A Collection Of the Several WRITINGS Given forth from the Spirit of the Lord through that Meek Patient and Suffering SERVANT of GOD James Parnel Who though a Young Man bore a Faithful Testimony for God and Dyed a Prisoner under the Hands of a Persecuting Generation in Colchester Castle in the Year 1656. In the sight of the Vnwise they seemed to Dye and their Departure is taken for Misery and their going from us to be utter Destruction but they are in Peace For though they be Punished in the Sight of Men yet is their Hope full of Immortality and having been a little Chastized they shall be greatly Rewarded for God proved them and found them worthy for himself Wisd. 3. 2 3 4 5. 5. 4. Being Dead yet speaketh Hebr. 11. 4. Published in the Year 1675. Stephen Crisp HIS TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel IT was the Care of the Holy Men of Old To keep in Remembrance the Words Works which sprang from the blessed Power of God and therefore did record the Words of many Prophecies and the Histories of many Battels and Wars in which the Arm of God was manifest and whenever God Crown'd any with Worthiness and Honour as his Witnesses of his Word and Power this was commonly added unto the Renown of their Noble Acts and Faithful Testimonies That their Name and Manner of Life was committed unto the Generations that followed after insomuch as one said The Righteous should be had in Everlasting Remembrance and another said The Name of the Righteous was Precious and many other suâ—h like Sayings are there in the Holy Scripture Christ said to her that anointed him with the Box of Oyntment Where-ever the Gospel should be preached this Charity and Love of hers bestowed on him should be spoaken of And if ever any Age had Cause to prize and keep in Remembrance the Words and Sayings Great Deliverances and Spiritual Battels and Mighty and Noble Acts of God wrought by the Finger of his Power sure this Age hath Câ—use to be diligent in gathering up and keeping in Remembrance the Migâ—ty Works of Wonder which our God hath wrought in our Day in which he hath brought forth Life Peace Rest and Joy to a â—emnant by a Way which the Wise and Prudent of this World were not nor are not yet aware of but Babes have been his Messengers and Children have been his Ministers who in Innocency have received the Revelation of his holy Spirit by which the Deep Things both of his Law and of his Glorious Gospel of Life and Salvation were revealed And among these Babes who thus came to receive the Knowledge of the Mysteries of the Kingdom of God by the Working of his divine Power was this Noble Child JAMES PARNEL who was a Vessel of Honour indeed and Mighty in the Power and Spirit of Immanuel breaking down and laying desolate many mighty and strong Holds and Towers of Defence in the which the old Deceiver had fortified himself and his Children Much might be spoaken of this Man and a large Testimony doth live in my Heart to his blessed Life and to the Power and Wisdom that abounded in him but I do not intend at this time to write much about him but to give the Reader a brief Account of my Certain Knowledge which I had of Him and his Life and Labours and End As to his Country Manner of Life and how he was about the Age of Fifteen or Sixteen Years brought to the Knowledge of God and to the Working of his Power in him and how he obeyed the same in many Travails and Tryals until he came to be about Eighteen Years of Age all this I say it being spoaken to in another place and before my particular Acquaintance with him I shall pass over and only speak of things within the Compass of my own Knowledge When he was about Eighteen Years of Age the Lord who had heard the Cry of his own Seed put it into the Heart of this Young Man to come inâ—o Essex and to preach the Word of Life and to proclaim the Acceptable Year of the Lord there where it might indeed well have been said Behold the Fields are White unto Harvest For very many were there in that County who were both weary and heavy laden with their Sins and were as weary with running to and fâ—o to seek a Way out of them and having travailed all Mountains and all Hills and High Things that could be travailed and tryed and found no Deliverance and some sate down concluding If there was a Way God would manifest it others concluded There was no Way but we must dye in this Wilderness and never see the Bread of Life some othes set their Wits on work to find out and invent New VVayes and Manners of VVorshipping but all was in vain and great was the Darkness and Sorrow of those dayes which some can yet well remember and when all Hearts were ready to faint and all Hope was almost at an end with some when others had built their Tower of Profession so high that they conceâ—ted it did touch the Heavens it self then I say then did the Lord send this his Fâ—ithful Messenger endued with Power from on High to preach the Acceptable Year of God and the Day of Vengeance to comfort them that mourned His Coming was in the fore-end of the Year 1655. VVhere He preached the Gospel in many parts of that County as Felsted Stebben Witham Coxal Halsted and many other places where many hungry Souls had gladly received the VVord of God and it being mixed with Faith in the Hearts of them who heard it it became Effectual to the saving the Souls of many And after he had passed up down many Parts of that County and planted diâ—ers good Meetings and confirmed them that had believed he at length about the middle of the Summer the same Year came to Colchester upon the seventh day of the week on the day following preached the Gospel unto many Thousands of people first in his Lodging then in a Steeple-house there after the Sermon then in a Great Meeting appointed on purpose and after that disputed with the Town-Lecturer and another Priest in the French-School all in One Day in all which the Wisdom Power and Patience of Christ appeared very Gloriously to the Convincing of my self and many more who were Witnesses of that day's Work So he spent that week in Preaching Prayâ—ng Exhorting and Admonishing turning the Minds of all sorts of Professors to the Light of Jesus which did search their Hearts and shew their Thoughts that they might believe therein and sâ— mâ—ght become Children of the Light and many did Believe and found it so and others were Hardned and Rebell'd against the Appearance of Truth and became Enemies with whom he Disputed daily in great Soundness and in the Evidence and Demonstration of the Spirit by which also many were reached and convinced of the Truth and the Mouthes of
to every Creature Neither doth either of these Scriptures which thou hast quoted prove to the contrary And how many Scriptures didst thou quote in thy Answer to my Fifteenth Query to prove that the Ministers of the Gospel might forbear Woâ—king and not to entangle themselves with the Affairs of this Life yet in all could not prove thy self a Minister of the Gospel and now thou questionest the Truth of the Scripture because neither thou nor thy Brethren were called according to Scripture But whomsoever the Lord calls unto his Work he doth take Care both for him and his Family but You that are not called by him dare not trust him without a Law of Man And in thy Ninety Eighth and Ninety Nineth Query thou seemest to accuse us with some that turned from the Truth and yielded to the Deceit of their Hearts and so gave Occasion to such as thee who wait for Occasion to Blaspheme the Truth but is is no new thing but the same which the Scripture declares of in divers places therefore saith Christ Offences must come but Wo unto them by whom they do come For there were then many such as thee in that Age who as thou dost waited for Occasion to blaspheme the Truth But if thou hadst been then how would'st thou have accused Christ who had but Twelve Apostles and one of them betrayed him and then hanged himself and another denyed him Therefore let this stop thy Mouth for speaking Evil of the things thou knowest not And as for Spencer and Gilpin whom thou here nominatest the Truth is sufficiently cleaâ—ed of them in other Books and the Priests have owned them as they did Judas which is the Name of all that turn from the TRUTH after they have received it Qu. 100. Have so many fallen into Distraction or Madness in any Sect or under any Doctrine as there hath done amongst your Hearers especially where the Number of Disciples was no more Answ. Look at Home and answer thy self witness your UNIVERSITIES as you call them for it is the Fruit of Your Studies who would find out that by Your Wit and Wisdom which the Lord hath hid from You And all that You cannot settle in Security and Blindness You lead them into Madness Confusion and Distraction if they do not in time forsake you as many will witness at this day That they are led by You into such a Wilderness that they know not which way to get out neither do You know how to direct them for You are in Confusion your selves and so the Blind leadeth the Blind into the Ditch Therefore this might have stopped thy Mouth from Falsly Accusing us But I remember TRUTH was ever accounted MADNESS and FOLLY by the Blind World who know not that Godliness is Great Gain And in thy Ninety Fourth Query thou wast Questioning the Truth of our Doctrine because of the Multitude of Disciples and now by the Fewness and thus thou Contradictest thy self And then after much of thy Filthy Stuff which all along thou hast vented forth of thy old Bottle against us which upon thee I have returned again from whence it came thou seemest to accuse our Book but dost not shew wherein and therefore I pass it by as knowing thy Lying Spirit And then thou stealest the Apostle's Words for a Cloak for the Deceit of thy Heart 2 Corinth 13. 7 8 9. which the Apostle spoak from a True and Upright Heart but thou from a False Deceitful Heart as all along hath been sufficiently proved and thy Prayers to be Abomination and that thou hast nothing to do to name the Name of God in thy Mouth who art a Worker of Iniquity and a Stranger unto God who art found out of his Doctrine and therefore with this Scripture I shall mark thee 2 John 9. 10. that all may know thee and turn away theit Ears from thee who art not to be received but denyed and therefore whosoever receiveth thee or thy Doctrine the same departeth from the Doctrine of Christ And therefore let this be a Caveat to all People to whom it shall come and look upon thee to be as Anathema Maranatha 〈◊〉 Cor. 16. 22. Given forth from the Spirit of the Lord through a Friend to all Souls witnessed in all Consciences by the Eternal Light of God by which I am known and received in the Behalf of Israel against the Armies of the Aliens who muster up themselves against the Lord and his Authority by a Friend to the Common-Wealth of Israel who is known to the World by the Name JAMES PARNEL Who is a Sufferer in Outward Bonds for the Testimony of the Everlasting Truth in Colchester-Castle 1655. A WARNING FOR All People ALL People Repent and turn to the Lord from the Evil of your Doings for the Day of the Lord is at Hand wherein the Lord will judge the World and give to every one according to their Deeds whether they be Good or Evil yea He is coming with Ten thousand of his Angels to be avenged of the Heathen and them that know him not Now all that live in Sin and Filthiness it appears you know him not for if you did you durst not live in your Lusts heaping up Wrath against the Day of Wrath wherein the Lord will appear as a Consuming Fire against all Ungodliness Rom. 1. 18. God is against you dissembling Professors who adorn the Outside serve God in Notions Words oâ—tside Forms but the Heart is not upright with God you are in the Earth in your Covetousness which is Idolatry and the Lord abhors the outside Worship when the Heartis not answerable and calls such Whited Walls and Painted Sepulchres Hypocrites Serpents Generation of Vipers and the Wo is to such how can you escape the Damnation of Hell Mat. 23. God is against you Proud Lustful Ones who make it your greatest Care to deck your selves in proud Attire inventing new Wayes Fashions to make your selves glorious in the Sight of Men that they may worship you and honour you but consider not that you are but Dust and God will lay your Honour in the â—ust for he is risen to whom all Worship and Honour is due and he will bring down yâ—ur Haughtiness and your Pride and will exalt the Humble and Meek and will seek that which was lost but will destroy the Fat with Judgment Repent ye Lofty Ones and turn to the Lord and humble your selves before him that you may be hid in the Day of his fierce Wrath lest he take you away and there be none to deliver for the Day of the Lord will burn as an Oven and they that are proud and they that do wickedly will be as Stubble and it will leave them neither Root nor Branch Mal. 4. 1. God is against you Drunkards who make it your Trade to pour in strong Drink abusing the Creature which God hath given to be used moderately for the Health and not for the Lust therein you shew your selves
Gâ—insayers stopt which made many gnash their Teeth on him and some undertook to club out the Priests Professors Arguments by beating this dear Lamb with Fists and Staves who took all patiently as particularly one who struck him with a great Staff as he came out of one of the Steeple-houses called Nicholas and said There Take that for Jesus Christ's sake To which he returned this Answer Friend I do Receive it for JESUS CHRIST ' s sake And many other intolerable Affronts were offered him in all which his Spirit was not seen to be raised in Heat or Anger but was a Pattern of Patience and Meekness And having laboured in that great Town about Ten Dayes it lay upon him to go back to Cogshall to a Meeting holden as a Fast of which read more in that part of his Writings called The Fruits of a Fast from whence he was committed to Colchester Castle and from thence had up to Chelsford Assizes in Irons and again thither re-committed where he remained until he offer'd up his Life for his Testimony He lived in that Castle about Ten or Eleven Moneths in great Self-denyal and Carefulness being truly watchful over the Flock of God both in Essex and in Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire and the Isle of Ely and elsewhere where he had travaled and turned many to God and wrote many blessed and heavenly Epistles both to particular Persons to the Churches in general which were so many that we have no certain Account of them nor cannot place them in order as we would if all could be collected together but those Books and Papers which could be found are here composed for the View of those who desire to taste the first Fruits of this Tender Plant who in the Dayes of his Youth laid down his Life for his blessed Testimony Many Things he suffered in that Prison which is other-where in this Book to be found And as he lay in Prison he laboured for the building up of them that were Convinced and he saw the Desire of his Soul concerning many in whom he saw the Seed which he had sown Multiply and Grow to his Refreshment And at last having passed through many Tryals and Exercises both Inward and Outward and fulfilled his Testimony in Patience Courage and Faithfulness and been a Comfort to us who had believed He at length laid down his Head in Rest and Peace stretching forth Himself saying Here I Dye Innocently And after his Departure he was buried in the Castle Yard where other Prisoners use to be buried because the Cruel Goaler would not deliver his Body without Fees And though he be as to the Outward taken away his Life doth remain and his Testimony doth yet live in the Hearts of many and will live through Generations to come and happy and blessed are and shall all they be who are Partakers thereof and are Faithful therein they shall be also Partakers of that Crown Immortal with which He is Crowned Thus honest Reader have I given thee a brief Account of this dear Plant of God and of his blessed Fruit some whereof thou may'st find in this following Book which if read in Sincerity and in Uprightness of Heart will tend to thy Benefit and will give thee Cause with me and many more to bless the Lord on his Behalf who is the Well-spring of Life from whom all Good Gifts come and to whom all Glory and Honour doth belong now henceforth and forever Amen Stephen Crisp. Samuel Cater's TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel COncerning our Dear Friend and Brother Iames Parnel I have this Testimony to bear for him in a true Remembrance of him as being Turned unto the Truth of God by him through Obedience unto which Heavenly Light Truth of God within which he turned me unto I have found and do enjoy Peace with God so that although the Dark World and Envious Priests and Professors Raged against him Imprisoned him and Persecuted him unto Death and made Lyes of him when he was dead speaking Evil of him accounting of him a Deceiver when he was alive I do say He was unto Me a True Minister and Messenger sent of God who brought Tidings of the Way of Life and Salvation unto me and many more in these Parts of the Nation whom I know have the same Testimony to bear for this Innocent Man For God hath made us Seals of his Ministâ—y through a blessed Experience of the Work of Regeneration brought to pass by this Heavenly Light Everlasting Truth unto the which he turned our Minds And this I can say also As the Lord was pleased to call him into his Blessed Work so he furnisht him with Virtues suitable for the same according to the Work of the Day in which he brought him forth and did mightily appear for him and with him in giving of him Courage and Wisdom and Power whereby he was Prepared and Fitted for every Service Exercise y â— the Lord called him unto which Service he faithfully perform'd of a Ready Mind with a Willing Heart not neglecting Nor did he refuse to appear in any Service in which his Testimony was concern'd which God had called him to bear although it were to the Ieopardy of his Life which many times he did both in Going to Steeple-Houses amongst the Rude Schollars in Cambridge both in Disputing with them and Declaring the Truth And after he went from Us he was moved of the Lord to go into Essex where he was gladly received by the Honest-hearted which wanted the Knowledge of the Lord and his Wayes which he declared unto them and many there were that Received him and Believed in the Truth which he declared But the Envious Professors roâ—e up against him in Cain's Murdering Spirit and cast him into Prison and there kept him in Hard Bonds until Death at whose Doors Hearts and Consciences the Guilt of this Innocent Man's Blood lies which all their Outward Washings nor Carnal Ordinances nor Outside Performances neither could nor can purge away but the Judgments of the Lord have been and yet will be executed upon all that have had a Hand or have taken a Part with them in shedding of Innocent Blood which the Lord will not acquit And now as to the Person Virtues and Parts of this our Dear Friend it is something upon me to give some Account of as having a Certain Knowledge of him not only because I was turned unto Truth by him but my Heart loved him which Love constrained me as oft as I could to be with him so that what Service he had in these Parts in Meetings of Friends or amongst Professors or with Priests I was frequently with him whereby I was both Eye and Ear Witness of the Mighty Power and Wisdom of God that attended him by the which He was prepared for every Work and Service which he was called unto and which he performed to the Honour of God and Comfort of his People and to the Confounding of those that
