We are Real in our Testimony to Christ Jesus the true Light which lighteth every Man that cometh into the World and this to wit the Light Life and Spirit which moved in the Holy Men of God to give forth the Scriptures which the Scriptures bear witness unto which is the old time came not by the Will of Man but Holy Man of God spoke as they were Moved by the Holy Spirit but the Scripture is not that Spirit nor Life but testifies thereof nor yet this Night Watch-man's imagination of them who gives his corrupt Meaning to Peter's word and so Perverts them saying He meant the Scriptures when he spoke of the more sure word of Prophecy unto the which we do well to take heed as unto a light shining in a dark place until the Day Dawns and the Day Star arise in our Hearts these last words to wit the Day-Star arise in our Hearts he leaves out for against that to wit Light in the Heart are all his Arrows shot this he calls Erroneous a dark Light of the Quakers or any thing what his dark Mind is pleas'd to call it and therefore he may think he hath cause enough to wrest the words and to clip some off for if he testifieth against the Quakers Light as he scoffingly calls it then he must testifie against Peter Paul and John and the rest of the Prophets and Apostles for their Testimony and ours are one as may be seen more at Large in the Testimony following unto which I Refer the Reader Then in his first Page he begins with three or four Lyes first he saith that I said Some new converted Friends aid own C. B. when there are no such words in all my Book Then again he saith But the Men-Friends in the Castle did not own him so much These are his own words not mine to make his foul Work seem fair to make them serve his own End and this he calls My appearing with two faces So here is a Brat of his own begetting in his own Image spit out of his own Mouth speaking his own heart of Lyes in Hypocrisie for I never so said nor meant for my words were these Beside there were some at Liberty which did not own C. B. so much as Rich. Hobbs Reported of as may be seen in the Looking-Glass herein Annexed this his Charging of me with words which I never writ alters the Matter and makes it another thing as any may read that is not Blind Then again he saith I Confessed I owned C. B. as much as the Rest There is no such word in all my Book as may be seen and although these things may seem small as here related yet as they stand in his Corrupt Relation in Print they are Great because they so alter the matter and makes his Relation have a Face of Fairness like Truth but read my words as they stand in my own Book and his words would be found a Lye and that a Lye is in his Right-hand and a deceived Heart hath turned him aside And for these and such like causes to clear the Truth is my former added to this Again in pag. 2. he hath this Lye over again that I and three or four in Prison with me did not own C. B. so much as Friends at Liberty And their he makes Lyes his Refuge and under Falshood he hides himself and when he hath frameth up a Lye he sets it up as a Bulwark to batter against with Replies as if his Lies were mine and this Course this Night-watch-Man takes to make a foul thing seem fair and a Lye which is of the Devil seem true Several more Lyes I could gather out of his Lying Pamphlet in several places where he saith I said Many of his Flock were of his Mind my words were these As many of his Flock as were of his Mind which alters the matter and makes it quite another thing for to my knowledge Several of his Flock were not of his Mind Then again he saith that I know my wife reported C. B. had cured her Eyes when I know no such thing but the contrary and this I can prove by several Witnesses But in this work of bundling up of Lyes I have no delight but as constrained thereunto to place a few of them upon the Lyers Head as a Testimony against the Father of them who iâ— the Devil for my Time is precious and in the Mouth of two or three Witnesses is every word established And then he goes on in like manner of scoffing Language in his page 13. That I beguile the Reader into Fools Paradise in my saying in the Baptists Looking Glass That the Quakers worship God in Spirit and in Truth which the Devil and all that do his Works of Envy are out of And now if to worship God in Spirit and in Truth be Fools Paradise then what is the wise Man's Paradise seeing the Lord seeketh such to worship him as we do this Day witness Again in Page 10. he saith here is a great Cry and a little Wool A scoffer indeed And in Page 7 he saith I give my Glass a Rub and that to the Purpose too as I think saith he and thus scoffingly he writes these and many more like them not worth answering which I do Return upon his own head who sits in the seat of the Scorner for it is plain
he writes one thing and meanes another which shews a Tongue without a Bridle and his work to be with two Faces and by the Scriptures which he calls his Rule is he found in the vain Religion My last Testimony it needed no Rubbing for I here testifie again it is clear Truth and clear enough to manifest the Deceit of him and those concerned with him in it and it is here offered again for him with other hypocrites to see their Faces in and also to the unbyassed mind and to answer both his pieces of Envy Lyes Scoffs and Mocks and were I not constrained for the Light and Truths sake I should rather chuse Silence then to Answer either of his pieces of dirt which at best is but Food for the Serpent and his Seed to feed upon Again in Page 9. he accuses me with being a lewd Ranter in Dayes past Now behold his Envy for I have believ'd in the Light of Christ and have been called a Quaker about Seventeen or Eighteen Years and known to my Neighbours from my Childhood which is above Fifty Years and therefore the less Answer may serve this Man's Envy who is a fierce Accuser and a worse Judge and my answer is by Way of Challenge to him and all his Abettors in Envy To prove in Dayes past any thing against me more then the foolish Course of the World which the Men thereof through Profession take a Liberty in yet short of bodily Vncleanness Murder and such like gross Enormities but if I had been as bad as he renders me and worse