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Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
truth_n	world_n	worship_n	worthy_a	40	3	6.4017	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A33498	The books and divers epistles of the faithful servant of the Lord Josiah Coale collected and published, as it was desired by him the day of his departure out of this life.	Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Collection of the several books of Josiah Coale.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Whore unvailed.; Coale, Josiah, 1632?-1668. Vindication of the light within.; Parker, Alexander, 1628-1689.; Whitehead, George, 1636?-1723.; Penn, William, 1644-1718.	1671 (1671)	Wing C4751_PARTIAL; Wing C4760A_PARTIAL_CANCELLED; ESTC R23397	193,793	414

nor stood in his Counsel therefore have they not profitted the people nor turned them from the evil of their wayes neither are they brought to the knowledge of the Truth by which Freedom and Redemption is witnessed So their Preaching is vain and their Faith is vain and they remain in their sins which separates them from God and are dead while they live and are unrestored and unreconciled and have no assurance of their eternal wel-being And when any comes into a serious Consideration and unto a true sence of the sad state they are in and how they have lived and spent their time all their Life long Then Judgment and Wrath Condemnation and Pangs and the Sorrows of Hell conpasseth them about and then seeing themselves in the perishing state are even at their wits end yet these things they consider not in the time of their prosperity Wherefore all people every where who desire to come out of these Distractions and Confusions and Hurryings and Contentions about Faith and Worship and Ordinances and out of the Pollutions which the World lives in and to come into the Spiritual Worship which is in the Spirit and in the Truth To you I say that is the Spirit of Truth in you all in which God will be worshipped which reproves you of sin in your hearts and as you come into obedience to that it will bring you into the Spiritual Worship For the Spiritual Worship consisteth in Obedience to the Spirit and this is the everlasting Ordinance of God viz. Christ the Light the quickening Spirit for him hath God ordained of old to all that believe and work Righteousness for Salvation So all being exercised in the Light and with the quickning Spirit here you are exercised in the Ordinance of God and here the living Substance is known in which the Shadows Types and Figures end And here the Hand-writing of Ordinances is blotted out And here the Law ends which was contained in Ordinances mark that in Christ the everlasting Ordinance Concerning FAITH ANd the Living FAITH which gives the Saints victory over the World this cometh by hearing of the Word which is nigh unto you all even in your hearts and in your mouthes and as every one comes to hear and obey it you will thereby be begotten in the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints by which they wrought Righteousness and that is the Faith which giveth victory over the World and which worketh by love for the purifying of the Conscience from dead works to serve the living God and without this Faith it is impossible to please God for whatsoever is not of Faith is sin So search your selves and see whether you are in this Faith yea or nay or whether your Faith be not a dead Faith For that which doth not lead to work righteousness is a dead faith for as the body without the spirit is dead so faith without works is dead also yet by works only there is none justified and faith without works is dead for the Faith of Abraham wrought with works and by works Faith is made perfect So let not any deceive themselves with a fained faith or framed in the imagination for that is a vain faith and not able to save you Also beware that your Faith towards God be not taught by the Precepts of men for that will stand you in no stead neither will it give you victory over the Pollutions of the World nor purifie your hearts from sin Wherefore mind the Word which is nigh by the hearing of which Faith cometh even the Living Faith by which the Just live which was once delivered to the Saints and which we earnestly content for Concerning HOPE ANd the living Hope which maketh not ashamed but puryfieth the heart even as God is pure This is not witnessed nor known but through the tribulation patience in the experimental working and operation of the Spirit of Life in the inward parts and Word of Life For by the Word of God which lives and abides for ever are we begotten again unto a lively Hope which we have for an anchor both sure and stedfast in all our Tryals and tossings and hurryings which we meet withal in the World and amongst the hypocritical Professors thereof whose Hope will perish in the day when the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven upon all who hold the Truth in unrighteousness But he whose Hope is begotten by the operation of the Word and Spirit of Life even he it is that purifies himself even as God is pure So all who desire the Way of Life to knowe and to walk in the Path of Peace which the Worker of Iniquity knows not I say unto you all it is in the midst of the Paths of Judgment which Christ the Light the wisdom of God leads unto So every one the light in your own Consciences minde wherewith Christ Jesus the Son of the Fathers love hath enlightened you and as you Wait in it you will finde it checking and reproving you for sin and iniquity in the secret of your hearts and Consciences and as every one comes to be guided by this Light which is the way it will be an infallible guide unto you to lead you in the way of Righteousness and in the midst of the paths of Judgment and the worker of