TRUTHS DEFENCE AGAINST LIES. In a brief Anſwer to a Book, intituled the Worceſterſhire Petition defended; ſet forth by one (of Englands blind guides) who calles himſelf a Miniſter of Chriſt, yet pleads altogether, that the Friars, Abbots, Biſhops, Deans and Chapters Lands, which the Papiſts ſet forth to maintain their Idolatrous Worſhip, are of Divine right and inſtitution, and were given to the maintain­ing of the Church of England, which he calles the Church of Chriſt, and complains of the ſin of Sacri­ledge, againſt thoſe who have, or ſhall take any of the aforeſaid Lands or Tithes, from the Clergy, which he calles the Church, &c.

THou Fowler, who ſnares for others madeſt, art in them found faſt thy ſelf; and for thy lies art caſ•into the pit, from whence thou ſhalt never riſe, un­til thou be made to cry out againſt them, and own thy own condemnation, and there wait, until all thy lies be caſt forth of thee, who art with the light, which Chriſt hath enlightened his Children withall, ſeen to be one of Sathans Miniſters, transformed into the Miniſters of Chriſts likeneſs, and yet thy mouth full of lies: And be­gins in thy firſt anſwer to the firſt Query, where thou ſayſt, All the Miniſters in England, whom that Petition doth mention, are given to the Church, for the perfecting of the Saints, &c. and yet thou ſayſt; But it doth not follow, that the Miniſters of this Age, muſt bring the Saints to perfection. Here thou uttereſt forth thy lies and confu­ſion, and art for condemnation with the light; for if2 thou with thy Brethren be given to perfect the Saints, (as thou ſayſt) and further (as thou ſayſt) the Saints can­not be made perfect by you in this age: then you ac­compliſh not the work whereunto you are ſent, ſo are found unfaithful and unprofitable Servants, and muſt give an account of your Stewardſhip, and out of your own mouths be condemned, and for your unfaithfulneſs be caſt out of your ſervice.

2. Thou ſayſt, Perfection will be at Chriſts ſecond coming, and your Reſurrection, when ſoul and body ſhall be joyned in felicity: here thou uttereſt forth thy folly, and confeſſeth thy ignorance in the knowledge of Chriſts coming in ſpirit in thy fleſh, and of thy Reſur­rection and holineſs in Chriſt, ſhowing thy ſelfe to be dead, and in the grave of ſin, unraiſed from corruption, not having put on Chriſt, where no imperfection is, and yet darſt call thy ſelf a Miniſter of Jeſus Chriſt. Oh bluſh for ſhame, thou that hates to be reformed, (and thy Bre­thren) who haſt a Whores forehead, and ſits in the high­wayes, and corners of ſtreets in the twigh-light, and night of your iniquities, to intiſe the ignorant and fool­iſh ones, to commit adultery with you, and to act forni­cation with ſtrange lovers, and all are ſtrangers to God, and ſtrangers from the Covenant of grace, and are gone from the Lord, the true lover; and from the light: and into the night, and darkneſs leads where you all dwell and have your portion.

