To the people at and about Stafford a testimony for God and his truth and against deceit and deceivers, especially the hireling priests ... / by ... Thomas Taylor. Taylor, Thomas, 1618-1682. 1679 Approx. 13 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 4 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A64264 Wing T588 ESTC R17829 12166431 ocm 12166431 55335 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A64264) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 55335) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 829:12) To the people at and about Stafford a testimony for God and his truth and against deceit and deceivers, especially the hireling priests ... / by ... Thomas Taylor. Taylor, Thomas, 1618-1682. 7 p. s.n., [London : 1679] Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Caption title. Dated and signed on p. 4 "In the year 79 [1679] T.T."; at end "In the year 1697 [i.e. 1679] T.T." Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Society of Friends -- Doctrines. 2004-07 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2004-07 Aptara Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2004-11 Jonathan Blaney Sampled and proofread 2004-11 Jonathan Blaney Text and markup reviewed and edited 2005-01 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion TO THE People at and about STAFFORD , A Testimony for God and his Truth , and against Deceit and Deceivers , especially the Hireling Priests , as a Warning , Information & Instruction in Righteousness , to them ( and all People elsewhere concerned ) by the Spirit of the Lord in his Suffering Servant Thomas Taylor . Hear , O People , and Fear ; for the LORD hath spoken : THE false Teacher , the Hireling , who hath run and God never sent him , but preaches for Hire and divines for Money , can never profit your Souls , O people , at all ; but with their false Dreams , and lying Divinations , and empty Sounds , they deceive your poor Souls : For what can the dead words of a dead man ( dead in Sins ) raise up your dead Souls from Death to Life : No , they cannot ; they have no Life in them ; and such who have no spiritual Health for Soundness ( by their own Confession ) in them , but are miserable Offenders , can they minister any healthful or sound Doctrine to your Souls ; nay , those cannot ; for , what is their Chaff to the Wheat , their frothy Words to the powerful Word of God ; for , sow a Field with Chaff , and what a Crop can you expect ; but as the Prophet saith , They sow the Wind , and reap the Whirlewind : So cease from them , you that love God and your own Souls , and turn to God : for I testifie for God , That the True Ministry , the Soul-saving Ministry of Christ Jesus is not with the Parish-Hirelings of these dayes ; for neither their long black Robes , nor long white Surplices , nor their humane Learning , nor the Ordination of Man , men of like nature with themselves , doth any more conduce to the making of them able Ministers of the new Covenant , the Gospel of Christ , the Everlasting Covenant of God , than the grey or brown Coat of the Plowman , or Artificer , or the Skill of the Husbandman in Husbandry , or the Cunning of the cunning Worker in Wood , Brass or Iron doth furnish them for Gospel-service ; for the Vision of Gods Kingdom to all the world this day , both wise and foolish , is like a Book sealed , as the Prophet saith , which is given to the worldly wise to read , and he cannot read it , because it s seal'd ; and to the foolish , and he cannot read it , because he is unlearned , Isa. 29. 10 , 11 , 12. so though in the world there is a difference betwixt the wise and foolish , yet as to the Kingdom of God there is none ; for the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God , 1 Cor. 1. 10 , &c. for that which lieth hid from all flesh , God reveals to his by his Spirit ; for the Spirit searcheth all things , yea the deep things of God , 1 Cor. 3. 6 , 7 , 8. And people , the time of quickening and raising up of many that were dead in sins is come again , after a long Night of Darkness , and the dead this day hear the Voice of the Son of God ( not of vain man ) and they that hear do live , John 5. 