Selected quad for the lemma: religion_n

Word A	Word B	Word C	Word D	Occurrence	Frequency Band	MI	MI Band	Prominent
religion_n	church_n	discipline_n	doctrine_n	4,176	5	6.2312	4	false

Text snippets containing the quad

ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
B10083	Tracts theological. I. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and vertue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites. II. The life of St. Antony out of the Greek of Sr. Athanasius. III. The antiquity and tradition of mystical divinity among the Gentiles. IV. Of the guidance of the spirit of God, upon a discourse of Sir Matthew Hale's concerning it. V. An invitation to the Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	Stephens, Edward, d. 1706.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Asceticks, or, the heroick piety and virtue of the ancient Christian anchorets and coenobites.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Life of St. Antony.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Antiquity, tradition, and succession of mystical divinity among the Gentiles.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Enthusiasmus divinus: the guidance of the spirit of God.; Stephens, Edward, d. 1706. Apology for, and an invitation to, the people call'd Quakers, to rectifie some errors, which through the scandals given they have fallen into.	1697 (1697)	Wing S5444E; Wing S5444E; ESTC R184630	221,170	486

they wholly abstain from Wine as he has said in these express Words and eat nothing that has Blood in it Water is their only Drink and their Food is Bread with Salt and Hyssop Farther he describes the Order and Degrees of their Governours to wit those who perform the Ecclesiastical Offices then the Ministrations of the Deacons and lastly the Episcopal Presidency over all He that desires to know these things more accurately may be therein informed from the fore-mentioned History of Philo. It is therefore apparently evident to every one that Philo writing thus did mean thereby those first Preachers of the Evangelical Doctrin and Discipline at the beginning delivered by the Apostles Epiphanius Bishop of Cyprus concerning the same Har. 29. § 5. HAving said that the Christians were at first called Nazarens as Act. 24.5.2.22 and for some time Jesseans whether from the Name of Jesse or from the Name of our Lord Jesus because they were his Disciples he adds But thou may'st find this in the Writings of PHILO in the Book by him intituled Of the Jesseans who describing their Politie and Commendations and recounting their Monastries near about the Lake Maria he relates it of no other than of Christians For he when he was in that Region called Mariotis and was by them themselves conducted to the Monastries of that place got much Profit by it For being there in the Days of Easter he saw both their Lives and how some lived without Eating all the Holy Week of Easter some Two Days and some until the Evening But all these things were done by this Man for the treating of the Subject concerning the Faith and Manners of the Christians St. Hierom concerning the same in his Book de Scriptoribus Ecclesiasticis PHILO the Jew Born at Alexandria of the Race of the Priests is therefore by us placed among the Ecclesiastical Writers because writing a Book of the first Church of Mark the Evangelist at Alexandria he discourseth in Praise of our People the Christians there recounting that they were not only there but also in many other Provinces and calling their Habitations Monastries Whence it appears that such was the Church of the first Believers in Christ as now the Monks endeavour and desire to be that nothing may be any one 's own that is that none claim a Propriety in any thing that there be none amongst them Rich none Poor their Patrimonies be divided among those who need that they all attend to Prayer and Psalms also to Doctrin and to Continence such as Luke relates were the first Believers at Hierusalem It is reported that under Caius Caligula he was in some Danger at Rome whither he was sent Legate for his Nation that when he came a second time to Claudius he there in the same City spake with the Apostle Peter and held Friendship with him and for this Cause also wrote in Praise of the Followers of Mark the Disciple of Peter at Alexandria A little after recounting the Works of Philo among the rest he puts in One Book concerning the Lives of our People that is concerning Apostolick Men of which we have spoken before which he intituled 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 viz. because they did contemplate Heavenly things and prayed continually Johannes Cassianus concerning the same lib. 2. de Institut cap. 5. IN the Beginning of the Faith there were indeed but few but those most approved Persons reckoned under the Denomination of Monks who as from Mark the Evangelist of Blessed Memory who first presided Bishop in the City of Alexandria they received their Rule of Living did not only