And all you that still pay the Priests Tythes and Offerings and are convinced of the Deceit of the Priests you do deny Jesus Christ the Son of God come in the Flesh who is the Everlasting High Priest the End of Tythes and Offerings according to the Law and do uphold Babel and the Merchants of Babylon and are throwing down with the one Hand and building up with another who cry against the Priests in words as to be proud and covetous and yet put into their Mouthes for a Peace sake with them and so while you put into their Mouthes you Uphold them for their Maintenance Upholds their Ministry And here you flee the Cross and are Men pleasers because you would not suffer for the Truth you profess and therefore are denyed by them that dwell in the Truth But you that for Conscience cannot pay the Priests Tythes keep to that of God which convinces you in your Consciences and it will carry you out to suffer for Conscience sake and so you will have your Peace with God in your Consciences though by Men persecuted Or if you be called to Answer at their high Courts or Benches keeping to the Principle of God in your Consciences you may appear before their Highest Judges and cast Slavish Fear aside and stand in the Fear and Counsel of God and to their Faces Answer for the Truth in Boldness against their Deceit and let the Truth confound them And give up your Bodies freely to suffer for the Truth of Jesus that the Heathen may know That the Truth is in You. And deny all those that receive Fees or Gifts in their Heads and keep to the Counsellor within If any Man wants Wisdom let him ask it of God where you need not go out to Man And all you that give Money to Repair the Idols Temples and are convinced in your Consciences of the Idolatrous Worship that is therein upheld you are guilty with the Idolatrous Worshippers who do uphold their Idolatrous Places and so uphold their Idolatrous Worship and here you cannot wash your Hands of their Idolatry but are defiled with them so long as you Uphold their Idolatrous Places Therefore to the Light bring all your Deeds that by it all such Actions and Practices may be condemned and you separated from the Idolatrous Generation and keep clean from its Polutions and suffer willingly the Spoiling of your Goods for the Name of Jesus And if you be called before Magistrates to take an Oath keep to that which condemns all Oaths which saith Swear not at all but testifie the Truth from your Consciences in the face of all men and so you abide in the Doctrine of Christ and out of the Condemnation for They that Swear fall into Condemnation saith the Apostle James Chap. 5. 11. And though in the Time of the Law and the Prophets on Oath for Confirmation among men then was the End of all Strife but Christ Jesus the Oath of God the Fulfilling and End of the Law and the Prophets saith Swear not at all but let your Yea be Yea and Nay Nay for what is more is Evil And such as stumbles at this Language accounts the Cross Foolishness and is for Death by the Cross And if you be crucified with Christ you shall reign with him And so to the Light in you all I leave you by it to be directed how to walk up to the Mind of God and own the Truth before all men every one of you faithful in your Measures there to grow out of the World and the Deceit of the World to be kept clean from the World in the Fear of the Lord using the World as if you used it not and then are you my Friends and of my Kindred And this I was moved to give forth for the Directing of your Minds lest any of you should be choaked with the World's Spirit which I see working amongst you which would keep Peace and Friendship with the World that by the Light of Christ Jesus where with you are all enlightened you may search out this Worldly Spirit which is in you working against the Light that by the Light it may be rooted out for of a Truth you cannot serve them both but while you are seeking to please the one you displease the other Therefore keep to that which separates from the World for if God be on your side who can be against you In which Confidence I rest in Unity with the Faithful in whom is my Joy and Comfort in the midst of Bonds Written from Colchester Castle in the 9th Moneth 1655. JAMES PARNEL AN EPISTLE TO FRIENDS ALL ye Friends of the Light though we who are your Ministers and Messengers oâ— Light are in Prisons Holes and Dungeons cast and kept by the devilish corrupted will of man suffered by God the Father of Light for the Fulfilling of the Scriptures upon that Gâ—neration which was prophesied of by the Ministers and Messengers or Light in the dayes of old who suffered in the like nature by the same Generation for the same Testimony and though yet the Lord suffers the same Generation to act in their Nature against us and fill up their Measure of Wrath it is for the Manifestation of his Truth and Exalting of his Name of Power and through all this are we known and made manifest unto You who be in the Light and the Heathen do come to know and confess That he is Greater that is with us then all they that rise up against us and in all this do we Rejoyce and through our Sufferings are Crowned and do get Victory over the world without as within And though we are here kept the Lord's appointed Time yet Friends eye the Lord in all these things and look not out at Man or what Man can do either for or against but eye God in all his Works and in all his Instruments and there will be no Cause of Discouragement for the discouragements and fears doubts and questioning spring from the Carnal aâ—d know not the Eternal But an Eternal Witness we have in all your Consciences which by the Word of Power is awakened in you by which we are known by which we are owned by which we are witnessed and received into your Hearts wherein our Unity stands with you who are faithful unto it by which we are remembred unto you though far Absent in Body And this Witness we have in the World though they do not receive it nor like to retain it in their minds therefore they do not receive us but as the witness lies slain in them therefore do they strive to slay us and this is their Condemnation which will witness unto God against them out of their own Mouthes And thus we are a sweet Savour unto God both in you that Believe and in them that Perish Therefore you that do believe unto this Witness â—ake heed and mind its Answer in Your Câ—nsciences that it may Your Consciences exercise in Unity unto
