Opposed the Truth He was but Young in Years and of a Little Stature for the which he was by Brutish Envious Persecuting Priests and Professors Mocked and by them in a scornful Mind called The QVAKING BOY but in him was seen the Mighty Power of God VVhen any of them that were climed up so high in their Imaginations and strengthned themselves in their Self-righteousness and came forth in the Strength of the power of Darkness to Oppose the Truth of God which he bore Testimony unto with him did then appear the Name and Power of the Living God which was with the little Stripling David in which Name and Power he many times stopped the Mouths of Gain-sayers and by the Wisdom of God that was with him he caught the Wise and Crafty in their own Snares and Confounded them in the sight of all that had an Eye to see and so brought shame upon them whereby the Saying is fulfilled That by Weak things the Lord would confound the Mighty and things that are Despised hath God chosen yea and things that are not to bring to nothing things that are He had also a good Gift to declare the Truth and was full of Zeal and Heavenly Courage in the which he performed the same for the informing of the Minds of those that wanted the Knowledge of the Lord also to Mark Out and Make Manifest the Deceivers which People were to turn from His Exhortation was unto Us that were turned unto the Truth To Walk in it and to Watch unto it and to Keep Low in God's Holy Fear to Deny our selves and Take Vp the Daily Cross to our own Wills and to be Faithful in that Little Appearance of Light Truth which we had already receiv'd alwayes declaring unto us That if we were Faithful in that the Lord would make known more unto us whose words many of us are now Living Witnesses of the fulfilling of Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever and for evermore saith my Soul Also He was a Good Example and a Pattern in his Life and Conversation unto us by the which he preached Truth unto us as well as by his VVords for He himself lived according to what he taught us for he was adorned with Gravity and walked before us in Humility yea he had a Blameless Conversation and was unspotted from the World so that his Presence as well as his Words was a Strengthning and a Comfort to the Upright and Honest-hearted but he was an Awe a Dread to the Careless and Disobedient which made a Profession of the Truth but did not walk Answerably thereunto who he alwayes told should be cloathed with Rags which could not cover them and their SHAME should appear and they left Naked for the Light and Day of the Lord was come that would make all manifest and strip off all False Coverings so that a Profession although it were of the Truth it self would no longer do nor cover without the Life and Power be known and witnessed which doth not only Discover Sin and Evil but also Overcomes it Removes it Takes it away The Truth of this Doctrine which he preached unto us there are many of us by the good Hand and Power of the Lord have do see the Fulfilling of this Honest-hearted Young Man's Testimony both on them that received the Truth which he preached into an Honest and Good Heart and also upon the Careless and Disobedient so that I shall and do conclude in this Testimony concerning Him That He was a Faithful Servant and Messenger sent by God to Declare the Way of Life unto them that wanted the Knowledge of it and to Reprove Sin and to Make Manifest Deceivers and to Testifie against them which may be seen and felt to the better Satisfaction of them that never saw his Face in reading over his own Books and Epistles which were written by his Own Hand which all that read with an Honest Heart in a Serious Mind I doubt not but will say with me Surely the Mighty Power and Wisdom of the Lord was with him of a Truth Samuel Cater Thomas Bayles HIS TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel THis Blessed Man the Writer of these following Books was made a Partaker of that Faith Patience through which the Righteous in all Ages obtained the Crown of Life and Victory over all their Enemies and had a share in his Day and Time as alwayes they had in this World of the Sufferings of Christ in him He was sent into this County with the Testimony of God in his Heart Mouth and therefore was Bold in the Name of the Lord to cry REPENTANCE in the Ears of the Sons of Men and as He said so lived he as many in this Town and Place are living Witnesses of who have true Cause to bless and praise the Name of the Lord and do for that He and other of his Brethren were sent amongâ—â— us He was of a sweet Savour of Christ to the Almighty God through his Faithfulness to him who sent him hither in them who receiv'd his Testimony though many there were that hardened their Hearts against the Lord of which Number were many of the Rulers Priests and Professors of that Time who notwitstanding they cryed Reformation the Ordinances of Christ Jesus Christian-Duties and the like yet manifested themselves of that Stock and Generation which always slew the Righteous and the Lord God soon stretcht forth his Righteous Hand of Judgment upon some as Warnings unto others whom he spared from that swift Stroak that they might Repent as some did and seek his Face who is the Light of the World God blessed for evermore He was as a Youth and mean in hâ—s Outward Presence and Appearance but God hath chosen the Foolish Things of this World to confound the Wise And so high was the spirit of the Professors and the Prophane encouraged thereby that with whom among such was his Name used but in a way of Derision and Scorn terming him The Railing Fellow in the Castle He owneth himself to be Christ Jesus A Wandering Star to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness forever But since it came to Light and the Wandering Stars seen and their Blackness of Darkness felt who durst not stand by their Ordinances Duties nor Christianity but in Obscure Holes Secret Places Vaults which shews them of a low dark earthly wandering spirit who know not the Spirit of Life from God nor the Stability thereof to set them above the Fear of Man where they lie in great Captivity The Lord hath put it into my Heart in the blessed Remembrance of his Innocent Life to bear my Testimony upon this Occasion and thus to appear in the Memorial of him And I am assured in my Spirit That although the Lord suffer'd him to be cruelly kept in Bonds until Death and to be hated persecuted beyond what we had known before amongst us yet it was for his Righteous Life sake as from
seek not the Honour that cometh from God only And here the true Honour is no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit And here you who are giving and receiving out-side earthly Honour you are in the Unbelief out of the Doctrine of Christ cringing and bowing and honouring and exalting the Devil and worshipping the Beast and his Image which all the World wonders after and worships Rev. 13. And as for Manners and Breeding Courtesie and Civility Learn to do as you would have all to do unto you and speak every one Truth to his Neighbour And let no corrupt Communication proceed out of your Mouth but such as is good for the Use of Edifying for evil Communication corrupts good Manners but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay be Nay for whatsoever is more is Evil And breed your Children so and here is good Manners and Breeding Courtesie and Civility and who are of the right Noble Seed have these Manners and this Breeding but the Nobles and Great Ones of the Earth want these Manners and this Breeding and both Priest and People of all Sorts according to the World And here is the Ground of all true Nobility Gentility Majesty Honour Breeding Manners Courtesie and Civility no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit for the Natural Man minds Natural Things and the Spiritual Man Spiritual Things but the Natural Man receives not the Things of God and this we own and witness And the Time is coming and now is that before this Seed every Knee shall bow and every Tongue confess and the Kings and Nobles of the Earth shall be bound in Chains and Fetters of Iron And here is also the Ground of the Nobility Gentility Superiority Honour Breeding and Manners of the World which is after the Flesh but not after the Spirit sprung from proud Lucifer the Lust that reigns in man and is not Yea and Nay but calls it Manners to say Nay and take it or do it and so they have the Name but not the Nature and so are Bastards and no Sons who are not sprung from the Noble Gentile Seed and to those Honour is not due neither can we bow unto them for if we should we should set the Devil in the room of God give unto him that which is due to God which when we were in Blindness through Ignorance we did and so worshipped the Beast and his Image which all the World worships and wonders after For they that are Proud and Lofty which is the Image of the Devil for the Devil is the Father of Pride and in gay Attire those the World worships and wonders after and extols and exalts into High Places But since the Lord hath opened our Eyes this we cannot do but testifie against it wheresoever we come both in Words and Actions and so we are destructive to the World's Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners which is after the Flesh and not after the Spirit therefore the Devil hates us in the Nobles and Great Ones of the World but we give unto Caesar the Things that are Caesar's and unto God that which is Gods but we cannot give unto Caesar that which is God's but Fear to whom Fear Honour to whom Honour is due He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and understand For saith the Lord If I be a Master where is my Fear If I be a Father where is my Honour Mal 1. 6. â—â— And now something concerning the Partiality that is among the Children of this World in their Breeding and Manners First Concerning the Word Thou or Thee which all those which are their Priests and Teachers know that Thou is the proper Word to one particular Person and is so all along the Scriptures throughout to any one without Respect of Persons yea to God himself And the Word You is the proper Word to more then one but not to one and so it is all along the Scriptures through out As for Example at all Times when the Apostles spake to Christ they used the Word Thou or Thee unto him and when he spoak to more then one of them he used the Word You or Ye but if he spoak but to one he used the Word Thou or Thee as in Mat. 16. 14 15 16 17. verses And also Paul Thou'd King Agrippa and King Agrippa Thou'd him as in Acts 26. ver 27 28. and so all along the Scripture And so it is plain that now it is an invention of Proud Lucifer in man to exalt himself as it will plainly appear for amongst the Great and Rich Ones of the Earth they will either Thou or You one another if they be equal in Degree as they call it but if a man of low Degree in the Earth come to speak to any of them then he must You the Rich Man but the Rich Man will Thou him nay you shall find it so betwixt Priest and People If a poor labouring Man come before one that you call a Minister though he be one of his Hearers one who helps to maintain him according to his Ability yet he must You the Priest and the Priest Thou him And here the Heathen Lord over one another by their corrupt Wills but this is contrary to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ who made themselves Servants to all and yet those will call themselves the Ministers of Christ And the Word Minister signifies a Servant and they are Masters and so they have gotten the Name but not the Nature and so are Bastards and no Heirs who are not sprung from the Gentile Seed and yet they are hired as Servants of Men and yet bear Rule by their Means as Masters over those that maintain them so that he that hath an Eye to see let him see the Deceits of the professed Ministers of England And now as concerning the Putting off of the Hat which is another Invention of proud Lucifer whereby he is honoured and worshipped and exalted in man but the Scripture doth not speak of any such Fashion used in any Age but man hath found out many Inventions since the Scripture was recorded and now it is so that it is a Fashion throughout the Land whereby one man is exalted above another for if a poor man come before a Rich Man it may be the Rich Man will move his Hat that is called Courtesie and Humility but the Poor Man must stand with his Hat off before him and that is called Honour and Manners and due Respect unto him but if the Rich man do bid him put it on it is counted a great Courtesie and he gets Honour to himself there to be counted a Courteous man But this Difference or Respect of Persons was never ordained by God but by the Devil whereby he exalts himself in Man but James the Apostle of Jesus Christ witnessed against it as in James 2. 1 2 3 4 5. and so on and
are they who are led and guided by the One Spirit of which the World cannot receive even the Comforter of whom you have heard should come by which they are separated out of the World and redeemed out of the Rudiments and Pollutions thereof their Fashions their Customs their Words their Wayes their Manners their Breeding their Fellowship Love and Friendship their Honour and Glory and their Worship and so are become Strangers to the World and so are hated of the World because they are not of the World and the Enmity stands betwixt the two Seeds but while they were of the World the World loved them but now they are gathered out of the World and separated from the World and testifie against the World both in Words and Actions therefore the Enmity is raised in the World against the Righteous Seed and those are they upon whom the Ends of the World are come to whom it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom though to the World in Parables and those are they that are come with a Mighty Arm and Power to trun the World up-side down whom the Lord hath gathered and is a gathering out of the World by his own Spirit of Truth and Love to walk in the Way of Truth even the Way of Holiness where the Ransomed of the Lord do walk and serve and worship him in Spirit and in Truth and such is the Father seeking to worship him in whom he is in doing his own Work even to destroy the Old Creation and create New Heavens and New Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and those are they that are the New Creatures in whom this New Work is witnessed in whom the Father hath manifested his Son that in the Likeness of sinful Flesh he might condemn Sin in the Flesh and to bind the Strong Man and cast him out of his House and spoil his Goods and so to destroy the Works of the Devil and to cut down the Man of Sin even that Son of Perdition who is exalted above all that is called GOD sitting in the Temple of God as God and saith He is God this is he by whom the World is deceived who is the God of the World even the Prince of Darkness who rules in all the Children of Disobedience and so saith John in the Light The whole World lies in Wickedness and unto this doth Christ come with a Sword for to make War with him and to take and bind him and cast him into utter Darkness and so to take his Kingdom from him and to rule himself in Righteousness And this is the King of the SAINTS who is now come to redeem unto himself a Pure People and to wash them cleanse them from their Sias by his BLOOD and so to wash away all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and this is the Baptism by which they are received into his Church and Faith and here is the Effect of his BLOOD wrought in MAN and thus he doth and will manifest his Mighty Power to purifie and cleanse and make Man a fit Temple for himself to dwell in And thus is GOD with us manifested in Flesh and thus are the Saints Bodies made the TEMPLES of the HOLY GHOST and thus is the Word of Life and Reconciliation witnessed to the raising up the Soul to Life and reconciling the Soul to GOD and those are they that are begotten and born again of the Immortal Word which dwelleth and abideth forever and here is the Houshold of God the Houshold of Faith and the Houshold of Love who