Hereford, the 8th day of the first month, 1658, these words were spoken in a meeting by Edward Price and Philip Langford, which are their principles.

P. PHILIP LANGFORD said, 'Paul was not freed from the act of sin whilst in this life.'

A. Paul thanks God he was made free from the body of sin, and saw there was no condemnation; and thus he wrestles and fights against Paul, who said he was made free from sin, and could live no longer therein; and the body of sin was put off; and his conversation was in heaven.

P. 'We do affirm, that they that are in this faith that turns from sin, are subject to sin, the act of sin, whilst in this mortal body.'

A. This is confusion and contradiction, and not sound doctrine; for faith that purifies the heart from sin, gives victory over it, in which men please God, and have access to him, by the which they are justified whilst on earth, and by faith the just live; and the life the saints come to live, which gives them victory over the world, is by the faith of the son of God.'

P. Priest Price saith, Faith in Christ Jesus purifies not from the indwellings of sin whilst in this body.'

A. In this the scripture hath corrected thee; for it saith, faith purifies the heart;' that which purifies, takes away sin, which, being unclean in itself, makes unclean.

P. He saith, The guilt of sin may be taken away, but the act of sin may remain.'

A. A silly man! one of the old doctors the scriptures speak of. Dost thou act sin, and dost not thou feel the guilt of it? Thou bringest the whole world upon thy head, the principle of God in them all will witness against thee. And ask all the thieves that are condemned to the gallows, and the drunkards, and such as act sin, such as profess scriptures, which are not in the life of it, whether or not they have not a guilt upon them for acting sin. But this is one of the blind priests' principles; none but mad men will believe them; wicked liars against that of God in their own conscience! and thus they preach up the devil's doctrine of lies.

P. Edward Price saith, that all men should be judged by the scriptures, and that the scriptures are the power of God.'

A. The scripture saith, Christ is the power of God;' and the apostle said, 'The letter kills;' and 'all judgment is committed to the son,' say the ministers of Christ. And the scriptures are the words of God, and Christ is the word, and judge, in whom the words end, whom

thou hast thrown out, and set scripture in his room: and as for the rest of his words, they are not worth mentioning.

P. The doctrine of perfection in the creature is a lie.'

A. The doctrine of perfection in the creature is Christ, who destroys the devil and his works, and binds the strong man, and spoils his goods, and takes the possession of it to himself, and the creature is a perfect creature, out of transgression. He that is born of God doth not commit sin,' seeing the seed of God remains in him; and that is the doctrine of perfection in the creature. And Christ makes all things new; and thou that canst not witness any thing made new, art in the old things, crying up imperfection; and that is perfect that brings men to confess their sin, and that is in the creature.

Thomas Hodges, rector in Oxfordshire, bachelor in divinity, saith,

P. That the holy ghost speaks in the scriptures.'

A. Here all may see his ignorance, whether this man be fit to be a rector who is thus corrected with the scriptures, which say, that the holy ghost moved in them that gave forth scriptures; but said, 'the letter was dead, and did not give life.' And thus he directs into darkness, in telling the people the holy ghost is in scripture, when the scripture never gave forth that speech, but said it was in them that gave it forth; for many may have the scriptures, and want the holy ghost, as the Pharisees.

P. To the law and to the testimony; and thou shalt not make to thy self any graven image that is in heaven or in earth.'

A. I say, to the law and to the testimony, before Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, Epistles, and the Revelations were written. The law is light,' 'the testimony of Jesus the spirit of prophecy,' as in former days, Isaiah the 8. And you have told the people that it is the Old and New Testament; but the New was not written in his days, in the days of Isaiah. And why do you make likenesses of things in heaven and in earth, and hang up in your houses, and on signs, yet thou sayst we should not make them, for it is a breach of God's command: of whom have you learned to make all these images of things in heaven, and things in the earth, since the days of the apostles, but of them that went forth from the apostles, the pope's tribe; of whom ye are.

Richard Heath, Priest in Shrewsbury. His Principles as follows.

P. That drawing people to a light within them, you draw them from God to themselves, from the instruction of the spirit.'

A. Here thou art a minister unlike to the apostle, who brought people to a light within them, Cor. ii. 4. and told them, that the light that shined in their hearts would give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.'

none come to the knowledge of the spirit, but such as come to the light within, (and from themselves,) though they have the scriptures as the Jews had.

P. 'If we ministers should send people from all other lights to the light within them, we should then turn them from light to darkness, from God to the power of satan.'

A. None come to God, but they who come to the light within, from the power of satan and darkness; and God will dwell in them, and walk in them, and make his abode in them, who is light, and the end of all other lights, before they were. And ye that turn people from the light, turn people into darkness, the power of satan, and there keep people under his dominion, from the light Christ Jesus that hath enlightened every man that cometh into the world, with which they might see their saviour.

Daniel Gaudry, Priest of great Billing in Northamptonshire. His Principles follow.