retain those Great things which we read in the Acts of the Apostles that the Church or Crowd of Believers at first made so famous viz. The Multitude of them who believed were of one Heart and of one Soul neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed were his own but they had all things Common Neither was there any among them that lacked for as many as were Possessors of Land or Houses sold them and brought the Prices of the thing which were sold and laid them down at the Feet of the Apostles and Distribution was made unto every Man according as he had need But they even built up more sublime thing upon them For retiring into the most secret parts of the Suburbs they lead a Life of so great Rigour of Abstinence that so severe a Profession of Life was an amazement to others For they applied themselves with so much Fervour to the Reading of the Divine Scriptures and to Prayer and to the Work of their Hands Day and Night that neither the Appetite or Memory of Meat unless after two or three Days did interrupt them by Hunger of the Body And they received Meat and Drink not as what they desired but what was necessary and not that neither before Sun-set that they might conjoyn the time of Light with the Studies of Spiritual Meditations but the Care of the Body to the Night and other things did they effect more sublime than these concerning which he who is not sufficiently informed by the People of the Countrey may satisfie himself in the Ecclesiastical History Sozomen concerning the same 1 Hist Eccl. c. 12. HAving spoken of the Glory of the Christian Religion by reason of the Virtue of its Professors and of the Confessors then living and of the Famous Bishop Spiridion he adds But most of all did they illustrate the Church with their Virtues and propagated the Christian Doctrin who exercised the Monastick Discipline For this kind of PHILOSOPHY coming from God with the greatest Benefit to Men despiseth indeed many Sciences and the Artifice of Logick as a matter of Curiosity and by which the Exercise of better things is supplanted nor is any thing of Advantage for a right kind of Life conferred by it and with a more natural Prudence void of Curiosity teacheth those things which remove wholly Vitiousness and effect better things but the Middle things between Vertue and Vice it reputes not among the Good but delights in only Good things and holds him for an ill Man who although he abstains from Evil yet doth no Good For it doth not make shew but exerciseth Vertue and makes no account of the Glory which is of Men resisting the Affections of the Mind with great Fortitude nor doth it yield to the Necessities of Nature nor stoop to the Infirmities of the Body but having obtain'd the Powers of a Divine Mind it looks perpetually at the Creator of all whom it worshippeth Day and Night and appeaseth with Prayers and Supplications But having begun a pure Religion with Purity of Mind and the Exercise of Good Deeds it makes light of Washings and such like Purifications For it judgeth Sins only to be Impurities and being Conquerour of those things which happen from without and as I may so say Mistress of all is not diverted from her purpose neither by the Confusion of

they add that if he be put in Authority over others he never will abuse it to the Prejudice of those who are under him and neither exceed the rest in Apparel nor any other ambitious Pomp that he will always love the Truth and severely reprove Lyars and that he will keep his Hands and Soul pure from all Theft and unjust Gain and that he will not conceal any Mysteries or Secrets of their Religion from his Companions nor reveal them to any Strangers although he should be threaten'd thereto by Death Adding moreover that he will never deliver any Doctrin save that which he hath received and diligently preserve the Books as well as the Names of those from whom they received it These Protestations they oblige those to take solemnly who enter into their Order to the end to fortifie them against all Vices Those of the Society who transgress notoriously they thrust out of their Company And who-ever is so punished for the most part dieth a miserable Death for it being not lawful for him to eat with any Stranger he is reduced to feed on Grass like Beasts and so he perisheth through Famine For which cause oftentimes they are moved with Compassion to receive many into their Order again when ready by Famine to yield up the Ghost judging them to have endured Penance enough for their Offences who with Famine were almost brought to Death's door They are very severe and just in their Judgments and to decide any Matter there is never fewer of them than an Hundred and that which is by them agreed upon is irrevocable Next after God they reverence their Law-giver insomuch that if any one revile him they forthwith condemn him to Death They take it for a great Duty to obey their Elders and what is appointed by many so that if Ten of them sit together no Man of them must speak