the Hypocrites in former ages did and have no more answer from God then they had for we know that God heareth not sinners but if any man do his will him he heareth John 9. 31. Now if this Scripture be true what is all these mens Prayers worth who both are sinners and can never beleive they shall be otherwise in this life this is a degree of unbeleif beyond what ever I read of among the Jews therefore such we can never receive as Ministers of Christ who hath no more faith in him but we do renounce them as a faithless Generation who cannot please God in these their Prayers being not in faith for without faith it is impossible to please God Heb. 11. 6 So it is far contrary to justice and right reason to persecute us for coming out from such whose works declares to all men that their faith is not according to their words and this is the only cause for which we have undergone such afflictions this many years and not only that we have or do deny any thing that is sound truth either in the Common Prayer book as it is now established or in any other way of worship for it is not unknown to many thousands what our lives practises and principles are both in things appeartaining to God and also in civil things amongst men So it is and will be very ridiculous to persecute us under the notion of Heriticks when it is so manifestly contrary In another of their Prayers They desire God to shine into their hearts that the night and darknes of sin and the mists of errors on every side driven away he brightly shining within their hearts they may all their life space go without stumbling or offence and may decently and seemingly walk as in the daytime being pure and clean from the works of darkness Let all who reads over these lines with a single eye judge how far these men are from beleiving what they here desire for if men by the light of God shining within their hearts can go all their life space without stumbling or offence why is the Quakers persecuted for holding forth this light for all people to be guided by do we think that the Common-Prayer Readers of these times will own this if so why do they so much condemne it in Pulpit and Press if not why do they profess it with their mouths when their hearts are so far from the beleif thereof this is but feigned humility and will-worship which is double Hypocrisie so either they must deny their own words in all these foregoing Prayers or else they must acknowledge the Quakers holds more of the sound truths in the Book of Common-Prayer then they themselves do in principle and practise and therefore for shame give over persecuting of them and reprove the Priests for their confusion and hypocrisie and unbeleif that they may repent thereof if the day of long-suffering be not over for many hath been turned aside through their inchantments from the way of truth and life which the Lord hath set before them Therefore by the Law of God and the King they are not to be upheld nor protected in their hypocrisie and wil-worship being utterly repugnant to the sound truthes in the Common-Prayer book which by law is established In the Collect for the 19th Sunday after Trinity Wherein they desire the Lord mercifully to grant that his holy spirit may in all things direct and rule their hearts c. This hath been counted absurd also in the Quakers to beleive any such thing as the spirit of God to direct and rule their hearts in all things oh how they have been abused by the Priests and their followers for owing what is prayed for in this Collect and if it be the mercy of God to grant his holy spirit to direct and rule the hearts of his people in all things then why are such made a prey upon unto whom God hath shewed this mercy in giving them his holy spirit to direct and rule them in all things who are not under the Law of God neither hath it power over them Gal. â— 18. much less ought the penalties of the Law of man to be inflicted upon them yet such now are and in all ages have been oppressed by the Lawes decrees and constitutions of men who erred from this spirit though they professed it in words because such who were guided by this spirit in all things could never walk answerable to their wills witness the Apostles who were guided by this spirit Acts 5. 28. 29. witness the three children who was directed with the spirit of God Dan. 3. witness Mordecai Esther 5. 9. and a cloud of witnesses more in the Scriptures So here again the Quakers life and doctrine are answerable to the truth here inserted and the Priests manifestly contrary In the Collect for the 21. Sunday after Trinity Wherein they desire God to grant unto his faithful people pardon and peace that they may be cleansed from all their sins and serve God with a quiet minde Again this is as far from the Priests faith as the east is from the West for if it be possible for men to be cleansed from all their sins and serve God with a quiet mind according to this Prayer how will this sute with the Priests doctrine who saith men cannot be cleansed from all their sins nor never come to peace here but must be in a continual warfare as long as they live and consequently not serve God with a quiet mind according to this Collect I suppose their faith is much repugnant to this if they were throughly examined yet notwithstanding they make use of these Prayers and sentences now for their gain and for fear of punishment yet I verily beleive there is not one among 500 of them that beselves ever to receive these things praied for while they live for what is counted more absurd at this day then for any to beleive that they can be cleansed from all their sins and serve God with a quiet mind yet these very men that cries out blasphemy against such and tell them they need no Saviour as the Priests hath often said of the Quakers will pray for the attainment of these things aforementioned therefore let all Gods faithful people judge how feigned formal Hypocritical and faithless their praiers are which can never enter into the ears of the Lord of Sabboths who only hath respect unto the righteous and his ear is open to their cry Psal 34. 15. but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil to cut off the remembrance of them from the earth ver 16. If this be true as certain it is then the Prayers of these sinful men are an abominable sacrifice which is neither heard nor regarded by the Lord nor his people but here also let the Quakers and the Priests be laid in the ballance together and see whether is more equivolent to Scriptural truth in the Book of Common-Prayer
