Opposed the Truth He was but Young in Years and of a Little Stature for the which he was by Brutish Envious Persecuting Priests and Professors Mocked and by them in a scornful Mind called The QVAKING BOY but in him was seen the Mighty Power of God VVhen any of them that were climed up so high in their Imaginations and strengthned themselves in their Self-righteousness and came forth in the Strength of the power of Darkness to Oppose the Truth of God which he bore Testimony unto with him did then appear the Name and Power of the Living God which was with the little Stripling David in which Name and Power he many times stopped the Mouths of Gain-sayers and by the Wisdom of God that was with him he caught the Wise and Crafty in their own Snares and Confounded them in the sight of all that had an Eye to see and so brought shame upon them whereby the Saying is fulfilled That by Weak things the Lord would confound the Mighty and things that are Despised hath God chosen yea and things that are not to bring to nothing things that are He had also a good Gift to declare the Truth and was full of Zeal and Heavenly Courage in the which he performed the same for the informing of the Minds of those that wanted the Knowledge of the Lord also to Mark Out and Make Manifest the Deceivers which People were to turn from His Exhortation was unto Us that were turned unto the Truth To Walk in it and to Watch unto it and to Keep Low in God's Holy Fear to Deny our selves and Take Vp the Daily Cross to our own Wills and to be Faithful in that Little Appearance of Light Truth which we had already receiv'd alwayes declaring unto us That if we were Faithful in that the Lord would make known more unto us whose words many of us are now Living Witnesses of the fulfilling of Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever and for evermore saith my Soul Also He was a Good Example and a Pattern in his Life and Conversation unto us by the which he preached Truth unto us as well as by his VVords for He himself lived according to what he taught us for he was adorned with Gravity and walked before us in Humility yea he had a Blameless Conversation and was unspotted from the World so that his Presence as well as his Words was a Strengthning and a Comfort to the Upright and Honest-hearted but he was an Awe a Dread to the Careless and Disobedient which made a Profession of the Truth but did not walk Answerably thereunto who he alwayes told should be cloathed with Rags which could not cover them and their SHAME should appear and they left Naked for the Light and Day of the Lord was come that would make all manifest and strip off all False Coverings so that a Profession although it were of the Truth it self would no longer do nor cover without the Life and Power be known and witnessed which doth not only Discover Sin and Evil but also Overcomes it Removes it Takes it away The Truth of this Doctrine which he preached unto us there are many of us by the good Hand and Power of the Lord have do see the Fulfilling of this Honest-hearted Young Man's Testimony both on them that received the Truth which he preached into an Honest and Good Heart and also upon the Careless and Disobedient so that I shall and do conclude in this Testimony concerning Him That He was a Faithful Servant and Messenger sent by God to Declare the Way of Life unto them that wanted the Knowledge of it and to Reprove Sin and to Make Manifest Deceivers and to Testifie against them which may be seen and felt to the better Satisfaction of them that never saw his Face in reading over his own Books and Epistles which were written by his Own Hand which all that read with an Honest Heart in a Serious Mind I doubt not but will say with me Surely the Mighty Power and Wisdom of the Lord was with him of a Truth Samuel Cater Thomas Bayles HIS TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel THis Blessed Man the Writer of these following Books was made a Partaker of that Faith Patience through which the Righteous in all Ages obtained the Crown of Life and Victory over all their Enemies and had a share in his Day and Time as alwayes they had in this World of the Sufferings of Christ in him He was sent into this County with the Testimony of God in his Heart Mouth and therefore was Bold in the Name of the Lord to cry REPENTANCE in the Ears of the Sons of Men and as He said so lived he as many in this Town and Place are living Witnesses of who have true Cause to bless and praise the Name of the Lord and do for that He and other of his Brethren were sent amongâ—â— us He was of a sweet Savour of Christ to the Almighty God through his Faithfulness to him who sent him hither in them who receiv'd his Testimony though many there were that hardened their Hearts against the Lord of which Number were many of the Rulers Priests and Professors of that Time who notwitstanding they cryed Reformation the Ordinances of Christ Jesus Christian-Duties and the like yet manifested themselves of that Stock and Generation which always slew the Righteous and the Lord God soon stretcht forth his Righteous Hand of Judgment upon some as Warnings unto others whom he spared from that swift Stroak that they might Repent as some did and seek his Face who is the Light of the World God blessed for evermore He was as a Youth and mean in hâ—s Outward Presence and Appearance but God hath chosen the Foolish Things of this World to confound the Wise And so high was the spirit of the Professors and the Prophane encouraged thereby that with whom among such was his Name used but in a way of Derision and Scorn terming him The Railing Fellow in the Castle He owneth himself to be Christ Jesus A Wandering Star to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness forever But since it came to Light and the Wandering Stars seen and their Blackness of Darkness felt who durst not stand by their Ordinances Duties nor Christianity but in Obscure Holes Secret Places Vaults which shews them of a low dark earthly wandering spirit who know not the Spirit of Life from God nor the Stability thereof to set them above the Fear of Man where they lie in great Captivity The Lord hath put it into my Heart in the blessed Remembrance of his Innocent Life to bear my Testimony upon this Occasion and thus to appear in the Memorial of him And I am assured in my Spirit That although the Lord suffer'd him to be cruelly kept in Bonds until Death and to be hated persecuted beyond what we had known before amongst us yet it was for his Righteous Life sake as from
their Minds in Writing if they intended such a Thing So then one Hind a Tanner in Cambridge sent me this Note as followeth which Joseph Doughty had sent unto him The NOTE Brother Hind AS touching a Discourse with James Parnel I shall be willing to do God and Men Service in it to my Power given to me First Provided that it be somewhat publick the Questions in Controversie may be stated in Writing II. That the Questions may be such as may be Resolved and Answered according to Scripture III. That the Questions agreed upon may be delivered into the Disputants Hands Three Dayes before the Day of Dispute IV. That to avoid Confusion in Multitude of Words a short Form of Argument shall be used on both Parts V. That some shall be chosen on both Sides to see Order on both Sides observed in Discourse and competent Judges also appointed VI. That Censorious Rash Terms of Judging shall not be used VII That the Disputants shall declare before the People their Intent in Dispute April this 17th 1655. John Doughty My Reply to this was as followeth as not being willing to come under their Snares Reply THis is not to me but betwixt Brother and Brother so if you two Brothers are agreed concerning this your Intent towards me let me know your Mind in Writing now while I am in the Town for while I was abroad there was a Voice of such a thing as from you but to me you did not declare your Minds neither in Word nor Writing therefore now I am in the Town let me know your Minds in Writing that there may be no Boasting nor Daring in Secret for Truth is bold and seeks no Covers This from me to you I send and do require your Answer who am called James Parnel This was writ on the Back-side of their Note and sent back to Hind who forth with flew into a great Rage against the Messenger in the Street and said That I â—yed in saying That the Note was not to me which any one who can read may plainly see it so and him to be the Lyar for the Lake and his seeming Religion to be Vain who is still in old Cain's Nature in Wrath and Bitterness without a Bridle to the Tongue Then the next Morning I received this from them as followeth JAmes Parnel This is to thee my Intent towards thee is this If thou art minded to dispute with me appoint Time and Place publick and if the Lord will I will dispute with thee And so on with his Proviso's as aforesaid Then my Reply was as followeth TO thee Joseph Doughty I do reply That thou must understand the Occasion of the Dispute to be sprung from thee or thy Party as I did declare on the Back-side of thy other Paper so if thou or any of you that made your Boasts or Darings behind my Back or have any thing against me or the Truth which I bear Testimony unto or the Way which I walk in I am ready now at all times through the Power of God to stand up for and defend the same against thee or any other who shall Object against Oppose or Gain-say it be it in the Towns Hall or as publick as you will And what I have at any time declared against you People or your Profession I shall be ready to maintain justifie by such Weapons as I have which are not Carnal but Spiritual and here is Time and Place from me declared But to the End of all Disputes and Arguments I am come for before they were I am and in the Light do them comprehend and judge to be out oâ— the Light in Babylon and the Disputer and Arguer of 〈◊〉 World But still I say Against such I stand a Witness for the Truth which I have received of God and by his Power am carried abroad to declare and preach abroad to the directing and turning People's Minds to the true Light of the Lord Jesus and there to come into the Love and Unity where live the Children of Light the End of all Disputes and Arguments and this I am ready to Defend and Seal with my Blood But I say My Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual And as for these Provisoes of thine they are rather for me to lay upon thee according to Equity for I am the Defender But these things of thee I do not require neither Three Dayes before-hand but am ready at any time to stand to what I have here declared And as for Confusion in Multitude of Words which is thy fourth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part and if thou canst tax me thou mayest And as for Order in the Discourse for which thou wouldst have some chosen which is thy fifth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part for my God is a God of Order and if thou canst tax me thou may'st and let that stand against me But if there be Men of Power to keep the People of the World in Order I am not against it And as for Competent Judges which thou wouldst have appointed Reply Is the Scripture thy Rule and not thy Judge but thou must flee from that to the Judgment of Man which is changeable or else how come Disputes and Controversies But to that Judgment I shall not stand the Spiritual Man shall be the Competent Judge and the Scripture shall witness And as for Censorious Rash Terms of Judging which is thy sixth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part and if my Judgment thou canst find contrary to Scripture thou may'st by Scripture disprove it But what is that that would not be judged And as for Declaring before the People the Intent and Purpose in Disputing which is thy seventh Proviso Reply If thou who are the Disputant amongst the People hast any thing to say unto the People thou may'st declare thy Mind according to the Freedom of thy Mind I shall not bind thee neither shall I by thee be bound but as the Lord puts into my Mouth I shall declare unto the People what is my Mind and Intent as his Spirit guideth me so that for that I take no Thought So here I have declared my Mind in Reply unto thy Writing where thou may'st understand my Mind if thou hast an Ear to hear and an Understanding open And if this doth not satisfie thee and the rest of you yet nevertheless cease your Boasting and Daring behind the Back for the time to come and let this Witness for me to any Honest Heart whether it be not Fair and Equal And so I rest in the Unchangeable James Parnel So it seems this pleased them and so it was concluded to be of the Twentieth Day called Fryday of the Second Moneth called April So when the Hour came which was appointed we were disappointed of the Meeting-Place which the Baptists had provided for they sent me word they had provided a Place but when we came to meet it could not be had and so we were
Unholy nor Unclean thing must enter So now What Assurance have you of your Salvation or what is your Faith built upon when both Christ and the Scriptures witness against you And Faith which is not built on the Rock Christ Jesus is vain and perisheth And he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is Pure Here all your Faith is searched tryed and proved and is found all vain and perishing and so is not built upon the Rock which Perisheth not Therefore come down all you High-minded Pharisees and lay away all your Profession and throw down all your old Building and begin and lay a new Foundation for the higher the Pharisee climbs the greater will be his Fall and he that will be Wise let him first become a Fool For man by his Wisdom knows not God Here the Pharisee is shut out from the Knowldge of God who stands in his own wisdom And all you Wilful Blind Carnal Ignorant Creatures whom my Soul pittieth to see how ignorantly you are led who pin your Faith upon the Sleeves of your Fore-Fathers and live in Lightness and Wantonness spending your Youth in Vanity in Gaming Pleasures and Sporting in Drunkenness in Swearing and Lying in Vain Talk and Foolish Jestings in Pride and Lust and Filthiness and say You follow your Fore-Fathers and say What is become of them and say Your Pleasures is Pastime and Recreation and your Vain Talk and Foolish Jesting is Pastime and Merriness and so you pass the Time away and say Your Drinking and Rioting and Feasting is Good-Fellowship and Neighbourhood and so you cover over your Sins and Iniquities but Wo unto him that hides his Sin and covers his Iniquity and all this will not profit you any thing neither can your Fore-Fathers excuse you before the Lord for in the beginning it was so that Eve could not Justifie Adam neither could be any Excuse but rather Condemned him because he hearkened to the to the Voice of the Woman and Disobeyed the Lord so Adam suffered for his own Sin and so did Eve for her's And so this will be no Excuse for you in the Day of Account to say You followed your Fore-Fathers and did as they did before you But then will the Lord say Because you followed the Traditions and Fashions and Customs and Inventions of Man and have hearkened to the Voice of the Serpent and have Disobeyed my Voice and my Command and Sleighted my Counsel and would none of my Reproof but cast my Law behind your Backs and trampled my Mercy under Foot and have turned my Grace into Wantonness and have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter and have spent my Creatures upon your Lusts and Stoned Stocked Buffeted and Imprisoned and Shamefully intreated my Messengers which I sent unto you to Forewarn