all other people doth not pluck them down from their excellency it is not a wretched wordly spirit but the spirit of God by which they overcome the world and this spirit was in the Saints and Church of Christ of which the Scriptures of truth doth witness and they had received that Grace which taught them to deny ungodliness worldly lusts and had escaped the pollutions which are in the world through lusts they did witness that Faith which overcomes the world and knew him to live in them by whom the world is overcome and were directed and commended to that Grace which was able to build them up and they were built up together and became a habitation of God through the Spirit even a spiritual House an holy Priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices unto God 1 Cor. 2. 12. Gal. 6. 14. Tit 2. 12. 2 Pet 1. 4. 1 Ioh. 5. 4. Acts 20. 32. Eph. 2. 20 21 22. Iude 20. 1 Pet. 2 5. Isa. 28. 5 6. Isa. 61. 3. By all which it appears how much you differ from the Church of Christ insomuch that the absolute contrary marks fruits and effects doth appear in you and amongst you as was in them and amongst them but you are of those who turn again with the dog to the vomit and with the Sow that was washed to the wallowing in the mire who were indeed once more excellent while you were little in your own eyes before you were thus setled on your Lees there was a time when there was breathings in some of you after the Lord and something which did hunger and thirst after righteousness and there was then some tenderness amongst you and a sensibleness of something that was oppressed and held captive as under the power of a strange King and then there was some groanings for deliverance and some desires raised in you after the Lord and after purity and holiness which did render you comely whilst you abode in that state but you have lost that condition and the cry of the oppressed is not regarded by you but you are joyned and become one wiâ—â—â—he oppressor and that which oncâ— breathed to be delivered from the bondage of corruption you have even choaked strangled and so you never knew that born or brought forth which is heir of Gods Kingdom but an untimely birth is brought forth and you are sate down by the way in an empty form wanting the life and power and have taken up a false rest but the true rest you have not known And thus a wretchedworldly spirit hath overcome you accompanied with many other evils of the like nature by your own confession and hath pluckt you from that excellency which you once had and hath defaced that comeliness which was once upon you and hath left blackness and deformity upon you and those desires which once appeared amongst you are forgotten and the tenderness quite lost and hardness of heart got up and nothing remains but deadness and dryness and emptiness amongst you according to your confession and thus the seed even rots under the clods and you dwell in a Land of darkness where the presence of the Lord is not found to refresh you nor the dew of the lasting Hills falls not on you but you remain dry and barren bringing forth no fruit to God but deceit and abomination rules in your hearts and the man of sin is exalted in you above all that is called God and great clusters of the sowre Grapes of Sodom appear amongst you and is plentifully brought forth by you to the dishonor of God So your latter end is worse then your beginning Again you say in your said Epistle You have been as in a great measure without the sence of the work so without the true travel of soul which this work should have pat you into So hereby you utterly exclude your selves from being a Church of Christ and are manifested in a great measure to differ from them for if you are insensible of the work of God amoâ—â—sâ— you and in you and if it be not he that worketh the will and the deed and that works all your works for you and in you then you are doing your own works and your righteousness is your own and not the Lords so your righteousness is the same with that of the Scribes Pharisees who were not the Church of Christ but those who crucified him But the Church of Christ were sensible of the work of God in them and amongst them as the Scriptures of truth doth witness and they gave a particular relation thereof how it wrought in them saying That patience worketh experience and experience hope and hope maketh not ashamed and these were the works of God in them of which they were sensible they said Lord thou wilt ordain peace for us for thou hast wrought all our works in us So they were sensible of the work and of him that worketh and they knew that they were of God and that the Son of God was come who had given them an understanding to know him that was true and they were in him that is true and they testified that this was the true God and eternal life and those were not insensible but had their sences exercised in the knowledge of the Work of God and they had known the terrors of the Lord and therefore did perswade men and so were not insensible of the Work as the Scriptures witnesseth Rom. 5. 