distinguished from other people by the name of Quaker did ever either in Bristol or elsewhere either publikely or privately speak utter or declare these or any such like words and therefore be it hereby known unto thee who art our accuser and to all that own thee and to all people wheresoever this shall come that thou art hereby charged and required to bring forth the Author or Authors of this false accusation which thou call'st credible testimony that so the whole sum of this matter may be found out to the end that those who are guilty may be discovered and their wickedness disclosed that to shame they may be brought and from them and their wickedness all that fear God may turn away and of them beware and also that the innocent may be cleared and the truth vindicated and for this cause chiefly it was that publike inquiry was made after thy Name to the end the truth of this matter may be known and therefore if thou shalt refuse thus to do then in the presence of the Lord God upon thy own head shall this false accusation be charged to stand for ever and all that either own thee or believe what thou hast said and shall not endeavour to bring this matter to a just tryal are not onely willing to be deceived by thee but also guilty of thy most abominable wickedness therefore until thou hast done according to what I have said this also shall be numbred amongst the rest of thy lyes and false accusations But it seems though thou hast done with T. S. thou haft not emptyed out all the abominable broth out of thy boiling pot or unclean vessel under which the fire of Envy doth continually burn but John Collins must also have a part of it something to asswage thy malice and allay thy burning heat and although thou canst not touch him concerning any thing which he hath written yet thou wilt assault him with a company of lyes and false accusations which thou hast mustered up against him which should they be severed from the rest of that wch thou hast written there would remain very little to be answered unto But I shal not need to trace thee in all thy crooked waies and by-pathes I having alreadie sufficientlie laid thee open and discovered thy follie and wicked lying spirit to all who have an eie open to see thee therefore I shall speak brieflie to some particulars and so conclude Thou saist He confesseth he was one with you in the form of Truth But where is that confession I am sure he doth not say any such thing in that Book to which this sheet of thine is a pretended Answer nor I think no where else For it is a very easie matter to prove that you are neither in the form nor power of Truth but out of both But this he confesseth That he was owned a Brother by you whilst running into the same excess of riot but since in mercie visited he hath been hated and despitefullie used by some of you which is not the Form of Truth to use any one despitefullie Thou saist A day will come that John Collins and others shall not boast of their gain in leaving you when they shall know it to be the saddest seperation that ever they made And yet thou saist in the same Paper over and besides all the great wickednesses reigning abominations and apparent iniquities whereof you confess your selves to be guiltie in your Tiverton-Epistle Thou knowest that you are bad and that you need purging and more of the sence of the evil of your own hearts and that you need a lamentation c. And wouldst thou perswade J. C. or any other that ever they shall repent their leaving you or repent that the Lord hath seperated them from such a companie Verilie when ever they look back upon you and remember the deliverance that the Lord hath wrought for them in seperating them from amongst you they have as much cause to rejoice if not more then Lot had when he escaped out of Sodom or the Israelites when delivered from Aegyptian darkness and bondage Thou saist They have seperated themsslves from the Law and Word of Truth I say They are seperated from a companie of hypocrites who have cast the Law of Truth behind their backs and have hated instruction and rebelled against the light following their vain imaginations which they call Ordinances of Christ who confess they have delighted to confess and to word it out with the Lord and presently forget what manner of men and women they were and think no more on their prayers and so have mocked God often it is from such they are seperated But to the Word of Truth which is Christ the light of the World are they turned and his Law which is light which is written in the heart have they received and the Word at which you stumble is a lanthorn to their feet and a light unto their pathes who in times past did wander with you in dark and sollitarie places and in the valley of the shadow of death stumbling upon the dark and barren Mountains wandering from Mountain to Hill after those who cryed Lo here and lo there and where you are yet wandering in your vain imaginations who knows not the Law nor Word of Truth Thou saist If you could or dare to lye as fast as they you could quickly be as perfect and as free from sin as they c. I say Witness T. Colliers Writings and this Sheet of thine whether you dare to lie or no I verilie believe more impudent Liars did never appear in Print and you have attained to as great a measure of perfection in that part of your Fathers Work who was a Liar from the beginning and the Father of it as any people that ever I heard of who pretend they plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ But this is not our waie of perfection or freedom from sin it is Christ the Truth and the Light that is our waie of perfection and by him alone