without he be licensed thereto by ●●●e of the Company They account it a great ●●●ivility to be in the midst of the Assembly or on their right hand And they are more severe than any other Jews in observing the Sabbath for they do not only abstain from dressing Meat which they dress the Evening before that Day but also they may not remove any Vessel out of its place nor satisfie the Necessities of Nature Upon other Days they dig a Pit a foot deep in the Ground with the Hatchet which as we before said every one at his Entrance into their Order hath given him and then covering themselves diligently with their Garment as if they feared to be Irreverent to the Light of Heaven in that Pit they ease themselves and then cover their Ordure with the Earth they took out of the Pit and this they do in the most secret places And though this purging of their Bodies be natural yet do they by washing purifie themselves after it as after great Uncleanness Furthermore amongst themselves they are divided into Four Orders according to the time which they have continu'd this Exercise of Life and they that are Juniors bear such respect to their Seniors that if they do but touch one of them they are obliged to purifie themselves as though they had touched a Stranger They are long liv'd so that most of them live an Hundred Years which I judge is by reason of their well-ordered Diet and their Temperance They contemn Adversity and by Constancy and Fortitude triumph over Torments They preferr an honourable Death before Life The Wars which the Jews made against the Romans shew'd what invinsible Courage and Hardiness they have in all things for they suffered the Breaking of the Members of their Bodies Fire and Sword and all kind of Tortures rather than be brought to speak the least Word against their Law-giver or to eat Meats forbidden They could not be forced to any of these neither would they entreat the Torturers nor shew any Sorrow amidst their Torments Yea in the midst of their Pains they scoffed at their Tormentors and joyfully yielded up their Souls as though they hoped to pass to a better Life For it is an Opinion amongst them That the Body is mortal and corruptible but the Souls remain ever immortal and being of a most pure and etherial Substance wrap themselves in Bodies as in Prisons being drawn thereunto by some natural Inclination But when they are delivered out of these carnal Bonds then presently as freed from a long Bondage they joyfully mount into the Air. And of the Good Souls they say as did the Grecians that they live beyond the Ocean in a place of Pleasure where they are never molested with Rain nor Snow nor Heat but have always a sweet and pleasant Air. But the Wicked Souls as they say go into a Place very tempestuous where there is always Winter Weather always Lamentations of those who for ever are to be punished For I judge that the Greeks are of this Opinion when they say there is an Isle for the Virtuous whom they call Heroes and Half-Gods and that the Souls of the Wicked go to a Place in Hell where it is feigned that some are tormented as Sysiphus Tantalus Ixion and Titius Those Esseans also believe that they are created Immortal that they may be induced to Vertue and averted from Vice that the Good are rendred better in this Life by the Hope of being Happy after Death and that the Wicked who imagin they can hide their Evil Actions in this World are punished for them in the other with Eternal Torments This is the Esseans Opinion touching the Excellence of the Soul from which we see very few of those depart who have once embraced it There are also some among them who promise to foretell things to come which Faculty is obtained as well by the Study of Holy Books and Ancient Prophecies as by the Care they take of sanctifying themselves And their Predictions seldom fail They are at least Four Thousand in Number who have neither Wives nor Slaves supposing that Women are the occasion of Injustice and Slaves do cause Insurrections and living apart by themselves they serve one another and chuse out certain upright Men among the Priests to gather the Fruits and Revenues of the Land to the end they may be maintained and nourished thereby In a Word they follow the same Course of Life that they do who are called Plisti among the Danes There is another sort of Esseans agreeing with the former both in Apparel Diet and kind of Life and Observance of the same Laws and Ordinances only they differ in the Matter of Marriage Affirming that to abstain from Marriage tends to abolish Man-kind For say they if all Men should follow this Opinion presently all Man-kind would perish Notwithstanding these People use such Moderation that for Three Years space they observe the Women they intend to Marry and then if they appear sound enough to bear Children they Marry them None of them lye with their Wives when they are with Child to shew