you of your Iniquity and have killed my Son therefore depart ye Workers of Iniquity I know ye not into Everlasting Torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels To see now how vain your Hope is and how unstedfast your Faith is when you have more Assurance of your Damnation than your Salvation for the Lord saith No Unrighteous Person must enter into his Kingdom nor no Unholy nor Unclean thing Therefore all you who desire Salvation to your Souls Try and Prove your Faith and Hope which you do trust to and take heed of trusting to a broken Reed lest it deceive you Experience hath taught you That if a Foundation of a Building be decayed and wasted and naught the Building will Fall when a Storm cometh so let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falleth So every one whose desire is after Righteousness hearken to that in your Consciences which raiseth up Desires after Righteousness and which sheweth you the Vainness of your Lives and checks you when you do amiss and troubles you and torments you in Conscience when you have been Drunk or have done some Evil Act be willing to be guided by that and that will lead you to Repentance and Newness of Life to forsake those things which it discovers to be contrary to the will of God and if you be willing to follow this and be guided by it you shall find a Teacher continually present checking in the Conscience for vain Thoughts and for Vain and Idle and Needless Words and Actions and so will Crucifie the Lust which is the Ground of those things and which will lead you out of the Pathes of Death into the Way of Life out of the Traditions and Customs and Fashions Opinions of the World into the Assurance of the Eternal Truth And thou that art willing to follow this and be guided by this shalt need no man to teach thee but it will be a Teacher unto thee Teaching and Directing in Righteousness Purity and Holiness and if thou art Dilligent keeping thy Mind within with an Ear open to the pure Voice thou shalt find it present with thee wheresoever thou art in the Fields in thy Bed in Markets in Company or wheresoever thou art when thy Outward Priest or Teacher is absent it may be in the Ale-House or at his Pleasures and Delights or far off it will be present with thee and will Check thee and Condemn thee for that which no Outward Eye can See and will cleanse thy Heart from Lust and Deceit and Uncleanness and will purifie thy Heart and will make it a fit Temple for Purity to dwell in and then thy Sacrifices will be Pure which come from a Pure Heart the Lord will accept them for Abel's Sacrifices he receiveth but Cain's he denies but if thou wouldest attain to this thou must be willing to deny thy Lusts thy Vanity thy Delights or whatsoever hath been thy Life For He that will save his Life shall lose it and he that will lose his Life for my sake the same shall save it So there is no obtaining of Life but through Death nor no obtaining the Crown but through the Cross So thou must deny thy self and take up thy daily Cross and follow Christ if thou wouldest be his Disciple and give up thy Self wholly to be guided by the Will of God that all which is contrary to the Will of God may be Crucified though it be never so near and dear to thee and be forsaken Lands or Living Wife or Children Friends and Acquaintance or all the World and all Delights in the World For he that loveth any thing better then Me is not worthy of Me And all things below the Lord Vanisheth but He Endureth forever So the Lord God Almighty prosper all the Tender Desires which are raised up towards him and feed the Hungry and Thirsty Souls as he hath promised and raise up his own in all his that he alone may be Glorified Praised and Honoured who is Worthy and to whom all belongeth And this is the Desire of his Soul who is a Servant of the Lord who is Hated Reviled and Derided of the World
because he hath no Fellowship with the World nor the Vanities of the World but testifieth against their Wayes Fashions Traditions Customs Fellowship Words and Worship and seeth them all to be Formal Imitation and the Invention of Man out of the Covenant of God so cannot but deny them and for this Cause he is Hated of all both Priest and People Whose Name according to the World is JAMES PARNELL The Servant is not Greater then his Master Try your selves prove your selves know ye not that Christ is in you unless you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. Christ Exalted Into His THRONE And the SCRIPTURE Owned in its Place THis then is the Message that we have received of the Father That God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all if we walk in Darkness and say we have fellowship with him we lye and do not the Truth but if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son clenseth us from all sin 1 John 1. 5 6 7. And this is the Word which was in the beginning by which all things were made and in him was Life and his Life was the Light of men John 1. 1 2 3 4. By which Light all the holy Men of God in the dayes of old were inspired By which Light Moses saw the things that were done in the beginning and wrote of them Which Word was a Lamp unto David's Feet and a Light unto his Pathes Psal. 119. 105. Which Light dwelt in the Prophets and holy Men by which they saw the Day of Christ and wrote of him Isa. 49. 6. 60. 19 and spoke as they were moved by it and by it saw the Deceit Iniquities and Transgressions of Israel and declared against it both in Priest People and Rulers speaking the Word of the Lord faithfully whether they would hear or forbear Ezek. 2. Mic. 3. Isa. 56. And this Word came unto the Prophets which was as a Fire and a Hammer in their Bones Jer. 20. 9. 23. 29. Which Word in due time became Flesh and dwelt among the Apostles and they saw the Glory thereof as of the Only Begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth John 1. 14. whom John bears witness of to be the Light of the World who doth enlighten every one that comes into the World John 1. To which Light Paul was sent to turn the minds of the Heathen Acts 26. 17 18. Which Light is the Condemnation of the World who love Darkness rather then Light because their deeds are Evil and he that hates it hath it though he will not bring his deeds to it by it to be proved therefore his Condemnation it is John 3. 19 20 21. And there is a time Light shines in Darkness and Darkness comprehends it not John 1. 5. and this is the Cause why many stumble at it and are offended in it And there is a time Light shines out of darknes and darkness flees away and then is witnessed the perfect Day where the Children of the Day do walk Isa. 42. 16. Mat. 4. 16. Eph. 5. 8. Which Light is the true Tryer of spirits gives the discerning of spirits and discovers the works of darkness and manifests the deeds of darkness and by it the Secrets of the heart are seen and hidden things searched out and by it all things are manifest and whatsoever makes manifest is Light Heb. 4. 12. Ephes. 5. 13. all which the natural man knows not and therefore cannot receive the things of God but by this Light is seen and judged for by this Light the Spiritual Man is able to discern and judge the natural man but he himself is judged of no man 1 Cor. 2. 14 15. For this is the Judge of the World and by this the Prince of the Air is judged wheresoever he ruleth John 16. 11. and therefore at it rageth and stirreth up his Servants to persecute it where it is manifest and so it is a Stumbling Stone and a Rock of Offence to the Children of the World in whom the Prince of this World lodgeth Rom 9. 33. And of this Word the Apostle Paul beareth witness to be quick and powerful and sharpe then a two-edged Sword to the dividing assunder betwixt the Marrow and the Bones Heb. 4. 12. to which Word the Apostle directed the minds of people within them from looking without for to find it without Rom 10. And from this same Word the Apostles spoke forth the Scripture which Word was their Guide and Rule and Teacher all along from the beginning by which both the Apostles and Prophets and the holy Men were acted moved and carry'd forth in the Power of it to declare that which by it they were taught 1 John 1. 2. Pet. 1. 21. And this is the free Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and hath appear'd to all men Tit. 2. 11 12. which is their Condemnation who do despite unto it Heb. 10. 29. but this was the Saints Teacher by which they were taught to deny all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Godlily Righteously and Soberly in this present evil World And this is the Anointing which teacheth all things freely which is Truth and no Lye and leads into all Truth and he that knows this needs no man to teach him but is come to the end of mans teaching 1 John 2. 27. unto which the Prophet was come and therefore called freely Come buy Wine Milk without Money or Price Why spend ye your Money for that which is not Bread or your Labour for that which profitteth not Isa. 55. 1 2 3. And from this the Apostle spoke freely nor coveting any man's Silver or Gold but as they freely had received freely they gave Acts 20. 33. And whosoever speaks from this speaks freely and its Ministry leads to the end of Teaching and here let all flesh keep silence before the Lord Zach. 2. 13. And let all Hirelings and greedy Shepherds stop their mouthes who cry Peace Peace to them that put into their mouthes but if not they even prepare War against them and such like the Prophet in the Light saw and by it testified against them Mich. 3. 5. And all this the Scripture bears testimony of which was spoken from the Light but is not the Light nor the Word nor the Life nor the Judge nor the Rule nor the Guide nor the Tryer of spirits for all this belongs to Christ who is the Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the heart Heb. 4. 1 2. who is the Light John 8. 12. who is the Word John 1. 14. who is the Life John 14. 6. who blamed the Pharisees that thought in the Scriptures to find eternal Life but would not come unto him that they might have Life John 5. 39 40. who is the Anointing who is the Guide and Teacher and the Rule 1. John 2. 27. who when we are going to the right hand
or to the left cryes This is the Way walk in it Isa. 30. 21. Of which the Scripture is a true Declaration spoken from this Word of Truth of which Light every one hath a measure which unto them is the free Gift of God to profit withall which Light in the Conscience reproves for sin and iniquity and manifests the deceit of the heart and checks the Creature when it swears or lyes or doth amiss telling it that it should not do so and calls for Repentance and Amendment of Life and leads unto the same as it is owned and followed and as many as receive it receive power to become the Sons of God Joh. 8. 12. and 1. 12. Rom. 2. 4. But he that doth evil hates the Light and will not bring his deeds to it by it to be proved and to him it is condemnation but he that loves the Light brings his deeds to the Light that it may manifest them whether they be wrought in God John 3. 20 21. But of this Light you People and Teachers of the World are ignorant and so are doting upon the Scripture without with your dark minds there with the blind Pharisees seeking for Life where it is not to be found but will not come to Christ the Light that you might have Life but would cast him out of his Throne and exalt Scriptures above him calling them the Judge and the Light and the Word and the Life and the Rule and the Guide and thus with your dark minds you would take the Authority from Christ and would give it unto the dead Letter which is but a Declaration of these things And thus your Leaders cause you to err Isa. 3. 12. for their own ends and of the Scripture they make an Idol to get money by adding their own Meanings Interpretations and Constructions upon them which are all the Conceivings and Imaginations of their own hearts by which they lead you in Blindness ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth in your hearts but are looking without doting without in the Letter acting and imitating out of the Light for Life and so in darkness doing your own works which are not required at your hands but are for Condemnation by the Light And so in vain are you worshipping a God whom ye know not crying up his Ordinances and crying up his Commands and crying up the Scripture exalting it in the Place of Christ and thus coming neer him with your lips and your hearts far from him still living in the corrupt sinful nature ignorant of the free Grace of God which should lead you to repentance and amendment of life Ephes. 2. 5. 8. And because we do witness this Mystery which hath been hid from Ages and Generations now made manifest in us which is Christ within the Hope of Glory Col. 1. 26 27. who is the Light of the World who doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World who is the true Shepherd John 10. and the true Teacher no more to be removed into a Corner Isa. 30. 20. who is the Anointing who teacheth all things and is the End of mans teaching therefore your Ministry of the Letter who make a Trade and a Gaine of the Letter by idolizing it and setting it up in the room of Christ by taking the Authority from Christ and applying it to the Letter that your minds who are taught by them may the more be drawn without to look at it and Idolize it expecting Life and Salvation by it and no hope without it that they may the longer make Merchandize of you and still uphold their Trade and Gain by it do now see that this our doctrine of Christ to be all in all and that without him we can do nothing John 15. 5. but that by him we can do all things without the help of Scripture or any thing else without Phil. 4. 13. and that there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved but that he is able to save to the utmost all that shall come unto God by him Heb. 7. 25. and that he is the Word and the Scripture is not and that he is the Light and the Scripture is not and that he is the Rule and Guide and Teacheâ— and Judge and the Scripture is not but a Declaration of him to be so and that the Scripture all along witnesseth with our Doctrine to be one with it and theirs to be another Doctrine which the Scripture will not maintain but the Scripture is against and is onely brought in for Lucres sake to satisfie their own carnal ends that they may bear rule by their Means as the false Prophets did before them Jer. 5. 30 31. And this Light all along makes them manifort in all their Colours and false Covers so that they cannot hide themselves from being Deceivers and also this they do know that if every one come to know and find a Teacher within them which doth teach them the will of God and doth enable them for to obey it so that they need no man to teach them then indeed they will no longer spend their Money upon them for that which is not Bread nor their Labour for that which profitteth not and will be a Prey unto them no longer So not only their Craft and Trade and Idol will fail them but also their great Gain and Riches will be taken from them and all their Honour and Fame and Dignity will come to nought Therefore they in their hot Rage and Fierceness and Enmity of their Spirits do set themselves to oppose this Light wheresoever it is made manifest and persecuting the Publishers of this Doctrine railing against them as Deceivers Seducers Bringers in of false Lights and such as deny the Scripture and would rob it of its Authority and give it to a Light within them which the Priests call natural Light and insufficient to lead to Salvation without the help of Scripture and other outward Helps and so would set the Scripture above the Light of Christ saying among themselves If we let go the Authority of Scripture then all is gone that is to say Take away our Idol then take away our Maintenance then down with our Ministry So here is clear the Foundation they stand upon and this is the cause why they call the Scripture their Foundation and so all this Authority which they put upon the Scripture they take from Christ who alone is the Foundation of the Faithful of whom the Scripture is a Declaration and so we do own it by the same which gave it forth which unto us doth open it and reveal it and manifesteth them to be out of the Life of it and so by the Life thereof are judged and condemned as before is proved And though they call it the Word yet in the same it doth witness against them and witness Christ to be the Word before the Scripture was written John 1. And though they call
