A Paper I have received from one that goes a­bout to vindicate the Pope, Papists, and their Church, got up since the dayes of the Apostles, in the Apostacy. First, And the Pa­pists do afflict their bodies by their fasting; and the Apostle saith, Afflict your selves. Now this fast, like a Bulrush, for a day to hang down; and like the Pharisees, is the same nature that wil murther: The Pharisees fastings was like the fastings in the dayes of Isaiah, and like unto the Papists fastings, and Protestants, that will hang down the Head for a day, and doth not let the oppressed go free, nor the Just, but will kill and prison to death about their Religion and Worships: Here's the fist of Wickedness; here's the bond of Iniquity; heres not the Health amongst you. So all Jews, Pharisees, Papists, and Protestants, that are hanging down their heads for a day, their fast, and smi­ting with the fist of Wickedness, as the fruits of you Papists, Jews and Protestants, has declared sufficiently to the whole World; let the Witness and Testimony of the Jews against the Prophets; of the Jews and Pharisees against Christ; and [Page 2]the Papists against the Martyrs, Prophets, Saints and Wit­nesses since the dayes of the Apostles; and the Protestants fasting against the Royal Seed call'd Quakers, how they fill their Gaols with them: Now you all should have strucken at the Principallities and Powers, and spiritual Wickednes­ses, and have broken the bond of iniquity, and let the op­pressed go free, then had you obeyed the command of God; and so you are found out of Isaiah's Ministry, Isa. 58. Matt. 6.16. Acts 13.2. 1 Tim. 4.1. 1 Sam. 14.24. Hest. 4.16. Matt. 9.15. and all these fastings ye be out of, which were in the truth. So there is two sorts of fastings, the fast for strife and debate, the fist of Wickedness, & the bond of Iniquity: Now mark, Is not the fist of Wickedness the bond of Iniquity, Strife and Debate amongst you, when you cast into prison, inquisitions, burn and rack such as you call your Enemies, when Christ bids you love them, and show mercy, and you show cruelty? O abominable Traytors against Christ the King, and his commands! who said they should fast when the Bridegroom was taken away, but still his command was, They should love Enemies, and a Heretick and Seducer is an Enemy. And now you Papists, Popes and Jesuits, how unlike Christ are you? How do you abide in his Doctrine, and the Apostles, that fasted, and gave themselves to fasting and prayer, and preaching of the Word, that came amongst Hereticks, Blasphemers, Seducers and Schisms? they was in love to Enemies, and did not kil the creature, & wrastle with flesh and blood, making inquisitions, Racks and Fires to burn them in, as you Popes, and Papists, and Jesuits have done since their dayes: And so here your Fasts is not like unto theirs, (the Saints) but the Jews in the debate, fist of Wickedness, bond of Iniquity, and for a day you hang down your heads; and in this state the breach is not made up between you and God, but the bond of Iniquity stands; and that which breaks down that which made the breach be­tween man and God, is that which breaks the bond of Ini­quity; and this is the good fast that God accepts; and so your fast and fasts hath made themselves appear, so much blood hath been shed and spilt amongst you, that cryes for [Page 3]vengeance, as righteous Abels blood did against Cain the sa­crificer; and all this blood shed since the dayes of the Apo­stles amongst you Sacrificers, shal be required at your hands, the Witness in your consciences shall answer it. Oh poor A­postates and Papists, made up of Schisms and Hereticks, and Sects and Reprobates that went forth from the Apostles! And Christs fastings that he speaks of, & the fastings in the Acts, the Apostles speaks of, the Quakers owns, and shews it forth, the fasting as the Ministers of God, as the Apostles did; for many of the Quakers have fasted thirty days, twen­ty dayes, fifteen dayes, ten dayes, seven dayes together; I which am a Woman, (the Writer of this) fasted twenty two dayes, which never none of the Papists fasted forty dayes, or thirty dayes, or twenty two dayes together: I will chal­lenge all the Papists upon the Earth, let them come out and go thirty dayes together without either Bread or Water, or fourteen dayes, or twenty dayes; or let them come our and go thirty dayes together with nothing but bread and Wa­ter, and try, and see if his belly be not his God; and the Quakers is known that they never had more strength then when they have fasted two and twenty, and thirty dayes to­gether. Therefore you are Lyars who say Quakers deny fa­sting; for they have been accused by some of the rotten hy­pocritical professors, for their fastings, who lives on the fat of the Earth like Esau: And all your fasting is in that hy­pocritical fasting, and from imitation from the Apostles and Saints Words, and abusers of them, found among them that fasted, that are out of the life of Christ and the Apo­stles, which is in the debate and strife, wicked fist, hands full of blood, which comes not into the holy Hill of Zion.

And you be in the Doctrines of Devils, and have set up a­nother thing then the Apostles did, who teaches to observe days, & denies meats on such dayes that you observe, and sets dayes apart for meats, which did not the Apostles, nor Christ; so you have taught another doctrine, reprobate from theirs; set up another Church reprobate from theirs, which is of your Church, and not of the true, and so are them which the spirit spoke expresly should come, which the spi­rit [Page 4]sees expresly are come; which hath fulfil'd the Apostles Doctrine, 1 Tim. 1.1. The Apostle said, VVhat ever is sold in the Shamble, eat, for I am afraid of you that observe dayes: And so this is quite contrary to the Doctrine of the Catho­licks.

And so do you not alwayes forbid some meats upon dayes you set apart, which did not the Apostles, nor the true Church; and are not these meats unclean to you that you do not eat on your fasting-dayes? Or are not you unclean to them? Else why do you not eat them on your days? An­swer me the whole Church of the Papists. And how can you without owning your selves Hypocrites, when you say you fast and set apart meats for that day you fast on? Answer me this again; and where the Prophets, Christ and the Apo­stles did so? and this fast be not of your own making, and so corrected by the Scriptures of Truth, being contrary to the true Church. And again, How have you learned that Scripture that Christ bids go to, learn ye Sacrificers and Fasters, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice; I will put them in the Inquisition, (say you) I will burn them, I will kill them, and rack them, (say you) Here your Sacrifices and Mercies are cruelties.

And we say, (who are call'd Quakers) all creatures are good as they are in themselves, though men be unclean, be­ing in the transgression, unreconciled to them; and all these fasts as since the beginning, in the transgression, that be false; and all the fasts of the true is to bring men up to the begin­ning; and who witnesseth the Bridegroom, need not fast; and this many witness, and there the bond of iniquity is broken.

And you Papists have many particular dayes of fasting, as your forty dayes, and your four times in the year; and the Eves of your great Holy-Dayes; and Fridays and Satur­days you abstain from flesh, and that by the Command of your Church; Is not fish flesh (you blind sots) that you eat of those dayes your Church commands you to fast on? Does not the Apostle call Fish, Flesh, in 1 Cor. 15. chap Here you and your Church blinds people, who pretends you fast, and [Page 5]eat flesh, and say fish is not flesh, who are contrary to the true Ministers, the Apostles, and the true Church; your Church and Ministry are blind and ignorant in saying Fish is not Flesh, and so corrected by the true Church, Ministry, and Scripture, as in the Chapter before mentioned; and this Scripture stands over your Heads, Church and Ministry; and you do not fast from flesh so long as you eat fish on your fa­sting-dayes; so you are not of that Church which the Gates of Hell cannot prevail against.

And so you that will not hear the true Church, are the Heathens, and the Publicans, and the Fast of Nehemiah, and Esther, and Jehosaphat, you are out of the pathes and steps; for those dayes you fast, you eat flesh, the flesh of fish; so poor creatures are deluded by you and your Church, which do command your certain dayes to fast on, is not like unto the fasting spoken on in Scriptures.

And so your temperance is proved untemperate, as wit­ness your debate, strife, wicked fists, makes it appear, strikes with it at the Lamb, Saints, Prophets, Martyrs, sheep, since the dayes of the Apostles: Did ever the true Church among the Apostles, make Inquisitions, Rack people, make Fires to put people in? Hang people, and betray people, as you do? That's Jezzabels fasts, spoken of in the Revelations & Kings; and your fasting will never reconcile to God, nor make God reconcile as you say, Let the Quaker at least once hear what the Recabites did, who were commanded by their Father Jonadab, that they, their wives, children, and all their posterity, should al­wayes abstain from wine; they did not wrangle against it as the Quaker doth, but said, VVe will drink no wine because our father Jonadab commanded us; and they was praised of God, and blessed particularly, That they should not want one to stand in his pre­sence.

Ans. All Papists, Priests, and Popes, and Cardinals, do you drink no Wine? Do not you drink Wine? Do not you all stand out of his presence, according to your own Words? Have not you thrown your selves out of his presence? and again, Will not you say that Christ was a Wine-bibber, and stood out of his presence? you Popes, Cardinals, Jesuits, [Page 6]and Papists; and would you not say the Apostle stood out of his presence, who bid Timothy take a little Wine for his infir­mity? And again, are not you Popes, Cardinals, Jesuits and Papists, like unto Judas, that takes the sop, and drinks the Wine, and goes out, and betrayes him, and crucifies him, and hath your Gaols, Inquisitions, Prisons to put them, and him in? and did not Christ say he would send Prophets, and some of them you should kill and persecute, and you would think you did God good service in so doing? and these things they shall do to them, because they did know the Fa­ther nor the Son; & so have not you fulfilled Christ Words? Doth not John say it was the Devil that casts into prison, in the Revelations? and have not you fulfill'd the Prophesie of Christ and John since their dayes? and did not Christ bid them remember that he had told them of these things (when they came to pass) before? John 16. and so you are distinct from Christ and the true Church, and you have ful­fill'd the Words of Christ and the Apostles, sufficiently; and so you have shewed your selves ignorant of the Scriptures and the power of God; and the Recabites, and found not in the steps of them, Christ, nor the Apostles, as in Jer. 35. and your Generation, Mother, and her commands are found out of the Scriptures, and to them not agreeable, but your Mother and her commands by them corrected.

Thou saidst, Had the Quaker been at Ierusalem when the A­postle Peter said in the Name of all the Apostles, It seemed good unto us, and to the Holy Ghost, to lay no more upon you then these necessary things, That you abstain from things offered to Idols, from blood, and that which is strangled, and Images, Acts 15.

Ans. Have not all you Popes, Cardinals and Jesuits, bro­ken the Command of the Apostle, and doth not abstain from Idols, fornication, blood, Images, and things strang­led? Do not you strangle outward and inward? Do not you strangle in your Gaols and Inquisitions? Have you not sen up Images and Idols? Have you not set up Houses for forni­cation in the chief of your Cities? Have you not drunk of the blood of Saints, Martyrs and Prophets? and have not abstained from blood no way, inward nor outward, and set [Page 7]up your Images in all parts and corners of your Domini­ons? And is not fornication found amongst you, and set up? your fornication, and strangling all such as be contrary­minded to you since the dayes of the Apostles? and drun­ken the blood, that declares against your Fornication, Ima­ges, Idols? have you not drunken the blood of them that are called Christians, since the Apostles, which the Apostle forbids? and so no Church but the false, so proved; and dis­approved, and by the Apostles Doctrine corrected.

And the Quaker owns the Apostles Doctrine and Fasting, preached at Jerusalem, and does not set themselves against these, but against you and yours; for the Apostle reproves your Church, Popes, Cardinals and Jesuits; and cry­ed wo against them, and tells you, you be in Cains way, and your sacrifices that murthers, that was alwayes out of the true Faith of Abel and the Apostles, for it purifies and gives the victory over the murderers, in which men love God, and have access to God and unity; and this teaches to love Ene­mies, and this Cains nature doth not; and so do the Quakers (who are one with the Apostles) reprove you, and tells you, That the Sheep and the Lambs never wooried the Wolves, Bears and Lyons, and never made any Inquisitions, Gaols, and Prisons for Hereticks, Blasphemers and Schisms, but they was as Sheep among Wolves, in sufferings deep.

And whereas thou saith, The Quaker spues out against the Catholicks about Meats and Drinks in his Letter, it is an excee­ding blindness.

Ans. You are in the exceeding blindness about Meats and Drinks in your Fasts, who calls Fish not Flesh; and your high persecution hath carryed you from the very wit in Natu­rals; and I have heard the Protestants and the Priests say, that the Papists were such witty men, but I must tell them, they are deceived, for I find you (now I come to handle you) not to have the understanding in the Naturals, and yet I will find you to be natural men; I should tell you, the things of God was foolishness to you; and I should further tell you. That the Quakers Kingdom is out of Meats and Drinks, and stands not in them: and I must further tell [Page 8]you, That all the spuing is amongst you, whose Kingdom stands in meats and drinks, that so much filth you have vo­mited up, which is loathsome enough to poyson all people that will drink it, or eat it; but the children of God, and the Babes, have their food from above, and cannot eat any thing of that which you spue and vomit up; for in all ages they was in the vomiting that was in the transgression, and such run into Meats, and Drinks, and Idols, and Images; and so are you that be in the transgression of the Apostles Do­ctrine, and Christs, and who have set up your Kingdoms of Meats, and Drinks, and Images, amongst whom stands all the vomits and spuings; but that the Saints and Babes are come to, and in that where there is no vomiting nor spuing.

The Quakers will reprove us because there is some among us makes promises not to marry. VVe Catholicks answer, That the Apostle here speaketh of in 1 Tim. 4. chap. such as forbid Marri­age as an evil thing, as did Farsianas, and Manacheus, and di­vers others: The reason why the holy Church forbids spiritual persons to marry, comes not from the side of the state of Marri­age, which they esteem a great Sacrament, but from the side of the spiritual persons that have made promise to God never to marry; which promise the holy Church, as a careful Mother, desires that they shall keep it, that it may not come upon them as it did to the widows which Paul speaks of, when he saith, Refuse the youn­ger Widows, for when they begin to wax wanton in Christ, they will marry, having their damnation because they have broken their first faith; a full conclusion of this Reason.

