Secondly , Through the workings of the Spirit that prevails on them whose Habitation is not in the Lord ; the Negligent , the Careless , the Rebellious that dwell in the dry Land , and have wanted the vertuous Life of God through unbelief , into whom Looseness is entered , and the Works of the Flesh wrought ; antient Testimonies for God let fall by them , to Truths dispraise , and the wounding the Hearts of the Innocent , whose Testimony abides sure , and through whose unfaithfulness , Afflictions are added to the Bonds of the Upright to God , to the Churches Grief ; they having turned the many visitations of Gods Love behind the Back , and grown worse and worse , such as these comes to be shaken off , and the Camp cleansed of them , and they manifested to all ; and that they who are approved may be made manifest ; a Separation being wrought between them that truly serve the Lord , and them that serve him not , betwixt them that live in the Antient Power , and in Life and Faithfulness glorifies the same , and them that talk only of the Light and inward guidance of the Spirit of Jesus , and yet in Works deny him : Let but the Reader and the Innocent wait a little in the patience , and you shall see the end of this Spirits Work to its utter Reproach ; its Memorial shall rot , and never rise again .

Thirdly , That although this appearing Difference amongst us , may , and hath caused a Flutter amongst the Gazers and Wonderers that would not believe , and for the present might put a little discouragement for a time upon the unestablished in God , and obstruct a little the gathering unto us such as the Lord will deliver , and shall be saved ; and what an expectation hath there been ( through this occasion ) in our publick Enemies ( that have watched for it ) of our disadvantage thereby in the way of Truth , if not our Ruin ; yet it were well if such would take notice , that notwithstanding the worst of this Spirit 's Work , how the Lord hath Blessed his People in every place , even where the greatest Blunder hath been , with the more Zeal and Integrity for him ; and that more is added to us since that day then for many Years before .

And lastly , That which we observe , and it were well if notice of it were truely taken , this talk of Difference amongst us , ( which we do affirm is not in the Camp of God ) but a Testimony is born by us against the Backslided and Apostate , it doth tend to the hardning of a disobedient and gainsaying People , that would not receive the Testimony of the Light and Life of Christ Jesus ; to believe in him for Salvation , but have turned the visitations of Gods love behind their backs , in their rebellion against the Lord , and the Spirit of his Grace , to their greater ruin , and the more speedy execution thereof ( if in time they repent not ) and it were well if such yet would fear Almighty God , and be subject to the Truth , before it be too late to find Mercy .

In our Advice to the Reader , and Introduction to the ensuing matter of what is before us to concern our selves with , we cannot but first take notice , that some may say ,

If it were true that the Author af the aforesaid Book , and those he seems so much to standby , are in a backsliding state , and seperated from you , whom you seem to disown as out of fellowship with you . What is the meaning of all this Writing against George Fox so vehemently ( and more principally then any others ) together with others also , whom by name he makes mention of ? And what is the truth of the matters and things laid to his and others charge , which , if true , bespeaks a backsliding in him and others he speaks of , as well as in them you declare against ?

Answer , As for George Fox we say and Testifie , that as he was an Instrument in Gods hand through the Demonstration of the Spirit , being a Minister of the new Testament the everlasting Gospel , through whom many were turned from Darkness to Light , to behold the Glory of the everlasting Day ; and the Faces of many Thousands have been truely and livingly set Sion-wards , and their Feet established in the way thither : Let William Rogers say and do his worst ; he is one who hath kept his Integrity to the Lord , and is honorable in Gods power amongst the Children of the Light , that keep their habitation in it ; an Elder that hath ruled well , and is worthy of honour for the gift of Gods sake , that he hath been faithful in the concern of , and is the same with an encrease of Life and pure Wisdom that ever he was , notwithstanding the fury of wicked and lying Tongues : And as it was in Christ and the Apostles days , because of the testifying against the World , by him and his Desciples , that their deeds were evil , the World hated them above all ; the Jews stumbled at him , because of his Testimony against the Adulterous profession of the chiefest of them , and their Righteousness which it was said must be exceeded , or no coming into Gods Kingdom ; for which cause also they hated him , and put him to Death .