Vindication of the Power of God which is now manifesting in his Sons and Daughters lest the Simple who are not yet acquainted with it should stumble at the Name By a Friend of the Truth and a Lover of these People which you who are out of the Truth scornfully call Quakers but the Scorners God will judge and the Righteous God will bless who work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling for saith the Lord To such a one will I look that is of a Humble and Contrite Spirit and Trembleth at my Word Prov. 16. 29. Phil. 2. 12. Isa. 66. 1 2. JAMES PARNELL A SHIELD OF THE TRUTH Or the Truth of God cleared from Scandals and Reproaches Cast upon it by Scandalous and Reproachful Tongues which the Devil in all Ages did make use of whereby he Blasphem'd the Truth of God striving to present it Odious in the Eyes the Ears of all People that so he might uphold his own kingdom But the Day hath made him manifest and the Lord is come and is coming to make War with him and bind him and cast him into the Bottomless Pit and all who bears his Image and under his Dominion is To the READER REader to thee whosoever thou art I shall clear my Conscience and to all people To the Light of God in all your Consciences I speak which is one in all in the behalf of a despised People with men yet not with God who are scatâ—red abroad in several Countries yet one in the Lord whom the Lord hath chosen out of the Generation of the Children of this World out of all Sects Forms and Opinions into the Light of Life to bear his Image and so to bear his Cross and because they have not the same Image with the Children of this World but are chosen out from amongst them their Fellowship their Kindred and Acquaintance and Breeding Manners Customs Fashions Words Wayes and Worships for Light can have no Fellowship with Darkness and so the Devil who goeth about like a Roaring Lyon seeking whom he may devoure who is the Godd of the World who ruleth in the Children of Disobedience hath stirred up all who bear his Image who under his Dominion are to persecute slander revile and reproach all who bear the Image of God who testifies against him and all who bear his Image so as he hath done in all Ages from the beginning so it is now that he may uphold his Image and his Kingdom so the Beast is making war with the Lamb and now is the war begun but the Lamb shall get the victory praises praises to our God forever And so for the Turths sake and the good of all tender Consciences I shall clear my conscience in the clearing of the Truth from the Scandalls false Accusations and Reports which are cast upon it by the Priests and people who bear the Image of the Beast left any who are unsettled and ungrounded in the Truth should by giving ear to those false Reports and Scandals and Accusations turne from the Light and so lose their Convincement and get up into hardness of heart and lose their part in the promised Land for there are a company of Priests in all parts of the Nation where the Truth comes who are the Devils greatest Agents who are daily plotting and inventing and seeking every way to blot the Image of God of the Nation by Writings by Printings by Petitioning to Rulers and Magistrates with all the false aspersions and scandals they can get together to present the Truth of God odious to all people and likewise in their Pulpits doe the same as it was in the time of Christ and his Apostles but we have but one Ruler and Governour to Petition to and relye upon from whom we have our Image even God over all who knoweth the hearts of all who is our Witness and our Justification then who art thou that condemnest or layest any thing to the charge of Gods Elect but he hath promised No weapon formed against him shall prosper for his work he will carry on by his own unlimitted power in despite of the Beast and his Image And so Reader I charge thee and all people in the presence of the Lord before whom you must come to Judgment to take heed of speaking evil of that you know not lest you speak evil of Gods Elect for it is a fearful thing to enter into the hands of the Living God for if those be cursed that doe not receive the Messengers of Jesus Christ how much more them that revile them and persecute them He that hath an ear to heare let him heare for in as much as thou dost it to one of his thou doest to him J. P. A Shield of the Truth c. 1. COncerning the Name QUAKERS by which the World scornfully calls us As for the Quaking and Trembling caused by the unresistable power of the Lord Iown which the holy men of God witnessed before us in all Ages Isaac the seed of the Promise trembled Moses the Servant of God Quaked and Trembled Jeremiah the Prophet of the Lord his Bones shook Habakkuk his Belly Trembled and Lips Quivered when Daniel heard the voyce he fell down and Trembled and David the King was as if his Bones were out of Joynt and the Rest of the holy Men of God Quaked and Trembled and so it was no new thing but that which was from the beginning which all the holy Men of God witnessed though new to the World who live in Darkness And for this cause are we scornfully called Quakers but the Scorners God will judge and the Righteous God Will Bless who work out their Salvation with Fear and Trembling 2. We are accused to be the false Prophets and false Teachers and Deceivers that are foretold of in the Scriptures to come in the last times But saith Jesus Christ You may Know them by their Fruits and so we desire to be Judged according to our Fruits Jesus Christ said Beware of false Prophets that appear to you in Sheeps Clothing but inwardly are Ravening Wolves you shall know them by their Fruits Do men gather Grapes of Thornes and Figs of Thistles A good Tree cannot bring forth evil Fruit nor a Corrupt Tree bring forth good Fruit. Pride is a Fruit of the corrupt Tree now see whether we or your Teachers be guilty of this who go in double Cuffs and Bott-hose-tops with great store of Points and Ribbands which are of no use but for the satisfying of the Proud minde and also following the new Fashions and Inventions of the World they and their Wives and Children decking and adorning themselves according to their Proud minds to make the Creature seem something in its own eyes and in the eyes of others and those are the outward signes of Pride which lodgeth in their hearts And they are called of men Masters and have the chiefest places in the Assemblies
come and to us it is given to know but to the World in Parables and he that would go about to unfold the Parables to the dark Minds by the Serpentine Wit and Imagination he must be kept out of the Scripture and he who takes the Scriptures and makes a Trade of them professing to interpret them and so gets a Living by them which was spoaken forth freely he is a Deceiver and must be shut out of the Scripture and who reads or takes the Scripture to talk or discourse of and is ignorant of the Life must be kept out of the Scripture for all those run in with their Serpentine Wit Imaginations wresting them for their own Ends adding and diminishing to their own Destruction and so he must be shut out of the Scripture for hence arise all these Sects and Opinions in the World running into the Scripture with their Wit Imaginations and dark Minds one imagining one Way and another another Way and one of this Opinion and another of that Opinion but Opinion is no Assurance but is fallible and every one out of the Way because they want the Life which is the Mystery and this is the Difference between all Sects and Opinions and the Infallible Truth and so they come not in by the Door but are climbing up another Way and so are shut out of the Kingdom but the same which gave them forth the same can open them and to it they are no Mystery nor Parable nor need any Meaning For they are of no private Interpretation nor came not in the old Time by the Will of Man but Holy Men of God spake as they were mov'd by the Holy Ghost neither can the Will of Men open them but the same which spake them forth the same can open them and spake them forth freely So let him that hath a Dream tell a Dream and he that hath my Word let him speak my Word faithfully What is the Chaff to the Wheat saith the Lord So he that hath the Letter let him speak the Letler and he that hath the Life let him speak the Life What is the Husk to the Kernel And what should Swine do with Pearls whose Life is Husks and there they feed He that can receive let him the same which gave it forth the same can open it And he who saith The Letter is the Word is a Deceiver and errs not knowing the Scripture for the Scripture saith that In the beginning was the Word and the Word was God and the Word of the Lord came to the Prophets and they spake from the Word of the Lord and the Word became Flesh and dwelt among the Apostles and they saw the Glory thereof as the Glory of the only begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth and the Word is quick and Powerful sharper then a two-edged Sword and the Word is Immortal and this the Apostles in whom the Word dwelt bare witness of and have left it upon record and we witness the same the Word is the same which was is and is to be forever and who putteth the Letter for the Word is blind and putteth the Shadow for the Substance and must be shut out of the Scripture and he who saith The Letter is the Light is in Darkness and errs not knowing the Scripture which declareth of the Light which John came to bear Witness of who was not the Light but testified of the Light which was the true Light which enlightneth every one that cometh into the World he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not nor knows him not and he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God and this we witness and by the same Light do we discern and testifie against him to be in Darkness and Blindness and is a Deceiver who puts the Letter for the Light and so draws Peoples Minds off from the Light within them to the Letter without them seeking the Living among the Dead thinking to find Life in the Letter without them as the Pharisees did and will not come unto Christ that they might have Life and also they must be shut out of the Scripture as the Pharisees were And he also that saith The Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without feeding upon the Husk and is ignorant of the true Light which was before the Letter was which all the Children of God were and are guided by and spoak and speaks the Letter from which was before the Letter was and with this the Letter witnesseth and who is guided by this cannot walk contrary to the Letter nor deny it but they know how to use it in its Place and see in what Condition it was spoaken and it witnesseth with them both in Words and Actions and they that have this have and need the Mystery within though they cannot read the Letter without nor ever learned as it was with Christ which confounded the Scribes and Pharisees and they who are never so learned without and can read and understand all Tongues and Languages without and do not read the Scripture within only feed upon the Husks are ignorant of the Life which is the Mystery which is hid from the Wise and Prudent and revealed unto the Ignorant as it was from the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests and was revealed to those whom they counted Ignorant and Cursed and knew not the Law And they who take the Letter to be their Rule can't walk according to it because they are ignorant of the Light which opens and leads into the Life which they who spake them forth lived in but Drunkards Swearers and Proud and Wanton and Covetous Lustful Envious Ones and all Manner of Unrighteous Persons will take the Letter to talk of and say it is their Rule and Guide but are out of the Life thereof and so by it are condemned and those are the Swine that are feeding upon the Husk without and have gotten the Form but are out of the Life and Power and put the Shadow for the Substance and so live in Darkness and knows not whether he goeth but they that read with the single Eymay understand for the Scripture is within and was read within before it was read without Now Silence all the Study and Wisdom of Man We are accused to Deny the Baptism The Baptism we own which is the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with Fire but we deny all other for there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all and they who would have one Baptism outward and another Inward would have two Baptisms when the Scripture saith the Baptism is but One and whosoever have the Baptism Outward are
