The Priests Fruits Made manifest. AND THE Fashions of the world, AND THE Lust of Ignorance: ALSO. A few Words to the City of London: G. F.  
LONDON, Printed for Thomas Simmons at the Bull and Mouth near Aldersgate, 1657.   

To all the Priests in the Nation, that they may examine their fruits, and that they may see them, whether that they be agreeable to the Apostles and Ministers of Christ.  
WHere did ever any of the Apostles fruits, or the Ministers of Christ, or Prophets of God wear black patches on their Faces, peckle their Faces with black spots, and other painting spots? Is not this Iesabels muck? Where did any of the Apostles fruits powder their hair, till they had made their backs white, like a company of Millers carrying Meal-bags? Where did any of their fruits, any of the women wear gold, and great white things on their arms like Butchers, and men and women daubed over with gold and silver? are these marks of a Christians life, a Christians behaviour, a Christians nature or disposition? Where did ever any of the Apostles fruits hang them so full of Ribbans and Points, and so full of vanities, ribbans and toys that carries the mind away light and vain, & they look upon them to see how they hang. Now you Teachers of People, look in your Congregations, & tell me what is the lust of the eye, and then the lust of the flesh, and then the pride of life: Now look upon your congregation, and see what a state it is in, & what it doth bring forth; the people could but be so that never were taught, they could but be in the highest vanity in the world, and in the lust of ignorance, serving the desires of their minds; now consider, & see if you have brought people off from serving the desires of their mindes, and from off the fashions of the world, and from off the lusts of ignorance, and from wearing Gold, and plating and powdering the hair; & from the lusts of the eye, the lusts of the flesh, & that pride of life, which is not of that Father; look upon your Congregations, & see if they do not live in the lust of ignorance, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life, the fashions of the world, which passeth away, and in the vanities of their minds, serving their lusts, and their pleasures, and their desires, rejoicing in the creature more then the Creator, who is God blessed for ever: Nay, wilt not thou say to them, they cannot live otherways but in sin while they be upon earth; so they will give thee maintenance, give thee gain, put into thy mouth, and give thee filthy lucre, they shall be all good Christians, and live what lives they will, they must have a body of sin while they be upon the earth; and none can be made free from sin, contrary to Rom. 6. So these that give thee for thy Belly, which is thy God, whom thou tellest must have a body of sin while they be upon earth; so are them that keeps people always learning, but never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, so are not made free from sin, For if the truth make you free, then are you free indeed: See whether people must not keep out of these things before they escape the pollutions of the world, before they be made partakers of the precious Faith, and the precious Promises; and whether or no they are made partakers of the precious Faith, and the precious Promises, which are in the pollutions of the world, either Teacher or people which have not escaped them; this is to all you that be in the pollutions of the world, you may red yourselves both Teachers and people. Art not thou a fine Partern that art a Teacher of the people with a gold Ring on thy finger, and bundle of Ribans upon thee, or points; now if you say sin is in the heart, pride is in the heart, and it shows it forth on thy back? What is the reason your people tie a great bunch of ribans behind on their heads, and another under their chin, and on each side of their faces, and on their foreheads? What good do these do you? And what good do these great broad Cuffs do you that you wear? Are not these the things that lifts up the pride in men and women, that they look upon themselves in their Glasses to see whether they be fine? And who taught them to go mincing with their feet? And was not the Prophet moved of the Lord to go naked among Egyptians & the Ethiopians, Isa. 20. What is the pleasures of Egypt, and the pleasures of the world, which are but for a time? And do not you go out of one fashion into another, continually inventing fashions, and they last but for a season? Doth not this make something sick in you, and blinds you from that which is good, and carries your minds after vanities, whereby one vanity comes after another? Examine yourselves Teachers and people, and never profess yourselves to be Christians, but examine yourselves by the nature, who cries up yourselves to be Christians, but from the life dead: Now consider these things, for they concern the life eternal; for a great cup you have to drink, and a heavy burden you have to bear, when you come to see what you have kept the people in, and how you have flattered them up, and built with untempered mortar, a pair of cockating shoes, and a cocketing hat, that will scarce stand on your heads, and Breeches like a Coat. Now can you look upon your Congregations without blushing? If this be not pride shewed forth from the heart, what is it, and whether or no the Devil is not king of pride.  
Here the priests may see what a crop they have to reap, and what they have sown.  

The Fashions of the World.  
