then I took my Journey into the Country and went down into Buckinghamshire through their Meetings and so on into Oxfordshire to Worcestershire and Glocestershire and to Bristol and then back again and so through to Shrewsbury and on as far as Wrexham in Wales visiting the Churches of Christ and the good Presence of the Lord in his heavenly Power accompanying we were often refreshed and sweetly comforted together to his Praise and our Joy who is our God for evermore And so from Wrexham in North-Wales I took my Journey with Iohn ap Iohn who accompanied me towards South Wales and we did visit Friends and had many Meetings as we went along in Montgomeryshire Merionethshire and Cardiganshire and so we passed on by the West-Sea into Pembrokeshire and there visited the Lord's People and spent some time amongst them there And then we took our Journey through Carmarthenshire to Swanzey and having a Meeting or two we passed on towards Cardiff visiting Friends in Glamorganshire and then into Monmouthshire and having visited Friends in that County we parted he returned home and I passed over the Water into Glocestershire and so to Bristol And so continued travelling through several Counties visiting the Churches and so to London spent some time there and then went down into Essex and visited Friends in that Country and returned again to London to the Yearly-Meeting in the Year 1675. And from London I took my Journey to Hartford and so down Northward with Iohn Graves and Iames Hall to York and there we parted And I went from York to Malton and so to Scarborough and Whitby and through Friends in Cleveland and so to Stockdon in Bishoprick visiting Friends and having many pretious Meetings And then passed through several Meetings in that County and being clear I then took my Journey for Cumberland and being there I with several Brethren was desired to come over into Westmorland to a Meeting appointed by Friends at their Quarterly-Meeting in Westmorland which was to be at Powbank So I went thither against the day appointed with Iohn Graves Iohn Tiffin Hugh Tickell and Thomas Laithes where we met with several Brethren that were come out of Yorkshire at the request of the aforesaid Quarterly-Meeting And upon that occasion many Friends of Westmorland were come together who when we were sate together in the Meeting did present unto us several Disorders in many things that were contrary to the Truth by which they had been grieved and sorely exercised for a long time in their Monthly and Quarterly-Meetings so that the Spirits of a lose Company were set at liberty and so much born up and countenanced by Iohn Story and Iohn Wilkinson that the blessed Order of the Truth brought forth amongst us by the Power of God was greatly slighted and endeavoured to be trodden under by that lose Company being thus encouraged by these two men that looked upon themselves to be Elders and so like Diotrephes loved to have the Pre-eminence which brought great grief upon the honest and simple-minded So we hearing what Friends had to say in that matter and observing what was charged and proved we desired Friends to give us another Meeting and let I. S. and I. W. be sent to and desired to meet us that we might hear them face to face although they had been desired from the Quarterly-Meeting and several others to come to this Meeting so appointed by the Quarterly-Meeting and had refused and withal sent us a Letter denying to come and disowning our Meeting Nevertheless we were willing to have another Meeting which Friends of Westmorland freely assented unto and so it was appointed at Milthrop the next day And we to wit six or more of Cumberland and Yorkshire Friends did our selves go to them as Messengers and did intreat them to go with us to the Meeting that we might hear them and the Friends of Westmorland that were agrieved face to face concerning those things that were in charge against them but they were so high and so obstinate that they slighted us all or any Advice we could give And so after some hours discourse with them in which we throughly saw their Spirits to be wrong we left them and went to the Meeting appointed at Milthrop where Friends were waiting for us And after we were setled a little in the Meeting we gave an acccount how we had endeavoured to perswade them to come through all entreaty we could but could not prevail And so we gave a hearing a second time to the Friends and then we of Yorkshire and Cumberland with-drew and amongst our selves viewed the whole matter for it was in writing and opened our Hearts one unto another And waiting upon the Lord there fell a Weighty Concern upon us for the Truth 's sake and the blessed Order thereof with our holy Testimony we had been raised up into which by them had been slighted and scorned and reproached So that we could not pass it by but in the Power of the Lord God that was dreadful amongst us