one of them in the open Court for so doing and yet these things were suffered And also the Judge gave Charge unto the Goaler To let no Giddy-headed People come to me as he called them which I never desired that any such should come but thereby they take Occasion to keep my Friends from me accounting them Giddy-headed People But they are not Giddy-headed People that own sound Doctrine but they are Giddy-headed People that cannot endure sound Doctrine but have itching Ears carried about with Reports and Hear-says to speak Evil of the things they know not But thus without all Honesty they acted in the Enmity of their Minds against me yet in all I was made to rejoyce for I see their Deceit was manifest to the People and the Truth owned in many Hearts so that my Sufferings were not grievous unto me but joyous But as the Judge's Dealings were Rigorous and Unjust towards me it was so much the more on the contrary to Barrabas for there were three or four arraigned for Suspicion of Murder and others for Fellony yet he did deliver them and there was not one that Dyed or was Branded neither which I did desire but only this I do declare to shew how the World loves its own and how the same Spirit now rules in both Priest People and Rulers that ruled amongst the Jews who esteemed Barrabas above Christ and numbred him amongst Transgressors And so in all this the Scripture is fulfilled and the Day further appears to the Glory of God the Father of Truth who will exalt his Truth by his own Power over the Heads of all its Enemies So then they brought me back to Prison again where I still remain in the Peace and Freedom of my Spirit which none can take away though in the Hands of mine Enemies Yet this I know That the Invisible God in working in Secret by his Power and with a Strong Arm carrying on this great Work which he hath begun in the Earth yea and he will bring down and overturn all until it come into his Hand whose own it is and he will exalt his Kingdom in the Hearts of his People and his Son shal rule over the Earth yea and all his Enemies shall be his Foot-stool and shall bow unto him and be glad to lay down their Crowns before him and acknowledge his Power yea and he will dash all the Forms and false Likenesses and Images which are set up by Man in his Imaginations calling them Churches and he will dâ—â—h them and the Powers of the Earth in pieces one against another like a Potter's Vessel though now they set at nought the Corner-Stone yet then by it shall they be grownd to Powder For our God is a Consuming Fire and who is able to stand in the Day of his Wâ—ath Therefore it is a fearful thing to fall into the Hands of the Living God Then Wo to all his Enemies or be that lifts up his Hand against his Maker to Contrary what he hath decreed Here followeth a REPLY to my MITTIMUS which was adjudged a Contempt of the Magistracy WHereas I who am of the World called James Parnel am committed as Prisoner to be kept in the Common Goal by a Mittimus sealed and signed by you four Men who are called Justieâ—s of the Peace who write your selves Herbert Pellham Thomas Cook Dyonisius Wakering William Harlackinden wherein I find several Lyes Slanders and False Accusations cast upon me therefore for the Truth 's sake and for the Satisfaction of the Simple I shall Reply to the same and clear the Truth and return the Venom upon your Venomous Spirits from whence it comes that you may be convinced of your Evil and cease Fighting against Christ and his Kingdom First Your Own as followeth WHerereas it duely appears unto Us by Our own View and also by the Examination of James Parnel who saith He was born at Retford in the County of Nottingham Labourer That He the said James Parnel with very many other Persons of his gathering together did this Day in a Riotous Manner enter into the Parish Church at Great Coggashall aforesaid and there being a great Number of Christians met in the said Church to hold and keep a Day of publick Humiliation and Seeking of God and being in order thereunto then exercised in the Divine Worship and Service of God Almighty He the said James did then and there stand up and told the Minister He Blasphemed and spoak Falsly and used many other reproachful Words against the said Minister And afterwards he departed the said Church and went into the common High-Way in the said Town of Great Coggashall with a great Number of Persons his Followers who kept there Unlawfully together and some of them gave out Menacing Threatning Speeches tending to the Breach of the Peace and against the Law And also the said James cannot give us a very good Account where he