may have life and therefore they cannot tast of the Tree of Life and eat and live for ever John 6. 50. This is the bread saith Christ that cometh down from heaven that a man may eat thereof and not dye I am saith Christ the living bread which came down from heaven if any man eat of this bread he shall live for ever and the bread that I will give is my flesh which I will give for the life of the world And this is he that giveth povver to understand the Scriptures that are dark to the understanding until he that gave them forth open their understandings as you may see in Luke 24. 45. Then opened he their understandings that they might understand the Scriptures the onely vvay to obtain this favour from the Lord is to love the pure seed of God in the vvhich is Gods vvitness in thy Conscience and is his written VVord in thy heart vvhich vvas that VVord to David that he had such a love unto that by loving of it God made him vviser then his Teachers and it vvas sweeter then the honey and the honey comb and it vvas better then thousands of Gold and Silver and Solomon saith of this vvisdome The merchandise is better then the merchandise of silver and the gain thereof is better then gold And this is the Pearl of great price that the man sold all to buy it therefore my desire nay the desires of my soul thirsteth after the Salvation of all men And therefore dear Friends and People all be kept lovv in the fear of God at all times and learn of Christ to be meek and lovvly that you may find rest unto your souls and consider that the onely thing is to fear God and keep his Commandments for they that hath the Commandments and keepeth them dvvelleth in Christ and Christ in them and much reading is a vveariness to the flesh here the end of all is To fear God and keep his Commandments this is the vvhole duty of man for he that manifests his faith by being obedient he shall live for ever for the Kingdome of God consisteth not in vvords but in life and povver vvhich is righteousness and that procureth true peace such peace as men and Devils can never take from you and so vvalking in this peace the God of love and peace vvill be vvith you to the end Now unto God our Father be glory and everlasting praises ascribed both novv and for ever and for ever Amen The eighth Epistle To Richard Allen a Priest in the Parish of Crundal in Kent and also to be communicated to the rest of his Brethren the Priests to shew them the unlawfulness wicked Practice of receiving of Tythes contrary to the Practice of Christ and his Apostles and yet call themselves A Gospel-Ministry But they must know The terrible day of the Lords Wrath is at hand and this their Act of Oppression must come to Judgement WHat hast thou to do to take the Name of the Lord in thy mouth seeing thou hatest to be reformed for Let him that calleth on the Name of the Lord depart from iniquity and He that saith he is in Christ ought so to walk as Christ hath walked and He that hath Faith it purifieth the heart and he purifieth himself as Christ is pure Now he that liveth in any known sin is a transgressor of the Law and He that keepeth the vvhole Law and yet offendeth in one point is guilty of all and He that breaketh one of these least Commandments and teacheth men so shall be called the least in the Kingdome of Heaven Now I do charge thee with the desiring of thy Neighbours Goods which thou hast no just right to neither by the Law of God nor just Law of Man but the Reason is there is Laws in being for thy wicked lust because all things are out of Gods order for our Judges are not as they were at first nor our Counsellours as at the beginning if they were they might tell the people of the Law what it is for the power of the Nation of England hath had their Laws invested and enacted by Parliaments and they chosen by the people Now it vvas never conceived that a people should be so void of reason as to give a company of persons a power to destroy their Birth-Right the property of their Estates for they are called to provide for the safety and weal of a people not for their hurt or damage and all Laws are grounded upon Reason or ought to be and where Reason ceaseth there the Law ceaseth Now thou art so ingenuous to confess that Tythes came first into England by the appointment and command of the Pope and Popish Laws and is it reasonable that those Laws should binde us that vvere first made by them vvhen vve are so distinct from them that vve now in our times have had Laws made amongst us for the selling and sequestring of their Estates quatenus as Papists and that an Act of Parliament made against common Right as Tythes is common Equity and common Reason is therefore null and void in it self in Law and ought not to be executed as appears by these following Laws See the first part of Doctor Bonham's Case fol. 118. and the eighth of Edward the Third fol. 3 30 33. E. Cassanet 32. and the 27 H. Annuity 41. and the 1 of Eliz. Dyer 113. and first part of Cook 's Institutes Lib. 2. Chap. 11. Sect. 209. fol. 140. and the fourth of Edward the fourth 12. 12. Edward the Fourth 18. 1 Henry the Seventh 12 13. Plowd Com. fol. 369. Yea saith that Learned Oracle of the Law of England Edward Cook in the fourth part of his Institutes fol. 330. where Reason ceaseth there the Law ceaseth for seeing Reason is the very Life and Spirit of the Lavv it self the Law is not to be esteemed to respect that vvhich hath no Reason although the generality of the words at the first Institution or after the Letter seem otherwise And saith the Learned Author in his first part of Institutes fol. 140. all Customs and Prescriptions Acts of Parliament Lavvs and Judgements that be against Reason are void and null in themselves And saith the Armies Atturny John Cooke in the late Kings Case stated page the 23. That by the Law of England any Act or Agreement against the Laws of God and Nature as I shall prove Tythes are against both is a meer nullity saith he for as a man hath no hand in making the Laws of God and Nature no more hath he power to mar or alter them and he cites the Earl of Leicesters adjudged Case for a proof and all the Judges in England cannot make one Case to be Law that is not Reason no more then they can make one Hair white that is naturally black for Law must be Reason adjudged and every Law of man must be consonant to the Law of God otherwise they are not Righteous nor Obligatory Now
