Whore in that Letter I suppose every understanding Reader free from prejudice and the Letter the same printed which I writ for as yet I have not seen the printed one will soon see that I intended her no evil in what I writ concerning her husband whom I compared to Rahab the harlot for that likewise he did readily with much hazard and danger receive hide and publish the spiers out of Truth and new Light And I farther declare to all how that I never saw nor knew worse or more evil by Mris Calvert then by a childe that is newly born into the world To the truth of which I say with St. Paul Behold before God I lye not which oath asseveration or protestation I hope will perswade all rational men and women that I intended her no evil in what I writ but rather love and kindness to him and his whom though dead and absent in body yet I remember the spirit and principle that so acted him with much respect and loving kindness And seeing that Letter I writ to you in private is made publike I have thus much to signifie to the Quakers as I have to all others that wonder at and despise the same That it is to them a call out of Egypt inviting them and intreating them to forsake the Garlick and Onions thereof even all those dark paths of enmity falshood and persecution that they would forbear any longer to give the Innocent of their wormwood and gall to drink rather let them studie peace and quietness and learn to love their enemies yea if possible turn that which some account evil into good or at the least reward evil with that which is good and not pervert the words and actions of others which are honestly and innocently intended to an evil and wrong sense And I dare assure them that to follow this way and spirit of harmless love and kindness will sooner bring them into the land of Canaan viz. into peace and rest with that of God in all his creation then their high talk of infallibility and self-perfect on shall do or their saying with the Pharisees of old that God is their father whilst they are doing the devils work and sound smiting tearing and devouring the innocent their fellow-servants Assuredly these their high notions and lofty imaginations will no longer serve to hide them from the wrath of the Lamb who is now arising to take vengeance of all that have had a hand in slaying him for a separation is making between the pretions and the vile between him that serveth God in newness of heart in the upright spirit of love in well doing and those that serve and please themselves a Sect a Party or an Opinion onely And were not persecutors blinde in heart and hardened they would soon discern how that love that thinks none ill gives no evil wrathful names especially to those they knew no evil by as Ranters Whoremongers Devils c. And that this is not the spirit of the Lamb but the Dragon that casts out his flouds of enmity after the man-child the son of love who surely must and will take the kingdom and get the victory over enmity the worst and greatest enemy of mankinde I also give you to understand that lately I have received a Letter from Mr. Rallinson and one from Mr. Bacon wherein I perceive there is somewhat of disagreement concerning the dispose of the thirty pounds to the seventh Church of the first-born For my own particular I call God for a witness upon my soul that I intended nothing in my heart which might make the least division amongst the people of God therein it being a work which in truth tended in it self to the gathering and uniting of all the seed of Jacob dispersed and scattered amongst the various constitutions of all outward Forms into the new Jerusalem viz. the free grace and love of God which appears to all men and comes down out of heaven adorned as a bride to woo and win the souls and spirits of men to entertain and embrace him who was now is and for ever the universal spirit of Love and Right Reason the true Elixir and Philosophers Stone that which turns all into its self cements unites and reconciles all the people of God into one principle of love the original centre of all peace and order though in names never so much divided in the vast circumference of all worldly and carnal Conformities However I know and have long seen that offences must and will be and that the wo is to them who are offended with what is just and innocent For surely this is the day of Jacobs troubles wherein for the division of Reuben the first birth which stands in uniformity to man in the things of God there will be great thoughts of heart Insomuch that if any offence arise in this particular the Lord knowing my innocencie therein makes me to say Blessed are ye that are not offended in me or rather in what the * Matth. 12.31 13.47 Joh. 7.38 39. Isai 8.14 c. H s 5. Rom. 9 32. 