Ans. Your Popes and Papists, and your Church that you call Holy, that forbids Spiritual persons to marry, this is your Churches command; then by the conclusion of your own words, all you that do marry, are not spiritual persons, so no Church, then so there is no holy Church: But does not your Church so, (which you call Holy) set up those Houses you call Stew-Houses, amongst you? And is not this promise got up amongst you by tradition, not to marry, as you are fain to have Nunneries to put them in, and so to keep them from men, as people does Rams from Sheepe, and Horses from Mares, and Bulls from Kine, that they have no more [Page 9]power in their promises? And did the Apostles set up such Houses to keep men and women distant one from another, as you do? O this is ill-favour'd, and stinks to all true Chri­stians, and is a full proof they are not spiritual men nor women; for that which does mortifie (is spiritual) the un­ruly and inordinate affections, and brings the creature into liberty, and does not put them into Nunneries, and make them like Stables for Horses, and Mares, and Bulls, & Beasts; in this you shame your selves, and your spiritual men, that you have no power, & are fain to put Walls between them; and this is a proof to prove them you call Spiritual men, to be carnal, and you your selves that do so, that put one from another; and this is to prove that you are them the Apostles speak of, that should depart from the Faith that gives victo­ry, that the spirit spoke expresly should come, which now you fulfil their words who forbids the Marriage; and them that vows not to marry, you and your Church puts in such places whereby they may perform their promises, as you say; and this is not like the Apostle in 1 Cor. 7. who spake his judgement in many things he had not a command, & saith, I say, not the Lord; and now saith the Apostle, Every man hath his proper gift from God, one after this manner, and another after that, and the gift of God is free. The Apostle doth not say, Bring people into Nunneries. But as for the wanton Widows against Christ, that wil marry, they are such as refuse to lodge stran­gers, as you that kil them, & put them into your Inquisitions & Gaols, and does not relieve the afflicted, but does afflict, & follows not the good works, as you who kill, imprison, rack, and torture the Saints since the Apostles, and so cannot be called properly, the Widow, but the Whore; and these young Widows that are wanton against Christ, are idle wan­derers from house to house, and tale-carriers, and busie-bo­dies, and speaks things they ought not; these are the Widows which hath their damnation, who have cast off their first Faith; and here is their fruits that are found amongst you, wandered from the Faith, only your tale and fables, and idle from the good work of God. And thou perverts the Scripture in saying, They wax wanton in Christ, it is a­gainst [Page 10]him; but that is like the rest of your Doctrine, Tim. 5. But come, thou shalt hear what the Apostle saith concer­ning widows; I say to the unmarryed and widows, It is good for them if they abide even as I; if they cannot contain, let them marry, it is better to marry then to burn. Now here was distinct distincti­ons between these widows and the wanton widows, for this the Apostle calls as the necessity. And so I see that you Papists, and Jesuits, and Church, have not a right understanding of the Scriptures, the true distinction, and true measure; and the Apostle brings every one there to abide in the state wherein God had called them; and he that did give unto marriage, did well; and he that did not, did better; and he that had power over his will, and stood steadfast in his own heart, and kept his virginity, did well. Now they that have power over their own wills, what need they go into Nunne­ries? have they not power over their Nunneries? but must an earthen Nunnery, an earthen house, help their power? you may see that is a forged thing, and an imitation set up a­mongst you since the Apostles, and is below, out of the pow­er of God; and the Apostle saith in the same Chap. 1 Cor. 7.1. where he exhorts every one to abide in his present state, for the time is short it remaineth, that both they that have wives, be as though they had none. Now see if all you Papists, Popes, Iesuits, and Nunneries, can read this, or see into this, and how you are apostatized from them.

And the Apostle did not forbid the spiritual persons to marrie, nor widows, but he speaks of those widows that were against Christ: Had not Peter (a spiritual man) a wife? and had not the Apostle power to lead about a Wife, a Si­ster? Did he forbid it? And so you that forbid it to a spiri­al person, put it onely to the carnal in the transgression; and so that's not the honourable Bed, but the defiled; and you may say Moses, David, Abraham, and Jacob, were not spiri­tual persons; but in this you conclude your selves and your Church from amongst the Saints by your inventions and Nunneries, and vows against Marriage; and they that do vow amongst you, they are not able to keep it, but you are fain to help them, and put them into Houses; are not you worse [Page 11]in this then the Heathen Philosophers, and Tassianus, &c. for I shall tell you, and all the Papists on the Earth, that's true, that's honourable, and acts it in the Bed undefiled, and such as are spiritual persons; for all the unspiritual per­sons are in the defiled Bead, which is since the beginning; and the hardnesse of heart, which in the beginning it was not so, but since the beginning it is so: And whom God joynes together, &c.

And so your Popes Church is found in the folly, who for­bids spiritual persons to marry; and your Church is an un­holy Church, so natural men, which cannot receive nor per­ceive the things of God; all that marry among you, be not spiritual, your married men are not; and so your Church an unholy Church.

And whereas thou sayest, We may thank the Papists that we have learned out of your Books that Christ is the way, the truth and the life, and the second Adam.

Ans. That which we have learned it is from God and Christ, and not from the Papists Books, for I scarcely ever saw any of your Books; for the Prophet is raised up whom Moses spoke of, whom the Quakers hear, who is the light, the second Adam, the way to the Father, which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world, the Jews and Gen­tiles; and every man being turned to the light he is enlight­ned withall, he is turned to Christ his Teacher; and the an­nointing within them, the Apostle preached, and the hear­ing of Faith, and the Word of Faith in the heart of Abra­ham, Abel, Enoch, &c. And now we do believe you, that all your knowledge, understanding, and wisdom is learned out of Books, who have the sheeps clothing, inwardly are ra­vened from the Spirit of God, and have set up your Schools and Colledges to make your Ministers, and your great hou­ses to preach in, since the dayes of the Apostles, and have got sheeps clothing on your backs, and so with that deceives Nations, and hath carryed the Lambs and Sheep into your Dens, Inquisitions and Prisons, and burned and rosted them in the Fire, & drunk their blood, which was not the work of the Apostles; and so that hath been your weapons to con­vert [Page 12]people, your Fires and Inquisitions, your Racks and hallowed Swords; and this hath been your way to convert people to that you call your Church, which was the way of Cain, and all Hereticks and Blasphemers, and of the De­vil, and not of Christ and the Apostles, and his Church; and so you be in the subtil-heartedness, that deceives the hearts of the simple. And so we do understand, fathom, and com­prehend the Papist Church, who are come to the Apostles, before they were.

And whereas you Papists say, We hear them speak of almost nothing but Christ, and the Light.

Ans. There stands our joy and peace, in Christ the light, who is the end of the Prophets, the Heir of all things; so we speak of the Heir of all things, when we speak of Christ; he is the Head of our Church, our life, our way, our truth, our sanctification, our justification, our wisdom, our righte­ousnesse; this is in us, and amongst us, who are by all the Sects of the Earth called Quakers, which are of the Royal Seed of God, who witnesse light in us, and life in us, and Christ in us, and are not reprobates, 2 Cor. 13. But I know you Papists, Popes, and Jesuits, (which have deceived the Nations and the World) cannot endure to hear talk of Christ, nor the light within you, but you tell the people he is in the Bread and Wine, and so puts him in your Cubbards, and Houses, and close Chambers, and Desarts, and cry, Lo, he is here, here, and lo there; and in the secret place, and in the Cham­ber, when he should be within you.

So here is the marks of you deceivers and Wolves, which have the sheeps clothing, & the marks of you that be Anti­christs & false Prophets that Christ said should come, Matt. 7.24. and John saw was come, 1 John 2. chap. & 4. chap. and went forth from them into the world, which in Rev. 13. All that dwelt upon the Earth went after ye; and there you may see how you kill'd the Saints; and there again you may see how you deceived the world with your miracles & lying signs, and the Beast had power over over all the Tongues, Kindreds, and Nations; and how this Woman which you call your Mother the Church, has drunk the Saints [Page 13]blood, and corrupted the Earth with your Images and I­dols, and made the Inhabitants thereof drunk. And again, this Man-child should have been brought forth, which hath been caught up to God this time, who will rule the Nations with a Rod of Iron, and take your false Prophets, Beast and Antichrist, and the old Dragon, and cast them alive into the Lake of Fire. And the Judgement of the great Whore is come, and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory; and she shall be burnt with fire who hath burned. And now if you be offended because I call your Mother the Whore, I shall give you an instance; When the children of Israel ran to Images and Idols, from the Law of God, they was called the Whore, and was run into the spiritual Whoredom; and when the Jews that had the Law of God, and transgressed it in Canaan, Canaan was called Spiritual Aegypt, and Sodom; and the Iews, and so you that inwardly are ravened from the Spirit of God, and hath the sheeps clothing, which went from the Apostles into the world, kills, burns, racks, impri­sons in your Inquisitions such as will not own your Images, Idols, and Worships you have set up, who are ravened from the Spirit of God, and went forth from the Apostles; what should we call you but as the Scripture calls you, Beast, whore, Babylon, false Prophets, Antichrist, Mother of all Harlots since the dayes of the Apostles. But now with the power and spirit of truth which you have ravened from, are you all comprehended, and the glorious Church come to; and your mask and covering taken off, and we can see your faces now, and see you are Wolves; your Sheep Skin is taken off, and (like the Pharisees) you are in your Fasts, smiting with the fist of Wickednesse, and not like the Saints fast, which we all own; and so your boasts is as the Pharisees, who are tur­ned against the Just; but the Just reigns, and the Quakers do witnesse the darknesse is past, and true light it shines; the Day is come, and him that destroyeth Death, the Devil, the power of death, and his Works.

And the time is come that the hidden things of darknesse is brought to light, and many do witnesse their bodies the Temples of the Holy Ghost, which is holy, where sin hath [Page 14]nothing to do there; and this was the spirit of the Apostles, and this is the spirit of the Quakers, which your spirits and the Papists are out of, as your fruits declare it; and Sin and Devil must be shaken, but the Quakers witnesse that which cannot be shaken; and many of them witnesse sanctification throughout, and Christ manifest to destroy the work of the Devil, and the work of the Devil is blasphemy and heresie, and seducing, and error, and Schisms, of all unrighteous­nesse, sin, and ungodlinesse. Now them whom you call He­reticks, Blasphemers, Seducers, false Prophets, the Devil makes all these; instead of striking at the power which makes all these, you strike at the creatures, and burns, and imprisons, and kills them; are you like the Apostles, who wrastled not with flesh and blood, but with principallities, powers, and spiritual wickednesses, and Rulers of Dark­nesse, and converted many to God, and did not destroy the creature, but loved Enemies, and turned them from dark­nesse to the light, from the power of Satan to God? for an Enemy of God is in darknesse and under the power of Sa­tan; and the Apostle came amongst many Blasphemers, Schisms, Seducers and Errors, and their Weapons were spi­ritual, and mighty through God, and did not kil creatures. Now all may read your Weapons what they are. And Christ through death destroyed the Devil, who had the power of death, and his works, and yet did not destroy the creature though he was amongst Blasphemers, Errors, and Seducers; & when the desire was to have Fire come down from heaven by some, he checked them, and bid them know what spirit they were of, and told them they did not know what spirit they were of, & told them he did not come to destroy mens lives, but to save them, Luke 9.46. and so you do not know what manner of spirit you are of, but are to be rebuked, and except you repent, you shall likewise perish. Now are you like Christ? Have you the mind of Christ, his Spirit, his Wisdom, his Righteousnesse, which was before the World was made, that destroys mens lives in your Inquisitions, and racks them, and kills them, and burns them? are you like Christ or the Apostles? Judge your selves.

And he saith, No man knoweth whether he be worthy of love or hatred, Eccles. 9.1. Prov. 28. VVho can say, My heart is clean, I am clean from sin? 1 Joh. 1. He that saith he is without sin, is a lyar. From these Scriptures the Quaker may observe that they are in the deep darkness, and taking upon him the office of judging himselfe to be righteous, which onely belongs to Christ our Lord; and the quakers spirit seemeth more to be the spirit of anti­christ, then the the spirit of God.

Ans. By these Scriptures the Papists may see that ye are in deep darknesse, and measure themselves and their whole Church unconverted, out of the spirit, having the sheeps­clothing, but from it ravened: For first, You say no man knoweth either love or hatred; this is in the state of igno­rance and darknesse, not converted; for who are converted, they know God, he loved them, and they love him again; and those that fears alwayes, hath the blessing; and they that pray to him, and see him, is out of a pure heart; but you Papists, and your Mother that saith no man knoweth whether he be worthy of love or hatred; and yet you blind, brings the next Scripture to confound thy self, and thy whole Church, that saith, Blessed are them that fear alwayes; and them that are blessed, are loved; and we do believe thee and thy Church, that you do not know that Scripture to you, that you do not knovv whether you be in the love or ha­tred; and is all your Profession, and all your Religion, and all your Church, and all your Teaching, and all your Jesuits, and all your Killing, and Prisoning, and Fires come to this? Hath it all been done by this mad ignorance? You that do not know whether you be beloved or hated? And is this your Doctrine in the end of all your profession and Religion? We do believe you; this is to prove that you be in the uncon­verted estate. But I shall tell you, That we are of God, and beloved of God, and we love them that are begotten of God, and are passed from death to life, and are of Jacob who God loved, and we know love & hatred; but you Pope, Papists and Iesuits, are in the hatred, who cannot say your hearts is clean; so you are not in the conversion, regeneration, nor translation in the Covenant of God, out of transgressi­on, [Page 16]and that which makes unclean; but you are them that are past from life to death, got up since the dayes of the A­postles, in the unconverted estate, no man knoweth whe­ther ye be worthy of love or hatred; and here what hearts have you prayed with all this while, and seen withall? who shews your impure hearts, and contrary to the Apostle, who lifted up pure hands, and prayed with a pure heart, which the others were not accepted?

And this is the Doctrine of the Iesuits, the Popish Church, apostatized from the Apostles which knew all things, 1 Ioh. 2. and the Scripture in the first of Iohn, which thou add'st to, and perverts, which saith, If we say we have no sin, we deceive our selves, and the truth is not in us; and if we say we have not sin­ned, we make him a lyar, &c. Now he did not say [He] as thou dost; thou are so blind in this, thou wilt say Christ is a lyar, in him there was no sin; but come to the thing: There is a time for people to see that they have sinned, and for we to say we have sinned, and a time to see we have sin, and then if we confesse our sin which we that have sinned, and have sin, if we confesse our sin, he is faithful and just to for­give, and the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God, clean­seth us from all sinne; then we can say our hearts is clean (mark, us) from all; not from some, and love some, but from all.

Now we do believe that you are not of this [us.] Then again, He that is born of God, doth not common sin: Now here is clensing from all sin, such as have sinned, & have sin, & then the birth (born of God) which doth not commit sin, and the blood of Iesus Christ the Son of God, which clenseth from all sin, and whosoever abideth in him, sinneth not; and whosoever sinneth hath nat seen him, nor known him. Little children, let no man deceive you, he that doth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous, mark, even as Christ: But you Papists, Priests, and Popes, it is your Doctrine that none should be righteous; so are they de­ceivers, and preacheth it up: And whosoever is born of God, doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now you will tell Iohn he lyes, and say he hath sin in him, and he must commit sin, and [Page 17]bring the uncleansed state to oppose Iohns Doctrine. So here your spirit is tasted to be of Antichrist, and savoured not to be of God, but apostatized from Iohn, and your hypocriti­cal Mask is drawn off, that you speak of, and we see what hath lurked under it all this while, the Wolfe.

He saith, The quaker goes on, and saith all our observations and circumstances, and worships, and fastings, who hath required these things at your hands, saith the Lord? Did not those of Nineveh by fasting and prayer reconcile the Lord, when otherwise within forty dayes Nineveh should have been destroyed? and also it should have come to pass if there had been none but Quakers in Niniveh, for they would have rejected Jonas preaching, and not troubled themselves with fasting and prayer.