it is that we have freedom and remission of sins not through lying though you make use of that waie to cover your selves in your sins but the light hath discovered you your bed is too short and your covering too narrow Your iniquities are apparent and your abominations and transgressions cannot be hid and the day is come wherein your refuge of lyes unto which you have leaned and into which you have fled for shelter from the stroke of truth must be swept away Thou saist Heaven and Earth and our own consciences doth witness that what T. C. hath written concerning our principles is truth To which I say That both Heaven and Earth and the Witness of Truth in our own consciences doth testifie against thee that thou art a most abominable Lyar and a false Accuser and were not thy conscience seared thou wouldst tremble to utter such damnable lyes but know assuredlie that the righteous God will bring thee
AN EQUAL BALLANCE WHEREIN The Ministers and Churches of of the Anabaptists so called are truly weighed c. ALthough many are risen up in this Age and Generation and are joined in confederacy to make war with the Lamb and his followers who hath both with Tongue and Pen set themselves to oppose gain-say and resist the Truth and to raise all manner of false reports and slanders which their wicked hearts can imagine to cast upon it and upon those who in sincerity of heart walk in it thereby to affright the ignorant and deceive the simple lest they should turn from their wickedness and be converted and be healed and so even shut the Kingdom of heaven against men neither entring in themselves nor suffer those to go in that would yet amongst them all I have not observed any more desperately wicked and notoriously impudent then the forementioned Author hath manifested himself in a sheet of Paper as one indeed past feeling given up to a reprobate mind as if his conscience were double seared or as one that cannot blush vvhen he hath done vvickedly neither is it pleasant to me to meddle vvith such noysom stuff or the foame of such an unclean spirit vvho like the raging sea casts up mire and dirt even foaming out his ovvn shame but having considered the said Paper and finding it stuft vvith such notorious lyes and abominable falshoods and in particular one most horrible false Accusation to vvhich I shall speak more particularly in its proper place and knovving it meet that such a forger of lyes should not be hid nor pass without rebuke and also that the truth might be cleared from those false aspersions cast upon it and in love and tenderness towards them who are at present deceived by the lyes and by the lightness of those who usurp Authority over them by whom their hands are strengthened in wickedness so that they cannot return from the evil of their wayes that they might come to see the gross hypocrisie and palpable deceit of those by whom they are now led captive and so come to be redeemed out of the snares of the Devil and come to hear the voice of the true Shepherd and particularly to discover to them the impudency and wickedness of the said Author who hath most maliciously with his venemous Asp-poysoned tongue struck at the innocent and under lyes and falshoods hath endeavoured to hide and cover himself in the absence of Thomas Salthouse For the Truth's vindication I was câ—nstrained to write something in answer to it and although the Author hath so maliciously and wickedly slandered and reproached Thomas Salthouse and others in his said Paper yet I shall not make it my work to vindicate Persons but Truth which is chiefly my aim and end in this undertaking and in clearing the truth from those false Aspersions Reproaches Lyes and Slanders which the said Author hath cast upon it the innocency of those at whom in particular he strikes will not onely be clearly vindicated but also his own folly and wickedness be fully manifested who probably to hide himself from the light hath refufed to subscribe his Name to his Paper which renders it in the esteem of all people of understanding to be of no credit and to be reputed as a slanderous Libel His main work in his Paper wherein he hath so wickedly and impudently slandered and falsly accused the innocent seems to be a Vindication of Thomas Collier and though he hath not named himself yet by his Work he hath manifested himself to be in the same nature with T. C. if not in the same person for whoever hath viewed the Writings of T. C. especially those in which he hath set himself to resist and speak evil of the Truth and the right wayes of God namely his Dialogue his Looking-Glasse so called his Answer to T. S. his Epistle c. compared with this sheet of Paper might almost conclude by the method which he follows That this also is his Work for impudency and lyes are the strength of his Arguments and his own affirmations offered for proof of his Assertions when it is but the same lye told over again onely this last seems to come forth with more impudency then the former as if he had now poured forth some of the very bottom and dregs of that wickedness of which the other was the froth and the scum Now the Author having concealed his Name I could not direct a particular Answer to him and therefore by advice of some Friends drew up this sollowing Paper to make publike inquiry after him and to that end caused it to be posted in several Market Towns in the County of Somerset FOrasmuch as there lately came to our view ae certain printed Paper entitulâ—d The Hypocrisie and Falshood of Thomas Salthouse discovered a noted Quaker containing in it many lyâ—s and â—alse assertionâ— and published in the Vindication of Thomas Collier