A true Prospect For the BISHOPS Priests and Deasons And all other within the jurisdiction of the Church of England who are Professors of the Common Prayer through which they may see how far they are short in Faith Principle and practise of divers sound truths therein specified Also the proper right of the Quakers to divers good things therein vindicated and pleaded for which no other people upon the earth can justly challenge And instead of being persecuted the Quakers ought to be protected by the Laws of King Edward the sixt Queen Eliz. Charles the 1st and Charles the Second which established the book of Common-Prayer in Equity and Right Reason which is the life of all just Lawes VVhereunto is annexed divers of the Priests practises for which they have no proof in the Scripture Published by a lover of truth and Righteousness where ever it appears known by the name of Ambrose Rigg And this is the confidence that we have in God that if we aske any thing according to his will he heareth 〈◊〉 John 5. 14. But let him aske in Faith nothing wavering for he that wavereth is like a Wave of the Sea driven with the winds and to sâ—ed Jam. 1. 6. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing from God Verse 7. Printed for M. W. To the moderate and Courteous READER MY principle end and aime in this small Treatise is to set forth and vindicate the sound and antient Truth in the Common-Prayer Book as it is now established and to bring the same forth as the Sun from under the Clouds that they may shine in brightness to the ends of the earth which thou wilt find true if thou reade over this small book with a single eye and not stumble at my plain down-right dealing with the men who so much cries up that book at this day and yet cannot away with those who answers the same in life and practise even every particular thereof which is gathered out of the Scriptures and onely denies those things and them for practising those things which are not taken out of the Scripture wherein doth lye the great difference between them at this day wherein the Lord is bringing to light many things which long hath laid hid and vaild in secret and is revealing the Mysteries of his Kingdome unto his sons and daughters servants and handmaids And all Superstition and superstitious Ceremonies he will utterly deface and demolish though never so strongly fortified outwardly and will set up his own righteousness and way of worship which is in spirit and truth according to the testimony of his Son in former Ages Iohn 4. 24. In which alone he will manifest his love power presence and vertue unto mankind again in the way of their recovery from the snares of death and darkness under which their souls have long mourned that they may set forth his noble Acts and declare his wondrous works unto generations to come And for this cause he hath raised up many at this day to testifie unto his Name and power and is leading them from one Nation to another people 〈◊〉 testimony unto his Son who is come into the world to save sinners and to finish transgression in the earth that his praise may be perfected among the Sons of men and he will suffer one Potshard of the earth to dash in pieces another until this be accomplished and no weapon formed against this decree shall prosper for this is that cause for which he ever appeared in any age and time whatsoever and for which he hath manifestly appeared in divers manners in this our age and hath overturned many high Mountains of the earth that he might fully vindicate his own truth where ever it appeareth without respect to rich or poor bond or free male or female high or low but in every Nation they who fear him and work righteousness he will accept that no flesh may glory before him who is rich in mercy and tender in compassion to all who early seek his face inrighteousness Therefore be not rash nor inconsiderate in these things which are of great moment but weigh every sentence in the ballance of equity so wilt thou come to a right understanding of the truth herein declared And my end is not in this treatise that the Priests who so grosly abuses their own principles and Prayers should be destroyed with a carnal weapon for my weapon to them is not carnal but that they may come to repentance and find mercy with the Lord and that the people may be truly founded upon the Rock of Ages never more to slide nor fall and for this doth my soul travail in suffering and heavinesse even to this day waiting for the promotion of that truth spoken of in the book of Common Prayer which the Scriptures of the Prophets Christ and the Apostles bears witness unto in patience induring all things till the words of God be fulfilled written the 22. day of the 4th month 1663. Who am a lover of Righteousnesse and truth and a sufferer for the same Called Ambrose Rigge A true prospect for the Bishops Priests and Deacons and all other within the Jurisdiction of the Church of England c. GOd who in the beginning made man upright in his own image and likeness and gave him life and dominion over death and darkness and the power thereof making him an instrument to shew forth his praise and glory in the earth far above any other living creature which his hand made In which dominion and life while man stood he had the blessing and presence of Almighty God upon him and with him and had perfect dominion over all the Beasts of the field and the Fowls of the Aire and knew no sin neither curse death nor darkness but stood in perfect freedome as the son and heir of God in whom God had more delight then any other creature which he made insomuch that he set him in that place in which his chiefest delight was that he might dress it and keep it for his Creator to walk in where also was the tree of life which yielded food to man so that he was altogether unsencible of any misery sorrow or tribulation of body or soul neither was he in bondage to any creature but Lord and Ruler over all the whole creation according to the word of the Lord Gen. 1. 28. in which free covenant of life he perfectly stood till the Serpent grudged his glory and in the envy sowed a cursed seed which took root in his heart since which time hath brought forth many wicked branches which hath long cumbred the ground And for receiving this and disobeying the word of the Lord he was disthroned from all his glory and was exposed to all misery and cursedness of body and soul with all his seed end race after him and was driven into the earth from the presence of the Lord and then was altogether unsencible of life and immortallity with God