sayest That Believers sold their possessions and laid them dovvn at the Apostles feet But they did distribute them as every man had need they did not purchase Lands and let the money to Usury and Extortion as the Priests of this Generation do Thou sayest that Paul informs of the qualities of a good Bishop to be a man blameless not given to filthy lucre and Christ saith Go not to Law with any man Now learn thou these Lessons and follow Righteousness Faith Love Peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart Thou directest me to that Text in Heb. 7. 8. And here men that die receive Tythes read the 11 verse of that Chapter If therefore perfection were by the Levitical Priesthood for under it the people received the Law what further need was there that another Priest should arise after the Order of Melchisedec for Christ came of another Tribe he sprang out of Judah who was not made after the law of a carnal commandment but after the power of an endlesslife and vers 25. Wherefore he is able also to save to the utmost them that come unto God by him seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them And it shall come to passin the last dayes saith God I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh and your sons and daughters shall prophesie and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams and on my servants and on my hand-maids I will pour out of my Spirit in those dayes and they shall prophesie And verily I do bear my Testimony that I do witness such a people now upon the earth whom the Lord hath revealed his secrets unto and doth powerfully work upon the hearts of thousands to the turning them from darkness unto light and from the power of Satan unto God that they do receive remission of sins and this I do witness in my own particular in great measure blessed yea for ever blessed be his holy and dreadful Name for he alone is worthy of everlasting Praises from his Own both now henceforth and for ever And woes everlasting woes will be the portion of all those that oppress his righteous Ones Now I finde that all men that will attain unto salvation must hear the Son of GOD for A Prophet saith Moses will the Lord your God raise up unto you in all things like unto me and him shall you hear and it shall come to pass that whosoever shall not hear him shall be cut off from amongst the people Now neither the Son of God nor none of his Disciples nor Apostles did ever take Tythes or ever command the paying of them and they were not persons ordained by the will of man but were anointed with the holy anointing and were by that Spirit that did anoint them commanded to feed the Flock of Christ over which the holy Ghost had made them Overseers And Christ himself saith That unless a man be born again he cannot enter into the Kingdom of heaven And this new Birth is a Death unto all sin and a Life unto all Righteousness and this every man must feel That it is as natural for him to serve the Law of God as it was formerly to serve the Law of sin And he is the true Teacher that is able by his own Experience to tell another how he hath passed from Death to Life for no unclean thing can enter the Kingdom for without are Covetous Lyers Adulterers Drunkards Extortioners and all evil Doers Now a true Teacher must hate the very appearance of evil he must hate vain thoughts and every false way We shall finde in Scripture that all the Teachers of Righteousness were such as were filled with the Spirit of the Lord and did not preach for filthy lucre or gain but of a ready minde and were not as the Priests of these times are that lie as Thieves and Robbers to murder in the way and sue for treble Damages and persecute the Son of God in all those that desire to live godly in him which they will feel one day that those that persecute them they persecute him and it were better that a milstone were hanged about his neck and he thrown into the sea then that he should offend one of those little Ones that put their trust in me saith Christ Now I finde that in the year 600. or soon after Gregory the First then Pope of Rome sent over Augustine the Monk into England by vvhom Ethelbert King of Kent was converted This Augustine vvas a Câ—…n Regular and after he had obtained his own Design he then preached up Tythes in England by the Popes appointment and at the same time taught the people that the pardon of sin might be merited by good Works In the year 786. two Legats were sent over from Pope Hadrian the First to Offa King of Mercland Alwolf King of Northumberland vvho made a Decree That the people of those two Kingdoms should pay Tythes King Athelstone about the year 930. King Edmond about the year 940. King Edgar about the year 970. King Etheldred 1010. King Knute about the year 1020. Edward the Confessor and others of the Saxon Kings by Order from the Pope made Laws for Tythes The Normans afterwards entering this Kingdome William the Conquerour Henry the First