iniquity you will see judged in your own particulars daily and the Prince of this World will come to be cast out as you dwell in the Judgment and this is the way whereby Sion comes to be redeemed Wherefore dwell in that which judgeth the man of sin in your own particulars and joyn not to that Nature which would lead to work iniquity or unrighteousness but joyn to that which in your own particulars judgeth it and here the Cross you will know which the whole World are Strangers to and then the Old man will come to be weakened and to be put off with his deeds that the New man be put on which is created in Righteousness and true Holiness but this work is not wrought nor effected but though many Combats Trials and great Tribulations which formerly you were not acquainted with while you were lead captive at the Devils will and followed his lusts and the strong man armed kept the house then all was at peace but when the stronger is come the other must be bound and a spoil of his goods must be made and his heritage must be laid waste for the coming of the second Adam Christ Jesus the Light of the World is not to send Peace on Earth but a Sword and then you will hear of Wars and rumors of Wars see then that ye be not troubled for these are but the beginning of sorrow but the end is not yet So as every one are exercised with the Spirit of Truth in your own particulars which reproves you of sin this will lead you into all truth and to work Righteousness and will bring you to fulfil the Royal Law and

Purity and Self-denial through the Sanctifying operation of the same I had intimacy with him above many but so mixt was his kindness with seriousness and his familiarity with a stay'd and examplary Behaviour as he was ever an honour to the Truth and therein a confirmer of his holy Testimony and weaker Brethren He was an incessant Labourer in the Gospel and Few more spent in its Service his Soul seem'd wholly bent to the Renowning of it and its Enemies he ever accounted his His Declaration was to the Ungodly World like an Ax an Hammer or a Sword sharp and piercing being mostly attended with an eminent appearance of the dreadful Power of the Lord to the cutting down of many a tall Cedar and to the making of many lofty Oaks to bow but to the Faithful and diligent who mind the things of Christ more then their own O the soft and pleasant Streams of Life Immortal that have run through him to the refreshing of those the Lord's Heritage yea 't was his life and joy to be speaking the Word of the Lord and not his own And many thousands doubtless rest behind who are living Testimonies to the Power Vertue and Efficacy of his Ministry but above all terrible was he to the Sowers of Strife secret Back-biters and such as rend the holy Body and separate from the Life Love and Fellowship of the Blessed Truth Who in their own selfish spirit set themselves over the holy Brethren by feignedness and deceitful appearances to the betraying of the Simple-hearted and ketching the Innocent in their Snares Yet was he ready to reach out an helping Hand to save the upright Hearted whose desires were to the Lord and the Fellowship of the Faithful He was Hardy Valiant and fixt not of those that shun the Cross or sell their Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage He baulkt no Danger for the sake of his blessed Testimony but ever met in the Lord's Armour by which he has many times overcome in England Holland Barbadoes Virginia New-England Mary-Land c. where through many difficulties he boldly preached the everlasting Gospel Christ in him the Hope of Glory He was a good Example as well for his Liberality as Faithfulness for as I am a Witness that the prosperity of God's Truth and dear Friends was above all things most in his Eye so was he alwayes cautious of making the Gospel chargeable to any but having some Estate of his own he freely imploy'd it in the Lord's Service counting nothing too dear for the Name and Service of the Lord. And thus having laboured his natural strength away in this heavenly Warfare for the promotion of the glorious Truth of the Lord and the advancment of its Interest and Dominion in the World for about twelve Years together he did with perfect understanding and in an extraordinary enjoyment of the Lord's Life Majesty and Presence to the refreshment of the Beholders on the 15th of the 11th Moneth 1668. he chearfully laid down his Mortal Body it being in the five and thirtieth Year of his Age that he might be perfectly cloathed on with Blessed Immortallity which is the Wages of the Work and the Eternal Recompence of his Temporal Tribulations And now is he truely ascended above and beyond every Trouble and Temptation where all Tears are wip'd away from his Eyes and upon Mount Zion does he stand amongst the rest of our holy Brethren and those Martyrs who kept the Testimony of Jesus in their day singing the Song of the Lamb for evermore Therefore shall his Memorial remain as a sweet Oyntment with the Righteous and time shall never blot him out of their remembrance for amongst the Worthies shall he be reckoned in the Generations to come because he loved not his Life unto Death but chos'd to pass through the many Tribulations which have given him an enterance into the Everlasting Rest where his spirit lives and remains with God for ever My Soul is often heavy and bowed down in the sence of the loss of these Valiants at this time of the day but herein am I satisfied that our God that raised them will fill up their places and daily bring forth by his Eternal Arm many noble Champions for his Glory who shall sound forth his Wonders to the Ends of the Earth and stand as Saviours upon Mount Zion to the Nations And therefore woes to the dark hellish sin-pleasing persecuting Priests Professors and Prophane of the whole Earth for