Ignorance and error reproved being an answer to some queries that one John Reynolds wrote to two of the people called Quakers / by Thomas Taylor. Taylor, Thomas, 1618-1682. 1697 Approx. 96 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 19 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2004-11 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A64257 Wing T577 ESTC R3441 11920876 ocm 11920876 50955 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A64257) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 50955) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 829:6) Ignorance and error reproved being an answer to some queries that one John Reynolds wrote to two of the people called Quakers / by Thomas Taylor. Taylor, Thomas, 1618-1682. 3-38 p. Printed and sold by T. Sowle ..., London : 1697. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Also appears as part of his Truth's innocency and simplicity, London, 1697. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Reynolds, John, d. 1684. Society of Friends. 2004-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-08 John Latta Sampled and proofread 2004-08 John Latta Text and markup reviewed and edited 2004-10 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Ignorance and Error REPROVED : BEING AN ANSWER TO SOME QUERIES That one JOHN REYNOLDS Wrote to Two of the People called QUAKERS . By THOMAS TAYLOR . LONDON , Printed and Sold by T. Sowle , next Door to the Meeting-house in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street ; and at the Bible in Leaden-hall-street near the Market , 1697. THE EPISTLE TO THE READER . WHEN the Lord God of Eternal Power began , by his Spirit , to move in these Nations , in the late times of Trouble , and there was an Opening in the times for the Zeal of the Heart to work out it self , then every one betook themselves to that Fellowship and People that agreed most with the Working Principle that was in them , and so there came a distinguishing and knowledge of those seeking Souls , according to some thing most obvious to the Eye of the World , and so they called some by the name of Presbyterians , some Independent , and the like : For , as for those called Prelatical , they were not of such a pressing Nature , as to seek forward much after the Spiritual Kingdom , but rather Breathed after their Old Form , how they might come to this again , ( without the former Troubles ) to lye down in that : But those called Presbyterian or mixed Independent ( in answer to whose Queries , or one of them , the ensuing sheets are ) they seemed so Zealous while the Worlds Power countenanced them , as though they would have taken Heaven , as it were by force ; and not only so , but even of late also , since the Second Charles came in , and they began to be put out of their high Places by some old Incumbent , as they call them , or upon some other Account , as Zealor so , yet did some of them keep up their Custom of Preaching amongst People in publick , where they could get place or audience , in so much that the boasting Spirit began to get up in some of them , as in this John Reynolds , as though nothing should stop their passage , and so would have all accounted Liars that had said to the Contrary : But behold the Wisdom if God in suffering things so to come to pass , that all things might be fully manifest : And so an Act of Parliament must come out against them , unless they will Conform . And then lo , behold this shower of Rain forces in their tender Heads , as not being able to endure the sharpness of the Storm , for want of the true Spiritual Armour : For Words and Profession could never secure any from the Fiery Trials that are still ordered in the Wisdom of God for the manifesting of every Seed : So if these ensuing answers may be serviceable unto any of these Zealous Hearts to provoke them to a further search of themselves , and be a means now when they are something low , to give them a sight of any thing wherein they have Sined against God , and Erred from his way of Life , and so to move them to Repentance , it will be well , and a gladding of my Heart , and of my Brethren , who cannot but desire and endeavour , not only theirs , but even the good of all Men ; yea , of them , that either in times past have , or at this day do shew the greatest Enmity against us ; for we know , they none of them understand aright the Innocency of our Hearts to them , and the Fear and Love of our Souls to God and his Truth ; for if they did , how could they forbear to Love us : But Glory to God for ever , that bath given us , not only to believe , but even , as need is , to suffer for his Name and Truths sake , and to pass by great Offences done to us , which in Love to the Soul we could desire might be also the Portion of all that name Truth , Rests God Servant , Thomas Taylor . Ignorance and Error REPROVED , &c. JOHN REYNOLDS , A Paper of Queries ( coming to my hand ) as seems from thee to John Finch , and John Payton of Dudly , and weighing it well , I could not but in obedience to God write something to it , not so much for the use of these two young men , who by the Light that God hath raised in them do see thy deceit therein , as for the sake of some simple people who are as yet admirers of thee , and deceived by thee , and such like who under a pretence of zeal for the letter of Scripture , and things you have set up in your wills under the name of Ordinances , not knowing nor considering that Christ is come , the end of all things to them that believe : Though you may sometimes unwillingly light on Scriptures , that speaks the thing ; and so if by what here may be said , the Truth may more appear , and their simple Souls be helped , God will be Glorified , and that will be Reward sufficient : But before the Queries themselves be answered , something may be said , to that which goes before them in that Paper , and from that I have noted the nature of thy Fawning , Flattering , Self-contradicting and Confused Spirit ; but to hide that from the Light , thou backs thy sayings with quotations of Scripture , as though mentioning what the Holy Men of God spoke by the true Spirit , could prove that to be a true Spirit which acts in thee : Nay , nay , the day is dawned Praised be God ; and the Sheepskin no longer can hide the Wolves from being seen of the Lambs of Christ , for such hear Christs Voice and follow him , and so are Children of the Light , but the Stranger they will not follow , though he may Paint him self over never so cunningly with words , but all your fair words in the beginning of your work , ye Fair-sayers , whether in Pulpit or in Press , is but to make way for your sting that follows , for you resemble the Soorpion whose sting is in his Tail , mentioned in Revelations : for the end of all thy fair words here , is but to draw these young men from the simplicity that is in Christ , and his Light that Lighteth every man that cometh into the World , for the great Malice of thy Heart , is against the sufficiency of Christs Light in every man ; and so would have something to be added to it from without , that so thou may'st bring in thy own traditions ; but what condition shall one gather by thy words , these two Men John Finch , and John Payton , were in at the writing of these Queries to them , for one while thou seemest to apply Scriptures respecting the conditions of the unbelieving Jews to them , and another while thou applies those that respect the condition of pretty well-grown Christians : But however the sum of all is , to perswade them from following the Light of Christ in them , as not being sufficient , and so thy love is not testified unto them in Deed and in Truth , as thou say'st it is , but in meer Hypocrisie and Deceit , as may further appear : But what is that Soul enlightning Commandment Psalm 29. 8. Whereby thou seemest to desire they may be enlightned ? Is it this letter without , or the Light of Christ within ? If thou say the letter , as thou must say , or else thwarts the whole current of thy Doctrine , and then all that have Eyes may see thee to be an outward Jew only : But if thou say with us , it is the Light of Christ that shineth in Darkness , John 1. which at the Commandment of God shineth out of Darkness , 2 Cor. 4. to give the knowledge of Gods Glory to Man in the Face of Christ , then the business about Sufficiency of the Light between us is at an end , and the Truth stands over the from thy own words . The next is , when thou hearest the Scripture mentioned thy Windy , Slightly , Crafty Doctrine of Deceivers , Ephes 4. 14. then thou shoots thy Sting at the Innocent and would'st have People believe that is to be applyed to us who Preach Christ and his all-sufficiency in , and for every one that can Receive Him , who is near every Man , and by his Light shineth to Conviction and Judgment in every Man , who would have all Men to be saved , and come to the knowledge of his Truth , which is nigh in the Heart and in the Mouth ; but this was the Apostles Doctrine , and so not to be condemned in us , but thou goest on , telling of two ways of Deceiving , the one thou namest the upper way ( which thou say'st ) is by Philosophy , the Traditions of Men , Rudiments of the World , and Sciences falsly so called : And Praised be God , thou art as it were forced by the Light in thy Conscience to acquit us from being of this Number ; but truly the Light in our conscience tells us expresly , that thou John Reynolds art one of them that are ●n this upper way , as thou callest it , of deceit , for of Philosophy , Traditions of Men , Worldly Rudiments , and false Sciences is the Body of thy Divinity made up , as well as other of thy Brethren the Hirelings thou would'st condemn , for the difference is not in the nature of your Doctrine , but in the form . And so though an Idol of Gold appear more beautiful than one of baser mettle , yet it is an Idol still , and so you are both in the Fighting and Persecuting nature , as all Idolaters are ; Ephraim against Manasseh , and Manasseb against Ephraim , but both against Judah ; one for the Common-Prayer , another for the Directory , but neither will own the Lambs Light in you , to Teach and Guide you ; and so though you may have a Form of Godliness more Painted than they , yet denying the Power ( Christ in man ) you are all alike to be turned away from : And so John Finch , and John Payton in turning from thee , as well as the other Formalists , are excuseable ; and though thou goest about to perswade them from the Truth , by telling them of a lower way of deceiving by a voluntary Humility , and neglecting of the Body , and wearing a rough Garment to deceive , which thou would'st intimate to be our condition , yet this will not deceive their minds , if they keep to the true Light of Christ in them , for in that they feel our Garment to be smooth and sweet , through the Fathers Love , not rough or hairy ; as the Hypocrites is , who kill one another about their ways of Worship ; but for voluntary Humility in the will offered up by heaps , which is no better than filthy smoke in the nostrils of a pure God in this day ; and Praised be God that hath brought us from this into the true Humility : but how thy words of accusing us here of neglecting the Body , and afterwards of Drunkenness , can agree , let the wise in Heart consider ; but all in thy changeable nature and unstable must needs be Self-contradictors ; and so who be the Thieves that Christ in this day is Crucified between , is thus far in part , and will afterwards God willing more appear . Also it is observable from that Preface of thine further , where it is said that this latter , viz. Namely , the lower way of deceiving may possibly prevail , though not with the present Multitude , yet some unstable Souls that have been none enlightned and have tasted the good Word of God , and the Power of the World to come , but are not yet rooted and settled in the Truth and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ ; then I say , thou need'st not fear any of thy followers to be deceived on this manner , for none can be savingly enlightned who denies the sufficiency of Christs Light , the Grace of God , which hath appeared to all Men ; yea , in their Darkness shineth , though the Darkness comprehend it not , as thou dost not ; and none can say in Truth they have tasted the Good Word of God who puts the Letter for it , and denies the sufficiency of Christs Light , which is his Word nigh in the Heart and Mouth , as thou dost ; nor none can truly be said to taste the Powers of the World to come , who deny to bow their Hearts to the least Measure of Christs Light in them , accounting it insufficient , as thou dost : And so it is the real Believers that had need to take heed of being Deceived , with fair Shews and rough Garments , for the Hypocrites are deceived already : But what Doctrine John Reynolds doth judge in these he calls silly Seducers and Quakers , to be amiss , and by these two men he writes unto to be taken heed of , may gathered out of these Queries , to instance some . 