not by it you are left without Excuse and it will judge you at the last Day For he that loves the Light shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life but he that doth Evil hates the Light which is his Condemnation Now the VVay is plain to all simple Ones who have a Desire to find it declared by a Friend and VVitness to the Eternal Truth who am called J. P. THE Fruits of a Fast Appointed by The Churches gathered against Christ and his Kingdom who go about to mock God with their Outside Worship and Appointed Fasts and Dayes of Voluntary HUMILIATION Or A Declaration of the Persecution of a Messenger of the Lord by a People who go under the Name of Independents in Essex who have set themselves in the Enmity of their Spirits to oppose the Truth of God calling it a Lye and persecuting his Messengers as Deceivers and Wanderers wherein their Persecuting Spirits are made manifest and them to be in Cain's Generation Strangers to the Spirit of Christ which never presecuted and so are none of his Rom. 8. 9. And also Of the Unjust Dealings of Judge Hills who sate upon Life and Death at the last Assizes at Chansford which began upon the Eleventh Day of the Sixth Moneth And also Several Queries that were sent to the Priests and Magistrates which may be serviceable for them or any other to Answer whom they do concern By a Witness and Sufferer in Outward Bonds for the Vnchangeable Truth of God by Cain's Generation who am known to them in Colchester Castle by the Name JAMES PARNEL Printed in the Year 1675. THE Fruits of a Fast Appointed by the Churches gathered against Christ and his Kingdom c. FIrst I shall give unto the Reader a Declaration of the Work of God in my Soul and the Conversion of my Heart from Darkness unto his marvellous Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and out of the Path of Death into the Path of Life where I now walk in the Light of my God with the Ransomed of the Lord who are availing towards the Holy City and also the Cause of my coming forth into the World to declare the Truth for which I now suffer Bonds by the Persecuting Generation wherein I once lived a Child of Wrath as all are by Nature and then I was loved of the World while I followed the Vain Courses and Wayes of the World where by Nature I was led in Imitation of others being in that Nature which is prone unto the same the time I was sent unto the Schools of Humane Learning for to learn the Humane Wisdom for which End the Schools are profitable but for the attaining of Heavenly Wisdom and Knowledge they are as far unprofitable and many Books that are there read are much for the Corrupting of Youth and nourishing of the Wild Prophane Nature which then ruled in me and I was as Wild as others during the time I followed the School and after I was taken from the School I still continued in the same Nature growing and encreasing in Sin and Iniquity following the vain Courses of the Wicked World and also was trained up in the Customary Way of the Worship of the World which is held in the Idols Temple every First Day of the Week but no Conversion there was wrought but all still continued in the old Nature both Priest and People Young and Old and as was the People so was the Priest all walking in Darkness and Blindness by Form Custom and Tradition but ignorant of the pure Light which is the Guide and Teacher of the Faithful which oftentimes did reprove in Secret when I was alone but then I knew not what it was but oftentimes it did strike me into a Consideration of my Ways and Doings and set Life and Death before me so that I have sometimes promised within my self never to do the like again but the Promise being in the Will made it did not stand but when the Temptations came the Careless Mind got out again and led me still to delight my Heart in the Vanity which my Eye did see and my Ear did hear which all passed away with the using thereof and left me to the Judgment which was due unto me for my Iniquity which did follow me time after time calling me to Repentance and the more I did incline my Mind and draw nigh to it it also did draw nigh to me and so the Goodness of God led me to Repentance and the Grace of God wrought in my Heart a Reformation and so I was found of him when I sought not and thus he both wrought the Will and the Deed of his own good Pleasure and plucked me as a Brand out of the Fire to make me a Vessel of Honour to his Name all Living Eternal Praises be to his Name forever my Soul shall Praise and Magnifie his Name forever For I may well say with Paul of Sinners I was chief for according to my Years I was as perfect in Sin and Iniquity as any in the Town where I lived yea and exceeded many in the same so that there was as little Hopes of my Conversion as any in the Town and yet though it is a Place of many People I was the first in all that Town which the Lord was pleased to make known his Power in and turn my Heart towards him and truly to seek him so that I became a Wonder to the World and an Astonishment to the Heathen round about but they were such Enemies to Goodness and so given up to Idolatry that as much as before they had loved me in my Vain Conversation so much the more they hated me in my Conversion yea and they oâ— my Family came to ensnare me and lay wait for me to entrap me but when they could not prevail they stood afar off me and Reproached me with Lyes and proved my Greatest Enemies yea and my Relations became my Adversaries and laboured to destroy what God had begun in me because that thereby I came under the Reproach and Shame of the World because I could not conform to the World in their invented Fashions Customs and Traditions and their Words Wayes Fellowship and Worship but was made subject to the Law of God and could not Respect Persons neither in Word nor Deed then the Beast which rules in Proud Flesh was disturbed who before ruled in Peace while he was worshipped but when I came to see proud Lucifer the Lust in Man to be the Beast which all the World worships and wonders after but those whose Names are written in the Book of Life therefore I could no longer follow the World in Blindness for by the Power of God my Eye was opened so that I did behold their Idolatry and therefore I could no longer be conformable to them so that their Rage and Persecution arose against me and I became a Mock in the Streets yea and I was accounted
