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<DATE>2011-03-10</DATE>
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<NAME>Graham Hukill</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<STC T="T">E703_6</STC>
<STC T="T">E703_6*</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">50796658</BIBNO>
<VID>166593</VID>
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<DIV1 TYPE="title page">
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<P>The Generall-Good To all PEOPLE: OR, The Lords free love running forth freely to his own people in the&s;e latter days, according to his promi&s;es made to his people, which he is now fulfilling.</P>
<Q><BIBL><HI>John 15.20, 21. 1 Pet 4.13, 14. Luke 6.22, 23. Mat. 5.10, 11, 12.</HI></BIBL>
<P>And that is the rea&s;on why the world hateth them, but it is but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled, as he hath &s;aid, Ye &s;hall be hated of all men, for my names &s;ake; Ble&s;&s;ed are you, when men &s;hall hate you, and revile you, and &s;ay all manner of evil again&s;t you; Rejoyce, and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in heaven; Ble&s;&s;ed are you that &s;uffer for righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;ake, for yours is the Kingdom of Heaven.</P></Q>
<P><HI>WITH</HI> Something in an&s;wer to the Pe|tition put up to the Parliament, by many of the City and County of <HI>York,</HI> even they of the Prie&s;ts Party.</P>
<P>By <HI>Richard Farnworth.</HI></P>
<P><HI>LONDON,</HI> Printed for <HI>Giles Calvert,</HI> and are to be &s;old at the &s;ign of the Black-&s;pread <HI>Eagle</HI> at the We&s;t-end of <HI>Pauls.</HI> 1653.</P>
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<HEAD>The Epi&s;tle to the READER.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Chri&s;tian Friend,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_I Was moved to write this en&s;uing Treati&s;e in the behalf of a harmle&s;s and innocent People, who are hated of the world, but beloved of the Lord, with whom my life is, which the world &s;corneth, and derideth, and &s;peaketh evil of, both Pri&s;ts and People, but it is becau&s;e they know not God; for tho&s;e that know him, cannot but &s;peak well of his name, and are made content to &s;uffer for his names &s;ake, as thou maye&s;t &s;ee, if thou do but read this Paper put into thy hand, what &s;uffering Objects the&s;e are, that are thus reproached and reviled, and are not willing only to believe, but al&s;o to &s;uffer for his name &s;ake, with whom I am made to bear the burden; Therefore did I write this in the behalf of tho&s;e that are the &s;uffering Objects as well as my &s;elf; and as it is my
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bounden duty to declare again&s;t all deceits and deceivers, I can|not but di&s;charge my duty in declaring again&s;t all unrighteou&s;|ne&s;s what&s;oever; and am I become your Enemy becau&s;e I tell you the truth? If you cannot receive me, receive the truth for the truths &s;ake, that you may know the truth, that the truth may &s;et you free.</P>
<CLOSER><DATELINE><HI>York-&s;hire.</HI>
<DATE>April. <HI>1653.</HI></DATE></DATELINE>
<SIGNED>Richard Farnworth.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
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<HEAD><HI>The general good to all People:</HI> OR, The Lord making known the exceeding riches of his love to his people in the&s;e latter days.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>Friends,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>_THe Lord is now trying his people, as Gold is tried in the fire: Thus &s;aith the Lord, <HI>Behold I will &s;end my me&s;&s;en|ger, and he &s;hall prepare the way before me; Even the me&s;&s;enger of the Covenant whom ye delight in; Behold he &s;hall come to his Temple; but who &s;hall abide the day of his comming? For he &s;hall &s;it as a refiner, and with refiners fire will he purge and purifie the &s;ons of Levi, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteou&s;ne&s;s:</HI> Then &s;hall the offerings of <HI>Judah</HI> and <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> be plea&s;ant, and acceptable unto the Lord, and at that time &s;hall <HI>Michael</HI> &s;tand up, the great Prince which &s;tandeth for the Children of thy People, and there &s;hall be a time of trouble, &s;uch as never was &s;ince there was a Nation, even to that &s;ame time; and at that time thy People &s;hall be delivered, <HI>Every one that &s;hall be found written in the Book. Daniel</HI> 12.1.</P>
<P><HI>Hear ye this O prie&s;ts, and hearken ye hou&s;e of I&s;rael,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea. 5.1, 2, 3.</NOTE> <HI>and give ye ear O hou&s;e of the King; for judgement is toward you, becau&s;e ye have been a Snare on</HI> Miz|pah, <HI>and a Net &s;pread upon</HI> Tabor; And the Revolters are profound to make &s;laughter, though I have been a rebuker of them all, yet they will not frame their doings to turn unto their God; for the &s;pirit of whoredom is in the mid&s;t of them, committing Fornication with many lovers, follow|ing the wayes of <HI>Balaam,</HI> teaching for gifts and rewards, teaching for hire, and loving this pre&s;ent evil world, and are exceeding proud, and covetous, and cannot be content with their wages, to take &s;uch as is &s;et before them; for the workman is worthy of his meat: but they are not content, except
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they have great fat benefices, to be Lords and rulers over Gods heritage, feeding them&s;elves with the fat, and cloathing them with the wool, as the fal&s;e Prophets and fal&s;e &s;hepherds did, that <HI>Ezekiel</HI> was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t, which God was di&s;plea&s;ed with, as he is now with all the fal&s;e Prie&s;ts, even all the Prie&s;ts in <HI>England</HI> that follow the &s;ame practi&s;e, who are &s;o covetous, that they oppre&s;s poor people, and do burden them, &s;o that many groan under their burden of oppre&s;&s;ion, by the lu&s;tfull proud Prie&s;ts; and they have their wives to go in their Hoods, Vails, Pride and Pomp, as the Mincing daughters of I&s;rael did, which forgot the Lord, and he &s;ent his true Prophet to cry out again&s;t them, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 3. as he doth to cry out again&s;t the&s;e Hirelings, Prie&s;ts, and proud Prelates, with their Idols, and Images of Clay, which they &s;et up for men to wor&s;hip, feet of Clay, leggs of Bra&s;s, and bre&s;ts of Silver, and head of Gold: and tho&s;e that will not fall down to wor&s;hip the Image that they have made, they rage, and &s;well in Anger, and Wrath, and Revenge: And now that the Lord doth di&s;cover their deceits to us, and let us &s;ee them to be as Bell and the Dragon was, &s;wallowing up all upon their lu&s;ts, and are never &s;atis|fied, &s;eeking altogether after the honor of the world, and not after that which is of God; who &s;eek ours, and not us: But by the Lord, we being awaked out of the &s;leep of carnality, are as one an hungred, who found no life to our &s;ouls by their imaginary, fle&s;hly fancies, and con|jurations, who rai&s;ed death out of death, dead Rea&s;ons, dead U&s;es, dead Motives, dead Tryalls.</P>
<P>And now that they come to the touch&s;tone, they will not abide, and we were left naked, and empty by them, wounded, and half-dead, and the Lord of his bountifull goodne&s;s holds out his free love to our &s;ouls: and having got a ta&s;te of it, we are as little Children, ever hungring and thir&s;ting for more, ta&s;ting of the Eternal love of the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t; being born again, nothing will &s;atisfie our hungry &s;ouls, but the good milk of the Eternal living word of God, which is &s;weeter to our ta&s;te then the Hony-Comb, and we are brought to wait upon the Beloved of our Souls, the Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to take us with him into his garden of pure teachings, and doctrine of life; he &s;peaks good things to our &s;ouls, and his word is living and powerfull; every word that he &s;peaketh into our Souls, is the word of eternal life, and they kill the old nature in us, and worketh a Re|formation, and gives life to our poor Souls, and rai&s;eth them out of the du&s;t of the Earth, to prai&s;e and glorifie his great and glorious name, and we have &s;o much light let into our Souls from the Divine power of God, that it lets us &s;ee the deceits of all our proud Prie&s;ts, and blind Guides, that their &s;ins te&s;tifie again&s;t them to their faces,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea. 5.5, 6, 7.</NOTE> that they are a &s;eed of evil doers, and live in the lu&s;t <HI>and filth of the fle&s;h,</HI> Per&s;ecuting, Killing, and Slaying the righteous and innocent ones, and drive them away from them by their Envious, Malicious, wicked practi&s;es in life and con|ver&s;ation, and are evil Examples; they are kings of Pride, and that is one of the &s;even Abominations which the Lords Soul loatheth.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Prov. 6.16, 17, 18.</NOTE> <HI>Prov.</HI> 6.16, 17, 18. And we are bound in Con&s;cience to te&s;tifie again&s;t it, and proud Prie&s;ts are exceeding raging mad, and would not that we &s;hould &s;ee beyond their Dirty Miry Doctrine of earthly conceivings and Imaginations, wherein
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they did deceive us, and have got our mony a long time for that which is no bread, and cau&s;ed us to &s;pend our labor for that which gave us no &s;a|tisfaction to our &s;ouls, they were as theeves that wounded us, and left us; they led us into Pride by their evil example, &s;eeing them live in Pride, we &s;aying that if it was not right, they would not do it; and if they did it, we might do it; and &s;o they being blind Guides, led us into blindne&s;s, and wounded our con&s;ciences, and then they made us this cover for Pride, and &s;aid, it was but decency; here they added their own inventions, and we knew it not, &s;o long as we lived in <HI>Egypt</HI> and <HI>Sodom</HI> with them, following the cu&s;toms, and fa&s;hions of the world, which we find now we are taught to deny; for the fa&s;hion of the world pa&s;&s;eth away, but the plagues of God is their portion: Wo to all deceivers: But we find our teacher (the Lord) writing his Law in our hearts, and teaching us by his Spirit,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 31.33, 34. Heb. 8.10, 11.</NOTE> according to his promi&s;es made in the time of old. <HI>Jer.</HI> 31.33, 34. Heb. 8.10, 11. And he having e&s;tabli&s;hed his law in our hearts, &s;heweth us &s;in and evil; for we had not known that lu&s;t had been a &s;in, but that the pure Law of God &s;aid, thou &s;halt not lu&s;t, neither after Pride, nor Covetou&s;ne&s;s, nor Envy, nor anger, nor plea&s;ures, nor the love of the world, nor the honor of the world, nor plea&s;ures, nor delights, becau&s;e the Prie&s;ts that &s;aid they were &s;ent of God, lived in all the&s;e things, and if they had been contrary to the mind, and will of God, they &s;aying that they knew it, and &s;poke his words from his mouth, and we concluding within our &s;elves, &s;aid, If they may do it, we may do it; and &s;o they de&s;troyed us for lack of know|ledge, and drove us from the Lord; but now he is gathering us to him&s;elf by his Spirit, according to his promi&s;e. <HI>Ezek.</HI> 34.11, 12, 13, 14, 15.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 34.11, 12, 13, 14, 15.</NOTE> And lets us &s;ee whither we were driven, even into the broad way of fle&s;hly de|lights, but that the Lord of his infinite love hath di&s;covered it to us, and we are brought to &s;ee where they left us, in the cloudy and dark day, and would never come to &s;hew us any light, nor to &s;et our feet into the way of peace, but led us further into the wilderne&s;s, out of Pride into Covetou&s;|ne&s;s, and &s;o cau&s;ed us to ta&s;te of the forbidden fruit, &s;aying, that Covetou&s;|ne&s;s was but a provident care, but we now find that it was the Devils Doct|rine that they taught us: For the Lord &s;aith to us by his Spirit, that Cove|tou&s;ne&s;s is Idolatry, and draweth the heart from him; but the&s;e Covetous, Idolatrous Prie&s;ts, run with greedine&s;s altogether after it, as tho&s;e greedy dumb dogs did, that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 56.10, 11. He &s;aid that the watchmen were al blind, as the&s;e proud Prie&s;ts are now blinded with covetou&s;ne&s;s; For Tythes, Gifts, and rewards hath blinded their eyes, that they &s;ee not Pride and Covetou&s;ne&s;s to be a &s;in, but greedie after it, Coveting altogether after great means, and if they have not to &s;a|tisfie their lu&s;ts, to live in pomp and plea&s;ures, they complain of the people: and if any for con&s;cience &s;ake towards God, &s;eeing his Mini&s;try to be free, and no &s;ale &s;et upon it, which Mini&s;try teacheth them to de|ny ungodline&s;s, and worldly lu&s;ts, as Pride, Covetou&s;ne&s;s, the love of the world, knowing that if any man love the world, the love of the father is not in him, and that all that is in the world, as the lu&s;t of the fle&s;h, the lu&s;t of the eyes, and the Pride of life, is not of God, but is of the world, for con|&s;cience &s;ake towards God, who is the father of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t, who&s;e
