The scornful QUAKERS ANSWERED, AND Their railing REPLY refuted: BY The meanest of the LORDS Servants MAGNUS been.  
Beware of false Prophets, They come unto you in Sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravening Wolves.  
Believe not every Spirit, but try the Spirits whether they be of God: Because many false Prophets are gone out into the World.  
LONDON, Printed by William Bentley for Andrew Crook, at the sign of the green Dragon in Paul's Churchyard, 1656.   

To the READER.  
DEar friend, I speak to thy conscience in much tenderness unto thy Soul: Learn to fear the great God more and more: For blessed is the man that feareth always: Wait upon the Lord, and he shall renew thy strength: Go unto him, as unto thine exceeding joy: Love all the appearances of his Son, as the comfort of Saints in all generations: Watch over thine own heart; Stand in awe and sin not: Let the Lord come into his Temple, and Worship him alone: Take heed of every gin and snare of the old serpent, who is in a great rage, because he hath but a short time: Be sober and quiet in thy Spirit, and hear the Lord speak; His word is nigh thee, within thee, walk in the strength of it, and this will keep thee from the paths of the destroyer: Long in thy Spirit to see the new Jerusalem, the new Heavens, and the new earth, wherein dwells righteousness: Let thy moderation be known to all men; for the Lord, the desire of all Nations, is at hand: Stand still, be calm, be meek, and thou shalt see his salvation: Let thy Spirit groan and travel in pain with longing to see the Lord arising to work; For men abused by the old Dragon seek to make void his Law: And among all the vanities which I have seen under the Sun, take heed of the two foolish, blind, mad, generations of Ranters and Quakers: The former of which I have seen the Lord scatter, and appear in great wrath to consume, rebuking the evil Spirit in them, and laying them open to their shame among their enemies: The latter of these I have had some deal with, and find them more furious and raging than all that have gone before them; and notwithstanding all their show of holiness, wisdom, humility, temperance; yet, by a little dealing with them, I find nothing but impurity, folly, pride, madness, even to admiration and wonder, in all their doting questions, fowl mouthed answers, vain janglings, railing accusations, even as if Satan had left all others, and brought all his power along with him, to fill their hearts and tongues with all manner of blasphemies and evil speakings against all others, but their own deluded party: And strange it is to see, how Satan in them is divided against Satan: Satan rails, blasphemes; and then to save himself, cries out, it is Satan he blasphemes and and rails at in others: The Devil mocks, jeers, scoffs, rages in their filthy hearts and tongues; and when he is seen and manifested by his carriage to be the evil one, presently he condemns himself, and says it is the Devil all my fury is poured out upon, it is him I condemn in men and women, not the similitude of God, the man, or woman to whom I speak: Thus the Liar and the Murderer in these men raging, speaks to excuse himself from his lying and murdering, by persuading simple people, it is himself he aims at: And yet such a strong enchantment I find in this mad carriage, that some poor Souls are even overcome with their violence, and have thrown away not the light and grace of God only, that once appeared in them in show, but even their reason and humanity too, and subjected themselves to this carnal yoke, for fear of being still condemned by the Devil; Take one passage of a great Prophet of their own, one Tho. Lawcock, who, meeting at one Goodman Matthews house near me, was called aside by the woman of the house, of good report, but almost turned a Quaker; to whom the woman in kindness said, Sir, will you eat something which I have provided? The Quaker replied, What shall I eat with Devils and Dogs? and pointing to a Dog, There's thy Companion, thy fellow-creature, of the same nature with thyself, (saith the Quaker) and shall I eat with thee a Devil, a Dog? And was not this a good argument at the first meeting to persuade the woman to be a Quaker? And when the woman began to reply something to excuse her great sin of ask this man of God (as he calls himself) to eat, he opens his box again, and calls her Whore and Harlot; and was not this another good argument to persuade her? And yet this woman, and the man too, gins to believe in the Quakers, and to admire their light and power, lusting after the painted image, and innocent spotless religion, which th●se poor deluded wretches have set up and made: And as they have dealt with this woman, so with some others whom I know, prevailing with them, and upon them, even by the same Magical power of Satan's workings in them: Therefore it behooveth us all to look to our building upon the Rock; to our interest in the holy one of God, to our receiving and walking in Jesus Christ the Lord, rooted and built up in him, that so the gates of Hell may not prevail against us.  
Further, a little to lay open this blind seer Lawcock, at one meeting with some Baptists, he was demanded whether Christ suffered and died at Jerusalem: His answer was, That Christ suffered, but Christ did not die, and yet it was not Christ who suffered neither, but that which was born of the Virgin: See here his contradictions of himself, and his contempt and denial of the death of Christ: And yet afterwards at another meeting, being in the presence, I charged him with this, and he presently cried out, Thou liest, I acknowledge Christ both suffered and died; and yet this man must be infallible in the midst of all these contradictions against himself. Further, at the same meeting, when I was present, and beginning to lay open his folly, (the Quaker exhorting to meekness and silence, and the like, but presently falling a railing, cursing, and roaring against Priests and hirelings) I asked him in patience how these speeches could hang together, we must be meek, calm, quiet, but he must roar and rage's? At the first dash the man cries out, thou liest, thou art a beast, and the like: and entreating the man to sit down, and be meek, according to his own speech, he foams out his own shame still: A little after, wondering at the madness of the Prophet, at the trouble and torment of the evil Spirit in him, I desired him to speak but two words of sense and reason, and I would be silent, the man roars again, Thou art a belly-god, thou art a beast: And is not this a goodly Apostle, Prophet, Teacher? Let all men judge that will not be like the beasts, unreasonable. Further, desiring a Scripture to maintain something, he spoke against the priesthood, he cries out, wilt thou believe nothing but Scripture? Thus the man can add and take away at his pleasure, though such are accursed of God, Gal. 1. 8, 9 Rev. 22, 18. Further applying the speech of Christ unto himself; before Abraham was, I am, I ask him whether he was not ashamed, did ever Saint apply that unto himself? He answered, he understood it of the Spirit that was within him, blasphemously applying the Divine Spirit that dwelled in the Son of God, to the filthy Spirit of Belial that dwelled in him: And yet this man must be perfect, sinless, and infallible. But to let him alone with his father, the Devil, and to come to another, with whom I had some dealing by conference, and by questions and answers, and replies on both sides: This man was one Thomas Lawson, who had a companion with him; This man and his companion I find contradicting the other in two things. 1. Lawcock, he owns the sufferings of Christ, but not his dying; yet another time, both his suffering and dying: But Lawson scoffs at the sufferings and dying of Christ in the flesh, as none of his Cross, as you shall see in his papers: Here's no Harmony you see amongst the Quakers, but Quaker against Quaker, one against another. 2. Lawson's companion told me he was Christ, and what he spoke was Scripture; This Lawson yielded unto by his silence; But Lawcock denied this speech, and his brethren in it, though he said in effect as much, when he cried out; Before Abraham was, I am, yet he would not be Christ: Still here's Satan divided against Satan, and so it must be, that his Kingdom may fall. And yet these wretched men delude poor people, and say, that at the meetings of Quakers in the North, when there have been three hundred and five hundred Quakers together, they have been all of one heart, and one mind, and so they are indeed, being all under the power of the Prince of the air, the Spirit that now works in all the Children of disobedience, where I leave them in chains of darkness to the judgement of the great day.  
As concerning their questions propounded to me in writing, I gave them but a brief answer, not minding to make any thing public unto the world, knowing mine inability to come forth in print in the midst of such a variety of judgements abroad; yet receiving a reply from Lawson, full of lying and rail, and evil surmisings, I was pressed in my spirit to give some satisfaction unto my friends of these men's folly and madness, as also of mine own experiences in the deal of God with me, so far as concerns the matter in hand: And therefore, my dear hearts, put on the whole Armour of God, that ye may be able to stand in the midst of all the winds and storms of Satan's fury, lean to the Rock Christ, wherein is everlasting strength to keep you in this hour of temptation and confusion; Own the unity of the spirit, the seed of God in all your companions in tribulation, and make this the bond of peace. All ye whose faces are toward Zion, fall not out by the way: Live in peace and love. Though there be a variety of ways thither according to God's Divine dispensations, yet in all the ways of God there is an Unity and Harmony, as they tend to one point and centre of rest and joy in himself. Make him thine aim then, he is the Zion we are all going unto: Be not discouraged by the way, though some draw back, others grow weary, others step aside, others revile and blaspheme: Look thou to God, he is thy father, thou art his Son and Heir. Let all thy knowledge, and wisdom, and light, and graces, and comforts thou hast received from God, make thee not great and high, and something, but little, and low, and nothing still in thine own estimation: Take heed of Thorns and Briars, and Chaff, and this untoward generation of Godless, shameless men: And so I commend thee unto him, who is able to keep thee from falling, and to present thee blameless before the Throne of his glory, to whom be praise and dominion in the Church by Jesus Christ, throughout all ages, world without end.  
Thine in the Lord Magnus been.   

The scornful QUAKERS ANSWERED, And their railing Reply refuted.  
Quest. WHat is the first principle of pure Religion?  
Answ. The first principle of pure Religion is the Son of God dwelling in us: He is the band of union between God and us, or an Emanuel, God with us: He who lives in this principle is taught to be Religious: And so he is bound and tied by love to worship the Father in Spirit, who is the Centre, into which all Religion runs, and where all that is pure stays.  
Quest. What is the Yoke of Christ?  
Answ. It's the Father's work and will: This is easy to the Son, because of that spirit or principle of love that dwell's in him, to his Father, which moves him naturally and affectionately to do the will of his Father, and to finish his work: And this is the yoke that lies upon every Christian.  
Quest. What is the Burden of Christ?  
Answ. It's his sufferings under all the weaknesses, infirmities and sins of the world, from the beginning thereof to this very day, who is therefore called the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world: This is light to the invincible Spirit of Christ, who alone is able to overcome evil with good, though the least reproach or suffering be a grievous load and burden to the weak low Spirit of flesh and blood, which centres and lives no higher than self and this creation: And this is the burden of every Christian, which through faith is made light and easy to overcome as it is written, Whosoever is born of God overcometh the world, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 1 Joh. 3. 4.  
Quest. What is the Talon which to every one is given to improve?  
Answ. It's that measure of the light and truth which is given to, and manifested in every man which comes into the world; as it is written of Christ, He was the true light which lighteth every one who cometh into the world. John. 1. 9  
Quest. What is the Cross of Christ, and what doth it tend unto?  
Answ. It's the crucifying, dying, and suffering in the flesh, which the head and all the members must and shall pass thorough, or be baptised with, before they enter into the glory of the Father; which tends to the burning up of all fleshly visibilities, discoveries, enjoyments, dispensations that are temporal and shadowish, that the Father, and his Son, and Sons, may live in that oneness of spirit and glory, where God shallbe all in all.  
Quest. Who are they that bring their Talon out of the earth, it to improve?  
Answ. Those who through the eternal spirit arise from under all the rubbish of the elementary world, whence and where all bodies, by the strong Word of God, are made and live: That soul that is awakened and risen with Christ to live in the light of the inner world or new Creature, and to slide from thence forth unto the dark world in the works of righteousness and true holiness, is the soul that brings his Talon out of the earth, it to improve.  
Quest. Who are they that hid their Talents in the earth to their condemnation?  
Answ. Men that sin away the light and Spirit, or promise of the Father made out in their Spirits and consciences by the noble wisdom of God, wooing and importuning them within in the Centre of their souls to turn unto the Lord, and so love darkness rather than light to their own condemnation: or rather men who love to live below in flesh and sin, and this creation or world, rather than above with the Father and the Son, making out love, and truth, and grace in their Spirits to bring them reconciled to God, these are they who hid their Talents in the earth to their condemnation.  
Quest. Where is it, and by what that God speaks unto man?  
Answ. God speaks unto man within, there he stands in the gate of the soul, and by many invitations, wooings, operations, which are as so many Angels or messengers of love and life, he entreats men to come in and be saved; as it is written, Look unto me, and be ye saved, for I am a God, and there is none else: This inward speaking of God is backed likewise with outward speakings, from the heavens and earth, and things that are made from the Scriptures, which are a firm testimony and witness of the mind of God to man: sometimes from Mercies, sometimes from judgements, sometimes from the words or mind of God put into other men's months: All which variety of witnesses declare the one will and mind of the Father, which he is pleased more immediately to declare within by his own voice.  
Quest. What is that, which unto the gentiles is manifest, showing unto them what of God may be known?  
Answ. It is the truth of the Deity, or the eternal power and Godhead, which teaches them by the things that are made to own and glorify a Creator; and so the unthankful and stubborn are left without excuse. Rom. 1. 20. 21.  
Quest. What is its operation in all from the rising of the Sun, to the going down thereof?  
Answ. The light and truth of the Deity, which is manifested to, and shown in every man from the things that are made, teaches every man to own a God, and to worship him, and so to abstain from evil, and do good; which operation being choked and abused by most, hence these wallow in the mire of sin and wickedness and superstitious vanities, being given up thereunto by the Lord, as a just punishment for their loving darkness rather than the light of God.  
Quest. What is the flaming sword which turns every way to keep the tree of life?  
Answ. It may be the Administration of the Law within, which as a light or flame shows every man his sin and shame: and so, as with a sword, cuts him off every way in the midst of his best actions, performances and obedience, from entering into life by his own power: Or the fierceness in the anger of God, which turns every way to keep every uncleance person and thing from entering into the Paradise of God, to eat of the tree of life, till it be washed and cleansed from its filthiness; as 'tis written, Rev. 21. 22. there shall in no wise enter into the holy City any thing that is unclean, etc.  
Quest. What is the City which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt?  
Answ. All the unregenerate world, which are as Sodom and Egypt full of sin and wickedness; or the Antichristian formal Church, which struts it out with a show of wisdom, learning, letter, and History, as if it were a well built City, or a true Church of God, but within is Wolvish, Envious, Dogged, full of blood, cruelty and persecution against Christ, and every appearance of Christ in his saints: This is the great City, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where our Lord was crucified: And in her is found the blood of Prophets, and of Saints, and of all that are ssain upon the earth: In brief, Egypt and Sodom are the kingdom of flesh and darkness, where Christ and the true Church are presecuted, and crucified in Spirit.  
Quest. What is the language of Egypt?  
Answ. Egypt speaks nothing but bondage and war to the people of God: Egypt cannot endure that an holy Church should grow up in his dominions: he will murder Abel or the innocent still: Egypt is all for himself, to maintain himself in greatness, and pomp, and dominion in the world, to rule and be a great potent Lord in the flesh: If he preach, or pray, or read, or hear, or appear sometimes as a seeming holy man; yet all is aiming at his name, greatness, and credit in the world. His heart cannot cleave to and love the Son of God: He must persecute and devour the poor and needy in the earth. This is the language of Egypt, or that which Egypt declares.  
Quest. What is the cry of the wilderness, and what is the language of the wilderness, and whether thou wert ever in the wilderness, yea or nay?  
Answ. The wilderness unto some is a state of confusion, sin and death, where God is not at all remembered, minded, or known. The wilderness unto others is such a state, wherein the soul is awakened by the voice of Christ within to remember and mind the Lord, and in the midst of all its confusions to cry, and long, and wait for his revealing, coming, manifesting: And in this wilderness I have been, and here I have cried, been pained, and the Lord hath heard my supplication, and delivered me from my fears, and brought me out into a wealthy place, or into a condition of love, joy, & rest; and fullness in himself. Further, the wilderness unto others is a condition of temptation, which the Lord sometimes leads his people into, to try and refine them, and to make his might and power known in their preservation, deliverance, & salvation. Unto others yet the wilderness is a condition of solitariness and retiredness of spirit, where the soul is carried away from the fashions and practices of the world, as likewise above the tumults, rage, and violence of the world, sweetly to solace herself in her beloved, and to walk in his way, which is a way of peace, light, and holiness. The cry of the soul in this state of loneness is all for God, and the will of God, it's risen as it were out of the world, and gone away from all other company to enjoy a fuller sight of the Lords beauty, and to have a more exact communion with his Majesty: And this is a wilderness a gracious heart delights much to be in.  
Quest. What is the language of Canaan?  
Answ. In Canaan is heard the voice of peace, love, and meekness: Here's no judging, murmuring complaining, dividing, persecuting, murdering: These are the ways of Egypt and Babel. In Canaan there is rest from all the works of Egypt, and darkness: Here's unity in the midst of variety: Here all are looking into the oneness, into the pure image and nature of the Father; and this light keeps harmony and agreement between all the sons of Canaan: And so in Canaan there's joy, melody, singing Halleluja's: Here the world is not mentioned, flesh and blood is not at all remembered with delight, the former things are passed away, and all is become new: God alone is made mention of to be Lord and King, and set up upon the Throne for ever.  
Quest. What is the vail which divides between the holy and most holy?  
Answ. It's the flesh of Christ, and all outward dispensations, which divide and keep Saints whilst in weakness and bondage, though holy in some measure, from entering into the most holy, into the substance & truth itself, or into the choicest glory of the father. This vail of flesh in Christ was rend when he suffered death, or was crucified in the flesh: Through which death or rending of the vail of flesh, he entered himself, and made way also for us to enter into glory. Heb● 10. 19 20. Having therefore boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us through the vail, that is to say, his flesh: And when this vail of flesh, of letter, and shadows, and outward dispensations is rend, and crucified by the eternal spirit in the true Christian, than he the Christian enters into the holiest, into the glory and joy of his Father.  
Quest. What is the death which over all men is passed? and how camest thou to live?  
Answ. It's first the breaking of the body, or this earthly Tabernacle, which comes upon all without exception for sin, Rom. 5. 12. Secondly its the dying unto Paradise, and the Kingdom of God, which man hath drawn upon himself by his lusting after, and eating of the fruit of the four elements: By this lusting and eating he becomes infected & poisoned in his mind, and will, with the fruit of the Sun and Stars: And this is the taking and eating of the Tree of temptation, and his leaving the Tree of life, and the heavenly fruit: And thus he becomes an earthly man, and dead: Death sticks in his mind and soul, and man is dead to all feeding upon God, and the Son of God, who is the Tree of life. Man can no more feed upon the fruit which grows upon this Tree of life, which is Christ, till Christ awake and arise in the centre of his soul, and carry him through all the Trees of temptation, or the pleasures, pomp, and glory of the outward world, into the inward, or holy, pure element of this spiritual body, and pure nature, and there awaken him to eat of the Tree of life, and live for ever: And this is the way whereby I and all the Sons of God come to pass from the spiritual death into the spiritual life, in the pure nature of Jesus Christ.  
Quest. What is deaths reign from Adam to Moses? And to Moses how didst thou come?  
Answ. From Adam to Moses there was no law written without; all the law was within upon the conscience, here was the rule or law, which God gave the worlds to walk by: Now the world acting against this light and law within kept sin in the world from Adam to Moses: for till the law, viz. given out by Moses, sin was in the world, Rom. 5. 13. Now sin always brings men under the reign of death, and so death reigned over all from Adam to Moses: All had a law given within, otherwise they could have had no sin; for where there is no law, there is no transgression: Now men's breaking of this inward law was their sin, and this their sin brought them all under the power and reign of death: And thus it is still; though there had been no Moses to write God's commands in outward tables, or Scripture, yet the law being written within upon the conscience by the finger of God, we sinning against this law do plunge ourselves into the reign of death, wrath, and condemnation, we kindle the Root of the fire, and that being awakened makes our Hell, or self-comdemnation within, because we have sinned against our light: Now by this light and law within we come to know Moses, and that all the law she hath written are holy, just and good; because we find the same within, that he hath written without; and nothing without, but what is in spirit and power within.  
Quest. Who are they which sin not after the similitude of Adam's transgression, which till Moses death reigned over?  
Answ. They are infants in years, according to some, who, although they sin not actually after the manner of Adam, yet they have sin and death written in their nature, according to the weakness of this creation: Or they are infants in knowledge, who, although they have not such full discoveries of the mind of God, and such strength to stand as Adam had, and so their sin be not so great as Adam, which is to sin after his similitude, yet they have a plain law within, as before, which bids them not act, or eat that which the Lord forbids: They living contrary unto this law, fall into sin and death: And in this childish condition are we all sound, till the Lord quicken and save us.  
Quest. Art thou called immediately by the great God of Heaven and earth into the Ministry, yea, or nay?  
Answ. That Ministry I act in, I have the anointing of the Spirit which doth sufficiently warrant my call: But as for those, who are called through Arts and Sciences and men's ordinations without this anointing, I know they are the Pillars of Antichrist, which I cannot own for the Apostles of Christ: My calling teacheth me to renounce my fleshly wisdom, and to live upon the grace and love of God, commending that manifestation of the truth that is in me to every man's conscience in the sight of Christ.  
Quest. Hast thou seen God's face, yea, or nay?  
Answ. To see the invisible God with carnal eyes I never did, nor shall; for no man hath heard his voice, nor seen his shape: but with the enlightened mind I have in some measure seen his face, nay, his heart, in the precious revelations and discoveries of his Son towards me in love; which Son is the face, and heart, and brightness of God, opened in love, wherein he shows and speaks forth plainly his exceeding kindness and goodness to all his Children: This face of God I have thus seen, which is more to me than a thousand world's.  
Quest. Hast thou heard God's voice immediately from Heaven and earth, yea, or nay?  
Answ. I have heard his voice, as I have seen his face, viz. inwardly, spiritually; which voice of his hath fetched me out of the grave of darkness, sin, and misery, and translated me into the Kingdom of his dear Son, where I have righteousness, peace, and joy, and that in power, which makes these things in me unspeakable and full of glory.  
Quest. Who baptised John the Baptist?  
Answ. Even he baptised him by his Spirit into his administration, who sent him first forth to baptise with water; he being the first who was called to that baptism of water, had no need of the baptism of any other but of him who sent him.  
Quest. Whether is Jesus Christ the end of all figures?  
Answ. Yea, I look upon Jesus Christ as the end and fulfilling of all types and shadows, he being the substance, for whose sake all figures were ordained; and when he is come, the figure disappears, or the shadow flies away.  
Quest. Whether Jesus Christ baptised any with outward water, yea, or nay?  
Answ. We read that Christ was baptised himself with water by John, who was the Minister of water; but Jesus Christ himself never baptised, or administered water in his own person, John 4. 1, 2.  
Quest. Whether John was a Prophet? And whether jesus Christ be the end of the Prophets, and prophetical figures, yea, or nay?  
Answ. john was a Prophet nearer the more clear Revelation of jesus Christ than the rest, and therefore more in the light; for a greater Prophet than john hath not risen, and yet as other Prophets, he was one rather upon the account of the Law than the Gospel: For he who was least in the Kingdom of God, or administration of the Gospel, was greater than he, Matt. 11. 11. Now Christ is the end, or fulfilling of john, and the rest of the Prophets, and their shadowish ministrations, and all the Lords people under the ministration of Christ's reign within are made Kings, and Priests, and Prophets unto God in their own persons.  
Quest. Whether he, whose Commission is in Ink and Paper without him, be not a Minister of the Letter, and not of the Spirit, one that walks by tradition and imitation, and not by command, and so shut out of the true ministry?  
Answ. Such an one I look upon as a Thief and Robber, because not entering in by the door of the Spirit within into the sheepfold: And though these men speak the words of Moses, of Christ, and other holy men of God, yet having no experience of the truth and enjoyment of what they speak within, hence they can be but Lip-Ministers, and make but Lip-Christians, being rather mockers of Christ and his Spirit in the Saints, than Ambassadors from Heaven to awaken Christ in men's consciences, and to set him up to reign as King and Lord in men's Spirits, which is the end of the Lord by the Ministry of those whom he sends.  
Quest. Whether jesus Christ, who sent forth Disciples, sent them to spread abroad john and his Ministry, who was a Prophet; or himself, who was the end of the Prophet's greater than john, who baptizeth with the holy Ghost, in whom alone is salvation, yea, or nay; yet, who owns him sets every thing in its place, time, and season?  
Answ. The end of Christ's sending out to preach was, that thereby the Nations might be baptised, not into the name of john, or Peter, or james, or Paul, but into the name of God, that they might understand and know God, and jesus Christ whom he hath sent, that men might become the Lords Disciples, and not the Disciples of men; and so we find the Apostles not preaching up themselves, but jesus Christ the Lord, and themselves servants, Apostles, men sent to minister as they had received: And the main drift of their preaching we find was to declare the Gospel, glad tidings of grace and peace through Christ unto the Sons of men; to open the mystery of Christ which was hidden from former ages, and to entreat men through Christ to be reconciled unto God, to bring to a receiving all from Christ, and to a placing all in Christ, who of God is made unto all his wisdom, righteousness, and redemption, and that by way of Spirit and power, working all these in their Souls: In brief, Christ sent out his Disciples to declare himself, to preach salvation in his name, and to persuade the world to faith and meekness, and love and self-denial, etc. through their taking in Christ to work all these in their Souls: And yet they were to give every outward person, and ordinance God was to make use of, or had made use of before, its due respect, plate and season.  
Quest. Whether the baptism unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea was outward, yea, or nay?  
Answ. The baptism unto Moses in the Cloud and in the Sea I take not to be literal, but metaphorical, and a typical baptism. The Cloud typically holds forth the presence of God, overshadowing, protecting, and defending them from their enemies: And their passing through the Sea on dry ground, when their enemies were overwhelmed and drowned, holds forth the wonderful power of God in their deliverance and defence: These were two great Declarations of God's power, and providence towards that people, by which they were baptised unto Moses, that is, confirmed in the truth of his administration, and so taught to believe God and his servant Moses, whom he had sent by a strong hand to bring them out of Egypt into Canaan.  
Quest. Whether the one baptism which Paul spoke of who was not sent to baptise, was with outward water, or with the baptism of Christ, who is greater than John?  
Answ. The baptism which Paul calls one is the baptism of Christ upon all his, whereby they are baptised spiritually into an oneness of nature with himself; as their faith is one, so their baptism one.  
Quest. Whether that baptism which Peter witnesseth to have, which was not the putting away this filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, was with outward water, yea, or nay?  
Answ. This baptism the Apostle here speaks of must needs be an inward thing wrought in the soul by the resurrection, or appearing of Christ there in spirit, through whose coming the conscience comes to be cleansed from guilt, & shame, and fear, and so the soul can go unto God cheerfully and safely, as one saved through the baptism, or spiritual work of the Son of God within.  
Quest. Whether that cup of which Jesus Christ said, that henceforth he would not drink of the fruit of the wine, till he did drink it new with them in his Father's kingdom, was an outward cup, yea, or nay?  
Answ. This cup, and drinking in the Father's kingdom must needs be a spiritual cup, and drinking; for in the Kingdom of God there's no eating and drinking of earthly fruit, all is heavenly, and paradisical; there's no eating and drinking of any thing, but what flows from the nature and spirit, and fullness of the Father.  
Quest. Whether any outward cup be drunk in the Kingdom of God, yea, or nay?  
Answ. There's no carnal sensual cup, or liquor to be drunk in this Kingdom, but spiritual liquor only, poured out of a spiritual cup into a spiritual body.  
Quest. What is the flesh and blood of Christ, which except a man eat and drink he hath no life in him; which eating and drinking he that doth it, knows he dwells in Christ, and Christ in him? Whether this be outward bread and wine, yea, or nay? And whether his flesh and blood can be carried about in baskets and bottles, yea, or nay; seeing at Christ's preaching of this, the Jews, which had the letter, strove about that saying, And many of the Disciples murmured, and said, it was an hard saying, who could hear it, and turned away, and walked no more with Jesus?  
Answ. That flesh and blood of Christ which gives life to Saints must needs be spiritual, this is that which quickens, when the outward Sacramental profits little: this spiritual flesh and blood of Christ is his pure nature and virtue which creates life; quickens, nourishes, and feeds the soul of the Christian up in his spiritual life, and union with the Father: And when this spiritual nature, virtue, or body of Christ in spirit is given into the soul, than the soul can say in truth, I know the Son of God is come, and hath given me an understanding to know him that is true, and I am in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ: And this jesus Christ is the true God unto the Saint, and the eternal life of the Saint: and in this day the Christian knows that Christ is his by being in him, and he is Christ's by dwelling in him; and he, who knows not this, hath no true Christ nor life: This the Jews of old, and the Jews in spirit still look upon as an hard saying, that the very body and blood of Christ must thus be eaten in spirit, otherwise no eternal life: give them the flesh that they may be sensible of, as for this Jesus in spirit they cannot receive him, because they see him not, neither know him.  
Quest. The cup of blessing which Paul spoke of to the Corinthians, who were the Temples of the holy Ghost which they blessed, which was the Communion of the blood of Christ, and the bread which they broke: which was the communion of the body of Christ, whether was this an outward cup and outward bread, yea, or nay?  
Was that o●● bread which they were all partakers of outward, yea, or nay?  
The Cup of the Lord, and the Table of the Lord, which Paul spoke of to the Corinthians, was they an outward Cup and Table, yea, or nay?  
The Cup of Devils, and the Table of Devils, was they an outward Cup and Table, yea, or nay?  
Answ. I answer in brief, they are all to be understood of inward and spiritual things, though the outward figures and things are not to be contemned, so long as the Lord makes them a Table for his weak children to sit with him at, to give them out refreshing and comforts in their weakness: But when the Lord is clearly gone out of an administration, then that becomes through Satan's getting into it, a Table of the Devil, which he sets his dark children at, to cousin them with a show and shadow, when the truth, and life, and substance is gone.  
Quest. What is the beast which john saw, was like unto a Leopard?  
Answ. The beast is the wisdom and understanding of the flesh, or spirit of man, which in the various turn, wind, appearances, and come of it forth, according to the reason and wisdom, and apprehensions of men in the dark world of flesh and blood, is like unto a party coloured, or spotted beast, such as the Leopard is: Hence it's written, can the Leopard change his spots? Can the wisdom of the flesh, and the bestial man change his fowl and beastly abominations of all sorts, which stick and grow up in his nature? Besides. I have read of the Leopard, that it is an exceeding wild beast, that cannot be tamed, very furious and malicious against the very image of a man, and very cunning and crafty in catching of his prey: Such is the nature of fleshly wisdom and fleshly men, they cannot be tamed, but are still full of fury against the image, or true appearances of God in man, and very cunning to pray upon the righteous seed, seeking to devour the man-child as soon as ever he appears to be born in the world: This is the beast which is like unto a Leopard.  
Quest. What is the beast all the world wonders after?  
Answ. Some make him the Pope, but I never yet found all the world wondering after him, though he be the beast in an outward eminent figure, and have many worshippers and followers in the world: But the beast is the fleshly wisdom, or spirit of man, which is always setting up a false Christ or anointed one in the place and office of Christ unto us, either our own righteousness, or our own wit and carnal reason, which teacheth us to departed from God, and to subsist of ourselves, live of ourselves, be wise of ourselves, worship of ourselves: So that flesh with all the wisdom and power of it, is the beast that all the world willingly wonders after, insomuch that they are naturally constrained, compelled, and overcome to its obedience, which is their wondering after the beast.  
Quest. What is the beast, and what is the number of his name, whose name is 666?  
Answ. The number of the beast is the number of a man, though to those who are deceived by him, he appears as a God that cannot err; yet to the man that hath understanding, or his eyes opened through the anointing of God, he hath but the perfection and completeness of a man, who in the height of all his imaginary completeness and fullness in himself, and of himself, is but a poor, empty, miserable shadow, altogether lighter than vanity; This is the number, or sum of all the power and wisdom of the flesh; It is but an imagination of completeness and fullness, it is not perfection and fullness itself, and so it leaves a man where it finds him in a poor, miserable, imperfect, and undone estate: And therefore the number of the beast is but 666. it reaches not to the bringing of a man to the number seven, or to a state of perfection, rest, and fullness, but still leaves in the number 6. or in a state of weakness, bondage, misery, even like a poor wretched sinful man.  
Quest. What is the woman which john saw sit upon a Scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy?  
Answ. The woman is the false Antichristian Cainish Church, which rides in Pomp, and Triumph upon the stately wisdom and power of the flesh, and here cries out, what wisdom is like unto mine? What power able to make war with mine? And in this state and Pomp she rides on, crucifying to her utmost skill, all the appearances of Christ in the glory and Kingdom of his father, or all higher and lower discoveries of God in his Saints, breathing nothing but blood, persecution, and blasphemy against the Tabernacle of God, and them that dwell in Heaven: And so the false, and formal Church, and Christian are the great whore, who denies the Lord to be her husband, and being married to her own fleshly reason, and wisdom, she wholly bends the same against every beloved appearance of God, by persecution and blasphemy: This is the woman upon the Scarlet coloured beast, full of names of blasphemy.  
Quest. Whether any come to the opening and fulfilling of Scripture, and to see those things which john saw, but only those who have the same spirit, which john, and the holy men of God had, yea, or nay? And whether he be Christ that hath not the same spirit, yea, or nay?  
Answ. As all Scripture was given by inspiration, so only truly understood and known by inspiration: The Letter may be understood by the help of tongues, and sciences, of study and learning, and other men's interpretations, so far as these are lights to open the Letter: but the spirit and truth of Scripture cannot be seen and known, but by the breathe and operations of the same spirit, which the holy man of God had: And this is the Key of the Lord, which hath opened the Scriptures in some measure unto me, and through this power of the spirit of the Lord, I have seen the Scriptures in some measure fulfilled; And this is the power I wait upon to make good, and fulfil all that is written within and without, & he that hath not this spirit to rule over him in love, light, and life, is no true Christian, no true Christ, or anointed one of God.  
Quest. Whether as well he that pays Tithes, as he that takes Tithes, be not Antichrist, holding up the first priesthood, which took Tithe by a Law, and denying Christ the unchangeable Priest, who put an end to Tithe, to the first priesthood, and to the Law?  
Answ. If any take Tithes, as a Priest, of the Tribe of Levi, in a way of holding up shadows, and figures, and carnal ordinances, in room of the substance and truth of these, and looks more to his own gain than the things of jesus Christ, this man is an Antichrist, that denies Christ's coming in the flesh, and is a thief and robber, that comes not in by the door into the sheepfold, but some other way. But if a man take Tithes as a Tribute and portion of the earth, which the Lord hath reserved and given to him to nourish himself and his family, and the Church of God (for a Minister must be Hospitable) if a man take Tithes, though it be for preaching and his waiting upon the Ministry of the Gospel, to declare what he hath seen and heard of God, aiming only at the advancement of the Kingdom of Christ in the hearts of the people, and take only for his livelihood in the flesh, this man is no Antichrist that denies Christ's coming in the flesh; for the Gospel holds clearly forth a maintenance and double honour due to the preachers of it: And if but a tenth of old, were to be given for the nourishing of them that hold forth the shadow, surely not a tenth only, but much more ought to be given for the nourishing of them that hold forth the substance. And whereas it may be said that Ministers preach up themselves, and shadows still, not Christ the Lord, and themselves the people's servants for Christ's sake, and many thrust themselves into the office of the Ministry for a piece of bread, and take unto themselves this honour before they are called of God, for filthy lucre's sake: I answer, those that are found in this posture, I know there is a sad vial of wrath to be poured out upon them: as for mine own part, I find all sorts of people railing on me, and speaking all manner of evil of me, and though the pretence be Tithes, and other grievous things that their hearts have imagined; yet the truth is, it is not my Tithes, nor infirmities; so much as my light and freedom and enlargement, that makes my being an eyesore unto the world: For my taking of Tithes I know it is with so much moderation and respect unto all men's conditions with whom I deal, that no wise man or honest man can ever say I dealt harshly, or unbeseeming a Christian with him in this business of Tithes: But thou takest Tithes? Answer, Well I do, and for the present I find the Lord giving me this maintenance, as an encouragement from himself, and so long as I find it made clean, or sanctified to my use, and my spirit not defiled, nor divided from God by it, and God maintaining my liberty of conscience to serve him in my generation and place, so long I shall be free to take it with thankfulness, well knowing, that nothing is unclean of itself, but to him who esteemeth any thing to be unclean, to him it is uncleaness.  