as through Covetousness make Merchandize of the People which Peter a Minister of Christ declared against 2 Pet. 2. 3. and such as go after the Error of Balaam for Gifts and Rewards which Jude a Servant of Jesus Christ cryed Wo against Jude Vers. 11 Pr. Answ. And in thy Answer after many Excuses thou plainly confessest Thou canst not justifie all of your Calling and therefor thou wilt answer for thy self And First thou â—â—st Thou art none of these Hirelings for he is not an Hireling which takes the Wages allotted to him for his Wâ—rk for then thou dost accuse Kings and Governours 〈◊〉 be Hirelings who take Tribute and Custom yea and the Apostles and Christ himself which to prove thou quotest 2 Cor. 7. 8. and Luke 8. 23. but thou confessest That he is one that sets his Heart upon the Wages only and delights not in the Work but is weary of the same and longs for the Shadow or Rest which to prove thou quotest Job 7. 1 2 3. Rep. Here thou impudent Lyar for all thy Shuffings and thy Coverings thou canst not hide thy self but out of thy own Mouth shalt be judged though thou here plainly denyest thy Brethren and thinkest it enough to answer for thy self thy Cause is so bad for thy Wages is not alotted by God neither hast thou any Scripture-Rule to prove them as is before proved and therefore it follows that thy Heart is set upon thy Hire for which sake thou undertakest that Work which thou professest and it is for thy Hire's sake that thou art not weary of thy Work or else thou would not own that which is so contrary to the Scripture so that thou canst not bring one Scripture Proof for this thy Practice and that it is thy Hire that thou delightest in is sufficiently apparent by thy thus gaping for it and seeking to defend it though altogether contrary to Scripture And as for the Work thou and thy Brethren profess you are as Idle in it as you can so that you can but hold up the World's Custom and blind the People that still you may Rule over them by your Means and thus it may plainly be seen wherein is your Delight and so out of thy own Mouth judge thee to be neither Conscionable nor Faithful who art not ashamed thus to seek to justifie thy self in thy Deceit whenas thy own Mouth confesseth that it is not a Liberal Maintenance and that thou canst take it and plead for it and therefore this Scripture which thou quotest in Job 7. 2. shall stand and witness against thee who as a Hireling agreest with the People for so much a Year and as a Hireling lookest for thy Wages at the Year's End but of thy Work there is no Profit to any and so with the Shadow thou deceivest them for Gain which doth so blind thy Eye that thou think'st all are like thee though they take that which is Freely administred to them for their Temporal Necessities which is not an Agreeing with the People for so much a Year and to take it by a Law whether they will agree with you yea or nay which Weapons Christ or his Ministers never made use of And therefore thou Lyar how darest thou to accuse Christ or his Apostles to take Wages for their Work Did Christ heal the Sick or the Diseased and the Lame and the Blind or Teach the People for Money or Wages Oh thou Blasphemer forever stop thy Mouth from naming his Holy Name who dost so slander him Well mayst thou accuse and slander his Servants and Messengers which so impudently dost it to him who is our Lord and Master But as for Paying Tribute to Kings and Governours in their Places it is allowed of by Scripture which thine is not and they are set about Temporal Affairs and are the Ordinance of God for that Purpose for to Govern and Protect the People in Bodily peace and Quietness which if they neglect will be laid to their Charge But thou and thy brethren pretend to Spiritual Affairs and therefore are to have your Rule and Example from Christ and his Ministers who were set about Spiritual Affairs the which thou canst not but wouldst creep into any Hole to hide thy self and thy Brethren from the Light but by it are You found out and seen to be the Deceivers who out of the Doctrine of Christ are found and therefore not to be Owned nor Received Pr. Answ. And Secondly thou saith Thou art no such Greedy Dog whatsoever Foul-mouthed Curs do Bark to the contrary for thou saist thou Contentest thy self with thy Legal Sallary which yet thou saist is not contrary to Evangelical wherein thou hast already been proved a Lyar sufficiently Rep. Here thy Foul Mouth thou hast opened wide who accountest the Prophet Isaiah a Foâ—l-mouthed Cur who this Language first did speak unto the False Prophets in whose St â—s thou art found and therefore unto thee the same Language belonged who seek'st for thy Gain from thy Quarters as they did And what has thou else manifested but Greediness of Gain all along who rather then thou wouldest yield thy Error in it though thou couldst not produce one Scripture that would stand for it yet thou runnest to Old Histories and Records thereby to maintain it contrary to Scripture Therefore with Shame and Confusion of Face mightest thou say Thou Contentest thy self with thy Legal Sallary who hast nigh 300. Pounds by the Year and yet thou wouldst have more if thou couldst get it thou art so Greedy as may be well understood by thy Saying That in former Time that the Bishops and Pastors had not only a setled Maintenance of that Value but of a great deal more which is an unheard of Thing in all the Scripture and therefore thy own Mouth confessest what greedy Dogs you Priests have been since your Beginning and yet with the Deceit of thy Heart thou wouldst still cover but the Day doth make you manifest to be such who run and the Lord never sent you and thâ—refore you profit not the People at all Therefore what is thy Teaching and Warning of the People which thou here boasts of and therefore art found one of the Dreamers and Studyers and Mutterers who speakest a Divination of thy own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord and so feedest the People with Wind and Air therefore silence thou Deceiver for going about to excuse thy self from tâ—ese things as if thou wast more holy then thy Brethren for in so doing thy Lying and Hypocrisie doth but the more appear and therefore this shall serve to prove thee a Lyar in all the rest of thy Excuses and it is not Uncharitable nor Censorious to tell thee so though thou so accusest me but a Lye â—n thy Mouth is no Wonder Qu. 15. Whether ever thou labouredst with thy Hands to make the Gospel free and without Charge as Paul a Minister of the Gospel did Pr. Ans. And in thy Answer thou dost not
Opposed the Truth He was but Young in Years and of a Little Stature for the which he was by Brutish Envious Persecuting Priests and Professors Mocked and by them in a scornful Mind called The QVAKING BOY but in him was seen the Mighty Power of God VVhen any of them that were climed up so high in their Imaginations and strengthned themselves in their Self-righteousness and came forth in the Strength of the power of Darkness to Oppose the Truth of God which he bore Testimony unto with him did then appear the Name and Power of the Living God which was with the little Stripling David in which Name and Power he many times stopped the Mouths of Gain-sayers and by the Wisdom of God that was with him he caught the Wise and Crafty in their own Snares and Confounded them in the sight of all that had an Eye to see and so brought shame upon them whereby the Saying is fulfilled That by Weak things the Lord would confound the Mighty and things that are Despised hath God chosen yea and things that are not to bring to nothing things that are He had also a good Gift to declare the Truth and was full of Zeal and Heavenly Courage in the which he performed the same for the informing of the Minds of those that wanted the Knowledge of the Lord also to Mark Out and Make Manifest the Deceivers which People were to turn from His Exhortation was unto Us that were turned unto the Truth To Walk in it and to Watch unto it and to Keep Low in God's Holy Fear to Deny our selves and Take Vp the Daily Cross to our own Wills and to be Faithful in that Little Appearance of Light Truth which we had already receiv'd alwayes declaring unto us That if we were Faithful in that the Lord would make known more unto us whose words many of us are now Living Witnesses of the fulfilling of Blessed be the Name of the Lord forever and for evermore saith my Soul Also He was a Good Example and a Pattern in his Life and Conversation unto us by the which he preached Truth unto us as well as by his VVords for He himself lived according to what he taught us for he was adorned with Gravity and walked before us in Humility yea he had a Blameless Conversation and was unspotted from the World so that his Presence as well as his Words was a Strengthning and a Comfort to the Upright and Honest-hearted but he was an Awe a Dread to the Careless and Disobedient which made a Profession of the Truth but did not walk Answerably thereunto who he alwayes told should be cloathed with Rags which could not cover them and their SHAME should appear and they left Naked for the Light and Day of the Lord was come that would make all manifest and strip off all False Coverings so that a Profession although it were of the Truth it self would no longer do nor cover without the Life and Power be known and witnessed which doth not only Discover Sin and Evil but also Overcomes it Removes it Takes it away The Truth of this Doctrine which he preached unto us there are many of us by the good Hand and Power of the Lord have do see the Fulfilling of this Honest-hearted Young Man's Testimony both on them that received the Truth which he preached into an Honest and Good Heart and also upon the Careless and Disobedient so that I shall and do conclude in this Testimony concerning Him That He was a Faithful Servant and Messenger sent by God to Declare the Way of Life unto them that wanted the Knowledge of it and to Reprove Sin and to Make Manifest Deceivers and to Testifie against them which may be seen and felt to the better Satisfaction of them that never saw his Face in reading over his own Books and Epistles which were written by his Own Hand which all that read with an Honest Heart in a Serious Mind I doubt not but will say with me Surely the Mighty Power and Wisdom of the Lord was with him of a Truth Samuel Cater Thomas Bayles HIS TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel THis Blessed Man the Writer of these following Books was made a Partaker of that Faith Patience through which the Righteous in all Ages obtained the Crown of Life and Victory over all their Enemies and had a share in his Day and Time as alwayes they had in this World of the Sufferings of Christ in him He was sent into this County with the Testimony of God in his Heart Mouth and therefore was Bold in the Name of the Lord to cry REPENTANCE in the Ears of the Sons of Men and as He said so lived he as many in this Town and Place are living Witnesses of who have true Cause to bless and praise the Name of the Lord and do for that He and other of his Brethren were sent amongâ—â— us He was of a sweet Savour of Christ to the Almighty God through his Faithfulness to him who sent him hither in them who receiv'd his Testimony though many there were that hardened their Hearts against the Lord of which Number were many of the Rulers Priests and Professors of that Time who notwitstanding they cryed Reformation the Ordinances of Christ Jesus Christian-Duties and the like yet manifested themselves of that Stock and Generation which always slew the Righteous and the Lord God soon stretcht forth his Righteous Hand of Judgment upon some as Warnings unto others whom he spared from that swift Stroak that they might Repent as some did and seek his Face who is the Light of the World God blessed for evermore He was as a Youth and mean in hâ—s Outward Presence and Appearance but God hath chosen the Foolish Things of this World to confound the Wise And so high was the spirit of the Professors and the Prophane encouraged thereby that with whom among such was his Name used but in a way of Derision and Scorn terming him The Railing Fellow in the Castle He owneth himself to be Christ Jesus A Wandering Star to whom is reserved the Blackness of Darkness forever But since it came to Light and the Wandering Stars seen and their Blackness of Darkness felt who durst not stand by their Ordinances Duties nor Christianity but in Obscure Holes Secret Places Vaults which shews them of a low dark earthly wandering spirit who know not the Spirit of Life from God nor the Stability thereof to set them above the Fear of Man where they lie in great Captivity The Lord hath put it into my Heart in the blessed Remembrance of his Innocent Life to bear my Testimony upon this Occasion and thus to appear in the Memorial of him And I am assured in my Spirit That although the Lord suffer'd him to be cruelly kept in Bonds until Death and to be hated persecuted beyond what we had known before amongst us yet it was for his Righteous Life sake as from
his Enemies and testifying against tâ—e gross Hypocrisie of that Day And this I have to say concerning him and it 〈◊〉 in many and shall not dye That he was an Innocent Man and lived in the Testimony and Feaâ— of God that he sought nothing here for himself but alone laboured and traviâ—ed that People might be brought into the Knowledge and Love of God and had he bin otherwise spirited he should have had Acceptance with many of hâ—s Enemies I believe And as he was an Innocent Man so he lived Innocently towards all men and so he dyed Innocently as himself estified a small time before his departure Here I Dye Innocently And as several who were with him were Eye-Witnesses of the sâ—me and is enter'd into the Bosom of the Eternal Rest with God forever His Testimony was That God was Light and that Christ who proceeded and came from God did enlighten every Man that cometh into the World that all Men through him might believe which Testimony of Truth bearing although it was rejected by many and the heavenly Light of the Lord too mean an Appearance for the aspir'd Minds of those Dayes â—o submit unto yet accepted of was it by some who by it soon were taught to take the Yoak of Christ upon them and to receive his holy Fâ—ar into their Hearts and were blessed of the Lord prospered and encreased although therefore persecuted and reviled by the Vngodly Generation who turn away their Eyes from the Reproof of Instruction because of the Reproof thereof and preserved through many grievous Trials Tribulations through their faithful Obedience in the Light Valiant for the Truth upon the Earth so what Acceptance ever had the Righteous in this World by the men and spirit thereof is apparent by Scripture and Historical Account and our Experience doth confirm the same viz. Persecution and Cruelty Prisons and stinking Holes Banishments and Death Destroying of the Goods and Estates of the Innocent and what do I behold at this day I never saw or read of a Lamb worrying a Dog nor an Innocent Sheep to tear or devour a Wolf What Christianity or Holiness is that which hurts and destroyes and thinketh thereby of doing God good Service Surely it is not to be found in all God's Holy Mountain saith the Lord. And so The Name of the Righteous is had in Everlasting Remembrance aâ—d his Memorial shall shine forever and ever In true Faith and Assurance as a Brotherly-Testimony to my deceased Friend's Innocency is this written that it may be known from one who was acquainted with his Life and Death in this Town that the Lord was with him in his Life and Death that those who are yet in being that had a Hand in his Sâ—fferings or consented may Repent Repent unfeignedly and seek the Lord while He is to be found for if thou art found out by Him to be a Blood-guilty Man and knowest not his Hysop in thy Day of Visitation to have purged thee know thou that the Lord God will give thee Blood double to drink in his Day of Judgment with Horror and Destruction for evermore â—olchester the 7th of the 7th Month 1671. Thomas Bayles A TESTIMONY Concerning the Sufferings and Death OF James Parnel I Having a Knowledge of J. P. the Author of these Books and being an Eye-Witness of part of his great Sufferings he under-went for the Testimony of the Blessed Truth which he sealed with his Blood being persecuted by a Professing Generation who though they made great Pretence to Christianity yet they were upon Tryal found to be such who were born of the Flesh who always persecuted them that were born after the Spirit and were like the Professing Jews who reckoned they were of the Stock of Abraham and that he was their Father when they were of their Father the Devil doing his Works Persecuting the Innocent And that the Remembrance of the Great Suffering of this our Dear Friend and Brother JAMES PARNEL may not be extinguished I shall insert a full Relation of his Imprisonment and Death as followeth The said JAMES PARNEL being moved of the Lord to go to a Steeple-House at Coggshall the Priests and the People having appointed a Fast as they said against Error the 12th Day of the 5th Month in the Year One Thousand Six Hundred and Fifty Five after the Priest had Ended James spake a few Words to them so passing forth of the Steeple-House one called Justice WAKERING followed him and clapt him on the back and said He Arrested Him although he shewed no Writ and by the means of divers Priests he was by Dionysius Wakering Herbert Pelham Thomas Cook and William Harlakenden committed to Colchester-Castle and there kept close up and none of his Friends suffered to come near him and from thence at the Assizes was carried to Chelmsford where they kept him on the Chain Day and Night but when he appeared at the Bar the Chain was taken off only had Irons on his Hands where Judge Hill urged the Jury to find him guilty declaring what he could against the Prisoner to them and would not suffer him to speak to the Jury to clear himself so the Judge fined him Forty Pounds and to be committed Close Prisoner till Payment and gave Charge to the Goaler Not to let any Giddy-Headed People as he called them come at him so the Goaler denyed his Friends to come to him to Relieve him and would not let them in but such as came to Abuse Scorn and Beat him they let in to him and the Goaler's Wife did set her Man to Beat him who threatned to Knock him down and make him shake his Heels and she her self did Beat him several times and swore She would have his Blood And sometimes they would not let him have any Victuals brought to him other times they would set Prisoners to take away such Victuals as was brought to him and would not let him have a Trundle-Bed which his Friends would have brought him to lie on but forced him to lie on the Stones which in a wet season would run down with Water and when he was in a Room for which he paid Four Pence a Night he was threatned if he did but walk to and fro in it Then they put him in the Hole in the Wall which is very high from the Ground and where the Ladder was too short by Six Foot and when his Friends would have given him a Cord and a Basket to have taken up his Victuals in they would not let them though they much desired it but he must either come up and down by a Rope or else Famish in the Hole which he did a long time But after a long Suffering in this Hole where there was nought but Misery as to the Outward Man it being no Place either for Air or Smoak and James being much benumbed in his Naturals as he was climbing up the Ladder with his Victuals in one Hand and coming to the top of