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wi&s;dom is not to be bought nor &s;old.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Job 28.</NOTE> <HI>Job</HI> 28. and the Lords free love running forth to his People; &s;aying, <HI>Why do you &s;pend your mony for that which is no bread, and your labour for that which doth not &s;atisfie? Hearken ye diligently to me,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.1, 2, 3, 4. Deut. 4.1, 2. Prov. 30.5, 6.</NOTE> <HI>and eat ye that which is good, and let your &s;ouls delight them&s;elves in fatne&s;s, I&s;a.</HI> 55.1, 2, 3, 4. And we find it made good to our &s;ouls; and every word of God being pure, and a &s;hield to them that tru&s;t in it, and he that adds to it, or takes from it is to be reproved, being found a lyar. <HI>Prov.</HI> 30.5, 6. And he that adds his own Inventions, the Lord is again&s;t him. <HI>Jer.</HI> 23. And we that are of God are again&s;t him, and are bound to te&s;tifie again&s;t his deceits, and deceiveablene&s;s, according to the command of the Lord, who &s;aith, have no fellow&s;hip with the unfruitfull works of darkne&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.11. Joh. 10.1, 8, 10. <HI>Que&s;t.</HI></NOTE> but rather reprove them; and how can we &s;ee a thief, and con&s;ent unto him, but we &s;hal be guilty of the &s;ame crime? I pray you con|&s;ider of it, you that are &s;pirituall, judge what I &s;ay: Are not all the Prie&s;ts in <HI>England</HI> thieves? An&s;wer for them, who wil; Do they not &s;tudy for what they &s;ay, and walk by other lines? Did ever the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t &s;o? As he bade them <HI>take no thought what they &s;hould eat,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Luk. 12.22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30. Luke 12.11, 12. Gal. 1.10, 11, 12, 15, 16. 2 Cor. 3.6.</NOTE> <HI>nor what they &s;hould drink, Luk.</HI> 12.22, 23. <HI>So he bade them take no thought what they &s;hould &s;ay, for it &s;hould be given them in that hour, Luke</HI> 12.11, 12. But the&s;e dare neither tru&s;t God for their meat, nor drink, nor cloathing, as they did; nor for words to &s;peak, as they did, who were unlearned men, but as they were taught of God, and were made Mini&s;ters, not by the will of man, but by the will of God, <HI>Gal.</HI> 1.11, 12. And were able Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, and not of the Letter, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 3.6. But the&s;e both &s;tudie what they &s;hall eat, and what they &s;hall drink, and what they &s;hall put on, to make them proud, and what they &s;hall do to oppre&s;s poor people, and they &s;tudy every way how they may make their Mini&s;tery burden&s;ome, and &s;tudie what to &s;peak, &s;tudying old Au|thors, and &s;ome of them writing down that which they &s;peak in papers: See if the&s;e do not di&s;tru&s;t God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.29, 30, 31, 32. 2 Joh. 9.</NOTE> and do di&s;honor him, and are no Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, but are Unbelievers, and Infidels, who di&s;tru&s;t God, and &s;teal the words of their neighbours, as the fal&s;e Prophets did. <HI>Jer.</HI> 23.29, 30, 31. But the Lord is again&s;t them now, as he was then, and &s;ends to cry out again&s;t them now as he did then; and when any is &s;ent by the Lord, to cry out again&s;t them now, to tell them of their deceits, and deceivablene&s;s,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.47, 48, 49. Ver. 57, 58, 59. Acts 6.11, 12, 13. Mat. 23.27, 28, 29, 30, 31.</NOTE> and how that they are no Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, who do not abide in his Doctrine, but teach for Doctrine the traditions of men, and call a &s;tone-hou&s;e a Church, and &s;ay that God dwelleth there, and when any is &s;ent by the Lord to cry out again&s;t them there, as <HI>Steven</HI> did, <HI>Acts</HI> 7. who &s;aid, God that made the world did not dwell in Temples made with hands, and that evil generation of the uncircumci&s;ed in hearts and ears did murder poor <HI>Steven,</HI> the Servant of the Lord, and &s;aid he was a bla&s;phemer, and came to overturn the Law, and the Statutes that were gi|ven forth by <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> and &s;o the&s;e per&s;ecuting Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York&s;h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1 letter">re</HI> e&s;pe|cially, their &s;ins te&s;tifie again&s;t them to their face, that they are of the Ge|neration that &s;lew the righteous blood, and they would have all to take notice that they know not God; for when any is &s;ent to them, and &s;ays that God doth not dwell in any of tho&s;e Idol Temples that are made with hands, as in <HI>Acts</HI> 17.24.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 17.25.</NOTE> neither is he wor&s;hipped there by Traditions, Cu&s;toms,
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and Rudiments of the world with mens hands, <HI>Acts</HI> 17.25. But he is <HI>a Spirit, and they that wor&s;hip him, mu&s;t wor&s;hip him in &s;pirit and in truth,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 4.23, 24. 1 Pet. 2.5. 1 Cor. 3.19. 2 Cor. 6.16. I&s;a. 54.11, 12, 13, 14, 15.</NOTE> <HI>for he &s;eeketh &s;uch to wor&s;hip him, Joh.</HI> 4.23, 24. And that the Church of Chri&s;t is made all of <HI>living &s;tones,</HI> elect and precious, 1 <HI>Pet.</HI> 2.5. and that the Saints are made the Temples of the <HI>living God,</HI> as the Corinthians did witne&s;s, and that they &s;hall need no man to teach them, for the Lord is the teacher of his him&s;elf alone by his Spirit, and asks them how they came to their Mini&s;try, and bids them prove what they have &s;aid, they run away, and will not &s;tand to prove their call to the Mini&s;try, but lets them be beaten, and &s;truck by the uncircumci&s;ed in hearts, and ears; for none that are cir|cumci&s;ed by the &s;pirit of the living God cometh there, to &s;tand up to de|ceive the people. <HI>But the hireling fleeth, becau&s;e he is an hireling,</HI> that the Scriptures may be fulfilled, <HI>Joh.</HI> 10.12, 13. <HI>And the thief cometh not,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.12, 13.</NOTE> <HI>but for to kill, and to &s;teal, and to de&s;troy. Joh.</HI> 10.10. <HI>But the good &s;hepherd, he layeth down his life for the &s;heep,</HI> but the&s;e that cannot prove their call to the Mini&s;try of the Go&s;pel, the Mini&s;tration of the Spirit, which excells that of <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> they having nothing but what they have &s;tolne, and &s;tudied for; Their old Author &s;tudied &s;pirit fails them, and the <HI>hireling fleeth</HI> becau&s;e he is an <HI>hireling,</HI> and not the true Shepherd, and the thief kills, &s;teals, and de&s;troyes, and &s;aith to the people, hear him not whom God hath &s;ent, take him Officers, and put him in the &s;tocks, and let him be had to Pri&s;on, and &s;o turns Per&s;ecutor; and you all know that Per&s;ecution is of the Devil; and now tho&s;e diveli&s;h Prie&s;ts &s;hew them&s;elves what they are now that they are come to be tried, but it is but that they may be made manife&s;t what generation they are of; and when they cannot defend them&s;elves by their old Author-&s;tudied Spirit, it failing them, then they Petition to the outward powers of the Land, that they may more plainly appear; but the Foxes are &s;o &s;ubtile, that they twine about into the hole of their earthly wi&s;dom in their Petition, that they would cover over them|&s;elves, as if they were the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and would ju&s;tifie them|&s;elves, but God will condemn them; <HI>And it were better for them that a Mil|&s;tone were hanged about their necks,</HI> and they them&s;elves ca&s;t into the Sea, then that they &s;hould offend one of the&s;e little ones that believeth in the Lord; the Petitioners are many of them Per&s;ecutors, and I do not que&s;tion but that both Parliament, and Army, and all that fear the Lord, and are acquainted with his teachings, the teachings of the Spirit of Grace in the lea&s;t mea&s;ure, tho&s;e that know it, know that it teacheth to deny all un|godline&s;s, as it is made manife&s;t by the Divine light of God within, where the light of God doth &s;hine in the hearts of any, as it doth in tho&s;e who are taught of God, who have the heavenly trea&s;ure in <HI>earthly ve&s;&s;els,</HI> as the Saints had. See 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 4.5, 6, 7. And tho&s;e that are enlightned and guided by the &s;ame Spirit that they were, which &s;pirit is but one, where it is made manife&s;t: I &s;ay, all tho&s;e that know this &s;piritual teaching of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, both Parliament, and Army, and all others, know that this ble&s;&s;ed Spirit teacheth to deny per&s;ecution, and worketh out anger, and envy, and wrath, and revenge, purging out the old nature, working into love, and bowells of Compa&s;&s;ion, Gentlene&s;s, Goodne&s;s, Meekne&s;s, Temperance, Patience, Godline&s;s, and brotherly kindne&s;s, which cau&s;eth the old man
<PB N="6" REF="6">
to be put off, and the old per&s;ecuting nature, and cau&s;eth the new man to be put on, and withall to be made partaker of the Divine nature; and tho&s;e that know this in part, will &s;ee that tho&s;e fal&s;e Prie&s;ts have a filthy deceit|full heart, and will be di&s;covered, and made manife&s;t in their deceivable|ne&s;s, by tho&s;e that have the Spirit of God, and they have an end to them|&s;elves, for to have the prai&s;e of men, as the <HI>Scribes</HI> had that &s;ate in <HI>Mo&s;es</HI> &s;eat, as the&s;e do, proud <HI>Phari&s;ees,</HI> they will appear to be fair out&s;ides, but they have in&s;ides full of rottenne&s;s and deceitfulne&s;s of heart, but you know what is the portion of &s;uch:<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.1, 2, 27, 28, 29.</NOTE> See <HI>Mat.</HI> 23. And it will not be unknown to the Heads, and Rulers of the Nation, what &s;ort of men they were that took coun&s;el together, to take Je&s;us by &s;ubtilty to kill him. And then they may &s;ee what Generation the&s;e are of, and what &s;eed after the fle&s;h, but not after the Spirit; for they that are after the fle&s;h, they pre&s;ecute them that are after the Spirit; You heads and Rulers of the people, &s;ee that you &s;tand in the Coun&s;el of the Lord, and mind that which is of God in you; that is pure which &s;heweth you the vanity of your minds, and checks you when you do contrary to it, and it will guide your minds towards God, who is pure, and cau&s;e you to &s;tand in his pure fear, which will lead you into the true wi&s;dom of God, to govern the people in righteou&s;ne&s;s, and to take away that unrighteous Law, or Statute made by Queen <HI>Mary,</HI> which the Prie&s;ts, your Petitioners, make their refuge, to per&s;ecute and Impri&s;on the Righteous by, and deny the Law of God, or practi&s;e of the Saints, the people of God in former ages, as in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14. When any thing was re|vealed to him that &s;ate by, the fir&s;t was to hold his peace, and the other was to &s;peak, and all might &s;peak one by one, that all might be edified; let that of <HI>Mary</HI> be put forth, and put in one in order to this, which was the practi&s;e of the Church of God, that the deceivers may be laid open, and made ma|nife&s;t what they are; Act in righteou&s;ne&s;s, that you may receive the ble&s;|&s;ing; Take heed of holding up that which God is throwing down, now he is making his power known, ca&s;ting down the mighty out of their Thrones, and bringing down the haughtine&s;s of men, throwing down every high thought, and every high Imagination: Let &s;uch Laws be e&s;tabli&s;hed as tend to the puni&s;hment of evil doers, and countenancing tho&s;e that do well, and then you will &s;ee the Foxes, and fal&s;e Prie&s;ts, will be found out; Let truth be declared freely by any one where it is made manife&s;t; Who art thou that would&s;t limit the holy one of <HI>I&s;rael</HI> by thy carnal mind? What ever thou art, God will limit thee, and throw thee down out of thy Throne, be what thou wilt; But thou that love&s;t the truth, and &s;tande&s;t up for it, as it is in Je&s;us, thou &s;halt be Crowned with Glory.</P>
<P><HI>Que&s;t.</HI> 1. Is it according either to Con&s;cience, or the Law of Equity and rea&s;on, that theeves &s;hould make their prey of the Righteous? Con|&s;ider of it, and lay it to heart.</P>
<P N="2">2. Is it according to Equity, or the truth of God, that any mans Con|&s;cience &s;hould be kept under a bea&s;tly, corrupt mans will, that &s;wells in anger, and if any go to ea&s;e his burdned Con&s;cience, to be beaten, and &s;et in the &s;tocks, and &s;toned in the &s;treets; is this according to the practi&s;e of the Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t? Let the Scriptures be your Rule, and the Lord your judge, and be not upholders of tho&s;e deceivers; for God will ho|nor him&s;elf in throwing of them down.</P>
<P N="3"><PB N="7" REF="6">3. Is it according to the righteous Law of God, or mans corrupt will, that the righteous &s;hould &s;uffer, and the wicked go free, and e&s;cape by lies and flatteries? let every thing be brought to light, and let the tran&s;gre&s;&s;ors be puni&s;hed, and the Innocent cleared; For God will be honored, and he will not always &s;trive, he will reprove even Kings for his righteous chil|drens &s;ake, and he will take away the reproach of his people him&s;elf, and no deceitfull per&s;on &s;hall dwell in his hou&s;e; God is a Spirit, and none knows him but &s;uch as are &s;piritual, and born again, and the righteous they &s;uffer, and no man layeth it to heart, but God is judge him&s;elf, and he will be avenged of all his Enemies.</P>
<P N="4">4. Is there are rea&s;on that we &s;hould pay, or be compelled to pay for that which we have not? is not this unrighteous? They &s;ay they are Mini|&s;ters, and we do ask them what Scripture they have for their Rule to take tythe Hay, or Corn, tythe Lamb, and Wooll, tythe Eggs, and money for Reak pa&s;&s;ing up our Chimnies, and money for Mares, and Foals, and Kine, and Calves, and tythe Apples, and Cherries; and to have an end of all our la|bors, we would have them to give account of their Mini&s;try, and how they came to be made Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, and what Scripture they have for their Rule to take tythes, and whether it were ever the practi&s;e of the Mi|ni&s;ters of Chri&s;t, yea or no? who laboured with their hands, and de&s;ired rather to dye, then to make the Go&s;pel burden&s;om, that they might be ex|amples to all that come after; and they walking contrary to Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, have lo&s;t their examples, and make the Parliament their &s;piri|tual &s;word, and carnal bulwark for the account of their Mini&s;try, or ground of their Doctrine, and &s;ay, the Parliament do allow them, and can no ways clear them&s;elves by Scripture, and we finding the Mini&s;try of Chri&s;t to be a free Mini&s;try, and the Go&s;pel not to be burden&s;om, though they clear them&s;elves to be the Mini&s;ters of man and not of God; the Apo&s;tle was a Mini&s;ter, not made by the will of man, but by the will of God: and the&s;e walking contrary to the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and contrary to the Scriptures, and we never profited by them, they &s;tarved our &s;ouls by their cold, dark, and barren Mini&s;try of their own Inventions, and they &s;ay that we would ju&s;tle God out of his Throne, but it is but the God of the World, <HI>Mammon,</HI> which they &s;o much thir&s;t after; for it is the de&s;ire of our &s;ouls to &s;ee the onely true God to &s;it upon his Throne, ruling by his power, and every Spirit, and as the Lord is large in his love to us, though they call us Pa|pi&s;ts, Quakers, or what Nick-name they can invent, and every way &s;eek to ca&s;t dirt upon the pure Truth, &s;tanding in oppo&s;ition again&s;t the power of truth, in any where it is made manife&s;t, as <HI>Jannes</HI> and <HI>Jambres</HI> did, but their folly &s;hall appear to all men, as theirs did; but we cannot in Con|&s;cience pay for that old rotten &s;tuffe, which runs out of their old bottels, old corrupt natures, which poureth forth nothing but corruption, and bitter|ne&s;s, as Railings, and Revilings, and cur&s;ed &s;peakings, &s;peaking evil of that which they know not, and becau&s;e we cannot buy of their old &s;tinking wares, as we did formerly, not que&s;tioning them, took them for good upon their words, but now the Fountain of their &s;tinking puddle is made known, and the Lord teacheth us better things, we are ever bound to prai&s;e his name, and we receive of his Love, and &s;piritual teachings, freely receiving,