God which is a meeer Delusion We are accused to deny the Sabbath The Sabbath of the Saints we own which is not for a Day but Everlasting and who dwells in Christ witnesseth this Sabbath which is the Substance and the Shadow without is vanished for saith Paul let no man condemn you in respect of Meats and Drinks or of an Holy Day or of new Moons or of the Sabbath-Dayes which are but Shadows of things to come And so the World hath the Shadow and the Saints the Substance and you who have the Shadow persecute them who have the Substance as the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests did who had and upheld the Types and Figures of Christ and persecuted him who was the Substance so they that are alter the Flesh persecuted them that are aftor the Spirit But your Sabbath is a Shadow of Nothing for the Jews Sabbath in the time of the Law was upon the seventh Day which was the last Day of the Week but yours is the first Day of the Week for which you have no Scripture and they were not to do their own Wayes nor their own Pleasure nor speak their own Words upon the Sabbath Day and here you transgress in the Figure and walk in your own Wayes and speak your own Words and do your own Pleasures both of that Day and every Day We are accused that we justifie our selves and condemn all others I answer When we were our selves without the Spirit of God and had a Form and Profession of the Saints Condition which we did not possess we sought to justifie our selves in our Profession and earthly Wisdom and to exalt our selves and be something in the Eyes of others and here we were Pharisee and yet feigned Publicans saying we were sinfull but thought higher of our selves then others though we were in the same Nature and here our Justification was of our selves and not of Christ and here all you Pharisees and feigned Publicans both Priests and Professors who are in your earthly Wisdom feeding upon the Letter but as the Light of Christ arose in us all our earthly Wisdom wherein we were exalted became Foolishness and Self was judged and denyed and all that which was of Self both Wisdom and Righteousness wherewith we covered over our filthy lustful unclean Hearts and so were as painted Sepulchres and here are all Professors at this Day who are feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and are from under the Cross of Christ but all would not hide from the Light of God but as it arose it searched through all and lay'd open all and all our Covers became rotten and fell from us and so it will be with all Professors as the Light of Christ doth arise and the Book of Conscience is layd open for no Flesh must glory in his Presence But now we have nothing but what we have received of the Father through Death and Christ is made over unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and though we glory we glory in the Lord for we have nothing in our selves to glory of and the Saints thought it no Presumption to call themselves the Sons of God and said they were of God and all the whole World lie in Wickedness and here the same Spirit would have accused them yet they were no Pharisees and Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the Pharisees he was judged a Blasphemer and as he is so are we say the Saints yet they were no Pharisees and so who are made the Sons of God it is no Self-justification to witness it forth neither those who are made free from Sin to witness it forth as the Apostles did and to witness forth the Life and Power of Truth and deny them that have gotten the Form Notion or Profession And here Christ is the Witness and the Justification for the Way is but one and the Truth is but one and they who dwell in the Truth witness one with another for the Light of God owns its own wheresoever it is for God cannot deny himself but they that are not with us are against us and out of the Truth in the State of Condemnation for all who are out of the Truth are under the Curse in the Fall and this Truth we witness by the Spirit of the living God through Death the same Truth as ever was and there is that in every Conscience shall bear us Witness yea in the Heathen and condemn them that hate it Jer. 3. 19 20. We are accused to be one with the Ranters I answer it is false for we abhor their Principles in our Hearts and deny any Liberty to the Flesh or any light or loose or vain Conversation which they live in or any thing which is impure or unclean for our Principles are pure and clean and are at Enmity with any thing that is impure or unclean for Purity and Impurity cannot agree together and it is our desire to keep our selâ—es unspotted of the World for that which is unclean defiles and from that we are seperated who are the Sons and Daughters of the living God But some of them have tasted of the Love of God and Grace of God and have had Appearances of God but by hearkning to the Voyce of the Serpent and giving way to the Lust have turned with the Dog to the Vomit and the Grace of God into Wantenness casting his pure Law behind their Backs and walking despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and have crucified afresh the Lord of Life and put him to open Shame therefore hath the Lord given them up to their own Hearts-Lusts and vile Affections and their Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron for it is written It is impossible that those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance but they have deceived many with their alluring Speeches and have caused the Truth of God to be evil spoaken of by their pernicious lascivious wayes but Wo Wo be to them for double shall be their Reward But God is our Witness we deny and abhor all things which are filthy or unclean and though all the World condemn it is without For there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not aefter the Flesh but after the Spirit And it is my tender desire towards all tender Consciences that they may take heed of giving any Liberty to the Flesh lest they loose the Tenderness of Conscience and harden it by Lust and Uncleanness for nothing but Purity will the Lord receive for he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity We are accused that the Ground of our Religion is Popery The
make you clean ecase to do Evil learn to do Well seek Judgement relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widdow Isa. â—â— and saith the Lord Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a man to afflict his Soul to hang down the Hâ—ad like a Bâ—lrâ—sh and to spread Sackcloth and â—shes under him wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord is not this the Fast which I have chosen to break the Bands of Wickedâ—ess to 〈◊〉 the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppresse◠〈…〉 that you break every Yoak Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy House when thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own Flesh Isa. 8. 5 6 7. but this they did not do therefore said the Lord these People draw near me with their Mouths and honour me with their Lips but their Hearts are far from me and thus the Devil deceived them and blinded their Eyes in that Age with a Profession and Form of Worship but their Hearts he kept to himself and this the Prophets saw in the â—ight and testified and declared against it and left it behind them upon record and when the time came that Christ was born the Pharisees and Scribes and chief Priests had the Letter the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and they could tell by them where Christ should be born and when Herod had assembled them together he demanded of them where Christ should be born they said in Bethlehem of Judah for thus it is written by the Prophets c. so the Priests and Pharisees then were the Keepers of the Letter and they had the Types and the Shadows and Figures of Christ the Substance and there they had a Life and thought in them to find Eternal Life but would not come unto Christ that they might have Life but despised him and would not believe on him because he came not in the Wisdom nor in the Pomp nor Glory of the World but testified against it and they were gotten up into Moses's Chair but not into Moses's Life for they tythed Mâ—nt and Anis and Cumin but omitted the weightier things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith which they ought to have done and not to have left the other undone for that was a time when Tythes were due for the Aaronical and Levitical Priesthood to which Tythes did belong was not yet changed until Christ was offered up and they were fair-sayers who said and did not and the Hypocrites who were hopt above the Light and so were the Blind Leaders of the blind with their fair sayings and therefore said Christ beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and they turned People from the Light and denyed the Light and so shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men and would neither enter in themselves nor suffer others that would but had gotten a Wisdom and Righteousness of their own which blinded their Eyes and covered their Sins so that they could not see their Sins nor him that was the Way the Truth and the Life therefore did he pronounce so many Woes against them and called them whited Walls and painted Sephulchres who washed the outside but were the Generation of Vipers and Serpents within and thus Christ who was the Light searched them and judged them who appeared fair on the Outside but within full of Uncleanness but they could not hide themselves from the Light therefore they joyned against it the Saducees the Pharisees chief Priests and Scribes and the Herodians and Pilate and Herod and the rude Multitude all joyned together against the Life and they consulted against him and took Counsel against him how they might destroy him and the Pharisees came to tempt him and in snare him with Questions that they might get some what against him to bring him under their Law but he fore-saw their deceitful Hearts their Plots and confounded their Intentions and brought to nought their Counsel then they said If we let this man alone all men will go after him and so they sought false Witnesses and took Counsel against him and crucified him and let Barrabas go free and thus the Devil blinded their Eyes in that Age with a strickt Profession and their own Righteousness and Wisdom so that they could not see the Light and the Life but persecuted it and sought the Living in the dead Letter but if they had known him they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory yet they were wise in their own Eyes and despised those that followed him and said none of the Rulers believed on him but an ignorant People that knew not the Law that were accursed because they were the Publicans and Sinners and they themselves were the greatest Sinners but they healed themselves up with their own Wisdom and Righteousness and therefore said Christ they that are whole need no Physician but they that are sick therefore he said Publicans and Harlots should enter the Kingdom before them but the Blind the Deaf the Lame the Dumb and the Leopardies came unto him and believed on him and were healed and the poor received the Gospel but the Priests and Professors or the Pharisees and Scribes and Elders and Rulers could not believe on him that he was the Messias but looked for another and these were the most zealous in their Profession and builded the Tombs of the Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of thâ— Righteous and said If they had been in the Day â— their Fathers they would not have been Partakers wiâ— them in the Blood of the Prophets and yet those were the chief Persecutors of Christ the Substance of those things which they upheld in the Law and the Prophets therefore they were Witnesses against themselves and filled up the Measure of their Fathers Wrath and those professed Abraham and said Abraham was their Father and yet denyed Christ whom Abraham foretold of but Christ told them they were of their Father the Devil and his Works they did and would do and thus he judged them for all their Zeal and Profession and said how could they escape the Damnation of Hell Then after he was sacrificed up he appeared unto his Apostles and sent them to preach the Gospel to every Creature and here they did not run because the Prophets run nor take up a Command without them in the Prophets Writings to do a thing because the Prophets were commanded to do it but they were also acted and guided by the same Spirit and Word of Truth which dwelt in them which Christ before he was offered up had promised that he would send the Comforter even the Spirit of Truth which the World could not receive which should lead them into all Truth and should reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and then after they had
the Flesh in the Name and Power of our Lord Jesus Christ for in the Spirit Paul discerned it for saith he Though absent in Body yet present in Spirit I have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done this Deed and so those Formalists and Imitators if any differ from them in Judgment they will also deliver him up to Satan as they imagine taking the Apostles Words though they cannot tax him for any Thing but his Judgment differing from them but they want the Power and here they are the Magicians like Jannes and Jambres opposing the Truth and those are they that are called Baptists and another Form they are more spiritual in their Judgment and they hold a spiritual Baptism and not a Water-Baptism and as many as hold with them are of their Church and Faith and thus they are divided into several Forms and Churches and so have several Names and there are several Judgments of one Thing under one Name and here is the Confusion of Babylon with their several Sects Judgments and Opinions and every one are professing the Name of the Lord and stealing the Words of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles and saying The Lord saith when he never spoak to them and here is the Difference from another only in Profession Judgment or Opinion but still in Babylon and Babylon's Fashions Customs and Traditions and Fellowship Manners and Breeding which is all Heathenish and at Enmity with God being in the Fall and thus they stand in the first Nature in Pride in Covetousness Anger Wrath Malice Fleshliness and Lustfulness and Idle Words Vain Talking Foolish Jesting and Evil Communication and to be short still alive in the World's Nature Strangers to the Holy God and so under Death's Dominion and here I comprehend all Forms Sects Judgments and Opinions by the Light which slayes Death and takes away its Dominion unto its self to whom it belongs and doth see them and judge them to be out of the Light in Darkness and so in Confusion one clashing against another with their Judgments and Opinions and here are the Disputes of this World and the one cryes Lo here is Christ in this Form and another cryes Lo here is Christ in this Form and none else whenas Christ is within his Saints and there is a false Christ which they have set up in their Imaginations and here are the False Prophets and False Christs that are gone out into the World who have deceived many And here is the Ground of Forms a setting up a Likeness of a Thing a Figure or Image of a Thing but not the Thing it self and here is the Beast and the Image of the Beast which all the World worships and wonders after even Satan as an Angel of Light in his several Shapes Forms and Likenesses to deceive the Simple and here is the Form without the Life and Power and here is the Building upon a sandy Foundation which all must come down who hear the Words and talk of the Word are Sayers of the Words here is him that saith he hath kept the Commandments and Ordinances and yet his Heart from God after other Lovers who is searched and found out by Christ the Light and here is the Spiritual Babel with its Foundation and Babel's Building and Babel's Builders and here is the Image whose Head is Gold whose Breast is Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron and part Clay but now is he come and made manifest who strikes at Feet of Image who is called the Stone cut out of Mountain without Hands even Jesus Christ the Son of God now after all this Profession of his Name and of Faith in him but now he finds none in the Earth who hath revealed himself in the poor despised ones of the World and those who have been counted the blind and igrant and as you have read the Poor receive the Gospel the World was made by him but the World knew him not he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as receive him to them he gives Power to become the Sons of God to whom that Promise is fulfilled which was promised in the Dayes of old by the Father That in the last Dayes he would pour forth his Spirit upon all Flesh and his Sons and Daughters should prophesie and the Young Men see Visions and if you will receive it this is the Elias which was for to come in the Spirit as he came in the Flesh even the Life and Power of what hath been so long professed which the Lord hath now manifested in his Servants and Hand-maids whom he hath now sent forth abroad freely to call into the Supper of the Lord even the Marriage of the Lamb and to preach his Name no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit and to preach him within the Hope of Glory the Ministry that hath been hid from Ages and Generations and they that will be his Disciples must deny themselves and take up his Cross follow him through evil Report and good Report through Persecution and through Death and who are faithful until Death must receive a Crown of Life and reign with him for evermore in his Kingdom of which there is no End neither Beginning over which he is made Heir and King blessed be Jehovah sing Halelujah to his Name all ye that know him And now that his Name is spreading abroad and his Message declaring by the Mouth of his faithful Messengers those who have long talked of his Name and so long professed his Name know him not neither believe on him but are found Hypocrites and Dissemblers and blind Leaders of the blind whited Walls and painted Sepulchres but within full of Uncleanness Hypocrisie and Deceit even the Generation of Vipers and Serpents and those will not receive the Message but make light of it and say they believe on a Christ at Jerusalem and now in the Heavens far off they know not where and they cry he hath done all for us and hath satisfied for our Sins and they shall not be imputed to us say they and they cry out this is a new Light and a strange Light and we know not whence it is but they say they will keep to the Old Rule the Scriptures which they call the Word of God and the Old Way though they be meer Strangers to the Life of the Scriptures but it is that the Scripture might be fulfilled upon them as Christ saith For Judgment am I come into the World that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind as their Fore-fathers professed Abraham and Moses and said We know that God spake unto Moses but as for this Fellow we know not whence he is John 9. 29. and they said God was their Father but Jesus Christ answered them and said If ye were Abraham ' s Children ye