speak the things which they have heard and seen and tasted of the good Word of Life which was in the beginning and those are the Children of Light who are gather'd out of the dark Forms Judgments and Opinions into the Life and Power of Godliness to walk in the Light of Life wherein they are gathered and united by the One Spirit of Love and Life into One Body of which Christ is Head and here is the true Church which the Lord is a gathering and washing and cleansing and purifying by his Spirit that he may redeem unto himself a pure Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing whose Insides are washed and made clean through the Word by which they are reconciled into the Love and Union which springs from the Life of God and here is the Vine and the Branches and here is the Communion of the Church all feeding upon One Bread all drinking upon One Cup this is Christ the Life of the Saints and as many as are baptized into this Church partake of this Communion and those are they which have denyed themselves and have born the Cross of Christ by which they are crucified to the World and the World to them who are gathered into one Covenant of Life where all are Fellow-Servants under one MASTER who serve one another in Love and Meekness And here is the true Humility in the Heart wrought and here is the true Washing of Feet without Hypocrisie which some are imitating without for LIFE but fall short for the Heart the Lord requires And thus is the Church of Christ gathered by one Spirit and by the same circumcised and baptized into one Light and Life and Power where all dwell as MEMBERS of One BODY of which CHRIST is the HEAD And here is the Blessed Union and Communion in One and here God is worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and as CHRIST is spiritual so is his BODY and so are his Ordinances And here are the true Christians not those that only have the Notion of those things but they that witness and possess this in Life and they that believe have the witness within themselves and they that believe have passed from Death unto Life and the Life which they now live in is by Faith in the Son of God which Faith is without Respect of Persons who are the New Creatures who are IN Christ Jesus to whom there is no Condemnation who walk not after the FLESH but after the for against such there is no LAW for they are translated out of that NATURE for which the LAW was added and are set free by the Law of the Spirit of Life and are made Partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ by which they are made Christians and therefore saith John As he is so are we in this present World and such now witness the Effect of the Blood of Christ wrought within them and the End of his Coming and the Benefit of his Death who are Dead with him and risen through the Death of the Cross and these are they that have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Son of God within them Christ within the Hope of Glory or else no Hope of Glory for they that cannot witness him so are in the Reprobation so saith the Apostle and here is the Son in the Saints and the Father in the Son and thus are
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
his Enemies and testifying against tâ—e gross Hypocrisie of that Day And this I have to say concerning him and it 〈◊〉 in many and shall not dye That he was an Innocent Man and lived in the Testimony and Feaâ— of God that he sought nothing here for himself but alone laboured and traviâ—ed that People might be brought into the Knowledge and Love of God and had he bin otherwise spirited he should have had Acceptance with many of hâ—s Enemies I believe And as he was an Innocent Man so he lived Innocently towards all men and so he dyed Innocently as himself estified a small time before his departure Here I Dye Innocently And as several who were with him were Eye-Witnesses of the sâ—me and is enter'd into the Bosom of the Eternal Rest with God forever His Testimony was That God was Light and that Christ who proceeded and came from God did enlighten every Man that cometh into the World that all Men through him might believe which Testimony of Truth bearing although it was rejected by many and the heavenly Light of the Lord too mean an Appearance for the aspir'd Minds of those Dayes â—o submit unto yet accepted of was it by some who by it soon were taught to take the Yoak of Christ upon them and to receive his holy Fâ—ar into their Hearts and were blessed of the Lord prospered and encreased although therefore persecuted and reviled by the Vngodly Generation who turn away their Eyes from the Reproof of Instruction because of the Reproof thereof and preserved through many grievous Trials Tribulations through their faithful Obedience in the Light Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth so what Acceptance ever had the Righteous in this World by the men and spirit thereof is apparent by Scripture and Historical Account and our Experience doth confirm the same viz. Persecution and Cruelty Prisons and stinking Holes Banishments and Death Destroying of the Goods and Estates of the Innocent and what do I behold at this day I never saw or read of a Lamb worrying a Dog nor an Innocent Sheep to tear or devour a Wolf What Christianity or Holiness is that which hurts and destroyes and thinketh thereby of doing God good Service Surely it is not to be found in all God's Holy Mountain saith the Lord. And so The Name of the Righteous is had in Everlasting Remembrance aâ—d his Memorial shall shine forever and ever In true Faith and Assurance as a Brotherly-Testimony to my deceased Friend's Innocency is this written that it may be known from one who was acquainted with his Life and Death in this Town that the Lord was with him in his Life and Death that those who are yet in being that had a Hand in his Sâ—fferings or consented may Repent Repent unfeignedly and seek the Lord while He is to be found for if thou art found out by Him to be a Blood-guilty Man and knowest not his Hysop in thy Day of Visitation to have purged thee know thou that the Lord God will give thee Blood double to drink in his Day of Judgment with Horror and Destruction for evermore â—olchester the 7th of the 7th Month 1671. Thomas Bayles A TESTIMONY Concerning the Sufferings and Death OF James Parnel I Having a Knowledge of J. P. the Author of these Books and being an Eye-Witness of part of his great Sufferings he under-went for the Testimony of the Blessed Truth which he sealed with his Blood being persecuted by a Professing Generation who though they made great Pretence to Christianity yet they were upon Tryal found to be such who were born of the Flesh who always persecuted them that were born after the Spirit and were like the Professing Jews who reckoned they were of the Stock of Abraham and that he was their Father when they were of their Father the Devil doing his Works Persecuting the Innocent And that the Remembrance of the Great Suffering of this our Dear Friend and Brother JAMES PARNEL may not be extinguished I shall insert a full Relation of his Imprisonment and Death as followeth The said JAMES PARNEL being moved of the Lord to go to a Steeple-House at Coggshall the Priests and the People having appointed a Fast as they said against Error the 12th Day of the 5th Month in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Fifty Five after the Priest had Ended James spake a few Words to them so passing forth of the Steeple-House one called Justice WAKERING followed him and clapt him on the back and said He Arrested Him although he shewed no Writ and by the means of divers Priests he was by Dionysius Wakering Herbert Pelham Thomas Cook and William Harlakenden committed to Colchester-Castle and there kept close up and none of his Friends suffered to come near him and from thence at the Assizes was carried to Chelmsford where they kept him on the Chain Day and Night but when he appeared at the Bar the Chain was taken off only had Irons on his Hands where Judge Hill urged the Jury to find him guilty declaring what he could against the Prisoner to them and would not suffer him to speak to the Jury to clear himself so the Judge fined him Forty Pounds and to be committed Close Prisoner till Payment and gave Charge to the Goaler Not to let any Giddy-Headed People as he called them come at him so the Goaler denyed his Friends to come to him to Relieve him and would not let them in but such as came to Abuse Scorn and Beat him they let in to him and the Goaler's Wife did set her Man to Beat him who threatned to Knock him down and make him shake his Heels and she her self did Beat him several times and swore She would have his Blood And sometimes they would not let him have any Victuals brought to him other times they would set Prisoners to take away such Victuals as was brought to him and would not let him have a Trundle-Bed which his Friends would have brought him to lie on but forced him to lie on the Stones which in a wet season would run down with Water and when he was in a Room for which he paid Four Pence a Night he was threatned if he did but walk to and fro in it Then they put him in the Hole in the Wall which is very high from the Ground and where the Ladder was too short by Six Foot and when his Friends would have given him a Cord and a Basket to have taken up his Victuals in they would not let them though they much desired it but he must either come up and down by a Rope or else Famish in the Hole which he did a long time But after a long Suffering in this Hole where there was nought but Misery as to the Outward Man it being no Place either for Air or Smoak and James being much benumbed in his Naturals as he was climbing up the Ladder with his Victuals in one Hand and coming to the top of
Unholy nor Unclean thing must enter So now What Assurance have you of your Salvation or what is your Faith built upon when both Christ and the Scriptures witness against you And Faith which is not built on the Rock Christ Jesus is vain and perisheth And he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is Pure Here all your Faith is searched tryed and proved and is found all vain and perishing and so is not built upon the Rock which Perisheth not Therefore come down all you High-minded Pharisees and lay away all your Profession and throw down all your old Building and begin and lay a new Foundation for the higher the Pharisee climbs the greater will be his Fall and he that will be Wise let him first become a Fool For man by his Wisdom knows not God Here the Pharisee is shut out from the Knowldge of God who stands in his own wisdom And all you Wilful Blind Carnal Ignorant Creatures whom my Soul pittieth to see how ignorantly you are led who pin your Faith upon the Sleeves of your Fore-Fathers and live in Lightness and Wantonness spending your Youth in Vanity in Gaming Pleasures and Sporting in Drunkenness in Swearing and Lying in Vain Talk and Foolish Jestings in Pride and Lust and Filthiness and say You follow your Fore-Fathers and say What is become of them and say Your Pleasures is Pastime and Recreation and your Vain Talk and Foolish Jesting is Pastime and Merriness and so you pass the Time away and say Your Drinking and Rioting and Feasting is Good-Fellowship and Neighbourhood and so you cover over your Sins and Iniquities but Wo unto him that hides his Sin and covers his Iniquity and all this will not profit you any thing neither can your Fore-Fathers excuse you before the Lord for in the beginning it was so that Eve could not Justifie Adam neither could be any Excuse but rather Condemned him because he hearkened to the to the Voice of the Woman and Disobeyed the Lord so Adam suffered for his own Sin and so did Eve for her's And so this will be no Excuse for you in the Day of Account to say You followed your Fore-Fathers and did as they did before you But then will the Lord say Because you followed the Traditions and Fashions and Customs and Inventions of Man and have hearkened to the Voice of the Serpent and have Disobeyed my Voice and my Command and Sleighted my Counsel and would none of my Reproof but cast my Law behind your Backs and trampled my Mercy under Foot and have turned my Grace into Wantonness and have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter and have spent my Creatures upon your Lusts and Stoned Stocked Buffeted and Imprisoned and Shamefully intreated my Messengers which I sent unto you to Forewarn you of your Iniquity and have killed my Son therefore depart ye Workers of Iniquity I know ye not into Everlasting Torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels To see now how vain your Hope is and how unstedfast your Faith is when you have more Assurance of your Damnation than your Salvation for the Lord saith No Unrighteous Person must enter into his Kingdom nor no Unholy nor Unclean thing Therefore all you who desire Salvation to your Souls Try and Prove your Faith and Hope which you do trust to and take heed of trusting to a broken Reed lest it deceive you Experience hath taught you That if a Foundation of a Building be decayed and wasted and naught the Building will Fall when a Storm cometh so let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falleth So every one whose desire is after Righteousness hearken to that in your Consciences which raiseth up Desires after Righteousness and which sheweth you the Vainness of your Lives and checks you when you do amiss and troubles you and torments you in Conscience when you have been Drunk or have done some Evil Act be willing to be guided by that and that will lead you to Repentance and Newness of Life to forsake those things which it discovers to be contrary to the will of God and if you be willing to follow this and be guided by it you shall find a Teacher continually present checking in the Conscience for vain Thoughts and for Vain and Idle and Needless Words and Actions and so will Crucifie the Lust which is the Ground of those things and which will lead you out of the Pathes of Death into the Way of Life out of the Traditions and Customs and Fashions Opinions of the World into the Assurance of the Eternal Truth And thou that art willing to follow this and be guided by this shalt need no man to teach thee but it will be a Teacher unto thee Teaching and Directing in Righteousness Purity and Holiness and if thou art Dilligent keeping thy Mind within with an Ear open to the pure Voice thou shalt find it present with thee wheresoever thou art in the Fields in thy Bed in Markets in Company or wheresoever thou art when thy Outward Priest or Teacher is absent it may be in the Ale-House or at his Pleasures and Delights or far off it will be present with thee and will Check thee and Condemn thee for that which no Outward Eye can See and will cleanse thy Heart from Lust and Deceit and Uncleanness and will purifie thy Heart and will make it a fit Temple for Purity to dwell in and then thy Sacrifices will be Pure which come from a Pure Heart the Lord will accept them for Abel's Sacrifices he receiveth but Cain's he denies but if thou wouldest attain to this thou must be willing to deny thy Lusts thy Vanity thy Delights or whatsoever hath been thy Life For He that will save his Life shall lose it and he that will lose his Life for my sake the same shall save it So there is no obtaining of Life but through Death nor no obtaining the Crown but through the Cross So thou must deny thy self and take up thy daily Cross and follow Christ if thou wouldest be his Disciple and give up thy Self wholly to be guided by the Will of God that all which is contrary to the Will of God may be Crucified though it be never so near and dear to thee and be forsaken Lands or Living Wife or Children Friends and Acquaintance or all the World and all Delights in the World For he that loveth any thing better then Me is not worthy of Me And all things below the Lord Vanisheth but He Endureth forever So the Lord God Almighty prosper all the Tender Desires which are raised up towards him and feed the Hungry and Thirsty Souls as he hath promised and raise up his own in all his that he alone may be Glorified Praised and Honoured who is Worthy and to whom all belongeth And this is the Desire of his Soul who is a Servant of the Lord who is Hated Reviled and Derided of the World
