one another as a sure testimony of their love to God for the which I have been hated and persecuted by some men of all opinions and religions whatsoever in the world whether Papists Prelates Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Ranters Quakers and whatsoever opinion else below the truth though I love them all and am with them all and they all with me but a cloud is over them that they see me not neither know me that is they see not my life being not yet reconciled to it yet when this cloud shall be taken away from all and the Sun of Righteousness risen in all Matth 23. â— then shall they see both me and one another and have joy in each other and be at peace with all men as being all brethren of one family sons of one Father heirs of one Kingdom and so see themselves and all men dwelling together in one City or heaven God And this is pure Religion the new Jerusalem the Kingdom of the Lord and end of their journey where the wolf shall dwell with the lamb that is the wicked with the godly or men of all opinions meet and agree in one union and fellowship in the Lord Jesus And where the leopard shall lie down with the kid and the calf and the young lyon and the fatlings together and a little child to wit Christ shall lead them and the cow and the bear shall feed or all men who have been of different judgements shall be of one mind in the Lord their young ones shall lye down together all men shall bring forth their seed unto God and the lyon shall eat straw like the ox or God will tame the wildest of creatures the persecutingst and most devouringst of men or of things in men that all shall be alike in knowledge and the sucking childe shall play on the hole of the asp Isa 11. and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice den or he that is sucking at the breast and he that is weaned from the breast of his own Religion and shall not one envy another for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea that is God will so manifest himself that all men and creatures shall be in union together love one another and do unto others as they would others should do unto them this is the Law and the Prophets and this is the Kingdom of the Lord and high calling of God which all men are to press after and not to rest till they are come in to it and is no more nor no less then what I have always declared as that which I received of the Lord yet not that I Richard Coppin as a creature could at any time give to another what I my self have received or teach another what I am taught or do for another what the Lord hath done for me in that case but I onely declare what I have received of the Lord and am taught by the Lord and what the Lord may do for others when the time appointed of the Father shall come for he that gives to me as a creature must give to them as creatures Isa 2 22. and he that taught me must teach them if ever they be taught the truth therefore cease from man whose breath is in hâ— nostrils 1 John 2. for wherein is he to be accounted of and eye him the Lord Jesus or that anointing within you who is the salvation of all men and whom you are to hear in all things for all others besides him that go forth as Teachers of the people are but false Teachers and Seducers according to the Scripture but the Lord alone or this anointing in us is our onely Teacher and men in speaking one to another can do no more as they are men but tell one another what the Lord hath done for them as the Prophet David saith Come hear and I will tell thee what the Lord hath done for my soul and what we have seen and heard we declare unto you saith Paul which declarations of men may conform each other in something which they before have had some little experience of in themselves the Lord working with it though they did not so know it as to utter it which when it is declared to them they may then set their seals to it as truth to them there being in them the same spirit witnessing to the same things which makes them believe it For he that believes hath the witness in himself but if there be not the same spirit witnessing in him that hears as is in him that speaks they cannot believe or set seal to the truth of what is spoken any further then it agrees with their own spirits or opinions but will rather persecute it to the death and also them that shall declare it as they have done to Christ the Apostles and others since that from thence and from â—uch arises all persecutions And so having brought you thus far to shew unto you my proceedings hitherto both of my life and doctrine delivered to the world I shall go on and therein set before you a larger path of my persecution and tryals both at Worcester Oxford and at Glocester as of things considerable from the first beginning to the end as a further testimony to the truth And first of my tryal at Worcester and the proceedings thereunto CHAP. VI. The Ministers malicious proceedings against the Author in Worcestershire to bring him to a tryal His examination before several Justices and Ministers and his being bound over to Worcester Assizes how and for what THe first proceedings of the Ministers against me to bring me to a tryal at Worcester was from my preaching at Emload in Worcestershire where I was desired by some of the Eminentest men of that Parish to come and there to preach where I continued for the space of four days declaring the things which I had seen and heard of the Lord both in publique and private with the desire of the people and the consent of the said Minister of that place But the said Minister finding the people so much adhering to what I delivered and believing in it more then in what he himself usually delivered amongst them he began to be wrath and was troubled and fearing that he should lose his flock or at least the benefit he received of them he sent and caused a dispute or at least a vain jangling to be between some certain Ministers of that Countrey and my self while I was there some of whose names are as follows Eason of Batsford Collier of Blackly Nevil and others as Ministers to the people in their several Parishes but no grace could they minister to the hearers and therefore cannot be said in truth to be Ministers of Christ but of Antichrist as appeared by what they declared to the people as also by their practise for they endeavoured to prove the Law under that administration of Moses to be
