AN ANSWER TO A PAPER; CALLED, A Petition of one Thomas Ellyson, late Shepherd of Easingion in the County of Durham, to his Highness the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, and to all Emperors, Kings and Princes through the world.  
LONDON: Printed in the Year, 1654.   

AN ANSWER TO A PAPER: CALLED, A Petition of one Thomas Ellyson, late Shepherd of Easinton in the County of Durham, to his Highness the Lord Protector of England, Scotland and Ireland, and to all Emperors, Kings and Princes through the world.  
THere are many in the County of Durham that know that thou hast been a Shepherd lately enough, and see thee what thou hast been, and where thou hast been, and where thou art now; and knows thee to be one in nature with those Shepherds which the Lord sent Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah to cry against, who feeds themselves with the fat, and  themselves with the wool; and that thou art one of those Shepherds that cares not for the sheep, and art in the nature of one of those Shepherds which the true Prophets cried against, which were as evening Wolves, and as Foxes in the desert: And for the simples sake, I am moved to lay open thy deceit, that thou art one of those Foxes thou speaks of, which hath fire in their tails; and thou are made manifest to be of old cain's nature, that old murdering spirit; and with thy flattering titles which thou gives to men, and hath men's persons in admiration because of advantage, and thou art born after the flesh, the son of the bondwoman, who art petitioning to men that they may abuse their power, and exalt themselves over the heritage of God; and thou that wouldst have Laws to bind the consciences of men to walk after thy will, thou art Antichrist, and thou that art petitioning the Powers of the earth to make Laws to limit the Holy One of Isral: But blessed be the Lord, the day is come that thou and all deceivers persecutors and flatterers is discovered; and many sees thee among Magistrates, that thy spirit is the same that would command fire to come down from heaven to have destroyed them who would not receive them.  
First, Thou saith That Moses, who was a Commander over all Israel, that he was appointed to bear the people in his bosom as a nursing father; and thou saith, thou art a crier for the remembrance of those things, that all might be carried in their arms now; and thou goes on and tells them that God will require the Government of his Church at their hands.  
Rep. Moses, who was faithful and true over the house of God, who was a figure of Christ, he did receive the Law from the mouth of the Lord, he acted in righteousness; and when Elead and Madad prophesied, he was not angry, as thou art; but desired that all the Lords people were Prophets; and all who wait upon the Lord, to receive the Law of God from his mouth now, and walk in the same, they have the same spirit, and they will not limit the holy One: But thy cry that thou callest for is, that thou wouldst have them who are in Moses stead, as thou saith they are, for to limit the holy One. And thou art the deceiver the Apostle speaks of, which is gone into the world, who would persuade the Magistrates that they must govern the Church; and so thou wouldst have this generation of Rulers to be dashed in pieces as all the generations have been before them, in exalting themselves in the seat of Christ: when as the Prophet saith, The government is upon Christ's shoulders: and the Scripture saith, He alone treads the Wine-press: And therefore whosoever will assume unto themselves; to govern the Church by an outward, visible; carnal Law, shall be as sure to be broken as all the rest. The Church is in God, and is invisible; and that which is visible and natural cannot make any law to bind that which is unlimited: but they if they do go about to limit the holy one of Israel, and would set themselves in his seat of Judgement, and take away his glory which he will not give to any; and all such as have made any laws in their own wills to limit sons and daughters, they have all been broken as the Scripture witnesseth every where: and therefore let all Governors in England, Scotland, and Ireland, and all the world to whom thou writest, take heed how they set themselves in the room of God, and lay yokes upon the necks of them who are free by the Son, and are brought by the power of the Lord from under the breach of all righteous Laws, or transgressing any holy, & which is just: for the law is for the lawless law not for them who are in righteousness, but the law is for the transgressors who are in unrighteousness and they are those that act by that Spirit which dwells in thee, who would levy troops for the Innocent; and art wroth, and thy countenance falls like Cain and hates thy brethren, and would have a law made over the conscience, and would have the Powers of the earth to abuse their power, in turning their swords against them who live in righteousness, and declare against unrighteousness.  
And further thou goest on and tellest them, this was a law given to Adam, and so thou pervertest the Scripture by thy imaginations: Where readest thou of such a law given to Adam, that he compelled his family to religion? And further thou sayest, Which care of government is in great neglect in this Nation; upon respect to tender consciences, sundry Sects and sorts of Schismatics are suffered unsuppressed, and they sacrifice to Dan and Bethel. And thou goest on and tellest the Nobles, that it lies upon their score that they should suppress them.  