same Eye of my Soul above my Mind the unchangeable Light of the Lord not this vulgar and visible to all Flesh Nor was it as of the same kind greater as if it grew more and more clear than it and filled all with its Greatness This was not that but another quite another from all those Nor was it so above my Mind as Oyl above Water nor as Heaven above Earth but superior because he made me and I inferior because I was made by it He who knoweth Truth knoweth it and he who knoweth it knoweth Eternity Charity knoweth it O Eternal Truth and true Charity and dear Eternity Thou art my God for Thee do I sigh day and night And when I first knew Thee thou didst assume me or take me up that I should see it to be which I did see and my self not to be who did see And thou didst beat back my weak Sight shining vehemently upon me and I trembled with Love and Horror and found my self to be far from Thee in the Region of Dissimilitude or Unlikeness as if I heard thy Voice from on high I am the Food of grown Persons grow and thou shalt feed on me Nor shalt thou change me into thee as the Food of thy Flesh but thou shalt be changed into me And I know that for Iniquity thou dost tutor Men and makest my Soul to pine away like a Spider And I said Is Truth nothing because it is diffused neither through finite nor through infinite spaces And thou cryedst from a far Yes indeed I AM THAT I AM. And I heard as it is heard in the heart and there was no cause of doubt at all left and I could easilier doubt that I was alive than that Truth was not which is seen being understood by the things which are made 7 Confess c. 10. More to this purpose might be noted out of these and others of great Authority in the Christian Church though it may be observed that anciently the Christians as well as the Jews and Heathens were very cautious not to express the Mysteries of their Religion to the Prophane or to such as were not capable according to our Saviour's Admonition Mat. 7.6 and out of that caution and a like caution to avoid all Ostentation and secure their Humility were more sparing in their Expressions of any thing of this nature in their Writings than those of after-Ages who by degrees began to write more openly and at last to compose whole Books of what was before taught more secretly to particular Persons as they were capable to receive it but this is sufficient for the present By this Tast of the Spirit of these Holy People together with the Testimonies of such Excellent Persons as were contempory with them and well acquainted with their Manners and Exercises we may judge of the Rashness and Inconsiderateness of many of later times who have made no scruple to despise vilifie and reproach the Monastick State in general and the Impiety and Wickedness of such as have industriously endeavoured to rake up all the Dirt and raise all the Calumnies and Slanders they could against them If the Abuses and Corruptions which in later times have increased among them were such as might provoke the Indignation of Men and Judgments of God upon them must the whole State from the beginning be condemned for them If the Serpent cast out a Flood of false and Hypocritical Pretenders such as those described by Piammon before pag. 59. and Hierom pag. 65. called Sarabites and Remoboth to drown and obscure the Excellence of those who were sincere doth it become Christians to help the Serpent in that attempt There are also saith St. Austin who are false Monks and we have known such sed non periit Fraternitas Pia propter eos qui profitentur quod non sunt But the Pious Fraternity is not therefore lost because of those who profess themselves to be what they are not in Psal 132. and in divers other places he notes such a mixture among them and the Unreasonableness of those who censure all for the Miscarriages of some Should we judge of Episcopacy by the Actions of too many of that Order which might be noted even from the time of Diotrephes but especially after they became not only secure but greatly honoured by Christian Princes and Emperours or of the Reformed Churches by what hath been acted by some amongst them or even of Christianity by the Lives and Manners of too many call'd Christians how unreasonable would that be If we look into the more ancient times we shall find them admired even by Jews and Heathens and censured and condemned by none but Infidels Hereticks and Apostates Only one SYNESIVS is set up against the concurrent Judgment of all the Great Lights of the Church Athanasius Basil Nazianzen Chrysostom Ambrose Austin and innumerable more And who is this Synesius A Bishop indeed and a Learned Philosopher but as a Learned Doctor of this Church and no Friend to Enthusiasm hath observed a better Platonist than sound Christian one who lived among them and yet very ignorant of what was most considerable in them one who passeth a harsh Censure of them and yet in it gives a remarkable Testimony for them He knew indeed what every Rustick could take notice of that they practised themselves and recommended to others Temperance and Continence and great Austerities and