truth or as it is in Jesus And this was all the knowledge and experience that I had while under that dispensation of grace or the Son of God manifesting yet the same that they had where I then saw the work but a doing not done salvation but a coming and not come and so saw not any thing then made perfect Then after two years were expired of my beholding this their order in London seeing all the ways and opinions of men with all their feigned righteousness for to be but destruction and confusion I prophesied of their downfall which would shortly after come to pass and which I have since in part seen to be fulfilled for I saw that they were not built upon the true foundation Christ as the rock which would stand 1 Cor. 3.11 and was laid by God but upon the foundation and buildings of men Matth. 7.26 27. laid by men on the sands as that which would shake and fall and would not endure the fire even God when he appeared but would with all their Elements melt before him as dross 2 Pet. 3.10 and with all their fair heavens be burnt up before him as stubble and vanish away before him as smoak and as chaff before the wind Wherefore I seeing them to be thus fitted for destruction and prepared for the slaughter I passed them all by that I might not in my profession be destroyed with them and would not go in or be tyed in covenant to any of them being none of them according to the institution of Christ and they being thus weighed in the ballance of the Righteousness of Christ by Christ and there found too light they vanished away and so ceased as to me And after this legal dispensation of the knowledge of Christ in the flesh and the performing duties after the flesh by me was ended with me John 16.25 and Christ appearing in power and glory to me shewing me plainly of the Father I then saw according to that appearance of God to me in the Father what and where God Christ and the Devil was and is also heaven and hell salvation and damnation what and where that was and is I having had the experience of it all within me and so I saw as to my self a death of the one part as of the Devil hell and damnation with all things at the left hand of God and a living of the other part as of God Christ Heaven and Salvation with all things at the right hand of God which was my dying to the one part as to that on the left hand and my living to the other part as to that on the right hand and which was to me the day of the Lord and a restauration of all things to God where and at which time I saw one dispensation perfected in another or grace perfected in glory the Son perfected in the Father or all things made perfect in God the Kingdom of the Son delivered up to the Father 1 Cor. 15.21 and where I saw all my own works which ever I had done under any dispensation before that of Christ in the Spirit to be burnt up and made void to me with all my prayers which I made books which I had read sermons which I had heard besides and below Christ all now appeared to be of no worth unto me Phil. 2.9 3 9. as to do me any good for I had found one Jesus that was ascended far above all heavens that he might fill all things and that had a name above every name that was named of things in heaven and of things on earth in whom I was now found without having my own righteousness which is of the Law but that which is through the faith of Christ who was now become my worth my life my light and my all who had filled me with himself and whom I saw to be all to me and to do all for me and to have given an end to all things besides himself in me which made me now throw away all my books of Presbyterians Independants Anabaptists Acts 19.18 19. and whatsoever else as the believing Jews and Grecians had done before and to forget all things therein and not to know any thing any where or in any thing either without or within me but Jesus Christ and him crucified and so to know my self in him to have made my progress to him in the Fathers Kingdom the end of my journey where I shall no more be travelling but be at rest with the Son in the bosom of the Father Which is the race that all men are to run the way that all men are to go and the work that all men are to do even to deny themselves Luke 9.23 24. and all things of themselves and to follow Christ till they come to Christ if ever they mean to be perfect with Christ for If thou wilt be perfect Mat. 19.21 go and sell all that thou hast CHAP. III. The Authors Call and Commission to preach what and from whence it was the Parish Priests Call and Commission to preach what and from whence that was WHen God in Christ did manifest himself to me for my conversion the redemption of my body and the salvation of my soul to the perfecting of the body of Christ in and to me as that I knew it and was assured of it in my self what and when it vvas I then savv it all to be in him the same to all men as to me though not manifest unto them and according to vvhat I had received of the Lord. I vvas commanded by the Lord in me to publish and declare to all sorts of men vvithout respect of persons or opinions vvith this Commission follovving First that vvhatsoever I did speak or vvrite it vvas to be my ovvn experience in the Lord of God manifest in flesh justified in the spirit seen of Angels preached unto the Gentiles 1 Tim. 3.16 believed on in the World received up into glory Christ the same yesterday to day and for ever And that I was not to speak or write any thing that should tend to the continuing John 6.27 advancing or setting up of any thing that should perish or come to an end and be in opposition to the Lord â—esus as the setting up of any thing besides him was but that it should always tend to the advancement of his Kingdom as of love joy peace and righteousness among men through Christ and to the throwing down of Antichrist and his Kingdom with all deceiveableness and unrighteousness of men and what I did I was to do it freely and in love and not be chargeable or burthensome to any Rom. 14.17 to hinder any from coming into the Kingdom of the Lord which was a free Kingdom nor to give any liberty to Antichrists Kingdom which was a Kingdom of gain hire and self interest and which consists of buying and selling the word of God and for which work