3. Thou ſayes, You chearfully accept of Chriſts wayes, and yet ſayes, you know not what it is; for he never co­venanted with you, as thou ſayes, you never capitulated with him; but what he offers, you ſhall be ſure of, in the life to come: here thou ſhews thy ſelf ignorant of eternal life, and art without faith; for he that believeth in Chriſt, hath everlaſting life dwelling in him, Jo. 6.47. and if thou hadſt everlaſting life dwelling in thee, what other life would be deſired, or what life would be wiſh­ed for, more than life eternal; but thou and all who3 here live not in the faith of our Lord Jeſus Chriſt, are without God and Chriſt, and laſting joy and happineſs: and are in darkneſs, death and hell, ſhut up as thou plainly declares thy ſelf to be, and haſt nothing to do to talk of God or Chriſt, or Scripture; for from them art thou ſhut out, and from thee they are lockt and ſeal­ed up: the Gulf is betwixt you, and woe is thy portion, and all they who are joyned to thee, whilſt you live there; for under the wrath of God you are, and are ac­curſed from off the earth, which fruit to God doth bring forth, with your Father Cain, and you vagabonds, ſtran­gers, wandering from God, and from the light of God, and are afraid of deſtruction by every one, who findes you out, as thou expreſſes in thy 11th Query, ſaying, If the publick maintenance be taken away, the Miniſtry will not continue long, and ſo thou wouldſt tie (as thou calleſt it) Gods Miniſtry to depend on an outward pub­lick means, and here thou art a blaſphemer, and knowes not the Miniſtry of Gods ſpirit, and art for condemnati­on by the Miniſtry of the ſpirit, and all ſuch liars and blaſphemers as thou art, who go about, either by ſpeak­ing or printing to deceive the world, and to caſt aſperſi­ons on the ſure truth, and draw poor Creatures from the light of God within them, to follow your and their own imaginations in a voluntary humility, and will-worſhip preaching and hearing for Doctrines, the precepts of men, crying out againſt all, who ſpeak forth the living Oracles of God calling them Hereticks and deluders; but let all who deſire to know the truth, as it is in Chriſt Je­ſus, ſeriouſly conſider, whether we who direct to walk by the true light, the ſpirit of truth in every ones mea­ſure, and to be guided by it; and to do as the true anoin­ting teacheth them: or thou and thy Companions, who draw from the light to obſerve outward forms; be the deceivers and ſeducers. All that thou and thy fellows, in all your writings againſt truth, and in all your anſwers to any thing propounded, is but to gull the people of the Nation, and to perſwade them, that God hath left you4 onely as teachers of them, and that you muſt have a maintenance from them; & if they will not pay you you caſt out hard words againſt them, and ſo if they put not into your mouthes, you prepare warre againſt them, and keep the people under, and you Prieſts bear rule by their means, and hold up the filthy and horrible thing, preaching for hire, and the people love to have it ſo; but what will you do in the end thereof, which will come upon you at unawares. And thou who accounteth thy ſelfe a Miniſter of Chriſt, ſaith, it is ſufficient for thee that Chriſt hath commanded, that men ſhould not muzzle the mouth of the Oxe, that treadeth out the Corn, and the Labourer is worthy of his hire &c. did thou never yet ſow ſpiritualls, and therefore can have no right to tem­poralls; for the ſeed of God is hid in thee, the witneſs lies ſlain in thy ſtreets; and as thou ſayſt in thy anſwer to the firſt Query, Chriſt is not come to thee the ſecond time to ſalvation, and the Reſurrection of the dead bo­dy (or ſeed that lies dead) is not yet come to thee: there­fore to the light in thy conſcience I ſpeak, how canſt thou or any of thy fellows, have a face to plead for tem­poralls (but that you are brazened)? when by your own confeſſion you have no ſpiritualls to adminiſter to them, or ſeed of God to ſowe in them. Thou ſayſt, and I have heard many of thy fellows ſay, that the new birth is not in this life: but the Scriptures witneſs, that the Saints of God had paſſed from death to life, and they witneſſed their turning from darkneſs to light, and their tranſlating into the Kingdom of Chriſt; Col. 1.10.13, 14. and all who are called to be Saints now, in the meaſures witneſs the ſame. Thou ſayſt, if we ſo far pre­vailed, as to take away the eſtabliſht maintenance of the Miniſtry, you are reſolved to preach never a Sermon the