also to wit If seven Devils Mary Magdalene's State had been my Condition why should his Eye or any Man's be evil because the Lords is good She loveth much because much was forgiven her And now from sensible Experience to our own Souls we can testifie for God That his tender Mercies is over all his Works and reaches to the end of the Earth follows Man calling to him in his vile Estate yea in the high-Wayes and Hedges when the proud Pharisaical Professor refuseth the Wedding-Dinner though bidden and invited as this Nights Watch-Man with many more have been and have done Then he goes on in his former Manner in battering against his own raised up Bulwark saying I contradicted my self in the Relation of Nicholas Woodman in Page 9. because I said Many were baptized by William Kiffin This is not Contradiction at all to my saying Nicholas Woodman was the first Baptist Preacher raised up in the County of Kent and so I say again for they are my Words in my Book to which I refer the Reader and then Judge who is the Two-Fac'd Man and a Perverter of Words and compare my Testimony to his and then judge whether he hath answered singlely or may not be justly called a Watchman of the Night by his vailing of himself with his Night-Garments under a Hood with two Faces and then Harlot like wipe his Mouth as if all were well and lays his Lyes to my Charge of which I could make a large Bundle and of slanderous Aspersions and scoffing Language which his untimely Birth is filled with I have been short considering the large Advantage I might and could have taken as for Lyes I can prove at least Six or Seven more then I have answered unto And then his slanderous Words of Woodman's being my Brother and plucking out mine own Bowels to besmier them as for Woodâ— an I deâ—iâ—d him in Time past before I lest the Carnal Baptists and their Carnal Worship and beggerly Elements which he continued in long after preaching up and down so no Brother of mine but theirs Root and Branch And as for the plucking out of my Bowels an Inhuman or Unchristian like Word to besmeer them in saying That he was the first Baptist Preacher raised up in the County of Kent for they were my Words which I still affirm for Truth though by this Night-watch-Man Perverted into another Sence now wherein are they besmeered by me by calling him their Root more then they have fouled themselves by continuing in his foot-steps only in this they differ he was for the Particular Election and they for the General as more at large may be seen in my Looking-Glass And as for my being a lewd Ranter as he slanderously and maliciously accuses me if it were true as it s notoriously false that would not now help his bad cause for what saith the Apostle such were some of you but now ye are wash'd but ye are sanctified and you who were sometimes Darkness are now Light in the Lord c. Yet this blind Watch-Man thinks in his dark Heart that his accusing me for Time past for want of present matter to accuse me now of or ever since I have been call'd a Quaker will help his bad and dark Cause and Pharisaical Profession or crying out I thank thee O Father that I am not as this Publican is or once was c Tedious would it be to answer all at large but this day is this Scripture Isa 28.21 22. fulfilled upon this Mocker God is a doing of his Work his strange Work and bringing to pass his Act yea his strange Act now therefore be ye not Mockers lest your Bands be made strong And all whose Eyes are in their Head may clearly see this Man's Bands of Darkness made strong indeed that dares so Presumptuously Preach and Print against the Life and Light of Christ Jesus and this is all he hath to cover himself with and Hole this Fox hath to creep into to wit in calling it the Quakers Erroneous Light and the Dark Light of the Quakers but that Cover is too narrow to hide him under and that Bed is too short to stretch himself on and will be so found in the Day of the Lord when his Blasphemy shall be charg'd upon his own Head But now I shall return to his three Particulars in pag. 1. to prove C. B. in Fellowship with the Quakers and led by their Spirit saith he First Bayly Prophesied saw false Visions and pretended to Miracles 2dly He was then in Fellowship with the Quakers 3dly He was led by their Spirit Now if his last be false as it is on which his whole Building depends and by the Truth being removed then must all his Work and Labour fall as dirt cast into a Dunghil And that his last is false take this Answer as followeth Christ Jesus prophesied That false Prophets should arise and deceive many who transform themselves into many things like the true Prophets to deceive as their Father the Devil did those whose Minds are outward yea and if possible the very Elect whose Minds are inward yet who dare charge the true Apostles to be led by the same Spirit the false were except Cain and Ishmael's Off spring and the false Prophets under the Law that stole their words from their Neighbours and they ran and prophesied when the Lord never sent them and therefore they profitted
not the People yet we do not read of any but Blasphemers against God so perverse as this Night-Watch-man is to charge the true Prophets Spirit with the false Prophets Presumption and Wickedness as he doth the Light of Christ our Principle with C. B's Presumption and Wickâ—dness And then again Antichrist the Man of Sin he sits in the Temple of God and saith that he is God and under the Name of Christ doth work in the Mystery of Iniquity and so doth great Evils under the Name of Christianity as this day we see Christendom full of Abomination by which it is become as a Wilderness for Beasts of Prey to live in now is it kind Dealing with the Christians to charge them to be led by the spirit of Antichrist because he pretends to the same â—pirit which the true Christians are led by Nay would not this Watch man think himself wronged to be so charged yea surely but if he were yet were he not so much wronged as we are by his charging our Principle with C. B's spirit and the Effects thereof for if our Fellowship stood only in outward and bodily Exercise as the Fellowship of Water-dipping and Christendom's Fellowship by Sprinkling doth then might our Principle be the easier