as by the Contents thereof appears And whereas the Author â—herâ—of being as we have just cause to think conscious of his own guilt in puâ—lishing such lyes and falshoods and to hide himself from the reproof of truth and shame due to such a worker of darkness hath refused to own it by subscribing his Name These are therefore to give notice That if the Author thereof hath not concealed his Name for these or the like reasons let him manifest the contrary by discovering his Name to any one of the Subscribers that so a particular Answer may be 〈…〉 some of us being concerned therein particularly and in the mean time there is no rational man hath ground to credit that which the Author himself appears not to own Jasper Batt John Collins John Dando William Beaton Robert Wastfeild But as yet the Author hath not discovered his Name to any one of us and therefore I shall proceed to speak something in answer to his Paper and so let it go abroad to find out the unnamed Author And first he saith as the Title of his Paper The hypocrisie and falshood of T. S discovered a noted Quaker manifested in a pretended line of true Judgement To which I answer Thou hast plainly discovered thy self to be the hypocrite though under falshood thou hast endeavoured to hide thy self and the Truths asserted by T. S. stands over thee and his Judgement is according to Truth as will more evidently appear when the filth and dirt which thou hast endeavoured to cast upon it is wiped away And this is one of thy marks whereby thou art known to be an hypocrite in that thou hast slandered and reproached persons and Principles publikely in print and then left thy Wickedness should be discovered thy lyes and falshoods be turned upon thee like the Thief or the Murderer which are afraid of the light thou hast endeavoured to hide thy self by refusing to subscribe thy Name in token of owning thy Work Thou sayest The abominable hypocrisie and falshood manifested in T. S. his
pretended Line of true Judgement occasioned thee to let it lye for some time by thee c. I say Thou speakest great swelling words of vanity thereby to allure those who live with thee in Error crying out of the hypocrisie falshood of T. S. but is it not strange to hear one in whom abomination reigns to cry out of abomination in others And to hear a Hypocrite cry out of Hyocrisie and a lyar to cry out of falshood But by so doing he that is indeed the notorious lyar and the abominable hypocrite may have hopes to pass undiscovered Thou sayest Yet for Truth's sake and for the sakes of poor souls thou wilt give a very brief touch in a sheet of Paper c. To which I say It is not thy pretences will hide thee the light hath discovered thee and thy unclean spirit and thy fruits doth manifest thee to all who have an eye open to see thee and though thou pretend a care for truth poor souls yet thou art found to be one of Truth's greatest Enemies and one that labours to keep souls in blindness and ignorance and by this Work of wickedness thou haft endeavoured to touch the Lord 's Annointed and to harm his Prophets for which the Lord will reprove thee in the day of account which is near at hand Thou recitest some of T. S. his words in the Title Page of his Book where he saith The exaltation of the Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations above the Man of Sin with the weak and unprofitable Ordinances that doth not make the comers there unto perfect Which sound wholsome Words of his thou goest about most wickedly to pervert and his plain and honest intention most falsly and hypocritically to interpret saying The Spiritual Man must be the light within their own fancy and imagination which they perswade all to follow and Jesus Christ crucified raised and ascended and made Lord and Christ he must be the man of sin Truly if thou hadst not as it were a brow of Brass thou wouldst blush and even tremble to utter such blasphemous words as these Didst thou never think to give an account for these with other thy hard ungodly speeches which in the pride of thy heart thou hast uttered forth Thou accusest T. S. in thy Paper for Hypocrisie and wretched perverting Now let all sober-minded people judge whether thou be not manifestly guilty of that evil which thou falsly chargest upon him But because there is some words of truth mixed with thy unclean filthy language though it comes out of a polluted Vessel I shall separate it from the rest and when the Jewel is taken out of the Swine's snout the remainder may be bundled up for the fire Thou saist The Spiritual Man must be the light within To which I say The Spiritual Man is light and the light of Christ is spiritual and the Spiritual Man is within even the hidden man of the heart and he that knows not this Spiritual Man living in him is not a Member of the Church of Christ and he in whom the Spiritual Man lives doth thereby mortifie the deeds of the flesh and his mortal body comes to be quickened by the Spirit which dwelleth in him and hereby he is made a member of the Church of Christ and no otherwise and comes to partake of his Ordinances and knows his Administrations and so comes to be exalted above the Man of Sin and stands over all the beggarly rudiments and traditional invented Will-Worships set up in the imagination which doth not purifie the heart nor purge the conscience from dead works nor give victory over the World and so makes not the comers thereunto or practisers of them perfect but perisheth with the using and this is not fancy nor imagination but sound and wholesome Doctrine according to the Scripture of truth neither do we at any time perswade any to follow their own