<PB N="8" REF="7">
and Grace for Grace, growing up from Grace to Grace, in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and as we have received freely, we are made to hold it forth freely to others again, not &s;eeking our &s;elves, as they do, but &s;eeking the good, and welfare of one anothers Souls, by the power of the Lord, as it ruleth in us, running forth to &s;eek the good of all, and we cannot hold them up in their deceits, and we cannot pay for that which we have not, neither did we ever receive any &s;piritual food, or refre&s;hings from them; we te&s;tifie again&s;t them, as it is our bounden duty to let our light &s;hine forth to others, and though the proud Prie&s;ts, as in all that which they do, it is for money, which is their <HI>Diana,</HI> and all that which they look after; They do not &s;eek us, but ours; And as we receive of the Lord freely, we cannot but declare, though they threaten, and do &s;ue, and go to Law for carnal maintenance, which both Je&s;us Chri&s;t and his true Mini&s;ters do forbid, as in <HI>Mat.</HI> 5.40. 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6. <HI>ver.</HI> 1. but they do not abide in his Doctrine, as is now made plain in our book of <HI>Ea&s;ter Reckonings:</HI> And we would reckon with them, as we have there declared about the pure Doctrine, by the Spirit of the Lord made known, and taught to us; And if they could prove them&s;elves warran|tably by Scriptures to have Rule from them, which we own the Life of, and make it appear to us to be Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, they &s;hould have their due, and if they will lay open their &s;hamefull dealings to all men, let all take notice of their folly, that God may have the prai&s;e, who hath laid open their deceits, and taught us freely by his holy Spirit in the&s;e our dayes; to him be all holy prai&s;e, both now and for evermore, who is worthy to be prai&s;ed, God ble&s;&s;ed for ever.</P>
<DIV2 TYPE="to the reader">
<OPENER><SALUTE>Reader,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P><HI>I</HI> Would have thee to peru&s;e this en&s;uing Treati&s;e, or &s;omething in An&s;wer to the Counties Petition put up to the Parliament by the Prie&s;ts, and many of their a&s;&s;ociates here in York-&s;hire, wherein their flatteries, and &s;ubtilties, and deceits are di&s;covered and laid open; and although theybe &s;o cunning, that in their Petition they have kept out them&s;elves, and put it up in the name of the People; yet they were the chiefe&s;t Actors, and got all as many as they could, Boyes, and Girles in &s;everal places, that knew not their left hand from their right, to &s;et their hands to their Petition, and many people that had any knowledge of God in the lea&s;t mea&s;ure, denied to joyn with them; But read it over, and it will to thee their deceits more plainly manife&s;t, and fully di&s;cover.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Rich. Farnworth.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="petitions">
<PB N="9" REF="7">
<HEAD>The Counties Petition.</HEAD>
<DIV2 TYPE="petition">
<HEAD>To the Parliament of the Common-wealth of <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>THe humble Petition of many inhabitants of the County of</HI> York, <HI>and City of</HI> York, <HI>and County of the &s;ame City, Humbly &s;heweth, That your Petitioners, who are le&s;s then the lea&s;t of the Mercies they en|joy, as they de&s;ire to be &s;en&s;ible of that good decree of peace and truth which through the good hand of God upon your Coun&s;els and Indeavours, they partake of, and are therefore Petitioners to the Lord for you, that he would remember you for good, and &s;pare you according to the Multitude of his mercies, and &s;o withall they think it their duty humbly to pre&s;ent unto you, the deep &s;en&s;e they have of &s;ome evils and dangers which they apprehend very nearly to con|cern the truth of God, and Go&s;pel of Salvation, or the pro&s;perous cour&s;e thereof, whereon the glory of peace, and &s;afety of this Nation, be&s;ides the eternal welfare of precious &s;ouls (more worth then worlds) do much depend.</HI></P>
<P N="1">1. That many &s;candalous and ignorant Per&s;ons, Enemies to the People, and ways of God, upholders and practi&s;ers of the aboli&s;hed Ceremonies, and no friends to the pre&s;ent Government, and peace of this Common|wealth, are continued in the work of the Mini&s;try, to the prejudice of that calling, the hinderance of Reformation, and danger of Immortal Souls.</P>
<P N="2">2. That the faithfull Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t by whom we have believed, who&s;e labors have been &s;o profitable, and yet &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to the Church of God, and who&s;e reputations and incouragement ought to be &s;o dear unto us, are daily loaden with contempt and reproach, di&s;turbed in the diligent and peaceable execution of their office, by evil and unrea&s;onable men, and al&s;o undermined in their calling and maintenance, whereby the cour&s;e of the Go&s;pel is much hindred; and the Spirit of Gods people, nay, we doubt not to &s;ay the Spirit of God him&s;elf grieved and vexed, the precious Ordinances of Chri&s;t trodden under foot, and con&s;equently the welfare of this to&s;&s;ed, di&s;tracted common-wealth very much endangered; For if the ju&s;t Lord, who is in the mid&s;t of us, &s;pared not his ancient people, the Tribes of his inheritance, when once they began to mock his Me&s;&s;engers, and deal injuriou&s;ly with tho&s;e that are &s;ent to preach the glad tidings of the Go&s;pel, whereby they filled up the mea&s;ure of their &s;ins, and brought upon them&s;elves wrath without remedy, even wrath to the utmo&s;t; and we &s;ee no rea&s;on why the unchangeable God &s;hould not proceed by the &s;ame mea&s;ure again&s;t gentile Churches, as of &s;uch you have had al&s;o nearer in|&s;tance,
<PB N="10" REF="8">
in the fall of tho&s;e per&s;ons whom the Lord ca&s;t out before you, the rock of who&s;e ruine was their oppo&s;ition to a Godly and con&s;cientious Mi|ni&s;try.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly,</HI> They take boldne&s;s to repre&s;ent, that the liberty granted by the Parliament in matters of Religion, and the wor&s;hip of God, is very much abu&s;ed, to the increa&s;e of Popery, and prophane&s;s, contrary to your inten|tions in the &s;ame: Your Petitioners &s;eriou&s;ly con&s;idering, and laying to heart the&s;e things, think it their further duty, earne&s;tly to be&s;eech you by the glorious, and fearfull name of God, which is every day bla&s;phemed, by the precious Go&s;pel of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is much di&s;honored, and de&s;pi&s;ed, and by what&s;oever is dear unto us, which by the&s;e and &s;uch like evils we believe to be much endangered, That you would take the&s;e particulars into &s;erious and &s;peedy con&s;ideration.</P>
<P N="1">1. That you would take a more effectual cour&s;e for removing of &s;canda|lous and unworthy Mini&s;ters from the office and work of the Mini&s;try, then yet is, or can be taken by the Committee for plundred Mini&s;ters &s;it|ting at We&s;tmin&s;ter, in regard of the great di&s;tance of this County, that &s;o the Parliament may not be charged, not &s;o much as by neglect, to build again tho&s;e things they have de&s;troyed.</P>
<P N="2">2. That you would &s;peak comfortably to tho&s;e that teach the good knowledge of the Lord, &s;eeing that God him&s;elf hath given (notwith|&s;tanding manifold infirmities) te&s;timonial &s;eals to many of them, and take care that they may have a comfortable &s;ub&s;i&s;tance, that you would &s;upport the honor and reverence of the Univer&s;ities, nece&s;&s;ary to the &s;upply of able Mini&s;ters, and bear witne&s;s again&s;t tho&s;e who daily di&s;cover their enmity to the Office and Ordinances of the Go&s;pel, whereby life will be given to your well e&s;tabli&s;hed Laws, and inferior Magi&s;trates encouraged to vindi|cate, and further the Go&s;pel in their &s;everal &s;tations, and much danger of the Common-wealth prevented, which cannot but be feared; For the op|pre&s;&s;ers of the Mini&s;try, who&s;e Principles are full of confu&s;ion, and lead to ca&s;ting off the Rulings as well as the teachings of men, wherewith they have given much cau&s;e of &s;u&s;pition in this, and full evidence in other Nati|ons.</P>
<P><HI>La&s;tly.</HI> That you would take care to build &s;uch battlements about your grants of liberty, in matters of Religion, that Popi&s;h and prophane Per|&s;ons may not take advantage thereby, to di&s;honor God, de&s;pi&s;e his Ordi|nances, pollute his Sabboths, and &s;o the land be filled with Athei&s;m, Ignorance, and Idolatry.</P>
<P>So &s;hall the Lord, who hitherto hath been a wall of fire round about us, be al&s;o for glory in the mid&s;t among&s;t us, and your Petitioners be further engaged to pray for a ble&s;&s;ing upon your Coun&s;ells, and per&s;ons.</P>
</DIV2>
<DIV2 TYPE="petition">
<PB N="11" REF="8">
<HEAD>To the Parliament of the Common-wealth of <HI>England.</HI></HEAD>
<P><HI>THe humble Petition of many Inhabitants of the County of York,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Petition.</NOTE> <HI>the City of York, and County of the &s;ame City, humbly &s;heweth, that your Petitioners, who are le&s;s then the lea&s;t of the mercies they enjoy, as they de&s;ire to be &s;en&s;ible of that good decree of peace, and truth, which through the good hand of God upon your coun&s;els, and endeavours they partake of, and are therefore Petitioners to the Lord for you, that he would re|member you for good, and &s;pare you according to the multitude of his mercies: and &s;o withall they think it their duty humbly to pre&s;ent unto you, the deep &s;en&s;e they have of &s;ome evils and dangers which they apprehend very nearly to concern the truth of God, and Go&s;pel of Salvation, for the pro&s;perous cour&s;e thereof, whereon the glory of peace, and &s;afety of this Nation, be&s;ides the eternal well|fare of precious &s;ouls, more worth then worlds, do much depend.</HI></P>
<P>The&s;e Petitioners are full of flatteries, and &s;ubtilty,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE> and &s;hew them&s;elves to be carnal, that run from the Lord to take coun&s;ell of men (for that which they call &s;piritual) that &s;it to judge of temporal affairs; and it &s;hews that the Prie&s;ts of the world are the Mini&s;ters of man, and not of God, and dare not tru&s;t him, nor take his coun&s;ail, neither have they the &s;word of the Spirit, as the true Mini&s;ters had; their weapons were not carnal, but &s;piri|tual, and mighty through God, to throw down &s;trong holds, and they were made through him that loved them, more then Conquerors, <HI>Rom.</HI> 8.37.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.37.</NOTE> But the&s;e &s;hew them&s;elves to be carnal, and ignorant of the &s;ame power that ruled in them, that run to outward power to uphold them, as the Jews, and Scribes, and Phari&s;ees did, that &s;ought for the honor of the world, and the prai&s;e of men as the&s;e do, and were enemies to Je&s;us Chri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 5.42, 43, 44.</NOTE> as the&s;e are: For were the&s;e Petitioners acquainted with what they do profe&s;s, it would draw their minds up to the Lord, who is the mighty Coun&s;ellor, the everla&s;ting Father, the Prince of Peace. <HI>I&s;ai.</HI> 9. to direct their Peti|tions to him, and not to run without, to take Coun&s;ell of men,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;aiah 9. I&s;aiah 30.</NOTE> who &s;it to judge of temporal things, to ask Coun&s;el about &s;piritual, and &s;o run from the Lord, the mighty Coun&s;ellor, and the judge of the whole Earth, who doth direct all tho&s;e that tru&s;t in him to take his Coun&s;ell, both for tem|porals, and &s;pirituals, and threatneth woe to them that take Coun&s;el, but not of him; and the woe is to the di&s;obedient Children, that go down into <HI>Egypt</HI> for help, to make fle&s;h their Arm, who do not tru&s;t in the living God, but are haters of him, though in their words to him they do profe&s;s love, but by their actions they deny him, and are to every good work abo|minable, and Reprobate, <HI>Titus</HI> 1. <HI>ver.</HI> 16. Profe&s;&s;ing they know God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Titus 1.16.</NOTE> and hate tho&s;e that are known of him, as by their fruits it doth appear; for they do both Per&s;ecute, Envy, Backbite, and are exceeding Proud, and Covetous, and Oppre&s;s, grinding the faces of the poor,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Rom. 8.8.</NOTE> and it is not unknown what fruits tho&s;e are; it cannot be denied, but that they are fruits of the fle&s;h; they that are in the fle&s;h, cannot plea&s;e God; Was it not the great men of the World that did make their &s;uite &s;o much to the Councel of State, or tho&s;e that &s;ate to judge the People among&s;t the Jews, who were e|nemies to Je&s;us Chri&s;t? as <HI>Paul</HI> was accu&s;ed for a Bla&s;phemer, &amp; an Heretick,