the Lord God Omnipotent is taking to himself his great Power and he will Reign whose Kingdom stands in Righteousness and is an Everlasting Kingdom and of whose Government and Dominion there shall be no end W. Penn. AN EPISTLE TO THE READER As Concerning Josiah Coale HE did labour much in the Power of the Lord and did stand in the Power of the Lord against the spirit of the World and against all the Opposers of the Truth to his dying day yea within one Hour and a half of his death see his Testimony against the dark blasphemous spirit of Muggleton in the latter end of this Book and besides the several Opposers of the Truth of the several Sects in New-England Barbadoes Virginia Mary-Land and other Islands and the several Cruel and Inhumane Sufferings and Imprisonments by the chief Priests Professors and Rulers which would be to large to mention and would make a great Volumn that he suffered amongst them And also his sore Travels among the Heathen in America concerning the Truth and preaching the Gospel and when the cruel murdering Priests and Professors of New-England which Murdered and Martyr'd and Spoyled so many of the Goods of our Friends and burned some of them with their hot Irons and cut off the Ears of some of our Friends for the Truth and Gospel's sake These New-England persecuting Professors said to some that they did persecute Why did not our Friends come thorow the Heathen by Land from Virginia to New-England thorow the Wilderness on foot for they looked for Miracles but Josiah Coale and another was that very Time passing thorow the Heathen and the Wilderness from Virginia to New-England and the persecuting Professors of New-England then did not think that they were so near them that did pass thorow the Woods and Wildernesses which immediately came among them having passed thorow the Woods and wilde Wildernesses and thorow the danger of the Men-Eaters and wilde Beasts and venomous Creatures but when they came through much Hunger and Cold and Weariness through the Bogs and Waters into New-England they found worss entertainment among the New-England persecuting Priests and Professers then they had found among the wilde and venomous Beasts and Men-eaters yea they were worss to them and others of the Disciples of Christ as I said then the Heathen and Men-eaters who had passed thorow much danger of their lives and oft times were fain to cut down Chest-Nut-Trees for the Nuts for Food when they were hungry And nevertheless when these came immediatly

the Cause of God in the Prisons of London Hartford c. This is a Salutation of my Love and Life MY dearly beloved Friends who are oft brought into my Remembrance and presented before me by the Spirit of the Lord with whom my Life is and unto whom the Love of my soul doth even flow forth and extend it self in the Vertue of that Life which is Infinite and Eternal and in the Spirit of Supplication my soul is daily pour'd forth unto the Lord before the Throne of his Majesty on your behalfs Beseeching and Desiring That he will so furnish and arm you with the whole Armour of his own Righteousness that you may be entire wanting nothing and that you may be enabled to stand and hold out unto the End in this day of Battel and Tryal and that as Valiant Souldiers of the Lamb you may endure all Hardships as seeing him present in the midst of you who is Invisible in the Faith of the Answer whereof I dearly salute you all And dear Friends in this you may all be enboldned and in this Consideration your Heads may be lifted up above all Sufferings even in the midst of them that the Cause in which you are engag'd and for which you suffer is a Righteous Cause of which we have the Witness or Testimony in our own Consciences and a more certain Witness cannot be and this Witness doth testifie That our Cause is the Cause of God who hath call'd us out of Darkness into his marvelous Light and hath made choice of us to bear Testimony to and stand Witnesses for his Name and Truth in this Day of his Spiritual Appearance and Manifestation or Revelation of the Son of his Love whose quickening Spirit we have receiv'd by which we are seperated from the World and by which we have been and still are constrain'd to bear Testimony against all Oppression and Cruelty and against all the Unrighteousness of this sinful World for which Cause these Sufferings come upon us and attend us But blessed be the Lord who hath call'd us with so Honorable a Calling and accounted us worthy to suffer for so Honourable a Cause as Our Testimony for his Blessed Name and Truth the Reward thereof which is great will be certain unto all who are found Faithful unto the End Wherefore my dear Friends towards whom my Bowels of Love even earn and my Life and Soul reacheth as you may feel who are sensible of Life I say unto you all in the Name and Fear of the Lord Lift up your Heads over and above all Sufferings both present and to come I say in the Faith look over them all unto him who is invisible who will out-last them all who alone hath Immortallity and dwells in the Light whose Presence is certainly with you and amongst you and will be so continu'd as you walk and continue with him in his Everlasting Covenant of Light in which he dwells Wherefore let your Life Delight and Habitation be in him for my Friends you whose Hearts are upright unto God know right well that the Lord hath not been at any time wanting unto you in any Exercise of what nature or kind soever in time past the consideration of which is a sufficient Encouragement to every one to cast their Care upon him and to resign up themselves unto him who takes Care for them And if the Enemy be permitted so far to prevail as to execute his Decrees made against us yet in this may we be all satisfied that it shall certainly work for good unto us in the End and shall