others of the teachers of the nation, rage; and here you are one against another; but Christ said, 'why persecutest thou me?' And he was in prison, and it is your work to put him in prison.

P. He saith, he hath the tithes of two parishes; and it is the old man that minds the earthly things,' page 23. Again he saith, And those that take tithes are not antichrist. And the scripture is a choice. vessel of the Lord's sanctuary,' and 'it is the letter and the history,' &c. page 25.

A. Well may people be all in confusion, when ye say the scripture is a history, a declaration, the letter, a vessel, the choice vessel of the Lord's sanctuary, a light, and yet the word of God! Now is not this to break people to pieces? The scriptures of truth are the words of God, and they are called a declaration, and a treatise. And the choice vessels were those that gave them forth, vessels of mercy, and of honour. And they that take tithes, and pay them, are out of the substance, Christ, who is the end of tithes; for he is the sum of tithes, and all other figures that pertained to the first priesthood, first covenant, and of all similitudes. So thou taking tithes of two parishes, hast the mark of the old man. For the apostles preached up and down in many synagogues where the priest were, yet they did not seek for the tithes that belonged to them that pertained to the first priesthood. They preached the gospel, and lived of the gospel, and said, 'they were evil beasts, that minded earthly things;' of whose spirit ye are found, judged by the word, which is Christ.

P. He saith, He is called of men master through man's courtesy,' and calls them, blind and sinful, and in error, that speak against it.' Again, it is not oppression in him to take tithes of two parishes,' &c. page 28. 30.

A. Here under the wo of Christ art thou come; who said, 'Wo unto them that were called of men master;' and said to his disciples, It shall not be so among you, for ye have all one master, which is Christ,' and they abode in his doctrine. And we do not read of Mr. Paul, Mr. Peter, Timothy, or Titus, or Mr. James or John; but among you, the apostates, we read of such titles. And you set up that which Christ, (him by whom the world was made, before it was made,) came to fulfil and end, in the world, which typed him forth, Christ the way to the Father out of the world. And tithes in the first priesthood are not the way, they are oppressors that cry them up, and builders up of that which Christ ended, so transgressors; not having the son nor the Father. And they bring not the glad tidings, for the jails may witness in the nation, that glad tidings are not brought; and the courts, and the oppressed parishes, in which ye take treble damages of many people

that ye do not work for, and cast into prison; and so this is not the gospel, this is not the glad tidings.

P. He saith, I find not this power of binding kings with chains, and nobles with fetters of iron, which is the honour of the saints; this scripture I find not fulfilled,' &c. page 35. Again he saith, A saint may be found in that which is sinful, though this man (the Quaker) will not allow of sin.' Again, 'The people of God are more than conquerors in the Lord, which gives them rest and peace in the midst of their wars.' Again, Hope keeps the soul groaning and waiting all the while in the earthly tabernacle,' &c.

A. I know the power, and spirit, and sword of the saints that executes the judgments, to bind, and chain, and fetter kings and nobles; thou art out of it, but it is now among the saints; and that scripture is fulfilled, yea in England, among the saints. And such as are more than conquerors, see the end of wars, and that which causeth wars. He that is a conqueror may be in the war; but he that is more than a conqueror, is in that which takes away the occasion of wars, and is come to that which was before wars were. And he that hath this hope, (which is Christ,) hath that which purifies himself, even as he is pure, and comes to witness the kingdom of God that stands in joy, peace, and righteousness, and so is not always groaning in the earth, under the earthly tabernacle, while he is upon the earth, but comes to know the body of sin put off, and a being made free from the body of sin. And a saint is not sinful, neither do the saints ever allow or approve of sin; he that allows and approves of that is out of the sanctified state.

P. Notwithstanding thy passing the first and second resurrection, (as thou sayst,) there remains a torment for thee at the last day, and wo,' page 42.

A. They are blessed that have part in the first resurrection, the second death hath no power over them; but are made free from wrath that is to come, and are passed from death to life, and are translated into the kingdom of the son of God, and are in unity with the son of God and the Father both; and so thou utterest forth lies.

P. He saith, To declare against such as are called of men master, is a matter of his faith.'

A. They had not faith that were called of men master, whom Christ cried wo against; nor the Jews; neither have you who break his commands.

P. He saith, The spirit that declares in the letter, keeps me from vanity, frees me from the law of sin and condemnation.'

A. The spirit that was in the saints that gave forth the letter, freed them from the law of sin and condemnation, and kept them from vanity. The spirit is not in the letter, for many may have that, and

not the spirit: and all are in sin and vanity, and are not freed from the law of condemnation, but who are in the spirit.

P. He saith, They are to feed the people, who are ordained over a particular place, over which the holy ghost hath made them overseers; and they are covetous wretches and worldings that keep back their tithes. And no more wages he receives than what the gospel allows. And he is a thief that keeps back the hire from the labourer, and the Lord gives man tithes as a portion in the earth,' &c. See pages 57, 58, 59, 60.

A. The holy ghost made the apostles and elders overseers of the church. But you have been made overseers by men, by the pope, by your schools and colleges. So thus you deceive the people, by telling them the holy ghost made you overseers. For ye say ye have not the same infallible spirit as the prophets, Christ, and the apostles had, as witness Samuel Eaton in his book, and divers others. Tithes were allotted by God to the priests and Levites, and people in the first covenant and priesthood, and they were robbers that kept them back; but Christ is come, the everlasting covenant, who ends the first covenant, tithes, and priesthood, and blots out the ordinances. Therefore they that are covetous, will take them by violence from the people. But they that are come to the gospel allowance, 'freely ye have received, freely give,' what they set before them, of that they are to eat, preach the gospel, and live of the gospel. These triumph and trample upon the first priesthood, types, figures, and shadows; see that the priesthood is changed, the ordinances blotted out, the commandment disannuled that gave them; witness the one offering for the sin of the whole world, and are of the royal priesthood. Such as these cannot pay tithes; covetous persons and worldlings may take them, that are apostatized from the apostles, by whom the true seed is oppressed; who went forth from the apostles by a usurped authority, under whom you are sheltered for your tithes, which were set up by the pope's authority. But now you are seen and judged by them who are come to the apostles that you went from. P. He saith, The Lord hath given tithes for the maintenance of the ministry of this nation.' Again he saith, This light within is turned into utter darkness,' pages 62. 65.