was last setled or of his Life and Conversation but doth further appear to us to be an Idle Disorderly Person These are therefore in the Name of his Highness the Lord Protector to will and require you To convey forthwith the said Iames Parnel unto the Common Goal for this County there to remain until the next General Goal-Delivery to be holden for this County and until thence delivered by due Course of Law unless he the said Iames shall come before us or any two of us or two some other Justices of the Peace for this County and shall find very Able and Sufficient Sureties to be bound with him by Recognizance for his personal Appearance at the said next Goal-Delivery there to Answer what shall be then objected against him and not to depart thence without License of the Court and in the mean time to be of good Behaviour and thereof fail not at your Peril Dated at Coggashall aforesaid the Twelfth Day of Iuly 1655. The Keeper of the said Common Goal is hereby requir'd to receive and keep the said Iames if he shall be brought unto him Herbert Pellham Thomas Cook Dyonysius Wakering William Harlackinden A Reply to the aforesaid Mittimus 1. Accusation WHereas I am hereby accused That I who am of the World called JAMES PARNEL with very many other Persons of my gathering together did this day in a Riotous Manner enter the Parish Church of Great Coggashall aforesaid Reply Are you not ashamed who profess your selves Ministers of Law Justice and Peace to begin with Lyes and make them your Refuge against the Innocent tending to the Disturbance of the Peace of the Faithful whom you both ought and would Encourage and Countenance if you were faithful Ministers of Peace and Justice standing in the pure Counsel of God Ruling for God and not for your selves in all things discharging your Consciences unto God without Partiality or Respect of Persons as faithful Ministers of Law and Justice But contrary unto this you have acted in your corrupt Wills turning your Swords against the
Messengers of the Most High and wilfully resisting the Truth of God making Lyes your Refuge as here doth plainly appear For upon the day aforesaid I was at a Friend's House in Great Coggashall where several Friends and Neighbours were come to see me and there sate peaceably together waiting upon the Lord and I having heard of a publick Meeting at the Steeple-House in the said Town of the Priests and Professors of these Times as it was openly published by Priest Sammes and the Priest of the said Town in the said Steeple-house upon the First Day last past to that End as I heard and since did understand for to Fast and Pray against and lay open the Errors as they said of the People called Quakers for the Returning of them who owned them and the Establishing and Strengthening those against them that did not own them to wit the People called Quakers so I being pressed in my Spirit for to go amongst them in the Behalf and Defence of the Truth of God brought forth in these People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers I also being made a Minister of the same Eternal Truth through the Power of God by which I am made able and carryed on to declare it openly and publickly to the Confounding of the Heathen and the reviving of the Witness for God in the Conscience and also to suffer for the same which I did believe the Priests did much Blaspheme and Reproach striving to present it Odious to the People so in Obedience to the Lord I went out from amongst my Friends not telling one of them whither I was a going as many can witness and one Friend followed me to the Door and perceiving something of my Going he asked me If he might go with me and I bad him Use his Freedom to come after but I desired to go alone and so I went on the Way single And when I came at the Steeple-house Door which you Persecutors call a Church also account your selves another Church and thus you set up Churches in your Imaginations yet are Strangers to the True Church which are no Persecutors but when I came there there were several Boys and Children that would have flocked in after me and I bad them go in before me rather then to go in Disorderly whereby to occasion any Disturbance and so I went in very Orderly and stood very Orderly not speaking one Word until their Priest had done and was coming out of his Seat as many can witness though the Priest had been openly Reviling and Reproaching the People of God in particular whom he scornfully called Quakers Therefore let all People whose Understandings are enlightened judge in what Riotous Manner I entred the place which you call a Church and bear witness against