Unholy nor Unclean thing must enter So now What Assurance have you of your Salvation or what is your Faith built upon when both Christ and the Scriptures witness against you And Faith which is not built on the Rock Christ Jesus is vain and perisheth And he that hath this Hope in him purifieth himself even as he is Pure Here all your Faith is searched tryed and proved and is found all vain and perishing and so is not built upon the Rock which Perisheth not Therefore come down all you High-minded Pharisees and lay away all your Profession and throw down all your old Building and begin and lay a new Foundation for the higher the Pharisee climbs the greater will be his Fall and he that will be Wise let him first become a Fool For man by his Wisdom knows not God Here the Pharisee is shut out from the Knowldge of God who stands in his own wisdom And all you Wilful Blind Carnal Ignorant Creatures whom my Soul pittieth to see how ignorantly you are led who pin your Faith upon the Sleeves of your Fore-Fathers and live in Lightness and Wantonness spending your Youth in Vanity in Gaming Pleasures and Sporting in Drunkenness in Swearing and Lying in Vain Talk and Foolish Jestings in Pride and Lust and Filthiness and say You follow your Fore-Fathers and say What is become of them and say Your Pleasures is Pastime and Recreation and your Vain Talk and Foolish Jesting is Pastime and Merriness and so you pass the Time away and say Your Drinking and Rioting and Feasting is Good-Fellowship and Neighbourhood and so you cover over your Sins and Iniquities but Wo unto him that hides his Sin and covers his Iniquity and all this will not profit you any thing neither can your Fore-Fathers excuse you before the Lord for in the beginning it was so that Eve could not Justifie Adam neither could be any Excuse but rather Condemned him because he hearkened to the to the Voice of the Woman and Disobeyed the Lord so Adam suffered for his own Sin and so did Eve for her's And so this will be no Excuse for you in the Day of Account to say You followed your Fore-Fathers and did as they did before you But then will the Lord say Because you followed the Traditions and Fashions and Customs and Inventions of Man and have hearkened to the Voice of the Serpent and have Disobeyed my Voice and my Command and Sleighted my Counsel and would none of my Reproof but cast my Law behind your Backs and trampled my Mercy under Foot and have turned my Grace into Wantonness and have nourished your Hearts as in a Day of Slaughter and have spent my Creatures upon your Lusts and Stoned Stocked Buffeted and Imprisoned and Shamefully intreated my Messengers which I sent unto you to Forewarn you of your Iniquity and have killed my Son therefore depart ye Workers of Iniquity I know ye not into Everlasting Torment prepared for the Devil and his Angels To see now how vain your Hope is and how unstedfast your Faith is when you have more Assurance of your Damnation than your Salvation for the Lord saith No Unrighteous Person must enter into his Kingdom nor no Unholy nor Unclean thing Therefore all you who desire Salvation to your Souls Try and Prove your Faith and Hope which you do trust to and take heed of trusting to a broken Reed lest it deceive you Experience hath taught you That if a Foundation of a Building be decayed and wasted and naught the Building will Fall when a Storm cometh so let him that thinks he stands take heed lest he falleth So every one whose desire is after Righteousness hearken to that in your Consciences which raiseth up Desires after Righteousness and which sheweth you the Vainness of your Lives and checks you when you do amiss and troubles you and torments you in Conscience when you have been Drunk or have done some Evil Act be willing to be guided by that and that will lead you to Repentance and Newness of Life to forsake those things which it discovers to be contrary to the will of God and if you be willing to follow this and be guided by it you shall find a Teacher continually present checking in the Conscience for vain Thoughts and for Vain and Idle and Needless Words and Actions and so will Crucifie the Lust which is the Ground of those things and which will lead you out of the Pathes of Death into the Way of Life out of the Traditions and Customs and Fashions Opinions of the World into the Assurance of the Eternal Truth And thou that art willing to follow this and be guided by this shalt need no man to teach thee but it will be a Teacher unto thee Teaching and Directing in Righteousness Purity and Holiness and if thou art Dilligent keeping thy Mind within with an Ear open to the pure Voice thou shalt find it present with thee wheresoever thou art in the Fields in thy Bed in Markets in Company or wheresoever thou art when thy Outward Priest or Teacher is absent it may be in the Ale-House or at his Pleasures and Delights or far off it will be present with thee and will Check thee and Condemn thee for that which no Outward Eye can See and will cleanse thy Heart from Lust and Deceit and Uncleanness and will purifie thy Heart and will make it a fit Temple for Purity to dwell in and then thy Sacrifices will be Pure which come from a Pure Heart the Lord will accept them for Abel's Sacrifices he receiveth but Cain's he denies but if thou wouldest attain to this thou must be willing to deny thy Lusts thy Vanity thy Delights or whatsoever hath been thy Life For He that will save his Life shall lose it and he that will lose his Life for my sake the same shall save it So there is no obtaining of Life but through Death nor no obtaining the Crown but through the Cross So thou must deny thy self and take up thy daily Cross and follow Christ if thou wouldest be his Disciple and give up thy Self wholly to be guided by the Will of God that all which is contrary to the Will of God may be Crucified though it be never so near and dear to thee and be forsaken Lands or Living Wife or Children Friends and Acquaintance or all the World and all Delights in the World For he that loveth any thing better then Me is not worthy of Me And all things below the Lord Vanisheth but He Endureth forever So the Lord God Almighty prosper all the Tender Desires which are raised up towards him and feed the Hungry and Thirsty Souls as he hath promised and raise up his own in all his that he alone may be Glorified Praised and Honoured who is Worthy and to whom all belongeth And this is the Desire of his Soul who is a Servant of the Lord who is Hated Reviled and Derided of the World
be compared or to be equalized with your Fellow-Creatures as Dives and Hamon did but all you proud ones remember your Father Dives his End for thither you must go into the Everlasting Burnings as he did whose Belly was his Godd as yours is whose End is Destruction who mind earthly things and then it will be too late for you to Repent and then when it is too late then you will wish you had been as Lazarus was so that at the End you might have enjoyed the Happiness that Lazarus did though now you are exalted above your Fellow-Creatures living in Pride Idleness and Fulness of Bread which were the Sins of Sodom but in this Day you shall be brought down and all you Workers of Iniquity Young and Old Rich and Poor Lord and Lady and Beggars shall be all turned into Hell without Respect of Persons then shall it be with the Mistress so with the Maid as with the Servant so with the Master and as with the People so with the Priest and all the Righteous Simple Ones which you despise and scoff at who are now to you Gazing-Stocks and Reproaches and Pilgrims in the World because their Kingdom is not of this World then shall that be exalted and received into Joy eternal then shall you see a Separation betwixt the Humble and the Proud as there was betwixt Dives and Lazarus the Humble and Lowly and Despised Ones shall be exalted and you high lofty Ones who are Despisers and Crucifiers of the Just shall be abased and cast into Hell then Lord and Lady Master and Mistress and all your Earthly Honour shall be laid into the Fire then all your Worldly Wealth Riches and Earthly Inheritance and Heirships will be gone wherewith you ruled as Lords in the Earth then you shall find that all your Gay Clothing and Rich Attire was for Pride and not for Decency and that many of your Fellow-Creatures wanted that for to cover their Nakedness which you spent upon your Lusts then you shall be rewarded for grinding the Faces of the Poor for your Oppressions and for Rackings and Taxings and your heavy Burdens wherewith you oppress your Fellow-Creatures For you are the high Oakes and the tall Cedars that oppress the little Scrubs under whom the Creation groans both Man and Beast but then you will be brought low then all your Pleasures and Wantonness Hauking and Hunting and Bowling and Carding and Dicing and all your Musick shall be turned into Weeping and Howling with Dives Lazarus had none of this but Dives had but now Lazarus hath Joy eternal and Dives Wo and Misery everlasting and then all your dainty Dishes and Novelties and Varieties which have fed your Lusts shall be turn'd into Fire and Brimstone and the Spoile of the Creatures shall witness agaisnt you and then you shall be stript off of all your Silks and Velvet and Purple and Gold and all your gay Attire wherewith you decked and adorned your earthly Bodies to make your selves seem Glorious in the Eyes of others for the Honour and Esteem of the World but then you will be as Naked as the Beggar then you shall have no Waiting-Men nor Waiting-Maids nor Coaches nor high and lofty Horses nor curious Buildings or great Houses no more then the Beggar then all your Bowing and Crouching and all your Heathenish Breeding shall be laid aside then all your Priests and false Prophets which you extol now so high because they daub you up and cry Peace to you healing you up in Deceit because you put into their Mouthes shall stand you in no stead but shall be Tormented with you Hypocrites in the Lake and all your Covers will not serve wherewith you hide your Sin and cover over your Deceits in saying Your Pleasures and Vain Talk and Foolish Jesting and Tales and Stories is Pastime and Recreation then you would be glad of one Hour if you could get to repent in as Dives would but then it will be too late for your Portion you enjoy in the Earth whose kingdom is of this World but the Son of Man in it had scarce where to lay his Head and his Servants no certain Dwelling-place for their Kingdom was not of this World such you call Wanderers and Vagabonds who have your great Houses and strong Towers in the Earth but all cannot hide from the Presence of the Lord who will call you in Judgment and reward you according to your deeds when his own he doth exalt into the Kingdom which for them he hath prepared which is an Everlasting Kingdom from which the Earth-worms are shut out who say The Earth is mine Therefore now before it be too late consider of it and let Dives and Hamon and the rest of the Proud Ones be a Warning to you and now repent while it is called to day now you have been told now you are left without Excuse before the just impartial Judge now prize your time all who desire Mercy at the Hand of God and Pardon for your Iniquities for this is the Day of your Visitation wherein the Lord is handing forth his Mercy and if you will not believe this you would not believe Dives if he should rise from the Dead To the Light in all your Consciences I speak which comes from Jesus Christ the Light of the World who doth enlighten every one that comes into the World which Light is his Witness in the Conscience against all Deceit Ungodliness and Unrighteousness of men which Light in all your Consciences is my Witness to the which I am made manifest which if you love it and to it hearken it will let you see your selves and the state and condition wherein you live and the filthy unclean Image of the Devil which you bear and your leprous spotted Consciences because of the Lust wherein you are drowned and the same Light loving it and following it which checks and convinces in the Conscience for that which is Evil and of the least contrary to the Will of God it will lead you to Repentance and humble your hearts and bring you down to know the Fear of the Lord whose Power will rend your habitations wherein you have dwelt secure in your Sins and this Light loving it will be your Teacher and will let you see the Creation and the Goodness thereof and will teach you how to use it order it in its place out of the Lust to the Glory of God and how to do good with it so that there be no Want in the Creation nor Cry of Oppression but the Hungry will be fed and the Naked clothed and the Oppressed set free and here is the Blessing restored to the Creation but while these things are under and you live in the Lusts with your abundance nourishing your hearts as in a day of Slaughter the Curse is upon you and War abundance and you are the Adulterers and Adultresses whose hearts are adulterated from God committing
the same they were before but the Baptism of Christ makes a New Creature and this I witness for I received Water upon my Face as my Parents told me which they called Baptism but I grew up a Heathen as all other Children do and no New Creature though my Parents were counted Believers among the World and their Priests but now I witness the Baptism of Christ by One Spirit into One Body and now I witness a New Creature old things are past away and all things become New And now I see the other to be formal Imitation and the Invention of Man and so a meer Delusion and all are Heathens and no Christians who cannot witness this Baptism who can witness this denies all other for the Scripture saith The Baptism is but One and who can witness this are Believers but who cannot witness this are no Believers and so it is that Water or no Water availeth nothing but a New Creature for all by Nature are the Children of Wrath and except they be born again they cannot enter and as for the Baptism of Water which the Apostles used it being a Figure for its Time the Power went along with it and the Disciples received the Holy Ghost when they were Baptized but none can witness this who set themselves of acting or imitating the Apostles and so take it up by Imitation and their Ground is the Letter and are not guided to it by the same Spirit which guided the Apostles and so they are the same after Water as before and so now Water or no Water availeth any Thing but a New Creature for Water was but for its time though many in Darkness have now got the Form and are groping in it for Life but want the Life and Power and so from such turn away We are accused to deny the Supper of the Lord. The Supper of the Lord we own which is the Body and Blood of Christ which the Saints feed upon and this is Eternal Food and Life And here they all feed upon one and are of one Heart and Mind and here is pure and Eternal Union and Communion and this is not Carnal but Spiritual for Saints are Spiritual and their Communion is Spiritual and Eternal and this we witness who are of one Heart and one Mind who are in the New Covenant and herein we discern the Lord's Body and here all Drunkards are shut out and all Lyars Adulterers Proud Covetous Lustful and Envious Ones and all Back-biters Revilers Extortioners and all Deceitful and Unrighteous Persons are shut out of the New Covenant and are without feeding upon the Husk and Shadow which is Carnal for the Bread which the World breaks is Carnal and Natural and only feeds the Outward Carnal Body and goeth into the Belly and so passeth out into the Dangil and so likewise the Cup which they drink and so the Communion and Fellowship of the World passeth away but this is no Nourishment to the Soul but still the Soul lyes in Death and here is no Communion but Natural Outward and Carnal of several Minds and Hearts full of Filthiness and Uncleanness which is the Table of Devils eating and drinking their own Damnation not discerning the Lord's Body which is Spiritual which the Natural Man discerns not And here stands the Worlds Communion and Fellowship which is Carnal and cross but their Carnal Wills and it is turned into Envy and for Earthly Trifles they will go to Law and Cozen and Cheat and Defraud one another for Earthly Trifles and like People like Priest but if they lye in wait for Revenge of one another then they will not take their Sacrament as they call it And here the Devil hath as great Hold for he that envies is a Murderer and here is the Difference betwixt the Worlds Communion and the Saints Communion Life and Death For to be Carnally-minded is Death but to be Spiritually-minded is Life And here they are without feeding upon the Husk and Shadow without and would destroy the Life and Substance where it appears both Priest People and Rulers and so have a Form of Godliness and deny the Life and Power from such turn away for it is a meer Delusion to take the Shadow for the Substance We are accused to deny all Prayer The Prayers of the Wicked we deny and God denies for they are abominable for Cain the wicked one who was out of the Commands of God who was the first Birth he offered up a Sacrifice of the Earth but God had no Respect to it but Abel the second Birth who was the Righteous his Sacrifice God had Respect to so the Prayers of the Faithful and Righteous God doth accept and they avail and what comes from his own which is the second Birth his own is pure what comes from it is pure and God who is pure doth receive that which is pure but he receives nothing which is polluted or unclean for he is of purer Eyes then to behold Iniquity for his Sacrifice must be without Spot or Blemish and that which comes from an unclean Heart is spotted and defiled and unclean for nothing that is pure can come forth of an unclean Vessel But who can witness the second Birth and that the Seed of the Woman hath bruised the Serpents Head which is the first Promise and Faith which purifieth the Heart then that which comes out is pure proceeding from a pure single Heart and this Prayer God receives and he hath Respect to it and this we own and witness and this comes from the second Birth which is pure for the first Birth is unclean and out of the Command of God in the Fall in the Wrath in the Peevishness and Perversness and Frowardness Cain-like and the Seed of the Serpent is first in every one and rules the Head but the Promise is The Seed of the Woman shall bruise the Serpents Head So you who are not come to this are still in the Fall and are not come to the first Promise so all your self-acting and imitating thinking to merit with your Prayers and Praises Singings and Duties and Worships and Traditions which are all in vain and you are sacrificing to an unknown God a Sacrifice of the Earth from the first Nature which God hath no Respect to and the flaming Sword is set against that to keep from the Tree of Life for both Drunkards and Swearers Lyars Proud Covetous and all Manner of Unrighteous Persons are offering up Sacrifices and are in their Formal Worships and Duties thinking that is sufficient to pacifie for their Sins and yet do not repent But saith the Lord Bring no more vain oblations away with your New Moons and Sabbaths they are Abomination and my Soul loaths them When you spread forth your Hands I will hide mine Eyes from you yea when you