1 Pet. 2.6 c. spirit of love worketh in man for I see the Spirits leading is that stone and rock of offence at which many in Israel have stumbled and falling headlong as Judas did Acts 1.18 are burst asunder and all their bowels of love are gushed out and nought left them save wrath and enmity against the innocent brethren This spurning and stumbling at the Corner-stone viz. Gods Spirit and Son in man is the onely ground of all these breakings and divisions which at this day are amongst all sorts of professors yea the son and heir of heaven the light and truth in the inward parts is become the gin and snare to Israel after the flesh who * Joh. 16.2 Isai 1.12 Mic. 6.8 Joh. 15.5 think they do God good service when they smite backbite and devour the innocent and upright in heart as if to follow other mens light would save the soul rather then to follow the light of true Reason and measure of God in themselves or as if any thing acted and done without the power of the Spirits leading in things spiritual were acceptable to God the Father Now the true cause of all that division strife and persecution in matters of Religion over all Christendom consisteth in this that every man or Sect who is not born again of the immortal seed of Love hath a way and work of their own * Joh. 8.12 5 43. 2 Cor. 3 18. 10.3 c. Gal. 2.10 contrary to Christ Jesus and the leadings of his Spirit the maintenance of which causeth all that enmity and persecution amongst the professors of Christianity for whilst man abideth in the light law and love of God writ in the heart the new and living way he groweth up into the same image and likeness and is filled with that humility joy and charity which worketh nor thinketh any evil of another
Mr. Robert Rich His Second LETTERS FROM BARBADOES Writ upon the occasion of The QUAKERS Prevarication In the matter of the 30 l. sent to them in common with their Brethren the other six Churches so termed by him With a PREFACE Extorted from R. B. Phil. to the said People Open rebuke is better then secret love Prov. Rebuke a wise man and he will love thee LONDON Printed for the Author in the Year MDCLXIX To my beloved friends separate from their brethren by the name of Quakers R. E. Ph. wisheth better information more humility e love together with a renewed renovation of themselves in the will of God THese ensuing Letters of Mr. Robert Rich though they have been long in my hands yet they have at length come forth to publick view more through your default then my either endeavour or desire I have waited long and hoped much that at length you would have come to a consideration of your miscarriage in this matter and made some acknowledgement to God Mr. Rich and indeed to me whom you know unanimous with him in this last and onely saving dispensation of divine love and grace exhibited by and through him irrespectively to all But you above all have not onely rejected it but blasphemed and spoken evil of it and him shewing your selves herein contrary unto all men as the Apostle somewhere speaks of the perverse and obstinate Jews who rejected Jesus the common Saviour of all men that believe in him Your sâ—ff rings indeed in the outward have been great and you have hitherto as it were in your own belief born away the Bell and triumphed greatly over all others but the hour of your judgement is also now come even as you have feared to my knowledge it would also come upon you For what meant else your unchristian and violent withstanding and rejecting that appearance of God in J. N. J P. and many others and now last of all in Mr. Rich who have dug and opened a well among you you have in your pride resâ—sed to drink of viz another and a 〈◊〉 dispensation the dread of which hath been long upon you and that for this onely cause because it is open to others you the wâ—â—â—t of mâ—n in equality to your selves What is this but that of the 〈…〉 indignation that tâ—â—k it ill at his fathers hands that a prodigal 〈◊〉 had wasted all he had upon harlots found upon his return better favour then he did that never offended him This was the stumbling-block of old that the worst of sinners as Mary Magdalene Zacheus and Matthew the Publican became disciples of Jesus when they that judged themselves the light of the world and the onely men to be saved as the Pharisees stumbled and fell I had thought to have given you herein the history of your whole and best attainment where you begun when you fell and what will in God undoubtedly be the exit of you to wit the same that hath betide others that boasted as much as you for you have but as you think run in a straight line but still in the same path whose glory was and yours is the abhorrencie of certain outward forms and ceremonies introduced of old by wiser men then your selves to wit the Elders or Teachers of the people for a manuduction to the holy understanding of the heavenly things themselves wherein and whereby Christianity was upheld in great unity and glory for many hundreds of years till there was a strife about them among which contenders I am exceedingly afflicted