The scornful QUAKERS railing Reply refuted.  
Tho Lawson.  
I Have read thy papers, and in them art thou seen to be full of lying, railing, accusing, condemning, according to the spirit of thy Father, who was a Murderer and a liar from the beginning: The truth thou canst not own in another, no more than the Jews could in Christ: The pride and haughtiness of thine heart hath deceived thee through hopes to Lord it in thy dark form, where thy folly is manifest to all: I call it thy dark form; where God is veiled, crucified, dead; and neither scripture, nor light within is made any more than a Ladder to help thee up into God's throne, and here Lucifer-like, thou must needs be in Heaven, and there thou seest all the ways and works that are done under the Sun, and here thou canst call all but thine own party, flesh, Devils, Sorcerers, and damnest all that wear not thy mark and form, and from thy presence they must go into the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, among the Drunkards and Whoremongers, & Dogs, and Murderers, and Idolaters, and Ranters, and Atheists, and whosoever loves and makes a lie: This is the language that flows from thy proud pen: See, read, consider thy papers, let the light that is in thee be judge, and the light that is in all men: And yet, like the Harlot, thou criest out aloud, such an one is an Whore, I am none: The Priest rails, scoffs, jeers, but my tongue is a wonderful stranger to all this: Thus a dark Whorish heart knows no shame: Michael durst not bring railing accusation against the Devil, but said, The Lord rebuke thee: He durst not rail against the very Devil, knowing that as he is a creature, he hath his life and being in God, but as he lives in himself, in his own will and pride, so he becomes a Devil: But this truth thou knowest not through thy darkness, and so art found railing, and that not at the Devil only, but men, who are made after the similitude of God; and yet it may be the Lord may rebuke thee. Though others cannot, I can willingly let thee alone without persecuting, imprisoning, banishing; I see all these things do but nourish Satan's Kingdom in every dark form, rather than pull it down; and therefore I can pray for thee, and do thee good, and show thee kindness, and leave thee to stand, or fall to the light of God in thee, which is thy judge.  
Rep. In the outside of thy paper, thou callest me Priest: but why is this name so odious to thee? Answ. Dost thou not know that all the Lords people are Kings and Priests? The name upon any other account I own not: The light within thee tells thee thou callest me Priest in pride and scorn.  
Repl. In thy preamble thou sayest, The just God of heaven and earth, into our hands in our measures the just balance hath committed, wherein all my profession, notion, and comprehension is tried and denied.  
Answ. First thy just balance thou gloriest in, is not the balance of the sanctuary, full of the light, truth, word, and power of God: But 2. It is the balance of thine own corrupt reason, fancy, dream, full of flesh and self, of thine own weakness, blindness, darkness: And so 3. This balance is not committed to thee from the just God, who abhors thy peevishness, folly, false visions, but from thy father, the Prince of darkness; he hath put into thy hand the unjust balance of thine own wisdom, which is enmity against God, and every appearance of God: And 4. in this balance of flesh and fancy, thou art found uncapable of weighing and trying the ways & workings of God in another. And so 5. In the midst of thy comprehending others, art thou comprehended and seen thyself, and laid open to thy shame amongst the Heathen. And so 6. Lastly, the balance that is just, which comes from God, hast thou lost, and so hast nothing to measure, and weigh things with, which is accompanied with the Authority and light of God: And hence all thy reply and answer to me is found to be airy, frothy, stuffed and filled with nothing but wind and scorn, and so thou goest on and says:  
Repl. My conversation is corrupt, and life unsavoury, and I am one in nature with all the Priests of the Nation.  
Answ. Here thou beginnest to show what thy balance is; being found presently in the corrupt will and life of the old accuser; And here thou art but the mouth and tongue of Satan, who is always accusing, and condemning, when God is forgiving and healing: That I differ from others in their corruptions, is more through the Lord's grace than my deservings: And this grace of the Lord is that which leads me out of the ways, customs, pride and pleasures of the world more and more; And yet I cannot say, I am pure without all sin and spot; for than I should make God like man, a liar, whose light word tells me otherwise; and yet notwithstanding all the corruptions thou layest to my charge, I find the Lord through grace still forgiving and healing, and warming mine heart with a strong thirsting after more of the power of godliness: And this keeps me from scoffing at any thing I see in thee, but the pride and folly which thou discoverest plainly; which makes thee cry out, I am rich, full, and have need of nothing, and yet knowest not that thou art poor, and blind, and miserable, and naked, and hast need of all things: which if thou knewest, would soon make thee meek, lowly, peaceable, gentle, doing good to all men, even thine enemies, which thou canst not do, and so art not like the heavenly father, Mat. 5. 43. 44. 45. Read that place if thou canst, and weigh it in the just balance, and put in thyself in one scale, thou wilt soon see how light thou art, and how thy selfish carnal nature fights with the generous loving nature of God, whom thou knowest not by living in his nature and spirit: And so to the Questions.  
Repl. In mine answer to the first thou scoffest at my saying, Christ is the first principle of pure Religion and criest out, O shame of my profession, who at the first would be at the Son the foundation in Zion, and know not that which turns the mind out of the earth, and leads to Sinai: There is a light which shines in a dark place; which, who are in it are in the welldoing, and in their measure in the pure Religion, and it who knows, in it they see, what the first principle is, and know thee to be a liar, which light leads unto the day Star, 2 Pet. 1. 19 Which light is before the day Star is come unto, which is the Son, and him who is come unto, is in the pure Religion.  
Answ. From a principle are derived two things. 1. The esse or being. 2. The cognosse, the manifestation, discovery or knowing of a thing to be what it is; Now according to both these Christ is the first principle of all pure Religion: It's he who begots and works it in the heart of man, and so brings it into being; and it is he who discovers and shows what the pure Religion is, and so brings it into knowledge; and this knowledge is drawn from a sight and feeling of the work itself upon the heart; and so to make some application of this to what thou sayest, and wonder'st so much at, that thou wilt be religious, and that in the best too, even in that which is pure, and that without the Son of God: We see, hear, read what Christ saith of himself, Mat. 11. 27. No man knows the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him: and john. 1. 18. No man hath seen God at any time, the only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him: and John. 14. 6. I am the way, the truth, and the life, and John. 15. 5. Without me ye can do nothing: surely then, if there be no knowing of the Father, no seeing of the Father, but by the Son; no coming to the Father, but by this way and means; no bringing forth any fruit, any thing that is pure without the Son, how comes it to pass, that ye must needs begin your Religion below, or without the Son? Must thy dark mind consult with flesh and blood to make thee Religious? Or must we needs go to Sinai (as thou intimates) to make us first Religious? Was not Paul there, and what did he learn, but to glory in that which afterwards was his loss and shame? Was he not a blasphemer, injurious, and a persecuter, till the Lord had mercy on him, and revealed his Son in him? Surely, methinks thou mayest easily learn this lesson from what is written, to make Christ the beginning of thy pure Religion, to make him the mover, the power, the principle, that first sets thy heart aright in Religion: And this thou art compelled to say in thy confused reply, That he who is come unto Christ is in the pure Religion, and so art judged out of thine own mouth to speak contrary unto thy own light: And though thou wouldst infer from the Apostles words, 2 Pet. 1. 19 That there is a light which shines in the creature before Christ come, yet that light thou art feign to acknowledge doth proceed from the Son, and lead unto him: so that Christ is still the Fountain, and first cause of light: and by the light of Christ within we come to see, and know, that the Scriptures are the sure Word of God, and so we are led into the pure Religion, according to what is written in the Scriptures of truth: and the end of this Scripture is again to turn us unto Christ, who is the spirit and truth of the Scriptures; and so Christ is still the first and last in all the discoveries we have of God: he is all the light we have, by night and day: and though the Scriptures are a precious light, yet all the light that is in them is but borrowed from the Son: and if we see them not, know them not in his light, and through his light, they may shine long enough before the day will break in our hearts; but when Christ leads us into the meaning of Scriptures, and brings us to live in the power and truth of them, which is himself; then by degrees it becomes day with us, and this day still leads us into the pure Religion, according to what is written within, and without; and when we wander in the least, is as a voice behind us, saying, this is the way, walk in it, this is the old way: And this voice of Christ alone hath such power in it, both to begin and perfect us in Religion, that without it, all we do is not well done, and so is but the sacrifice of the wicked, which is an abomination. And so to sum up this, know. 1. That ye cannot know the meaning of the Scriptures without Christ: 2. Ye cannot live the life of the Scriptures, without Christ lead ye into it: 3. Ye cannot be in the pure Religion, without Christ first work it, and bring it into being, and light in the heart: 4. Ye cannot be in the volume of the book in a clear reading of what is written, much less in the life and body of the book, which is Christ, the substance, without Christ himself manifested in you: And so thou, who seemest to be Religious, learn to bridle thine own tongue, otherwise thou dost but deceive thine own heart, and all thy Religion is vain: and learn to know thine own light, who, in thine answer to my ten queries about the light that is in heathens, and the light that is peculiar to the Saints of God, sayest, that the light of Christ is the only guide to them that follow it, and besides it, there is no guide to Jew, or Gentile: And so if this light of Christ be the only guide; surely it must be the only guide into all pure Religion, and so the first principle of that which is pure: And thou, who criest out, O shame, art judged out of thine own mouth to be shameless & impudent, in scoffing at the first principle of pure Religion to be the Son of God dwelling in us.  
Repl. In mine answer to thy second Question, thou deniest the Father's work and will to be the yoke of Christ, and tellest me, That I, who am a stranger to the first principle of pure Religion, from me is the yoke of Christ, and the burden of Christ hid, and so I am coming about the thing in words, but the thing itself is hid from me, etc.  
Answ. The Pharisees were full of questions; and in their fastings, disfiguring their faces, sad countenances, outside holiness, great abstinence, vain repetitions, striving and contending against every thing but what themselves did, or spoke, were a fit figure of this questioning generation: Thou dark Pharisee, thou lookest so much upon thy questions, thou canst not look at all upon the answer: If thou speak of the Person of Christ, the Mediator, which thou deniest, his work was to glorify his Father on earth, to finish the work which he gave him to do: If thou speak of Christ the manifestation of the Father in his Children, his work is there likewise to do the will of his Father, by subjecting the creature to the yoke, or will of God, that God may be glorified: so that the Father's work and will is Christ's yoke, which he was contented to be subject unto: And this is the Christians yoke, that Christ teaches the soul wherein he lives, to put his neck under, and be subject unto: And so the yoke of Christ, what was it, and what is it, but to be subject to his Fathers will? Not to be his own, but his Fathers: I came not to do my own will, but the will of him, who sent me. But what was the work of God which Christ had to do? Answer, It lay in two things: 1. To bear our griefs, and carry our sorrows, to be smitten, wounded, and grieved for our iniquities, to bear our sin, and all the sorrow, grief, and Hell, due unto us for them. 2. His work was likewise to make reconciliation, and peace manifest unto the World, and to work men's hearts into a belief of what he hath done and wrought for them to bring about their deliverance and salvation: Wert thou rightly acquainted with this work, and the meekness, and lowliness of the person, who wrought it, thou wouldst soon see this to be a great yoke and task to come under, and do: But this is History; and to show thyself wise, this is trampled under thy feet, and of no account with thee, and so thou deniest the Lord that bought thee; and in thy dark fancy leapest into the mystery, and sayest, I see not that which turns the creature into the work and will of God: Here thou art upon the light within, and th●s thou art still dreaming of, though thou know not what it is, nor whence it comes: for this would never move thee to slight the letter, the History, the blood of Christ without, but would bring thee into a rejoicing in all the Father's work and will, which the Son lived in.  
Repl. Further thou sayest, The yoke of Christ is where the work and will of the Devil is lived in; for Christ is the true light.  
Answ. And so say I too: The work and will of God ought to be lived in by that man, who wrists his neck from the yoke, and scorns to be subject unto God, as his father: And thus the light tells me it is with thee, thou livest in the nature which spurns off the yoke, living in pride, and high conceit of thine own worth, in haughtiness, envy, and strife, and this makes thee fancy thyself to be a Christ and God; and so instead of judging thyself, and confessing thine own vileness, and nothingness, thou must speak evil of thy brother, and condemn all besides thyself; Nay, God, and Christ, and Scripture, and light within must all concur to set thee up upon the Throne, to be the only judge of the world, otherwise be all Anathema: and thus instead of putting thy neck under the yoke of Christ, and learning meekness and sweetness out of his nature, thou puttest thy neck under the work and will of the evil one, and so makest good thine own words in thyself, that the yoke of Christ is there, where the work and will of the Devil is lived in.  
Repl. Further thou sayest, I love darkness, mine own ways more than the light, and Heifer-like I wrist my neck from the yoke, which limits the carnal, and puts a stop to the earthly mind.  
Answ. Thou that judgest another, and dost the same, dost thou think to escape the judgement of God? I know, I have no good thing in my flesh, no more hast thou, therefore let us bewail it together, Rom 7. 18. to 24. But though there be nothing good in the first man, yet in the second all is good, and through him the first is limited, stopped, and stayed in my spirit, though thou see it not: and he teaches me to tremble indeed, and to abhor myself, and mine own ways, and yet to delight in the Law of God in the inner man; and this is the yoke I desire continually may be about my neck.  
Repl. Further, thou sayest, I am telling of that faith which gives victory over the world, and yet am found in the pollutions, ways, customs, and pleasure thereof, and am a covetous hireling.  
Answ. I know the light within, which is much in thy mouth, but never in thy heart, tells thee no such news, neither do I care much to answer such accusations, knowing full well from whence they come, and whither they go, and these I shall never be without whole volumes of, whilst I meddle with this unreasonable generation: But know to thy sorrow, all thy railing, and accusing, torments me not, hurts me not, nay, it does me much good: This I see through faith, and this faith of mine remains as a Bulwark against all thy rage, and the rest of the world.  
Repl. Thou sayest, I scoff at such, who come into the Doctrine of Christ.  
Answ. Thou blind Pharisee, how darest thou talk of the Doctrine of Christ, who deniest his person, and sufferings in the flesh, and sayest, Christ suffered not, no it was that only which was born of the Virgin which suffered, and yet thou mayest hear even this also called Christ the Lord, Luke 2. 11. Wilt thou talk of yea, and nay, and thou, and thee, and yet deny the great Declarations of the Gospel as no true Doctrine: Thou blind guide, know that thou art ever out of the Doctrine of Christ, and when thou criest out, lo here, lo there, I am Christ, come buy all of me, this is a Doctrine I cannot but slight; nay, abhor, and that because it is not according to the Doctrine of Christ: and thy proud spirit the Lord abhors, which must pick and choose, and observe here and there a letter, or phrase of the Gospel in the outward man, when as in thine heart thou deniest the high great things of the Gospel, and so art straining at a Gnat, and swallowing down a Camel.  
Repl. But I live in pride, and devour the creation upon my lusts, and think it strange that others run not into the same excess of riot.  
Answ. My rejoicing is this, the Testimony of a good conscience, that from the day of my beginning to taste of the love of the Son of God, I could never slight his poorest Members under any form, but if many have slighted, abused, and disowned me, because I have seen their nakedness, this their weakness I cannot help, all that I wish to them all, is health and salvation in the Lord.  
As for my devouring the creation, and thinking much of others, because they run not with me into the same excess of riot: All this proceeds from thy darkness, which is the strongest power that rules thee; and when thou hast little to say, thou sayest the old lesson over again, and confutest me passing well with rail and slanders; this darkness in thee can see no faults at home, nor cover any fault abroad: Neither do I desire thee to spare me, for I see thou hast no love, or light that overcomes in thee, therefore go on; when thine envy dies, thy form will whither; for envy is the support of thy form: If thou hadst the faith of Gods elect, which thou sayest I am a Reprobate unto, that would work in thee by love, and this love would be universal to all the seed of God in any form, or way of God, and so thou wouldst with the Apostle become all things to all men, that thou mightest gain some: But in this there is a great mystery, which thou canst not see through the scantiness of thy love, which must have all look with one face, or form, otherwise it cannot love.  
Repl. Thou tellest me, I say, the Cross of Christ is the crucifying, suffering, and dying in the flesh, etc. and in thine answer thou sayest, Behold my ignorance again appears, (this he scoffs at three, or four times, that the Cross of Christ should be his sufferings,) and so to be alive in the flesh, am I made manifest, and dead to the life of God.  
Answ. The Cross of Christ comprehends three things in it.  
1. His sufferings for us in the days of his flesh, from the beginning of his appearance, to his Crucifying at Jerusalem.  
2. His sufferings in us, during the time of our stay in Sodom and Egypt, all which is the time of our ignorance and darkness, wherein we crucify the Lord of glory; now we live, flesh, and sin flourishes, and Christ is as one crucified, dead, and buried unto us.  
3. It comprehends our sufferings in the flesh after his example, which is our witnessing his Cross, and this gins when Christ arises from death to life in us, and appears reigning; Now we suffer and die with him, and are contented to be emptied of all our glorying in the flesh, as Christ was, this is the time of our suffering, and of Christ's living; And this suffering in our sinful flesh and nature, is the happiest day with us that ever began; For this suffering goes before our glory, and always ends in the Crown: For if we suffer with him, not only in reproaches, revile, and persecutions without from the world, but likewise inwardly, in having all our glory stained, and our lusts, and sins ruined; if we thus suffer, we shall likewise be glorified together with him: And now to apply this to what thou sayest; The sufferings of Christ in the first of these senses, I know, is made as a thing of nought with many a carnal heart, who looks upon this only as a figure, type, and shadow; as if Christ came into the world to suffer so much at the hands of sinners, only to act his part upon a stage, and so after a flourish to go out, and to purchase thereby no redemption for the poor sons of men: But friend, look into the Scriptures, and be ashamed of thine ignorance in this matter, was all this no suffering of Christ, no part of his Cross? Doth not Peter tell us, Christ suffered for us in the flesh, 1 Pet. 4. 1. and was there not a real thing done by it? And therefore the Scriptures say, once he appeared in the end of the world, to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, once he appeared: And in another place, the way into the holiest is by the blood of Jesus; not by our blood, as if we were our own Saviour's, but by the blood of Jesus: And Christ laid down his life, a ransom for many: And we are redeemed, not with Gold and Silver, but with the precious blood of the Son of God: Why cannot all this Doctrine be remembered, as well as thou and thee? Is not this that Cross of Christ, which is foolishness to them that perish, and a stumbling block to the wise Jews? And did not the Apostle preach through this Cross reconciliation to the world, and forgiveness of sins to all that believe, Rom. 3. 24, 25. Eph. 1. 7. 1 Joh. 10 7. Heb. 9 22. to the end, 10. 10. Do not all these places speak of Christ's crucifying and sufferings, in which cross lies the foundation of our comfort and salvation? And must all this stand only for a figure and cipher? Is thine heart so lifted up to despise what Christ hath done, and suffered for thee? Surely then thou hast no lot nor portion in this matter: But all this is history, and hath wrought in me (thou sayest) we dying and suffering in the flesh, and so I am still a stranger to the cross of Christ: But friend, before thou judge another, judge thyself, and lay thy foundation low, otherwise thy building will fall: Lay it in the blood of Christ, otherwise there's no remission, no salvation: Then descend into thine own heart, and see how Christ hath lain bleeding under his cross, how thou hast made him to serve with thine iniquities, and whether this have touched thine heart to bleed with him, to suffer, and die with him in thy flesh, 1 Pet. 4. 1. And consider now, if thy pride live, thou thyself, and thy will, live, than Christ is still under his cross to thee, and thou canst not bear witness unto his cross, but if thou, even thou thyself art dead, and crucified with Christ, than thou knowest his cross, and art conformable to him in death; and then thy sin and flesh will die, and thy painted holiness, thy blameless life, thy strictness, righteousness, and all thine observations will die, and whither too in justification, as it was with Paul, Phil. 3, 7, 8. And so thou wilt glory in nothing but Christ, and what he acts for thee, and works in thee, who was dead, but now is alive for evermore; and so thou wilt empty thyself of thyself, thou wilt be nothing, base, and vile in thine own eyes, humble, meek, and lowly: But this thou art a stranger unto, and see the root of thy sins remains within, in the pride of thine heart, and this makes thee bind heavy burdens upon others, but if they want thine help, thou wilt not touch it with one of thy fingers: they must look for nothing but Pharaohs cruelty and chiding: As for mine own part, I look for nothing from man, my help is in the name of the Lord, and my share in the cross and death of Christ, and in his resurrection; I look for no help from man, who is a liar: And this liar in thee tells thee, I am an enemy unto the cross of Christ, live in the flesh, dead to the life of God: But to thee I say, so long as mine own heart condemns me not, I can see mine enemy is slain, my will crucified, and I am quickened to pass more and more into the life of God; A sense of this within upon my spirit makes void all the accusations and condemnations of the world.  
Repl. But thou tellest me, I mind earthly things, my God is my belly, & I have got the Tithes of two Parishes to maintain me in pride & fullness.  
Answ. Though the old man mind the earthly with thee, yet Christ in me minds the heavenly, and he teacheth me to make the Father of all my comforts, not my belly, my God: Further know, my Tithe of two Parishes is not so much of mine own getting, as thy Pig, and Duck, and maintenance thou gettest from silly women in their husband's absence, for saying an old tale ●ver that thou hadst said forty times over before: If thou wilt know where this was, ask thy conscience, and that will tell thee: As for that providence that feeds me and thee, thou knowest it not, and so art angry at all which God gives unto thy fellow-servant.  
Repl. Further (thou sayest) I reproach such, who run not into the same excess of riot with me.  
Answ. As for excess in evil, the grace of my God teacheth me to abhor it, and so I cannot choose but reproach such with it, who run into it; but if I see men modest, sober, and scrupleing outward things, as Tithes, or the like out of mere conscience, such I cannot but own and love, especially, if I see them free from pride and glorying in what they do, which is the spoil of all.  
Repl. But thou seest destruction to be mine end (thou sayest) and an Antichrist I am, and all Tythe-mongers.  
Answ. Yet surely with God there is mercy, and I shall look to him, not man, to be saved: Further, thou knowest he is an Antichrist, who exalts himself, and denies the Father and the Son, this is Scripture; not he, who takes Tithes, or denies Tithes, that's not Scripture; And so though thou deny Tithes, yet thou art still an Antichrist, who exaltest thyself, not the Father and the Son; Therefore look to it, that destruction and condemnation be not thy portion for ever.  
Repl. Further, thou sayest, though I have glorious words of Christ, yet I know not the Cross of Christ, being alive in the flesh, not crucified, not dead to sin, for where the dying is, that nature is limited, etc.  
Answ. Here thou makest a vain repetition of Words, and, like the Pharisee, thou canst acknowledge no truth in another, for this would spoil the sale of thy perfect form: Hadst thou read mine answer with understanding, thou mightest have learned in it, that the Cross of Christ must be passed under by every truly anointed Christian, as well as by Christ, the head; And so we must suffer in our flesh, as he did in his flesh, and when we thus suffer, the man of sin is crucified and limited: This thou mightest have seen in mine answer, hadst thou eyes to see, but the pride, and fullness of thy fleshly heart hath closed them up; As for my dying, and suffering in flesh, and sin, I desire the just God, not unjust man, to be the Judge; he knows what sin is, and the dying is, but the heart of man is deceitful above all things, and knoweth nothing by nature of the spiritual things of God: If thou hadst the Lord, the just Judge, in the midst of thy spirit quickened, he would have shaken thee out of thy earthly heaven, and digged up that root of bitterness out of thine heart, which springs from the bottomless pit in thee, which root hath been spared through thine own indulgence to thyself, as that within thee bears thee witness.  
Repl. Thou tellest me, The cross is foolishness to me.  
Answ. It is so to reason in me, but to faith, it's the power of God, and the wisdom of God: to thee indeed it is foolishness, who instead of believing in the cross of Christ, makest nothing of the blood of Christ shed at Jerusalem, and so art fond prying into the mystery, before the foundation be laid.  
Repl. Thou sayest, When I am searched into, I am found an Alien to the ground of truth, and yet through the pride of mine heart, I said to such as I had formerly bewitched through my lies in hypocrisy, that the questions were low and simple things.  
Answ. Thou, I say, art not capable of discerning, either the truth, or an Alien from it, who hast no other balance, but thine own weak reason, and dream to weigh things with; As for my bewitching any through my lies, let them speak and show me what error, or sin, or mischief I ever persuaded them unto: If they came to me, they were welcome, if they are nearer to God, 'tis well; if further off, that's ill: I never did much glory in their company, since I found them carried about with wind and fables; As for thy questions, thou seest I make a sober answer without bitterness, or railing; though some of them I found alike, and some of them I know not what: This I know will grieve thee, to see thy glory stained and slighted never so little, seeing thou art the Pharisee that gloriest in thy questions.  
Repl. Thou sayest, The least measure of the life of the kingdom is hid from me.  
Answ. The life of the kingdom gins in the cross of Christ; since this hath had its power in me to my crucifying and slaying in any measure, I have found the life of the kingdom springing up, and in this kingdom I have some measure of righteousness, peace, and so it is not altogether hid from me: But thou rebellious wretch, where wilt thou begin to enter into the kingdom where life is, who lookest upon the cross of Christ as a foolish thing, and makest his sufferings, and crucifyings in the flesh no cross, no part of his cross; and so swinelike tramplest under thy feet the precious blood of the Son of God, and makest it veil to thee, & so knowest not where life gins: though the cross of Christ, without in the flesh, and history thou mayest read, and learn exactly too, and yet not begin the life of the kingdom, without the virtue and power of it crucify thyself, and flesh, and arm thee with the mind of Christ, to empty thyself of all thy glory, and to humble thee at the feet of God to death, as Christ did.  
Repl. But thou sayest, I use my tongue, and say, the Lord saith, when I have nothing but the letter, and harlot-like trim myself with it, and sit in an high seat in my imaginations, even above the seed, which by the fowls of the air is devoured.  
Answ. The letter of the Scriptures, being a declaration of the mind, and love of God to man, I look upon as one of the choice vessels of the Lords sanctuary; and the flesh, body, and sufferings of Christ to purchase, and make peace for us, I look upon as a vessel, without which the Lord's sanctuary cannot be furnished with the Oil of life, or the beginnings of salvation: This letter concerning Christ, especially, together with all the rest of the Scriptures, I look upon as a precious mercy, and light unto the Sons of men; And yet all this, without the meaning and fulfilling of Scriptures in us, and to us, by the anointing of the spirit, avails nothing unto our salvation and inward consolation: so that letter and history, joined with the spirit of the Lord, opening, and sealing the meaning and substance to my spirit, is the Word of the Lord to me; And friend, this tongue of mine, which thou sayest I use, was given me to this end, to use against all such, as shall no less than commit fornication with the letter, when it seems to favour their weak imaginations and forms, but yet cannot endure to unite with the meaning, and mystery couched, or veiled under the letter; And thus it is with the Quakers in their carnal tremble, Cattle of Tithes, Priests, the word Master, Father, the titles of thou, you, yea, nay, and the like. In these things their souls are drunk with the letter, and made they are against all interpretations and meanings put upon the letter, though by the Lord's spirit; but in the great things of Christ, and resurrection, and judgement, and heaven, and hell after this life, here the letter is profanely trampled upon, slighted, abused, contradicted; and their fancy, meanings, and sensual interpretations must be all the Scripture in such matters; and so sometimes they are glorying in the letter, but cannot endure the meaning, and fulfilling; at other times they are glorying in the mystery, and meaning, but cannot endure the letter: See here, friends, what a nose of wax, as the Papists call it, ye make of the Scriptures of truth, and how they are wrested by you, as by all other dark forms and professions, only to uphold your golden image, that your own fingers have made: This I cannot pass by in you with silence, neither that high seat ye seek to creep into, even the seat of God, crying out lo here, lo there, I am Christ, I am wise, I am perfect, without all spot: All this is so manifest against both, letter, and meaning of Scriptures, that though I should hold my peace, the stones in the street would cry out against you. And so thou, who sayest, I harlot-like trim myself with the letter, take heed how thou harlot-like trimmest thyself with God's glory, that others may ignorantly worship thee for God, who art a poor broken idol: And take heed how by talking of a light within, which I own in its place, thou profanely despisest what is written in the letter, seeing that also is a light that shines in a dark place, and so to be owned of us too: And take heed, how in thy high-flowen lofty spirit thou be not found in that which thou condemnest in another, viz. among the fowls of the air, seeking to devour all the precious seed of God, that is sown in any form, or people besides thine own.  
Repl. But I would deceive such, thou sayest, who are going right on their way.  
Answ. If by way thou understand a following of Christ in the way of life, such I cannot deceive; for no man can pluck such out of Christ's hand, he and his father are greater than all, and sufficiently able to preserve all theirs from all delusions, and pollutions of men: If thou mean by their way, man's way, or thy way, which is a way of sense, and reason, and flesh, such as are going in this way, my desire is to undeceive: But in any way of God be as strict, and holy as the will, or rather as the grace of God shall teach you to be, only have a care, that ye begin not in the spirit, and end in the flesh, and so stick in the washing of the cup, or platter, or outside, when the heart is proud and lofty, and doth all it doth to justify itself with the proud Pharisee.  
Repl. But thou sayest again, I know not the Cross, which is the power of God to them that are saved, and the blood of his Cross, who makes peace I know not, and so am unwashed in the blood of the Lamb, a Sow wallowing in the mire, that's my figure: I wallow in pride and covetousness, etc.  
Answ. Through the blood of the everlasting covenant, I have seen and believed the love that God hath to me, and I own the blood of his Cross, who hath made peace for me: This, through faith in it, becomes the power of God to save me; and this Cross, having its efficacy upon my Soul, becomes the ruin of Satan's Kingdom in my flesh: And now I am not ashamed to tell thee, I know no mire I wallow in, but that of scandals, reproaches, accusations, slanders from Satan and his Spirit, who rules in the dark world; and yet through the power and virtue of the Cross, am I freed from fear of this mire, and this power carries me forth out of the mire of corruption, and teacheth me to die daily, to live more to him, and in him, who is my life and Saviour: And this I know is accepted, according to what I have: And now, who art thou that condemnest? It is God that justifies, and sets me free from the reign of sin and death, though I find still enough in the flesh within me, to keep me humble and low, yet thou, who wilt needs be my judge, know, that in the midst of all Satan's rail, and accuse, and condemnings of me by thee, I can sweetly behold the Lord causing all these things to work together for my good, and easily making void thy condemnations.  
Repl. Further, thou tellest me I take upon me to tell what the flaming sword is, and guess one thing and another thing.  
Answ. Here thou art still in the image of thy father, either railing, or scoffing, when thou knowest not what to reply, or say. It seems thy questions were so deep in thy conceit, that none could answer them, but by guessing, and so they might be in thy double doubtful sense: Didst thou ever hear of the Oracles of old among the Heathen, whither people resorting to ask the event of things, the subtle Devil always gave forth his answers in a double doubtful sense, and by this trick he kept up his credit in that blind generation: Just like his answers then are thy questions now, always taken in a double sense, and when they are answered in the Letter, than thou fliest unto the spirit; and when they are answered in the spirit, than thou fliest unto the Letter; and so like thy father, between both, thou seekest to maintain thy credit among thy blind friends: for that's thy God, thy credit; and yet it may be God may open thine eyes, I can but guess at it, seeing thou hast so willingly denied the Lord that bought thee: But to thy reply that may be doth not make mine answer a guess, but lets thee understand, that the flaming sword is a real thing in both those senses I named: And with this sword God will confound and destroy all proud persons and things for ever; And though thou see it not yet, my joy is, that this sword of the Lord hath kept me from the forbidden Tree, and put me in mind of the new and living way of coming to the Tree of life, which is by the blood of Jesus: Thus the Law, and the fierceness of the wrath of God, which cuts me off every way from entering into life through mine own power and merits, puts me upon the way of the Gospel and free grace, which is, to enter into life by believing on him, who justifies the ungodly, and so to be saved by the power and merits of Jesus Christ: And though thou tell me of deceit, guile, covetousness, hypocrisy, doubtfulness, which the sword takes hold of; Yet I tell thee again, the sword of the Lord in me hath cut down the Tree, where these things grow, and I am risen from their power, and covet daily to find the power of the Cross, to crucify these things in me more and more, that so I may be more freed from all these works, which the sword takes hold of, and so jacob's portion, even the Lord, is still mine for ever, notwithstanding all thy guessing at my pride, covetousness, etc.  
Repl. Another great fault thou findest with me, is, that I am called of men Master, which Christ's forbids.  
Answ. Sometimes thou art in the meaning, and deniest the Letter, as in the Cross of Christ; here thou art low in the Letter, but deniest, or else knowest not the meaning; and therefore art thou found in the thing and power, of the name Master, but grudgest another the form, or name outwardly of Master: Thou sayest I am called Master, and so I am through man's courtesy without any affectation of mine: But thou thyself lovest to be the Master and Father of another's faith, the Christ, the high one, which Christ forbids; though thou art a poor drop, a worm defiled with errors, blindness, and sins like others of the sons of men.  
Repl. But thou sayest, I am telling of the 3. principle of the elementary world, of the strong word, and much more, which I received from the mouth of the German writer I. B. not from the mouth of the Lord.  
Answ. As for my using an expression, which sets forth the life of a truth, what matters it whose the words were: If I had borrowed an answer out of Behemen, I should soon have heard thee set down the place; which had been something indeed, though I know it as lawful for me to use another man's words and speeches, so as I am made one with the thing in mine own spirit, as it was with Paul, to use the saying of an Heathen Poet.  
Repl. But thou tellest me I am telling of the language of Egypt, and in the same thing I witnessed against, am I found.  
Answ. Here thou seemest to confess contrary to the mind of thy father, that I speak a truth, yet to save thy credit, because thou thyself art guilty of the language of Egypt, thou sayest, I have got the language of the Israel of God, but the Egyptian speaks them: Is not this a brave come off? But stay notwithstanding this fine trick, thou mayest still be an Egyptian; For the Egyptian is one, who wars in his heart against all the Church of God, that grows not up out of his form: And the Egyptian is one, who for uniformities sake, can endure to hear of no variety of gifts, dispensations, or administrations of God: And thus thou, and thy sect, are in the proud Egyptian spirit: I know other forms have too much of the Egyptian too; and this makes them have bitter envyings and strive one against another; but the Egyptian in thee exceeds them all: for thou, Diotrephes-like, lovest the pre-eminence, thou must be the top and head of all; and so art breathing out fury and madness against all others, under what form, or way soever, as if God must needs forget all to honour thee.  
Repl. As for any thing arising, which strikes at my images, idols, groves, and makes me angry, as thou sayest:  
Answ. Let the Lord arise, and sweep them all clean away, I shall not murmur, but be glad to see the Lord exalted within and without, and to see all the Sons of God learn to know one another more in spirit, and in the Lord; less in flesh and form: Neither is there in me any war at all against any appearance of God in thee, or any other, but only against the Egyptian that exalts himself in any. But thou tellest me.  