Ans. That which was given to a particular family or people, which was for its time, is not everlasting. So any that takes up any rule without them to act by, acts not by precept, but by tradition in their own wills, God abhors that. And thou bringest in the Old-Covenant which was given to a particular people the Jews, but now the Priesthood is changed, and the Law is changed; and as for thy▪ law which thou wouldst have the Governors of this Nation to make for suppressing of Sects and Schismatics that worship at Dan and Bethel, and thou sayest this is charged upon them. But thou mightst have told them who they had been, and where Dan and Bethel is, lest they be mistaken as thou art, that calls darkness light, and light darkness. But all that thou art troubled at is this, that the light of Christ in the conscience should have liberty; and here thou art he which is born after the flesh, and art that Egyptian thou speaks of, which persecutes the righteous seed. It is true, there are Sects and Schisms too many, and Opinions, they stand all in one ground, and thou and they come out of one land, Babylon is the land of your nativity; in the light you are seen, that thou and they are turned from the light of Christ, and so are gone into sects and opinions and imaginations, and all the powers without in the world cannot suppress the root from whence these flow, none can overcome the root from whence heresies and opinions come. And therefore, vain Shepherd and blind, cease thy divining: Those that thou wouldst have suppressed, are those that break bread from house to house, and meet together in the name of the Lord, as the Saints ever did, and this thou callest Dan and Bethel, because they will not come to an Idols temple where all the deceived in the Nation worship an unknown God. I say unto thee, thy Steeplehouse, thy Idols temple which God never commanded, where all liars, and fighters, and swearers, and night-birds and Scriech-owls meet, and call it the house of God, and where they speak nought but the imaginations of their own hearts, and call them the ordinances of God, and it the Church, that's Dan and Bethel. And as for the Magistrates which thou tellest they aught to suppress the false Prophets, thou mightst have declared who they had been. But for the honest-hearted Magistracy and people, I shall declare a little when they came in, and who they are. Christ says, many false Prophets shall arise; and Paul, Peter, John, and and the rest, they saw them come already then, many Antichrists, deceivers, and then they came in as the Scriptures witness, and they have deceived the Nations since; and Christ saith, by their fruits you shall know them; and they are such as he cried woe against, which laid heavy burdens upon the people, and such as were got into Moses seat, and were called of men master, stood praying in the Assemblies, and had the chiefest place in the synagogue; and Peter saith they followed after covetous practices; and Judas saith they went after the error of Balaam for gifts and rewards; and Isaiah says they sought for their gain, for their quarter; and Ezekiel saith, they were such as fed of the fat; and Zachary saith they were as evening wolves; and Paul saith they were covetous men, heady, highminded, and lovers of pleasure, and fierce despisers of those that are good, and had a form of godliness, and they were witches that turned them back to circumcision, and false Prophets when the substance was come. And are they not so now, who sue for Tithes, maintain the first Priesthood, and bewitch people, and deny Christ come in the flesh? Now let all judge where these are, many in the North taking away the people's Cows, their pots and kettles, and b●dding, and one Priest sued one for two pence, and two in Yorkshire sued one for one penny, and another for a penny halfpenny; and these are they that call themselves Ministers of the Gospel. Shame, shame, blush, howl you Caterpillars, the hand of the Lord is against you. And yet I would not have their lives taken away, as thou wouldst have theirs that thou callst Sectaries: but to that in thy conscience I speak, which will let thee see that thou hast a busy mind, and abidest not in the doctrine of Christ, but art amongst the false prophets.  
And thou and the rest of them which are Merchants, and tradest with other men's words, which must have your Gospel and your Worship defended with swords and Staves, and the power of the earth, you are they that spread nets at Mispeh and Tabor; for it's neither in Jerusalem nor this Mount, but they that worship the Father, worship in spirit and truth, and thou that wouldst confine God to a place, to a day, to a time, and have him bound by a Law and the Saints how they shall worship him: thou art carnal, and thy petition carnal, and all who have any honesty in them or light, will see thee to be in the generation of the Pharisees, that said they had a Law, and by that law he ought to die.  
And whereas thou art comparing thyself and the Priests of Newcastle and Durham to Sarah the Mistreis', and them who oppose you to Hagar.  