Henry the Second King Stephen and other Kings by the like Order from the Pope confirmed the said Laws for Tythes and yet notvvithstanding all these Laws yet vvas it left to the Ovvner to confer it vvhere he pleased vvhich vvas the cause of making so many rich Abbies and Monasteries in England and until the year 1200. or thereabouts every one gave their Tythes as they pleased vvhich made Pope Innocent the Third send his Decretal Epistle the Bishop of Canterbury commanding him to injoyn every man to pay his Tythes to those that ministred spiritual things to them which vvas inforced by Sentence of the Ecclesiastical Courts And this vvas the first beginning of Parochial Tythes in England and this after by the Parliament was thought reasonable and then established by a Law the King and People being all Papists Now all this will I prove and let any man that hath any fear of the Lord judge whether that the Rules and Practice of those Back-sliders who were in the dark night of Apostacy be fit to guide us who have again received the pure light as the Apostles of our Lord and Saviour and have received the Lord Jesus Christ and know how to walk in him for know ye not that Christ is in you unless you be reprobates and put you on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfil the lusts â—…eof The ninth Epistle To all Priests that teach for Hire and divine for Money that call themselves Ministers of Christ and are not but are of the Synagogue of Satan that they may repent For the day of the Lord is at hand THe Arm and strength of the
world so called by some they now slight and despise and trample under their feet men guided by the Spirit of the Lord pressing upon the powers of the earth to make Laws to hold them under bondage and that lay-Lay-people Tradesmen and such as are not bred in Schools may have no liberty to speak or write of the Spirit And why so Because out of these despised ones of the world doth the Spirit rise up more and more to clearer light making them to speak from experience and every fresh discovery of the Father shines more glorious then the old till at last the creature is made to see the Father face to face in his own light But now the Scholars that come to speak from the strength of what they have stole from others being not filled with the Holy Ghost which maketh Ministers they have no inward Testimony of their own to uphold their Trade but by a customary practise they uphold their Trade thus by holding fast the old letter getting their livings by telling the people the meanings of those Tradesmens Words and Writings But alas they mightily deceive them and corrupt their Meanings by their multitudes of false Expositions and Interpretations for no man knows the meaning of the Spirit of GOD but he that hath the Spirit and if the Father sends forth any of these Tradesmen to declare their Testimony which is in them as in these dayes he sends forth many and these true labourers shall increase maugre the Malice of Men Devils and all those false aspersions cast upon them calling them new Lights Factious erronious Blasphemers and the like shall not hurt them for it is but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled they shall say or speak all manner of evil falsly against them for my sake and they that kill them shall think they do God good service in it even as those that killed the Just One crying Crucifie him crucifie Him but all will be to no purpose for the work is of the Lord and it shall stand The counsels of the Lord taketh place in every age and his word is stablished in Heaven and when all things else shall come to nothing then not one jot or tittle of this shall fail Wicked men and Deceivers had best give over for it is hard for them to kick against the pricks or strive against the stream For the Lord Jehovah at whose voice the mountains quake the hills tremble that telleth all the Stars and calleth them all by their names and saith to the proud waves of the Seas Thus far shall ye go and no farther that keepeth the devils in chains against that great and terrible day when all men shall be judged for the things done in their flesh that divided the seas for his children to pass over and drowned his enemies in the same waters I say this God is too great for Man to contest with But what is the reason that the Preachers of this world so called by many are so bitter against truth in the inward parts in words they speak much for it Because the light of truth that springs up out of this earth which the Scholars tread under feet will shine so clear as it will put out the candle of these wicked learned Deceivers Now the people are not to look for any teaching but from the great Prophet Jesus Christ and are not to acknowledge any other Ruler but such as are guided by him this King of peace who plants the Law of Righteousness in the hearts The hear-say Teachers would have the people look up to them for teaching and verily I must bear my Testimony that the more I look'd upon any man for teaching the more I was wrapt into bondage and confusion and therefore all the upshot and end of the Priests is onely to hinder Christ from rising and to keep Jacob under that he may be a servant unto the man of flesh So it is plain that all that is done in the world about hear-say Priests and their settled Forms of Worship is no other but the spreadings forth of the Thorn-bush the fleshly man to hinder the worship of the Father in spirit and in truth and all these strict and zealous Preachers so called and Professors of other mens Words and writings and Upholders of Forms and Customs are no other but the Scribes Pharisees and Judas that still pursues Christ in enmity