Repl. I preach and pray for greatness.  
Answ. And yet I tell thee, if that had been mine aim, I might have been as great in esteem as other men; But on the contrary, I am content to be despised, hated, and evil spoken of by all the Egyptians in the world. But,  
Repl. I give flattering titles, and use heathenish words of salutation, which I have no example for in Scripture.  
Answ. Something thou must say, because thou art an Egygtian, If thou say thou to me, or you to me, the Greek hath but one word for both, and both is all one to me, who knows the Kingdom of God stands not in observation; If thou say, yea, or yes, nay, or no, all is one to me: for Christ aims at nothing but this, that men should be faithful and plain in all their words and carriage, one towards another: And if thou pluck off thine hat, or not, all is one to me, though another it may be cannot bear it: If thou wilt be like the Horse, or Mule, without wagging, moving, speaking, for fear of offending thy dark fancy in being guilty of saluting, then be so: It becomes thy religion well, to be like the beasts, unreasonable. There is example enough in Scripture for all the salutations I desire, or use: but thine eye is Divine, and thou takest so much only, as will serve thy turn, and no more: but a little to help thee, though I cannot flatter thee, read, Gen. 32 4. and 33. 4. to 16. when thou hast made good use of these two Scriptures, to do thee good, I shall show thee more.  
Repl. Further, about mine answer to what the language of the wilderness is, thou pretendest how that I conform myself to the fashions and practices of the world, contrary unto mine answer, and whether that be so, or no, than biddest my conscience, and all that know me judge.  
Answ. Friend, thou keepest much ado about my conscience, feign thou wouldst be Judge and Master there: But my conscience watches to hear the Lord, not man, speak; unto him it boweth, not to thy broken idol: And that within me, and all thy friends that know me, cannot but bear me witness, that through the grace of God, I am made to walk much contrary unto the world: I do not say I have gotten a full conquest over all the Relics of the world in me, and yet through the grace of God, I can see the world under my feet; and I can see the Lord at this work of crucifying me unto the world, and the world unto me more and more: And this is the ground of all my glorying in that, wherein I appear contrary unto the world. Further, thou sayest I told thee:  
Repl. There was a time when I was much troubled about taking of Tithes, oppressing of people, and about fashions and ways that were lived in, so that I could not sleep in the night, and that I was minded to take myself to some honest calling to provide for my family.  
Answ. Here thou hast served me as thou dost the Scriptures, somethings thou hast added, and somethings thou hast left out: The truth is, I heard a great clamour, as I still do, about Tithes, what an oppression and grievous thing it was, as men pretended: this made me wait to hear, what the Lord would speak touching this matter; and through waiting, I found this great outcry against Tithes to be a wile of Satan, to dishearten, and destroy the best of the Ministry, that in their ruin every carnal form might advance itself, till all were confounded; and further I learned, that few scrupled Tithes out of pure conscience and tenderness, but out of mere covetousness and envy: And in this manifestation I have freedom to take it, and yet I oppress none: & thou who criest out so much upon Tithes, as if all the world were reform, if Tithes were taken away; Oh this unclean filthy thing called Tithes! Friend, look a little into the Gospel, and thee thou shall see it manifest, that there is no Person, place, or thing without can defile a man, only that which defiles is within, and comes from within, Mat. 13. 11, 20. and Act. 10, 12. to 29. There thou mayest read of Peter's scruple of going unto the Gentiles, that were legally unclean, and how the Jews in the next chapter scrupled the same, Act. 11. 2, 3. And yet afterwards God makes it clear to them by his spirit in a vision, that what they scrupled as unclean, he had made clean: therefore friend be not too hasty and angry, that the unclean thing of Tithes, as thou sayest, is not yet taken away: cry not out so greedily, 'tis swine's flesh, 'tis an abomination; for thou knowest not the freedom of the Gospel in outward things, where the conscience is made clean, neither dost thou know, but that which thou criest out so much against, even Tithes, is made clean in thy brother's conscience.  
Repl. But thy heart is hardened, tenderness lost, thy conscience seared, and now in the streets of the great City hast thou slain the witness.  
Answ. Whilst I was in the great City, I know the witness was slain, Christ lay as one dead and put in his grave to me: but since the Fathet was pleased with a strong hand to bring me out of Egypt, and to lead me unto Canaan, I find the witness raised from death to life in me, and he followeth me with goodness and mercy; though Satan and the world with violence and fury: This witness within, Christ in me, keeps my heart soft, my conscience tender; and he is mine, and I am his, and with him there is mercy that he may be feared; and he keeps me out of the great City Sodom, that he may live and reign in me for evermore. But thou tellest me.  
Repl. I have liberty to act unrighteousness: thou art merry in the flesh, thou canst laugh and jeer tender consciences, and scorn such as are not in the same fleshly liberty which thee, thou canst now oppress an whole Parish, and live by dishonest gain, and make merry with Ranters, feast, drink, hunt, card, etc.  
Answ. There was, and still is within me, more and more that which hath, and doth pass sentence upon these and the like unrighteous acts, find the faithful, and true witness judging, and pleading in me against these cruel bloody enemies, and what I am guilty of in any of these particulars, thou comest too late to be my judge; there is one in the midst of my spirit, whom thou knowest not, he hath rebuked and saved me through his grace, and so the lying spirit in thee is cozened of his prey: as for my jeering tender consciences; I know what it is to grieve and wound such, and to offend one of the least of the little ones, that believe in Christ; I know liberty of conscience is the great interest of all the people of God in the Nation, and a thing which I cannot, but stand up and plead for according to my light in my generation: Neither shall all the indignities and injuries that I meet with, from any in the world, ever make me to plead for bonds, or fetters, or burdens to be laid, and put upon tender consciences; and in this I speak the truth before the Lord, I lie not.  
Repl. But thou tellest me, I am a Ranter.  
Answ. I know blasphemy against the holy Ghost shall never be forgiven unto men, and that it is impossible for those, who have tasted of the heavenly gift, as many of the Ranters have, if they fall away, to be renewed again unto repentance; and that I have abhorred the blasphemous filthy talk and practice of Ranters, I can speak it with comfort to the praise of God, my Father; and that there are such amongst us, I cannot remember it in secret, without thinking what a sad judgement of God it is, for men to be given up to such strong delusions, to believe lies: such as these are the shame of our Nation, and the great abuse of our present liberty: And yet let not the highminded Quaker glory over these poor deluded Ranters, seeing publicans and harlots shall enter into the kingdom of God, before the lofty Pharisees.  
Repl. Thou sayest further, out of the old bottle I pour out scoffs; and yet profess Christ in all.  
A●sw. Why hath Satan filled thine heart with nothing else but lying? How many scoffs dost thou find in my papers I sent thee? Look, see; and how many times dost thou find me scoffing, and yet professing Christ in all? What thou in the pure Religion, in the strength of the light within, and yet all along at Satan's work; remember, that if for every idle word, surely for every lie, thou must give an account at the day of judgement. Thou tellest me:  
Repl. Christ is all among them who have put off the old man and his deeds, and thou quotes a place, Coll. 3. 4. 10, 11. I answer,  
Answ. Surely then Christ is not all with thee, who hast not put off thine anger wrath, malice, blasphemy, lying, scoffing, which every page, if not line, in thy vain paper makes abundantly manifest to thy face against thee; all these proceeding from the old man in thee makes it plain, that Christ is not all in thee; and therefore art thou a stranger to the elect of God, to the holy and beloved seed, who are always putting on bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing and forgiving, even as Christ hath forgiven them in love: But to give thee thy due praise, thou hast spoken one truth: Christ is indeed the glory and fullness where he is manifested in power to cast out the strong man and his deeds: when I find it so in thee, I shall yield thou hast had a fit of real true trembling: But instead of looking home, thou art found still at thine old trade, and tellest me:  
Repl. I have not put off the deeds of the old man, when there was some tenderness in me, and some desires to come out of pride, oppression, covetousness, all is gone, and I am found among the fleshpots of Egypt, and had better never to have been born, than to make shipwrak of that tenderness once known by me.  
Answ. This is but the old lesson over, and over, and over again, like a Quakers Sermon, and as heathens prayers, full of vain repetitions: And by this I know what he is to expect, that reveals a secret to a scornful Quaker: Yet know, I am so tender still, as to abhor pride, oppression, covetousness; neither do I persecute, or deal unrighteously with any, as many great pretenders have done with me, and still do at this day: But God hath delivered, and doth deliver, and will deliver me from every snare and gin of unreasonable wicked men; and he it is that keeps me from making shipwrak of tenderness, faith, and conscience.  
Repl. Further thou tellest me what is done in t●e wilderness, there is the way of holiness known and walked in, which the unclean walk not in, but the redeemed, in which is no erring, Isa. 35, 8. Which way is a way of holiness which I am not in, etc.  
Answ. Here's a good wilderness indeed, but thou hast lost thy way thither, and art found erring and wand'ring in a wilderness where no water is; and so art not found drinking in holiness from the Lord, but feeding upon the weeds of thine own fleshly holiness, exalting thyself, not with the redeemed in the Lord, but with the imprisoned in a strange land, in thine own observations: And thou poor worm, who sayest, I eat upon swine's flesh, I feed upon the perishing, I eat that which dies of itself; all these speeches, together with all thy paper, savour too much of thy swine's flesh, and of thy feeding upon thy swine's flesh, which is thine own will, and self, and form; and therefore art thou found in the way of the world, clamourous, bitter, cruel, implacable against all that wander not with thee in thy wilderness of flesh and blood; and now and then thou makest use of a Scripture to cover and hid thy swine's flesh, which thy spirit too much feeds upon; and so no wonder though there be no joy, or gladness to be seen in thy countenance, seeing thou hast no better flesh to feed upon than swine's flesh, which kills the spirit; and so neither thine heart is merry, nor thy countenance cheerful.  
Repl. Further, thou tellest me, I say in Canaan is no judging, and so out of mine own mouth thou judgest me out of Canaan, who in my Queries have again and again judged thee.  
Answ. In my Queries indeed I desire to see the strength and light thou walkest in; neither do I judge any thing in thee, but what falls under the condemnation of the light and truth of God: and though thou pretendest to a fullness of light and knowledge, yet I find thee low and dark by thy frivolous answers which thou givest, to what the Soul is; what the two witnesses are, what the first and second resurrection is; what the day of judgement, heaven, and hell are; and many other things propounded to thee, which I find thee unable, and unwilling to make out the truth of; and therefore art thou angry that thy weak building is so much as questioned; And yet thou knowest the Apostles counsel is to us all, that we should be always ready to give answer of the hope that is in us with meekness and fear, but thou having no hope but in this life, thy heaven and happiness here, art judged of all men to be most miserable, according to what the Apostle saith, If in this life only we have hope in him, we are of all men most miserable: And so thou miserable wretch art loath to be questioned, though thou send questions by the scores to other men.  
Repl. But thou seest mine intent, thou sayest, I would not have my deeds of darkness reproved.  
Answ. If thou hast received wisdom and power to reprove in the name of the Lord, do it as sharply and bitterly as thou canst: for let the righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness; let him reprove me, it shall be an excellent Oil which shall not break mine head: But to thee, I say, have a care, thou take not the name of God in vain, for the righteous one I do not find in thee reproving, seeing thou canst not do it in the patience and meekness of Jesus Christ. But thou sayest,  
Repl. Is not that the honour which is given to all the Saints, to execute judgement upon the Heathen, Psal. 149. 6, 7, 8, 9 And all that know not God are Heathen, and he that sins, hath neither seen God▪ nor known God, 1 Joh. 3. 6. That which cleanseth man, leadeth man to see God, The pure in heart see God, and Canaan was a figure of the spiritual rest, etc.  
Answ. Friend, wert thou in the meaning as well as in the Letter of these Scriptures, thine eyes would be in thine own head, not always abroad, like an Heathen, in the ends of the earth, and so thou wouldst judge, and excute vengeance upon the Heathen, or carnal man in thyself, and then be in a fit posture of wisdom to judge the Heathen, or carnal men without, bearing witness against all their rail and revile, both in thy words and deeds: But to look a little upon the places noted by thee. This honour have all the Saints, to execute the Lords vengeance by the two edged sword of his Spirit upon all the Heathen: But thou art found to thy dishonour, judging the Sons of God, and the Daughters of God to be Heathen; and so thy sword is drawn against the Lords anointed one's, not against the Heathen▪ And as for the binding of their Kings with Chains, and their Nobles with fetters of Iron, which shall be the honour of the Saints to do, I find this Scripture not yet eminently fulfilled in spirit and power: some outward binding I have seen fulfilled in our own land; but the firm real strong binding and limiting that shall be by the reigning of Christ in power, and great glory in his Saints, this shall assuage the malice and rigour of the Kings of the earth against the Church, and make them stoop and bend, and be willing to bring all their glory to her, because they shall see, and say, the Lord is in you of a truth: This day of the Church's power, through the presence of the Lord in her, in much wisdom, knowledge, righteousness and love, to bind the Heathen and their Kings, I find dawning, and the desire of all Nations is not far off: But yet through the Saint's violence and rage, one against another in their several forms and imaginations, ev●ry one making haste to have the Crown and Honour of the day to himself ●●●t looking so much to the coming of the Lord, as to his own advancing above all others of his brethren, watching rather upon one another's infirmities, than upon the appearing of the Lord in one another, through this weakness of the Saints, and too much indulgence to their forms, I find the great day of binding to be retarded and prolonged, yet the Vision is for an appointed time, he that shall come will come, and will not tarry: And had we but a little more faith, patience, and quietness in our spirits, we should soon see the Lord and his salvation: Therefore stand ye still, and be silent: O all flesh, wait upon the Lord, and he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the noon day: It is his nature, his power in the Saints, that must bind Satan, and all the wicked ones of the earth: If man only bind, and kill, and slay; this worketh no deliverance, no settlement, no peace, as we see at this day: But when the Lord shall bind and slay, and put in prison our enemies, than we shall have rest and joy, and quietness in our habitations: Therefore, as Bellarmine said, when he came to die, after all his study and labour to advance free will, and man's merits, that it was the safest way only to rely upon Christ: so say I after all our vain study and labour, each to draw Disciples after himself, to make his name and side great and strong, the best and safest way will be, for every one to rely upon the Lord, and to think soberly of himself, according as God hath given to every man the measure of truth and faith, and then we shall begin to Judge the Heathen indeed, and not thus shame ourselves before them by our envy, and railing, and evil speaking one against another.  
Repl. Further, thou sayest, all that know not God are Heathen; and he that sins hath neither seen God, nor known God.  
Answ. And so say I, all that know him not in some measure of light, and love are heathens: and he that is in bondage to corruption, that sins freely and willingly, he hath no true sense, nor saving knowledge of God upon him, or in him: and yet through infirmity, temptation, and weakness, a Saint, who hath a sweet taste and sense of God, may be found in that which is sinful, though this man will by no means allow, or approve of sin; As Paul saith, the evil which I do, I allow not.  
Repl. And thou sayest, that which cleanseth men, leadeth man to see God, the pure in heart see God.  
Answ. All this is truth: That which cleanseth, and purifieth, and leadeth to a sight of God, is one power, one pure spirit, and by cleansing out what is contrary unto itself, and making itself plain, which is pure, it leads the soul according to its discovery into the spiritual rest, where it satiates and fills itself with the fat●●●e and fullness of God, who is its centre and rest, of which Canaan was a figure: Wert thou in this rest, thou wouldst cease from tine own works, from the best as well as the worst, as they are thine, own, and so thou wouldst learn to justify thyself in the Lord, and make him, and his works, thy rest and joy.  
Repl. Thou sayest Isaiah bare witness against such who sought gain from their quarters, Isa. 5. 10, 11. as I do, witness my taking Tithe of two Parishes.  
Answ. Know friend, that Isaiah witnessed this, when Tithes were commanded and taken; so that it was not Tithes, but the greediness after gain, that Isaiah rebukes in the watchmen, calling them greedy Dogs, which can never have enough, though they were blind, ignorant, dumb, sleeping, dreaming, taking no care to feed the flock, or instruct the people, yet they were greedy after the wages and gain: This is that Isaiah condemned of old, not the taking of Tithes moderately for their maintenance: And this is a thing I am as ready to speak against as thyself, knowing full well that the blindness, and dumbness, and laziness, and formalnesse, and covetousness of many of England's watchmen hath brought all this reproach upon the ministry at this day: Yet all this is no ground for thee and others to destroy the righteous with the wicked, and to make the righteous as the wicked, which have been a light to thee formerly, though thou lie, and shamefully deny it now, to maintain thy pride, and scorn against the best, as well as the worst of England's watchmen: When thou canst tax me justly of being greedy after gain, and of being blind, dumb, lazy, as those were, that Isaiah complains of, then tax me for taking Tithes, as if that were the end of my ministry: I could tell thee of the dumb meetings of Quakers, who when they are assembled by scores and hundreds, which they glory much in, and are all Prophets, Diviners and Teachers as they dream, yet are for want of vision, half a day together dumb, mute, and silent, and so go all away as wise as they came, having never a dream to tell, or word to speak, because they have seen nothing: And are not these dumb meetings of yours silent discoveries of the hand of the Lord against your great professions of light, and perfection? When your eyes are opened, you shall see it to be so, and be ashamed for your envy at the people of God  
Repl. Thou sayest further, Jeremiah cried out against such, who bare rule by the people's means, Jer. 5. 30, 31.  
Answ. Here thou art found perverting the very letter, putting in peoples, instead of Priest; surely, this was out of thy great love to the Priests; or else thy Father, to spare none, hath opened thy mouth against both people and Priests: but this is one of thy moats, or small ones, therefore I'll by it pass.  
Repl Thou goest on to say, Jeremiah calls it an horrible and filthy thing; and none so filthy as I, who take Tithe of two Parishes, and Micah cried out against such as taught for hire, Mic. 3. 10, 11.  
Answ. All this being in a time when Tithes were lawful, as thou hast said, I wonder how thou canst bring it in against the lawfulness of Tithes: The Priests taught for hire, and the Prophets did divine for money; this indeed concerns all those, who teach for covetous ends and hire, not any that teach faithfully what they have received from the Lord, though they go not to warfare at their own charge, but take Tithes as maintenance for their labour: But all this I see proceeds from the old root of bitterness in thee, which teacheth thee to apply Scriptures after the manner of the world; against all such who reprove sin in the gate.  
Repl. But Christ, thou sayest, bare witness against such, who are called of men Masters:  
Answ. And so do I, against all such, Quakers, or others, that would feign be Masters or Fathers of all other men's faith and light; neither did I ever desire another to be Master and Father over the conscience, but Jesus Christ the Lord: For who is Paul, or Apollo, or Cephas, but Ministers of the faith of Saints, not Fathers and Masters of their faith: But thee I see loving the thing Master, and the thing Father, and therefore all are condemned by thee; that pin not their faith upon thy weak imaginations, & this was the sin that Christ condemned in the Priests and Pharisees of old: For further answer, read Mr. Baxter, who hath said enough in this matter, to give full satisfaction to the wise.  
Repl. Further, thou sayest, Paul called such evil beasts, and liars, who taught things they ought not, for filthy Lucre, Tit. 1. 10, 11, 12. so am I, for filthy Lucre's sake, holding up the first Priesthood and their wages, etc.  
Answ. I know a necessity is laid upon me to preach the Gospel, and this that I desire to teach in all meetings, where I find people met together, and made free to hear; and this I am ready to commend upon all occasions to every man's conscience in the sight of God: And this Gospel I know, itching ears cannot endure to hear: And thou, who criest out, I teach for filthy Lucre, I bring up the first Priesthood, and their wages, none so filthy as I, I take Tithe of two Parishes; to thee I say, thy wisdom hath made thee err, and hardened thy heart against the fear of God: thine eye is put out by the God of this World, and so like other dark forms, thine envy is poured out chief against the Ministers and their Tithes: and they are all Priests and Tythe-mongers, all so, and yet not all, that's but the old man in thee that saith so, the liar that never told truth, nor loved any out of himself: he hath taken from thee the understanding heart, and so thou canst not see, that here and there is a Minister that stands up in the gap, that mourns for the Nations pride, and beseecheth men to be reconciled to God, though such an one be usually hated, persecuted, and that maintenance he hath be coveteously kept from him by the World: And this is the man is most railed at by thy generation, that stick in the Letter now and then, when it seems to favour them, though in other things they abhor the Letter, and the meaning too: What Scripture there is for Tithes, and in what cases a Minister may take it, as from God and man, and yet oppress none, me thinks they might see, who usually scoff at the Letter, for being called the word of God, and pretend to the meaning, to the spirit to be the chief thing in the word, as indeed it is: What Scripture there is for Tithes, or maintenance, thou shalt see afterwards, and so for the present I'll let thee alone to murmur and rail, till the Lord rebuke thee.  
Further, in Canaan I said, old things are passed away, and all is become new; and here thou criest out against me:  
Repl. Oh, thou hard-hearted one, how darest thou utter these things, and not be pricked in thy heart, who livest in the old, and the new not known? Is thy conscience seared with an hot iron? Thou art he, who calls evil good, so the woe is upon thee, Isa. 5. 20.  
Answ. Behold, thou despiser, and wonder, and perish, thou who deniest the Lord that bought thee, and so art ordained for condemnation; and learn, if thou canst, what this means, I will have mercy, saith the Lord, and not sacrifice: Salvation shall be of grace, not of works, lest man should boast: David shall be a man after mine own heart, notwithstandinding all his blemishes and errors which I see him bewailing: I'll accept of the will for the deed, where I find the will real and true: And thou furious evil mind, know that old things are passed away, and all things become new there in God's estimation, where new and old are fight one against another: no sooner is this fight begun, but the Soul presently gins to taste of Canaan, or rest, because it finds the house of David waxing stronger and stronger's, and the house of Saul weaker and weaker; and so the elder stoops to the younger, Esau to Jacob, flesh to spirit: and though it rage furiously, yet its head is broken, its strength decaying, and its spirit goes out more and more: And here I am wrestling with the beast, and false Prophet, with all the powers of darkness and Hell; and so my conscience is not seared, though I say old things are passed away, and all things become new: If thou look into thine own heart with a single eye, thou wilt find old things enough there to manifest, thou art not yet at full rest in Canaan, where thou must meet Giants, mighty enemies to fight with, which will be as goads and pricks in thy side, to keep thee humble, sober, and watchful all thy life long; and yet if thou wert in the good land, thou wouldst have rest, though not in fullness here: And so this tedious war in Canaan, is no bringing up an evil report of the good land, because there the people of God have more with them, than against them, and so are more than Conquerors in the Lord, which gives them some rest, and peace, and joy, in the midst of all their wars; and so cause of singing and triumphing in the God of their salvation: All this I know is a riddle to thy fancy of perfection in thyself, and actings, and so the passing away of the old life, and the springing up of the new is not truly known of thee.  
Repl. Thou sayest, I am guessing what the veil is between the holy, and the holiest; and tellest me, neither in the holy, nor the holiest am I found: for who own the light that comes from Christ, into the holy it leads them: and in the holy, who are that is bridled which leads into sin▪ which in me is at liberty, as thou sayest, as my fruits, and the fruits of my Ministry make it manifest.  
Answ. What I declared about the veil, thou neither understandest, I see, or art able to gainsay; and therefore after thy wont manner, I find thee scoffing: But to thee, I say, the revelation of the Son in me by the Father hath led me into the holy place; where I find the Lord perfecting strength in weakness, and sweetly delighting in me, and in his own works wrought in me by himself, in the midst of all mine infirmities: And here I find a dispensation of light and power from the new man, which bridles the old, and so Satan bound by a stronger than he, that he is not at liberty in me as before, though thou strongly take his part: And as concerning my Ministry, taxed by thee, know that Paul may endeavour, but it is God, who gives the increase: All that I can do, is to commend the truth and grace of God to every man's conscience, and he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear: And that my Ministry hath awakened some, and shown them their wounds and shame, it matters not whether thou believe, or not; and that it hath been a faithful witness against the many delusions, and traditions of men, it matters not whether thou believe, or not; and that it hath been a light to some, that since are turned Atheists, Quakers, etc. it matters not, whether thou believe, or not: Only this concerns thee, and others, that through your lying, railing, reviling and condemning one, who loves you all dearly in the Lord, by this as much as in you lies, you have sought to make void my Ministry, and to make it an offence to those, who are settled upon their lees; & therefore woe unto thee from whom the offence comes.  
Repl. But the light (thou sayest) which comes from Christ's guides into the holy, shows the veil, and in the patience rends it, and lets into the holiest, whither the Highpriest alone enters, even Jesus Christ, and one Highpriest over the house of God, we witness in our measures come, who put an end to Tithes, etc.  
Answ. Your murmuring, impatience, and want of meekness and love to the weak ones of Christ, is a strong witness, that the light that is in you, is turned into utter darkness, even darkness that may be felt; Hence your folly and nakedness is seen of all, and judged of all, even those who have the least light appearing in them: Further, if the light have truly shined in you, led you into the holy place, rend the veil, and led you into the holiest, whither the forerunner is for us entered: What mean ye then like other earthlings to be thus exalting, and admiring one another, seeking honour one of another, though ye deny it to the world? But your drift is fame, you would be in the Heavens, in the Holiest; nay, above all that is called God, and Worshipped, and this ye are led into by the light within, and all must believe it, not at all question it, upon pain of being accursed by you: But stay friends; Hope indeed enters within the veil, Heb. 6. 17. and this hope keeps the Soul groaning, and longing, and waiting all the while we are in this earthly Tabernacle, after a full possession of our inheritance, Rom. 8. 23, 24, 25. If thou art in the highest possession of God, now thine hope is out, for that which is seen and enjoyed is not hoped for: But stay, let the light of Jesus first enter thee into the holy place, and there make thee a Priest, which name thou so deridest, before thou fond conceit to be in the holiest, and in this holy place thou wilt learn to despise thyself, and all thine own righteousness: Till Job came hither, he had a great conceit of his own goodness and worth; but now he abhors himself, and so will ye: I know ye put yourselves into a posture of suffering and reviling, yet all this ye may suffer, not for conscience towards God, but in reference unto the idol that ye have made, and so not for Christ, but for yourselves: And surely so long as so much of thyself lives, that thou must needs be Christ; not with him, or in him, but he himself; all this while thou dost not suffer thyself to come under the Cross of Christ: Further, know friend what it means to be saved by hope, to hope for that we see not, and so with patience to wait for it: Ye know Paul's desire was to be dissolved and to be with Christ, and he cries out, if in this life only we have hope in him, we are of all men most miserable; therefore wait the day and time of your dissolution, Read, 2 Cor. 5. 1. to 10. The life of hope is a sweet life, seeing the grace came from heaven, looks back into heaven, and never leaves groaning and longing, till it return into the bosom of the Father, and the earthly house be changed into the heavenly: Therefore be not overhasty: thou knowest the men, that would enter in without God, were slain, therefore be not highminded, but fear: It's a sad thing to be undone by our own works, undone by Religion, observation, abstinence, as many an Hermit, Monk, and man hath been: Be as holy as thou wilt in the holy place, in Christ, only glory not in thy formal holiness: Thou dreamest thou art Christ, and in the holiest, and yet all can see thee in weakness, darkness, and in infirmities like other men: But I would not break thy neck, but rebuke thee with patience, though all this will provoke thee to scorn, and to turn again and rend me: And therefore I'll let thee alone to be discovered by the light, and day of God.  
Repl. Thou goest on to spend a little more breath against Tithes, and Tythepriest, and hirelings, who deny Christ.  
Answ. This is no news, therefore I'll let it pass in silence, till we come more fully to speak of Tithes: But thou sayest:  
Repl. Unto us a reed is given like unto a rod, and the Temple of God we know, and the Altar, and them that worship therein, and thee to be in the Gentiles court, I see among the profane:  
Answ. Here thou wilt be measuring, though thou want the rod of strength that is out of Zion; and so knowest not how to measure the Temple and the Altar, and the worship that God sets up in Zion: What is below thee thou mayest measure, but what is above thy reason, thou canst not see to measure well, till thou art born into it: Therefore be not wise in thine own conceit, boasting of things beyond thy measure, seeing not he who commends himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.  
That I am in the Gentiles Court by nature, I know is true, But that God hath led me out to worship in his Temple, and to sacrifice upon his Altar, according to the measure of his son in me, this thou canst not see, and yet I dare not commend myself, as thou dost, knowing I have nothing but what I have received, and so must not glory in myself, but in the Lord: But thou sayest:  
Repl. I have slain the witness, which quickened shall be, and kindle my torment, and none shall quench it.  
Answ. The witness that was living in me, is living still, he is not slain and dead, but alive to reprove me when I wander, and to heal and revive me again with the sweetness and comeliness of his voice and countenance: And by this faithful and true witness the false witness is slain, the flood of the Dragon swallowed up; and though he be quickened in thee, and others to affright me, yet he torments me not, his fire is quenched by the Lord's goodness and mercy, and so I shall dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.  
Repl. But death hath passed over me, and reigns over me, thou sayest:  
Answ. Yet can see deliverance from his sting and power in my spirit, though I know he dwells in my flesh, and reigns there, and so he doth in thee: And notwithstanding thy passing the first and second resurrection, yet there is a resurrection which yet remains, and a last day too, which thou shalt know to thy torment and woe, who knowest not the Scripture in this, nor the power of God.  
Repl. Thou sayest further, Them which sin not after the similitude of adam's, transgression, I know not, nor what it is that death hath passed over, and so am I reasoning and guessing it may be infants in years, who have death written in their natures, and thou biddest me, show such a Scripture, that infants have death written in their natures, else the plagues I must have, Rev. 22. 18.  
Answ. What I spoke of Infants, was, and is a clear truth; they sin not as Adam did, and yet they die; And that they have death written in their natures, I wonder with what face thou canst deny: Doth not their daily dying show that this enemy death lives in their natures? And for Scripture to prove this: what thinkest thou by David's Child, by Bathsheba, that died? 2 Sam. 12. 18. Was not death written in this Child's nature? See how wise thou art: But thou goest on to tell me.  
Repl. I say it may be Infants in knowledge, and here I am guessing, which shows forth another spirit than wrote the Scriptures: and so, thou sayest, neither of Infants in year, nor of Infants in knowledge did Paul speak, but said death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them, etc. Rom 5. 14. But that them I know not, therefore put my ghessings and meanings to the Scripture.  
Answ. That which I spoke concerning Infants in knowledge is a truth too, who though they have not such knowledge as Adam had, and so their sin be not so great, because their light is not so great, yet they have a light, which being sinned against, that sin lets in death upon them; To confute this thou bringest nothing but thy bare word, that it is not so, and so let it go: I could have told thee, that that Scripture was to be understood of your fruitful generation, as you call it; & that death reigns over you, even you also that have not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, & that are not so bad as Adam, found sinning and eating of the forbidden Tree, yet even you must die: This I know you dream is the truth of that Scripture; yet this is but a guess too, and as little true as mine: Understand it of whom you will, you must put your own meaning, when you are asked, who is meant by that particle them, seeing the Scripture doth not there determine it: And if your meaning may go; why not another's, that hath as much face of truth as yours? But when you discover yourselves, I shall know better what to reply unto. Further, thou tellest me,  
Repl. Once there was some tenderness in me because of sin, some groaning for deliverance, setting my feet in a way that leadeth out of Egypt, but a Captain I chose wheeled about into Egypt, and in the lusts of the flesh I live, and so my latter end is worse than my beginning.  
Answ. Though thou say so, yet know that I have found out sin by sin, and it was well that God did awaken me, though by sin; It may be thine eyes see not what this means, though thou art the seer: Further know, though I am vile in one sense, yet not guilty in the sense of the world, neither acquainted with many of those things, which they falsely lay unto my charge: where I am guilty, I have grace in me to trouble me, to humble me, to groan in me for deliverance, to make me more vile, than thou canst make me, and yet to keep me from returning into Egypt again: but to wait for a full power to sin no more, which if it might be in thy sense, I should be glad, but in the sense of the Scriptures, I know it shall be made good, and what that is thou canst not learn but by enjoyment.  
Repl. And the baptism in the death of Christ, thou tellest me, I do not witness, neither a planting into the likeness of death; for the Cross of Christ thou knowest not, neither dost in it live, by which thing this baptism into his death is witnessed.  
Answ. 1. I find thee still full of condemnation; and yet Christ saith he was not sent to condemn the world, Joh. 3. 17. but that the world through him might be saved. 2. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of thee, or of man's judgement; yea, I judge not myself, but he that judgeth me is the Lord. 3. Thou Hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the moat out of thy brother's eye. 4. Remember the death of Christ, the Cross of Christ when thou passest under thou wilt find work enough at home▪ but thou hast spared thyself, pitied thyself, slain the just one that thou mightest live and reign; thou hast cried out, let him be crucified, that I may live in his stead, and say, I am he: Where the Cross of Christ hath had its power, there the first man is condemned, flesh withers, the poor Soul is ashamed of his works, and sins: But thou art full, and rich, and high, and sayest I am not the man, I never Crucified the Lord of glory: Judas thou knowest suspected not himself, and in this Traitor see thyself, and know thy own spirit. 5. If I am not as I long to be, yet I see the blood of Christ cleanseth me from all my sin, the Cross of Christ makes me not to spare myself, or sin: I have Jesus, who was dead but is alive, in me making void all my glorying in flesh and blood; and he is bearing witness to my Crucifying, and to his resurrection which is my glory: And though thou a man charge me with folly, yet he the true God declares me just in himself, and he goes on Conquering and to Conquer, and what he sees amiss in me, he will tame, subdue, and bring under, and tell thee to thy face, thou art a Satan, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire: Therefore friend do not thou fancy a perfect knowledge of the Cross, and yet remain a stranger to the Cross, by living out of the virtue and power of it, which makes all flesh as grass, and to whither as the flower of the field: It is Christ in me that is my glory, and his life in me springs out of his death and mine, and makes void all my glory, and he by his blood and power sets me free from the condemnation of sin, and the Law, and he keeps me always in his eye, and he searches my errors and failings out, to nail them to his Cross. As for that place thou quotest, 1 Joh. 1. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 look upon it better, and take the tenth verse too in thy mind, and see how thou canst have sin and no sin, for so the Apostle saith plainly, in all the Saints there's no sin, and yet there's sin in all, otherwise we make God a liar, and his word is not in us: Neither is this to plead for sin, as thou sayest; for there's a vast difference between saying such a thing is, and such a thing out to be: That the Saints have sin is a truth written in Scripture, and in every man's conscience; for there is not a just man upon earth, that doth good and sins not: But that the Saints ought to have sin, this the Scripture cries aught against, and calls upon us to purge out more and more: therefore be not always catching and snarling; this is not a Christian practice: but let thy sin go, thy exalting of thyself go, and it may be thou mayest find out the Cross of Christ a little more exactly yet, and learn better what it is to be Crucified with him, and so mayest eat of his flesh, and drink of his blood. Thou tellest me:  
Repl. I know not the one baptism, which by the Spirit is witnessed, which baptizeth into one body. 1 Cor. 12. 13. in this body is no sin, into it no deceit enters, every sin that is committed, is without the body.  