The first and most Glorious appearance of the breaking forth of the more clearer Day , after an Apostatized state was ever resisted with great Indignation , by them upon whom the Apostacy from the Life and Power of God had prevailed , and the publishers of the same Testimony from God , the most hated and persecuted with the cry of — Help Men and Brethren ; and withal the fury and might imaginable , to obstruct the breakings forth thereof .

This Generation hath not forgot , that in a resolved combined Covenant made with Death , was the Testimony resisted that this Servant of the eternal God bore against the Sin , self Righteousness and false Judgment that a wicked and a pervers Generation lived in , and under the profession of , to the total stopping and crushing of it by all means Imaginable if they could , or that could be contrived , and far contrary to the work of a professing Gospel Ministry and dispensation of a Gospel day , to the shame of such as were the contrivers thereof , and stirrers up of Persecution therefore : It may be remembered what such an one he was rendered to be , even as the worst of Men , and yet nothing could be laid to his charge , save for his crying against Sin , &c. and keeping a good Conscience to God , recommending his Testimony to the Witness of God in all Consciences , in the patience that possessed the Soul ; the Lyes , the false Aspersions , Calumnies and Reproaches raised against him , and cast upon him with rage and fury , and gnashing of Teeth for grief , they are far beyond expression . To a gainsaying Rebellious Spirit , the Testimony of Light that condemns for Sin is an hateful thing , and the Ministers of Antichrist have bent themselves against it , and against them the Testimony is born by : And seeing that Early of this our day it was first and principally born by him , how could he escape the wrath of Man that produceth evil things , and avoid the fury of it ? Nay , this was his Lot ( with others of Gods faithful Servants ) whom God hath upheld and delivered through all ; and he hath seen the travel of his Soul , and the fruit of his labour into his bosome manifold in recompence for all , to his hearts Joy , whatever the worst of Men imagine against him .

The same enmity lodgeth still , and venteth it self again and again , through any new occasion given to it , or that it can get hold of , in the wilful resisters of our principle and lifes appearance , and in all them that Backslides therefrom , and enters again into the old Cainisn Murthering Spirit , that crucifies the Lord of Life again , and would put him to open shame : Never a publick opposing Apostate from the life of Truth , that hath risen up in Judgment against it , since we have been a People , but in the old Enmity of the cursed Serpents Image , he hath run against George Fox : Oh , it s admirable to us ! ( and renders William Rogers in this cursed work of his , to be a Man running on to Ruin ) that he does not take notice , and that with Terror , of the breakings forth of the eminent hand of the Lord against such to their misery and shame , that thus tempts the Lord to deal with him , as hath been dealt with his predecessors gone before , whose footsteps he follows with all the haste and fury he can appear in ; let him take heed , though his presumption be great in defying the Work of God in his Servants ; let him vapour with the Bulk of the Weapon ( his ungodly Book ) he hath formed in his stout and ambitious mind ; the Lord is risen to dash in peices , and is upon the Throne , who with the Antient ( though dispised ) Instrument of simplicity , and the naked truth which he hath in his Hand , will wound the head and glory of this uncircumcised One to its utter Ruin , and the perpetual reproach of all them that lean upon it ; the Mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it , and it shall surely come to pass . And as to the particular matters of Accusations by William Rogers cast upon George Fox , we do testifie , and in the Truth affirm , and can commit the same to the tryal of the righteous principle of God , and equal Law of doing as one would be done by ; that if many of the matters in charge against him were true , ( which we believe are malicious and false ) the malice the rancour of his Spirit that appears in his perverting George Fox his words , his misconstruing and putting his own corrupt sence upon them , disingeniously and unlike a Man , and then placing a Judgment thereupon ; his disorderly bringing them forth having not first examined the truth of matters , and dealt with him face to face , as in the sequel of our matter may be manifested he hath not done : His publishing in Print and exposing the same to publick view by sale or allowing thereof in Shops , so that it is come to the view of the great enemies of Truth and us ; and the applications he puts upon our tender care in the Church of God , as Antichristian and Rome-like , with the invectives and malicious Smitings he can invent , renders him plainly to be an Apostate from Truth , an enemy to God , and the Principle we have believed in , an accuser of the Brethren , not fit for Christian Society , but to be rejected as reproachful thereto , and left to the righteous God of Heaven and Earth to reward him according to his works .