make for the furtherance of the Glorious Gospel of Peace and for the Exaltation of the Worthy Name of the Lord by which we are call'd wherefore in Contentedness with the Will of the Lord in all states let every one rest resign'd up unto him and in the Gift of his own Spirit wait upon him to receive daily Refreshment from his Presence that you may be Water'd Refreshed and Consolated from day to day that so you may grow in his Grace and be kept fresh and living in his precious Truth to shine forth in the beauty thereof And let it be your great Care above all things to keep in the Enjoyment and Feeling of the Peace and Love of God in your own Hearts and in that you will have Content in all Conditions and live in Love and in Peace one with another and have perfect Charity amongst your selves and whatsoever tends to the contrary let it be condemned by the Light in the rise of it And bear with and for one another and watch over one another in Love and therein exhort one another and build up one another in the most precious Faith which gives you Victory over the World and over all the Persecuting Powers of Darkness and be a Strength and a Refreshing and a Comfort one unto another in your Persecuted Suffering State and Condition And God Almighty keep you all and refresh your hearts daily with his Love and renew your strength with the vertue of his Life that none may be weary nor faint in your Minds but that all may endure with Patience and Valour and Boldness and Courage in the Lamb's Spirit unto the End that in the End you may be Crown'd with the Crown of Immortal Life and Glory which never fades away which is the Daily-Prayer of him who dearly and entirely loves you all who are of an Upright Heart by which Love I was constrain'd to salute you all at this time with these few Lines and so rest in it From my outward Beeing near Bristol this 20th of the 1st Moneth 1665. Your Dear and truly Loving Friend and Brother Josiah Coale A Salutation of Love From the Spirit of Life Unto all Friends of TRUTH Who are in Exilement or Sentenc'd to Exilement for the Exercise of their Pure Consciences in the Service and Worship of God MY beloved Friends Brethren and Sisters who are expos'd to Exilement from the Land of your Nativity for the sake of your Testimony to the blessed Truth of God and who have been and are content to suffer the loss of all that were dear unto you in this present World for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ and rather then to betray that blessed Testimony which God had committed unto you to bear for his Name and who have sufficiently manifested your fidelity unto the Lord and his blessed Truth even in the view of the whole World as a Witness against their False Antichristian and Idolatrous Worships which God by his Power will certainly throw down and bring to nought and who have bore Testimony in Faithfulness in and by your Submissiveness to an Exil'd Estate against that Antichristian spirit of Persecution which Raigns and Rules in the Hearts of all the Apostate False Christians whose Worship standeth in Subjection to the Precepts and Commandments of Men and in Bowing to Stocks and Stones and to the Works of Men's Hands and in other Outward

Burdens and so fulfil the Law of God and in that you are a strength one to another and so in this feel the Salutation of my Love which is to you beyond declaring And to the Keeping and Protection of the Arm of the Lord I do commit you Amen So in the Peace and Life which hath no end I remain London the 2d Day of the 7th Moneth 1667. Your Faithful and True Brother Josiah Coale Let this be sent amongst the Friends in Holland To all People in JAMAICA Unto whom the MESSAGE OF Eternal Life is sent and amongst whom the Gospel is now preached FRIENDS Now the Everlasting Gospel of Peace and Glad-tidings is preached amongst you and the Word of Reconciliation reacheth forth towards you every one with Meekness receive it for it is able to save your Souls and to build you up and give you an Inheritance amongst the sanctified Ones For now is the Message of the Lord to be declar'd unto you and amongst you by True and Faithful Messengers whom he hath sent forth in his Name and endew'd with Power for that Service and hath made them willing for your sakes to give up their Lives that the Way of Life might be made known unto you and you might come to walk therein And their Message you are all to receive as you prize the Salvation of your Souls for they are Messengers of the New Covenant into which the Lord in this Day of his Glorious Appearance is gathering his People that they might be all taught of him and come to the Knowledge of him from the Least to the Greatest And Friends This Covenant of which I speak which they are Messengers of is Light and this Light lighteth every man that cometh into the World which if you give heed unto in your own Consciences you will find it reproving for the Deeds of Darkness and condemning sin in the Flesh and will lead all who are guided by it out of sin and will lead in the Way of Righteousness and in the Path of Peace and Way of True Holiness which is a Way that the World knows not who live in Iniquity Wherefore now all People The Day of your Visitation being upon you and the Lord striving with you by his Good Spirit in your Hearts and being also calling unto you by the Mouthes of his Messengers to Returns Now every one encline your Ears and hear what the Spirit saith in your inward Parts and prize the Day of the Visitation of the Lord's Love who after the long time that you have passed away in Rebellion and Disobedience against his Good Spirit should now be pleased to accept of you and to pass by your Transgressions past and the Sins of your Youth therefore I say Let the Rich Love of the Lord which is now manifested constrain you to