HAving seen of late a little Book entituled a Testimony to the Truth of Jesus Christ: and finding my selfe by name, listed for an Heretick, in that I have formerly Asserted that a Beleever is perfect in this life, or never, which I yet hold for a truth, seeing that as the tree falleth so it shall lie, and it hath been the Doctrin of reverend Hierom, Bolton, Dod, and others; As the day of death leaveth thee, the day of judgment shall find thee: but to be convicted for an Heretick by no other Argument but that female one, it is so because it is so, I cannot so be sa­tisfied; therefore my humble desire un­to you is, that some one amongst you will be pleased to set forth from the let­ter [Page 2] of the Holy-Scriptures (without any of your fallible interpretations. The time when, the place where, and the means by which, a man that before hee dyes is not perfectly made one with the Father and the Sonne by the Spirit, but shall be made so after death: It shall be sufficient unto me to retract my opinion although I have nothing asserted but is Scripture phrase in the letter thereof, if you please to consider the same, seeing the Apostle affirmeth on the behalf of his brethren the Iewes. I bear Rom. 10. 2. them record that they have a zeal of God, but not ac­cording to knowledge. Giveme leave to set before you that glasse that hath plainly shewn me my former mistakes, when I was zealus in my conformitie unto that administration of the Prelacy, & since of that covenanted form of Independency, those that did know mee in either, can bear me witnesse of the truth of my zeal unto my principles: but having a clear manifestation of the true ground and cause from whence ariseth all the revy­lings bitings and devourings that is a­mongst brethren, to be no other but that old root of bitternesse which separated [Page 3] Adam from his Maker, namely Ambiti­on and Covetousnes; his Ambition led him no higher than God, but to be equal with him in knowledge, his Cove­tuosnesse led him out to that which was none of his, either by gift or purchase: the same principle of Ambition and Co­vetuosnes remaineth, but in a different manner, no more ascending up so high as God, for that way our necks were broken; but now the designe is we will fetch God down as low as our selves, or we will have none of him, nay wee will knock him out of the country, if he dare to manifest himselfe in any other way then wee prescribe him. As wee may plainly see in Cain, when hee had formed a sacrifice in which he thought GOD was bound to meet him, and the way of Abel was accepted, and his rejected; how was his countenance cast down, and wrath encreased against his brother, so that nothing could satis­fie his disconted soule, but the death of his brother, that so hee might no more be troubled with such a manifestation of God as appeared in him, which was contrary unto his for me?Gen. 3. 5. 6. Korah be­cause [Page 4] all the people were holy, would not allow that manifestation of God unto Moses, to be any whit superlative unto him, or any of the people, and therefore stubbornly wee will not come up.Numb. 16. 12. more particularly come and see the reason why the Prophets of the Lord could perish no where but at Ierusalem, where the temple of God was, the high Priest that was anointed with holy oile, the Tabernacle, the Mercy seat, the Al­tar of Incense, the daily sacrifice, and the Holy of Holies, where were the O­racles, and yet in this place must the Prophets fall.

Vndoubtedly for no other cause but that the Lord was pleased to manifest himselfe in them, unto the people in a more spirituall and salubious manner then he did appear in the Scribes who were their expositers of the law of Mo­ses, seeing therein no farther than the bare letter (the Prophets being no week­ly Lecturers, nor Masters of any Syna­gogues) but spake only when sent, and as the Spirit gave them utterance. It may seem strang that Isaiah a Prophet of so long standing as to prophesie unto foure [Page 5] Kings, should in his old age be by the learned Rabbies awarded no better death, than to bee sawed in peices. It must needs be for some grievous blas­phemy; two of which yee may find in his prophesieIsa. 42. 1. 6. 7. according to their expo­sitions, the first was that the Gentiles should be a glorious Church, the second was that which raigneth so much a­mongst us now, namely hee preached downIsa. 66. 3. Ordinances, Hee that killeth an Oxe as if he slew a man, he that sacrificeth a Lamb, as if he cut off a Dogges neck; he that offereth an oblation as if hee offered swines blood, he that burneth incense as if he blessed an Idoll, this was blaspheming enough to deserve the Sawe, and that the first was blasphemous enough to de­serve death, may appeare by that of St. Paul Act. 22. 