A LETTER TO MR. EDWARDS (William Kiffin?)

Summary – A Letter to Mr. Edwards (1646)

This pamphlet is an anonymous, blistering rebuttal to Presbyterian polemicist Thomas Edwards, best known for his Gangraena series attacking Independents, Baptists, and other sectaries during the English Civil War.

1. Tone and Purpose

• Written in a satirical, caustic style, the letter ridicules Edwards as a slanderer, hypocrite, and enemy of gospel liberty.

• The author portrays him as a self-appointed “Scavenger General” of Christendom, gathering filth to hurl at dissenters.

• Its purpose is both to defend maligned brethren (likely Baptists/Independents) and to expose Edwards’ methods as dishonest, malicious, and spiritually bankrupt.

2. Main Charges Against Edwards

• Religious regression – Accused of leading Protestants back into “Babylonish captivity” under the pretense of divine right.

• Persecution – Allegedly thirsts for imprisonment, fines, and the blood of saints rather than gospel persuasion.

• Moral hypocrisy – Ignores scandalous sins among his own party while attacking others for doctrinal differences.

• False testimony – Uses lies, gossip, and misrepresentation to discredit opponents (citing specific incidents he distorted).

• Carnal methods – Relies on magistrates, coercion, and “carnal artillery” rather than spiritual weapons (Word, Spirit, faith).

• Clerical self-interest – Protects ministerial privilege and income while neglecting true pastoral work.

3. Theological Counterpoints

• True gospel advance is by spiritual means, not civil compulsion (2 Cor. 10:4–5).

• The church’s foundation is secure despite apostasy; persecution cannot overthrow God’s elect.

• The “mystery of iniquity” resides in clerical domination inherited from Antichrist, not in liberty-loving congregations.

4. Satirical Elements

• Extended metaphors (Egyptian bondage, Nebuchadnezzar’s idol, Adonibezek’s thumbs and toes).

• Mock account-book tallying the “distribution” of Edwards’ Gangraena—many copies unsold, spoiled, or given away.

• Feigned advice to rally foreign allies (Dutch, Munsterites) in his “holy war” against sectaries.

5. Conclusion
The writer leaves Edwards to God’s rebuke, urging him—if possible—to repent of his “gangrened state” (Heb. 6:4–6). The enclosed note to a gentlewoman frames the letter as a defense of wrongly accused saints, confident that God will vindicate them in due time.

This is both a theological defense of religious toleration and a masterclass in 17th-century polemical wit.