who would try the Living by the Dead and again he said that one Spirit could not try another for by that Judgment the Evil Spirit might try the Good Spirits to which I replyed By the Spirit of God all other Spirits are tryed and also that by the Light Darkness is discovered but Darkness cannot comprehend the Light neither discover the Light and here again his Blindness and Ignorance and Deceit was much discovered to the People although he fed himself and would have shuffled it off by his Consequences and filthy Logick but it the more laid open his Deceit and presently the said Elligood was found with another Lye in his Mouth for he said that I said the Thing should be proved by every Man's Spirit which was a very Lye for I said that the Baptism of the Spirit was the Substance of the outward Baptism the which he denyed and bid me prove it and I said I spoak to the Witness in every Man's Conscience which his dark Mind could not comprehend but with his dark Mind wrested my Words and therefore said that I said it was witnessed by every Man's Spirit but his Spirit was a lying Spirit there tryed and made manifest to the People and his Blasphemy against the Spirit of God in calling Truth Error and Error Truth and putting Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness because the God of the World hath blinded his Eye and many witnessed against him for his filthy Spirit was odious to many of the Hearers then afterward he again said that I was a Deceiver and his Proof was that I was not obedient to the Command of Christ to be baptized and I told him I was baptized but he said with Water and he said that was a Command of Christ to be baptized with Water and I bid him shew me that Scripture but he could not but brought a Scripture in the Acts where the Apostle commanded some to be baptized and this by his filthy Logick and Consequences he would have made a Command of Christ but he could not deceive the Light which did him try and make him manifest to the Shame of his Prosession but he could not bring one Scripture to prove it to be a Command of Christ to baptize with Water and then he shuffled to that Scripture where the Apostle said Be ye Followers of us even as we are Followers of Christ and then he said Christ was baptized but he confessed it was to fulfil all Righteousness and I said he was also circumcised and he said that was not for Example then not the Baptism for both were to fulfil all Righteousness to which End he the Substance came but Christ himself baptized not with Water neither do they read that the Apostles were baptized with Water then who is their Example and how do they follow the Apostles in that seeing they are baptized and the Apostles were not then he fled from that being there routed and said They might be Disciples before they could take up the CROSS of Christ and I replyed with Christ's Words That they might take up his Cross before they could be his Disciples which he denyed and said That Wicked Men upon that Account might take up the Cross of Christ and that Christ required Wicked Men to take up his Cross and I said it was so he did require them so to do for by taking up his Cross they come to deny their Wickedness for they that bear his CROSS live not in Wickedness but this Elligood said That Wicked Men could not take up his CROSS for he said Reproaches and outward Sufferings were the CROSS of Christ for his Name 's sake but this was not the Cross by which Paul was crucified to the World and the World to him and saith Paul where he was speaking concerning Wickedness and Unrighteous Ones to the Corinthians Such were some of you but you are now cleansed c. And here Wicked Ones and Unrighteous Ones took up his CROSS which to them was the Power of GOD unto Salvation though to the GREEKS Foolishness and to the JEWS a stumblingâ— Block amongst whom this ELLIGOOD is found who is a Stranger to the CROSS OF CHRIST who saith REPROACHES and Outward SUFFERINGS are the CROSS OF CHRIST whenas the CROSS OF CHRIST makes DISCIPLES and they must be DISCIPLES before they can suffer REPROACHES or PERSECUTION for the NAME OF CHRIST and must depart from Iniquity before they be a Prey to the World for CHRIST's sake for the VVorld loves its own and they that take up the CROSS do depart from Iniquity which is before Reproaches or Persecution is suffered for the Name of CHRIST And here ELLIGOOD is found the Lyar who said Wicked Men were not called to take up the Cross of CHRIST whenas all are wicked before they take up this Cross and here ELLIGOOD is found to be no Disciple of Christ who is such a Stranger to the Cross of Christ who is a Lyar and so are not the Disciples of Christ for the Lyar is of the Devil and therefore is ELLIGOOD Then I knowing him to be one of the Baptists Teachers I took out some Queries which not long before I had sent them but no Answer to them had I received and I would have read them openly that the People might have heard and also he that was one of their Teachers but as I was reading he not having Power over his own VVill could not bridle his Tongue but disorderly run into many VVords so that the People could not understand and I spoak to him for it and he said He had not Time to stay and further said That he was not of the Society of these Baptists at Fnestanton and yet he came with them and from them and then I replyed That be owned them to be the Church of God and this he did and then if he was not of their Society he was shut out of the Church and then he would have shuffled off with his Consequences and said he dwelt for off and then I replyed with the Apostles Words Though absent in Body yet present in Spirit and the Multitude that believed were of one Heart and Mind and here was the Society of the Saints and he being out of this Society is shut out of the Church and then he would have made it stood by his Logick which only is to make a false Thing seem true but it the more laid open his deceitful Heart and Shame to the Hearers who severally witnessed against him to speak nothing but Deceit and then saith he you call the Apostles Words Deceit because he had often stoln the Apostles Words to make his DECEIT seem TRUTH by covering it with the APOSTLES Words and this is a more subtil Deceit and then in his Will he called me Deceiver the which he was to prove and all the People was silent and there he uttered several Lyes and laid open himself to be the Deceiver as I had told him in
and by what did the Prophets and Apostles try the Spirits and whether yours is the same Tryâ—r of Spirits as theirs was yea or nay 39. What is the Faith of the Saint and what is the Faith of the Hypocrite and how are they known the one from the other 40. How and by what were you called to the Ministry which you profess 41. What is the Gospel which you profess and what is the Light of the Gospel which the Infidel cannot see and what is an Infidel and what is the Eye which the God of the World blinds in the Infidel 42. What is the State and Condition of the Jew inwardly whose Praise is not of Man but of God and wherein doth he differ from the Jew outwardly 43. What is the New Covenant and where any in the New Covenant pay'd Tythes and why do you cry against the Priests and their Tythe and their Worship and yet uphold them by paying them Tythes and helping to maintain their Places of Worship and whether this be not Babel Yea or Nay These Things I donot ask because I know them not but that the Truth may be manifest and the Deceit laid open therefore answer by plain Scripture or else all ye Formalists Imitators and Self-actors bow unto the Truth and be silent and let your Mouthes be stopped and thereby confess and yield your selves in an Error and to have gotten the Form without the Life and Power that the simple may no longer be deceived by you taking the Shadow for the Substance Read this openly in your Church that all may hear and answer for themselves from him who by one of you was called a Deceiver yet true who according to the World am called James Parnel A Copy of most of these Queries was sent to the chief Teacher of the Baptized People in Festanton and after a certain Time these Words they sent me back again as followeth A few Words to him that saith that according to the World he is called James Parnel WE have received your Paper and according to your Desire read it in the Congregation unto which you desire our Answer by plain Scripture to which we reply That when you make good your Affirmation that you are no Deceiver but True by plain Scripture then shall we return you a further Answer to your Queries From them who desire to serve the Lord Jesus Christ John Denne Edmund Male. Then after I had received this Libel I returned them this Answer at the Bottom of their own Paper Answer THis is plain Scripture Though as a Deceiver yet true and if my Life and Conversation doth not prove the same and make good my Affirmation then in your Answer to my Queries you might have taxed me and proved to the contrary But this of you is but a plain Shuffle to blind the World and shun the Shame and still to blind the People who are enslaved under your Deceit but this will the more manifest your Ignorance Then not long after they return'd me this Answer as followeth IT is not plain Scripture Though as a Deceiver yet True As Deceivers yet True is plain Scripture the greatest Deceiver in the World might as well have brought it to prove himself no Deceiver but true as well as you For your Conversation we know it not we have nought to say to that but this we know that Wolves may come in Sheep's Cloathing and this doth appear in you in drawing People from the Truth as namely from Water-Baptism which is a Command of the Lord unto Believers As for your saying We might have taxed you in our Answer to your Queries We think you might plainly see your Folly in this You affirmed nothing in them as your Judgment how should we then tax you and prove the contrary And again We made no Promise to Answer and therefore you might have spared your Daring and False Words to say The People are Enslaved under our Deceit And therefore until you have made good what you have taken in hand by plain Scripture by the Fruit of your Lips by bringing the Doctrine of Christ and owning his Commandments we say until then we are exhorted To let you alone Let them alone they be blind Leaders of the Blind you having been so plainly manifest unto us Rep. Here all People who with a single Eye read may see the Deceit of this People for I spoak but of one and therefore in that Respect it is plain Scripture though as a Deceiver yet True But these are they who if they could would make a Man an Offender for a Word My Conversation they cannot touch and yet are not ashamed to say The greatest Deceiver might as well have brought this Scripture as I this is the Blindness of their Minds And also say because I deny Water-Baptism to be an Ordinance or a Command of Christ that I am a Wolf in Sheep's Cloathing which they do affirm to be a Command but cannot prove it and so are such as use their Tongues and say The Lord saith when he never spoak to them But surely a Wolf in Sheep's Cloathing is to be known by the Life and Practice but in this they are blind and cannot discern and so themselves are the Blind Leaders of the Blind but I shall not let you alone but make you manifest unto the World neither did Christ let them alone but pronounced Woes and declared against them And here I am sure you might see your Folly who say I have been so manifest unto you and said You know not my Conversation What a Confusion is this But it is your Mother's Language And also in expecting me to affirm my Judgment upon my own Queries then what need I send them to you to Answer if I Answer them my self And here I am sure you might see your own Folly for it is here plainly laid open so that all who are led by you are plainly seen to be enslaved under your Deceit And these words shall stand for Truth against you which you call false who are the Blind and so put Evil for Good and Good for Evil And the Doctrine of Christ I have brought and his Commandments I do own from and against you who are the Busie Bodies and Self-Actors who have nought to do with him nor his Commands Therefore Silence Deceivers for here I have made good what I have taken in hand which witnessed shall be in your Condemnation The Occasion of another Meeting betwixt the People called Baptists and the People called Quakers SEveral times when I have come to the Town of Cambridge I have heard a Rumour of a Boasting and Daring that sprung from the People called Baptists behind my Back concerning a Dispute with me yet I had received nothing from them neither by Word nor Writing to be certain of their Minds therefore I being in the Town sent them Word That I heard a Voice of such a thing but knew not the Certainty therefore to let me know