Ans. Many of the Prophets and Servants of the Lord hath cryed through your streets, and come in sackcloth and ashes amongst you, as witnesse Elizabeth Harrice, who went from London in England, and cryed in your streets in Venice, in sackcloth and ashes, being commanded of the Lord so to do, that you might be reconciled to God, and turn from your Images and Idols, and your will-worships, which is set up since the dayes of the Apostles, the apostacy of the beast from them; and you threatned her with death, and it was the mighty hand and power of the Lord God that she scaped with her life from amongst you. About the same time a yong man was moved of the Lord to go from London to Ierusalem, and he saw your abominations there acted by those persons that thou callest spiritual men, which never marry; such of those would have murthered him in the way, had not the chief Governor of Iasea rescued him out of your hands, and sined your spiritual men many Dollers for their cruel­ty; and here the Turks sees your wickedness, and condemns your spiritual mens practises, and abhors your cruelty, and gave him a Fass to do the will of the Lord. Iohn Parrot, and Iohn Luffe, being moved of the Lord to come to your head City at Rome, to cry amongst you, that you might be recon­ciled to God, and turn from your dead Images and Idols, whom you cast into your Den, (call'd your Inquisition) and there caus'd them to suffer that which you will let no man [Page 18]know nor see that be of their friends and acquaintance; your cruelty is so great, worse then the Heathen to Paul, who prayed to the Lord to deliver him from the unreasona­ble men; Are you like Ninevch? Are not your Fasts like the Pharisees here? nay worse. Have not you fires among you to burn the Saints? and your Inquisitions to rack them, and tear them to pieces, and will not let their friends see nor know what you do to them. O cruelty! your mercies are cru­el, and have not learned mercy without Sacrifice, your force is not right. And George Baylie who was moved of the Lord to come amongst you into France, and John Harwood, whom you cast into prison till one of them dyed, and never was content till you had drunk his blood; and is this your fruits like the Apostles? Are you them that re­ceive strangers? Is this your work of receiving of them? Have you not trodden the commands of the true Church under your feet? Now a stranger is one that is not of you, that you do not know; but are you of such fearful, fright­ned, fiery spirits, that presently into the Inquisitions with them, presently into the Gaols, or else you do offend him that is out of the truth, whom you do serve, not of Christ nor the Apostles; and how much blood have you spilt since their dayes, which at your hands must be required? And the Quakers do not reject Jonas preaching, nor Ninevehs fa­sting, but yours which hath this wicked Fist; and so all your ceremonies is denyed, and hypocritical fasts, by us who are the Heirs of salvation, and sons, and daughters.

He saith, Behold once whither to the hellish Enemy can bring a man under the pretence of holyness! but I believe the Quaker can­not prove by the holy Scripture, that the Lord hath not said, who hath not required fasting and prayer at your hands?

Ans. All the holy Scriptures of truth witness against your fasts, amongst whom is found the fist of Wickedness, as it was in the dayes of the Prophets and Christ, as it is in your days since the Apostles; so we can say, The Lord hath not requi­red these at your hands; for now I shall give you some Scrip­tures; you oppresse, you prison, you rack, you burn, you do not let the oppressed go free, as witness all your Gaols and [Page 19]Inquisitions, and Fires, and Burnings; here's the bond of I­niquity amongst you, your bread you deal not to the hun­gry, but you famish them in your Prisons and Inquisitions, you cast into prison the little ones of the Lord, and cast Christ into prison; now if they go into everlasting punish­ment that does not visit Christ in prison, and doth not cloathe him, and feed him, what will become of you, and what will your end be that casts him into prison, and will not suffer others to visit him, but make him sick, let him hun­ger there, make him naked? O you hard hearted ones, cru­el and bloody! had it not been better that a Mill-stone were hanged about your necks, and you cast into the sea, then to offend the little ones? And so the Hellish Enemy (you who are gone from the light) hath swallowed you up, and be­come Death and Hell, and made agreement with it; and whither have you carried people? And all your sacrifices, and offerings, and services is no more then if you should cut off a Dogs Head, and bless one of your Idols, your Ima­ges; with the light you are all comprehended & condemned, and your sacrifices are loathsom to the Lord God; and you Babylon is come into remembrance of him, whose Church, Ministry, and all Sects upon the Earth is apostatized from the Apostles, and kills one another, and destroyes one ano­ther about your pretended Church, and Worships, and Tea­chers, and one killing one anothers Teachers, which be all quite out of the power the Apostles was in; but we are come to that the Apostles was in, and the power of God, Christ, which all you slayers and killers about Church and Ministry, and Worship, is out of, and prisons till death about your Re­ligion, which was not the Apostles Work to kill mens lives, but to save them, which hath been yours since the dayes of the Apostles; and the fasting the Scripture doth speak of, we own.

And he saith, He thinks the quakers spirit doth not witness as if the Lord himself did say so to him; But the Angel Satan, saith Paul, changeth himself into an angel of light; for if it were a good Angel taught the quaker, it would not teach him to speak against the word of God; but it is an evil spirit by which the quaker is [Page 20]driven; therefore saith Gods word, VVo to those foolish-Prophets that follows their spirit and sees not.

Ans. Thou hast raised these Words in saying to thee, Who hath required these things at your hands? You are them the de­vil hath changed himself into an Angel of light, which the Apostle saw come up and appeared before his decease, and followed your own spirits, and been driven by the Devil to do his Work, who was a murtherer from the very begin­ning; for when he had murthered within, he murthered af­terwards without; so when you have murthered the Witness of God in your selves, then after you murthered others without you that was in the life of God, that kept the resti­mony of Jesus, the Spirit of Prophesie; and Christ called the Iews murtherers, who had murthered the Witnesse of God in themselves, and turn'd against the just in the gene­ral, and so told the Iows (the great Professors of Christ to come) that they was of their Father the Devil, his Works they did that was persecutors and murtherers: And so you now since the dayes of Christ and the Apostles, that killed, made havock, and murthered, and persecuted till death, all you are of your father the Devil, his Works you are doing who abode not in the truth; so you are of your Father the Devil, murtherers, as the Jews were persecutors, and Pilot had more compassion upon Christ, then the Iews; and the Heathen hath more compassion of the true Christians which are in scorn by you call'd Quakers, (which are the elect of God) then you hot burning Papists, as witness the Turk, who shewed more favour to such a one, to him when he went to Ierusalem, then you Papists, who there kept him as a pri­soner, and would not let him go out, because he would not bow to your deceit, until you had carryed him our as a pri­soner: Is this your receiving strangers? Are you like the A­postles and Christians? You have a Name, but dead from life, and so made a prey upon him, and so tossed him up and down from place to place; and here your apostacy is seen from the Apostles, and all judged with the Scriptures the words of God, and the Word in which they end; and the Lord clears us from all your filth and dirt, who are come [Page 21]into that the Devil and his Angels are out of; and you both, and all your seeming Profession, and Religion, and Wor­ship is denyed, is judged, which is all set up by you (and in­vented) that went forth from the Apostles, and are repro­bate from their faith and life, and set up your Church and Ministry, and all that do partain to it, by a usurpt authori­ty, which was getting up before the Apostle deceased; and so are amongst all the foolish prophets, and false Ptophets, vvho are ravened from the spirit of God, and follow their own spirit, and so are with the spirit of the Lord God, and Truth, and the true Prophets, Apostles and Christ, jud­ged.

He saith, The quakers saith, that we are in hatred, and kills, and slayes men for the worship of God, and that we have another spirit then Christ and his Apostles; and the reading over their prayers troubleth and afflicteth the righteous one, and praying to Names, and minding Images, keepes them from the life and power of God, which is the eross of Christ, and the spirit in which they ought to pray, of which the Lord knoweth the meaning.

Ans. Your Images, your Names, your praying with Beads, your formal hypocritical fasts, and your hatred, and kil­ling, and staying men for the Worship of God, doth shew your fruits and practice that you are of another spirit then Christ and the Apostles; & your Pope shall come down, who hath been high, and one of the inventers of these things, con­trary to the power of God, the Cross of Christ; and so your stony hearts hath set up your wooden and stony cross, who hath lost the power of God, the cross of Christ, the power of God, the praying in the spirit, with which we fathom you all.

And whereas thou sayest, We Catholicks do expresly deny that we do not kill men concerning the worship of God, but that there hath been some killed who would have destroyed the worship of God, that is not denyed by us; for what insolency and arrogancy hath there been committed in the Catholick Church? how many Alters have they cast under-foot, burnt the Images of Christ & his Saints, ravished the spiritual Virgins, & kill'd divers Priests, and sought to turn all things up-fide-down that hath been used in the Catholick Church [Page 22]over since the Apostles time? what wonder is it then that for such practises some were killed; and some others was slain that did not commit such things, it is not permitted to blaspheme against the Church of God.

Ans. This is false; for you do, and have kill'd men for the Worship and Service of the living God, and you have not the Worship nor service of God amongst you, in truth, and so men cannot destroy that which you have not; and if you was in the Worship and Service of God, (which is in the spirit, and in the truth) you was not to have kill'd men, and take away their lives, if they would have killed you: Did Christ and the Apostles do so? Nay, Christ said, My King­dom is not of this world, if it were, they would fight, and he could have called his servants. And now you have shewed your king­dom which is of this World; and do you call that insolency and arrogancy to break down your images and altars? Was not this the work and service of God to do so? Had the A­postles altars, earthen altars, and images of Christ and his Saints amongst them? alack for you, you have lost the image of God, & the power of God; prove by the Scripture where they had such things amongst them, that the Apostle had set up by the command of the Apostles: Was not the work of the Magistrates to break down the images and the alters? and is it your work to set them up, and kill men for break­ing them down? How is this Star fallen into the Eatth, as John speaks of? and how is your Candlestick removed from you? I tell you plainly, Those that worship God in the spi­rit, and in truth, cannot hold up your Images & your altars, but break them down, and the founder of them, the Mind that set them up; and Christ that said to the Woman of Sa­maria that was looking at outward Worships at Jerusalem, Sa­maria, and the Mountain where Jacobs Well was, They wor­shipped they knew not what, but salvation was to the Iews, and they that worship the Father, they must worship him in spirit and in truth; and ye that call your selves Christians, turn into images and earthly alters; away with your deceit, all that fears God will break them down, and then you will rage like the Heathen, about your dead Images and your al­tars: [Page 23]Did not the Apostle bring the Hebrews off of the Ear­then Altars to Christ; and Tabernacle, and outward things, to the substance; and your souls are crying under your ear­then altars, which is Esau killing and slaying the just, though you have often washed it with tears (Esau-like) and those that have ravished divers of those you call spiritual Virgins, and kill'd many of your Priests.

As for ravishing and killing, and taking away lives about Religion, was not amongst the Apostles, and denyed by us who be in their power; but they are like unto your own fruits and actions, as many of the poor Heathen may wit­ness, and the poor Martyrs and Saints. And for Spiritual Virgins, their fruits and yours have declared it unspiritual, unlike spirit; for them that be in the spirit, that was looked upon as men turning the World up-side-down, as the Elect (called Quakers) are now; for they brought the people (Jews and Gentiles) off all their Types, Figures and Shadovvs, and off all their Images, outward Temples, Tythes and Priests, which you (apostates from the Apostles) have set up, your Images, Temples, Tythes and Priests; so the same cry is found amongst you in this age novv, as vvas in the days of the Apostles amongst the Heathen and Jews, who lived in Images, Temples, Tythes and Priests, as you do novv, vvho cryed, help men of Israel, these are them which turn the world up­side-down; and so you cry, Help Pope, help carnal men, help arm of flesh, keep up your Images, keep up your Tythes, keep up your Temples, for these Quakers are them which turns the World up-side-down. I say, Yes: We are come to the Apostles Doctrine and Power, and we cannot but visit Christ in prison, who hath been slain from the foundations of the World, on the top of it we are come, and before the foundation of the World was, were we elected, a top of it reigns, and Christ the truth reigns now a top of all your de­ceit, a top of all the World, who was dead, and is alive, and lives for evermore; and so you are all like the old World, raging; and Sodom against Noah and Lot, so are you against the Righteous, and a true Word that you say, all of an up­roar; and so like the raging Priests, raging Heathen, raging [Page 24]Pharisees, and not like unto the Apostles, which is come into that which was before the World was made, where no up­roar is, for that's in the World and your Church, and not in the Church of the Apostles, the Church of God, which is the Pillar and ground of Truth, which the Gares of Hell cannot prevail against, it cannot be turned up-side-down; but your Church which is of an uproar, and the World, which must be turned up-side-down; so not a true Church, but like Pharisees and Heathen, that was against the Apo­stles, and the Church of God was never in an uproar; and you Papists, if you dare venture your Church without your carnal Weapons, and see if the Gates of Hell will not prevail against it; nay, hath he not prevailed against it already? that you are become the greatest Synagogue that he hath in the World, thus held up with Cains Weapons, not Abels and Christs, but like the Jews and chief Priests (as you do speak of) that doth come with Swords and Staves against Christ, the plagues of God is your portion, and your Popes Church was made up of the blasphemers that went forth from the Apostles, vvhich John saw in the Revelations blas­pheming against God and his Tabernacle, and killing and murdering his Saints; but the Apostles and Christ, when they came amongst Blasphemers, they did not burn them, rack them, put them in a House called Inquisition: Was there ever such a company of Massacreans known upon the Earth as the Pope and his Weeds and Rags that he makes up his Church withall?

And the Popes Church is no true Church, but a false Church, got up since the Apostles.

And thou sayest, The man that will do presumptuously, and not being obedient to the command of the Priest, that man shall dye the death by the sentence of the Iudge.

Ans. This is like unto the Papists Doctrine; but the Priest­hood is changed, whose lips vvas to preserve knowledge, and had his Pulpit; under which Levitical Priesthood the people received the Law, vvhich Law Christ is the end of to every believer; and that Priesthood changed, made by the Law of God, and the Law is changed also, and the Law of the spi­rit [Page 25]of life is come in, and Christ Jesus the everlasting Priest­hood, whom the people must hear, and every one that doth not hear him, is to be cut off from the people with spiritual Weapons, not with the carnal, he doth not say so (though the Priest in the Law) the man should dye that spoke presum­ptuously, and would not hearken to the priest, that had been a Worshipper of Images, and a server of other Gods, and he not hearkning to the Priest, vvho is to stand up to minister, even that man should dye, and all the people should hear and fear, and do no more so presumptuously. Now Christ who is the end of this Priesthood, that Ministry, faith the Disciples to him that stood up to minister, when the presum­ptuous ones stood against Christ, it was commanded fire to come down from Heaven to consume them, said they to Christ the everlasting Priest and Judge; nay saith Christ the everlasting Priest, ye know not what spirit ye are of; I come not to destroy mens lives, but to save them, who kills and slays with the sword, which is the Words of his mouth; and so though there was killing and slaying blasphemers in the time of the Law vvith carnal Weapons, yet the Apostles vvhich went amongst blasphemers, who said, Every soul must be subject to the higher Power, that which was ordained of God; for the soul is immortal, and the power is immortal to which it must be subject to; and speaking of help Magistrates for Go­vernment, yet he did not say, Thou shalt kill blasphemers and hereticks, though the Apostle vvent amongst many he­reticks, and blasphemers, and brochers of errors; and Christ vvhich came amongst the Jews (the Priests) a company of blasphemers, who spoke presumptuously, and said he was the Prince of Devils; Christ who is the end of the Law, did not destroy all these blasphemers, who had all povver in Heaven and Earth given to him, by carnal Weapons and In­quisitions, and bid people make fires to throw them in; novv he destroyed death, and he that hath the power of death, the Devil, and his Works, which is blasphemy, error, seducing, presumption; yet Christ did not destroy the crea­ture, destroy mens lives.