Fear before him and to learn Obedience unto his Faithful Witness which he hath placed in your Hearts For Friends it concerns your Eternal Peace and now is the Day wherein you may come to the knowledge thereof before they be hid from your Eyes For truly Friends If you be not attentive unto that which will give unto you the knowledge of those things the time will come that they will be hid from your Eyes and then shall you cry out saying How have we hated Instruction and despised the Day of Healing And so Now the Day is wherein you may come to know and witness your Reconciliation made with the Lord by his Word of Power which is nigh you even in your Hearts and in your Mouthes which Word reconciles to God all who hear and obey it and it will also purge you from all Iniquity if you submit to the Working and Operation of it And this I testifie That no other Way can you come to know a being sanctified and reconcil'd to the Lord but by the Word of his Power and through your Obedience thereunto And this Testimony I send amongst you to the end that you might believe in the Light of the Son of God wherewith you are enlighttened And this Testimony will be further confirmed unto you by the Mouthes of these whom the Lord hath now sent amongst you and their Testimony is true of which I am a Witness for we have been all Baptized by one Spirit into one Body even the Glorious Body of him who is the Head And so we are all Eye-Witnesses of his Majesty and of his Glory and can give in our Testimony together That by the Mouthes of several Witnesses even so many as the Lord shall call the TRUTH may be confirmed to you that so you may no longer follow them who cry Lo here or Lo there For behold the Kingdom of Heaven is within you and comes not with Observations and all that enter into it must become as little Children for of such is the Kingdom of God which is now come with Power and is nigh unto you And Blessed and Happy are all they that come to know an Entrance administred into it for they are Heirs of that Inheritance which shall never fade away Written in Barbadoes this 18th of the 7th Moneth 1661. From one who is a Labourer in the Lords ' Vineyard called Josiah Coale An Epistle to FRIENDS IN New-England The First Epistle DEAR FRIENDS My Love which is sincere and fervent in the Lord's Truth which is as precious as ever in this Day of Tryal is freely and fervently extended to you For oft are you in my Remembrance in much tenderness and truly do I Respect you as such whom the Lord hath accounted worthy to bear his Name and which he hath made choice of to be a Peculiar People to himself and to be Witnesses for him in the mid'st of a Crooked and Perverse Generation And let your Holy Life and Chaste Conversation be such as may preach Righteousness unto all that if they speak Evil of you as of Evil-Doers you may have cause to Rejoyce having the Peace of God in your Hearts And Friends I am not unmindful of you neither are you forgotten by me For oft I am even amongst you in the Spirit of Love and Life in which my Desires and Prayers to God are and oft have been for you that you may grow and encrease and prosper and flourish in the precious living glorious Truth of God of which you are made Partakers and into which you are gather'd through the working of his Divine Power that so the Heavenly Image may be borne by you all that by your Good Example in Holiness and Righteousness many may be made to confess unto the Truth and be convinced of it and that to the Brightness of your rising in it many may be gather'd that so the Borders of the Sanctuary of the Most High may be enlarg'd unto the ends of the Earth For Friends You know full well that in the Power of God yea the Power of an Endless Life We whom the Lord sent unto you labour'd amongst you for the Exaltation

and will dwell in the mid'st of you and amongst you for which the earnest Desire of my Soul is unto the Lord and in my Prayers I do oft make mention of you unto my God and your God that his Arm of Power and Salvation may alwayes be with you and that you may be thereby kept Pure and Unrebukeable and Spotless unto Himself in his sight from this time forth and forever Amen And Friends It was the fervent and sincere Desire of my Heart to have seen you this Year having a confident Perswasion and Assurance in me That if the Lord had so order'd it it would have been for your Good and Benefit and that I should have been Refreshed with you and amongst you as in times past And in order to it I wholy fixed and applyed my Heart to the Lord for some certain dayes to search his Counsel in the thing until he fully and clearly satisfied me that it must not then be in whose blessed Will I rest and am content yet am not wholy without hopes but that in Due Season it may yet be And in the mean time I leave you and commend you to God who is able to keep you and do more aboundantly for you then you can ask or think to whom be Glory forever Amen Written in Essex this 5th of the 7th Mon. 1664. I am your Dear Brother in the Tribulation Kingdom and Patience of Jesus Josiah Coale Let Copies of this be sent amongst Friends every where in the Province of Maryland and be read amongst them in their Assemblies in the Fear of the Lord. To the Flock of God IN MARYLAND GREETING The second EPISTLE MY Dear Friends Brethren and Sisters who are called and sanctified in Christ Jesus and with whom and amongst whom I have travell'd both in Body and Spirit for the Resurrection of that Birth which is Immortal through which you might become Heirs of Eternal Salvation and of the Kingdom Everlasting which is not of this World My soul and bowels even daily earn towards you and you are even daily presented before me and brought into my View and Remembrance by the Spirit of the Lord by which I am oft constrain'd to present my