And this is the reason why many are so ignorant and cold spirited in the acknowledgement of the Father because the night-Vine or Branches of the Thorn-bush are so mighty great and thick that they hide the light and heat of the Sun of Righteousness from it this is the man of sin the Mystery of Iniquity that lets and must let till he be taken out of the Way Indeed this Thorn-bush doth so prick that none dare meddle with it but those that are well clothed with Christ such as have put on the whole Armour of God This Thorn-bush or night-Vine grows in the cold time of the night while the Sun of Righteousness is under the clouds and the fruit it brings forth is unpleasant as pride covetousness envy self-love hypocrisie confusion bondage and all misery under the power of darkness and all that oppress the holy just Ones they act from this night-Vine and are children of the night and of darkness Now from hence it doth appear what proud men the Clergy are that call themselves Divines when their light is but a candle stolen from the Apostles and Prophets writings it is not their own Light it is but hear-say in them who cannot in their own particulars witness the things they do declare or hold forth unto others and therefore their pride and covetousness doth plainly declare them to be false Christs and false Prophets and that they are but Branches of the Thorn-bush that are full of sharp pricks in regard they endeavour to uphold a forced maintenance from the people whether they will or no and force the people to be silent to hear them preach hear-say what Austin Gregory and the Fathers have said and none must gainsay what they affirm although never so false upon pain of 5 l. or lye in the common Goal and be bound to their good Behaviour and are like to be crushed in their Estates by the power of many wicked Magistrates if they oppose these hear-say Priests that say and unsay for they know not what they say but say to darken peoples knowledge more and more O sad Anti-christian Laws against the plain Scripture which alloweth prophesying or speaking one by one as the Spirit giveth or maketh manifest and the first shall hold his peace doth not the shame of those Laws and their Makers almost appear unto all men If it do not it will do very suddenly assure your selves you Priests you must fall and be turned out as Judas Simon Magus and the Scribes and Pharisees that are the greatest Enemies to Christ the spreading power of Righteousness for
the sword imprisoned Peter Act. 12. 2 4. Paul stoned till they supposed he was dead Act. 14. 19. they had trials Heb. 11. 36. by mockings by bands and imprisonments by cruel scourgings they were stoned they were sawn asunder they were slain with the sword and all for faith for bearing Testimony for that which doth enlighten every man that cometh into the world for Paul said That when Christ had revealed himself in him then he spake the word with boldness and went about turning people from darkness to light and from the power of Satan unto God that they might receive remission of sins which teacheth to follow peace with all men and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Now the light maketh manifest the Mystery of Babylon the great the Mother of Harlots and abominations of the earth who hath made her self drunk with the bloud of the Martyrs of Jesus and Saints of the most High those that have the mark in their foreheads in which you are yet even in Babel in confusion and therefore fear and tremble before the Lord for who is able to dwell in everlasting burnings For the devil that deceived them shall be cast into the lake of fire mark that that deceived them nothing makes a man more like unto the devil the Prince of darkness then to be a deceiver of the Brethren and they shall all to perdition Rev. 17. 8. for they do mock now with the Lamb Jesus and they offend his little Ones O! it were better that a Milstone were hanged about their necks and they thrown into the sea then to offend one of those little Ones that put their trust in me But know this the Lamb shall overcome you for he is Lord of lords and King of kings and they that are with him are called and chosen and faithful and therefore rejoyce over her ye holy Ones for God hath avenged you on her and will avenge for true and righteous are his Judgements for he hath judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath and will avenge the blood of his servants at her hand for the dreadful and terrible day of the Lord is at hand in which no iniquity or deceipt can stand there is nothing but the pure holy and undefiled shall be able to enter for no unclean thing can enter the Kingdom of Heaven and it must be the oyl in a mans own vessel whereby the true light is maintained by which alone the Bridgegroom can be followed in to the marriage-chamber who is the true Vine and they that abide in him and he in them they bring forth much fruit and he is the Way that whosoever walketh in shall come to the Father he is that Rock that whosoever buildeth his house on it shall stand and no persecution storm or tempest shall shake although the mountains move into the midst of the sea my heart saith David shall not be troubled Why Because it standeth fixed fixed in the Lord the Lord keepeth such in perfect peace whose mindes are stayed in him there is nothing can disturb the peace of them whose mindes are turned in to the light Christ and hearken to his voice For my sheep saith Christ follow me they know my voice I am the true shepherd and they will not follow a stranger now you are come in not by Christ the Door but by the inventions and wills of wicked men like your selves who are out of the life and power of God and so cannot make Ministers for the carnal man knoweth not the things of God they are spiritually discerned read Act. 13 2. it is the holy Ghost that sends Ministers they must be anointed by the holy Child Jesus the Anointing before they can go teach this you may see Mar. 16. 