1. Because they say Christ Lighteth every man with a sufficient Light that cometh into the World 2. Because they say , That the Measure of the Spirit of God in man is the true and certain trier of all Spirits . 3. Because they say , Christ himself and not the empty declaration without , is the Word of God. 4. Because they say , Christ the better hope , being come , sinless perfection thorough him is attainable here . 5. Because they say , Judgment is commited to the Saints even whilst they are in the Body , and therefore such may Judge ; and yet , say they , it is not flesh , but Spirit that Judgeth all things . 6. Because they make Conscience of saying Thou and Thee to a particular , which is the plain Language . 7. Because they say , that all Honour , and Glory , and Worship is to be given to God alone , and not to any Creature . 8. Because they say , The true Church is in God , and so no Unrighteous One in it , or of it , and so can neither call the Wicked God's Church , nor a House of Wood and Stone his Church . 9. Because they cannot own the Worlds Sprinkling of Infants with a little outward Water , for Christ's Baptism ; and because they cannot own that for a right Communion , which is in Sin , and who eat Bread and drink Wine in Remembrance of a Coming of Christ , which they say shall never be while they are here , and the like . But now something , the Lord assisting , may be spoken particularly in Answer to the Queries themselves ; and the first of them is this , Query 1. First Question ; If that Light which is within every Man that cometh into the World , be sufficient without the Preaching of the Gospel , how is it that Heathens know little or nothing of the True God ? Answ. To this I answer , That thou run'st here upon a false Ground , and so draws this and the rest of thy stumbling Consequences from thy own Imaginations , not from our Words , for we do not Exclude the Preaching of the Gospel from the Light , nor the Light from it ; but say , That is the true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World ; one loves the Light , believes it , and follows it , and is led to God , and so saved by it sufficiently ; the other hates it , and it is his Condemnation : And this is the Gospel Preaching , and this Light of Christ in every Man is the Light of the Glorious Gospel , whether it be declared of to the outward Ear in Words or not ; but he that Preaches not this True Light , Preaches another Gospel , though there be not another Gospel : And I say unto you , all People , if a seeming Angel Preach not this Gospel of Light , this Grace of God which brings Salvation , which hath appeared to all Men , and is the Saints Teacher and Keeper , he is to be accursed : But whereas thou cell'st of Heathen : Answer , All are Heathens now , and Ignorant of the True God , who know nothing of the sufficiency of the Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World ; but thou askest in the end of that Query two very Childish , Questions : The first , Why we exhort all Men to follow the Light within , if that be sufficient ? I answer , Because it is sufficient , therefore do we Exhort all Men to follow it , for that which is not sufficient is not safe to follow : And so you that are so full of words , and ignorant of the Sufficiency , beat the Air and deceive the People , keeping silly Women ever Learning , and never able to bring them to the knowledge of the Truth , which perfects to God all the commers thereunto . Thy second Query there , How could the Word of God be called a Mystery hid from Ages and Generations , but now is made manifest , if the Light within be sufficient ? And then quotes Eph. 3. 9. Col. 1. 25 , 26. Mat. 11. 25. I answer , That it was within , and sufficient when it lay hid as a Mystery , till God's full time came of revealing it ; and therefore Christ compares it to many Powerful and Precious , though hidden things , and of little account to the outward view , as to a Grain of Mustard-seed in the Earth , to a little Leaven within much Flower , to Treasure hid in the Field ; and Christ said to the Pharisees , that God's Kingdom was to be found in Man , he excludes none , and those Scriptures thou sett'st down prove for this Truth , and against thy roving Mind which is in the outward observings , thinking to find the Kingdom there , when Christ saith , it cometh not that way , see Luke 17. 20 , 21. What , wilt thou conclude it was not , because it lay hid ? What Logick is this ? Doth not Paul there say , that the Mystery which was so hid , and which he by the Spirit now Preached , which was Christ in the Gentiles the Hope of Glory ? And Christ was Light , and to this Light he warned every Man to take heed ; but the little Children , not the Masters , obey the Voice , and so are led into the Understanding , of the Mystery . Qu. 2. In the next general Query thou askest , Are not the Scriptures the Words of the Lord , whose Words are they ? And why is the Scripture so often called the Word of God , and the Word of the Lord ? And for this thou brings many Scriptures , as Exod. 24. 4. 2. Kings 20. 26 , 27 , 28 , 29. Psal. 12. 6. Jer. 36. 4 , 6 , 8 , 11. Acts 19. 10. 2 Cor. 2. 17. 1. Thes. 1. 8. Answ. To this I say , First , That the Holy Scriptures were given forth by Holy Men of God , as they were moved by the Holy Ghost , and so they may be called the Words of God , or of the Lord , not that Spirit and Living Word , but that those Scriptures prove what thou bringest them for ; to wit , that the Scriptures or Writings without , is there called the Word of God , is not true ; it is said indeed in that of 2 Kings 20. 16. That Isaiah said unto Hezekiah , Hear the Word of the Lord ; and Hezekiah said , Good is the Word of the Lord ; and in other places of Scriptures , that the Word of the Lord came to the Prophets ; and that in the fore-mentioned place of Acts , and Corinthians , and Thessalonians , mention is made of the Apostles Preaching the Word of God , all this is true ; but of Exodus , and Psalms , and Jeremiah , mention is made of Words ; but what doth all this prove , but only that the Word came to Holy Men , this Word was God , and as this Word moved in them , and gave them Wisdom and Utterance , they writ or spoke forth Words as a Declaration of what was in the Mind , or Word of God , or what God was ; and what , though the Scriptures may be thus called , The Words of the Lord , or his Prophets , or Apostles , Acted by his Power , which we never denied ; this is nothing to the Hypocrites , who use their Tongues to say , The Lord saith , when he never spoke by them , but make a Trade of the Scriptures for filthy Lucre , and by their much pressing the Declaration to be the Word of God , have quite clouded the Word if self ( Christ , from whence true Words come ) from the Peoples Minds , so that scarce any have any true Living Feeling after God in his Word Christ ; for in the beginning was the Word , before all Declarations , and shall be after all the Peaceable Life of all that Believe for ever ! So that the Lord saw it good to stir up a People in these days to be True and Living Witnesses of the Word , for the stopping of the Mouths of all such as have gotten the Words , as Thieves from others , and so kept People in the form with themselves , always Professing , but never Possessing the Power which the Scripture Witness unto , and so the Letter and empty Words kill'd and do kill ; but now the Living Spirit and Living Word being Witnessed , the Scriptures is owned in its place ; and Resurrection to Life being felt , the Crown is set upon the King's Head , whose Name is called The Word of God , who was , and is , and is to come , over all God Blessed for evermore ; and it is considerable , that the Ministers of Christ are never called Ministers of the Letter , or Words , but of the Word and Spirit , 2 Cor. 3. and that Christ and his Apostles mentioning the Prophets Words , usually called them Scripture , and not The Word of God , as the custom of Hypocrites is now ; All Flesh is Grass , and all outward Sounds and Signs vanish , but the Word of the Lord that endures for ever ; and this is that Word which , by the Gospel , ( the Power of God ) is Preached , and by nothing else savingly ; which , when understood , People are One , but not before ; for it is the weakness which is like the Womans speaking , makes Dissention ; so let the Scripture have its due , and the Word of God its due , and all is Beautiful in its place . Query 3. In thy third , thou askest , How shall we know whether the Spirit that speaks in us be the Spirit of God , or an evil Spirit , but by trying them by the Scriptures ? And for this thou bringest 1 John 4. 1. Isa. 8. 19 , 20. Acts 17. 11. John 5. 39. then thou replies , and as it were says , If you say we know the Spirit to be of God , because it convinceth of Sin ; then I ask , how do you know that to be Sin , but by the Scripture ? For this thou bringest 1 John 3. 4. Sin is a Transgression of the Law ; and afterwards says , If we say that Spirit tells us it 's of God , or that we know it but by its Fruit , how do we know it not to be a lying Spirit ; or how do we know the Fruits of the Spirit but by Scripture ? Answ. Now , I say , by all this it plainly appears , that thou art no Gospel-Minister , no Minister of the Spirit of God at all , but art a meer talker of the Letter and Law , not knowing what it saith , nor whereof it affirmeth ; for doth not the next Covenant run thus , I will put my Law in their Hearts , and in their Minds will I write it , Jer. 31. 31 ; and Heb. 8. 8. and the Apostle that said unto his Brethren , Try the Spirits , in that place 1 John 4. 1. did not say , you have a writing without by which you know all things , but you have an Anointing from the Holy One , and this abides in you , and by this they know all things , 1 John 2. 20 , 27. according to what Paul in 1 Cor. 2. 