Answ. Thy prating words cannot make void my glorying in the Lord: to thee, I say, the one spirit I have, which witnesseth the one baptism, which is one in all the Sons of God, bond, or free: The spirit is one, the baptism one, the body one: but the Members are different, and have all need of one another, and therefore ought not to murmur, or make a rent, because every one is not an eye, an hand, a tongue, as thou dost, and so sinnest within the body, and committest fornication with thyself, but a Member, against the rest of the body, making the body a Monster, even all one Member, not all the Members one body, that thou thyself mightest be head, and Members and all: and so thou, who makest a rent from Christ, and a rent from his Members, what dost thou, but make a division in the body, and commit sin within the body, crying out of one Member, he's a Baptist, of another, he's a Presbyter, of another, he's a Priest: And so thou ownest not every Member in its place, and lookest not upon that baptism, which is one in all the Sons of God: But when thine eye is open to see this thou wilt own a Member though low and weak, and love a Member whoever he be, and thou wilt seek to draw him indeed more into the Unity, to rejoice more in the Lords works than his own, and yet thou wilt leave him in the variety to be useful in his place to other Members of the body: But all this thy great wisdom comprehends not. And whereas thou makest as though every Member of Christ were free from all spot and sin, because every sin that is committed is without the body, 1 Cor. 6. 10. By body in that place is meant the outward Fabric of every man in particular, which ought to be consecrated unto the Lord in holiness, as well as the spirit; and therefore, saith the Apostle, in the last verse of that Chapter, Glorify God with your bodies, and with your spirits, which are Gods: This body must be kept clean for the Lord, not defiled with fornication: fly fornication; every sin that a man doth, is without the body, but he who committeth fornication sins against his own body, intimating that this sin leaves a greater defilement upon the body than other sins, so that by body there cannot be meant the Church of God, which are all the body of Christ; and so that place is wrested by thee, to the proving of the spotless perfection of every Member of Christ; and yet in the Lord I acknowledge every Member is complete, righteous, holy; but look upon the Member itself, there we find it liable to all manner of infirmities; yea, to sin too; only the Lord Christ, the righteous one, the root, he is free from all sin: And therefore Christ teacheth us to pray for forgiveness of sin: This I know will be looked upon as a low thing, and yet it is a truth of God; and should teach us all to hunger continually after more of the righteousness of sanctification, and after a plainer manifestation too, of the righteousness of Christ in our justification. Thou sayest:  
Repl. I am guessing what the baptism unto Moses in the Cloud, and in the Sea should be; and thou sayest, I tell thee of Metaphorical, that word thou deniest, and tellest me my shifts are seen, and my darkness found.  
Answ. Did ever wretch in the world so plainly confute his words in his constant practice as thou dost, who dreamest of persecution, and yet hast nothing in all thy Paper appearing but vanity, pride, and folly? Surely the spirit said not in vain; A wise man feareth and departeth from evil, but the fool rageth and is confident: And the heart of the righteous studieth to answer, but the mouth of the wicked poureth forth evil things: And there is that maketh himself pure, yet his heart is not cleansed from his filthiness.  
Look upon all these things in thyself: But to return to thy reply, wherein instead of answering something, thou talkest of guessing, and carpest at Metaphorical: But didst thou never read in Scripture a thing like this? Look, Gal. 4. 24. which things, saith the Apostle, are an Allegory: The difference between these two it may be thy learning may guess; for thou tellest the people thou art a Scholar, and hast been a Priest, and yet never sawest a Metaphor in Scripture: But to go on. Thou tellest me:  
Repl. I darken counsel by words without knowledge.  
Answ. Whether this be thy practice, or mine, let all men judge; who sometimes turnest all the Scriptures into an Allegory, and deniest the truth of the Letter, as in the Cross of Christ, the resurrection, and the like; and yet sometimes there must be nothing but Letter, when thou seest thyself alive in the Allegory, as about the name Master, Father, Lord, and the like. But see how thou art presently found in an Allegory, guessing at the baptism of Moses, and saying, Moses as a servant in his house was faithful. But thou must be the Master, not a servant; and this makes thee unfaithful in the house of God, like a Thief, coming in to steal, and to kill, and destroy: And hence thou criest out, and liftest up thy voice in the street against all, but such as wear thy mark, thou art flesh, thou art damned, thou art a witch, a ravenous beast; there's no pity, nor mercy, nor anointing with Christ's nature appearing in thee, and all because thou art not content to be servant, but must be Master of all men's faith.  
Repl. But thou sayest, Moses saw the Egyptians drowned in the Sea, and over them he sang, which thou dost not know.  
Answ. Here's an Allegory indeed, see, the question is, what is the baptism unto Moses in the Cloud, and in the sea: Answer, Moses saw the Egyptians drowned in the Sea, and over them he sang: And is not this a learned Metaphorical answer, coming from a perfect man? But by good guess thou hast spoken a truth, though besides the mark: It is so indeed, Moses saw the Egyptians drowned in the Sea, and yet there's one Egyptian still alive in thee, and he prattles on, and saith:  
Repl. I am in the fruits of the flesh, and act contrary to the light of my conscience, and so am for condemnation with the light.  
Answ. What's all this to the baptism of Moses: Seeing our answer was denied, we looked to have had some satisfaction from thee; but all that I hear of is, I must be condemned with the light: Here thou alterest the phrase of Scripture, to make void no doubt all other condemnation and Hell, but what is within from the light: This is good news for the World, and so thy Religion like to prevail much with the vessels of wrath, fitting for destruction: But I must be condemned with the light: The phrase is not proper, nor savouring of the light of God: for it seems as if the light and I should be condemned together; and so we are by this dark generation: But thy meaning is, the light shall condemn me, because I act contrary unto it: And yet I desire to stand or fall unto the light of the Lord, not to the judgement of this wise generation, who put darkness for light, and light for darkness and so the woe is upon them, Isa. 3. 10.  
Repl. But I oppress the just, lay heavy burdens upon them, who out of the house of bondage would go, the living God to worship; so that a rest there is, but I and all Magicians, who deceive people with liknesses no further than the Sea must come, there must I and all my glory Perish.  
Answ. Here no doubt are some of the Egyptians mentioned, which I never saw drowned in me yet: Yet know friend, that I am so fare delivered from these Egyptians, that I cannot oppress either the just, or unjust, it is against my nature, I cannot lay heavy burdens upon them, and not touch them with one of my fingers: this is enough for a Pharisee: Neither am I desirous to see any soul in the house of bondage longer than the appointed time of the Father: All that ever I aimed at was this, to let people know, that God goes down with his into Egypt, is with them in their forms and bondage, where they will be and stay, till the day, and time of their redemption and freedom: But thee I see not going out of Egypt the living God to worship, but to make thyself a God; so know, though a rest there be, yet thou, and all murmurers against thy fellow-servants, and contemners of the wise dispensations of God, because he goes down with his into Egypt, together with all thy Magic, and enchantments, images, and liknesses of holiness and purity, when the bitter root of pride remains undestroyed, all these Persons and things must be drowned in thee before thine entrance into Canaan, or else thou must look to fall either in the wilderness with the murmurers, or to be drowned in the Sea with the Egyptians:  
Repl. Further, thou art telling me, I am imagining what the beast is which John saw, was like unto a Leopard, saying, that I have read of the Leopard, that is an exceeding wild beast, which cannot be tamed, very cunning and crafty in tatching of his prey, and furious and raging, etc.  
Answ. For fear thou mightest find this beast in thyself here thou art stopping and raging thus in thy wont fury, like a mad Pharisee, that scorns to learn, thou beginnest to teach and say:  
Repl. Who in the light which never changes dwells, which comes from God, these see the beast where he is, and what he is, and all his spots discern:  
Answ. Here thou hast spoken truth, though thou understand it not, so as to apply it unto thyself; which if thou didst, great large spots of the beast would discover themselves in thee: but being in the darkness of thy Father's mind thou canst not read thyself; and therefore art thou seeking to discern the beast abroad in me, and sayest, in me is his den: And here thou thankest God, thou art not as other men are; stand by thyself, I am holier than thou, And so thou comest with much delight to see the beast in me, and eatest, and drinkest, and gluttest thyself with a sight of the beast in me, and nothing but the beast canst thou here see in his Den; thus art thou glorying over another's spots and infirmities, which thou thyself makest in thy fancy, and then art glad to see in thy brother: the beast is too cunning for thee; he lies hid within thee, and laughs to see thee his vassal and slave: I say no more than what thou hast made manifest; the beast in thee is in his Den: Thy pride, and scoffing, and railing against all others, are spots, and plain marks of the beast in thy fleshly heart dwelling: for wer● thou in the light, and overcome by it, that would make thee poor in thine own eyes, and to condemn thyself in those things, which thou condemnest in another; and would teach thee to own a God, and Christ above thyself: This light of the Lord ruling in thee would have kept thee in the fear of the Lord, and taught thee to own the Cross, and sufferings of Christ, as the price of thy redemption, which thou, like a vile wretch, tramplest under thy feet: This light would have taught thee to bewail thine own infirmities, and have kept thee low in thine own eyes, and have made thee own trembling indeed, which thou dost in the letter, and flesh, but not in truth and spirit, and so art given over to strong delusions, to believe a lie.  
Repl. Thou tellest me, I am covetous.  
Answ. I am so indeed by nature; but I see the world loves me not, it flies away, and the Lord teacheth me to be crucified to it, and to press towards himself, as my riches, fullness, and highest treasure.  
Repl. Thou tellest me further; That which hath led me from the light, hath led me from the Lord, and the same hath let the world into mine heart, where the Sea is flowing, even the salt Sea, thence the beast ariseth with seven heads.  
Answ. The light in which I live, hath led me to see the light, and in the light I see the Lord; and he hath ravished mine heart, and caught me up to himself, as to mine exceeding joy; and though the world were so confounded and divided, as to leave me alone, yet I am not alone; the father is my friend, and the son is my companion; And I can return unto my Father and Saviour living with me, who always takes me in, when the world casts me out: And this quickens me to live more above, where all my treasure is, and less below, or in the creature, where I find confusion and tribulation. As for the flowing of the salt Sea, whence the beast arises with seven heads, this I have seen according to my measure dried up, and the beast with seven heads withering for want of his native heat and moisture in me: And friend, I beseech thee, read the meaning of this at home in thyself: read the bitterness in thyself, the evil eye, that envies, because God is good, the folly and haughtiness of thine own heart: Here is the salt Sea in which thou art drowned, though thou see it not, and out of this Sea comes that Monster with seven heads, which destroys some with flatteries, others with violence and rage, aiming at his own Kingdom and greatness, whoever perish with him: this beast lies covered under all thine Hypocrisy, and thou seest him not. Further thou sayest:  
Repl. I arm myself with all the wisdom and subtlety of the beast against the truth, and with many Horns am I pushing at the Lamb.  
Answ. This I have done in the days of mine unbelief, when I consulted with flesh and blood: But since the day of the Lord hath begun to dawn in my spirit, truth hath been my companion; I have ventured all for her, and laid myself open to the violence of all sorts of men for the truth's sake: And that I have suffered no more than I have, considering the malice of carnal men, and formal men; this I look upon as a notable passage of wisdom and providence in God: Further, know that this truth in me, which hath in some measure acquainted me with the will and nature of God, my Saviour, this teacheth me to plead against the errors and evils, and blasphemies, and idols of all, not against any truth I see in my meanest brethren: Neither am I with my Horns pushing against the Lamb; no, the Lamb is my wellbeloved, he shall lie all night betwixt my breasts; he is my fair one; when he withdraws, my Soul faints; when he appears, my Soul lives, and is exceeding merry. This is he whom I can own in all the Sons of God, even in those who cannot own the Lamb in me: In all this he is my witness, though thou know it not. But thou sayest:  
Repl. In me is the earth set, who am driven from God: Gen. 3. 23, 24. And upon the earth is the Leopard's Den, and fourfooted beasts and creeping things.  
Answ. When I was in the earth, that indeed drove me from God; but God hath lifted me up into Heaven in some manifestation of light and grace, and here he keeps me in his own fellowship and presence above the earth; and so I can leave the Leopard's Den full of wild beasts and filthy things for the inhabitans of the earth: And friend, if thine eye were open, thou mightest see, how sadly thou art driven out from God, and what a fool thou art in all thy professing thyself to be wise, and how this hath made thee change the truth of God into ally, and led thee away to worship thyself, and thine empty companions, who are poor creatures, more than the Creator, who is blessed for evermore: For this cause God hath given thee up to vile affections, to burn in your lust one towards another, and to make gods and saviours of one another: and so it is just with God, seeing ye acknowledge him not above you, to give you over to be filled with envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, to be as the world are, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to Parents, without natural affection towards Wives, Children, Parents, Friends, and the Church of God, implacable, men that can be reconciled to none, but your own form, party, way: In all which, though ye profess, ye know God, yet by your works ye deny him: These are some of the fourfooted beasts and creeping things that are in the Leopard's Den, within, in your earthly sensual hearts, and the prints and spots of these you'll find to your woe, when God shall bring you to judgement:  
Repl. But thou sayest, I am wild, and untame:  
Answ. I am so indeed by nature, but God hath subdued my wildness, and made me according to his grace in me tame, and of a willing mind to receive more of that light which guides out of the world: And so I cannot despise that which reproves me inwardly for my too covetous practices; but am ready through my Father's grace, to be as the Lilies and the Sparrows, without care and fear of food, and raiment in the world: This speech thou wilt be angry at, yet it is no matter, seeing thou art always angry at other men's experiences.  
Repl. But I scoff at such in whom tenderness grows.  
Answ. And yet I tell thee, I scoff at nothing, but the evil beast in thee: He is so plainly discovered, that if I should give thee flattering Titles, as some simple ones do, I might fear my Maker would soon take me away: this evil one I cannot choose but speak against, not against the tenderness of truth that grows up in any.  
Repl. But I am crafty, thou sayest; and to maintain myself in pride and fullness, have got the Tithe of two Parishes, & bring in one colour after another to maintain the wages of unrighteousness, so bespotted am I, so acted by the beast like unto a Leopard.  
Answ. Friend, it was not my craft which got me my Tithe of two Parishes, neither doth my craft maintain me in them, I am very unskilful in craft, guile, hypocrisy: all that deal with me, find me plain and faithful; neither can I dissemble to deceive, as many do: But stay, hast thou not heard of a providence? Surely this gave me my Tithe of two Parishes; and this wronged none, when it gave me Tithe; and this providence maintains Tithes for my use, and tells me, I wrong none, whilst I take it with moderation, not with oppression and rigour: And this is that, even providence, thou hast murmured against in this business of Tithes; And thou shalt know to thy sorrow, that God hath heard thy murmur against himself, and will bring thee to a due account for them: For who are we? Your murmur are not so much against us, as against the Lord: and that which he gives us, ye have profanely called the wages of unrighteousness: And therefore he will stop the mouth of the evil beast in thee.  
Repl. Further, thou sayest, I am telling what the beast is, which all the world wonders after, saying, the Pope is the beast in an eminent figure.  
Answ. ●ain thou wouldst hid thyself, and the beast in thee, and therefore thou leavest all out in mine answer which discovered the beast, which thou wanderest after; but look again friend, and read what is there said, and compare thy spirit with it: and see whether in all thine anointing thyself with the office and place of Christ, and in all thy departing from God, and living in thyself below, thou be not guided by the beast: But thou lettest all this alone, runnest to the Pope, which indeed I brought in, as the sense of some to be the beast, but thou hearest me speak of another thing to be the beast in truth; and yet seeing thou hast named the Pope, let us see whether the Pope be not alive in thee. 1. He is infallible; so art thou: 2. He is Christ; so art thou. 3. He is master and Father of all men's faith; so art thou. 4. He is spotless, sinless, perfect; so art thou. 5. He questions and condemns all for Heretics, cursed Heretics and Heathen, that wear not his mark either in their hands, or foreheads; so dost thou. 6. He makes a nose of wax of Scripture; sometimes for the history, sometimes for the mystery; always for his meaning and interpretation of all; and so do●st thou. 7. He is much for the natural light, the light which is in every man, which by improvement becomes saving; so art thou. 8. He is for his own merits; so art thou. 9 He sends up and down the world his Priests and Friars to convert unto his holy Catholic Religion; so dost thou to convert to thy Religion. And 10. Lastly, to name no more; a great honour it is to kiss his to; so a great honour it must needs be to kiss thy feet, to come under the least degree of thy holy spotless orders and dreams. Surely, methinks by all this it appears that the Pope hat left his holy Chair, is come from Rome to live neerthee and in thee; and yet thou dreamest, surely this beast dwells at Rome. But to save thyself;  
Repl. Thou tellest me, the beast hath his chiefest room in me, and bears rule in my body, and leads me out into wickedness, pleasures, scorning ways and customs of the world.  
Answ. Friend, that he hath done this in me, I deny it not; but that his power is broken, and that he leads me not out, as formerly, to take pleasure in unrighteousness, this is that I glory in; and so can sing and triumph in God, who hath given me victory over the beast: And so take the beast for me: for by thy wrangling and jangling it plainly appears, that thine own conscience tells thee, thou art under his power; and so thou tatlest on, and sayest:  
Repl. There was a time when I was in trouble and torment, and sleep departed from me, and in that time was the wounding of the head of the beast in the first of his colours, but from the sword I fled, and again am healed, and the s●me head cured, yet in another appearance, and now I am ten times more crafty for the Kingdom of darkness than before, Rev. 13. 1, 2, 3.  
Answ. Thou wretch, how long wilt thou regard lying vanities, and forsake thine own mercies? How many lies hast thou told about my scrupling Tithes? And yet thou must be perfect without all sin. All this doth but add unto thy heap of wrath: As touching the reviving of the beast in me, who was wounded, as thou sayest; know, that he lies still wounded and condemned in me: and though I deny not some remnants of him; for if I should, I should be a liar, like thyself; yet I find to the praise of God's rich grace, that his sickness is unto death, his body cannot be cured; but by the Word of the Lord I shall destroy him; and so in all his appearances he is seen; And though thou plead his cause, like a man well feed, strongly against me, yet he and all his Angels must to their place go, where I leave thee with him in thy dark imaginations romping up and down to perish in his Kingdom, unless the Lord arise mightily for thy deliverance: But thou tellest me again:  
Repl. I am found in the pollutions of the World, in the spots thereof, living in disobedience to the mind of Jesus.  
Answ. I know there is none can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin. Though I have not attained unto what I desire, yet I have, through grace, still the victory in the end: and I am not in the flesh, but in the spirit according to God's account, and here I know all things shall work together for my good; and not withstanding all thy hard speeches, yet mine own conscience bears me witness, that with my mind I serve Jesus, not myself, or any other man in the World; and so am not seared.  
Repl, But thou tellest me, In the children of disobedience the Prince of darkness rules, even the beast which all the World wander after.  
Answ. And so say I, the whole World lies in wickedness and are obedient to the Prince of darkness, in fulfilling the desires of the flesh and mind; and so we are all, till endued with power from on high, and fetched out of this grave by the voice of the Son of God.  
Repl. Thou sayest further, When my measure I have filled up among the beast of the field, and the Lamh have gored with my Horns apace, yet shall a band about my neck be put, and tormented shall I be.  
Answ. As for the beasts of the field I leave thee to wander up and down with them in the field of the World, till the Angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gather the Vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God; yet I desire thy life rather than thy death: And still I say, read thine own lesson over in thine own heart: I know no band about my neck, but the Lords work and will, this keeps me from goring the Lamb, this makes me to own the Lamb still, and this drives me still whither I with Christ would go, into the sweetness and fullness of God, where I can lie down and sleep in peace.  
In mine answer to another of thy questions, thou tellest me:  
Repl. I am telling what the beast is, and the number of his name, whose number is 666.  
Answ. Here I find thee again shifting and scoffing; and the reason is, because thou wert discovered to be in the number of the beast: this the wisdom of God saw afar of, and gave that answer to thy question as a sword to wound thee, though thou spare and hid thyself: For look the answer, and compare thy spirit with it, and see how right thou art in the number of the beast; For art not thou one who cries out, I am a God that cannot err, yet to the man that hath understanding, though thy party be deluded, in the midst of all thine imaginary fullness in thyself, thou art but a poor miserable man that lies in error: this is the number of all thy wisdom, 'tis but fancy, darkness, it is not wisdom, and this is the sum of all the wisdom of the beast: But thou art telling me,  
Repl. Here is wisdom among them, who are in it knit, and from on high this wisdom is, and was before the world was, in it is no sin, guile, or spot.  
Answ. Here thou art lifted up on high, to be without sin, guile, or spot, and yet art blind, crafty, subtle, to say thou hast no sin, and so thy sin remained upon the score; I know the wisdom of God is high, deep, incomprehensible, and was, ever is, and shall be ever the same, and in this there is no sin, or spot: But what's all this to make good thy dream of thine own party of knowing as they are known now, and of being as pure in this earthly body, as the Saints are in the heavenly; Art thou as wise, and as spotless as the wisdom of God is? Ask thine own conscience, and stifle it not. But go on:  
Repl. In this wisdom, and understanding, thou sayest, learned is the Unity, out of it the number.  
Answ. Well then, out of thine own mouth art thou judged not to look upon, or be in the Unity, but in the number; and so to make the number, or variety the cause of dividing from the Unity, where the Unity is appearing: couldst thou be looking upon the Unity, and not be telling of the number, thou wouldst learn to love the Unity in the midst of variety, and not cry out so much upon the variety, or number, where there is the Unity: But to let thee alone in thy fancy, though it condemn thyself.  
Repl. Thou sayest, That I, who out of the light am turned, am out of the Unity, and so in loftiness, in scoffing, pride, covetousness, fair speeches, customs of the world.  
Answ. And why may not a Quaker be guilty of all these? If but of one in form, then of all in spirit; And so to apply to thyself this: Art thou not still lofty, scoffing, jeering, cozening the simple, exalting thyself, idleing up and down to live upon other men's labours, under a pretence of preaching the Gospel, which is not the Gospel, but thine own fancy, vision, and blasphemy, many times against the Tabernacle of God, and them that dwell in Heaven? And are not these some of the ill; nay, worst customs of the world? And so according to thy fine talk of the number of the beast, thou art found, even thou in his spots, living out of the Unity, which is the nature and work of God thou seest in others: In the number of a man, which is the variety of wickednesses in the world, these thou art found alive in, and making thyself great too, in thine imagination at the sight of a number, or variety of forms and failings, thou seest many of the precious ones of God in bondage too much unto:  
Repl. Further thou tellest me, My head plots deceit.  
Answ. I could wish mine head were a fountain of tears, that I could weep day & night for all the deceit in the land, for all the abominations that are done in the midst of this untoward generation: And I can desire freely the Lord to consume and destroy all the deceivableness of unrighteousness that is nourished in them that perish, because they believe not the truth, that they might be saved: Let them be consumed by the brightness, and coming of the Lord: I have no plots in me against the very worst of men, but can let them alone from being persecuted outwardly, knowing that it is judgement and misery enough, for God to send such strong delusions, as that men should believe a lie.  
Repl. But my heart is in the earth, thou sayest:  
Answ. In the earth is not my treasure; I find all here vanity and vexation of spirit: But in the Lord have I righteousness, and strength: and so my treasure being above, mine heart and affections are also above.  
Repl. But my completeness is in darkness.  
Answ. Here indeed is the completeness of the world, but the Lord is arising to discover this delusion, and in him, & his light and grace, is my completeness, fullness, and glory.  
Repl. But to the light which comes from the cornerstone I act contrary, and fall not upon it, so upon me shall it fall and grind me to powder:  
Answ. Had thy building been upon the cornerstone, thou wouldst not in disobedience have denied him to be thy foundation, but wouldst by this falling upon him, have been broken all to pieces, and never thus weakly been sodered up again to act, and work for life in thine own power and merits, and so to be a Christ, a Saviour unto thyself, making thyself whole without the blood of the Lamb, which takes away the sins of the world: But be sure for this thy disallowing of the stone which is elect and precious, thou shalt stumble and fall, and be ground to powder for thy disobedience, whereunto also thou art appointed. As for me, let me alone to live and walk in the light of the Lord, to be all I am in the grace and righteousness of Christ Jesus: In myself I am broken indeed, my glory is gone, and I am nothing: But in Christ I am whole, and well, and need none of mine own power and merits to save me: In him I feed upon that which is good, upon substance, upon the best, upon fatness, and he being my foundation without and within, I have an everlasting covenant of grace, even the sure mercies of David: This I know because he is faithful.  
Repl. But thou tellest me, I am out of the Unity in the one spirit in the number of the beast, the number of a man, who profess the Letter declared from the life, which life knits the Saints in one peace, and thee shall eternally torment, who livest in vanity, and deniest the way of peace.  
Answ. Once more look home to thyself, that thou, even thou be not found in this number of a beast, of a man, that art complete in thy form, in thy observations, drawn sometimes from the Letter, and sometimes from thy fancy in the mystery; and yet neither Letter, or meaning is any more direction to thee, than will stand with thy dark, mind, and form: Therefore see and know that the life, the Scripture, the Christ, the peace which thou art in, is not the life out of the original in the one spirit, but the life, and Christ, and peace of form, of fancy, of man; and so notwithstanding all thy pretended Unity and holiness, thou regardest lying, vanity, and art in a weary land without water: As for me, my endeavour is to keep the Unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, with all lowliness, and meekness, and long-suffering, forbearing all my brethren in love: I know the body, the spirit, the calling is one, the Lord, the faith, the baptism is one, and that there is one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all: A sense of all these constrains me to love the Saints in all this oneness; though in their ways and walkings without they are divers, yet in the substances of things they are all one, and of one: And upon this account could I freely and faithfully have communion with them, preach and pray, and enter into fellowship with them; though by reason of their too much indulgence to their bodily exercise, and outward ways of walking, they are for the most part against communion with any out of their own model and way, and so too much spirit of God, I own it as a witness and Declaration of the Lords will and mind to man: This I profess not out of the life and light of the spirit, knowing that that is the living word, the kernel, the substance, which quickens all the body, and knits the Saints altogether in that one peace of God: And this spirit declared in the Letter, is that which keeps me from vanity, and frees me from the Law of sin, death, and condemnation.  
And now to the business of Tithes: Thou says:  
Repl. In my corrupt reason I am scraping up reasons to maintain Tithes, but show no Scripture.  
Answ. Here thou art at thine old trade, prating and slighting, but showing little reason, and yet thou goest on to teach, and say:  
Repl. To the Sons of Levi was Tithe paid for their service, and the relieving the fatherless, widows, and strangers.  
Ans. And why must not the Ministers of the Gospel have maintenance too for their service? Doth the Gospel afford less than the Law? But to let that pass: Thou hast spoken a piece of truth, to which I add: Thou mayest find even Levi himself paid Tithes in Abraham, Heb. 7. 9 and so Tithes were paid before the Law, and Levi were in being, as to the Letter: so that the payment of Tithes extended further than to the literal Tribe of Levi: And if Abraham and Jacob paid Tithes, as it appears they did, before the Law, Gen. 14. 18, 19, 20. and Gen. 18. 22. surely they did it by a light within, and this light was their Law; and this is thine too sometimes, though very seldom, especially when to part with something from thyself; and therefore art thou covetous to rob others of all their glory in inward things, to advance thyself; and of their property too in outward things, and so thou art greedy to keep the tenth of all. But to proceed:  
Repl. Thou sayest, When Christ came, he put an end to that service, and to the wages due to that service, and that he continued Tithes to the Ministers of the Gospel by a Law, that thou bid'st me prove by Scripture command, or example.  
Answ. That Christ put an end to the Levitical priesthood, that I deny not: But that Christ put an end to the priesthood so, as to set up no teaching in the room thereof, that I deny: But what, or who hath he set up? Answer, Ministers not of the Letter, but of the spirit. But are your Ministers such? Answer, those whom Christ anoints and ordains are such: for the rest I plead not: But where have you Ministers that are such, if the thing should be granted, any command, example, or practice for Tithes? Answer, we have the light within written in the hearts of all Nations, which teacheth them to pay Tithes, or maintenance unto their Priests at this day; this is the light of our Nation to pay Tithe unto their Ministers: And this is of as much force still, where it guides and rules, to teach men what to do, as it was of old before there was a Law for either priest hood, or Tithes: But doth this light teach men to pay Tithes? Answer, It doth so, it teacheth men to pay Tithes▪ or maintenance unto their Ministers; and where this light rules not, there the Ministers can get no maintenance without an outward Law, especially if he come in the anointing of the Lords spirit: A Priest of Baal indeed may get Tithe, or maintenance without a Law; but a Minister of the Gospel can get none without a Law: and so in pleading against Tithe, or maintenance for men anointed by Christ to preach, thou declarest thyself a friend of Baal and his Priests: For dost thou not see how all Sects and forms in the Nation, that are separated from the Ministry are almost all so fare blinded in this matter, as to join with unbelievers, worldlings, and covetous wretches to keep their Tithes, especially if the Minister be anointed and called of God? But where is your light within for Tithes guided by the Scripture? Answer, look, Gal. 6. 6, 7. and 1 Cor. 9 5. to 13. And remember what Christ saith, the labourer is worthy of his hire: And he that labours, saith Paul, in word and Doctrine is worthy of double honour: nay it is a hard thing to please Christ, who hath called us to be Soldiers, when we must labour, and be entangled with the affairs of this life for a maintenance: And who goes to warfare of his own charges? That which Ministers have I could desire might be with less trouble and care: However take all these Scriptures, and see whether there be no maintenance or Tithe due to gospel-ministers.  
But Christ said, freely ye have received, freely give: Answer, Christ in that teacheth us to do the Lords work willingly, not by constraint, or for filthy lucre; but of a ready mind, to be as free to communicate and distribute the heavenly Treasure, as he is to bestow it on us, not aiming at ourselves and gain, but at the advancement of his Kingdom and Gospel in the hearts of men: And this the Ministers of Christ are desirous to do through his grace. But into whatsoever house ye enter, eat such things as are set before you, Mat. 10. and Luk. 10. Answer, And so we will, when we are called to journey up and down the world as the Disciples were to do; but being ordained over a particular place, we are to feed the people with the word, over which the holy Ghost hath made us Overseers, and to take such things as are consecrated to us.  
But Christ bid the Apostles take no Tithes: Answer, And strange it is he should, seeing they were to go up and down from City to City, and place to place: Surely, if they had taken Tithes of all, they would have been very rich: And besides, the world being strangers to all knowledge and profession of Christ, this would have hindered the advance of the Gospel: Yet Paul told the Corinthians, that they might be chargeable to them, as other Apostles of Christ: And yet thou goest on, to say:  
Repl. O shame of all Parish hirelings, who have a Law to force maintenance from an whole Parish, and I who call myself a Minister of the Gospel, am not content with the Gospel's wages, and thou bid'st me prove, if ever Minister of the Gospel pleaded for levitical wages.  
Answ. No friend, this I go not about to prove; but maintenance is the thing I prove, and if thou call that levitical, thou mayest, thy tongue is thine own: Neither would I plead for any thing, if all did covet to walk according to the light within and without, which teacheth that the labourer is worthy of his hire.  
Repl. But Christ blotted out the hand-writing of Ordinances, Heb. 7. 10. Col. 2. 20. And so I that am subject to these things am in the world and covetous practices.  
Answ. But see whether thou thyself be not rather in the covetous practices of the most wicked of the world, in seeking to keep thy Tithes from the labourer; who, Christ saith, is worthy of his hire: mark that word hire; It may be, it may open thine eyes, though hirelings in thy account I know the Lord abhors, who labour for themselves, not the Lord: Yet take heed how thou keepest the hire from the true labourer, and that against all light and Law, and this present Scripture, in that place, Heb. 7. 10. The Law of the Priesthood is changed; And so say I, and Col. 2. 20. We must not be subject to ceremonial ordinances, as touch not, taste not, handle not, seeing what was ceremonial God hath blotted out, and nailed to the Cross of Christ; and so we are not to place Religion and holiness and worship in outward things, and places and Ceremonies, but may be free to that which the Law made outwardly unclean, as touch not, taste not: And yet in this freedom we are not to be without Law to God.  
Repl. But still thou goest on to tell me, I am a Thief, and talkest of the wages of the first Priesthood, which God did not allot to them, who were to do the work of the everlasting Priesthood.  
Answ. Yet I tell thee, I am no Thief, but one come in by the door, by the Son of God, to preach his Gospel, according to the measure of the gift of Christ; And no more wages do I receive than the Gospel allows me in, 1 Cor. 9 13, 14. And he is a Thief that keeps back the hire of the labourer: and he is a murderer, that envies and hates his brother: Look to thyself:  
Repl. But thou sayest, I am telling of the Lords giving a man Tithes, as a portion of the earth, to nourish himself and family:  
Answ. And why may not the Lord do this? And is not the earth the Lords and the fullness thereof? And doth he not give it unto whom he pleaseth? Is not Christ the Heir of all things? And wilt thou murmur, and tell the Heir, he hath done wisely in giving away his Tithes from thee? Thou worm, know that Christ is the wise disposer of all things, and doth all exceeding well.  
Repl. But thou sayest, I am not sent of the Lord, I am one of those that teach things I ought not, for filthy lucre's sake.  
Answ. Whether thou own me or no, is not much regarded of me, seeing thou ownest not the Lord himself: That I teach things I ought not, as thou and others do, is false: what I preach is the Gospel of grace: But thou settest up another Gospel, and so art accursed, though thou wouldst fain he accounted an Angel. That I teach for gain is but thy simple prate: I am contented with what I have, Tithes, or no Tithes, if the Lord please: God is my wages, and he pays me well. Further thou sayest:  
Repl. I plead for Tithes, sometimes as a gift from the Magistrate, sometimes as a gift from the Lord; and so thou cursest me from running greedily after the error of Balaam for gifts and rewards, and my God thou deniest, who teacheth me to plead for gifts.  
Answ. God and the Magistrate are one in work; that which the Lord gives, he leaves to the Magistrate to give under him; and that which the Magistrate disposes of, confirms, maintains, and gives in outward things, that is of the Lord, or according to the wisdom and providing of God, who hath the heart of the Magistrate in his hand, and turns it which way he pleaseth; so that the Magistrate, as a figure of God, is to imitate God in Justice and righteousness, to look to the Lord, and observe his carriage, and heed his mind and will, and to carry himself as the Lord doth towards men, in wisdom, justice and righteousness, seeking to maintain peace, liberty, freedom, property in this unruly world: and so Tithes being a peculiar property, which the wisdom of God hath directed the Magistrate to dispose of, partly to the Ministers, partly to others; when the Magistrate doth this, God doth it, which the envious one cannot see, but cries out blasphemy: And no wonder, though ye deny the lawfulness of this Act of the Magistrate, who is but the Lord's Steward, seeing ye deny the Master of the house, and would be wiser than Christ, or man, to have all at your disposing. As for gifts, or rewards out of the will of God, I desire them not: I know he is my shepherd, I shall not want; and though thou pray for nothing from him, it seems as though thou stoodst in no need of his bread, gifts, and providence, yet be sure if God should withdraw his gifts and favours never so little, thy subsistence, beauty, strength, life, body and spirit too, would soon mourn, languish, and whither away for want of the Lords mercies.  
Repl. But Christ, thou sayest, put an end unto Tithes, and is not changeable.  
