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<DATE>2013-07-12</DATE>
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<NAME>Sarah Wingo</NAME>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B130611.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<DIV1 TYPE="text">
<PB N="1" REF="1" MS="y">
<HEAD>To the Priests and People of ENG|LAND, we di&s;charge our con&s;ciences, and give them warning.</HEAD>
<OPENER><SALUTE>FRIENDS,</SALUTE></OPENER>
<P>WE have no envy nor malice to any Creature, Prie&s;t or Peple, but are to minde you of your conditions, without any partiality or hypocri&s;ie, and wi&s;h your eternal good: and what we contend again&s;t is your greate&s;t enemy, and will be your everla&s;ting woe and torment, if it be not de&s;troy'd in you. For know, there is the &s;eed of the Woman, and the &s;eed of the Serpent in the World, there is the generation of <HI>Cain</HI> and righteous <HI>Abel.</HI> Now it lieth upon you all to know what ge|neration you are of: for little did the fal&s;e Prophets and that generation that put to death the true Prophets of the Lord, think they were of <HI>Cain</HI>'s race; nor did the Scribes and Phari|&s;ees, that with their Prie&s;ts put Chri&s;t to death, think they were of <HI>Cain</HI>'s generation, for they garni&s;hed the Sepulchres of the righteous, and &s;aid, <HI>If they had been in the dayes of their fathers, they w uld not have &s;lain them;</HI> yet Chri&s;t Je&s;us told them, <HI>That all the blood &s;pilt &s;ince righteous Abel, &s;hould be re|quired of that generation;</HI> and, <HI>that they were the children of them that murthered the Prophets.</HI> Is it not &s;trange, that the learned Prie&s;ts and Scribes, and <HI>Pilate</HI> that had the Hebrew and Greek be&s;ides Latine, &s;hould not finde out by all their high learning, the original of the Scriptures of the Prophets, concerning Chri&s;t Je&s;us, that he was the true M<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;iah: but that they that read the Go&s;pel every Sabbath day, that &s;pake of Chri&s;t, &s;hould murder and put him to death. Now Chri&s;t Je&s;us him&s;elf gives the rea|&s;on,
<PB N="2" REF="2">and thanks his Father, that he had hid it from the wi&s;e, and prudent, and revealed it to babes, becau&s;e it was the Fa|ther's good plea&s;ure, and the Scriptures declare them to be ig|norant, that had the Hebrew, Greek and Latine, <HI>For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of life and glory.</HI></P>
<P>Now People, this was the &s;ame generation of <HI>Cain</HI> in them after Chri&s;ts death, that per&s;ecuted the Apo&s;tles and put them to death; and it was the &s;ame &s;pirit in them that put the Mar|tyrs to death, and of that generation were the Bi&s;hops that per&s;e<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">uted, and &s;o it continueth &s;till to this day in the World; for <HI>Cain</HI>'s generation is now &s;till envying, hating, and per&s;ecut|ing the righteous <HI>Abel.</HI> Now the per&s;ecuting Caini&s;h gene|ration would never acknowledge they were &s;uch, but in all ages per&s;ecuted the ju&s;t under &s;ome fal&s;e colour, as they of old &s;aid, <HI>The true Prophets were troublers of I&s;rael;</HI> and <HI>Amaziel</HI> the Prie&s;t of <HI>Bethel</HI> &s;aid of <HI>Amos, That the Land was not able to bear his words;</HI> and <HI>Haman</HI> &s;aid, <HI>that the Laws of the people of God were contrary to the Laws and Customes of all Nations;</HI> &amp; of <HI>Chri&s;t</HI> they &s;aid, <HI>He was a Deceiver&punc; and had a Devil;</HI> and of <HI>Stephen,</HI> That <HI>he &s;pake again&s;t the holy Place and the Law;</HI> and, That <HI>Paul was a pestilent fellow, and a mover of &s;edition:</HI> &s;o that all a|long it was on a fal&s;e account, the ju&s;t were per&s;ecuted: &s;o in the dayes of the Bi&s;hops, the Martyrs were burnt and but|chered under the name of Hereticks; &s;o now the &s;eed of the Serpent is &s;ubtil, and will not per&s;ecute the Truth, as it is the Truth, but under &s;ome fal&s;e pretence or other, el&s;e all would &s;ee their deceit. But the Truth is, it's from the fir&s;t ri&s;e, be|cau&s;e their own works are evil, and their brothers good: they hated Chri&s;t Je&s;us, becau&s;e he te&s;tified that their works were evil. So now <HI>Cains</HI> generation hates the ju&s;t and pure &s;eed of God, becau&s;e it declares that their works are evil.</P>