15 , 16. saith , The Spiritual Man judgeth or discerneth all things , but is judged or discerned of none ; for the Natural Man knows nothing aright , though he may have all the Scriptures to talk of without him ; and though he may cry up in appearance , even as Isaiah said to the Law and to the Testimony , yet he never goes to the Law or Testimony at all , for the Law is Spiritual and Inward , and the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie , as saith Scripture Declaration ; and by that Spiritual Law Paul came to the knowledge of his Sin , to Humiliation ; but while he was but a Professor of the Law in the Letter , he was alive without Law ; but when the Commandment in Spirit came to be felt nigh in the Heart , then Sin Revived and he Died : And so will John Reynolds dye when the Law indeed he comes to feel , but he is yet alive without Law , and from that Ground comes all these Queries of his to stop , if possible , the Holy Seed from coming out of Egypt ; but the Lord will break all Bonds for his Elect sake ; so that in a few words , take away from thIs John Reynolds the Letter , and by his own words he is as blind as a Beetle ; for he Questions how a Man can either know the true Spirit , or Sin , or the Works , or Fruits of either good Spirit or bad , but by the Letter , so that his Eye is in the outward Book , and so no Letter , no Preacher . For , John Reynolds , did the Apostles hold sorth a Letter without them to be an Eye to the World ? Nay , nay , they were to turn the People to the Light of Christ within them , that thereby they might see the Light out of all Darkness and false Worships ; For in thy Light , saith David , we shall see Light : O the Riches of the Grace of God that hath deliver● John Fince and John Payton from this Blind Guide John Reynolds , whose Eye within is yet shut by the god of the World ! 2 Cor. 4. 3 , 4. Qu. 4. Thou Queriest , whether the Saints in your times are more perfect than Saints in Scripture times ? And the rest of this Query is to plead for Sin , and against sinless Perfection ; and in the Conclusion of it , thou say'st , we cannot shew you one Man that ever attained it . Answ. Yea , to this I say , Through the Lord's great Love we are able to hold forth to thee , and all the World , one perfect Man ; yea , such a One , in whose Mouth there was and is no Guil ; who did , and doth good , and sinned not , nor doth sin ; who was in a sinless Perfection , and of such a Man will we glory , not of Self , nor of Flesh , but in him who is made unto us of God , Wisdom , Righteousness , Sanctification and Redemption , who is more perfect than Thousands under the Law were . Go to then , to stop all Mouths , the Gospel-day is Witnessed , Praised be the Lord , and in Perfection of Beauty do true Believers now Worship , and the Righteousness of the Law is fulfilled in such who walk not after the Flesh , but after the Spirit ; so John Reynolds to thee , and thy Company , I say , Arise , stand up from the Dead , come out of your own times where there is none perfect , for your times pass away into nothing ; but for Scripture times ( that 's large , it is not , as thou would'st Infinuate ) ended yet , for the Scripture is the Lord daily fulfilling , and will do it until time shall be no more ; which he that hath an Ear to hear , ●●t him hear ; and not only they , but a Hundred Forty Four Thousand sinless perfect Ones are mentioned Rev. 14. 25. with many more ; see also Chap. 7. Vers. 9. 14. an Innunerable Number . Qu. 5. And for thy fifth Query , where thou say'st , If those that are called Quakers esteem themselves the only true Christians in the World , then would I know where hath been their Church this 1600 Years . Answ. To this , I say , here thou manifests thy self again ; what stumbling is here in thy dark Mind ? This is like the Papists Arguments to Protestants ; but to this may be easily answered , that if it be manifest to the Conscience of any , as Praised be God it is to many , that we are of God , such a one will never ask such a Question as this : But now to you who cannot own the Light in your Consciences , we cannot be manifest , because the World knows us not ; and then ask , where hath your Church been ? I say , it hath been ever where it is at this day ; to wit , the Church which is in God and Christ ; which , when thou comest to the Light of Christ within thee , then thou wilt see , but till then we must be content to lye hid from thee , and all Dark Minds , and so to bear Christ's Reproach ; but to all my dear Brethren in Christ , I say , Behold what manner of Love the Father hath bestowed on us , that we should be called the Sons of God , Fellow-Citizens in the Heavenly Jerusalem with all the Church of God , First-born of God , whose Names are written in Heaven , therefore the World knows us not , because it knew not our Head first , 1 John 3. Heb. 12. But as for thy telling of Esteeming Self , and the name Quaker , and the like , thou may'st take those words in again from whence they came , for Self and Names of Mens giving we deny ; and Glory in the Cross of Christ , where the Name of God is known ; and as for the rest of thy Queries , which tell of our unableness to give a Proof of such People as we , before the last twenty Years , or so ; who placed Religion in Thouing and Theeing , and refusing to put off their Hats , and wear Decent . Ornaments in their Apparel , and it is such frothy stuff that it Shames thee and thy Profession ; but thou may'st know , that though you may do what you will that are without Law to God , yet we are taught to fear the Lord , and whatsoever is pure , to mind that , and so our Religion stands in Christ , not in outward Appearances , though the outward be all thou canst see , and so stumbles at the meanness of it ; but what are those Decent Ornaments in Apparel thou tell'st on ? Is needless Points , and Laces , and Ribonds , and such filth ? Then surely all Saints are one with us here ; but for that thou say'st , we Rail against Priests Tythes , Idols Temples , and Idols Worship , being such as yours ; I say , though Railing we deny , yet we can easily prove by Scripture , that Holy Men Cried Vehemently against false Worships and Worshipers , who were guided as you are in all Ages ; but as for that , thou say'st , We Rail against Baptism and the Lord's Supper , and Singing of Psalms , thou art found a great and false Slanderer in this , for to let pass the word Railing , we deny that we so much as speak against Christ's Baptism , or Supper , or his Singing , or that we take upon our selves to condemn any to Hell ; but this we say , That no Vnrighteous One , or Hypocrite hath any Inheritance in the Kingdom of God , or of Christ , and he that is not with us is against us ; which Words will-be hard and heavy for many to bear ; and as for Christ's Baptism , and Supper , and Singing in and with the Spirit we dearly own , but the Hypocrite and their Leaven we deny . Qu. 6. The next Query is something to the former purpose , and so that which is said may serve for that ; but thou addest a great and wicked Lie and Slander , in saying , we condemn the most Eminent Saints and Martyrs , for thou say'st , they were not of our Minds , and thou seemest much Troubled , that thy self also ( whom thou hast so high an esteem of ) could not pass the Censure of those thou scornfully calls Quakers , have any of them called thee Deceiver , and the like ? I say , see if it be not true that might be thus spoken unto thee , for it is no Derogation to the Honour of Truth , to say , the Truth it self may call a Deceiver , false Accuser , and Reproacher , by their proper names : For in Matt. 23. and John 8. see Christs Language to the Hypocrites of those Days ; so the Error was not in Christ his calling them so , that were so , but in those Pharisees there calling Christ a Deceiver , and Devil , when he was not so , nor could be ; and for the most Holy and Zealous Christians amongst you , that thou say'st , had the like Names from us : I answer , if any under the Name Quaker called thee or any of thy Company otherwise than they , in the Light , saw true , or could make good , they were to blame ; but if any in Truth have declared your Inward Condition to you , though under such Tearms , you ought rather to repent , than to kick and spurn at it in your hard Hearts ; for it will be hard for you to kick against the Pricks ; and for Spewing , you may take that to your selves , whose Throat is an open Sepulchre , wide opened against all that are Holy and Zealous in Christ , to separate from you , and witness against your Deceit : And so if those thou callest Holy and Zealous Christians amongst you , together with thy self be weighed in the Ballance of Truth , it will appear you are as far from that State , as the East is from the West . But I demand how thou knowest the Saints and Martyrs were not of our Perswasion and Practice ? for thou dost not judge with the Light that is Pure and Spiritual , as is manifest , nor see with a single Eye , but only judgeth with thy Evil Thoughts and False Imaginations ; for we say in a few words , that our Mind and Practice is to believe on the Name of the Son of God , that true Light that Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World , and to love one another , and to labour to keep a Conscience void of offence towards God and all Men : And I Read that the Saints and Martyrs were of this Perswasion and Practice with us , and so we have a Cloud of Witnesses , both Ancient and Modern , of the Truth of this our way ; and so if thou hast Books that tell of other manner of Saints or Martyrs , I deny both them and thee , in calling them Saints , who are not ; for the Saints of God and Martyrs of Jesus are one Body in all Ages , not loving their Lives to death , that so they might always keep to God's manifest Truth in them without denying it before Men ; and this is that which the Lord God hath wrought in us poor Despised People , to the Glory of his Grace in this his day , that no Flesh might Glory , but as it is written , Let him that Gloreth , Glory in the Lord , who alone is worthy . Qu. 7. But in thy seventh and next Query , thou thinkest thou hast gotten something against us , because , say'st thou , we use to cry against you as Hirelings , and that you would Preach no longer than People put into your Mouths ; but now , say'st thou , it 's manifest that many of these are ready to lose all for the Testimony of Jesus , and to Preach the Gospel freely though it be in danger of Imprisonment . Answ. To which I answer and say , That the Testimony of those thou scornfully callest Quakers , against you , stands firm and true , for all these thy high swelling Words of Vanity ; for we know none of you Preaching freely as yet , and the reason why you talk in the form , you do it because you cannot keep your fat Benefices ; O Hypocrites ! What Whining and Complaining is there by you in these days for your Belly ? But for Preaching the Gospel , you have manifested your selves to be Ignorant both of Christ and of the Gospel , by denying the sufficiency of the Light which Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World , John 1. 