thereof he is an unexceptionable Witness but the reason thereof he knew not and therefore calls their Way of Living Barbarous Adamantine and contrary to Humane Nature an ample Testimony rightly understood He knew their diligent Labour and Works and what was said concerning their continual Contemplation of Divine things and thereof is an undeniable Witness but how that was consistent with twisting of Reeds and making of Baskets that he could not conceive He knew that they had great regard to Motions Impulses Transports c. and thereof he is a competent Witness but what to make of them he knew not and therefore thought that they did thereby hope for the End without the Means He knew that they were very confident of their Knowledge of Divine things and thereof he is a sufficient Witness but what they were he understood not nor how they should attain any such Knowledge without Learning and Study and therefore thought they did very arrogantly assume to themselves a greater Measure of Divine Knowledge than others had And what wonder if he who did not believe all the known Articles of the Christian Faith should be no more acquainted with such Mysteries and Secrets in Spiritual things as are by the Wisdom of God hid from the Wise and Prudent but revealed unto Babes than some of our Learned Doctors are at this time Undoubtedly had those great Men mentioned before no way inferior to this in any part of Learning understood no more of these things than he did they had been of his Mind or had he understood as much as they he had

Nazianzen Ambrose Hierom Austin and many others but it would be too long for this place and occasion And therefore to make short Work instead of that I will here represent their Sentiments in some short Notes of an Eminent and most Learned Annotator who was well acquainted with them and doth sometimes intersperse some of their Testimonies in his Writings It is the Famous Hugo Grotius These saith he upon Mat. 18.10 who dedicate themselves to God with a true Faith and thereupon are accounted his peculiar People God as he doth favour them with a peculiar Providence so he seems to give to each an Angel Guardian to guide and assist them either perpetually or certainly until they come to the full Possession of the Divine Spirit For so I see the Ancient Christians did believe And in his Pref. to his Annot. upon the Epistle to the Romans Into the Heart purified by Faith as into a clean Vessel God doth infuse his Spirit I mean the Spirit of Christ full of Love of God and of our Neighbour and of all Goodness Those who have this Spirit of God and carefully keep it God doth account as born of Him and like unto Him to them he gives a certain Right to Heavenly and Eternal Good Things Neither is the Heart purified but by Faith in Christ nor is the Spirit infused but into a Heart so purified nor doth he plainly own for his any but who are endowed with that Spirit Upon Luke 22.3 As they who religiously obey the Divine Admonitions at length receive the Indwelling Spirit so they who readily consent to the Suggestions of the Devil at length God deserting them become the Slaves of Satan Upon Jo. 5.45 Those to whom the Gospel is Preached become taught of God that is if they would if they be greedy of it if they do not reject the Benefits offered and even forc'd upon them They will have no need to have recourse to Learned Men that from them they may learn the Mysteries of the Old Testament Upon Eph. 1.17 The Spirit of God which is given to Believers doth among other things imprint also Wisdom in their Souls not that of the things of this World of which Philosophers did boast but of those things which conduce to a better Life The same Spirit doth reveal also to those who are his things future and secret which cannot be known by humane Means Upon 1 Jo. 2.20 The Spirit doth suggest to us in all Circumstances both the Precepts of Christ and such Hints or Notices as are meet for the Occasion v. 27. What we are to do in every Circumstance For there are certain Differences which Times Places and Persons require Therefore is there often need of Admonition to hit the way of our Duty See Jer. 31.34 Jo. 6.45 and if you please Seneca Epist 94. And upon 1 Thess 4.9 The Holy Ghost teacheth you concerning all things to be done By how much the more there is of the Spirit so much the less need is there of Prescripts This Place is not to be understood of the General Precept but of special Determinations as all Things Persons and Times do require And Gal. 5.18 Those who are led by the Spirit as now of Age have no need of the Law the Guardian of their Youth And Rom. 8.4 Those who walk after the Spirit he interprets those who having obtained the Holy Spirit do constantly obey its Motions and afterwards v. 5. They that are after the Spirit he interprets those who are possessed by the Spirit of God which doth not now come to pass but by Christ And v. 12. he notes God hath given his Spirit that we should use it and again So great a Guest