Supplications and Prayers to the God of my Life for you and on your behalfs beseeching and desiring him that he will keep and preserve you in the Unspotted Life of the Lamb and that Grace Mercy and Peace together with Spiritual Blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord may be multipy'd and encreas'd amongst you My beloved Friends Keep your station in the Holy Place every one who know it and in your Holy Calling wherewith you are call'd of God therein abide and walk with him that therein you may all adorn the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ And Friends You certainly know That the Living Blessed and Everlasting Truth it self which sanctifies throughly both in Soul Body and Spirit and which sets free from the Bondage of Corruption all who continue in it hath been freely made manifest amongst you Therefore I charge you all as you will answer the Lord Every one see that you live and walk in the Purity thereof And you likewise know the Way of Life and Salvation and of Holiness in which no unclean thing can pass see therefore that you continue therein that so whensoever your Lord comes you may be found of him in Peace and cover'd with his Righteousness For you have all need of Circumspection and Watchfulness and Diligence because the Adversary of your Soul's Peace is very subtil and lodgeth very near to every one and waits to devour and lurkes to destroy and will lose no Opportunity if possible he may beguile any of you as he did Eve in the beginning But as you all watch in the Light of God's Salvation which he hath caused to shine unto you the Adversary will thereby be discover'd unto you in all his Twindings and Appearances And my Friends This Light in which you have believed is the true Touch-stone by which all spirits may be tryed and all Motions in whom soever they arise may hereby be known whether they be of God and tend to that which is consistant with the Honour of Truth and your own Peace or whether they savour of the Flesh and tend to the satisfying of the Lusts thereof For the Lusts of the Flesh and of the Eyes and the Pride of Life are not of the Father but of the World which passeth away And where or in whomsoever these or either of these are found and discover'd by the Light which makes all things manifest they are therewith to be condemned and by you to be denied that so you may be every one kept out of the Snare of the Devourer and out of the Net of the mighty Hunter For If you live after the Flesh you shall dye for the Lusts thereof when they are conceiv'd bring forth sin and the Wages of sin is death But every one who through the spirit mortifies the Deeds of the flesh such shall live to God in the Newness of Life and such will adorn the Gospel of God And so my dear Friends You are called to Liberty but not to serve your selves therefore use not your Liberty as an Occasion to the Flesh lest thereby you be ensnared neither use it as an Occasion of stumbling unto others but every one in the Fear of the Lord stand fast in that glorious Liberty wherewith Christ hath made you free And beware of being again entangled with the heavy Yoak of Bondage and of being brought into Captivity with that which in measure you had Victory over For you that have passed from Death to Life know right well and I need not tell you through what Difficulties Hardships and Exercises you obtain'd that precious Liberty in the Truth which you are brought unto And you also know what it cost you to purchase the Possession of that measure of Life and Truth which is manifested amongst you therefore let none sell his Birth-right for a Mess of Pottage neither let any perishing Object become a snare or divert you from your Simplicity and Sincerity in the Truth But every one walk worthy of the matchless Love of God which hath extended its self unto you that so the daily Multiplyings and Abounding thereof you may know and witness in your hearts that through it you may Grow and Increase and be Enriched and that God Almighty may take delight to dwell amongst you And my Friends The savoury holy Order that the Truth led into in the beginning and in which the primative Christians were exercis'd you are not ignorant of and I hope not unmindful of it neither And you likewise know what Fervency and Fear and Zeal towards God the Truth wrought in your Hearts when you first receiv'd the Testimony thereof And what a Godly Resolution was put on by many and there was not another thing accounted of by many of you in comparison of his Blessed Truth And whatsoever

said he they are continually doing the Works of the Devil and are his children and consequently cannot truly call God Father I answer therefore the Church of Rome cannot call God Father for she is and long hath been doing the works of the Devil the Murderer as before proved therefore she is of her father the Devil and cannot call God Father in Truth and in Righteousness Then A. S. rambles through several other particulars in which he controverts with Sectaries c. whose cause I am not concerned to plead only this small hint before I have given to prove the Church of Rome one of those Sects who cannot speak the fore-mentioned words truly and so I shall leave the Sectaries with whom A. S. controverts to plead their own cause for the thing that was chiefly in my heart when I took in hand to write this brief Reply was to prove the Church of Rome not to be the true Church and the Chief Arguments by him Produced to prove her the True Church I have already in brief answered Again A. S. in his 6th Chapter makes it his business to prove the Church to be the Judge of all controversies in matters of faith and saith That not every man nor human reason nor the private Spirit nor the Bible is this Judge and to prove it he quotes Matth. 