make many Prayers I will not hearken your Hands are full of Blood wash you make you clean put away the Evil of your Doings from before mine Eyes cease to do Evil learn to do well So it is the Heart that the Lord requireth and where your Treasure is there will your Heart be also And saith the Apostle We know not how to pray as we ought but as the Spirit maketh Intercession with Sighs Groans this is more acceptable to God from an honest single Heart then the Long Prayer of the Pharisees We are accused to be destructive to the Ministry The true Ministry of Christ we own and witness and the Ministers and Messengers of Christ we own and witness but those who have gotten the Letter and Form to trade with which was spoken forth freely and deny the Life and Power those we deny their Ministry And all those who go to get human Learning and are certain Years as it were serving Apprentiship pretending to study Divinity and when their time is expired they go amongst ignorant blind People and get a certain Place and a certain Wage and so sell that which they studyed and got into the Brain and those which receive it get it into the Brain and so they live upon Dust which is the Serpents Meat feeding upon the Tree of Knowledge both Priest and People death feeding death and with the Notion begets into the Notion and feeding the Carnal Mind with the Carnal Letter and this is the Cause why Drunkards Swearers Lyars Proud Covetous Envious Wrathful and Contentious Ones and all Unrighteous Persons have gotten the Letter to talk of or discourse of though in the Ale-house or Tipling-house but this Ministry works no Reformation only hath the Form and leads into the Form and denyes the Life and Power which is neither to be bought nor sold for Money so from such we turn away who come by the Will of Man and approved by the Will of Man and are upheld by the Will of Man and not by the Will of God and their Call and Ministry we deny which is mediate and formal Imitation and the Invention of Man and so a meer Delusion And this is the Cause why the Land so overflows with Iniquity all Manner of Ungodliness no better Reformation wrought amongst them their Ministry is so dark and dead and cold and yet the Land full of Teachers and yet the People lost for want of Teaching and so they spend their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which profiteth not But who can witness an Immediate Call by God from their outward Callings and Countries Lands Livings and Possessions into several Countries to preach the free Gospel as they have received it by the immediate Inspiration of the Spirit and speak it forth as they are moved by the Holy Ghost and as the Spirit gives them Utterance freely as they have received it freely by which Ministry many are convinced and as they abide in it are converted as many in the Nation can witness to the Honour and Glory of God who are now New Creatures and this Call we own and witness and this Ministry we own and witness which is Immediate and stands in the Will of God and such covetno Man's Silver nor Gold neither could be hired to certain Place but travail from Place to Place and have no certain dwelling Place and such are the true Ministers of Jesus Christ who make the Gospel free and without Charge And this we own and witness and for the Testimony of this true Ministry some of us are Imprisoned some Stoned some Stocked whipped and shamefully entreated as Vagabonds and Deluders and Wanderers and Raisers of Sedition and Pestilent Fellows and esteemed not worthy to live in the Nation both by Priest and People and Rulers who are out of the Commands of God and are Vagabonds and Fugitives from God who go in the Way of Cain to envy and murder the Innocent And because we declare against all who come not in by the Door but seek to climb up another Way by their Study Inventions and Serpentine Wisdom and Knowledge and so are Thieves and Robbers and those are they which are now to set up and extolled in England with great Augmentations and Benefices by the Arm and Will of Flesh now Heads of England and such Ministers and their Ministry we deny for the Hand of the Lord is against them But this which we own is no new Call nor no new Ministry but the same which was with the Prophets and Apostles and all whom God sent witnessed and here is the Difference of the Ministers of the World and the Ministers of Christ the one comes by the Will of Man the other by the Will of God the one is upheld by the Will of man the other by the Will of God contrary to the Will of Man and the one of the Letter the other of the Spirit and the one has the Form Shadow and the other the Life Substance and the Effects and Fruits of their Ministry make them manifest but from such turn away who have the Form but not the Life and Power for they are meer Deceivers and Witches bewitch People from the Truth holding forth the Shadow instead of the Substance and what is the Shadow to the Substance Or what is the Chaff to the Wheat He that hath an Ear to hear let him hear and understand We are accused to deny all Magistracy and Government I answer This is false for we own it in its Place for whilst there is Transgression there must be a Law and while the Devil hath Power over Man there will be Transgression so the Law was added because of Transgression and the Devil was the Cause of it so there must be a Law without to keep those who are without the Fear of God in Subjection else they would destroy one another and Cain would destroy Abel for this is the Devil's Work and so for this End was the Law given forth to curb Evil-Doers and to preserve and encourage them that do well And it was according to that in the Conscience Just Holy and Good according to the Will of God and serviceable in its Place And true Government according to the Law of God is serviceable in its Place And all Magistrates who fear God and hate Covetousness and are guided by the Light of God in the Conscience and execute the Law in its Place without Partiality and Respect of Persons and such are serviceable in their Place and this we own and honour and are subject to for Conscience sake but the Righteous are from under the outward Law for they are a Law unto themselves neither is there need of any Law amongst them Who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit
for against such there is no Law But they that walk after the Flesh cannot please God neither know how to rule or govern who cannot witness their own Wills subjected by the Law of God in the Heart but are guided by their own Wills and stand in their own Wills and such wink at Deceit and rule with Partiality and Respect of Persons and so transgress the Law of God which respects no man's Person and also give forth Laws in their own Wills which take hold of the Righteous persecute the Righteous countenance encourage the Heathen who know not God so Cain slayes Abel within them and they suffer Cain to slay Abel without them the Wicked and Ungodly have more Liberty in the Nation then the Righteous and so the Land abounds with Iniquity Oppression and Treachery because such corrupt Magistrates wink at Deceits for Carnal Ends and uphold Iniquity and Oppression and tread Truth under foot and this is the Cause why the Land so abounds with all Manner of Ungodliness and Deceit Falshood Tyranny Oppression and Persecution and yet full of Magistrates and Officers And corrupt Magistrates put corrupt Magistrates in Office and so they bear with and wink at one another and feed and nourish up Deceit amongst them unless they cross one another's Will and then they are as much in Deceit on the other side seeking and perverting the Law for Revenge and such as these uphold these corrupt Ministers and false Prophets which the Nation swarms of and they can have a Law to maintain their Deceit and uphold them in Oppression and so the Beast upholds the false Prophet and they combine together against the simple and so the Law is made a stalking-horse to deceive the simple and they will pervert and wrest the Law out of its Place and act contrary to their own Law against the Righteous And such Magistrates and such Government we honour not but deny and testifie against it as the Prophets of God alwayes did for by such Magistrates and Government did the Righteous ever suffer and for the same Testimony of a pure Conscience I have and do suffer by such corrupt Magistrates and hundreds more in the Nation who are redeemed out of Transgression who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit And Haman who stood in the corrupt Will would have destroyed Mordecai because he crossed his Will and could not bow to him and also Pharaoh and Nebuchadonozer and Herod who beheaded John who stood in their own Wills but the Hands of the Lord they did not escape And so corrupt Magistrates say We deny all Magistracy and Government as Haman did but Christ comes to fulfil and end all outward Laws and Government of Man and he himself will reign for as Truth and Righteousness grows the Law is fulfilled and passeth away and the Lyon and the Lamb lye down together and this is the Cause why corrupt Magistrates beat down the Truth as much as they can and so to uphold themselves but God will deliver his own and Pharaoh will he plague and confound But such Magistrates as are guided by the Light of God in the Conscience and rule and govern by it without Partiality or Respect of Persons in Singleness of Heart discharging their Consciences before the Lord and executing the Law in its Place such Magistrates and such Government we own honour in our Hearts for such are a Terror to Evil-Doers and for the Praise Encouragement of those that do well and such bear not the Sword in vain but stand in the Will of God which is a Cross to their own Wills and rule for God and not for themselves and this Government is of God and not of Man nor after the Will of Man neither takes hold of any tender Conscience nor oppresses it but stands in the Place where it is set and some such Magistrates there have been in the Northern Parts of this Nation who witness the Law of God set up in their Hearts and feared God and hated Covetousness and testified against those who did not and so corrupt Magistrates sought to put them out So let all who are single-hearted judge who are destructive to true Magistracy and Government We are accused to be destructive to all Superiority Honour Breeding and Manners because we cannot put off our Hats not follow the Fashions of the World nor respect any Persons but speak the plain Word THOU to any one Rich or Poor In the Beginning when God made Man he made him to be Lord over all Creatures but not Man to be Lord over Man yet he was to be Servant of God and when he had disobeyed the Command of God God spoak to Adam and Adam spoak to him and God Thou'd Adam and Adam Thou'd him and here was the plain Language betwixt God and Adam And when God appeared to Moses in the Bush God Thou'd Moses and Moses Thou'd him and this was the plain Language which ever passâ—d betwixt God and his People in all Ages And thou that disdainest to be Thou'd wouldst exalt thy self above God who Thou 'st God in thy formal Prayers and scorns to take it thy self therefore thou must come down as Lucifer did But it is Lucifer in thee that is exalted who must not be honoured but must be cast down into the Pit and it is he who is Head in Man who would be honoured and would be superior and would be above God and calls this Manners and Breeding to bow to him and honour him and he hath invented Wayes whereby he is honoured and exalted and worshipped and he calls this Manners and Breeding and who can honour him the most and exalt him the highest those he saith are the best bred and of the best Breeding and those he calls Noblemen and Gentlemen and the other he calls Yeomen and common People and Inferiors though they all honour him but they observe it not so much as the other but their Minds are more set upon the Earth and Earthly Things to get Wealth and Riches and those he calls Provident Careful People but he that seeks Preferment in the World and would be exalted and set up seeks to get his Breeding in as excellent Manner as he can that so he may get in Favour with Lucifer that sits in the Courts and high Palaces and so long as he pleases Lucifer he will set him up but both he and Lucifer must be cast down into the Pit together And here is the Ground of the Worlds Superiority Nobility Gentility Honour Breeding and Manners and here they Lord over one another by their corrupt Wills and here is the Ground of all Tyranny and Oppression Rackings and Taxings and Wars and Imprisonments and Envy and Murder and the Persecutions of the Righteous all arise from proud Lucifer the Lust in Man who would be honoured and all this is in the Fall and under the
vanishes away pulling down one Judgment and setting up another pulling down one Form and setting up another and thus are building Babel and so are confounded with this Confusion by him who confounds the Wisdom of the Wise and brings to nought the Counsel of the Prudent And so I seeing many poor Creatures in this Distraction tossed about with every Wind of Doctrine and sucking at the Husk for Life and so get into the Comprehension a great deal of light airy notional Knowledge which is all but aâ— Chaff which the Wind will scatter in the Day of the Lord and so it will stand in no stead when the Lord comes to plead with all flesh for nothing will stand in the Day of Tryal but what comes through Death thus I see many a poor Creature lost and tossed in this wide Wilderness even this dark World being Carried Captive by the Prince of the Air not knowing the true Light to be its Guide into the Way of Truth which is the Way of Life and Peace Now in the Light which was before the World was I do comprehend the World and the Ground and End of all Forms Sects and Opinions And so for some Simple Ones Sakes and the Tender-hearted have I here laid them Open and withall directing the Mind how and where to find the true Light by which these Things are seen and read and understood and as it is loved and followed the Mind will be brought into the Life and Power out of these fading empty Shadows unto the Possession of the Substance even the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands the End of all Forms Shadows and Imaginations and thus doth the Stone which the Builders rejected become the Head of the Corner and thus the Creature is turned from the Power of Satan unto God J. P. THE WATCHER Striking at the Feet of the IMAGE c. IN the Dayes of old the Holy Men of God who were indued with the Spirit of God did as they were acted and guided moved and commanded by the Power and Spirit of God which dwelt in them and here was their RULE And also the Serpent as an Angel of Light he acted and worked in his Instruments by the Power of Darkness in Opposition to the Spirit of God the Enmity being placed betwixt the two Seeds and the more gloriously the true Light appear'd in any Age Satan also reform'd himself and appear'd accordingly in the Shape and Form and Likeness thereof as it is now to this Day but his was alwaies but the Form and Likeness of the thing but not the Thing it self His is the false Light the other the true Light and so the true Light all along discover'd him and made him manifest to those in whom it ruled But thus by his Subtilty and Deceit he hath ever deceived the World and blinded the World so that he might keep his Kingdom who is the God of the World as for Example Moses a Servant and Messenger of the most high God to whom God had revealed and made known himself when he and Aaron were sent unto Pharaoh to require him to let Israel ge free for a Sign unto him they cast down their Rod and it became a Serpent and the Magicians of Egypt they were brought and by their Sorceries and Inchantments they cast down their Rods and they became Serpents and thereby Pharaoh's Heart was hardned and they would not obey nor believe And thus the Devil imitated and opposed the Truth but Aaron's Rods swallowed up their Rods so that it was manifest that He that was with them was Greater then he that was in the World And also when Israel had sin'd against God and done that which is Evil in the Sight of God the Lord God sent forth his Prophets and Messengers to declare the Word of the Lord amongst them against Sin and Evil Pride Deceit and Oppression and all Ungodliness Iniquities Disobedience and Rebellion and they had Visions and Revelations and the Word of God dwelt in them by which they were led guided and acted And Satan he also wrought in his Instruments with a Spirit of Delusion and he sent forth his Prophets with their Visions lying Divinations and false Dream and they cried Peace where the true Prophets cried Wo and the People hearkned unto them and set them up and the Prophets prophesied falsly and the Priests bore Rule by their meanes and the People loved to have it so But What will you do in the End thereof saith the Lord by the mouth of his Prophet Jeremiah who declared against it freely and said It was an horrible filthy Thing and he was persecuted And the true Prophets who dwelt in the Light and in the Power of God they saw them to be such as run and the Lord never sent them and therefore they profited not the People at all and they stole the Word from their Neighbour and they spoak a Divination of their own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord and say the Lord said when he never spoak to them and they were light and vain and daub'd the People up with untempered Morter and sewed Pillows under their Arm-holes and healed the People slightly crying Peace Peace where there was no Peace but they turnd them not from their Evil Wayes nor from their Evil-doings and the Lord was against them And the true Prophets of God who dwelt in the Light they saw them and plainly freely declar'd against them then whether they would hear or forbear and told them They built up Sion with Blood and Jerusalem with Iniquity and the Heads judged for Rewards and the Priests preach'd for Hire and the Prophets divined for Money and yet said the Prophet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us as that none Evil can come upon us And they saw them to be such as sought for the Fleeces and regardeâ—â— ot the Flock but fed with the Fat and cloathed with the Wool and made a Prey upon the Sheep but the Prophets of the Lord did not spare them but freely and publickly declared against them and they were persecuted and imprison'd and destroyed by those who upheld sided with the false Prophets Priests Hirelings and Deceivers And they had then a Way of Worship unto God with their New Moons with their Sabbaths with their calling of Assemblies and Prayers and Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings which were once prescribed by God unto Israel but when their Hearts were gone from him so that they walked not uâ—rightly before the Lord then said he Who hath 〈◊〉 these things at your hands to tread my Couâ—◠〈…〉 were vain 〈◊〉 Iâ—cense is an 〈…〉 the NewMoâ—ns and Sabbaths 〈…〉 I cannot away with It is Iniquity even the 〈…〉 and your appâ—inâ—◠〈…〉 spread forth your Haâ—â—s I wiâ—◠〈…〉 Eyes wheâ— you make many Prayers I will not hearken your Hand are full of Blood wish you