will be treated with Care otherwise he will bid farewell to his Lodging And to conclude 1 Thess 5.23 Spirit here saith he is that Holy Spirit inhabiting in the Souls of Christians and if it be carefully kept adhering to Souls unto Death and after Death even to the Resurrection and then referrs to what he had said 1 Cor. 15.44 to Hierom upon Gal. 5. and recites to the same purpose the Words of Philo Irenaeus Tatianus Clem. Alexandrinus and Tertullian More might be added but this is enough to shew the Mind of this great Man concerning the Necessity of our having the Spirit of God dwelling in us the Effects of his Residence in Light and Conduct and our Duty how to treat it And that this is also the Belief of the Church of England however some of late have commonly presum'd to speak if not despitefully and reproachfully yet too slightly of so great and holy a Principle of our Religion may appear by the most Authentick Evidence that can be her most solemn Addresses to Almighty God in divers Collects for this very purpose As for all Persons to be Baptized before they be Baptized to give his Holy Spirit to them that they may be born again c. and after they be Baptized to give his Holy Spirit to them that they may continue his Servants and attain his Promises So likewise for all Persons Confirmed to strengthen them with the Holy Ghost and daily increase in them his manifold Gifts of Grace before Imposition of Hands and then again together with the Imposition of Hands that they may daily increase in his Holy Spirit and again afterward that his Holy Spirit may ever be with them and so lead them c. and lastly for all the Congregation upon several Occasions as upon the Nativity of our Lord that they may daily be renewed by his Holy Spirit Upon the 19th Sunday after Trinity that his Holy Spirit may in all things Direct and Rule our Hearts Upon the first Sunday in Lent that we may ever obey his Godly Motions Upon Easter-Day that as by thy special Grace preventing us thou dost put into our Minds good Desires so by thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect Upon the fifth Sunday after Easter that by his Holy Inspiration we may think those things that be good and by his merciful Guiding may perform the same and others to the like Effect as upon the Sunday after Ascension Whitsunday the 13th Sunday after Trinity the Collect at the beginning of the Communion Service And at every Morning and Evening Service all are admonished to beseech him to give us his Holy Spirit And in the Coll. for Grace we pray to God that all our doings may be ordered by his Governance and in the Litany to indue us with the Grace of his Holy Spirit to amend our Lives according to his Holy Word In the Ordering of Deacons this Question is first to be asked by the Bishop Do you trust that you are inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office and Ministration c In the Ordering of Priests the Bishop says Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Priest in the Church of God c. And in the Consecration of a Bishop the

their being cast out of the Synagogues as part of the Persecution they were to suffer It is also certain that our Saviour did foretell that many false Prophets that is false Teachers should come in his Name and deceive many and gave great Caution not to go out or believe them and that his Apostles did the like and did with great earnestness exhort all to beware of Divisions Schisms and Separations in the Church And accordingly in all Ages for Men to take upon them the Office of Elders or Ministers of the Gospel without a Regular Ordination derived by Succession from the Apostles or to draw away people after them and engage them in Separate Parties hath been looked upon as a heinous Sin and whoever have done so have been Infamous in the Church ever since And therefore if our Dissenters did continue daily with one accord at our Temples as the primitive Christians did and did continue their Assemblies at their own Meeting-places for Instruction and Edification without any Separation from the Church provided there was nothing but true Christian Doctrine taught amongst them I do not see but they might be of very good Use and deserve not only an Indulgence but Encouragement from the Publick Authority But they who make a Trade of it to engage Separate Parties I do verily believe have much to answer for before God and those who desire to be Christians indeed had need to beware of them And this I must in justice say after all I have said concerning what is amiss amongst us that thanks be to God we have those amongst us who for good Learning for profitable Preaching and for sincere Piety Devotion and all Virtue are no way inferior to any of the Dissenters if to be equalled by any of them and yet I cannot say they are so many but there may be reason enough to receive those Labourers also into our Lord's Harvest And I heartily wish it was well considered How they may be made more serviceable in so important and