9. and then put the Letter for the Light , and so sight and strive with your Brethren about your form and several Imaginations of the Letter ; one cries up a Bishop , another a Presbyter , and both of you Ignorant of the true Bishop and Elder . But John Reynolds , would'st not thou and thy Brethren be at the Gain from your Quarter again , if Common-Prayer could be dispensed withal ? Oh if you be brought into such a suffering Frame ! How is it that we have no more of your Company in Prison ? Nay , nay , your old Heart is in you yet , and ye would be sucking Lambs Blood still if you had Power , and that the God of Heaven sees , and will take Vengeance on you for it ; and that which you cannot do with your Hands , you are doing with your Tongues and Pens , as is manifest . But I have often said , if you could Preach freely ; that is , without a set or forced maintenance , in the state where you are , that would not at all commend you to God or his People : For you have run , and God never sent you ; and therefore you remain so ignorant of him , and profit not them that follow you ; for when did Christ bid you go to the Universities of the World to learn him there ? And when did he bid you go to such a place , and such a place , and there sit down and Eat the Fat , and Cloath with the Wooll , and Preach the Thoughts of your vain Hearts , as you have done , and would do , and be guarded by the Magistrates Power , that none should speak to you in your high Places , nor going nor coming from thence ? O call to mind the day of your fulness , and of your Pride ; the same measme you mete to others is God measuring to you ; you must be broken to pieces , because you turn not to the Lord for all this : And to the despised thing , the Light in your Conscience , you must come and how before it , as others have done , before you be healed ; and if it give you a word to speak , you may speak it ; otherwise you must be silent , or you perish : The Lord is arisen , and so if indeed you can kiss his Rod , you may find Mercy ; but if you still go on justifying your selves in his sight , you shall certainly moulder to nothing ; the Lord hath said it , who is daily gathering his Lambs out of the Mouths of all Devourers , Glory to his Name for ever . But what Testimony of Jesus can you either give or suffer for , who have so Vilified and Reproached the Spirit of Prophesie in Sons and Daughters , in Servants and Handmaids in these Days ? For the Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophesie . And now all People , I shall lay before you , a little more , the Condition of this John Reynolds , and such like boasting Men , who now thus cry up themselves for suffering Ministers of Christ , as to this particular thing . In the former times , before the Wars when the Bishops had Rule , there were some such that could not conform to all the Fooleries of those Days , and so could not enjoy their fat Benefices ( though they loved them well enough ) and so instead of suffering in Old-England fled into New-England to avoid the Cross , and so in process of time it came to pass that they got the Magistrates on their side there ; and then their Old Wolfish Hearts being still in them , they fell on Persecuting the Servants of God that came amongst them to witness to Truth , insomuch that of late years they have sucked the Blood of several of our Dear Members in Christ ; Three they hanged on a Tree , cut the Ears of others , Tortur'd the Bodies of many with cruel Whippings , spoiled the Goods of many , and Banished others for no other thing , but for owning the Truth as it is in Jesus , and meeting to wait upon him . Qu. 8. The Eighth and next Query is such a vain and empty one , that the very setting of it down will be in great measure an answer to it , and it is this . If there be no honest Men in the World that are not Quakers , then is it not certain , that no honest Men ever turned Quakers ? Then is it not certain , that none but the Wicked ever turned from us , and then where is our shame ? Again , if all are Graceless Persons that are not Quakers , then how can any Man turn Quaker if he will not first acknowledge himself a Wicked and Graceless Wretch ? Answ. O Crooked , Twining , Twisting Serpent ! How Cunning and Crafty wouldst thou here appear in thy vain Philosophy , and false Science , to cast a Mist before the Eyes of the Simple ? Yet , Praised be the Lord , the least Child of Light sees thee well , and the Seed of the Woman shall bruise thy Head , and thou shalt not proceed far , but thy Folly shall be manifest to all , as the Sorceries of Jannes and Jambres , thy Fathers were ; for the Lord is already at work the second time to deliver his Israel out of Egypt , and no Weapon formed against his Seed shall ever prosper ; but the Horse and his Rider shall fall , and the Beast and False Prophet shall be taken alive and cast into the Pit , and Everlasting praises shall be Sung to the Lord God Almighty by the Lambs of his Holy Fold , as it is in Zion this day . But let us see how this reaoning of thine would have helped the Jews and the Gentiles in the first times of the Gospel against the Christians , and so setting down thy words for them , only instead of Quaker putting in the word Christian thus : If there are no honest Men in the World that are not Christians , then is it not certain , that no honest Man ever turned Christian ; and if so , where is their Glorying ? And if all are wicked that are not Christians ; then is it not certain , that none but the Wicked did ever turn from us ; and where is our Shame ? Again , If all are Graceless persons that are not Christians ; then is it not certain , that none but the Wicked did ever turn from us ; then where is our Shame ? Would this have been good Reasoning , either to have disproved the Christians Doctrine withal , or to have kept the unbelieving Jews and Gentiles in a safe Condition where they stood ? Nay , all must bow to the Son of God in his rising and going forth ; for his going forth is prepared as the Sun in the Morning , who rejoyceth as a Gyant to run his Course , and to this Just One must every Knee bow , and Tongue confess ; for his Way is in his Light Shining more and more until it be high Noon and perfect Day : And the Gentiles , though as honest as Cornelius , Acts 10. and the Jew , though as blameless concerning the Law as Paul in his first state was , Phil. 3. must bow to him : Yea further , Let all the Angels of God Worship him . But as for the Worlds Inhabitants , both Honest and Wicked , we know that the whole World lieth in Wickedness : And so , before you turn such Christians as quake and tremble at God's Word , and work out their Salvation in Fear and Trembling , you must be content to own your selves to be little less than Dishonest , Wicked , and Graceless Wretches , though into the Truth Sinful Flesh and Blood cannot enter ; and though you will not now own the Grace of God to be your Teacher , and so in that respect may be called Graceless ; yet you will one day know , that the Grace of God which brings Salvation , and would have taught you , did appear unto you all ; and so God will be clear of all your Blood , and your Destruction will be of your selves ; and so because you have not received this manifest Truth , the Grace of God to be your Teacher , therefore me you given up to believe Lies , as is manifest . Qu. 9. Thy Ninth and next Question is about Ordination ; and then Queries , To what purpose did the Apostles , Evangelists , and Presbyters ordain Elders in every City with Fasting , Prayer , and Imposition of Hands , if every Person that will , may run and ordinarily Preach without any such Ordination ? And thou say'st , you may see how Persons were sent forth to Preach in Scripture , Acts. 13. 23. and 14. 23 1 Tim. 4. 14. Answ. To which I say , that the purpose of God in ordaining Elders in every City , as is mentioned in that Acts. 14. 23. was not that proud and covetous Men ( who have a little Worldly Wisdom only to talk of the Letter and wrest Scripture by ) should perk up and set up themselves in the place of God's Elders in God's Church : But that in this Church , by his Spirit in those Elders , the Body might be Edified , and all kept in good order amongst them through Love : Mind , this was the Church of God which was in God , 1 Thess. 1. 1. the Body of Christ , of his Flesh , and of his Bone , Eph. 5. 23 , 24. Not a Worldly People gathered in the Will of Man into a vain Form without the power ; not I say , the Synagogue of Satan , who denies Perfection , and the Sufficiency of Christ's Light : And that there is none knows any thing aright , but by the Letter , as this John Reynolds pretends is not true ; for the Church of God was taught of God , and the Elders in this Church were not brought up at the Worlds Schools of Learning , nor called of Men Master , nor Hirelings , nor Persecutors of the Innocent , as the Presbyters of these days are ; but they were Holy Men of God , of mean account in the World , raised up meerly by God's Power , out of the Heathenish and Jewish Worships , to know Christs Spirit , and his Anointing in them which taught them all things ; and they were not such as got the Magistrate to help them to great Livings and fat Benefices , and compel all by his Iron Sword to come in to them , but they were Sufferers under the Powers of the World , as we are at this day . But whereas thou speakest of every Man that is not so ordained , running in his own will ordinarily to Preach , thou may'st take that to thy self , and your selves , who never were ordained by the Holy Ghost , as they were ; for when did the Holy Ghost in your Assemblies say , as in Acts. 13. 2. Separate such and such , for the work I have appointed them unto , Nay , nay , you have run and God never sent you ; for you never heard his Holy Voice at any time ; and therefore you profit not the People at all , but make them more Cunning to Dispute against the Truth , than they were before they followed you . But what Ordination of Man had Paul at his first going out to Preach ? See Gal. 1. he received not the Gospel by Man , and went not to Man , no not to the Apostles themselves for Ordination and Commission to Preach , but immediately Preached Christ , as many have done , and do at this Day , who go under the Reproach of the name Quaker . And so God is Restoring his Church to us Primitive Purity and Power , to the stopping of the Mouth , and confounding the Wisdom of all Flesh , whether called Pope , Cardinals , Bishops or Presbyters that the true Eldership and Body of Christ , to God's Glory , may again appear : And what Rules and Orders are , and shall be in this true Church , is known to God , and by him Manifested , and to be Manifested to the Body it self , and not to the World ; for the World must neither have the right Understanding nor Management of those things , no more than they had in those Days , when it was said , I stand not to Mans Judgment ; for the Holy Anointing must be all in the Church of God for ever . Qu. 10. Thy Tenth and next Query , is a plain discovery of thy Folly , and of thy manifest Enmity against the simple Appearance of Truth in any discovery ; and though thou say , the Scripture is thy Rule , yet by it thou canst not endure to be Ruled , but plain Language it self is thy Burthen ; and therefore thou askest , how it can be said that ever Christ , or his Apostles , or Patriarchs , or Prophets used the words Thou and Thee , when they never spake English ? And how can it be unlawful for us to use the word You to each other , since the same words in Hebrew , Greek and Latin that signifie Thou , signifie You in the Singular Number also , and may be Translated You as well as Thou , and so it seems thou say'st , 2 Sam. 15. 27. Answ , John Reynolds , Didst thou Read this Query twice over ? Or didst thou at all Consider what thou said'st in it ? Was either the Fear of God , or Care of thy own Credit before thy Eyes when thou writest it ? Surely neither . But thou hast judged in thy self with thy vain Thought , that because thou hast used to blind thy poor Hearers , and make them believe any thing for Truth thou speakest or writest ; therefore it will be so with others : Nay , nay , the Day is dawned , the Lord hath given his People an Eye whereby all Covers are seen through ; and to this Light thou hast manifested as much Nakedness and Blindness to be in thee , as in the grossest of them that say Mass at Rome , or read Common-Prayer in English : Nay , I do believe many of them would be ashamed to argue thus , as thou dost ; to wit , because Christ , his Apostles , Patriarchs and Prophets did not speak in the English Tongue , that therefore they used not the words Thou and Thee : How came the Translators to Translate their Words , when they speak to a particular Person , Thou and Thee , and never You , as may all over Scripture be easily found ; thou may'st as well say , Christ , his Apostles , Patriarchs and Prophets said nothing at all that is Recorded in Scripture in the English Tongue , because they spoke not English ; so the Lord hath catched the Wise in his own Craftiness ; but thou goest on , and say'st the same words in Hebrew , Greek and Latin , that signifie Thou , signifie You , in the Singular Number also , and may be Translated You , as well as Thou ; which , I say , is altogether false ; for You is not at all Singular , but Plural altogether , and so the Translators of the Bible knew , and therefore never Translated their Singular Term in the forraign Language to you in English , but Thou and Thee , as is before mentioned ; and for that place in 2 Sam. 15. 