25. so people , look to your Souls ; for though your Parish-Teachers , who preach for Hire , and divine for Money , and love to go in their long & white Robes , do boast of their being come out of Popery , yet upon the Popish Maintenance of Tythes , Glebe-lands , Easter Reckonings , Mortuaries , and Monies for preaching over and burying the Dead , and such like things they live and make a Prey upon , not willing to come to Christ ( to this day ) as the first Christians did , for a thorow Reformation ; and so , not a little , but a great deal of the old , sowr , popish Leven being yet found amongst them , both in Doctrine and Practice ; how should their whole lump but be very sowr ? as appears by their Fruits , and the Fruits of such as follow them : and so , for witnessing in Christ against them for these evil things I suffer Imprisonment ; yet for God's Mercy inabling me thereunto I rejoyce , and can truly from my heart praise the Lord , that hath deliver'd my Soul from that horrible Pit , that these ungodly men yet remain in , and will not be helped out of . And people of Stafford , for your sakes it was that the Lord by my Mouth rebuked the Hireling , that you might not always be deceived and kept in death with such Dreamers ; but that you might turn to the Lord God , from all such , to know his word and spirit , that made you , in you , to teach you , and to lead your Immortal Souls to the Springs of living Waters ; for you have too long dwelt in the wilderness of sin , ignorance and unbelief , and now it is high time for you to repent , and come to know the Baptism of the holy Ghost & Fire , which is Christ's proper Baptism , Mat. 3. 10 , 11 , 12. for , alas ! you have but hitherto been carried on by the Pharisees in the outward shadows and figures of things , which reach not the soul , to purifie and perfect it unto God , ●nd therefore is the Lord come in mighty Power this day , to break in sunder all the graven Images of the people , whether under the Profession of the Popish or Protestant Religion ; for the Lord is on his Throne , to make all things new again , as in the beginning , when all the sons of God in holiness sung for Joy , and rejoyced in the Lord , for the blessed victory they had got through the Blood of the Lamb over all their souls Enemies . But Wo and Alas for you , the poor people of Stafford , and of many other places , who are under the Teachings of worldly-minded men , miserable Offenders , like your selves , always doing what ye should not do , & leaving undone what ye should do , & so without all spiritual health , in the miserable captivity of sin ; my soul mourns for you , & my Sufferings are for you , & my soul prays for you , that you may be recover'd out of the snare of your souls enemy , by which ye are led captive at his will ; for many days & years hath my soul mourned for you , and been oppressed , and the Lord hath called to you early and late to Repent , and lay things to heart ; but , O the hardness of many of your hearts , and the carelesness of the rest ! O , why will ye dye ? why will ye linger , and remain still in spiritual Sodom and Egypt , where the Witnesses lay slain , Rev. 11 ? So whilst ye have time , prize it , lest the Lord lay you upon a Bed of Sorrows , where no Ease is , and say unto you in his Wrath , I gave them time to Repent , and they Repented not . In the year 79. T. T. HEAR the Word of the Lord , all you that fear to offend the Lord , and who breath after Righteousness in any measure , and yet in your Ignorance are seeking the Living among the Dead , the Living God in Dead Observations , which by Tradition you have received one from another , and not from the Lord Jesus . The Day is come , wherein by the Spirit of Jesus it is witnessed in and by his living Members , That he that was dead is now alive , and lives forever more , and is ascended for above all Heavens , and out of all Figures and Shadows , that he might fill all things with his holy Substance : And as in former days he gave some Apostles , some Prophets , some Evangelists , and some Pastors and Teachers , for the perfecting of the Saints , for the Work of the Ministry , for the edifying of the Body of Christ , till we all ( saith the Apos●le ) to wit , the Heavenly Body not the Body of Sinful Earthly Flesh ) come in the Unity of the Faith , and the Knowledge of the Son of God , to a perfect Man , unto the Measure of the Stature and fulness of Christ , Ephes. 4. 11 , 12 , 13. Even so the Lord is now giving forth of his Spirit to his Children , born of his Spirit , for enabling them in this Day of the Restitution of all things , for the Work of the Ministry , for the perfecting of the Saints , and fitting them for Glory ; and this now after a long Night of Darkness and Desolation , is to the Praise of his Glory , who hath made us in this his blessed Day , as he did his Faithful Followers in the Beginning , accepted in the Beloved , to shew forth his Praises to Ages to come , whom he will also raise up by Christ Jesus , together with us , to magnifie his Mercies for evermore . But that the Parish Teachers of these times , who Preach for Hire , and Divine for Money , loving to be called of Men Master ; and like the Pharisees of old , love to go in Long Robes , and receive Honour one of another , John 5. are such , to wit , so given of Christ , and begifted from Heaven , and fitted for so great a Work , as to perfect the Saints , as those before ( in Ephes. 