Therefore now you Papists and your Church is proved to be out of the Apostles Doctrine, and Christs, who struck at, and cut down the spiritual Wickednesses, the powers of darkness, and rulers of darkness, and death, and him that hath the power of death; and this Priesthood is to be heard, Christ Jesus, and not the first priesthood that slayes and kills such as will not hear him; which priesthood is changed, and the Law by which it was made; so he is not to be head that slayes mens lives, but he that comes to save them; This is my beloved Son, saith God, hear him, saith God; and the Apostle that brought people off the first priesthood, said, God who at sun­dry times, and in divers manners had spoken to them by the Fathers and the Prophets, hath now spoken unto us by his Son; and Moses said they were the Son in all things; and Stephen when he was stoned to death, and God said he would give him for a covenant, and he should be the leader of his people, and all to learn of him, and love enemies, he who will give to eve­ry man a reward according to his Works; and you shall have a reward according to your Workes: and so the Apostle acknowledged he had been a blasphemer, when he was con­verted; and if they should have gone about to have kill'd all the blasphemers, as you do, (which you call blasphemers) then they should have kill'd the Apostle, who are the blas­phemers your selves, who are like unto Paul before he was converted, persecuting others whom he thought was in the blasphemy, when he himself was there in it, as he confessed afterwards. And so your Church is like unto the Jewes and Cain, persecutors: Now the law and higher power is gone over you all, Cain and you all; the Jewes and you both; which law was before any transgression; & so you are found in the presumption, usurping authority, who set up another priesthood since the dayes of the Apostles, and have killed and slain those that will not conform to you; now it was the work of Christ and the Apostles, whom ye have denied, who wrestled not with flesh and blood, as you do, apostates from them; but with the principallities and powers, and spirituall wickednesses, rulers of darkness in high places, and so they destroyed the ground of presumption, & error, & blasphemy & seducings; & Christ destroyd the devil that went [Page 27]out of truth; and death, vvhere he sets up his authority and his vvorks on this seed of God, comes over all, here to beget, and the ground and cause of Error, Presumption and Blasphemy, Christ destroyed, who comes to save mens lives, who doth enlighten every man that cometh into the World, which believing in the light are saved, which not condem­ned. And that is the Word of the Lord God to you all; and those Scriptures in the Romans and Hebrews, are owned, and the everlasting Priesthood, the Seed of God, Christ Jesus, is raised up to trample down all presumptuous ones, blas­phemous ones, and they that speak presumptuously against him; this Priest Christ Jesus, they shall dye before the Judge, who will kill with the sword, and slay with the sword, which is the word of his mouth, and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory, when the Beast is taken, and with him the false Prophet, and the Devil, and the Dragon, and Sa­tan, deceivers of the Nations, they shall deceive them no more, but shall be cast alive in the Lake of Fire that burns with brimstone, and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory; and rejoyce over them you Prophets and Saints, and all the Plagues, and Woes, and Vials, and Thunders, and Wrath of the Lord God Almighty is to come upon you, and blood you must have to drink that have drunk blood; and he that kills with the sword, must perish with the sword; and here's the faith and patience of the Saints, who over­comes with the blood of the Lamb; but you have overcome Nations vvith your swords since the dayes of Christ and the Apostles, apostatized from them; and the Apostles overcame by their spiritual Weapons, the Powers of darkness, and not carnal.

Whereas thou saith, The Magistrate bears not the Sword for naught, for he is the Minister of God to take vengeance on him that doth evil. Let not the Quaker say any more that we have another spirit then Christ and his Apostles, till he hath confuted this, and with clear Scripture proved, That such as seek to turn all things con­cerning the Worship of God, and set the World in an uprour, that op­presseth the innocent, and may not such be killed and punished? And when he hath shewed this, then from thence will follow, that they bear [Page 28]the sword in vain; it is flat against the Doctrine of the Apostle Paul, who had another spirit then they who are of an evil Sect, that set the world on an uproar by quaking.

Ans. The Apostle who said, Let every soul be subject to the higher power, which soul is immortal, and power immortal; they were them that set the whole World in an uproar, Jews and Gentiles; and Christ set all Jerusalem in an uproar, that Herod was fain to gather all the chief priests together. Novv you and the World that will be set in an uproar, you shevv what Church you are of you are like Jews and Gentiles, in the trangression, and not like the Apostles, and not the Church, the pillar and ground of truth that cannot be shaken. And the Prophets trembled, David, Ieremiah, Daniel, and in the dayes of Esay, and the Apostle Paul among the Corinthians; and he bids the Saints work out their salvation with fear and trembling; and these set the World on an uproar, and Christ, who said false prophets should come, vvhich Iohn saw vvas come, vvent forth from them in the Revelations, vvhich all the World vvent after them; Iohn saith in the Revelations, there must be an Earthquake, and such an Earthquake which hath not been from the foundation of the World. Now all you amongst whom there is such an uproar made by them that tremble at the Word of God, whom God re­gards, you are all to be shaken, vvith all your Images, and Worships, and Teachers, and foundation of them, as all the Iews and Gentiles which stood in their inventions, and types, and figures, and shadows, must all be shaken, amongst whom was the uproar, as is novv amongst you, which be all in your false Worship of the Beast; and the Apostles did not destroy the simplicity nor the innocency amongst people; the Iews might have said as you Papists say, The Apostle destroyed the Worship of God, vvho brought them off of their Tem­ple, Tythes, Priests, Offerings, vvhich God had commanded, to the substance; and the Gentiles might have said the Apostle destroyed the Worship of their gods, as ye say now the Quakers destroy the Worship of God, which brings you off of your invented Temples, Tythes, Priests and Images, and say they destroy the simplicity; I say, No, they do not de­stroy [Page 29]that; and the Iews were held up by a Law, by the Priests and Magistrates, their Worship; and so vvas the Gentiles as you are; and all these may cry, Higher Power, and Magi­strates Sword; for the Iews Magistrates and the Gentiles tur­ned against the Apostles, as yours do now against the Qua­kers; yet I shall tell you, the higher power, the Magistrates sword goes over you all, and the higher power over Iews, o­ver Gentiles, over you papists, over you all, & hath taken ven­geance of you all; and every Heathen Inventer will cry, higher power, who lives in his images and idols; and the Apo­stle that witnessed the higher power, went amongst all the principalities and powers, thrones and dominions, and he preach­ed and established a power above them all. So neither you, nor Iews, nor Gentiles, worships God, that sees not Christ who is the end of the first priesthood, the end of all your outward Temples, Tythes, and Offerings, and that lives in Images and Idols; for they that worship God, must worship him in spirit and in truth, that the Devil is out of, and that cannot be destroyed, the gates of Hell cannot prevail against that. So your Worship that is not in the spirit and truth, but in Images, and Idols, and Temples, (like Gentiles) which the Apostles came to destroy and overturn the Iews which stood in outward things, which you papists who be got up since their decease, and vvorship vvhat you have invented, and ravenned from the Spirit, the true Worship, vvhich true Worshippers worship in; and so there you kill and slay men, who are out of the truth and spirit, your Idols, and Images, and outward things; for vvho vvorships God in the spirit and the truth, (whom the Devil and the murtherer is out of) murthers none about Worship; and the Apostles did not mur­ther any, nor kill them that opposed them in their Worship, nor did not bid the Magistrates kill and slay any about their Worship; and they was killed, and slain, and murthered by the false Worshippers of the Iews and Gentiles, as you false Worshippers ravened from the spirit, and apostatized from them; and so your Worships, killing and slaying men about your Worship, is not like unto the Apostles, but like unto the Iews and Gentiles, and the Devils Worship, who must [Page 30]worship out of truth; and the higher power is over all this, which the soul must be subject to; and they be true Worship­pers, and doth not destroy any creature about Worship; you never read that the Apostles and Christ did so, who is the end of the Law and Prophets, that established the higher power, and that they should bid the higher power take away mens lives for blasphemy, but they came to save them; and wrastled not with flesh and blood, but with the principalli­ties and powers, and Rulers of darkness that they wrastled against. Now you that destroy mens lives, and wrastle with flesh and blood about your Worship, you are in the power of darkness, and not the true Worshippers of God in spirit and truth; against the powers of darkness you do not wrastle, but with flesh and blood, and destroyes mens lives, and not save them, and so are not the true Worshippers of God in spirit and in truth, and your souls are not come to the high­er power, but the higher power is gone over you all, and so you are all ignorant of the higher power which goes over all the transgressors upon the earth, and answers the principle of God in every one that hath been transgressed, and hath been under the Power of the Beast, which hath been over all Kindreds, Tongues, and Nations, and this you call higher power, and by this power hath all the blood been shed since the dayes of the Apostles, about Religion, and every Nati­on, Kindred, Tongues, and People, will cry, Higher Pow­er, which is the Beast by which all the blood hath been shed since the dayes of the Apostles, and all the Saints have been murthered, which was not the Apostles Work, nor the po­wer of Christ. And now the higher power is gone over you, and life and truth both, in which God is worshipped.

Thou sayest, That the Quaker will reprove us because we read our prayers; if this be true, the Quaker judgeth Christ also.

Ans. Nay, we do not judge Christ, for he did not read o­ver prayers by Beads; nor kneel before a Cross, nor David also, and the Apostles; but the Apostles Doctrine was to pray in the spirit, and so your praying and the Saints is different, for the Apostles and Saints lifted up holy hands, and they prayed without wrath and doubting, and for enemies, and [Page 31]you pray against Enemies, and they prayed for them; and you lift up your wicked fist, and hands full of blood, pollu­ted lips, and full of Wrath; and this was not the Work of the Apostles; love enemies, and without Wrath, and pray in the spirit, and pray for enemies: Take away their lives, cry you; put him in the Inquisition, make a sire, burn him; rack him, if he will not turn and own your Images and Idols, which are got up since the dayes of the Apostles; for you cannot be said to pray for Enemies, and love Enemies, while it is your principle to kill them. So you Apostates hath tram­pled the Doctrine of Christ and the Apostles under feet, Mat. 5. and are not in the mercy.

Further thou saist, That the Quaker saith that we pray to Names; if he means to Saints Names, we grant that we do pray to them; we desire that they should pray for us, seeing they are Gods friends; for the four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having each Harps and golden Sensers, which are the prayers of the Saints, saith the Text, Rev. 5.

Ans. We do not read that the Saints prayed to these El­ders which had the golden Vials full of odours, with the prayers of Saints; and you never read that ever the Apo­stles and Christ gave any such command that any should pray to the Saints (after they were deceased) to pray them, to pray for them; and so, if any one did ask, the command of Christ was, to ask in his Name; and, Thou shalt not serve a­ny other God but me, saith God, and I will be your God, pray unto me, and seek unto me. Now did the Apostles pray unto Moses, Abraham, Enoch, Abel, Ieremiah, or Isaiah? Did the Apostles which after some of them were slain, the rest of the Apostles pray unto those that were slain? Give me an example in the Scripture, and prove it by it, the Words of God, and tell me where it is written, if ever Christ commanded such a thing, who is the Word, or else acknowledge your selves to be setters up of inventions openly to all the World, & can­not make it good by Scripture or Example from any of the Apostles, but are in the apostacy from the Apostles, which is utterly to be denyed by the power and spirit they were in, in which the Saints pray.

And whereas thou sayest, The Quaker also thinketh that we pray to Images; but the Images which we have, that do represent Christ, they are that we seeing them, should have fresh memory of the bitter sufferings of Christ, and through that stirs up our re­pentance.

Ans. It seems when you are at your prayers you would not remember Christ except you have the Images of Christ and the Apostles, and his sufferings you should forget; and they put your earthly minds in remembrance of him, the Apo­stles, and his sufferings, these earthly Images doth, and stirs you up to repentance; Did the Apostles and the Saints make Images of Christ, that when they prayed, these Images should stir up their minds, and put them in remembrance of Christ and his sufferings? Had the Saints in all their Epistles, had they Images of Saints to put them in mind of the Apostles to pray before, and a earthly cross to put them in mind of the cross of Christ, to pray before, and stir them up to re­pentance? It seems earthly Images and Crosses stirs you up to repentance, and puts you in mind of Christ, but it shews that you are not yet come into repentance from dead Works: Is it like that earthly things, Images, and Crosses, should stir up to repentance, or put people in mind of Christ the mysterie, the power of God? and this doth shew you want the power of God, the mind of Christ in you, his life in you, and righteousness in you, and Christ in you, except you be reprobates; and so reprobates must have dead Images and Idols to put the dead in mind of him; and so the Apostle came to know a state, not laying again the foundation of repentance, but went on to perfection; but to you this is a mysterie; and how can you talk of repen­tance, when you are killing and slaying in your Inquisitions? Hath your dead Images stirr'd you up to no better repen­tance then this, killing, slaying, burning, Inquisitions? Is this like repentance that need not be repented of, which the Apostles was in, who prayed for their Enemies? But your repentance is unrepentance, to serve dead Works, not repen­ted from them, to serve the living God.

And whereas thou sayest, That the Images of the Virgin Ma­ry, and the holy Apostles, and other Saints, beholding their Images we might take courage to follow their foot-steps, seeing they entred into heaven through many tribulations. Let the Quaker then consi­der better before he condemn the Catholicks again.

Ans. The Quaker hath considered, and sees all you Papists to be out of the light, and from the Apostles, so with it con­demned, and your Images of Mary, the Apostles and Christ, who went through great tribulations into the Kingdom, whom you have made Images of Wood and Stone, (to put you in mind of them, as you say) but follows not their steps; for you bring into great tribulations, into Racks, Fires and Inquisitions; and so you follow not Mary, nor Christ, nor the Apostles, but follow Cain, and the persecuting Pha­risees; and you follow not truth, and they that worship in it; but the Devil that is out of it, the murtherer, whose chil­dren you are, who fits in his Throne executing his Will, and many has overcome, and through truth are made free; and witnesse the Throne of God, his power and dominion; for did Mary, Christ, and the Apostles, (of whom you have made Wooden Images, and Stone Images) bring peo­ple into great tribulations, Fires, and Racks, and Inquisiti­ons? O no; you may deceive the World, but the Elect you cannot; I challenge all Papists to come out upon the Earth. So you are them that makes the life of Christ suffer in his Saints, and prison him, and makes him suffer unspeakably, and them that goes through tribulations; and yet you tell the World you follow him, but Christ tells you, you follow the Devil, and his Works you do, not Christs, as you may read in John, who are the murtherers, and doing the Works of your Father, and not the Work of Christ and his Father; and thus Christ tells you, you are of your father the Devil, who are murtherers and persecutors, and not visiters of Christ in prison, but casters of him into prison.

Whereas thou sayest, These Images and things that are to be seen, as Images and Crosses, are not to be worshipped, but that which theyre presentis to be praised and honoured

Ans. Let us see if you can honor, and praise, and worship God without your Images, and remember God, and Christ, and the Apostles, without Images of them, then you will be tryed whether you worship them, or not; throw down all your lying signs which hath made people to wonder at, w^ch the Beast hath set up, w^ch hath compelled others to worship; & have not you compelled, or burned, or rackt, and put into your Inquisitions such as will not worship you? Now did ever Christ or his Apostles do so? O lamentable ignorance that is found amongst you! Cruelty & unmercifulness, & gravesful of the dead mens bones, and the blood of the Saints have you drunk, that would not worship: Did the Apostles drink any mans blood that would not worship? make a fire, and burn their flesh and blood in, as you do? Make Inquisitions, and rack them to death there? You talk of the Saints sufferings who are thus making them to suffer so as hath hardly been heard upon the Earth; but the Elect sees you, and the Saints; I challenge all the Papists upon the Earth to answer me, Where ever the Apostles, and the Saints in the Epi­stles set up a Wooden Cross, or Stone; or Wooden Images, or Stone Images of Christ, and Mary, and prayed before them; get a company of Beads, and drop them as they pray­ed; answer me then. Where the Church commanded such things, and set up such things before the Apostles deceased? and then you say things to purpose Now the Apostles that was the Christians, and the Saints, was converted, they need not have an Image of Christ made of stone, or an Image of Mary made of a piece of Wood, to bring them to repen­tance, and put them in mind of him, as you do. Now its a sign you are not converted, and have not repented yet, but are them that are ravened from the spirit of God, and are found amongst the dead Works, apostatized from the Apo­stles.