the Virgin Mary and crucified at Jerusalem though he be not yet so fully manifested to and in all men Rom. 8.29 as he was to and in him he being the first born among many brethren or the first appearance of humane nature in whom God did so fully and manifestly appear to be living moving acting and bringing forth himself in the manifestation of his love in power life light and glory yet that God is in all and all are in him as also saith the Scripture for in him we all live move Acts 17.28 Ephes 4.6 and have our being and there is one God and Father of all who is above all through all and in all both in Jews Gentiles Heathens Pagans Turks Infidels or whatsoever else they may be called and there is no difference or respect of persons with God but in the manifestation of this to themselves which none can have till the Holy Ghost even the Spirit of truth comes upon them as it did on him and reveal it to them as it did to him which he hath promised that in due time shal come and bring all things to their remembrance there is no man but hath God in him yea the same God that Christ had though not the same measure of knowledge and understanding till Christ in them hath revealed it And that the Gentiles might come to know this Paul prays for them that they might be strengthned with all might in the inner man that is with all God to comprehend with all Saints what is the bredth Eph. 3.16 17 18 19. and length and depth and heighth and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge that they might be filled with all the fulness of God even as Christ was to have in them the same mind the same love life and light and so be filled with the same fulness of grace and glory whereby they come unto a perfect man unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ to know that as he was so are we in this world and therefore it is no blasphemy to say that God may be as much in them as in Christ considered as a man though it do not yet appear so to them Eph. 4.13 1 Ioh 4.17 as in due time it may and will when God shall be more revealed to them and they more enjoy him in the manifestation Fifthly That the day of judgement was began sixteen hundred years ago Answ My Lord according to Scripture acceptation it was so Iohn 12.13 for said Christ Now is the Iudgement of this world now shall the Prince of this world be cast out Iohn 9 39. and for Iudgement am I come into this world said Christ that they which see not might see and that they which see might be made blind and this coming of Christ to Judgement according to the Scripture was above sixteen hundred years past and yet is continued to this day though most men are blind and yet see it not which some shall so long as they have eyes of their own to see and ears of their own to hear till they see with the Lords eye and hear with the Lords ear and the Apostle also said that the time was then come 1 Pet. 4.17 that Iudgement must begin at the House of God even with righteous men or men under any form of Religion that had any thing of their own righteousness to trust in besides Christ their righteousness That this day of Judgement did then begin we find for so soon as he was but ascended and had led captivity captive he sent the holy Ghost the Comforter Ioh. 16.7.8 even the spirit of truth which should convince the world of sin of righteousness and of judgement and so bring all things to mans remembrance destroying all that is a lye in man by the spirit of Judgement and of burning when he shall appear to sit in man his Temple as a refiner and purifyer of gold and silver Mal 3.3 to purge out all dross sin and corruption and to make man a vessel holding nothing but righteousness peace and joy which work of Judgement was then begun with some coming on to others and is not ended to this day with all neither will so long as sin is in the world raigning in any creature and till we see sin and transgression finished in us as no more to be imputed to us 1 Cor. 15.24 c. we see not an end of the day of Judgement with us till we see Christ to have opened the prison doors broken all bonds put all enemies under his feet set us at liberty and delivered up the Kingdom to the Father that God may be all in all and so much for the day of Judgement that it was began sixteen hundred years ago according to the Scriptures Sixthly That there was no general day of Iudgement Answ My Lord I know no other day of Jodgement as to me then what I have already declared to your Lordship which is to be the same with every creature before it can be finished and this may be said to be A general day wherein all men are to appear before Christ to be Judged by him in love for the time is come c. And though this time of Judgement may be called a day yet this day may be thousands of years before all the world in every man may be Judged all sin and transgression finished as to them and they all set free in the Lord 2 Pet. 3.8 For one day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day and did men once taste and feel of the workings of God in and upon their souls in manifesting his love to them for the taking away of sin and transgression from them they would then be satisfied touching this day of the Lord which for my part I am already satisfied in and therefore cannot but declare it and bear witness to it as that which is truth to me and according to the Scriptures and they that know any other let them declare that as I have declared this Seventhly That there was no heaven but in man Answ My Lord Those words do not say there is none at all but that it is in man yet without confinement and this the Scripture also declares therefore if we would know where heaven is let us first know what it is and the Scripture tells us that the Kingdom of heaven is Righteousness Rom 14.17 peace and joy in the holy Ghost and that it is within us for when the Scribes and Pharises came to Christ to demand of him when the Kingdom of God should come as men still do he answered them that The Kingdom of God cometh not with observations neither shall they say lo here or lo there for behold the Kingdom of God is within you and where should the Kingdom of Christ which is a Kingdom of righteousness peace and joy appear to be