15. after the Resurrection Go ye eleven disciples into all the world preach ye the Gospel to every creature he doth not say to the Scribes and Pharisees and High Priests Go ye nay they put him to death crucified him as you the Priests do now even murder the Just One in your own particulars and in every other that you can to whom Christ pronounced this wo Wo unto you Lawyers for you will not go to heaven your selves and those that would ye hinder O dumb Dogs Idol-shepherds that cry The Lord when the Lord never put into their mouthes but they prepare war against the Just when he cannot put into their mouths then they prepare war Take heed leave off seducing for everlasting woes will be your portion and this take notice that from the Lord you are warned to repent and turn in to the light in your consciences that checketh you for sin and evil for that is your true Teacher Emmanuel God with us and to this I bear my Testimony That it is true and they that believe in the light Christ Jesus in you that believe the hope of glory they shall finde him raising them from the death of sin to the life of grace and have part in the first Resurrection and over such the second death shall have no power for he is Jesus that redeemeth his from all iniquity who is the light of the world and the life of men the living Way the Resurrection and the Life the faithful and true Witness the First and the Last the Beginning and the End who was dead and is alive for evermore Now this Mystery is made known unto the Saints Col. 1. 27. even the mystery hid from ages and generations and is now unto his chosen ones made manifest which is Christ in them the hope of glory ver 28. Whom we preach warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus whereunto I labour striving according to his working which worketh in me mightly as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord so walk you in him rooted and built up in him for in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily and ye are compleat in him for you are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God who hath raised him from the dead therefore their bodies are of Christ and therefore they are not to be deceived by voluntary worships and beggarly rudiments which indeed have a shew of wisdom but it is to the man that is blinde and if the blind lead the blind they shall both fall into the ditch Now is the day of the Lords mighty power appearing and his people need not go to the Priests for help Jer. 31. 34. After those days saith the Lord God I will put my Law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people and they shall teach no more every man his neighbour and every man his brother saying Know the Lord for they shall all know me from the least of them to the greatest of them for I will forgive their iniquities
Chron. 34. And Josiah did that which was right in the sight of the Lord and walked in all the wayes of David his father and declined neither to the right hand nor to the left Ezra 7. 10. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord and to do it Vers 25 26. And thou Ezra after the wisdom of thy God that is in thy hand set Magistrates and Judges which may judge all the people all such as know the Laws of thy God beyond the river and teach ye them that know them not and whosoever will not do the Law of thy God and the law of the king let judgement be executed speedily upon him whether it be unto death or to banishment or to confiscation of goods or to imprisonment Neh. 1. 5. O Lord God of heaven the great and terrible God that keepeth covenant and mercy for them that love him keep his commandments Neh. 10. 29 They came to their Brethren their Nobles and entered into a curse and into an oath to walk in Gods Law which was given by Moses the servant of the Lord and to observe and do all the commandments of the Lord our God and his judgements and his statutes Job 1. 1. There was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job and that man was perfect and upright and one that feared God and eschewed evil Isa 2. 3. Let us go up to the house of the God of Jacob and he will teach us of his ways and we will walk in his pathes for out of Sion shall go forth the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem Sanctifie the Lord of hosts himself and let him be your fear and your dread Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose minde is stayed on thee because he trusteth in thee Trust ye in the Lord for ever for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength The wayes of the just is uprightness Thou most Upright dost weigh the pathes of the just yea in the ways of thy judgements O Lord have we waited for thee the desire of our soul is to thy Name and to the remembrance of thee Thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel Amend your wayes and your doings Trust not in lying words saying The Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord the Temple of the Lord for if you throughly amend your wayes and your doings if you throughly execute judgement between a man and his neighbour if ye oppress not the stranger the fatherless and the widow and shed not innocent blood in this place neither walk after other gods to your hurt then will I cause you to dwell in this place in the land that I gave to your fathers for ever and for ever Behold ye trust in lying words that