Answ: Sarah never brought forth sons of Bondage, as you are, but you are truly Hagar the Egyptian who gander's unto bondage for you and all the children that ever you have begotten or brought forth, are in bondage till now, and the Lord hath raised up a people out of the Dust, to confound you and your wisdom, and to declare against your profssi●on in laying heavy burdens upon the people, and taking their money for that which is not bread and be ye all ashamed ye high Okes, ye fat Bulls, ye Diviners, that cannot maintain y●u Gospel with all your parts and wisdom that you boast of, against those contemptible things in your eyes, but you must run to a carnal Sword, or to a Justice of Peace, or Constable to preserve you, or to have them imprisoned, stocks & mockings, and reproaches, this is all we have or expect from the Powers of the earth, because we speak the truth: Be ye ashamed, and lay your hands upon your mouths; what Gospel is this they have preached? what Worship is this you give unto God that must be defended with clubs and Staves, and Stocks and whips, stoning and haling before Magistrates, and yet thou wouldst have them accounted Ministers of the Gospel, they who were Ministers of the Gospel their weapons were not carnal but spiritual and they were mighty through God, but the mightiness of this generation lies in the Magistrate's sword to defend them, and drive the people to pay them money for nought. And therefore let all Magistrates consider in this Nation and elsewhere, that you be warned how you make any laws against the innocent, and how you uphold those that Christ cried woe against, and such as the Lord sent his Prophets to declare against, lest that come upon them which the Prophet spoke, that they that help and them that are helped shall fall together.  
And whereas thou further flatters them, and tells them that they are in the room of Abraham for ordering the house of God, to see that the seed of Isaac be inheritors, which is like to be deprived by the Egyptian brood.  
Rep. My desire is, that they may be guided by the spirit of Abraham, who denied his country; and if they walk in the light, they will be like him, and will see that things be ordered in the Nation in righteousness. But if they will take take thy word who is the Isaac that thou wouldst should inherit, thou wilt present them Ishmael. But is it not the Inheritance of Tithes and Augmentations, and to have people to fall down to worship the Image that they have set up? that is it thou wouldst have ordered: For who are of Abraham, are of the seed which the promise is to; and such you stir up the Magistrates by your slatteries, and lies, and the people to have a law to keep them in bondage; and so to them that dwell in the light, he sees it is the Egyptian that thou wouldst have to inherit.  
And further, thou art telling of some that profess high attainments; which hath put the Kingdom in confusion and a flame, and thou sayest they ought not to suffer the preaching of the Word to go down, nor the Sacraments to fail.  
There is profession enough in the Nation, but little possession; and all who profess high things, and do not possess them, are hypocrites. And now blessed be the Lord, Christ is come and made manifest, which is the highest attainment; and he comes not to send peace on the earth, but a sword, and he shall confound the mighty and the lofty, and they that have lived at ease shall be poured from vessel to vessel; and now is war proclaimed betwixt Michael our Prince, and all the inhabitants of the earth, and all enchanters and deceivers, and all such as have made merchandise of souls, are now made manifest; and now the nations are angry, and the men of the earth are afraid, and now Gog and Magog compasseth the Camp of the Saints about, and the Beast upon which the Whore rides, and the false Prophets, and as many as have traded with the beast and the whore are troubled for her sorrow is coming in a day, and all the powers of the earth cannot nor shall not uphold her, for she shall be made desolate and burned with fire; and now thou and the rest of the merchants are troubled, and are petitioning to the powers of the earth to uphold you: I say unto thee, and unto all that join themselves against the Anointed which is now appearing, who was dead and is alive, and lives for evermore, You shall all be broken, and your eyes shall consume in their holes: Gather yourselves together, howl ye Caterpillars, strengthen yourselves, build up your batteries, cast up your mounts, for a mighty and a terrible one is coming up against you; his voice is as the roaring of a Lion, he is greedy of his prey, he shall devour at once, and he is bringing about his determination to cut off every one that withstands him, and no weapon form shall prosper; the eternal word is preached, and the Angel is flying through the midst of heaven with the everlasting Gospel, and by it shall Antichrist be consumed. And because this Gospel is declared and preached and witnessed, thou art angry: But that which thou calls preaching the Word, is nothing but thy own imagination. This they have preached long enough, and what hath it done, all your divining? None hath been turned from his iniquity. And as for thy Sacrament, thou wast complaining of the Pope's Emissaries, and here thou art one. Thou mayst return thy word back from whence thou hadst it: and all who come to witness the word and the preaching of it; and the body and blood of Christ which is the Saints communion and the supper of the Lord, will deny all your enchantment, and all your cankered rusty wormeaten divination; and all powers which seek to uphold this which was and is abomination to the Lord, they must partake of her plagues; let all consider God hath overturned all the powers that have pretended to establish Religion by a law, when as they have but established a form, a husk, and so Satan hath crept into that; and all the Priests in this Nation have they not transformed into every image what way soever Authority and the powers of the earth bend, and so have made merchandise, and sold that which is not bread, and so have deceived the people.  