because he hath no Fellowship with the World nor the Vanities of the World but testifieth against their Wayes Fashions Traditions Customs Fellowship Words and Worship and seeth them all to be Formal Imitation and the Invention of Man out of the Covenant of God so cannot but deny them and for this Cause he is Hated of all both Priest and People Whose Name according to the World is JAMES PARNELL The Servant is not Greater then his Master Try your selves prove your selves know ye not that Christ is in you unless you be Reprobates 2 Cor. 13. 5. Christ Exalted Into His THRONE And the SCRIPTURE Owned in its Place THis then is the Message that we have received of the Father That God is Light and in him is no Darkness at all if we walk in Darkness and say we have fellowship with him we lye and do not the Truth but if we walk in the Light as he is in the Light then have we fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ his Son clenseth us from all sin 1 John 1. 5 6 7. And this is the Word which was in the beginning by which all things were made and in him was Life and his Life was the Light of men John 1. 1 2 3 4. By which Light all the holy Men of God in the dayes of old were inspired By which Light Moses saw the things that were done in the beginning and wrote of them Which Word was a Lamp unto David's Feet and a Light unto his Pathes Psal. 119. 105. Which Light dwelt in the Prophets and holy Men by which they saw the Day of Christ and wrote of him Isa. 49. 6. 60. 19 and spoke as they were moved by it and by it saw the Deceit Iniquities and Transgressions of Israel and declared against it both in Priest People and Rulers speaking the Word of the Lord faithfully whether they would hear or forbear Ezek. 2. Mic. 3. Isa. 56. And this Word came unto the Prophets which was as a Fire and a Hammer in their Bones Jer. 20. 9. 23. 29. Which Word in due time became Flesh and dwelt among the Apostles and they saw the Glory thereof as of the Only Begotten Son of the Father full of Grace and Truth John 1. 14. whom John bears witness of to be the Light of the World who doth enlighten every one that comes into the World John 1. To which Light Paul was sent to turn the minds of the Heathen Acts 26. 17 18. Which Light is the Condemnation of the World who love Darkness rather then Light because their deeds are Evil and he that hates it hath it though he will not bring his deeds to it by it to be proved therefore his Condemnation it is John 3. 19 20 21. And there is a time Light shines in Darkness and Darkness comprehends it not John 1. 5. and this is the Cause why many stumble at it and are offended in it And there is a time Light shines out of darknes and darkness flees away and then is witnessed the perfect Day where the Children of the Day do walk Isa. 42. 16. Mat. 4. 16. Eph. 5. 8. Which Light is the true Tryer of spirits gives the discerning of spirits and discovers the works of darkness and manifests the deeds of darkness and by it the Secrets of the heart are seen and hidden things searched out and by it all things are manifest and whatsoever makes manifest is Light Heb. 4. 12. Ephes. 5. 13. all which the natural man knows not and therefore cannot receive the things of God but by this Light is seen and judged for by this Light the Spiritual Man is able to discern and judge the natural man but he himself is judged of no man 1 Cor. 2. 14 15. For this is the Judge of the World and by this the Prince of the Air is judged wheresoever he ruleth John 16. 11. and therefore at it rageth and stirreth up his Servants to persecute it where it is manifest and so it is a Stumbling Stone and a Rock of Offence to the Children of the World in whom the Prince of this World lodgeth Rom 9. 33. And of this Word the Apostle Paul beareth witness to be quick and powerful and sharpe then a two-edged Sword to the dividing assunder betwixt the Marrow and the Bones Heb. 4. 12. to which Word the Apostle directed the minds of people within them from looking without for to find it without Rom 10. And from this same Word the Apostles spoke forth the Scripture which Word was their Guide and Rule and Teacher all along from the beginning by which both the Apostles and Prophets and the holy Men were acted moved and carry'd forth in the Power of it to declare that which by it they were taught 1 John 1. 2. Pet. 1. 21. And this is the free Grace of God which bringeth Salvation and hath appear'd to all men Tit. 2. 11 12. which is their Condemnation who do despite unto it Heb. 10. 29. but this was the Saints Teacher by which they were taught to deny all Ungodliness and worldly Lusts and to live Godlily Righteously and Soberly in this present evil World And this is the Anointing which teacheth all things freely which is Truth and no Lye and leads into all Truth and he that knows this needs no man to teach him but is come to the end of mans teaching 1 John 2. 27. unto which the Prophet was come and therefore called freely Come buy Wine Milk without Money or Price Why spend ye your Money for that which is not Bread or your Labour for that which profitteth not Isa. 55. 1 2 3. And from this the Apostle spoke freely nor coveting any man's Silver or Gold but as they freely had received freely they gave Acts 20. 33. And whosoever speaks from this speaks freely and its Ministry leads to the end of Teaching and here let all flesh keep silence before the Lord Zach. 2. 13. And let all Hirelings and greedy Shepherds stop their mouthes who cry Peace Peace to them that put into their mouthes but if not they even prepare War against them and such like the Prophet in the Light saw and by it testified against them Mich. 3. 5. And all this the Scripture bears testimony of which was spoken from the Light but is not the Light nor the Word nor the Life nor the Judge nor the Rule nor the Guide nor the Tryer of spirits for all this belongs to Christ who is the Discerner of the Thoughts and Intents of the heart Heb. 4. 1 2. who is the Light John 8. 12. who is the Word John 1. 14. who is the Life John 14. 6. who blamed the Pharisees that thought in the Scriptures to find eternal Life but would not come unto him that they might have Life John 5. 39 40. who is the Anointing who is the Guide and Teacher and the Rule 1. John 2. 27. who when we are going to the right hand
the Scripture the Light yet in the same it doth witness against them and witness Christ to be the Light before the Scripture was written and is able to save to the utmost all that shall come unto God by him and they that climb up any other Way the same are Thieves and Robbers John 10. 1. And therefore is not a Natural Insufficient Light as they that know not him do report of him and therefore shew themselves to be as ignorant as the Pharisees who only supposed him to the Son of Joseph yet wondred at his Power and the Works that were done by him as these do now wonder at the Prosperity of this Ministration of Light and to see how it prevails upon the Hearts of the people so that they know not what to think of it they are not able to encounter with it but that they see it strikes so much at their Diana and lies so hard at their Foundation so that it makes their Building Totter therefore the Rulers Priests aud Pharisees take Counsel together saying one to another If we let this People alone all men will go after them and they will draw away whole Nations therefore they take the same course as ever the false Prophets did joyning together with the Earthly Powers to make War with the Lamb Persecuting Stocking Whipping Imprisoning and shamefully intreating his Messengers whom the Lamb sent forth to bear Testimony of this Light in peoples Consciences where we have a Witness both in them that believe and in them that perish and also striving all the wayes they can by their Evil Incensing Lying Railings and false Accusings and Reporting to defame this Light and leaven your minds against it that if it were possible to put it out that still they might uphold their Father's kingdom of darknes and bear rule by their Means over the Blind carrying captive the minds of people But who is able to make War with the Lamb or who shall withstand the Day of his Coming Saul Saul it is hard for thee to kick against the Pricks And though they call the Scripture their Rule and Guide yet in this it witnesseth against them to be in Cain's way and Balaam's way and in the GainSaying of Core and so have not God Jude 11. 2 John 9. but are found to be the Generation who are born after the Flesh persecuting them that are born after the Spirit Gal. 4. 29. And though they call the Scripture their Rule and Guide yet they receive not Power from it to enable them to walk according to it but are altogether erring from it in any thing that crosseth Self but as many as receive the Light receive Power to follow it and come out of the corrupt sinful nature which they live in who know not the Light John 1. 12. and here the Light is above the Scripture And though they say the Scripture is the Judge and Tryer of Spirits yet in the same it witnesseth against them to be Lyars and bears witness of Christ to be the Judge and Tryer and Searcher of the Heart and Discerner of the Thoughts Heb. 4. 12. Rom. 1. 16. 1 Pet. 4. 5. and that whatsoever makes manifest is Light Eph. 5. 13. therefore that which makes manifest false spirits is the Light and not the Letter which Light manifested and discovered false spirits before the Scripture was written And also though they say the Scripture is the Judge and Tryer of Spirits yet by the Scripture they cannot discern or judge of Spirits else what makes all this difference in Judgment amongst them who profess to try Spirits by the Scripture and profess it to be their Rule and ground their Judgments upon it yet are so confus'd in the same and never a one knows which is the Truth when as the Way is but One So that it follows that they have nothing but the Scripture without and are still without in Darkness and Confusion as all those appear to be who call the Scripture their Rule and Guide and Judge and Tryer of Spirits aud yet know not the Truth but are jangling and rangling and arguing and disputing and contending about the Scripture every one with a several Judgment upon it surely this Distraction is not in Scripture for it was spoken from One and all agrees in one therefore you that so profess the Scripture see if you can find it out by the Scripture and see where you are but they that are in the Light have fellowship one with another 1 John 1. 7. and are of one heart and one Soul Acts 4. 32. and all agree in one and are Epistles wrote in one anothers heart 2. Cor. 3. 2. and by the Light they try and discern false spirits and in it are able to judge them and open the Scriptures without wresting adding or diminishing and by it do know they are of God because they love one another with the same love with which Christ loved them 1 John 4. it is not such love which is to day and to morrow cross the will and it is turned into wrath and anger nay that love stands in the corrupt will but this love stands in the bond of peace which doth indure and here again the light is above the Scripture and though they say the light must be received from the Scripture yet in this the Scripture doth witness against them and bears witness of Christ to be the light of the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World And they that could never read letter of the book have this light which is sufficient to teach them and lead them into all Truth after they come to the knowledge of it from this light the Scripture was spoken 2 Pet. 1. 21. and without this light none can read the Scripture with understanding and here the light is before the Scripture and out of it all the Children of Darkness are shut with their busie minds and vain contending spirits and though they say they must receive life and salvation from the Scripture yet in this the Scripture witnesseth against them and testifies of Christ to be the alone Fountain of Life and Salvation and that there is no other name under Heaven by which we can be saved Psal. 30. 9. and 144. 10. And that the Pharisees had the Scripture yet had not the Light neither could see that he was the Christ though the Scripture bare testimony of him or either would come unto him for Life and Salvation but trusted in the Scripture thinking there to find eternal Life and therein found it not John 5. 39 40. As all you are now who are seeking the living among the dead and here again the light is above the Scripture which light is within us the hope of glory Col. 1. 26 27. and those that cannot witness this are in the reprobation though they have the Scripture without 1 Cor. 13. 5. and from it we receive life and salvation and from no other and this alone
condemn Sin in the Flesh which is the Word which became Flesh and dwelt amongst the Apostles This Christ we witness no more after the Flesh but after the Spirit and before We knew him after the Spirit we had no Profit by him but were in the State of Reprobation and so are all now who profess him in Words and know nothing of him but by the Letter without them And such deny Christ come in the Flesh who plead for Sin who live in Sin and do not witness him come but those who are crucified with him do live with him and he in them and none are Christians of the Flock of Christ but who are baptized into his Death by one Spirit into one Body and he that can witness this is crucified to the World and the World to him But who talk of Christ to be their Saviour and are still alive in the World's Nature must first witness him a Condemner for his first Appearance is with Sword and breaks the Peace and maketh the War and ends the War and makes the Peace and this Peace endures for ever and so he is a Condemner before he is a Saviour and he is a Peace-braker before he is a Peace-maker But who are at Peace in their Sin the Serpent is Head and the strong man keeps the House and Christ they do not witness come in the Flesh but who endure the War shall enjoy this Peace and he that can witness Christ his Saviour can witness this but Silence all Flesh before the Lord and let him that nameth the Name of God depart from Iniquity for he that saith he knoweth God and keepeth not his Commandements is a Lyar For saith Christ why call ye me Lord and do not the things which I say And none can call Jesus Lord but by the holy Ghost so it is plain you know not God who cannot keep his Commands then how can you believe in him whom you do not know We are accused that we judge People It is written The Saints shall judge the World and for Judgment I am come into the World saith Christ that those which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind and where Christ rules in his Saints he judges the World as Paul witnessed It is no more I but Christ in me and he is come to reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment of Judgment because the Prince of the Air is judged who rules in the Children of this World and they cannot bear the righteous Judgment of Christ but kick against it and call him Devil and so they kick against the Prick which will the more torment them And this is the Spirit of Truth which came into the World which the World cannot receive because he testifies of it that the Deeds thereof are evil and this is the Condemnation of the World Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are evil and every one that doth Evil hateth the Light and will not come into the Light least it should reprove them yet they will say Christ is meek Love and lowly It is so but not to Ungodliness but he is meek to the meek and lowly to the lowly and Love to the Seed of God and his Saints are meek and lowly and bear all both Scandals Reproaches Persecutions and Imprisonments but to the Seed of the Serpent Christ is Judgment and Wo and a Sword to that which is for the Sword and a Condemner to the Wicked and our God is a consuming Fire and terrible to the Wicked to consume the Proud and Haughty in their