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and was complained again&s;t, or petitioned for, by the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, and Elders of the people, to the high Prie&s;t that &s;at in the &s;eat of judge|ment, to have had his life taken away, and &s;aid, he was a &s;editious fellow: and <HI>Steven,</HI> they &s;aid he was a bla&s;phemer, and they not being able to re&s;i&s;t the wi&s;dom,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 6.10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15.</NOTE> and the &s;pirit by which he &s;poke: <HI>Acts</HI> 6.10, 11, 12. then they &s;uborned men, &s;tirred up the People to &s;wear fal&s;ly again&s;t him, be|fore the Councel, and &s;aid that they heard him &s;peak bla&s;phemous things again&s;t <HI>Mo&s;es;</HI> the Temple, and the Law, when he went to declare the me&s;|&s;age that the Lord &s;ent him withall; As he doth now &s;end many to cry out again&s;t the deceits of the Prie&s;ts, and they not being able to defend them&s;elves by Scripture, nor warrant from God, they &s;tir up the &s;uborned men, and rude multitude, who are utter enemies to God, and the Go&s;pel of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, to Petition again&s;t tho&s;e, to whom the Lord hath manife&s;ted his love, and made his power known in &s;ome mea&s;ure, to prai&s;e and glorifie his great and glorious name; and tho&s;e Petitioners are as tho&s;e were that cried to the high Prie&s;t, let us have <HI>Barrabas,</HI> who was a murderer, &s;et at li|berty, and Chri&s;t Crucified, in whom was found no guile, but becau&s;e he came to te&s;tifie again&s;t their deceits, yet they &s;aid, he was a deceiver, and a bla&s;phemer: they that were Petitioners again&s;t the ttuth of God in that Generation, went under the &s;ame colour, and pretence then, that the&s;e do now, Petitioning again&s;t Seditious fellows that came to overturn their Sta|tutes, Laws, and Cu&s;toms; and the Scribes, Phari&s;ees, and Elders of the people cryed out again&s;t them for Bla&s;phemy, and Here&s;ie; Nay, they &s;pared not to call the good man of the hou&s;e <HI>Belzebub,</HI> and &s;aid he was the Prince of Devils; and <HI>Paul,</HI> they &s;ayd he was a Ring leader of that Sect; and the Silver-&s;hrine-makers, becau&s;e hey &s;aw that he came to overturn their <HI>Diana,</HI> which brought them &s;o much gain, they &s;aid, that if they did let him alone, all men would be drawn after him, and they &s;hould be in danger to &s;uffer the lo&s;s of all, not onely their handicraft would be &s;et at naught, but their Godde&s;s <HI>Dianah</HI> would be overthrown, and then the &s;en&s;e and con&s;ideration of that &s;ei&s;ed deep upon them, whereupon they went, and &s;tirred up all the people again&s;t the Servants of the Lord, to have &s;laughtered them for te&s;tifying the truth that &s;truck at their deceits, and &s;tirred up all the whole City, &s;etting them on an uproar, many not know|ing what they did, but as they were led on by the on-&s;etters to mi&s;chief, and cried with a loud voice, great is <HI>Diana</HI> of the <HI>Ephe&s;ians;</HI> and if it be but rightly con&s;idered now, it will be found out that the&s;e Petitioners here in York-&s;hire are of the &s;ame Generation, and the Prie&s;ts being with the Scribes and Phari&s;ees, and Leaders of the Petitioners, &s;truck into a deep &s;en&s;e that they have of the lo&s;s of their great Godde&s;s <HI>Diana,</HI> their imagi|nary way of wor&s;hip, and bea&s;tly wares, that they have had &s;uch &s;ale for, &s;hall now come down, and they lo&s;e all their gain, and none will buy their wares any longer, that comes to ta&s;t of better, that the &s;en&s;e of this doth &s;trike deeply at them, and lye heavy upon them, and the &s;en&s;e of no other evil and danger; that is the greate&s;t, and it is time for the bea&s;t to colour over him&s;elf neatly, and Petition now, and cry, help Magi&s;trate now, or all is gone, we cannot defend our &s;elves any way el&s;e, and if you fail us now, we are utterly undone for ever, we canot defend our &s;elves by Scripture, and
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our conver&s;ation te&s;tifies again&s;t us, that we neither follow the example of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, nor his Apo&s;tles, who were his true Mini&s;ters, and the People they begin to &s;ee it; and truth it is, we have no right to take tythes, nor to have hire, we cannot ju&s;tifie our actions any wayes by Scripture, and if you &s;tand not to us now, we lo&s;e all, and &s;hall be utterly undone, and ruinated for ever. And,</P>
<P><HI>They think it their humble duty to pre&s;ent unto you the deep &s;en&s;e they have of &s;ome evils and dangers,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Petition.</NOTE> <HI>which they apprehend very nearly to concern the truth of God, and Go&s;pel of Salvation, or the pro&s;perous cour&s;e thereof, whereon the glory of peace, and &s;afety of this Nation, be&s;ides the eternal welfare of precious &s;ouls, (more worth then worlds) doth depend.</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> 1. Con&s;ider of it, If the&s;e Petitioners be not of the &s;ame Genera|tion of evil doers that the Scribes and Phari&s;ees were, that laboured &s;o much and Petitioned, or fal&s;ly accu&s;ed the Son of God, Je&s;us Chri&s;t and his Di&s;|ciples and followers to the Coun&s;el of the people A&s;&s;embled together, time after time, to have de&s;troyed not onely them in whom the truth was declared, but laboured every way to have de&s;troyed the truth it &s;elf, but could not, for the more that they were per&s;ecuted, they more did grow; and as it was then, &s;o is it now.</P>
<P N="2">2. But the &s;ubtilty of the Serpent that ruled in the Jews chief Prie&s;ts, Scribes, and Phari&s;ees then, ruleth in the&s;e Petitioners now in this age, as by their fruits it doth appear.</P>
<P N="3">3. When the Lord &s;ent forth his me&s;&s;engers then to declare his truth, they &s;trucke them, and put them in the &s;tocks, and &s;toned, and railed, and hated, and &s;hamefully intreated them, and when they were not able to re&s;i&s;t the wi&s;dom, and the &s;pirit by which they &s;pake, as in <HI>Acts</HI> 6. then &s;ome of them they im|pri&s;oned, as <HI>Peter,</HI> and <HI>John,</HI> and <HI>Paul,</HI> and <HI>Silas,</HI> and &s;toned <HI>Steven,</HI> and &s;ought fal&s;e witne&s;s again&s;t him to put him to death, and &s;ought to the coun&s;ell to have the life of them, all &s;uch blood-&s;uckers they were; yet it was under a co|lour, or cloak, or pretence of godline&s;s, and &s;tirred up the people, telling them that they were &s;editious fellows, as <HI>Steven</HI> was, <HI>Acts</HI> 6. and men that came to overturn the Law, and the Statutes given forth by <HI>Mo&s;es,</HI> and came to &s;peak bla&s;phemous things again&s;t the Temple, and under that colour of Schi&s;maticks, and Hereticks, Sedition, and Bla&s;phemy, did the pure truth &s;uffer; and this is the &s;ame generation by which it doth &s;uffer now; and let but the&s;e wicked Prie&s;ts have but their corrupt wills fulfilled, and they would murder all, in whom any thing of God was made manife&s;t, under colour or pretence of Papi&s;ts, or prophane Per&s;ons, when as they are them&s;elves the wicked&s;t profane per&s;ons of all others, and &s;tir up many to be their Executioners to mi&s;chief, that know not the right hand from the left in point of Religion, in &s;trike|ing, and &s;toning, and fal&s;ly accu&s;ing the good Conver&s;ation of the righteous, and &s;hamefully entreating them, and Petitioning again&s;t them: But,</P>
<P>Fourthly, They may ju&s;tly expect the ju&s;t hand of God upon them, and the plagues of God to be poured forth upon them for their exceeding great wickedne&s;s; for they are the peace-breakers of the Commonwealth, not of <HI>England</HI> onely, but of I&s;rael al&s;o, as much as in them lies.</P>
<P>And they may be &s;en&s;ible of it, they may &s;ee them&s;elves enemies both to
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the Go&s;pel of Salvation, and the pro&s;perous cour&s;e thereof, every ways hin|dring the truth from being declared,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 34.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Ho&s;ea 6.9.</NOTE> as much as in them lies, to the utmo&s;t of their power, deceivers, or de&s;troyers of &s;ouls, which is more worth then worlds; <HI>And as a troop of robbers wait for a man, &s;o the company of Prie&s;ts murder in the way by con&s;ent:</HI> as it is now by their fruits made manife&s;t, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 6.9. <HI>Therefore O ye &s;hepherds, hear the word of the Lord; Thus &s;aith the Lord God, Behold I am a|gain&s;t the &s;hepherds, and I will require my flock at their hands, and cau&s;e them to cea&s;e from feeding the flock, neither &s;hall they feed them&s;elves any more; for I will deliver my flock from them, that they may not be meat for them,</HI> Ezek. 34.8, 9.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Ezek. 34.9, 10.</NOTE>Fifthly, <HI>Shall you not be vi&s;ited for the&s;e things &s;aith the Lord? Let the wic|ked joyn hand in hand, yet they &s;hall not go unpuni&s;hed; for &s;aith the Lord, I will be avenged of all mine enemies; vengeance is mine, and I will repay; Woe to the wicked, It &s;hall go ill with them, both Prie&s;ts, and people, for the leaders of them cau&s;e them to erre.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 9.16. Ho&s;ea. 4.9.</NOTE> I&s;a. 9.16. <HI>There is like Prie&s;t, like people,</HI> Ho&s;. 4.9. All joyn together to per&s;ecute the truth, and to hinder the free cour&s;e of the Go&s;pel, and to break the peace of the Commonwealth, and as much as in them lies, to de|&s;troy the &s;ouls of the righteous, now that the Lord is &s;ending forth his &s;ervants to cry out again&s;t the deceits of the world, and the wor&s;hip of the bea&s;t, wor|&s;hipping the works of their own hands, traditions, and rudiments of the world, which are not after God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Col. 2.20, 21, 22.</NOTE> but by the will of man, <HI>Col.</HI> 2.20, 21, 22. and mens corrupt wills being cro&s;t, and the deceits of the Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York|&s;hire</HI> being di&s;covered, and the Lord &s;ending to them, to te&s;tifie it to their fa|ces, they will not &s;tand to prove them&s;elves neither to be Mini&s;ters of the let|ter, nor of the &s;pirit, but run away, and cau&s;e that tho&s;e whom the Lord &s;endeth to them, be beaten, and abu&s;ed, and given up into the hands of the rude multitude, which is contrary both to the practi&s;e of Chri&s;t, and his A|po&s;tles; they never &s;truck, nor cau&s;e any to be &s;truck, but on the contrary, received &s;tripes; <HI>Peter</HI> and <HI>John</HI> were beaten, and put in the pri&s;on, See <HI>Act.</HI> 5.26,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 5.26, 27, 28, &amp;c.</NOTE> 27, 28, <HI>&amp;c.</HI> and threatned they &s;hould &s;peak no more in the name of Je|&s;us. And,</P>
<P>Sixthly, The&s;e Prie&s;ts bear te&s;timony to the &s;ame deeds here in <HI>York&s;hire;</HI> for many have been beaten for declaring the truth as it is in Je&s;us, and many &s;toned, that &s;tones have flown as fa&s;t as bullets in a battel, and the dogs have been &s;et on by their hearers, and they them&s;elves having been in the &s;treets, and being &s;poken to, would not prove them&s;elves, but got away: Are not the&s;e the fruits of the Jews, who were enemies to Je&s;us Chri&s;t? did not they &s;tone <HI>Steven</HI> to death for witne&s;&s;ing the truth? <HI>Act.</HI> 7.59, 60.</P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 7.59.</NOTE>And had it not been the Lords power, more then their mercy at that time, their mercies being very cruelties, all had been de&s;troyed: for they &s;toned a great &s;pace out of the Town, and &s;tones did hit on the backs and heads of the people, as if they had clattered on a wall, and none did &s;eek to quench the tu|mult; &s;ee whether the&s;e be fruits of Chri&s;ts Mini&s;tery, or of Antichri&s;ts? but it is but that the Scriptures may be fulfilled, and now it is fulfilling here in <HI>York|&s;hire,</HI> and the Prie&s;ts are the greate&s;t per&s;ecutors: was not Je&s;us Chri&s;t him|&s;elf &s;toned,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Joh. 10.31, 32, 33.</NOTE> <HI>Joh.</HI> 10.31, 32, 33. and per&s;ecuted by the high-Prie&s;ts? and &s;hall the &s;ervant be greater then the Lord? Did the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t ever per&s;ecute as the Mini&s;ters of the world do, and e&s;pecially here in <HI>York&s;hire?</HI> the Jews were per&s;ecutors, who were enemies to Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, and &s;toned both
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him and his, and beat them, and &s;truck them. <HI>Paul</HI> received five times forty &s;tripes, &s;ave one; they &s;truck Ie&s;us, and &s;pit in his face, <HI>Matth.</HI> 26.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 26.65, 66, 67.</NOTE> And tho&s;e that &s;toned and &s;truck them, and did &s;o &s;hamefully entreat them, petitioned or fal&s;ly accu&s;ed them to the Council, &s;everal times, to have had their lives; and they were willing to &s;uffer death, rather then deny the truth: Ie&s;us him&s;elf witne&s;&s;ed a good Confe&s;&s;ion before <HI>Pilate,</HI> which Ie&s;us we are brought to confe&s;s before men, for who&s;e &s;ake we are hated and per&s;ecuted both by Prie&s;ts and people here in <HI>York&s;hire,</HI> who do profe&s;s him, as the Iews did, but will not confe&s;s or witne&s;s him ruling in them by his &s;pirit, but do deny him in their actions, as their fruits make them manife&s;t.</P>
<P>Seventhly, Would they &s;tand the tryal, and prove them&s;elves before their people? then let them be laid open what they are, but they will not &s;tand; are they not of a cowardly &s;pirit? Such is the Univer&s;ity Spirit, it is a thievi&s;h &s;pirit, and will not, nor dare not &s;tand, they not being able to re&s;i&s;t the Spi|rit of God in tho&s;e who are &s;ent to cry out again&s;t the deceits of them, as <HI>Steven</HI> and the re&s;t did; but the&s;e run away: and becau&s;e they have a Popi&s;h Law to flye to, they impri&s;on the &s;ervants of the Lord as many are here in pri|&s;on at <HI>York,</HI> and have been a long time in pri&s;on by the&s;e per&s;ecuting Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York-&s;hire,</HI> and they will not that the truth &s;hould come to light, nor they to be tryed by cour&s;e of Law; &s;ee if the&s;e be not hinderers of the cour&s;e of the Go&s;pel, and de&s;troy the righteous, both &s;oul and body, as much as in them lies, but that the Lords love doth more appear in their pre&s;ervation, then the Prie&s;ts mercy in delivering; but woe is their portion, and they break the Peace of the Nation, not &s;uffering the truth to be declared, after that they have done &s;peaking, but rather encourage the rude multitude to beat and &s;trike the &s;ervants of the living God, and raile and revile them, but wil not &s;tand, but let the rude people break the peace of the Land; and that which they call their Church, is rather a &s;laughter-hou&s;e; but the hireling fleeth becau&s;e he is an hireling, that the Scriptures may be fulfilled; and the thief comes not but to kill, and to &s;teal, and to de&s;troy, as it is now made manife&s;t by their fruits, or the Prie&s;ts actings here in <HI>York&s;hire;</HI> and then as the Iews did, they petition, or fal&s;ly accu&s;e the good conver&s;ation of the righteous, to the Councel of State, but they are made manife&s;t who&s;e &s;ervants they are, and the judgement will return upon their own pate: <HI>Woe to the Idol-&s;hepherds:</HI> they are in a deep &s;en&s;e of lo&s;ing their Trade, and Handicraft, whereby they have a long time decei|ved the people, and now they cry out, Great is <HI>Diana,</HI> or the merchandi&s;e of <HI>Babylon,</HI> wherein we receive our gain, and if the&s;e men be letten alone, we &s;hall lo&s;e all our profits, but we will cry out again&s;t them, that we be not taken notice on our &s;elves, who are the enemies, and hinderers of the Go&s;pel, which is the power of God unto &s;alvation, and we want that power among&s;t us, and thats the rea&s;on why our Mini&s;tery works no Reformation.</P>