18.17 where Christ said tell the Church c. Answ To which I answer That the Judgement of the true Church of which Christ is Head in matters of Faith I do not deny for being governed in all things by the Head Christ to whom all Judgment is committed John 5.20 the Judgment thereof must of necessity be Ture for the Strength of Israel cannot Lye and ought for to be submitted unto by all But the Church of Rome being not the True Church she being not Governed by the invisible Head Christ to whom all Judgment is committed as before proved Therefore she is not Judge of Controversies in matters of Faith And the True Church to whom Christ said He that Heareth you Heareth me were such as heard Christ and in whom the Spirit of the Father spake Mat. 10.20 But the Church of Rome doth not hear Christ as hereafter I shall prove therefore they who hear the Church of Rome do not hear Christ But surely when A. S. began this work of deciding Controversies he had forgotten that the Church was the only Judge in that particular and not every man nor the private spirit for had he considered that he being but a particular man would not have undertaken the Churches work as appears by the Title of his Book he hath for he calls it A brief Decider of all Controversies in matters of Faith which Book we have cause to judge is his own only work and not the Churches in which we find him condemning himself for the thing which he is doing for as appears by his aforesaid Title himself undertakes to decide controversies and in his 6th Chapter he affirmeth ' That the Church is the only Judge or decider of all controversies But this is that his confusion may the more appear as it hath done in many other things as may be seen in this small Treatise and surely if the Pope have no better Servants then A. S. to do his work for him he had better keep them idle than to employ them in such a work for in the end they will bring more shame to him than they will honour for such like confusions and other abominations have already made the very name of the Pope an ill favour to all true Christians And one thing more in A. S. his 6th Chapter I cannot well omit to observe where he said The spirit inspireth when he will and you hear his voice but cannot tell whence from God or the Devil he doth come or whither to Heaven or to Hell he doth go and then saith So is every one that is born of the spirit and to prove this he quotes Luke 9.55 where Christ said Ye know not what Spirit ye are of Now consider the blindness and ignorance or else the wilful wickedness of A. S. who jumbles a deal of Scriptures together blasphemously wresting of them to his own destruction or at least to the destruction of his own work in hand thinking thereby to blind the minds of people and with his good words mixed with blasphemies and fair speeches to deceive the hearts of the simple as his Predecessors have done in the long night of Apostacy which hath been over all Nations since the Apostles days But it s in vain for him to strive to accomplish his end for the Day is dawned unto many and there is an eye opened in many thousands in this Nation of England that gives them to see over and beyond all this Babylonish or confused trumpery and stuff and have a feeling of that which was before Babylon was and shall out-last Babylon to the praise of God and to the glory and honour of his Name who is blessed for ever Well Although it was so that Christ said unto his Disciples You know not what spirit ye are of yet consider the time when he spake these words was it not before they were born of the Spirit although called to be Apostles for Christ said unto them you must be born again John 3.7 8. and that he would send them the Spirit of which he said they must be born which shall lead them into all Truth John 16.13 and he did not say as A. S. doth that they should not know whence from God or the Devil the Spirit came or whither to Heaven or to Hell it went Oh horrid blasphemy in A. S who saith so is every one that is born of the Spirit as much as to say that he that is born of the Spirits knows not whether he be from God or the Devil or whither he shall go to Heaven or to Hell Oh wickedness indeed Christ said no such things as A. S. doth although that blessed worthy saying of our Saviour and Lord Christ was and is very true viz. Marvel not that I say unto you that you must be born again for the wind bloweth where it listeth and men hears the sound thereof but cannot tell from whence it cometh nor whither it goeth adding even so is every one that is born of the Spirit John 3.7 8. Mark they that were born of the Spirit were unknown to the World for said the Apostle after they were born again the World knows us not So although they were in the World and men saw them yet the World knew them not no more than they knew from whence the wind came and wither it went which they heard the sound of and indeed so is the state of the True Church in the World at this day And the Apostles did know from whence the Spirit came and of what Spirit they were after they received the Spirit of Truth and were born of it for Christ told them John 14.16 That