gave Iudgment against that Spirit that was grown so high and lose and fleshly as thus to undervalue the Testimony of God and the bringings forth of his holy Power in the Churches of Christ that thereby all might be kept sweet clear and in good Order And when we had cleared our selves in the rising and springing of the Word of Life and drawn up our Testimony in writing we gave it unto Friends there and so departed Of the Iudgment given I shall say no more here because it is in writing in many places So I went over to Swarthmore and stayed a Meeting there and then returned into Cumberland and stayed there some Weeks and visited Friends And being clear I returned again to Swarthmore in order to go over the Sands towards Wales which was before me And when I was at Swarthmore I was moved to go over first into Westmorland to visit the Meetings there So I went over to Sedber and had a Meeting there and then had a Meeting at Grayrigg and then came to Kendall where I met with Robert Lodge and so we had a blessed Meeting there And the next day we were at Preston-Meeting and then I was clear of that County And so after a little time took my Journey into Wales through Lancashire and Cheshire and so coming to Iohn ap Iohns near Wrexham in North-Wales he did go along with me And in the first place we went to a Quarterly-Meeting that was at Deloberon at Charles Lloyds for two Counties viz. Merionethshire and Mongomeryshire and had a blessed Service for the Truth there among Friends And then went down into Merionethshire and visited the Meetings and then to Mehuntleth and had a Meeting And then returned up into Radnorshire and visited the Meetings there in that County And then took our Journey through Brecknockshire and Carmarthenshire into Pembrokeshire where we spent some time amongst Friends and had several pretious Meetings And being clear
that unruly lose Spirit and Mind they were gone into being some of them filled with Prejudice they had written a Book which they brought in Manuscript to the Meeting and urged to have it read But I told them we had the Papers there and they might lay down their Objections they being there and we would Answer them But that would not serve but the Book they would read and we sate in quietness till they had done And when they had done I reached for it and by my memory did go over the Heads thereof and did clear G. F. and Friends in our godly Care and Intents and opened the Service and Benefit of such Things which they did Cavil at and shewed Friends the Advantage that was therein both to the Truth and them and withal reprehended their Slanders and Falshoods with which they had hurt the Minds of several young and newly-convinced Friends and so opened unto them how it was the same Spirit that of old led those that opposed the Apostles and endeavoured to bring a slight and begit a disesteem in the Minds of the Believers against them that watched over them for their good and so endeavoured to lead them into a fleshly Liberty to shun the Cross c. And when I had cleared my self and informed Friends of the truth of Things that then by them had been objected against Friends in general were satisfied and saw the Mistakes which they had let into their Minds through the Insinuation of those three men that had been chiefly concerned in the writing of the Book and in the Opposition And so the Lord's Power broke in upon the Meeting and Friends Hearts were broken and great meltings in the Power there was amongst us and so in the same we blessed the Lord and praised him and prayed unto him and they were bowed and went away And so Friends were comforted and the Seed and Life reigned over all everlasting Glory and Honour and Praise be given to him for all his Mercies and Preservations for he is worthy for evermore And so when all our Meetings were over and Friends in the heavenly Power and Seed comforted and the bad Spirits and their evil Work confounded and brought under as in the Minds of the Simple-hearted that were like to be hurt and betrayed by them and so a coolness and calmness amongst Friends I was clear And then took my Journey with some Friends that did accompany me and went to Flushing and down to Gravesand and when I had visited Friends there I went to New-York and had a Meeting and then took shipping for Maryland there and set Sail the the 23 d of the eighth Month 1671. We met with a sore Tempest a West-north-west-wind that blew so hard we could carry no Sail for some days but at last we got into Virginia and then sailed up the Bay and got to Pertuxon River in Maryland the fifth day of the ninth Month and there I landed with my Companion Daniel Gould who came with me from Road-Island and did travel with me that Winter We visited Friends in Maryland and I went down to Virginia to visit Friends there and found a freshness amongst them and they were many of them restored and grown up to a degree of