fancies imaginations as thou most wickedly and falsly chargest us but it is Christ the true light the Spiritual Man who leads out of darkness all that follow him and from every vain imagination it is him alone that we exhort all men to obey and follow And the reason that thou givest why Jesus Christ crucisied raised and ascended c. must be the Man of Sin is Because thou sayest it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures Thou sayest You own Jesus Christ crucified and justification by Faith in his blood which Faith purifies the heart though you confess that abomination reigns in your souls and that iniquity is apparently written on your fore-heads and that you are drawing it with cords of vanity and Baptism with Water after believing and Church-fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayer c. and this thou sayest T. S. calls the Ordinances of the Man of Sin which is another most abominable falshood charged upon him When Or where did he ever call Justification by Faith in the blood of Christ Baptism breaking of Bread and Prayer c. which are Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Thou hast made a great outcry of the hypocrisie and falshood of T. S. doubling it over to four times in thy title page and yet before thou concludest the same page how manifestly and publikely dost thou play the hypocrite with him in drawing such a damnable Conclusion from his Words and most wickedly and falsly to accuse him saying He calls the Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the man of sin when at the utmost it is but the deceit of thy own wicked heart and not his words nor intentions as may evidently appear to any who have but the least measure of honesty to judge But what though you in a hypocritical manner according to the vain and foolish imaginations of your dark hearts have fancied to your selves a Worship in your Wills and practise things in imitation of others which you say you plead for and follow and call Ordinances of Christ because the Scripture declares that such things were practised by those who were thereto led by the Spirit of God though you from that Spirit are erred and saith the Scripture is your Rule must it therefore follow that T S. doth account Jesus Christ crucified c. to be the Man of Sin and his Ordinances the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Oh wicked and damnable Conclusion drawn from such an Argument Thou tells of the Quaker's Logick surely this may truly be call'd the Devil's Logick for greater Wickedness and more horrible iniquity I believe never dropped from the Pen of any one that pretends to plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ but it is not your professing the Name of Christ or professing Justification by Faith in his Blood or practising things by imitation and calling it the Ordinances of Christ that will avail you any thing whilest the Man of Sin bears rule and is exalted in you for notwithstanding your profession
ver. 12 13 14. which T. C. mentioneth where the Apostle saith The night is far spent the day is at hand let us therefore cast off the works of darkness and let us put on the Armor of light let us walk honestly as in the day not in rioting and drunkenness not in chambering and wantonness not in strike and envying but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ c. Doth the Apostle here charge them with walking dishonestly because he exhorts them to walk honestly Nay assuredly for he saith to them I am perswaded of you my Brethren that ye also are full of goodness fill'd with all knowledge c. Rom. 15. 14 And if they were full of goodness then there was no room for dishonesty and rioting and drunkenness chambering and wantonness strife and envying are works of the night and of darkness but he saith The night is far spent the day is at hand let us put on therefore the Armor of light Now if they had not been come to the day how could they put on the Armor of light And if they were come to the day then the night was past and the works of darkness put off this exhortation he gave unto them to stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance as the Apostle Peter did likewise who said Wherefore I will not be negligent to put ye alwayes in remembrance of these things though ye know them and are established in the present truth 2 Pet. 1. 12. And so this proves nothing at all for T. C. that the church of the Romans were guiltie of the same or as great sins and abominations as is mentioned in the Tiverton Writing And as touching the church at Corinth although the Apostle did write to them concerning Fornication yet he doth not say that such Fornicators were of the church of Christ neither doth he tollerate them though T. C. saith that Fornication was tollerated amongst them but doth exhort the church of Christ when they were gathered together in the spirit and power of the Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such to Satan and bids them to have no fellowship with such nay not to companie with such nor to eat with such especially if any such were called a Brother that was a Fornicator or covetous or an Idolater or a Railer or a Drunkard or an Extortioner but they were to put away from among them that wicked person 1 Cor. 5. chap. And surely this was not to tollerate them as T. C. hath affirmed For although such might creep in amongst them as Jude saith in his Epistle ver. 4. That there were certain men crept in unawares who were before ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the Grace of God into laciviousness yet these ungodly men were none of the church of Christ for though they might creep in amongst them yet they were not of them and such Iohn saw and said of them They went out from us Mark They went out Therefore they had been in or had crept in They went out from us that they might be made manifest that they were not of us 1 Ioh. 2. 