needful a Work without any thing of a Separation and that they would consider Who They are who sit in Moses or rather the Apostles Seat and What our Lord doth require in that respect And now to come more particularly to the PEOPLE of that Party call'd Quakers I must first acquaint them that I have not only had several Conferences with the Principal Persons of their Party whom they call Ministers but have also sent them several Letters and Papers to their Second Days Meetings And as our Conferences have hitherto been managed in a very friendly manner so I do desire to proceed in the same manner with them also and therefore what is directed at first only to the second days Meeting I shall desire them now to receive as intended from the first for them all though I thought it most fair and decent to proceed in that order And it is as followeth To William Penn and the rest of the Friends with him at their second days Meeting in Grace-Church-Street William and the rest of the Friends with thee MY Hearts desire and Prayer to God for you all is that ye may be saved for I am perswaded that you have a Zeal of God at least many of you though not according to Knowledge in some things Nevertheless whereto ye have attained in that I desire ye may be established and that God will be graciously pleased to reveal the rest to you that ye may be perfect and intire wanting nothing For which purpose I come I trust by the Grace of God with a Message of Grace and Peace to you I am well satisfied that it is no meer Humane Project or Artifice that at first raised you up and hath conducted you hitherto but a Supernatural Power and that it is of the Lord some way or other as was the Separation of the Ten Tribes from Rehoboam 1 King 12. for Correction and Reformation of something amiss in this Church And therefore I dare not presume either upon my own head or by my own Ability to intermeddle in it But my Heart is inlarged towards you upon these Considerations 1. That ye do assert one of the Great and Chief Principles of the Christian Religion which I have observed to be very unworthily and even despitefully treated by too many who have gotten into or seek Preferments and Imployment in the Church without Check or Reproof and so unworthily deserted by most for fear of reproach or disgrace or hindrance in their Preferment that I have not known it generously asserted by above two or three in the Pulpit but those great Men indeed though it be plainly a Doctrine most authentickly and solemnly professed and declared in the Church of England 2. That ye do bear a good Testimony against other Abuses connived at or tolerated amongst us 3. I am moved with Pity towards you that you should have so great Causes of Offence or Scandal given you against the Holy and Established Institutions and Ordinances of Christ for the Ministerial Office for the Admission of Proselytes and for the great Solemnity of the Christian Worship which hath been so long abused with Controversies that I know very few Persons now amongst us who do rightly and compleatly understand it and even against the Person Satisfaction and Merits of Christ himself But when I consider your Notions and Sentiments concerning these things though I am well satisfied that you are under the Conduct and Energy of some Spiritual Power yet What that Spirit is and Whether One or Divers in my Judgment doth deserve very good Consideration Ye know what Spirit it was which God sent between Abimelech and the Shechemites Jud. 9.23 and what that was that was sent from the Lord to Saul 1 Sam. 6.14 and what that was that was commissioned by God in the case of Ahab 1 King 22.22 23. and what that was in the midst of the Princes of Noph Isa 19.14 which was from the Lord too And that such a Spirit hath been among some call'd Quakers is manifest both by their Actions Speeches and Writings nay the very Spirit of the Devil and of Antichrist is apparent and undeniable from the Indignities offered both in word and deed to Holy things But that is not the thing now to be considered what Spirits may have appeared among them For even among the Apostles Satan had power to enter into Judas and it is not improbable but those whom our Saviour told Ye know not what Spirit ye are of and even Peter himself when our Saviour said to him Get thee behind me Satan might not at the time be free from some Impressions of Evil Spirits That 't is likely was a Peculiarity of our Saviour's for the Prince of this World to have nothing in him But the thing to be considered is What Spirit that is which at first excited and hath now the Conduct of the whole Body of this People And not whether it be sent or commissioned from God but