Church of Christ was met together and there it was agreed upon by the Elders That Samuel Cater and Ezekiel Cater who were formerly Elders of the Church of Christ in this Town namely Littleport and being they have departed from the sweet Fellowship of the Church of Christ c. and after so many Admonitions would not be reconciled should be delivered unto Satan I was there appointed to be the Messenger And so he ran on with his Excommunication according to their Form with their stoln Words Reply Now for the Truth 's sake for which thou John Ray hast cast us out of your Society we shall hereby clear our selves from what is or may be cast upon us in this Matter by thee John Ray and the rest of thy Society whom we know to be most bitter Slanderers of the Truth This we deny that ever we were Elders in the Church of Christ you made us Elders in your Church who call your selves Jews and are not but the Synagogue of Satan out of which you have cast us but not before we forsaked you We by the Light of Jesus Christ through the Love of God seeing both you we setting ourselves of Acting Imitating the Apostles in our Wills with a blind Zeal for Life but Strangers to the Life and Power neither could witness the same Infallible Spirit as they had as you know we all confessed and therefore we had nothing but what we got into our Brains of their Words and so got a Notion with adding to our own Imaginations of them and wresting the same with our Fallible Spirits for we durst not say It was Infallible as you also confessed your selves then it must needs be fallible for there are but two kinds of Spirits and if not the Infallible then the Fallible and though we did the very same things and spoak the same words and not from the same Spirit it was all false and as nothing as they that swore God lived swore falsly for They that have not the Spirit of Christ are none of his and his Spirit is Infallible in the least measure And thus you are shut out in all that you can do of your selves with your formed Ordinances And this we know We were also Strangers to the Cross of Christ and the Light and Life and Power of Christ which the Apostles lived in and also the One Baptism of Christ without which none can be his Disciple so we were only Jews outwardly washing the Out-side but within as foul as ever as you also are yet we say not but we had a Zeal in the same though not according to Knowledge But now the True Light is sprung in through the Mighty Love of God towards us so that we see the Weakness of our own Actings and Formings in our own Wills for Liâ—e and now are made willing through the Power of God to lay down our Crowns at the Feet of Jesus and to wait in what he hath given us of his Light and we have tasted of his powerful Word through his gracious Love towards us and now we have a Witness within our selves whenas before we knew it not but murdered it as you also do and for this you have cast us out of your Society but not for Fornication as he was in that place of Scripture which you imitate nor for making Shipwrack of Faith and a good Conscience for we witness an Increase of both but the Discerning and Power is wanting in you and so you know not what you do but know this We are not falleâ— to a looser Life but to a more stricter severe Life for to serve the Lord Jesus Christ But remember this That if they that believed your Form to be the Truth could but patter over a few words of Faith and call it Theirs and then according to your Form they were put into the Water and taken out again and then received into your Church and Communion though no change of Life or Nature and this must needs be the Synagogue of Satan And this I Samuel Cater can witness for so I have Baptized and ye allowed of it but now my Eye is opened I do see it and do testifie against it That all I did so by I deceived them though then I confess it was Ignorance and so was yours but now you might see if you would therefore it shall no more be called Ignorance but Wilful Blindness But I know you will alledge You teach Godliness and Holiness But I answer You run and the Lord never senâ— you as we also did therefore you profit not the People at all and if you had not the Words of Godliness and the Form then the Ministers of Antichrist would not be like the Ministers of Christ but you are But I say Your Lives come short of what you profess for in them there is no Change but they that are Earthly-Minded and Covetous are so still and your Lives are in Pride Ambition and Arrogancy puffed up with your Vain Knowledge and with Respect of Persons and so are out of the Faith of Christ and in Wrath and Anger and Envy and Bitterness and in Lying and Slandering and Backbiting and Lust and Fleshliness we formerly being in the same Society do witness it now our Eyes are open out of which Society you have cast us and praised be the Lord that we have escaped the Snares of Darkness by the bright Shining of his Light into our dark Hearts to the which Light do we speak in you all by it to read your selves and judge your selves for by it are you seen and judged to be in Darkness and in Confusion out of the Faith and Society of the Saints but these things do we not speak out of Envy or Revenge but for the clearing of the Truth and our Consciences from your Slanderous Tongues and to lay open your Deceit and Way of Delusion to the Simple that they may escape the Delusion which we were ensnared in and that so you may proceed no further with it that your Folly might be manifest unto all as theirs was who withstood Moses Ezekiel Cater Samuel Cater A Copy of the most of the Queries aforesaid were given to this Ray but no Answer did he return A Word to all who are still in your own Forming Self-Actings and Imitatings YOU are acting in that Nature which is at Enmity with God which is not subject to the Law of God neither can be So all your Formings and Actings are in vain for they are not from Life but from Death for Life but Life comes from Death for in the Destruction of Death Life is obtained Therefore to the Light of the Lord Jesus in all your Consciences take heed which is the Witness for God to which I speak in you all which witnesseth for God against the Secrets of your Hearts which reproves you in secret for your secret Actions and Deeds of Darkness and it will search you through and let you see what
Generation yet nevertheless I continued in constant Preaching of the Word to the Consciences of the People freely and publickly in several Plains of the Country notwithstanding much Opposition both of Priests People and Professors and much did the Truth prevail in the Hearts of the People to the Glory of God the Father of Truth which did make glad the Hearts of many who have long expected this Day to appear but the false Prophet began to utter forth his Lyes Blasphemies against the Truth the Beast by whose Power the false Prophet stands began to rage and persecute and the Ministers of Anti-christ stood up for their Kingdom crying against Truth striving to present it odiouâ— in the Ears of the People but when I came to their Faces they fled like Hirelings and left their Flock behind so that the Truth much prevailed notwithstanding their railing and raging so that they begun to appoint Meetings purposely to set themselves against the Truth to presenâ— it to the People as Error and Heresie so that if by any Means they could by their evil incensing and leavening of the Minds of the People turn away their Minds from hearkning to the Truth and on the other Side they had the Earthly Powers to uphold them and strengthen them against whomsoever should come to gainsay them and to lay their Law upon them so I hearing of a publick Meeting that was appointed by the Priests and Professors of these Times to be at a Town call'd Great Coggashall upon the 12th Day of the 5th Moneth called July as was declared in publick by the Priest of the said Town to Fast and Pray against the Errors as they said of the People called Quakers and also their Intent was to ensuare me and to bring my Body into Bonds if that I came amongst them for to defend the Truth which afterwards appeared and although I did see their Intent towards me I was made willing not only to be bound but also to suffer for the Pâ—re Eternal Truth which I am made a Witness of so I being pressed in my Spirit for to go amongst them and in Obedience to the same I went and there was one Priest Willis an Independent Teacher who was set up in the Seat of the Pharisee the chiefest Place of the Assembly there speaking a Divination of his own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord and therefore knew not how to divide the Word aright but cryed against false Prophets and Deceivers and he himself one of them and when the Priâ—st had done I spoak unto the People in Vindication of the Truth of God which the Priest had before reproached reviled and blasphemed but the Priests and the Rulers interrupted me and 〈◊〉 into many Words which bred much Disorder and Confusion and then another of the Priests got up into the Pulpit and they bid me put of my Hat and stand with my Hat off the Time the Priest was praying which Worship I denyed and therefore could not be conformable to it and so I said Before I should be subject to their Wills I would pass out of the Meeting Place and so I did and many People came out after me for I intended to declare the Truth in the Town being I could not have Liberty in the publick Place And as I was passing on the Way quietly towards my Friends House he that is called Justice Wakering came rushing behind me amongst the People and suddenly smote me with his Hand upon my Back and said He arested me in the Name of the Lord Protector and so I turned me about and looked upon him but knew not that he was a Magistrate so I asked him Where was his Writ and he said He had one but none he shewed me then they hurried me into an House and there some Friends engaged that I should be forth-coming when their Worship was done and so I went unto my Friends House and there spoak the Word of the Lord unto the People that there came together and was also ready when their Worship was done according to my Friends Engagement And when I came before them there were four Men called Justices and six or seven Priests yea there were nigh nine or ten Priests that Day that were gathered together against the Truth and when I was come before them he that is called Justice Wâ—â—ering came and plucked my Hat off my Head and threw it away then they fell to question me of many Things to which I made answer and many frivolous Questions they asked me whereby to ensnare me which was neither just nor honest for Men of their Profession to do so when they had satisfied their Wills in examining of me they caused a Mittimus to be made and committed me to the Common Goal at Colchester And there were several of the chief Priests in Essex that were Actors in this Persecution Priest Willis who is a Teacher of an Independent Company at Brantry and Priest Sammes a Teacher of an Indepâ—ndent Company at â—reat Coggashal and Priest Spaâ—row a Teacher of an Independent Company ar Halstead and Priest Stellum a Teacher of an Independent Company at Tarling yet are all Parish Priests and are maintained by those that â—re not of their Church and those were the Head-Actors in this Persecution yea and Priest Stellum speak to the Rulers in the publick Place thereby to stir up their Spirits to persecute and this was plotted amongst the Priests and their gathered Churches to appoint Meetings thereby to ensnare the Innocent and raise Persecution against the Truth yea and two of the Men called Justices who were my chief Persecutors are Members of the Independent Church and thus the Churches gather themselves against Christ and his Kingdom and now the Ravening Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing do appear yea their Fruits make them manifest and those are they who call themselves Jews and are not but the Synagogue of Satan and those are the Builders who have do reject the Corner Stone which is now become the Head of the Corner and over their Heads is set and Wo unto them on whom it lights And after I was sent to Prison there I was kept close and could not have my Friends and Acquaintance to come to see me with Peace and Freedom and so when I was there I wrote an Answer to the Mittimus whereby I was falsly accused and imprisoned and sent to the Men that committed me for to clear my Conscience unto them and lay the Injustice and Cruelty before them and leave them without Excuse in the Presence of the Almighty And so when the Time came that I was to go to the Assize they put me on a Chain amongst Felons and Murderers and joyned me to one suspected for Murder and thus I was numbred amongst Transgressors that the Scripture might be fulfilled and thus six of us were hooked together upon a Chain so that we could not go into a Bed for four of us remained upon the Chain
Words to all my Dear Friends in and about the County of Essex AND all you my dear Friends you scattered and despised Ones in and about the County of Essex whom the Lord by his Powerful Word is now gathering out of Darkness into his Marvelous Light out of the Kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of his dear Son whom he is separating unto himself to walk before him in Holiness that you might know him and he might know you in the Light of his Countenance whose Faces he hath turned towards Sion to seek after a Land of Rest unto your wearied Souls which have been tossed to and fro from Mountain to Hill in this Cloudy and Dark Day seeking Rest but finding none But now is the Day of Beauty broaken forth nigh you even in you Yea and Glad-tidings is come unto your wearied Souls by which a pure Love is begotten in you to the Everlasting Truth which hath been freely declared amongst you by the Messengers of the Most High who have reached the Witness for God in your Consciences which doth seal the same upon your Hearts which your Teacher is and unto it you hearken and are obedient In which Light all stand still and behold the Work which the Lord hath begun amongst you and you shall have no Cause of Discouragement though the Sea doth rise and the Raging Waves do swell as if they would swallow all up yet it is limited by the Unlimited and it shall but foam out its own Shame And as I had a Time to preach the Truth amongst you to the Convincement of many so also now I have a Time to seal the same with Patient Suffering in the Bonds of the Gospel that you may see That it is no other but what we are made able and willing to seal with patient Suffering yea with our Blood if we be called to it as many of us have done in this Nation though it be called A Land of Liberty but it is for Iniquity but Truth and Equity are Strangers in it and therefore are persecuted But you that are found worthy to receive these Strangers happy are you And though the Raging Sodomites compass you about for to cause you to cast out these Strangers that they may work their Wills upon them yet be Faithful and fear them not but cast out your Darlings before them and stand in the Faith of the God of Truth and Equity and you shallâ— see the Sodomites struck with Blindness that they shall not be able to prevail against you but when they are weary with striving they shall be made to sit down in Sorrow and so shall it be fulfilled which of old was prophesied that No Weapon formed against the Faithful shall prosper but Wo unto them that lift up their Heel against them Therefore I charge you all in the Name of the God of Truth Be Faithful Valliant and Bold for the Truth received and as you have received it so walk in it that you may profess no more in Word but what in Life you seal that the Light may be preached forth in your Lives and shine forth in your Conversations to the Glory of the Father of Lights and the Confounding of the Heathen who profess God in VVords but in Life deny him And be willing that Self shall suffer for the Truth and not the Truth for Self for the Truth was ever sealed with Persecution since Gain's Generation had a Being upon the Earth and so own the Cross and despise the Shame and give up your selves to suffer for the Truth received all you that would follow the Lamb to the Land of Rest and through many Tryals you will wax strong and bold and confident in your God for God is not known what a God he is until the Time of Tryal And all keep your Meetings in the Name and Fear of the Lord God waiting for his Power in the Obedience to his Light which in your Consciences doth reprove you when you do amiss that in it you may wait and watch over the Foes that are of your own House that you may know the Warfare begun in your Hearts against your Spiritual Enemies and so the God of Power manifest himself amongst you by his Mighty Power bringing down all that in you which opposes him and would not that he should reign over it and exalt his own Seed in your