doctrine and conversation In the Communion upon the Feast of Trinity They pray that their sinful bodies may be made clean by the body of Christ and their souls washed through his pretious blood and that they may evermore dwell in him and he in them c. Here again is that confessed in words and prayed for which the Quakers hath long travelled and laboured to see accomplished who hath been long cried against as absurd and Heretical for affirming that they dwelt in Christ and he he dwelt in them which is no more then this Collect plainly holds forth and for saying they were washed by his pretious blood by the chief Priests and Rulers of this generation as many can witness yet they themselves can confess such things in words though in works they wholly deny them and not onely so but stirs up the Rulers to persecute all those who practise the same in life and conversation if they will not bow to every ceremony which they have woven in amongst the sound truths which will remain for ever as living witnesses against them and their Idols And therefore the Quakers do own what is truth in the Common-Prayer and what is collected out of the Scripture of truth which they practised and lived in and suffered for when they who now so highly magnifies the Common-Prayer durst not shew themselves but now for their own bellies extols that which they will as much cry against if another thing arise In their Prayer before sprinkling of Infants They pray That all carnal affections may dye in them and that all things belonging to the spirit may live and grow in them and that the new man may be raised up in them In this Prayer is several good things if rightly applyed and understood but whether they now who are Minsters and hearers of the Common-Prayer either knowes what they ask or beleives that ever they shall receive what they pray for is greatly questionable their principles being so much for a body of sin to be in young and old while they live on the earth which is not death but life to all carnal affections and death to all things belonging to the spirit and to the raising up of the new man which cannot be raised up in any nor put on but as the old man is put off with his deeds which is the body of sin In their Prayer for Sunday They desire the Lord to grant them his holy spirit to bear witnesse with their spirits that they being his children and heirs of his kingdome and that by the operation of the same spirit they may kill all carnal lusts and unlawful pleasures concupicences and evil affections contrary to his will What man or people can be more perfect before the Lord then they who come to attain all those things here desired which is the highest degree of perfection for if all carnal lusts and unlawful pleasures concupissences and evil affections be killed the ground and root of all â—â—n is killed and there can be no more living in sin nor branches of the same for where the root of sin is killed the branches cannot remain but if many in this age who now reads over these prayers would but recollect their memories they would perceive that those prayers is not sutable to their faith and so cannot be an acceptable sacrifice to God out of their mouthes Prov. 15. 8. and 27. neither can they ever receive those things they pray for unless they had more faith in the asking of them so whether the Quakers or they have more right to those Prayers let them who best knowes their lives and doctrines only judge In their prayer for the morning They desire Christ to take them into his tuition ruling and governing them with his holy spirit that all manner of darkness and all carnal affections may be utterly chased and driven out of their hearts and that they may be justified and saved both in body and soul If any should ask one of these Metamorphosed men called Ministers if they do beleive that all these things desired can be received while they are in the body they would say no I verily beleive it is so common with them to plead for Satans kingdome to stand while people live upon the earth and so hath kept thousands from being justified or saved either in body or spirit as by sad experience we have seen overthrowing the faith of many through cunning devised Fables which hath been more pleaded for then the sound truths therein prescribed for if it be asked any of them for what the Quakers are persecuted their answer is presently because they will not come to Church nor be conformable to the ceremonies thereof or some such like frivolous thing which hath no strength nor authority in it nor is of substance to convince any that they err in this so long as they retain the antient truths declared and testified unto in the Scripture of truth which their persecutors have erred from in principle and practise and therefore the Quakers denies them and all their inventions and are come out from among them according to the word of the Lord Isa 52. 11. 2 Cor. 6. 17. In another of their Prayers for the morning They desire Christ to shine into their minds that they may not any where stumble nor fall into any sin Here is the light within prayed for to guide them out of stumbling and falling into any sin which is a principle that they have cried against this several years counting it heresy to acknowledge a light to shine in peoples minds to guide them out of stumbling nay they have been so far from beleiving that this light would keep them from falling into any sin that they have leavened all people with the contrary mind that will beleive them so here again their faith and their Prayers are as much opposite one to another as light is to darkness and therefore the Quakers hath good grounds to deny them they certainly knowing that such sacrifices did alwayes stinck in the nostrils of the Lord and though they make many Prayers he will not hear because their hands is full of blood Isa 1. 14. 15. Pro. 1. 28. Jer. 14. 12. and their fingers is polluted with iniquity and they can never beleive any other thing but that people must continue in sin during life and so manifests themselves to be such as Iames spoke unto Ia. 4. 3. In their Prayer for Wednesday They pray that they may overcome the chief enemies of their Souls viz. the desires of the world and the pleasures of the flesh and the Suggestions of the wicked spirit according to their promise in Baptisme In this prayer is many good weighty things desired if the desirers had but faith as a grain of Mustard seed these mountains before mentioned would be removed and cast into the Sea never more to arise Mat. 17. 20. but while they remain in unbeleif they may pray and use many vain repetitions as