To say the Church in God Then I took out my Bible and read unto him the first Chapter of the Thessalonians and the first Verse where the Apostle writeth to the Church of the Thessalonians which is IN God the Father Then Paleness struck the Face of the Diviner neither would any of his Fellows stand up to justifie what he had taken in hand and this was it wherein I said he Blasphemed to say the Church in God was Nonsense Then there was one Priest Stellum a Magician of Egypt who stood up in the Enmity of his Spirit and accused me with several Lyes and Slanders which hardened Pharoah's Heart so that you Corrupt Rulers would not suffer me to clear my self from what he had accused me withal But the Magician got up into the Seat of Divination and was going to his Abomination and then the Rulers called to me to put off my Hat then I bad you call to the Priest to put off his Cap And thus may all see the Blindness and Ignorance of Priests and People who are offended at a Hat and not at a Cap And this is as the Vain Traditions of the Pharisees who observed the Washing of Pots and Cups and such like things making clean the Outside which Scripture Priest Willis who said the Church in God was Nonsense brought in reference to the People called Quakers because they do not put off their Hats in Respect or Worshipping of Mens Persons But let any who hath Understanding consider which is more Traditional for a man to keep his Hat on his Head for which End it is made as also his Shoe for his Foot his Glove for his Hand or the putting off these things in observation or Custom and Reverencing mens Persons for all which there is No Scripture therefore a Vain Tradition of Man and thus they teach for Doctrine the Traditions of Man Therefore in vain do you worship God who come near him with your Lips and with your Mouths but your Hearts are far from him in the Unbelief seeking Honour one of another and observing Vain Traditions and Customs as did your Fore-fathers whom Christ pronounced Wo against who were his Persecutors and in whose Steps ye are found and therefore read your Portion And thus while you are crying against the Scribes and Pharisees for observing vain Traditions and Customs and their Strictness in their Observations and yet Persecutors of the Just you also are found the same who are set up in the Chiefest Place of the Assembly as they were and called of Men Master as they were stand praying in the Synagogues as they did preaching for Doctrine the Traditions of Men as they did and are strict in your Observations and calling of Assemblies and in your set Times of Worship and appointed Fasts and Dayes of Humiliation and yet are Persecutors of the Just as they were yea in the very Height of your Worship the Bitterness of your Spirits appeared But is this such a Fast as God hath chosen Nay It is Abomination his Soul loaths it And he will judge the Cause of the Innocent upon you Hypocrites and be avenged of you his Adversaries and give you your Portion with Unbelievers in the Lake that burns prepared of old for Cain's Generation in which you are found by the Eternal Light of God which cannot Lye which will rise up in Judgment against you at the Last Day though now you stumble at it and are offended at it yet then shall you behold him whom you have pierced though with Lamentation and Sorrow of Mind when there is none to deliver you from the Wrath of the Almighty and this is answered and witnessed in your Consciences Then the Occasion of my passing out of the Steeple-house was this When I could not have Liberty to speak in the Vindication of the Truth against Gain-sayers ye would have had me to have stood 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 would stay to fulfil your Wills I would pass out of the Steeple-House And many came out after me but not of my calling and many that I knew not and yet you are not ashamed to say My Followers And again That I went into the Common high Way and there kept with the People unlawfully together as you affirm is a very abominable Lye especially for Men of your Profession to tell which many can witness against for I was passing on the Way quietly without Disturbance towards my Friends House from whence I came not purposing to stop until I came there but that he that writes himself Dyonisius Wakering came hurrying in amongst the People and clapped me on the Back and said He rested me in the Name of the Protector and there stopped me and the first Words that I spoak were Where is thy Writ And so the People gathered about and thronged much but that any gave out menacing and threatning Speeches I cannot say neither whom they were spoaken against but any that own me it is well known they are not Men of such boistrous Spirits but rather are made willing to be revâ—led then to revile for from me no other Example they have as Hundreds will acknowledge But Wakering if he was true to that of God in his Conscience he would confess how I laboured in his Presence to still the People when he had violently laid Hands on me and given the Occasion and so let all take Notice that there was no Disorder nor Disturbance until the Magistrate came and laid violent Hands on me tending to the Breach of the Peace and against the Law and this is the Fruits of your Hypocritical â—ast and voluntary Humiliation 3. Accusation And also you accuse me That I could give no good Account of my last Settlement or of my Life and Conversation Reply As for my Life and Conversation let it preach forth it self them that can accuse me let them and as for my Settlement it is in the Lord where I have found an Habitation and so am no Vagabond or Wanderer though I challenge no Propriety in the Earth because my Kingdom is not of this World though you accuse me that I appear unto you to be an idle disorderly Person and before you set me down James Parnel Labourer and thus you utter forth your Folly with your changeable Minds but I am a Labourer in the Gospel of God in which Work none can tax me with Idleness since I came into these Parts but if I had been more idle in the same ye would have been more pleased for it is my great Labour and Diligence in this Work of the free Gospel and the Prosperity thereof in the overturning and laying open the Deceits of deceiving and deceived Men that torments you who are the Shelterers of the false Prophet whom you carry in your Bosom because he cryes Peace unto you when the Lord cryes Wo