<P>And that they may not take notice of us,<NOTE PLACE="marg">A confe&s;&s;ion for the Prie&s;ts. An exhorta|tion to the Prie&s;ts.</NOTE> we will begin at home to cut off all tho&s;e that are &s;candalous, but indeed we may &s;ay we cannot cleer our &s;elves, for we were never &s;ent, but ran, and we have not profited the people at all, as it is now made manife&s;t by our fruitle&s;s Mini&s;tery, for all is light and vain, covetous and prophane; therefore let me exhort you by the Lord to be|gin with your own &s;elves, and &s;ee that you do not run on further into wicked|ne&s;s,
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now that you are made manife&s;t, your &s;ins te&s;tifie to your face, that you are enemies of the truth of God, and he will brui&s;e you with his Iron rod for deceiving poor &s;ouls &s;o long, for the highe&s;t of you in your fle&s;hly wi&s;dom, is the highe&s;t deceiver, and the Lord is again&s;t you all, both great and &s;mall, though you &s;ay,</P>
<P><HI>That many &s;candalous and ignorant per&s;ons, enemies to the people and ways of God,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Petition.</NOTE> <HI>upholders and practizers of the aboli&s;hed Ceremonies, and no friends to the pre&s;ent Government and peace of this Commonwealth, are continued in the work of the Mini&s;tery, to the prejudice of that Calling, the hinderance of Reformation, and danger of Immortal &s;ouls.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;wer.</NOTE>You may &s;ee how you have been deceived all this while, and lived under a Popi&s;h Mini&s;tery, and now that it is di&s;covered, they would have people to take notice of it, that many of them are of the Popi&s;h Clergy, and are &s;canda|lous, and enemies both to the ways of God, and the people of God; and if your under&s;tandings were enlightened, you may &s;ee that there is but little diffe|rence of them;<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Joh. 9. 1 Cor. 2.14.</NOTE> for they are all contrary both to Chri&s;t and his true Mini&s;ters, and he that abideth not in the Doctrine of Chri&s;t, hath not God, 2 <HI>Joh.</HI> 9. &amp; they are all carnal, in their fir&s;t nature, and the natural man knows not the things of God, becau&s;e they are &s;piritually di&s;cerned; and no man knows the Father but the Son, and he to whom he is revealed: The Heathen know not God, and all are Heathens that know him not, in their natural &s;tate and condition; the world by wi&s;dom knows not God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 3.18, 19.20. Acts 17.20, 21, 22, 23, &amp;c.</NOTE> but wor&s;hips an unknown God; and tho&s;e that live in ignorance, and Papi&s;ts, are all in one nature, and both wor&s;hip an un|known God, as the <HI>Athenians</HI> did; and every one in his natural &s;tate and condi|tion lives in darkne&s;s, Athie&s;m, Popery, and Idolatry, wor&s;hipping the works of their own hands, and following the imaginations of their own hearts, draw|ing neer to God with their mouth and lips, but their hearts are far from him, as tho&s;e were that he complained of by the Prophet <HI>I&s;aiah, I&s;a.</HI> 29.13.</P>
<P>Fir&s;t, Let me ask you that profe&s;s your &s;elves to be Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;|pel,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Que&s;t.</NOTE> but are not of the letter, for you will not let it be your rule to walk by, but run from it, and will not abide the tryal; but are you not all made mani|fe&s;t by your fruits, what you are? Take notice of it all people, con&s;ider, and &s;ee how you have been deceived all this while; they will all be found deceivers, and blinde guides, that deceive the people: did God ever &s;end &s;candalous and ignorant per&s;ons, enemies to the people and ways of God, into the work of his Mini&s;tery? and do not your fruits declare that you were never &s;ent of him? who are enemies both to him, and his, where he is made manife&s;t.</P>
<P>Secondly, Do not your &s;ins te&s;tifie again&s;t you to your face, that you are none of his, the highe&s;t of you? are you not all unprofitable &s;ervants? do not you make the people light, and vain? as the fal&s;e Prophets did, which ran, but the Lord never &s;ent them, as in <HI>Jer.</HI> 23.</P>
<P>Thirdly, Are you not proud? and pride is of the devil, and God doth forbid it, and &s;aith it is an abomination to his &s;oul, and that is contrary to God, and is &s;candalous; and &s;hews that you are guided by the &s;pirit of error, and are ig|norant of the &s;pirit of truth; that teacheth to deny pride, which is one of the &s;even abominations, which the woe is to: <HI>Woe to the Crown of pride;</HI> for the devil, he is the King of Pride, then woe to you, ye devili&s;h proud-Prie&s;ts.</P>
<P><PB N="17" REF="11">Je&s;us Chri&s;t &s;aith, <HI>Learn of me, I am meek and lowly in heart;</HI> but you &s;hew that you are ignorant of his teachings, and are enemies to tho&s;e that are brought into the obedience of his teachings, which teacheth &s;elf-denyal; and you be|ing &s;elf-lovers, are contrary to the Scriptures, and the practice of the Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and &s;candalize the truth where it is manife&s;ted in power.</P>
<P>Are you not covetous? and God doth forbid it, and the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t do forbid it, and &s;ay,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Eph. 5.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. 1 Tim. 6.6, 7, 8.</NOTE> Let not covetou&s;ne&s;s be once named among&s;t you, as it becometh Saints, and let your conver&s;ation be without covetou&s;ne&s;s; for covetou&s;ne&s;s is Idolatry, and draweth the heart from the Lord; and cove|tou&s;ne&s;s is the root of all evil; and you are covetous, (exceeding covetous) the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t &s;aid, having food and rayment, therewith let us be content; and the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t laboured to make the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t to be without charge.</P>
<P>And coveted no mans &s;ilver nor gold, nor were not greedy of filthy lucre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.32, 33, 34, 35. 2 Pet. 5.1, 2, 3, 4. Gal. 1.11, 12, 15, 16. 2 Cor. 3.6.</NOTE> but &s;poke again&s;t it, in obedience to the commands of God the Father of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t.</P>
<P>The Mini&s;ters of Je&s;us Chri&s;t were not taught of man, but of God, they were not made Mini&s;ters by the will of man, but by the will of God, and they were not Mini&s;ters of the letter, but able Mini&s;ters of the &s;pirit; and they made full proof of their Mini&s;tery, and gave no offence in any thing, that their Mini&s;tery might not be blamed, but in all things approving them&s;elves as the Mini&s;ters of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in nece&s;&s;ities, in di|&s;tre&s;&s;es, in &s;tripes, in impri&s;onments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fa&s;tings, by purene&s;s, by knowledge, by long &s;ufferings, by kindne&s;s, by the Holy Gho&s;t, by love unfained, by the word of Truth, and by the power of God, 2 <HI>Cor.</HI> 6.3, 4, 5, 6, 7.<NOTE PLACE="marg">2 Cor. 6.2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9.</NOTE></P>
<P>The Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t were blamele&s;s as the Stewards of God, not &s;elf-willed, not &s;oon angry, not given to wine, no &s;trikers, not given to &s;trong drink, nor filthy lucre, they were lovers of good men, they were holy, ju&s;t, and temperate; <HI>Tit.</HI> 1.7, 8.<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim 3.1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Mat. 23.8. 1 Cor. 9.19.</NOTE></P>
<P>The Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t were not men-plea&s;ers, neither were they called of men Ma&s;ters, but became &s;ervants to all, in obedience to the Command of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and they were not per&s;ecuters, but were gentle towards all men, even towards them that did oppo&s;e them.</P>
<P>They were examples to the flock, and exhorted others to follow them, &s;o far as they followed Chri&s;t, <HI>Eph.</HI> 5.1, 2. and &s;aith he, <HI>Brethren, be ye followers of me,</HI> and mark them that walk &s;o as ye have us for an example, <HI>Phil</HI> 3.17.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.17.</NOTE> for &s;aith he, many walk of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cro&s;s of Chri&s;t, who&s;e end is de&s;truction, who&s;e God is their belly, who&s;e glory is their &s;hame; who minde earthly things,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.18, 19.</NOTE> <HI>Phil.</HI> 3.18, 19.</P>
<P>Now con&s;ider the end of your conver&s;ation even all ye Prie&s;ts of <HI>Baal,</HI> who profe&s;s your &s;elves to be Mini&s;ters of the Go&s;pel, &s;ee where your conver|&s;ation is, are you not altogether earthly, and walk contrary to the holy practice and conver&s;ation of the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, which were examples to the flock in all things? now &s;ee if you have not lo&s;t your examples, and walk altogether contrary?</P>
<P><PB N="18" REF="12">Fir&s;t, As they had received freely, they &s;poke freely again, and were free from covetou&s;ne&s;s, they took God to witne&s;s it, and &s;o made the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t free, and not burden&s;ome.</P>
<P>Secondly, But you are exceeding covetous, and are hirelings, and are a|mong&s;t the fal&s;e Prophets, in the &s;ame &s;tate and condition that tho&s;e were whom the Lord &s;ent his true Prophets to cry out again&s;t, then, as he &s;endeth to cry out again&s;t you fal&s;e Prie&s;ts now, which &s;candalize the truth of God; you are all &s;candalous; and if you have that which is your right, you mu&s;t all be ca&s;t out, every one great and &s;mall for the highe&s;t of you in your fle&s;hly wi&s;dom and notions, are the highe&s;t deceivers of the people. Do not your fruits make you manife&s;t? Are you not all in the &s;ame condition that the fal&s;e Prophets were in, that ran, but the Lord never &s;ent them? do you not look for your gain from you quarter,<NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 56.10, 11.</NOTE> place, and pari&s;h where you are? as tho&s;e did that <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 56.10, 11. Cleer your &s;elves if you can; and do you not take Tythes? which neither Ie&s;us Chri&s;t nor his true Mi|ni&s;ters did; and &s;o act contrary to them, both &s;hewing your&s;elves to be Anti|chri&s;ts, as it is now made manife&s;t by your practi&s;e; &s;candalous you are, all of you Tythe-mongers, and hirelings, and ignorant; you are of the &s;ame &s;pi|rit that they were guided by, that &s;poke for the deceits of the fal&s;e Prophets, and &s;o are enemies both to the people of God, and the ways of God, and are guided by a &s;pirit of errour; deny it if you can: your works will te&s;tifie a|gain&s;t you; and are you not upholders of the traditions and rudiments of the world, which is a prejudice and hinderance of Reformation, and danger of poor &s;ouls, leading them on in blinde ways, wor&s;hipping the works of your own hands, teaching for doctrine traditions, and rudiments of the world, telling peo|ple that they are ordinances of Chri&s;t, when they are but your own inventions?</P>
<P>How dare any of you &s;ay you are the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, and act contrary to them? blu&s;h for &s;hames do you not hold up that filthy horrible thing that was committed in the land, which the Lord &s;ent his true Prophets to cry out a|gain&s;t? as in <HI>Jer.</HI> 5.30, 31. <HI>The Prophets did prophecy fal&s;ly, and the Prie&s;ts they bore rule by their means,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 5.30, 31.</NOTE> then: But do not all the Prie&s;ts here in York-&s;hire &s;o now? Following the wayes of <HI>Balaam,</HI> teaching for gifts and re|wards,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Iude 11.</NOTE> as they did? Shew me but one in all York-&s;hire that does not: Put forth one that is not guilty of it, and cries out again&s;t it as the true Mini&s;ters did; Come, Where is there one in York-&s;hire that goes not on in the wayes of <HI>Cain,</HI> to envy, &amp;c. and that teacheth not for money, or Tythes, and bears not rule by their means? and that &s;eeks not for their gain from their quarter, place and pari&s;h where they are, as the fal&s;e Prophets did? or where is there one that teacheth not for &s;ome of the&s;e? Or that teacheth not for gifts or rewards, as <HI>Balaams</HI> Prie&s;ts did, and that cries out of it, and again&s;t it, as the true Prophets and &s;ervants of the Lord did?</P>
<P>Is there not one to be found in all York-&s;hire out of the fal&s;e Prophets &s;tate, and condition, or el&s;e found in <HI>Balaams</HI> Prie&s;ts &s;tate, and condition, which were all enemies to the Servants of God, and to the ways of God, all minding earthly things, who&s;e end is de&s;truction? <HI>Phil.</HI> 3.18, 19. Sift them all, turn them all out, they are &s;candalous men, and &s;candalize the Go&s;pel of Chri&s;t which is clear, and free, and hath no &s;ale &s;et upon it, as in <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 55.1, 2, 3. <HI>Ho every one that thir&s;teth, come and receive freely, without money or without
<PB N="19" REF="12">