4 5. Isa. 26. 12. 1 Ioh. 5. 19 20. 2 Cor. 5. 11. Again the Church of Christ had known the true travel of soul and witnessed the birth which is born of the Spirit which inherits the Kingdom of God of which travel it seems you are ignorant and therefore never came to the birth which is immortal but they had cryed as a Woman in travel and felt the anguish as of her that bringeth forth her first child and every man was seen with his hands upon his loins as a Woman in travel and they have also known the deliverance and forgotten the anguish and the pain for joy that a Man-child is born and the Minister of Christ said That he travelled in pain until Christ was formed in them And they were born again not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and abideth for ever as the Scriptures doth witness Ier. 4. 31. Mic. 4. 10. Gal. 4. 19. 1 Pet. 1. 23. But you who are without the sence of the Work and have not known the souls travel are not born of the seed which is incorruptible and so not heirs of Gods promise for the promise is to the Seed in which all the Nations of the earth are blessed and those who are not born of the Seed wch is incorruptible they are under the curse in the transgression alienated from the life of God strangers from the Common-Wealth of Israel out of Gods Covenant with whom the Church of Christ can have
pretended Line of true Judgement occasioned thee to let it lye for some time by thee c. I say Thou speakest great swelling words of vanity thereby to allure those who live with thee in Error crying out of the hypocrisie falshood of T. S. but is it not strange to hear one in whom abomination reigns to cry out of abomination in others And to hear a Hypocrite cry out of Hyocrisie and a lyar to cry out of falshood But by so doing he that is indeed the notorious lyar and the abominable hypocrite may have hopes to pass undiscovered Thou sayest Yet for Truth's sake and for the sakes of poor souls thou wilt give a very brief touch in a sheet of Paper c. To which I say It is not thy pretences will hide thee the light hath discovered thee and thy unclean spirit and thy fruits doth manifest thee to all who have an eye open to see thee and though thou pretend a care for truth poor souls yet thou art found to be one of Truth's greatest Enemies and one that labours to keep souls in blindness and ignorance and by this Work of wickedness thou haft endeavoured to touch the Lord 's Annointed and to harm his Prophets for which the Lord will reprove thee in the day of account which is near at hand Thou recitest some of T. S. his words in the Title Page of his Book where he saith The exaltation of the Spiritual Man with his Ordinances and Administrations above the Man of Sin with the weak and unprofitable Ordinances that doth not make the comers there unto perfect Which sound wholsome Words of his thou goest about most wickedly to pervert and his plain and honest intention most falsly and hypocritically to interpret saying The Spiritual Man must be the light within their own fancy and imagination which they perswade all to follow and Jesus Christ crucified raised and ascended and made Lord and Christ he must be the man of sin Truly if thou hadst not as it were a brow of Brass thou wouldst blush and even tremble to utter such blasphemous words as these Didst thou never think to give an account for these with other thy hard ungodly speeches which in the pride of thy heart thou hast uttered forth Thou accusest T. S. in thy Paper for Hypocrisie and wretched perverting Now let all sober-minded people judge whether thou be not manifestly guilty of that evil which thou falsly chargest upon him But because there is some words of truth mixed with thy unclean filthy language though it comes out of a polluted Vessel I shall separate it from the rest and when the Jewel is taken out of the Swine's snout the remainder may be bundled up for the fire Thou saist The Spiritual Man must be the light within To which I say The Spiritual Man is light and the light of Christ is spiritual and the Spiritual Man is within even the hidden man of the heart and he that knows not this Spiritual Man living in him is not a Member of the Church of Christ and he in whom the Spiritual Man lives doth thereby mortifie the deeds of the flesh and his mortal body comes to be quickened by the Spirit which dwelleth in him and hereby he is made a member of the Church of Christ and no otherwise and comes to partake of his Ordinances and knows his Administrations and so comes to be exalted above the Man of Sin and stands over all the beggarly rudiments and traditional invented Will-Worships set up in the imagination which doth not purifie the heart nor purge the conscience from dead works