charged with his spirit but because our Principle the Light the Grace the Word of the invisible God is that in which our Fellowship stands with God in Holiness and Truth therefore not to bâ— judged by the Practice of Evil Men and this to wit their Carnal Fellowship is the cause of their thus Opposing Gain saying and Blaspheming against the Light of Christ which whosoever walketh therein hath Fellowship with God and one with another And this Night-Watch-man saith If this to wit Bayly 's Actions be not a Proof of Bayly being in Fellowship with the Quakers then he knows not what is and here I believe him that our Fellowship he knows not no more then Christendom at large doth and in this his Ignorance must we leave him till he can believe in the Light which will give him to see and know wherein our Fellowship stands Another Proof that C. B. was in Fellowship with the Quakers he had because some joyned with him in Prayer and heard him Preach and one fell on the Ground which is now none of the smallest Quakers in Dover saith this Accuser All this proves not the Matter no more then the Weakness of a Young Child can pâ—ove the Strength of a Strong Man and now is it Reasonable to judge the Principle of the Quakers by the Actions of them which were but just then as it were convinced and being very young and tender as I said before in my Looking-Glass for the Baptists they could not easily discern and were afraid to judge And now to judge the Principle and Fellowship by such surely amongst Wise Men this will be counted Folly and condemned for Prejudice And in pag. 9. he saith If Duke Howard had proved by some convincing Arguments that the Quakers Light is Christ as he Scoffingly calls it and then made it appear that the Baptists had Blasphemed in denying that Men are Redeemed and justified by that Lâ—ght within themselves and not rather by Faith in the Death the Resurâ—ection and Ascension of Christ without us for us which is the châ—ef Point in Controversie between us saith this Opposer of Christ the Life and Light of Men and so indeed it is and now that I have in my first Answer proved and in this second also that Christ is the true Light which lighted every Man that comes into the World is as clear as the Sun But saith this Scoffer at the Light that if he had prov'd that the Quakers Light is Christ c. as if the Quakers Light and the true Light that lighteth every man that cometh into the World were two here we affirm to all the World that we never spoke of any other Light in us but that which all Men are lighted with even Christ a Light to lighten the Gentiles and the Glory of Israel and if this Christ the Light Life Wisdom and Power of God be not in us Governing and Ruling we are Reprobate as well as others according to the whole currant of Scripture which is the Mystery hid from the Rebellious in all Ages and Generations but in all the Obedient Christ within the Hope of Glory and Christ in you except you be Reprobates said Paul and this is our Light wherein our Fellowship stands with God and one with another and this all are Ignorant of who make it their Business to Gainsay him in his second Appearance in the Light and Spirit in which we are to know him to our Souls Salvation if ever we be saved from Sin by him And now what is written in the holy Scripture concerning Christ Jesus his Birth Sufferings Death Resurrection and Ascension we do believe as much as any men living and so I do believe Paul did who said Henceforth know we him no more It is also said by John He that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is born of God Do not the Papists Protestants and all Sects yea even Drunkards and Lyars that are shut out of the Kingdom and all called Christians confess to the truth of God's manifesting himself in the Body of Jesus which he had prepared to do the Will in even from the Birth to the Ascension But will or dares any man say that those are born of God because all those confess God manifested himself in Flesh and this Faith is as much as this Night-Watch-man pleadeth for or doth believe of Christ in point of Justification as his own words witness against him saying But rather in Christ without us for us To which I answer by living Experience That Christ Jesus who offer'd up his Body through the Eternal Spirit and pour'd out his Soul unto Death and tasted Death for every man those his Sufferings have a living Extent unto every one that doth believe and feel the Power by which he laid down that Body and took it up again and these are they unto whom he becomes a Saviour from Sin and gives them an Inheritance into Glory and those which believe only the offering up of the Body and feel not that eternal Power to save from Sin made manifest to them in his spiritual hight cannot have a real Sense and Feeling of the Benefit of his Death whatsoever they may pretend to of Faith in his Blood neither can they have Salvation to their Souls and this is my Answer as a Testimony to the true Faith and Christ of God a Quickning Spirit the same yesterday to day and forever who was Glorified with the Father before the World began from Everlasting to Everlasting the Rock of Ages and so Israel's Rock which they drunk of for they drunk of the Rock which follow'd them which Rock was Christ the Foundation of all the Generations of the Righteous in all Ages Christ