cannot profit will ye steal murder and commit adultery and swear falsly and burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom ye know not and come and stand before me in this house which is called by my Name and say We are delivered to do all these abominations But this thing commanded I them saying Obey my voice and I will be your God and you shall be my people and walk ye in all the wayes that I have commanded you that it may be well unto you Behold the dayes come saith the Lord that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch and a king shall reign and prosper and shall execute judgement and justice on the earth in his days Judah shall be saved and Israel shall dwell safely and this is his Name whereby he shall be called The Lord our Righteousness Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man that the righteous sin not and he doth not sin he shall surely live the soul that sinneth shall die but if a man be just and do that which is lawful and right and hath not eaten upon the mountains neither hath lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel neither hath defiled his neighbours wife neither hath come neer to menstruous women and hath not oppressed any but hath restored to the debtor his pledge hath spoiled none by violence hath given his bread to the hungry and hath covered the naked with a garment he that hath not given forth upon usury neither hath taken any increase that hath with-drawn his hand from iniquity hath executed true judgement between man and man hath walked in my statutes and kept my judgements to deal truly he is just he shall surely live saith the Lord God And they that be wise shall shine as the stars in the firmament for ever and ever and they that turn many to righteousness as the brightness of the firmament And in that day will I make a Covenant for them with the beasts of the field with the fowls of heaven and with the creeping things of the ground and I will break the bow and the sword and the battel out of the earth and will make them dwell safely and I will betroth thee unto my self in righteousness for ever yea I will betroth thee unto my self in righteousness and in judgement and in loving kindness and in mercy I will betroth thee unto my self in faithfulness and thou shalt know the Lord. The Lord also shall roar out of Sion and utter his voice from Jerusalem and the heavens and the earth shall shake but the Lord will be the hope of his people the strength of the children of Israel Then shall Jerusalem be holy and there shall no stranger pass through her any more For thus saith the Lord unto the house of Israel Seek ye me and ye shall live But upon mount Sion shall be deliverance and there shall be holiness and the house of Jacob shall possess their possessions They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy But I will sacrifice to thee with the voice of thanksgiving I will pay that that I have vowed salvation is of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord concerning the prophets that make my people err that bite with their teeth and cry peace and he that putteth not into their mouths they ever prepare war against him But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord and of judgement and of might to declare unto Jacob his transgressions and to Israel his sin Hear this ye heads of the house of Jacob and princes of the house of Israel that abhor all judgement and pervert all equity they build up Sion with blood and Jerusalem with iniquity the heads thereof judge for reward and the priests thereof teach for hire and the prophets thereof divine for money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord amongst us no evil can come upon us Therefore shall Zion for your sakes be plowed as a Field and Jerusalem shall become heaps and the Mountains of the house as the high places of the Forests The Lord is of purer eyes then to behold evil and cannot behold
if they do not speedily repent they must expect that the great God will pay their hypocrisie and deceitful dealings with indignation and wrath upon the heads of every one of them that doth or hath done evil and when the measure of their iniquities are full they must expect wrath from heaven to be poured down upon them and there shall be no Remedy For they may read that David although a man after Gods own heart yet because his hands were dipt in bloud the Lord would not let him build an house unto his Name Zach. 4. 6. Not by power but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts is this work to be done We read that Souldiers have been great enemies to Christ and his Kingdom Joh. 19. 23 24 32 34. the Souldiers armed with swords staves and spears were imployed to take Christ and apprehend him to bring him to Pilate they stripped him of his Garments and Robes and crowned him with Thorns they spit in his Face they buffeted him they gave him vinegar to drink they crucified him and cast lots for his garments they thrust a spear through his side they watched the Sepulcher for fear he should be taken away and after he was risen the chief Priests gave large money to the Souldiers to broach their lies that his Disciples came by night and stole him away while they slept The Souldiers stretched forth their hands to vex certain of the Church they killed James the Apostle with the sword they apprehended Peter and put him in prison where he was guarded day and night with four Quaternions of Souldiers to prevent an escape The Lord hath resolved that men of blood as is before shewed shall not build his house Christ is the King and Prince of Peace and his Subjects are the Subjects of Peace Christs Gospel is the Gospel of