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Show ( 4) ·" . find lVfercy ~nd. Forgivenefs w~d~ the Lord : l fhall there_fore defcend ro Examine and Anfw~r fome parttcular Paffages in Relation borh to them an_d our Friends, rho' nor all dr every thing rhar. mtght JLillly be excepted againtl in his faid Hiflo~ y, wherein I couJ~ Convitl him of Falfhood and Parrialiry in many Things, even as to them'--: felves ; for rhar would require a Volume of ir felf; bur qnly fome Parricufars rhat more irn: ~ediarely Concerns us, and rhe i'rurh we Protefs ; for whi~h, and . the Tetfimony thcreo'many ha.v_e futfered fo largely and deeply, even. ~o rhe,laymg down their Lives· for i<s fake; and Jn whtch Anfwer I fhall intermix, ~s I have occa~ on, fome br~ef hjnrs of their Laws, and rbe' gr~evous SJJffenngs infliCted by rhem on our Fr~ends, of w~ich fb~l]e thar are hardly (or bui bnefiy) ment1ontd; m rhe former Relations of a. Bifh?f, bur our of either Books ~nd Manufcripts·1, of wh1ch I .have .many by_ me on rhar Subject ; and alfo, Ius own Confeihons ro rhe Juft Judgments of God, and Mifery that have followed and come upon rheh1 fioce, as rhe Reward of their Doings; borh w~icb ~ill render rhe Work the morePerfeCt andCompJear; and fo I1baH proceed: 'FIR • s.T Pricll Higgi#fon in his Pr8face or .Atte. f!atton ro the Work, after he has· confeft rd !~etr Degener(tcy (which I fhall me!1tio'n on anof" heir ~her occafion ) fays~ P· 4· We are far from think~ tfrcttJ mg th~t we pa'T.Ie a:tat~~d tJ _Perftc1 IJ..eformati~n ; Oh ! 110 ; o;tr F~therJ dtJ m thezr time acknowlulge, there ')JJtre mt:Jny Defe{IJ and Imperfec/iqn• in our w11y,p. 5. and ').~,'hen the Lor4 ]hall 1114ke J erufalem ( or the · 17~e ~hu~ch of Go~, and the T-rue Chri{tian Religion} ~. Praife m the ~arth, anJ tbe Joy of many Generatlo? H, 1hen the Mijlakcs of thefe times wi/J be reCiijieJ~ Obfir'Ct~; ( s ) bb{erve, if they were not Right in' their beginning or fore-Fathers Days, at:d yer are degenerated, as he, and c. M. roo, oonfelfes, even from rhat little they then had, what are they now, when they are fo much declined, and much more defective and imperfeCt than they were? (rho' they indeed were never a rrue Gofpel- Church, as G. Keith faid of that of rhe fame Stamp in Scotland) and when they are Guilry o(TVay cot/f fo many more grofs Mifiakes, as rhey·have been up, P· S9· fince, in perfecucing the People of God: It ftems they were far from being fo perfectly Re-formed or Compleat, as to want nmhing in thofe days, hue had many Defects, Imperfetlions and Miftakes then, which muft be retl:ified in time; and yer lmprifon, and Lock up in Chains, Hunger and Cold, Whip and Beat ro a Jelly, Men and Women near to Death, Banifh on pain of Death, and put to Dearh, even in fuch a bar-barous manner, as aforefaid, rhe Servants of the L~rd! to keep them from coming among them; and 1s that the way to reClifie rhofe Defe8s, ImperfeCliom and Mijl11kes,by committing Greater, in Per(ecuting them, in fuch a manner, thac faw their Shortnefs and Defeels,and came in the Love of God to help reCiifie them ? And how will rhofe DefeEls, Imper(eEI,ions and Mijlakes be reClifieJ, if they ex-clude all further Light and Informacion, in order to f~rtherReformation? The Shortnefs andDef!8s oi theu way, hath been long feen, in many refpetls, as to the attaining Everlafiing Life ; and there .. fore many of us the People ( in fcorn by them) called f!.!!ak~rs, have left them and their w.ay, and come mro the Way ~f the LorJ, wtfich is Strength to the Upright, even the High~way which Prov. !c . our God hath ca(f up in the Defert (where Streams 29. break forth} the Brook in ~be 'Jl'ay ( Pfal. 11 o. 7·) which |