their former Zeal and Tenderness and a great Openness I found in the Country and had several blessed Mettings And then I did advise them to have a Mens-Meeting and so to meet together to settle things in good order amongst them that they might be Instrumental to the gathering of such as were yet scattered and stirring up of such as were cold and careless and so to the keeping of things in order sweet and well amongst them And thus having cleared my self in the Love of God I committed them unto the Lord and the Word of his Grace and so took Boat again for Maryland and got well thither at last but met with strong Winds and rough Weather and some danger and so spent some time more in Maryland till the Spring And in the 2 d Month I appointed a Meeting at West-River in Maryland for all the Friends in the Province that I might see them together before I departed for I was determined to go as soon as I could after that Meeting And when the time appointed came and Friends from all Parts began to come George Fox with several Brethren came from Iamaica and landed at Pertuxon and from thence came streight to the Meeting And there were Friends from all Parts of the Province where they dwelt and we had a very large Meeting which did continue for several days and a Men and Womens-Meeting for the setling of Things that Men and Womens-Meetings might be established in the Province according to the blessed Order of the Gospel of Christ Jesus which Friends by the Power thereof were gathered into in most places And G. F. did wonderfully open the Service thereof unto Friends and they with gladness of heart received Advice in such necessary Things as were then opened unto them and all were comforted and edified And then when all was over and we all clear and all sweet and pleasant among Friends we departed and went down to the Clefts some by Water and some by Land and there we had a large Meeting of both Friends and other People And when that was over we departed some went down to Virginia and some stayed in Maryland And George Fox Robert Withers George Pattison and I with several Friends of the Province took Boat and went over to the Eastern-shore and there had a Meeting on the first day and on the second day we began our Journey through the Woods to go over Land to New-England And took Horse at Iohn Pitts at the Head of Tredaven-Creek and did go through the Woods above the Heads of Miles-River and Wye-River and also headed Chester-River and lay two Nights in the Woods viz second and third days at night And on the fourth day we came to Saxifrax-River and did swim our Horses and went over our selves in Boats or Canowes And so rode on to Bohemia-River and there did cause our Horses to swim and went over our selves in Canowes And then came to a Plantation called Augustines and there we stayed a little and about three in the Afternoon we set forwards and some of us got to Delaware to Newcastle and got Lodging for we were sore wet with the Rain but Ro. Withers and George Pattison lay in the Woods all night their Horses being tired Next morning they came to us at New-castle We stayed there that day and next day we got over the River And when we were over we could not get an Indian for a Guide and our Dutchman we had hired would not go without an Indian so we were forced to stay there that day And the next day he rode about to seek an Indian but could get none to go and so late in the Evening there came some over from the other side
from the Town and we hired one and so began our Journey early next Morning to travel through that Country which now is called New Iersey and we did suppose that we travelled that day near forty Miles And at the Evening we got to a few Indian Wigwams that is their Houses for we saw no Man nor Woman House nor Dwelling that day for there dwelt no English in that Country then We lodged that Night in an Indian Wigwam and lay upon the Ground as themselves did and next day we travelled through several of their Towns and they were kind to us and helped us over the Creeks with their Canowes and we made our Horses swim at the sides of the Canowes and so travelled on And towards the Evening we got to an Indian Town and when we had put our Horses to Grass we went up to the King's House who received us kindly and shewed us very civil Respect But alas he was so poorly provided having got so little that Day that most of us could neither get to eat nor drink in his Wigwam but it was because he had it not So we lay as well as he that was upon the Ground only a Matt under us and a piece of Wood or any such thing under our Heads So next Morning early we took Horse and travelled through several Indian Towns and that day at Night we lodged in the Woods And so the next day being the fourth day we got to an English Plantation to a Town called Middle-Town in East-Iersey where there was a Plantation of English and several Friends and