4 ) mentioned were , I utterly deny , and their Fruits , as also the Fruits of their Hearers make manifest that they are of another Sort , Seed and Generation , even such as the Prophet Jeremiah speaks of and declares against , who have run , and God never sent them ; For why ? they waited not for the Word of God to speak in them and by them , but stole the Words from their Neighbour , and used their Tongues to say , The Lord saith , when the Lord never spoke by them , ( Jer. 23. 30. ) and therefore , saith the Lord , these Teachers shall not profit the People at all ( Vers. 32. ) For what are their Chaffy Words to the Word of God ? ( Vers. 28. ) So the Teachers of the Parishes this day get into the Pulpit with the Words of the Prophets and Apostles in their Hand , and Sin in their Hearts , as those other did , dreaming over them for Filthy Luere , & cry to the People , BELOVED , ( yea , Beloved , because they put into their Mouths ) Hear the Word of the Lord , as you shall find it written in such a Chapter , and such a Verse , when the Lord never spoke to these Hirelings , nor sent them thus to preach , but they are Men made Ministers , Men of the Evil world , and great Lovers and Pleaders for it , and therefore the world hears them , 1 John 4. 5. But the true Messenger of Christ saith for himself and his Brethren , We are of God , and the whole world lieth in Wickedness . And saith Christ to his Disciples , Ye are not of the World , as I am not of the World ; for if you were of the World , the World would love you ; for the World loves its own ; but now I have chosen you out of the World , therefore the World hates you , John 15. 18 , 19. So all people fear the Lord God ; for the Name of Christians , without the Nature of Christ , will do you no good at all ; for the Lord is come to search all that called Christendom with Candles , and to pull down the lofty Hearts and Looks of all amongst them called Christians first , and then of all the World besides ; for now is the Lord exalting his great Name over all , as in the Beginning , before the Antichrist , Beast , False Prophet and Whore got up ; and who shall stop the Passage of this mighty Jehovah , in the great Work of setting up his Kingdom over all the Kingdoms of the Man of Sin , that the Kingdoms of this World may become the Kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ , whose Right alone it is to Rule and Reign , according to that Saying in the Prophet , I will Overturn , Overturn , Overturn , till he come to Rule whose Right it is . And now Wo and Misery begins to take hold of all Hypocrites , and all the Wicked , because of the arising and appearing of the great God from Heaven this day , who is on his Throne , judging in Righteousness , and in Righteousness making War , whose Fiery Word , his Two-edged Sword , goes out of his Mouth , not only to discover , but also to destroy and consume the Man of Sin in all the Earth . And now the Hireling Teachers of all sorts , the Merchants of Mystery Babylon , shall cry , Alas ! alas ! that great City , People begin to see us , and they will not trade with us , nor buy our Merchandize , as in former dayes , but declare against it ; see Revel . 18. 10 , 11. O , yea ; it cannot be otherwise ; for now the Witnesses , that lay slain in the Streets of the great City , Sodom and Egypt , spiritually so called , are arisen , and stand upon their Feet , praised be God. And now Judgment is given to the Saints of the Most High God , Dan. 7. 12 , 25 , 26 , 27. So that though the great Antichrist , under many shapes and appearances , ha●h spoken great words against God , his Truth and People , and hath oppressed the Saints ; yet now the Judgment of God being set against him , his Dominion shall be consumed and destroyed , and the Saints of the Most High God shall have Dominion , and Reign with Christ , whose Kingdom is an Everlasting Kingdom , and all Dominions shall serve and obey him , to wit , our Lord Jesus Christ , for whose blessed Name and Truth 's sake , the Holy Tremblers , who Tremble at his Word , and follow him in the Regeneration , do this day suffer ; it is so . In the Year 16●7 T. T. THE END .