Equity in is heart without putting off a Hat to a Magistrate and he that so doth Whether is he fit to be called a Magistrate that calleth such a one A Contemner of Authority and commits him to Prison for Mis-behaviour And whether this be Justice or Equity yea or nay 20. And you that plead this Scripture Be subject to every Ordinance of Man for the Lord's sake Whether is it for the Lord's sake that a Man would have his Fellow-Creature to stand with his Hat off before him or for his Selfs sake and whether then it is to be obeyed yea or nay 21. And he that for the Lord's sake aud for Conscience sake cannot so rob God of his Glory and Honour as to bow to or worship any Creature but God alone who is the Creator Whether ought he to be imprisoned for Mis-behaviour or a Contemner of Authority yea or nay according to the Law of Equity And whether this is to be called Liberty of Conscience according to the Law of England yea or nay Now all you that profess your selves Christians and the Scripture to be your Rule take the Scripture and prove your Practice by the Scripture amongst all the Christians or else let the Life and Practice of the True Christians judge you and condemn you and own your selves to be in Proud Haman's Nature and so liable to Haman's Judgment And hence forward look to your Office to Rule for God and not for your selves and then you will not stand upon such frivolous things for it is a frivolous thing to look for the putting off the Hat and is no Part of True Nobility or Christianity Given forth for the Clearing of the Truth to which the Nations must bow James Parnel Here followeth a Copy of a Note that was written against the Idol's Temple which was judged a Contempt of the Ministry THis is the Idols-Temple where the Worship of the Beast is upheld down with it down with it 1 Cor. 8. 10. Rev. 13. 7 8. Deut. 12. God that made the World and all Things therein dwells not in Temples made with Hands Acts 7. 47 48 49. Acts 17. 11. Neither is he worshipped in Idols Temples made with Mens Hands Acts 17. 24. God is a Spirit and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth for the Father is seeking such to worship him John 23. 24. All the World wonders after and worships the Beast but those who have their Names written in the Book of Life Rev. 13. 3 4 8. And they that worship the Beast receive his Mark in their Foreheads Rev. 13. 16. As sprinkling Infants and worshipping the Works of their own Hands Isa. 2. 8. And following the Imaginations of their own Hearts such must drink of the Wine of the Wrath of the Almighty poured out without Mixture Rev. 14. 9 10 11 12. This Idols Temple that is made with Hands is a Place for Night-Birds and Scrich-Owls to meet each one with his Mate Jer. 34. 13 14 15. To the Dishonour of the only true God that dwelleth in Temples made without Hands at New Jerusalem where the Tabernacle of God is with Men Rev. 21. 3. Drunkards and Swearers Revilers and Scoffers and Scorners Proud and Wanton Ones Hypocrites and Dissemblers Envious Haters Backbiters Persecutors Lustful Covetous Ones and Earth-worms meet here the Fearful and Unbelieving Peevish Perverse Contentious Ones meet in these Idols Temples to satisfie their Lusts And saith the Lord these People draw near me with their Mouthes and honour me with their Lips but their Hearts are far from me but in vain do they worship me teaching for Doctrine the Traditions of Men Mat. 15. 7 8 9. But know you not that no Unrighteous Person shall inherit the Kingdom of God 1 Cor. 6. 9 10. But must be cut down and cast into the Lake that burneth Rev. 21. 8. Be not deceived God is not mocked such as you sow such must you reap Gal. 6. 7. And to whom you yield your Members Servants to obey his Servants you are Rom. 6. 16. For he that commits Sin is the Servant of Sin and so is of the Devil Joh. 8. 34. 1. Joh. 3. This is a Deceiver that stands up here every first Day of the Week to deceive the People he is Proud and Covetous and speaketh a Divination of his own Brain but not from the Mouth of the Lord and so makes the People light and vain Jer. 14. 14. But the Lord is against him hold him not up for he ran and the Lord never sent him therefore he profits not the People at all Jer. 3. 1 2 3. But hath stollen the Letter which is Carnal with it to feed the Carnal for Carnal Ends and Lucre and so hath a Form but denyes the Life and Power and therefore from him turn away 2 Tim. 3. 5. Therefore spend not your Money for that which is not Bread nor your Labour for that which profiteth not Isa. 55. 1 2. For all the Children of the Lord are and shall be taught of the Lord and in Righteousness shall they be established and they shall be far from Oppression Jer. 31. 34. Isa. 54. 13. 1 Joh. 2. 27. He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear what the Spirit saith and be deceiv'd no longer J. P. Here follow several Queries that were sent to four of the chief Priests in Essex with some more added which may be serviceable for them or any other to answer whom they do concern SEveral Queries unto Priest Sammes Priest Sparrow Priest Willi and Priest Stellum and your gathered Churches by you to be answered according to Scripture which you profess to be your Rule Query 1. How and by what were you called to the Ministry which you profess 2. What is the Gospel which you pretend to preach and how did you receive it and whether your Gospel be free and without Charge as the Apostles was yea or nay 3. What do you minister from and what do you minister to in the Natural Man and what is the End of your Ministry 4. What Rule have you in the Scripture to take a Text of the Apostles Words and speak from it what you have studyed with your Uses Points Tryals and Motives and Applications 5. Whether do you speak by the same infallible Spirit as they did that spoak forth the Scripture yea or nay 6. And whether he that hath the same infallible Spirit need study how or what to preach 7. And whether it is not as lawful now for Fishermen Plowmen or Herdsmen to preach if they be called to it and fitted for it by the same Power and Spirit as they were in the dayes of old and whether Christ is not the same Yesterday to Day and orever according to Scripture 8. And whether any now ought to teach and preach in the Name of Jesus but who are called to it and fitted for it the same Way as the holy Men of God were spoken of in Scripture 9. Whether