Answ. If Christ put an end unto Tithes more than to any other outward property, than Tithes must be a peculiar figure of something which was to come; and yet in all thy wisdom thou couldst not tell what Tithes was a figure of; when I put this to thee, thou wast silent, and thy companion with thee, yet afterwards thy friend opened his mouth, and said, that Tithes was a figure of spiritual good things to be given out by Christ, and when I demanded a Scripture to maintain that, he paused a little, and said, he was Christ, and what he said was Scripture: Lo, what your wretched blindness and envy hath brought you unto: but to let that alone; Let me demand of thee to show a Scripture, which hath put an end unto Tithes in the Letter: Nay, that hath either forbidden, or commanded any property to all, to be enjoyed, or not enjoyed of a Christian in outward things: It speaks indeed of forsaking Houses, Lands, and the like for Christ; of being as the Lilies and the Sparrows: And we read, Act. 2. 44, 45. of a Community of possessions and goods among the Saints, which thy companion denied, and said, he was for his property; and why not another as well as he? Further, the Apostle speaks of using the world, as if we used it not; so that the Gospel is rather against all property, than commands any at all: And yet the Saints of God surely may have possessions in the world; but the Gospel no where commands, or forbids this, or that in outward things; only we ought to sit lose to the world, to all things as well as some, and in what state we are in, therewith to be content: And when you are in this frame, your hearts will be leveled more than they are to all outward things, and you'll plainly see, that God hath forbidden rend, as much as he hath forbidden Tithes: And if you have any command for your rent, or any other property, show it, and I will show you the same command is as much for Tithes; and if God hath put an end to Tithes, he hath put the same end to rent, and hath taught us all in the midst of all outward things to be as having nothing, and yet possessing all things. But thou sayest:  
Repl. God gave not Tithes to his Disciples and Apostles, who laboured painfully in the Word & Doctrine, and so surely he hath given it to swarm of locusts, who live in ungodliness.  
Answ. The same say I, God gives nothing to the wicked as a blessing, but as a curse to them: and yet he hath given Tithes to maintain the Ministers of his in this Nation, as much as he gave his Disciples and Apostles any possessions in the world; all being at the disposing of the Son, the Heir, to give to whom he pleaseth. Further thou sayest:  
Repl. A Minister must be Hospitable; But here thou fallest fowl upon the charity of the Priests of England, who Judas-like must have their bags filled and their barns, with that which others have painfully laboured for.  
Answ. But what if the Layman, as they are called, take Tithes, must he be a Judas, a Thief, an Hireling too, because he takes his property of Tithes where it is, and from others, who have laboured to till the ground for him? But yet this man, who doth nothing for his Tithes, and yet takes it, as due by Law, is not cried out upon usually; only the Minister is reviled for Tithes, or maintenance, though he labour and take pains diligently in the Office, and place he is called unto. But why dost thou speak of Judas? Did Judas take Tithes? And fill his bag with Tithes, that Ministers are like Judas in their Tithes? By this thou wilt unawares give us an argument for Tithes: But the Judas and his bag take unto thyself, who wanderest up and down to sell thy Master for a piece of bread, and betrayest his Gospel, truth and blood into the hands of sinners, to get thyself a name and fame in the world: And therefore thou biddest all others stand by, I am holier and wiser than thou, thou art a Traitor, a Judas, a Thief, and sinner: But I have no sin, I am a Prophet, Apostle, Minister of the Gospel; Nay, I am Christ, the Lord, who am come to judge the world: And so with thy light wanton Spirit, which runs a whoring after thy flesh and self, thou allurest with swelling words of vanity those who were escaped from them who live in error, again to come and live in error: And so taking no notice of thine own pride, doing all to be seen of men, and praised of men, and accounted a Christ and God, though a dark enemy to God and Christ, I say, taking no notice of thine own pride, thou criest out against others for cuffs, gaudiness, rings-hoods, vails, which Christ forbade, thou sayest, 1 Tim. 2. 9 And friend, where thou seest these things used without modesty, shamefacedness and sobriety, which becomes women professing godliness, there thou mayest vaunt, and cry out aloud in thy boasting spirit, that thou art not like other women, and as the Priest of England are in outward pride, though inwardly thou exceedest them all: But to end this prattle of Judas and women, thou sayest, a Minister must be Hospitable: but how, and with what thou knowest not, give he must; but wherewith to give he must not have: All Tithes, maintenance, set wages, gifts, that's Antichristian: All rewards, either from God, or men, that's Balaam-like, as thy wisdom calls it, and yet the man must be Hospitable: But let him preach, and trust God for maintenance: And so say I too; Let Ministers preach the Gospel, be instant in season and out of season, beseech men to be reconciled to God, not to this, or that form, custom, tradition, or outward society, but only in the will of God unto God, and the truth of God, and the people of God in all fellowships scattered up and down the world: Let Ministers do their duty, and trust God for their maintenance, who in the midst of all the people's murmur against this grievous burden of Tithes, doth still make provision for his Ministers in the Nation: God, who takes care for Oxen, takes care for those who tread out the Corn, who break the shell, and dispense out the word aright unto the people, though the envious hard-hearted world every where repine and murmur at this provision, which the Lord makes.  
Repl. But this, thou sayest, both is a taking of that which another hath painfully laboured for.  
Answ. And yet this by wise men is looked upon as no oppression, Tithes being a peculiar property, that no man can call his own, but he to whom the providence of God, and the wisdom of the Nation hath given them; and though it be out of another's labours, yet all Rent, Customs, Taxes, Use, are the same, pays out of other men's ventures, labours, pains, and yet the taking of them looked upon as no such grievous oppression and sin, as the taking of Tithes, though with much moderation by a Minister: But thou sayest,  
Repl. Let the prisons in England judge of the Priest's Hospitality, who cast the Saints into prison, some prisons have five, some ten, twenty, twenty four of the Children of God in them.  
Answ. This I own not, the putting Saints in prison, especially if it be for conscience towards God: those who are guilty of this, have a sad account to make: But yet it is not the suffering, but the cause, that makes the martyr: A man may suffer much, endure much hardship, grief, bonds; yea, and death too, and yet not suffer as a Christian with Christ, nor for his sake: and if any suffer thus, what glory is it? For a man may suffer as a Murderer, as a Thief, as an evil doer, as a busy body: and that many thus suffer, it's apparent: And so it behoves you to be well advised for what ye suffer, before ye glory too much of your sufferings as Saints. But thou comest to tell me, to whom my Hospitality reaches.  
Repl. First to mine own back and belly, who live in excess, and scorn such as do not; then to feast Drunkards, Ranters, and profane persons, and to spend the time in laughter, mirth, folly, vanity, etc.  
Answ. All this is but the devise and vision of a Quakers spirit; as for fine , and feasts, and carnal merriments, I have seen vanity and madness in them, and can be as well content without them as the strictest Christian: Neither hath any company, or people at any feast, or meeting been so welcome to me as the Son of God: As for Ranters and Atheists, and men that under a conceit of being above ordinances, Ministers, and all worship of God, have lost all Religion and appearances of grace, take all those to thyself; for these usually are the people that go to the making up of thy foolish building. Further thou tellest me:  
Repl. My moderation, freedom, and enlargement in matters of Tithes will not colour over my deceit.  
Answ. Yet all thy railing, lying, & envy shall not make me forget my moderation and freedom in this matter, or make me guilty of that deceit, pride, fullness, excess, vanity, thou layest unto my charge: Neither shall all thy fury against the Priesthood provoke me to plead for any of the carnal false Priesthood, who preach for lucre, gifts and rewards, or the like. All that I aim at in pleading for the Ministry is this, to make this out in thy conscience, and I know it is evident there already, that God hath still a precious seed in the Ministry: that in our age, and ages before, there have been, and still are some in the Ministry, that have been, and are precious lights unto the Saints of God; men that have stood up boldly against the idolatries, superstitions, inventions, and sins of the Nation in their time, according unto their measure of grace: These are men whose weaknesses the Lord covers, and whose spirits he still keeps up to commend the truth to every man's conscience in the sight of God: These I have seen a strong Angel protecting and providing for; and all the Ministry far the better for their sakes: These are men whom the Father pleads for: And though I find too much folly & selfishness in the best of us all; yet look upon any form, or way in the Nation, and there you may find the same, and see we have all cause to put on patience, meekness, brotherly kindness, charity, to be subject one to another in love, and to walk humbly and meekly with our God.  
And though ye are a people that are risen up above all and pretend to a light that is infallible in every particular, and to an estate free from all remnants of sin, yet I know, and am persuaded by the Lord, that both the light within, and the light of Scripture makes it out plain to your conscience, that in many things ye are dark, ignorant, doubtful, selfish, highminded, carnal, and so walk as other men: And though I know you'll say, the new man sins not, and ye are dead indeed unto sin, and the blood of Christ, & grace of Christ have purged away all our unrighteousness, and we are as God is, and as Christ is in this present world: All these and the like I know are high expressions of the Saints freedom, dignity, and honour, yet they never make use of these and the like Scriptures to any other end, or purpose, than to set forth what they were in God's account, grace, and favourable acceptation; and to comfort and encourage one another in the midst of all their weaknesses and infirmities with the new birth, the new man, the work of God upon the heart within, in which is all the fullness, and happiness, and completeness of a Christian in this world: This is the use they made of such Scriptures to heighten the grace of God; and to further their glorying and consolations in the Lord: And yet in their flesh, they saw no good thing, and in themselves they were conscious of errors and sins enough to be humbled for, whilst in this body of clay: as we see in Job, David, Paul, and others of the precious ones of God. And so to speak a word to thee: Remember from whence thou art fallen; thou art fallen from thy light within; thou hast lost thy tenderness to the Saints of God, because thy light within is turned into utter darkness: and now in the deep darkness thou art high in thine own imaginations: Nay, thou art, I am, and there's none besides thee; and so thou ragest and art furious against every one that sees thy nakedness and blasphemy. Why, poor vile worm, where art thou? and what art thou? Thou art like the Egyptians flesh, and not spirit; thou art a man, and the son of man that shall die, a man full of infirmities and sins, like all others of the sons of men; Nay, a man of sin in all thy proud exaltings of thyself; a liar, a false Prophet thou art, who criest out, I am Christ, the son of the most high; lo here, lo here: In all this hast thou grieved the Spirit of God, sinned away the promise of the Father, made use of the light within to wrest the Scriptures to thine own destruction: which light teacheth thee to fear the Lord always for thy good, to glory and triumph in him, as in thy life and joy: This light reproves thy drunken spirit, thy wanton heart, that is so fare in love with thy proud flesh, that thou must needs be Christ and God: This reproves thy scoffing jeering nature, thy seeking to destroy the weak ones for whom Christ died: This light shines in thy darkness, but thou comprehendest it not: and this tells thee to thy face, thou art ignorant, brutish, foolish, and knowest little of the mysteries of God and Christ, and what thou knowest doth but puff thee up, and make thee forget thy Maker; and yet loath thou art to be seen and made manifest to thy deluded party; and therefore thou hatest the light of Christ and Gospel of grace, and unwilling thou art to come to the light, lest thy deeds should be discovered: and though thou talk of being redeemed from the earth, yet thou knowest not the earth wherein thou dwellest; thou canst not see the earth in thine heart set, nor how thou thyself art the earth wherein thou livest: And here thou art rich, and wise, and honourable in this earth of flesh and blood, and knowest not that this earth must pass away, and all the works that are therein be burnt up and consumed, because that in it dwells no good thing: Therefore thou proud wretch that art lifted up to heaven, come down from thy Throne, and see thy shame, see where thou livest, even where Satan's seat is, in that which is called the the old man, the Serpent, Satan, the accuser: This is thy nature, thy seat, and habitation where thou dwellest: And up and down the World thou goest like thy Father to devour the noble seed of God, that thou alone mayest be the seed, the King, the God and all: Therefore be wise for thyself, look home, turn thine eyes inward; be not always like the fool abroad: Thou hast a great work yet to do; Nay, all thy work yet to begin, which is to deny thyself: Thou hast almost all the weaknesses, blemishes, errors, sins of all the forms abroad centred in thyself, and therefore lay the Axe to the root of the Tree, hue down thyself, or rather let the Lord do it for thee; he is wiser and stronger than thyself, he'll search, and prove, and try what wickedness there is in thee, and lead thee in the way everlasting: Know in all this, I am not thine enemy; mine aim is at the destruction of Antichrist, and the man of sin in thee; and fain I would see thee what thou pretendest to be, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners according to some measure of Christ, learning to see the Father in the face of Jesus Christ, and then thou wilt soon fall down at his feet, and say, I am a man, a poor drop of the bucket, one who cannot in all my search find out the Almighty in his perfection; he is high, and deep, and incomprehensible, but I am vanity, a weak, poor, shallow thing, and so I cannot but in admiration of the Lord, wisdom, and knowledge say, How unsearchable are his judgements and his ways past finding out: Who hath known the mind of the Lord, or been his Counsellor? For of him, and through him, and to him are all things; to whom be glory for ever and ever.  
MAGNUS' been.   

A REPLY TO LAWSONS' ANSWER To 28. Questions.  
Wherein his darkness and bitterness are still manisted, by the same Author MAGNUS been.  
Quest. 1. WHence the name arose? and whether you own any such thing as the trembling and quaking of the body and flesh, which hath befallen some at your meetings? and whether that may not be a delusion?  
Ans. The name arose, and is cast upon us by Ismaels' brood, a generation of scorners.  
Repl. Ismaels' brood are scorners indeed, and this Spirit in thee calls me Priest, Hireling, etc. and so thou art hereby witnessed to be of that generation of scorners, but wisdom is justified of her Children.  
Answ. Further, the thing quaking we own, and the power of it, as the Saints of God have always done.  
Repl. And why not then the name? seeing names are but shadows of things themselves, and if the thing be justified by wisdom, the name which is a manifestation of the thing must needs likewise be justified: but me thinks I see your guiltiness and knowledge of the thing to be a delusion, that you are so offended at the name: as for the trembling and quaking which the Scriptures intimate.  
1. It ariseth from an emptiness of God, a state of division and separation from his presence in love and light: and so it belongs unto Devils and wicked men, James 2. 19 the Devils believe and tremple, Isa. 33. 14. the sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness has surprised the Hypocrite; and again, the wicked man shall not feel quietness in his belly, in the fullness of his sufficiency he shall be in straits, God shall cast the fury of his wrath upon him; and so they are like the troubled Sea, peaceless, restless, and where this fear is there is, torment, Hell, because a sense of wrathfulness and anger began; no taste of perfect love which casteth out fear, this trembling is a sad judgement of God, and a certain forerunner of weeping and gnashing of teeth for ever: see it threatened, Deut. 18. 64, 65, 66, 67. the Lord shall give thee a trembling heart, and thy life shall hang in doubt, and thou shalt fear day and night, at evening would God it were morning, and at morning would God it were evening, for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and see the world filled with this fear, Psal. 14. 5. and 53. 5. there were they in great fear where no fear was, and the issue of such is everlasting woe, Rev. 21. 8. the fearful and unbelieving shall be cast into the lake of fire.  
2. There is a trembling at the coming & appearing of God, in the shining brightness and terrors of the Law to us: so Israel trembled, feared, and stood afar off at the giving of the Law, Exod. 20. 18, 19, 20, 21. thus the Law revealed in the conscience works fear at first, arising out of a spirit of bondage, with all that are born of the bondwoman Agar, or after the flesh, as soon as they come to Mount Sinai are possessed with, Rom. 8. 15. Gal. 4. 23. 24, 25. and so Paul, when the Law came with power was strucken with death, Rom. 7. 9, 10. and at the coming of Christ to declare his sin, he's found trembling, Act. 9 6. this trembling of Paul, was a trembling of the immer man, the old man, which Christ was now come to destroy; this old man, was he in Paul, who kept Christ under, who persecuted Jesus; this old man, which was Paul's own will, reason, mind, lust, and made him injurious, blasphemous, and a persecuter of Christ, this was he whom Christ came to break to pieces, and upon him falls the trembling; and so Paul's trembling was his striking with inward horror at the kindling of the Law in him, and the shining of the Majesty thereof upon him, this made him cry out, who art thou Lord? What wilt thou have me to do: as for the flesh and outward body of Paul, that was acted by his mind and inner man: and therefore Christ did not come so much to make this tremble, as the root whence this did spring, the fleshly mind, the body of sin, this must now tremble and come under the Cross: so that this trembling of Paul, and his being stricken to the ground, and his falling to the earth, can be no sufficient ground to justify the fleshly trembling and quaking of these men: For,  
1. As Paul was stricken with trembling, so with bliudnesse: but those who have this trembling, have not likewise the blindness.  
2. Paul was sensible, both of trembling and blindness; these are only sensible of quaking not of blindness.  
3. Paul was strucken to the earth, and all that were with him, Act. 26. 14. but here is one quakes, and the rest are free, and some have no experience of the thing at all.  
4. When Paul trembled, the people that were with him are said to hear a voice, and to see a light; but at your tremble there's no such light, or voice.  
Lastly, Paul's trembling, let in so much of Christ, that ever afterwards, he was full of love, meekness, patience, moderation towards all, as one sensible what man was, and this trembling brought such a piercing sight along with it, that Paul ever afterwards saw a body of corruption, a fleshly part in him, fighting and carrying him forth many times to the Law of sin: but these men's trembling lets in no such light nor life: but rather madness, fury, murmuring, condemning all to Hell that come not under the power of their form; as likewise pride, conceit, and a foolish imagining, a freedom from all remnants of sin and darkness, a state of fullness and perfection, in the midst of all their palpable follies and abominations: There surely, Paul's trembling at the beginning of his conversion, agreeing with these men's trembling in no circumstance, can be no Warrant, or witness for their fleshly trembling; I call it a fleshly trembling, because it's a trembling of the outward flesh, when the inward remains in its full force and power, and rather stronger then weaker after the trembling is passed over.  
3. And lastly, the Scriptures mention a trembling, or fear, which flows from a sense and taste of what God is, and what we are; and this is a trembling that is always joined with faith, and love, and joy: and this trembling and fear belongs unto the adoption, or the true seed of the freewoman; the Sons and Heir of God; they seeing as Job speaks, what an infinite incomprehensible being the Lord is, and that he's love itself, and life and power, and goodness itself unto all his Saints; having a true touch of this upon their spirits, and likewise of their own low, weak, poor, empty condition in themselves, that all they have, they have it in the Lord, and from the Lords rich grace and love, without the least merit of theirs; hence they learn to abhor themselves, and to tremble before the Lord's Majesty; and yet upon another consideration, to wit, of being taken into Union and fellowship with him, through his son and grace, they can go unto him in faith, as unto their exceeding joy; this is to rejoice with trembling, to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling, to be afraid of God, because of his power and greatness, and so to stand in awe, and sin not; and yet likewise to rejoice in the Lord and in his grace, to be afraid of God, because of our own proneness unto sin, and yet to go unto him as to a father with great affection, delight and joy; as those who are kept by him from the power of sin and evil: This is a trembling which is not for a fit, and time only, but kept alive in the Soul, during our abode in this house of clay: whether yours be such a trembling as this, let your own light be judge; this is the trembling that Job, and David, and the holy men of God witnessed of old, and do still witness to this very day: but away with thy fleshly, bodily, literal trembling, and quivering; this is rather like Belshazzars trembling, or like a fit of Mahomet, when the falling evil fell upon him, which he feigned to be the holy Ghost, or like a man possessed with the Devil; than like the trembling of the Saints of old: I know when God arises to save a Soul from death, he shakes the earth and the heavens that men have made, but this is inward, spiritual, and invisible to the bodily eye, like that of Job, when he said, he hath broken me asunder, he hath taken me by the neck, and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark, he cleaveth my reins asunder, he poureth out my gall upon the ground, he breaketh me with breach upon breach: What was all this literal, outward, carnal? Surely no, it was rather the breaking in pieces of all Jobs somethingness, and the grinding of him in spirit to nothing before the Lord; and thus it is in measure with all his dearest Saints: This is a trembling I own, & have not a word against, and when ye can witness this your other trembling, will no more be mentioned, or gloried in at all.  
Quest. 2. Whether or no God have not a precious people found in various forms and ways of worship, where they are waiting on him according to their light, and several attainments?  
Answ. The way of God is one, his worship one, his light one, and all that are in this light are in the one way, one worship, according to their measure, and by this light are all forms, ways, worships and attainments, which vary from it condemned.  
Repl. Where the word is not made flesh to dwell among us, there men, and the way, form, and worship that men are in, though outwardly never so decked and adorned in show, is but like an house forsaken, and left to strangers, or like a poor empty cottage left alone, where nothing inhabits but the Owl, and the satire, and creeping things, but where the word dwells in us, & with us, and the Lord comes down to sit at Table, and to keep us company, there the men, and the way, form, and worship they are under; though outwardly never so contemptible, are an house filled with glory, and kept by the Lord for his friends, his mother, sister, brother, and this is an house I desire to dwell in all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord: This house is one in the spirit, and the way to it one, and the worship in it one, as being built by the Lord only for his Saints, and set up by his Spirit, that where he is they may be also: Yet in this house are many mansions, higher and lower rooms, and Tables spread with meat for Children, fathers, young men: God in every corner of his house condescending to visit all his family, and to feed them with food, suitable to that measure they are under: Friend, the whole creation is an house made for the great King to dwell in, and all the creatures in this great variety, according to their several capacities have the King dwelling in them, and with them; even so the Church of God which is a new Creation, is a Tabernacle pitched by the Lord for himself, and every Member of this new building in the midst of this great variety of them, has the presence of the Lord in him, and with him, according to his capacity to receive: Now the way hither is one, and the light one, and the worship one, as all are brought hither by regeneration, and have the Lord to be their light, to teach them all that worship, which is one in spirit and truth: But how then comes the variety and diversity? I ananswer, it flows from the several workings, operations, and manifestations of the same Lord; so that in the original things are one, but in their come forth to us, and in us, they are multiplied: Grace in the Soul is one, one with what it is in Christ, but in the coming of it forth in us is various, and clothed with divers names, as faith, hope, love, meekness, patience, etc. even so light in the Souls of men is one, but in the breaking of it forth its manifold, and so there is the manifold wisdom of God, and hence the actings & walkings of the Saints are in a variety, as they are more or less in a manifestation of the Original, and yet this variety leads up into the Unity, and teaches all to walk, and live, and follow Christ in the regeneration: This is all the variety I plead for, which flows from the various manifestation of the same Christ, and leads up into him as into its root and Centre.  
But thou sayest I plead for the Leopard's spots, in pleading for several forms & ways of worship: Answ. I plead for no form, tradition, or invention of men, new, or old, neither would I have Christians make any form a brickwall of separation to divide between them & others, that are under any manifestation of grace and love; all that I say, is, there are diversities of gifts, administrations, and operations, but the same spirit, Lord and God who worketh all in all, and is all in all to band and free, and let every one that differs from another, endeavour to be fully persuaded that 'tis light, not darkness, the Lord not the flesh that makes the difference, though the difference be still in fleshly, or outward things; and so having nothing, but what we have received, let every one think soberly of himself, according as God has given to every one a measure, and what men observe, let them do it as unto the Lord, not man, in honour preferring one another, waiting with patience, and they shall see all the Towers that men have made, fall to the ground, and broken in pieces by the stone cut out of the mountain.  
Quest. 3. Whether we ought to give Tribute, Custom, Tithes, Rend to those who have an interest in them by the Laws of the Land where we live, seeing Christ said, render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's, Matth. 22.  
Answ. Yea, let man have the things that are his, and God have the things that are his, this said Christ, and so say we; and Paul says, render unto all their deuce, Tribute to whom Tribute is due, Custom to whom Custom is due, Rom. 13. 7. and this say we.  
Repl. If thine heart and thy tongue herein agree 'tis well, thou hast witnessed a good confession; but dost thou witness this indeed? Art thou willing to give Tribute, Custom, Rend to whom 'tis due? Art thou as Christ was, and the Apostles were subject to the Magistrates, that are for conscience sake? Where then is thine honour, where is thy fear to the powers, that be ordained of God? For there's no power but of God: but seeing thou hast yielded to a duty, i'll leave thee in the performance to stand, or fall to thine own Master.  
Answ. Further, here thou wouldst have a Cloak for thy Tithe in too Parishes, which thou hast no due unto, he that hath due unto nine sheaves, hath due unto the tenth.  
Repl. To this I say, I, and all I have are not so much mine own as Gods; they are more his due than mine, and when he calls for any thing, I am willing to let it go, and when he gives me any thing, I am willing to make use of it, and to him I must give account for all, not to thee, as for a Cloak to maintain my Tithes, I desire no other than the will of God, and what the Scripture allows, and the Law commands: Thou sayest, he who has due unto nine sheaves, has due unto the tenth: Fie friend, what a lying, and to strengthen Robbery and oppression too; men are prone enough to call another's due their own, and to destroy property, which thou seekest by thy lying and murmuring to maintain.  
And further, thou sayest Christ is come, who put an end to that Priesthood, who was to have the tenth in Israel for their maintenance, and the fatherless widows and strangers, with the same they were to maintain.  
Repl. That Christ came to put an end to the first Priesthood, and their carnal Ordinances I deny not: but about the several Ordinances of Tithes of old, I see thou art grossly ignorant: Therefore there was a tenth for the poor in Israel, and a tenth for the Priest and Levite too; and so observe, and thou shalt find.  
1. That after a man had received the fruits of the earth, he was to separate out of it the first fruits: these were to be offered unto the Lord, who gave them unto the Priest, Numb. 18. 12. Deut. 26. 2, 3.  
2. He was to separate a tenth of the remainder, in the first and second year, and this was to be given unto the Levites, Numb. 18. 21, 24. this the Hebrews called the first Tithe.  
3. After this he was to separate out of the residue one in ten, and this was for the owners themselves, and they were to carry it up to Jerusalem, and eat it there, mentioned Deut. 14. 23. and 12. 18, 19 this was called the second Tithe, and was to be in the first and second year.  
4. In the third year there was, after the first Tithe, which was for the Levite, not a second Tithe on that year for the owners, but instead thereof a second Tithe for the poor, and stranger, and fatherless, Deut. 14. 28. 29. and 26. 12. Here you see the owners were to separate a first fruit, and a tenth for the Levite and Priest, and a tenth to make merry with among themselves, in token of thankfulness and rejoicing before the Lord, and every third year a tenth for the fatherless, widows, and strangers; and whereas thou sayest, that the Priest was to maintain the poor, and fatherless, and stranger out of his tenth; here thou hast spoken more than thou art able to prove: in saying the Priest was to maintain the poor, and that he was to do it out of his tenths given to him; prove thou this by Scripture, or confess thy darkness; and yet I deny not, but the Ministers as well as the people, both under the Law and Gospel ought to look to the poor, ●nd to separate a part of their estates for the stranger and widow; and al●●●at variety of tenths, offerings, and first fruits under the Law, were written for our instruction, and should teach us all to be liberal, and generous minded towards the furtherance of the Lords service, and the maintenance of people in necessity.  
Further, Christ is come thou sayest, who put an end to the first Priesthood and their wages.  
This I deny not, that Priesthood being dead has no need of wages, and yet thou canst not prove that Tithes were ceremonial, figurative, and abolished the coming of any substance which they did represent: as for that place, Heb. 7. 12. it proves only the change of the Priesthood, and the ceremonial Law; that which is moral is still in force, whereof this is one, that we ought to honour the Lord with our substance, and with the first fruits of all our increase, Prov. 3. 9 and he that in readiness does not consecrate a first fruits, Tithe, or part of his increase to the Lords service, as a token of willingness to consecrate all, as well as a part, if the Lord require it of him; this man has rob God in Tithes and offerings, as it is said of old, Mal. 3. 8. he has preferred his Mammon before his God, and is guilty of the sin of Ananias, in keeping back part of the price; and thou, who by way of scorn callest the Ministers of the Gospel Priests, that so thou mightest have a Cloak to deny their maintenance, because it is called Tithes; know, that you are a robber of God, and thou deniest his light written in all Nations, which teaches them to pay Tithes, or maintenance unto their Priests, or Ministers, & thou seekest to weaken the hands of the Ministers here, that thou mightest ride in triumph upon thy dark form; & so thou seekest to make void the Law of God and man, in keeping those who preach the Gospel, from maintenance for their attendance upon the Gospel, contrary to the ordination of God, 1 Cor. 9 13, 14. and that power which all teachers may make use of vers. 12. and the unreasonableness of the thing in itself, vers. 11. and 2 Tim. 2. 4.  
But our maintenance ought to come freely, not by way of Tithes, not exacted. Answer, ' This is the hardness of men's hearts, that it does not freely come, where it is most deserved, and so God in wisdom has required it by an outward Law, in the absence of the inward Law, which men willingly break, out of love unto the world: and whether the maintenance be by Tithes, or otherwise, it is all one; it ought to come from the people, and they own it as a tribute unto God, and so where's thy paying tribute & custom to whom it is due.  
Further, thou sayest, Christ out of his fullness ministers out the heavenly treas●●●●o the necessities of his, Joh. 1. 16. as the first Priesthood ministered out the earthly treasure to the necessities of the fatherless, widows, and strangers.  
Repl. That Christ gives out of his fullness all grace to his, to relieve them in all their inward wants, this I acknowledge with : but here thou seekest a Cloak to cover thy nakedness in robbing others of Tithes, and the more thou seekest to cover and hid thyself, the more thy nakedness still appears; therefore be sober, and see if thou canst see thy darkness which may be felt, thou sayest the first Priesthood ministered out the earthly treasure to the necessities of the fatherless, widows, and strangers; here thou makest it the office and work of the Priest to distribute out the Tithes, which thou callest earthly treasure: indeed I read that the Priests lips should preserve knowledge, and they should seek the Law at his mouth, for he's the messenger of the Lord of Hosts: and so the Priest was anointed to teach the people, to open and expound that Doctrine he had received from the Lord; and to offer sacrifice for the people, to bless and pray for the people, the Priest and Levite were to attend upon all the Tabernacle and Temple worship; but that it was their business to distribute out the Tithes unto the poor, this I never read of: neither haste thou any shadow of Scripture for it, neither is there any shadow of sense, or light in it, that they should leave the service of God to serve Tables: but I see thy drift, fain thou wouldst make Tithes, the earthly treasure a figure of Christ and his grace the heavenly treasure, but having neither Scripture nor reason for what thou sayest, therefore thou art driven to say, thou art infallible, thou art Christ, and what thou speakest is Scripture, and so must be believed, see how thine eye is out, and so blind thou art, that thou canst see nothing in all the land of Canaan, nothing in the offerings, sacrifices, and observations of the Law, to hold forth Christ, and the heavenly treasure by him, but only the earthly treasure of Tithes, and so the envious one has filled thine envious mind and eye with strong infatuations.  
Further, thou sayest, I am Antichrist, who uphold that which Christ put an end unto: Reply, this is no news for Antichrist to call another Antichrist, if they have called the master of the house Belzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household: that Christ put an end to Tithes in his time thou findest to the contrary; for he tells the Scribes and Pharisees that these things ye ought to have done: Nay, that the morality ceased, and a grieving part of our substance, according to God's ordination unto those that attend upon the preaching of the Gospel, this thou findest to the contrary too, 1 Cor. 9 7. to 15. here then is an approbation, and an ordination, and yet both not sufficient to satisfy men unreasonable.  
Further, after a little more prattle, thou criest out, thou dark mind, in the time of the first Priesthood, Tithe was not paid, nor received as by any command from Caesar, or from any man whatsoever, but by commandment from the Lord, and in this time, who paid not Tithes rob God, Mal. 3. 8, 9, 10. here is no telling of Caesar, nor any man, but God himself, whose the earth is, and the fullness thereof.  
Repl. Here thou seekest to persuade the Magistrate not to meddle with Tithes, intimating he had no finger in it under the Law: indeed I know that the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he pleaseth: but by whom does he give out Laws, rule and govern the world, but by his own will in Magistrates, and so in all ages there has been polity and government in all Nations, and Magistrates chosen by men according to God's secret instinct and direction in the hearts of men, and this choice clothed with Majesty and Authority from the Lord, to maintain Laws and peace in the earth, and this power under the Law, was for the punishment of all offenders of the Law, and so surely for the punishment of those who rob God in any thing, but what this robbing is thou canst not tell: and that the Magistrate had no hand in requiring obedience to, and observance of the Laws, statutes and judgements of God, this lies upon thee to prove, which because thou canst not do: therefore thou must deny the Scripture, and say, all the complaint was to be made to God in case of injury and oppression under the Law, and so none at all unto the Magistrate; yet in case of injury the Magistrate is set up, thou seest for a refuge to fly unto in the earth, and whereas thou sayest, he who paid not Tithes rob God, the same may be said of every other command, he who kept it not, rob God, and the Magistrate was to require recompense, or to punish for all this robbery: but thy drift is, fain thou wouldst have the Magistrates stand for a cipher, and take no eognizance of all the robbery that is done unto God in the Nation, of all the blasphemies, and unrighteousnesses of men; men are not to complain to men but God, and so the powers of the Nation must stand still, and let all the Laws of God and man be leveled, and every one ride upon the Throne of his own will; this is the world's desire indeed, because they love not to be governed, but all must be governor's, and the rule and Law must be their own will and power; see here where thou art, friend, in the midst of the vilest and worst of the sons of men, fain thou wouldst have none but God to meddle with men and with their actions, dreaming, though foolishly, that if thou couldst escape the authority and punishment of the Laws and of the Magistrates, thou couldst easily escape the authority and punishment of God: but God sees what every one does in the dark, in the Chamber of his imagery, and what are we, or what are the Magistrates; your murmur are not against us, but against the Lord; he sees all the pining and fretting of every one in all this untoward generation, and how it is his government they shake of, and a King they must have to govern them, like all other Nations, which is their own dream and will: see where thou art, and remember thou own no man any thing but love, no Rent, no Custom, no Tribute, no Tithes; love will teach thee these things are due, therefore cover not another's portion, own him nothing but love, for the earth is the Lords, and the fullness thereof.  
Quest. 4. What is that double honour, which is due unto the Elder that rules well, and what is the Elder, and his ruling well? 1 Tim. 5. 17.  
Answ. The Elder that rules well, is he that rules in the authority of God over his own will, in that spirit which is contrary unto the will of the flesh, and that spirit is honoured of God, and all good men, to whom its due, and double.  
Repl. Here's a Christian Elder, a spiritual Elder, and I like him, and his ruling well, as one who gins in the spirit, and ends in the spirit: and thus the Saints are called Elders, Rev. 4. 4. and 5. 5. 8, and these I find resigning up themselves, and all they have unto the Lord, falling down and worshipping him that lives for ever, casting their Crowns, and all their choicest Jewels at his feet, saying, thou art worthy to receive glory, honour, and power: but besides these, there is a preaching Elder, one anointed to be an officer and servant of the word of God in the Lord's house; and unto this Elder all both high and low, that will not rebel against Christ, the master must yield obedience, and this Elder is mentioned, and what his ruling aught to be, 1 Pet. 5. 1. 2, 3. and 1 Tim. 5. 17, 19 and such Titus was to ordain in every City, Tit. 1. 5. and this Elder is called a Bishop, or Overseer, Tit. 1. 7, 8. & how he must be qualified we there read, 1 Tim. 3. 1. to 8. and thus its usual with the Apostle, to call such, who were to rule over the spirits of men, by the power of the Word Bishops, Overseers, Preachers, Elders: & those were the rulers well, that laboured and took pains in the Word and Doctrine, not giving heed to fables and Genealogies, which minister questions, doting much upon their questions, and answers to their doubtful questions, whereof comes envy, strife, rail, and evil surmisings, the Elders of the Lord must be of another spirit than this questioning generation, sober, grave, wise, apt to teach, nourished up in the words of faith, and of good Doctrine, and of good life; the Elder that thus rules well, though the world own him not, love him not, rob him, accuse him, condemn him, yet he's worthy of all▪ due respect and maintenance: this Elder thou art willingly ignorant of, and no such thing canst thou find in Scripture, because against him, and his maintenance thou art filled with indignation, as being some stop to thy Kingdom and reign in the dark world.  