defrauding one another of the Earth which is none of your own and you are Persecutors and Stoners and Strikers of the Innocent Children and Servants and Messengers of God and what Sin is there among those whom you account Heathen that is not amongst you and doth abound yea those whom you account Heathen may condemn you in much of their Practice Oh! be ashamed blush you Priests Teachers of England to see your Ministry the Fruits of your Ministry so laid open before you and thus you are those who come near the Lord with your Lips Mouthes but your Hearts are far from him in the Earth or else you would walk more uprightly But saith the Lord In vain do you worship me teaching for Doctrine the Commmandments of Men but I know some Pharisees and Priests will be ready to say We are not Drunkards nor Swearers nor such like but I say unto you You are Hypocrites and your Hearts are full of Deceit Envy Wrath and Bitterness Covetousness Pride and Earthly-Mindedness and self-Love and self-Wisdom and Persecutors and the greatest Oppressors of the Truth and Publicans and Harlots shall enter the Kingdom before you Jesus Christ the Light marked out your Fore-Fathers and found them to be such though they were more strict and zealous then this Generation and by the same Light you are soâ—nd in their Steps and those Things both Christ and his Apostles judged to be without and condemned them out of the New Covenant for there no unrighteous Person can dwell and there all Wars are ended and the Swords beat into pruning Hâ—oks and Guns into Plow-shares and there is no Oppression nor self exalting but he that would be the greatest must be the least and in Righteousness are they established and they are far from Oppression and the Lord alone is their Teacher and there is no need of an outward Law For to them there is no Condemnation who walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit and there is no Respect of Persons but all Members of one Body of which Christ is Head serving one another in Love and here is the New Covenant and the Children of the New Covenant who are washed and made clean by the Blood of the New Covenant but you are Aliens and Strangers from this Covenant who are in your Notions and Professions therefore all you ignorant People who are led by these deceitful Priests and Pharisees and disdâ—in to be wiser then your Fore Fathers now see who are your Fore-Fathers and the Original of your Priests and who is your Example for you are out of the Life and Practice of the Apostles and the Children of Light and by their Life are judged and condemned for they were mortified to that Life which you live in neither did the Ministers of the Gospel Baptize Infants with Water neither did they Teach for Hire or stand up in the chiefest Place in the Assembly neither were they called of Men Master neither had they the long Gowns neither did they Respect any Place more then another to teach or preach in except for Conveniency for they taught in dwelling-Houses and by the River sides or in any open Place neither did they give to the World David's Conditions to be sung in â— Meter neither did they give to natural Men and Women Bread and Wine which you call a SACRAMENT neither did they use to Church Women as you call it and take Money for it neither did they take a Text of other Mens Words and speak from it a Divination of their own Brain neither did they study what or how to preach but spoak as they were moved by the holy Ghost neither did they teach People The Letter was the Word or That the Letter was the Light but they bore witness of God to be the Word and â—hrist to be the Light neither did they teach People That they could never be free from Siâ— while they wâ—re upon the Earth but they preached Jesus Christ the Lamb of God who came to take away the Sins of the World and to redeem his People from their Sin and to set them in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God that he might redeem unto himself a pure Church not having Spot or Wrincle or any such Thing neither did they teach People That a House of Liâ—e and Stone was the Church or the House of God neither were they set up or upheld by a Law of Man or came by the Will of Man or stood in the VVill of Man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ and from him they received their Message and Command neither were they brought up in Human Learning at an University as it is called to learn Arts and Sciences and take Degrees from Sir to Batchellor and from Batchellor to Master of Arts from Master to Batchellor of Divinity from Batchellor of Divinity to Doctor of Divinity and had so many several Gowns but the Pharisees loved these Things but the Ministers of Christ were not such but most of them were ignorant and unlearned in that Wisdom and Learning but unto them it was given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom but it was hid from the World and the wise Ones thereof and now the wise Ones of the World say That is the Means ordained of God to come to the Knowledge of the Truth and that is the Original to wit human Learning and deny all Revelation or immediate Inspiration and say it is ceased for all which they have no Scripture Proof for the Apostles never taught this Doctrine nor prescribed this Way therefore your Teachers are such as bring another Doctrine and climb up another Way who are not to be received but shut out for Thieves and Robbers who shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men and will neither enter in themselves nor suffer others that would and the Ministers of the Gospel never preach'd up Hebrew and Greek to be the Original but they preached the Word to be the Original neither took Tythes nor ever had a set Maintenance or so much a Year namely forty fifty or sixty or a hundred or two hundred Pounds a Year more or less to abide in one Place neither sued any at the Law for any such Thing but all their Care was to make the Gospel free and without Charge neither did they take of those that did not own them as denyed them but shoke off the Dust of their Feet and so left them neither had they an Hour-Glass to limit themselves by or had a Clark to say Amen But your Priests will tell you Now the Gospel is published and the Churches are gathered and planted Oh! with Shame might they speak it what Churches have they gathered here I have before laid down their Church the Ground thereof the Gathering thereof and the Planting thereof and what they are and also the Gathering of the Apostles Church and the Planting thereof so that here
are they who are led and guided by the One Spirit of which the World cannot receive even the Comforter of whom you have heard should come by which they are separated out of the World and redeemed out of the Rudiments and Pollutions thereof their Fashions their Customs their Words their Wayes their Manners their Breeding their Fellowship Love and Friendship their Honour and Glory and their Worship and so are become Strangers to the World and so are hated of the World because they are not of the World and the Enmity stands betwixt the two Seeds but while they were of the World the World loved them but now they are gathered out of the World and separated from the World and testifie against the World both in Words and Actions therefore the Enmity is raised in the World against the Righteous Seed and those are they upon whom the Ends of the World are come to whom it is given to know the Mysteries of the Kingdom though to the World in Parables and those are they that are come with a Mighty Arm and Power to trun the World up-side down whom the Lord hath gathered and is a gathering out of the World by his own Spirit of Truth and Love to walk in the Way of Truth even the Way of Holiness where the Ransomed of the Lord do walk and serve and worship him in Spirit and in Truth and such is the Father seeking to worship him in whom he is in doing his own Work even to destroy the Old Creation and create New Heavens and New Earth wherein dwelleth Righteousness and those are they that are the New Creatures in whom this New Work is witnessed in whom the Father hath manifested his Son that in the Likeness of sinful Flesh he might condemn Sin in the Flesh and to bind the Strong Man and cast him out of his House and spoil his Goods and so to destroy the Works of the Devil and to cut down the Man of Sin even that Son of Perdition who is exalted above all that is called GOD sitting in the Temple of God as God and saith He is God this is he by whom the World is deceived who is the God of the World even the Prince of Darkness who rules in all the Children of Disobedience and so saith John in the Light The whole World lies in Wickedness and unto this doth Christ come with a Sword for to make War with him and to take and bind him and cast him into utter Darkness and so to take his Kingdom from him and to rule himself in Righteousness And this is the King of the SAINTS who is now come to redeem unto himself a Pure People and to wash them cleanse them from their Sias by his BLOOD and so to wash away all Filthiness both of Flesh and Spirit and this is the Baptism by which they are received into his Church and Faith and here is the Effect of his BLOOD wrought in MAN and thus he doth and will manifest his Mighty Power to purifie and cleanse and make Man a fit Temple for himself to dwell in And thus is GOD with us manifested in Flesh and thus are the Saints Bodies made the TEMPLES of the HOLY GHOST and thus is the Word of Life and Reconciliation witnessed to the raising up the Soul to Life and reconciling the Soul to GOD and those are they that are begotten and born again of the Immortal Word which dwelleth and abideth forever and here is the Houshold of God the Houshold of Faith and the Houshold of Love who speak the things which they have heard and seen and tasted of the good Word of Life which was in the beginning and those are the Children of Light who are gather'd out of the dark Forms Judgments and Opinions into the Life and Power of Godliness to walk in the Light of Life wherein they are gathered and united by the One Spirit of Love and Life into One Body of which Christ is Head and here is the true Church which the Lord is a gathering and washing and cleansing and purifying by his Spirit that he may redeem unto himself a pure Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such thing whose Insides are washed and made clean through the Word by which they are reconciled into the Love and Union which springs from the Life of God and here is the Vine and the Branches and here is the Communion of the Church all feeding upon One Bread all drinking upon One Cup this is Christ the Life of the Saints and as many as are baptized into this Church partake of this Communion and those are they which have denyed themselves and have born the Cross of Christ by which they are crucified to the World and the World to them who are gathered into one Covenant of Life where all are Fellow-Servants under one MASTER who serve one another in Love and Meekness And here is the true Humility in the Heart wrought and here is the true Washing of Feet without Hypocrisie which some are imitating without for LIFE but fall short for the Heart the Lord requires And thus is the Church of Christ gathered by one Spirit and by the same circumcised and baptized into one Light and Life and Power where all dwell as MEMBERS of One BODY of which CHRIST is the HEAD And here is the Blessed Union and Communion in One and here God is worshipped in Spirit and in Truth and as CHRIST is spiritual so is his BODY and so are his Ordinances And here are the true Christians not those that only have the Notion of those things but they that witness and possess this in Life and they that believe have the witness within themselves and they that believe have passed from Death unto Life and the Life which they now live in is by Faith in the Son of God which Faith is without Respect of Persons who are the New Creatures who are IN Christ Jesus to whom there is no Condemnation who walk not after the FLESH but after the for against such there is no LAW for they are translated out of that NATURE for which the LAW was added and are set free by the Law of the Spirit of Life and are made Partakers of the Divine Nature of Christ by which they are made Christians and therefore saith John As he is so are we in this present World and such now witness the Effect of the Blood of Christ wrought within them and the End of his Coming and the Benefit of his Death who are Dead with him and risen through the Death of the Cross and these are they that have escaped the Pollutions of the World through the Knowledge of the Son of God within them Christ within the Hope of Glory or else no Hope of Glory for they that cannot witness him so are in the Reprobation so saith the Apostle and here is the Son in the Saints and the Father in the Son and thus are
wrests and perverts the Scripture to thy own Destruction and then thou wentst on dreaming and flattering and daubing up the People with untempered Morter saying The Lord saith when he never spoake to thee and then thou runst on railing behind the Back of People that was not there as thou often said thou spoak it of none there and thus thou utteredst forth thy Folly and it is like thou mightst belie those whom thou spoakest of for I heard thee utter forth many open Lyes and then thou runnedst on to thy Water-Baptism to maintain it an Ordinance of Christ and thou broughtst this Scripture in the 6 th of the Romans which the Apostle spoak to the Church Know you not that so many of you as were baptised into Jesus Christ were baptized into his Death Thou blind Hypocrite was this Water-Baptism They that are in Christ are New Creatures and so are not those who are baptized with Water but they are in the same Nature as they were before and thou mayst read in Corinthians the twelft what Baptism that was he spoak of there for saith he By one Spirit are we all baptized into one Body c. And they that are thus baptized are baptized into Christ but as I said before It is not the washing away of the Filth of the Flesh and here is thy Folly and Ignorance laid open who art so blind as to bring this Scripture to prove Water-Baptism to be an Ordinance of Christ and again it saith They were baptized into his Death and in the same Chapter it saith They that are dead are freed from Sin and this thou denyedst that any could be set free from Sin so long as they are upon the Earth and thus thou deniest Jesus Christ and his Ordinances who came to take away Sin and to cleanse his People from their Sin but praised be the Lord we do witness a Freedom from Sin by Jesus Christ who is the Lamb of God who came to take away the Sin of the World and to redeem his People from their Sins and to redeem unto himself a pure Church not having Spot or Wrinkle or any such Thing and saith he If the Son hath set you free then are you free indeed and here is the Liberty of the Sons of God and now are we the Sons of God and now they that witness this and confess it such blind Hypocrites as thou call them Blasphemers and so deny Christ come in the Flesh and so are of Anti-christ And one while thou affirmedst in thy Pulpet that they that pressed led People into Holiness were no Deceivers but they that led them into Sin and Evil were Deceivers and then afterwards toldst the People they never could be free from Sin so long as they are upon the Earth and thus thou wouldst settle them upon the Lees and deny Jesus Christ come in the Flesh who comes to cleanse from all Sin and thus art thou judged out of thy own Mouth for a Deceiver And thou also broughtst this Scripture to maintain Water-Baptism where the Apostle said For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. Now let any whose Understandings are enlightned by the Light of Christ read this Scripture and see if this mention Water-Baptism and if any by Water-Baptism do now put on Christ and by the Light judge thee to be a Lyar and a Deceiver and a Perverter of the Scripture to thy own Destruction and all who believe thee except you repent And then thou runedst on to prove the Letter to be the Word by 〈◊〉 or despising those that say that God is the Word and that there is no written Word when the Letter saith it self that the Word is God and then thou broughtst this Scripture to prove the Letter to be the Word in 1 Pet. 1. 23. Being born again not of corruptible Seed but of incorruptible by the Word of God which liveth and abideth forever for all Flesh is Grass and the Glory of Man as the Flower of Grass the Grass withereth and the flower fadeth away but the Word of the Lord endureth forever And this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you here thou dark Sot thy Blindness and Ignorance is more laid open is the Letter immortal or any written Word immortal or liveth or abideth forever or are any born again but of God and is not he that same immortal Word which the Scripture often bears Testimony unto and also in this Place and Christ the Lamb of God is the Everlasting Gospel who preached the Word and his Apostles were made clean through the VVord which he preached unto them but this was not the dead Letter in the which thou wouldst find Life and so art seeking the living amongst the dead like the blind Pharisees who thought in the Scripture to find Eternal Life but would not come unto Christ that they might have Life and here thou art in their Steps though thou madest light of this Scripture and saidst That some added Ye to it and said Ye search the Scripture for in them ye think to have Eternal Life they are they that testifie of me but ye will not come unto me that ye might have Life this was spoaken by Christ unto the Pharisees who could not believe that he was the Christ but thought in the Scriptures to find Eternal Life but would not come unto Christ that they might have Life and therefore he bid them search the Scripture for there the Prophets had prophesied of him and thereby they might know that he was the Christ if they had searched with the single Eye therefore without Ye I say unto thee search the Scriptures for they are they that bear Testimony of Christ to be the Word and all that do search the Scripture with a single Eye will find Christ to be the Word and will believe it and not be so blind as to put the Letter for the Word as thou dost who broughtst another Scripture with thy dark Mind where the Apostle saith Ye have a more sure Word of Prophecy the which ye do well to take heed unto as to a Light shining in a dark Place until the Day dawn and the Day-Star arise in your Hearts 2. Pet. 1. 19. Here thou still the more manifests thy Blindness who puts Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness and so art under the Wo from the Lord who puts the Letter for the Light how doth the Letter shine and what dark Place doth in shine in as a Light here the ignorant may see thy Folly and thus thou art a Stranger to the Light of Christ which dwelt in the Children of God and the Word is nigh in the Heart and in the Mouth to which thou shewest thy self a Stranger who draws Peoples Minds from this Word in their Hearts to the Letter without putting that for the Word and so art a blind Guide and a Deceiver who cryes Lo here without
not by it you are left without Excuse and it will judge you at the last Day For he that loves the Light shall not walk in Darkness but shall have the Light of Life but he that doth Evil hates the Light which is his Condemnation Now the VVay is plain to all simple Ones who have a Desire to find it declared by a Friend and VVitness to the Eternal Truth who am called J. P. THE Fruits of a Fast Appointed by The Churches gathered against Christ and his Kingdom who go about to mock God with their Outside Worship and Appointed Fasts and Dayes of Voluntary HUMILIATION Or A Declaration of the Persecution of a Messenger of the Lord by a People who go under the Name of Independents in Essex who have set themselves in the Enmity of their Spirits to oppose the Truth of God calling it a Lye and persecuting his Messengers as Deceivers and Wanderers wherein their Persecuting Spirits are made manifest and them to be in Cain's Generation Strangers to the Spirit of Christ which never presecuted and so are none of his Rom. 8. 9. And also Of the Unjust Dealings of Judge Hills who sate upon Life and Death at the last Assizes at Chansford which began upon the Eleventh Day of the Sixth Moneth And also Several Queries that were sent to the Priests and Magistrates which may be serviceable for them or any other to Answer whom they do concern By a Witness and Sufferer in Outward Bonds for the Vnchangeable Truth of God by Cain's Generation who am known to them in Colchester Castle by the Name JAMES PARNEL Printed in the Year 1675. THE Fruits of a Fast Appointed by the Churches gathered against Christ and his Kingdom c. FIrst I shall give unto the Reader a Declaration of the Work of God in my Soul and the Conversion of my Heart from Darkness unto his marvellous Light and from the Power of Satan unto God and out of the Path of Death into the Path of Life where I now walk in the Light of my God with the Ransomed of the Lord who are availing towards the Holy City and also the Cause of my coming forth into the World to declare the Truth for which I now suffer Bonds by the Persecuting Generation wherein I once lived a Child of Wrath as all are by Nature and then I was loved of the World while I followed the Vain Courses and Wayes of the World where by Nature I was led in Imitation of others being in that Nature which is prone unto the same the time I was sent unto the Schools of Humane Learning for to learn the Humane Wisdom for which End the Schools are profitable but for the attaining of Heavenly Wisdom and Knowledge they are as far unprofitable and many Books that are there read are much for the Corrupting of Youth and nourishing of the Wild Prophane Nature which then ruled in me and I was as Wild as others during the time I followed the School and after I was taken from the School I still continued in the same Nature growing and encreasing in Sin and Iniquity following the vain Courses of the Wicked World and also was trained up in the Customary Way of the Worship of the World which is held in the Idols Temple every First Day of the Week but no Conversion there was wrought but all still continued in the old Nature both Priest and People Young and Old and as was the People so was the Priest all walking in Darkness and Blindness by Form Custom and Tradition but ignorant of the pure Light which is the Guide and Teacher of the Faithful which oftentimes did reprove in Secret when I was alone but then I knew not what it was but oftentimes it did strike me into a Consideration of my Ways and Doings and set Life and Death before me so that I have sometimes promised within my self never to do the like again but the Promise being in the Will made it did not stand but when the Temptations came the Careless Mind got out again and led me still to delight my Heart in the Vanity which my Eye did see and my Ear did hear which all passed away with the using thereof and left me to the Judgment which was due unto me for my Iniquity which did follow me time after time calling me to Repentance and the more I did incline my Mind and draw nigh to it it also did draw nigh to me and so the Goodness of God led me to Repentance and the Grace of God wrought in my Heart a Reformation and so I was found of him when I sought not and thus he both wrought the Will and the Deed of his own good Pleasure and plucked me as a Brand out of the Fire to make me a Vessel of Honour to his Name all Living Eternal Praises be to his Name forever my Soul shall Praise and Magnifie his Name forever For I may well say with Paul of Sinners I was chief for according to my Years I was as perfect in Sin and Iniquity as any in the Town where I lived yea and exceeded many in the same so that there was as little Hopes of my Conversion as any in the Town and yet though it is a Place of many People I was the first in all that Town which the Lord was pleased to make known his Power in and turn my Heart towards him and truly to seek him so that I became a Wonder to the World and an Astonishment to the Heathen round about but they were such Enemies to Goodness and so given up to Idolatry that as much as before they had loved me in my Vain Conversation so much the more they hated me in my Conversion yea and they oâ— my Family came to ensnare me and lay wait for me to entrap me but when they could not prevail they stood afar off me and Reproached me with Lyes and proved my Greatest Enemies yea and my Relations became my Adversaries and laboured to destroy what God had begun in me because that thereby I came under the Reproach and Shame of the World because I could not conform to the World in their invented Fashions Customs and Traditions and their Words Wayes Fellowship and Worship but was made subject to the Law of God and could not Respect Persons neither in Word nor Deed then the Beast which rules in Proud Flesh was disturbed who before ruled in Peace while he was worshipped but when I came to see proud Lucifer the Lust in Man to be the Beast which all the World worships and wonders after but those whose Names are written in the Book of Life therefore I could no longer follow the World in Blindness for by the Power of God my Eye was opened so that I did behold their Idolatry and therefore I could no longer be conformable to them so that their Rage and Persecution arose against me and I became a Mock in the Streets yea and I was accounted