And further thou sayest, The Apostle requires them to mark them that cause divisions diligently. And thou goes on and teckons up many that have been polluted in Religion, and thou says he will cast her into a bed of torment if they do not repent.  
Rep They who are turned from the light of Christ, are turned into division; and they that have not the same spirit by which the Apostle spoke that said so, are divided from Christ, and from the body, and from the Saints, and are in contention. And here I charge thee and all the Priests in England, that you are divided from Christ, and turned from the light, who prophesy for hire, and divine for many, who go in long robes, who are called of men moster, who have the chiefest place in the assembly, and stand praying in the synagogue, who go to law with your hearers, and who give meanings upon the Scriptures, who add and diminish, who speak but that which you have gathered from other men's words; there doth sects and opinions, strife and division arise. And here thou art marked by many in the County of Durham, praised be the Lord, to be one that is divided from the light, and causes division, who took away four Oxen for five pence halfpenny; and so they have turned away from thee, and all who stand in that nature wherein thou stands: And therefore thou art petitioning that thou might have a law to bind us under thy witchcraft, wherein the Nations have been deceived. And it is true, God hath overturned Kings, and Princes, and Dukes, and Earls, and Emperors, for the sake of his chosen one's; and all they who have made an image like the true God, and like the Gospel, and have made a decree, and whosoever now make a decree that any shall fall down to worship any thing which is contrary to the light of Christ in the conscience, God hath hewed them down, and he will hue them down who go about to limit the Holy One who is Lord over all, and who will have dominion over the consciences of men; and the time is already when Jesabel is to be cast into a bed of torment, and all who commit fornication with her, whether they be Kings, Emperors, Dukes or Earls, they shall all go down with the Dukes of Edom into the pit, and with the rest of the uncircumcised, and the Saints shall rejoice in their overthrow.  
And thou says, there is yet little doth appear in England, but the old Beast under new habits acts his old tragedies; and thou tells of Satan's arrows which are brought into the Nation; and thou tells of Kanters and Quakers, and Seekers and Creepers, creatures new come from the pit; and thou sayest they resemble Sampsons' foxes which burn up faith bred by hearing the word preached.  
Rep. What hast thou and they that call themselves Ministers of the Gospel preached, and cried Reformation, and have sided with all men's wills, and flattered all the Governors and Governments that have been changed divers times within these ten years, have you got nothing done yet, but have travailed and brought forth nothing but wind and divifion and contention, and one of supplanting another? and have you tried one another, and proved one another, and every one preached up what he would have had, and have you brought nought to pass? what shameless Reformers are ye? Can you not maintain with your Commissions and all your petitioning for God's Ministers for the North; and you had your desire, they came as thick as locusts out of the South; and cannot you all with your preaching preach down those contemptible creatures that thou speaks of? And as for Ranters, I deny both thee and them, for thou and they spring both from one root. And I am one thou calls a Qiaker and Seeker; and blessed be the Lord for evermore, that ever I was found worthy to qear the name in truth; for they that seek shall find, and they that wait shall not be ashamed. And thou blind Shepherd, thou might as well have uttered forth thy venom at David, Daniel, Jeremy, and the rest of the holy men of God, and have said they came out of the pit. Thou proud blaspheme●, God will plead with thee for deriiding the power of the Lord; and thou are that Fox thou speaks of, that would be devouring and have all consumed, that thy corrupt sensual filthy will might be satisfied: And as for faith, thou never came to the faith of devils, who believe and ttemble; and thy faith and thy ordinances, which are but imaginations and traditions of men, the day is discnvered that shall burn them up and consume all, and you shall be left naked add bare, and have nothing to cover your nakedness, but you shall be as a stink and a proverb.  
And whereas thou saith, they preach down Ministry and means, and all but those that have knowledge miraculously infused; and thou art offended, because we declare what the Prophets were when they were called to prophecy; and what the Apostles were before they went to preach, and thou gathers thy conclusions, that they will send Princes to beg aswel as the Ministry, and thou saith, nothing was more strongly charged upon Israel, then suppressing of false Prophets; and thou saith, shall not Christian Princes also be zealous to suppress them that would devour the flock of Christ.  