price: Why do you &s;pend your money for that which is not bread, and your labour for that which doth not &s;atisfie? Hearken ye diligently to me,</HI> &s;aith the Lord, <HI>and eat ye that which is good, and your &s;ouls &s;hall live, and I will make with you an everla&s;ting Covenant, even the &s;ure mercies of David.</HI> The Servant of the Lord cries, <HI>Come freely,</HI> I&s;a. 55. <HI>come eat freely, that your &s;ouls may live;</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">I&s;a. 55.1, 2, 3, 4.</NOTE> As he had re|ceived freely of the Lord, he &s;poke freely again, and directed them to the Lord, as he was taught of the Lord, and as the true Mini&s;ters did, he watched for their &s;ouls, as one that was to give account unto God.</P>
<P>But the&s;e fal&s;e Prie&s;ts, they will do nothing without money, they will have money here in York &s;hire for reek pa&s;&s;ing up the chimnies, and for &s;ervants wages, without money will they do nothing: &s;ee if that be not their <HI>Diana;</HI> and they are here in York &s;hire like unto tho&s;e fal&s;e Prie&s;ts, that <HI>Micah</HI> the Servant of the Lord was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t, <HI>Mica.</HI> 3. &s;aith he, <HI>Put into their mouths, and they cry peace, peace,</HI> and &s;ay we are good Chri&s;tians, and are the beloved of the Lord; but now that we try them, and put not into their mouths, they &s;ay, we are Seducers, and Hereticks, and Deluded, and Mad, and they can make &s;uch Chri&s;tians (as they call them) for money, and they can change them, and ca&s;t them out again for want of money; this is the manner of <HI>Balaams</HI> Prie&s;ts here in York-&s;hire; and now that we put not into their mouths, they are &s;o envious, that if it were in their power, they would de&s;troy us, and prepare war again&s;t us, &s;uing &s;ome at Law, becau&s;e they will not pay for reek pa&s;&s;ing up their Chimnies,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.40. 1 Cor. 6.1. 2 Ioh. 9. Mich. 3.</NOTE> and threaten others to go to Law with them, which both Je&s;us Chri&s;t and his true Mini&s;ters do forbid, plainly &s;hewing them&s;elves to be none of his; for he that abideth not in the Doctrine of Chri&s;t, hath not God, 2 <HI>Joh.</HI> 9. and are like unto tho&s;e that <HI>Micah</HI> cries out again&s;t, <HI>Put not into their mouths,</HI> and they prepare war; and now that they are tried, they manife&s;t them&s;elves. All people, try your Prie&s;ts everywhere, and be no longer deceived by them; &s;ee if York-&s;hire Prie&s;ts do not manife&s;tly declare them&s;elves to be among&s;t the fal&s;e Prophets, and are &s;candalous all of them, every one, and are ignorant of the Spirit of truth, for they per&s;ecute tho&s;e in whom it is manife&s;ted to Rule: and &s;ee if the&s;e do not prejudice the calling, and hinder the work of Reformation, as much as in them lies, to the endan|gering of immortal Souls; but God will cut them off out of the work, they have nothing to do with his Mini&s;try, theirs is of man, they are the Mini&s;ters of man and not of God, Enemies to the People of God, and wayes of God, as their fruits do make them manife&s;t, every tree being known by its fruits;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 7.15, 16, 17, 18, 19.</NOTE> they are in the fle&s;h, the Lu&s;t, the Earth, and the Fall, and per&s;ecute tho&s;e that are after the &s;pirit, who are born again, and wor&s;hip God in Spirit and in truth, as in <HI>John</HI> 4.23, 24. Knowing that he &s;eeketh &s;uch to wor&s;hip him.</P>
<P>But the&s;e are of the fir&s;t birth, and draw near to God with their mouth, and lips, but their hearts are far of, having their fear taught by the precepts of men, as tho&s;e had, which the Lord complained of by his &s;ervant the Prophet, <HI>I&s;a.</HI> 29. <HI>ver.</HI> 13.</P>
<P>And are they not upholders and practizers of old Popi&s;h Ceremonies? do they not uphold the Idols temple &s;et up in the time of Popery, or ignorance? for God that made the world, <HI>dwelleth not in temples made with hands, Acts</HI> 7.47, 48, 49. <HI>Acts</HI> 17.24.25. Neither is he wor&s;hipped there with mens hands; and they do wor&s;hip there that which their hearts do imagine, &s;prinkling In|fants,
<PB N="20" REF="13">
which is but a Mark of the Bea&s;t. <HI>Rev.</HI> 13.16, 17, 18. and tell the people it is an ordinance of Chri&s;t, when there is not one word in the Scripture for it;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal 3.27. 1 Cor. 12.13. Eph. 4 4, 5, 6. 1 Pet. 1.22.23.</NOTE> They that are Chri&s;ts <HI>have put on Chri&s;t, and are baptized by one Spirit into one body, where there is but one Faith, one Lord, one Bapti&s;m, one God, and Father of All, and in All, and through All;</HI> tho&s;e that are of the Faith of <HI>Abraham,</HI> and born again of water and the Spirit; But the&s;e are ignorant of it.</P>
<P>And they make u&s;e of the Popes Law to impri&s;on by, denying the Law of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.29, 30, 31.</NOTE> or practice of the people of God; as in 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 14.29 30, 31. when any thing was revealed to him that &s;at by, the fir&s;t was to hold his peace, and the other was to &s;peak; but the&s;e will binde the Spirit of God under a Popi&s;h Law, and deny the Law of God, as by their fruits it doth appear; and &s;o are up|holders of old Popi&s;h Ceremonies, teaching for Doctrine the Traditions of men.</P>
<P>And as the Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York-&s;hire</HI> make u&s;e of the Popi&s;h Hou&s;e, and the Popi&s;h Law, to impri&s;on by, as you may &s;ee in the Statute-Book, in the 1. of <HI>Mary,</HI> A&s;&s;ertion 2. Chap. 3. That which was &s;et forth by Queen <HI>Mary,</HI> for the upholding of Popi&s;h Clergy, as is more at large in the book of Ea&s;ter-reckonings, and the Popi&s;h Ceremonies, are u&s;ed among&s;t the Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York-&s;hire,</HI> as &s;prinkling Infants, making Chri&s;tians (as they &s;ay) by their Imaginations, &s;aying that they enter them then into the Covenant of Chri&s;t, when they do but mark them in their foreheads as the Bea&s;t did that <HI>John</HI> &s;peaks of in the Revelations, and &s;o they u&s;e their own inventions, calling them Ordinances, but it is but the ordinance of mans bea&s;tly corrupt Will, and not the Ordinance of Chri&s;t; neither is there any Scripture for it.</P>
<P N="4">4. Have they not the Popes Doctrine here among them? try them well; do they not keep you ever-learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth? as tho&s;e that <HI>Paul</HI> foretold of &s;hould come in the La&s;t dayes, when there would be perilous times, <HI>when men &s;hould be lovers of their own &s;elves, Covetous, boa&s;ters, proud, fal&s;e accu&s;ers, incontinent, fierce, di&s;pi&s;ers of tho&s;e that are good, lovers of plea&s;ures more then lovers of God;</HI> and are not the Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York-&s;hire,</HI> and the Prie&s;ts of the World the&s;e &s;orts of men, as their fruits make them manife&s;t, <HI>And have they not a form of Godline&s;s, but deny the power thereof?</HI> Is there any Reformation by their Mini&s;try? now the Apo&s;tle bids, <HI>Turn away from &s;uch:</HI> 1 Tim. 3.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. <HI>&amp;c.</HI> Then turn away from all your Prie&s;ts,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Tim 3.1, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, &amp;c.</NOTE> for they are &s;uch that deny the power that reformeth and changeth, and worketh out the old nature, and engrafteth into Chri&s;t Je&s;us, and leadeth up to perfection; they the Prie&s;ts in <HI>York&s;hire,</HI> and likewi&s;e the Prie&s;ts of the World, &s;ay that they &s;hall never be made perfect whil&s;t they are here, and &s;o teach contrary to the Doctrine of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles; and, <HI>If an Angel from Heaven &s;hould bring any other Doctrine, we are forbidden to receive it,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 8, 9, 10, 11, 12.</NOTE> Gal. 1.8, 9, 10, 11. They &s;ay, that they can never over|come the body of &s;in, nor be made perfect here, and they &s;ay, <HI>no unclan thing &s;hall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven:</HI> how will they make the&s;e agree together? try them, ask them if they hold Purgatory, and &s;ee if this be not the Popes Doctrine? take heed to your &s;elves, call them to an account and try them, for they are found fal&s;e in the&s;e parts, and have deceived us long; but now the Lord ath let us &s;ee the deceits of them, and they teach for doctrine the Traditions of men, and rudiments of the world, and not after God; who
<PB N="21" REF="13">
&s;ay that you &s;hall not overcome your &s;ins here, <HI>and that no unclean thing</HI> (that cannot be denyed) <HI>&s;hall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven,</HI> then ask them if they would have you go into Purgatory to be made clean; &s;ee if this be not Po|pery; and they cry our fir&s;t, as the thief doth, that &s;aith, turn theif, turn thief, lea&s;t they &s;hould be taken in the &s;nare them&s;elves: I do te&s;tifie again&s;t them all, that they are deceivers, every one, and no Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, neither were they ever &s;ent of Chri&s;t, and &s;o they &s;candalize the Truth of God, and hinder the work of Reformation, as much as in them lies, and do endanger poor &s;ouls, and are (as <HI>Ho&s;ea</HI> &s;peaks of them) Murtherers, and murder the pure &s;eed in them&s;elves and in others, where there is any appearance of it, and deny the Doctrine of Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles.</P>
<P>Je&s;us Chri&s;t taught the people and pre&s;&s;ed them to perfection. and &s;aid, <HI>Be ye perfect, as your Heavenly Father is perfect,</HI> Mat. 5.48.<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 5.48.</NOTE> and the Apo&s;tle taught the people, as he was taught of God, and he pre&s;&s;ed them to perfection, and &s;aid, <HI>Let as many as are perfect be thus minded, and the re&s;t to pre&s;s on to perfection,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Phil. 3.15. Gal. 1.15, 16. Col. 1.25, 26, 27, 28, 29.</NOTE> <HI>Phil.</HI> 3.15. this was the Doctrine that the holy men of God preached, <HI>And the Apo&s;tle who was made a Mini&s;ter, according to the di&s;pen&s;ation of the grace of God that was given him, which was Chri&s;t revealed in him, whom we preach, warning every man, everywhere, and teaching every man in all wi&s;dome, that he might pre&s;ent every man perfect in Chri&s;t.</HI> Col. 1.25.26, 27, 28, 29. This was the doctrine of Chri&s;t, to pre&s;s them on to be perfect, as their Father which is in heaven is perfect; the Apo&s;tle who was his true Mini&s;ter, did pre&s;s to the &s;ame thing, to pre&s;ent every man perfect in Chri&s;t; &amp; the Prie&s;ts here in <HI>York|&s;hire,</HI> and the Prie&s;ts of the World, the Mini&s;try of Antichri&s;t, or of man, and not of God, &s;ay that they &s;hall never overcome their &s;ins, and &s;o keeps them ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth; &s;aying that they &s;hall never be perfect here; and &s;ee if this be not the Popes doctrine; It is not the doctrine of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, nor his Apo&s;tle, who &s;aid he did &s;trive, labouring mightily according to the power of God, to pre&s;ent every man perfect in Chri&s;t Je&s;us. <HI>Col.</HI> 1.28, 29. and the &s;ame man of God,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Gal. 1 8 9.</NOTE> who had the power of God working in him, &s;aid, He that brings any other doctrine, let him be ac|cur&s;ed; which tho&s;e Prie&s;ts do deny, as by their fruits, and doctrine it doth appear, in which Doctrine is the doctrine of the Devil, that doth not purifie and purge the Con&s;cience from dead works to &s;erve the living God, which doctrine is accur&s;ed, and they cry out of Popery and Prophane&s;s; now &s;ee if they be not as he that cries, turn theif, turn theif; to &s;et the people to look on &s;ome other, that he in tht mean time may e&s;cape; and tho&s;e Prie&s;ts cry out to the Parliament of Popery and prophane&s;s, and live in the &s;ame them|&s;elves that they cry out again&s;t, and would be blinding them with their flatte|ries, and &s;etting them to look on others, whi&s;t they them&s;elves &s;hould e&s;cape; but if they do but turn about, and look on with a &s;ingle eye, they may have a plain made here to ca&s;t out all the Prie&s;ts in <HI>York &s;hire,</HI> and do them Ju&s;tice, accor|ding to their own de&s;ire; light is ri&s;en out of darkne&s;s and &s;ees them to be all &s;candalous, and Ignorant, and Enemies both to the people of God, and the ways of God, and upholders and practi&s;ers of the aboli&s;hed Popi&s;h Ceremonies, and are hinderers of right reformation, and de&s;troyers of poor &s;ouls, as much as in them lieth.</P>
<P N="5">5. And the&s;e Prie&s;ts, they put <HI>Davids</HI> Conditions into rime and meeter, go|ing
<PB N="22" REF="14">
into the hou&s;e of <HI>Rimmon</HI> to wor&s;hip, where they &s;ing lyes in Hypocri&s;ie, &s;aying, All my bones &s;hake, and all my fle&s;h trembles, when they lye: and lying is di&s;honour to the Lord; and they &s;ay, O Lord my righteou&s;ne&s;s, when they them&s;elves are the &s;ervants of Sin and plead for it, and teach the people to lye, calling that the &s;ervice of God; but lying is of the Devil, and he is the Father of lyes, and they teach the People to &s;ing, and &s;ay, <HI>O Lord I am not puft in minde, I have no &s;cornful eye:</HI> when they are puft in &s;corn and deri&s;ion, and &s;o &s;ing lyes to the di&s;honour of God, all lyes, howling and lying; when they read <HI>Davids</HI> conditions, they read them with hats on, and when they turn them into rime and meeter, they put their hats off, and lye &s;inging, and &s;etting that nature on &s;inging, and to rejoyce; which is for the cur&s;e, and &s;o wor&s;hip the works of their own hands, following the Imaginations of their own hearrs, and take a gla&s;s and &s;peak an hour by their old Author &s;tudyed &s;pirit, and their gla&s;s &s;tanding by, as if the word of the Lord was to be bound to an hour,<NOTE PLACE="marg">1 Cor. 14.15. Rev. 14.1, 2, 3.</NOTE> day, or place; &s;ee if this be not errour, or Popery, and hold it not up, be not deceived, God will not be mocked.</P>
<P><HI>Let him that &s;ings, &s;ing with the Spirit, and the &V;nder&s;tanding,</HI> to know what he &s;ings; They that are redeemed from the Earth, &s;hall &s;ing new Songs, which none can &s;ing but tho&s;e that are redeemed out of the Fall up to the Lord God, <HI>and to the Lamb, to Prai&s;e him for ever.</HI></P>
<P>Let not your Prie&s;ts deceive you, and de&s;troy your &s;ouls any longer, and keep you under Popery, Athei&s;m and Ignorance of the Spiritual Mini&s;try; Chri&s;t is a My&s;terie, and none know him, but they to whom he is revealed: put out all your Prie&s;ts, they all deceive you, every one.</P>