you who are not ashamed to make Lyes your Refuge against the Innocent and also what are the Weapons which you make use of who call your selves Christians but make Lyes your Refuge and cover your Actions with Deceit But was this the Practice and Nature of Christ For a Christian is Christ-like and let all that profess Christ walk as he walked But these are the Fruits of your publick Humiliation who go about to mock God but your End shall be according to your Works 2. Accusation And whereas you say Being in order thereunto then exercised in the Divine Worship of God Almighty He the said James did then and there stand up and told the Minister He Blasphemed and spoak Falsly and used many other Reproachful Words against the said Minister Reply Until him called Minister had done the Divinatlon of his own Brain from whence you derive your Divine Worship and was coming out of his Seat I did not speak one Word unto him as Hundreds can witness and the first words that I spoak were not as you accuse me but this I said This is the Order of the True Church that all may speak one by one and if any thing be revealed to him that stands by let the first hold his Peace Then I spoak on in the Behalf of those People called Quakers whom the Priest had before often and openly reviled but so soon as I had spoak a few words the Priest and several others disorderly ran into many words so interrupted me in speaking that it bred much Confusion Then the Priest asked me What I would Object against him I told him In that he Reviled the People called Quakers and said they were built upon a Sandy Foundation and so called them Shakers and the like But I told him I would prove their Foundation not to be Sandy and him to be the False Prophet And so I declared of the Stone cut out of the Mountain without Hands which strikes at the Feet of the Image whose Head is Gold and Breast of Silver and Thighs of Brass and Legs of Iron and Feet part Iron part Clay and this Stone is become a great Mountain upon which the Church is built as a City set on a Hill cannot be hid And this is the Foundation of the People that are called Quakers not all that are called Quakers but the Real People whom the World scornfully calls Quakers And this is become a Stumbling-Stone and a Rock of Offence to the Nations and so it seems it is unto you because you are the Worshippers of the great Image which you call the Divine Worship of your God but God Almighty you know not for he abhors all the Sacrifices of Cain and his Generation which was ever the Persecuting Generation upon which must come all the Righteous Blood-shed from Righteous Abel until now Therefore Wo unto you ye Serpents ye Generation of Vipers How can ye escape the Damnation of Hell And now you fill up the Measure of your Fathers Wrath. Ye Stiff-necked and Uncircumcised in Heart and Ears ye do alwayes resist the Holy Ghost as did your Fathers so do ye But think not that you shall be heard for your much Babling who for a Pretence make long Prayers but ye shall receive the greater Damnation And the Lord will make your Diviners Mad who have spoak a Divination from their own Brain and not from the Mouth of the Lord but cryed Peace Peace where there is no Peace because ye put into their Mouths and so heal you sleightly daubing you up with Untempered Morter but you shall all fall amongst them that fall in the Day that I visit you saith the Lord ye Murderers and Crucifiers of the Just. So when I had cleared the Foundation of the People called Quakers as aforesaid some of you accused me That I owned no Church And I said It was False Then some of you asked me What Church I owned And I answered The Church in God and more words I spoak about the Church Then Willis the Diviner stood up in his Will and said I spoak nothing but Nonsense And I bad him Name one Word that was Nonsense that I had spoaken And he said
Gâ—insayers stopt which made many gnash their Teeth on him and some undertook to club out the Priests Professors Arguments by beating this dear Lamb with Fists and Staves who took all patiently as particularly one who struck him with a great Staff as he came out of one of the Steeple-houses called Nicholas and said There Take that for Jesus Christ's sake To which he returned this Answer Friend I do Receive it for JESUS CHRIST ' s sake And many other intolerable Affronts were offered him in all which his Spirit was not seen to be raised in Heat or Anger but was a Pattern of Patience and Meekness And having laboured in that great Town about Ten Dayes it lay upon him to go back to Cogshall to a Meeting holden as a Fast of which read more in that