within the Hope of Glory Christ within except you be Reprobate I in them and they in me that they may be one as we are one said Christ Jesus the Light of Men If any Man be in Christ he is a New Creature behold all things are become new new Heart new Mind new Will and new Affections the old Heart in the Earth the new Heart is given to God the old Mind Carnal the new Mind Spiritual the old Will Unsanctified the new Will Sanctified the old Affections in the Earth the new Affections set upon things above the old Conversation is after the Course of this World which lieth in Wickedness the new Conversation is in Heaven where Christ fitteth at the Right hand of God he that can read let him understand And now to his Appeal to the Inhabitants and Magistrates of Dover if I be not a false Man as he saith for my saying They creep into Holes in a Day of Persecution and that our Rock is not as their Rock our Enemies themselves being Judges Reader I have spoken the Truth and I say it here again and I appeal to the Inhabitants of Dover Mayor and Magistrates also unto their own Consciences likewise whether I have wronged them in this at all It is true they were in their Meeting-place interrupted as all were that dissented from the Publick and their Meeting-House Door was locked up by the Mayor's Order and then they or some one for them knocked off the Lock cast it into the Mayor's Porch as if they were valiant Men as the Valiants of Israel and intended to meet again in their own hired Place but whether so or in Despight there lies the Question however they never met there more till the King gave a general Liberty as I said before in the Looking-Glass to see themselves in But we still met said this boaster else-where it is true they did meet but where I said In Corners for which Saying he would make me a Lyar and appeal to the Inhabitants and Rulers to be Judge after a very confident Manner in so false a Matter And now let all the Inhabitants of Dover be judge whether they did not meet so private in Corners since it was hard for people to know either Time or Place and with so much Secrecy that it was sometimes at one part and sometimes at another part of the Town and sometimes in the Country and one while by Five or Six in the Morning and another while in the Evening and at several uncertain Hours of the day Now whether I have wronged them in saying they met in Corners let the Inhabitants of Dover judge for this is a true Relation known well to themselves and others also Now it was evident and known to all that we called Quakers alwayes kept our Meeting-Place the Day and Hour and their Practice of shifting Time and Place into Privacies that they might not be known when nor where was laid hard to us by way of Perswasion to do the like by some much concern'd who were willing that both themselves and we might be saved from Damage but we could neither change Time nor Place and this was our Testimony to all concerned who had Experience of them and us by an Imprisonment in Dover Castle before that time wherein they did but add to our Bands for they were soon gotten out either directly or indirectly by Money given to the then Martial John Slowman which because we could not do for Conscience sake we were born upon much the harder and Sixteen Moneths except Four Dayes were we kept as it were Close Prisoners in a Room called the House of Office with no Chimney in it until the Governour Francis Vincent got an Order from the King to sit us free and this was that he Scoffingly speaks of my seeing through the Stone Walls of Dover Castle where he with others might have been if their Cause had been good and they true Men unto it and then he need not a mocked at my seeing through tee Stone Walls and this Experience with others of the like Nature the Rulers and People of Dover had of them and us And thus I have run through some part of this Night-Watchman's Work and confounded his vain Boasting and my Conscience is Clear and not Seared as he Enviously seems to charge me and here I shall leave him and his dark mind and spirit an absolute Night-Watch man Scoffer and Scorner and proceed to my Testimony to the true Light A True Testimony to the Light and Power of Christ in the Heart ANd that is that God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all and Christ is the Ligt of the World and in him is Life and his Life is the Light of Men and to know God and Christ is Eternal Life and this Life is in the Son and he that hath the Son hath Life and be that hath not the Son hath not Life Now that which is to be known of God and of this Eternal Life is manifested in Man for he hath shew'd it unto Man even the Manifestation of the Spirit of Truth which is given to every Man to profit withall as a Talent or Measure of Knowledge of the Will of God concerning Man of his State and Condition as he stands in the Fall by Sin having fallen short of the Glory of God is given of God unto Man so hath he commanded the Light to shine out of Darkness and hath shin'd into our Hearts to give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God again in the Face of Jesus Christ to wit the Knowledge of the Grace and Truth the Fulness of which dwelt in that Body which the Father had prepared and this Grace and Truth which Man had depriv'd himself of so became Darkness has the Lord in Love to lost Man made appear again by the Name of the Grace of God appearing to all Men and Light shining in the Heart where the Darkness and the Power thereof hath taken Place so now the Grace of God which brings Salvation hath appeared unto all Men teaching us to wit all that believe in it to deny Vngodliness and worldly Lusts and to live soberly and Godlikely in this present evil World Now the Grace that brings Salvation to as many as believe in it is the Condemnation of those which believe not in it for this is the Condemnation that Light Grace is come and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are evil Light shineth in the Heart by it the Lord doth search out the desperate Wickedness thereof and so trieth the Reins that all Men are left without Excuse in his Sight the Talent is given to all Light shines in all Grace and Truth appears to all the Possession of the Glory of God again is tendered to all through the Light which shines in the Heart to give the Knowledge of the Glory of God again in the Face of Jesus Christ who is God's Power to