When wilt thou cease thy lying and slandering, the Ministers of Christ we own and love, which hath not been, nor are not Ministers made by the will of man, and such have turned away from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, and such a Ministry we honour; but all those who stand is man's will we deny, and are bold to affirm that they run, and never were sent, and therefore they do not profit the people, and all thy means, and thy mediate choice which is carnal we deny; for none either by you or it, ever had their minds changed from darkness to light, but only brought into a form a husk, a shadow, and made hypocrites to profess what they were not; and as for thy miraculous infusion, I deny thy words, but this I say, none knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom the Son reveals him, and that Gospel that we preach, we neither received it of man, nor from man, but by immediate Revelation, and unto this the Scripture witness: I know Prophets and Ministers of Christ which was Shepherds and gatherers of Summer fruit, and husbandmen at the plough, and the same call as ever was: God is not bound up to your trade of Divination and Study and by these which are base in your eyes shall you be confounded, and be broken as a potter's vessel: And for thy conclusion, that we may send Princes to beg, we deny; we do not dispute who rule, whether he be a shepherd or a husbandman, we know he that fears the Lord is guided by the light of Christ, he will walk and act in righteousness, whether he be a Prince or a Ploughman; and God is no respecter of persons, nor we respect no man's person, as thou flatterer doth, but we honour the power that is of God, and are subject to it for conscience sake, we are not wrangling about the earth, we are redeemed out of it; and as for Naash thou speaks on, who would strike out the right eye of Israel, thou shalt stand for thyself; for it is the true Israelite in whose mouth there is no guile, and the Jew inward that thou would not only strike out the eye, but also cut off their heads; and who they are that do devour the flock of Christ, they are Wolves and deceivers, such as I spoke of before, that abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, read tay self there and own it.  
And thou goes on further and Petitions the noble Princes to consider, that the Anabaptists have mightily prevailed in this Nation, and thou wonders that the Governors have not suppresst, and thou bringst an old Story to accuse them with out of Germany, That they had plurality of Wives, and this thou saith is like to destroy the Nation.  
Rep. Thou art Ishmael the son of Hagar, thy hand is against every man, and Cain is the root from whence thou sprang, for thou hast murder in thy heart, and would command fire to come down from heaven to destroy, and knows not what spirit thou art of, and as for the Anabaptists prevailing, here thou hast made the shame of your Ministry appear, that it hath had no more effect upon the people's minds, that they have not been established, & so they have run after every wind of doctrine; and thou wouldst have the Magistrates to make the people live still upon wind: And as for thy Story of Germany, concerning the Baptists, I have great ground to believe that thou and thy Author may aswel belie them which thou never knew, as to lie upon those which are nearer at hand; but if they acted any such thing as plurality of wives, let them bear their own shame, do not accuse the innocent; truly, I know no such Baptists in the Nation, and it is no more accusation upon them, then if thou should accuse the disciples with judas; and this thou layest upon the Magistrate to consider, lest the Nation be desroyed; filthy busy mind, troubling thyself and others with old Stories raked out of the pit to accuse others with, when as there is no such thing that is owned, and all who fears the Lord denies such, and I deny them, and they and all who act in uncleanness: And thou goes on and shows, as thou hath stolen from other men's words, from the Prophets and Moses, that the judgement of the Lord was against all Idolaters and falls Prophets and dreamers, and how they & them that served strange gods were to be put to death.  
woe unto them saith the Lord, that steals my Word every man from his neighbour, and say, thus saith the Lord, when as the Lord hath never spoken unto them; thou hast stolen other men's words, and shalt be judged by thy own mouth, and thy own law, that thou never had the word of the Lord made manifest, nor never did the Lord speak to thee, but what thou hast gotten; and therefore thou art that falls Prophet, and art that dreamer; and he that hath a dream, let him tell a dream, and he that hath the word of the Lord, let him speak it; now them that speak the word of the Lord from the mouth of the Lord as the true Prophets did & do, than thou call'st to the Magistrates to put them to death: And as for the worshippers of strange gods, many in the county of Durham, & many other places, let them declare whether they worshipped any but a strange god at a distance, & went after dumb Idols, even as they were led while they followed the Ministry which was never sent; but now is the Lord made manifest, and the strange Gods are put away and broken, and the false Prophets are seen, and the Prophet is raised up which Moses spoke of, and whosoever hears not his words, shallbe slain with a sword.  