as one not worthy to live amongst them yea and they said He that killed me would do God Service But he that had called me out from amongst them unto himself that I might no longer follow the Vain Courses of the World nor set my Delight on things below but that I might serve him in Newness of â—ife that in me his Workmanship might appear to the Confounding â—â—f the Heathen who know him not He by his â—â—â—wer kept me and gave me Strength to bear his Cross and despise the Shame so that neither Foul Words nor Fair Words could cause me to Deny what God by his Grace had wrought in my Heart but by his Power he carried me above the Raging Waves of the tempestuous Sea so that I knew that he that was in me was greater then he that is in the World yea and out of my Kindred and Acquaintance I came and became a Stranger to them that lov'd not the Truth Yea and presently I came to see the Priests of the World by their Fruits and the Fruits of their Ministry which was cursed from God and therefore profited not the People at all But when the Lord by his Power had changed and converted my Heart unto himself the Priests became mine Enemies and said I was deluded whenas before when I lived in the vain Conversation of the World they took no Notice of me either to Reprove me or Instruct me but as they went on in a customary way for Gain and Lucre speaking against Sin in the general but not reproving it in particular but were as deep in it in their Lives as others and so what they preacht down with their Tongues they upheld in their Lives and countenanced in their Conversations and so from them I turned whom I saw had gotten a Form but deny'd the Life and Power and I sought for a People with whom I might have Union and there was a People with whom I found Union a few Miles from the Town where I lived whom the Lord was a gathering out of the dark VVorld to sit down together wait upon his Name but we were the Objects and Reproach of the Country and were accounted as the Off-scourings of the VVorld but in all this we saw the Scriptures fulfilled and that we might thus suffer if we would live Godly in Christ Jesus and here was our Confidence and Strength which carryed us above our Sufferings as knowing it was for the Name of Jesus And thus I continued a certain time counting it greater Riches to suffer Affliction with the People of God then to enjoy the Pleasures of Sin for a Season and about this time I was about Fifteen Years of Age. And afterwards I was called forth to visit some Friends in the North Part of England with whom I had Union in Spirit before I saw their Faces And afterwards I returned back to my outward Dwelling-Place and remained in my outward Calling And the Lord all this time still more more perfecting encreasing his Work in my Heart which by his Power he had begun in me and by his pure Power bringing forth his Truth in me and making known his Will unto me until by his Power He opened my Mouth to declare his Truth in the VVorld and still I continued in my outward Calling and also in the VVork of the Lord as not being called far from my Dwelling-Place And when I was betwixt Seventeen and Eighteen Years of Age I was moved in my Spirit to go to a Place about Fifteen Miles from my outward Dwelling-Place southward amongst a People to whom the Lord was making known his Truth not knowing when I went out of going farther then that Place but when I was there I was moved of the Lord to come on the Cambridge and in Obedience unto the Lord I came to see what he had to do for me not knowing one Foot of the Way but as I was directed neither knowing when I came there where to be receiv'd but had heard before of Two of my Friends that were there Whipped caused by the Mayor that then was only for declaring the Truth as they past through the Town against the Deceit thereof neither did I know but it might be my Portion also when I came there but without conferring with Flesh and Blood I passed on my Journey and he that called me forth went along with me and did direct me And when I came there I found those that were worthy that received me and also I found a Friend whom the Corrupt Rulers had put in Prison for the same Testimony which I also was sent to declare before I had continu'd there the space of Fourteen Nights William Pickering the Mayor of Cambridge committed me to Prison for publishing two Papers the one against the Corruption of the Magistrates and the other against the Corruption of the Priests at the time of their Commencement as they call it and there they kept me in Prison the space of two Sessions and tossed me from Prison to Dungeon and had nothing to lay against me whereby to prove the Breach of any Law but when I came to the last Sessions they called a Jury to prove the Papers to be Scandalous and Seditious Papers and they were nigh Two Hours about them but could not prove it but came and said That they found nothing but that the Papers were mine which I had before own'd in the open Court and there was my Name to them to testifie the same And so they were crossed in their Intentions and their Plots came to nought Then they committed me back to Prison again and after the space of Three Days they sent me away with a Pass under the Name of a Rogue yet durst not give me the Law which belongs to Rogues but had me away with Clubs and Staves and I could not see the Pass until I was Three Miles out of the Town where I lodged that Night and the next day there came a Justice of Peace from Cambridge who knowing me to be Innocent of what was laid to my Charge so he witnessed the Pass to be false and took it back to Cambridge and so I was set free And not long after I went of Cambridge again and went abroad preaching and declaring the Truth freely in the Countries about and many I found that received the Truth gladly but more Enemies yet nevertheless Truth spread conquer'd over its Enemies and there I continued labouring in the VVork of the Lord about the Space of half a Year in the Countries about Cambridge and from thence I was moved of the Lord to come into Essex where I heard of a People that was seâ—king the Lord and when I came there I found those that were worthy who received the Truth gladly and there I continued freely declaring and preaching the Truth from Place to Place sometimes in the Synagogues and was haled out by the Priests Party that the Scripture might be fulfilled upon that
Messengers of the Most High and wilfully resisting the Truth of God making Lyes your Refuge as here doth plainly appear For upon the day aforesaid I was at a Friend's House in Great Coggashall where several Friends and Neighbours were come to see me and there sate peaceably together waiting upon the Lord and I having heard of a publick Meeting at the Steeple-House in the said Town of the Priests and Professors of these Times as it was openly published by Priest Sammes and the Priest of the said Town in the said Steeple-house upon the First Day last past to that End as I heard and since did understand for to Fast and Pray against and lay open the Errors as they said of the People called Quakers for the Returning of them who owned them and the Establishing and Strengthening those against them that did not own them to wit the People called Quakers so I being pressed in my Spirit for to go amongst them in the Behalf and Defence of the Truth of God brought forth in these People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers I also being made a Minister of the same Eternal Truth through the Power of God by which I am made able and carryed on to declare it openly and publickly to the Confounding of the Heathen and the reviving of the Witness for God in the Conscience and also to suffer for the same which I did believe the Priests did much Blaspheme and Reproach striving to present it Odious to the People so in Obedience to the Lord I went out from amongst my Friends not telling one of them whither I was a going as many can witness and one Friend followed me to the Door and perceiving something of my Going he asked me If he might go with me and I bad him Use his Freedom to come after but I desired to go alone and so I went on the Way single And when I came at the Steeple-house Door which you Persecutors call a Church also account your selves another Church and thus you set up Churches in your Imaginations yet are Strangers to the True Church which are no Persecutors but when I came there there were several Boys and Children that would have flocked in after me and I bad them go in before me rather then to go in Disorderly whereby to occasion any Disturbance and so I went in very Orderly and stood very Orderly not speaking one Word until their Priest had done and was coming out of his Seat as many can witness though the Priest had been openly Reviling and Reproaching the People of God in particular whom he scornfully called Quakers Therefore let all People whose Understandings are enlightened judge in what Riotous Manner I entred the place which you call a Church and bear witness against you who are not ashamed to make Lyes your Refuge against the Innocent and also what are the Weapons which you make use of who call your selves Christians but make Lyes your Refuge and cover your Actions with Deceit But was this the Practice and Nature of Christ For a Christian is Christ-like and let all that profess Christ walk as he walked But these are the Fruits of your publick Humiliation who go about to mock God but your End shall be according to your Works 2. Accusation And whereas you say Being in order thereunto then exercised in the Divine Worship of God Almighty He the said James did then and there stand up and told the Minister He Blasphemed and spoak Falsly and used many other Reproachful Words against the said Minister Reply Until him called Minister had done the Divinatlon of his own Brain from whence you derive your Divine Worship and was coming out of his Seat I did not speak one Word unto him as Hundreds can witness and the first words that I spoak were not as you accuse me but this I said This is the Order of the True Church that all may speak one by one and if any thing be revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace Then I spoak on in the Behalf of those People called Quakers whom the Priest had before often and openly reviled but so soon as I had spoak a few words the Priest and several others disorderly ran into many words so interrupted me in speaking that it bred much Confusion Then the Priest asked me What I would Object against him I told him In that he Reviled the People called Quakers and said they were built upon a Sandy Foundation and so called them Shakers and the like But I told him I would prove their Foundation not to be Sandy and him to be the False Prophet And so I declared of the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image whose Head is Gold and Breast of Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron part Clay and this Stone is become a great Mountain upon which the Church is built as a City set on a Hill cannot be hid And this is the Foundation of the People that are called Quakers not all that are called Quakers but the Real People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers And this is become a Stumbling-Stone and a Rock of Offence to the Nations and so it seems it is unto you because you are the Worshippers of the great Image which you call the Divine Worship of your God but God Almighty you know not for he abhors all the Sacrifices of Cain and his Generation which was ever the Persecuting Generation upon which must come all the Righteous Blood-shed from Righteous Abel until now Therefore Wo unto you ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell And now you fill up the Measure of your Fathers Wrath. Ye Stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do ye But think not that you shall be heard for your much Babling who for a Pretence make long Prayers but ye shall receive the greater Damnation And the Lord will make your Diviners Mad who have spoak a Divination from their own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord but cryed Peace Peace where there is no Peace because ye put into their Mouths and so heal you sleightly daubing you up with Untempered Morter but you shall all fall amongst them that fall in the Day that I visit you saith the Lord ye Murderers and Crucifiers of the Just. So when I had cleared the Foundation of the People called Quakers as aforesaid some of you accused me That I owned no Church And I said It was False Then some of you asked me What Church I owned And I answered The Church in God and more words I spoak about the Church Then Willis the Diviner stood up in his Will and said I spoak nothing but Nonsense And I bad him Name one Word that was Nonsense that I had spoaken And he said
do you own immediate Revelation now yea or nay 10. What is a Minister of Christ and what is a Minister of Anti-christ and do you distinguish the one from the other 11. What Scripture have you to give unto the World David's Condition to be sung in a Meeter 12. What Rule have you in the Scripture to abide in a certain Place and to agree with the People foâ— so much a Year â—or preaching as forty sixty or an hundred or two hundred Pound as you can get it 13. How and by what are you gathered and united who call your selves a Church 14. And what is the Church in God and whether to it you be come yea or nay 15. What is the Baptism into the Church and whether to it you be come yea or nay 16. And what Scripture have you to sprinkle Children with Water and to what End do you do it 17. Whether you be of one Heart and Mind as the true Church was yea or nay 18. Whether you have passed from Death to Life yea or nay 19. What is the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and whether to it you be come yea or nay 20. Whether he that believes is not born of God and whether he that is born of God doth not commit Sin yea or nay 21. Why do not you maintain your Teacher but let him rob the VVorld instead of robbing other Churches and so is chargeable unto the VVorld 22. VVhether do you own and hold up the first Priesthood that took Tythes or second Priesthood that took no Tythes and which do you deny seeing you pay Tythes and you Teachers take Tythes yea or nay 25. Why do you own and hold up such that are â—alled of Men Master and have the chiefest Place in the Assembly and stand praying in the Synagogue and love Greetings in the Markets which Christ himself cryed Wo against 24. How is Christ the Light of the World and how doth he enlighten every one that cometh into the World if it be not in the Conscience and whether that Light which comes from him be Natural yea or nay 25. How is the Light the Condemnation of the World if it be not in the Conscience 26. Aâ—d how is it said That he that doth Evil hateth the Light and will not bring his Deeds to the Light lest the Light should reprove him if it be not in the Conscience and whether that be a Natural Light which reproves for Sin Yea or Nay 27. How did Paul turn Peoples Minds from Darkness to Light if it be not in the Conscience and whether that Light was Natural which Paul was sent to turn the Minds of the Gentiles unto 28. Whether that Light which shines in Darkness be not one the same with that which shines out of Darkness Yea or Nay 29. And whether the Light of the World be not a saving Light in the least Measure Yea or Nay and how can that be said to be Natural 30. Whether the Light which John came to bear Witness of was Natural or Spiritual 31. How hath the Grace of God which bringeth Salvation appeared to all Men if it be not in the Conscience and whether it be Natural 32. How doth it stand with the Impartial God to give to one Man a Measure of Grace and not to another and yet requiâ—e Obedience from all 33. Whether the sloathful Servant hath not a Talent as well as the faithful though he hides it in the Earth and what is that Talent 34. What is the Account that God will require of every one in the Day of Judgment and how can he call all justly to an Account and reward them according to their Deeds if he hath not given to every one a Talent 35. What is that which leads to Repentance and whether that which leads to Repentance be not in the Conscience and whether it be Natural Yea or Nay 36. And where do you read in the Scripture of a Natural Light to be in the Conscience 37. What is the Redemption and what is the End of Christ's Coming 38. Whether the Redemption by Christ be not as full in every Respect as the Fall by Adam and what is the Fall by Adam 39. And whether you do not go about to make the Commands of Christ unjust who saith Be you perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect and you say It cannot be while you are upon the Earth then how is it your Rule 40. Will you own a Purgatory or where is the Place betwixt Heaven and Earth where Man shall be cleansed if not upon the Earth seeing no unclean Thing can inherit the Kingdom of God 41. Whether do they deny Christ come in the Flesh that witness forth Perfection from Sin here or they that tell People They can never be perfect or be wholely set free from Sin so long as they are upon the Earth and whether such be not the Ministers of Anti-christ Yea or Nay 42. Where had you this Doctrine to tell People The Light in the Conscience is Natural and that Christ hath not enlightened every one that cometh into the World 43. And whether in this you do not bring another Doctrine in Opposition to the Doctrine of Christ who saith He is the Light of the World and doth enlighten every one that cometh into the World 44. And where had you this Doctrine to tell People They could never be wholly cleansed or be set free from Sin so long as they are upon he Earth 45. And whether this be not in Opposition to the Doctrine of Christ who saith Be ye perfect as your Heavenly Father is perfect 46. VVhether God justifies any in their Sin and whether Sanctification goes not before Justification Yea or Nay 47. VVhether you do not seek Justification by VVorks who put one another upon Prayer and Duties Observations Ordinances and Commands without the Light in Imitation of the Letter and whether these be not your own Works which are done out of the Light Yea or Nay 48. What is your own Righteousness and what is the Righteousness of Christ and how do you distinguish betwixt the one and the other 49. And whether he that is justified by the Righteousness of Christ doth not dwell in it and it in him and whether he that dwells in the Righteousness of Christ doth sin Yea or Nay 50. Whether any can walk according to the Scripture but by the Light of Christ and whether any that are guided by the Light of Christ do or can act contrary to the Scripture and whether this Light be not a sufficient Guide if it be owned and followed 51. How is the Scripture left unto the World for a Rule who know not the Light seeing to them it is a Parable and as a Book Sealed 52. And what is the Word and whether there be any other VVord of God then one 53. VVhat is the Death that hath passed over all Men forasmuch as all Men have sinned and whether this Death you ever passed