21. And he said unto me depart, for I will send thee far hence, unto the gentiles, v. 22. And they gave him au­dience unto this word, and then lift up their voices and said away with such a fellow from the earth, for it is not fit that he should live: so that to all such now as are yet in the ministration of Moses, & no farther, can and will kill any that live higher a­bove [Page 6] Ordinances, in the Spirit, if they can but get Pilate to give judgment, for the like causes did all the rest of the Pro­phets suffer, the being more spirituall, God bearing witnesse in them, did out­shine those that lived in the bare letter of Ordinances, and therefore could not bear such doctrines that did crosse their mouthes. First, their Sacrifices and their standing before the Lord to en­quire after his wil, their hypocritical hu­miliations and bowing downe the head like a bulrush. These things with many other spoken of by the Prophets, and sharply inveighed against; many more (which I could mention, but for brevi­ty I omit) were the only causes why those godly men according to the letter did deale so inhumanely barbarous with those deare servants the Prophets of the Lord, but you will say if the whole San­nedrim of the Iewes did consent, how came their Prophesies to be enrolled in the cannon of holy writ? It is proba­ble that in all ages there were some few that had their negative voice, and did survive the execution of those horrid councells and when good Magistrates [Page 7] reigned, then were those records re­veiwed, & then was enquiry made for their Sepulchers to have them adorned; and had we lived in the dayes of our fa­thers wee would not have killed the Prophets of the Lord as they did, and so the generations successively filled up the measure of their fathers iniquity; more plainely, this is to bee seen in the dayes of the Lord Iesus Christ, if wee consider well how he being so popular, when hee came to save his life by the vote of the people, lost it so shamefully that a Murtherer was preferred before him, and the more strang it is that their affections but two dayes before were so fixt on him, that they durst enter into the strong garrison of Ierusalem, being then under the command of the Ro­mans, Pilate being Governour; and there openly to proclaim a new King of the house of David, crying Hosanna, A­larum sufficient to have brought them to a Councell of Warre, and there they might have thrown dice for their lives; and yet these men upon serious conside­ration changed their minds, and with­in three dayes voted him to death. But [Page 8] you will say this was a giddy multitude easie to bee drawn by cunning, crafty, wicked men; the Iewish nation were never accompted fooles in worldly wisdome, neither were these men pro­phane, but devout in expecting their Mesias, and upon that accompt they followed him from sea to sea to hear his Doctrine, and see his Miracles, and when spies were sent to carp at him, none so ready as they to justifie him, as, when the Christ commeth will he doe greater things than this man hath done. And lo on an instant, crucifie him, away with him, he is not worthy to live. Lets enquire into the cause here­of, and surely you shall find it not to proceed from lightnesse, malice against God, or from prophanesse, but rather from their zeal unto God, and the pre­servation of his holy Ordinances, as appeareth thus. Vpon this uproare Caiphas calleth an assembly (not of drunkards, swearers, and prophane persons) but of the most reverend Priests,Ioh. 11. 49. 50. Scribes, Pharisees, and devout men, that walked constantly in the per­formance of all Religious duties to­wards [Page 9] God, according to the fashion of the Church in those dayes; and some of them had walked in all good Consci­ence towards God, as concerning the Law, unblameable unto that day.

Now saith he, Ye know nothing at all, neither do ye consider that our nati­on is like to perish, if this Iesus remain alive, you are so consciencious of shed­ding bloud least he should be a Prophet, and so you thinke you shall thereby fill up the measure of our Fathers iniquitie; but we must sometimes act Providenti­ally, as well as Piously and Iustly; and therefore whether is it better that one man should dye, or a whole Nation pe­rish? this is now put to the vote, and carryed in the affirmative, onely two are in the negative Ioseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus, but heer is the quaere, the people so doate on him, that they will stone us, we must therefore get him by night, and when we have seiz'd him we shall easily draw off the people from him: for in deed and truth he is not of God, but doth all his works by Belze­bub, and thus the people shall clearly see when wee have gotten him: Christ is [Page 10] now in their hands by the treason of his owne servant, and that in the night when the multitude was asleep, and now the people are called in having se­cured his person from their reach; and now the high Priest begins to act his part, beginning thus or the like, brethren you are the Children of Abraham, of the noble stock of Israel; to whom are committed the Oracles of God, and you are all of you devout and zealous to­wards God, as we are this day, accor­ding to the Law of