part of his Writings called The Fruits of a Fast from whence he was committed to Colchester Castle and from thence had up to Chelsford Assizes in Irons and again thither re-committed where he remained until he offer'd up his Life for his Testimony He lived in that Castle about Ten or Eleven Moneths in great Self-denyal and Carefulness being truly watchful over the Flock of God both in Essex and in Cambridgeshire Huntingtonshire and the Isle of Ely and elsewhere where he had travaled and turned many to God and wrote many blessed and heavenly Epistles both to particular Persons to the Churches in general which were so many that we have no certain Account of them nor cannot place them in order as we would if all could be collected together but those Books and Papers which could be found are here composed for the View of those who desire to taste the first Fruits of this Tender Plant who in the Dayes of his Youth laid down his Life for his blessed Testimony Many Things he suffered in that Prison which is other-where in this Book to be found And as he lay in Prison he laboured for the building up of them that were Convinced and he saw the Desire of his Soul concerning many in whom he saw the Seed which he had sown Multiply and Grow to his Refreshment And at last having passed through many Tryals and Exercises both Inward and Outward and fulfilled his Testimony in Patience Courage and Faithfulness and been a Comfort to us who had believed He at length laid down his Head in Rest and Peace stretching forth Himself saying Here I Dye Innocently And after his Departure he was buried in the Castle Yard where other Prisoners use to be buried because the Cruel Goaler would not deliver his Body without Fees And though he be as to the Outward taken away his Life doth remain and his Testimony doth yet live in the Hearts of many and will live through Generations to come and happy and blessed are and shall all they be who are Partakers thereof and are Faithful therein they shall be also Partakers of that Crown Immortal with which He is Crowned Thus honest Reader have I given thee a brief Account of this dear Plant of God and of his blessed Fruit some whereof thou may'st find in this following Book which if read in Sincerity and in Uprightness of Heart will tend to thy Benefit and will give thee Cause with me and many more to bless the Lord on his Behalf who is the Well-spring of Life from whom all Good Gifts come and to whom all Glory and Honour doth belong now henceforth and forever Amen Stephen Crisp. Samuel Cater's TESTIMONY Concerning James Parnel COncerning our Dear Friend and Brother Iames Parnel I have this Testimony to bear for him in a true Remembrance of him as being Turned unto the Truth of God by him through Obedience unto which Heavenly Light Truth of God within which he turned me unto I have found and do enjoy Peace with God so that although the Dark World and Envious Priests and Professors Raged against him Imprisoned him and Persecuted him unto Death and made Lyes of him when he was dead speaking Evil of him accounting of him a Deceiver when he was alive I do say He was unto Me a True Minister and Messenger sent of God who brought Tidings of the Way of Life and Salvation unto me and many more in these Parts of the Nation whom I know have the same Testimony to bear for this Innocent Man For God hath made us Seals of his Ministâ—y through a blessed Experience of the Work of Regeneration brought to pass by this Heavenly Light Everlasting Truth unto the which he turned our Minds And this I can say also As the Lord was pleased to call him into his Blessed Work so he furnisht him with Virtues suitable for the same according to the Work of the Day in which he brought him forth and did mightily appear for him and with him in giving of him Courage and Wisdom and Power whereby he was Prepared and Fitted for every Service Exercise y â— the Lord called him unto which Service he faithfully perform'd of a Ready Mind with a Willing Heart not neglecting Nor did he refuse to appear in any Service in which his Testimony was concern'd which God had called him to bear although it were to the Ieopardy of his Life which many times he did both in Going to Steeple-Houses amongst the Rude Schollars in Cambridge both in Disputing with them and Declaring the Truth And after he went from Us he was moved of the Lord to go into Essex where he was gladly received by the Honest-hearted which wanted the Knowledge of the Lord and his Wayes which he declared unto them and many there were that Received him and Believed in the Truth which he declared But the Envious Professors roâ—e