Imaginations and here Christ is a Lyon and he is a Lamb he is a Condemner and he is a Saviour he that can receive him let him the Hungry Thirsty he feeds with living Food but the Fat he feeds with Judgment and that which would not bear his Judgment must never know his Peace but is for Judgment and cryes out as the Devil did who said he was come to torment them before the time but the Teachers of the World have deceived the People long crying Peace to them because they put into their Mouths and healing them up in their Sin with a feigned formed Faith which works no Reformation so sewing Pillows under their Arme-holes and here the Devil hath reigned in Peace and now Christ is come with the Sword to break his Peace with Plague and Judgment and now he rages and stands up for his Life in all both Priest and People and now the Beast makes War with the Lamb but it is hard for him to kick against the Prick for he must be bound and cast into the Pit and there be tormented quick and the false Prophet and all who bear his Image We are accused to deny the Church I answer The true Church which is in God we own and witness through Death but the Worlds Church we deny for the true Church is the Body of Christ made of tryed Stones elect and precious washed and cleansed by his Blood and Spirit that he might present it a glorious Church not having Spot or Wrinkle but this is not a House of Lime and dead Stones nor the People that meet in it for all manner of Unrighteous Persons meet there which is the Synagogue of Satan and a Cage of unclean Birds and like People like Priest but who comes to be elected into the Church of Christ which is spiritual denies the World's Church which is carnal and the World's Teacher who is carnal selling the carnal for carnal Money and Earth for Christ himself is the Teacher of his Church who feeds it with living eternal Food freely and it needs no other Teacher and this Church we own and witness but all other Churches we deny for the Church is but one and the Temple of God we own which is at new Jerusalem the City of the living God but all other Idols Temples we deny which is the Invention and Imaginations of Man and though God commanded Solomon to build him a Temple nevertheless God that made the World dwels not in Temples made with Hands and when Christ the Substance came he prophesied against it and also Stephen was stoned to Death when he prophesied against it and this we witness whose Bodies are the Temples of the Holy Ghost who are now stoned and persecuted by such as know not the living God but worship Idols because we speak against their Idols Temple which God never commanded to be built but was set up by the imagining Idolizing Papists and upheld by the blind Protestant so called and so they cast out the Papists and uphold their Idols and so the Inchanters Diviners and Sorcerers of England lead silly People in Blindness to worship Idols telling them they are the Houses and Temples of
God which is a meeer Delusion We are accused to deny the Sabbath The Sabbath of the Saints we own which is not for a Day but Everlasting and who dwells in Christ witnesseth this Sabbath which is the Substance and the Shadow without is vanished for saith Paul let no man condemn you in respect of Meats and Drinks or of an Holy Day or of new Moons or of the Sabbath-Dayes which are but Shadows of things to come And so the World hath the Shadow and the Saints the Substance and you who have the Shadow persecute them who have the Substance as the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests did who had and upheld the Types and Figures of Christ and persecuted him who was the Substance so they that are alter the Flesh persecuted them that are aftor the Spirit But your Sabbath is a Shadow of Nothing for the Jews Sabbath in the time of the Law was upon the seventh Day which was the last Day of the Week but yours is the first Day of the Week for which you have no Scripture and they were not to do their own Wayes nor their own Pleasure nor speak their own Words upon the Sabbath Day and here you transgress in the Figure and walk in your own Wayes and speak your own Words and do your own Pleasures both of that Day and every Day We are accused that we justifie our selves and condemn all others I answer When we were our selves without the Spirit of God and had a Form and Profession of the Saints Condition which we did not possess we sought to justifie our selves in our Profession and earthly Wisdom and to exalt our selves and be something in the Eyes of others and here we were Pharisee and yet feigned Publicans saying we were sinfull but thought higher of our selves then others though we were in the same Nature and here our Justification was of our selves and not of Christ and here all you Pharisees and feigned Publicans both Priests and Professors who are in your earthly Wisdom feeding upon the Letter but as the Light of Christ arose in us all our earthly Wisdom wherein we were exalted became Foolishness and Self was judged and denyed and all that which was of Self both Wisdom and Righteousness wherewith we covered over our filthy lustful unclean Hearts and so were as painted Sepulchres and here are all Professors at this Day who are feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge and are from under the Cross of Christ but all would not hide from the Light of God but as it arose it searched through all and lay'd open all and all our Covers became rotten and fell from us and so it will be with all Professors as the Light of Christ doth arise and the Book of Conscience is layd open for no Flesh must glory in his Presence But now we have nothing but what we have received of the Father through Death and Christ is made over unto us Wisdom Righteousness Sanctification and Redemption and though we glory we glory in the Lord for we have nothing in our selves to glory of and the Saints thought it no Presumption to call themselves the Sons of God and said they were of God and all the whole World lie in Wickedness and here the same Spirit would have accused them yet they were no Pharisees and Christ thought it no Robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the Pharisees he was judged a Blasphemer and as he is so are we say the Saints yet they were no Pharisees and so who are made the Sons of God it is no Self-justification to witness it forth neither those who are made free from Sin to witness it forth as the Apostles did and to witness forth the Life and Power of Truth and deny them that have gotten the Form Notion or Profession And here Christ is the Witness and the Justification for the Way is but one and the Truth is but one and they who dwell in the Truth witness one with another for the Light of God owns its own wheresoever it is for God cannot deny himself but they that are not with us are against us and out of the Truth in the State of Condemnation for all who are out of the Truth are under the Curse in the Fall and this Truth we witness by the Spirit of the living God through Death the same Truth as ever was and there is that in every Conscience shall bear us Witness yea in the Heathen and condemn them that hate it Jer. 3. 19 20. We are accused to be one with the Ranters I answer it is false for we abhor their Principles in our Hearts and deny any Liberty to the Flesh or any light or loose or vain Conversation which they live in or any thing which is impure or unclean for our Principles are pure and clean and are at Enmity with any thing that is impure or unclean for Purity and Impurity cannot agree together and it is our desire to keep our selâ—es unspotted of the World for that which is unclean defiles and from that we are seperated who are the Sons and Daughters of the living God But some of them have tasted of the Love of God and Grace of God and have had Appearances of God but by hearkning to the Voyce of the Serpent and giving way to the Lust have turned with the Dog to the Vomit and the Grace of God into Wantenness casting his pure Law behind their Backs and walking despightfully against the Spirit of Grace and have crucified afresh the Lord of Life and put him to open Shame therefore hath the Lord given them up to their own Hearts-Lusts and vile Affections and their Consciences are seared as with an hot Iron for it is written It is impossible that those who were once enlightned and have tasted of the heavenly Gift and were made Partakers of the Holy Ghost and have tasted of the good Word of God and the Powers of the World to come if they shall fall away to renew them again to Repentance but they have deceived many with their alluring Speeches and have caused the Truth of God to be evil spoaken of by their pernicious lascivious wayes but Wo Wo be to them for double shall be their Reward But God is our Witness we deny and abhor all things which are filthy or unclean and though all the World condemn it is without For there is no Condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus who walk not aefter the Flesh but after the Spirit And it is my tender desire towards all tender Consciences that they may take heed of giving any Liberty to the Flesh lest they loose the Tenderness of Conscience and harden it by Lust and Uncleanness for nothing but Purity will the Lord receive for he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity We are accused that the Ground of our Religion is Popery The
vanishes away pulling down one Judgment and setting up another pulling down one Form and setting up another and thus are building Babel and so are confounded with this Confusion by him who confounds the Wisdom of the Wise and brings to nought the Counsel of the Prudent And so I seeing many poor Creatures in this Distraction tossed about with every Wind of Doctrine and sucking at the Husk for Life and so get into the Comprehension a great deal of light airy notional Knowledge which is all but aâ— Chaff which the Wind will scatter in the Day of the Lord and so it will stand in no stead when the Lord comes to plead with all flesh for nothing will stand in the Day of Tryal but what comes through Death thus I see many a poor Creature lost and tossed in this wide Wilderness even this dark World being Carried Captive by the Prince of the Air not knowing the true Light to be its Guide into the Way of Truth which is the Way of Life and Peace Now in the Light which was before the World was I do comprehend the World and the Ground and End of all Forms Sects and Opinions And so for some Simple Ones Sakes and the Tender-hearted have I here laid them Open and withall directing the Mind how and where to find the true Light by which these Things are seen and read and understood and as it is loved and followed the Mind will be brought into the Life and Power out of these fading empty Shadows unto the Possession of the Substance even the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands the End of all Forms Shadows and Imaginations and thus doth the Stone which the Builders rejected become the Head of the Corner and thus the Creature is turned from the Power of Satan unto God J. P. THE WATCHER Striking at the Feet of the IMAGE c. IN the Dayes of old the Holy Men of God who were indued with the Spirit of God did as they were acted and guided moved and commanded by the Power and Spirit of God which dwelt in them and here was their RULE And also the Serpent as an Angel of Light he acted and worked in his Instruments by the Power of Darkness in Opposition to the Spirit of God the Enmity being placed betwixt the two Seeds and the more gloriously the true Light appear'd in any Age Satan also reform'd himself and appear'd accordingly in the Shape and Form and Likeness thereof as it is now to this Day but his was alwaies but the Form and Likeness of the thing but not the Thing it self His is the false Light the other the true Light and so the true Light all along discover'd him and made him manifest to those in whom it ruled But thus by his Subtilty and Deceit he hath ever deceived the World and blinded the World so that he might keep his Kingdom who is the God of the World as for Example Moses a Servant and Messenger of the most high God to whom God had revealed and made known himself when he and Aaron were sent unto Pharaoh to require him to let Israel ge free for a Sign unto him they cast down their Rod and it became a Serpent and the Magicians of Egypt they were brought and by their Sorceries and Inchantments they cast down their Rods and they became Serpents and thereby Pharaoh's Heart was hardned and they would not obey nor believe And thus the Devil imitated and opposed the Truth but Aaron's Rods swallowed up their Rods so that it was manifest that He that was with them was Greater then he that was in the World And also when Israel had sin'd against God and done that which is Evil in the Sight of God the Lord God sent forth his Prophets and Messengers to declare the Word of the Lord amongst them against Sin and Evil Pride Deceit and Oppression and all Ungodliness Iniquities Disobedience and Rebellion and they had Visions and Revelations and the Word of God dwelt in them by which they were led guided and acted And Satan he also wrought in his Instruments with a Spirit of Delusion and he sent forth his Prophets with their Visions lying Divinations and false Dream and they cried Peace where the true Prophets cried Wo and the People hearkned unto them and set them up and the Prophets prophesied falsly and the Priests bore Rule by their meanes and the People loved to have it so But What will you do in the End thereof saith the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Jeremiah who declared against it freely and said It was an horrible filthy Thing and he was persecuted And the true Prophets who dwelt in the Light and in the Power of God they saw them to be such as run and the Lord never sent them and therefore they profited not the People at all and they stole the Word from their Neighbour and they spoak a Divination of their own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord and say the Lord said when he never spoak to them and they were light and vain and daub'd the People up with untempered Morter and sewed Pillows under their Arm-holes and healed the People slightly crying Peace Peace where there was no Peace but they turnd them not from their Evil Wayes nor from their Evil-doings and the Lord was against them And the true Prophets of God who dwelt in the Light they saw them and plainly freely declar'd against them then whether they would hear or forbear and told them They built up Sion with Blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity and the Heads judged for Rewards and the Priests preach'd for Hire and the Prophets divined for Money and yet said the Prophet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us as that none Evil can come upon us And they saw them to be such as sought for the Fleeces and regardeâ—â— ot the Flock but fed with the Fat and cloathed with the Wool and made a Prey upon the Sheep but the Prophets of the Lord did not spare them but freely and publickly declared against them and they were persecuted and imprison'd and destroyed by those who upheld sided with the false Prophets Priests Hirelings and Deceivers And they had then a Way of Worship unto God with their New Moons with their Sabbaths with their calling of Assemblies and Prayers and Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings which were once prescribed by God unto Israel but when their Hearts were gone from him so that they walked not uâ—rightly before the Lord then said he Who hath 〈◊〉 these things at your hands to tread my Couâ—◠〈…〉 were vain 〈◊〉 Iâ—cense is an 〈…〉 the NewMoâ—ns and Sabbaths 〈…〉 I cannot away with It is Iniquity even the 〈…〉 and your appâ—inâ—◠〈…〉 spread forth your Haâ—â—s I wiâ—◠〈…〉 Eyes wheâ— you make many Prayers I will not hearken your Hand are full of Blood wish you