And whereas thou sayest, The quaker saith the Pope sits high, and that all is but earth, and they worship earth and earthly things, we confesse willingly that the Pope sits high, for it hath pleased God to exalt him to so high an estate; for as in the Old Testament there was a visible head to govern Gods Church, to wit, the high Priest, as appears [Page 35]in the Books of Moses, that who would not obey the command of the High Priest, should dye; and in the New Testament Christ was the Head of his Church before his ascention, and remains the invisi­ble Head to eternity; so then the Church after his ascention, go­verned by a visible Head; it appears by the Scriptures that Christ appointed Peter to be Head of his Church, Ioh. 21. when he said, Feed my sheep; whose place the Pope of Rome succeeds. Therefore the Quaker may take heed how he speakes blasphemy of the Pope.

Ans. The Quakers cannot blaspheme the Pope in speaking truth of him; and they are out of the ground of blasphe­my, against your false Pope; and he is not the Successor of Peter, but of Cain; who is killing, who is the Sacrificer that is slaying his brother Abel; Come, we shall measure you by Peter; we shall measure Pope and Peter, which you say Peter was the Head of the Church; but the Apostle will tell you otherwise, that Christ was the Head of the Church, and they had not power over mens faith; but we shall measure the Pope with Peter; Did Peter that time that he was Head, when he was an Elder, (he does not say he was a Bishop, or a Pope) Did Peter make Inquisitions whilest he was Head, to prison any Hereticks, rack them to death, make fires to burn any? Did any accuse any before Peter? And did Peter the Mini­ster of God say he should dye if he did not hear him, and turn him over to the Judge and earthly powers to put him to death? Was this Peters Work? Did Peter do as the peo­ple did in the Law, the man that would not hear the Priest should dye the death, and do no more so presumptuously? Did not Peter bring them off of the priesthood spoken of in the Books of Moses, and to the end of Moses? And did not the Apostle say, While Moses was read, the vale was over their hearts? And do not you keep the Vale over your hearts? And did not Peter which brought the people from the Vale to the end of Mo­ses, from the first priesthood, from that, to Christ the Head, the end of the Law and Priests both, and bid them love e­nemies, shew mercy? and did ever Peter put any outwardly to death, or cause any so to do that was in the presumpti­on, and did not hear him? Did he deliver them over to a [Page 36]Magistrates power to put them to death, though he saw ma­ny that spoke presumptuously, their damnable Heresies, yet you do not see that Peter had any Fire, Inquisitions or racks to pull peoples bodies to pieces, but was himself a sufferer to death, in suffering, and leaving us for an example, that we should follow his steps; and when he suffered, he did not threaten; and they was called to render to no man railing for railing; and they was to lay aside all envy. Now Peter saw you coming up, to wit, in Caias Way, murtherers, and many follow their pernicious Ways, which should be like unto ra­ging Sodom, against just Lot, and the old World against Noah the eighth person; and like unto Balaam, go from the spirit of God; and like unto Corah, that turned against the Just. Now we shal see, Is the Pope like Peter? Is he not killing, slay­ing, giving order so to do? It's blasphemy for the Pope to say he is the visible Head of Christs Church, who burns, kils, tortures, racks, hath mangled the Saints, set up his Inquisiti­ons, and destroyed the Saints in it; is he Peters Successor here? Is he like Peter? Doth not Peter exhort to suffering, and long-suffering, and patience? Instead of suffering, he and you are killing, and causing to suffer, and burning the Saints: Is this like the Image of Peter? And the Rock and Church is Christ, which he is the Head of. Did Peter set up a compa­ny of Crosses, and Tythes, and Temples, East and West, and pray by Beads, and call upon the Saints, and set up a Woo­den Image of Christ, and a Stone Image, and of Mary, to put him in mind of Christ, and bring him into repentance, and to think of his sufferings, as the Pope has done? Come, prove this by Scripture; come, let me see Peters order for all this, and commands in the true Church; where Peter and the Church commanded these things in the Epistles and Scrip­tures of truth, That the Pope might follow him to be his Successor in those things, that Peter might be their example that they might follow Christs steps, and Peter which fed the sheep, who was the Successor; But are you like Peter, that kils sheep, and puts them in Fires and Inquisitions? If the Pope, Jesuits, Cardinals, &c. were sheep and lambs, their fruits would shew it forth; for did ever the sheep and the [Page 37]lambs burn any, make Inquisitions, and kil any? Was ever the sheep fed amongst the Apostles by such as made Inquisi­tions and Fires to burn others that withstood them, & racks to tear them to pieces that would not turn to their Religi­on? Are not you such feeders with your Inquisitions, Racks and Fires? Are you like Peter, and the Apostles, and Christ? but distinct from them all; for they loved Enemies, & pray­ed for them: So all Peters Exhortations tends to love, pati­ence, forbearance, and sufferings; for here was the Law of Peter, What glory is it, if when you be buffetted for your faults, ye take it patiently? but when ye do well, and suffer, this is accep­table to God; and he bids them be gentle to the froward, shewing Christ the example. Now these was the sufferers that was to be buffetted for no fault; now if you were Peters Suc­cessors, you would not be buffetters; for Peter and them that was with him, were the buffetted, and you are the buffetters; nay, cannot be contented with that, but are as greedy as Cain, you wil have their blood; novv if you vvere the buf­fetted for a fault, or no fault, where is the Popes patience, and take it patiently that he might be acceptable to God? No, cry you, if he wil not hear the priest, he shall not live; and flyes to the first priesthood, which is changed, which was before Christ came in the flesh; and now see what a puddle you are fallen into; for you are neither according to the first priesthood, nor according to Peter; I shall measure you: Did the first priesthood set up Wooden Crosses, and Stone Cros­ses, and Images, and Wooden Images, and Stone Images of Abraham, Enoch, or Abel? and pray by Beads, and make Nunneries to put Virgins in, Men in one, and Women in the other, like Stables men use to part Horses from Mares, and Bulls from Kine, and Rams from Sheep? Had they no more power over themselves, Wills & Bodies? Did Peter set up such Houses for Virgins & yong men? We shal measure you by the first priesthood; Did the first priesthood pray unto Abraham, Enoch, or Abel? answer me: Or did Peter bid the Saints pray to Mary, or Mary Magdalen, or Stephen, & James? Answer me these things by Scriptures, (the Words of God) Where ever any of the holy men of God practised any such thing; & did not Peter & the Apostles bring off of all the changeable things, [Page 38]to Christ the substance. Now if people must follow Peter, (and you say you follow Peter) must not people follow that which Peter saith then? and not you that set up such things that Peter did not, since the dayes of Peter, which neither the first priesthood, which Christ came to end, nor the Apostle, held up such things which you have set up since their days, and so all judged by the life and power they were in; And the Law came by Moses, but Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ. So which of you can read that? And the Law will cut off Blasphemers, and cut off men, but Grace comes by Jesus Christ, which saves mens lives; Go, learn what that means. You talk after the Prophets, Moses, and the Apo­stles words, but in the life you are judged by them all, and them that come into their life.

And whereas he saith, If the Quaker will be a sheep of Christ, he must submit under the obedience of the Pope, to be fed with knowledge and Doctrine. And the Quaker also saith, All is earth; the worship is earth, the Pope is earth, and those that worship him are earth, and that so all is earth.

Ans. The Quaker hath knowledge, wisdom, and under­standing, which comprehends the Pope, and sees before he was, & coming to that the Apostles was in; and the quakers are the sheep of Christ, they never wooried any Wolves, nor burnt none; they have no Inquisitions to rack people, and tear peoples bodies to pieces, as you have; and the Quakers sees what food you have to give to the sheep, and what pro­vision you made for them, and entertainment, an Inquisiti­on, and a Gaol, and a heap of burning Faggots, and a Rack to tear their bodies to pieces; and they have no Wooden Crosses, nor Beads to pray by, nor the Saints Names, but do as the Apostles did; and this is the sheeps food amongst you, and they have tasted of it, as now there is two sheep in your Inquisition at Rome, they went to see what food you had for Lambs, which is an Inquisition, and that is your food, and your provision for the Lord Christ, who is the head of the true Church; and Christ was never called the Head of persecutors and murtherers, he never headed them, he was never their Leader, but he was the sufferer, and the [Page 39]and the leader of the sufferers; and so your Pope is earth, and Worship earth, exalted himself like unto Corah, in his usurped authority, for Christ and God never put him into that, but as he suffered the Devil, Beast and False Prophet to reign, which is now taken, and is to be cast alive into the lake of fire, for the Lamb and the Saints shall have the vi­ctory.

And whereas thou sayest, In the Scriptures there are three sorts of Worships found; the first is a civil Worship, a second Wor­ship is to the Angels, and the Saints are worshipped; a third Wor­ship is that which belongs to God alone: Abraham and Lot did wor­stip the Angells, and the civil worship stands in Iosephs Brethren worshiping of him, and the children of the Prophets lying flat upon the ground did worship Elias; therefore be it far from the Pope that he should suffer himself to be worshiped as God, who names himselfe a servant of the servants of God, who is an ambassador of God the highest King; for what is bound or loosed on earth, shall be bound and loosed in heaven; so that the honor that is given to the Pope, is more given to God then the Pope.

Ans. Out of these three Worships, Saints, Angels, God, is the Pope found, apostatized from the Apostles and the ho­ly men ye speak of. Now though in the old time there was a bowing before the Angels, and a bowing in the figure the type, and Iohn in the Revelations would have bowed to the Angel, and have worshiped him, but the Angel bid him see that he did it not, for he was one of his fellow-servants, and his brethren, and bid him worship God; and the Apostle saith, Every knee shall bow to Jesus, and every tongue shal confess to him, to the glory of God: So now mark, though they bowed to the Angels in the old time, yet the Angell saith in the Revelations, See you do it not, worship God, and we never read that the Angels or holy men of God compelled any to worship them; but indeed the Devil came and tempted to fall down, and worship, who is out of the truth, he tempted the Truth to fall under him, and you that are got up since the dayes of the Apostles, which Iohn calls the Beast, hath compelled all small and great to wor­ship him, and so now we say worship God, and every knee [Page 40]bow to Christ, and every tongue confess him to the glory of God, and worship him, and not the Angells. And the Saints honour is owned in its place, and you are none of them. And for your saying the Pope is the Embassador of the great King, God, that is blasphemy; for did God and Christ ever send such an Embassador (or the Devil) to make havock, to make Inquisitions, to make fire for his Lambs? Is this your Embassador? (and to set up Images and Wooden Crosses & Beads to pray by) Do you not see he is apostatized from the Apostles? How can you but be ashamed of him? Poor silly captives! Was not such the Embassadors of the Devil, (that is out of truth) his messengers, apostles and angels? Are not these the fruits and works of them, and not of the Embassadors of God, which went to unite Nations together in love? Where did Peter (that Embassador) set up his Inqui­fitions and heaps of Faggots, & Racks for them that would not obey him in other Nations whither the Lord sent him? Where did Peter say they should stab or kill Hereticks, and he would give them a pardon, as the Pope doth now? or sell pardons for money, as you and the Pope doth now? Nay, did not Peter say they was not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver & gold? Nay, are not you Judas's Successors, and Cains, that takes the sop, and goes out, and sacrifices, and kills Christ the just, and comes against him with Swords and Staves, with your multitudes (as Judas did) from the chief priest. Nay come further, let us reckon with you and the Pope, who saith he is the visible Head of the Church; and Christ was the visible Head of his Church when he was up­on the Earth; Successors of Peter! you are disapproved. Now we shall see how you are like Christ that Head (as you speak of) while he was upon the Earth: Did not Christ come a­mong the blasphemers and hereticks that was in the Errors, and Seducers? Did he set up an Inquisition in his dayes? Did he set up a heap of Faggots and Racks to tear and burn men to pieces, as you do now, for the blasphemers, for here­ricks? Christ was the Minister upon the Earth then, and stood before God, an everlasting Priesthood; and stood before the Lord God ministring; Hereticks, Errors, Schisms, presump­tuous [Page 41]ones, Blasphemers, Seducers, Gain-sayers that would not hear him, did he make a fire for them all, an Inquisiti­on, a Rack to tear them to pieces, as you do now? Or did he not tell them he would not have them to be destroyed, That he came not to destroy mens lives, but to save them, &c. and bid them be merciful as their heavenly Father was merciful, and love Enemies? for God caused the rain to rain upon the just & the unjust, and the Sun to shine upon them both; and if you love them that love you again, what do you more then the publicans do? So you Pope and Papists is found in the publicans love, and you have your reward; and you will persecute others who be not of your brethren, and so found like the pharisees, in your blind mad zeal, not ac­cording to knowledge, nor Christ, who was clothed with zeal, vvith vvhich am I now. And as for your foolish silly pitty to the quakers, the quakers judgeth; and your bind­ing and loosning hath been in Hell and Death, vvhich hath been from the Devil, and hath let you loose, and binds, and prisons, and chains the servants of the Lord God; and that is blasphemy for the Pope to say he bindeth or looseth any where else, and he and you shall acknovvledge it, if ever you ovvn the living God. And the Devil hath been loosed, of whom you are, and are murtherers of the children of God, and them bind; that is the Word of the Lord God to you; and Christs loosing and binding ye are from, that which is in the Church; and whose servant hath the Pope been, vvho hath ridden upon the righteous, vvho hath preserved the wicked, vvho tollerates murther on the lambs of God, and sheep, as here it is; & he will give him a Bull, and he shall be one of his Canonized Saints, vvhich is the Work of the Devil; did Peter do so?

And whereas he saith, The Apostle Paul saith, Let us approve our selves as the Ministers of God, in much patience, watching, and fasting. And the Quakers saith, The power of God is the cross of Christ, and that we must pray in the spirit: This we have known sixteen hundred years before Quakers were; therefore he must not think that he teacheth us any new thing, O now beloved friend.

