A WARNING FROM THE LORD TO THE TEACHERS & PEOPLE OF PLYMOUTH. With a few QUERIES TO The Parish Teachers of this Nation, that have great sums of money for teaching the people.  
From them which are scornfully called QUAKERS, but witness the Teaching of Christ.  
LONDON, Printed for Giles Calvert, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Black-spread-Eagle, near the west end of Paul's, 1656.   
A WARNING FROM THE LORD to the Teachers and people OF PLYMOUTH, etc.  

The word of the Lord to the Teachers and people of Plymouth.  
Fear the living God, and repent while you have time, & hearken to that in your conscience, which cries for equity: Is there not something within you that cries for it? Oh I listen to it, that the bonds of iniquity may be broken, that equity (which is oppressed in you) may go free to serve the Lord; for behold, thus saith the Lord, I have sent my Sons and Daughters from far, I have raised up Prophets amongst you, I have placed my witness in you, which shall stand for ever with, or against you. But some of my Messengers you have imprisoned, and others you have evil entreated; what could I have done more for you than I have done, saith the Lord? But you have rejected all my counsel, and slighted the day of your Visitation, and would none of my reproof; and would not that I should Reign over you: Therefore behold, thus saith the Lord, I will proceed in judgement against you, and there shall be none to deliver you out of my hand, saith the Lord, for in as much as you have rejected my counsel, and kicked against my reproof, I will reject you, I will not hear your prayers, for they are an abomination to me; and the songs of your temple shall be turned into howling, your feasting into fasting, your mirth into sadness, for your Sabbaths and appointed seasons are a burden to me, I am weary with them, saith the Lord, and my soul shall be avenged on such a generation as this is, for the Poor is oppressed by the Rich, and the cry of the poor is entered into my ear, saith the Lord, therefore will I ease me of my enemies, saith the Lord, and avenge me of my aduersaries; for the great day of the Lord is coming, in which you must give an account for what is done in the body, whether it be good or evil, and he will plead with you by sword and by fire, and he will cut you down, O ye fruitless Trees! and burn you up root and branch, even you, which live in pride and earthly mindedness, and feed upon dainty Dishes, Dives-like; Oh remember Dives end! and Lazarus who was in Abraham's bosom, for the sins of Sodom abound amongst you, idleness and fullness of bread; it shall be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of Judgement than for you, for if the mighty works had been done amongst them, they would have repent.  
Behold, I have done a wondrous work amongst you, and you see and cannot believe, but blessed are they that have not seen and yet have believed. You cry out for a sign, but there shall be none given you, for you are a proud, stiffnecked, and haughty people, but your lofty looks shall be brought down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted, the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.  
Howle ye Rich men, for the misery which is coming upon you, for the rust of your Silver and Gold shall eat you thorough as a Canker, and shall rise up in judgement against you.  
Howle ye proud Priests, for the misery that is coming upon you, for ye shall run to and fro, as drunken men, and none shall be to pity you. woe to you that have fed yourselves with the fat, and clothed yourselves with the wool, and the people perish for want of knowledge; ye run and I never sent you, saith the Lord, therefore ye shall not profit the people at all: If ye had stood in my counsel, ye should have turned many away from the evil of his do, but because ye have departed out of my counsel, I will spread dung on your faces, yea I have cast dung on your faces already; and now the false Prophet rides on the beast, but they both shall be cast into the Lake, which is prepared for the devil and his angels.  
And woe to all you corrupt Magistrates, who are persecuting the innocent & the just, witness your practice at Exeter Prison; it had been better that a Millstone had been hung about your necks, and you cast into the sea, than to have offended one of those little ones.  
Therefore thus saith the Lord, I will be avenged upon you my adversaries; though the wicked go on hand in hand, they shall not go unpunished. woe to all you covetous Merchants and tradesmen, of what sort soever, who with fair words deceive the simple, contrary to that in your conscience, which shows you should not lie, but speak the truth one to another, for that is the true Light, and the witness of God, which testifies against sin and evil, and is the condemnation of all such as act contrary to it.  
woe to all you covetous Lawyers, Drunkards, Swearers, Whoremongers, Adulterers, and all that telleth and maketh a lie, no such shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. woe to all you that speak evil of things you know not.  
woe to all you that are separated, but not by my spirit, and covered with a covering, but not with my spirit. woe to all you proud and lustful ones, who feeds on dainty dishes, and spends the creation upon their lusts. Cumber not the ground ye fruitless trees, for the Lord God of life and power is come to judge the world in righteousness, and to sweep the Land of evil-doers, that the earth may enjoy her Sabbaths; and tetrible will his coming be to the wicked, to all that are found to act contrary to that in their conscience; for all faces shall gather paleness before him, and all mouths shall be stopped, and none shall plead ignorance, nor say they knew not that they should not lie, swear, back by't, or be proud, for ye know ye should not do so by the Light: therefore all people be warned, and to the Light return, this is the way to salvation, repent, while ye have time prise it, flight not the day of your visitation, lest the Lord pluck ye away suddenly, and you go down into the pit, and there be no remedy, and there be none to deliver you out of my hands. And this is the word of the Lord God to you all, choose whether you will hear or forbear, I have cleared my conscience to you, that in your consciences shall witness for me eternally, when the book of conscience is opened, and shall condemn all you that are contrary to it.  
From one who is a lover of your s●uls, and should rejoice to hear that any of you is turned from the evil of his do: Margaret Killin.  
Ye Inhabitants of Plymouth, remember and consider this, that the way of the Ransomed, the Redeemed ones, ye know not, whose feet are turned out of the path of the Just.  
Barbara Patison.   

Queries to the Parish-teachers of this Nation, who have great Sums of Money for teaching the people.  