Answ. The rest of the answer unto this query is like the former, all overspread with accusations: telling me I am none of the Elders he has mentioned, who am covetous, conforming to the world, its ways, fashions, customs, inventions, abusing my body with cuffs, ribbons, unnecessaries, at which my high, big, ranting mind may scorn, etc.  
Repl. But stay friend, whence comes all this? from the spirit of the Lord, or from thine own private spirit? dost thou in all this rule well, and over thine own will? What judging and condemning for thou knowest not what? Where's thy ruling well now? what, like the world, observing and scraping up every thing which thine own fancy makes an abomination, and then charging this upon the seed of God? Surely thine heart is like a City broken down, and without walls, and therefore nothing almost comes from it but clamouring, bitterness, and evil speaking, and what's thine end in all this, but to make thyself righteous, and another wicked; thou sounding brass that keepest a tinkling, where's thy charity in all this? love covers a multitude of sins, but thou makest a multitude of sins, where they are covered by love, and so thou condemnest thyself, not to be the Elder that rules over thine own spirit; and therefore, fie upon all thy profession, thou, who pretendest to be a Lamb, an holy man of God, and yet still found in Ismaels' generation.  
Quest. 5. What is that provision every one ought to make for his own family, seeing he who provides not for them of his own house denies the faith, and is worse than an infidel.  
Answ. That provision every one ought to make for his family, is to fly, idleness, ranting, and waiting the creatures of God upon his own lusts, and not to live on the sweat of other men's brows, which, who denies, denies the faith, and is worse than an infidel.  
Repl. Here the Quaker is seen and known, and judged out of his own mouth, as one who through his lightness denies the faith; learning under a pretence of preaching to be like the wanton widow, idle, wand'ring about from house to house, and not only so, but a tatler also, and a busy body, speaking things he ought not, neither understanding whence his spirit comes, nor whither it goes, not labouring at all in the thing that good is; but creeping into silly people's affections with his show of wisdom, and humility, and will worship, clamouring against Magistrates, Ministers, Tithes, Customs; damning men for wearing Ribbons, Cuffs, Lace, Rings, Pins, Bands, Hoods, Veyls, Points, etc. and for using the civil expressions of humanity, in pulling off the Hat, showing some respect, love, honour, duty unto fathers, mothers, masters, superious, friends, comers and goers, about these and the like ceremonies and toys, they make a great noise, and win here and there an Atheist, a Ranter, or some discontented people to feed upon their dregs; and then to feed their hungry bodies; this is their great business, thus to add unto their father's Kingdom by rail, lyings, flatter, and all that come in are cried up for Saints, and Children of the Kingdom, but such as receive not their Doctrine and vanities, and put not into their mouths must be ipso facto, excommunicated for Dogs, Devils, Beasts, Swine, Belly-Gods, Bulls of Boshan, Whores, Antichrist, Witches, Sorcerers; behold thy model, and thy spirit, friend, and see thou thyself in this Looking-glass of thine own making, how wanton thou art waxed in the midst of all thy framed gravity, refusing thy Saviour to be married unto a delusion, in all which thou hast denied the faith, and art worse than a Pagan, and all that regard thy pride, superstitions, works of superarrogations, instead of making provision, make destruction for their own families, forsaking usually Fathers, Wives, Children, Families callings, occupations, and so  themselves with rags, and ruin, and woe.  
But thou sayest robbery for provision the Lord hates, and so say I; all that use a deceitful way to get provision by, the Lord abhors; but surely, friends, the Office of a Minister anointed, and called of God is good, for others they are thy forefathers, strikers and railers: I dare not plead their cause, and the preaching of the Gospel by men sent of God is no idle employment, and maintenance from the people to whom we preach is no robbery for provision, seeing it is a provision due to the Lord out of all men's substance, and so no deceitful way to provide for our families, and yet the murmurer must still be wiser than God that made him.  
Further, thou sayest, I run unsent to provide for my family, aiming at lucre▪ this is robbery; to which I say, he who sent me is the Lord, by his will and power am I anointed to preach, and that which he aims at in me, and by me is to catch men, and to make his word a savour of life, or death, and what he has reserved, and taken, and kept for my use is no robbery to take, though thou prate; neither will the Lord lay this to my charge as dishonest gain, as the accuser does; or tell me, I sell his word for money, which is not bread, as thou, who knowest not the word; for the word is life and substance and though it take not such effect upon many as it ought, they may thank thy father for it, for he has stolen it away from their hearts; all that I can do is, to commend it to the conscience, and he that has an ear to hear will hear.  
Further, thou sayest, many infidels will labour painfully for their families, but I live on the sweat of others men's brows; and what do the Quakers then, who run up and down without callings, without labouring at all the thing that good is; wand'ring up and down to foam out their own shame, making it their work to sow discord among brethren; living wholly upon the sweat and charge of other men, deluding the people with their moderation in eating▪ and drinking, that they may the better insinuate their ceremonies and delusions, and in all this they have denied the faith, and are worse than infidels; as for my part, God has set me in my calling I act in, commands me to keep in it, to preach the Gospel, to break his bread to the hungry, and to give water to the thirsty, and in this work of the Lord I find abundance of recreation; being never better satisfied than when I have occasion to preach the Gospel, and this I shall do with cheerfulness still, though many mad ignorant folk be offended at preaching; and many offended at me that I live upon that allowance of Tithes, which God has sanctified for my use, and given me freedom to take with .  
Quest. 6. What is that Election and Reprobation the Scripture speaks of, and whether they have relation to persons; or things, or both.  
Answ. That Election is Christ Jesus, and all that receive him, wherein the Election is, in him are Elected, and the rest abide under the power of darkness where all are Reprobated, who are out of the light in their own wills, and know not Christ, and to such persons they have Relation.  
Repl. Christ indeed is the stone dis-allowed of men, but chosen of God, Elect and precious; but Christ without his Church does not comprehend all the Election the Scripture intimates, but Christ together with his Church makes up the Election of God; and so though all the Members be living in him, and Elected in him, yet he without them is no complete body, and so no full Election, and therefore as the Election takes in Christ, so all the Saints of God: and whereas thou sayest all that receive him wherein the Election is in him are Elected; this is true, if thou understand it of the manifestation of Election to us: so our receiving of Christ declares to us that we are Elected and adopted of God: but if thou understand it à priori, of the cause and ground in God of our Election, as if he had therefore Elected us, because he foresaw such and such would receive Christ, than thy speech savours of an old error; for this builds Election upon the foresight of merits, faith, and power in man to receive Christ, and so it destroys the grace of God: for if Election be by grace, mere grace, than it is not at all upon foreseen faith and works, otherwise grace is no more grace: read Rom. 11. 5, 6, 7. And so though we receive Christ; because we are Elected in him, Eph. 1. 4. Yet we are not therefore Elected, because we do receive him; all being according to the Lords good pleasure, to the praise of the glory of his grace; and so as 'tis in the outward world, there was the image or idea of every thing first, ment divina, in the divine mind, before it came forth in the creature; not first in the creature, and then in the mind of God, that could not be, seeing the creature was not: so in the spiritual world the Church, things were first in God as in their ground, not first in the creature and then in God; and so the idea of our Election was first laid up in the Lord's mind, counsel, grace, and good pleasure, not in our acting, believing and receiving Christ his beloved, for this no man can do, till it be given; and so this building Election upon our receiving Christ, is a building upon the sand, upon something, no man where it is not, not upon the Rock, which is the grace and good pleasure of God, and so it makes voide the nature of grace, and our Election; though vain man that would be wise, and something cannot receive this.  
Quest. 7. What is the Covenant of works, and the Covenant of grace? and how ye were led out of the first, and established in the second?  
Answ. The Covenant of works is that which man doth from the letter, thereby to get life, and the Covenant of grace is that written in the heart, where Christ is the Light & Life and Lawgiver, and by him the Law is fulfiled in us, who walk no more after the flesh, but after the spirit, and by his light were we led out of the first, and by his life were we established in the second.  
Repl. This being a sober answer, I could wish it were written in thine heart; and proceeded from the life and power of that Covenant, where all is written and sealed within: And friend, if it did so, though the Letter would not be unto thee as the life, yet it would never be slighted by thee, being a witness unto the life, Joh. 5. 39 much less would so much of the Kingdom be placed in some of the lesser observations of it, when the weightier are neglected, though none that live in the Kingdom will account any command of God small: and much less yet wouldst thou make the commands of God, of none effect by thy traditions, neglecting the Law of faith, of meekness, of love and peace, because thy ceremonies and traditions are neglected by others; if you ask wherein, ask thine own conscience, and let that be thy witness and testimony, in all which thou art found still walking more after the flesh, then after the spirit.  
Quest. 8. What is the state of sin and wrath, which all men are in and under by nature; and how ye were led out of this estate?  
Answ. The state of sin is a state of condemnation and wrath from God separated, in which all are by nature, but by that light which is contrary to nature, are we led out of this estate, for he's given to be a leader, Isai. 55. 4.  
Rep. What can poor fallen Adam, or man do, till God comes & quickens him by a word of promise, given in a spirit of power; for I find the state of nature is a state of sin, deadness & darkness, as to the things of God, and the life of God, wherein there's no power to believe, nor light to turn us towards God, and in this estate there's a departing from God still, through unbelief, and a wand'ring in the dark after the desires of the flesh and mind, and so a separation from God, and a coveting to hid ourselves from his presence amongst the things that are made; because we find nothing due unto us, by reason of sin and nakedness, but condemnation and wrath: and so we are by nature children of wrath, till the Lord in mercy, and great love quicken us, and raise us up through the second Adam, revealed in us to live in him, who is our light and life, and so the only leader of lost man out of the former state of sin and wrath; and so he's given to be a Leader and Commander, by being an inward witness of love to us, and all to free us from the Law of sin, death and condemnation.  
Quest. 9 Whether any in this life are totally freed from the remnants of sin and darkness, seeing Paul saith, now we know but in part; and he prayed for an increase of knowledge in the Saints, and Peter exhorts to grow in knowledge: and Paul complains of a body of sin, of a Thorn in the flesh, of the lusting of the flesh against the spirit, and James said in many things, we offend all, and John, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us?  
Answ. In the life wherein thou livest is no redemption from sin, for that is it, which cannot bear good fruit.  
Repl. To which I say, I know that in me, that is in my flesh dwells no good thing, for the flesh is flesh still, and sinful still, and cannot bring forth the fruit of God, which springs from a new birth: but in the life of Christ in me, or that life which springs from the new birth, there is redemption from sin, and this is that which brings forth in me fruit to God.  
Answ. Further, to the death of the Cross must thou subject and obedient be, else not know that life and birth which is free from sin.  
Repl. What I am, I am through the grace of God; and this grace abounding towards me, has brought over my flesh that Cross, whereby I am in measure Crucified, and so have tasted and known that birth which is free from sin.  
Answ. The life of the new man, who witnesses is free from sin, Rom. 6. 6, 7. and 18. 22.  
Repl. All the freedom from sin which this Scripture mentions I own, knowing that the body is destroyed and dead, and my Soul as a bird delivered from the snare.  
Answ. Further, the second birth sins not, 1 Joh. 3. 9 and 1 Joh. 5. 18. the second birth is without guile and spot, Rev. 14. 5. and Christ is manifest to take away sin, and he that abides in him sins not, 1 Joh. 3. 5, 6.  
Repl. All this I own rightly understood; but it is much besides the question, for the question is not, whether the new man sin, but whether the man, in whom this new man is manifested, sin, or not? seeing that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and that which is born of the flesh is flesh; the spirit cannot sin, but the flesh can do nothing but sin, Rom. 7. 17, to the end, and Gal. 5. 17. there you may see the two births, the two men, flesh and spirit, and what their actions are, and yet I own a taking away, both of the guilt and power of sin, where Christ is manifested in the new birth.  
Answ. Further, but thou takest Tithes, and so deniest Christ, who takes away sin.  
Repl. By the same argument thou mayest say to a Magistrate, Soldier, Landlord, Labourer, thou takest custom, pay, rent, wages, therefore thou deniest Christ, who takes away sin.  
Answ. Further, but Christ, thou sayest, has as much power to cleanse man, as the first Adam to defile man.  
Repl. Christ has more, and greater, Rom. 5. 15, to the end: That which defiles does not come from power properly, but from weakness, or want of power; but that which cleanseth comes from the mighty power of God, and yet though man be not cleansed, God is not to be blamed, for who art thou repliest? shall the thing form say unto him that form it, why hast thou made me thus? Rom. 9 18, 19, 20, etc.  
Answ. Further, I who lived in the ways, customs, fashions, pastimes, and vain recreations of the world, it is high time for thee to plead for sin in this life.  
Repl. This is but thy clamour, neither do I plead for sin, but for the truth of God, witnessed both by the Letter, and spirit unto all that are not fools and blind, and thy denial of sin, Satan and Antichrist to be where they are, either in power, or part, is the old trick of the evil one to hid himself where he is, and that too many have drunk in this poison, and say with their hearts and practice, though not with their tongues, Stand by, I am holier than thou, thou art a sinner, a Satan, an Antichrist, I am none; that many are under this sad delusion, it appears by their clamouring, and condemning all that worship not under their green Tree; and whether thou, and they are not greater friends to the beast and sin, that dream in your hearts you have no sin, and so are lifted up, than those who confess they have sin, and so are kept humble, meek, and low; which of these are the greatest friends to sin, I leave to the light to judge.  
Answ. Further, if all have remnants of sin, when then must man be cleansed, seeing as the Tree falls, so it lies, and no unclean person, no unclean thing must enter into the Kingdom, when is the time of cleansing? is there a purgatory after man be turned into the dust?  
Repl. The time of cleansing is here, here we are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, that we may be comforted, and yet in the flesh as well as in the spirit, that we may be humbled; God beholds no iniquity in Jacob, and yet Jacob sees iniquity in himself; all his iniquities are covered, that he may be blessed, and yet his iniquities sometimes appear, that he may be less than the least of all his mercies: Friend, there is a purging here, a real, total, thorough, eternal purging in God's account, who reckons Saints by his grace, and yet whilst the flesh remains, it will hanker after the flesh, and beget such breathe after self, and things below, that many times the best will see cause enough to mourn, and to long after a dissolution, when they shall see their enemies again no more for ever; so that here needs no Purgatory after this life, sin is here condemned, destroyed, and in part executed, and when the dissolution comes, it is bid farewell to all the Saints of God, and left to inhabit here below, something here of this thou mayest call a contradiction, it is so unto the blind, it is not so unto the wise.  
Answ. Further, all who are led by the light of Christ, into his life, as they come and abide, so are they totally freed from the world's life, and power of sin and darkness; and to lead up to this, was the Saint's exhortation into the Unity, out of the woe, into him, who is but one, in whom is all truth and no sin, nor self, nor deceive.  
Repl. All who are led by the light of Christ, so far as they come and abide in his life & spirit through his light and leading; so far & no farther are they freed from the life of worldlings, and the power of sin and darkness, and the end of the Lords spirit by his exhortations unto others in his messengers and Saints, was, and is to persuade them more into the Unity of the spirit, through the bond of peace, that so they might be kept from the woe of sin and darkness, through a dividing from this spirit, and might learn to live in him, whose light and life is one in nature, though not in measure in all the sons of God, and he who walks and lives in Christ, and Christ in him, is so far delivered from sin, and self, and deceit, into all light and truth, as he walks and abides less, or more in a sweet manifestation of his life in Christ, so that Christ manifested is still the standard and measure of all our light and truth, and redemption from sin and darkness, and if this manifestation were full and complete in this earthly house, what need the Saints groan, and wait for a dissolution? 2 Cor. 5. 1. to 10. and for the appearance and coming of Christ in glory, 1 Joh. 3. 1, 2. and through hope of this, endeavour still after the Lord's purity, verse 3. waiting for a full enojyment and discovery of their adoption, or of that unto which they are adopted, Rom. 8. 23.  
Answ. Further, Paul saith, we know but in part, we Prophesy, but in part, 1 Cor. 13. 9 and so say I, in the time of Prophecy man sees but in part, and knows but it part.  
Repl. Friend, why dost thou here in thine ignorance, like others, to cover their ignorance, wrist the Scriptures? Paul says, we know in part, and we Prophesy in part, and thou turnest it thus, In the time of Prophecy indeed man sees but in part, and knows but in part; Paul does not say in the time of Prophecy, we know but in part, but according as our Prophecy, or Vision is, so is our knowledge both but in part, till that which is perfect is come, 1 Cor. 13. 9, 10. and what is that, but the excellent way and spirit of love & charity, which he speaks of all along in that Chapter, which is called perfect love, 1 Joh. 4. 12. when this rules the heart, then that which is perfect is come, that is, that is come which does more perfect us in the sight of man, and our experiences, than all our Prophecies, tongues, and knowledge, which we had before, which are all to vanish away, 1 Cor. 13. 8, 10. and so charity is the most excellent way, this weans us from our childishness, peevishness, and frowardness one towards another, and declares us to be much in the state of our manhood & perfection, in loving one another as Christ speaks, Joh. 13. 34, 35. Nay, charity does to the world more witness our perfection than our faith and hope, 1 Cor. 13. 13. now remains these 3. says the Apostle, faith, hope and charity, and the greatest of these is charity; Nay, in this we may see the very face of God, and therefore it's a seeing face to face, 1 Cor. 13. 12. this is the Apostles scope in that Chapter, to set charity up in the top of all, as that which to us and men does more witness our perfection than any other grace, and yet before the Lord it is not our charity, but our faith justifies, and so upon another account, as faith gives a taste of love and grace in God towards us, and so begets this charity in us, or causes it to send forth the smell therefore in our conversations; so faith is the foundation of grace, as being the root of all our charity, and therefore where charity does not spring and grow, there's no faith; but where faith is, there charity springs up, & therefore faith works by love; but now when all is done, and charity is called the most excellent way, and that which is perfect, yet this charity is still growing and increasing itself in the Saints, till the whole body, and eve-very Member there of be together with the head Christ in the glory of the Father, Eph. 4. 14, 15, 16. Col. 2. 19 and so Saints must still be adding to brotherly kindness, charity; and above all things put on charity, let this grow and abound in ye more and more, this charity reaches farther than the brotherhood, not to one party, but to all, even to a blessing and praying for our very enemies, and whether this sweet flower grow up and flourish in thy generation, let thine own conscience, and let the light in all be judge.  
Answ. Further, Prophecy must cease.  
Repl. So must faith to, when we come to see him as he is; and yet in this life, knowledge, Prophecy, faith and hope must in no case be despised.  
Answ. Further, when he's come, who finishes transgression, puts an end to sin, makes reconciliation for iniquity, brings in everlasting righteousness, and anoints the most holy; Dan. 9 24. The same seals up the Vision, and Prophesy, and is the end of Vision and Prophecy.  
Repl. He, even he, to the praise of the glory of his grace, who has conquered the power of the Dragon for me, put an end to his reign in me, made reconciliation for mine iniquities, brought his everlasting righteousness to be my clothing, anointed and set up the most holy in me, he is the end of the Prophecy, or Vision of these things to me: and through his appearing in me according to my anointing with his spirit, the Vision of him, which I had by Prophecy is sealed up; and yet I am not to despise Prophecy, or further teaching upon the account of the spirit and Gospel, 1 Thess. 5. 19, 20. As if I had presently all faith, and knowledge, and charity, which is the dream of some, to whom I commend these Scriptures, 1 Cor. 14. 22. Ephes. 4. 12, 13. Hebr. 10. 25, 26.  
Answ. Further, Paul wrote to some who knew perfectly, 1 Thess. 5. 1.  
Repl. What did they know perfectly, but that the day of the Lord so comes as a Thief in the night? What day? the day when those who sleep in Jesus, God will bring with him, and those who are alive and remain until that notable day of the Lords coming shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall be ever with the Lord, this is a day, they had no need to be instructed in, for they knew it perfectly, or were fully persuaded of it in their own spirits; read the former chapter & the beginning of this together: and thou who despisest the letter, or truth of this day, shalt know one day, though thou know it not now, the terror of the Lord against the world on that day.  
Answ. Further, a growing in knowledge that we own, and an increasing, for to this end were the ministers of Christ sent forth, to convince of sin; and that such as were convinced might grow, till they came to be perfect men, Eph. 4. 8, to 13.  
Repl. Here thou seemest to yield unto the truth, but still thine own heart deceives thee with the fond imagination of a perfect man; though Paul plainly speaks of a growing afterward in this Chapter, even after the new man is born, or the perfect nature of a man-child is come; and else where he confesses he has not already attained, but is still pressing towards it, Psal. 3. 12. to 16. Where is then thy proportion in knowledge? Had the Saints of God at Ephesus that were in Christ Jesus, Ephes. 1. 1. need of a further spirit of wisdom and revelation, that the eyes of their understanding being opened, they might have a clearer sight and sense of the hope of their calling, and of their riches, and of the exceeding greatness of God's power to them, who did believe already, & art thou so full that thou hast no need of a spirit of prayer to be poured out unto the Lord for an increase of these things in thyself? Did David cry out, Lord teach me, give me understanding, open mine eyes? and the Church, Cant. 1. 7. Tell me, O thou, whom my Soulloves, where thou feedest? and hast thou no need of the Lords counsel and teaching? Why hast Satan filled thine heart with fully? Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God; in saying, the night is all gone, and this knowledge is full.  
Answ. Further, Paul in the time of his warfare cried out of a body of sin, and of a Thorn in the flesh; this was the time of his warfare, when he witnessed no peace to the earth, but a sword, then, who shall deliver me? says he.  
Repl. I know thou canst not choose but see, that Paul speaks in that 7. to the Rom. of a warfare within in his own spirit, with Satan and flesh within, not of a warfare without, with Satan and flesh in the world; & so dost thou cover the truth, which Paul there witnesses; he cries, out, I am carnal, I do that which I would not; I find a Law, that when I would do good, evil is present with me; I find a Law, warring in my members, contrary unto the Law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity unto the Law of sin, which is in my members; O undone man that I am! etc. Wilt thou imagine that this was all warfare with sin without, witnessing no peace, but a sword to the earth; or if thou mean by earth, for thy words have always a double meaning, the earth within in the time of his warfare, how canst thou see in him a freedom from this earth, or a freedom from all remnants of sin? the like may be said, of that Thorn in the flesh, mentioned in the Corinthians, in with is this remarkable, that it was after his abundance of visions and Revelations, being caught up into the third heaven, and into Paradise, where he heard unspeakable words, even after all these enjoyments he felt a messenger of Satan buffeting, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, he was sent to strike me on the face with his fist, as it were, to upbraid me with mine inward pride and proneness to be exalted above measure; did Paul witness this, and canst thou see no proneness in thyself to sin and pride? Surely, thou art joined to thine idol, and God lets thee alone to perish for want of vision.  
Answ. Further, did Paul cry and groan all the days of his life, and witness no deliverance? did he always fight, and never overcome?  
Repl. Paul never fought, but was still more than a conqueror, by the grace of God; he had deliverance and victory still through grace; and greatest deliverance when he was most sensible of his infirmities, and therefore in the Lord he could Triumph and sing; though in himself he was still nothing, Rom 8. 2. 32. etc. Col. 1. 11, 12, 13. And so may every Saint, who lives in the light, say, in the Lord have I righteousness and strength, in him I have all things, and so in him will I glory, and though there be a fleshly mind and will sometimes stirring in me, yet greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world; and so he can run his race with patience, wrestle with boldness, fight with courage; and when he comes to die, cry out with Paul, I am now ready to be offered, & the time of my departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is laid up for me a Crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge shall give me at that day.  
Answer. Further, its true, James says in many things, we offend all, Jam. 3. 3. here James speaks winningly for the seeds sake, for the raising up of the simplicity.  
Repl. Here's a simplicity raised up in thee indeed by thine own evil heart, and this thou lovest, and this hides thy sin and folly, and makes thee wrest and play with Scripture, and so James must speak winningly for the seeds fake: what, wilt thou have James a liar, or an Hypocrite, in telling the people, that he, and all did in many things offend, and yet have no experience of this in his own Soul? surely thine eye is out, and darkened by the smoke, and so neither Paul nor james, nor the raising of one up from the dead will ever persuade thee to be humbled for thy sottishness, and so Scriptures are of no force at all with thee: But thou goest on and sayest, that james in the 9 vers. says with the tongue, we curse men, was james a curser? or was he an offender in many things? But to reply: james was under the powerof no evil, and yet he declares a proneness in himself, and all flesh to run into sin: and when thine eye is opened thou wilt see in thy tongue a fire, a world of iniquity, and how it defiles thy whole body, and wipes away the glory of all thy profession, and that this tongue of thine is set on fire of Hell, and therefore thou goest on to hid thy nakedness, & say, james was writing to such, who were getting the mastery in the flesh, which is for condemnation, jam. 3. 1; 2.  
Repl. And what thinkest thou of thyself? Art not thou getting to be master, and a great potent Lord in the flesh? damning and judging all that wear not thy mark, and so art to be judged and condemned thyself, Math. 7. 1, 2.  
But Christ, thou sayest, is the end of condemnation; so of sin, which is for ccondemnation: to which I say, Christ was the end of the Law for righteousness, and he's said to be made sin for us, and to come into the world not to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved, but I never read that Christ was the end of condemnation, and the end of sin, though these things I know are overcome when he comes; but thy phrase is new, even like thy form, which yet must be no form, and in almost all thou sayest; I see that Scripture sadly fulfilled in thee, that evil men, and seducers was worse and worse deceiving, and being deceived.  
Answ. Further, 1 joh. 1. 8, 9 here john wrote to such, who were not come through the confession; but to such as confess, he saith, Christ cleanseth from all unrighteousness, 1 joh. 1. 9 and the blood of jesus Christ cleansed from all sin.  
Repl. Even before and after the confession, thou mayest read, there's sin still to be confessed: before, if we say, we have no sin, we deceive ourselves: after, if we say we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us; here's sin still to be looked upon, otherwise we deceive ourselves, we make him a liar; the truth is not in us, his word is not in us, and so he, who covers his sins shall not prosper; but who so confesseth and forsaketh shall have mercy, and if we confess our sins, God is faithful to forgive our sins, not to impute, but cover them, and cleanse us from them, by the pardoning and healing virtue of the blood and spirit of Jesus; this confession must be real, if we look the cleansing should be real; and this forgiveness & cleansing is an encouragement to us to make our confession, and our resolution to sin no more, which resolution being like the confession in truth, God accepts of it, as it is written, if there be a willing mind it is accepted according to that a man has, not according to that he hath not; and so that Soul sins no more, who does not love sin, peccatum facere, make it, to delight in it, but it sins unwillingly; it lusteth against lust, & would not for a world be under the dominion of sin; this the Apostle speaks of Rom. 6. 11, 12. reckon yourselves, says he, to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God; let not sin reign, etc. and so this is the reasoning of a gracious heart, shall I continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbidden; if Christ have suffered for me, and in me, its high time for me to suffer with him, and to arm myself with the same mind, and this is the dying to sin, and the sinning no more, when the Soul bears witnesses against it, and walks out of the reign and power of it, which reign of sin is that, which the Scripture witnesses against.  
Answ. Further, john wrote to such, who were not come through the confession; to babes, young men, and fathers.  
Repl. Then by thine own confession he wrote to all sorts of Christians to make confession of sin, why then dost thou hid, spare, and cover thy sin? What, neither babe, nor father, nor young man? Where art thou, neither in the world nor in the Church? Monstrum, horendum! Surely, if ever God awake in thee, he'll despise thine image, and bring thee to Zion by weeping cross; and then he'll remove this stumbling block out of thy way, and show thee this thine opinion is but an old error, raked out of the dunghill of Hell, sprung up afresh in this iron age, where the love of many waxes cold; and so thou wilt learn to tremble, & prepare thine heart by brokenness of spirit, for the lofty God to dwell in, and so he'll be merciful unto thine iniquity, and remember thy sin no more.  
Answ. Further, john wrote to some, who knew all things, 1 joh. 2. 20. and so were out of the knowledge in part.  
Repl. The Unction indeed▪ reveals the deep things of God; and so gives us an understanding to know him that is true, by our abode in him, and so teaches all things that are freely given to us, 1 Cor. 2. 12. all things that the Lord gives, all things necessary to know, all things that pertain to life and godliness, credenda, agenda; all things to be believed of us, and done by us; and that in such a clearness, that the Soul knows it is not deceived, and so we are taught to know our election, vocation, justification, sanctification, regeneration, adoption, etc. we are taught to believe, hope, love, be patiented, penitent, obedient; we are taught to deny ourselves, to lose our lives, to let all go, to come and follow Christ in the new creature, and so we are taught according to our measure to set our affections above, to live in Heaven, where all our treasure is; these and the like things the Unction teaches us, still limited to the things freely given to us and yet there are secreta Dei, the secrets of the Lord, which man cannot see, and live, the secrets of the Scriptures, the secrets of nature, the secrets of the times and seasons, which man knows not, but the father only; canst thou see God? God in his glory; canst thou behold the balancing of the Clouds? the wondrous works of him, who is perfect in knowledge? poor vain man, who art darkening the counsel of God by words without knowledge; canst thou see the Ordinances of Heaven, or set the dominion thereof in the earth? canst thou by all thy search find out these things in their perfection? therefore, why dost thou vaunt thyself? vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild Ass' Colt, remember that knowledge puffs up, but it is charity edifies, knowledge perverts, but wisdom keeps: thou hast so long fed upon the Tree of knowledge, that thou art glutted and darkened by it, and even poisoned to death with thy great knowledge; for as too much light destroys the sight as well as too little, there must be debita distantia, a due distance; even so knowledge without charity and prudence, to keep a due distance between God and the creature, presently destroys, and may as soon be too much as too little, and so as some perish through too little, so many through too much knowledge: Therefore remember what the spirit says of the wise Gentiles, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, Rom. 1. 21. and so let no man deceive himself, if any among you seem to be wise, let him become a fool, that he may be wise, 1 Cor. 3. 18. and if any man think that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know, 1 Cor. 8. 2. consider these things, and be not thou wise above what is written, and given, and revealed unto thee, lest thou perish among the wise Greeks, and Jews, and the Disputers of this world.  
Further, after a little prating and railing, which is very natural to thy generation; thou answerest more yet to confirm thy perfection, and says, he that does righteousness is righteous, as he is righteous; to which I say, he is so, so far as he does righteousness, and righteousness cloaths him, even so far he answers the pattern, and has the righteousness of Christ in him, walking not after the flesh, but after the spirit.  
Answ. Further, thou sayest, as he is, so are we in this present world, 1 joh. 11. 17.  
Repl. So far as he is received in us, and dwells in us, so far we are as he is in this present world, seeing we can be no more than what he is in us, and we in him, for he is all in all.  
Further, know that as there is a similitude, so a great dissimilitude between Christ and Saints, for both I own, according to what I have seen and heard in him; as for the similitude or likeness, in brief, take in these particulars.  
First, his Father and our Father, his God and our God are one; his spirit and his anointing, and the spirit and anointing in us are one, even the same in nature, though not in measure.  
Further, his light & life, & our light and life are one in God; and so our life is hid with Christ in God; then he's a King, Priest, and Prophet, so are we, according to his springing up in us, made Kings, and Priests, and Prophets unto God, he has Union and fellowship with the Father, so have we, I in my Father, and you in me, and I in you, I pray, that these all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they may be one in us, and according as this oneness is manifested, which is our life, so we have fellowship with the Father, and he with us.  
Further, Christ was humble, meek, lowly, patiented, holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, so we according to our grace, have received the same thing for nature and truth, still that was in Jesus, though our measure be not the same.  
Further, he made it his meat, and drink, to do the will of God, he was always going about, and doing good, and this is the work of Saints, as we have opportunity let us be doing good.  
Further, he was hated, persecuted, denied, blasphemed, mocked, scourged, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; so are the sons of God more, or less, under a taste of all these in this world, being still called to suffer before their Crown; and though not in the same measure that Christ suffered, yet the Cross, both within and without is the same; as he was hated, persecuted, crucified, so are we according as 'tis given unto us from our heavenly father, as he was dead to his own will, and alive to his fathers, so are we according as we have power and life from the father given to us; in all these and the like there is a similitude between Christ and his Church, they are of his bone and flesh, one every way, so far as he and his father are pleased to lead them forth into it; and this was that which Christ prayed for, Joh. 17. 21. 22. and Paul spoke of Rom. 8. 29. and desired to live in, Phil. 3. 8. to 15. and this john witnessed when he said, as he is, so are we in this world; behold your likeness, friends, all ye the Lord's portion, and challenge as much as ye will, or can in this matter, so as it flow from light and truth accompanied with humility, and the fear of the Lord, and ye cannot anger the Lord, his spirit, nor his son; but withal be not high, proud, lofty; there is a dissimilitude to, as well as a likeness between Christ and his Church.  
First, He's the father of all, God over all, the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him bodily: This is no where said of the Saints, though they partake of the nature of God, and of the fullness of God, according as their being can receive; yet they are not the father, they are not the Godhead, neither in fullness nor part; no, friends, away with such blasphemies, this is a Babylonian that says, I am, and there's none else besides me; a false Prophet that cries out, I am Christ; an Antichrist that sits in the Temple of God, as God; away with this conceit, we are creatures still, poor nothings, drops of the bucket, compared to the incomprehensible Majesty.  
Further, Christ was anointed with the Oil of gladness above his fellows, above measure; but we are anointed in measure, according to the gift of Christ, we have no more than we receive by the grace of God, I am what I am.  
Further, Christ knows our thoughts afar off, and is acquainted with all our ways, there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, thou knowest it altogether; Christ knew from the beginning who should betray him; and he saw the thoughts and carnal reasonings of the carnal dark world: but what does poor man know, though the Quaker is bolder than all his forefathers, he knows a man as soon as ever he sees him, and whether he be a Saint, or a Devil, though the man discover not himself by word, or action, yet the Quaker knows him, and all that he may be as Christ is, and yet the Apostle says, what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man, which is in him? 1 Cor. 2. 11. and the Apostles knew not the Traitor; but they were low then, and so art thou friend in this thy dream; for Christ says, ye shall know them by their fruit, and ye shall know my Disciples by their love; so that our knowledge of others is by observation, fruits, and appearances of things in the outward man, or by special revelation and discovery from God, otherwise all other men's spirits are in the dark to us, we have not a vision of their hearts afar off, we know them not before they are born; we know not the way of God in their spirits, till it be written upon their foreheads, and so are not as Christ is in this respect.  
Further; Christ always spoke the truth, was always free from error, never in the least error, nor in the least deceived: where's the man besides, that can challenge this unto himself, who can understand his errors? though so far as we are lighted by the Candle of the Lord, so far we are led out of error and all delusions, but he's the original truth, and we receive from him, as he is manifested, so we have the truth, & no farther, for he's the truth; lo, still a difference which should teach us all to be humble, meek, and low.  