Ans. How have you approved your selves in much pati­ence, like the Apostles, when you have had your Fires and Inquisitions? and this hath been your work, which was not the Apostles; and the Apostles fasting, which we own, that was acceptable; but they had not the fist of wickness, and hands full of blood; they had not their Inquisitions, Racks and Fires to burn people in; but they overcame evil with good; and you with your Fires, Inquisitions, & Racks, would overcome the good with your evil; you are quite backward to the Apostles. And if you have known that the power of God was the cross of Christ, or lived in it this sixteen hundred years before quakers came up, and say this is no new thing; in this you shew your ignorance of the Scri­ptures; for the quakers was before sixteen hundred years, as David, Jeremiah, Iob, Paul to the Corinhtians, and to the Hebrews, and they that knew salvation before sixteen hun­dred years that's past, knew it wrought out with feare and trembling; and as I said before to you, if that you had known the power of God had been the cross of Christ, and that you had been in it, what need you have set up your wooden crosses, and stone crosses, which the Apostles, and Peter set up no such thing? so their Successor you are not, and so we comprehend you. And for calling the quakers beloved friends, and do you put them in your Inquisitions, and prison till death? And doth not here your flattery and hypocrisie appeare? Did ever the Apostles imprison their beloved friends till death, and put them in an Inqui­sition? Is not this the love in the dissimulation and hypo­crisie, and Cain's to Abel, and the Pharisees to Christ, and the false Apostles to the true? but with the life of God you and your love, which is but in word, is measured distinct from the Apostles, not to be of God, who hath got sheeps clothing, and fawns upon a lamb as though you loved him, and carry him into your Den, and kill him; let the blood of George Baylie vvitnesse it, and tvvo of the Messengers of the Lord in the Inquisition at Rome, and there is that you call your dearly love you have shewed to the friends of God, and that is your provision, who disapproves your Ministry, your [Page 43]selves nor like unto the Apostles; for that's your provision you provide for his Messengers and Strangers, Lambs and Saints, which Peter never commanded you; and such we de­ny, but Peter we own.

And whereas thou sayest, The Quaker must not be so blind to thin that we do not pray in the spirit because we often kneel before the crose whereupon Christ is represented; he might well understand that these crosses do minister occasion to us to pray in the spirit, how that Jesus Christ for our sins hanged naked upon it, how willingly he spilt his blood for us; considering that, this man becomes asha­med of his sins, stirreth up a repentance, from henceforth to shun sin, and wi [...]h the publican strikes upon his breast, crying, Lord be merciful to me poor sinner: Such occasions doth these Images and Crosses minister unto us to pray in the spirit, and brings us to see heavenly matters; but this the Quaker cannot receive.

Ans. The Quakers doth comprehend your blindness who kneels before your crosses, which did not the Apostles vvho prayed in the spirit; and the Apostles had not earthen Cros­ses to administer to them whereby they might pray in the spirit; but this doth shew you are apostatized from the true Crosse, the power of God, which brought the Saints to pray in the spirit; and the Scripture doth not say that Christ hanged naked upon the crosse; and your crosses that mini­ster to you, it is an earthly ministry; and so you have set up an earthly means, an earthly Ministry, and your crosses hath not stirred you up to repentance to shun sin, but to run fur­ther into its, to murther, and tear and destroy them that will not pray by your crosses, that earthly means and mini­stry, which the Apostle Peter set up no such ministry to mi­nister means to them, as wooden and stone crosses; & Christ willingly spilling his blood for finners, and suffering, you follow him not, but are them that he suffered by, that spilt the blood of the Saints, which did not Peter and the Apo­stles; where did he spill any blood while he was the visible Head (as you say) here upon earth? Now you, nor Pope, are like the Apostles, or Peter, that spills the blood of others a­bout your Religion, Worship, and Church, and Crosses, and Images; and you with the publican striking your selves upon the breast when you see the wooden crosse, stock, or stone, [Page 44]which it seems you remember it not till then, but when you see your Idol whereby your evil consciences is frighted, and like the publicans you are, as sutable proof for you, uncon­verted; but not like the publican that Christ speaks of, that said, Lord have mercy upon me a sinner, and went away sorrow­ful; which did not say, Lord be merciful to me a sinner, and strike upon his breast before a crosse of wood and stone, as you do. Now come, I will measure the Pope with this publi­can; Had this publican Beads to pray by? Did this publican call upon the Names, Mary, and Mary Magdalen, or Moses, or Isaiah, or Apostles? Or had this publican crosses or ima­ges to pray by? Or had this publican Inquisitions, Fires, or Racks to put all in, and to kill them? He did not pray as you do now, and kill them as Hereticks that doth oppose you, as you do now; and did not the publican pray without names, beads, and crosses, and said onely, Lord have mercy on me a miserable sinner? Now how are you like? Hath not this pub­lican judged you and your practice? And therefore the qua­kers cannot believe you, and sees you want that spirit, who are praying before Images; and the power of God, who are praying before the crosses; and your crosses brings you no further then the Earth, and that's a lye to say they bring you to see heavenly matters; and so I see plainly, that the Pope is the Beast that John speaks of, and full of ignorance, and the false Prophet that must be taken and cast alive into the fire, that hath deceived with his miracles them that dwell upon the earth, and compell'd them to worship him, which is contrary to the Apostles, and Peter. But now people be­gin to fear God, and worship him, and come into the Apo­stles Doctrine you are out of.

And whereas thou sayest, The quaker judgeth himselfe to be righteous: O miserable man! Dost not thou know that that which seems to be holy before man, is oft times stinking before God; there­fore look to it, that it goeth not with thee as with the pharisee. The quaker saith also, Remember when thou lyest on thy death-bed, that thou hast been warned in thy life time. We confess we have been warned in our life time by Gods word, and Gods holy Church, to take heed of such people as the quakers are, now come into the world.

Ans. The quaker doth witness that he is in the righte­ousness of God, Christ Jesus, and he hath looked to it, and is out of that that seems to be righteous, which you are in, which is abominable and filthy before God, which hath been cheemed amongst you, and your righteousness, and the Pharisees party sutable, who professes the Scriptures, and ravened from the Spirit of God, and that which gave it forth, as they profess Scriptures, and out of the righteous life as you are, and turned against the just, and murthered him, as you do, and so by your righteousness can you ne­ver inherit the Kingdome of God; for they loved their brethren, and hated their enemies, and you love your bre­thren, and hate your enemies; and so you have both bro­ken the command of Christ, and trodden it under foot, which is this, Thou shalt love thy enemies, and do good unto them that hate you and persecute you: Do you do so? Have you not broken the command of Christ, trod it under foot, turned away from it? Have you loved your e­nemies, them you call your enemies? Have you not been haters of your friends? Have not you persecuted, and been the persecutors? and so out of the doctrine of Christ and the Apostles, and so hath not done good, but evil; and your righteousness hath not exceeded the Pharisees, you are grown more heathenish then they are: Did they ever pray by Beads, or before a cross, or images of Abraham or Moses, or call upon the Saints names, Abraham, David or Enoch, as you do? how are you like? worse then the grossest Heathen upon the earth: And so remember in your life-time you have been warned, and you and your false Church hath been warned often, but you have not yet repented; and I know your false Church hath warned you of us called Qua­kers, but quaking and trembling you must know, before you know the Apostles doctrine and salvation; and the earth­quakes are coming, such an earth-quake as hath not been seen since the foundation of the world; and plagues, thunders, and earthquakes you must know, before you know us, and the Apostle, and them that hath warned you who comes from the true Church of the Apo­stles, [Page 46]who are of us, you have your Inquisitions and racks for, and Gods word is quite contrary to your practise, Christ Jesus by whom the world was made, and Gods words, both the Scriptures which Christ fulfils who is the Word.

And whereas thou sayest, And the Quakers make poor men believe that they are sent of God, whereof they can prove no cer­tainty; my spirit witnesseth it a poor proof, for all Sects can say so: Do you not see yet that you are founded upon a loose foundation? Do you not despise fasting and praying, which is necessary to salvation? Therefore turn speedily to the Catholick Church before death over­take you, who hath her descent from the holy Apostles, she will learn you all truth; for Paul saith she is a pillar and ground of truth; and follow no more your own spirit that doth pitifully deceive you, for there stands written, Woe to the foolish Prophets, that follow their own spirits and see not herewith, Farewel.

Answ. The Quakers do see that they are founded upon that which cannot be shaken, the Rock Christ Jesus, him by whom the world was made, which the Prophets and Apo­stles was built upon, who alwayes had the testimony of God within to bear witness to what they said, which we witness Christ the end of them, and their spirit witnesseth us, who have the spirit of Christ and his minde, and his Cross the power of God, and his Spirit witnesseth with us, that wee are the Sons of God, and are of God, this we know, and heirs of salvation, elect before the foundation of the world was, and hath a witness in every mans conscience upon the earth, and in it are we quakers made manifest, and is and shall be in yours, and all men upon the earth, and all Sects which you have been the Author of upon the earth, may get Christs and the Apostles words, but being out of the life, their lives with them are you all judged; and fasting and praying that's according to the Apostles, we own in the spirit, and that which is necessary to salvation; but your fastings and your prayers that oppresseth, and lets not the oppressed go free, who hath the wicked fist, and hold up the polluted hands, your wrath, and not praying for ene­mies, but persecuting your enemies like blinde men, and striking at the creature, when you should have struck at the [Page 47]power which captivates creatures, that the creature might have come into the liberty of the sons of God; wee deny this fasting and prayer of yours which is contrary to the Apostles, and is not as theirs was, and your praying to names, which did not the Apostles, neither do we, but in the name of Christ, as did the Apostles, which is the power, and the word, which is called Emanuel: God and the Apostle did exhort whatever was done must be done in the name of Christ; the Papists works that which they think to be saved by, which they do in a pretence, and thinks to be saved by, to blinde people withall, and to colour and cover over the wickedness, and flattery, and deceit, who are the Wolves covered with the sheeps clothing, who will kill and slay like the Pharisees, Jewes and chief Priests, for they pretend works for murtherers, Had ever the murtherers good works? should ever the Devil the Murtherer be saved? but all, his works he pretends among people. Now hee and they both be out of the Works and Charity, and faith, and love that the Apostles were in, and salvation; but be all in the works of condemnation.

Whereas the Protestants say, To lay away sin, and wickedness, and evil, and vanities, and superfluity of naughtiness, it's the Papists works; in this they are deceived, and sheweth they do not know the Papists doctrine, and measureth things not aright with it.

And they that turn to your Popes Church, turns to death from life, as you and they that set it up turned from life, ravened from the spirit, went forth from the Apostles to dead images; and they that turn from you turn to life, to the true Church the Apostles were in; and they that are moved of the Lord to turn to your Church to reprove you and it, from you they have death, and your Inquisitions, Racks and Fires; and Paul doth not say that your church hath her descent from the church of God, his church hee vvas of: and Paul doth not say the Popes church is the pil­lar and ground of truth, and all knovvledge shall be found in her, in the Popes church, but the church the apostles vvere of, before the Popes church came up, the Beast vvhich [Page 48]established his Image in the Earth, which is your Church that the Church of God the Apostles was of, should shew it self forth in ages to come, which now we see it, and are of it; and her glory, and her beauty, and your Churches Wis­dom and Knowledge is earthly, sensual, and devillish, and the fruits hath made it appear. What Fires? What Inquisiti­ons? What Racks? Will your Church teach us thus? Is this her Lesson she reaches? Shall we learn of her thus? Is this the Mother? We know her children whom she hath taught, what earthly, sensual, devillish destroyers? this was not the Church of Christs Work; them that are learned of God, are loved of him; but the Papists Pope hath not learned of the good Samaritan, nor of Christ the true Church; and God hath spread dung upon all your faces, and covered you with it, & marr'd your glory; & Christ destroyed them that went out of the truth, the ground of all presumption and blasphe­my; but he did not destroy the creature by prisons, by fires, by racks; Come, we must measure you; Had the Apostle Paul who was of the Church, had his Church an Inquisition in it, a heap of Faggots, or racks, praying by Beads, Wooden Crosses, and Stone, and Stew-Houses, & distinct Houses to put men & women one from another? Come, where is these fruits in the Church Paul was of? Did not Paul say, If he gave his Body to be burned, and his Goods to the poor, and had not love, he was nothing? And so you have followed your own spirit, and see nothing of the Church of Christ; wo unto you foolish prophets who are gone from the Apostles, and their Spirit, & their Church, which is the pillar and ground of Truth, which Christ is in the midst of, and Head; and your farewel which you have for the Saints, is in your racks, fires, and Inquisitions, as witnesse the Lambs that lies in your Inquisition at Rome, a-top of you all; and your Church is made up of them that went from the Apostles, who hath set up your Images and Idols, and are in Cains way, a company of murtherers, with your Fires, Racks, and Inquisitions, for which the wo lies upon you, which never was in the Church of God, the ground and pillar of Truth; and the Gates of Hell hath prevailed against you, and Death and Hell hath [Page 49]swallowed you up, which wil drink up all before you, which Death and Hell must be taken and cast alive into the Lake of fire, and the false prophet, where he hath had his being; the Beast, Smoke, and the Whore, and she is in the fire, and her smoke ascends upwards; and the Devil, the old deceiver, who is your father, who first brought the creature in bondage, and there set up a Law to destroy the creature; and this hath been the devils principles to murther and destroy, not Christ nor his Apostles; and the Devils belief, and not the Saints faith which overcomes the World, and Autichrist with him, that burns with Brimstone.

And the Apostle did not set up tythes, and temples, as you do amongst you, that has deceived the World, and kept men in earth, in your earthly Images, but the Apostle brought people out of the ninths and tenths both, who redeemed them from the Earth; for man being driven from God by transgression, in the Earth; and Abraham paid the tenth of the spoil to Melchizedeck King of Righteousness; and under the Law that went over all transgressors, which was before transgression was, they paid the tenths of the Earth; and this served the Widows, Strangers, and Levi, and they had all e­nough, that there was not a beggar amongst them whil'st they were faithful to the Law of God. Now Christ who is the end of the Law, redeemed people out of the ninths and tenths of the Earth, up to God again, to reign upon the Earth a-top of all Images, Types, Figures and Shadows, and reigns in Christ the power of God. So you that went from the Apo­stles, the false Prophets that Christ said should come, Matt. 24. which inwardly ravenned, and had the sheeps clothing, which went forth from the Apostle, into the World, 1 Joh. 2.4 which in the Revelations all that dwelt upon the Earth went after you, and then you set up your Images, and ninths, and tenths, and Schools, and Colledges, and made your Mini­sters by your wills there; and your Inquisitions, Racks, and Fires burn'd and kill'd the Saints, and murthered, and o­vercame them and then you the Beast had power, and the Woman fled into the Wilderness, and the Man-child was caught up to God, and you made war with the Seed that kept the commandments of God; and then the Beast wa [...] a­mongst [Page 50]you, who can make war with the Beast? and then the Beast and his Names had power over all Tongues, Kindreds and Nations; and then the Beast, and his Names, and Ima­ges, and his Marks, and Horns, and then the Woman sits up­on the Beast, your Mother the Church, and all Nations drunk her cup of fornication, which Whored from the Apostles, which corrupted all the Earth, and made the Inhabitants thereof drunk; and she sits upon the Waters, which are Peo­ples, Nations, Multitudes, and Tongues; and these Tongues hath made you to be Orthodox men, which is called the O­riginal; and witty men, which is called the pillars of your Church, which John calls Waters, and the Whore and the Beast is upon them. And Pilate set Hebrew, Greek, and Latin a-top of Christ, vvhich crucified him; and there stands your Original which Babel is the beginner of; and again the Man­child should be brought forth to rule the Nations with a rod of Iron; and Babylon should be confounded, and the judge­ment of the great Whore come, and the Beast, and the false prophet should be taken, and with him the Devil, the Dra­gon, the old deceiver, and cast alive into the Lake of fire; and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory, who shal kill with the sword, and slay with the sword, vvhich are the Words of his mouth; but yet you do not read he killed crea­tures; and the everlasting Gospel shall be preached to all Na­tions, Kindreds, and Tongues that dwell upon the Earth, and Christ is risen vvhich vvas before Babel vvas, vvho had the many languages set over him by Pilate, vvho is risen a­gain, and brings into one language, who redeems from Kin­dreds, Tongues and Nations; for you went into the tongues on Earth, vvhen you went from the Apostles; and all of you be like a Sea and Waters; but now shall they be dryed up, & the Sea go back, and the people of God shall inhabit, and the Lamb and the Saints shall have the victory; I was dead, and am alive again, and lives for evermore, who throws down and ends Jews Temples, Tythes, and Priests, who was before they vvas; vvho throws down Gentiles Temples, Images, Tythes, Priests, and Idols; and throws down you that be apo­statized from the Apostles, your Images, lying signs, Tem­ples, [Page 51]Tythes, and Priests, got up since the dayes of the Apo­stles; I will rise over you all, through you all, saith the Lord God; and the Seed of God is risen vvhich vvas before you a­postates, Jews and Gentiles, Tythes and Priests vvas; and the seed of God is set above you all, & a-top of all your Heads, and come to the beginning before they was; and the Seed of God and Christ reigns, and the Church is come to that the Apostles was in, the pillar & ground of truth, & the Apostle's known which was made by the Will of God, not of man, nor by man; and the Church which is the pillar and ground of truth, and vve are of the Church of the living God, and Heirs of the Kingdom of the World which hath no end, and the povver of an endless life, and reigns with Christ for e­ver and ever.