make you clean ecase to do Evil learn to do Well seek Judgement relieve the Oppressed judge the Fatherless plead for the Widdow Isa. â—â— and saith the Lord Is it such a Fast that I have chosen a Day for a man to afflict his Soul to hang down the Hâ—ad like a Bâ—lrâ—sh and to spread Sackcloth and â—shes under him wilt thou call this a Fast and an acceptable Day to the Lord is not this the Fast which I have chosen to break the Bands of Wickedâ—ess to 〈◊〉 the heavy Burdens and to let the Oppresse◠〈…〉 that you break every Yoak Is it not to deal thy Bread to the Hungry and that thou bring the Poor that are cast out to thy House when thou seest the Naked that thou cover him and that thou hide not thy self from thine own Flesh Isa. 8. 5 6 7. but this they did not do therefore said the Lord these People draw near me with their Mouths and honour me with their Lips but their Hearts are far from me and thus the Devil deceived them and blinded their Eyes in that Age with a Profession and Form of Worship but their Hearts he kept to himself and this the Prophets saw in the â—ight and testified and declared against it and left it behind them upon record and when the time came that Christ was born the Pharisees and Scribes and chief Priests had the Letter the Writings of Moses and the Prophets and they could tell by them where Christ should be born and when Herod had assembled them together he demanded of them where Christ should be born they said in Bethlehem of Judah for thus it is written by the Prophets c. so the Priests and Pharisees then were the Keepers of the Letter and they had the Types and the Shadows and Figures of Christ the Substance and there they had a Life and thought in them to find Eternal Life but would not come unto Christ that they might have Life but despised him and would not believe on him because he came not in the Wisdom nor in the Pomp nor Glory of the World but testified against it and they were gotten up into Moses's Chair but not into Moses's Life for they tythed Mâ—nt and Anis and Cumin but omitted the weightier things of the Law Judgment Mercy and Faith which they ought to have done and not to have left the other undone for that was a time when Tythes were due for the Aaronical and Levitical Priesthood to which Tythes did belong was not yet changed until Christ was offered up and they were fair-sayers who said and did not and the Hypocrites who were hopt above the Light and so were the Blind Leaders of the blind with their fair sayings and therefore said Christ beware of the Leaven of the Pharisees and they turned People from the Light and denyed the Light and so shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against men and would neither enter in themselves nor suffer others that would but had gotten a Wisdom and Righteousness of their own which blinded their Eyes and covered their Sins so that they could not see their Sins nor him that was the Way the Truth and the Life therefore did he pronounce so many Woes against them and called them whited Walls and painted Sephulchres who washed the outside but were the Generation of Vipers and Serpents within and thus Christ who was the Light searched them and judged them who appeared fair on the Outside but within full of Uncleanness but they could not hide themselves from the Light therefore they joyned against it the Saducees the Pharisees chief Priests and Scribes and the Herodians and Pilate and Herod and the rude Multitude all joyned together against the Life and they consulted against him and took Counsel against him how they might destroy him and the Pharisees came to tempt him and in snare him with Questions that they might get some what against him to bring him under their Law but he fore-saw their deceitful Hearts their Plots and confounded their Intentions and brought to nought their Counsel then they said If we let this man alone all men will go after him and so they sought false Witnesses and took Counsel against him and crucified him and let Barrabas go free and thus the Devil blinded their Eyes in that Age with a strickt Profession and their own Righteousness and Wisdom so that they could not see the Light and the Life but persecuted it and sought the Living in the dead Letter but if they had known him they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory yet they were wise in their own Eyes and despised those that followed him and said none of the Rulers believed on him but an ignorant People that knew not the Law that were accursed because they were the Publicans and Sinners and they themselves were the greatest Sinners but they healed themselves up with their own Wisdom and Righteousness and therefore said Christ they that are whole need no Physician but they that are sick therefore he said Publicans and Harlots should enter the Kingdom before them but the Blind the Deaf the Lame the Dumb and the Leopardies came unto him and believed on him and were healed and the poor received the Gospel but the Priests and Professors or the Pharisees and Scribes and Elders and Rulers could not believe on him that he was the Messias but looked for another and these were the most zealous in their Profession and builded the Tombs of the Prophets and garnished the Sepulchres of thâ— Righteous and said If they had been in the Day â— their Fathers they would not have been Partakers wiâ— them in the Blood of the Prophets and yet those were the chief Persecutors of Christ the Substance of those things which they upheld in the Law and the Prophets therefore they were Witnesses against themselves and filled up the Measure of their Fathers Wrath and those professed Abraham and said Abraham was their Father and yet denyed Christ whom Abraham foretold of but Christ told them they were of their Father the Devil and his Works they did and would do and thus he judged them for all their Zeal and Profession and said how could they escape the Damnation of Hell Then after he was sacrificed up he appeared unto his Apostles and sent them to preach the Gospel to every Creature and here they did not run because the Prophets run nor take up a Command without them in the Prophets Writings to do a thing because the Prophets were commanded to do it but they were also acted and guided by the same Spirit and Word of Truth which dwelt in them which Christ before he was offered up had promised that he would send the Comforter even the Spirit of Truth which the World could not receive which should lead them into all Truth and should reprove the World of Sin of Righteousness and of Judgment and then after they had
defrauding one another of the Earth which is none of your own and you are Persecutors and Stoners and Strikers of the Innocent Children and Servants and Messengers of God and what Sin is there among those whom you account Heathen that is not amongst you and doth abound yea those whom you account Heathen may condemn you in much of their Practice Oh! be ashamed blush you Priests Teachers of England to see your Ministry the Fruits of your Ministry so laid open before you and thus you are those who come near the Lord with your Lips Mouthes but your Hearts are far from him in the Earth or else you would walk more uprightly But saith the Lord In vain do you worship me teaching for Doctrine the Commmandments of Men but I know some Pharisees and Priests will be ready to say We are not Drunkards nor Swearers nor such like but I say unto you You are Hypocrites and your Hearts are full of Deceit Envy Wrath and Bitterness Covetousness Pride and Earthly-Mindedness and self-Love and self-Wisdom and Persecutors and the greatest Oppressors of the Truth and Publicans and Harlots shall enter the Kingdom before you Jesus Christ the Light marked out your Fore-Fathers and found them to be such though they were more strict and zealous then this Generation and by the same Light you are soâ—nd in their Steps and those Things both Christ and his Apostles judged to be without and condemned them out of the New Covenant for there no unrighteous Person can dwell and there all Wars are ended and the Swords beat into pruning Hâ—oks and Guns into Plow-shares and there is no Oppression nor self exalting but he that would be the greatest must be the least and in Righteousness are they established and they are far from Oppression and the Lord alone is their Teacher and there is no need of an outward Law For to them there is no Condemnation who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and there is no Respect of Persons but all Members of one Body of which Christ is Head serving one another in Love and here is the New Covenant and the Children of the New Covenant who are washed and made clean by the Blood of the New Covenant but you are Aliens and Strangers from this Covenant who are in your Notions and Professions therefore all you ignorant People who are led by these deceitful Priests and Pharisees and disdâ—in to be wiser then your Fore Fathers now see who are your Fore-Fathers and the Original of your Priests and who is your Example for you are out of the Life and Practice of the Apostles and the Children of Light and by their Life are judged and condemned for they were mortified to that Life which you live in neither did the Ministers of the Gospel Baptize Infants with Water neither did they Teach for Hire or stand up in the chiefest Place in the Assembly neither were they called of Men Master neither had they the long Gowns neither did they Respect any Place more then another to teach or preach in except for Conveniency for they taught in dwelling-Houses and by the River sides or in any open Place neither did they give to the World David's Conditions to be sung in â— Meter neither did they give to natural Men and Women Bread and Wine which you call a SACRAMENT neither did they use to Church Women as you call it and take Money for it neither did they take a Text of other Mens Words and speak from it a Divination of their own Brain neither did they study what or how to preach but spoak as they were moved by the holy Ghost neither did they teach People The Letter was the Word or That the Letter was the Light but they bore witness of God to be the Word and â—hrist to be the Light neither did they teach People That they could never be free from Siâ— while they wâ—re upon the Earth but they preached Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who came to take away the Sins of the World and to redeem his People from their Sin and to set them in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God that he might redeem unto himself a pure Church not having Spot or Wrincle or any such Thing neither did they teach People That a House of Liâ—e and Stone was the Church or the House of God neither were they set up or upheld by a Law of Man or came by the Will of Man or stood in the VVill of Man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ and from him they received their Message and Command neither were they brought up in Human Learning at an University as it is called to learn Arts and Sciences and take Degrees from Sir to Batchellor and from Batchellor to Master of Arts from Master to Batchellor of Divinity from Batchellor of Divinity to Doctor of Divinity and had so many several Gowns but the Pharisees loved these Things but the Ministers of Christ were not such but most of them were ignorant and unlearned in that Wisdom and Learning but unto them it was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom but it was hid from the World and the wise Ones thereof and now the wise Ones of the World say That is the Means ordained of God to come to the Knowledge of the Truth and that is the Original to wit human Learning and deny all Revelation or immediate Inspiration and say it is ceased for all which they have no Scripture Proof for the Apostles never taught this Doctrine nor prescribed this Way therefore your Teachers are such as bring another Doctrine and climb up another Way who are not to be received but shut out for Thieves and Robbers who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men and will neither enter in themselves nor suffer others that would and the Ministers of the Gospel never preach'd up Hebrew and Greek to be the Original but they preached the Word to be the Original neither took Tythes nor ever had a set Maintenance or so much a Year namely forty fifty or sixty or a hundred or two hundred Pounds a Year more or less to abide in one Place neither sued any at the Law for any such Thing but all their Care was to make the Gospel free and without Charge neither did they take of those that did not own them as denyed them but shoke off the Dust of their Feet and so left them neither had they an Hour-Glass to limit themselves by or had a Clark to say Amen But your Priests will tell you Now the Gospel is published and the Churches are gathered and planted Oh! with Shame might they speak it what Churches have they gathered here I have before laid down their Church the Ground thereof the Gathering thereof and the Planting thereof and what they are and also the Gathering of the Apostles Church and the Planting thereof so that here
you may see the Difference betwixt the one and the other the one a Form and Tradition and Profession the other the Life and Power and Substance and here also you may see what England's Church which England's Priests have planted now differs from the Heathen and now set Drunkards aside set Swearers aside set Lyars aside set Proud Ones aside set Covetous Ones aside set Railers aside set Murderers aside and Whoremongers aside ses Wild Ones Prophane Ones and Wanton ones aside set Quarrellers and Fighters aside and Hypocrites Dissemblers and Persecutors aside and Back-biters Extortioners and Lustful ones and such like aside and then see where England's Church is which your Priests have made you believe they have planted and let them eat no where but of their own Vineyard and it will make them go about to plant a better Vineyard or else to cast off their long Gowns and fall to dig with a Spade for some of them have sometimes brought that Place of Scripture to uphold their forty or fifty or an hundred or two hundred by the Year where the Apostle saith Who planteth a Vineyard â—nd eateth not of the Fruit thereof Now according to this the Vineyard must be planted first before they can eat of the Fruit thereof and set those aside that I mentioned as aforesaid for the Apostles cast out such Weeds and wild Plants out of their Vineyard and then see where their Vineyard is which they have planted and let them only eat of the Fruit thereof and not rob others Vineyards and this is but Equity according to Scriptures Example but they are such Greedy Dogs as the Prophet Isaiah declared against in his Time and such ravening Wolves Foxes as they live all upon the Spoil the Fruits of others Labours and those that hunt them out of their Vineyards and Barns Flocks and Heards then they have a Law even to devour them and their whole Estates and this is far from Gospel-Ministers nay Jesus Christ the Light saw their Fore-fathers and marked them out to be the Ravening Wolves in Sheeps Cloathing as these do now appear to any but those that love to have it so for so long as you put into their Mouthes they cry Peace Peace and speak you fair and call you Christians and Beloved but put not into their Mouthes then they even prepare War then they have Law for you to take treble Dammage from you and so fulfil the Apostles Words Oh what a horrible filthy Thing is here committed in the Land Are not they plain Ravening Wolves that would devour both Body and Soul Now you People of England consider where you are and whom you follow and whither you are going and see now who are your fore-fathers and see now how you have walked by Tradition and Form and have been blinded by a vain Profession and outside-Worship and so have taken Anti christ for Christ and the Ministers of Anti-christ for the Ministers of Christ and have pâ—â— Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness and your Fear towards God hath been taught by the Precepts of Men and they have taught for Doctrine the Traditions of Men as I have before proved how many things they have led you in by Tradition without any Scripture-Proofs though to you they have been Oracles of God but now they are searched by the Light they are made manifest to be vain Heathenish Traditions and thus the blind have led the blind along