A. It has been the Pope and the apostates from the apostles that have given tithes; from the spirit that the apostles were in they are ravened that take them, for the apostles took none. Their fruits in the nation declare it; if they will not give the priests tithes, how they cast them into prisons, and dungeons, until death! Christ's maintenance the apostles witnessed; freely they had received, and they gave again freely; and he that preached the gospel lived of the gospel,' and coveted no man's silver, goods, nor apparel. But do not ye covet men's silver and goods,

when ye take treble damages of them, and cast them into prison? Is not this the work of the ministry of the nation? Is not the overflowing scourge of the Almighty gone over you? and the rod and the lash come upon you all?

Again, the light within hath led to the light of life, and leads to the light of life, out of utter darkness, in which those and thy generation are seen that stand against the light. So all you apostates are whelmed under in the apostacy since the days of the apostles, who are out of the allowance of Christ, his wages and maintenance, the giving freely, which shows they have not received of God, but buy and sell, yea and after great rates too; and so are the merchants that John speaks of in the Revelations: and this cumbers the creation, yea, nations; ye bring not the glad tidings to them, but burthen them: ye are seen and felt. P. He saith, away with your bodily, fleshly, literal trembling and quivering.' See page 70.

A. Habakkuk's lips quivered, David's flesh trembled, Daniel trembled, Paul trembled, David's bones quaked; and that man the Lord regards who trembles at his word, though cast out by thee and thy generation in this age, as in the days of Isaiah. So thou and thy generation, who say away with trembling of the flesh and body,' say, away with the power of God that throws down that which defiles the flesh. Before sin is condemned in the flesh, and the powers of darkness wrought out of it, you must know trembling; thou and all thy generation, before the devil be dispossessed of your earthly tabernacles, you must know trembling; and thou and thy generation have showed your ignorance of the mighty power of God, the salvation that is wrought out with fear and trembling.' And of that power that in all ages threw down the nature that captivated the seed of God, and defiled the flesh, and darkened the understanding, the sense, and reason, and warred against the soul, ye have showed your ignorance of that power whereby the body, soul, and spirit come to be sanctified. And before this be so, ye must know a bodily trembling and shaking; but he cries, away with it' before ever he came to it, lest he should be tormented before his time; who is one of them who ever were against the holy men of God. But the power of the Lord God has overtaken thee, and with that are ye comprehended, and ye are in the press, and your cluster is full, and the sickle is gone out.

P. He saith, The priesthood is changed, but not the tithes abolished by the coming of any substance; and he that keeps back the tithes of God, hath preferred his mammon before his God, and is guilty of the sin of Ananias: and denying to pay tithes is weakening the bands of the ministers: and God in wisdom hath provided by an outward law, in the absence of the inward, for the maintenance of the ministry by tithes or other maintenance, and so they own a tribute unto God; and so they

must pay tribute, and custom to whom custom is due.' Again he saith, 'custom, tribute, tithes, &c. love will teach these things are due, therefore covet not another's portion.'

A. When the apostle had spoken of tithes, before the law, to Melchisedeck like unto the son of God; and spoken of tithes to the priesthood made by a law that had a command to take them; he said the priesthood was changed, the law was changed, the command was disannuled that gave tithes, the son of God was come, the end of the similitude and likeness before the law. Now,' saith he, of the things (tithes were things before the law and in the law) which we have spoken, this is the sum: Christ a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle which God hath pitched and not man.' So there is the sum of the things, and the substance; and the plenteous redemption, that leads men out of the earth, that brings them to lay down all at the feet of the apostles, which is beyond tenths which were due to the service of the Lord. Here the earth comes to be known to be the Lord's, is given up, and man redeemed out of it. Of this glorious gospel are ye all ignorant. And so tithes are not to be compared with Ananias, and not to be viewed as a tribute, but as a custom which has got up since the days of the apostles, in the apostacy, the nations having drunk the whore's cup, and kings and queens, that had gone out of the power of Christ which the apostles were in, into the beast's power, have made schools to make their ministers, and have made laws to set up tenths. So this custom of the sin hath taken away the sense of it, that people have been so hardened that they have torn people, spoiled their goods, and cast them into prison, and taken treble damages, and kept them in prison, and haled them before courts and sessions, assizes, and benches. Which is not like the ministers of Christ; for the law is changed of God that gave tenths, and since that was changed the law is in the heart, and a new covenant. And since the apostacy men have got the sheep's clothing, ravened from the spirit, wolves, whose fruits declare it; who have deceived nations, and the world, and have got up a law from man, and a command from man, the pope being the author. The law and command of God are changed that gave tithes, and they have got up the law and command of man to take them, and the law of God and his command are denied, as spoken by the apostle, Heb. vii. But all that are in the wisdom of God see over these things, and feel over them, and judge you all, and execute judgment, and are in the power and authority to execute judgment, and convince all, and are in the honour of saints. So your ministry, if tithes fall, is weakened; but the ministry of Christ came in when tithes fell, and that ministry fell that held up tithes, and that priesthood during which the priests' lips were to preserve the people's knowledge. So by the fall of that minis