nor give victory over the World and so makes not the comers thereunto or practisers of them perfect but perisheth with the using and this is not fancy nor imagination but sound and wholesome Doctrine according to the Scripture of truth neither do we at any time perswade any to follow their own fancies imaginations as thou most wickedly and falsly chargest us but it is Christ the true light the Spiritual Man who leads out of darkness all that follow him and from every vain imagination it is him alone that we exhort all men to obey and follow And the reason that thou givest why Jesus Christ crucisied raised and ascended c. must be the Man of Sin is Because thou sayest it is his Ordinances you follow and plead for according to the Scriptures Thou sayest You own Jesus Christ crucified and justification by Faith in his blood which Faith purifies the heart though you confess that abomination reigns in your souls and that iniquity is apparently written on your fore-heads and that you are drawing it with cords of vanity and Baptism with Water after believing and Church-fellowship in breaking of Bread and Prayer c. and this thou sayest T. S. calls the Ordinances of the Man of Sin which is another most abominable falshood charged upon him When Or where did he ever call Justification by Faith in the blood of Christ Baptism breaking of Bread and Prayer c. which are Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Thou hast made a great outcry of the hypocrisie and falshood of T. S. doubling it over to four times in thy title page and yet before thou concludest the same page how manifestly and publikely dost thou play the hypocrite with him in drawing such a damnable Conclusion from his Words and most wickedly and falsly to accuse him saying He calls the Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the man of sin when at the utmost it is but the deceit of thy own wicked heart and not his words nor intentions as may evidently appear to any who have but the least measure of honesty to judge But what though you in a hypocritical manner according to the vain and foolish imaginations of your dark hearts have fancied to your selves a Worship in your Wills and practise things in imitation of others which you say you plead for and follow and call Ordinances of Christ because the Scripture declares that such things were practised by those who were thereto led by the Spirit of God though you from that Spirit are erred and saith the Scripture is your Rule must it therefore follow that T S. doth account Jesus Christ crucified c. to be the Man of Sin and his Ordinances the Ordinances of the Man of Sin Oh wicked and damnable Conclusion drawn from such an Argument Thou tells of the Quaker's Logick surely this may truly be call'd the Devil's Logick for greater Wickedness and more horrible iniquity I believe never dropped from the Pen of any one that pretends to plead for and follow Ordinances of Christ but it is not your professing the Name of Christ or professing Justification by Faith in his Blood or practising things by imitation and calling it the Ordinances of Christ that will avail you any thing whilest the Man of Sin bears rule and is exalted in you for notwithstanding your profession
you call it by Faith in another which you say you own and press after but the perfection which the people of God in all ages did press after it seems you are against Thou railest at T. S. extreamly charging him with hypocrisie wretched perverting and to be a forger of lyes for saying T. C. hath contradicted himself in directing his Epistle from Tiverton to them that are called to be Saints through the immortal Seed that dwelleth in them and yet saith It is language beside the Scripture to mention the oppressed seed For thou saist He doth not say it is language beside the Scripture to mention the seed within but for the oppressed seed he knows no such Gospel expression c. Novv to this I say If the immortal Seed be in them to whom that Epistle vvas directed and that abominations reigns in them as in the same Epistle is confess'd I query Whether the Seed in them be not opprâ—st If yea then T. C. is found in confusion and contradiction and knows nothing of the immortal Seed of vvhich he speaks Now where enmity is put between tvvo if the one bears rule then the other doth suffer oppression and I suppose you will grant that there is no concord or agreement fellowship or union betwixt the immortal seed and abomination for that which worketh abomination is of the Serpents seed betvveen vvhich and the seed immortal enmity isput and vvhilst abomination reigns in you and that iniquity is apparently vvritten upon you and you are dravving thereof vvith cords of vanity the Serpent's seed is head in you and the seed immortal is oppressed and thus the blind guide is fallen into the pit vvhich for another he had digged vvho streins at a Gnat and vvould