Hearts and establish you in Righteousness that his Image you may bear and He shall be your God and Ye shall be his People And so in the Unchangeable Truth I rest in Unity with all the Faithful in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God though in Outward Bonds for your sakes Known to all that can read me in Spirit JAMES PARNEL Goliah's Head Cut off with his OWN SVVORD In a Combat betwixt Little David the Young Stripling who stands in the Power and Strength of his GOD and great Goliah the Proud Boaster who stands in his Own Strength glorying in the Arm of Flesh and contemning and despising Little David because of his Youth In a REPLY to a Book set forth by an Unnamed Author under Pretence of an Answer to Thirty Six Queries propounded by Iames Parnel whom he in Scorn calls The Young QVAKER And also an Answer to several Counter-Queries propounded by the same Unnamed Author whom I understand to be one Thomas Draton a Teacher of the World at Abby Rippon in Huntingtonshire wherein his Folly and Ignorance is much laid open and the Pride and Deceit of his Spirit much manifested and also he that takes his Part who writes himself W. P. who knows not the Power of God and therefore glories in the Length of Time and the Multitude of Years But Solomon who was a Wiser Man then Great Goliah said That the Honourable Age is not that which is of Long Time neither that which is measured by the Number of Years but Wisdom is the Gray Hair and an Vndefiled Life is Old Age. And therefore let not the Wise Man glory in his Wisdom nor the Strong Man glory in his Strength for it is Vanity JAMES PARNEL Printed in the Year 1675. GOLIAH's HEAD Cut of with his Own Sword c. The Title of the aforesaid Book An Answer according to Truth that trembles not nor quakes nor quaileth given to thirty six Queries propounded by James Parnel commonly called the Young Quaker to an ancient Country Minister with some Counter-Queries by the said Minister unto the said Young Quack and his Fellows Reply HEre thou mayst be ashamed to stile thy self an ancient Minister who manifests such an Ishmael's Spirit who with reproachful Words makest a Scoff at the Power of Truth which the Ministers of God in all Ages witnessed which made them to quake and tremble And though the Truth neither quakes nor quaileth yet all that owned the Truth owned and witnessed quaking and trembling which Truth thou manifests thy self but a Professor of and a Stranger to the Power and
Body and Blood of Christ for thou saist thou hast declared the Mystery of both more distinctly and evidently then ever thou readst in our Writings And then by thy vain Philosophy thou goest about to justifie the Word Sacrament for the which thou hast no Scripture and many of your Blind Dâ—luded People do not know what it means Rep. But all this is no true Ground to believe thy words to be Truth for thy Hope is alreadâ— disproved and found to be Deceit and thy Lying Tongue hath been many times reproved as before thou boastest that thou uâ—ually spoakest by the Motion of the Holy Ghost and then wast presently found in a Lye so that there is no Credit to be given to thy Words without a sufficient Proof for here also thou may'st easily be proved a Lyar for out of thy own Mouth both thou thy self and thy Church were proved to be no Christians Then for your Discerning the Body of Christ or declaring the Mystery from your own Experiences yea and though thou couldest declare the Mystery from others Words who experienced it they that hear thee could not discern it without a Single Eye which appeareth they have not who are still Earthly-minded by thy own Confession And dost thou profess here now to have such a Spiritual People and yet durst not trust them for thy Maintenance without a Compulsive Law This also manifests thy self to be Earthly-minded and so ignorant of the Mystery And thus every way thou Deceiver thy Confusion is seen and by the Truth art thou overwhelmed and catched in thy own Craftiness Qu. 25. And whether dost thou not give Bread and Wine to Natural Men and Women yea or nay Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou confessest Thou dost give to Natural Men anâ— Women and also to Spiritual Ones as thou saist Christ himself did to all the Twelve Disciples Luke 22. 14 15. c. whereof thou saist Judas was one and the Apostle for a time thou saist gave the same to those that professed Repentance Faith and new Obedience but fell away afterwards which to prove thou quotest 1 Cor. 11. 18 19. 1 John 2. 19. Rep. Here thou Murderer of Souls by thy own Confession thou confessest the People to eat and drink Damnation to themselves not discerning the Lord's Body which the Natural Man and Woman cannot do and as for Spiritual Ones thou hast none in thy Flock for thou confessest they are Earthly minded And for what Christ did is a Mystery to thee and that which might be done for the fulfilling of what was before decreed which is nothing for thee to imitate And did not Judas eat and drink his own Damnation Neither doth these Scriptures prove that the Apostles did the same as thou dost for he was far absent from them when he writ this Epistle to them as a Warning to take heed what they did neither doth that in John prove any thing to this Purpose for thine can fall no lower then they are who are not yet Christians neither thou that teachest them as is before proved out of thy own Mouth And though here thou confessest they are a Mixt Multitude yet thou makest no Difference when thou takest thy Tythes neither appeareth it when thou givest them that thou callest a Sacrament Qu. 26. Can any be set free from Sin so long at they are upon the Earth and where must they be clensed if not upon the Earth Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou in words confessest That man may be Wholely set Free and that thou knowest no other Place of Purgation and also boastest That thou hast held forth this Doctrine long before the Quakers came as thou callest them Rep. But I find in Life thou still denyest it neither art thou thy self come up to it nor any that are taught by thee and therefore I hold thee the greater Hypocrite and Deceiver then if with the rest of thy Brethren thou didst in words deny it unless in Life thou didst seal it for Profession without Life and Power hath ever been a Dishonour to Truth and Religion Therefore silence Deceit and cause not the Truth to be blasphemed Qu. 27. What Scripture hast thou for thy Rule to give David's Conditions to be sung in a Meeter Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou canst bring no Scripture-Proof to maintain what thou dost but saist All are not of the World whom we take to be of the World to wit who are no Quakers thou saist And secondly thou saist Israel in the general to whom David gave his Psalms to be sung were the greatest part Unregenerate and men of the World Thirdly thou saist He gave them in Meeter or Measure to be sung as the Learned in the Hebrew Tongue know well Rep. All are of the World that are not Christians which neither thou nor thine are as before out of thy own Mouth is proved and also all that own not Quaking and Trembling by the Power of God are also of the World and know not God for all the Holy Men of God and David for one as is before proved witnessed Quaking and Trembling and the Son of Man was to eat his Bread with Quaking and drink his Water with Trembling And so you that despise Quaking and Trembling are Heathens that know not God And also the Way is but one and they that are not with us are against us But All Israel Trembled before the Lord who were not of the World as thou belyest them who were the Lord 's chosen People in the Figure whom he had chosen out of the World though when they forgot their God they were defiled with the World Neither canst thou bring any Scripture-Proof to maintain that David gave forth his Prayers his Prophecies his Quakings his Roarings his Cryings and his Lamentations â—o be sung in a Meeter as thou saist the Learned Ones know but thy Learned Ones may be Lyars like Thee and therefore I have no Ground to believe them seeing also that I have a Proof to the contrary for by your own Confession they were turned into English Meeter by Sternhold and Hopkinson and therefore stop thy Mouth thou Lyar. And fourthly Thou askest what Condition David was in into which every Man may not come in Time And fifthly thou say'st Are not David ' s Psalms Part of the Holy Scriptures which are permitted to all Men and are profitable for all Men to read And sixthly thou say'st The Jews did read all the Old Testament in Publick with a singing Voice as the Learned know And seventhly thou say'st Did not the Lord by his Servant Moses teach all Israel a Song of his own making as in Deut. 31. 19 20 21 22. Deut. 32. And thou say'st We will not deny but David ' s Psalms may have the same Effects even upon the Wicked c. which is false for we will deny it for the Wicked have nothing to do with them for unto the Wicked God saith What hast thou to do to declare my
this One and by One and fulfilled in One But it may easily be concluded that thou canst witness none of this for so long as thou art in the Fall thou art under the Curse of the Law and the Guilt of Sin as before out of thy own Mouth is proved and they that can witness this Redemption are Christians indeed and cleansed from Earthly-mindedness all which thou nor thy Church are not as before out of thy own Mouth is proved but are still in your Iniquity upholding the Works of the Devil and are not saved from your Enemies that are of your own Houses neither is the Righteousness of the Law fulfilled in you neither are your Souls delivered out of the House of Bondage neither is Jesus your high Priest who set up yourselves to be Priests in his stead holding up the Changeable Priesthood which took Tythes and so deny Christ come in the Flesh and therefore shall be judged by him whom thou confessest is the Judge of the World all which thou saist is the End of Christ's Coming Qu. 30. Whether thou wilt own that Christ hath enlightened every one that cometh into the World and whether they that know that Light need any man to teach them and whether thou leadest up any under thy Ministry that they need not thee to teach them Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou confessest That Christ doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World because the Apostle affirms it John 1. 9. And secondly thou confessest That they which have attained to the true Knowledge of this Light need not that any Man should teach them for they are sufficiently taught of God thou saist Jer. 31. 34. But thou saist Thou denyest that we are so taught or in such a Measure but thou saist till that full Light shines in you you may have other Helps and Teachers which to prove thou quotest 2 Pet. 1. 19 20 c. Rep. But thou Decâ—iver thou runnest and the Lord never sent thee who hast been a Teacher of the People and a Professor of the Light so many Years and hast not yet brought any of thy Hearers to the Knowledge of the Light yea thou numbrest thy self amongst them whom this full Light doth not yet shine but stand in need of other Helps and Teachers then thou Hypocrite and Dissembler How shouldest thou teach thy Hearers the full Knowledge of the Light as thou saist they will witness for thee whenas thou thy self standest in need to be taught it by thy own Confession Therefore it may well be resolved that thou knowest not that Christ hath enlightened evey one that cometh into the World neither wouldest confess it but that the Apostle affirms it in that Scripture which thou hast quoted in Joh. 1. 9. yea that Scripture which thou quotest in Jer. 31. 34. doth witness against thee and thy Hearers to be yet Strangers to the Promises Therefore thou Hypocrite How hast thou Belyed thy own Conscience in saying That thou wouldest bring thâ—m to the Knowledge of the Light that they should not need thee nor any man to teach them whenas that is it thou openly strivest against for then thy Diana would bring thee in no Gain which is thy greatest Care to uphold and this is witnessed in thy Conscience for a Truth against thee Yea and this Scripture which thou quotest in 2 Pet. 1. 19 20. will witness against thee to be a Belyar of the Apostle for that speaketh of the Word Within which shines as a Light in a Dark Place which thou art not yet come to know therefore thou denyest the Truth But I tell thee We are in that Measure of Light so that we are able to comprehend thee and shew thee thy Confusion and Deceit Therefore silence from bringing the Prophets or Apostles for thy Proof for they testifie against such as thee who pretendest to teach others and to be a Guide to the Blind a Light of them which are in Darkness and an Instructer of the Foolish and art not yet taught thy self but art dark and blind and ignorant of the Light and wantest Instruction thy self by thy own Confession Therefore what an impudent Lyar art thou who before saidst Thou usually spoakest by the Motion of the Holy Ghost and guided by an Infallible Spirit and now not come to that full Knowledge of the Light that thou needest no man to teach thee but the Prophets and Apostles were come to that before they were made Teachers and they by the Effect of their Ministry turned many from Darkness to Light and brought them to the Knowledge of the Anointing so that they needed no man to teach them Therefore silence thou Deceiver for thy Blessings are Curses and therefore profittest not the People at all Qu. 31. Whether they be not the Deceivers that cry Lo here and Lo there that draw People to look at a Christ in a Heaven far off without them or at a Jerusalem far off without them whenas they that cannot witness Christ in them are Reprobates Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou confessest That they that cannot witness Christ in them are in a Reprobate Condition But thou confessest That thou wilt not say that all who speak of a Christ within them shall be saved Yet thou grantest That those Teachers who point only at a Christ without them or to any other spiritual Kingdom of God then what must be within saying Lo here is Christ and Lo there is his Kingdom may be both Deceivers and deceived themselves for the present Rep. Herein thou condemnest thy Brethren to be Deceivers and deceived who are set up upheld and maintained by the same Earthly Power as thou art who are such as cry all Lo here and Lo there without and wholely draw the People's Minds without from the Light within them that should lead them to the Knowledge of Christ and his Kingdom incensing them that it is Natural and Insufficient and though thou dost here profess to the contrary yet art out of thy own Mouth judged to be out of the State of Salvation who only proâ—essest Christ within yet art found as deep in Sin Deceit and as void of Christ or his Light as the rest of thy Brethren who art doting without as before out of thy Mouth is sufficiently proved and so thy self art the greatest Deceiver only the Serpent's Subtilty more refined but that thou accusest us that we cry Lo here among the People called Quakers Christ alone is to be found thou art a Lyar and speakest not from an Infallible Spirit but from a Lying Spirit which many can witness against yet they that are of God hear as he that can receive it let him Qu. 32. Whether they be not out of the Faith of Christ that receive Honour or respect Persons Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer thou say'st Men may receive Honour and yet be in the Faith of Christ which to prove thou quotest Phil. 2. 19 20. 2 Cor. 6. 16 17. 1 Cor.