so we came down with a Friend to his House near the Water-side and he carried us over in his Boat and our Horses also to Long-Island And we got to Friends at Gravesand that Evening and next day we took our Journey to Flushing on Long-Island And the next day being the seventh day of the Week we took our Journey to Oyster-Bay and came there that Evening and several Friends from Gravesand and Flushing with us for the next day their Half-years-Meeting did begin which was the cause of our so hard travelling And besides we did understand that those that had been so troublesome the Half-years-Meeting before when I was there in opposing the Order of Truth and reflecting so upon G. F. would then be an Exercise to Friends therefore George Fox did endeavour the more to get to the Meeting Which we did very seasonably and it was of great Service to the Truth and great Comfort to Friends for they were greatly under when we were come and some of the chief of them began to fawn upon G. F. So we had our Meetings very comfortably first and second days publick for Worship third day for our Mens and Womens-Meetings for Business about the Affairs of the Church as usually before Then on the fourth day we had a Meeting with those dissatisfied People for G. F. would not suffer the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings to be hindered by such a matter And so on the fourth day as many Friends as had a desire to be there did come and the Lord's Power went over them and Friends were much satisfied And he that was the chief Instigator of that Mischief to wit George Dennis who came from London and his Wife not being well owned there by Friends he now began to disown the matter and would have cast it upon others and have willingly appeared clear to G. F. but that I did prove under his own Hand that he was a chief Actor at the Half-years-Meeting before and read the Book in our Meeting whether we would or no. And so things being fastened upon him the Lord's Power went over his deceitful Spirit and they were all bowed and the Truth exalted over all Glory to the Lord for ever Amen Then after this we stayed a little upon the Island and did go back to have some Meetings and returned again to Oyster-Bay and there set Sail for Road-Island the 29 th of the third Month and arrived at Road-Island the thirtieth of the same and there stayed till the Yearly-Meeting which began the eighth day of the fourth Month which was the sixth day of the next Week following and at that General Meeting there were many Friends from most Places in New-England where Friends dwelt and abundance of other People came into our Publick Meetings And we had Meetings for eight days together every day a Meeting some publick and others Men and Womens-Meetings for setling the Affairs of the Churches in the Order of the Truth that all things might be kept sweet clean and well And when all was over and the Service of the Meetings finished I took my Journey Eastward to go through the Meetings in the Eastern Parts of New-England and with me went Iohn Cartwright and George Pattison and several other Friends to accompany us and we left G. F. upon the Island and he went to Providence and the Narraganset Country So we took our Journey towards Sandwich where we had a blessed Meeting and were comforted and richly refreshed in the blessed Presence of the Lord 's holy and blessed Power that was with us and did open and enlarge our hearts And when we had spent some time with Friends there we left them and travelled on by Plymouth and Duxbury and had a Meeting at Marshfield and another at Scituate and the Lord was blessedly with us And at Scituate some of the Elders of their Church came to our Meeting where were abundance of People in an Orchard and stood up and made opposition so I ceased speaking to the People and joyned with them in Dispute But the People were so displeased at the Interruption they made that they signified their dislike and would have them have stayed till I had done upon which they said they would forbear then and come again So they went away and after their own Meeting was over they came again and several Friends stayed with me and a great Company of People came with them And then we went into our Meeting-house which before would not hold the Multitude and there began to Dispute and after some time spent they always endeavouring to make Friends appear to be in the Errour I said unto them before the People If I must be disputed with as an Heretick and your Church esteemed as a true Church I am willing we should come to the Rule Christ hath left and thereby be tried and that is by our Fruits and if you can prove the Fruits of your Church to be agreeable to the Fruits of any antient true Christian Church I shall yield otherwise I must hold my Testimony against it as a false Church c. But they were mighty unwilling to joyn with me in that Discourse But I urged the proof of our Practice by Scripture especially in such a great Point as that and so went on to reckon up the Fruits of their Church which was to fine and take away Goods for not coming to