Friendly Reader , our Testimony is for the sake of that principle of Light and Life in Christ Jesus our Lord and Law-giver , in which we have believed , and are bold to Testifie to , and stand in the vindication of against all the opposers thereof , as that which is our life , and the comfort of our days through the Salvation that we have known thereby , wherein we have peace , and for the sake whereof reproaches are not hard for us to bear ; and for the removing of the Stumbling-blocks out of the way thereof , that if it were possible all Men might walk therein , and find mercy : We say in a godly concern that lies upon us , we intend through Gods assistance a little to discover the Face and Image of a Ungodly Backsliding Separate dividing Spirit , by rending off the covering it hath got upon its head to hide its nakedness and shame withal , in the departing of those it hath prevailed upon , from the living God , from the way of Truth , and from the unity of the Brethren ; to the casting off the Subjection to Gods power ( which they once knew , and unto which also Obedience should be given ) and giving way to a corrupt mind in themselves , and to a false Liberty that Truth leads not to , have set themselves ( being of that sort that loves not found Judgment ) against the rule and government of Christ Jesus ( whose right it is ) in the Spirits of their own minds , and against the Discipline of the Church of God , according to Gospel-order , and the practice of the Church in the Apostles dayes ; and thereby encouraging a loose and licentious Spirit in others , that would draw back into the liberty of the flesh again , to satisfie the Lusts thereof , and thereby bring a reproach upon that eternal name in which we have believed , and testified Salvation to be thereby ; as if it were not Sufficient to compleat the work thereof by us expected and waited for ; which we Testifie against whoever otherwise say .