<P>And that you may know the truth, wait upon the Lord for teaching, who is the Teacher of all his by his Spirit, and the mini&s;tration is powerful, to re|deem the &s;oul out of the Fal up to God, and to reform and change your na|tures and di&s;po&s;itions, which will guide you, and lead you into the way of peace, to know the Lord, to gather out of all the ways and works of darkne&s;s, Athei&s;m and Popery, Covetou&s;ne&s;s and Prophane&s;s, which all are given to Prei&s;ts, and People, that live in their fir&s;t nature, and know not God; <HI>who is a &s;pi|rit, and of purer eyes then to behold Iniquity; who is a con&s;uming fire, and is both the heart-&s;earcher and tryer,</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Petition.</NOTE> <HI>and will burn up the wicked in the indignation of his Ire.</HI></P>
<P><HI>That the Faithful Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, by whom we have believed, who&s;e la|bours have been &s;o profitable, and are yet &s;o nece&s;&s;ary to the Church of God, and who&s;e reputations and encouragements ought to be &s;o dear unto us, are daily laden with contempt and reproach, di&s;turbed in the diligent and peaceable execu|tion of their office, by evil and unrea&s;onable men, and al&s;o undermined in their cal|ling and maintenance: whereby the cour&s;e of the Go&s;pel is much hindered, and the &s;pirit of Gods people, (nay we doubt not to &s;ay) the Spirit of God him&s;elf is grieved and vexed to &s;ee the precious Ordinances of Chri&s;t trodden under foot,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>That the Faithful Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, by whom we have believed,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P>That the Mini&s;ters of <HI>York&s;hire,</HI> or the Mini&s;ters of the World, are the Mi|ni&s;ters of Antichri&s;t,<NOTE PLACE="marg">An&s;w. <HI>1.</HI> The Prie&s;ts Practi&s;e.</NOTE> as their fruits do make them manife&s;t; and their Mini|&s;try is of man, and not of God, and the Faith that is &s;poken of is corrupt, for it doth not purifie, but worketh into Pride, Covetou&s;ne&s;s, oppre&s;&s;ion, and per&s;e|cution, lu&s;t and revenge, hatred, backbiting, &s;cornfulne&s;s, cruelty, malice, debate, deceit, malignity and envy, drunkenne&s;s, lying and &s;wearing; becau&s;e
<PB N="23" REF="14">
of oaths, the Land mourns, and pride &s;wels, and Covetou&s;ne&s;s, and op|pre&s;&s;ion, and grinding the faces of the poor, and the&s;e are the fruits of the reprobate, and are Ordinances of Antichri&s;t and not of Chri&s;t, and they are all gone out of the way, both Prie&s;ts and people, and the people are de&s;troyed for lack of knowledge; becau&s;e thou ha&s;t rejected knowledge, &s;aith the Lord, I will al&s;o reject thee; that thou &s;halt be no Prie&s;t to me; &s;eeing thou ha&s;t for|gotten the Law of thy God, I will al&s;o forget thy children; as they were in|crea&s;ed, &s;o they &s;inned again&s;t me, &s;aith the Lord; and as it was then, &s;o it is now; therefore thus &s;aith the Lord, <HI>I will change their glory into &s;hame, for they eat up the &s;in of my people, and they &s;et their heart to do wickedly;</HI> it is not now made manife&s;t by their fruits? for there is like Prie&s;t like people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Ho&s;ea 4 6, 7, 8, 9.</NOTE> <HI>I will puni&s;h them for their wayes, and reward them their doings, &s;aith the Lord.</HI> Ho&s;. 4.6, 7, 8, 9.</P>
<P N="2">2. It is with the Prie&s;ts now, as it was with the fal&s;e Prie&s;ts and fal&s;e Prophets; and the people now, as it was with the children of <HI>I&s;rael,</HI> after they had back&s;lid. and broken the Covenant of the Lord; their &s;ins te&s;tifie again&s;t them to their faces now, as theirs did then, <HI>Ho&s;.</HI> 5.5. <HI>They call the proud happy: and they that work wickedne&s;s are &s;et up; and they that tempt God are even delivered.</HI><NOTE PLACE="marg">Mal. 3.15.</NOTE> Mal. 3.15. as it was then &s;o it is now, in this generation; and the Prie&s;ts of the World are contrary to Je&s;us Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, who were his true Mi|ni&s;ters in all things. 1. They are exceeding proud, and are called of men Ma&s;ters, which Je&s;us Chri&s;t hath taught his to deny: <HI>Mat.</HI> 23.8. and herein they walk contrary to the Scripture, and the command of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, and &s;hew the &s;pirit of errour, and are no Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, that do not abide in his Doctrine, but are of Antichri&s;t, and are Lords over Gods heritage;<NOTE PLACE="marg">Mat. 23.1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7.</NOTE> Proud Phari&s;ees they are, and &s;it in the &s;ame &s;eat, and act the &s;ame things as they did; they have the chiefe&s;t places in the A&s;&s;emblies, as the Scribes and Phari&s;ees had, which were enemies to Ie&s;us Chri&s;t; they love the greetings in markets, as they did, and to be called of men Ma&s;ters, as they were, and &s;uffer men to wor&s;hip them with cap and knee, and are enemies to Ie&s;us Chri&s;t, as the Scribes and Phari&s;ees were, and hold up that which he came to throw down, and &s;o walk contrary to Ie&s;us Chri&s;t; herein they &s;hew them&s;elves to be Antichri&s;ts, and of the &s;a<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="UOM" EXTENT="1+ letters">e generation that per&s;ecuted Chri&s;t when he came in the fle&s;h, as they do now that he is appearing in Spirit, and the chief Prie&s;ts were the greate&s;t per&s;ecuters of him then, as the Prie&s;ts of <HI>York|&s;hire</HI> are now, who follow their &s;teps.</P>
<P N="3">3. They are exceeding covetous, and burden and oppre&s;s poor people,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Acts 20.33, 34, 35. 1 Cor. 4.11, 12, 13. 1 Cor. 9.15, 16, 17, 18. Gal. 1.10. Jam. 2.1, 2.</NOTE> and are light and wanton, living in plea&s;ures and wantone&s;s upon earth, which the true Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t did forbid, as in all things they were good examples to the people; but the&s;e are evil examples, and walk contrary both to the Scriptures, and the practi&s;e of Chri&s;t, and his true Mini&s;ters; herein they &s;hew the &s;pirit of errour, and are enemies to the Truth of God.</P>
<P N="4">4. <HI>They are men-plea&s;ers,</HI> all the Prie&s;ts of the world, <HI>and have mens per&s;ons in admiration becau&s;e of advantage, denying the Faith of our Lord Je&s;us Chri&s;t,</HI> Iames 2.1, 2. Gal. 1.10. which the true Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t did practi&s;e; herein they walk contrary to the Scripture, and &s;hew the Spirit of errour, and are enemies to the truth of God.</P>
<P N="5">5. The Prie&s;ts of the World, or the Mini&s;ters of man and of Antichri&s;t, they are blamable, and are &s;oon angry, and are given to wine, &s;trikers, and
<PB N="24" REF="15">
are given altogether to filthy lucre,<NOTE PLACE="marg">Jer. 23.26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32. Joh. 1.1, 2. &amp;c. Joh. 17.14, 15, 16, 17. Jer. 23.29. Heb. 4.12. 1 Pet. 1.22, 23. Rom. 6. 1 Cor. 6.11. 1 Pet. 1.25. Jam. 1.21, 22. Col. 1.1. 2 Cor. 3.6. Gal. 1.11, 12. Eph. 1.1. 2 Tim. 1.1. Mat. 23. Mat. 26. Jer. 23.16, 17, 18, 19, 20. Jer. 23.10, 11, 12, 13, 14. Jer. 23.1. Jer. 5.23, 24, 25, &amp;c. Ho&s;ea. 4.1, 2, 3, &amp;c. I&s;a. 59. I&s;a. 29.9, 10, 11, &amp;c. Gal. 1.8, 9. Mal. 2. to the 10. <HI>The two Seeds, one of the Fle&s;h, and the other of the Spirit.</HI></NOTE> contrary to the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t, as in <HI>Titus</HI> 1.7. 1 <HI>Tim.</HI> 3.1, 2, 3. walking contrary to the Scripture, and are guided by the &s;pirit of error.</P>
<P N="6">6. The Prie&s;ts of the world and their Mini&s;try is not of God, but of man; they are the Mini&s;ters of man, and not of God, and are no Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, but are of the imaginary wayes; what they do conceive of, or imagine, that they hold forth, and know not the word of life, which is eter|nal, that &s;anctifieth, and purifieth Soul and Body, which word is invi&s;ible, and is as a fire, and a hammer, and is quick, and powerfull, which is the power of God that killeth the old nature, and purgeth out the old leaven, and rai&s;eth up the immortal Soul out of death to prai&s;e the Lord. And they that do Admini&s;ter it, are clean&s;ed, and wa&s;hed, ju&s;tified and &s;anctified by it, which word endureth for ever, being the ingrafted word, that is able to &s;ave the &s;ouls of tho&s;e that know the Mini&s;tration of it, and the Mini&s;ters of it were, and are able Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, not taught of man, but by the will of God, and admini&s;ter to that which is kept in the death, the im|mortal &s;eed, which the Mini&s;ters of the world are ignorant of, but are per|&s;ecuters of tho&s;e that hold forth the word of life now, as the Jews and Scribes, and Phari&s;ees, chief Prie&s;ts, and Elders of the people were, and they &s;peak a divination of their own brain, and not from the mouth of the Lord, and their Mini&s;try will never &s;atisfie nor purifie one &s;oul; it hath been long, but here is no redemption, nor Sanctification by it; Nay, they &s;ay them&s;elves that it will never &s;anctifie them whil&s;t they are here, and by their fruits it doth &s;o appear, and &s;o it doth not profit the people at all; they teach for Doctrine traditions, and rudiments of the world, and they are all confu&s;ed, &s;o many men, &s;o many minds; when as the Mini&s;ters of Chri&s;t were and are all of one heart, and one minde, who were taught of God, and are Mini&s;ters of the Spirit, and not of the letter, or of man, as the Prie&s;ts of the world, and all tho&s;e here in <HI>York-&s;hire</HI> are, and are contrary both to Chri&s;t, and his true Mini&s;ters, and load his Servants with Reproachings, and Revilings, and are Enemies both to him and his, and they and their Mini&s;try is accur&s;ed, for it is contrary both to Chri&s;t and his Apo&s;tles, and doth neither &s;anctifie, nor purifie, but keeps in the lu&s;t of the fle&s;h, and in the fall.</P>
<P>There are two &s;eeds, one after the fle&s;h, as <HI>I&s;hmael</HI> was, and the other after the Spirit, and by promi&s;e, as <HI>I&s;aac</HI> was; and they that are after the fle&s;h, they per&s;ecute them that are after the &s;pirit, and they that are after the &s;pirit, or by promi&s;e, are made not onely to believe, but al&s;o to &s;uffer what the Lord &s;hall permit, or &s;ee good; and they that are of the promi&s;ed &s;eed are of <HI>Abraham</HI> now, and are born again, one Seed, one Faith, one God, one Father, one Bapti&s;m, one Bread, one Body, all one, and in one, Baptized by one Spirit into that one body, which is &s;piritual, and made to drink into one Spirit, and their faith doth purifie them, and work|eth them out of their old nature, and ingrafteth them into the Vine, which is Chri&s;t Je&s;us, the Vine of the Lords free love, and being all one in Chri&s;t Je&s;us, &s;et and ingrafted into their own Vine, the natural branches being cut off, tho&s;e that are Jews outward, and not inward, who live in the wild-O|live, and in their natural &s;tock, or &s;tate, or condition, know them not who are in the true Vine, being made partakers of the Divine nature, their faith &s;tanding out of the wi&s;dom of mans words in the power of God,
<PB N="25" REF="15">
groweth with an increa&s;e, making fruifull, being in the Vine, the fruits of true faith do &s;hew it forth, as Vertue, and Knowledge, Temperance, Pati|ence, Godline&s;s, brotherly kindne&s;s, and charity, which maketh fruitfull in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Je&s;us Chri&s;t; &s;o &s;hall all men know, &s;aith he, <HI>That ye are my Di&s;ciples, if ye love one another,</HI> continue in my love: for faith without works is dead, as the worlds faith is, or the fruits of the fir&s;t &s;eed, which is after the fle&s;h, and they that are in the fle&s;h, their old corrupt nature, and in the wild Olive, they cannot plea&s;e God, and their faith &s;tandeth without in the wi&s;dom of mans words, and not in the power of God, which worketh a Reformation, and a change, but as they are in the fall, their fruits make them manife&s;t, and their faith is corrupt, it doth not purifie their con&s;cience from dead works, and &s;o they believe in that which thier prie&s;ts lead them into for good, as &s;ay the Petitioners, we have be|lieved in them for good, like Prie&s;ts, like People, as in <HI>Ho&s;eas</HI> time, <HI>Ho&s;ea.</HI> 4. and all live in one nature, that are in the fall, and are under the cur&s;e, in their old nature, both Prie&s;ts and people, and the Prie&s;ts are evil ex|amples to the people.</P>
<P N="1">1. The Prie&s;ts, they live in Pride, and the people they believe,<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Prie&s;ts are evil ex|amples.</NOTE> that if they may be proud that are their leaders, they may follow their examples, be|cau&s;e it is &s;uitable to their earthly hearts, and &s;o they believe in them, as they &s;ay, for good, calling good evil, and evil good; but the woe is to &s;uch.</P>
<P N="2">2. The Prie&s;ts they live in Covetou&s;ne&s;s, and the people they follow their examples, and are all given to Covetou&s;ne&s;s, both Prie&s;ts and people, and love it, and believe it is good, becau&s;e it is &s;uitable to their earthly hearts, and that is the good that they believe in them for, all feeding daily on the forbidden fruit, for both Pride and Covetou&s;ne&s;s is forbidden, and tho&s;e that live in it, both Prie&s;ts, and People, are in the broad way, in the fall, and under the cur&s;e.</P>
<P N="3">3. The Prie&s;ts live in rayling, and lying, and &s;peaking evil of that which they know not, and they live in plea&s;ures and wantonne&s;s, and heady-high-mindedne&s;s, Lu&s;t, and revenge to per&s;ecution, oppre&s;&s;ion, and grind|ing the faces of the poor, and &s;ee if the&s;e be not fruits of darkne&s;s, and whether they do not live in them, and the tree is known by its fruits, and if this be not Athei&s;m, Ignorance, Blindne&s;s, Delu&s;ion, and Herre&s;ie, and errs from the truth; for they are no fruits of the Spirit, but of the fle&s;h, and of the &s;eed of the Serpent, who&s;e head is yet unbrui&s;ed in them that act tho&s;e things: And the People they follow the example of the Prie&s;ts, and believe that if they do &s;uch things, that are teachers, and leaders of them, they may do the &s;ame, and follow them as Examples, and becau&s;e tho&s;e things are delight&s;ome to the fle&s;h, they love them, and believe in them for good, and would not leave the evil of their doings, but cry out again&s;t tho&s;e that &s;peaks again&s;t them for their ungodly deeds.</P>