that you are also as out of due time found all tending nothing or very little to amendment yea the matter was and is made worse thereby for from thence came wars and horrible murders persecutions and devastations and that on either hand Wherefore God from on high hath as heretofore so at this present out of infinite grace and mercy re-visited the earth with his love i.e. himself inviting all by his sent-Ministers to beat their swords into plow-shares and their spears into pruning-books that at length the earth may be redeemed from under the curse and bring forth no more such briers and thorns but fruit to the glory of God and the salvation of men universal which is manifest in the love which is of God and is God Extorted from your true friend and observer R.B. Phil Mr. John Raynes I Have lately received from you two Letters dated the 3 of February and 23 March with Receipts under the hands of those who received from you the 2â—0 l. and that have undertook to distribute the same to the Poor amongst them Also I take notice of the care and pains taken by your self and the rest of my friends Mr. Blackbury Mr. Bacon and Mr. Rallinson whom you write have much assisted you in this Service of Love to whom I return my most hearty thanks and hope to finde such an opportunity as I may make you some better acknowledgement then by words onely In truth I intended you not altogether so much trouble as I see you have put your selves and others unto in asking and taking Receipts from them I onely desired to know the names of those to whom you gave the money that so I might have the fairer opportunity to send them what in writing I have already prepared Yet when I consider what hath since happened between me and the people called Quakers I am glad for the Truths sake that you sent me their Receipt In yours of the 23 of March I understand that the large Letter I writ to you is put into Print and do believe what you writ concerning the same how that you had no hand in printing of it and that it was printed without your consent assent or knowledge And you 〈◊〉 sure can bear me witness that I did never in the least intimate any such thing to you as the Lord knows I never did to any one else nor was it ever the intent of my heart that such a foolish private Letter should have come abroad to the publike view of Ishmael that envious scoffing mocking generation whose work it is to pervert and misconstrue all that others say and do though never so innocent And 〈◊〉 foresaw what is come to pass how that a publication thereof would expose me both by Professors and Profane to much reproach and scorn yet I have been by none so shamefully vilified and abused as by the people called Quakers who publikely accused me for putting that my Letter in print and said I had thereby blown a trumpet To the truth of which I appeal to all men that if I have intimated the printing thereof to any one my desire is that such a one would publish me to be a base deceitful lâ—ing person and that the truth is not found in me or if the Quakers have herein falsly accused me that the innocent may henceforth go free and the guilty bear their own shame And as to their accusation of calling Giles Calvert's wife
but when man leaves and forsakes Gods grace in himself the which is sufficient to lead into the love of all truth and by his own industry partakes of the stoln waters of the harlot viz. mans inventions and teachings in things spiritual he will then with all the bitterness and violence of man endeavour to defend this Idol read Ezek. 8.12 as more affecting the work of his own hands then respecting the * Jer. 31.33 34 Ezek. 36.27 Mic 6.8 Joh. 19. 16. Acts 20.32 1 Cor. 12.7 Eph. 2.5 to 11. 4.7 Tit. 2.11 2 Cor. 5.16 Joh. 6.63 Rule which God hath given him to walk by And hence it is that one saith I am of Paul another of Apollo and a third of Peter or of Christ after the flesh or after this or that mans opinion or interpretation of the letter of the Scripture as if Christianity stood in the names and persons of men and not in the power of the new birth and spirit that was in Christ Jesus Read Rom. 8.9 c. 2 Cor. 13.5 Behold thus do National Churches and spiritless professors gather together into outward visible carnal assemblies heaping up to themselves Doctors and Teachers the best of whom are but Briers and the most upright among them but as a thorn-hedge whose proper work is to vilifie others to rend tear and devour all who in the naked simplicity of their hearts endeavour to follow the Lord that spirit of Love as their onely Shepherd Guide and Leader For this cause the Lord is coming out of his place to punish the earthly inhabitants of all formal Religion and will surely divide the spoil with the strong and scatter the proud persecutors in their own imaginations And because he hath made his grave with the wicked and his witnesses for truth and righteousness have been long trodden