save from Sin and the power of Darkness and Death which rules more or less in the Hearts of all the Children of Disobedience to the Light and those be they that rebel against the Light they know not the Way thereof neither do they abide in the Path thereof for to him that believes it is a Path shining more and more unto the perfect Day and in it doth the Lord meet with Man thou meetest him that rejoyceth and worketh Righteousness in thy Way and he that is the Light of men is the Way to the Father and he that knows him knows the Father also for he reveals the Glory which none of the Princes of this World by their earthly Wisdom can come to behold or ever could but we behold his Glory say they which had believ'd in the Light and were Children of it which by the wise Men were accounted Accursed and that they knew not the Law and so it is now To you it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven but to others in Parables To you which believe in the Light and so receive the Power to walk in it and know the Way of it the Just Man's Path which is a shining Light and rebels not against it To you is the Father become a Fountain unsealed to you iâ— the Wel-spring of eternal Life opened to you is the Power given tâ—â—ec-me the Sons of God now are we the â—on of God but it doth not yeâ—â—ppear what we shall be now can we call God Father and cry to biâ—â— in â—iving Sense of his bâ—getting Power for dayly Bread that we may be strengthened with might in the inward Man and that his Kingdom may come which comes not by Observation as lo here and lo there neither doth it stand in Words but in Power and consisteth of Righteousness Peace and Joy in the holy Spirit And that you may have Fellowship with us herein is the Travel of our Souls and that you may know him whom the Father hath given to be a Leader and a Commander to all that receive him the Light and quickning Spirit and him that hath this Hope purifies himself as God is pure and hath the Witness in himself by his continuing believing and Walking in the Light where the Spring of Eternal Power is witnessed to become the Sons of God without Rebuke and now if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we Fellowship one with another mark that and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all Sins and this is the Fellowship which the Saints in Light have with God in the Church which is in God and one with another by one Baptism which is our entrance by the one Spirit into the one Body of which Christ Jesus is the Head World without end And this is a Plain Faithfull and True Testimony born through living Experience to the true Light of Christ Jesus which we in scorn called Quakers believe in and declare of to all men in the Love of God and of no other saith Luke Howard Here followeth a few Queries for this Night-Watch-man to Answer according to Scripture before ever he be by his Neighbour searched out the third time and found again as he hath twice been already a raking in the Bottomless Pit to fetch up Matter against the Light of Christ Jesus 1. VVHether the Light of Jesus be not the Light of Men and a Measure of the Spirit of Truth given to every Man as a Talent to profit withal and whether it doth not convince the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and is not the Condemnation of all that believe not in it seeing that the Condemnation is that Light is come into the World and men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are evil II. Whether ever we called Quakers ever declared of or testified to any other Light then that which John called the true Light which lighteth every man that cometh into the World we saying with Paul That God hath shined into our Hearts with it to give us the Light of the Knowledge of the Glory of God in the Face of Jesus Christ and if we or any People else believe not in it then isâ—t not the Condemnation of all such but if we do believe in it we have the Witness in our selves even the Light Life according to the Scriptures which we do believe are to be fulfilled III. Whether all that oppose the Light in the Heart be not Opposers of the Life of Jesus seeing that in him is Life and his Life is the Light of Men and whether all that gain-say and oppose this Light of Jesus be not Fighters against God and Blasphemers against his Temple and the Worshippers therein and so have no part of the Inheritance with Saints in Light IV. What is the Word in the Heart that Man may hear it and do it and what is that Word which is said to be the Name of Christ Jesus the Power and Wisdom of God by which Word we may come to know him who is from Everlasting to Everlasting the same yesterday to day and forever V. What is the Manifestation of the Spirit which is given to every man to profit withal if it be not the Light within and what is the Light which lighteth every Man if it be not the Light within and what is the Quakers Light if it be not that which every Man is lighted with seeing thou makest a Difference crying out The Quakers Light and Wo be to him that walks by the Dark Light of the Quakers VI. What is the Grace of God and where doth it appear which brings Salvation that hath appeared unto all Men mark unto all men if it be not the Light of Christ in the Heart and whether thâ— Quakers have not a share in that Common Grace as well as others seeing it is to all Men then what difference between the Quakers Light and all mens in the first Gift to man VII What is that Leaven which the Woman took and hid in three Measures of Meal until the whole was leavened and what is the Grain of Mustard-Seed which a Man took and sowed in his Field the least of all Grains and grows the greatest of all Hearbs and what are the Fowls of the Air which lodge in the Branches of it And what is the Pearl hid in the Field and what and where is the Field and who is the Merchant Man and what is that he parts with for the Field and how and with what doth he dig deep to find the Pearl And what is the Groat the Woman lost and found again when she had sweeped her House and what is the House and Broom with which she sweeped And what is that Talent the Housholder gave to his Servants and then himself went into a far Country for a time and then at his return again called them to an Account And what is the Draw-Net cast into the