27 , thou set'st down , and says , it seems that You is used to a singular there , it shames thee ; for if envy to the Truth had not Blinded thee , thou mightest 〈…〉 that the King speaking to Zadock , and saying , Your Sons and you , speaks not of Zadock and his Son , but of Zadock and Abiathar and their Sons , as the very words next after ; and in Verse 29. plainly shew , and so here thou hast committed that great Error thy self , that thy Generation use to Charge falsly upon us ; to wit , in taking a piece of a Verse that seems to make for thy purpose , and leaves out the rest that shews fully the Sense . Qu. 11. Thy Eleventh and next Query is for the World , where thou undertakest the part of an Advocate for Flesh ; not only pleading for the Honour that is below , but also for the Manner of it . Thy Doctrine is very pleasant to the fall'n Man , and the World cannot hate such Preachers as thee ; for ye are not only of the World , but chief Master-Builders of the old House of the fall'n Adam , who loves the Earthly Honour . But now that Chrst the second Adam is come , the Lord from Heaven , above the Earthly Man , let all Flesh bow before him , and give up his Honour to him ; otherwise this shall be fitly applied unto you that Christ said unto the Jews , How can you believe , that not only receive , but also seek , and plead for Honour one of and from another ? John 5. 44. For Christ received not Honour from Men , Verse 41. So that tho' there was a time that Angels were bowed unto , which were greater than Flesh , Gen. 19. 1. yet a time came that Angels denied that Honour , Rev. 22. 9. For now the Son himself was Glorified , of whom it was said , And let all the Angels of God Worship him , Heb. 1. 6. And at his Name shall every Knee bow , Phil. 2. 10. And Christ said to the Devil , who was like his Children , that would now be Worshipped , Thou shalt Worship the Lord thy God , and him only shalt thou serve : The Devil and Haman would be bowed unto , but the true Jew will bow only to God : But thou queriest , and say'st : Qu. Whether did the Saints in Scripture-times Sin , in giving Honour ; that is , ( say'st thou ) A Civil or Inferiour Honour unto Men , and upon occasion Testifying the same by Honorary Words or Deeds ? Answ. To which I answer and say , 1626 All that the Saints before the coming of Christ did , is not to be an Example to us now ; but we must all now , that would be approved to Christ , take him for our Example , and to follow no Man for our Example , further than they followed , or do follow him ; and when the Apostles speak of Honouring all , it must be understood ( as in some place is mentioned ) in the Lord ; and that is not with Cap and Knee , and false Flattering Titles , and Gestures , as the World useth ; but in Heart and Truth , as the Spirit of God moveth : So that a Man must first be in the Lord ( out of the first fall'n false Mind ) otherwise he knows not at all how to Honour either God or Man , but is a Dissembling Wretch , making fair Shews outwardly of Love , where nothing but War and Self-love is in the Heart : See 2 Sam. 20. 9 , 10. Jude 16. Thus Children being in the Lord , do , through the Lord , Honour Parents aright ; thus Servants in the Lord , Honour their Masters after the Flesh aright ; and so Church-members the Elders , Wives their Husbands ; the Ruled the Rulers : Yea , thus they Honour their Faithful Brethren aright ; and in a Word , all Men ; and so the Scripture is fulfilled in them : But what Honour do these Faithful Ones look for from Men ? Nay , nay , believe and seek for that Honour that comes from God only ; and so the Scripture will not help the fall'n Man now to his Honour , which is his Life ; but as the Scripture saith , He that would save his Life , must loose it . And so all you , Hypocrites of the World , who are giving Honour to Proud Flesh , and receiving Honour from it , cease your Work , and let Christ have his due , or verily he will break you all in pieces with his Iron Rod. But in the end of thy Query , thy Conscience a little checking thee for this vain Work , thou wouldst daub over the matter , by telling People the Honour from below , which thou hast been pleading for , must not be in Opposition to , but in Subordination to God's Honour : Nay , nay , I say , the true Christ , the Son of God is come , and all Power in Heaven and Earth is given to him ; and so all Honour , and Glory , and Worship is his due ( and the due of none else ) to whom be it given of all his Angels and Servants , both now and for evermore . So all People , hearken and hear a word for your good ; would ye be Honoured ? Then Honour the Lord by obeying his Voice , and he will Honour you in due time , though for doing his Will you loose the Worlds Honour , as assuredly ye will , if once ye be Faithful . Qu. 12. The next Query Consisteth of a great Boast of the Ministry , as though it were Unrebukeable . And thou queriest , whether that Ministry can be lawfully Condemned as Antichristian , which the Lord hath owned and sealed with the Conversion of many Souls . Answ. To which , I say if your Ministry were such as this thou speakest of , then indeed it were not safe to condemn it : But where are these Converts thou speakest of ; to be a Convert , is to be turned from Darkness to Light , and from the Power of Satan unto God ; bring forth the Man that can witness thee to be a Minister of the Gospel this way , that he may give us an Account of the true Hope , if he have it in him : But Men cannot gather Grapes of Thorns , nor Figs of Thistles ; so thou being such an Evil Tree , as thou hast manifested thy self in these Queries to be , how can a true Convert be expected from such a Ministry ? But thou say'st , it s in Power , &c. and that many stubborn Sinners have been brought down unto their Faces , and to confess that God is in you of a Truth : But I say , it will be hard for thee to bring forth such a Man ; for when I use to come amongst you to declare Truth against your Deceit , as the Lord ordered me , I found a heap of hard-hearted Sinners , more like to destroy the Creature , than to be Witnesses of Truth . O shameless Men that bring forth such bad Fruit ! And yet , with a Whores Fore-head , dare take the Scripture which speaks of Prophets in God's Church in God's Power , and apply it to your selves , who deny the sufficiency of Christ's Light in Man ; and know nothing but meerly by the Letter without , as thou for thy own particular hast made manifest , and so are sensual , not having the Spirit , as was noted in the third Query . I observe also , in this present Twelfth Query , the Ignorance of the Grace of God ; for when thou hast falsly Boasted of your Ministry what is hath done , thou say'st , is not this the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation ? Tit. 2. 11 , 12. I say no ; your Ministry , not being the true , is far from being the Grace of God there spoken of ; But if it were the true Ministry , it were not that Grace there spoken of ; for the true Ministry is but a service to that Grace , not the Grace it self ; for the Grace of God is that which hath appeared unto all Men , and that which brought Salvation to Jew and Gentile , as God's Gift without Words or Works , and which was the Teacher of the Apostles themselves , as well as others : And so when People would have been setting up Paul for his Ministry's sake , he denied it , as nothing in comparison of the All-sufficiency of the Grace of God , and the Word thereof , to which only at best he was but a Servant . But if it could be manifest , that any under or amongst you were Convinced of the Evil of their Ways in some measure ; and so in their Dark Minds set upon a seeking after the unknown God , which is the most can be found amongst you , and that rarely neither ; this is no warrant , either for them to stay with you , who are Ignorant of the Way out of Sin unto God , neither is it any proof for you to be Gospel-Ministers , nor your Ministry to be a Gospel-Ministry : For the Gospel-Ministry is not only Convincing , but Converting and Perfecting , Eph. 4. 11 , 12 , 13. which work ye have utterly denied , and so shut out your selves for ever from the Gospel-Ministry ; and amongst the Priests of the Letter , Law at best , must you be reckoned , which made nothing Perfect ; and hence it is that you are such bitter Enemies to the Spiritual Ministration , or New Covenant mentioned , Rev. 8. And such earnest Contenders for the outward Shadows , outward Law , Tythes , Temples , Days , Priests , &c. as is now every where found . But for the True Power , and Gospel-Ministration , it is risen above all your Languages and Tongues , and hath darkened the Glory of all your Fleshly Forms and Likenesses : And the Babes of God are in Obedience to God turned , and turning from you unto this his Power that perfects to God for ever : And Pharoah and all his Host will not now be able to hinder Praises to the Lord God for ever . Qu. 13. In this next Query thou goest on seeking false Covers to hide thine and your Nakedness , asking ; How can the Quakers Condemn your Congregations , because of some Wicked Unprofitable Hearers , when Christ himself ( say'st thou ) did not Convert all his Hearers ? And for this thou bringest , Mat. 11. 20. and Mat. 23. 37. and Isa. 49. 