that men might have peace and joy in it and God glorified by it but in man the place which the Lord hath appointed for himself to dwell in for behold the Tabernacle of God is with men that he might be a Comforter to them to encrease amongst them righteousness peace and joy which is the Kingdom of the Lord and till we have it in our selves we have it not any where but if there then every where which is a new name written that no man knows but he that hath it and thus the Scripture declares unto us what and where heaven is and I know no other heaven as to me in which is mans salvation from sin death hell and the world but Christ in man and man in Christ and they that will have any other let them declare what and where that is as I have declared what and where this is which is according to the Scripture and my own experience Eighthly That he who thought there was a hell to him there was a hell but he that thought there was no hell to him there was no hell Answ My Lord I yet know no other hell as to me then what I have found in my own conscience though the time hath been that I have feared another as most men do and as all men else have done till their consciences were purged but this I have found in my self that when it pleased God to make know Christ to me to take away from me the fear of hell he also took away hell for fear hath torment therefore to me it appears that while we live in the fear of hell we have it are in it and so subject to the punishment of it being kept in bondage by it till Christ in us shall destroy that fear and so set our minds at liberry as is written That for as much as the children are partakers of flesh and blood Jesus Christ himself took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death which is the Devil and so free them who all their life time were subject to bondage and now happy is that soul that sees himself so made free by Christ for he is free indeed and now sees an end of the Devil sin death and hell which he before lived in fear of and was in bondage to and therefore when the Lord Jesus is pleased to deliver us from the fear of it that it shall no more have power over us and thereby manifest in us perfect love wherein is no fear he then delivers us from hell it self from which every believer is freed Rev. 21. but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murthehers and whoremongers and sorcerers and Idolaters and all lyars while they so remain are cast into it and so have their part in the Lake of fire burning with brimstone till the Lord Jesus by his mighty power shall quench the fire raise them up and overcome all their enemies for them and so restore peace to them in him that is their peace the Lord Jesus and then he that hath part in the first resurrection through Christ or is once made free by Christ of him the second death shall have no power but he is changed from death unto life by the spirit of the Lord and so sees an end of death and hell as to him All which I shall leave to your Lordships consideration and this honourable Court and do give you many thanks for that I have had liberty to speak for my self But my accusers were much troubled that I had so fair a hearing and began to urge many other things of their own inventions against me which was not in the Indictment First they said that I denyed the Law of Moses in saying there was no salvation by it which they affirmed it was if man would keep it That if it were possible for a man now to keep the Law in the letter of it which that it is impossible yet there would be no salvation by it for any man God having found out another way even by Jesus Christ without which no man could be saved 2. They said that I denyed the keeping of the Sabboth which they went to prove from the fourth Commandment Remember thou keep holy the Sabboth day To which I answered that the true Sabboth of a Christian was Christ and I knew no other as to me though that day which they now call a Sabboth day I keep it as exactly and as purely as any of them did in preaching to the people but not upon the account of a Sabboth day but as the first day of the week as the Apostles did being a day set apart for that use 3. They said that I spake in derision of heaven saying that if a Mill-stone were at heaven it would be hundreds of years a coming down To which I answered That I never said the words but one in my company did once say that they were spoken by a Minister in the Pulpit who there endeavouring to shew unto the people the vast distance between heaven and earth told them that if a Mill-stone were at heaven it would be many hundred years a coming down and that one of his hearers should make answer that if heaven were above the skies and a Mill-stone so long a coming down how long then should he be a going up And this my Lord was declared by one of their own tribe yet they would ascribe it to me though I never said the words 4. They said that I should deny the resurrection of the body and said there was no other but what was in flowers and grass also when the Corps laid in a grave were cast up again though turned to earth then was there a resurrection To which I answered that the resurrection of the dead I never denyed but do alwayes affirm it neither did I ever speak those words though they might be spoke in my company Yet it may be said that in this there is a resurrection though not denying any other for the vertue of every carkass laid in the earth doth ascend upwards with the earth and so come forth in flowers and grass also when a grave is digged and the body before laid in it though rotted to earth again cast up with the bones and all things thereto belonging then may it be said to be a resurrection of that body and the true resurrection not denyed but those things being thus answered and the malice of my accusers made manifest the Judge appeared more satisfied and my accusers more ashamed Then after the Judge had heard the whole business and declared the substance thereof to the Jury who understood it not they went forth to consult upon their Verdict whether all or any part of the charge were blasphemy by the Act or no who returned in their Verdict guilty being asked of what part they said of that concerning heaven and hell Then the Judge told them that unless it came