Calm so that in their Root to wit Baptizing into the Faith of Particular Electioners they being false neither Branch nor Fruit can be true but a confused Breed Increase and Body is the very best state they can lay claim unto by their own Rules if the General Opinion and Practice of Lamb and Barber be true of whose Opinion these Baptists in Kent profess now to be of though they did arise from the particular Root and devoutly preach't it up as if they were Naturaliz'd into the Root of the General by Baptism and so make Proselites to themselves in that which they know not whereof they do affirm not being Spiritually Baptiz'd into the Vniversal Love of God and so you Leaders of this People cause them to err and they that are led by you are destroyed for where the Blind lead the Blind all must needs fall into the Ditch and when they are proselited to hold Truth in Vnrighâ—eousness they are made two-fold more the Children of Hell then they were before because they are now covered with a Profession without Life which God's Spirit leads not to but mans Traditions as before proved by their false Baptism And here many simple Ones think themselves in their state to be Rich and Full because they can now say something for their Opinion as they have leavned of their Leaders when as they are Poor Blind and Naked and as empty of the Spirit of Life to lead as ever they were in dayes past and as ignorant of the One Lord and One Baptism by One Spirit into the One Body whereof Christ Jesus is the Head as ever they were because the Root and Foundation of their standing is rotten and laid in Babel and Confusion and all this appears sufficiently unto those whose Eyes are opened by the Eye-salve of Jesus who counsels all to buy of him Eye-salve that they may see to wit themselves in the Fall and him who is the Light a Quickening Spirit to redeem up to God out of the Fall and all such behold and understand things which differ and can see the Ground and Root of you and of the Bitterness which remains in you Carnal Baptists against the Spiritual Apâ—eatance and Light of Jesus and the Truth professed in it by the People of God called Quakers Oh! the height of Enmity and Abomination of Cruelty which lodgeth in the Hearts of some of your proud Leaders who call the Scripture their Rule and yet walk so contrary to it for doth it not say Do unto all Men as you would they should do unto you which in many things you do not as in your Printing and Publishing Forgeries and Falshoods and the Miscarriages of some who never were established amongst us but since denied by us do you not hereby seek to cast Dirt upon us all in your Pamphlets as if it were a thing of yesterday and allowed of by us at this time Cannot you see your Envy and great Hypocrisie in this thing For do not you know who are the Authors of that Story that it is about Ten Years ago that Charles Baily was a Prisoner in Dover And do not you know in your own Consciences that he hath been by us call'd Quakers deny'd for many Years And is he not then to us as a Stranger or Heathen man according to the Scriptures And what is that in you that lays his Miscarriages to our Charge now is not that against the Scriptures which you call your Rule And besides you belye him too in some things as bad as he was and so you shew your spirit to all men and especially to the Wise in Heart who will forever conclude you to be as you are and that he is not to be accounted of us nor his Actions laid to our Charge as you envious People have done you were moved to do it but surely you were so moved in Envy as were Josephs Brethren when they sold him into Egypt it was a Murdering Motion at the best of it but God was with him to their Shame and Confusion of Face in due time and so is he with us and I do believe though you do not now Blush yet you shall Blush and be Ashamed when the Fruits of your own doings shall correct your Folly For what have you to glory in but your own Shame If we should look back among your Society as you deserve what might be said as many of you well know and some pretended Leaders too Thou that saith another should not Steal dost thou Steal here read your selves but for the sake of the Simple I shall not here inlarge yet suffer a little to be said concerning N. Woodman aforesaid who was the first Baptist-Preacher and Dipper reared up in this County of Kent from whence your Rice is whose Evils I will not lay to the charge of the Vnconcerned in this matter but to speak a little to inform you which know not your Root and Rice which before is call'd Babel and Confusion and rotten and now judge your selves if it were not so for there be many yet living which know the Truth of this following Discourse and much more This Woodman took to Wife and honest sober widdow Woman in Dover named Katherine Brown who lived in good fashion in the Town and for his Profession's sake married him who in idleness spent her Means and then abused her Body with many Blows when he had her in the wide Fields in the Wilde of Kent then would he leave her there to shift for her self and himself go from Place to Place to preach up Water-baptism of whose with more since his time filthy unheard of Abominations both in spirit and practice there might be more said then you can say of C. Baily as some of your selves well know which we are not willing to relate in Print except provoked to it by your hereafter Carriages Now C. Baily we are as clear of as we are of you in the sight of God and Wise Men and as clear as the Churches were of them denied by them in the Primitive Times of which the Scripture is a full Witness for us and against you in this Case unto your great shame in putting forth this your Folly in Print of Ten Years conceivings Now this Man your Root and from whence you rose was not in his day inferior to any of you in preaching the Scripture words without Life as you do and in getting Disciples to him as you do but his Folly was made manifest as yours in due time will also be who through feigned words deceive the Hearts of the Simple and make them two fold more the Children of Hell then they were before they came amongst you as said Christ Jesus to the Pharisees in whose steps you are found with the Sheep's Clothing but in the Wolves Nature inwardly ravening and so your Righteousness doth not exceed theirs because the Ravening and Murdering Nature is standing in you as in them which can look seven eight or ten