19. And the Apostle did say to the church of Christ at Corinth That neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor abusers of themselves with mankind nor Thieves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdom of God And if they shall not inherit the Kingdom of God then assuredly they are not the church of Christ and this would be but small advantage to T. C. and his Brethren in iniquitie if they could shelter themselves under such Fornicators Idolaters Railers Drunkards Revilers c. and cover themselves with the Name of the church of Christ whilst as wicked and as abominable in the sight of God as the worst of them I say This covering would be of small advantage to them seeing the portion of such is to be shut out of God's Kingdom And the Apostle makes a noted distinction between the church of Christ and such wicked persons saying And such were some of you mark They had been such but saith he Ye are washed but ye are sanctified but ye are justified in the Name of the Lord Iesus and by the Spirit of our God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10 11. And this shews your blindness that you cannot make a distinction between such ungodlie sinners here spoken of and the church of Christ you may trulie say that you live short of the true sight and sence of God's Majestie in his churches and among his Saints who are thus blind that you cannot distinguish between a member of the church of Christ and a Fornicator especiallie where the Scripture hath made such a noted distinction Might not T. C. as well have instanced Iudas for a Member of the church of Christ as these Fornicators and unclean persons Yea rather for the Disciples were not for bid to keep him companie nor forbid to eat with him nor bid to excommunicate him as the church of Christ was those before-mentioned and therefore his being tollerated amongst the Disciples might better have served for your purpose from his example to endeavour to perswade people that you are and may be accounted a church of Christ notwithstanding your great abominations confess'd in your Tiverton Epistle trulie your blindness may even be felt and if you were not quite insensible you might blush and be ashamed of your gross ignorance But T. C. saith The Apostle did not unchurch them as the Enemies of Christ do in these dayes Take notice Reader Did not he unchurch those whom he delivered to Satan and those whom he commanded the church of Christ to have no fellowship with or not to company with them nor to eat with them but were commanded to put away from amongst themselves such wicked persons Is not this to unchurch them according to T. C. his own expressions What doth he call unchurching if this be not to unchurch them He saith The Churches of Galatia were so deeply corrupted that the Apostle wondered they were so soon removed to another Gospel c. yet notwithstanding saith he he owns them to be the churches of Galatia and wisheth Grace and Peace to them c. To which I say If the churches of Galatia were removed from the Gospel of Christ which is the power of God then the churches of Galatia were not the churches of Christ no more then the churches of the Anabaptists in whom such abomination reigns are the churches of Christ neither doth his owning them to be the churches of Galatia prove them to be the churches of Christ any more then T. S. his calling you the churches of the Anabaptists proves you to be the churches of Christ And whereas he saith he wisheth Grace and Peace to them and endeavours their reformation I say Your reformation likewise hath been endeavoured by the servants and messengers of the Lord whose counsel ye have rejected and Grace hath been tendered and hath appeared
to you but ye have turned from it and despised it and except the churches of Galatia did and the churches of the Anabaptists do return to that Gospel from which they were removed the Peace of God neither did nor doth belong to them nor you neither could they or can you be accounted the churches of Christ He saith So likewise the church of the Philippians many so walked of whom the Apostle saith I have often told you and now tell you weeping that they are enemies to the cross of Christ Phil. 3. 18. Yet saith he they were owned to be a Church with their Officers To which I say That those who are enemies to the cross of Christ are not the church of Christ for the church of Christ did glory in the cross of Christ and were not enemies to it Gal. 6. 14. and the preaching of it was to them and it is to as many as believe the power of God 1 Cor. 1. 