and of which if I would have recanted preferment by some was proffered me but there was one within me which resisted and said Get thee behind me Satan I will none of it neither is it Herod with all the chief of the Priests and Scribes of the people that he had gathered together that can destroy the childe Jesus after once he is born nor could these with all their subtilty destroy that which was born in me or bring me to a recantation of what I had declared that I immediately departed out of these coasts and saw much of God in it for I went strait abroad publishing the same things with boldness both in writing and speaking in several Countreys where I was desired to come And there living in that Countrey of Barkshire where I first began to publish these things a man of eminency in the world whom the Priests knew to be zealous for them and their ways and they having not prevailed with me to write a recantation of those things I held they then prevailed with him to joyn with them in buying up as many as they could get of the foresaid books entituled Divine Teachings in which those things were published that they might spread no farther amongst the people of which books they bought to the value of about ten pounds worth having no other way to stop them and which the Priests would have had him to have burned but he was wiser then so and said that he would rather keep them for waste paper and did not know but that they might yield him his money again if the things should after come in request but however these books are again reprinted and the things therein still maintained by me being the same in me Thus we see how some men out of zeal to their own opinions and others for lucre of gain not yet knowing the truth will endeavour to binder the spreading of truth and so through ignorance and blind zeal will turn persecutors of Christ his Kingdom and the Righteousness thereof This Kingdom of Christ and all things therein as love joy peace life light heaven and salvation in Christ alone I ever since I knew it and tasted of it have not ceased to write of publish and declare in several Countreys Acts 28.30 31. both in publique and private from house to house in their Churches Streets and Market places where the Lord hath been pleased to carry me and where people desired me to come and were assembled together to hear me I never desiring to be chargeable to any to hinder any from coming into the Kingdom of the Lord which is a free Kingdom 1 Cor. 9 12 18 19. neither would I ever yield to take any outward maintenance from any upon that account of preaching for that was but Antichrists hire in Antichrists Kingdom which most men yet have appeared to live in nay the purest Churches of Independents and Anabaptists as well as Prelates and Presbyterians which though they have not all took tythes they have took money or moneys worth and so cannot say as Paul did I have coveted no mans gold Acts 20.33 silver or apparel which is all but Antichrists pay in Antichrists Kingdom to Antichrists servants whose servants all are that preach for gain or hire and not for pure love to Christ and all people John 10.8.10 and Christ saith of the hirelings that they are but Thieves and Robbers and fly when he that is free cometh and this would quickly be maniefest were but tythes and the Priests hire put down and every one have freedom to preach that could I will warrant you that those Preachers that were sent from Oxford and Cambridge would quickly fly from you leave you and preach no more to you and yet you would have more Preachers then are now for then every one that had received any thing of God would freely declare it and this would be according to the Gospel rule which saith When thou art converted strengthen thy brother and As every man hath received the gift so let them administer one to another and not one to forbid another for let one that preaches freely come into the Church or Parish of him that preaches for hire and the hireling will presently forbid the freeman saying this is my house and my Parish or Foxes hole you shall not preach here Maâ—th 8 20. and though the men of the Parish to wit the Master would have him yet the servant forbids him And doth not the servant here exalt himself above the Master the Priest above the people but surely he that exalts himself shal be brought low and he that humbles himself shall be exalted and it is enough that the servant be as his Master and not above his Master though it hath been so hitherto between the people and their Ministers What is the Church but the Town-house in which the Priest the Town-servant is to do the Towns work for which he receives the Towns wages And what if the Master be willing that the servant should sit still and set another to do his work notwithstanding the servant shall still have his wages O but here is a slavish fear in the servant that if another should do his work better then him it would be to his disgrace and more then that if the master should once find that he could have his work done freely he would then hire no more and what would then become of the hireling he must pack up and be gone and so saith Christ The hireling flyeth because he is an hireling John 10.13 14. and careth not for the sheep I am the good Shepherd saith he and know my sheep and am known of mine And sure Christ never preached for hire nor any that ever he sent that ever I read of in Scripture then those that do were never sent by him but by his enemy the Devil or Man of Sin to keep up a Kingdom contrary to his and it is very likely that the Man of Sin is their Master that sent them because they so much preach up sin unpardoned which is the keeping up of his Kingdom in which they live and without which they could not live as to keep up that trade of buying and selling the Word of God for they live by telling the people of their sins Jer. 5.30 31. and some people love to have it so who live in the same Kingdom with them and that love to pay them But in the Kingdom of Christ which is a free Kingdom there is no such thing there is no sin unpardoned therefore no telling the people so neither do the people there love to have it so but there is all sin pardoned for all men past present and to come and those that are sent by Christ and that live in that Kingdom come with that message in their mouthes That all sin is pardoned and all men forgiven Dan. 9.24 sin and transgression finished and everlasting Righteousness brought in
