YE People , who would be counted Israelites in the Spirit , and call your the selves chosen of the Lord , owning your selves a Body of Friends , when any smooth things are spoken to you ; but rage when the pillows are torn from under your Arms.

Though I shall not take notice of your Words or Writings , so as to answer all your malicious Forgeries ; yet if ever you or any of you recover the use of your senses , then take notice , how the pride of your vain-glorious Spirits hath transported you beyond truth and sobriety so long professed by you .

You seem to ground your first Objection from my speaking in the plural Number , which you say are general Terms . And in great Rage you cry out , Who but an impudent person , &c.

To which I answer : Pride hath blinded you ; Doth the word ( Those ) that practised honesty , &c. more include all that practised honesty , then the word ( They ) or this people draw near to the Lord with their lips , &c. did include , All that drew near unto the Lord with their lips ?

Neither will your subtilty take effect , wherein you would perswade people as if I , by a loose Life had more knowledge or intimacy with your seeming holy Hypocrites , then the chief of you ; which is known to be an apparent falshood ; for had I been as sensible of your gross Hypocrisie then , as now , I should have had as much familiarity then as I now have with you , which is none at all : but it is evidently known they had more acquaintance and approbation with your Ministers , then ever they had with me . And if I were disposed to particularize persons and their fruits , since your pretending to walk by the light you call Christ in you ; I should not need to cloath you in any other then your own defiled habit , to make you appear what you would not be thought to be ; I am sure a smaller piece of Paper would contain your Remaining Vertues ; For your corrupted body hath of late broken out with putrified sores in several parts , not only in your mean Members of small account , but in the chief and principle parts thereof , who seemed to guide the rest ; And it may as truly be said to you as it was to the Israelites of old , That from the sole of the foot , to the head there is no soundness in it ; though not every part broken out with one and the same disease : How often was the house of Israel reproved in General Terms , yea , and pleaded withall as if they were one single person , as may be seen by Record , Ezekiel the 16. Chap. and Numbers the 25. Chapter ? Neither was Jeremiah to be branded as an impudent person , though he told them in general terms , they were as fed horses , Neighing after their Neighbours wife ; yet there was a Remnant for whose sake they were not made as Sodome and Gomorrah ; Neither do I doubt , but that there is among you a Remnant that may obtain mercy to have the leaven of the Pharisees purged out , by faith in that Jesus whom they are yet ignorant of ; and then they will no longer take part with you , in reviling those that shew you some of the dirt that you have spotted your selves withall , since you were lifted up in spiritual pride , standing afar off , as if the Garments of others would defile you ; and when those deceived people that now have an esteem of your spirit shall come to the knowledge of the truth , they will find the greatest Number of you to be A Generation of Vipers .

And now as to your Query , what I have against your Principles ; wherein you only pervert my words by your own serpentine spirits , falsly saying that I have blasphemously accused the light , and staggered like a drunken person ; but I know this judgment of yours proceedeth from the giddiness of your own heads , that thinks others stagger when they stand upon firm ground : Wherefore as to your Principles , I have this to say , that though you may repeat the Law every Meeting Day , yet I know and testifie that you are yet Unbelievers , and have not the knowledge of the true God and Saviour of them that believe ; Who promised in the Beginning to Bruise the Head of the Serpent , and his promise the Saints believed ; which was imputed to them for Righteousness ; and when the fulness of time was come he faithfully performed his promise , by taking our Nature upon him , sin excepted ; who by suffering at the hands of unbelievers , having passed through deaths Kingdome , according to his promise raised up the Temple of his Body in three dayes ; and this spiritual Body both before and after his Ascension , gave the Saints full Assurance of their own Resurrection and Salvation ; this light and knowledge you are not yet partakers of , though you so much take the name of light in your mouths : Neither can that light in every mans nature ( though you have fed so long upon it , not being enlightned with the light of faith ) apprehend this Mystery of God , being manifest in the flesh of Christ , and laying down his life that he might quicken again and rise a spiritual Body , which ascended into the highest Heavens : but the pride of mans rational spirit is always aspiring to be a GOD , though it was made to be a Subject ; wherefore it 's light is become darkness , that it neither knows beginning nor ending of it's Misery , until it 's Crown is laid down at the foot of Jesus by Resignation , and becometh a child again ; indeed God made the Spirit of Reason , yet it was not serpentine until it aspired ; which caused the Lord to withhold his flowing vertues , and then it became dark , and received a name sutable to its nature ; which being by the first mans disobedience defiled , is notwithstanding bridled by the law or light placed in every mans nature by the bright , shining and living Jehovah ; who afterward to accomplish the work of mans Redemption , did manifest himself in the person and name of Jesus ; whom the Professors of the first Covenant would not believe in , though he came to establish the Second upon better promises , yet they accused him for the law-breaker : The corrupted spirit of man is very zealous in making large profession of keeping the Law , when for want of purifying faith in Christ , it is quite-dark and ignorant of him the only Saviour ; and so makes idols of his handy-works ; which if used in its place would manifest and declare the wisdome and power of God , the Fountain from whence the whole Creation did flow : But there is none but the enlightned by Faith in Jesus , can understand the mystery of Salvation through his crucified body ; though they may rejoyce before their Idol , as the children of Israel did , when they provoked the true God , by attributing their deliverance to a piece of the Creation : who would have a thought a people groaning so long for deliverance should when it came , have been so blind to proclaim before an Idol , Behold thy Gods , O Israel , that brought thee out of the Land of Egypt : But though the Lord suffered their idolatrous provoking spirits to travel and multiply in the Wilderness to make known more of his power ; yet it was but a very small Remnant that were permitted to enter into the land of Promise ; wherefore you boasters that think you have more light than your Forefathers : Yet know though your iniquity is more mysterious , it is discovered to be as Great , if not greater idolatry to worship the likeness of any thing in the Heavens above , as in the Earth beneath ; For though God made Man in his own image or likeness ; yet he was a Creature and subject to change from his created purity , as he did , though he was created Good , as all the rest of the Creation was ; Wherefore he was capable of Death ; and it is clear to the Eye of Faith , though not to Reason , that death came upon all , as being the offspring generated from corrupted Adam and Eve our first Parents , and the Resurrection from the Dead could be no way procured ; but by the Lord of Glory , who abased himself and came in the form of a Servant , though he were Lord of All ; And not for an Example only ; but to triumph over death that would have kept all under , and then the reprobate had never been raised to Eternal Judgement , nor the Elect to Everlasting Happiness : But this was the promised Restoration , which the Believers hoped for , and trusted in , being grafted thereinto by the Union of Faith .