A LETTER TO MR. EDWARDS. Sir, Worthy Sir, Reverend, Honored, Grave, Deare Friend, Father, Good Master. We cannot wonder at the loftiness of your looks, nor at the exuberant tumor of your spirit, when we find you so woefully bespattered, and courted from every part of the Kingdome, where Sathan we fear hath his throne, with so much honor, so much worth, so much Sir, so much reverence, &c. But, reverend Sir, if we may be but as bold, and as plain, as your late correspondents have been false and flattering, give us (or rather take you) the advantage of a short, but serious warning. And truly Sir, in the entrance of our discourse, we must tell you, our thoughts are extremely divided; your folly hath been so manifest to all men, that we know not well whether to look upon you, under the blindness of a deluded brother, or the perverseness of a resolved enemy; having once (we once believed) received the knowledge of the truth. We will put our charity on the Tenters (as you have put the Covenant,) and if, through too much indulgence, we force it beyond the line of its conscience, we hope you’ll pardon us. The over-acting of your zeal, and the so violent advance (should we look no further) hath made us jealous, yea confident, that the fire that hath kindled, and consumed the sacrifice was not from hea∣ven; But Sir, In the so desperate career, give us leave sadly to ask you whence? And whether so fast? Is it so long since you came out of the house of your Bondage, that you have forgotten your anguish and your sorrow there, and will need to be posting back again? Was their yoke so easy, and their burden so light, that you can so freely bow down your neck and your back, and rejoice in your approaching slavery? Is your late, and your present mercy (your half-hour's silence in heaven) so uncouth, and unsavory, that nothing but the Onions and Garlic of Egypt will satisfy the longing of your soul? Is the affliction of Joseph so small in your eye, that like Hammon, all your enjoyments are nothing; while Mordecai sits in the gate of the King, and will not bow the knee? And nothing else shall cool the tip of your tongue, but the irons and fetters, the whips and imprisonments, the confiscation, the blood, the death, and the ruin of the Saints? God shall smite thee, thou whited wall, that thus in the pride of thy heart, flies in his face, and strikest at the very apple of his eye. If divine justice shall suffer thee without check or control to run on for a time, adding Iniquity to Iniquity, and treasuring wrath against the day of wrath: confident we are, when thy soul shall sit upon thy trembling lips, and thy two last years provocations, and persecutions, (wherein thou so much glorious) shall be set in order before thee, and thy conscience awakened, to behold thy guilt; thou wilt appeare a spectacle, of as much horror and amazement as ever the Sun beheld; In the meantime, come forth and appear in your colors, and let the world see whither you have acted the part of a Christian, or of a Jew; of an English man, or a Turk; of a Saint or somewhat worse: lay aside the squint eyed by as∣sing respects of this adulterous Generation, and let conscience speaks; once in your dayes (if you can) tell truth; who (under God) have been the pillars and onely supporters of a reeling tottering State? At the price of whose blood for some years have you eaten your bread in peace, and enjoyed everything sweet and pleasant? Who hath stept between death and you, and for you have offered themselves so gallantly in the high places of the field? Yet once again, (if conscience will be but true) who hath God honored (as with his power, so) with his spirit in an excellent measure? This we know is the rock of offence. And yet here will the asses whom you ride, rise and unplead the blindness of his master. Take the common people that have neither God nor goodness, but merely acted by you and your party, (setting aside the Malignant and the fore stalled), and scarce any but will acknowledge a spirit of Gospel-sweetness, and that of a truth God is in those people. And Sir, are these the only objects of your scorn and contempt, and the rage of your retinue, that rude and Godless Generation? Are these to be trampled underfoot, and not fit to live in a Kingdom? In whose faces no dirt nor dung is too filthy to be thrown. Had wee a desire to gratify that grand accuser, to publish through Gath and Askelon, and to make the uncircumcised to Glory in your shame; we could present the world with farre more, and more faire testimonies of the notorious villainies (not in matters of judgement (which is your charge) for therein their grossed Egyptian ignorance takes care) but in matters of fact) among the rest, we could tell the world and you a truer story of the late Pranks of Mr., &c. (whose name you know, but we will spare) of his late supplanting the Merchant, and getting his espoused Mistris with child (which act, with its circumstances we finde not in all your gangrene paralleled) and of his public penance and acceptation; we could give you in another of the same name, order and crime, in a neighbor-Parish in London, and both (we must tell you) as popular, as Reverend, as Orthodox, and as Covenant-engaged as yourself; we could bring in a bed-roll of those halting sons of Eli, but we profess it not our trade, and we will not intrench upon yours. We could trace you through the unhallowed paths of your Anti∣pologie, and your ungodly gangrenes (first, second, and third), and throw many a lie in your face. That business of Mr. Bachelors, wherein (though you brand him