Moses, and the tra­ditions of the Fathers, for ye are sure that God spake with Moses; but I shall make it appear unto, that all that this man hath done is by the power of Beel­zebub, for you may be assured that who­soever keepeth not the commandements which Moses gave us, is not of God, and when this doth appeare, you will have other thoughts of him, call in the witnesses, doth this man, your great Prophet, keep the Sabboth day? nothing lesse, he works himselfe, and justifies o­thers, also he made clay for a plaister, he allowed his Disciples to gather corn, he commanded the impotent man to carry [Page 11] his Bed, he cured the withered hand, and many more such pranks he doth on the Sabboth day: well, what thinke ye, is he a friend to our nation? or doth he not complot with the Romans to de­stroy us? It is very probable; for wee desired him to resolve us whether it was lawfull to give Gods peny to Caesar or no, he bids us Give unto Caesar the things that were Caesars, and unto God, the things that are Gods; see he cares not how he burtheneth the nation. What thinke ye of him concerning the Ordinances and the Temple, doth he maintain them? here is witness that he did intend to de­stroy the Temple: a very good testimo­ny; what sayest thou to all that is wit­nessed against thee, answerest thou no­thing for thy selfe? we intend to doe nothing against thee but justice; nay, thou shalt have mercy from us, so farre as it may not empeach the glory of God for which our zeale is purely fervent. Christ answers nothing, as if he were sure the major vote of the people would carry it for him,

He is now commanded to withdraw, and now the Preists turne to the people [Page 12] what think yee, is he worthy to live? some of the wiser and more conscienti­ous amongst them demur'd upon it, the witnesses not agreeing fully in every punctilio to the Articles exhibited a­gainst him: now the Priest replyes I see a mighty besottednesse upon your spirits; the breach of the Sabbath, the destruction of the Temple, the laying aside of Ordinances is nothing with you, I think you will tollerate Blasphe­my; likewise (nay) there is no blasphe­my proved against him, but what if you hear him blaspheme to your faces? call him in againe: Come sir you have hard thoughts of us, as if we intended to take away thy life right or wrong, which appeares to us by thy silent car­riage towards us; but I would have thee know wee are holy consciencious men, and do earnestly wait for the Me­siah, and if wee were sure thou wert him, we would worship thee, this set the people right to judge of him: now followes the oath ex officio. I adjure thee by the living God to tell us whe­ther thou be the Christ the son of the living God. Thou hast said; nevertheles [Page 13] I say unto you, hereafter shall yee see the son of man sitting on the right hand of pow­er, and comming in the clouds of Heaven. Now yee have heard his blasphemy. Mat. 26. v. 66, to 68. See then how priest and people (though devout) were transported into a frantick zeale, for preserving God from being blasphe­med, not being able to bear the appea­rancy of God in the flesh, and so be­came the betrayers and murtherers of the Lord of life, and so those people that but even now feared no danger for Christ, being no higher principled than in the carnall commandement of godli­nesse given by Moses, which is but the utter Court of the Temple, were ea­sily drawn aside (by the specious pre­tence of that seeming godlinesse which the Scribes and Pharisees lived in, and thereby deceived themselves as well as the people) and so thought it a more Pi­ous equitable work to vote, that a mur­therer (who was penitent) should live, than to preserve a Blasphemer, that continues in his sinne, and so disturbes the peace of their carnall Church. Vp­on the same accompt did our Popish Bi­shops [Page 14] destroy the Lollards, and burne the Martyrs, not because they were godly people, but because they were ad­judged Hereticks, yet wee condemne them as great persecutors of the Saints: and yet we must make up the measure of our Fathers iniquity? if Penry Barraw and Grenwel will be so bold as to affirme Bishops to be Antichristian, he must hang for it, in the dayes of famous Eli­zabeth; and if Hack [...]t will affirm that Christ is in him the hope of glory, he must [...]russ likewise: I hope you will not conclude our Clergy to be maliciously wicked, but what they did was in order to the peace of the Church, and the glo­ry of God, as it did then appeare unto them. Christ told Peter that flesh and bloud revealed not that confession; as if he should have said, If thou hadst all the Divinities of the Preists, Scribes, Pharisees, and learned Grecians, nay, if thou hadst been Doctor of the Chair in Oxford and Cambridge, all these, nor a­ny of these can reveal me, but my Father which is in Heaven; and therefore the time shall come, and still is that the Rabbies of the Churches shall thinke [Page 15] they doe God good service when they kill my beloved ones.