for want of power laying to our charge his spirit which we have deny'd ten years ago O ye Fools so soon as ever the King gives you a little Liberty to meet where you were afraid of man to meet but a little time since and so crept into Corâ—ers is this the glorious beautifullest Fruit you have to appear with surely this is not the Wisdom which is from Above which is â—irst Pure then Peaceable and easie to be entreated but that wisdom which is from Beneath where the Serpent's life is which is earthly sensual and devilish which bites at the Heel Surely Dust is and shall â—e the Serpents meat and upon his Belly shall he go all the days of his life â—ere read your selves if you can understand what it means saith â—e who is a true Friend to all mens Eternal Peace Dover the 9th day of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard A Postscript This Baptist Pastor and as many of his Flock as are of his mind would have all people to believe That the spirit by which C. B. was acted when he hâ—d err'd in his heart from God was and is the spirit by which all the Quakers are led by as the very Principle of their Religion This is the thing which his printing is for to possess people with a Belief of and he thinks in his Serpent's Wisdom that he hath made it sure enough in saying That he was owned an eminent Quaker at the time of his Imprisenment and running out to which I have Answered already how he was then looked upon by Friends whom he reputes to be a Poor Misâ—led and Deluded People but in that Way which he accounts Delusion to wâ—t Believing in the Light of Jesus which shines in the Heart and 〈◊〉 manifest in every mans Conscience do we worship God in even in thâ—â—â—pâ—â—it and in the Truth which the Devilis out of and all which do his works of Envy And therefore something is yet in my Heart to sâ—eâ—k t◠〈◊〉 spirit of Envy in the Baptist Pastor as he stiles himself and that on thâ— wise Christ Jesus was glorified with the Father before the World was and in time manifested to the World in that Body which the Father had prepared him to do his Will in whose Name is call'd the Word of God by which the World was made who took upon him the Seed of 〈◊〉 and declar'd to be the Son of David according to the Flesh but â—he Son of God according to the Spirit by the Resurrection from the deaâ— who had all Power in Heaven and Earth given to him by which he gave Commission to his Apostles or Messengers to Baptize into the Name of the Father Son and Holy Ghost which is into the Nature and Life of each which is one divine Nature and these three being one in Nature and Beeing and every one which is herein baptized knows the Father and the Son bâ— the Spirit which to know is eternal Life which is to increase in which they also know John's Ministry and Baptism which was to decrease else there must be two perpetual Baptisms but there is one Lord one Faith and one Baptism which is to be contended for and lived in by all who are of the true Church which is in God the Father of Spirits and of our Lord Jesus Christ the second Adam the Quickning Spirit the Lord from Heaven who in his Body prepared him to do the Will of God in went up and down doing good and chose Twelve and one of them was a Devil not a Devil when he chose him Mark that for when he had part of the Ministry then a Servant of God but he erred in his heart and fell away and it was said Let his Habitation be desolate and let no man dwell therein and his Charge let another take What now Baptist Pastor wouldst thou not here have judged all because he walked and professed among the rest of the Disciples and yet afterwards in eating and drinking with them was called a Devil by him that had chosen him into his Service before in which he had so walked that each Disciple was ready to question himself Is it I and Is it I here would not thy spirit have said Ah! you are all alike led by one spirit here see thy spirit and face thou blind Pastor And Peter he deny'd his Master and cursed and swore he knew him not would not thy enviâ—us spirit have said Ah! they are all alike and led by one spirit for all â—hey have been a preaching up the Light yet would not thy Pharisaical â—pirit have condemned all for Peter and though he found a place of Repentance what is that to thee and thy judgment against the Truth in this â—ase for Judas found no more place then C. B hath yet found and â—et he had a part and might be and was reckoned a Disciple as well by â—he rest of the Disciples as C. B. was reckened a Quaker by some of the Quakers for to some he was manifest as I said before though you Baptists knew is not And then Demas he forsook Paul and embraced â—he present World what wouldst thou have said less then Ah! they are â—ll alike led by one spirit let them profess what they will for those â—hich said the Apostles turn'd a the World up-side down and contradicted â—nd blasphemed their Doctrine What do you Baptists in this your Work â—iffer from them And those which had the Form and not the Power â—hich were to be turned away from what would thy Jewish spirit â—ave said Ah! they are all alike led by one spirit for they speak â—like and act alike as this blind Pastor said Charles Baily did â—â—st as the Quakers in all things both in Words and Actions â—herefore all one spirit said he And then John said They went â—ut from us because they were not of us that it might be made â—anifest they were not all of Us He doth not say They had never â—een among them Mark that but They were not of them â—ere wouldst not thou have been the Accuser of the Brethren and in â—nvy have been ready to have â—rinted against them and have â—aked Ten Years back to have proved them that went out from them to have been of them at such a time and at such a time and especially at that time when they held out their Golden Cup of Profession in good words as you do Here may you see your selves if the God of this World hath not blinded your Eyes And then in the Churches there was some Fault found with the most of them in some things if thou Pastor of Dover-Baptists hadst been in those dayes and heard of it would not this thy spirit have said It is all their Principles and one spirit leads them all as thou dost say concerning the Quakers against whom thou watchest for Evil both in words and action and then bringst it forth Ten Years after it is done so much out of Time that it