still in force and that man by keeping of it and doing the works thereof should be saved by it and there would be no need of Christ said they which thing I opposed them in declaring streightway to the people that if it were by the works of the Law by which no flesh should be justified then not of grace but being by grace it is no more of works lest any man should boast and say they were fain to help God and I further said that if it were possible for any man now to keep the Law in every part and point thereof yet there were no salvation by it because God had found out another way a new and a living way even by Christ alone or God manifest in flesh and to this Christ saith that he was set up from everlasting to be the way the truth and the light Pro. 8.22 23 and none can go to the father but by him but the people hearing this and therein confessing before the Ministers themselves to be better satisfied in that which I had said then in what they had heard from them the Ministers left both me and the people and went away raging against me and saying if they had me forth of the Church that godly place they would knock me on the head or tread me underfoot but I remained still speaking to the people in which time they in this their rage went to Nevils house the Minister of that Town and there consulted what they might do to prevent my coming again into that Countrey even as the Priests and Elders in the time of the Apostles did consult together what they might do unto Peter and John to prevent the spreading of their doctrine among the people whom they threatned and commanded that they should speak no more in the name of Jesus Acts 4. So those Priests and Elders with whom I had to do did in their consultation agree to get a warrant from some Justice of Peace of that County against me and in it to charge me with blasphemy and also threatned me with it making it as publikely known as they could to fright me though they knew not what blasphemy was neither with what to charge me but I hearing of it and being willing to answer to any thing that I had spoke or done I came to the said Town where I understood the warrant was and I abiding at a friends house sent to the said Minister of the same Town to come and produce his warrant which he reported he had against me for I was not ashamed to answer to any thing that they should lay to my charge But before he came unto me he went to the rest of the said Ministers of that Countrey to acquaint them with it and to confer what they might do in it I being come to Town and they unsatisfied for the present what to have against me But I willing to see the utmost of it and it being so appointed by God that I should I tarried there all night and the next morning came Nevil with the Officer and served the warrant upon me which was that I should appear before the next Justice of Peace for that County to answer for speaking of blasphemy but my accusers being not yet provided with things against me they reported as I was informed that if I would forbear preaching after that manner they would then forbear to trouble me of which I took no notice but was willing they should proceed in the business I being thereunto encouraged by the Lord then they to have time to provide themselves ordered that no Justice should meddle with it till we came to Worcester which was from thence above twenty miles whither I with many friends I had in the same Town then went and there tarried till the next day before any accuser came or that any thing could be found against me then to examine me they had called together several Justices and many of the Clergy and having nothing at present against me they examined me upon a paper of Interrogatories sent in by the Priests my accusers which was Whether I did not say such things as they would there accuse me of they thereby endeavouring to catch something from my own mouth at that time to accuse me having set several Watchmen over me to wit Clergy men for that purpose but having nothing from thence against me then Nevil who before served the warrant upon me swore that I should say That they were evil Angels meaning the Ministers said he that brought the tidings of damnation and such ought not to be heard But they knowing themselves to be such that did declare such things of terror to the people and I so discovering of them their malice was so great towards me that they would then have imprisoned me for so saying and from the testimony of one man my accuser but upon farther consideration thereof fearing they should do more then they could answer they passed that by and bound me over to the Assizes which was within four days after there to answer to that and what more they in the mean time could get witnesses to swear who also had appointed and imployed other Ministers of their tribe in that County to examine before some Justices several persons that had formerly been hearers of me to see what more they could get against me from thence but could not by them get any thing Then the next Sabboth after my return from my examination at Worcester and two days before the Assizes I came again to Emload the Town from whence I was accused and I there being desired spoke something among the people that day then at night I with other friends met together at one Thomas Rooks in the same Town where we discoursed upon the Scriptures in which time came in some malicious persons as spies sent as was supposed by the said Minister of the place who there propounded to me some questions pretending for satisfaction and to be informed in their judgements but it appeared they came to catch something from me to witness against me at the Assizes when they brought such things against me as they said I at that time spoke in private to them And thus you may see of the wicked plots and devices of wicked men to maintain their corrupt and self-interests and to keep up a rotten Kingdom that is perishing and decaying Who further proceeded against me as follows CHAP. VII Of his tryal at Worcester Assizes before the Lord Chief Barron Wilde The particular accusations against him and his answers to them with the proceedings of the Court and how VPon the 23 day of March I appeared at Worcester at the general Assizes there holden for that County where Ralph Nevil of Emload and Giles Collier of Blockly Ministers of the said places in the same County preferred a Bill of Indictment against me to the Grand-Jury for blasphemy as they said who so found it and returned it into the Court where my