I am freely made willing to give up rather then to deny the Truth of my God And if I should pay one Penny for the Liberty of my Body in this Cause would be as much as if I paid the whole Fine which thou hast unjustly laid upon me for therein I should own my self a Transgressor where I am not guilty and also a bought Liberty is Bondage to my Spirit but my Liberty under thy Bonds is Bondage to thee which Liberty thou canst not rob me of with all that thou canst do for it is the Free-Gift of God which none can take away though thou wilt not allow me in thy Bonds to have the outward Liberty that thou allowest to Thieves and Murderers and Fornicators that is to have my Friends and Acquaintance to come to see me wherein the very Heathen will condemn thee who when they had committed Paul to Prison said Forbid none of his Friends and Acquaintance to come to see him Acts 22. 24. Therefore now read how thou exceedest the Heathen in Persecution and Injustice though I am a free-born Subject in England therefore let the Life of all the Christians condemn thee who never were Persecutors And this of the Lord I was moved to write which is the Word of the Lord unto thee whether thou wilt hear or forbear in the Peace of my Conscience I do rest in the Will of God known to thee by the Name James Parnel And now a few Words unto you who call your selves Gathered Churches go under the Name of Independents in Essex YOU are gathered by the Will of Man and are joyned by the Will of Man and so stand in the Will of Man and are upheld by the Will of Man by which you are begotten but still alive in the World's Nature in the World's Customs Fashions and Traditions in the World's Fellowship Words and Wayes and Rudiments only differing from others in Judgment Opinion or Profession wherein is your Life in high Notions and feigned Apprehensions and false Applications and glorious Expressions and customary Duties and vain Traditions which all appertain to the great Image which all the world worships by which they are deceived whose Head is Gold and Breast of Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron part Clay and in the same Nature ye are found with the world the Day doth declare it and you to be the Enemies and Stangers to the Light which is not of the world which is now come into the world testifying against the world and the Deceit of the world and the Deceivers in the World and the Profession of the world And this is the Condemnation of the world that Light is come into the world and men love Darkness rather then Light because their Deeds are Evil In which Evil you are found despising and setting at nought the Corner-Stone and standing in the Enmity of your Spirits and joyning with the Powers of the Earth to persecute the Life and Power which now is manifest in the Earth and is come to discover your Empty Shadows Forms and fair Shews of Godliness but without Life and Power which you have set up in your Imaginations and thereby are deceived and blinded and led in Blindness so that you cannot see the Light nor receive the Substance now it is come and made maniest but stand up in your Wills and wisdom to oppose the same and persecute it in the Enmity of your Spirits as if you hoped to kill the Heir that the Inheritance might be yours And therefore Because you do despise this Day of your Visitation and reject and sleight the Glad-tidings which now are come to them that dwell upon the Earth and revilâ— and reproach persecute and slander the faithful Messengers of the Gospel rejoycing your Hearts in their Sufferings by you and amongst you therefore the Lord will raise up a People out of the Dust and gather them from far to bear Testimony unto his Name and bear witness against you yea and shall sit down with Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of the Son and you and such as you shall be cast out into Tophet prepared of old for Hypocrites and Unbelievers Therefore now read your Portion ye stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears who do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do ye but the greater will be your Condemnation who go about to mock God with your Will-worship with your Calling of Assemblies and Solemn Meetings with your appointed Fasts and Dayes of Voluntary Humiliation with your Long Prayers and Feigned Duties all which are done out of the Light and so are your own Works acted by Self for Self But who has required these things at your Hands It is all Abomination to the Lord his Soul loaths it For your Sacrifices are are as Cain's for you are found in Cain's Nature Envying and Persecuting the Righteous yea the Witness lieth slain in your Streets Therefore VVo is unto you who go on in the Way of Cain for upon you shall come all the Righteous Bloodshed from Righteous Abel until now And your Profession stinks in the Nostrils of the Lord for you have lifted up your Hands against him and his Anointed and opened your Mouths in Blasphemy and False Reports against the Truth yea you are blind and stumble at the Noon-day you come near the Lord with your Lips but your hearts run a Whoring after other Lovers and you know not the Only True God that dwells in Temples made without hands whose VVorship is in Spirit and in Truth but would limit the Unlimited under your VVills as if he were not a God of Might but that you could controle him with the Arm of Flesh But Be not deceived God is not mocked such as you sow such shall you reap and your End shall be according to your Works For our God is a God of Judgment and Justice and will avenge the Cause of the Innocent upon you his Adversaries Yea and though your Teachers do cry Peace Peace unto you because you put into their Mouthes and so daub you up with Untempered Morter that you cannot see your VVouud and so heal you sleightly Yet you shall know that our God is a God of Truth and his VVord shall stand forever and their Sorcery shall appear and their Witchcraft shall be laid open and the Cup of Fornication wherewith they have made drunk and deluded the Nations shall be taken from them the Cup of the Wrath of the Almighty given them to drink their Reward And then shall you behold the Harlot with whom you have committed Fornication who now lies in your Bosoms Bewitching you with a Golden Cup with whom you have defiled your Garments then to be cast into the Bottomless Pit where you shall all be tormented together who now partake of her Pleasures and thus shall you fall among them that fall in the Day that I visit you saith the Lord. J. Parnel A Few
Words to all my Dear Friends in and about the County of Essex AND all you my dear Friends you scattered and despised Ones in and about the County of Essex whom the Lord by his Powerful Word is now gathering out of Darkness into his Marvelous Light out of the Kingdom of this world into the Kingdom of his dear Son whom he is separating unto himself to walk before him in Holiness that you might know him and he might know you in the Light of his Countenance whose Faces he hath turned towards Sion to seek after a Land of Rest unto your wearied Souls which have been tossed to and fro from Mountain to Hill in this Cloudy and Dark Day seeking Rest but finding none But now is the Day of Beauty broaken forth nigh you even in you Yea and Glad-tidings is come unto your wearied Souls by which a pure Love is begotten in you to the Everlasting Truth which hath been freely declared amongst you by the Messengers of the Most High who have reached the Witness for God in your Consciences which doth seal the same upon your Hearts which your Teacher is and unto it you hearken and are obedient In which Light all stand still and behold the Work which the Lord hath begun amongst you and you shall have no Cause of Discouragement though the Sea doth rise and the Raging Waves do swell as if they would swallow all up yet it is limited by the Unlimited and it shall but foam out its own Shame And as I had a Time to preach the Truth amongst you to the Convincement of many so also now I have a Time to seal the same with Patient Suffering in the Bonds of the Gospel that you may see That it is no other but what we are made able and willing to seal with patient Suffering yea with our Blood if we be called to it as many of us have done in this Nation though it be called A Land of Liberty but it is for Iniquity but Truth and Equity are Strangers in it and therefore are persecuted But you that are found worthy to receive these Strangers happy are you And though the Raging Sodomites compass you about for to cause you to cast out these Strangers that they may work their Wills upon them yet be Faithful and fear them not but cast out your Darlings before them and stand in the Faith of the God of Truth and Equity and you shallâ— see the Sodomites struck with Blindness that they shall not be able to prevail against you but when they are weary with striving they shall be made to sit down in Sorrow and so shall it be fulfilled which of old was prophesied that No Weapon formed against the Faithful shall prosper but Wo unto them that lift up their Heel against them Therefore I charge you all in the Name of the God of Truth Be Faithful Valliant and Bold for the Truth received and as you have received it so walk in it that you may profess no more in Word but what in Life you seal that the Light may be preached forth in your Lives and shine forth in your Conversations to the Glory of the Father of Lights and the Confounding of the Heathen who profess God in VVords but in Life deny him And be willing that Self shall suffer for the Truth and not the Truth for Self for the Truth was ever sealed with Persecution since Gain's Generation had a Being upon the Earth and so own the Cross and despise the Shame and give up your selves to suffer for the Truth received all you that would follow the Lamb to the Land of Rest and through many Tryals you will wax strong and bold and confident in your God for God is not known what a God he is until the Time of Tryal And all keep your Meetings in the Name and Fear of the Lord God waiting for his Power in the Obedience to his Light which in your Consciences doth reprove you when you do amiss that in it you may wait and watch over the Foes that are of your own House that you may know the Warfare begun in your Hearts against your Spiritual Enemies and so the God of Power manifest himself amongst you by his Mighty Power bringing down all that in you which opposes him and would not that he should reign over it and exalt his own Seed in your Hearts and establish you in Righteousness that his Image you may bear and He shall be your God and Ye shall be his People And so in the Unchangeable Truth I rest in Unity with all the Faithful in the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God though in Outward Bonds for your sakes Known to all that can read me in Spirit JAMES PARNEL Goliah's Head Cut off with his OWN SVVORD In a Combat betwixt Little David the Young Stripling who stands in the Power and Strength of his GOD and great Goliah the Proud Boaster who stands in his Own Strength glorying in the Arm of Flesh and contemning and despising Little David because of his Youth In a REPLY to a Book set forth by an Unnamed Author under Pretence of an Answer to Thirty Six Queries propounded by Iames Parnel whom he in Scorn calls The Young QVAKER And also an Answer to several Counter-Queries propounded by the same Unnamed Author whom I understand to be one Thomas Draton a Teacher of the World at Abby Rippon in Huntingtonshire wherein his Folly and Ignorance is much laid open and the Pride and Deceit of his Spirit much manifested and also he that takes his Part who writes himself W. P. who knows not the Power of God and therefore glories in the Length of Time and the Multitude of Years But Solomon who was a Wiser Man then Great Goliah said That the Honourable Age is not that which is of Long Time neither that which is measured by the Number of Years but Wisdom is the Gray Hair and an Vndefiled Life is Old Age. And therefore let not the Wise Man glory in his Wisdom nor the Strong Man glory in his Strength for it is Vanity JAMES PARNEL Printed in the Year 1675. GOLIAH's HEAD Cut of with his Own Sword c. The Title of the aforesaid Book An Answer according to Truth that trembles not nor quakes nor quaileth given to thirty six Queries propounded by James Parnel commonly called the Young Quaker to an ancient Country Minister with some Counter-Queries by the said Minister unto the said Young Quack and his Fellows Reply HEre thou mayst be ashamed to stile thy self an ancient Minister who manifests such an Ishmael's Spirit who with reproachful Words makest a Scoff at the Power of Truth which the Ministers of God in all Ages witnessed which made them to quake and tremble And though the Truth neither quakes nor quaileth yet all that owned the Truth owned and witnessed quaking and trembling which Truth thou manifests thy self but a Professor of and a Stranger to the Power and
a Despiser thereof and therefore out from among the Ministers of Christ thou art raised and thy Answer is not according to Truth but a Lye as shall further be made to appear hereafter by him whom thou callest the Young Quack and it seems Fear surpriseth the Heart of the Hypocrite so that thou art ashamed to own thy Work with thy Name Priest And whereas thou saist Courteous Reader we are forced notwithstanding so many Pamphlets extant against the People called Quakers to give Answer to thirty six Queries of James Parnel's the Young Quaker Reply Although thou hast boasted thy self an ancient Minister and contemnest me as a young Boy yet here it appears that thou art glad of others to help thee to answer my Queries as these Words before mentioned do testifie and yet it is but a Pamphlet as thou and thy Helpers do confess that those many are that are extant against the People called Quakers And then thou runst on in Way of Reproach and Scorn against me because of my Youth but the Wisdom of Solomon answereth you That a poor and wise Child is better then an old foolish King who will no more be admonished and therefore when you think of your Age consider also your Folly and let that stop your Mouthes from professing your selves Ancients who manifest such a light scornful Spirit and hate to be reformed Priest And whereas thou saist Thou doubtest not but his Queries are the Dictates of others deceiving and being deceived which yet they put under the Boy 's Name for the Credit of their Cause Here also without Doubt thy unbelieving Heart is manifested who without Ground measurest others according to thine own Heart who because thou makest Use of the Dictates of others as here doth plainly appear therefore censurest others which doth not add Credit to thy Cause because thou boasts of thy Age. Priest But according as thou believest so be it to thee yet nevertheless thou shalt find that the Truth I shall maintain against thee who with thy Unbelieving Heart art deceiving and being deceived and then thou runnest on in the Pride of thy Spirit accusing of me to be Ignorant of the Truth of God because as thou sayst of the false wording of my Queries Reply But with Shame mightst thou speak it for openly hast thou manifested to the Understanding Reader thy self to be a meer Stranger both to God and his Truth also who wouldst limit the Truth of God to an human Art which many of the Children of God had not and therefore the Power of God was the more manifested And when Peter and John were brought before the learned Men to wit the chief Priests and the Rulers and they wondred at them because they perceived they were unlearned Men and thus with thy Wisdom and thy great Learning thou art shut out of the Truth in the natural but by this I do not own thy Accusation to be Truth against me for I have a Copy of the Queries of my own Hand-writing which was the Original of those that were sent to thee which will bear Testimony against thee to be a false Accuser and how thou thy self hast wronged them and misworded them because they were in the Cross unto thy Wisdom and to maintain this thou bringest a Story in Erasmus nevertheless the Story which thou bringest doth not at all touch me but may fitly be returned into thy own Bosom where it shall lâ—e Then thou and thy Agent do beseech the Reader to read without Partiality which if he do he will judge no otherwise of you then as I have declared but will see how you have uttered forth your Folly and foamed out your Shame in going about to contradict the truth And at the End of this your Epistle to the Reader I find W. P. which I judge to be one of thy Agents to this your shameful Work to which thou darest not own thy Name My first Query Where and how and by what wast thou called to the Ministry which thou professest Pr. Answ. And in thy Auswer thou goest about to plead many Excuses whereby to flee the Answering of my Queries saying It is easier for him that is yet in Darkness to propound Doubts and Queries then for some of the Children of Light to auswer them on a suddain Which to prove thou quotest Daniel and that our Saviour thou say'st himself refused to answer the Pharisees Interogatories till they had first answered his Mat. 21. 23 24. And albeit thou say'st Thou might'st put me off with Solomon's Words Prov. 26. 4. Answer not a Fool according to his Folly lest thou also be like unto him Reply I did not propound the Queries unto thee as any Doubts of mine but that thou in thy Answer thereunto mightst either prove thy Practice by the Scriptures unto them that are in Doubt thereof or unto them manifest thy self to be a Deceiver which last thou hast plainly done to the least Child of Light and therefore it doth not follow that I am in Darkness or that thou art a Child of Light Neither didst thou suddainly answer the Queries though they concerned thy own Condition and therefore this Place in Daniel doth not at all stand for thee for it was for Daniel to tell and interpret Nebuchadnezzer's Dream which was a hard thing for any to tell unless it was immediately revealed to them by God's Spirit as it was to Daniel but all the Magicians and Learned Men could not find it out by their Arts But most of these Queries unto thee were concerning thy present Condition and Practice and herein thou manifestest thy self to be in Darkness who thus wrests the Scripture out of its Place for thy own Ends. And also Daniel was a Man that Feared the Lord and Trembled at his Power which now thou denyest and scoffest at and yet art not ashamed to take Daniel's Words for a Refuge against the Light And as for that Scripture in Mat. 21. 23 24. it shall be returned into thine own Bosom for it is thee and such as thee who are set up by the Will of Man and Authorized by the Authority of Man who joyn with the Pharisees and Scribes of these Times and combine together with the Earthly Powers to call us to question By what Authority we go abroad preaching the Truth from Place to Place and Crying against Deceivers and where we had our Commission because we receive it not from Man as you do but do witness the same Power and Authority as the Ministers of God did in all Ages and the same Commission for they received not their Commission from Man but were immediately called and immediately fitted and sent forth into the Work of the Ministry freely to give as freely they had received and were persecuted by them that were set up by the Will of Man which also we do witness and therefore the Scripture afore-mentioned belongeth unto thy Generation who were ever Persecutors And if by propounding Queries thou judgest