4. I say , all this will not cover your Nakedness , Oh ye Teachers ! nor your Congregations ; for what have you to do to compare your selves with Christ and his Holy Prophets ? You that deny the Immediate Revelations and Teachings of God's Infallible Spirit in these Days , and instead thereof , set up Schools of Humane Learning to make Ministers by . O Hypocrites ! When will you give over perverting the right Ways of the Lord , and leading the Blind into the Ditch ? You that love to be called of Men , Master , Greetings in the Market , uppermost Rooms at Feasts , chief Places in the Synagogues , as the Pharisees did , all which Christ dis-allowed : What have you to do to compare your selves with Christ and his Prophets ? They are not Hirelings , and Fighters , and Pleaders for the Worlds Gain , as you are : And so , tho' all that heard the outward Declaration , or Sound of Christ , or his Prophets Words were not Converted , yet that makes nothing for you , who have only a Sound , and so Convert none to God : But , as I said before , beget them into your own Images , making them more able to Dispute against the Life of Truth than some others , and so greater will be your Condemnation : But now your Sheeps-Cloathing being pull'd off , the Lord will be Glorified in his Power , in the Conversion of many to himself without you : For he hath rejected your Confidence , and laid waste your Mountain , and the Mountain of the Lords House is on the top of all your Mountains in this great Day of the Lord , wherein in all the Children of the Lord are taught of the Lord , and walk only in his Light , which comprehends and teaches to avoid all the cunning crafty Ways of the Serpent ; and now , not in your Congregations , but in that Holy Assembly , is the Swords beaten into Plow-shares , and the Spears into Pruning Hooks , and no War any more learned , but under the Vine and Fig-tree all sit eating their pleasant Fruits , and taking the Cup of Salvation , and both Praying unto , and Praising the Name of the Lord. But thou say'st , we have Drunkards , Fornicators , &c. among us , as well as you , and that they are with us at our Prayers ( if we have any ) and that they are not so severely dealt withal as yours are ; for , thou say'st , some of yours cast them out , which we do not . Answ. Yea , thou false Accuser , such are cast out from us , and from the Church of God , and with us they can neither Eat nor Pray , but with such as are Ignorant of Christ , and the Sufficiency of his Light , and know no Light nor Teacher but a Letter without ( as thou hast manifested in thy Queries ) they may both Eat , and Preach , and Pray ; and when you cast out Drunkards and Fornicators from amongst you , you must cast out your selves , for in that Nature you and all Hypocrites are ; and so some of you are Drunk with Wine and strong Drink , and some with the Cup of the great Whore , some in the outward Fronications , others in the inward , and some in both ; so that your Tables are full of Vomit , and every Bed defiled amongst you . And for the outward Drunkards and Harlots , and such like ( though we cannot but reprove and cast them out in that State ) yet this we say of them , that they may sooner enter into the Kingdom of God than you that judge your selves free , and are not ; for you are so Painted and Conceited , that it is easier for a Camel to go through the eye of Needle , than for you to enter in , and this makes your Wound more Uncureable , for you neither enter in your selves , nor suffer others . And for those words in thy Parenthesis , whereby thou questionest , Whether we have any Prayer amongst us , shows thee to be a great stranger to us and our Practice ; for Prayer with the Spirit , and with Understanding we allow , and are taught to practice , and say with the Apostle , Pray continually ; but the wicked Hypocrites the Lord rejects , whose Prayers to God are Abomination ; and so it would have become thee to have said less of us , and to have judged more soberly and moderately of us , until thou hast known us better than thou hast done ; for thou hast little knowledge of us , it seems , by coming into our Assemblies , but only judgest by Here-say , and false Reports , which brings thee under Condemnation and Shame , when the Light now searcheth all things ; but your Ways and Practices are well known to such as are now come from amongst you , and so in that they cannot be deceived . And now , John Reynolds , to proceed , I see much of the Wisdom of God in bringing thee forth thus to manifest thy self in thy Queries ; and the next three Queries that follow , do , with those already mentioned , fully manifest thy great Ignorance of the Reformation of things brought to pass in Christ ; for the Law had but a Shadow of the good things , and yet thou stickest not to plead for it ; and so thou hadst need learn the first Principles of the Christian Religion , which thou remainest Ignorant of , before thou be a Christian thy self , much more seeing thou takest upon thee to be Teacher of others ; but to set down thy Queries themselves , or so much of them as is the substance of the whole . Qu. 14. And thy fourteenth Query , is , Had not the Saints , in Scripture-times , their set places for publick Worship as well as we ? Had they not their Temple , 1 Chron. 6. which Christ calls his Fathers House of Prayer , and whips the Buyers and Sellers out of it ? &c. Answ. To which I answer , You have indeed an outward Temple or House made with Hands to Worship in of your own devizeing , the Old Popish Mass-house , and so cannot be called the Fathers House of Prayer so well as the Jews was ; for the Temple at Jerusalem was made by God's Appointment for the outward Circumcission to Worship , in during the Law , as a Figure of Christ's Body to be Magnified , and therefore he whipt Buyers and Sellers then out of the Figure , as he doth now out of the Substance ; but you have not only the Enemies Nature in you , but you have brought forth his Work into open view in your outward Temples also , which were never Built by God's Command , and so there is Buying and Selling amongst you , as was amongst them , as every Eye seeth : For there you Men made Priests , sell Words , the Words out of dead Books to the People , and they give you their Money , Glebe-land , and Tythes for them : O filthy Merchandize ! The Lord hath shaken his Hand at your dishonest Gain , and is whipping out such Merchants by his Powerful Truth out of his House ; and your dead Works , which you sell at so dear a Rate in your Stone-houses , which you call Churches , shall no Child of Light ever buy of you : For the true Bread of God , his free Gift , is now witnessed , Praises for ever : One sort of Merchant Priests sell their Sermons and Mass to the People for Money , another sort their Common-Prayer and Sermons , and the third their Sermons and Directory . And thou , John Reynolds , pleadest also for Synagogues and Pulpits , and when thou hast set down Scriptures that tell of the Jewish Temple , Synagogues , and Pulpit , thou askest , if Christ and his Apostles did not report to these places to instruct the People ? To which I answer , First , That whilst the Jewish People stood , Christ and his Apostles did sometimes go into their Temple and Synagogues to Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom , and so an end of those things , and to bring them out of these things which they and you so much dote on , and plead for : but they did never Command Christians to Build such amongst them , but told them , Their Bodies were the Temples of God , 1 Cor. 3. and that those that abide in the Faith , were the House of God , Heb. 2. And these Christians never so confined themselves or others to any such place for the Exercise of their Conscience in the Worship of God , but met as the Lord Jesus and his Apostles did ; much less did they stir up the Magistrate , and drive the Jews out of their Temple and Synagogues , and the Gentiles out of theirs , that so they might creep into their Houses , and under another Form of Worship live upon the Jewish Priests Tythes , Offerings , &c. nor upon the Maintenance of the Idolatrous Priests of Diana , and the like Idols ; as you Priests , to the shame of your Profession , have done , and do at this day : What , have you driven the Papists out of their Mass-houses , and do live upon their Priests Maintenance of Tythes , Glebe-lands , Smoke-mony , Garden-pence , Handmony , and the rest of their Foolish things ? What , cannot a Man be Born , Marry , Live , nor Die , but you must have Mony for it ! O Horrible and Filthy thing ! stop your Mouths for ever , for your Folly is manifest to all , and you can proceed no further : And so you Priests of the last Order , called Presbyters , did not you drive out the Prelates out of their Houses , which they had gotten from the Papists , and there you sate down Feeding upon the Spoil of the People , as your Fathers had done , and now think much that you are driven out again ? And thus you fight with , and drive out one another like wild Beasts , striving each of you to get Power of others to be great in the Earth , and do what you will in your fat Pastures . But , as I said , the Lord is arisen to whip you all out , and to pull down your Nests , and to restore all things to their Primitive Purity , as in the beginning before the Temples , Tythes , Pulpits , and such things were . Secondly , I consider , that though I read that Christ and his Apostles went amongst the People in their Temple and Synagogues , as we do at this day , to Preach the end of these things , and so to bring People to the Word that was in the Beginning , before all things , that the Worship might be in Spirit and Truth , as it ought to be , John 4. Yet I never read , that either Christ or his Apostles got up into their Pulpit , nor ever Commanded his to perk up into a Pulpit of Wood over the People , as a Master of a Synagogue , to tell his Thoughts of the Letter , as you do : For though Ezra , a Priest of the Law , had his Pulpit or Tower of Wood to Read or Expound the Letter in , in those days , before the Life was manifest ; yet now the Life Christ Jesus is arisen , whose Voice in the Heart , and in all places is to be heard , without a Pulpit , and without Mony , and without Price ; and the Apostles Preached this Gospel in Towns and Countries , where neither Temple , Synagogue , nor Pulpit was , but Tumults rather ; and so the Gospel is not a thing that will set up its Servants in Worldly Honour , but indeed the contrary , which he that hath an Ear may hear , but the Wicked is so Proud in Heart , that neither Preacher nor Professor amongst them will stoop to the simplicity of it . The next thing Considerable in this Query is , thy twisting and striving to keep up the Honour of the old Mass-house , however , if it be but a Name , though it want the Nature , yet if thou canst save that , thou thinkest better that than nothing ; and say'st , What , though the Saints of God are called the Church ; yet that cannot hinder the House , where the Church meets , from being called a Church ? A Profound Reasoning ! What , is this the Fruit of your cried up Vniversities ? What , must every Place , where any People meet , be called by the Name of that People ? What Logick is this ? Surely the Wisdom of the World makes haste into its Nothing again ; God is utterly Confounding it . Do you call the place where the Parliament or Privy Council sit , the Parliament or Privy Council ? Do you call a Barn , or such a moon place , where the Saints of God now a-days often meet , by the Name of a Church ? If we should Reason for the places where we meet , as you do for yours , surely you would Laugh at us , and might then well call us filly Women and Seducers indeed . But , to go on , thou bringest a Scripture as though thou would'st prove the thing , and it is Acts 19. 37. but the place being well weighed shames thee the more ; for the words in that place are the words of a Town-Clark , a Worshipper of Idols , and they are these , For you have brought hither these Men , which are neither Robbers of Churches ( as K. James's Translators of the Bible have it , ) but in the Translation of the Bible by Beza , it is , You have brought hither these Men , which have neither committed Sacriledge ; nor , &c. if Paul had spoken to him or others , and called a Stone-house a Church , as ye do , it had been something to the purpose ; but the Heathen speaking there of Sacriledge , improperly Translated Robbing of Churches , can neither be understood to speak of a Christian Assembly , nor the place where they Assemble ; for the Covetous and Idolatrous Copper-smith , and his Rude Fellows , matterr'd little what Paul had done to these ; but this Sacriledge , whatever it was , it must needs respect something that the Heathen had in great Esteem : But thou bringing this to prove that a House may be called a Church , because of the Church that may meet in it , is nothing at all to the purpose ; for thou wilt not say , it 's like that the Worshippers of Diana were the Church ; for he that runs without Light must needs stumble , if not fall often . So J. R. walk more soberly , and take some Light along with thee , when thou hast to do in such things . Then the last thing in this thy Query is a secret Confession of a weakness of thy own Arguments in this matter ; and thou say'st , What tho' the Worship of God be not so tyed to any place , as formerly ; yet there should be convenient places for the Church to meet in ? Answ. I answer , The Worship of God now is not tyed to any set place at all , and so all your set places , that you plead for , are in the will of Man ; and the true Church God both hath and will order it , and provide convenient places for it to meet in , though the World cannot hardly afford it on Earth a place to meet in at all . And for that thou concludest and sayest , What though our Churches have been formerly Abused to Idolatry ; So were the Temples and Synagogues abused to Idolatrous and Superstitious Worship , yet nevertheless did Christ and his Apostles make use of them : I answer , What use Christ and his Apostles made of Temple and Synagogue of the Jews , is in part before declared : To which this may be added ; As for Christ , he was , according to the Flesh , of the Jews , made under the Law , and so he was to cleanse the Temple , a Figure of his Body , and fulfil the rest of the Laws , Shadows and Customs , and so end them all , and through the Gospel bring Life and Immorrality to Light , and to Consecrate the New and Living Way through the death of all old things ; for he Nailed them all to his Cross , and they died with him ; but he arose from the Dead , and not to bring up the old Dead things again , as thou J. R. and thy Generation would have , but to make all things New ; for saith he that sitteth on the Throne , Behold , I make all things New , Rev. 21. 