But the Pharisees trample this precious Pearl under feet ; because their carnal spirits cannot understand the worth of it : neither can you that are kicking and smiting against further light dispenced , because it comes not out from amongst you ; but you shall find if you go on , that you will surely fall though four hundred to one say to the contrary . Wherefore it is not your collecting out of Scripture what light and knowledge the Saints injoyed by believing in Jesus that will do you any good , seeing you have not believed in him , even the man Christ Jesus , that you also might have had the revelation and knowledge inspired into you of the Glory of God in the Face of Christ ; For these Saints that were thus enlightned , gave all Honour and Glory to him that conquer'd Death , the Alpha and Omega , the first and the last , who was dead and is alive , and lives for evermore . Neither would the Angel that had power to shew this Revelation endure to be worshipped ; for he said , I am also a fellow servant : and I know were you sensible how Christ lives in the hearts of Believers by Faith you would not thus blindly accuse me ; For I never denyed any light , nor the Office of it appointed by God the Fountain and Original of all Lights , who dispenceth it according to his own pleasure , that he might have all the glory : And though you hate me , yet I must tell you the truth , it is but your own spirits that you worship , being lifted up by the inlightning of the law within you , shewing you good and evil : hence I know it is the spirit of the Serpent in you as it was in the Pharisees , that directed them to reject the justification of Faith in the Blood of Christ , and stick to the justification of the law by their own works : Though I do certainly know that the Regenerated by Faith in Jesus , do more singly perform the honest and true intents of the Law then the Pharisees with all their outward seeming holiness ; For the Believers are constrained by love ( which is the law of faith ) to act justly , though they know their eternal Happiness and Recovery ariseth not from any thing performed by them , but from Christ the Author of their faith , by taking upon him unspotted flesh ; and when that deceived Remnant amongst you , shall be inlightned with the knowledge of the whole truth : Then they will see that you are not justified in your Principles , by what I formerly wrote to you , though you take it to your selves ; For you have not that light of faith in you to believe or understand how Christ is the Sacrifice once for all in his own person ; Neither are you in the state of Man in the first Creation , though you have had some sense of convincements by the Law ; which is general to all men ; because all are included under sin , being generated from fallen Parents , who by defilement lost their first state , by aspiring to be wise as Gods ; which pride when it was received , caused them to feel the Effects of threatned wrath , which was the entrance of Death and Mortality , upon them and their posterity ; which was as surely fulfilled , as all the words of the Lord are in their appointed time ; for the account of the Lord who is Eternity is not like unto mens , who are blinded by the fall , and the promise of resurrection to life , was , is , and shall be , as surely fulfilled to Believers , as the resurrection to condemnation to unbelievers : and in that day the Reprobate though he believe it not , will be surprized with the second ever dying Death , not having Faith or Belief in Christ the first Resurrection ; for though these substantial things are figured out to us in several dispensations ; yet it is only the Elect that have the faith and patience to wait for the accomplishment of them : But the Reprobate continually setteth the Figure in the place of the Substance . The Pharisees had not accused the Lord of Life for a Blasphemer , Had they not trusted in the righteousness of the Law , which was the greatest dispensation of light discovered by them in their dayes ; yet they knew not the Fountain when he manifested himself , and openly declared himself so ; for had they known they would not have Crucified the Lord of Glory , and taken his blood upon themselves . I hope there is some that are yet amongst you , who will see the truth of what I say , and that I have not denyed Christ the Inlightner of the Saints , but have only denyed your Imaginations built upon the enlightning of the law or light in you , which is become darkness though you have given it the name of Lord and Saviour , and are performing some of the Punctilioes of the letter which you do not rightly understand . It is the giving high and honourable titles to your deceived imaginations that hath deceived the simple , being lifted up in pride under a feigned shew of humility in outward habit ; But I am confident in what I affirm that it is your own spirit which you worship , being lifted up by the inlightning of the law which is good and profitable to them that use it in its right place , but in the place you have stated it makes you uncapable of benefit in Christ ; this mystical idolatry began to appear above ground in those forward sprouts that sang Hosanna , whose top Branches you have nipped , but the root of the matter remaineth still in you ; which hath appeared several times since in your confused actings from the motions of your confused spirits ; but your punishment belongs to the King of Kings against whom you commit spiritual High Treason . You put forth an envious Question , What help I had in composing my Paper written to you , which you have named after your own kindred ? but though you ask it in pride and scorn , I shall answer it in truth and plainness ; by negligence in the Printing there was some words misplaced , which did something wrong the sense of it , and this was all the help I had from any man in the wording of it ; and for approvers I never sought after any ; but what approbation it would have with you , I was very sensible of , as I have sufficiently experienced since , from the raging tongues of your confused Multitude : you seem to reprove me for Blindness , wherein you discover your own blind presumption ; Let the sober-minded consider , whether the Lords accounting the believing Children of the promise to be the seed of Faith that shall inherit the Kingdom , Did import an impossibility in them to sin ; For their uniting to Christ the holy Off-spring that could not sin , was by the union of faith , which faith was the Righteousness of that Remnant that followed the Lord in every dispensation according to his Command ; but uoy that have not followed him are become so blind that you know not Light from Darkness , which makes you cavil at that which is clear to the Eye of Faith ; For the children of Israel were called and adorned by the Lord , though Moses were the instrument to declare it to them ; But when they would not stay for further Counsel , but concluded it was a vain thing to worship a God at a distance , then did their imagination make an Idol to go before them , which caused them to be as dark as the Egyptians Darkness which they departed from ; and a time will come when some of you , will read the figure right though the rest will be hardned ; As for the rest of your superfluous falshoods and threatnings which ascendeth out of your Bottomless Pit , I shall not take particular notice of it , being assured you have no more power to hurt me then you have to save your selves .