I am freely made willing to give up rather then to deny the Truth of my God And if I should pay one Penny for the Liberty of my Body in this Cause would be as much as if I paid the whole Fine which thou hast unjustly laid upon me for therein I should own my self a Transgressor where I am not guilty and also a bought Liberty is Bondage to my Spirit but my Liberty under thy Bonds is Bondage to thee which Liberty thou canst not rob me of with all that thou canst do for it is the Free-Gift of God which none can take away though thou wilt not allow me in thy Bonds to have the outward Liberty that thou allowest to Thieves and Murderers and Fornicators that is to have my Friends and Acquaintance to come to see me wherein the very Heathen will condemn thee who when they had committed Paul to Prison said Forbid none of his Friends and Acquaintance to come to see him Acts 22. 24. Therefore now read how thou exceedest the Heathen in Persecution and Injustice though I am a free-born Subject in England therefore let the Life of all the Christians condemn thee who never were Persecutors And this of the Lord I was moved to write which is the Word of the Lord unto thee whether thou wilt hear or forbear in the Peace of my Conscience I do rest in the Will of God known to thee by the Name James Parnel And now a few Words unto you who call your selves Gathered Churches go under the Name of Independents in Essex YOU are gathered by the Will of Man and are joyned by the Will of Man and so stand in the Will of Man and are upheld by the Will of Man by which you are begotten but still alive in the World's Nature in the World's Customs Fashions and Traditions in the World's Fellowship Words and Wayes and Rudiments only differing from others in Judgment Opinion or Profession wherein is your Life in high Notions and feigned Apprehensions and false Applications and glorious Expressions and customary Duties and vain Traditions which all appertain to the great Image which all the world worships by which they are deceived whose Head is Gold and Breast of Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron part Clay and in the same Nature ye are found with the world the Day doth declare it and you to be the Enemies and Stangers to the Light which is not of the world which is now come into the world testifying against the world and the Deceit of the world and the Deceivers in the World and the Profession of the world And this is the Condemnation of the world that Light is come into the world and men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil In which Evil you are found despising and setting at nought the Corner-Stone and standing in the Enmity of your Spirits and joyning with the Powers of the Earth to persecute the Life and Power which now is manifest in the Earth and is come to discover your Empty Shadows Forms and fair Shews of Godliness but without Life and Power which you have set up in your Imaginations and thereby are deceived and blinded and led in Blindness so that you cannot see the Light nor receive the Substance now it is come and made maniest but stand up in your Wills and wisdom to oppose the same and persecute it in the Enmity of your Spirits as if you hoped to kill the Heir that the Inheritance might be yours And therefore Because you do despise this Day of your Visitation and reject and sleight the Glad-tidings which now are come to them that dwell upon the Earth and revilâ— and reproach persecute and slander the faithful Messengers of the Gospel rejoycing your Hearts in their Sufferings by you and amongst you therefore the Lord will raise up a People out of the Dust and gather them from far to bear Testimony unto his Name and bear witness against you yea and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Son and you and such as you shall be cast out into Tophet prepared of old for Hypocrites and Unbelievers Therefore now read your Portion ye stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears who do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do ye but the greater will be your Condemnation who go about to mock God with your Will-worship with your Calling of Assemblies and Solemn Meetings with your appointed Fasts and Dayes of Voluntary Humiliation with your Long Prayers and Feigned Duties all which are done out of the Light and so are your own Works acted by Self for Self But who has required these things at your Hands It is all Abomination to the Lord his Soul loaths it For your Sacrifices are are as Cain's for you are found in Cain's Nature Envying and Persecuting the Righteous yea the Witness lieth slain in your Streets Therefore VVo is unto you who go on in the Way of Cain for upon you shall come all the Righteous Bloodshed from Righteous Abel until now And your Profession stinks in the Nostrils of the Lord for you have lifted up your Hands against him and his Anointed and opened your Mouths in Blasphemy and False Reports against the Truth yea you are blind and stumble at the Noon-day you come near the Lord with your Lips but your hearts run a Whoring after other Lovers and you know not the Only True God that dwells in Temples made without hands whose VVorship is in Spirit and in Truth but would limit the Unlimited under your VVills as if he were not a God of Might but that you could controle him with the Arm of Flesh But Be not deceived God is not mocked such as you sow such shall you reap and your End shall be according to your Works For our God is a God of Judgment and Justice and will avenge the Cause of the Innocent upon you his Adversaries Yea and though your Teachers do cry Peace Peace unto you because you put into their Mouthes and so daub you up with Untempered Morter that you cannot see your VVouud and so heal you sleightly Yet you shall know that our God is a God of Truth and his VVord shall stand forever and their Sorcery shall appear and their Witchcraft shall be laid open and the Cup of Fornication wherewith they have made drunk and deluded the Nations shall be taken from them the Cup of the Wrath of the Almighty given them to drink their Reward And then shall you behold the Harlot with whom you have committed Fornication who now lies in your Bosoms Bewitching you with a Golden Cup with whom you have defiled your Garments then to be cast into the Bottomless Pit where you shall all be tormented together who now partake of her Pleasures and thus shall you fall among them that fall in the Day that I visit you saith the Lord. J. Parnel A Few
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