in your book) you could not deny to his face, but acknowledged him, to be clear in fundamentals, (wherein was his charge) and that he was not the man you took him for. This you contest, yet (perhaps out of purpose to forswear, when time may serve) you refused to discourse before his friend, though he offered you the liberty of yours. We would ask you what godly Minister, or Gentleman, or Friend that was, that told you that ungodly lie of that godly Lieutenant, who you say, was thrown out of the Army, because a godly Presbyterian, when hundreds can testify, he was cashiered by a Council of war, for drunkenness, and swearing God dammed, &c. we could with a little pains (but less pleasure) dig up those filthy dunghills, and send home your bastards to their proper parents. Truly, Sir, our wonder is the less that your births are so Monstrous, when we find the contributions have been so adulterous. Flectere si nequeas superos Acheronta movebis. To carry on the design you do well to usher in a foreign force: The Netherlands have done you good service: The Munster Brigade, bearing the Van, hath made the most desperate assault, and yet through a narrow watch, and diligent inspection, the gust thereof is broken; the Leader on, and Charger, being found a stranger, is not an enemy. However, Sir, be not discouraged (if you dare), the cause is still the same (as bad as ever), rally once more, and bring in again (you are good at that) your weather-beaten forces; give not up at the first repulse, you know whose fortune doth usually favor. Send again to the Reformed Churches, and see if any more aid may be expected thence. Search Amsterdam once more (if you please with candles) or any other corner of the world (so far as the Covenant by you so wyar-drawn will reach), wherever you can hear of a Saint, and let something be done towards so honorable a work. Go on Sir in this gallant service, if conscience or prudence will give you leave, and hug the world as the world seems to hug you, until their turn be served, and tell us then (for then you will speak truth if ever) whether more tolerable, Nick-named Heresy, or Malignant-Prelacy, that seven headed, ten horned beast, which for a little time hath withdrawn, and changing his form in such furious persons as you are, appears again, acted directly by the same spirit, speaking great things against God and his Saints, and differing onely in the Number of his name. Sir, you with your Gangrene have been weighed, and are found too light, and verily your expected Kingdome is departing; while you are beating your fellow servants, and your Sect triumphing over us and ours, a third hath surprised both, and all are posting into captivity again: shift for your self and selves as well as yee can, and in your brick and no straw, remember who were once the Taskmasters. We do believe the Thumbs and Toes of Adonibezecke will one day lie before you. For our parts, we know whom we have believed, and (our feet being shod with the preparation of the Gospel) we doubt not but we shall be able to tread upon the Lion & the Adder, & to play upon the hole of the Aspe. Wee know that an Idoll is nothing in the world, neither are we careful to fall down before Nebuchadnezzar, or his God, though the furnace be seven times hotter than ordinary; cost us what it will, Truth we know will pay its own charges: Every institution and truth of God (though slanderously reported) we honor and embrace; but for that golden calf, that nec jus humanum, nec divinum, neque sacrum, nec politicum, neque sanum, nec Christianum, that self contradicting, groundless, lifeless, spiritless Image of jealousy, whose external brightness is excellent, and the forme thereof very terrible, the head of gold, the breast and armes of silver, the belly and thighs of brass, the legs of iron, the feet (or foundation) part of iron, and part of clay; this we have beheld, and beholding shall expect, until that little stone cut out of the mountain without hands shall smite head and foot, and over-turning the foundation thereof it self shall fill the world; we are thoroughly assured that not by might, nor by power, but by the spirit of the Lord, (which is both might and power) which you have so desperately denied, if not deposited) Shall Anti-Christ be unveiled, and by the same spirit of burning shall everything that is Anti-Christian be destroyed; what say you, Sir, have you not faith enough to believe this? know you (not who saith the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (why then as men distracted cry yee out so loud for Magisterial external force?) but mighty through God, to the pulling downe of STRONGHOLDS, casting down IMAGINATIONS and EVERY HIGH THING that exalted itself against the knowledge of God; and bringing into captivity EVERY HIGH THOƲGHT (or OPINION) to the OBE∣DIENCE of CHRIST. Dare you not trust God on his word? but deny the Scripture, not in the letter only, but in the spirit of it also? Who is the Secretary and the Heretic now, Sir? A spiritual man would judge that the SHIELD of FAITH, the SWORD of the SPIRIT, the GIRDLE of TRƲTH, &c. (whose very anointing and ordination is to that very office) might do as gallant execution in the hand of the spiritual champion (a Minister of the Gospel) and make as successful an advance upon spiritual wickedness in high places (as Errors and Heresies are) as all the unsuitable, Incongruous, unappointed provision of your carnal Artillery; yee war indeed, but 'tis after the flesh, and no wonder your conquest is no more, for the spirit of the Lord we fear is departed from yee.