many of them into the Ditch but yet I say not but the Lord hath had his People in all Ages those who were zealous and faithful and true-in what they knew but I know the Priests have been long utter Enemies to God and his Truth and the Tares have long covered the Wheat and in the time of Ignorance God wink'd but now the Light shines out of Darkness and now is the Separation and gathering the Sheep from the Goats the Wheat from the Tares and to convince the World of Sin and of Righteousness and of Judgment because the Prince of the Air is judged and now the Lord doth require all every where to repent and they that love the Light will bring their Deeds to the Light that the Light may prove them whether they be wrought in God and it is not to say You will follow your Fore-fathers and go on the old Way for such are they that hate the Light and despise it and love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil and so having drunk old Wine do not straightway desire new for they say the old is better and those are they that cry up the old Way and cry away with new Wayes and new Lights And this is the Condemnation of the World Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil Light is new to them who have alwayes been in Darkness and Truth is new to them who have alwayes lived in Deceit but the Light is the same as ever it was for it is unchangeable and the Truth is the same So People take heed of Obstinacy and wilful Blindness and love not to be deceived for now the Light plainly and clearly shines and here your old Way is plainly laid open what it is and from whence it is and also your Priests and though they be more refined within these late Years then they were before it is because the Light is more broaken forth within these late Years so that many are come to see their Deceit and declare against them and now they are but the more subtiler and closer Deceivers Satan transformed into another Shape more like the Light but still they have not parted with their great Benefices and Augmentations or Tythes nor the chiefest Place of the Assembly nor their long Gowns though they are almost ashamed of their Colour nor to be called of Men Master nor from seeking their Gain from their Quarter nor from making a Trade of other Mens Words nor from their lying Divinations and saying The Lord saith when he never spoak to them nor from stealing the Word into their Mouth and saying Hear the Word of the Lord when they never heard his Voice neither turn the Wicked Ones from their Wickedness nor the Proud Ones from their Pride nor the Ungodly from their Ungodliness nor the Prophane from their Prophaneness but are still prophane themselves and still proud and covetous and still shelter themselves under the Powers of the Earth as their fore-fathers the false Prophets alwayes did and still run when the Lord never sends them but ordained and set up and upheld by the Will of Man therefore they profit not the People at all but only have gotten a higher Notion to feed the Notionists withal and so make more Pharisees Hypocrites and Whited Walls and they are more whited over themselves to deceive the World but the pure Light is so broaken forth that they cannot hide themselves and many see the
Deceit of the Priests and their Folly is a manifesting even to all so that none need to be deceived by them but the wilful obstinate and blind who love to have it so who love Darkness rather then Light which is their Condemnation the Light which reproves them for their Evil Deeds and therefore they hate it for every one that doth Evil hates the Light and this is his Condemnation and no Ignorance here is to be pleaded and these are they that uphold the Priests and the Pharisees but all who have Desires to see may see And now here are the Priests or the Ministers so called of England laid open with the Church of England with their Form Profession and outside Worship with their Ground and Original and sandy Foundation and to be within differing from the Heathen but in Name and Form and Profession therefore down it must though the Powers of the Earth have long upheld them more then any other Sect so that they have continued so long as they do not a little boast of and thereby say They are of God but let the Magistrate look to his Office and let the Minister alone with his Office and then you shall see the professed Ministers of England to be the weakest of all Sects and Forms but Anti christ hath had his limited Time to reign over the Earth but now the King of Righteousness is risen with a Sword in his Hand and by his mighty Arm he will overturn overturn all until it come into his Hand whose own it is and he will bind the Kings in Chains and the Nobles in Fetters of Iron and he will break the Powers of the Earth asunder and all who oppose him and the Beast and false Prophet shall be taken and all that receive his Mark and worship his Image into the Lake shall go small great and there to lye for evermore and this is the Stone which the Builders have rejected which now is become the Head of the Corner and whosoever falls upon it shall be broaken but on whomsoever it falls it will grind them to Powder and this is the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image And here is a Blow to the Foundation of the Priests Church of England Therefore now all People who are captivated under the Priests turn your Minds within to the Light of the Lord Jesus which reproves you in secret when you tell a Lye or use any Deceit which shews you your Evil Deeds and that your Hearts are not right towards God for all your Duties and Worship and Profession and that which calls for Uprightness of Heart and an holy Life and Change and Reformation and a Newness of Life hearken unto this it is the free Grace of God unto your Souls and teacheth freely and by this you will come to profit for it teacheth Godliness and Godliness is great Gain so that you will not need to spend your Money for that which is not Bread nor your Labour for that which profiteth not nor to be led Captive by your blind Guides ever learning and never come to the Knowledge of the Truth but still in Blindness and Darkness for you have a Teacher within which is a more sure Word of Prophecy to the which you do well to take heed unto as to a Light shining in a dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts this is the Measure of the Grace of God even the free Gift of God which God hath given you to profit withal which will accuse you or excuse you before the Throne of God to which I now leave you having dischargd my Conscience concerning you and so I proceed to the rest of Forms Now within these late Years the Light of Christ beginning to stir in Peoples Hearts so that many come to see themselves in much Darkness and Ignorance of these things which they read of in the Scripture and also the Corruption of the Priests and Teachers and what Reprobates they were concerning the Faith and that they profited not the People at all but they had heard them so long and still blind and ignorant so that many come to see their Folly yet their Minds not being directed to the Light which shewed them this and should have led them out of this Condition upon which they should have waited for Direction to have found the Way of Truth but they run without to the Letter in their own Wills and Wisdom and so would find out a Way by their own Wisdom Imagination and so went out to search the Scripture but with a wrong Eye giving their own Meanings and Interpretations upon the Scripture and one cries This is my opinion and another cryes This is my Opinion and another cryes This is my Judgment and thus they are confounded and divided into their several Judgments and Opinions yet all still in one Life and one Nature but only conâ—ounded and divided in their Judgments of what the Prophets meant and Christ meant and what the Apostles meant but it is as a Book sealed both to the learned and unlearned and none is found worthy but the Lamb to open the Seals who is the Light wherein lyes the Ministry so this is the Cause why they whose Minds are from the Light are so divided and scattered in their Judgments and Opinions and one sets up a Form in his Imagination and another sets up a Form in his Imagination and one runs abroad into the World with his Wisdom and he will go preach up his Form and Judgment to be the Truth and another he will cry down that Form for Delusion and preach up his Form for a Truth and so many Deceivers and false Spirits are entered into the World and one cries Lo here is Christ if you can believe and be baptized you shall be saved So they that can say that is the Way and that they believe Christ dyed for them then they must be dipped in the Water and that they call baptizing of them and then they are of their Church and then they call themselves Saints though they are still in the old Nature and so in the Fall and in their Sins and Corruptions and it is not the washing away the Filth of the Flesh that doth change them but because they are come out from the Priests and turned into another Judgment and Profession they think themselves Saints and they read the Scripture of laying on the Apostles Hands and then the Disciples received the Holy Ghost and so those Formalists and self-Actors lay on their Hands but there wants the Holy Ghost and thus they act and form and imitate and make the Form or Likeness of a Church and they read of washing the Feet in the Figure and so they dote upon the Letter and wash one anothers Feet and they read of delivering up to Satan one for Fornication for the Destruction of
would do the Works of Abraham and he also said If God were your Father then would you love me for I proceeded forth and came from him but saith he ye are of your Father the Devil and his Works you do and will do And thus are the Pharisaical Professors of these Times marked out to be in the Steps of their Fore-fathers for this is the same Christ that suffered at Jerusalem but they are blind and cannot see neither indeed do believe the Scripture nor walk according to it but are in the old and broad Way of the World wherein their Fore-fathers walked and led many to Destruction but if these did believe the Scripture they would believe on this Light which is come into the World which the Scripture bears Testimony of even the Spirit of Truth which the World cannot receive and some of them scoff and scorn and revile reproach and slander and rail at the Messengers of Truth and some strike them and stone them and buffet them and stock them and whip them and imprison them and despightfully use them yet they are made able through the Power of him that hath sent them for to go on in Boldness but those Persecutors are not found worthy Therefore the Lord will send forth his Armies and destroy these Murderers and burn up their City and these are they that have professed to be his near Kindred Friends and Acquaintance but now are found Strangers who prophesied in his Name and in his Name done many woundrous Works and yet they must depart for Workers of Iniquity he knows them not Now read your selves you Wicked Ones you Murderers you Rude Multitude you Priests you Pharisees and Professors you Formalists Self-Actors and Imitators for now all joyn Hand in Hand and Gog and Magog joyn in Battel against the Lamb and Pilate and Herod are made Friends and you chief Priests and Pharisees who are the Professors of these Times and you Rulers and you rude and brutish ones and you Formalists and Sectaries now at the coming of Christ in the Spirit even the Substance of what you have long talked of all joyned together in one who formerly have been at great Division Wars among your selves but now you are made Friends and muster up all your Strength against the Substance even Jesus Christ whom you as your Fore-fathers did call a Blasphemer a Seducer a Deceiver and a Devil and now the rude Multitude they stand up for their Priests and they fall upon the Messengers of Christ when they come into their Synagogues and they hale them out of their Synagogues and strike them and buffeâ— them and despightfully use them and stone them as their Fore-fathers ever did and the Priests they seek to Rulers and Magistrates and hale them before them and they persecute them and imprison them as their Fore-fathers ever did and the Pharisees and ancient hypocritical rotten Professors they side with the Priests and go about railing and evil speaking of the Truth learning and incensing Peoples Minds against it with their Lyes and Slanders and Reproaches to present it odious to all People and also fawning and crouching and seeking to Magistrates to act in their Wills and persecute as their Fore-Fathers alwayes did against the same Seed and likewise the Formalists and Sectaries do the same and thus they that were after the Flesh alwayes persecuted them that were after the Spirit and yet these are ready to cry out What Hard-hearted Jews wâ—re those that crucified Christ and persecuted his Apostles and if they had been in those dayes they would not have been Partakers with them in the Blood of Christ and his Apostles Whenas they are now found the same Generation of Persecutors persecuting the Righteous Seed and so they fill up the Measure of their Fathers Wrath that upon them might come all the Righteous Blood-shed from Righteous Abel until now And now the Priests and the Baptists can agree and they joyn together and the Priests call them Honest Men and the Baptists call them Gentlemen of Divinity And the Baptists and Independents they joyn together and the Independents and the Presbyterians they joyn together all against the Life and Power which the Lord hath now manifested in his Sons and Daughters and hath sent them to declare and lay open their Hypocrisie and Deceit which they have long covered with a Gospel-like Profession but now all their Coverings are found too Narrow before the Light which is come now into the World to convince and reprove them of their Sin of their Righteousness and of their Judgment and therefore now they have enough to do to joyn together with all their Strength and Wisdom to put out this Light and so they endeavour to sow their Tares in Peoples Hearts and all the Wayes they can invent to destroy the Work which now is begun and as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do they withstand the Truth according to the Prophesie of the Apostle Being men of Corrupt Minds and Reprobates concerning the Faith which I have much experienced in several Meetings which I have had with the Teachers of the Baptized People which shall follow in order afterward But the more they strive in their Wills and Wisdoms the more doth the Work of the Lord Prosper and go on and flourish by his Mighty Power and Out-stretched Arm and their Shame and Folly and Down-fal the more appears and when they have done all they can they shall be glad to lay down their Cronws and bow unto this Truth which they now so oppose and every Tongue shall confess it though to their Condemnation who do now oppose and gain-say it Wo unto such they shall perish in the Gain-saying of Core And the Time shall come that when the Master of the House shall have shut the Door they shall knock and shall strive to enter and shall not be able all who now oppose and reject the Counsel of the Lord and will not hearken now they are called And thus the LORD will exalt his SON in his Saints when his ENEMIES shall be his Foot-stool and be made to bow before him And thus do all Sects Judgments and Opinions joyn in one against the Life and Substance they being all sprung from one Root so make up all one Image whose Head is Gold Breast of Silver whose Thighs are Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet Part of Iron and Part of Clay and the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image Now the Head of the Image which is of Gold and those that have had a Light shining into them and have had a Sight of many things and have seen the Emptiness of many Forms and have gotten the Thing in their Comprehension and have a Notion above others of much of that which is now witnessed and possest in Life by the Faithful and there have been exalted and gotten up a Life therein and a False Rest but have lost