by the Precious Blood of the Lamb with whom You are crucified who are in him who have put on the Wedding Garment and are admitted to the Table of the Lord and are Partakers of the Holy Union Oh ye Blessed of the Lord ye Bâ—bes and Children of the Most High who dweâ—â—eth in Purity and reigneth in Majesty who â—ath established and set up his Throne in Your Hearts in You is my Joy and great Delight yâ—a I remember You when ye were tender and springing up but by Waiting upon the Lord You â—ave renewed Your Strength and the more is my Joy made full in You and Ye are made Precious in my Sight Ye that are inward Jews of the Heart-Circumcision redeemed frâ—m Kindreds Tongues Languages and People who are come to the Heavenly Jerusalem there to worship the Father in Spirit and in Truth whom he hath chosen to bear his Holy Image which hath been so much defaced in the World and In You to exalt and glorifie his Name of Holiness amongst the Heathen and them that know him not now in this Day wherein he is visiting the Earth with Judgment and with Mercy and with a Mighty Power to call to an Account the Inhabitants of the Earth And blessed are You that have hearkened unto his Voice Ye shall sing and rejoyce when others shall weep and mourn and howl Though amongst them your Portions are Scoffings Scornings Mocking Deridings Back-bitings Revilings Persecutions Stripes Imprisonments yet have You learned to account these as Riches who know the Comforter within You and Your Redeemer to live with You I do rejoyce in all these things being now made Partaker of them I am not unknown unto You my Voice Ye know of Old O how do I long to see Your Faces but in that I am straitned for a time My Life is bound up in many of Your Hearts which makes me I cannot forget You my Spirit cannot be separated from You though my Body is kept in Strait Bonds but the Straitness will be broaken when he hath perfected his Praise in them who is my only Keeper and Supporter O ye Simple Doves who sit without Guile in Your Mouthes O how I am ravished with the Love of You when I behold You in Spirit You that have given up unto the Death to the Famine to the Sword and to the Fire and have patiently submitted unto the Father's Will and willingly sacrificed up your Darling Your Faith is unto You imputed for Righteousness and the God whom You have trusted and believed in will make You rich in him and give You Substance incorruptible and an Inheritance that never fades in measure You can set to Your Seals of what is written unto You. But some have hearkened unto the Evil Spirit which hath brought Evil-Tidings of the Good Land and such have turned Back into Egypt and joyned with the Magicians thereof to harden Pharaoh's Heart against the Innocent and filled the Mouthes of the Heathen with Blasphemous Speeches But let them go on He that is filthy let him be filthy still for he cometh quickly whose Reward is with him to give unto them according to their Doings But all things work together for the Good of You who stand in the Faith who are not moved with the Winds that blow nor the Storms that come against You who eye the Hand of Providence in all these things which bringeth Good out of Evil to You wards who abide in the Truth and stray not So as You have tasted felt known and experienced of Him so trust Ye in Him and remain in Your sure Confidence which is begotten in You by his Word and be Ye as Lights in the dark World both by Word and by Conversation that in all things Ye may be approved by the Father 's in Your Consciences as Faithful and Obedient Children every one in Your Calling wherein you are called that the Price thereof You may obtain in the End of Your Race O lift up your Heads and look up to the Father and see how he hath tendered You and how his Love hath been tendered towards You all along who hath not left You without Instructors and Nursing-Fathers who have watched over You with tender Care In much Love Tenderness am I drawn forth towards You little ones which springs from the Root of the Vine because you bear my Father's Image Long have I waited to write to You and lately I had an Opening of You which caused me to visit You with this Epistle for Ye have been oftentimes in my Remembrances though I could not write and now You must read me in that Love which Tongue cannot express and in that Epistle which is written in Your Hearts without either Paper or Ink by the Immortal Word of Life and there my Name You will know So the Lord God Almighty the Keeper of Israel over shadow you and in his Holy Presence keep You Pure and Innocent that You may pour forth his Praise in the Earth and shine as the Sons and Daughters of Sion into whose blessed Protection I You commit and do lye down with You who am a Sufferer in Outward Bonds by the Will of Man for the Innocent Seed's sake but at Liberty with the Faithful who am called Written from Colchester-Castle the 12th of the 11th Moneth JAMES PARNEL TO FRIENDS IN Essex FRIENDS TO that of God in all your Consciences I do speak which there doth witness for God which is according to the Mind of God bearing Witness against what is contrary to the Mind of God and approving of what is according to the Mind of God which in your Hearts is placed to be your Teacher to teach you to do the Will of God and how to walk up to the Mind of God and to distinguish betwixt Truth and Error and betwixt the Precious and the Vile and betwixt him that serves the Lord and him that serves him not which Light enlightens your Undestandings and lets you see the Land of Darkness where the House of Bondage is where the Righteous Seed lyeth oppressed and where the Man of Sin doth rule and Death hath Dominion which Light is your Guide out of the House of Bondage and out of the Land of Darkness and out of Death's Dominion and slayes the Man of Sin and separates you from the Children of Darkness and out from among them leads you to seek after another Kingdom where all Things are added wherein is witnessed the perfect Day where Sorrow and Sighing flees away but then out of your selves you must come your own Wisdom and Reason for to deny and whatsoever springs from self which is at Enmity with the Light and opposeth argues and contends against the Light which by the Light is condemned but if you hearken unto self then you stumble in the Way and many stumbling-Blocks lye before you Thoâ—nâ— and Bryars catch hold of you and in the Mire your Feet do stick and there you toyl and moyl in Thraldom and many
Hardships and Impossibilities do appear before you and Doubts and Fears and Questionings and Murmurings Repinings and Unbelief rise in you and many Temptations bâ—take you soâ—etimes to return back and dye in Aegypt sometimes after the Delights and Flesh-pots of Aegypt sometimes that God hath utterly forsaken you sometimes to question the very Truth of God and ready to call it a Lye and here is the wavering and unstable Mind all which ariseth ouâ— of Darkness where self stands all which comes by hearkning unto self Therefore unto the Light the Messenger of God keep your Minds whâ—ch brings the Message of Peace and glad-Tidings of Salvation unto which keep close own it lone to be your Teacher Guide and Counsellor in all the Way you are to pass and in all Things that you are to do standing in the Denyal of self with all its Ends and own the Light which leads intâ— Singleness to God out of Ends and all stumbling-Blocks it will remove and through the Bryars and Thorns it will you lead and in the Mire you shall not stick but the crooked Way shall be made streight and the rough and hard Way plain and easie for in the Light is none Occasion of stumbling but keeps your Feet from erring and straying your Tongues from Evil speaking as you hearken unto this which when you are going to the right Hand or to the left cryes This is the Way walk in it This is the Word in you from whence comes Faith which makes all Things easie and possible but without Faith it is impossible to please God and Faith is the Gift of God and so is this Word of Truth from whence Faith springs which judgeth down all Murmurings Doubtings and Repinings and all Carelesness Lightness Lustings and Earthliness and condemns the Ground from whence all these Things do spring And here the Ministration of Condemnation is witnessed which in its Time is glorious through which comes the Ministration of Peace which doth the other exceed but take Heed of getting these Things in the Comprehension to talk of but let the Time of Silence and Patience have its Work in which wait for the fulfilling of these Things that within you may read them and the Life it self may shew forth it self which dothadorn and honour the Truth and so you become the Vessels of Honour but out of Faithfulness this is not witnessed For it is the Willing and Obedient that shall eat the Good of the Land Therefore Friends see how you stand in Faithfulness to what in your Measures is made known unto you for Faithfulness is of great value and Faithfulness is as well in secret as in publick knowing that all Things are publick unto God who will jâ—dge the Secrets of Men by Jesus Christ therefore he that is faithful over a little is approved of God and shall be made Ruler over much but he that is â—sloathful is cast out and from him taken that which he hath These Things you have read without but now learn within and read your selves and you need not be Deceived for by the Light your Hearts are searched by it all Things are made manifest by which you are either approved or disapproved unto God in all your Words and Actions therefore by this set a Watch over all your Thoughts Words and Actions that the Righteous judge may be set up in your Hearts which judgeth down Deceit and iniquity and establisheth Righteousness in the Earth and Truth and Equity in the inward Parts and cleanseth the Heart from Evil that this alone may guide you and act you forth in all yourâ— Wayes and Doings and then self hath no Part but all Things are done in the Cross unto selâ— in Singleness unto God and he alone is glorified and the Fear and Awe is placed and the Tongue is bridâ—â—d and the Will curbed and the Heart cleansed and kept clean for it is that which goeth out that dâ—fileth Therefore I say unto you all Watch that the Pure may exercise your Minds which is the Cross to the Carnal which crucifies the Carnal and mortifies the Deeds of the Flesh and establisheth Purity in the Heart and brings forth the Fruits of the Spirit which is Love in a pure Life that here you may come to live and walk and grow together in Unity in your Measures for that which separates from the Unity is self which causeth Love to wax cold but in the Love of God abiding self is denyed for where self is owned the Love of God is denyed So here is the Enemy of your own House that you are to war against and in the Light which discovers self is your Power and Strength and as you receive the Light you receive Power to deny self in its Appearances which Power reconciles your Hearts together and works you into perfect Friendship Unity which stands not in the Will but in the pure Nature which is the Cross to Will which Nature the World cannot bear which Nature breaks the World's Fellowship Love and Friendship all which stands in their corrupt Wills wherein stands all their Customs Fashions and Traditions and all their Worship and Profession out of which also ariseth Persecution against you who dwell in the pure Nature and the single pure Language which their corrupt Wills cannot bear nor savour but look not out at what they can do unto you knowing that the uttermost is but to take the Life of the Body but eye the Lord your God in it and count it your Riches that you are found worthy to suffer for Righteousness sake for through many Tryals and Tribulations you come forth pure unto the Lord and strong in the Faith So the Lord God of Power be with you and by his mighty Power keep you low and watchful in your Conditions that your Eternal Good you may mind above all Things under the Sun that every one in the Truth received you may walk and grow daily dying unto the Things that perish that in the Life of God you may come to dwell out of the Creatures and then the true Use of them will be given you and the pure Wisdom as it was in the Beginning when Man was in the Right to the Creatures and here Paradice will be found but he that believeth maketh not hast but by patient continuing in well-doing you will reap if you faint not wherein I bid you you Farewel Dear Friends It was the Love of God in me which run forth to the Seed in you which constrained me to write unto you and visit you with this Epistle now my bodily Presence is by the corrupt Will of Man barred from you yet my Spirit doth not cease in your Behalf that the Lord by his Power by which he hath awakened you out of Sleep and caused his Witness to answer to his Truth would bless and prosper this his happy Work in your Hearts to the bringing forth his precious Seed to rule and have Dominion that so his glorious
Light may shine forth in your Conversations and his Beauty appear in your Image that the Heathen may be ashamed and â—ear before the Lord your God And here my Friends is my Comfort in the midst of Bonds yea if this Body was to be sacrificed up it would not abate my Joy that I have in you in whom the Work of God prospers Therefore I do charge you all in the Presence of the living God whom ye do profess in his Fear to abide diligent and circumspect that you grieve not the Spirit of God nor cause his Holy Name to be blasphemed lest you add Affliction to the Bonds of the Gospel From Colchester Castle in the 9th Month 1655. This from a Friend who is known in Spirit who for the Innocent Seeds sake suffers the Bonds of the Gospel JAMES PARNEL Another Epistle to Friends FRIENDS TO the â—ight of Christ Jesus in You all bring Your Deeds by it to be tryed and proved which Light in You all is the Heartâ—Seacher and Tryer which as you take heed unto it will not let you be idle or sloathful or careless nor let You set lâ— in a Formal Way or Carnal Security but will let you see the Ground and End of all Your Actions and Actings and will prove and try Your Hearts and let You see how Your Hearts stand towards God and what therein is Head and Ruler so that none of You may be acted by a False Spirit which begets into a False Liberty out of the Cross but that your own Wisdom and Reason which argues against the Light for a Liberty out of the Cross may all come unto the Death of the Cross to be mortified for all that in You which would not be tryed by the Light springs from the Enmity against the Light and is for Condemnation by the Light to which Light in You all I speak which is the Cross to Your Wills that by it You may try all Your Wayes and Actions For all You that are Bowing and Crouching and Uncovering to the Creature You are still in the Old Nature where old things are not past away but are still following the Customs of the dark World worshipping the Beast which all the World wonders after and worships for that iâ— the Beast even proud Lucifer the Lust in Man which would be honoured and bowed to and exalted which so swells in Wrath and Rage and Persecution against those that cannot worship bow to nor honour it to which No Worship nor Honour is due for Dust is the Serpentâ—s Meat And from this Beast in Man did this Persecution ever arise against this Righteous Seed which could not honour nor worship him as you may read Rev 1â— All the World wonders after the Beast but those whose Names are written in the Book of Life and those were and are persecuted by the Beast and coâ—ld not nor cannot scarce buy or sell. And that in You which honours and worships the Beast or proud Nature in Man is that which would not bear or suffer the Rage or Persecution of the Beast but would serve two Masters and so while you are seeking to please the one you displease the other and so beguile your own Souls and are a Sâ—are to others and this Heart is not right unto God bring your Ends in so doing to the Light and you shall see it so which â—ight will not deceive you but undeceive you as you take heed unto it and are willing to be led by it which will lead you into the True Worship of the Only True God whose Worship is in Spirit and in Truth And by this Light you will see that to Him alone All Honour Glory Worship Dominion and Thanks belongs And Him that Honours God him will God Honour But this Honour is not of Man for saith he I receive not Honour of Man And here all Men are honoured in the Lord but out of the Lord none are honoured And they that are Proud and High and Lofty are out of the Lord for that is one of the seven Abominations And here by the Light all Respect of Persons is condemned and the Lord honoured in all and all in him which Light condemns the Language of Babylon and begets into the plain single Language which the Beast-like Nature cannot â—ear nor savour But if you seek to please Men you are not the Servants of Christ Gal. 1. 10. And all you that still follow the Fashions of the World wherein is Excess either in Meat Drink or Apparel you are still alive in the World's Nature being conformed like unto the World and are not obedient unto the Light which convinceth you of the Vanities of the World and the Fashions thereof therefore by the Light in your selves which condemns all that in you which would be exalted and esteemed in the World which would be like the World and have the Praise of the World which is to be condemned with the World by the Light which is not of the World And so Pride comes to be rooted out of the Heart and You crucified to the World by the Light which let you see the Vanity of the World and the Fashions thereof which â—ass away which are not to be Touched Tasted nor Haâ—dâ—ed And all the Customary Words of the World which are by the Light condemned which by the Light are seen to be invented from that Nature which knows not God whereby God is dishonoured who calls to all who will follow him To come out from amongst them and be you separate and touch no Unclean thing and I will receive you saith the Lord. Therefore touch not their Customs but keep out of their Fashions and Traditions for they are all Unclean and own thâ— Crâ—ss and despise the Shame and follow the Light out or Babylon and it will lead you into the pure Religion which is unspotted of the World and so will crucifie you to the World and the World to you But that in you that pleadeth that Scripture Custom to whom Custom that is it which is willing to remain blind in Custom to save its Life which by the Light is declared and condemned with the World which would keep in Friendship with the World and in the Love of the World all which is at Enmity with the Light and is for Condemnation by the Light Therefore to the Light turn your Minds that by it you may judge all such Carnal Ends and Reasonings which would uphold these Carnal Customs contrary to the Light which gave forth the Scripture by which you may see what Custom the Apostle there spake of in Rom. 13. 7. as you may read in Matth. 9. 9. how he sate at the Recâ—it of â—ustom but this doth not at all uphold the Customs of the Heathen that are Vain Therefore to the Light take heed that it may be your Teacher and Counsellor that from it alone you may Act and Speak and so will you find the Witness within your selves for what you Act and Do.