But as to your last Question what fruits I am bringing forth , I shall leave that to the Testimony of those that sees it , who are best able to give an account of it , if they be unbiassed and without prejudice ? And whether you be an innocent people in General , or a corrupted people blinded with pride and ignorance though wrapt up in a pretended innocent outside , there are witness s many who have testified thereof no more then they know to be truth ; yet I do not deny but that there is some amongst your Multitude who are yet ignorant both of the mystery of in●quity that first entered , and also of some gross Evils arising from the Ground cursed for the first offence : But the appointed Remnant shall be recalled to their Everlasting peace , though they may be long deceived as I was by the fair pretences of those that talk of perfection while they themselves were the servants of corruption . But the self-justifying Pharisees though they had so much light in them to plead for and preach the justness and righteousness of the Law given out by the Prophets , yet those despisers did wander and perish , because they would not believe or understand the vertues and effects of the Personal Suffering , Resurrection and Ascension of the Lord of Life ; Wherefore he pronounced woes to them , shewing them that they should be judged by the Law which they trusted in ; because they rejected him who was the Righteousness and Recovery to Everlasting Happiness of all that believed in him . And were you not Blind leaders of the Blind , you would see how you are dayly taken in your own net ? for every tittle of that Law broken which you trust in for justification will make you guilty of All.

And for your two Witnesses that have signed this your Birth of supposed Nobility whose Father is known by its language , they cannot be justified in this sordid abusive Answer stuffed with reproachful Terms and Expressions that Envy invented ; But when the time of Reaping is past , and you begin to taste the Fruits of what you have sowed , then shall you remember that you were told the Truth by me