old saith Sware not at all Jer. 31.31 32. and though Moses and the Prophets were to be heard under the ministration of the first Covenant yet they said when Christ the second Covenant was come people must hear him for said Moses a Prophet shall the Lord your God raise up unto you like unto me him shall ye hear Deut. 18.15 And the Prophet said that Nation and people that will not serve thee that Nation shall perish Isa 60.12 So that although Moses said thou shalt perform thy Oath to the Lord yet Christ that Prophet who is the end of that Law and whom Moses said the people must hear or else be cut off he said Sware not at all and although the Prophet said thou shalt Sware the Lord liveth c. yet Christ who is the end of the Prophets whom the Prophets said people must serve or else perish saith Sware not at all and although it may be alledged that the Angels swore yet Christ the first born amongst many Brethren to whom all the Angels must bow saith Sware not at all and although it may be further alledged that God himself swore and therefore its lawful for Christians to Sware yet God himself said concerning Christ This is my beloved Son hear ye him Mat. 17.5 And this beloved Son of God whom all Christians ought to hear saith Sware not at all All which being rightly weighed and considered it plainly appears that Swearing by any Oath whatsoever was forbidden by Christ Jesus who is the Law-giver unto all Christians and therefore it is not lawful for Christians to Sware at all And that spirit that tollerates Swearing or would set it up as a Religious Act is an Antichrist spirit because it is against the command of Christ And although the Apostle might or did call the Lord to witness concerning the Truth which he spake yet that doth not prove that the Apostle swore as A. S. affirmeth that he did neither do we read that ever any of the Apostles did either propagate or tollerate Swearing since Christ forbid it But contrariwise the Apostle James saith Above all things my Brethren Swear not neither by Heaven nor by the Earth neither by any other Oath but let your yea be yea and your nay nay lest you fall into condemnation So that although A. S. would wrest the words of Christ to perswade people that his intent was they should not Swear but in Truth and in Righteousness yet the words of Christ and the Apostle whom all true Christians are to hear doth clearly import that their intent was that people should not Swear at all by any Oath whatsoever But this Antichristian spirit which opposes the Doctrines and Commands of Christ and his Apostles we have had large experience of and we have oft-times seen that it leads people to swear and also to forswear themselves both which are an Abomination to the Lord and in the Transgression against God and the new Covenant Ninthly and A. S. saith the Apostle said salute one another but the Devil saith salute not one another for Christ saith he sending his Disciples bid them salute no man by the way Luke 10.4 this Devil follows all Quakers but alas Christ's meaning there was that none should hinder them by the way c. Answ To which I answer here again A. S. goes about to make us believe that the Commands of Christ are the Impositions of the Devil or at lest that the Devil stirs up people to keep the Commands of Christ the first of which is Blasphemy in the highest degree and the second is little less for if the Devil would teach people to keep the Commands of Christ then might they serve Christ and Belial but as Christ said that cannot be And indeed we do experimentally see find that the Devil always opposeth the keeping of Christs Commands As now in A.S. Who would diswade them from it under pretence that its the Devil that leads them to it And as to his saying this Devil follows all Quakers I answer It s true but alas its intentionally to destroy them for it was said to the Serpent in the beginning that the Seed of the Woman should bruise his Head and he should bruise its Heel Gen. 3.15 And even so it s now come to pass for the Lord Jesus Christ the promised Seed Gal 3.16 being become the Leader of his people and the Angel of Gods present going before them the Devil as A. S. saith comes after them and follows them with his fiery darts of persecution and Serpent-like is snarling at the Heel But blessed be the Lord he that goes before them and is in them is greater and mightier then the Devil that follows them and he hath been their Preserver hitherto and I doubt not but he will unto the end perserve all who trust in him And as concerning Christs words there needs no meaning to be given to them for he meant as he spoke but if they did according to A. S's own conclusion he is not the Interpreter but the Church Therefore A.S. being not the Church but a particular man according to his own Argument his interpretation is not to be heeded Again he saith Every man is not the Interpreter for saith he Every man is a Lyar And indeed he hath conformed unto us that himself is a Lyar because he hath belyed the intent of Christs words aforesaid by giving his meaning to them Then saith A. S. Yet these deluded Souls think that this their deluding Spirit is of God and why forsooth because it reprehends them of sin c. and did not Judas his spirit rebuke him of sin and notwithstanding induce him to desperation and to hang himself Answ Here A. S. is again putting Light for darkness or calling the Spirit of Truth a deluding Spirit for is not that the Spirit of Truth that reproves the World of sin John 16.7 8. Did not Christ say that he would send the Comforter that should reprove the World of sin and we never read of any other Spirit that did reprove sin but the Spirit of Truth which A. S. blasphemously calls a deluding Spirit neither did I ever read that a deluding Spirit was the Comforter which that Spirit that reproves for sin is as Christ said And again is it not clear that A. S. puts Light for darkness in calling that a deluding Spirit which reproves sin for the Apostle said that whatsoever things are reproved are made manifest by the Light for whatsoever makes manifest is Light Eph. 5.13 and the deluding spirit is darkness it self so that hereby it manifestly appears that A. S. cannot discern betwixt Light and darkness so is a miserable Blind-Guide indeed And though the Spirit of Truth did rebuke Judas for his treachery doth it therefore follow that it was the same that led him to hang himself no this is great Ignorance in A. S. to affirm for he might as well have said That the same Spirit that led him