to every Creature Neither doth either of these Scriptures which thou hast quoted prove to the contrary And how many Scriptures didst thou quote in thy Answer to my Fifteenth Query to prove that the Ministers of the Gospel might forbear Woâ—king and not to entangle themselves with the Affairs of this Life yet in all could not prove thy self a Minister of the Gospel and now thou questionest the Truth of the Scripture because neither thou nor thy Brethren were called according to Scripture But whomsoever the Lord calls unto his Work he doth take Care both for him and his Family but You that are not called by him dare not trust him without a Law of Man And in thy Ninety Eighth and Ninety Nineth Query thou seemest to accuse us with some that turned from the Truth and yielded to the Deceit of their Hearts and so gave Occasion to such as thee who wait for Occasion to Blaspheme the Truth but is is no new thing but the same which the Scripture declares of in divers places therefore saith Christ Offences must come but Wo unto them by whom they do come For there were then many such as thee in that Age who as thou dost waited for Occasion to blaspheme the Truth But if thou hadst been then how would'st thou have accused Christ who had but Twelve Apostles and one of them betrayed him and then hanged himself and another denyed him Therefore let this stop thy Mouth for speaking Evil of the things thou knowest not And as for Spencer and Gilpin whom thou here nominatest the Truth is sufficiently cleaâ—ed of them in other Books and the Priests have owned them as they did Judas which is the Name of all that turn from the TRUTH after they have received it Qu. 100. Have so many fallen into Distraction or Madness in any Sect or under any Doctrine as there hath done amongst your Hearers especially where the Number of Disciples was no more Answ. Look at Home and answer thy self witness your UNIVERSITIES as you call them for it is the Fruit of Your Studies who would find out that by Your Wit and Wisdom which the Lord hath hid from You And all that You cannot settle in Security and Blindness You lead them into Madness Confusion and Distraction if they do not in time forsake you as many will witness at this day That they are led by You into such a Wilderness that they know not which way to get out neither do You know how to direct them for You are in Confusion your selves and so the Blind leadeth the Blind into the Ditch Therefore this might have stopped thy Mouth from Falsly Accusing us But I remember TRUTH was ever accounted MADNESS and FOLLY by the Blind World who know not that Godliness is Great Gain And in thy Ninety Fourth Query thou wast Questioning the Truth of our Doctrine because of the Multitude of Disciples and now by the Fewness and thus thou Contradictest thy self And then after much of thy Filthy Stuff which all along thou hast vented forth of thy old Bottle against us which upon thee I have returned again from whence it came thou seemest to accuse our Book but dost not shew wherein and therefore I pass it by as knowing thy Lying Spirit And then thou stealest the Apostle's Words for a Cloak for the Deceit of thy Heart 2 Corinth 13. 7 8 9. which the Apostle spoak from a True and Upright Heart but thou from a False Deceitful Heart as all along hath been sufficiently proved and thy Prayers to be Abomination and that thou hast nothing to do to name the Name of God in thy Mouth who art a Worker of Iniquity and a Stranger unto God who art found out of his Doctrine and therefore with this Scripture I shall mark thee 2 John 9. 10. that all may know thee and turn away theit Ears from thee who art not to be received but denyed and therefore whosoever receiveth thee or thy Doctrine the same departeth from the Doctrine of Christ And therefore let this be a Caveat to all People to whom it shall come and look upon thee to be as Anathema Maranatha 〈◊〉 Cor. 16. 22. Given forth from the Spirit of the Lord through a Friend to all Souls witnessed in all Consciences by the Eternal Light of God by which I am known and received in the Behalf of Israel against the Armies of the Aliens who muster up themselves against the Lord and his Authority by a Friend to the Common-Wealth of Israel who is known to the World by the Name JAMES PARNEL Who is a Sufferer in Outward Bonds for the Testimony of the Everlasting Truth in Colchester-Castle 1655. A WARNING FOR All People ALL People Repent and turn to the Lord from the Evil of your Doings for the Day of the Lord is at Hand wherein the Lord will judge the World and give to every one according to their Deeds whether they be Good or Evil yea He is coming with Ten thousand of his Angels to be avenged of the Heathen and them that know him not Now all that live in Sin and Filthiness it appears you know him not for if you did you durst not live in your Lusts heaping up Wrath against the Day of Wrath wherein the Lord will appear as a Consuming Fire against all Ungodliness Rom. 1. 18. God is against you dissembling Professors who adorn the Outside serve God in Notions Words oâ—tside Forms but the Heart is not upright with God you are in the Earth in your Covetousness which is Idolatry and the Lord abhors the outside Worship when the Heartis not answerable and calls such Whited Walls and Painted Sepulchres Hypocrites Serpents Generation of Vipers and the Wo is to such how can you escape the Damnation of Hell Mat. 23. God is against you Proud Lustful Ones who make it your greatest Care to deck your selves in proud Attire inventing new Wayes Fashions to make your selves glorious in the Sight of Men that they may worship you and honour you but consider not that you are but Dust and God will lay your Honour in the â—ust for he is risen to whom all Worship and Honour is due and he will bring down yâ—ur Haughtiness and your Pride and will exalt the Humble and Meek and will seek that which was lost but will destroy the Fat with Judgment Repent ye Lofty Ones and turn to the Lord and humble your selves before him that you may be hid in the Day of his fierce Wrath lest he take you away and there be none to deliver for the Day of the Lord will burn as an Oven and they that are proud and they that do wickedly will be as Stubble and it will leave them neither Root nor Branch Mal. 4. 1. God is against you Drunkards who make it your Trade to pour in strong Drink abusing the Creature which God hath given to be used moderately for the Health and not for the Lust therein you shew your selves