WHat a world is this? How doth the devil garnish himself, and how obedient are people to do his will and mind, that they are altogether carried away with fooleries and vanities, both men and women, that they have lost the hidden man of the heart through vanity, and the meek and quiet spirit, which is with the Lord of great price, they have lost the adorning of Sarah, they are putting on gold, gay apparel, plaiting the hair, men and women, they are powdering it, making their backs as if they were carrying bags of Meal, and they look so strange that they cannot look at one another; they are so lifted up in pride, pride hath so lifted them up, and is flown up into their head, they snuf up like wild Assess, and like Ephraim they feed upon wind, and are gotten to be like wild heifers, who feed upon the Mountains: And pride hath puffed up every one, they are out of the fear of God, men and women, young and old, one puffs up another, they are not in the fashions of the world else, they are not in esteem else, they shall not be respected else if they have not gold and silver upon their backs, or his hair be not powdered, or if he have not hung about his waste read, or white, or black, or yellow; and about his knees, and gets a company in his hat, and powder his hair, then he is a brave fellow, then he is accepted, then he is no quaker, because he hath ribans on his back, and belly, and knees, and his hair powdered; this is he they standwith their hats off too; this is the array of theworld: likewise the women, having their gold, or spots on their faces, & on their cheeks, and foreheads, having their rings on their fingers, wearing gold, having Cuffs double under & above, having their ribans tied about their hands, and three or four gold Laces about their clothes, this is no quaker say they; this is it that pleaseth the world; this array, this attire pleaseth the world; but this is not the Attire of Sarah, whose adorning was in the hidden man of the heart, of a quiet & meek spirit; this is the adorning of the heathen, not of the Apostle, nor of the Saints, who said not wearing of gold, nor plaiting the hair, but of a meek and quiet spirit, which was of the Lord of great price; and here was the sobriety and good Ornament, which was of the Lord accepted; this was Pauls exhortation and preaching; but we see the talkers of Pauls words, lives out of Pauls Commands and Example of Sarah, but are found in the steps of the great heathen, who comes to examine the Apostle in his gorgeous apparel. Now are not all these that have got these Ribans hung about their breeches, hats, backs, wasts, knees, hands, like unto fiddlers boys, and shows that you are gotten into the basest contemptible life as be, into the fashion of them that be called Rogues, the fiddlers boyes, and Stage-Players, and quiter out of the paths and steps of solid men, and in the very steps and paths of the wild heads, which gives themselves up to every invention and vanity of the world that appears, is inventing to get upon their backs, heads, feet and legs; and say, If it be out of fashion it is nothing worth: Are not these the spoilers of the Creation, and hath the fat and the best of it, and wastes and destroys it? Doth not these cumber Gods earth? Let that of God in all consciences answer, and who are in the wisdom judge.  
And further, to get a pair of Breeches like a Coat, and hang them with points up to the middle, and a pair of double Custs on his hands, and a Feather in his Cap; here is a Gentleman, bow before him, put off your hats, bow before him; gets a company of fiddlers, a set of music, and women to dance, this is a brave Fellow, a Gentleman; a Gentleman; up in the Chamber; up in the Chamber without, and up in the Chamber within; are these your fine Christians? Yea, say they, they are Christians. Yea, but saith the serious people, They are out of Christs Life, and out of the Apostles Commands, and out of the Saints Ornament; and to see such a company as before mentioned, as are in the fashions of the world, as is before mentioned, a company of them get a couple of Bowls in their hands, or Tables, or Shovelboard, or a Horse with a company of Ribans on his head, as he hath on his own, and a Ring in his ear, and so go to a Horse-Racing to spoil the Creature; Oh! these are Gentlemen, these are brave Fellows, these are bread up Gentlemen, these are no quakers, and they must take their recreations, and pleasures are lawful, and these in their sports sets up their shouts like unto the wild Asses, or like unto the kine or beasts when they are new put to grass, lowing, and glorying in the the things before mentioned, but it is in the flesh, not in the Lord; and these are called Christians, and shows they are glutted with the creature, and then the flesh rejoiceth; and here is bad breeding up youth and young women, who are carried away with the vanities of their minds in their own inventions, pride, arrogancy, lust, gluttony, uncleanness, so eat and drink, and rise up to play; this is the Generation that God is not well pleased with all these, but their eyes are full of adultery, who cannot cease from evil; these be they that live in pleasures; these be them that be dead while they live, which glory not in the Lord, but in the flesh; these be them which be out of the Light that the Scriptures was given out from, who lives in the fashions and vanities of the world, and out of its adorning, and in the devils adorning, who is out of the Truth, and not in the adorning of the Lord, which is a meek and quiet spirit, which is with the Lord of great price; but this Ornament, and this adorning is not put on with them which be adorned, and have the Ornament of him that is out of the truth, which is not accepted with the Lord, and that which is accepted with their eye, and owned.  