their Minds in Writing if they intended such a Thing So then one Hind a Tanner in Cambridge sent me this Note as followeth which Joseph Doughty had sent unto him The NOTE Brother Hind AS touching a Discourse with James Parnel I shall be willing to do God and Men Service in it to my Power given to me First Provided that it be somewhat publick the Questions in Controversie may be stated in Writing II. That the Questions may be such as may be Resolved and Answered according to Scripture III. That the Questions agreed upon may be delivered into the Disputants Hands Three Dayes before the Day of Dispute IV. That to avoid Confusion in Multitude of Words a short Form of Argument shall be used on both Parts V. That some shall be chosen on both Sides to see Order on both Sides observed in Discourse and competent Judges also appointed VI. That Censorious Rash Terms of Judging shall not be used VII That the Disputants shall declare before the People their Intent in Dispute April this 17th 1655. John Doughty My Reply to this was as followeth as not being willing to come under their Snares Reply THis is not to me but betwixt Brother and Brother so if you two Brothers are agreed concerning this your Intent towards me let me know your Mind in Writing now while I am in the Town for while I was abroad there was a Voice of such a thing as from you but to me you did not declare your Minds neither in Word nor Writing therefore now I am in the Town let me know your Minds in Writing that there may be no Boasting nor Daring in Secret for Truth is bold and seeks no Covers This from me to you I send and do require your Answer who am called James Parnel This was writ on the Back-side of their Note and sent back to Hind who forth with flew into a great Rage against the Messenger in the Street and said That I â—yed in saying That the Note was not to me which any one who can read may plainly see it so and him to be the Lyar for the Lake and his seeming Religion to be Vain who is still in old Cain's Nature in Wrath and Bitterness without a Bridle to the Tongue Then the next Morning I received this from them as followeth JAmes Parnel This is to thee my Intent towards thee is this If thou art minded to dispute with me appoint Time and Place publick and if the Lord will I will dispute with thee And so on with his Proviso's as aforesaid Then my Reply was as followeth TO thee Joseph Doughty I do reply That thou must understand the Occasion of the Dispute to be sprung from thee or thy Party as I did declare on the Back-side of thy other Paper so if thou or any of you that made your Boasts or Darings behind my Back or have any thing against me or the Truth which I bear Testimony unto or the Way which I walk in I am ready now at all times through the Power of God to stand up for and defend the same against thee or any other who shall Object against Oppose or Gain-say it be it in the Towns Hall or as publick as you will And what I have at any time declared against you People or your Profession I shall be ready to maintain justifie by such Weapons as I have which are not Carnal but Spiritual and here is Time and Place from me declared But to the End of all Disputes and Arguments I am come for before they were I am and in the Light do them comprehend and judge to be out oâ— the Light in Babylon and the Disputer and Arguer of 〈◊〉 World But still I say Against such I stand a Witness for the Truth which I have received of God and by his Power am carried abroad to declare and preach abroad to the directing and turning People's Minds to the true Light of the Lord Jesus and there to come into the Love and Unity where live the Children of Light the End of all Disputes and Arguments and this I am ready to Defend and Seal with my Blood But I say My Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual And as for these Provisoes of thine they are rather for me to lay upon thee according to Equity for I am the Defender But these things of thee I do not require neither Three Dayes before-hand but am ready at any time to stand to what I have here declared And as for Confusion in Multitude of Words which is thy fourth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part and if thou canst tax me thou mayest And as for Order in the Discourse for which thou wouldst have some chosen which is thy fifth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part for my God is a God of Order and if thou canst tax me thou may'st and let that stand against me But if there be Men of Power to keep the People of the World in Order I am not against it And as for Competent Judges which thou wouldst have appointed Reply Is the Scripture thy Rule and not thy Judge but thou must flee from that to the Judgment of Man which is changeable or else how come Disputes and Controversies But to that Judgment I shall not stand the Spiritual Man shall be the Competent Judge and the Scripture shall witness And as for Censorious Rash Terms of Judging which is thy sixth Proviso Reply Look thou to that on thy Part and if my Judgment thou canst find contrary to Scripture thou may'st by Scripture disprove it But what is that that would not be judged And as for Declaring before the People the Intent and Purpose in Disputing which is thy seventh Proviso Reply If thou who are the Disputant amongst the People hast any thing to say unto the People thou may'st declare thy Mind according to the Freedom of thy Mind I shall not bind thee neither shall I by thee be bound but as the Lord puts into my Mouth I shall declare unto the People what is my Mind and Intent as his Spirit guideth me so that for that I take no Thought So here I have declared my Mind in Reply unto thy Writing where thou may'st understand my Mind if thou hast an Ear to hear and an Understanding open And if this doth not satisfie thee and the rest of you yet nevertheless cease your Boasting and Daring behind the Back for the time to come and let this Witness for me to any Honest Heart whether it be not Fair and Equal And so I rest in the Unchangeable James Parnel So it seems this pleased them and so it was concluded to be of the Twentieth Day called Fryday of the Second Moneth called April So when the Hour came which was appointed we were disappointed of the Meeting-Place which the Baptists had provided for they sent me word they had provided a Place but when we came to meet it could not be had and so we were
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
as one not worthy to live amongst them yea and they said He that killed me would do God Service But he that had called me out from amongst them unto himself that I might no longer follow the Vain Courses of the World nor set my Delight on things below but that I might serve him in Newness of â—ife that in me his Workmanship might appear to the Confounding â—â—f the Heathen who know him not He by his â—â—â—wer kept me and gave me Strength to bear his Cross and despise the Shame so that neither Foul Words nor Fair Words could cause me to Deny what God by his Grace had wrought in my Heart but by his Power he carried me above the Raging Waves of the tempestuous Sea so that I knew that he that was in me was greater then he that is in the World yea and out of my Kindred and Acquaintance I came and became a Stranger to them that lov'd not the Truth Yea and presently I came to see the Priests of the World by their Fruits and the Fruits of their Ministry which was cursed from God and therefore profited not the People at all But when the Lord by his Power had changed and converted my Heart unto himself the Priests became mine Enemies and said I was deluded whenas before when I lived in the vain Conversation of the World they took no Notice of me either to Reprove me or Instruct me but as they went on in a customary way for Gain and Lucre speaking against Sin in the general but not reproving it in particular but were as deep in it in their Lives as others and so what they preacht down with their Tongues they upheld in their Lives and countenanced in their Conversations and so from them I turned whom I saw had gotten a Form but deny'd the Life and Power and I sought for a People with whom I might have Union and there was a People with whom I found Union a few Miles from the Town where I lived whom the Lord was a gathering out of the dark VVorld to sit down together wait upon his Name but we were the Objects and Reproach of the Country and were accounted as the Off-scourings of the VVorld but in all this we saw the Scriptures fulfilled and that we might thus suffer if we would live Godly in Christ Jesus and here was our Confidence and Strength which carryed us above our Sufferings as knowing it was for the Name of Jesus And thus I continued a certain time counting it greater Riches to suffer Affliction with the People of God then to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season and about this time I was about Fifteen Years of Age. And afterwards I was called forth to visit some Friends in the North Part of England with whom I had Union in Spirit before I saw their Faces And afterwards I returned back to my outward Dwelling-Place and remained in my outward Calling And the Lord all this time still more more perfecting encreasing his Work in my Heart which by his Power he had begun in me and by his pure Power bringing forth his Truth in me and making known his Will unto me until by his Power He opened my Mouth to declare his Truth in the VVorld and still I continued in my outward Calling and also in the VVork of the Lord as not being called far from my Dwelling-Place And when I was betwixt Seventeen and Eighteen Years of Age I was moved in my Spirit to go to a Place about Fifteen Miles from my outward Dwelling-Place southward amongst a People to whom the Lord was making known his Truth not knowing when I went out of going farther then that Place but when I was there I was moved of the Lord to come on the Cambridge and in Obedience unto the Lord I came to see what he had to do for me not knowing one Foot of the Way but as I was directed neither knowing when I came there where to be receiv'd but had heard before of Two of my Friends that were there Whipped caused by the Mayor that then was only for declaring the Truth as they past through the Town against the Deceit thereof neither did I know but it might be my Portion also when I came there but without conferring with Flesh and Blood I passed on my Journey and he that called me forth went along with me and did direct me And when I came there I found those that were worthy that received me and also I found a Friend whom the Corrupt Rulers had put in Prison for the same Testimony which I also was sent to declare before I had continu'd there the space of Fourteen Nights William Pickering the Mayor of Cambridge committed me to Prison for publishing two Papers the one against the Corruption of the Magistrates and the other against the Corruption of the Priests at the time of their Commencement as they call it and there they kept me in Prison the space of two Sessions and tossed me from Prison to Dungeon and had nothing to lay against me whereby to prove the Breach of any Law but when I came to the last Sessions they called a Jury to prove the Papers to be Scandalous and Seditious Papers and they were nigh Two Hours about them but could not prove it but came and said That they found nothing but that the Papers were mine which I had before own'd in the open Court and there was my Name to them to testifie the same And so they were crossed in their Intentions and their Plots came to nought Then they committed me back to Prison again and after the space of Three Days they sent me away with a Pass under the Name of a Rogue yet durst not give me the Law which belongs to Rogues but had me away with Clubs and Staves and I could not see the Pass until I was Three Miles out of the Town where I lodged that Night and the next day there came a Justice of Peace from Cambridge who knowing me to be Innocent of what was laid to my Charge so he witnessed the Pass to be false and took it back to Cambridge and so I was set free And not long after I went of Cambridge again and went abroad preaching and declaring the Truth freely in the Countries about and many I found that received the Truth gladly but more Enemies yet nevertheless Truth spread conquer'd over its Enemies and there I continued labouring in the VVork of the Lord about the Space of half a Year in the Countries about Cambridge and from thence I was moved of the Lord to come into Essex where I heard of a People that was seâ—king the Lord and when I came there I found those that were worthy who received the Truth gladly and there I continued freely declaring and preaching the Truth from Place to Place sometimes in the Synagogues and was haled out by the Priests Party that the Scripture might be fulfilled upon that
Day and Night and thus I was led 18 Miles through the Country for a gazing-Stock unto the World but Truth was preached in all this and prevailed on the Hearts of the People so that I could rejoyce in all and triumph over mine Enemies So when we were at the Assize-Town which is called Chansford the Judge came in upon the seventh Day of the Week and upon the second Day of the next Week I was brought into the Court before Judge Hills who sate upon Life and Death and there I stood for a gazing-Stock while and then the Judge commaâ—ded them to take me away and did not say any thing to me for then I was singled from the rest only had Irons upon one of my Hands then upon the next Day Morning the Goaler sent his Man to take off my other Irons and so in the afternoon I was had before the Judge without any Irons and the Goaler took off my Hat and cast it upon the Floor and then the Clerk read a long Indictment full of Falshoods and asked me if I was guilty and I told him I denyed all Guilt and called for my Accusers and the Judge said I might see my Accusers and told me I might say Guilty or not Guilty and I told him I was not Guilty so called twelve Men to try me and the Fore-man was a Drunkard and they bid me object against any of them and I told them I owned none out of the Doctrine of Christ and all that swore were out of the Doctrine of Christ and they had all sworn before my Face and therefore I openly denyed by them to be tryed yet nevertheless they went on with their Work and Priest Willis was called and he swore against me and swore falsly too and the two Men called Justices swore against me and swore falsly too and one of the Justices Men so called and another Man swore against me and swore falsly too yet all these false Witnesses were heard to the full what they would say aginst me and thus the Leader of the People caused them to err for if the Teacher be a Swearer and a false Swearer what may the People be for Christ saith Swear not at all but let your Yea be Yea and your Nay be Nay for whatsoever is more is Evil and the Apostle saith In all Things my Brethren swear not at all c. and he that abides not in the Doctrine of Christ hath not God and thus like People like Priest all live without God in the World And when their false Witnesses had spoaken what they could against me they brought in the Letter which I had sent to the Men called Justices in Reply to their Mittimus and it was openly read in the COURT and I owned it for my Name was to it and the reading of it was much Satisfaction to many that understood it and they also brought another Paper that I writ against the Idol's Temple and the Deceiver therein both which shall follow in Order afterwards and then when they were both read Judge â—ills took them both and repeated over unto the Jury all that he could gather by wrong Interpretation and Construction against me whereby to incense the Jury against me and told them If they did not find me Guilty the Sin would lye upon their Heads and he as it were passed the Sentence upon me before the Jury went forth yea and told them what they should do whenas they had sworn before to speak the Truth and nothing but the Truth and I had charged them to take heed what they did for I told them None