by the Precious Blood of the Lamb with whom You are crucified who are in him who have put on the Wedding Garment and are admitted to the Table of the Lord and are Partakers of the Holy Union Oh ye Blessed of the Lord ye Bâ—bes and Children of the Most High who dweâ—â—eth in Purity and reigneth in Majesty who â—ath established and set up his Throne in Your Hearts in You is my Joy and great Delight yâ—a I remember You when ye were tender and springing up but by Waiting upon the Lord You â—ave renewed Your Strength and the more is my Joy made full in You and Ye are made Precious in my Sight Ye that are inward Jews of the Heart-Circumcision redeemed frâ—m Kindreds Tongues Languages and People who are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem there to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth whom he hath chosen to bear his Holy Image which hath been so much defaced in the World and In You to exalt and glorifie his Name of Holiness amongst the Heathen and them that know him not now in this Day wherein he is visiting the Earth with Judgment and with Mercy and with a Mighty Power to call to an Account the Inhabitants of the Earth And blessed are You that have hearkened unto his Voice Ye shall sing and rejoyce when others shall weep and mourn and howl Though amongst them your Portions are Scoffings Scornings Mocking Deridings Back-bitings Revilings Persecutions Stripes Imprisonments yet have You learned to account these as Riches who know the Comforter within You and Your Redeemer to live with You I do rejoyce in all these things being now made Partaker of them I am not unknown unto You my Voice Ye know of Old O how do I long to see Your Faces but in that I am straitned for a time My Life is bound up in many of Your Hearts which makes me I cannot forget You my Spirit cannot be separated from You though my Body is kept in Strait Bonds but the Straitness will be broaken when he hath perfected his Praise in them who is my only Keeper and Supporter O ye Simple Doves who sit without Guile in Your Mouthes O how I am ravished with the Love of You when I behold You in Spirit You that have given up unto the Death to the Famine to the Sword and to the Fire and have patiently submitted unto the Father's Will and willingly sacrificed up your Darling Your Faith is unto You imputed for Righteousness and the God whom You have trusted and believed in will make You rich in him and give You Substance incorruptible and an Inheritance that never fades in measure You can set to Your Seals of what is written unto You. But some have hearkened unto the Evil Spirit which hath brought Evil-Tidings of the Good Land and such have turned Back into Egypt and joyned with the Magicians thereof to harden Pharaoh's Heart against the Innocent and filled the Mouthes of the Heathen with Blasphemous Speeches But let them go on He that is filthy let him be filthy still for he cometh quickly whose Reward is with him to give unto them according to their Doings But all things work together for the Good of You who stand in the Faith who are not moved with the Winds that blow nor the Storms that come against You who eye the Hand of Providence in all these things which bringeth Good out of Evil to You wards who abide in the Truth and stray not So as You have tasted felt known and experienced of Him so trust Ye in Him and remain in Your sure Confidence which is begotten in You by his Word and be Ye as Lights in the dark World both by Word and by Conversation that in all things Ye may be approved by the Father 's in Your Consciences as Faithful and Obedient Children every one in Your Calling wherein you are called that the Price thereof You may obtain in the End of Your Race O lift up your Heads and look up to the Father and see how he hath tendered You and how his Love hath been tendered towards You all along who hath not left You without Instructors and Nursing-Fathers who have watched over You with tender Care In much Love Tenderness am I drawn forth towards You little ones which springs from the Root of the Vine because you bear my Father's Image Long have I waited to write to You and lately I had an Opening of You which caused me to visit You with this Epistle for Ye have been oftentimes in my Remembrances though I could not write and now You must read me in that Love which Tongue cannot express and in that Epistle which is written in Your Hearts without either Paper or Ink by the Immortal Word of Life and there my Name You will know So the Lord God Almighty the Keeper of Israel over shadow you and in his Holy Presence keep You Pure and Innocent that You may pour forth his Praise in the Earth and shine as the Sons and Daughters of Sion into whose blessed Protection I You commit and do lye down with You who am a Sufferer in Outward Bonds by the Will of Man for the Innocent Seed's sake but at Liberty with the Faithful who am called Written from Colchester-Castle the 12th of the 11th Moneth JAMES PARNEL TO FRIENDS IN Essex FRIENDS TO that of God in all your Consciences I do speak which there doth witness for God which is according to the Mind of God bearing Witness against what is contrary to the Mind of God and approving of what is according to the Mind of God which in your Hearts is placed to be your Teacher to teach you to do the Will of God and how to walk up to the Mind of God and to distinguish betwixt Truth and Error and betwixt the Precious and the Vile and betwixt him that serves the Lord and him that serves him not which Light enlightens your Undestandings and lets you see the Land of Darkness where the House of Bondage is where the Righteous Seed lyeth oppressed and where the Man of Sin doth rule and Death hath Dominion which Light is your Guide out of the House of Bondage and out of the Land of Darkness and out of Death's Dominion and slayes the Man of Sin and separates you from the Children of Darkness and out from among them leads you to seek after another Kingdom where all Things are added wherein is witnessed the perfect Day where Sorrow and Sighing flees away but then out of your selves you must come your own Wisdom and Reason for to deny and whatsoever springs from self which is at Enmity with the Light and opposeth argues and contends against the Light which by the Light is condemned but if you hearken unto self then you stumble in the Way and many stumbling-Blocks lye before you Thoâ—nâ— and Bryars catch hold of you and in the Mire your Feet do stick and there you toyl and moyl in Thraldom and many