And further thou tells the Magistrates, That if any hypocrite shall presume to speak a word in the name of the Lord, which he hath not commanded, Even he shall die, and it is an old statute unrepealed.  
Rep. If thou knew what thou spoke, thou hast given sentence against thyself; I charge upon thee in the presence of the living God, that thou never heard his word, nor spoke his word but in thy own name; and I charge it again upon thee, when did he ever speak to thee; that spirit by which the prophets of the Lord spoke thou dost deride, and call'st it a miraculous Insusion, and so thy spirit is another and not the same. And that it is an old statute thou shalt know, that thou hast spoken in thy own name, and what thou hast learned by Tradition; but in Christ all the law and the Prophets is fulfilled and all statutes who comes to witness him; he is the lawgiver, judge and king, and all is fulfilled as he comes to be witnessed, and all strange gods put away, even the Idols of gold and silver, and all false Prophets by him comes to be seen, judged, condemned and slain; and thou that would put it upon the Magistrate without to kill men by a law, and so to usurp the power which is given to the Son, and so make them guilty of innocent blood, thou art a murderer. And now to the further, who must judge of the false Prophets, of heresy, schism, and blasphemy; I know thou denies Revelation and the rest of the priests in England who trade with other men's words, and I know thou dare not say thou art infallible, and thou hath not discerning of spirits, the Apostle exhorted them who dwelled in the light to try the spirits, but he bade not them who are led by the prince of the air, & were children of disobedience as thou art, of a covetous earthly mind, he bade not them to try, nor them who were carnal; and therefore stop thy mouth, thou cannot discern a lamb from a dog, nor a kite from a dove; and let all Magistrates who fear the Lord, either in this Nation or elsewhere take heed how they judge of heresy & blasphemy: not that I am ignorant, but that there is heresy and blasphemy, but that none can judge who they are, but who have an iusallible spirits therefore it is now as it hath been, many have suffered as heretics, as Christ for a blasphemer, and the Apostles as setters forth of strange gods, and were persecuted to death, and many do and are like to suffer by this spirit that dwells in Thomas Elison and therefore all you who are Magistrates, that sit as judges and Rulers, take heed what you do, and take heed of zeal without knowledge, for so Paul persecuted, and so the jews slew Christ the heir, and so many would have their will satisfied, but thou must be judged by all who dwell in the light● and thou that sittest as judge over another, see that thou be judged in thyself; for to take your knowledge and direction from such as these men, in stead of planting you will be destroyers.  
And thou art offended at some that hold forth new lights and gifts, which thou sayest the word of God never taught us. Rep. All who are taught by the word which is eternal are guided in one light, for the light is but one; and this is no new light but the same that ever was. But thou that calls the letter the light, and the word, thou art blind, and art a hater of the light from which the Scripture was declared. And in the conclufion thou begs, that Scholars and Universities may be preserved for the breeding of able Ministers to preach the word and hold out the Sacraments; and this is the sum of all that thou and the rest of false Shepherds may be carried in the bosom of the Magistrates, and so preserve you, and destroy all that oppose you. As for Lrarning, it is natural, I own it in his place; but that it makes and breeds able Ministers, I deny it, and all those Ministers; for many filthy frogs and unclean spirits have come out of the Universities, that have spread over the Nations as Locusts without a King; and all their Preaching and their Sacramencs is carnal, and all their ability that is got by their trading leads people to be seven fold more the children of the devil. I speak whaj I was a witness of wnilc I followed the chiefest of them. And therefore I say unto you who are Governors, hold not that up which the Lord hath cursed; for that which is natural cannot lead up to God; and therefore be ye all warned that you turn not back to build again that which God is destroying, and threw out the King and Bishops, and one Parliament after another, and one power after another, because they would needs limit the Lord o way to walk in. And truly God will pour you out from vessel to vessel, till you be emptied of all, and till you give him all power and honour to rule over his Church and people, that they may serve the Lord in freedom of spirit, and not in the flesh; and if any walk dssorderly, and break any righteous law, and walk in the flesh, them execute your law upon, there is your place: But that yyu should prescribe a way for God to walk in, he cannot, he will not be bound; and you that go about to limit him to any visible appearance, shall be broken to pieces, for his glory he will not give to another:  
London, 30 day 7 month: This was I moved of the Lord to write in Answer to Tho. Ellison's Petition, and to the Magistrates. A Lover of all those that wait for the redemption of Israel; called after the flesh Francis howgil.  
FINIS.