And the Wo is to you who hath preached another Doctrine and Gospel then the Apostles, for they brought peace, and men out of prison, and out of the fire, and Images and i­dols, and from Temple, Tythes, and Priests, and strife, and killing one another, and you bring people all into this; so a nother Doctrine, cursed then the Apostles.

But with the power of the Lord God which the Apostles was in, which you are all gone from, you are all comprehen­ded,

And the life and power of God over you all reigns, and he is come that will judge the World in righteousness, and that is risen vvhich shall thresh you to dust and powder, and the arm of the Lord is turned against you.

From the Authority of the Church in England, the pillar and ground of truth, whom Christ is the head.

IS not the humane Authority from the ground? And was this the authority of the Church of Christ? I say, Nay, it was not; for the authority of the Church of Christ was from a­bove, and so not humane from the ground: And was there any blood shed, as killing of them as you call Hereticks, but the Jesuits and Priests had a hand in it to inform the Magistrates against them? And are not the Jesuits and Priests then, the occasion of shedding of blood? and have they not a hand in it? And whereas you say, Your Church hath no hand of shed­ding of the blood of those you call Hereticks, and yet your Magi­strates are of your Church, and Members of it, and Christi­ans.

Novv a Member is a hand, or a foot; an eye, or a head; so your Church that sheds blood, and the Jesuits and Priests are them that do inform of those you call Hereticks or Blas­phemers, if you will speak plainly vvithout deceit; and so it is your Church that sheds blood in conclusion, vvhich vvas not the Church in the dayes of the Apostles; and then doth not your Pope give pardon to those that kills Hereticks, and such as you Canonized Saints? And here you are turned from the Spirit of the Saints, and the Spirit of the true Church, and are not of the Spirit of Christ, who came to save mens lives, and rebuked that zeal in them that would have had sire come down from Heaven to burn them. So there you are contrary to the spirit of Christ, and your zeal is rebuked. And again the Apostle sayes, We wrestle not with flesh and blood, (did not wrestle with flesh and blood) but with spiritual wickednesses in high places; and he did not inform a­gainst any Hereticks, Schismaticks, or Blasphemers, to the [Page 53]Judges to put them to death, as you Papists have done.

And again, whereas you say, You put them to death as Di­sturbers of the Common-wealth peace, not for Hereticks.

That is false, the whole World may iudge you for that. Now that which disturbs the Common-Wealth & its peace, is strikers and fighters; for the Law is to keep peace: For Man­slayers, and Murderers, and injurious persons, and abusers of themselves with mankind, and this the Apostle spoke of to the doters which did not know what they spoke of, or af­firmed; but we never read, nor the Apostles never did cause any to be put to death, though they were Blasphemers, or Hereticks, or Disturbers of the peace of the Church; so there you are degenerated & gone from the spirit of the Apostles, gone into the spirit of the World; for the Law is to keep down sighters and strikers, but the Gospel is the end of the Law; who comes to the Gospel of Christ, comes to the end of the Law; so they that would not hear the Priest, but spoke pre­sumptuously, was to be delivered to the Judge, and to the Law, and vvas to dye; but vvhen Christ came, the end of that Law, and that Priesthood, Blasphemers and presumptuous ones would not hear him, yet the Law was standing of the Jews, which Christ did not break it, yet he turned them not to it, to put them to death; nor the Apostles them that spoke presumptuously, and would not hear them; so they did not turn them to the Judge, and informth. Judge and Magistrate to put them to death as disturber of the Church; nor put them to the Jews, nor put them to the Gentiles, nor put them to death amongst themselves, with the authority of their own Church; there is no such Law nor Example amongst them. So now your Church is degenerated from that Church and Laws for there was many apostates and he­reticks amongst the Apostles, that went from them yet there was no information from them to put them to death [...]ow your Church will put to death them that be the members of it, and you that be Ministers, [...]at inform against them that be to be put to death [...] your Church, for [...] members, and you the inform [...] of [...], as [Page 54]Hereticks and Blasphemers. So you are apostatized from the Spirit of Christ, for you destroy mens lives, and Christ bids save them; so he is not your example, so your Church is whored from the true Church, and an antichrist.

Now whereas you say, & thou sayes, That Antichrist & the man of sin, is but one man, so not the Pope, because there are many Popes.

Now in this thou deludes the people, and art erred, and contrary to Iohns Doctrine; who saith there are many Antichrists; mark, Many Antichrists are gone into the world; so that if the man of sin be but one, he bursts into many, who now is revealed, and must be discovered in you, which hath been up since the dayes of the Apostles, coming in before they deceased, but now discovered by the Spirit of Truth, and of God, that the Apostles was in, to be ruling and reigning in you; so you are degenerated. Now Peter saw you coming up, and Iude, and Iohn; for Peter tells us, they went in Cains way; and Jude and John said, Love not as Cain; but your love and sacrifices hath been from Cains nature, who slayes your Brethren, and kills your Brethren, which never did the Apostles; and so there is the Cains mark found amongst you; so there's your spirit now tryed.

Again, you are gone from the Apostles light, who lets the Saints see you in Cains way, how they degenerated and apo­postatized; now if you put it off with a shift, and say you Priests and Jesuits do not slay and take away mens lives, and yet you say they are the members of your Church, the Ma­gistrates now that's your shift, and through that shift you have confounded your selves; for the members of the Church of Christ never did put any to death though they were never such Hereticks, or Blasphemers, or Apostates from them before their decease; and there your members have erred from the Church of Christ, and are of the mem­bers of Cain, and not of Christ, and so no true Church.

And then again you say, That your practice and Doctrine of the Church of Rome, is not degenerated from the true Church of Christ that the Apostles were in; & can shew no Scripture for it, your Images, your Beads, your Pictures, your Inquisitions, your burnings, your racking of Saints, not from the Apostles, nor [Page 55]for your Nunneries; but brings a Scripture that the Saints was to hold fast their traditions: Now the traditions which they had been taught, the Apostle instances in the Corinthi­ans, and in the Epistles, what they are; those things they had received from God; but now yours are the traditions of men, that are taught for Doctrine; and the Apostle bids them they should not presume above what was written; It is not written they have set up an outward Crosse or Image of Ma­ry, or Christ, or an outward Crosse of Wood or Stone, and make Inquisitions, and that they put men to death for blas­phemy; & it is not written they made Crucifixes, and set up Tythes, and Earthen Altars, or Wood, or Stone; now you that hold up such things, and pleads for such things, and cannot shew from the Apostles Doctrine that they set up such things, vvhere it is vvritten, you are the presumptuous and the usurped authority, vvho presume above vvhat is vvritten: So any Heathen vvill follow traditions, invent traditions, and teach them for Doctrines, and then may bring the Apostles Words, and say they must hold fast the traditions; therefore it must be, that the traditions of the Apostles was given to the Church of vvhat vvas vvritten; now it is not your traditions, or the Heathens traditions, what they invent; and to bring the Apostles Words, you are too short there; but the Apostles traditions, those are owned, vvhat is vvritten; but yours are not vvritten, nor have not example from Scripture, and so have erred from the Spi­rit.

And then again you say, and thou saith, That we are not skilled in the philosophie, nor are not wise in the philosophy; and thou brings much philosophie to make good thy arguments.

And here again thou, and you, are erred, and apostatized, and degenerated from the true Apostles Doctrine and pra­ctises, for he said, Beware of Philosophy, and forbids it; so thou, and your Church have erred from the true Apostles, and are contrary to their spirit, for saith he, Beware of phi­losophy, for they lye in wait to deceive, and set up the traditions of men.

And then again, whereas thou saith, We know nothing but by tradition.

And that is false, which shews thou art not able to judge aright, nor of our mind; for nothing that we have received, have been from men, nor from traditions, who are come in­to the power the Apostles were in, that was before you were that are apostatized; alack for you, whereas you say you do not slay men for Religion, and they are not the Church.

And then again thou saist, They are members of the Church, and they are the Secular Power.

Now is not a member of the Church, spiritual? and doth he act out of the power of Christ, being a member of the body? Doth not the body and the hand act both from one power? So did ever the members of Christ, that were members of his body, that came to save mens lives, de­stroy mens lives, as you do, who have killed and slain many hundreds since the dayes of the Apostles, for Religion, and for not owning your Bread and Wine, nor your Altars, Ima­ges, nor Crosses? so you are apostatized and erred from the body of Christ, enviers of your brethren, man-slayers, which the Apostle speaks of, which hath not eternal life abiding in them; and then (as the Apostle said) they should hold fast the traditions, & that it was written what tradition, he set down many traditions; and again the Apostle saith, Lit­tle children, keep your selves from Idols; and that is written, it is written so; this is the counsel of the true Church, and the true Church is to be heard, and they that will not hear it, are Heathen; and you have set up Idols, set up Images, Pictures, and Crosses, so apostatized and degenerated from the true Church, from the true Ministry; for your Ministers cryes them up, Images, Crucifixes, Pictures, Beads, praying before Pictures, Crosses, and Beads, that's your Ministers that cryes up such things, which is not written among the Apostles; the true Ministers sayes, Keep your selves from Idols, little children; so you are apostatized from the true Ministers, 1 Ioh. 5. So here you are apostatized from the spirit, and to be in the spirit the Apostle speaks of, the man of sin, and the many Antichrists, and the Beast, and the false prophets [Page 57]spoken of in the Revelations, with the lying signs and won­ders, and lying miracles which the world have gone after, come up since the dayes of the Apostles, which the Apostles said should come, and who hath set up the lying signs and wonders since the days of the Apostles; but (mark) the A­postle said, Keep fast the traditions, who saw these lying signs and wonders come up, which the man of sin in (the Revelations) sets them up by their power and authority: Now if you be not this Beast, and this Man of Sinn entred into your hearts, and these many Antichrists, with your lying signs and wonders, got up since the dayes of the apostles, which he prophesied of, declare who they be, and let us see what be these lying signs and wonders, and who set them up, and let us see what shift you have to cleer your selves; Now I do not put this [If] as for my self, as not knowing you are them, but that you are them; and now truth is come to reckon with you.

And then again, for saying the bread and wine after it is con­secrated, is the body and blood of Christ, (the very body and blood) & after confounds thy self in it, and saith, it was but as the soul was in man, and the outward might perish, and was but as a garment put on a Kings back; and the other unconsecrated put on a Beggars back, and both might perish and was the body of Christ. Now this is like thy Logick, this is a confused torne piece of stuffe; the body of Christ saw no corruption, (on whose back soe­ver thou canst hang him) but bread and wine will see cor­ruption; so with that thou comes poorly off, and pitifully art put to thy shifts, who compares it to a garment conse­crated and unconsecrated, which both may perish, and it is the body of Christ; So if you dare not venter to try it o­penly, and let some Iesuits and Cardinals of the Pope send out of every one of his dominions into any place conveni­ent, that the thing we may be openly and publikely try­ed, Whether or no it will perish like the other bread, or prove divine like the body of Christ that saw no corrupti­on: If they dare come to the tryal openly, (to the Light) or acknowledge your selves workers of darkness, and have done the Devils work all this while, and dare not try it; [Page 58]and Christ had a body after they had eaten that bread as in remembrance of him; and Christ did not eat his own body, did he eat his own body? and the Apostles and he eat bread with the Disciples; and what, did he eat his own body when he bid the Apostles do it in remembrance of him till he was come? And the Apostle bids them, As oft as they eat that bread, and drink that cup, do it in remembrance, to shew forth the Lords death till he come; signifying he was not come; and doth he not come in his body? and that is a bewitching people, and a deceiving people, to tell them it was his body; for if it was his body, it was his body before; and the Apostle said, What he had received of the Lord, he had delivered to the Saints; and that as oft as they eat that, and drunk that, they were to shew forth the Lords death until he come; they was to examine them­selves, and so they was to eat.

And again, there is another Epistle he bids them examine themselves, and try themselves, and prove their own selves, and except they were reprobates, Christ was in them; and so Christ in them, that they needed not any thing to put them in remembrance of him; for that was but a memory of him, and a shewing till he come; and so that cannot pro­perly be said to be him; and a shewing until he come, that was to be done in remembrance of him; now if that be Christ after consecration, he is come; if that be his body and blood, he is come; if that be Christ, he is come; for that was but the remembrance, and you cannot then take that for a memory, and shew till he come; and so that you can carry in your pockets, and cubbards, and desarts, and say Christ is there; mark, there's false Christ, there's Antichrists, and so degenerated, which hath deceived the people, and if it were possible would deceive the Elect, but it is not possi­ble, for the Elect comprehends you; and Christ is come, and reigns in his Kingdom that hath no end; and we need noe Bread and Wine to put us in remembrance of him.

Then again, your Church consecrates often, and makes many bodies, and when one is dead, you make another, which Christs body is but one; and the Apostle tells the true Church, That the power of God was the cross of Christ, that was [Page 59]the true Ministry; and you Ministers tell the people (which is your church) of a wooden crosse, a crosse of stone, and so apostatized from the true Ministers, who have lost the po­wer of God, and true crosse of Christ; therefore now he that sets up, or told them of keeping fast traditions, he told them what the crosse of Christ was, the power of God, and did not set up an earthly Altar and Crosse of Wood and Stone; so you have erred from the Apostles.

And again, thou, and you say the Scripture was the Word: Alack for you, you are ignorant of the Scriptures, of the true Ministers words; for the Ministers of God say they are Words; God spake all these words, saith Moses; and Christ saith, My Words; and Christ was the Word that was before words was spoken forth, who came to fulfil the words, and in him they end; The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin; and he that eats the flesh of Christ, hungers no more: Now you are hungering, and hungering still after your outward bread, nor are you cleansed from all sin; doth the Wine cleanse you from all sin, who are murdering and killing one another about Religion, like Cain, about outward things? your Bread and Wine it is outward things you are killing one another about; it is not because they will not worship God, but because they wil not worship your outward things, and own your outward things in the apostacy from the A­postles; and do you look like people cleansed from your sins, who are so full of pride and filth, and plaiting of the hair, and gold, and costly attire, and spots with black? Are you like the holy Women, like Sarah, you that have apostatized from the Apostles Doctrine? But the effects of the blood of Christ is not at all here seen among you, but you are in Cains way, murderers, which have trampled the blood of the new Covenant under-foot, that hath not the life of God abiding in you, and Jezabel-like in your fasts.