5. Glory to his Name for ever ; but none can see God in his Throne , but in the Light that comes immediately from him , which Lighteth every Man that cometh into the World ; which the Worlds Builders did always deny and reject , as they do at this day : And for the use the Apostles made of the Temple or Synagogues of the Jews , it was , as is formerly set down , to reason with them there of things pertaining to the Kingdom of God ; the Jews , not the Christians , being Assembled there , as the Servants of God , called by the World Quakers , do at this day , to bring People both then and now from the Shadows unto the Substance Christ Jesus , who hath said of his Body , Destroy this Temple , and I will build it again in three days ; and so the three days being come and finished , the Temple that is Holy was built again , and God Worshipped and Glorified in it ; but nothing that is defiled or loves a Lie can enter into , or be joyned unto it : But the Jews were more reasonable in one thing than you Priests of England are , for they suffered Paul , it seems , to Reason with them several of their Sabbath-days in their Assemblies quietly ; but now , if any come amongst you upon the like account that Paul did , it 's hard for such to escape your Furious Hands , or a Prison in these days : Whereby it appears your time is but short , you are so unreasonable and full of rage . But the use that those Gospel-Ministers the Apostles made of the Jewish Synagogues , will not serve your turns , O Parish-Masters ! for unless you may have them in your own dispose to bring the World into them , to call you Master , and put into your Mouths , it will not answer your lustful Mind : And so indeed , with you that have put the Name of Church and Saints upon the Wild World ; a great Stone-house Fashioned to Solomon's Temple , with an addition of an high Steeple ( Babel-like ) with Bells in it , seems most convenient , though it was not only acused too , but even built for Idolatry so much : But for the little Flock of Christ in Cities , Towns and Villages , a less House when they they need one , will be as much , if not more convenient : And to conclude , whereas thou intimatest , that your great Stone-houses , which thou callest Churches , though formerly used to Idolatry , yet now they are free ; I say , thou wilt want proof for this , so long as you continue in the Worshipping and Serving of Creatures ; ( and Paul's Doctrine continues true , which saith , Covetousness is Idolatory ; ) unless you repent and bring cleaner Vessels into your Temple than you do . Qu. 15. Thy Fourteenth Query was for Set-places , now this the Fifteenth is for Set-times ; and thou askest , Had not the Saints in Scripture their Set-times for Publick Worship as well we ? Answ. Yea , I say , the Saints amongst the Jews had their Set-times for their Worship better than you ; for they were under the Law , and that was their Warrant ; but you are neither under Law nor Gospel in Truth , but ony Carnal lmitators in your Will , sometimes of the one Customs , and sometimes of the other , as your Self-willed and Self-ended Hearts in your blindness Prompts you unto ; and so for this , I say , Love the Light which Christ hath lighted you withal , and it will lead you to Repentance from all your vain Observings ; and in the Light wait , that God's good Spirit you may know , and receive to Teach you , and lead you into all Truth , according to the Promise ; and so wait in the Light that lets you see your wants , that 's the Holy Place , and wait there for him in his Fear , that comes in his own , not Man's time ; and be not as the Heathens , that think to be heard for their much wording of it , nor spread abroad the Sails of your vain Imaginations , when you Pray as the Hyportes do , lest Satan Transformed carry you about , and fill you with the Wind of his Frothy Spirit , making you believe you Pray with Gods Spirit , when it is his own lying Spirit , as his Custom is amongst you to work . Qu. 16. So thou having spent thy Strength in Pleading for your Set-Places and Times , in Imitation of the Jews , thou goest in this Query , endeavouring to prove your Work on these times , in those places , from the likeness of them , to theirs then . And thus as you do , so do the Papists for their Customs , for they Reason as thou do'st : For had not the Jews , say they , a Temple and Synagogues ; So we : Had not they One High Priest ? So we , who is called a Pope , had not they an Altar , and Sacrifice outward ? So we ; Had not they their Set-Fasts , and Musick in their Temples , and Quiristers , and Tythes , and Offerings , and such things ? And so have we , say they : So saith John Reynold here in this present Sixteenth Query : Had not the Saints in former Times the Scriptures Read in their Congregations , Acts 15. 21. Luke 4. 16. and sometimes Expounded , Neh. 8. 7 , 8. and Prayed there , Verse 6. and Singing David's Psalms there , 1 Chron. 16. 7. &c. and Blessing the People in the Name of the Lord , Num. 6. 23. &c. Well , this was so under the Law , but what wilt thou infer from this , that you may continue the Customs of the Jews in such things ; that follows not , unless you will deny the Ascension of Christ , Eph. 4. from 8. to 17. for the Jews were under the Law , and so they had a Worldly Sanctuary , and a Worldly Service , with divers Ordinances of that Nature , until the time of Reformation by Christ raised up , and come again in Spirit , and then says God , Behold I make all things New ; and so he that is in Christ is a New Creature , Old things passed away , all things become New ; New Temple , New Offerings and Service , New Prayers , Singings , Preachings , which no Worldly Man can get into , but all with the Holy Spirit and with Understanding : But thou bringest several places out of the Writings of the Apostles , and Luke , as in Acts , Corinthians , and Hebrews , to prove that the Apostles and Saints use Praying , Preaching , Psalms , and Blessing amongst them : Yea , but what is that to you , that deny that Infallible Spirit of God to be Head in you that guided them ; and so get the Worlds Wisdom , Acts , and Helps instead thereof , to make you Ministers and Saints by . You have indeed in some things a Form of their Works , but the Power being found , not only wanting amongst you , but denied by you ; the Children of Light are necessitated to turn away from you , and thus to witness against you . But thou say'st , Christ did not only Read the Letter in the Jews Synagogues , but also Preached from a Text of it : To which I answer , For his Reading , he did upon account of being a Jew , to fulfil all that Righteousness of the Law in his day till his Offering up ; but that he Preached from a Text , as you Priests do , I utterly deny . For his doing at that time was only this ; He being Reading in the Prophet , as is mentioned in that Fourth of Luke , and in providence meeting with that place , which said , The Spirit of the Lord is upon me , for he hath Anointed me to Preach the Gospel , he hath sent me to heal the broken hearted , &c. And the Spirit of the Lord arising in him in Life and Power , and Witnessing in him to the fulfilling of that Scripture in himself , He was overcome with Love and Glory , and so closed the Book , and gave it again to the Servant , and sate down ; and so the Eyes of the People were sasiened on him through Admiration , and Ravishments of Love and Spirit that was upon him ; and so as that Living Spirit gave him Utterance in the Silence of all Flesh , he spoke to them , and Preached in many Gracious Words the fulfilling of that Scripture in the Ears of that Day : And this was Christs doing there . But , O you poor naked Teachers of England ! &c. What have you to do to boast of this Example for warranting your Practice ? There was no choosing a Verse in a Chapter in the Will of Man , which you think you can raise most words from , and so consult with your own Imaginations and old rusty Books , how you may raise an Hours Discourse from it , and so divine to please the itching Ears of Carnal Professors , that they may give you outward Honour , Glebe-lands , Tythes , Augmentations , Easter-Reckonings , and the like to please your Lusts ; and if need be to Fight for you , and lay their Sword and Law upon all that will not hold you up , and Cry Peace to you : O Hypocrites ! How have you deceived the poor People with your long wrestings of Scriptures ? But now that the Spirit of Truth is come , it is leading us into all Truth without your help , Praised be the Lord for ever . And so for Christ his Expounding out of Moses and the Prophets , and opening the Understanding of the Disciples to know the Scripture mentioned , Luke 24. And Paul's Expounding and Testifying of the Kingdom of God , and Perswading the Jews concerning Jesus , both out of the Law of Moses , and out of the Prophets mentioned , Acts 28. is nothing to you who now-a-days ( instead of Testifying to the Kingdom of God , and opening the Understanding to know Scriptures , and the Light of the World , which they witnessed unto ) do Testifie of this World , Pleading for your Carnal Ordinances , Set Places , Set Times , Bowing one to another , and the like , as is manifest in these Queries ; and so instead of opening , shut up the Kingdom of Heaven against Men , and so with those of old , will neither enter into the Kingdom of God your selves , nor suffer others ; but are under the Wo , as you and the People , may Read all along in Mat. 23. And for Singing of Psalms , it doth not say , that the Saints Sung the very words of David , and no other , and that in Rhime and Meeter , in Worldly Tunes , after Mens Inventions , or with Organs , or so ; but they Sing as the Spirit gave them utterance in plain words , as thou may'st Read in Acts. 4. 24. &c. Which thou bringest for Singing , if that may be called Singing , this was a Song by the Persecuted , not the Persecutors , which in the Persecuted Church of God at this day is often Sung , worthy Consideration , but a shame for all Persecuting Priests and Professers to take these words into their Mouths : And the same Apostle in that place , 1 Cor. 14. 