up against him in Cain's Murdering Spirit and cast him into Prison and there kept him in Hard Bonds until Death at whose Doors Hearts and Consciences the Guilt of this Innocent Man's Blood lies which all their Outward Washings nor Carnal Ordinances nor Outside Performances neither could nor can purge away but the Judgments of the Lord have been and yet will be executed upon all that have had a Hand or have taken a Part with them in shedding of Innocent Blood which the Lord will not acquit And now as to the Person Virtues and Parts of this our Dear Friend it is something upon me to give some Account of as having a Certain Knowledge of him not only because I was turned unto Truth by him but my Heart loved him which Love constrained me as oft as I could to be with him so that what Service he had in these Parts in Meetings of Friends or amongst Professors or with Priests I was frequently with him whereby I was both Eye and Ear Witness of the Mighty Power and Wisdom of God that attended him by the which He was prepared for every Work and Service which he was called unto and which he performed to the Honour of God and Comfort of his People and to the Confounding of those that
going about to prove me a Deceiver he would the more lay open his own Deceit and prove himself to be the Deceiver and the People did plainly see it so and witnessed with me against him for he did so utter forth his Folly and Deceit that he made himself odious to many that were there and at last he shuffled away under Pretence he had far to go but the Judgments of God he cannot escape for his Damnation slumbreth not who is an Opposer of the Truth of God Then there was one Philips an Old Man of the Baptized Party in another Room who in Scorn and Wrath stood up and said They knew the first Principle of Religion before I was born because one of my Queries to them was What is the first Principle of Religion So I replyed to the Old Man if they knew it they should have answer'd and then presently as he was running on in many Words he swore as he lived and breathed and Christ saith Swear not at all and here he was found not come to the first Principle of Religion but out of the Doctrine of Christ and so hath not God so I told him of his Swearing and he would have shuffled it off but he could not and I told him He that seems to be Religious and bridleth not his Tongue his Religion is vain and therfore he might own his Religion to be vain who could not bridle his Tongue and then in his Will he shuffled off and said He would not confess his Sin to me for I could not forgive Sin in Scorn he spoak then I said Wo unto him that hides his Sin and covers his Iniquity but he shuffled away in much Confusion of Face as they will all appear as by the Light they come to be searched and tryed their Coverings will be found too narrow and their Nakedness will appear to their great Shame and Confusion of Face and they will be made to bow to the Truth and lay down their Crowns at the Feet of Jesus for he is risen and reigns in his Saints to whom the Nations must bow and every Tongue confess to their Condemnation who do oppose him but here now by the single Eye you may see the Emptiness of these Forms and what a blind Hypocrisie this is of them to wash the Outside but leave the Inside full of Uncleanness and so the Inside defiles the Outside A Copy of the Queries which were sent to the Baptized People in Fenstanton with some more added for them or any whom they do concern toanswer Several Queries to you who are call'd Baptists by your Teachers to be answered Query I. WHat is the first Principle of Religion and whether to it you be come yea or nay 2 What is the Bridle of the Tongue and whether to it you be come yea or nay 3. What is the Church in God and whether to it you become yea or nay 4. What is the Order in the Church and whether to it you be come yea or nay 5. What is the Baptism into the Church and whether to it you be come yea or nay 6. Whether you will own the Baptism of the Spirit or the Baptism of Water and which you will deny seeing the Scripture saith The Baptism is but One Ephes. 4. 5. 