stood and measured the earth he beheld and drove asunder the Nations and the everlasting mountains were scattered the perpetual hills did bow that is the mountains of fear sin death the Devil and mens pretended holiness heaven and happiness which is filthiness when out of its place Psalm 64.6 this shall all be scattered and melt before the Lord as mountains standing between the Lord and us and as so many false gods in the way of the true God which hath been said to last for ever yet these shall pass away and be removed out of their places into no place but fly away from the face of him that sits upon the throne whose name is called Faithful and true and that reigns himself for ever and ever world without end And thus one life ends in another life the life of the old man in the life of the new man or we changed from life to life from glory to glory from one everlasting to another til we can change no more Rev 20.11 which shews that there are more changes then one and more everlastings then one as to men and so more lives then one which men are said to live and be changed from till they are changed from all things into God which is their last change A word of Conclusion to the Iudge AND now lastly I cannot but add a few words more and therein affirm both before God and men that ever since I knew any thing of God my whole design both in writing speaking and walking according to the utmost of my power received of God hath ever been and I hope ever shall be still to set forth the glory of God the advancement of Christs Kingdom peace and righteousness among men and the throwing down of Antichrist the Devil and his Kingdom with all deceivableness and unrighteousness of men and whatsoever else is and hath been contrary to the publike peace of this Nation under which we should be protected and no longer do I desire or shall endeavour to write or speak a word then that it should not tend to this even the advancement of the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ without partiality or aiming at any private or self-interest of my own or anâ— others distinct but for the publike good of all men whom I desire and do still endeavour in love to serve being made willing to spend and be spent for them notwithstanding the many reproaches revilings and persecutions I meet withal yet still that I would continue a faithful servant to the truth in all things by which I am made free to serve in love and for which I am not only ready to be bound but to suffer All which particulars according to your Lordships desire I do most humbly present you with before this honourable Court and so leave them to your consideration to do as the Lord of heaven and earth shall direct you who works all things according to the counsel of his own will and will glorifie himself in all things that himself doth And now what shall I say more why let the Lords will be done whether in life or death in freedom or imprisonment according to his own will and pleasure be it into whose blessed arms of mercy love joy and peace I do freely give up my self and shall for ever lodge in his bosom of life and salvation there to rest and abide for ever While I was making my answer my accusers with many others of their consorts did all the time of my pleading interrupt me urging many things to me to insnare me and to incense the Judge and Jury against me till the Judge reproved them for it who after he had heard my answer and understanding it knowing it also not to come within the compass of any late Act of Parliament and withal perceiving the malice of my enemies did as the Lord had directed him who before the petty Jury went forth to consult upon their verdict who understood it not themselves neither what they had to do in such a business being all ignorant men both of the Law and of such things acquainted them with the truth of the business that so Justice and Equity might take place whose directions were according to what follows Judge You of the Jury you have heard the evidence and you have heard the answer of his defence which if what he hath said to us be his meaning it is very good and what I believe my self to be truth and we are to take his sense and meaning upon the words and not anothers the words being his own but should we take the very express words of the Indictment without a qualification of them yet it comes not under the Law or Act of Parliament according to the rule of which Act we are to go as for the first thing that he should say Christ dyed for his own sins it comes not neer it though indeed the second concerning heaven and hell comes something neer it yet not so neer as to be found within the compass of it for the Act saith if a man avow and affirm that there is no heaven and hell but that he doth not and this also was by way of dispute or conference after Sermon as you see the witnesses to the Bill do confess and what is said in dispute cannot be said to be avowed and affirmed for it may fall in by way of an Argument c. And as to the last words that everlasting life should end in this life there is nothing mentioned in the Act against it therefore we are not to meddle with it and you are not to bring him in guilty for any thing he is here indicted it being not within the compass of the Act. And thus with other words to that purpose did the Judge speak to the Jury before they gave in their verdict which none that heard it but thought it had been sufficient to have satisfied any honest Jury in the world had they been but rational men yet it satisfied not these for they malitiously brought me in guilty who were prompt to it by my accusers and others that followed them forth of the Court contradicting the words of the Judge saying that they were not to take notice of what the Judge had said neither of my answer but the Bill Being asked the reason why they brought me in guilty they said they could do no less they were so followed by the Priests from place to place and importuned to it that they could be at no quiet for them unless they did it A wise Jury to be sworn and then swayed by other men but this they did to do the Priests a pleasure against me as Festus did to do the Jews a pleasure against Paul Acts 25.9 Then the Judge examined them what crime they found me guilty of they answered they could not tell what but according to the evidence then said the Iudge doth the thing evidenced come within the compass of the Act who again caused