their Worship to Imprison to Whip with Cruelty to Cut off Ears to Burn in the Hand to Banish upon pain of Death and to Hang for they had hanged four of our Friends All which Cruelties their Church had executed upon us and only upon the account of Religion And if they could prove these to be the Fruits of a true Christian Church then I told them I would own them otherwise they were to be denied The proof of these things or to dispute upon them they would willingly have evaded but I stood upon it necessary that we might be known by our Fruits and our Practice proved by Scripture which they pretended to be their Rule or otherwise all was but vain words and an idle Notion and they had nothing to do with Scripture c. And then they were confounded and knew not what to say but one of them fled to that Decree made by Artaxerxes Ezra 7. 26. But I shewed how inconsistant it was with the Gospel-Dispensation Christ's Command and the Christian's Practice and further said I would prove the Indians better Christians than they by practice And instanced the Indian King who when they had banished Nicholas Upshell an antient grave old man against whom they had nothing but that he was called a Quaker from his Wife and Family and out of their Colony he being received by his Friends at Sandwich in Plymouth-Colony they stirred up the Rulers of the Colony to banish him out of their Jurisdiction which they did And when the Indian King had inquired Why they would send that antient Man sixty Miles through the Woods in the cold Winter to Road-Island and understood the Matter he desired him to go with him and he would keep him and none should molest him or to that purpose and offered him Land and Kindness So said I here was one that would entertain a Stranger a Christian Practice according to Hebr. 13. 2. when your Church banisheth Neighbours from their own Dwellings an act of Cruelty c. Much Discourse we had but at these things they were confounded some of themselves having been Actors in Persecution upon our Friends as Friends told me after they were gone So the Lord's Power went over them they could not stand the trial and we parted in the Peace and Love of God And next day we came to Boston where we had a Meeting and many People came in and several of Note After a while when I was speaking came the Marshal and a Constable and many People following them The Marshal bid the Constable do his Office the Constable being a moderate man said So he did he was to see the King's Peace kept And so stood awhile and heard me and went away and told the Deputy-Governour he had been at our Meeting but he heard nothing but what was true or no Blasphemy or to this effect So the People stayed and I had a blessed Season to open things to the People and clear the truth of those Scandals which the Priests and others had cast upon it and the People went away greatly satisfied and spoke well of the Testimony they had heard Which when Priest Thatcher heard it appears he was displeased for several of his Children were there and the old angry persecuting Spirit got up in him and next first day he stirred up two Magistrates in his preaching to the People and they sent and took Friends at their Meeting and committed several to Prison And we had appointed a Meeting for Iohn Stubbs and Iames Lancaster the third day of the next Week who came after us through the Country and when they came they were put in Prison and banished out of the Colony Thus their old Fruits like old corrupt Trees they brought forth again So the next day we took our Journey to Salem and there had a Meeting and a blessed Season But there we met with some that were gone into that foolish Notion of Iohn Parrots keeping on their Hats when Friends prayed c. So after Meeting was over where many People was in a Barn we had a Meeting with several of the Chief of Friends and such as were gone after that Spirit and a great Discourse we had with them in which we laboured to bring them to an understanding of that Notion they were gone into and so laboured to open and settle the Minds of Friends in the antient Truth and blessed Power which they had believed in and received from Heaven and then appointed a Meeting to be the next Week against our Return And so took our Journey towards Piscattaway and had a Meeting at Hampton as we went were several People came in and some of the Elders of their Church and were greatly satisfied and went away and gave a good report of the Truth insomuch that Seaborn Cotton the Priest was greatly offended And the first day following he called the Chief of his People together and would have a Church-Act made That no Members nor Members Children should go to a Quakers Meeting and it was to be