Peace his Apostles and Ministers the Embassadors of Peace and his Kingdom consists in Righteousness and Peace Now nothing is more directly opposite inconsistent and destructive to this Peace to the King Prince Gospel Embassadors and Kingdom of Peace then Armies Wars Souldiers and Arms are and therefore you may read that when Christ sent forth his Disciples to preach his Gospel and set up his Kingdom he did not chuse Captains of thousands and hundreds nor yet Souldiers and armed men but Fisher-men and others altogether averse from war and commanded them in express terms not to take gold silver nor brass in their purses nor scrip nor two coats nor yet staves much less Pistols Musquets Pikes Carbines Swords for Christ expresly meaneth that his Ministers must be no fighters no strikers strivers much less professed Warriers and their weapons must be the Spirit and their mouth the Word of God and they must fight onely against mens lusts and sins not against their persons It is prophesied by the holy men of old That men shall learn war no more but his people shall break their spears into pruning books and their swords into plough-shares for Nation shall not rise against Nation nor lift up the sword any more neither shall they learn war any more but live in peace And these things shall be fulfilled when Christs Kingdom cometh to be set up and they shall keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace And therefore let me admonish you all to leave off your dissembling tell people in plain terms you fight to get great Estates and kill men for mony and sad and miserable will be the end of you unless you repent and perform all those Ingagements Vows and Promises made at Triplo-Heath New-Market and other places where by your large Declarations Remonstrances professed by you that you aimed at nothing but the publick good you caused many honest hearts to joyn with you to the shedding of Blood And therefore speedily repent and turn to the Lord with fasting weeping and mourning and set your selves to do Justice in the earth for fear it speedily open her mouth and swallow you up as it did Corah Dathan and Abiram for assure your selves the Lord is coming against you in Judgement and he will be avenged on every one of you great and small And therefore if you expect to reign with Christ I say unto you once more Speedily repent and put away the evil of your doings and go way and sin no more by your deceitful wicked practices lest a worse thing come unto you And consider how often you have declared to put your helping hand and utmost endeavours to regulate the Laws that are so exceeding chargeable and burdensome to the people of this Nation that I have heard it credibly reported That according to calculation cast up by good Arithmeticians that say There is neer seven millions of mony spent yearly by the people of the Nation in Law and Equity and above one hundred thousand a year it cannot be less amongst Serjeants Bayliffs and such kind of needless Officers besides many persons murdered every year in and about Arrests and escaping from Serjeants that no Nation but England can parallel the like practices which is a shame to all that profess the knowledge of the Lord and makes the very Turks say in their common speech as I have been credibly informed when any doth them some great injury I think you will use me like a Christian O abominable shame that Turks must rise in Judgement and condemn the great Talkers of Religion in England and this heightens the spirits of Judges and makes them proud and not like their Predecessors that rode to Westminster upon Asses to shew their humility from Serjeants Inne and back again to Westminster and did not vaunt and lord it over the people as some have done of late years and gained great riches for themselves and their Favourites and Creatures it is to be feared not justly but evilly just like the Papist Priests in former times when most of those Laws now in being were made who gained in their times most part of the great situations and best Lands in this Nation by Combination Craft and Subtilty by lulling the people asleep in ignorance and blindness in their vain superstition pronouncing hell and damnation with bell book and candle to all that did not observe the same and thereby brought the people into a fond belief of them for since that fall those that is to say the Judges and their favorites have far out-run those Priests in gaining riches in an excessive manner by griping very many men And it is to be observed that many of them have come of poor and indigent Parentage yet have they climed up and leaped into most of the Lordly Titles and gainful places and Offices in the Nation and therein and thereby have domineered and tyrannized over and oppressed the honest people and gained the favour of fawning flattering and lascivious Courtiers by Rewards which they have usually given at their enterance which they have made up again out of others to their sorrows contrary to the