could judge betwixt Truth and Heresie but by the Spirit of the Lord but when I would have spoken something to the Jury before they went forth the Judge interrupted me and would not suffer me though one of the Jury desired it neither would he suffer that the Jury should have the Papers that were brought in against me though I required it but sought all that he could against me true or false although I had sent him a true Declaration of the Grounds of my Imprisonment with Hands of four Witnesses to it neither would he suffer that to be read And that which I would have spoaken unto the Jury was to clear it unto them that it was no scandalous nor reproachful Words to call a corrupt Magistrate a corrupt Magistrate and to call an Unjust Judge and Lawyer an Unjust Judge and Lawyer or a Persecutor a Persecutor or a Deceiver a Deceiver all which was brought against me and call'd Railing and Scandalous for by that Account they might have taxed all the Prophets for Railing and Scandaling for they open and often declared against the Corruption of the Priests and Rulers as you may read in many Places in the Prophets Records Isaâ—ah called the Priests Greedy Dumb Dogs and the Prophets called them Idol-Shepherds and the like and Christ call'd them Hirelings and the Rulers Hypocrites and Herod a Fox read Maâ—thew 23. and see if you may not as well call that Railing and yet in all this they did not rail nor scandalize any but gave to every Nature its Name and due Reproof whether they would hear or forbear But this is the Condemnation of the World Light is come into the World and Men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil. So when the Jury came in to bring in their Evidence they could charge me with nothing but the Paper I had writ in Reply to my Mittimus after I was imprisoned which Paper I had before owned in the open Court with my Name to it But the Indictment they could not charge me with for it tended to a Riot which I was far from or any that owned me But the Judge and the Clark both dishonestly strove to draw Words out of the Fore man of the Jury which the rest did not consent to neither could he speak their Minds but others of the Jury were fain to speak themselves but nothing was cleared against me Then the Goaler was commanded to take me away and when I was gone forth of the Court they sent for me again and the Judge imposed two Fines upon me to the Value of about Forty Pounds the one he said was for the Contempt of the Magistracy the other for the Contempt of the Ministry for he said The Lord PROTECTOR had charged him to see to punish such Persons as should Contemn either Magistracy or Ministry But what a Ministry is this that stands in need of an outward Magistracy to uphold it against a People that come with nothing but Spiritual Weapons to defend themselves against Spiritual Wickedness which now sits in high Places But this Ministry is contrary to the Ministry of Christ whose Weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual And also several of mine Accusers stood upon the Bench hard by the Judge several time Whispering him in the Ear and leavening and incensing his Mind against me and I reproved
Messengers of the Most High and wilfully resisting the Truth of God making Lyes your Refuge as here doth plainly appear For upon the day aforesaid I was at a Friend's House in Great Coggashall where several Friends and Neighbours were come to see me and there sate peaceably together waiting upon the Lord and I having heard of a publick Meeting at the Steeple-House in the said Town of the Priests and Professors of these Times as it was openly published by Priest Sammes and the Priest of the said Town in the said Steeple-house upon the First Day last past to that End as I heard and since did understand for to Fast and Pray against and lay open the Errors as they said of the People called Quakers for the Returning of them who owned them and the Establishing and Strengthening those against them that did not own them to wit the People called Quakers so I being pressed in my Spirit for to go amongst them in the Behalf and Defence of the Truth of God brought forth in these People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers I also being made a Minister of the same Eternal Truth through the Power of God by which I am made able and carryed on to declare it openly and publickly to the Confounding of the Heathen and the reviving of the Witness for God in the Conscience and also to suffer for the same which I did believe the Priests did much Blaspheme and Reproach striving to present it Odious to the People so in Obedience to the Lord I went out from amongst my Friends not telling one of them whither I was a going as many can witness and one Friend followed me to the Door and perceiving something of my Going he asked me If he might go with me and I bad him Use his Freedom to come after but I desired to go alone and so I went on the Way single And when I came at the Steeple-house Door which you Persecutors call a Church also account your selves another Church and thus you set up Churches in your Imaginations yet are Strangers to the True Church which are no Persecutors but when I came there there were several Boys and Children that would have flocked in after me and I bad them go in before me rather then to go in Disorderly whereby to occasion any Disturbance and so I went in very Orderly and stood very Orderly not speaking one Word until their Priest had done and was coming out of his Seat as many can witness though the Priest had been openly Reviling and Reproaching the People of God in particular whom he scornfully called Quakers Therefore let all People whose Understandings are enlightened judge in what Riotous Manner I entred the place which you call a Church and bear witness against you who are not ashamed to make Lyes your Refuge against the Innocent and also what are the Weapons which you make use of who call your selves Christians but make Lyes your Refuge and cover your Actions with Deceit But was this the Practice and Nature of Christ For a Christian is Christ-like and let all that profess Christ walk as he walked But these are the Fruits of your publick Humiliation who go about to mock God but your End shall be according to your Works 2. Accusation And whereas you say Being in order thereunto then exercised in the Divine Worship of God Almighty He the said James did then and there stand up and told the Minister He Blasphemed and spoak Falsly and used many other Reproachful Words against the said Minister Reply Until him called Minister had done the Divinatlon of his own Brain from whence you derive your Divine Worship and was coming out of his Seat I did not speak one Word unto him as Hundreds can witness and the first words that I spoak were not as you accuse me but this I said This is the Order of the True Church that all may speak one by one and if any thing be revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace Then I spoak on in the Behalf of those People called Quakers whom the Priest had before often and openly reviled but so soon as I had spoak a few words the Priest and several others disorderly ran into many words so interrupted me in speaking that it bred much Confusion Then the Priest asked me What I would Object against him I told him In that he Reviled the People called Quakers and said they were built upon a Sandy Foundation and so called them Shakers and the like But I told him I would prove their Foundation not to be Sandy and him to be the False Prophet And so I declared of the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image whose Head is Gold and Breast of Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron part Clay and this Stone is become a great Mountain upon which the Church is built as a City set on a Hill cannot be hid And this is the Foundation of the People that are called Quakers not all that are called Quakers but the Real People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers And this is become a Stumbling-Stone and a Rock of Offence to the Nations and so it seems it is unto you because you are the Worshippers of the great Image which you call the Divine Worship of your God but God Almighty you know not for he abhors all the Sacrifices of Cain and his Generation which was ever the Persecuting Generation upon which must come all the Righteous Blood-shed from Righteous Abel until now Therefore Wo unto you ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell And now you fill up the Measure of your Fathers Wrath. Ye Stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do ye But think not that you shall be heard for your much Babling who for a Pretence make long Prayers but ye shall receive the greater Damnation And the Lord will make your Diviners Mad who have spoak a Divination from their own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord but cryed Peace Peace where there is no Peace because ye put into their Mouths and so heal you sleightly daubing you up with Untempered Morter but you shall all fall amongst them that fall in the Day that I visit you saith the Lord ye Murderers and Crucifiers of the Just. So when I had cleared the Foundation of the People called Quakers as aforesaid some of you accused me That I owned no Church And I said It was False Then some of you asked me What Church I owned And I answered The Church in God and more words I spoak about the Church Then Willis the Diviner stood up in his Will and said I spoak nothing but Nonsense And I bad him Name one Word that was Nonsense that I had spoaken And he said
Yea or Nay 54. VVhat is that which is lost which Christ comes to seek and what is that which was driven away which Christ comes to bring again and whether this is not to be witnessed and fulfilled in Man Yea or Nay 55. VVhat is the Paradice wherein Man was placed and what was the Image of God wherein Man was created 56. And how was Man a living Soul and whether all this is not to be restord unto Man and fulfilled and witnessed unto Man while he is upon the Earth Yea or Nay 57. What is the Tree of Life and what is the Tree of Knowledge and whether upon it you do not feed and what is the flaming Sword that is set to keep from the Tree of Life and whether it you ever passed 58. Whether the Natural Man can try and discern false Spirits by the Scripture and by what doth the spiritual Man try and judge all Things and whether by the same he did not try and discern Spirits 59. And by what did the Holy Men of God that gave forth the Scripture try and discern Spirits and whether yours be the same Tryer of Spirits as theirs was who say You must try the Spirit by the Letter 60. Whether you are not conform'd like unto the World so long as you follow their Fashions and Customs 61. VVhether you are not partial amongst your selves so long as you respect Persons These Things I do not ask as if I knew them not but for the Satisfaction of the Simple and the clearing of the Truth and Manifesting your Deceit to the World by which you have deceived the World who are the Deceivers of the World therefore answer by plain Scripture and your own Experience or else let all Flesh keep Silence before the Lord and let Guilt stop your Mouthes for Railing Reproaching and Blaspheming the Truth of God which is made manifest in these People whom you scornfully call Quakers who by you and your Agents are persecuted but where do you find that the Church of God was ever Persecutors or ever made Use of Carnal VVeapons to defend them J. P. Here followeth a Copy of a Letter that I was moved to write to Judge Hills after the Assize A Few VVords â—nto thee that art set in the Seat to do Justice and to bear the Sword of Justice in thy Hand and hast turned the Edge of it against the Righteous and laid it upon the Innocent and thy fair VVords will not shelter nor cover thy deceitful Actions but thy deceitful Heart is made manifest and thy Hypocrisie doth there appear for thou hast hearkned unto the false Prophet and by his enticing VVords thou art deceived and so puttest Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness Evil for Good and Good for Evil and so art lyable to the VVo from the Lord and hast persecuted Christ and set at Liberty Barrabas yea and I was numbred amongst Transgressors yet could not have the Liberty of Transgressors as in many Things might be nominated but in short I shall declare it First That mine Accusers should stand in the Place as Judges over me and their Accusations and false Witnesses to be heard to the full and also to whisper and buz in thy Ears in secret what they would against me and also that thou that satest in the Seat as a Judge to repeat over unto the Jury all that thou couldst gather by wrong Interpretation and Construction against me but nothing of my Defence against my Accusations but rather to drive out of their Minds by thy evil incensing what I had before declared in my own Defence but thou as it were passedst the Sentence upon me before the Jury went forth but thou thoughtst thou hadst pannelled a Jury wherewith thou wast pleased to try me according to thine own Mind and Will for the Fore-man was a Drunkard and the rest Swearers out of the Doctrine of Christ against all which I did object and denyed by them to be tryed but it was thy Will and Pleasure so to do and when they come to bring in their Evidence they had so much Understanding that they charg'd me with nothing but the Papers which I had before confessed to be mine and owned them but the Indictment they would not own to be Truth against me though dishonestly both thou and the Clerk did draw Words out of the Fore-man of the Jury which the rest did not consent to and then in thy Will with thy fair and deceitful Speeches thou imposedst a Fine upon me contrary to all Law and Equity but where Equity is not it cannot be expected for Oppression within Oppression without and he that cannot Witness the Sword of Justice set up in his Heart knows not how to handle it without for he that rules not by the Law of God in his Heart rules in his own VVill and is partial and understands not the Things of God but what pleaseth his VVill that he cherisheth and what crosseth his VVill that he would curb and the VVill of Man is opposite to the VVill of God therefore the Cross of Christ is of Use to them that know it but a stumbling Block to the VVorld but he that rules in his own VVill is no Minister of God he that respects Persons is not fit to bear Rule for God he that seeks himself is not fit to bear Rule for God all which appeared and was openly manifest in thee in the open Court as in those Things before mentioned and many other which are now out of Mind but for the clearing of my Conscience unto thee I was moved to write that thou mightst see what thou hast done and be left without Excuse of Ignorance in the Presence of the Almighty for contrary to the Light of God in thy Conscience thou hast acted by which thou standest Accuâ—ed in the Presence of the Almighty and if thy Conscience accuse thee God is greater But if thou hadst stood in the Place where thou art set to judge of legal Matters about natural temporal Things thou hadst had the less to account for but in medling to judge about Spiritual Matters is Authority which the Scripture which thou callest thy Rule doth not allow thee for the Natural Man perceives not the Things of God because they are spiritually discerâ—ed therefore in this the spiritual Man judgeth thee and thy Condemnation is great therefore lay these Things to Heart and put them not far from thee or to the Light of God in thy Conscience I do speak which eternally will witness me condemn thee in the Presence of the Almighty who hast taken upon thee to judge and condemn those whom God hath justified Thereâ—ore consider what advantageth it thee or what will it advantage thee when thou comest to give an Account before the Lord God of Heaven and Earth the Judge of all the Quick and the Dead if thou hast now Power to keep this Body in Prison until thou hast the Life of the Creature which
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
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