Now my deare hearts, and fellow members in that glorious head the Lord Christ Iesus, bee not bitter in your spi­rits, and judge nothing before the time; experience is the best teacher, and there­fore to you that are not privy to your selves of any secret selvishnesse, but are simply and purely zealous for God, as was Saul, and will not knowingly smite or offend the least of Christs mem­bers, I say let me be bold in love to im­part unto you my former experience in the mysterie of Christ. I thought a long while a faith in Iesus, that dyed at Ierusalem, was the top gallant of a Christian, but since it doth cleerly ap­pear, that all the faith the disciples had in Christ their Master, which was a faith only without, and none of the mistery of Christ within them. I say that faith in the person of the Lord Ie­sus dyed with him, so that when he was dead there was not one that did expect ever to see him againe; for Mary went not to see whether he was risen, but to anoint his dead body; yea the disciples [Page 16] who had ground enough for belief, could be so charitable as to judge Mary to bee no better than a lyer, in reporting fai­ned things, affirming that he was risen, and we trusted it had been him that should have delivered Israel, said the two disciples, but he is dead; so that its clear all the faith they had in Iesus dyed with Iesus: now the Apostle tels you Phil. 3. 9. That we may be found in him: not having mine own righteousnesse which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ (not in Christ) the righte­ousnesse which of God by faith. And like­wise it is not sufficient that wee beleeve there was such a one dyed at Ieru­salem, and God was fully pleased in him. But the same Apostle tels you, Col. 1. 24. That as the head passed through suffer­ings, so there is a remainder of afflicti­ons of Christ in our flesh, for the bodyes sake. And ver. 27. And that it sufficeth not that there is a Christ without us. But Christ in you the hope of glory. And therefore it is Christ in the mistery that will save; a wooden leg that is tyed on may doe some service, but the leg that is naturally fixt is usefull for all occasions▪ seeing by [Page 17] all those former examples, that the Pro­phets, the Lord Iesus, the holy Martyrs, not one of them in their generation, died as the servants of the Lord, but as blas­phemers and dangerous hereticks, ac­cording to the account of the reverend Clergy then living, whose zeal (for God and the preservation of the peace and purity of holy mother Church, to preserve the glory of the one, and the honour of the other, was the principle cause that led them forth to deal so cru­elly with them. Now seeing that un­matchable Pharisee Saul (which pro­fession in the church of God in that ge­neration was accounted most pious) that could say as concerning the law he was unblameable in his conversation) being mad in his zeale for God, against the dear Saints of God. Consider in how desperate a condition he was in, when going to Damascus, if mercy had not met him: and seeing the Lord Iesus con­stitute in his church, never a Constable nor Iustice of peace to meddle with any of his Saints, why are you so importu­nate to call in the Magistrate for your assistance, seeing you doe not produce [Page 18] your warrant or president from him, & seeing I find but one civill officer in his family, namely a Treasurer: and for his sake, be so courteous as not in the least to engage the civill Magistrate with his corrective power to enforce any man to be a beleever, before that holy spirit convince him, so shall the church more probably bee freed from hypocrisie and backsliding, and you shall not through mistakes attract any guilt upon them or your selves; and the rather because you ingeniously confesse that you do but conceive this way you prescribe to bee the right way.

See how our grandmother Eve was deceived in her conception when shee brought forth Cain, it could be no lesse then the Mesiah, as she thought; and lo a Murtherer▪ and Abraham a Prophet of the Lord, and the father of the faithfull, thought he had gotten the heire of pro­mise when he had Ishmael, and hee had nothing but a persecuting scoffer, there­fore take heed of zeal not rightly enfor­med: and surely those severall forty stripes save one, which Paul so frequent­ly met with, will fall very smart upon [Page 19] his back, that will at any time take the boldnesse (upon his fallible judgement) to lend them unto any Saint; and surely it will not repent any Saint of God that he did not enterprise to grieve the least little one, that beleeveth. And there­fore sweetly David, 1 Sam. 25. 33, 34▪ By which counsel he was diverted from executing the determination of his counsell of War; consider seriously who they were that persecuted Iesus Christ, the Prophets, and the Martyrs, were the men that did openly professe them­selves enemies to godlinesse, nothing lesse; suppose in the dayes of Christ Iesus the people would have had Reli­gion reformed, who should have been chosen for the Assembly? doubtlesse it must have been Scribes and Pharisees, and no Publicans; surely Gamaliel was likely to have been Prolocutor, and his disciple Saul might have been the pub­lique notary; and yet see how these learned soules in their zeal for God were mistaken; leave all the rest, and to our present time, how many of our reverend Divines in the time of their Prelaticall obedience, how earnestly [Page 20] did they contend for the upholding of the Leturgie, against such as opposed it: which now they cast out with tonges and slice. And had Bishop Laud not steadfastly beleeved God was highly concerned in those materiall churches, and that mens cringing and crouching were of high concernment before God, he would never have run the hazard of his head as he did. It is good to be zea­lously affected alwayes in a good thing. Gal. 4. 18. And having no other ground but our fallible conceptions to guide our selves and others by, let us be very tender of enforcing.

Now Christ alone having the go­vernment upon his shoulders who is only wise and infallible, and seeing the temple is filled with smoake and that he wil bring his people into the wildernes and plead with them, and that tongues shall cease, and ye shall no more say one to another know the Lord, but ye shall be all taught of me, from the greatest to the least, why shall we limit the ho­ly one of Israel, and say the time is not yet? And seeing he hath a fanne in his hand, he wil throughly purge his floor. [Page 21] And bee not like those officious hus­bandmen, who no sooner thought they saw a blade like a tare, but they must be picking of it up; the answer was, let both grow together untill harvest, and unto Iames & Iohn, ye wot not of what spirit ye are of, I come not to destroy but to save. It may seem here is begging for a tolleration; for my self I passe not what men conclude on in the matters of God, if they break his bonds, cast away his cords, and will not have Christ to raign over them, they are but laught at, and will fall to pieces, knowing and being wel assured that there is a rest for the people of God, and they that enter into it cease from their workes as God did from his, and that the kingdomes and the powers shall serve the Lord Christ in the Saints, and this sufficeth me.