Further, Christ created all things, all things were made by him, and without him was nothing made, that was made; and Christ preserves all things, by him all things consist, and he upholds all by the word of his power, where's the man that can appropriate this power unto himself? hast thou an arm like God? canst thou make a new body, or quicken an image with a Soul, and make life appear? canst thou retain the spirit of man, or beast, when the Lord commands it away? I know there are that will attempt miracles, and wonders, but all vanishes still, nothing is for ever, but what the Lord does, let this teach us to fear before him, knowing that it is he, who made us, and not we ourselves, we are his offspring, and by him we have life and motion, and all things.  
Further, Yet Christ was the only begotten son of God, the firstborn, his son by nature, begotten by his power, and brought forth by a Virgin; but we are the sons of God by grace, if we speak of the Saints, nature does not make us sons, but the new birth, the regeneration, without which there's no entering into the Kingdom of God.  
Further, Christ he's the husband, we the spouse, and though the husband and wife be one, yet the head of the woman is the man, I speak of Christ and his Church, he's the man, the root, the head still; and he's the King, we the subjects; he the vine, we the branches; he's the Lord and Master, we the servants; he's the fountain, we the streams; he's the father, we the sons; he's all in all, we are nothing; in all this I hope I do not lessen the glory of Christ, the Lord, nor of his Church, his Saints; neither do I sad the Souls of any, but such as are lifted up to forget their Saviour; therefore come away friends, glory as much as you will and can in your greatness, and glory; there is a likeness between Christ and Saints, that they be filled with joy, and rest, and abundance of consolation: yet withal, there's an unlikeness to; Christ is infinitely more above us all, than all the men in the world above the lowest creature, therefore away, away with somethingness, self-glorying, this is enough for the world to be proud, and highminded; but let all the Lords people be content to lose their lives, themselves, their excellencies, gifts, Crowns, throw all down at the feet of the Lamb; saying, thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honour, and power, for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are, and were created; and thou high big flesh that sayest thou art as Christ in this present world, without the least darkness, the least sin; when, thou knowest not the ground, why he was, and could not but be without sin; and no man so as he, whilst in this house of clay; he was a man singular in his generation, who is able to declare it; he was the Virgin's son, without the knowledge of a man; he was the word made flesh, even that word of promise, which was made to Adam, came and figured, and brought forth itself in the similitude of sinful flesh, or in the form of man, out of a woman, without the least influence of man: Thou shalt conceive, says the Angel, in thy womb, and bring forth a son, & call his name Jesus, he shall be great, and shall be called the son of the highest. How can this be, says Marry, seeing I know not a man? Then answered the Angel, the holy Ghost shall come upon thee, & the power of the highest shall over shadow thee; therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the son of God, here was an holy Child, a Child begotten, form, brought forth merely by the finger of God. Here was no tincture touch, or influence of man in this birth, & therefore called the Son of God, the holy thing, holy flesh, pure flesh, like the flesh of Adam in innocency; nay, more glorious, a body descended from God, & a body filled with God or God clothed with the veil of a man's body, & hence there was nothing in this man but God, therefore called Emanuel; hence there could be no earthly sinful mind, and will begotten in and with that man; no, he was wholly wrapped up in the Deity, in the will of the Father; and so the Serpent could have no footing in him, because no earthliness in him to work upon; tempt him he might, but prevail be could not, because he was not an earthly seed, but an heavenly, and so made in the likeness of a sinner, yet he knew no sin, he never fed upon that Tree, but the will of his Father was his food; hence he's called holy, undefiled, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, a spiritual heavenly man; so he was in that man jesus Christ, so he is in all the Saints of God an heavenly man, a new man, begotten by the power of the most high, and so is in us that new birth, which cannot commit sin. But as for thy body, and the bodies of all men in the world, we are far beneath Christ in our generation, being men, begotten of earthly seed, in the lust and weakness, and darkness of the first Adam fallen; hence after his fall he's said to beget a son in his own likeness, after his image, Gen. 5. 3. Not after the likeness of God, that could not be, since he was fallen from God, but after his own likeness, his own nature, which was now fallen to the earth; such as the father was, such the son must be, fleshly, earthly; hence it comes to pass, that man's, as he grows up, naturally, inclines to the creatures, lusteth and longeth after the world, and so the spirit of his Soul, his mind and will becomes infected with the earth and flesh, and so he longs after the earthly fruit, and being darkened and estranged from the life of God, through his carnal longing, hence he always inclines to himself, to the woman the weaker part, and so hearkens to the voice of flesh, and goes away from God; and here he commits iniquity with greediness, Eph. 4. 17, 18. and so the foundation of sin is laid in man's generation, Psal. 51. 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me; and so the flesh is sins freehold, where he rules and dwells as Paul, Rom. 7. 18. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwell's no good thing; I do not take the flesh for the body only, for that without the Soul is a dead thing, and knows neither good nor evil; but for the whole first man, or the manhood made up of body, and Soul, this man as soon as he is born goes astray, Psal. 58. 3. He looks to the earth, and so his mind and will becomes infected, he covets, and he lusts in the dark, and has not; he's angry, and fain he would be alone; he feeds upon the outbirth, with is like himself, and all to nourish himself, and strengthen himself, and be something of himself, and yet he's faint and weary; and when the Lord comes to seat himself, or to arise out of the grave in him where he lies dead as it were, and to form the heavenly man by his heavenly seed in this earthly Tabernacle, or manhood of ours: Ah! what renting and tearing is there before the Soul be willing to receive this new guest, as there must be a rending of the woman before the Child is born, so a rending of the Soul before the man-child be born, compared to the sorrows of a woman in travel; and when this son of the virgin, this new man is born in the mind, and gins to show himself in us, than he sins not indeed, but the flesh is weak, and sins still; and so long as the earthly house is, the earthly man is, and he's for himself, and so vails the heavenly in part still till the earthly be quite broken by death, and hence Paul desired to be dissolved, and to be with Christ, not to be Christ, but with Christ, and that not in the body, but out of the body, which says, he is best of all, Phil. 1. 23. 24. and 2 Cor. 5. 1, to 9 And yet, notwithstanding all this, I know vain man will be wise, though man be born like a wild Ass' colt, Job 11. 12.  
Quest. 10. Whether or no there be not a vast difference between the light of natural conscience and grace, seeing the light of the one is a guide to the Gentiles and all men, and the light of the other a peculiar guide only unto the Saints?  
Answ. The light of Christ is the only guide to all that follow it, and besides it, there is no guide to Jew, or Gentile.  
Repl. There can indeed be no other light, but what comes from Christ, as no other life, but what comes from him; for his light is the life of men, and his life is the light of men, joh. 1. 4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men; and so the light and the life are one in the original, but in their coming forth to us they are clothed with divers names, and so as all flesh is not the same, for there is one kind of flesh of men, another of fish, another of birds, there are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial, even so all light and life, which is the glory of a thing is not the same, and so there is one glory of the Sun, another of the Moon, another of the Stars, for one Star differeth from another Star in glory; and thus it is in the world, some are wise, some politic, some temperate, some patiented, some valiant, and the like; and this it is in the Church, some Prophets, some Apostles, some Evangelists, some Pastors, some Teachers, some weak, some strong, some bond, some free; so that all light it seems is not the same, though it come from the same root, it is not the same to us; in itself it is one and the same, but to us it is called natural, spiritual, reason, grace, and so there is the natural man, and the spiritual man, and each one of these have their light, and that is the same to itself and in itself; but in the natural man, it is but reason, it is but gathering and discerning of things by discourse and arguments from things that are made, and so the natural man seeks after God in this Creation, Rom. 1. 19 20. and this light of the natural man is far below the light that is in the spiritual man, even as far as the light and life that is in beasts is below the light and life that is in men, and so the natural man receives not the things of the spirit, neither can he know them, for they are beyond his principle of light, but the spiritual man discerneth all thingh, 1 Cor. 2. 14, 15. And yet the natural man has a light too, I call him the natural man, because he's first, and to us more manifest; as the Apostle says, that which is first is natural, afterwards that which is spiritual; this first man according to his principle has a light and life, and that flows from the root Christ in him which he sees not, for the head of every man is Christ, and in him all live, and move, and have their being; and this light or Christ shines in the darkness, but the darkness knows it not and so man has skill and understanding in things of nature, and as far as this creation teaches him, and this is his light, and the root which is Christ he sees not, and so is still in darkness, as to Christ, & the hidden things of God; now all this light, or reason sets man in a sphere above beasts, which are therefore called irrational, man rational; and this light, through low and faint, yet teaches man to feel and groap after a God, and to worship, yet still it is to the unknown God: it shines and glimmers in the darkness of the first man fallen, and as it came from God, so it returns to God, & feels after him in this and that without, and wearies itself about the knowledge of good and evil, and many times puts some faint desires in man after God, enough to bear witness of itself unto man, and to leave him inexcusable; but this light is but an imperfect, weak, faint light, as I may so call it, not that any thing is so to God; but to us it is so, as vailed by our fleshly mind, thoughts, long, so it grows weaker, and weary, and in the end goes out and we see it no more; and so man in the first state has need of a new birth, a new man, that is, spirit and power from God, a new fountain to break up in him, or rather to have that awakened which before lay dead, & left us in darkness, man has need of this, as we see in the case of Paul, and our own experiences: this is he whom we are to wait for, the coming of Christ, the new man, to visit us with light and salvation, and when Christ, and grace, and love from the father, springs up in us, and shows itself to be our light and guide, than the true light is come, it was but flesh before, but reason, and nature, and law now, it is the truth, and it brings grace and truth to us, and now God is come, Christ is come, they were there before, but now we are awakened, and we see them to be there; and this coming of Christ in power as to Paul is the coming of light and life indeed unto our Souls, before this was revealed in Paul, he knew something indeed of the Law, and the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, but he knew nothing of the Gospel of the Tree of life, of the truth, as it is in Jesus, and of his own wicked false heart; but when Christ was revealed than he leaves off flesh and blood, and consults with Christ alone, and he makes all things manifest, and shows him what to do; and thus you see a vast difference between the light that is in the first man, and the light that is in the second man; I mean the light that is in us, whilst we are in the state of nature, and the light that is in us, when we come to be in the state of grace; in the first it is but reason, and it tends to the building up of man and self, because it is weak, and knows not the Lord in truth, nor the way to him, and it is only sufficient to witness there is a God, and so to condemn us, because we run into sin; but it is not sufficient by the highest improvement of it to bring us acquainted with Christ and salvation by him, as we see in the case of Paul; but as for the light which springs up in us in us through a manifestation, or revelation of Christ, in & to our Souls, this shows us the father in love, and brings us reconciled, and leads us to feed and live upon him for evermore, and so is a bringing of us out of darkness into his marvellous light.  
Answ. Thou sayest Christ is natural to none.  
Repl. If thou mean that he's not in nature, as a spark under the ashes, so it is false, but if thou mean that the natural man knows him not, so it is true.  
Further, Thou sayest Christ is not in their conscience, but is a witness against all natural inclinations, and works acted in the corrupt nature.  
Repl. Here thou contradicts thyself, for if Christ witness against natural works, where does he witness, but in the conscience? and what is the conscience, but a certain witness within, according unto the spark of Christ that is in the conscience, or knowledge, unto the evil, or good we do? and so conscience does either excuse us, or accuse us, according unto our works; and is not this all the light of Christ that is in the Gentiles? Rom. 2. 14, 15. therefore why dost thou say that Christ is not in the Gentiles conscience, according to some measure of light? and if he be there in light, than this light is in the conscience.  
Answ. Further, who are of Christ partake of the Divine nature, where he's law and life to them.  
Repl. This is true: And those thou sayest have no Letter, being brought into that nature: But why then dost thou so much trouble the world with the Letter, when it seems to favour thy ceremonies, traditions, and observationss; if they, who partake of Christ have no use nor need of Letter?  
Answ. Thou sayest Christ is but one, who is the light of the world, and lighteth every man who cometh into the world, Jew and Gentile, and in them both this light is but one.  
Repl. And so is thy talk still but one, one in darkness, and comes from one root and father; proud man exalted, I know Christ is but one, and his light is one in Jew and Gentile, the same as to himself in the state of nature, that it is in the state of grace, only in the first it is natural, in the last it is spiritual, and so it's one in the Original, but double in the birth.  
Answ. Further: Thou, who art querying of a difference between the light of natural conscience and grace, prove such a light by Scripture of natural conscience, or else thou must be plunged.  
Repl. Consult that place, Rom. 2. 14, 15. Rom. 1. 21, 22. when the Gentiles which have not the Law, do by nature the things contained in the Law; these having not the Law, are a Law unto themselves, which show the work of the Law written in their hearts, etc. and because, when they knew God, they did not glorify him as God; and knowing the judgement of God, etc. here's a doing of the things of the Law by nature, and the witnessing of the conscience as a light, either for, or against them; and may not this be called a natural light, & a light of natural conscience, being a light only in Gentiles, or natural men? here I have proved what thou biddest me prove, & yet thou in darkness and nature hast sinned away thy light and reason, and so canst not see the light of Scripture, in all this I do not seek to divide the light, but to give every discovery its due place, and to stir up men to wait for the hearing and learning of the father.  
Quest. 11. What is meant by the Saints judging the world?  
Answ. The Scripture means as it speaks, but thy dark mind wants clearing; when thou knowest a Saint's life, and him come who is the Judge, than thou shalt see the Prince of the Judged, and all his subjects condemned.  
Repl. This answer is like thyself, savouring of malice, and darkness both; and loath thou art to discover, and show a reason of thy faith and hope in this matter of the Saints judging the world; when thou knowest him whom thou speakest of, then will thy judgement fall upon the Prince thou speakest of, and all his subjects, not so much upon the Saints of God, and the truths of God.  
Quest. 12. Whether your cursing & condemning all that come not under your light, savour not of pride, and a spirit of Antichrist; seeing Antichrist is said to be one, who exalts himself? and Christ says, we must not judge that we be not judged; and Paul bids us speak evil of no man.  
Answ. This query thou hast made up of lying, and false accusations, it is not your practice.  
Repl. How darest thou before the face of God and man thus deny thy practice; so read thy Papers, Sermons, carriage, is there any greater pride than to be proud of our Gifts, Visions, Revelations, High worth, condemning all for Whores, Sorcerers, Reprobates, Beasts, Hirelings, Dreamers, Heathens, prating against all sorts of Christians with malicious words, casting them out of the Church, and Kingdom of God, forbidding to receive any as brethren, but men of your own model, form, and way? is not this judging and condemning another? Where is thy light, thy conscience? what all asleep and gone? to deny thy constant practice. But this is not cursing:  
Ans. In Scripture language, cursing & evil speaking are all one, Exo. 22. 28. thou shalt not revil● the Gods, nor curse the ruler of thy people, which Paul renders by evil speaking, Acts 23. 4, 5. revilest thou God's Highpriest? then Paul answered, I witted not brethren that he was the Highpriest, for it is written, Thou shalt not speak evil of the ruler of thy people, whether or no, thou and thy party be not deeply guilty of this, I leave to all to judge, I say guilty of evil speaking, and evil, and false accusing; condemning all, instead of speaking evil of none, as if all light and truth were bound up in your spirits, who wallow in all deceivableness of unrighteousness, which springs up in the man of sin, who exalts himself above all that is called God, and worshipped, so that he as God sitteth in the Temple of God; here thou seest Antichrist is very devout, he's in the Temple, and he's there as God; behold thy figure in this letter, and read it in thine own practice and spirit, and see whether this savour not of pride, and evil speaking.  
Quest. 13. What is the reverence and subjection we own to Magistrates, and all higher powers; and whether your carriage towards the present Magistrates be not unmannerly and uncivil, seeing Paul said, we ought not to speak evil of rulers, and Judas calls those filthy Dreamers, that despise Dominion, and speak evil of dignities, and bring railing accusations against them?  
Answ. The reverence and subjection we own to Magistrates and all higher powers, is, that every Soul is to yield unto the power of God, and where the Magistrates Soul is subject unto that power, there the sword is not born in vain, but is a terror to evil doers, and a praise unto them that do well, and to that power our Souls are subject, and do reverence to such Magistrates, who God has honoured with that power, yet doth not our reverence stand in respect of persons.  
Repl. As every Magistrate is clothed with the power of God, and is in that power a form, or figure of God, therefore called Gods, so every one is to yield unto that power, though the man that be clothed with it be good, or bad, yet the power is of God in anger or love unto a people, and so the power must still be owned, though the man that has it may be evil and wicked: the power is of God still, I gave them a King in mine anger, though in mine anger, yet he's a King, and I gave him, and by me Kings reign, and Prince's rule; yea, Nobles, and all the Judges of the earth, and the most high ruleth in the Kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, though an Hypocrite reign for the sins of the people, yet his power is of God, and the Saints always have yielded unto the power, though not to the wickedness in him that had it, as the three Children, called Nabuchadnezzar; King, be it known unto thee, O King, they yielded to the power, though not to the golden image, even so Christ yielded to the power of wicked Pilate, knowest thou not, says he, that I have power to crucify thee, and power to release thee; and Jesus answered, thou couldst have no power at all against me, unless it were given thee from above, I know thou hast power, and that it is given thee from above; and Paul says there is no power, but of God, the powers that be, are ordered, or ordained of God, Rom. 13. 1. and so to the powers must men be subject, either in doing, or suffering the will of God by them; though the power be in Nero, a cruel, bloody, wicked man, yet it is given of God; hence Peter honours the King; Servants be subject to your Masters with all fear, not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward: Let not a Christian therefore think it grievous, that because he's a Child of God, and a son of the Kingdom, he ought not to be subject to the Princes of this world; the Jews, because they were the people of God took it grievously that sometimes the Babylonians reigned over them, sometimes the Persians, Grecians, Romans, and other Nations, strangers unto God, and many now adays think it unworthy of a Christian to suffer a Magistrate over them, and yet the Saints of old, Christ, and the Apostles you see yielded obedience unto the civil power: if any thing indeed be commanded against the will of God, than we are to obey God rather than men, as the three Children, Thine image, O King, we will not fall down and worship; yet still the power must be acknowledged, and honour, and due respect given unto it; when the Magistrates Soul indeed is subject to the power of God, and so a terror to evil doers, and a praise to them that do well, than the obedience from the Saints is usually most free; yet remembering his sword is the sword of God still, we ought not for conscience towards man, yet for conscience towards God to be subject to the Magistrates, because clothed with God's power, and so to pay tribute, custom, fear, honour to all the higher powers; whether ye do this, or not, let all that know ye judge.  
Answ. Further, our carriage to the present Magistrates is not unmannerly nor uncivil.  
Repl. But why then do ye show no more respect to them than to other men, though clothed with the power of God?  
Answ. But thou sayest our carriage was the carriage of the Saints formerly to Magistrates, which the Heathen could bear.  
Repl. The Saints formerly have bowed to the higher powers, but ye no more than to a beast, or post; and the Saints have owned their names, given them their Titles, acknowledged their Authority by their appeals to them, given them all due respect and reverence, though not Divine worship, for that must not be given, no not to an Angel, Rev. 19 10. I fell at his feet to worship him, says John, but see thou do it not, says the Angel, I am thy fellow servant, worship Jesus: but none of all these things are witnessed by ye, ye bow not, ye neither give them their names, nor their Titles, as Lawcock said by the Lord Protector, some say he calls himself Protector, he owned him not, ye scorn to appeal to them, or give them any respect at all, and so your carriage is still unmannerly and uncivil, contrary to the carriage of the Saints of old.  
Answ. Further, some would have that given unto them which belongs unto God, and persecute if they have it not; this I own not, neither an having of men's persons in admiration, because of advantage, neither a bowing of the seed of God to men's persons; no, friends, worship God, set him up in the top, yet despise not his image in the power of Magistrates, lest you sin against your own consciences, and draw down this wrath, dreaming of a dispensation by being the seed of God, for all your railing accusations; Michael durst not thus use the Devil, but said, the Lord rebuke thee: but ye can call them at your pleasure, corrupt Magistrates, men that have lost the fear of God, and all that own them must needs be Balaam-like, runners after him for rewards; in all this ye murmur and complain of God himself, and so every way despise dominion, and speak evil of Dignities, feeding yourselves with fancies without fear, drawing down the sword of those upon your own heads, who under God have given ye liberty to serve in your own land, and so are the dreamers Judas speaks of.  
Quest. 14. Whether your railing and evil speaking be the way of God and the Gospel, who seeks to win and overcome by love; and what this your light is?  
Answ. Our light is the light of Christ, who is the way of God and the Gospel, who seeks to win and overcome by love, which love whosoever receives not with the light are condemned, and from him are cursed, though man's cursing we deny.  
Repl. Yet how contrary was he, who was the light of the world unto all your carriage; he did not break a bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax; he did not lift up his voice, nor cry in the streets, he did not presently cry out to Publicans and sinners, thou art a Publican, thou art a sinner, but he did eat and drink with them: he did not tell the Master of the feast in Canaan of Galilee, thou art a Dog, a Devil, shall I eat with Dogs and Devils, he went about seeking and saving that which was lost, and always doing good, and so prevailed by love; and though he called the Pharisees, Serpents, Vipers, the Devils children, because of their railing, envying, murmuring, and continual blaspheming of him and his doctrine; yet this is no warrant for thee to apply these names to the Saints and Disciples of Christ; Christ called Judas a Devil, did he therefore call the other eleven so? surely not; and so your way in this is still contrary unto the way of the Lord, and his Gospel.  
Quest: 15. What is the Soul of man and the preciousness of it, seeing Christ says its more worth than all the world?  
Answ. The Ministers of Jesus, who come by the will of God, such know the Soul, and watch for the Soul, Heb. 13. 17. But thy watching is for the fleece, and art querying what the Soul is which lies in death, and state of condemnation, so long as it lives, and the false accuser lives: and it the first born knows not, nor the preciousness of it, who prefers the world, & obeys it before the light of Christ, & so sells the Soul for the world, as thou dost, who professest him in thy lip-talk, but denies him in practice, ways, & conversation, thou Christ, saith the Soul, is more worth than all the world:  
Repl. In all this answer there's not a tittle unto the question; here it appears, thy perfect knowledge fails thee, and thou hast no eye open to see that which is most near thee, and so art able to make no answer at all unto the Soul: saving a little to discover thine ignorance in calling the Soul the first born; here thou guessest that the soul is Christ, for he's the firstborn the Scripture mentions, and so according to thy blasphemy, Christ it seems may be damned, and cast into Hell; for so it's said of the Soul, fear him, who is able to cast body and Soul into Hell: and the Glutton in Hell lift up his eyes in torment, this must be in Soul, for it's said he was dead, to wit, in body: See how dark thou art in making no difference between the Soul and Christ, the Soul indeed is a precious high thing, there's a kind of infiniteness in it, which all the world cannot satisfy, and therefore the man was a fool, that said, Soul take thine ease, because thy Barns are full; and yet notwithstanding this kind of infiniteness in the Soul, as being restless, till it return to God; yet it cannot be infiniteness itself, it cannot be the firstborn, for of whole man it's said, whereof the Soul is the most noble part indeed, what is man that thou art mindful of him, or the Son of Man that thou regardest him? thou hast made him a little lower than the Angels, Heb. 2. 6, 7. man you see is inferior unto the Angels, much more inferior unto the Son of God, seeing the Angels likewise are his inferiors, and therefore when he bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, Let all the Angels of God worship him, Heb. 1. 6. so then if Angels are inferior to Christ, and men inferior to Angels, surely the Soul must be far below the firstborn: and farther, though the Soul be the seat of Christ, and Christ be hid there as treasure in a field, even in the innermost room of the Soul, yet the Soul cannot comprehend the infinite Majesty, so Christ in his Divine essence, or being, much less can it be Christ, who is God over all, blessed for evermore, and though there be indeed a blessed Union and fellowship between Christ and an holy Soul, yet still there's a vast difference between the essence, or being of the Soul and Christ, the one being still a creature, the other the Creator of it; thou mightest with better colour have called the Soul the light within, and that likewise thou givest an hint of, and this I say has more light in it than the former, seeing Solomon says, the spirit of man is the Candle of the Lord, searching all the inward parts of the belly: but yet the Soul comprehends more than this light, and cannot be this Candle neither, seeing the Candle may go out, but the Soul remains still I say, the Candle may go out, Prov. 24. 20. the Candle of the wicked shall be put out, and how oft is the Candle of the wicked put out, Job 21. 17. but the Soul of the wicked can never be put out, but their light may. But what is the Soul then? To make some answer to the question, because it is mine own.  
The Soul is a most noble power, a living being, an essence that quickens the body, and yet dies not, sleeps not when the body dies and sleeps, but returns unto God who gave it; this Soul is a little Map of the great world, and makes man a little world, for in his Soul is comprehended the life of plants, the sense of beasts, the reason of men and Angels; this Soul quickens and makes man a living creature, a sensitive creature, a rational creature, being the seat of life, sense, motion, operation, understanding, reason, and light in man; and this Soul in the spiritualty of it, the immortality of it, the immensity of it, not being satisfied without an infinite good, and the rationality of it in the powers of the mind, reason, judgement, will, memory, fancy, appetite, and affections in all these, it's a lively figure of God himself; hence man is made after the image of God, in an appearance according unto his capacity answerable unto the Divine Majesty, though still infinitely far short of what God is in his incomprehensible being, who is the life of our life, and Soul of our Soul, called the father of our spirits; in this Soul of man, or in the spirit, or mind of it as the highest power, when it is regenerated and resigned up, lives the great King manifested, here he dwells as in Mount Zion, here he delights to be as in his Temple, here he lives, and moves, and walks, and feeds, and takes pleasure in his own works, and here he gins that life of righteousness, joy, peace, rest, glory, which shall endure world without end; and in this Soul of man un-enlightned, and un-renewed; Christ lies hid, and is as one dead, and unsavoury unto the Soul, and so the Soul is in darkness, weakness, sinfulness, sorrow, fear, bondage, and many times in beginnings of Hell and saddest woe for evermore; and yet the world and those that perish for ever, have had many times such glimmerings and such stir after God and good things, such wrestle between the 〈…〉 their own reason, and common light, and conscience, as being despised and trampled upon, hidden crucified and smothered in their earthly minds, provoking God thereby to give them over as a just reward for their unthankfulness; I say, they have had so much light, as being rebelled against, shall make them inexcusable before the Lord, at the sad hour of account and judgement.  
Quest. 16. What is the saving and losing of the Soul, and the state of it after this life?  
Answ. Christ said, what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own Soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his Soul, Math. 16. 26. the Scripture is plain, would thou have a meaning to it? is the Scripture a parable to thee? yea, & to all vultures eyes & venomo us beasts.  
Repl. Would such an answer as this have pleased thee? wouldst thou not have cried out aloud, behold what bitterness, what darkness is here? Friend, how has Satan still filled thine heart with lying vanities, in dreaming of perfection, and yet art altogether a stranger even to common humanity, much more to that sweet spirit of love whereby the grace of God is manifested: I know the Scriptures are a parable to vultures eyes, and venomous beasts, and so they are to thee, as appears by thy gall and wormwood, thine ignominy & reproaches thou art pouring out upon thy brother, and that for ask a reason with much soberness, of the hope that is in thee: I know this is the nature of those, who say they are Disciples, Prophets, but are not; being found liars, to cry out, lo here, lo there, come and follow me, behold he's in my secret Chamber, in my holy form and way, and all that believed not are judged, condemned, and given over unto the Devil, Pope-like, Antichrist-like: but to pass to what follows, to see how well thou art acquainted with the saving and losing of the Soul.  
Answ. Further, all that believe in the light of Christ, it leads to the knowledge of Christ, the redeemer of the Soul, which they that deny the light cannot see, and so the Soul abides in condemnation; and this is the saving and losing of their Souls and state of it, after this life.  
Repl. By this it appears by thee, that the saving of the Soul is as much in man's power as the losing of it; and yet Christ says to you, it is given to know the mysteries of the Kingdom of God, but to them it is not given, Math. 13. 11. and thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes; and the election has obtained the promise, but the rest are hardened; this is an hard saying, who can bear it, but the true seed, and yet foolish wise man will teach God what to do; thou hast indeed power to lose thy Soul, but power to save it without grace, and the new birth thou hast none; and thou vain man, who art loath to fallen all away, to lose that part of thy life, and self which lies in the dream of thine own power to believe, and freedom to embrace grace, as well as to deny them: now thou art in the way to lose thy life and Soul for evermore; and yet still I say, there's so much power given the Creature as shall leave him inexcusable: I know he, who believes, is led to Christ his Redeemer, and the saving of his Soul is by the springing up of his life and grace in his Soul, who is a well of water springing up into eternal life; and he who believes not is a stranger to Christ the Redeemer of his Soul, and this saving and losing is everlasting; but still the power to believe, and be saved, is of God, Eph. 2. 8. by grace are ye saved through faith, and not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; and as for the saving and losing of the Soul for ever, if it be thy faith, and thou canst bear witness to it, as a truth thou hast seen of God, why then dost thou hid thyself, and mince the truth, as if it were not a thing to be owned by the sons of men? the rest of that answer is spent after the old form, in accusations by the accuser, thy father.  
Quest. 17. What is the difference between the Soul and the spirit, which Paul prays may be sanctified.  
Answ. As the spirit is received, which sanctifies, the difference is brought into unity, and they are perfected to serve the Lord in one with the whole heart, and Paul was a Minister of the word, which pierceth even to the dividing asunder of Soul and spirit, Heb. 4. 12.  
Repl. Still thou art dark about the soul, or unwilling to discover thy darkness, and so thou canst say nothing, or that which is little unto the question: when the spirit is received, which sanctifies, thou sayest the difference is brought into Unity, and they are perfect in one, yet still to us there's soul and spirit, and this spirit in us is not the spirit of God which sanctifies, as thou dreamest, as if the spirit Paul speaks of, were the spirit of God which sanctifies the soul of man, and so brings the soul into Unity with itself; no, friend, Paul speaks not of God's spirit, which is holiness itself, but of a spirit which needs sanctification, and between this spirit in man, and the soul of man, it seems there is a difference, and therefore he prays that both may be sanctified; but this difference thou knowest not, I know the soul is a spiritual thing, and cannot be divided into parts and powers, as being one single entire essence; but unto us there's the understanding part, the mind, the eye of the soul, the seat of reason and light, and the will which is the observer of the mind, looking to be taught by it as a power obedient and willing to act as it directs, counsels, and commands; and there's the inferior parts, the appetite, desire, affections, which are as perturbations and motions in the soul, leading it out into love, joy, anger, peace, fear, or the like; all these as sanctified by the Lord's spirit are brought into this Unity to be all servants unto his mind and will; and this spirit of the Lord, as it is received more or less, so it more or less ends the quarrel between God and us, in the lusting of our spirits and souls against God, and makes peace, and brings all into Unity, and so is that word which pierces even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit; this drives away the ignorance, vanity, weakness, and enmity, which is in the highest, and purest part of man's soul, his mind, which is usually taken for the spirit, called the spirit of the mind, Eph. 4. 23. and called the eye and light of man, the spirit of the Lord opens and heals this of all its blemishes and distempers, and so gives an eye to see, and an heart to understand, by enlightening the eye of the mind, which is called the spirit, as that which looks over all, and overrules all in the soul of man: Further, the word or spirit of God takes away the stubborness, frowardness, and hardness of the will, and bows this to follow the light sprung up in the mind, and so heals that power too, which I look upon as belonging still to the spirit of the Soul: Further, the Lord likewise rectifies the judgement, and the conscience, and takes away by degrees all erroneousness, wand'ring, and fear and guilt here too, and so gives a sound judgement, and a clear conscience, and the Lord takes away the sottishness, foolishness, sinfulness, and manifold distempers of the thoughts and imaginations that spring up in the fancy of man; and of the desires and longing after earthly vanities that spring up in the appetite, which is an inferior power in the Soul, and of the affections, which are the motions and go out of the Soul into love, hatred, delight, sadness, pleasure, grief, hope, despair, fear, boldness, anger, and the like; all which as common to man and beasts, more sensible unto us, are usually called the Soul, and taken for the Soul; I say these inferior faculties which are usually taken for the Soul, as being the discoverers of the Soul more sensibly unto us all these these the Lord heals, makes holy and pure for himself by his word, and so separating things that differ, and uniting all in an oneness with himself, he makes unity, peace, and harmony in all the higher and lower powers of the Soul, and so to sum up things, and a little farther to discover this noble power of the Soul. 1. There's the mind, that's the seat of light, reason and understanding. 2. There's the will, that's the seat of action, obedience, and doing either good, or evil. 3. There's the judgement, that's the seat of discerning and trying things. 4. There's the conscience, that's the book of all the good and evil we do. 5. There's the memory, that's the seat of Arts and Sciences, of all that we so discern, feel, and know. 6. There's that which they call the common sense, as a power which has an influence upon all the outward senses, and carries as it were from the Soul, seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touching into all the five senses. 7. There's the fancy, that's the seat of all the innumerable thoughts, and imaginations that spring up in the heart of man, and this is the seat of all the Quakers dreams, and high thoughts of themselves, and mean thoughts of others, and of many the precious truths of God. 8. There's the appetite, and that's the seat of desires, lustings and long after things, whether good, or evil: Lastly, there's likewise the affections which are the movings of the Soul out into love, joy, gladness, pleasure, and the like, all these lower parts of the Soul, as more common and easily seen and perceived are usually called the Soul, and the higher and more noble powers are usually taken for the spirit of the Soul, now when the Lord comes all these are healed, cured and made well, according as the Lord is more, or less manifested, and this is the sanctifying of these which the Apostle speaks of, the bringing of them all into the will and life of God, and as the Lord is received into the Souls of men, so all these scatter, and movings, and workings of the Soul, are all gathered up to give their attendance upon the presence of the great King.  
Quest. 18. What is the Heaven and Hell? the salvation and damnation of believers and unbelievers, which the Scriptures intimate.  
Answ. Heaven and Hell are what the Scriptures declare them to be, which none can understand, but who are in the light where the entrance is made.  
Repl. Still thou art seen not to be in a state of perfection, and so what Childish answers have we; & no account cnast thou give of Heaven and Hell; they are what the Scripture declares them to be: surely, friend, if thou hast been in Hell, and gone from thence to Heaven, thou mightst have said something more: I know it's sufficient what the Scriptures intimate; but I know thou ownest no Heaven nor Hell, but what is here within in thy wand'ring spirit; no resurrection, judgement, or Hell afterwards, but what we have here by the light, and from the light within, this is thy dream only, thou art loath to discover thyself, and so hidest the thoughts of thine heart, and sayest Heaven and Hell are what the Scripture makes them to be, and so I leave thee in this thine imaginations to give an account unto God, in that day when the secrets of all hearts shall be disclosed, and Hell and Heaven begun, here shall be perfected upon believers and unbelievers for evermore: and what this Heaven and Hell is take my thoughts, and use them at thy pleasure; Heaven stands in a pure union and fellowship with, the Father in love, and Hell in a real separation from this love of the Father in the Son, and the enduring of the wrathful vengeance of an angry God; both these are begun here in grace, or sin as in the root, and both shall be perfected hereafter, in the joy, or misery which shall be everlasting; as the Scripture speaks come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world, and go ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the Devil and his Angels: Matt. 25. 34, 41.  