leſſe: But none who knowes thee will believe thee, or any of thy Generation; for if your mouths be not fil­led, you will not, nor cannot bark; for your barking conſiſteth in the bit, as in Iſa. 56.10, 11. and as thou thy5 ſelf ſaith in thy 11th. Query of thy Book that if the pub­lick maintenance be taken away, there is but little like­lihood of a Miniſtry, longer her: To thy face, thy lies are laid open, as all that read in thy book may ſee. Oh ſhameleſs and filthy Generation, lying deceiving, and being deceived, how long will ye reſiſt the power of the holy one, and yet profeſs your ſelves to be the Miniſters of Chriſt! be aſhamed and confounded! come down thou Daughter of Babylon, and ſit in the duſt, and humble thy ſelf, if it may be the Lord may take pitty upon thee, and ſpare thee, for the hand of the Lord is ſtretched out o­ver Babylon to deſtroy it, and none ſhall hold it. And for anſwer to the reſt of thy Book, all who read it may ſee, if they be not blind, thy ſhame and nakedneſs laid open by thy ſelfe and needs no other to unmask thee, but thy ſelfe: all which ſtrives to prove, that the mainte­nance which was given to Friars, Abbots, Biſhops, &c. by the Pope, are of divine right and inſtitution, and was gi­ven to the Vniverſities, as thou calles them, and to the reſt of the Churches in England, calling it the Church of Chriſt. In thy fifth Query, laying open thy folly to all eyes who will ſee, thou ſayes, is it not a fearful hardning to the Papiſts, when they ſhall obſerve that thoſe of their Religion give to the Church, and that theſe of ours take it away: ſo here thou and thy Church, and the Pope, Rapiſts, and their Church, are all one by thy own words. and further thou complains againſt King Henry for ta­king away part of the means, and againſt this preſent Power, for taking another part of the Churches means, And thou ſaiſt, we will not leave any: All who knows what part Henry (King in England,) ſould of the Churches means, knowes what he ſould, was of the Fri­ars and Abbots Lands. O ſee thy ſhame and filthineſs thou Beaſt, who dare ſo plead for the Popes right, to be thine, and the Church of Englands right; but all who in the light dwell, ſees thee and the Church of England, that thou pleads for, and the Pope and his partakers to6 be Members of the body of Antichriſt; and with the breath of Chriſt and his bright appearance in his Saints, ſhall be conſumed. Thou likewiſe ſooths up the igno­rant and poor people, and ſayes, the common people may eaſily be perſwaded that the Religion which teach­eth men to rob God, (counting it a robbing of God to fell the Fryars, Abbots, Biſhops, Deans, and Chapters Lands) is not ſo good, as that which teacheth them to give to him and his worſhip. But wo is all your porti­ons, you cannot eſcape the hands of the Lord, and though you hide your ſelves never ſo ſecretly, you are found out, and all your lights and ſubtle devices, where­by you lay in waight to deceive the ſimple, are uncover­ed, and with the light are to be condemned. And ſo Reader, read but the Worceſterſhire Petition defended, which this man who calles himſelf a Miniſter of Chriſt, writ in anſwer to certain Queries, which was put forth to thoſe, who put forth the Worceſterſhire Petition to be anſwered by them; and thou ſhalt ſee himſelf laying open his own folly and nakedneſs, and making his own ſhame to appear: and laſtly, how he confeſſeth, that they (he and his brethren) have been too much mindfull of the things of this life, and preferring their own rights more then the rights of Jeſus Chriſt: thus out of thy own mouth, are they condemned with thy brethren: you ſloathful Servants, weeping and wailing, ſhall be your portion without you ſpeedily repent and turn to the Lord, for with the light you are found out; and by the light you are condemned, and caſt out from God, and from the fellowſhip and Communion of the Saints in God, with the abhominable and defiled, to have your portion in the lake, which cannot be quenched, without you make haſte to meet the Lord: Repent therefore and come out of Babylon; for he who in her abides, ſhall pertake of her plagues, take warning by one who your ſoul loves, and deſires to ſee your welfare in God, and return from Babylon, BEN: NICHOLSON.

And many more unſavory words there is in thy book, which be not worth mentioning; But this is given forth, that the fool ſhould not boaſt himſelf in his folly, a­mongſt the ignorant; & for the ignorants ſake, this book was written, and ſent forth.