Que: 1. What is the ground and cause, and reason of your people to observe the time, called Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, as it is called by you and your people, which are your Flock?  
2. What is the cause, and ground, and reason, that against such times aforesaid, they deck themselves with new suits of Apparel, and have some certain Play-days, and much destroying of the creatures at those times, upon the lusts of the people, which are your Flock?  
3. What is the ground, and cause, and reason, that about the time called Christmas, there is so much provided of the creatures, that which the people calls good Cheer, which abundance is provided against that time, and wasted upon the lust, and destroyed, and this is in most places through the Nation, amongst the parish-Teachers, people, which are your Flock?  
4. What is the ground, and cause, and reason, why people disguise themselves, and play at Gold-games, as they call them, and have Wassel-Cups, as they call them, in the time called Christmas, and so much great do at houses, called gentlemen's houses, at that time; so we desire you which calls yourselves Ministers and Orthodox men, to give the ground out of Scripture, for the things that your people practise, out of the Apostles practise, and where Christ or his Apostles commanded any such things: give us some example out of Scripture for such things before mentioned, which your people practise, and whether this be a good example, to eat and drink and rise to play? and whether it be not forbidden in the Scripture, yea or no? 1 Cor. 10.7:  
5: Whether such as live wantonly on the earth, sporting themselves in the day time, are not them that live in hypocrisy, speaking high swelling words of vanity, and such as kills the just, who lives in wantonness upon the earth? and whether such as lives in pleasures are not dead while they live, yea or nay? 2. Tim 5, 6.  
6. Whether such as provide so much of the creatures against those times, called, Easter, Whitsuntide, and Christmas, be not such as the God of the world hath blinded their eyes, who mind earthly things, whose God is their belly, and in their shame they glory, Thess: 3.19:  
7: Whether such as live in those things before mentioned, shall not perish in their own corruptions? And you that profess yourselves to be sent of Christ to watch for the people's souls, and your people lives in these things, whether their blood will not be required at your hands, yea or nay? Ezek. 7: 18.  
8: Whether all these observations of these times, Christmas, Easter, and Whitsuntide, the fine apparel made against these times, the fine Diet, and pastimes, and pleasures in these things, whether all these be not pleasing to the flesh, yea or nay? And whether those that observe the day and profess the name, be not they that crucify the life, yea or nay? whenas the Apostle said, I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain, Gal. 4.10, 11.  
And this is for all the natural Teachers to answer, and to give grounds from the Scripture why they observe these things before mentioned, or where the Apostles did observe any of the Saints days, either Matthew Mark, Luke, or john, Peter, james, or any other:  
I am the light of the world, and lighteth every man that cometh into the world, saith Christ, that all men through him might believe; and this is the Light which shows you sin and evil, which if you love the light, you love Christ, if you hate the light, you hate Christ, whose deeds are evil, and you know your deeds to be evil; with the Light which comes from Christ, who saith, learn of me, I am the way, and the truth, and the life, & no man cometh to the Father but by me who owns the light that every man is enlightened withal, nor none belieus in the truth but who believes in the Light, that lighteth every man that cometh into the world, that they might belive; & all they that profess the Scriptures, & profess a belief, & do not believe in the light, they are all as as the scribes & pharisees, who professed the scriptures, & a belief in God, & Christ that was to come & did not believ in the light: therefore to the light in every one of your I speak which come from Christ, who saith, learn of me, I am the way to the father; & here you will find your teacher, which will bring you of of all your teachers of the world, lying on your beds, and going up and down about your occasions, if you love it, if you hate it, here is your condemnation, the Light.  
I am the Light of the world, and lighteth every man that cometh into the world, saith Christ; learn of me, I am the way to the Father, no man cometh to the Father but by me, who lighteth every one that cometh into the world, that all men through him might believe; and this is the Light that shows you sin and evil, that you should not lie nor swear, nor be drunk nor take God's name in vain, and shows you evil thoughts, evil notions, & evil desires; this is the Light that comes from Christ, who saith, learn of me; this teacher you will find as you are lying in your beds, and as you are going up and down, and when they say, lo here is Christ, & lo there is Christ, you need not go forth: it will bring you to cease from all the hirelings which Christ speaks of, and bring you to cease from all who have the chiefest places in the assemblies, and stand praying in the Synagogues, which Christ cried woe against, Mat. 23. & to forsake all such as are seeking for the fleece, which the Lord sent Ezekiel to cry against, Ezek. 34. and to forsake all such prophets & priests as bear rule by their means, which the Lord sent jeremiah to cry against, jer. 5. and to forsake all such as seek for their gain from their quarter, which the Lord sent Isaiah to cry against Isa. 56. and to forsake all such as divine for money, & make a prey upon the people, which the Lord sent Micah to cry against, Mic. 3. these was in the light, which cried against the false teachers before mentioned; & those which be in the lightnow cannot hold them up that hears Christ, & obeys the commands of God, who saith, this is my beloved son, hear him, & all the children of the Lord are taught of him, as you may read in Is●i●h: the ministers of the world they say the letter is the light, the Scriptures is the word, the steeple house is the Church, sprinkling of infants the baptism, which is contrary to the Scriptures, which saith, the Church is in God. Thess. 1.1. God is the word▪ Christ is the light, joh. 1. And the Saints witnessed the one baptism, by one spirit, into one body; and these are contrary to the scriptures, therefore who are taught of God denies their teachings & practice who through feigned words & covetousness makes merchandise of the people goes in the way of Cain, & after the error of Balaam, who preaches for gifts & rewards, as you may read in Peter, in jude, and the last chap of the Romans.  
From them who are scornfully called Quakers, but witness the teaching of Christ.