26. that saith , every one hath a Psalm , saith , I will Sing with the Spirit and with Vnderstanding ; so then a Psalm was a Gift of the Spirit spoken forth from the Understanding to the Edifying of the Hearer ; and they were to be silent when that Gift was Exercised as well as others ; but your Confused Noises and Temple-songs is but as Howling in God's Ears , and his Childrens Ears in this day ; for there the Proud and Scornful Sing Falsly , and say , that they are not Proud and Scornful , because David said so , Psal. 131. and so with , and amongst you is David's Psalms in words used , but the Holy Life and Innocent Love that he Lived in , in Deeds denied , and so the Lord can take no Pleasure in you . And for that Scripture thou bringest of Aaron and his Sons Blessing the Tribes of Israel in the Name of God : And Paul's commending of the Churches in the closure of his Epistles to the Grace of God , makes as little for your customary Blessings of , and speaking Peace to the Wicked for self-ends , as the Preaching of Christ doth for your Daubing and Divining for Mony ; for you are neither of Aaron's Order , nor of Christ's Anointing ; and so wash you , and make you clean , and put away the Evil of your Doings , and God will Bless you , but not otherwise ; and better will it be for you to have the lowest place in that Blessing , than the uppermost Room where you stand in the Cursed Ground . Qu. 17. Thy Seventeenth and next Query is ; Hath not Christ Jesus sent out his Ministers to Disciple him all Nations , and to Baptize them in the Name of the Father , Son , and Holy Ghost , and Promised to be with them to the end of the World ? Mat. 28. 19 , 20. Is not that Baptism with Water ? And having set down some Scriptures that speaks of washing with Water , thou criest , Are not they then contrary to Christ and his Apostles that deny Water-Baptism ? Answ. To which I answer , That all this , if it were granted thee , is nothing at all to thine and thy Brethrens Practice , who take a little Water and sprinkle it on a Childs Face , calling it Christ's Baptism ; for there was Discipling , and Confessing of Faith , and the Holy Ghost , before Baptizing , which cannot groundedly , by you , be said of Infants of a day old , or so ; and this thou sawest , which made thee so busie in the words of that Query there following , to prove Infants sprinkling : And first , Thou goest about to prove it , by saying , The Scripture intimates that the Children of Believing Parents are Disciples , Acts 15. 10. I say to the Children of Light , this Scripture intimates no such thing at all , but plainly holds forth the contrary ; for the words there are , Why tempt ye God to put a Yoke upon the Disciples Necks , which neither our Fathers nor we were able to bear ? Now these Disciples here spoken of , were not Natural Infants , but grown Men , Christian Believers , as the First , and the Twenty-third , and Twenty-fourth Verses of that same Fifteenth Chapter do plainly shew ; and so if thou hadst not been a Blind follower of the Blind Guide Richard Baxter , whose Argument this is , thou would'st not , it 's like , have offered to bring this for this purpose , for it shames you all for ever : But this Argument being too weak for thee , thou endeavourest by another Argument , as little to the purpose , to prove the Natural Infants Subjects of Water-Baptism , because , say'st thou , they have received the Holy Ghost , or else how could the Kingdom of God consist of such ? To this I answer and say , But which of the Natural Infants which you sprinkle hath the Holy Ghost , and which not ? How come ye to see this difference ? Or you will say , that all have it ; if so , then may People have the Holy Ghost ordinarily by Natural Birth , without hearing ; then where is your great Glorying of your Words or Sermons ? But to proceed , thou say'st , Can we imagine that God will give them the Kingdom , and deny them Water-Baptism ? I answer , God will give the Kingdom of Heaven to whom it belongeth , and it consisteth not in outward Observation or Washings , as Dipping , or Sprinkling , or so , but in Righteousness , Peace , and Joy in the Holy Ghost : And thou that , with the Papists , attributes so much to Water-Baptism , how comes it to pass , that after all your Sprinkling the Children , as they grow up in Years , many grow up in so much Wickedness and Vanity , as is every where manifest ? And as concerning Children of Believing Parents , we deny them to be Believers that hate the Light , and believe not in it , but say , it is Insufficient , as before is declared . But as for that Mat. 28. which thou and thy Brethren usually bring for your Custom of Preaching and Sprinkling of Infants ; I say , it makes nothing for you , who sit down in some Fat Benefice or other , as times favour you , and there Divine from the Letter , as is said , an Hours Discouse or two in a Week to the People for Mony : Why go you not into all Nations , as they did , and Disciple the Turks and Indians , if you will be warranted by this Scripture ? But whereas you take the Apostles for your Example , I query first , When did ever the Apostles go to the Schools of the World so many Years to be made Ministers ? Did ever the Apostles seek to the Magistrates to compel People to pay them Wages , as you do , or compel People by their Sword to conform to Christian Doctrine ? Or when did they sprinkle Infants , receive Tythes of the People , or Sing David's Prayers , Quakings in Rhime and Meeter , as you do ? When were they called Master , as you are ? And many the like things , wherein you differ as much from the Apostles , as Darkness from Light , whereby you shew your selves to be Guided by a contrary Spirit , ( to wit ) the Spirit of Error : So for ever be silent , and stop your Mouths , for you are both out of the Apostles Doctrine and Practice , as your Fruits make you manifest . Qu. 18. Thy Eighteenth Query is concerning the Supper ; and thou askest , Hath not Christ Jesus given us his own Example for the Celebrating of his Last Supper ? And hath not the Apostle Paul delivered it to the Church , and Commanded the Saints to do it in Remembrance of Christ , and thereby to shew forth the Lord's Death till he come again ? Answ. The Lord's Supper we own ; for Behold I stand at the Door and knock , saith Christ , and if any Man hear my Voice , and open to me , I will come in and sup with him , and he with me : And for the Doctrine of Christ , his Eating and Drinking with his Disciples , so we own it in its place , and for its time ; but what is that to you , who are both out of the Doctrine and Practice of the Apostles , as by your Fruits is manifest ? And so you Eat and Drink unworthily , and thereby are guilty of the Body and Blood of Christ ; and so Eat and Drink Damnation to your selves , and do not discern the Lord's Body : And so in witnessing against you and your Practices in this State , we neither Vilifie Men , nor Jesus Christ. And thou say'st , What a vain pretence is it to say , We Eat Christ Spiritually ? I say , it it vain , if it be but in Pretence ; but if it be in Truth , it is the greatest thing , for it is Eternal Life ; and he that thus Feeds upon Christ's Body is Alive to God : But you in all , your other Eatings and Drinkings , are Dead whil'st you Live : And so of you , that would keep People always in the Figures and Signs , saying , The coming of Christ , spoken of 1 Cor. 11. 26. is never to be witnessed here : I demand , Whether that Cup which the Apostle said , The Cup of Blessing which we Bless , is it not the Communion of the Blood of Christ ; And the Bread which we Break , is it not the Communion of the Body of Christ : For we being many are one Body , and one Bread ; for we are all Partakers of that one Bread , 1 Cor. 10. 15 , 16 , 17. I say , Whether was this outward Bread and Wine , yea or nay . Qu. 19. And in the next Query thou comest over with these things again , saying , How can those Persons be Faithful to Christ Jesus , and Obedient to his Gospel , that refuse to Pray , and Sing Psalms , and Baptize with Water , and receive the Lord's Supper ? I answer and say , If any disobey God in any thing he commands them unto , whether in any of these things , or in any other , they are not Faithful to Christ and his Gospel ; but those People thou here secretly shoots at , are taught to obey God in all his Requirings , and so to Glorifie him in their Bodies and Spirits , which are his ; and so are we clear before the Lord from this thy Charge , and also from that which follows ; for we Revile none , much less those that in Conscience of their Duty to God observe them or any thing else : And so the Reviler must lodge in thine own Bed , who fears not to Revile and speak Evil of such in these days , as in Conscience to their known Duty to God , Worship him in Spirit and in Truth . But you whose Fear towards God is taught by the Precepts of Men , in vain is all your Worship ; for I Testifie for the Lord , that whatever you do , though it had the very Form of the Saints Practice of old , which yours have not , and not led thereinto by the Motion of the Eternal and Infallible Spirit of Life , it is nothing but the Precepts of Men , and Will-worship , and no better than Offering Swines Blood , or cutting off a Dogs Neck : and for the endeavouring to keep up your Custom of Praying , and Singing in mixt Congregations , from the Example of Jews , or them that follow Christ ; I say , your Hypocritical Praying and Singing is good no where , but Rejected of God ; and I see thy P●ide all along , that would be comparing your Congregations to those that followed Christ : Nay , nay , for though there was One Devil , yet there was Eleven Saints ; but when you are searched , scarce One of many Twelves that hath any true Fear of God before their Eye is to be found amongst you . Qu. 20 And whereas in thy last Query thou askest , Whether those Persons that have Experienced the Operation of the Spirit of God in the Gospels Preaching and Administrations , Convincing their Consciences , Melting the Hearts , Humbling the Spirits , and Turning them from Darkness to Light , and have afterwards Tasted much Sweetness , and have felt Soul-Ravishing Comforts in the Enjoyment of God in Ordinances , have not the Witness in themselves that God doth own these , and Bless these Priviledges to them . I answer , Yea , it is thus with all that ▪ in Truth , have the Witness in themselves , that God doth own these , and Bless these Priviledges to them . But those People that go under the Name Quakers , have , to the Praise of God's free Love , the Witness in themselves of such Fruits as these amongst them , from the Virtue of the Everlasting Gospel , and its Administration . And therefore we can Witness , that John Reynolds , and all such as Condemn this Ministry and Work of God amongst us ( as Heresie , or so ) are Deceivers , and that they are Strangers to Spiritual Communion with God , whatever in words they may Boast , who cannot meet with , and enjoy God where we ( to his Immortal Praise , be it in Truth spoken ) do experience that loving Kindness and Goodness which is better than Life it self : And therefore , how long may this John Reynolds , or any other Seducer or painted Sepulchre talk , before ever they can perswade these whom the Lord hath so loved , not to believe their own Spiritual Senses and Experiencies ? But to conclude , Whereas this John Reynolds in his high swelling Words of his last Query , and the 12 th , boasts much of his own and his Fellows Experiencies of Spiritual things , I refer the Reader to the rest of his Queries , and especially the 3 , 5 , 8 , 10 , 11 , 14 , 15 , 16 , and to the answers to them all ; and to weigh all in the Ballance of Just Judgment , and it will appear to him beyond words what may be Judged of them and us . Thomas Taylor . Notes, typically marginal, from the original text Notes for div A64257-e150 1662 Notes for div A64257-e300 1662 1662. 1670