<P>Object. <HI>But do not the Prie&s;ts declare again&s;t evil works?</HI></P>
<P><HI>An&s;w.</HI> Yes, they do &s;o: the Scribes and Phari&s;ees &s;pake good words, they &s;pake of the Me&s;&s;iah, yet they killed the &s;ub&s;tance of what they &s;pake: &s;o the Prie&s;ts &s;peak true words, good words, and yet kill, and per&s;ecute, pur&s;ue, and impri&s;on the &s;ub&s;tance and life of what they &s;peak, for he that departs from evil makes him&s;elf a prey to Prie&s;t and People; and &s;ome|times when the light in their con&s;ciences, tells them, when
<PB N="3" REF="2">they are per&s;ecuting the ju&s;t &s;eed, <HI>That they are innocent,</HI> yet they wilfully run on again&s;t the very light of their own con&s;ciences, as did <HI>Stephens</HI> per&s;ecutors.</P>
<P>And is it not &s;o? I &s;peak to that in your con&s;ciences, That though the Prie&s;ts &s;peak true words, yet Prie&s;ts and people that live in <HI>Cains</HI> race, do pur&s;ue and per&s;ecute even to the ve|ry death, the life and power of what they do preach. And know you of a truth, that all the blood &s;ince <HI>Abel,</HI> &s;hall be required of this generation; for, as it groweth to the end, it height|neth and ripeneth its malice and wickedne&s;s, and &s;o &s;hall its judgement be, for double plagues &s;hall be poured out upon her.</P>
<P>Now to you all I &s;peak, &s;in not again&s;t the light in your own con&s;ciences, be not wilfully blinde, but hearken to the light of Je&s;us Chri&s;t in your Con&s;ciences, that you may come to &s;ee what generation you are of, whether of <HI>Cain</HI> or <HI>Abel:</HI> and if you did abide in the light, you &s;hould come to witne&s;s the life and power of what you profe&s;s, and &s;o come to that life that gave forth the Scriptures, and not wre&s;t them to your own Opinions and lu&s;ts: One &s;aying, Loe here in Presbyte|ry; another, Loe there in Independency; and another, in Prelacy; and another in Bapti&s;m: but the Scriptures are not divided, they agree, and hold out one thing; but you divide them, becau&s;e you live not in that life that gave them forth, yet you boa&s;t of your learning, that you have the Hebrew and Greek, and know the Original: but you &s;ee <HI>Pilate</HI> and the Jews had the Hebrew, Greek and Latine, yet knew not the Original, for had they known it, they would not have cruci|fied the Lord of life and glory.</P>
<P>Therefore know you, that you may be, and are ignorant, though you think your &s;elves wi&s;e: Silly men and women may &s;ee more into the my&s;tery of Chri&s;t Je&s;us, then you: for the Apo&s;tles, that the Scribes called illiterate, and <HI>Mary</HI> and <HI>Su|&s;anna</HI> (&s;illy women, as you would be ready to call them, if they were here now) the&s;e know more of the Me&s;&s;iah, then all the learned Prie&s;ts and Rabbies; for it is the Spirit that &s;earcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God, you may know, and yet murther the ju&s;t, and think you do God good &s;ervice.</P>
<PB N="4" REF="3">
<P>This I warn you in love, for I cannot but think that there are &s;ome among you, that ponder on this day, and if you would hearken to the light of Je&s;us Chri&s;t in your con&s;ciences, it would lead you from your own wi&s;dom, learning, and &s;elf-con<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">eitedne&s;s, into the &s;implicity of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, which is a my&s;tery of Faith hid in a pure con&s;cience: for your own wi&s;|dom mu&s;t be denied, if ever you will come to witne&s;s the life and power of true wi&s;dom, which the fear of the Lord is the beginning of; for &s;o did they of old.</P>