Reader , If thou dost but duely consider ( as before the Lord ) of William Rogers's Book , thou mayest easily see ( whatever he pretends to ) its liberty for the Flesh , that the design of him and others in this their work tends to , and for that cause is it that the Churches care is undervalued by them , despised and maliciously reproached under the denomination of over-driving , imposing , lording over Mens Consciences , setting up in the Church another Government , then that of the Spirit , ( which we testifie to be false and a malicious smiting ) accounting the wholsome directions according to Gospel-Order , taken notice of , and practized amongst us , ( that in all things we may be of good report ) the bringing in of Ceremonies , Mens Prescriptions , and the like ; thereby to put a dis-esteem upon them in the minds of such as are unto liberty in the flesh inclined , whence the opposition hath sprung , and the dividing Spirit has sought to prevail , to the exercise of rhe true and upright to God , and the Churches grief , the looseness also of this Spirit , and its design to gratifie the Flesh ( which produceth contempt and opposition to the Churches care ( that the Author to the aforesaid Book is charged with ) and its dis-regard to Truths praise and the glory thereof ) is plainly manifested by the Work William Rogers hath made , to defame with all possible reproachful Speeches , slanderous and lying accusations , such as have kept their first love to Truth , unchristian-like , yea , unhumanly and contrary to all Gospel-order ( and Rule of common Societies ) Printing and publishing the same against the Antient and Elder Brethren , without hearing or convicting after any human or Gospel way , such as have been made more particularly Instrumental in the matter of setling thereof , in the Power and Spirit of Jesus , in the Churches , justified , owned and practised amongst the upright-hearted to God , to their unspeakable comfort , for the Glory and blessings 〈◊〉 that attends the concerned therein ; particularly George Fox is the Man that his venomous Darts are shot at ( which his corrupt heart hath been filled with ) which through his Printed Book he hath let fly , with all the eagerness and extravagancy of Spirit that he can work himself into , to bring a reproach upon , and make him contemptible to all , to the undoing of him , if it were in his power , both as a Man and a Christian ; and supposing in his 〈◊〉 and fall , to throw down the Discipline and the Order of Truth amongst the faithful ; to the letting go from the Bond of the Power , such as would be from under the yoke thereof , which the pure God blesseth the faithful with , as Instruments in his hand , for discouraging of Sin and Wickedness , and incouragement of Christian Vertue Purity and Holliness . The tendency of this our Adversaries Spirit to liberty in the Flesh , and to gratifie the Backsliding 〈◊〉 that s going thitherward : Reader , thou mayest be more fully satisfied thereof , if thou do but take notice with what vigour , and the might he hath , he appears to stand by to applaud and to proclaim , John Wilkinson and John Story for two Antient and honourable Labourers in the Gospel , whose Conversation and Doctrin I have not known or understood , saith he , to be exceeded by any mortal man whatsoever : Which by several passages relating to them in William Rogers's Printed Book inserted , and explained in the Answer to it , ( called The Accuser of our Brethren cast down ) thou mayest detect and plainly see it s but a meer flattering boast of his unbridled Tongue ; and that they are no such ones as he would render them to be ; And when ( through Gods help ) we shall have laid open the exercises and griefs we have met withal , in the Church of God in Westmoreland through the opposition that these two Men have made , to Friends tender Care amongst Gods People , for the promoting the honour of his Truth in Righteousness and Holiness of Life , and against our care that all might keep faithful in their Testimony for the Truth , as received of God , and the obstructions in our work , and concerns relating thereunto wrought by them , and others of a wrong and loose Spirit encouraged thereby to stand by them ; which by sad experience we have found , and are able to demonstrate as in plainness , and according to the naked Truth , through Gods help we intend to do , of this Spirit , and of its work , we shall then leave thee ( as more capable ) to judge ; and doubt not but to give thee also cause to say and conclude , that the Author of the aforesaid Book hath been Malicious , Partial and Fallacious in the work he hath had in hand ; and that it is no matter whom he Blesseth , and whom he Curseth , whom he Justifieth , or whom he Condemneth .

Now as to 〈◊〉 off the Fig-leave covering of this Apostate Spirit , which its fallen to be our Lot to be concerned with , amongst the many perils we have been carried through , by the Arm of Israels God ; and to manifest to all its nakedness and shame , to be the more detestable , because of the impudency it appears in ; the cause whereof William Rogers hath presumed principally to espouse , and appear in the defence of , to the utmost of the Breath and Force that he hath ; and that he is a man departed from the Faith , and the good 〈◊〉 , standing by a Rebellious loose sort , despising the dignity of Gods Power ; and though talking of the Light and antient Truth , yet out of the Life of it , an Opposer of Gospel-Order , and wholsom Discipline in the Church of God ; a discourager of the weak in their antient Living Testimonies for the Truth ; an encourager of the Backsliders from the Life of God , and a separate faction from the Fellowship of Truth , in the visible concerns of Gods People , relating to the honour of Truth ; and that he is a false Accuser of the Brethren , a malicious Slanderer of the Innocent , and one that hath set himself to do the mischief he can , to the defamation of our holy Principle and Profession , and to bring an Odium upon all those that will not adhere to his Spirit , and abet him in his contentious Work , but 〈◊〉 against the same , in their Testimony that stands sure , and shall never be shaken by him , and that he is a man rejected of the Lord for his works sake , and shut out from the fellowship of the Saints in Light , and his Works cast out as the unsavoury Salt , good for nothing but to be troden under foot of men : And for a further proof thereof , several things are materially necessary to be made good , reduced into these following heads .