Is it not in all the Synagogues, and Temples, and Churches, as the world calls them, which be under the dominion of Hireling Teachers, which teacheth for lucre and for gain, and for money; the people that go thither to the Temple, Church Synagogue, as the people calls them, they sometimes spy abroad one upon another, and sometimes upon the Priest, to see what fashion he hath on, and see what fashion the people hath on them; and sometimes regards what the Priest saith, but itis gone out of them again ere they come out of the Synagogue, Temple, or Church, as they call it; it's the fashion they can remember: Ah! say they, such a one hath such a fashion, and it is very well made; and such a one hath such a fashion; and such a one remains in the old fashion, which is not regarded; and here you see the eye is abroad, and then in the week-day he gets such a fashion as he hath got in the Steeple-house, and then he or she comes to the Steeplehouse with their fashion which they have invented or acted in the weeke-day; then may bee sees another fashion, then envy gets up that another have got a fashion which it may be their means will not reach to it, and then there is crying want; and to tell these they are of the world, they would be angry; tell them they were of the fashions of the world that passed away, they would be angry; so they that be rich, fuli, plenty, abundance of the earth sends for the tailor, Whats the best fashion now? I would have it made according to the fashion, or it's worth nothing; Such a fashion you may have; But who have such a fashion, saith the man or woman? yea, but that fashion waxeth old, so that's worth nothing; so every one strives to have a fashion according to the greatest, and every one here is climbing up, and heightening up one another in these things. And thus you see, that many people go to the Steeplehouse on the first day to see fashions, and show their fashions; and doth not many tradesman go thither to see the fashion, that they may please their customer with that fashion that they have seen at Church, as they call it, and the people have seen it likewise; and therefore the tailor must make it according to the fashion, as the other was; and then is not a great part of their talk about the fashions, and about the invention of the fashions, and about the making of the apparel, and about the putting of it on, that ornament, that attire; but where is Sarahs attire? where is Pauls council, that which is of the Lord of great price? Doth not all your fashions please your eyes? are not all your fashions to please your eyes? is not this the lust of the eye, and the pride of life, and not of the Father? Is not this the fashion of the world which passeth away? and is not here the strife in all these trimings, and envying one another, and hatred to them that are in a fashion above your fashions? and do not you scoff at another that is in a fashion below yours, make a mock of it, and envy at them that be in a fashion above you, which your purse you will say is not able to reach it, but if I had money I would have such a fashion, I want money or I would have a gold ring on my hand; so the want is to get into the fashion, which is the want of the fear of God. But is not all this destruction to the Creation, and destroying the creatures of the Lord, yea the best of the creation is destroyed here upon the lust, and you carried away with the vanities of your mindes, and your own inventions of your wicked hearts, where envy, lust, pride, uncleanness, ungodliness lodgeth: Now do you not believe that God will spew you out, for polluting and staining the earth, who are given up wholly to inventions and fashions, Crafts-men who are given up to inventing of fashions, and so serving your invention more then God, though you may call upon him with your lips, but your hearts are after your inventions, nay calls upon him with your lips, professing him with your lips, but your hearts after your fashions, the newest fashion that will please both Priest and people; and like Priest like people, Oh, say they, the Quakers Religion stands in these things, to cry against the fashions of the world altogether; nay, not altogether, yet it doth stand to cry against them; their Religion is pure, and keeps from the spots of the world, and from the fashions of it, that perish away; it's time to cry against all your fashions, for the Devil hath carried you to such a height, who are in the wisdom that is earthly, sensual, and devilish, it is time it was set upon the wall.  
O London, thou art fatted in the flesh, whose flesh is as the flesh of Horses, and thou art stained with lust, pride and vanity, and thy beauty must fade and whither, as the flower, to thee this is the Word of God. Thy profession without life is from God empty, thy wisdom, thy knowledge, thy prudence, thy reason, understanding, the true understanding is hide from thee, and this before-mentioned hath caused thee to err; with the life of God art thou comprehended, and art to be ruled with the rod of iron; Thou hast been proud of thy profession, and Religion and wisdom, and knowledge and understanding, which hath been without the true ground, and the worship is with out the Spirit, thy mountain must be beat, and the rocks must be rent, the wall of the fenced City laid down, thy high tower and Castle thrown down to the dust, all thy hypocritical profession shall not serve thy turn, but God to judgement is come upon thee; and thou who art found out of the life wilt be found unsavoury, and trampled under by the foot of men, God will not heed thy wisdom, he will not heed thy beauty, but deface it, nor thy pretence of God, and Christ and pretence of profession of Christ, the Apostles words and Prophets, the calling of him Lord, and the heart removed from him, in the pride, in the vanity, in the lust, in the flesh, who the Just hast destroyed. Now the Just is risen to pled with thee by fire and sword, which shall answer the Just which thou hast quenched and destroyed in thee; therefore be awakened all hypocrites, and hypocrites of the earth, the Lord is risen, and will not spare; and you that be from his witness, shall feel the judgement; and you that be in the field, shall feel the Sword, Famine and Plagues, it you shall not escape, for the Lord that fills Heaven and Earth is come to judgement upon the earth, who will answer the just in every man: and to you this is the Word of God.   
THE END.