Light may shine forth in your Conversations and his Beauty appear in your Image that the Heathen may be ashamed and â—ear before the Lord your God And here my Friends is my Comfort in the midst of Bonds yea if this Body was to be sacrificed up it would not abate my Joy that I have in you in whom the Work of God prospers Therefore I do charge you all in the Presence of the living God whom ye do profess in his Fear to abide diligent and circumspect that you grieve not the Spirit of God nor cause his Holy Name to be blasphemed lest you add Affliction to the Bonds of the Gospel From Colchester Castle in the 9th Month 1655. This from a Friend who is known in Spirit who for the Innocent Seeds sake suffers the Bonds of the Gospel JAMES PARNEL Another Epistle to Friends FRIENDS TO the â—ight of Christ Jesus in You all bring Your Deeds by it to be tryed and proved which Light in You all is the Heartâ—Seacher and Tryer which as you take heed unto it will not let you be idle or sloathful or careless nor let You set lâ— in a Formal Way or Carnal Security but will let you see the Ground and End of all Your Actions and Actings and will prove and try Your Hearts and let You see how Your Hearts stand towards God and what therein is Head and Ruler so that none of You may be acted by a False Spirit which begets into a False Liberty out of the Cross but that your own Wisdom and Reason which argues against the Light for a Liberty out of the Cross may all come unto the Death of the Cross to be mortified for all that in You which would not be tryed by the Light springs from the Enmity against the Light and is for Condemnation by the Light to which Light in You all I speak which is the Cross to Your Wills that by it You may try all Your Wayes and Actions For all You that are Bowing and Crouching and Uncovering to the Creature You are still in the Old Nature where old things are not past away but are still following the Customs of the dark World worshipping the Beast which all the World wonders after and worships for that iâ— the Beast even proud Lucifer the Lust in Man which would be honoured and bowed to and exalted which so swells in Wrath and Rage and Persecution against those that cannot worship bow to nor honour it to which No Worship nor Honour is due for Dust is the Serpentâ—s Meat And from this Beast in Man did this Persecution ever arise against this Righteous Seed which could not honour nor worship him as you may read Rev 1â— All the World wonders after the Beast but those whose Names are written in the Book of Life and those were and are persecuted by the Beast and coâ—ld not nor cannot scarce buy or sell. And that in You which honours and worships the Beast or proud Nature in Man is that which would not bear or suffer the Rage or Persecution of the Beast but would serve two Masters and so while you are seeking to please the one you displease the other and so beguile your own Souls and are a Sâ—are to others and this Heart is not right unto God bring your Ends in so doing to the Light and you shall see it so which â—ight will not deceive you but undeceive you as you take heed unto it and are willing to be led by it which will lead you into the True Worship of the Only True God whose Worship is in Spirit and in Truth And by this Light you will see that to Him alone All Honour Glory Worship Dominion and Thanks belongs And Him that Honours God him will God Honour But this Honour is not of Man for saith he I receive not Honour of Man And here all Men are honoured in the Lord but out of the Lord none are honoured And they that are Proud and High and Lofty are out of the Lord for that is one of the seven Abominations And here by the Light all Respect of Persons is condemned and the Lord honoured in all and all in him which Light condemns the Language of Babylon and begets into the plain single Language which the Beast-like Nature cannot â—ear nor savour But if you seek to please Men you are not the Servants of Christ Gal. 1. 10. And all you that still follow the Fashions of the World wherein is Excess either in Meat Drink or Apparel you are still alive in the World's Nature being conformed like unto the World and are not obedient unto the Light which convinceth you of the Vanities of the World and the Fashions thereof therefore by the Light in your selves which condemns all that in you which would be exalted and esteemed in the World which would be like the World and have the Praise of the World which is to be condemned with the World by the Light which is not of the World And so Pride comes to be rooted out of the Heart and You crucified to the World by the Light which let you see the Vanity of the World and the Fashions thereof which â—ass away which are not to be Touched Tasted nor Haâ—dâ—ed And all the Customary Words of the World which are by the Light condemned which by the Light are seen to be invented from that Nature which knows not God whereby God is dishonoured who calls to all who will follow him To come out from amongst them and be you separate and touch no Unclean thing and I will receive you saith the Lord. Therefore touch not their Customs but keep out of their Fashions and Traditions for they are all Unclean and own thâ— Crâ—ss and despise the Shame and follow the Light out or Babylon and it will lead you into the pure Religion which is unspotted of the World and so will crucifie you to the World and the World to you But that in you that pleadeth that Scripture Custom to whom Custom that is it which is willing to remain blind in Custom to save its Life which by the Light is declared and condemned with the World which would keep in Friendship with the World and in the Love of the World all which is at Enmity with the Light and is for Condemnation by the Light Therefore to the Light turn your Minds that by it you may judge all such Carnal Ends and Reasonings which would uphold these Carnal Customs contrary to the Light which gave forth the Scripture by which you may see what Custom the Apostle there spake of in Rom. 13. 7. as you may read in Matth. 9. 9. how he sate at the Recâ—it of â—ustom but this doth not at all uphold the Customs of the Heathen that are Vain Therefore to the Light take heed that it may be your Teacher and Counsellor that from it alone you may Act and Speak and so will you find the Witness within your selves for what you Act and Do.