<P><HI>Paul</HI> and <HI>Apollo</HI> were very learned and eloquent, &s;aith the Scriptures, yet <HI>Paul</HI> counted all his learning dung for the ex|cellency of the knowledge of Chri&s;t, let his &s;econd Chapter of his fir&s;t Epi&s;tle to the <HI>Corinthians</HI> be a full witne&s;s of this: and <HI>Apollo</HI> was willing to be in&s;tructed of his hearers <HI>Aquila</HI> and <HI>Pri&s;cilla</HI> that were Tent-makers, &amp; the learned that &s;tudied cu|rious Arts burnt their Books that were of great price, when they came to the knowledge of Je&s;us Chri&s;t: &s;o you now, would you hearken to JESUS CHRIST, and obey his light in your con&s;ciences, you would come down to humility and the fear of the Lord, to the true wi&s;dom and under&s;tand|ing, that you would not need &s;o many Authors, and Books, you would not need to rent your heads with &s;tudying, but you would come to &s;ee your Teacher in you, which now is re|moved into a corner, you would come to live a preaching life, and witne&s;s that Faith you talk of, to purifie your hearts from envy, pride and malice, and to get the victory over the worlds glory and honour that is &s;o highly e&s;teem'd by you; and coming to &s;ee your &s;elves in the light of Je&s;us Chri&s;t, you will not Lord it over Gods heritage, nor lift your &s;elves up above your Brethren in pride and arrogancy, but be a &s;ervant to all in love.</P>
<P>Therefore, come now to the light, &s;in no longer again&s;t that in your con&s;cience; for Antichri&s;t mu&s;t be de&s;troyed by the brightne&s;s of his coming, and God is gathering his people out from idol-Shepherds into his own fold, to make them one flock and to give them one Sheperd, that they may &s;erve him with one con&s;ent, for he hath fulfilled this Scripture in thou&s;ands this day whom he hath gathered out of Antichri&s;ts Opinions to wor&s;hip one God in one way, in Spirit and Truth, &s;peaking
<PB N="5" REF="3">all the &s;ame things: if you &s;peak with ten thou&s;and of them, they all agree, having one King, one Law giver.</P>
<P>Now fret not at this, you that live at <HI>Babylon</HI> in confu&s;ion, in divi&s;ions: for the little &s;tone cut out of the Mountain without hands, &s;hall break <HI>Babylons</HI> Idols.</P>
<P>Now con&s;ider Friends and people your conditions, for what good doth all your preaching and hearing do you? break your &s;leep, rent your brains, and as it were, &s;peak out your lungs, and alas who is bettered by it! was there ever more pride, light|ne&s;s, vanity, and wantonne&s;s, manife&s;ted in your A&s;&s;emblies, then now? you make it the place where you &s;et forth your pride, and vanity to the utmo&s;t: was there ever the like inju&s;tice, vio|lence, fal&s;hood and deceit in any age? that &s;carce can a man tell what men mean by what they &s;ay any longer.</P>
<P>Men &s;ay in effect, <HI>That God hath for&s;aken the earth by their wicked practi&s;es:</HI> the people cry out upon the Prie&s;ts, and &s;ay, <HI>That their Opinions have made them &s;o wicked;</HI> and the Prie&s;ts cry out upon the people, and &s;ay, <HI>That the fault is theirs: So that the Lord beheld, and in &s;tead of righteou&s;ne&s;s, equity and judgement, there is a cry.</HI> So your whole Religion is but a noi&s;e, the life, power and &s;ub&s;tance is not in it.</P>
<P>On apo&s;tate <HI>England,</HI> what &s;hall the God of mercies do for thee? what &s;hall he do unto thee? he hath tried thee with mercies, and with the &s;word, and then with peace again, and yet thou repente&s;t not; he hath given thee his witne&s;s, his ju&s;t one to reprove thee, to convince thee of &s;in in thy con&s;cience, but thou h<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;t &s;lain the witne&s;s, murthered and &s;lain the ju&s;t: he will not alwayes &s;trive with man, he will now roar from <HI>Sion,</HI> and the children of the We&s;t &s;hall tremble, tho&s;e that w<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">r&s;hip their idols; he will redeem <HI>Sion</HI> with judgement, and he will tear his flock out of the mouth of the greedy de|vouring &s;hepherds, that have made a prey upon them, and the idol-&s;hepherds &s;hall have their arm dried up, and their right eye darkned.</P>
<P>Come down thou therefore that ha&s;t built among the &s;tars by thy arts and learning; for it's thy pride and thy wi&s;dom, that hath perverted thee thou ha&s;t gone in the way of <HI>Cain,</HI> in envy and malice, and ran greedily after the reward of <HI>Balaam,</HI>