Quest. 19 What is the first resurrection, and the reigning with Christ a thousand years of that resurrection, and the binding of Satan all that thousand years?  
Answ. The first resurrection is the resurrection of Christ, wherewith he hath raised us from the death of sin, to live with him to God, in newness of life, reigning over the lust of the world, the flesh and the Devil:  
Repl. All this I own, as the comfort and joy of Saints in all generations, for when the manchild is born, who is called the new man, the Lord from heaven then the first resurrection gins and that Soul reigns & lives according to the measure of Christ in him with Christ a thousand years, this Christ in us, is the real substantial image of God, that has the perfect nature of a man, the first day he is born in the Soul; as a Child has the nature of a man, though not the wisdom, and growth, and strength of a man; so it is in the Soul where Christ is risen, and born, that's the true manchild, and his growing up in the new holy life, is the ground of the first resurrection, and as he increases in the Soul, so the life is manifested, and the resurrection more and more, and so the Soul can say, now, I know that the life and the resurrection is come, because the Son of God is come the precious seed of the promise, he who breaks the head of the Serpent, though the Serpent be still knibling and bruising his he'l●: and if this were truly witnessed by ye? surely I should not see so much darkness and bitterness still growing up, and flourishing in ye, neither could ye thus give yourselves to revile, mock, vilify, and send others of the Children of God in your giddiness unto the Devil, and seek to deprive them of their credit and reputation in the world, this is but the fruit of Thorns and Briars, not of the vine, and good Olive Tree; this is but the Thistle that pricks, but bears not the fruit of the first resurrection.  
Further, thou sayest, Christ by his resurrection has bound Satan; so say I, for to this purpose was he manifested, that he might destroy the works of the Devil, and when he appears, than the evil one is put in prison and chains:  
Further, thou sayest, such unruly persons as I, talk of Satan's being bound a thousand years, but resist and own not that Cross and power which should bind him for a day:  
Repl. The Cross I own, and the power I own, as that only which has bound Satan in me, though I must not tell thee so: neither is Satan at liberty as in mine ignorance and unbeleef, neither does he prevail, neither am I without a stronger than he to divide his spoils, and yet I am to take heed, and not be so bold as some, who are without fear of any stir and temptations from him, though Paul set him as a Thorn in the flesh; yet they are secure and neglect their Armour, and so are many times again entangled and overcome.  
Further, thou sayest, the Angel and the key of the bottomless pit, and the great chain in his hand, I know not, Rev. 20. 1. neither do I, and him I serve, love that chain.  
Repl. The spirit of the Lord surely wrote all this to thy generation, and none must peep into these mysteries without thy key, for thou art he who opens and no man shuts, and shuts, and no man opens; as Christ gave his keys to Peter in his absence, and Peter unto the Pope, or the Pope to thee, and now thy fathers the false Prophets may go to seek heaven for thee, for thou hast the keys, and none must enter in without thy mark; and so the kingdom of Heaven is shut up, and the Angel and the key of the bottomless pit, and the great chain in his hand, none must know but thee and thy generation, and yet what if I should tell thee, I have seen the Angel, and he by the light within has opened the bottomless pit, and there I have seen the Quaker and the Pope, and all the false Prophets shut out of the Kingdom of God, because they love not the great chain in the hand of the Angel, but to leave thee where I find thee, the chain I love and own, as that which keeps me from the paths of the destroyer; neither am I telling as thou sayest of Satan's binding without me, for this is not mine interest, but the inward binding, and yet when I see Satan bound in any measure without me, that I can look upon with joy too, well knowing that there is joy in heaven at the conversion of one sinner; but I must not cast pearl before Swine, lest thou turn again and rend me, for the angry brood love not the Pearl.  
Answ. Further, Satan's binding is in the life only learned, not in the imagination.  
Repl. And yet it may be too, but in the imagination, though it seemingly appear in the life, as we see in a Nun, Monk, Hermit, Pharisee, and the like, here's a seeming binding of Satan in the life, and yet but an imagination: therefore take heed, God looks most upon the heart, yet upon the tongue too; and when Satan's binding is better manifested in thy carriage & tongue; then I may have better hope to say, thou believest with the heart.  
Answ. Further, John saw Satan bound a thousand years since, which thou art still querying about.  
Repl. John, I know, had a Vision of Satan's binding in himself, and a Vision of all the binding and losing that was to be in ages to come, and therefore the Revelation of Jesus in him, was to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; now I know about this binding and losing of Satan, and the living and reigning with Christ a thousand years, called the first resurrection, there is a great variety of opinions and judgements amongst the Saints, and in the world, and all the opinions almost look unto things without, unto some intable observation to the outward eye abroad; making this, and that the beginning of the thousand years, and the first resurrection, so making the spiritual Kingdom to spring up with some great outward glory, and to begin with some observation visible to the outward man, all which methinks suits not with the nature of a spiritual King and Kingdom, and so seeing men feel after that without, which was to be fulfilled within, and hearing of the great talk of the Quakers knowledge, therefore I sent to thee to know, and see thine experience of this resurrection, and of this binding Satan and reigning with Christ; and behold I see nothing in all thine answers but vanity, pride, and deep darkness, so much to that answer; to which I'll add, Blessed, and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection, that hath Christ to be his resurrection and life, by whom he's fetched out of the grave, and passed from death into life by a strong hand; this man as he has bowed and given himself to Christ, so Christ is come down as it were to him to set him upon the Throne of his glory, and here he sees judgement executed upon the beast and Dragon, and Satan bound in him all the days of his life, and Christ living and reigning in him for evermore, this is the first resurrection, over which the second death hath no power, and this is that I commend to all, as the better part which the Saints in their measure all enjoy, and without which the last resurrection will be but a sad hour of sorrow, and woe unto the world, and so though the last resurrection I own, and the day of judgement, yet the first resurrection of Christ raising us up from the death of sin and darkness, to live with him to God in newness of life is that which every man and woman ought to look earnestly after in this world.  
And now some may imagine that this spiritual resurrection is not the thing meant in this 20 Chap. of the Revelations, because it is said to be a thousand years, and then to be finished, and Satan to be loosed out of his prison again, to whom I answer, that the thousand years has respect to the reign of Christ in the Saints in all ages, during the time of every dispensation of God towards his people in the world; and so the first resurrection has still been passed through, and is to be passed through by all the people of God here, and finished at their departure hence in the Lord, and as this resurrection was more glorious in John's time, and the first ages of the Church after Christ than before under the Law, so it shall be more glorious yet than ever before; called therefore the new Jerusalem, wherein God shall come down and dwell with men; to wit, more in the fullness and glory of his spirit than in all the dispensations that have gone before, and the more glorious the resurrection is, the more the evil shall be bound; and the appearing of this in all ages has been the binding of Satan, and is that which limits, and puts a stop to this Kingdom, and so a torment to him before his time, and the more this grows, the more he shall bond, & so the great binding of Satan shall be, not by a personal reign of Christ in a body, but by the personal, or more eminent reign of Christ yet in the fullness of the spirit; this is that which every Saint is to look at in himself, and not to put off the resurrection from himself to some other men, or some other time: but to look at his own resurrection, and the binding of Satan in his own soul, as well as without in others, that he may reign with Christ here, and hereafter; in the 12. of the Rev. 8. 9 we read of a war in Heaven, and of a great fight between the Dragon and Michael, but the Dragon and his Angels prevailed not, but are cast out, and their place is found no more in Heaven, this is that we are to look at in ourselves, for the Church of God is the Kingdom of God on earth, and where this Kingdom is set up, there Satan's Kingdom is pulled down, and his time finished; I say, where Christ is set up in power, it is so, not where he's only set up in show, for where things are but in show, there the unclean spirit is said to go out, not to be driven away by the sun of God, but to feign a going away, and so to return again, and bring 7 other spirits, that is, more power along with him, and finding the house swept and garnished, to enter in again and dwell there, and so to make the last state worse than the first; but when he's castout by the finger of God, than we have the true Champion on our side, and now the evil one must leave the house for ever: and further, though the Scriptures speak of a finishing the thousand years, yet that is meant in reference unto every dispensation of God to his people here, and their abode with Christ, during this spiritual reign with them in this body; when Christ reigns with us here, this is the first resurrection, and when Christ takes us unto himself out of the body, than this is finished; and this is said to be a thousand years, in reference to the Saints in all generations: But where's Satan when he's cast out of the Saints, or out of a particular soul? what is he idle, or lies still? no, he goes down to the earth, and therefore woe to the inhabiters of the earth, and of the Sea; for the Devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he has but a short time, Rev. 12. 12. when Satan is cast out of one, he reigns in another, and the more he's imprisoned in the Church, and kept from hurting, and tempting them by the strong power of God, the more he's tormented, and the more he rages in the world, and the more subtle, and cunning, and powerful he is in the vessels of wrath, and so shall gather them together with more subtlety, and violence against the holy beloved City, because of the great glory that shall be poured out on her, that so he, and all his followers may reap their deserved ruin, and woe, at the coming of Christ, at the great day of wrath. And so to sum up this, as the reign of Christ draws nigh finishing, so the reign of Satan; and as the reign of Christ towards the finishing shall be most glorious, so Satan most furious and crafty in the world, working more in a mystery, transforming himself into an Angel of light by his goodly outward shows, and observations; getting into the hearts of men, saying he's God, and he's Christ, and by this means he shall be more fitted to deceive, and prevail with Gog and Magog, to gather them together against the Saints, and people of God every where, being given up as a just punishment from God, for following their own vain imaginations: I say, the Nations shall be deceived, as a just judgement of God upon them, and worship the Dragon, and the beast, and the false Prophet, and in their pride shall think to swallow up all, and then receive their final overthrow, ruin, and woe, when a fire shall be kindled in the whole frame of nature, to dissolve the world, and the works therein, and all the wicked of the earth, high and low, shall say, hid us from the face of him, who sits upon the Throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb.  
Quest. 20. What is the last resurrection, and the day of judgement, which the Scripture speaks of?  
Ans. Thou who art ignorant of the first resurrection, art enquiring in thy busy mind after the last resurrection, which none can know where death reigns, though the Scriptures declare of it, and so such as you live in your lusts, and scoff at the Doctrine of Christ, who is the resurrection and the life, the first and last, Joh 11. 25. Rev. 1. 17. yet know this, that to judgement thou shalt come, for the Lord has appointed a day to judge the world by the man Jesus Christ, who is the first and the last.  
Repl. Here thou showest thyself, and in thine heart givest not testimony to the last resurrection, and day of judgement, making as if all were spiritual, and only in this life, and so thou errest, as they of old, who said, there was no resurrection, nor Angel, nor spirit, not believing the Scriptures in this, nor the power of God; to which I add, as the execution of the first, so the execution of the last is by one Jesus Christ; only the first resurrection is of the just only, the last of the just and unjust; the first of the Saints of God, this general of all men, and as my faith in the first, so of the last, is grounded upon Scripture, Joh. 5. 24. to 30. verily I say unto you, the hour is coming, and now it is, when they that are in the grave shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live, here's the spiritual resurrection; but it follows, Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming, wherein all that are in their graves shall hear the voice of Christ, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of examination; here's the last resurrection, wherein all shall arise, either to salvation, or damnation: what more plain? see Acts 24. 15. there shall be a resurrection, says Paul, both of the just and unjust; this was Paul's faith and hope, and such as deny this, Paul disputes against at large, 1 Cor. 13. and tells us, if the Saints should deny it, they are of all men most miserable, & 2 Tim. 2. 17, 18. there Hymenius and Phyletus, who said that the resurrection was passed already, are compared to a Canker, and said to subvert the faith of some; hence Christ speaks of a last day, and a resurrection at the last day, so Math. 25. 31. to the end, he describes the manner of it, so Rev. 6. 11, 12. and 20. at the latter end: if these and the like Scriptures will not persuade men to believe a truth from God, neither will they be persuaded, though one should be raised from the dead.  
Quest. 21. What is the new Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of Heaven, which is as a Bride adorned for her husband?  
Answ. The new Jerusalem is the City of God, the Church of God, which Babylon and Egypt would devour; now when it appears upon the earth, so all that have Ships and Treasure in the Sea are gathered against her, who is a Lamb among the beasts of the field under the defence of the shepherd, who rejoices over her, as the Bridegroom over the Bride, and the day of marriage is coming, and come, and the Bride is adorned, and adorning for her husband, who must commit no adultery with Babylon's Merchants, nor lie down to the great men of the earth, therefore their rage is come up, and Gog and Mdgog is gathered, yet the spirit of the Lord, our husband, lifts up a standard against them, and out of this City are all Harlots shut, all covetous persons all that conform to the world, & all that in its customs and abominations live, all that wastefully devour the Creatures on their backs, and bellies, all oppressors, all that live by dishonest gain, all that make a mock at the Doctrine of Christ, etc. read where thou art, these are Harlots, not Citizens.  
Repl. This new Jerusalem comes down from heaven, is not in the earth, or man, before the Lord pitch up his Tabernacle in man; it is not merited, or gained by man's light, or power, it is wholly out of grace, and by Revelation, as we see in the case of Paul; it is grace and pur● love makes man, the City of the great King, not any thing in the first birth, joh. 3. 3, 5. There must be a second birth, and this builds the Temple, and makes the Soul the City, and House, and Church of God; by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; this grace springs out of the heart of God, not out of the will of man, and its grace makes us his workmanship, City, and dwelling place, and where it is created that Soul is said to be of God, and Christ is made unto it wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption; efficiently and formally by working these, and forming these in the heart of man; and this pure building Babylon and Egypt cannot endure to see, neither any that make it their business to wander abroad from God, and go down into the Sea in ships, and this City is the Lily among the Thorns, planted under the shadow of the Almighty, where she sits down with great delight and inward recreation: my Meditation of him shall be sweet; I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live, and I will go unto him mine exceeding joy: This is she who rejoices, because the Bridegroom is come, and though she have infirmities, yet she's washed and washing in the blood of the Lamb, and so the days of her sorrow and widowhood flee away, this is she, who is still adorning, till the head, and all the Members meet together in the fullness and joy of God; and this spouse is n● Adulteres, she loves not the voice, nor love of strangers, she is not something and great in herself, for she is nothing, but what she is in her husband, by the grace of God, I am what I am; she cannot worship a shadow, or form, or idle, as others to get herself a name in the world, she makes no mention but of one, and to him she bows; and because all this glory is poured upon her, therefore she's despised of men, hated, persecuted, and every where evil spoken of; yet blessed, because great is her reward in Heaven: out if this Cities are all Harlots, all worldlings shut, all Hypocrites, Backbiters, strikers of their fellow servants, all that make a mock of Christ of the sufferings, and precious blood of Christ; all that say they are Christ, lo here, lo there; all that stand upon their toys, ceremonies, wil-worships, making the commands of God of none effect by their traditions, see whether, or not thou hast the name of this City written upon the forehead, where so much railing flows from thy tongue and heart.  
Quest. 22. What is the Garden of Eden, out of which Adam was driven, whether it be the same with Paradise.  
Quest. 23. What is the Paradise of God, and the Tree of life in the midst of it, of which whosoever overcomes shall eat.  
Quest. 24. What is the hidden Manna, and the white stone, and the new name written in the stone, which he that overcomes shall know.  
Answ. To these three queries he says, Eden is no Garden known to the world, where it is overcome with weeds, and who are driven out of it, is not the same with Paradise: but who are come to the Tree of life, the old Adam dead, the man quickened which death passed over, there the Garden is pressed and dressing, here Eden and Paradise came to be known.  
Repl. All this gives no satisfaction to what Eden and Paradise is, though some truth there be in thy words; for though Eden be every where, where the presence of God is in Christ, and this presence fills all places, and all things we see, yet it is not known unto the world, who are cast out and see Christ no more. Eden was a figure of heaven, where's no want, but all fullness, all pleasure, and this heaven is all over within and without unto a child of God, within he sees the Lord raiguing in his spirit; without he sees the Lord in every creature; the heavens declare his glory and the firmament showeth his handy work, all creatures are as jacob's ladder to him with God at the top, these are the Angels ascending and dessending in continual motion, but God who stands at the top, hidden from the world, but known unto his Saints he's still the same, and his presence in love and light is the Garden of Eden, and within is Paradise, joy, singing, and so in the presence of God in love, every place is a place of joy, every condition, every dispensation heavenly; and here the Soul has learned to discern between the form and the truth, the outbirth and the father, he looks unto God, he's the whee●●ithin the wheel, and so a gracious Soul will honour God, who is the 〈◊〉 being, in every created being, he can converse with God in all he sees an● say of every place, creature, condition, and thing, this is none other, but 〈◊〉 house of God, and the Gate of Heaven; into this Garden the righteous 〈◊〉, and here they are enclosed, and kept by the Almighty's arm, and here they 〈◊〉 not upon the shadow; but upon the substance within, they feed not upon the earthly, but upon the heavenly fruit, the virtue and power of God: And so they live upon God in the Creatures, upon God in the Scriptures, upon God in every thing, but the man in darkness sees not God, has not the benefit and comfort of God, and so he is cast out of the Paradise and joy, & thus you see that Eden, the wicked man knows not, he sees not the presence of the great King, and so he can not feed upon him, the Weeds cover God, and among them he hides himself, and there he feeds upon the flesh, not upon the substance, the Tree of life, this he dares not middle with, being a guilty sinner, and so if he would enter into the Garden, he can not, there is a whole principale between, and the Sword is set, and die he must, and come in by a Saviour, and in him he must be born before the entrance can be made, and when this is done, and the man of sin in some measure crucified, than the vilest sinner may go boldly in, because the way is open by regeneration, and live with God, and know Eden & Paradise. And thou who grutchest another entrance into this Garden of Eden, into the Lord's presence, there to be in joy and rest by feeding upon the bread of life, it appears that thou art a stranger unto the Garden, & it is not dressed for thee; and though feign thou wouldst put forth thine hand, eat, & live for ever; be thine own Judge, & enter into life through thine own power and crucifying; yet there is an Angel will keep thy out, till the old man begin to be annihilated, and he, who was dead, begin to leave in thee, who only prepares the Soul for the Lord, and brings it into his joy.  
Answ. Further, thou sayest as the Serpent is overcome by the seed of God, the Tree of life is seen, and fed on, which stands in the midst of the Paradise of God.  
Repl. All this is true, when man is nothing, and is at a loss in himself, than Christ gins to be seen, and then Christ is sweet, and then he's the only Tree out of which life grows, and so the Souls feed upon him, who is that meat which perisheth not, sealed by the father.  
Further, thou sayest the Tree of life comes down from heaven, which is the hidden Manna, and is the new name which none can know, but he that hath it.  
Repl. The Tree of life thou sayest comes down from heaven, than he is not surely in the natural ma●●s thou sometimes dreamest; & if thou have this Tree in thee, this living Tree in thee; why dost thou not declare him, and tell us how h●● the Manna, and what the eating is? Thou must answer nothing, & new no reason of thy faith & hope; but if these things were written in ●●y spirit in deed, and truth, thou wouldst surely know that one ma●● end why they are given, is, that we might declare them.  
Further thou sayest the hidden Manna, the white stone, the new name, only such as overcome have fed on; read, and know, Rev. 2. 17. And yet thou in thy busy mind must needs be enquiring about it, thou, who art in the bondage of corruption, scraping up Scriptures for sin, & darkness, to remain in man, whilst he is upon the earth; that art an enemy to Christ, the Tree of life, who scoffs, at yea, and nay, his doctrine, etc.  
Repl. All this surely does not declare what Eden is, or Paradise is, or the Tree of life, or the hidden Manna, or the white stone, or the new name, unto all which thou wouldst fain pretend a peculiar interest by thine own overcoming, & yet canst not declare thyself: surely, friend, if thou sawest the Lord, and didst indeed abide in his presence, thy foolish nature would not thus appear still in power, wert thou in the light and joy of Paradise, feeding upon God in thyself, and upon God in every thing that is made, surely thou couldst not scoff at any truth of God, and call it a scraping up of Scriptures, because the Scriptures show man his manifold errors, and infirmities, and so thou couldst not deny plain light written in Scripture, and every man's experience that knows himself.  
Didst thou know the Tree that the overcomer eats of, surely thou wouldst not thus lie down to the Serpent's power: didst thou live in the Lord, and feed upon the Lord, who is the Paradise and Tree of life both; surely thou wouldst see God in thy fellow-servant, and not smite him, or murmur because the Lord bears another company besides thyself, for surely there's enough in God for us all.  
And didst thou know the hidden Manna & eat of it, this would surely sweeten thine heart, & make thee forget the bitterness that comes through thy lips; & didst thou know the pure image, the divine nature; didst thou see this springing up in thee as a seal of life to thee, surely thine heart would not thus retain the old hardness, the old language, having nothing written upon it, but the name of the old man, though the poor old man know it not▪ or will not see it; and so to sum up this, and to leave a word, or two with thee.  
The Garden of Eden is every where where the Lord is manifested; Paradise is the fullness and joy that grows up out of this manifestation; the Tree of life is God in Christ manifested, seen, and know; the eating is the feeding and living in our spirits upon the ver●●●●, and excellencies as of God, who bids all his friends eat and drink abundantly, and the hidden Manna is the sweetness, and inward nourishment the sou●●inds in God; and the white stone is the purity and reality of the divine nature in us; and the new name written upon the stone is the Name of God, the nature mind, will, & judgement of God, the fullness of God let out according to o●● measure into our hearts, which shows to us the things that are freely given to ●s of God, & declares us in our experiences to be his Sons & Daughters; all these things are one in substance, & in the root, being but the new man sprung up in us, to bring us into Paradise and joy; only unto us thereiss a variety of operations and administrations, all which, as we overcome so we are acquainted with:  
Quest. 25. What is the bottomless pit, and the smoke that arises from thence, and the darkening of the Sun and air by the smoke, and the locusts which came out of the smoke, which John saw?  
Answ. When thou art come to the sound of the 5. Angels, than thou wilt know & see the bottomless pit, out of which comes all the Sorceries, Witchcrafts and Enchantments, which deceive the Nations.  
Repl. It seems thou hast heard the sound of the 5. Angels, and yet hast not seen the Star fallen from Heaven unto the earth, and so hast not heard the right sound; if thou hast, declare it; neither haste thou seen the bottomless pit; and so beholdest not the Sorceries, Witchcrafts, and Enchantments which come from thence; neither the infatuations and strong delusions which God in wrath has given ye up unto, and all your brethren in all other dark forms and superstitious vanities; those delusions errors, idols, sins, wickednesses, abominations, which spring up in such a variety abroad in the Nations hast thou not seen, neither how all these grow up out of one original, the bottomless pit of the angry, wrathful Kingdom of Lucifer, thy father, who has still been soaring up to Heaven, but is still cast down unto the earth; and the elect seed he cannot, he must not deceive totally and finally; and yet ought they always to be upon their watch, waiting upon their Bridegroom, as knowing their own proneness unto evil: but all ye who are secure, and lofty, & perfect in your observations and imaginations, that ye have never so much as a wand'ring thought prevailing, much less sin appearing either in your lives, or tongues, even like your forefathers the Ranters, whom ye own not in words, but yet in spirit; as they are pure holy, undefiled in all things, so are ye; as they are reconciled to all things, so are ye; and as all that they speak is righteous altogether, so all that comes from your idle lips; and so ye, as they, are totally free from all remnants of the old Adam; even ye poor wretches are thrown down into all the saddest and strongest delusions of the evil one, being down, as it were, at the bottom of the bot●●●lesse pit, perverting, betraying, and deceiving yourselves and others, with the dream of your high knowledge, wisdom, righteousness, 〈◊〉, gifts, high lights, perfect attainments, being found in all the steps 〈◊〉 the Pharisees, Jews, Priests, Elders, and Rulers of old, who denied and crucified the Lord of glory. And when ye pretend most love to Christ within, and his light within, even than ye most deny, and grieve him, trampling under your feet the Lord that bought ye, making but a mere notion and trifle of the blood of his Cross; and when ye cry down the Pharisees and Priests in their titles of masters, fathers, even than ye must cry up the same spirit in yourselves, thus have ye made lies your refuge, and under vanity are ye hid, and so strongly enchanted and deluded with the smoke and stinking savour that arises out of the pit, that ye have shut up the Kingdom of heaven, and none must enter but yourselves in the midst of all your strong infatuations; but the Lord laughs ye to scorn.  
And thou, who sayest all the forms of the Nations are idols, and that all the Lords people, who worship not with ye are Harlots; and no locusts there are, but the Priests which have been spread in every Parish of the Nations for hundreds of years; for so thou sayest in thine answer, the locusts are the Priests of the Nations, spread in every Parish for many hundred years: thou who seest not other locusts, thou hast not heard the sound of the Angel thou speakest of, which when thou dost, thou wilt hear that the locusts comprehend more than the Priests, and take in not only wicked, and carnal, and false teachers among them, but likewise all the wicked, envious, erroneous, false Teachers, Priests, Prophets and Disciples, as they call themselves in all other Sects and forms abroad in the Nations, it being the smoke that darkness, the light of the Sun, and the air, and shuts all discoveries of God out of the mind and heart, that begets and brings forth these locusts John speaks of; and happy had it been, and would be, sure, for the Nations, if none but the Priests of the Parishes had been smothered and darkened with this great smoke, so that the locusts surely are more than thou art ware of; and the smoke that comes from the pit, greater than thou art yet acquainted with; and hence thou seest not how thou thyself art found in that which thou condemnest in the Priests, even in nipping and devouring the tender grass, where it is growing, and springing; scoffing at all that worship not in thy Temple too, made with hand, roaring in the midst of thy Congregations against many of the most precious Saints of God, seeking in all the power of thy Father to bring all into a confusion, and to make all the name of Religion a very scorn among all the Heathen, as it is at this day. And thou who still pratlest at scoffing at the Doctrine of Christ, when thou thyself art still scoffing at Christ himself; seeking to darken his light and glory, sprung up in many precious souls in the Nation; but into the pit thou and thy brethren again must go, and there be bound in chains, and reserved against the judgement of the great day; therefore away with all thy glory, thy form sends out but a nasty smell; the darkest Priests of the Nations, whom thou so much deridest, can see thine eye blinded by the God of this world, and put out by the Philistines in thee, and so read if thou canst, but thou knowest never a letter of the book, and Word of God; yet look without and within, and it may be thou mayest discern the smoke, and where the locusts grow and live; and that they are not many of the Priests only, but many of the Quakers too, who are still breathing out of the bottomless pit a numberless number of evil thoughts, murders, errors, evil speakings, blasphemies, all which defile the man.  
Quest. 26. What are the two witnesses, and their prophesying in Sackcloth, and their standing before the God of the earth?  
Answ. One witness thou hast within thee, that when thou art in any measure calm, and quiet in thy mind, lets thee see thy covetous practices, thy lusts and the uncleanness of thine heart, and the Hypocrisy, and hardness thereof, and that thy walking is a far off the walking of such, who are indeed Ministers of the Gospel, and that a light, vain, deceitful mind rules in thee that hearkens unto; in that stand, lest thou perish in thy corruptions, if thou mind that which witnesses against thy evil deeds, and unto it yieldest obedience, that will give thee an hint of the other, and that is swift against thee.  
Repl. All this instead of an answer, is but another buffet of the evil one, the witness thou speakest of is my friend still, and no sooner does Satan stir, but he's at hand, to bind him, and to stay his mouth; and not the least covetousness, lust, wickedness do I find arising in me, but he's ready to rebuke, and to command a calm, that I may hear his voice, and he's first and last my Saviour and witness still, and the sealer up of all my comforts and joy; the father that loves me has given me the blood and spirit of his son, to seal up all his promises and favours to me, that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, I might have strong consolation: Therefore away, away with all thine accusations & delusions, sooner mayest thou turn the frame of the earth and heavens, than altar the father's mind concerning me in love, & look for these two witnesses in thy Soul, lest thy high talk of a light within go out for ever in utter darkness, and thou be lest unto the destroyer, as one of thy poor brothers almost was, who Satan was like to starve and burn to death, in body as well as in Soul; but God raised him up in great love and grace, restored him to his understanding, sense, and light, and for a memorial to all generations commanded him to publish the foot out of the snare.  
Quest. 27. What is the new creature, wherein the life and power of it stands, and how ye came acquainted with it in your Souls?  
Answ. The new creature is he that is in Christ Jesus, and therein his life and power stands, and as we came to take up the Cross, and follow the light, we came to be acquainted with it in our own Souls, and who witness the new creature, old things are done away, which we find thee loaded withal; and no coming to the new creature, but in, and through the Cross, which thou knowest not, being an enemy unto the Cross, and Ranter-like must talk and tell of Eden, Paradise, white stone, new name, Tree of life, new creature, new Jerusalem, hidden Manna.  
Repl. Behold still the figure of an unclean spirit, no changeling, like the mad Cow that gives a good Meal, but plucks it down again with her horn; so thou now and then speakest fair, a few good words we have, but the end still savours of the evil one, and so like the Pharisee, thou art one who sayest, but does not; and a stranger to the new creature, which commands all muttering, murmuring, accusing, to cease, he's calm, a Lamb, meek, and quiet, peaceable and gentle, apt to teach, patiented, he can suffer no flesh to exalt itself, that's Antichrist, whom he is come to consume, and he must hold his peace, for Christ must be all; thou must not sacrifice to thine own net, either thy righteousness, or thine unrighteousness unto thyself, to merit, as thou weakly dreamest, by thy Cross, though all must be offered up to him, that he may reign, and in his reign the life and power of the creature stands; and whereas I must be a Ranter for talking of high things; and dost not thou the same? talk of the highest things that can be imagined, perfection, fullness, resurrection, first and last, and art not thou in all this like thy brethren, who thou callest Ranters, they are full, and rich, and have need of nothing, and know not that they are poor, and miserable, and naked, and have need of all things, and art not you the same; they have the single eye, they are the seers, and art not thou the same, thou seest all things, thou knowest all things; they are sinless, spotless, in the midst of all their madness, so thou in the midst of all thy nakedness, and so thou and they are of one, and in one father, both given over to strong delusions to believe lies, because ye have not embraced the truth in the love of it, only with this difference ye are, they are over-wicked, and ye are over-righteous, and yet both these meet in one centre of flesh and man, and end in one centre of sorrow and woe, and so both the righteous and the wicked are alike abomination, and under condemnation, when their righteousness as well as their wickedness springs but out of the first man; hence is that of Solomon, Eccles. 7. 16, 17. be not righteous overmuch, neither make thyself over-wise, why shouldst thou destroy thyself? be not overmuch wicked, neither be thou foolish, why shouldest thou die before thy time? and so as Job speaks, God shall destroy both the righteous and the wicked, and where then wilt thou appear, who gloriest so much in thy Cross?  
Quest. 28. What is the ground of your commission and call, to speak and preach? and how ye came by it, seeing all you speak must needs be Scripture, and infallible?  
Answ. The ground of our commission and call to preach is Christ revealed in us, and by the will of God, contrary to the will of man, came we into the Ministry.  
Repl. Here according to thine own language thou stealest the Apostles words, and makest use of them to deceive the simple: but thy shifts are seen, and thou thyself has pulled off the cover, and manifested by all thy carriage that thy commission comes from another power, even thine own will, thy proud haughty mind, that takest this honour upon thee before thou art anointed of God; and therefore thou art found to be a striker, brawler, of no good behaviour, not apt to teach, but to scoff and rail, a novice lifted up with pride, a little knowledge and wisdom thou hast received formerly, but it has perverted thee, puffed thee up, and so it is taken away, and fallen thou art into the snare, and condemnation of the Devil, and so all thy preaching which thou art anointed to, tends to the bringing up an evil report upon the lowest degree of a man, brotherly and orderly humanity, much more upon the highest, the high profession of Christianity; so far thou art from the spirit of a Christian, that thou art not a man; so far from being a man, that thou art below a beast; for the Ox knows his honour, and the Ass his Master's Crib, but thou regardest not the Lord nor man; and yet thy father has deluded thee, and told thee thou hast a commission from Christ revealed in thee; but when did Christ, revealed in any, teach them to preach another Gospel, and to say it is a great sin to pull off the hat, and to make any shadow of respect, to honour, fear, or reverence any, to whom it is due; nay, not the image of God in fathers, masters, aged people, and governor's, contrary to the Letter and meaning, both of Law and Gospel; and where did Christ say it was a great sin? nay, the language of Egypt, to say, you, instead of thou, and yes, instead of yea, to wear Bands, Cuffs, Ribbons, or the like, so as men did it with gravity; surely Christ has something else to declare where he anoints to preach: Further, where did Christ command to preach up the light of nature, instead of the light of grace? as if the poor dark world had had light sufficient within, and there had been no need of his coming, or spirit, or Scripture; and where did Christ command to preach up the power and freedom, and will of man? as if man had all already, and had no need to be endued with power from an high; and where did Christ command to preach up our merits, our holiness, our observations, or so much as the blood of our own sins, to justify us in the sight of God, and to make his merits, and blood, and Cross a scorn, and derision among the Heathen? where did Christ thus dishonour himself, to exalt proud flesh and man? where did Christ call the Scriptures, Letter, Ink, and Paper, not known to any till this generation; Friend, I know, notwithstanding all this, thou canst not see thy shame, but art like an hungry man that dreams he eats, but when he awakes, his Soul is empty; so in thy dream thou eatest and thou drinkest, and thou hast passed through all, death, judgement, resurrection, not in part, but in whole, and through thine own poor, weak light, and power, and skill, thou art gone up out of Egypt, passed through the wilderness, through the Red-sea, and hast seen all the Egyptians drowned, and hast entered into thy full rest in Canaan, and no more dost thou look for that is to come: thus art thou high in thine imagination, though low enough in thy foundation, even building upon the sand of thine own will, and though you strike at the very foundations of all society, humanity, charity, Christianity, endeavouring to lay all desolute, and even with the ground; yet thou, and thy wand'ring generation must all have their Commissions from God, and be infallible, and all that will not believe it must be Anathema Maranatha; Alas, poor wretches, ye have need of pity, but ye cannot pity yourselves, ye have need of grace, rich mercy, great grace, but ye want none: I say no more to ye but this, the spirit of the Lord cannot stoop to proud men's will; therefore remember your Creator betimes, look to the Rock from whence ye are hewn, pity Abraham your father, and Sarah your mother, leave off building up the Babel of your own light, power, merits, will, lest ye be made an hissing, astonishment, and desolation by the Lord of Hosts; return to your first husband, your first love, that we with you may live with him in brotherly-kindness and charity; seek not to make the breaches wider, but rather to repair the breaches, and to reconcile people that wander in the dark unto one another in the Lord; seek the righteousness, joy, and peace of the Kingdom, which comes down from the father, walk in the light of the Lord, which will reach you to be as the Lord is unto all men, according to your measure you receive, and so it may be, lead some more of your feet out of this cunning snare; & as for me, notwithstanding all your hard speeches, which the evil one in ye has uttered against me, yet I shall not cease to be your friend before the Throne of grace, desiring to see, and find your hearts filled with sorrow and trembling for all your errors, and mystical infatuations, that so the name of Babylon may not still be written upon your foreheads, who is called, Mystery, Babylon the great, the Mother of Harlots, and of the abominations of the earth; but rather the new name, the name of God, of the new City, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from heaven, that so you may see your perfection here in the midst of imperfections, and may come to that perfection hereafter, which is in the midst of the fullness and joy of God.   
FINIS.