And again, thou art a swearer, and you are swearers; which Christ and the Apostles said, Swear not at all, neither by Hea­ven, nor by Earth, nor by any other eath, lest you fall into condem­nation; but let your yea, be yea; and your nay, nay; for what is more, is evil. So here again you are apostatized from Christ and [Page 60]the true Church, swearers, fall under the condemnation, who are swearing by Mary, and Masse; now if thou shouldest alledge that the Angel swore, or the Prophets, Moses, Abra­ham, or David; Christ is the end of the Prophets, and before Abraham was, and the end of Moses; and the Apostle saith, Swear not at all; men in strife they swear, that is out of co­venant with God, and not in peace; and so the Son of God saith, Swear not at all; who is the end of strife, and brings peo­ple into peace with God, who is the Covenant of peace be­tween God and man, who comprehends time before time was, and ended, whereby all things becomes new; and his Doctrine is, Swear not at all; and this is my beloved Son, hear ye him; and he that hears him not, is to be cut off from the Church.

And again, you have by tradition that which you have from the Apostles; the Jews what they had, was by tradition, but those stood against the thing it self, Christ Jesus, & kil'd him, the Prophets & Apostles; Christ said, they were of their father the Devil, murderers; and so you now, that have by traditi­on the Saints Words, you kill, and have kill'd and burned, and wrestled with flesh and blood, and destroyed in your Inquisitions; and so this shews that you do not know Christ, but are the murderers, who have gotten the prophets, Christ, and the Apostles Words by tradition, and sets up your own traditions and inventions, and teacheth them for Doctrine; for it is plain by your practice, you are degenerated and a­postatized from the Apostles, and erred from their spirit; and so the thing you have stood against, and the life you have wanted, Christ, who said he should save mens lives, you have been destroying of them, that have but the traditions, so have wanted him that should save mens lives, so have been the vagabonds from the Apostles, though you have had large Habitations in the Earth, Cain-like, only what you have had, hath been by tradition, and by fire and sword, that hath been your great Weapons to make people turn to you, to convert them, and such are carnal, which the Apostle did not war withall, nor wrestle with flesh and blood; so there you degenerate from their spirit, and with it, is judged; and [Page 61]we are the true Ministers which are come in to the Apostles spirit, which doth fathom you all.

And this is from the authority of the true Church, the Elect Seed; who are in scorn called Quakers.

MAtthew the 15. the Scribes and Pharisees which were of Jerusalem, came to Jesus, and said, Why do thy Disci­ples transgress the tradition of the Elders, for they wash not their hands when they eat; mark, here the Disciples of Christ trans­gressed the Elders traditions; and that was a tradition to wash their hands before they did eat, and arise: He answers them, Then why do you transgress the command of God by your tradition?

Mark 7. And here you may see the Pharisees and Scribes lived in the traditions of their fathers, and so looked at them more then the commands of God, which they negle­cted; for God commanded, saying, Honor thy father and mo­ther, and he that curseth father or mother, let him dye the death; But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, What gift soever should have come on me, the same is turned to the Prophet, and so shall he not honor his father, nor his mother? and thus have ye made the commands of God of none effect because of your tradition. And when the Pha­risees came from the Market, except they wash, they eat not; and this was a tradition; and many other things which they have received to hold, as washing of cups and pots, and brasse, and vessels, and of Tables; these were the traditions of the Elders which the Disciples brake, therefore was the [Page 62]Pharisees angry with them; and such their hearts was afar off of God, for they was in the traditions, Though with the lips they called on him, in vain did they worship God, teaching for Do­ctrine the commands of men, and laying aside the commands of God; and so Christ rebuked them when they were reasoning with him concerning his Disciples, why they did not walk accor­ding to the traditions of the Elders, but eat bread with un­washen hands; and he said unto them, Fulwel ye reject the commands of God, that ye may keep your own traditions; for ye lay aside that, and ye hold traditions of men, as washing of pots and cups, and other such like things, as you do; and you may see more of the traditions in the same Chapter. And the Apostle saith, Coll. 2.8. the Apostle, the Minister of God and Christ, Be­ware, dest any man spoile you through Philosophy and vain deceit, after the traditions of men, after the rudiments of the world, not after Christ; therefore mark that which is after Christ; for Christ is not of the World; and he judged the Pharisees for their traditions and neglecting the Commands of God, 2 Thess. 2. here is the traditions the Apostle speaks of, that brethren had been taught by word, and by Epistle; Now we command you brethren, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you withdraw your selves from every brother that walks disor­derly, & not after the traditions which ye have received of us. Now mark, we shall see what these traditions were, &c. that these Thessalonians had received of the Apostle in word or Epistle; the Apostle saith, first, For your selves know how ye ought to fol­low us, for we behaved not our selves disorderly among you, neither did we eat any mans bread for nought, but wrought with labour and travel night and day, that we might not be chargeable unto a­ny of you; not because we have not the power, but to make our selves examples unto you to follow us; for even when we were with you, this we commanded you, [mark, this was by word of mouth, when he was with them, this was not written] when we were with you, we commanded you, If any would not work, he should not eat; for we hear that there is some that walk among you disorderly, which work not at all, but are busie-bodies; Now them that are such, we command and exhort in our Lord Jesus. Christ, that with qutetness they work and eat their own bread. Now mark, here is [Page] [Page] [Page 63]the traditions that the brethren is to hold, that the Apostle had taught them by word of mouth, and by Epistle. Here again, And if any brother walk disorderly, nor after the traditions received of us, he is to be noted, and withdrawn from, for such are destroyers of the creatures, and of the Creation, and Wasters, and are Busie-bodies, which are be­getters and drawers of people from the life, and liers on o­thers for an end; such be in the disorderly part, out of the power of God, and are to be udged; and if any man obey not our word in this Epistle, note that man, and have not company with him, that he may be ashamed; yet account him not as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother. Now mark, These brethren that hold not the traditions the Apo­stle had taught by vvord vvhen he vvas vvith them, and by Epistle, such walked disorderly, and vvas to be noted and dravvn from; and here is the traditions mentioned in 2 Thess. 2, 3. chap. throughout; and the Apostle said, he had been zealous of the traditions of the fathers; this vvas before he vvas converted; but vvhen he vvas converted, he saith, Not of men, nor by men, [then] but by revelation of Jesus Christ, Gal. 1.1. Pet. the first, Forasmuch as we are not redeemed with corrup­tible things, as silver and gold, from our vain conversations, recei­ved by the traditions of your fathers, but by the blood of Christ: So vvho comes to vvitness the blood of Jesus, he lives over all, he sees over the nature that lives in traditions. And so hath not your traditions been to redeem one another by sil­ver, and by pardons, and to give Bulls, which ye call them? And is not this corruptible redemption, and a tradition, which the Apostle judges so? Is not your tradition here jud­ged? your corruptible redemption, and pardon for money, and buying and selling pardons, is not this corruptible re­demption? and your traditions, which are forbidden by the Apostle Peter? Well, the Apostle speaks of Ordinances or Traditions, and he mentions them; Be ye followers of me, re­member me in all things; keep the Ordinances or Traditions I have delivered unto you; Mark, he tells you vvhat the Traditions be, as follovveth; I would have you to know, the Head of every man is Christ, and the Head of every woman is the man, the Head [Page 64]of Christ is God: Every man praying or prophesying having his head covered, dishonors his head; but every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered, dishonors her head: If a wo­man be not covered, let her also be shorne, &c. For a man ought not indeed to cover his head, forasmuch he is the Image and glory of God, but the woman is the glory of the man; but the man is not of the woman, but the woman of the man; neither was the man created for the woman, but the woman for the man; for this cause ought the woman to have power over her head, because of the An­gels; nevertheless, neither is the woman without the man, nor the man without the woman in the Lord. And so he goes on in this Chapter, where all may see the Traditions, or Ordinances, &c. and how he mentioned the Traditions; in this Chapter 1 Cor. 11. he speaks of the Cup, and he speaks of the Bread, and he speakes of those things, and thing that was to be done in remembrance of Christ; and here is the Tradition the Apostle mentioneth to them, and tells them what they are; and he tells them of baptism in the same Corinthians, the Water which might decrease; For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you: Now mark, this was de­livered unto them Corinthians, he tells them in that Epistle, and that Epistle speaks of the things, in that 2 Cor. 4. chap. he brings them off of the things that are; and so here he shews the Tradition by Word, and here again by Epistle; and you read that the Apostle had been with the Corinthians, and spo­ken to them, in chap. 2. of the first Epistle; and St. John saith, Keep your elves from Idols, (in his general Epistle) little chil­dren: So St. John was of that Church, and he was a Minister of it, and in it. And so you that run into Idols, and Images, and Pictures, and Crosses, are run into Idols, and set them up by your own traditions, and make the Commands of the Apostle of none effect, who sayes, Keep your selves from Idols, which is the command of God. So your Church and Tra­ditions is contrary to the Apostles, as you may read in the Scriptures before mentioned, and see the Traditions of the Elders, and your fore-fathers, the Pharisees; and see the Traditions of the Apostle, how he names them; and see the Traditions of the Apostles you have apostatized from, who are run into Idols and Images, your own Traditions, not [Page 65]mentioned in the Scripture, as all may read these Scrip­tures before mentioned, spoken of in this Letter, and see whether it speaks to any Traditions of yours, as ye set up, as your Beads, as your Images, as your Houses and Nunne­ries, as for your Pictures and your Inquisitions.

And here you may see now the Pharisees Traditions, your Traditions, and the Popes Traditions, one distinct from the other, as you may read before mentioned.

Them that are learned of God, are loved of him; but the Papists Pope hath not learned of the good Samaritan; & God hath spread dung upon all your faces, and covered you with it, and marr'd your glory.

And Christ destroyed them that went out of the truth, and also the ground of all presumption and blasphemy. The Beast smokes, and the Whore, and she is in the fire, and her smoke ascends upwards.

And whose Servant hath the Pope been, who hath ridden upon the Righteous, who hath preserved the Wicked, who tollerates murdering the Lambs of God, and Sheep, as here it is manifest? and he will give him a Bull that doth it, and he shall be one of his Canonized Saints, which is the work of the Devil; did Peter did so?

So natural men, which cannot receive nor discern the things of God; all that marry among you be not spiritual, your married men are not.

And after the Pope and Jesuits hath given you a pardon for your sins, is there not something that doth convince you?

The Ministers of Christ saith, Repent and be baptized, con­fessing your sins; and the Popish Priests say, Be baptized, and you must have your body of sin and imperfection whiles you be upon the Earth. And the Ministers of Christ, He that will not work, must not eat. And the Papist Ministers say, We will have money, wages, meat of them that never hired us, nor set us at work, yet we will have meat of them, and wages, or we will have them into Courts and Prisons till [Page 66]death. And the Ministers of Christ saith, We covet no mans silver, gold, or apparel, but labour with our own hands night and day, that we might not be chargeable to any one, that we might keep the Gospel without charge. The Popes Ministers saith, We care not, wee'l have Gold and Silver, Goods and Apparel; of men are we, and we wil have men and women into our Courts and Prisons; and what care we? We have a Law which will give it us. And the Ministers of Christ saith, It is not the wearing of Gold or costly Apparel. O but, (saith the Papish Priests) we will have our Gold Rings, and our costly Apparel; our Points, and our double Cuffs, and dou­ble Boot-hose-tops, and the great Skarf to the tops of our Hats, it is but civil, and the Apostle doth not mean as he doth speak. The Ministers of Christ, and Christ saith, Swear not at all; he that swears, is in the evil, and condemned. The Popes Ministers saith, They must swear, (and their hearers) or else fine them, and imprison them, and makes a puff at condem­nation.

I Challenge all the Papists, Jesuits, Pope and Cardinals, and all you Protestants that professeth against Popery, to shew me out of Scripture where ever the Apostles or any true Christians, killed one another for Religion? or where Christ gave any such command to them that they should do so? then will I be of their Religion: And was there not such as departed from the Apostles, that had been amongst them, that did run into Schism, Heresie, and Error, in Corah, Cain, and Balaams way, and run into Sects and Factions, and se­ducing of others? whether or no ever did, or did ever the Apostles kill those, or command them to be killed and put [Page 67]to death, and delivered them up to Judges, to put them to death? Or had they Magistrates to executed Laws upon them? Did the Apostles make Laws, or made by the authority of the Church to put them to death? Or doth not the Church stand in Christ the end of the Law? And was there not some in the dayes of the Apostles, that was amongst them and the Saints, the true Christians, that had the form, and proved to be the false Apostles, and Satans Ministers, and Messengers of unrighteousness? Now did the Apostles, or the true Christians, and true Church, had they a Law, and did they give an Order forth that those should be put to death, and that the creatures should be killed in whom the Devil had transformed himself, to kill those creatures? And did not the Apostles go amongst such that worshipped Idols, stocks and Stones, Sun and Moon? Did the Apostles kill, hang, draw, and quarter such as would not deny that au­thority that had set up their Images? Did they kill the crea­tures that would not deny worshipping Stocks and Stones Sun and Moon, as you do now? ye poor apostate Papists, from the Apostles, poor blind creatures, that falls down before I­mages, Stocks and Stones, and wooden Crosses: cannot you (if your Ministers were made by the will of Christ) let them go forth, and bring them off Idols, Images, wooden Crosses, and stone, and the calling upon the Names of the Saints, to bring them to call upon Christ, as the true Mini­sters and Apostles of Christ which went amongst the Jews, chief priests, and pharisees, and confound them, and brought them off the types and figures, to Christ the substance; and they went among the Gentiles, and to them that had set up their Images, Priest, and Idols Temples, and worshipped I­mages, Sun and Moon and confound them, and brought them off their Images, Stocks and Stones, from worshipping of them, to worship God; and into the Covenant of Light which God had promised to the Gentiles; Did not the A­postles bring them into that, and did not kill their bodies? and likewise the Jews, the new Covenant to them, the Law in the heart, and in their minds: If that after any of these [Page 68]Jews or Gentiles that had been convinced by the Apostles Doctrine, and turned from them that was of the Jews, or they that was of the Gentiles, turned from them again to the Gentiles, then where did the Apostles give forth a Law, or a Decree that those should be killed? And now ye Papists that say ye are Christians, such as departed from you, that have been of your Religion, you turn again, and kill as He­reticks, by Fire or Inquisition, or otherwayes; Did the Apo­stles do so to them that went from them, whom they truly judged to be Hereticks? and if the Protestants come among you, them you kill with Fire and Fagot, Inquisitions and Racks; and which of you now in these things bear the Image of the Apostles, and follows Christ the Captain of salvati­on, who saves mens lives.

And now you Protestants, if any of the Jesuits or Priests come amongst you, you hang, draw, & quarter them, which they say, they was your Mother; Did ever the Apostles do so to any that came to them to oppose them, that had been of their Church, or otherwise? Or did ever the Apostles or Saints do so? Was not they able Ministers of the Spirit, and not of the Letter? with which Spirit they were able to en­counter with the whole world. Now let the serious search go through you concerning these things.