7. And where Christ ever commanded Water-Baptism 8. Why did the Apostles baptize with Water and why do you baptize with Water and where and when and by what were you commanded and where was any of the twelve Apostles baptized with Water 9. And whether you do it because the Apostles did it yea or nay 10. What is the Faith of our Lord Jesus Christ and whether to it you are come yea or nay 11. Whether your Faith purifies your Hearts yea or nay 12. And whether you commit Sin yea or nay 13. How would you know there is a Christ but by the Scripture and how do you witness the Scripture is Truth 14. And what is the Ground of your Faith 15. What is the Redemption and whether to it you are come yea or nay 16. What is the Communion of the Saints and wherein it stands and whether to it you be come yea or nay 17. And whether you that break Bread do discern the Lord's Body yea or nay 18. What was their Rule and Guide that spoak forth the Scripture 19. Whether you have the same insallible Spirit that gave forth the Scripture 20. Whether is the Scripture your Rule and Guide or the Spirit that gave it forth 21. Whether they that are guided by the Spirit that gave it forth live not in the Life thereof yea or nay 22. Whether the Life of the Scriptures be perfect yea or nay 23. And whether you are or think to be made perfect while you are upon the Earth yea or nay Or where do you think to be made perfect if not upon the Earth 24. And what is the Life and Power of Godliness and whether in it you dwell who have a Form yea or nay 25. Whether you are washed and cleansed by the Blood of the Lord Jesus and the Spirit of our God as the true Church was yea or nay 26. Whether you have put off the Old Man and put on the New as the true Church did yea or nay and what is the New Man 27. And whether you have put off the Image of the Earthly and put on the Image of the Heavenly and how are they known the one from the other 28. Whether you are not conformed like unto the World so long as you follow their Customs and Fashions 29. Whether you are come that you need no Man to teach you as the true Church was yea or nay 30. What is the Cross whereby Paul was crucified and whether to it you be come yea or nay 31. What is the Watcher that strikes at the Feet of the Image and whether to it you be come yea or nay 32. What is the Word and what is the Death that hath passed over all Men even over those who had not sinned after the Similitude of Adam's Transgression and whether this Death you ever passed 33. Whether you have passed from Death to Life yea or nay 34. Where and when and how received you the Command and Power to deliver any Saul up to Satan and where is that Satan you deliver it up to 35. What is the Tree of Life and what is the Tree of Knowledge and whether upon it you do not feed and what is the flaming Sword that is set to keep from the Tree of Life and whether it ye ever passed yea or way 36. What is the Beast that all the World wonders after and worships and what is the Worship of the Beast and whether any worships the only true God but the true Church and what is the Worship in this Church 37. What are you Ministers of and what do you minister unto and what is the End of your Ministry 38. And by what do you try the Spirits
his Praise Therefore henceforward stop thy Mouth from despising any because of their Youth but know this That whomsoever God calls to his Ministry he by his Power and Wisdom doth fit them for the same and contrary to the Reason of Man doth the Lord work Therefore it thou wast not blind thou wouldest not so much look at the Creature but at the Power of God in the Creature But as it is written He hath hid these things from the Wise and Prudent and revealed them unto Babes And here thy Eighty Fourth Query is also answered Qu. 85. Whether Lord will break his own Orders and Commands expresly set down in his Word where he saith as you already heard by Paul 1 Tim. 3. 6. Answ. And unto this I have already answer'd as to thy Thirty Seventh Query Therefore thou Blasphemer stop thy Mouth and be ashamed thus to accuse the Lord because he is pleased to make his Power known in Babes and Youth for Timothy To whom Paul writes this Epistle was himself but a Youth as Paul wrâ—tes 1 Tim. 4. 11 12. and there read thy Rebâ—ke Qu. 6. Where did Christ or his Apostles send forth Women to be publick Prophetesses as you have done many and some of them not long since Inâ—amous for Lewdness of Life Answ. Oh thou Impudent One How dost thou provoak the Lord to Indignation against thee that darest lay any such thing to the Charge of God's Elect Oh thou Lyar Whom dost thou accuse of Lewdness We abhor thy words for all Lewdness Prophaness we testifie against wheresoever it doth appear or any thing contrary to the Pure Divine Light which now is thy Conscience and many other Consciences doth bear witness for us against thee who arâ— given up to believe Lyes and report them Therefore read thy Portion in Rev. 21. 8. and read an Answer to thy Query in Joel 2. 