the Lord would be with me Acts 18.9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 to support me to the end as he was with Paul at Corinth and by experience I have hitherto found him to be with me And thus was my Commission in from the School of Christ given by Christ at Sion house in heaven to do the work of Christ as a free workman loving all men though enemies and hating none and not from Oxford and Cambridge or the Schools of Antichrist by the laying on of the hands of the Bishops or Presbytery to do the work of Antichrist as an hireling loving those that would pay me or stand for me and hating those that would not as most of those have done that had their Call and Commission from thence Neither was I to confer with flesh and blood as to go to Oxford or Cambridge this Committee or that Committee to receive Orders from men or to know whether I should preach or no and so to be settled in some place by them receive some yearly maintenance from them as the Priests of England do and have done with all that serve in Antichrists Kingdom and receive his wages but without all this or any part of it I was immediately to go and publish him to the world and to sinners yea all men without respect of persons notwithstanding all the opposition that I might meet withal from all sorts of Religion and among all sorts of men living under any Dispensation or Administration whatsoever below this which I my self lived in and was to declare And the first day that I began to prosecute this my Commission as it was in me in the life and power of it which I received not of man nor by man but of and by the Lord and God the Father who raised him from the dead out of the grave and in me then was I persecuted hated and rejected of men that knew it not but were enemies to it yet did no more to me then what had been done to others that were before me and will be done to those that come after me which I also looked upon to be part of my portion which was to follow and I to go through and which I was yet to be possest withal while I was in this work of preaching but knowing this that still filling up the rest of the sufferings of Christ which supported me when I had finished my course I should receive my crown Having suffered with Christ I should also reign with him and so enduring to the end I should be saved Mar. 13.13 1 Cor. 9.17 18. 2 Cor. 10.16 17. and this was my portion also with the Lord and the reward I received of the Lord and is a living on the Gospel with me as it is written He that preaches the Gospel shall live on the Gospel and not on other mens labours nor walk by other mens lights but the light of Christ in the Gospel dispensation And now so far hitherto as I have fell short in any thing of this my Commission to the knowledge of any let me be blamed But to proceed I shall go on as brief as I can to shew you the manner of my proceedings and how I have been carried forth to this day as shall be readily witnessed by the people of those parts in which I have been and thus proceeded in the practice thereof as followeth CHAP. IV. The Authors first prosecution of his Commission and his being opposed for the same how by whom and after what manner who are the Ministers of Christ and of Antichrist with their different proceedings both in judgement doctrine practice manner time place freedom and reward FIrst Paul in his time speaking of himself and his own call said then That above fourteen years ago he knew a man in Christ 2 Cor. 12. whether in the body or out of the body he could not tell but such an one caught up into the third heaven or paradise and heard unspeakable words which were not lawful for man to utter And why unlawful In respect of the Lavv of God it could not be unlavvful for God reveals nothing that is contrary to himself or his ovvn lavv neither doth he make a lavv contrary to vvhat he reveals but it might be contrary to the lavvs of men vvhich they had made and do still make and so unlavvful and in this sense Paul might say it vvas unlavvful for man to utter though not unlavvful for God to utter and for these reasons first in respect of the company amongst whom Paul vvas then living vvhen those vvords vvere made knovvn to him they being not able to bear them And secondly it may be that the lavvs of the times vvere such that if it should have been spoken it vvould have been counted blasphemy and himself have been persecuted for it as it seems he vvas for many things that he then spoke And so in all ages since vvhatever of God hath by God been revealed to men contrary to the lavv of the times hath been by that lavv unlavvful to utter and so by men counted blasphemy and the authors thereof accused as blasphemers Was it not so vvith Christ and vvith Paul and the rest of the Apostles And hath it not been so since and is it not so novv I am sure my self with many others can by experience witness it and set our seals to it since we knew it and were assured of it And now from the time that these things were first made known to me and I commanded to declare it to the world it was with much opposition and with so little outward freedom that I was forced to appear in the clouds and speak something darkly and under parables I abiding at that time in Barkshire among a people whose spirits were not able to bear the sound of the truth they being ignorant of it and so enemies to it and which the laws of the times were then against and most mens judgements and opinions contrary to it and men more ready to persecute it then otherways as they have ever been And I having not my freedom to speak fell a writing which things were printed and brought forth to publique view in a Book entituled Divine Teachings which many Ministers and Pastors of Churches living thereabouts did streightway oppose being that which was contrary to their judgements doctrine and practise whose names are as follows Lancaster Powel Harrison Pendarvice Wells Hughes and Burgess who were then in Barkshire with Osburn Woolly Glin and many others in Oxfordshire who cryed down all for heresie and blasphemy therein contained without naming any particulars saying it was a dangerous principle which it all tended unto that if it were suffered it would overthrow all Mens Religion whereupon several disputes were occasioned between me and the said Ministers they all still endeavouring to confute me or bring me to a recantation of these things revealed in me and declared by me which they counted erroneous and blasphemous