under foot and numbred amongst transgressors have been smitten and slain not onely at Jerusalem by the religious and self-righteous but have been also crucified by the profane in Sodom and Egypt Read Rev. 11.8 Therefore is he now arising to dash the potsherds of the earth one against another brother against brother one against two and two against three till the earth have disclosed the bloud she hath drunk and the seed of God be recovered out of that reproach and shame under which it hath layn buried by the inveterate and implacable spirit of a carnal formal Profession yea redeemed to walk in Gods way which he by his Spirit shall direct in every heart and conscience For this I know and do declare that my God will not leave overturning overturning overturning till he comes who brings along with him truth and love to equity and righteousness whose right it is thus to rule and reign in the hearts and consciences of his people whose way shall be prosperous upon the earth and unto whom is given the heathen for his inheritance and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession he will save his people from their sins and guide their feet into the way of truth peace and rest Selah Behold the * Pro. 1.23 Isa 59.21 Jo. 16. â—â— Lamb of God and King of Saints Hallelujah Now whilst these vessels of wrath are pouring out and this dispensation of vengeance lasteth I do not intend to send what I have written to the seven Churches of Christendom but rather shall wait the Fathers pleasure which I account the full measure of time and fittest season for every purpose And because I see the Son of God in man is coming forth to bruise as with a rod of Iron the unrighteous Nations not to bring peace but a sword I also in obedience to the Fathers commands have sold my Coat made of good-will to all both persons and things that I might purchase a Sword with which contrary to my nature I am constrained to plead like a man of contention against this proud Pharisaical and perverse generation this Leviathan and crooked Serpent in whose nostrils unless a hook be put would swallow not onely the Rivers but also the very Sea into himself viz. receive all though never so unclean in heart and spirit if outwardly they will but own him receive his mark and number of his name that is the chief in every Sect and walk in outward observation and shew conformable to them who whilst they profess themselves free from sin and boast of having Abraham to their father and being the only children of God are notwithstanding found bitter persecutors of the truth and enemies to the Unction the Anointed One in whomsoever he doth appear thereby rendring themselves guilty of all that innocent bloud which hath been spilt from the bloud of righteous Abel even unto this day all which bloud cryeth aloud for vengeance upon the welfavoured harlot Mystery Babylon who in the golded cupe and goodly shew of an outward profession hath inwardly with a bitter ravening devouring spirit made her self drunk with the bloud of the Saints and Martyrs of Jesus Even so Lord God Almighty as she hath done give her bloud to drink for she is worthy Amen Hallelujah Now what concerns the distribution of the thirty pounds to the seventh Church if not already disposed of my friend Mr. Bacon hath remembred me of a way formerly the intent of my heart which I hope will please you all viz. to give that money to those who belong not to any of the first six Congregations but to such as are redeemed out of the evil of all Sects Kindreds Nations Tongues and People who have no visible Church or people to shelter under who have trodden the wine-press of Gods wrath alone and patiently suffered much evil for their work of well-doing who worship God in the sincere spirit of love to truth and righteousness and can call no man Father nor Master of their faith light and spirit neither own any man their Minister or Teacher save the Spirit of the Father the Christ of God onely who have the Fathers * Acts 10.34 35. Mat 5.44 c. Luk. 6.35 mark in their forehead can own all that fear God and love righteousness amongst Jews or Gentiles Barbarians or Scychians under any Sect or sort of people whatsoever To these and such as these I desire Mr. Blackbury Mr. Rallinson and Mr. Bacon to distribute that money in their hands Also to this Tribe of Joseph I give a double portion this and that likewise which is promised to be returned me from the Quakers which last thirty pounds when received I desire may also be disposed of by Mr. Bacon Mr. Rallinson and Mr. Blackbury according to a List here enclosed the which contains as I am informed the names of some few outcasts from amongst the people called Quakers whom I dearly salute and own as my brother Benjamin bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh whose body is not carnal but mighty through grace to the pulling down of sin and wickedness in themselves like unto