13. And the Apostle tells what is the end of such who are enemies to the cross of Christ he saith their end is destruction and that is not the end of the church of Christ But though the Apostle writes to the church of the Philippians of such who were enemies to the cross of Christ yet he doth not say that the church of the Philippians were enemies to the cross of Christ nor that any of them in particular were so He also bids them beware of dogs and of evil workers c. Doth he therefore say that the church of the Philippians are dogs and evil-workers But this is some of those Scriptures which are called T. C. his cloud of Witnesses to prove that the true churches of Christ have had the same or as great sins and abominations in them as is confess'd in the Tiverton Epistle Now though T. C. be a noted lyar yet the Scriptures are true and cannot be broken And although by perverting and wresting the true sence thereof thereby endeavouring to make the Scriptures speak what he would have them to abuse the simple minded and deceive ignorant people he hath drawn this wicked conclusion from the whole That they are may be owned to be the churches of Christ notwithstanding their great abominations confess'd in their Tiverton Epistle Yet now these Witnesses being honestly examined without wresting or perverting they are found to witness against T. C. and the same Witness which he brings to prove his assertions doth witness against him and proves himself to be the lyar and this is usual that if the Witnesses which T. C. offers for proof of any thing be the Scriptures of truth they surely testifie against him and prove him to be the lyar and instead of witnessing for him they witness against him And when he affirms a thing that is so notoriously false and wicked as that he cannot any way wrest the Scriptures to make them seem to prove what he asserts he useth to say That this is true Is so evident that it needs no proof or That this is true is so evident that he that runs may read and such like words witness his Looking-glass as is at large discovered in a Book call'd Truth vindicated by John Pitman and Jasper Batt Some other Scriptures are by him mentioned whereby he hath endeavoured to prove the churches of Christ in former ages to be sinful thereby to make way for themselves to be owned as a church of Christ but all that he saith is to no more purpose then that which hath been already answered could as easily be answered his folly thereby made manifest as it hath been sufficiently by what hath been answered to those Scriptures by him quoted But he saith of those before mentioned that they were called to repentance What were they then a church of Christ or the churches of Christ before repentance that he makes use of this to prove them churches of Christ because they were call'd to repentance Simon Magus was call'd to repentance was he therefore a member of the church of Christ And the Apostle said that God commanded all men every where to repent Are therefore all men every where the church of Christ Oh gross darkness and ignorance to use that as an argument to prove them to be the church of Christ because they were call'd to repentance And so are you call'd to repentance and to repentance you must come before you can be owned as a church of Christ for we say Christ came to call sinners to repentance and his Ministers were sent to turn people from the darkness to the light and to bring them from under Satan's power unto God but though you have been call'd to return from your wickedness and live and have been invited to come to him who is the way to the Father who gives eternal life to all that come unto him yet you have refused to return and have rebell'd against the light Neither is it onely the calling to repentance that makes them or you the churches of Christ but it is them who answers that holy call and comes to repentance even to that repentance which is never to be repented of that is to repent and forsake it is such shall find mercy and acceptance with the Lord and they shall be his and accounted members of his church in the day when he makes up his Jewels but as for such as have been call'd to repentance and have not answered that holy call by obedience to him that hath called them his call and his loving invitation shall stand as a witness against such for ever and because the Lord hath called and they would not hear therefore when they call and cry there shall be none to deliver them Thou saist That T. S hath manifested abominable hypocrisie and deceit in that he saith that T. C. instanceth the Saints infirmities in former ages to encourage in a state of sin c. when its evident saist thou that he instanceth those examples to stop the mouths of lyars and deceivers c. and to discover the simple and vain notions of those who would suggest that the churches of Christ are none of his because there is sin in them To which I say I have answered some of those Scriptures call'd T. C. his Cloud of Witnesses which may also serve for answer to all the rest thereby to discover the folly and ignorance sottishness and blindness of those who would suggest that Fornicators and unclean persons Drunkards Railers Revilers Extortioners Thieves covetous persons Idolaters and such like are Members of the church of Christ and also to stop the mouths of such lyars and deceivers who say the true churches of Christ have had the same or as great sins and abominations in them as are mentioned in Tiverton Epistle and yet were the true churches of Christ notwithstanding And although according to thy wonted manner thou railest at T. S. accusing him with hypocrisie and deceit because he saith T. C. doth encourage in a state of