P. 'That the saints are partly sinful, and failing in their best works, and subject to continual lustings one against another.'

A. The life of the saints is Christ, not sinful at all; and they are ceased from their own works, and are true believers. And the works of faith are not sinful, nor the works of the spirit, by which the saints are led; and they come into Christ in whom they have peace, and do not lust one against another, but live in the spirit in which there is unity, in which is the bond of peace; and the lusting one against another is in the transgression against the spirit of God. So they who are in Christ, are in peace; and they who are in the world are in trouble, in wars; but they who are in Christ, are in him who was before wars were, inward or outward, of whom thou art ignorant.

P. 'The blood of Christ cleanseth from all sin, from the guilt of it, instantly and perfectly; from the stain and power of it, gradually.' A. Where sin is, there the guilt of it is felt at that instant; but who

ever feels the sin, shall feel the guilt of it. And the blood of the seed cleanseth, it makes free from that which the law takes hold of; and the blood of the seed cleanseth from sin, from the power and stain of it, and then the guilt of it is gone; the seed destroys death and him that hath the power of it, which is the devil; and where this is known the fulness is known which is above degrees, that which degrees end in.

P. It is the tang of popery, that a man may fall from saving grace.' A. 'The grace of God that has appeared to all men, which brings salvation,' is saving, and such thou and many papists turns into lasciviousness and wantonness. That which brings salvation is saving. So you are turned to be murderers of one another about scriptures, which was not the practice of them who lived soberly, righteously, and godly, who denied the worldly lusts and ungodliness, but their hearts were established in grace which was their teacher; but you and papists that live wildly, and ungodly, and unrighteously, in the lusts of the world, that are fallen from the saving grace, your fruits, your actions daily declare and show it; and so you are talkers of grace, which is turned into wantonness both among you and the papists; your unseasoned hearts and words make it appear.

P. We shall not see Christ as he is till he comes to judgment, then and not before we shall see him.' And then he adds, 'Every man that hath this hope purifies himself, which also argues that he is not pure and perfect, but only in hope.'

A. You, where you are, see him not, nor know him as he is, we do believe you; but the saints, the true church whom he is the head of, whom he is in the midst of, and in whom he is. And Christ told his disciples, they had known him; they knew the son, and had the son, and they had the Father also; and he that had not, had not life. And they had handled and seen. And hope in itself is pure, and that is it which purifies man, and makes him pure, as God is pure. The hope pure in itself, a distinct thing, and that is to make man pure as God is pure.

now is

P. God may justly require his due of man, though man cannot give it.'

A. God requires no more of man than he gives.

P. That the Quakers send men to the light within them to be perfected, which is no better than darkness.'

A. Thou that sendest men to any thing, but not to the light within them, thou keepest them out from perfection in utter darkness; and none come out of utter darkness to perfection, but by the light within them; and so growing up in the light, they grow up in that which is perfect, and so in the fulness which is Christ, which is the perfection of God.

P. Christ saves his people from the guilt of their sins here in the state of justification: the state of the best saints here, is imperfect.'

A. Who are justified are saved from the guilt of sin; and who commit sin feel the guilt, and cannot say they are justified in the committing of it; for he that saves, sanctifies, redeems, and destroys the devil and his works, and death, where he hath power, where he keeps up his authority. And if the best saints here are imperfect, then they are not brought out of Adam's state in the transgression; for a saint is one that is sanctified, and one that is redeemed, and one that comes to know the works of the devil destroyed, and that is washed, and cleansed, and sanctified through the name of the Lord; and that which justifieth takes away both sin and its guilt; for, as it is written, he shall save his people from their sins,' and from the guilt, and from the wretched state.

P. Surely they cannot be perfect here or hereafter in equality, but only in quality.'

A. Christ makes no distinction in his words, but saith, 'Be ye perfect, even as your heavenly Father is, and be ye merciful as he is;' and as he is so are we.' And that which is perfect and merciful, as he is perfect and merciful, is in equality with the same thing which is of God and from him.

P. The saints were come to the spirits of just men made perfect, but not on earth.'

A. The just men's spirits that led them to give forth scriptures was the spirit of God, and that was perfect; and was that which while they were upon earth the saints were come to, which was Christ the end of all words, and so to God, the Judge of all the earth.

Philip Taverner, called Preacher of the Word, in his book called 'The Quakers' Rounds.' These are his Principles.

P. 'We distinguish between the essential word, and the declarative word; we own Christ to be the essential, and the scripture to be the letter.'

A. The scripture tells us that Christ is the word; the scriptures of truth that were given forth from the spirit of truth, were the words of God, in whom they end, in Christ the word. And you talk of a declarative word, and the scripture you call a history; and you call it a creed, and you call it a catalogue; and these titles and names you have given to the scripture of truth, the words of God; as I said before, the scriptures of truth are the words of God, given forth from the spirit of