was high time it had been buried long since that it might have been rotten before now but now to Print such long-past things shews thy spirit and thy self to be but a Woolf in the Sheep's Clothing and so a very unfit Pastor to over-look a Flock and especially the Flock of Christ when thou art alwayes a snarling at our Heels as the Serpent's Nature is bringing back Blows of Ten Years old and of that which we are no more to be charged with then the Saints of old as before declared might be with the false spirits which were once amongst them and then went out into the World as C. Baily is gone Now all had a beginning of the Work in themselves before they went out from the Church and at the first appearance of that spirits working in the Mâ—stery of Iniquity and transforming of it self as an Angel of Lâ—ght for to â—udge a whole Body and Church of People to be all led by that spirit is not this to be the Accuser of the Brethren and especially when that people deny testifie against that spirit in due time as you Baptists know in your own Conscience we have done is not this Wickednesâ— and Envâ— drunk in by you as an Ox drinks in Water and surelâ— if you had not made your selves drunk with the Whore's Cup of Abominations you must needs have been Wiser Men but having drank deep the dreggs so stick in your Throats that makes you thus vomit up your own shame and that Nature nothing will clense you of short of the Divine Name of Christ Jesus which leadeth to God but you in the Old Man's Nature and Envious Holiness can get the words to talk of and profess in the Ravening Nature feâ—ching up such old Matter against the Quakers of Ten Years standing and Print it as if People should believe it were now our Principle Spirit and Practice against which with the Pastor and his Flock which have a hand or consent to it we have a Testimony for the Lord to bare in the Truth which is Christ Jesus our Light and Life For he that hath the Son hath Life and he that hath not the Son hath not Life he which hath the Son hath the Father also unto whom be Everlasting Praise And blessed are they which are not offended in Christ Jesus the Light of men who is the Foundation that God has laid and chief Corner-stone of this Age as in Ages past though the wise Master-builders refuse now to build thereon as the Generations of old did but now is the Lord a taking of the Wise in their own Craftiness with the little Foxes which destroy the Vineyard from and by whom Offences come but We be to them by whom they come because if they do not fall on this stone Christ Jesus and so be broken to pieces it will certainly fall on them and grind them to powder when there shall be none to deliver Therefore the Wise in Heart will prize their time whilst it is called to day and whilst they have the Light to believe in it that so they may be the Children of it lest darkness comes upon them and so their feet stumble upon the dark Mountains even at noon day for Light was in Goshen when Darkness was and is in Egypt even such darkness as may be felt of Sodom and Egypt spiritually so called where our Lord was and is Crucified he that can read let him understand and prize his day and live to God and not to himself that so in all things God may he glorified in all and through all and over all who is Blessed forever and forever Amen saith The 14th of the 5th Moneth 1672. Luke Howard THE Water-Baptists Reproach REPELD Being A further REPLY Answering a Defence of R. Hobbs to his pretended Impartial Narrative of one C. Bayly hereto a pretended Quaker A Story of 11 years standing IN Defence of an Answer to the said Narrative clearing the People call'd Quakers of the Water-Baptist's Calumny and Abuse blabbed out against them By T. R. Printed in the Year 1673. TO THE Impartial Reader HAving lately read a Pamphlet whose Epistle to his Reader is subscribed Richard Hobbs weighed the Arguments and consider'd the Tendency of that Discourse I could do no less then write a few Lines as reasonâ—ble Remarks upon it The Piece is averred by the Author to be a Sober Reply to Luke Howard which had the Author perform'd he neither had thus abused thee nor occasion'd me this Trouble And truly Reader I must tell thee I have not often met with more Impertinency or Abuse wrapt up in so small a Fardle which confirms me that the Promise of a Sober Reply in the Front of his Pamphlet was to Gild the Poyson-Pill to swallow the more glib without which Artifice I doubt not but he 's sufficiently sensible the Palate of this Age would not easily touch much less take his Potion How considerable Richard Hobbs is amongst his Brethren I determine not but as a Prâ—acher and Water dipper at Dover amongst them of his Perswasiâ—n he is exercised and has been for some years past and writ a Supplement to a strange Prodigy or Miracle pretended to be wrought by his brother R. James a Preaching Dipper or Water-Baptist in Lincolnshire The first piece of Abuse I mean that out of Lincoloâ—shire presentâ— the World with a Miracle and I must say a strange one too a Leprosie and diseased Family miraculously cured by them whose known and owned Belief and Principle are that Miracles are ceased which exceeds the very Power of Christ's Apostles that could not so much as cure the Lunatick having not Faith Mat. 17.16 17. And gain that they should he so kind to a Quaker and his Family as to cure them whom of all Persons they hate and which of all Persons they say have not Faith is beyond all Bounds of Romance And this usher'd in as a late piece of strange Providence and Finger of Heaven of few days or weeks standing before publication although the Cheat was Eight or Nine some say Twelve Years past acted by those Water-Baptists and now brought to light to their Shame and their Sophistry discovered by W. S. in Answer to Ralph James his Subterfuge c. to which I refer the Enquirer But to return to R. H. whose Sober piece as he would insinuate it to be I have now under hand and shall as a Friendly Reader to whom he directs his Defence of a pretended Narrative formerly publish'd concerning Charles Bayly sometimes a Prisoner in Dover make such reasonable Remarks and Observations as may give thee to understand the Author's Drift and Depth in his former and renewed appearing in Print against us and by which the Impartial and Vnprejudiced may judge Whether it be a Sober Râ—ply or an Envious Retort to his Opponent whether writ in Love or in â—â—â—roach whether in solid and sound Judgment or an airy and corrupt Mina And I affirm the Matter will