principally to be considered and they are to take care of the Dissenters If we consider the Great things belonging to the Charge of the Governours of this Church both severally in their particular Diocesses the State of the Clergy and People there and joyntly to them all as one Body viz. The Court and the Nobility The Vniversities The Parliament so far as Religion is concerned there The Prisons which might be made Schools of Virtue but are now Nourseries of all Vice and Wickedness and Condemned Persons there for whose Assistance they of the Roman Communion imploy the ablest and best qualified of their Clergy and we the most ordinary though they are not a few who are every Year Executed in this City and throughout the Nation The Foreign Plantations and the Propagation of the Christian Religion by that Means abroad for our Neglect of which the Monks and Jesuits and Quakers and such as we call Phanaticks will rise up in Judgment against them and the Dissenters at home for they also belong to their Care to remove all just Occasions give all reasonable Satisfaction and to use all truly Christian Means to reduce them If all these besides divers others which cannot presently be thought on be considered What Account can be given that may reasonably pass with a considerate Mortal Man of any of these and What Account then can be given of all to the Immortal All-seeing Righteous God These are Generals of each of which a particular and clear Account must be given by every one of that Order what sense he hath had of his Duty in that respect and what Care and Endeavours he hath used in discharge thereof To these I will add but one or two Particulars of Occurrences in this Reign One of a Bill for Suppression of Vice and Debauchery drawn indeed at their Request but after it had been perused and perfected not only by able Counsel but by all the Judges then in Town particularly the Lord Chief Justice Polexsin the Lord Chief Baron Atkyns Mr. Justice Dolbin Baron Letchmare and I think one or two more and fair written out put into their hands and a Motion made by the Bishop of Chester to bring it into the House and granted by the Lords and yet stifled and suppressed in their hands Another a Needful and Hopeful Reformation begun by the Authority and Encouragement of the QUEEN and not only vigorously prosecuted here in Middlesex but in a hopeful way in many other Cities and Counties all over the Nation and this stopped first by a Combination of Middlesex Justices I need say no more but at last more effectually in a Judicature of Equity in the Presence of no less than seven of our Reverend Prelates by two wicked Men the one Speaker and the other a Member of Parliament the * Mr. Ralph Hartley who is still a Sufferer between a Succession of City Magistrates and a Combination of Surry Justices and some other persons and shamefully oppressed by them Justice of the Peace who had been most diligent and other persons concerned in the Promotion of that Good Work checked vilified and abused without any just cause to the discouragement of the Execution of the Laws and Contempt of Her Majesty's Authority and all in the Presence of those Bishops who came on purpose to countenance the Cause of Reformation were satisfied of the Iniquity of the Proceedings against it and yet not one of them ever appeared after in it to any purpose more than in one little printed Discourse in Vindication of the Gentleman so abused as aforesaid And what Account can be given of these things It is a great Truth That neither King nor Parliament nor Bishops of themselves and their own Motion have done any one Act that I know of worthy of the Name of Christian And where lyeth the Fault of all this but at their door who instead of Admonishing and Exciting and Animating to due Returns of true Gratitude in Fact to God for his admirable Providence have by their Neglect and the consequences of it provoked the Favours of Providence to withdraw and to leave us to our selves and to eat the Fruit of our own doings And whence comes this Neglect of so many so obliged but from a common Defect of Good Education at the Universities and the Enchantment of their Preferments But is not this Great Uncharitableness may our Grave Prudential Gentlemen say thus to lay open to the World the Nakedness of our Governours and of the Church Doubtless as great as for a Physician to prescribe a bitter Potion to a tender Patient or a Chirurgeon to cut or burn after tryal of more gentle means what is found otherwise incurable It is that they at whose door lyeth the Root of all our Evil may give Glory to God by taking Shame to themselves and giving Good Example of Humiliation and Reformation to others But if they will not I hope the despised Quakers will be so wise as to accept the Honour of beginning the Example For all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God But Who call'd You to this Office may our Prudentialists say By what Authority dost Thou this and Who gave Thee this Authority He who gave me Eyes to see and a Heart to be sensible of it and a Mind to be Faithful to Him who call'd me and led me by his Hand to his Holy Service not for filthy Lucre's sake not to make a Trade of it not to seek the World in the Church but to serve Him in the Service of all Men in the best manner I can FINIS