wrote those books, should be involved in such strange delusions; certainly, you say, a greater judgment cannot be from the Lord here.

Answer. Here Here you do by us as the devils did by Christ, they pitied and shaked their heads at him when he went to suffer, as if they did grieve that he should suffer, but they thought within themselves that he suffered for his fault; that is, they thought he was a blasphemer, a deceiver, a liar, and took too high things upon him, and so was under a great judgment of God. Do not you do the same things by us the witnesses of the Spirit?

You say your soul grieves within you that we poor people, as you call us, should be involved in such strong delusions. I marvel how you, being the seed of reason, came to know what a strong delusion is, when you never was in the truth, for you never did know truth in your life; for I must tell you, it is not the reading of the Scriptures will give you to know truth, except there be a true interpreter ordained of God, which I am sure you never heard none; but true prophets and true interpreters of the Scriptures were always counted by the seed of the serpent to be strong delusions.

Therefore it is no new thing for us to be called so by you, who are a subtil serpent; and as for a greater. judgment from the Lord, there cannot be here.

To this I say so to; and further I say, that if we, that wrote those books and papers, be strongly deluded, or if we be deluders, then I say, let the judg-' ment of God be upon us here and hereafter; but if we be true messengers and chosen witnesses of God, as we know we are, then I say it had been good for you,' and such as you are, that you had never been born; and a greater judgment cannot be from the Lord than

1

there is upon your understanding, for God hath given you up to slumbering eyes, that you might despise the light of heaven, so that you might stumble and fall into the pit of eternal damnation.

Tenthly. You say, it were worth the enquiry by what method and wiles the devil doth thus infatuate poor creatures.

Answer. Here you shew yourself a devil, in that you do not know what the devil is, nor the method and wiles by which he doth infatuate or deceive poor, creatures; for this I must tell you, that the devil is always mistaken in himself, for he always looks upon the devil to be some ugly thing or spirit without him, when as indeed your own soul is the devil, and that you shall find one day; and the imagination of your own heart hath infatuated your poor soul, which hath made your wits to go in this method, as to despise and blaspheme against the doctrine of the true God, by us the witnesses of the Spirit.

Eleventhly. You say, let me suggest my thoughts to you herein is it not likely, say you, that the first entrance into this snare, was the perpetration of some conscience-wasting sin which followed the sinner, that no rest could be obtained, till it cast off the word and other ordinances.

Answer. Your suggested thoughts in this particular, is no other but the suggestions of the devil, for your thought therein doth proceed from your lying imagination; for we the witnesses of the Spirit never committed any sin, whereby the peace of our conscience could be any ways wasted; for this I must tell you, that God never chose any to be prophets to declare his mind, but such as had escaped the pollutions of the flesh; and if we had not been kept innocent, God would never have chosen us to be his messengers; and this is the greatest comfort we have in

this world, that we can justly say we never did this or that evil in the days of our ignorance, much less since' we were chosen of God; and this is the very cause, that I have and do tread upon the heads of the serpents, by virtue of my innocency, and the commission of God. I am made as a wall of brass against many hundred of devils, and have cast them down with the two-edged sword of the Spirit that is put into my mouth; so that they have and shall fall into the bottomless pit of eternal damnation, into which place you must go; and as for our attaining no rest until we had cast off the word and other ordinances.

Answer. To this I say, no man doth own the word (if you mean the Scriptures) more than we do, for no man in the world doth truly know the word but us, and those books will testify the same; neither do we cast off any ordinances, neither of God, nor of man; for we know what ordinances God hath set up now in these last days, and we follow and practice them, and have rest and peace in it; but you have none, because you are a traditional follower of the ordinances of the apostles; and instead of entering into this snare, as you call it, it will prove a snare to you, and it will be just like Peter's net, which catched many fishes, and the good he picked out, and the bad he cast away? so it is with the commission of the Spirit, it is as a net or a snare that is set or laid to catch the seed of faith, and so they are brought home unto God, and happy are they that are caught. So likewise the seed of the serpent, they are caught in this snare, and they: are cast away, even like the bad fishes, that is, they are cast into the pit of utter darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth for evermore; and this snare are you fallen into by your despising those books and papers. It would have been better for you

but not much, if you had never seen them at all, you would have been damned before, but you would not have known for what; but now you will know for what you are damned to eternity for, and in this regard it had been better you had never seen the writings at all.

Twelfthly. You say, let the first broachers of these wild notions, as you call them, deal ingenuously with God and the world, and he will confess, if I be not mistaken, that there is some wide gash in his conscience, which he labours to dress up with these supercelestial, if not diabolical notions.

Answer. To this I answer, I do acknowledge that we, the witnesses of the Spirit, were the first broachers of these wild notions, as you call them; and I do ingenuously confess, that there is no wider gash in my conscience than there was before, nor so much; for my conscience is as truly justified in declaring these wild notions, as you call them, as ever Moses, the prophets and apostles were in broaching their doctrine. You would have called their doctrine wild notions if you had lived in that time, as you do mine, for they did meet with the same serpents in their time as I do now; neither do I dress up my conscience with those super-celestial, if not diabolical notions, as you call them; it would be well for you if they were diabolical notions, but you will find them to be as true as truth itself, they being broached by the Spirit of truth,therefore you are much mistaken indeed, for the devil is always mistaken in the things of eternity, and never certain in spiritual knowledge; for, as I said before, he always calls God a devil, and the devil God; truth he calls wild notions, and the imaginations of reason, from the letter of the Scriptures, you call the ordinances of God. And this I am sure, all the notions

that shall arise from the imaginations of reason, and study of the letter of the Scriptures, shall never dress up the gash in your conscience which you have made, by speaking evil of things you know not; for you have such a gash cut in your soul by the two-edged sword of the Spirit that is put into my mouth, that there will be no balm in Gilead to be had to cure you, so that it will not be whole to eternity; and I shall deal ingenuously with you, that are of the world, that I am justified of God, and in my own conscience too.

Thirteenth. You say it is the captain's duty and yours to stand in the old way, and to repair to the law, and to the testimonies; therein, say you, we have eternal life, because they testify Christ Jesus.

Answer. As for the true old way, I think the captain nor you did know; for how could you possibly know the true old way without a true preacher? And as for your repairing to the law, and to the testimony, that you cannot do, because you know not what they are, only you have got those words out of the Scriptures, but know nothing truly what is meant by the law and testimony; for whosoever did repair to the law and testimony, they were to be tried by some commissionated man that was appointed thereunto; so that God hath given the law and testimony into our hands, who are the witnesses of the Spirit, and you are to be tried by us, both the captain and you also. And I do find by the law and the testimonies, that you deserve to be damned to eternity; for you must not think, that because you read the Scriptures, and find such words there; I say, you must not think that you can try prophets by the law and testimonies, when as you were never chosen of God for such a work; neither do you know what the law and testimony is; though they do testify of Jesus, yet will