<P>And becau&s;e they cannot but declare again&s;t their deceits in &s;peaking the truth, they cry out, &s;aying, that they lade them with contempt, and re|proach, and di&s;turb them, &amp;c.</P>
<P>But the time is come that they cannot endure &s;ound Doctrine;<NOTE PLACE="marg">The Prie&s;ts cannot en|dure &s;ound Doctrine.</NOTE> are not the Prie&s;ts here in York-&s;hire, in the &s;ame &s;tate and condition that the fal&s;e Prie&s;ts, and fal&s;e Prophets were in, whom the Lord &s;ent his true Pro|phets
<PB N="26" REF="16">
to cry out again&s;t then, as he &s;endeth to cry out again&s;t the&s;e now? <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t them, and called them dumb dogs, yea greedy dogs, &s;hepherds that could not under&s;tand, that never had enough, for they did every one look for their gain from their quarter, <HI>I&s;aiah</HI> 56.10, 11. and becau&s;e he &s;poke the truth, he was hated of them; as tho&s;e do hate the Servants of the Lord now, that te&s;tifie again&s;t their deceits, and di&s;turb them, breaking their carnall peace, and fal&s;e re&s;t, and now they cry out again&s;t it.</P>
<P><HI>Jeremiah,</HI> he was &s;ent to cry out again&s;t them, and &s;aid that they held up a filthy, and a horrible thing; for they preached for hire, and did bear rule over the people by their means, <HI>Jer.</HI> 5.30. and do they not &s;o now? was not <HI>Jeremy</HI> lade with contempt for declaring the truth, and put in the Pri&s;on, and in the Dungeon? and am I become your Enemy, becau&s;e I tell you the truth? doth that lade you, and di&s;turb you, or do not you lade the &s;ervants of the Lord, that are &s;ent to tell you of your deceits, and de|ceiveablene&s;s, and render them odious to the People? but the Lord will clear up the Innocency of his People, and take away the names of reproach from them, and give you the cup of his fury, that you may drink the dreggs of it, and be a&s;hamed of the evil of your doings.</P>
<P><HI>Malachi,</HI> He was &s;ent to the Prie&s;ts to tell them that their ble&s;&s;ings were cur&s;t, <HI>Mal.</HI> 2. and you are now found in the &s;ame &s;tate and condition; doth truth lade you, and di&s;turb you, and break your peace? It mu&s;t be &s;o, for God is again&s;t you, and you are tho&s;e that cau&s;e the truth to &s;uffer, and lade it by reproaches, and revilings, and per&s;ecutions, as your fruits make it manife&s;t, and &s;o you mu&s;t drink the cup of trembling, and a&s;toni&s;hment; for <HI>Jeru&s;alem</HI> &s;hall be a burden&s;ome &s;tone to all Nations; for the Spirit of God is grieved by you that burden, and oppre&s;s poor creatures, and are never &s;atisfied, crying out for means for your bellies, making your bellies your Gods, &s;eeking after earth and earthly things; Who&s;e God is their belly, who&s;e glory is their &s;hame, who mind earthly things, per&s;ecuting, and impri&s;oning, and &s;hamefully entreating tho&s;e that are &s;ent to preach the glad tidings of the Go&s;pel, and you fill up the mea|&s;ure of your fathers Iniquities, as your fruits do witne&s;s again&s;t you, that you are they that &s;tay the righteous, and per&s;ecute the Innocent, and are drawing upon your heads wrath without remedy, even wrath to the utmo&s;t; for he will plague the Bea&s;t, and the fal&s;e Prophet, and burn the whore with fire, and confound the wi&s;dom of the wi&s;e, and bring to nought the coun&s;el of the prudent, that he may reveale him&s;elf to babes, and teach them the knowledge of his truth, <HI>for he will rule all Nations with his Iron-rod, who is King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, the Lord God omnipotent, ever prai&s;ed be his name.</HI></P>
<P><NOTE PLACE="marg">Petition.</NOTE>La&s;tly, <HI>They take boldne&s;s to repre&s;ent, that the liberty granted by the Parlia|ment, in matters of Religion, and the wor&s;hip of God, is much abu&s;ed, to the in|crea&s;e of Popery and prophanene&s;s, contrary to your intentions in the &s;ame,</HI> &amp;c.</P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> It grieveth the&s;e per&s;ecuting Prie&s;ts that any liberty &s;hould be granted for the Truth to be declared, le&s;t that their deceits &s;hould be laid open; and are troubled that the Parliament &s;hould &s;ee beyond them, to give &s;ome liberty, that truth may not alwayes be bound under the powers of
<PB N="27" REF="16">
darkne&s;s ruling in the proud Prie&s;ts; but light is ri&s;ing in Parliament, and people, to &s;ee the deceits of the Prie&s;ts, though they would be giving meanings by their old-author &s;tudied &s;pirit, got out of old Authors at the Univer&s;ity, where the fountain is corrupted, full of dead mens bones, and now it &s;tinks, now that their deceit is di&s;covered how they have deceived the people in the night time, the time of darkne&s;s, whil&s;t the My&s;terie of iniquity bore rule in man, now light is ri&s;en, and is ari&s;ing to &s;ee how they have a long time blinded the people in giving meanings to the Scriptures, which are true as they &s;peak, who do come to &s;ee them fulfilled, can wit|ne&s;s it, as there are many in tho&s;e parts can bear te&s;timony to the &s;ame; and now that the &s;ubtile Foxes are beaten out of that hole, they would make the Parliament believe that there &s;tands need of a meaning to be given to their late act, or grant for liberty in matters of Religion, as if they knew not what they did intend in the thing, without they give them a meaning to their intentions, but becau&s;e it is contrary to their intention, that is the rea&s;on that they would not have any to know any thing, but what they &s;ugge&s;t, or put into their brain; but brain knowledge is dying, and now the Prie&s;ts are crying to Magi&s;trates to help, to uphold them; but as light doth ari&s;e in the hearts of the Parliament, they will be ready to put out their dim lights, and give &s;uch grants for liberty of Con&s;cience, that truth may be declared in every place; that which is revealed in &s;ecret, &s;hall be declared on the hou&s;e top, and that will make a free pa&s;&s;age for truth to be declared; and &s;o the corrupt fountain of <HI>Oxford,</HI> and <HI>Cambridge,</HI> which is under the cur&s;e will have a &s;top, and then there will be an effectuall cour&s;e taken, for removing of &s;candalous Mini&s;ters, that run from God to be taught of man, and &s;o all ca&s;t out, that none may &s;peak but as they do receive their words from the Lord, which runs out of the pure Fountain, and that is under the ble&s;&s;ing of the Almighty, where there is no burthening of poor people for carnal means, &s;eeking after the love and friend&s;hip, and honor of the world, and kingdom of the world, as the Prie&s;ts of the world do, that are in the &s;tate and condition of infidelity, Athei&s;m, and profanene&s;s, and dare not tru&s;t God, but di&s;honour him. And they are worthy all to be removed, and ca&s;t out; the time draweth nigh, wherein righteou&s;ne&s;s &s;hall run down all our &s;treets, and knowledge &s;hall fill the earth as the wa|ters cover the Sea, and righteou&s;ne&s;s ruling in Magi&s;trates, and Ju&s;tice and Equity &s;et up, which we honor in our &s;ouls, and tho&s;e that are the acters of it, and we rejoyce to &s;ee the Lord declaring his free love through his poor de&s;pi&s;ed creatures, and binding up the broken hearted, but we deny the Prie&s;ts of <HI>Baal,</HI> for they have a long time deceived us, and now it is our duty to cry out again&s;t their deceits, that all people may con|&s;ider of them, and &s;ee what they are profited by them, and what Reforma|tion is among&s;t them; are they not all confu&s;ed, and live in conceivings, and imaginations? but the Lord is binding his Law upon the Spirits of his people, which will be &s;uch battlements of purity, that deceits and deceivers will not be able to enter into the inward Court, but will be kept without, and trodden underfoot, and Popi&s;h and profane per&s;ons ca&s;t out; &amp; Proud, Covetous, Envious, Malicious Prie&s;ts with their &s;ubtilties cannot enter any more with their deceiveablene&s;s, and craftine&s;s, whereby they lie in
<PB N="28" REF="17">
wait to deceive poor people to the di&s;honor of God, in de&s;pi&s;ing his Ordi|nances, which is his power, even the power of God unto Salvation; which power they being ignorant of, they do pollute his Sabboths in doing their own work, and not his; &s;peaking their own words, and thinking their own thoughts, which tho&s;e do not that are entred into their re&s;t, <HI>Heb.</HI> 4. As the&s;e do, that &s;ell their wares at great rates, and compell people to buy, and if they have not money to give them, then they &s;ue, and go to Law, and break the Law of God, and if any come to declare what God hath done for his &s;oul, as <HI>David</HI> did, though it be after that he hath ended his &s;tage-play, contrary to the Grant for the ea&s;ing of burdned con&s;ciences, he cries, Take him away, and have him to pri&s;on, and take boldne&s;s to break the Laws of the Land, and run away him&s;elf, but the tryall he will not &s;tand; and this is the practice of &s;everal of the Prie&s;ts here in York-&s;hire, when the Lord &s;ends to any of them, and thus they prove them&s;elves to be the Mini&s;ters of man, and not of God; but he will brui&s;e them with his Iron rod.</P>
<P><HI>Let all that love the Lord, ble&s;s the Lord, prai&s;e him, and magnifie him for ever: The Lord is our Judge, the Lord is our Law-giver, the Lord is our King, and doth us teach, pre&s;erve, and keep, and out of their cruelties &s;ave, and de|liver, to him alone that &s;its upon his throne, ruling by his power, each day, and eeke each hour, be all prai&s;e, honor, and glory, for ever, and ever.</HI> Amen.</P>
<P><HI>Hallelujah to the highe&s;t: The Lord raigneth, let the earth rejoyce.</HI></P>
<P><HI>All ye Saints of the Lord, ble&s;s ye the Lord, prai&s;e him, and magnifie him for ever;</HI> and let Ju&s;tice, and equity be &s;et up, and righteou&s;ne&s;s e&s;tabli&s;hed; &s;o &s;hall you have the ble&s;&s;ing of the Lord upon all your coun&s;ells, and en|deavours, and rejoyce in him for evermore.</P>
</DIV2>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="exhortation">
<PB N="29" REF="17">
<HEAD>An exhortation to the Magi&s;trates.</HEAD>
<P>AWake awake you Magi&s;trates and Rulers, and fear the Lord God Al|mighty, and do that which is Ju&s;t, have mercy and walk humbly with your God, and do Ju&s;tice without partiality: O &s;tand in the Coun&s;el of the Lord, and beware of looking out to the Egyptian &s;tudies for Coun&s;el: and you which are &s;et up to be Rulers, ca&s;t out all your old Laws, that are contrary to the Law of God, and e&s;tabli&s;h Laws according to the Law of God, that God may be glorified in you, bringing forth the fruits of Righteou&s;ne&s;s: Beware of being countenancers of evil doers, and puni&s;hing the innocent, poor, and harmele&s;s, and let all &s;uch who are &s;ound &s;candalous Mini|&s;ters, which profe&s;s Chri&s;t in words, not abiding in his doctrine, let them be ca&s;t out, for his Go&s;pel is the power of God unto Salvation, and not their vain In|ventions, Imaginations, Repetitions, and Divinations of their own Brain; Cea&s;e from holding them up, the Lord is again&s;t them, for he alone is come to teach his children him&s;elf, who is our King, Lawgiver, and Judge, to whom be all prai&s;e and thanksgiving now and for ever.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Thomas Aldam, By the dark World called a Quaker.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
</DIV1>
<DIV1 TYPE="exhortation">
<HEAD>An Exhortation to all People that have a de&s;ire to know the Truth, that the Truth may make them free.</HEAD>
<P>EVery one that hath a de&s;ire to know the truth, that the truth may &s;et you free, mind the light of God in you, that &s;hews you &s;in, and evil, that which checks you when you do ami&s;s, either when you lye, or &s;wear, or are Proud, or Covetous, or Oppre&s;s, or Envy, or Hate, or Backbite one another, or u&s;e any deceit, there is &s;omething in you that will check you, and
<PB N="30" REF="18">
tell you that you &s;hould not do &s;o, if you hearken to it; that which &s;hews you your vain thoughts, and wondering de&s;ires, and wicked Imaginations, if you hearken to it, and let it guide your mindes, it will turn them within, and &s;o &s;hew you how you have &s;pent your time, and bring you to con&s;ider of your wayes, and your doings, that you may for&s;ake that which is evil, and turn to the Lord, that he may have mercy upon you; this light within, if you hearken to it, it will not &s;uffer you to do any wrong to any man, but to do to all as you would be done by; and obeying it, it will teach you to deny your &s;elves of Pride, and Covetou&s;ne&s;s, and Oppre&s;&s;ion, and Drunkenne&s;s, and Lying, and Swearing, and Vain talk, and Fooli&s;h je&s;ting, and all vain delights and plea&s;ures what&s;oever; and minding this light within, to be obedient to it, it will cro&s;s your earthly wills, and turn you out of the lu&s;t, and filth of the fle&s;h, and lead you out of all the worlds wayes, and words, and cu&s;toms, and fa&s;hions, and wor&s;hips, and delights, and vanities what&s;oever, and bring you to delight in the Lord, to do his will, in yeilding obedience to his commands, in what the light doth require of you to be done, that you may ca&s;t off the works of darkne&s;s, as this light within makes them manife&s;t to you; This light within you, will not &s;uffer you to eat and drink to make your &s;elves wanton, if you hearken to it, and let it guide your minds; this light within, will not let you wear apparel to make your &s;elves proud, and burden and oppre&s;s poor creatures, if you hearken to it; and here is your teacher, this light, obeying it; and here is your condemnation, this light di&s;|obeying it; this light is not without you, a Chapter or a Ver&s;e, but the light is within, as it was in them that &s;poke forth the Chapters; ye have a light, to the whith ye do well to take heed, as unto a light that &s;hineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-&s;tar ari&s;e in your hearts: Take heed to that light, le&s;t you be condemned by it: obeying it, it will &s;hew you the way to Salvation; di&s;obeying this light, it will condemn you.</P>
<P>Now you have time, prize it, and take heed of rejecting the Coun&s;el and ad|monition of the Lord to your &s;ouls, as you will an&s;wer it before the Lord: Con|&s;ider of it, and lay it to heart; This is the day of your vi&s;itation.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>VVritten by a Husbandman.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
</TEXT>
</EEBO>
</ETS>