confirmed by their holding up their Hands But those that were at the Meeting would not assent but one of them did declare what he remembred of the Heads of what he heard at the Meeting and maintained it to be Truth So the Priest was in a rage and endeavoured to stir up Persecution And after the Meeting was over we went along to Piscattaway with Friends that came from thence to meet us and stayed there till the first day and had a blessed Meeting and also had a Meeting with the chief of Friends both Men and Women about setling of Men and Womens-Meetings And Friends were very open and in sweet unity all things were setled after we had opened things unto them relating to the blessed Order of the Gospel And so committing them to the Lord and the Word of his Grace we returned back again and had another Meeting at Hampton where were several young People who after the Meeting gave me a Paper in which they signified their desire to be satisfied in something that was as a Scruple upon their Minds To which I answered and gave them great satisfaction And when they saw my Openness and willingness to answer they with reverence did ask me about divers things wherein they desired to be informed and unto all I answered and gave them satisfaction and so we parted Then I with Friends with me took our Journey toward Salem and came there against the time appointed and we had the Meeting which we had appointed with most of the Chief of Friends and it was about setling of Meetings to look after the Affairs of the Church And in the Meeting it was upon me largely to open the Service of our Men and Womens-Meetings and the Duty and Care of the Faithful therein and when I had done they did confess unto the Service c. to be very good and right So then we desired that they would come into the practice thereof but
fire And that shall such know who in the day of the Lord 's Gathering and tender Visiting in Mercy and Loving-kindness will not be won and gained into Faithfulness but slight the Day of their Visitation Therefore my dear Friends be faithful unto the Lord every particular of you in that which you have receiv'd from him and wait to be guided by that in your own hearts And keep low and down to the Principle of Life in your own hearts that you may never become stiff-necked nor hardned in your hearts again For this was Israel's Sin of old whose hearts were hardned and whose neck was become like an Iron sinew that it could not bend unto God's Toke For which he was wroth with his People and cast off his Inheritance in that day so that their Enemies had power over them and laid their Dwellings desolate Those things are left unto us for an Example that we might not fall after the same manner of Unbelief but fear lest a Promise being left us of entring into his Rest we should fall short through Unbelief and so loose the Inheritance and so by the Enemy have our Habitations luid desolate and so be carried Captives out of our Dwelling-place These things my Friends and Brethren I lay before you in the fear and love of God which is weigty in my heart towards you all and so desire that the Lord may preserve you all faithful unto himself in the feeling of his life and good presence by which your hearts may be kept open unto him and so open in true Love one towards another that as a Family in the love of God you may dwell together In which love my Soul dearly Salutes you all and so in it remain To my dear Friends in the North of Ireland about Kilmore Lurgan and that way Your Brother and Companion in the Tribulation and Patience of Christ Jesus I. B. Bristol the 25th day of the 11th Month 1667. Dearly Beloved WIth whom in the Covenant of Life Light and Peace I am one wherein I am with you and in Spirit do reach unto you in that love which many waters cannot quench in which my Soul at this time doth very dearly salute you all ye Children of the Covenant which have been born again of the Word Immortal and in the life of the true Seed remain unto you all without respect of Persons doth the love of my Soul reach with the Salutation of my life in the power that is endless In which my desire is that the Lord may preserve you all that as living Plants in the Vineyard of God you may flourish and bring forth righteous Fruits and so be a honour unto the Lord in your generation and then you need not doubt but the Lord will honour you in the glory of his Kingdom that is without end And therefore Friends the life of Righteousness in the power that is without end do you all mind to live in that fruits of holiness in a godly conversation may be brought forth by you all by which the Gospel of Peace and Salvation comes te be adorned and so the effects of Righteousness you will all come to know which is peace and assurance for ever Which is that you ought all to be mindful of that the evidence of peace by the testimony of the living Spirit in all your hearts ye may