28. where the Lord saith the Sons and Daughters shall prophesie And none other do we own but who immediately are carryed forth by the Spirit of the Lord without the Commission of Man therefore thou falsly accusest us who saist we send â—orth any Qu. 87. If you be extraordinary Prophets Immediately Inspired as many of you pretend to be where are the Miracles which such inspired Men wrought in Times past Answ. But that we are so inspired thou dost not believe as may easily be discerned by thy querying and therefore unto thee no Sign shall be given who art in the Adulterous Generation who cannot see the Signs that follow the Truth Mat. 16. 4. Qu. 88. What have you foreâ—told by way of Prediction which hath accordingly come to pass as the Prophets Apostles aud Inspired Men were wont to do Answ. If thou canst tax us to the contrary thou may'st we bear not witness of our selves but he that believeth hath the witness within himself And as for thy Eighty Nineth Ninetieth Ninety One and Ninety Two Queries they are answered in my Reply to thy Answer to my Sixtee Qnth uery And thy Ninety Third Query is answered in my Answer to thy Query concerning Salutations Qu. 94. Whether is a Multitude of Disciples and Followers a sure Sign that his Doctrine is from Heaven who is followed seeing the Way is broad that leads to Destruction and many there be that find it And thou quotest Mat. 7. 13. and 2 Pet. 2. 22. Answ. Many are called but few chosen and many for a time followed Christ so that a Ruler said If we let this Fellow alone all men will go after him which is the Cry of you and your Rulers now against the Messengers of Truth And hast thou never read of the Multitudes that followed Christ but few there be that enter because strait is the Gate But divide England into Parts and see if the greatest Number belong not unto you who are in the broad Way your lives preach you forth Therefore now thou shouldst have first asked thy self this Query and said Is it I and so have laid thy Hand upon thy Mouth Qu. 95. Seeing this Age is Earthly minded and willing to serve God with that which costs them nothing contrary to the Pious Nobâ—e Spirit of David 2 Sam. 24. 24. is it any great Wonder that your Doctrine against Tythes should find so many willing yea greedy Entertainers of it as it hath done since it was first broached Answ. The more is your Shame who are Teachers in this Age that are so Earthly-minded who have so long taken their Money for that which is not Bread and their Labour for that which profitteth not Do You not herein manifest your selves to be such as run and the Lord never sent You and therefore You profit not the People at all but they are still Earthly-minded How have You then sown Spiritual Things But I shall prove that the Earthly minded Ones still stick unto you for you have a Law made by the Will of Man so that if they refuse to pay You and forsake You then by it You cast them into Prison and by Your Law take Tribble Dammage and this they know and therefore consult with their Earthly Minds that it is better to pay the Lesser then the Greater though the Lesser is a greater Oppression thus many deny the Truth though they are convinced in their Consciences thereof Therefore that which leads any from You to take up this Cross to own the Truth and deny You of Tythes the same crucifies the Earthly Mind and leads to suffer for Conscience And the Noble Spirit of David condemns You for whereas he refused upon Gift You take upon Gift and if They will not give it You You will take it by Force therefore this Scripture affords Witnesses against You But hereby thou confessest our Doctrine costs them nothing then how saidst thou before That James Parnel 's Gospel was not without Charge and thus out of thy own Mouth thou art proved a Lyar. Qu. 96. Did ever Christ or the Apostles disturb the Priests and Ministers of those Times while they were teaching the People as many of you and yours have done Answ. Both the Prophets Christ and the Apostles declared against the Deceivers False Prophets False Priests and Hirelings and the Apostles were haled out of the Synagogues and out of the Temple as Christ told them John 16. 2. as we by the same Spirit do now against You whom we find in the same Steps and here thou art answered if this be it thou callest Disturbance But it is because You would bear rule by Your Means and suffer nothing to be published that is against You or strikes at Your Diana Qu. 97. Doth the Gospel ordinarily call any man from his outward Calling whereby he should maintain himself and his Family And thou quotest 1 Cor. 7. 20. Ephes. 4. 28. Answ. Yea it doth and the Scripture holds forth the same that they were ordinarily called from their Outward Callings to preach the Gospel