<PB N="6" REF="4">in coverou&s;ne&s;s, and if thou repent not, &s;halt peri&s;h in the gain-&s;aying of <HI>KORE:</HI> for if a Son or a Daughter be moved from the Lord, to go into the A&s;&s;embly of the people, in a m<GAP DESC="illegible" RESP="KEYERS" EXTENT="1 letter">&s;&s;age from the Lord God, thou can&s;t not endure to hear them &s;peak &s;ound Doctrine, having a guilty con&s;cience, and fearing they would declare again&s;t thy wickedne&s;s, thou incen&s;e&s;t the peo|ple, telling them, that they are dangerous people, Quakers, &s;o making the people afraid of us: and in|cen&s;e&s;t the Magi&s;trates, telling them that they mu&s;t lay hold on us, as troublers of the people, and di&s;turbers of the peace, and &s;o makes them thy drudges to act thy malice, that thy filthine&s;s may not be di&s;covered, and thy &s;hame appear; but God will make them in one day to for&s;ake thee, and leave and fly from thee, though for the pre&s;ent thou Lorde&s;t it over Magi|&s;trates, people, meeting hou&s;e, and all, as though all were thine: and thou &s;itte&s;t as a Queen and Lady over all, and wilt have the pre-eminence, and haft got into the &s;eat of God, the con&s;ciences of the people, and what thou &s;aye&s;t mu&s;t not be contradicted: if thou bid them fight and war, they obey it; if thou bid them per&s;ecute and impri&s;on, they do it; &s;o that they ven|ture their Bodies and Souls to fulfil thy lu&s;ts of envy and pride, and in thy pride thou contemne&s;t all others, thou telle&s;t the people, Women mu&s;t not &s;peak in a Church, whereas it is not &s;poke onely of a Female, for we are all one both male and female in Chri&s;t Je|&s;us, but it's weakne&s;s that is the woman by the Scrip|tures forbidden, for el&s;e thou putte&s;t the Scriptures at a difference in them&s;elves, as &s;till its thy practice out of thy ignorance; for the Scriptures do &s;ay, that all
<PB N="7" REF="4">the Church may prophe&s;ie one by one, and that wo|men were in the Church, as well as men, do thou judge; and the Scripture &s;aith, that a woman may not prophe&s;ie with her head uncovered, le&s;t &s;he di&s;|honour her head: now thou would&s;t know the mean|ing of that Head, let the Scripture an&s;wer, 1 <HI>Cor.</HI> 11.3. <HI>The head of every man is Chri&s;t.</HI> Man in his be&s;t e&s;tate is altogether vanity, weakne&s;s, a lye. If therefore any &s;peak in the Church, whether man or woman, and no|thing appear in it but the wi&s;dom of man, and Chri&s;t, who is the true head, be not uncovered, do not fully appear, Chri&s;t the head is then di&s;honoured. Now the woman or weakne&s;s, that is man, which in his be&s;t e&s;tate or greate&s;t wi&s;dom is altogether vanity, that mu&s;t be covered with the covering of the Spirit, a garment of righteou&s;ne&s;s, that its nakedne&s;s may not appear, and di&s;honour thereby come. Here may&s;t thou &s;ee from the Scriptures, that the woman or weakne&s;s whether male or female, is forbidden to &s;peak in the Church; but its very plain, <HI>Paul,</HI> nor <HI>Apollo,</HI> nor the true Church of Chri&s;t, were not of that proud envi|ous Spirit that thou art of, for they owned Chri&s;t Je|&s;us in man or woman; for <HI>Paul</HI> bid <HI>Timothy</HI> to help tho&s;e women that laboured with him in the Go&s;pel, and <HI>Apollo</HI> hearkened to a woman, and was in&s;tructed by her, and Chri&s;t Je&s;us appeared to the women fi &s;t, and &s;ent them to preach the Re&s;urrection to the Apo|&s;tles, and <HI>Philip</HI> had four Virgins that did prophe&s;ie. Now thou do&s;t re&s;pect per&s;ons I know, and art parti|al in all things, and &s;o judge&s;t wickedly, but there is no re&s;pect of per&s;ons with God. Indeed, you your &s;elves are the women, that are forbidden to &s;peak in
<PB N="8" REF="5">the Church, that are become women; for two of your Prie&s;ts came to &s;peak with us; and when they could not bear &s;ound reproof and whole&s;ome Doctrine, that did concern them, they railed on us with filthy &s;peeches, as no other they can give to us, that deal plainly and &s;ingly with them, and &s;o ran from us. So leaving you to the light in all your con&s;ciences to judge of what we have writ, we remain Pri&s;oners in <HI>Exeter.</HI> goal for the word of God.</P>
<CLOSER><SIGNED>Pri&s;cilla Cotton, Mary Cole.</SIGNED></CLOSER>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
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<P>Printed at <HI>London</HI> for <HI>Giles Calvert</HI> at the Black-&s;pread-Eagle, neer the We&s;t end of <HI>Pauls,</HI> 1655.</P>
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