feel renewed daily which will not be without an abiding and living in the life of Righteousness whatsoever Notion of Profession may be held in the wrong mind and not in the power and life of Righteousness For this Testimony is true and living searching narrowly under all Coverings and breaking through all Vails entring into the inner Court and breaking through into the Secret Chambers to see what may have a being there or be worshipped So that in vain it is to cover any thing in this day wherein the searcher of all hearts hath appeared and he is come whose Fan is in his hand who sits as Resiners fire and as Fullers sope to cleanse and to purifie his chosen Tribe that they may be a peculiar People a chosen Generation and a Royal Priesthood to shew forth the Praises of him who hath called out of darkness into his marvellous light And therefore My dear Friends with open hearts and nakedness of Spirit do you all walk before the Lord not seeking any Covering but that of the Spirit in the life of Righteousness that its Testimony and witness you may all have in your hearts to bear witness with you unto Justification that so ye may be cloathed with the white Robe of Righteousness in the power of the Lamb and so become Kings and Priests unto God reigning over that in the power of the Lamb's Spirit which can never offer a Sacrifice acceptable before which the hearkening and obedience hath acceptance and so will the life of the true Priest be known to spring in you in which you are accepted and so in the life of him that is a Priest for ever after the Order of Melchisedeck according to the word of the promise and of the oath you will be a Royal Priest-hood offering up an acceptable Sacrifice unto the Lord. And so my dearly beloved unto whom my heart in pure love is opened keep your habitations in the Life of the Son in the Life of the Priest that lives for ever that you may never be rejected in him is the Father well pleased in him are all our Offerings accepted and without him ye can do nothing All Coverings and Robes without him are but as filthy Rags and all Garments without his power and life of righteousness are no better than a Menstruous Cloath and abomination in the sight of the Lord. And therefore keep your Garments clean your hearts pure before the Lord that the acceptance you may never lose and mind the living of the power in your hearts and your living in it unto God the Father that as we have been quickened together in the Resurrection of the Life even so in the same we may worship the Father for evermore And so in this Friends doth my heart's love reach unto you all in which my Soul doth once more very dearly salute you all ye Children of the Covenant and of the blessed day of God Almighty who walk in the Light my heart is ravished with pure love in the Remembrance of you O ye dearly beloved of my Soul I have not forgotten you neither have I been unmindful of you though outwardly we have been separated but the antient love hath lived in my heart yea and doth live towards you all which draws forth strong desires in me unto the Lord that in his Will I might see your faces which I hope will be answered in his time and until then I am freely given up into his Will to stand out of time being satisfied with the invisible union and fellowship in the Spirit that I have with you which time nor distance of places can never
we Meet together on the First Day of the Week for to Meet is our Duty and also upon other Days and for this Practice we have both Command and Example The Saints were commanded not to forsake the assembling of themselves together Heb. 10. 25. and we account every day is the Lord's and He that regardeth a Day ought to regard it to the Lord and he that regardeth not the Day to the Lord he doth not regard it Rom. 14. 6. But what Scripture have ye for all such Days as you observe which are called such and such Saints Days Thou sayst Thou hast been the longer on this particular because thou findest it galls us most Answ. When thou hast read our Answer which by reason of thine being so long hath caused ours to be so too thou mayst consider of it and of thy impertinency in quoting the Scriptures to prove your Practice which being well observed doth witness against you and then we doubt not but it will prove that which will gall thee and thy Brethren who are so found in such Covetous practices as the Scriptures plentifully testifie against And for a further Testimony against your Practices read these following Scriptures of which for brevity's sake having been so long already we shall forbear to write the Words they that can may read them in the Bible Isa. 59. 9 10 11 12. Ier. 5. 30 31. Ezek. 13. 19. Ezek. 34. ch Mich. 3. 5 11. Ioh. 10. 12. Tit. 1. 10 11. 1 Tim. 3. 1 2 3. 2 Pet. 2. 14 15 16. Iud. 11 12 13. In the next place thou undertakest to inform him of some Defects in that Religion he had chosen and first thou sayst Our Teachers have no lawful Call to Preach the Gospel and quotest the Apostle's saying Rom. 10. 