seem to make a man an offender for a vvord notvvithstanding the substance of the matter by him declared be clear and evident Thou art much offended vvith T. S. because he saith It seems they have refused to return from their wickedness and great abominations if T. C. may be credited but saith he trusts they shall be found so more if this be to be vile we shal yet be more vile for which thou utterest many bitter railing expressions against him saying that T C. saith If to deal faithfully with sins and sinners if to arraign abominations c If this be to be vile we shall yet be more vile c. To which I say That you have refused to return from your wickedness and great abominations is a truth clear and apparent for T. C. hath endeavoured to prove you to be a church of Christ notvvithstanding your great abominations and saith the true churches of Christ have had the same or as great sins and abominations in them as is confest in Tiverton Epistle and that Christ never had a church in the World free from sin and vvhether this doth not strengthen the hands of the vvicked so that they cannot return from their vvickedness and give encouragement to such to live in sin let all who are spiritually minded judge And vvhilit you are endeavouring to vindicate your selves in such a condition and such practises there is small hopes or little likelyhood of your returning from that condition And whereas he saith If to deal faithfully c. be to be vile c. I say Hovv can such a deceitful hypocrite deal faithfully with sin or sinners in whose own soul by confession such abominations reigns on whose own Fore-head such iniquities are so apparently written and out of vvhose hands sin hath wrested all Weapons wherewith he should deal with it should not the hypocrite first pull the beam out of his own eye and deal faithfully with his own soul in arraigning and casting out his own abominations by the power of the Lord before he go about to pull the mote out of his brothers eye or to deal with his sins or to arraign his abominations I am sure for T. C. to tell of arraigning abominations in others whilst abominations are reigning in his own soul or for him to talk of dealing faithfully with sin and sinners whilst by his own confession he is manifested to be as bad as the worst of them if not the worst of all and hath more need to be taken under dealing then any of those with whom he speaks of dealing with this renders him to be so much the more vile as T. S. hath truly said Some other false accusations thou bringst agaist T. S. in particular and against the people called Quakers in general as That he pleads up their own righteousness beyond all bonds not onely of Religion but of modesty and civillity too and that no people upon earth are so great enemies to Christ according to the Scriptures as they that none are more obedient to their own fancies imaginations then they c. And thou tells the old lye over again saying He calls the Ordinances of Christ the Ordinances of the man of sin To all which I say Thou hast made it thy work to slander and falsly accuse and for as much as thou hast been so often proved a lyar I shall not spend time to answer every impertinency and false accusation especially where no proof is offered by thee for what thou affirmest but let it lie and rot as the foame and filth of a Tlanderous spirit which cannot touch the innocent nor gain credit or acceptance with any people of understanding Thou goest on with thy work propounding queries and answering thy self lying and perverting slandering and falsly accusing the innocent digging a pit and spreading a net for them but into the pit which thou hast digged for others art thou fallen and in the Gin which thou hast laid is thy own feet snared And because T. S. saith Without boasting we can speak it to the praise of his grace who hath wrought all our works for us and in us that we are of God though the whole world lieth in wickedness and that Christ hath had and yet hath a Church without sin in this mortal Estate Thou therefore queriest Whether this Church without sin be not the Quakers And thou answerest thy self Yea doubtless if they onely are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness it must needs be them And here thou hast proved T. C. a lyar For if it be an undoubted truth that they who are of God are a church without sin then undoubtedly T. C. is a notorious lyar for affirming that Christ never had a church without sin in this mortal estate For John saith We know that we are of God and the whole world lyeth in wickedness 1 John 5. 9. And because they were of God they were without sin according to thy own reasoning Then thou queriest Whether the Quakers have not dealt notoriously wicked with T. C. in denying their owning themselves to be perfect and calling T. C. a lyar for affirming it and now T. S. so openly and publikely not onely to confess it but to