You stand quarrelling away your time, and wasting your little strength, in a company of frothy, ulcerous Pamphlets; vilifying the upright, and slandering the innocent, wholly neglecting your work, which (you would make men believe) is the Ministry of Christ, which you indeed either wholly wave, or grossly pervert; and to backe your unsound interpretations, produce the authority of a company of (forsooth) Fathers of the Church, as Bernard, &c. men though lights in their dark Generation, and in many things sound in the faith, yet in others as palpably heretical, as any of your damnable Sectaries, viz. the suffrage of Saints departed, prayers for the dead, the reall presence in the consecrated Hosts, &c. Sir, save your relfe this labor of searching these corrupt records, wee pin not our faith on the sleeves of any, though never so ancient, or Authentic with you. Your suborning of witnesses makes us suspect the Scriptures are not your friends; we profess, (except your brains be intoxicated, or your natural reason be entranced (or which is worse than both) you make it your design with Sophistry to cheat your proselytes) we know not what to think of your impertinent, ridiculous, unscholarly argumentations, a baculo ad angulum; from the Jew to the Gentile, from the law to the Gospel, from the Minister to the Magistrate, &c. Tell us not, Sir, of a specious ordination any farther than you can attest its divinity by the concomitancy of the spirit; we shall else look upon it as a means to delude the simple. Tell us not (as your predecessors did) of order and decency in the Church: yours (you know) differs much from theirs, (as NEW LORDS use to make NEW LAWES) and why may not wee (without these complaining to Authority) a little dissent from you; if you and men of like spirit will constitute more then any (without the help of spectacles) can see to be canonical, Mickle guide may they doe yee; for our part, though our orders received not their form from your mold, yet we are confident the Apostle speaks nothing but truth, when he said, God is not the Author of confusion, but of peace (or order) as in all CHƲRCHES of the SAINTS, 1 Cor. 14.33. Let's not have such brutish dealing Sir, as to be put into Bear skins, and then your cannibals to be let loose upon us; yee idle and loiter, and feed upon the fat of the flock, and say, tomorrow shall be as this day and much more abundant; your Tithes and other Incomes your three or four or five hundred pounds per annum take up your time and yee neglect the work, in the meantime tares are sown, and errors and heresies come up thick and three-fold; and then with open mouth yee cry out, Oh these accursed Julians, Socinians, these damnable Antinomians, Anabaptists, Independents, &c. that will ruin all (The world is turned Bishop again to the very life; Bonner himself is risen from the dead, and nothing will doe but the death of dissenters, what say you (Sir) to the Sacrament of the Altar, fall downe to the Idoll, or bring in the halter) Sir, once more in good earnest take home your ugly brats; and yee that upon your beds of ease have gotten such Monsters, bestow then as yee please: for our part we do profess they are none of ours, neither do we at all plead for their toleration. We abhor the remembrance of them, and shall as freely contribute to their destruction as any; Only, Sir, for the ordinance of Magistracy, we would not engage them in a practice so dishonorable and destructive, but with (Mr. Marshall) shall desire them to peruse their Commission, and act accordingly. Sir, were you a messenger of Christ, your work would be to go and preach, and hold forth the everlasting Gospel, which alone is the Arm of God to salvation; you would more cry up the sword of God, then of Gideon; you would see more cogent, convincing authority, to subdue the heart, by one Evangelical Scriptum est, then a thousand politicall fiat justitia's, or all the Arbitrary, boundless, canonical, Ipse dixis's, in the world. Fill not the world with clamors of Schematics, and Heretical seducers; you have an engine in your hand, and that of God, which, if wielded, as ordered, will fetch back the wandering; yea, seduce the seducers themselves. However Sir, though thousands should fall at your right hand (I mean to errors) and ten thousand at your left, yet know that everyone that the father hath given to the son, is as a starre in his own right hand, and none shall be able to pluck him thence: Many must and shall back-slide, that those that are sound might be approved; and this Sir, is our everlasting rock, that in the most desperate apostacy, and falling away) The foundation of the Lord standeth sure, having this SEAL [the Lord knowes who are his.] You have been bold Sir, with the truth and us; give us leave in the behalfe of the truth to be bold with you, 2nd plainly to tell you, that your Clerical Interests have broke the back of Christendom, and the mystery of Iniquity begins to appear; your fathers have eaten (sweet) Sower Grapes, and your childrens teeth are set on edge; your Patent yee received from them, and they from Antichrist (as his last will and testament) by virtue whereof, the trade must wholly run through your hands; yee must kill and slay without control, and wound at your pleasures, and none must bind up the broken but yee. The way to Heaven ye tell men, is by the gate of Hell, and more than half damned they must be, ere they must think of being saved; and who but ye (in the despair of poor creatures) ordained to speak peace. And if any other (whom God hath better gifted for the worke of the Ministry than with a black coat, an university dialect, and the external advantage of Arts and