15. How shall they Preach except they be sent That is sayst thou how can they Preach the true Doctrine of Christ unless they be sent by him or by those Apostles of Christ who received immediate Commissions from him c. Answ. We grant what the Apostle saith How can they Preach except they be sent c But that our Teachers are not so sent thou neither undertakest to prove by Argument nor Scripture although thou hast the confidence to affirm that they have no lawful Call or Commission to Preach the Gospel which we turn back upon thee as a false Accusation and demand of thee to prove and make it appear to be true if thou canst For we do believe that none can be true Ministers but such as are sent by Christ and have their Call and Commission from him and also receive the Gospel which they Preach and their Ability from him For the Scripture is plain that the Gospel-Ministers were sent by him and received the Gospel they Preached and Ability to Preach it from him and not from Men as in Gal. 1. 11 12. And in 2 Cor. 3. 6. the Apostle saith They were made able Ministers of the New Testament not of the Letter but of the Spirit and in the foregoing verse he saith Our sufficiency is of God And Ephes. 3. 7. he declares That he was made a Minister according to the Gift of the Grace of God given unto him by the effectual working of his Power And Peter saith 1 Pet. 4. 11. If any Man speak let him speak as the Oracles of God if any Man Minister let him do it as of the Ability which God giveth that God in all things may be glorified c. And so from him we say we have received our Call by his Eternal Spirit and do wait upon him to receive our Ability daily that what we do may be by the Gift of the Grace of God given unto us that God in all things may be Glorified And if this be not according to the Scripture and the way of God do thou in thy next shew what is And prove your way of being bred up at Schools and Learning your Tongues and taking your Degrees there and observing your Ceremonies in your Ordination and coming forth according to your Traditions and then looking for a Benefice the greatest you can get and then setling in a Parish for so much a Year until you can hear of a Place with a greater Benefice and then remove for Greater Gain and Preferment And while you stay in a Parish take such Lordship upon you that none of your Church or Hearers may have Liberty to Speak or Preach but such as are so Ordained as you are Clear these things in thy next to be according to Scripture if thou canst In the mean while we charge this Method and these doings not to be according to the Rule of the Gospel or Example of the Primitive Ministers That this is your Practice we believe thou canst not deny But in the true Church this Order and Liberty was Ordained by the Apostle as in 1 Cor. 14. 30 31 32. If any thing be revealed to another that sitteth by let the first hold his peace for you may all Prophesie one by one that all may learn that all may be comforted and the Spirits of the Prophets are subject to the Prophets But this Liberty which the Apostle Ordained you do not admit of no more than you do of other things which were the practice of the true Church and Christ's Ministers but instead thereof are gone into things which are of Man's Ordaining and setting up And therefore Robert Lacky and all in whom God hath opened an understanding to see you a right have reason enough to forsake you and your Church And as for those Scriptures thou quotest to prove a successive Power to send others They make nothing for your method of Ordination at all for Matth. 28. he said He would be with them c. doth not say They should send others In Acts 1. the Apostles desired one in the place of Iudas to be numbered with them and he was chosen by Lot So here was the Lord's Lot And in Acts 14. 23. it is said They Ordained Elders in every Church Now how these Scriptures do prove a true Succession to your Call and Ordination let all that are wise in heart judge Secondly Thou sayst We have no Sacraments administred in our Religion neither that of Baptism whereby People are admitted into the Christian Church nor that of the Lord's Supper by which they are strengthned and preserved in it Ans. First We demand whence thou hast this Term Sacraments and what is the proper Signification of it We are sure thou hast it not from Scripture And Secondly We put it upon thee to prove whence you have your Authority for that which thou callest Baptism by which thou sayst People are admitted into the Christian Church viz. Sprinkling Infants We deny that you have any Authority from Scripture either by Command or Example for it For we never read in all the Scriptures of either Baptising or Sprinkling Infants There is no such thing in that Scripture by thee quoted Therefore thou