our Lâ—nguâ—ge hath You Answ. Here thou Son of Babylon who art with thy Carnal Reason in thy Languages confused who stumblâ—st at the plain Language Thou what is that in thee that cannot bear the Word Thou which is the single proper Language to a single Person as well as You which thou confessest is a borrowed Language and thus the Hebrews and the Grecians and the Romans and the Dutch will condemn you who are content with their Natural Language Qu. 13. Whether it hath not been ever accounted Rude and Rustical in this Nation for Inferiour Men to speak unto others their Superiours by the Word Thou and not You and also to stand with their Hats on unless Leave were given them so to do Answ. Thou blind Sot thou hast laid thy self naked to the World with thy Rude and Rustical Query it was never accounted so but by Dives's Nature which is swelled with Pride and Arrogancy yea that which would be above God which must come down into the Pit Is not God the Superiour of all then why do you give unto him that Rude and Rustical Language as thou callest it here thou manifests thy self amongst the Heathen who know not God who exercise Lordship and Authority one of another and so you rule in your own Wills and would not suffer your Fellow-Creatures to put their Hats on their Heads but as you give them Leave and so are out of the Doctrine of Christ with your Rude and Rustical Spirits And was not THOU the Language betwixt God and Adam and betwixt God and Moses and so all along the Scripture to one particular Person then whether or nay is thine a Rustical Proud Spirit that canst not receive the Language thou givest unto God And thus thou hast sufficiently foamed out thy Shame and I am sure now thou speakest not by the Motion of the Holy Ghost Qu. 14. Whether ever Christ or his Apostles taught us to alter or violate the Civil Speeches and Customs of the Nation where we live by which our Reverence to others is expressed and accordingly expected if not commanded also And thou quotest 1 Cor. 10. 32. Answ. Christ is not your Teacher for out of his Doctrine ye are found in the Pride of your Hearts contemning his Speech and Language are not contented with your natural Language but borrow of others in which Custom we are not to follow you out of the Language of the Scripture and so here by thy Query you express no Reverence of God because to him you use the Word Thou which you do account an Uucivil Speech Therefore now see what is that which takes Offence at that which God accepts it must needs be of Proud Lucifer and that same took Offence at the Apostle who said Give No Offence yet the Truth is a Stumbling Stone and a Rock of Offence Therefore now see how thou stumblest at the Noon-day Isa. 59. 10. Thy next is concerning Salutations at your Meetings with others or Departings from others Unto which I Answer That your Heathenish Customs Traditions and Salutations I do deny and know them to be contrary to Scripture for saith it Let him that nameth the Name of God depart from Iniquity Therefore you that are in Iniquity do take his Name in Vain and make a Custom and By-word of it amonngst your selves when you meet with or depart from one aâ—other and so your Children learn it at you and by Imitation use his Name before they do know whether there be a God or nay And to that in Ruth 2. 4. and to that in Psalm 129. 8. which thou hast quoted in thy Fifteenth and Sixteenth Query I Answer They that there named the Name of the Lord knew him and that in the Psalm will witness against You that You have nothing to do to name his Name nor to have such words spoaken to you who know him not And read what God saith to the Wicked in Psal. 16. And why call ye me Lord and do not the things which I say But the Salutations of the Saints Iown who are not by Custom lead Luke 6. 46. Qu. 17. And to Mat. 10. 12. and Luke 10. 5. which here thou hast quoted I answer That you are no Ministers nor Messengers of Christ who are found out of his Doctrine therefore Peace is not given you to speak but as False Prophets you speak it to that which is for Death because that puts into your Mouthes and even prepare War against those that do witness the Son of Peace Thy next is concerning Meat Drink and Apparel And to thy first Query of that I Answer All the Creatures of God are Good in their Places and all things for the use of Man who dwells in the Moderation but cursed to you who live under the Curse in the Lust under whom the Creation groans who know not the pure Wisdom that made all things to teach you how to use all things to the Glory of God and therefore are out of the Right And thy 23d and 24th Query is here answered But you are they whose Kingdom stands in Meats and Drinks and Apparel who are taking thought what to eat what to drink and where-withal to be cloathed Matthew 6. 15. Qu. 22. And to this Query Where hath God enjoyned men to drink Water in any Part of his Word I Answer Thou mayst be ashamed to boast of thy Age who askest such a Childish Query I might as well ask thee Where God enjoyned men to drink Beer For Water is the Original of all Drinks for in the Dayes of Old Water was the Common Drink Hast thou not read of Jacob's Well where Christ drank then Who art thou that despisest Water It is a Sign thou servest the Lust. But if any drink Water who know the Goodness of it what is that to thee Who enjoyns thee to drink Water And in thy Twenty Fifth Query thou answerest thy self Qu. 26. And this Query is Whether one may not Satisfie the Flesh even in Over-fasting and Over-watching the Body Which to prove thou quotest Col. 2. 23. Answ. But I perceive thou wilt have a Care of that who hast been pleading so much for the Body which is the most thou mindest thy Zeal is not so hot But they that dwell in the Power of God are free from this and yet know how to keep uâ—der the Body and not satisfying the Lust But you that know not the Creator trust in the Creature Qu. 27. And here thou askest Whether are not the Saints to sanctifie their Meats and Drinks by Prayer and Thanksgiving before and after they eat and drink Which to prove thou quotest 1 Tim. 4. 5. and Rom. 14. 16. Answ. To the Pure all things are pure but thy Prayers are Abomination who art in the Lust. But which of these Scriptures maintains your Custom after Meat But the Saints receive nothing of God but with Thanksgiving and Glory to God but your Blessings are cursed And here is thy
Twenty Eighth Query answered also Qu. 29. Whether the Apostle's Interdiction be absolutely against all Ornaments or Comparatively only And thou hast quoted a Scripture in 1 Pet. 3. 3 4. which answereth thee where thou may'st read what Ornaments he approves of and here thy Thirty Thirty One and Thirty Two Query is answered Answ. But Moderation in every thing Iown but what is waste is for the Lust both in Kings Princes and Great Personages as thou callest them but with us there is no Respect of Persons neither taking thought what to eat what to drink or wherewithal to be cloathed as the Children of this World do amongst whom thou art found but our Kingdom is not of this World And Israel after the Flesh was a Figure of Israel after the Spirit therefore now read their Adorning if thou canst and remember No Creature was made for the Lust though Lustful Men Abuse them Thy next is concerning Pride And thy first Question of this is Whether Pride doth lye in Apparel though there may be much Wastefulness Vanity and Ostentation committed therein or inwardly in the Heart and Mind of the Poor as well as of the Rich and thou quotest Mark 7. 21 22 23. Answ. The Scripture which thou hast quoted doth answer thy Question where Pride lyeth but Apparel is a dead Thing and no Pride in it but the Vanity and Wastefulness which thou confessest is committed therein figures forth the Pride of the Heart and where Riches are this is shown therefore you Priests look at home and judge your selves though Poor and Rich be both in one Nature before the Regeneration Ephes. 2. 3. Qu. 34. Whether one of the greatest Things that puffs up the Hearts of Men be not knowledge whether it be true or false and imagined only and thou quotest 1 Cor. 8. 1 2. Answ. You that are Carnal and Fleshly are puffed up with your Fleshly Notional Knowledge and in that you steal from others Experiences but the true Knowledge of the Spirit puffs not up but judges down that which would be exalted but this unto thee is a Mystery because thy Knowledge hath blinded thy Eye who art confused in thy Imaginations so read thy self in the Scripture aforesaid which thou hast quoted Qu. 35. Whether another Thing that exalts a Man in Pride and makes him despise his Brethren and perhaps those that are better then himself be not a Conceited and Self-chosen Holiness seeing such a Proud Saint is brought in Isa. 65. 5. which Thing also thou sayst is verefied in the Pharisee and the Publican Luke 18. 15. Answ. Thou hast here answered thy self with these Scriptures wherein thou may'st read thy self who thinkest thy self more holy then thy Brethren and wouldst only answer for thy self and not for thy Brethren though thou art found in the same Practices but thou blind Pharisee he was not a Saint which was spoken of in Isa. 65. 5. but he was a Saint which said We are of God and the whole World lyeth in Wickedness 1 John 5. 19. And here also thy 36 Question is answered with the Scripture which thou hast quoted 1 Tim. 3. 6. who art a false Teacher doting about Questions Qu. 37. And here thou askest whether a Young Man be not the proâ—est of all other to be thus seduced and puffed up and thou quotest 1 Tim. 3. 6. Answ. Thy Spite is much against Youth but him thou shootest at thou canst not hit because thou art blind and canst not divide the Word aright but thou may'st plainly have read thy self in that Chapter aforesaid and find that thou art the Novice who knowest not the Truth but despisest the Young Man because of his Youth which is contrary to Paul 1 Tim. 4. 12. And thy next is to maintain Swearing Qu. 38. And thy first Query of this is Whethâ—r it be lawful now in the New Testament to take an Oath before lawful Authority to put an End to Controversies and thou quotest Heb. 6. 16. Answ. This which thou goest about now to uphold manifests thee an Enemy to Christ and his Doctrine who saith Swear not at all for saith he it hath been said in the Old Time thou shalt not forswear thy self but shalt perform unto the Lord thine Oath but I say unto you Swear not all but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay be Nay for what is more is Evil Now here he doth not only forbid false Swearing but also all Swearing Mat. 5. 33 34 c. and also the Apostle James doth the same in Jam. 5. 12. both which Scriptures thou hast quoted in the 39th Query and so here out of the Doctrine of Christ again thou art found in the Evil and all you that cannot believe one another without Swearing and so are more then Yea Nay and what is more is Evil saith Christ now read your Condemnation And as for that in Heb. 6. there the Apostle was speaking by Way of Comparison how the Lord made a Covenant and confirmed it with an Oath which is Christ Jesus the Everlasting Oath who saith Swear not at all and the Apostle brought a Comparison from Men in Strife and Controversie but this doth not at all maintain Swearing now for Strife and Controversie is out of the Doctrine of Christ and such run into the Swearing and into the Evil amongst whom thou art found upholding the Evil and opposing Christ's Doctrine and so art found in the Condemnation of the Devil Jam. 5. 12. This was not the Saints Practice for in the New Covenant neither Strife nor Swearer is and thus you Leaders cause Men to err by upholding that which Christ is against and here thy 39th Qâ—ry is answered Qu. 40. Here thou askest Whether Paul himself did not swear in these Words 2 Cor. 11. 10. as the Truth of Christ is in me c. Answ. Oh thou Enemy of Truth that would'st here scandal and accuse Paul for Swearing that so thou might'st uphold Swearing but by what doth he here swear this is plain Language And thy next is concerning Outward Material Churches and the publick Exercises therein Most of these Queries are answered in my Reply to thy Answer to my 17th Query wherein I have declared why I object against your Steeple-houses which thou callest Churches Qu. 44. Here thou askest if such Meetings may not be mixt Assemblies of Learned and Unlearned of Believers and Unbeliers and thou quotest 1 Cor. 14. 23. Answ. But the Unbelievers are not owned by the Believers though they come amongst the Believers as in 2 Cor. 6. 14 15 16 17 18. then the Ministers are far off being maintained by Unbelievers as thou art for though thou confessest the greatest Part are Earthly-minded and Worldly-minded thou yet art maintained by them and I am sure they that come into the true Faith which purifieth the Heart come out from amongst you so that you are not much mixed for you are all one Nature like Priest like People And in thy 47 th and
Hardships and Impossibilities do appear before you and Doubts and Fears and Questionings and Murmurings Repinings and Unbelief rise in you and many Temptations bâ—take you soâ—etimes to return back and dye in Aegypt sometimes after the Delights and Flesh-pots of Aegypt sometimes that God hath utterly forsaken you sometimes to question the very Truth of God and ready to call it a Lye and here is the wavering and unstable Mind all which ariseth ouâ— of Darkness where self stands all which comes by hearkning unto self Therefore unto the Light the Messenger of God keep your Minds whâ—ch brings the Message of Peace and glad-Tidings of Salvation unto which keep close own it lone to be your Teacher Guide and Counsellor in all the Way you are to pass and in all Things that you are to do standing in the Denyal of self with all its Ends and own the Light which leads intâ— Singleness to God out of Ends and all stumbling-Blocks it will remove and through the Bryars and Thorns it will you lead and in the Mire you shall not stick but the crooked Way shall be made streight and the rough and hard Way plain and easie for in the Light is none Occasion of stumbling but keeps your Feet from erring and straying your Tongues from Evil speaking as you hearken unto this which when you are going to the right Hand or to the left cryes This is the Way walk in it This is the Word in you from whence comes Faith which makes all Things easie and possible but without Faith it is impossible to please God and Faith is the Gift of God and so is this Word of Truth from whence Faith springs which judgeth down all Murmurings Doubtings and Repinings and all Carelesness Lightness Lustings and Earthliness and condemns the Ground from whence all these Things do spring And here the Ministration of Condemnation is witnessed which in its Time is glorious through which comes the Ministration of Peace which doth the other exceed but take Heed of getting these Things in the Comprehension to talk of but let the Time of Silence and Patience have its Work in which wait for the fulfilling of these Things that within you may read them and the Life it self may shew forth it self which dothadorn and honour the Truth and so you become the Vessels of Honour but out of Faithfulness this is not witnessed For it is the Willing and Obedient that shall eat the Good of the Land Therefore Friends see how you stand in Faithfulness to what in your Measures is made known unto you for Faithfulness is of great value and Faithfulness is as well in secret as in publick knowing that all Things are publick unto God who will jâ—dge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ therefore he that is faithful over a little is approved of God and shall be made Ruler over much but he that is â—sloathful is cast out and from him taken that which he hath These Things you have read without but now learn within and read your selves and you need not be Deceived for by the Light your Hearts are searched by it all Things are made manifest by which you are either approved or disapproved unto God in all your Words and Actions therefore by this set a Watch over all your Thoughts Words and Actions that the Righteous judge may be set up in your Hearts which judgeth down Deceit and iniquity and establisheth Righteousness in the Earth and Truth and Equity in the inward Parts and cleanseth the Heart from Evil that this alone may guide you and act you forth in all yourâ— Wayes and Doings and then self hath no Part but all Things are done in the Cross unto selâ— in Singleness unto God and he alone is glorified and the Fear and Awe is placed and the Tongue is bridâ—â—d and the Will curbed and the Heart cleansed and kept clean for it is that which goeth out that dâ—fileth Therefore I say unto you all Watch that the Pure may exercise your Minds which is the Cross to the Carnal which crucifies the Carnal and mortifies the Deeds of the Flesh and establisheth Purity in the Heart and brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit which is Love in a pure Life that here you may come to live and walk and grow together in Unity in your Measures for that which separates from the Unity is self which causeth Love to wax cold but in the Love of God abiding self is denyed for where self is owned the Love of God is denyed So here is the Enemy of your own House that you are to war against and in the Light which discovers self is your Power and Strength and as you receive the Light you receive Power to deny self in its Appearances which Power reconciles your Hearts together and works you into perfect Friendship Unity which stands not in the Will but in the pure Nature which is the Cross to Will which Nature the World cannot bear which Nature breaks the World's Fellowship Love and Friendship all which stands in their corrupt Wills wherein stands all their Customs Fashions and Traditions and all their Worship and Profession out of which also ariseth Persecution against you who dwell in the pure Nature and the single pure Language which their corrupt Wills cannot bear nor savour but look not out at what they can do unto you knowing that the uttermost is but to take the Life of the Body but eye the Lord your God in it and count it your Riches that you are found worthy to suffer for Righteousness sake for through many Tryals and Tribulations you come forth pure unto the Lord and strong in the Faith So the Lord God of Power be with you and by his mighty Power keep you low and watchful in your Conditions that your Eternal Good you may mind above all Things under the Sun that every one in the Truth received you may walk and grow daily dying unto the Things that perish that in the Life of God you may come to dwell out of the Creatures and then the true Use of them will be given you and the pure Wisdom as it was in the Beginning when Man was in the Right to the Creatures and here Paradice will be found but he that believeth maketh not hast but by patient continuing in well-doing you will reap if you faint not wherein I bid you you Farewel Dear Friends It was the Love of God in me which run forth to the Seed in you which constrained me to write unto you and visit you with this Epistle now my bodily Presence is by the corrupt Will of Man barred from you yet my Spirit doth not cease in your Behalf that the Lord by his Power by which he hath awakened you out of Sleep and caused his Witness to answer to his Truth would bless and prosper this his happy Work in your Hearts to the bringing forth his precious Seed to rule and have Dominion that so his glorious