Sciences) shall presume to lay hands on your ark, why presently he usurps the Priestly office (alias the Prelatical preferment) And must immediately be cursed with Bell, Booke and Candle. These, Sir, are the shrines whereby your Diana has been so long supported. This vault of darkness, this hellish conspiracy, by a beam of the morning star hath been discovered, which makes the Heathen rage, and which we hope will be found to be the last prophecy of Antichrist, veniente Rege, &c. And in conclusion, as a monumental relique of your unspeakable achievements in the fundament of Learning, (setting aside those sublime Encomiums of a godly friend, a Godly Minister, &c. sent from such and such a place in the Country, and your self-flattering dreams of a second Luther, cum multis aliis ridiculosis) were is not to broad a disparagement to our mother university, we could send you with your hornbook at your backe, to take your degree among the pupils in Pauls for helpe to reconcile the absurd contradiction of a believing Atheist. Turne to Page the of your last Gangrene, and blush not if you can) we know not what were the methods of your Masters Indulgence, but the Tithe of this errour in our School had been six lashes at least: But Sir, this and twenty such scrapes, well wink at; well accept of the will for the deed, and balance the account with your zeal, your loyalty, and your faithfulness to the Church of England. But Sir, in good earnest, let's have more sense and fewer volumes, fewer tales and more truths, smaller books and bigger Arguments. (These bum-based editions tire all, but satisfy none) Reasons are sold by weight, and not by tail. No marvel you catch no more birds (except now and then a woodcock or two), your bait is so slight and Chaffey; your Industrious SMITH will∣ tell you so, by that time he hath cast up his cards, and brought in a to tall accompt, a rough draught whereof you may take at present, as followed. Imprimis, given to the Honorable House of Commons, out of hopes to find favor there, so many books. Item. Given to your Reverend self, for your reverend Copy so many. It. Given to a Schoolboy to correct your false Latine, and other amendments 40 s.. in dry money (too much by 39 in so dry a bargain.) It. given to the Gracious helping you to the Originals, and filling up the Hebrew blanks, 59 s. and three groats, (Oh the Lamentation of a bad market). It should at several times with much ado and little profit, so many: It. sent to the Reformed Churches to shew them the variety of our Sectaries, and your valiant encountering so many. It. given away to friends to make a party, who have taken the Covenant to be faithful to us till death, so many. It. So many let out at Livery at pence a piece, but finding no satisfaction, returned them, spoiled, so many. It. so many sold for little or nothing, to the Exchange, to Grocers, Cooks, &c. It. trusted in the hands of Hucksters, but not yet returned, (nor we believe ever will) being hardly worth bringing back so many. It. so many stolen for want of care, and looking after, being pinned on the wall for a Lure. It. so many sequestered for my own proper use, in my study behind the door (alias the house of office), and for my servants so many. It. transported for France, that hot, inflaming climate, the leaves there of (as you said) being very sovereign for the healing of the Nations. And lastly, (to balance the accounts with the baker's dozen) lying still in my hands, and are like there to lie so many hundreds; Come along, customers, if you lack any. That this is a true and perfect account, I have hereunto set my hand, R.S. Yet that you may not take all upon bare report (as hither∣to you have done) behold the powerful convincing pen of our Metropolitan Surveyor, who is able to give you as good an accompt in this case as he did of the Tithe in Christ-Church. Brother Tom, this Account though strange and unexpected, yet upon the request and credit of our well-beloved Trustee R. S. I have perused, and cannot but judge Orthodox; and though for the honour of our Cause (Consider atis considerandis) nullo modo Imprimatur, yet for the encouragement of that speaking Ignoramus, and all such worshipful undertakers, Ambobus manibus, Iterum Iteruque approbatur, J. C. — And now Sir, having presented you with a small Map of your unworthy dealing, your Rabshakah-ralings, your accursed accusing, your undue, untrue, unchristian slandering of your Brethren, We shall spread the same in the presence of the Lord, and leave you to the Rebukes of him, who hath and will rebuke Kings and Kingdoms for his anointed sake. Only (if yet there may be hope) apply to thy Gangrened state, that corroding plaster, Heb. 6.4, 5, 6. And so we bid thee farewell. From our Palace in our prison, from our Harbor in our storm, from our strong City, in our wayfaring state, from our all in all in our nothing at all, wherein no stranger shall intermeddle, nor any thief shall break through to spoil us of our sweet repose.

 

Primo Febr. 1646.

The Copy of the Letter to the Gentlewoman, in which this Letter to Mr. Edwards was enclosed.

Mistress, The enclosed is the Copy of a Letter sent and delivered to the hand of Mr. Tho. Edwards, the famous forger of these latter days, whom when you see commend us to him (for the world and his Conscience well know, how foully we have been belied) and tell him the Session is hasting wherein our plea will impartially be heard and manifold reparations awarded us for our manifold tribulations, till when the Anchor of our Hope being entred into that within the Vaile, we shall bee able to passe the strengths of this wicked world, and to ride out the rugged wafts of a Rocky Sea: FINIS.