practice of the Judges in old time in this Nation and the Lawyers formerly were milde to their Clyents and honest as I must confess some I have had trial of hath been to me as Serjeant Twisden William Wilde Shelton and a few others and used them very kindly and had great care of their business seldom any Lawyer taking above one Fee in one Cause in a Term and they did not let their Clyents standCap in hand and make them scrape legs and beseech them to take their mony and take large excessive Fees as some will and have done and pretend they are afraid one of another as Serjeant Conyers took a Fee of me to move in Chancery and kept it four several dayes and Serjeant Maynard and Chal. Chute was fee'd to defend the motion and that Cause was in an Order positive That unless cause was shewed that day I was in a manner undone in a business of almost all my Estate and by the Rules of the Court I was to stand committed if I spake up my self and I could get no other the time being so short yet this Serjeant just as he came to the Bar gave me my Fee and run into the Court and told me the Atturney-General was against me and he durst not nor would not meddle in the Case So I was forced to move the Commissioners my self and run the hazard of committing to the Fleet or else I had been ruined Now let all men judge if such Lawyers ought not to be punished for by Law they ought to be for ever put by pleading in that Court or any other and suffer imprisonment during the pleasure of the King or chief Magistrate as you may read by the Statute of 3 Edw. 1. chap. 29. The Life of the Law is execution of it And some nay too many have taken large Fees to speak in Causes to my knowledge and have never come to the Bar at all and the Party hath gone and demanded his money again of them and they have denyed to give it again and told their Clyents it was enough for them that they were not against them Is not this a grand Impudence and doth not this cry for Vengeance against such a Generation as this is that the Poor the Fatherless the Widow hath little or no right done him for if a poor man have never so much right to an Estate he cannot get it but by suing under forma pauperis and if he be cast as many nay most times he is let his Cause be never so good or just by the reason of a corrupt Judge and the weight of his Adversaries Purse which makes most Causes according to the late practises and proceedings then the poor man must be whipt at the Carts Tayl saith our Laws and if any man lends the poor man money to sue for his Estate then it is Champerty and Maintenance saith the Laws of England and Barratry and the man that doth it must be fined all his Estate and be punished with imprisonment and pilloried or what punishment a corrupt Judge pleaseth to put upon him And now Souldiers will you tell us you have regulated our Laws I say unto you Up and be doing and act like men of courage and do some great things for us according to all your Oaths Declarations Remonstrances and Engagements or assure your selves the proudest of you shall be dashed and broken to pieces like a Potters Vessel and none shall be able to deliver you for the Lord is risen and will stand by his redeemed ones whom you are now helping to eat up as men eat bread and stand them in no stead at all and your gilded Promises and specious pretences will not hold out without doing it is he that doth good and he that keepeth promise shall come into the holy Hill they that break it shall be sure to be cast forth for ever your Form of Godliness without the Power is known and is discerned by all men who have their eyes in their heads Now having done with the Deceipt of these men at present I must speak a few words in the vindication of a Party who hath some calumnies cast upon her by the scandalous Pen of a lying Priest one Tho. Danson at Sandwich in Kent it is on the behalf of one he calleth Mrs. Dorothy Gudderson in his Book called The Quakers folly opened by him as he alledgeth upon his Dispute at Sandwich with three Quakers on the 12 13 14. dayes of the month he calleth April in the year 1659. wherein he stiles himself Fellow of Magdalen Colledge in Oxon where he might if he had made good use of his time have learned more manners then to traduce a person so much above him by Birth and Parentage as she is which thing he highly esteemeth and prizeth although she denieth it having so learned Christ as to count all things but dross and dung that she may be found in him not having her own Righteousness which is by the Law but having the Righteousness which is by Christ through faith in his blood and so expecting Justification by the Righteousness of Jesus Christ within her And this I know is her whole desire panting and breathing after holiness as the hart panteth after the water-brooks so longeth or breatheth her soul after the living God And thus Tho. Danson beginneth his Discourse of her I will tell thee a true story which may perhaps move thy laughter Just like a Jester in a Play more like then a staid Fellow of a Colledge wherein he condemneth her for denying to kiss a Gentleman and is ashamed to tell it was himself for I being present the same time perceived by his countenance as far as one may judge or discover by outward appearance of another that he was much disturbed that she refused him to salute her and the passage was thus He coming to salute her she put forth her hand to him and said That so far as God had made manifest to her any sin or vain custome of the world she should and had denied her self in it and that she did believe to be one And verily he might have been so far judicious after so many high complements used to her and his wife inviting her to his house as to have forborn the putting her in print just in the end of his Book as much as in him lay to make her ridiculous to her Friends Kindred and Acquaintance when she said she believed it and he may know that what is not of faith is sin But all men may see what spirit he is guided by even a lying spirit He may be ashamed of what he held forth at the Meeting at Sandwich as also his traducing of Samuel Fisher charging him with many lies to my knowledge in his Book I being present at the Meeting and also knowing Samuel Fisher very well being confident he is a precious child of the living God one that is born again and is a Babe in Christ and his vvhole