be considered what the Law and the Testimony is and that he further saith The Law is in the heart the Light is in the heart the testimony of Jesus the sure Word of Prophesie is in the heart the Word of Faith in the heart And now come to the matter to which thou scoffingly and wickedly saist Now he is fit for the work out with the Scriptures of truth and follow the Law of his own heart of his own imagination and be sure Salthouse will prevail and carry all before him Thou hypocrite Is this outing of the Scriptures of truth to speak truth in the very Scripture-language Hath not T. S. quoted the Scriptures for proof of what he asserts concerning the Law in the heart the Light in the heart the Word of Faith nigh in the heart the sure Word of Prophesie in the heart And yet thou art so impudent as to say Out with the Scriiptures of truth and follow the Law of his own heart Is the Law of God in the heart Or the Light of Christ in the heart Or the Word of Faith in the heart Or the sure Word of Prophesie which is the Testimony of Jesus in the heart Is this the Law or the imagination of his own heart Thou hast no cover for thy wickedness here but hast manifestly published thy folly and thy envy in charging T. S. for outing the Scriptures of truth when he hath cited the Scriptures of truth for proof of what he hath spoken therefore because thy wickedness is so plainly and openly discovered in setting thy self through envy to oppose gain-say and resist the truth the less needs be spoken in answer to it if any wil believe thee or be deceived by thee herein it is such who are willingly ignorant and are given up to believe lyes and their blood will be upon their own heads But although T. C. hath cited the Law and Testimony for a Rule yet when T. S had proved by the Scriptures of Truth that this Law and Testimony is within in the heart it 's like T. C. had no mind to join Issue or plead with him for he well knows that should he speak no more of the Law of God or of the Testimony of Jesus then what is manifest in him and written in his heart his mouth and the mouths of many of his Brethren would soon be stopt for though that which may be known of God is manifest within according to the Scripture yet they that believe not in that which doth make manifest but are enemies to it they know little of God or of his Law or Testimony neither is it their rule Now that which doth make manifest is light Eph. 5. 13. But T. C. saith Your faith is not in a light within therefore your Faith is not in that which doth make manifest and how then should you know the things of God or his Law and Testimony of which the Scriptures of truth declares And thus though in words you profess God and talk of his Law and Testimony to be your rule yet in works you deny him and his Law of righteousness is cast behind your backs and the Testimony of Jesus which is the Spirit of Prophesie you have denyed and despised neither is his Law your Rule or his Light your Guide witness your own confession in Tiverton Epistle Therefore I say Should T. C. plead onely from what of God is manifest in him he would have very little to say and so no marvel if he refufe to joyn Issue with T. S. upon those terms Thou saist T. S. hath said That T. C. is against the Saints attaining to perfection and freedom from sin whilst in this mortal state And thou saist He is not against perfection by faith in Christ their perfection to be in another nor is he against pressing after perfection but such a perfection as the Quakers boast of he is against c. To which I say The perfection which the people call'd Quakers own and press after is the same which the Saints and Servants of God in all ages did press after of which the Scriptures of truth makes mention which is to perfect holiness in the fear of the Lord and to know him to work all their works for them and in them whose works are perfect in the sight of God whereby all boasters and boasting is excluded and this perfection thou saist T. C. is against and indeed I believe it and herein the truth of T. S. his words are verified But what perfection or freedom from sin such do own or press after who are drawing iniquity with cords of vanity and in whose souls such abominations reigns and out of whose hands all weapons are wrested with which they should make war against sin I leave to the wise in heart to judge It seems the perfection which you own is at a great distance from you and not holyness perfected in you but in another and so you imagine it shall be imputed yours hereafter when you are dead though you are perfecting wickedness and ungodliness all your life long and this imagination you call Faith in Christ But though we own no other perfection then that which is by Faith in Christ who is the perfection of his people and is all in all to them yet except you know him to live in you and know him to work in you both the will and the deed even he of whom its said That he came to do the will of God and so to know perfection and freedom from sin in your selves wrought by another it will avail you nothing to say you own perfection in another for what the better are you to tell of perfection and freedom from sin in another whilst you are imperfect and are servants unto sin And what pressing after perfection or freedom from sin is there like to be with such who affirm that God never had yet a church in the World without sin and that who ever affirm the contrary are Hypocrites Would any that believes this press after that which none yet could ever attain Or is not this to press after an impossibility And if by pressing after it they should attain to it and make confession of it it seems they must be accounted hypocrites this is small encouragement to any to press after perfection or freedom from sin But we are not ignorant what that imagined perfection is of which you speak and which you say you press after for although abominations reigns in your souls and iniquity apparently written on your foreheads heads and that you are even drawing it as with Cart-Ropes yet because you can sometimes make a hypocritical confession of this condition and therewith mock God as you confess you have done often this is call'd a pressing after perfection And because you have read in the Scriptures of the Righteousness of Christ you imagine that his Righteousness shall be imputed yours and serve to cover your unrighteousness and this is your perfection as