A blow at the serpent; or a gentle answer from Madiston prison to appease wrath advancing it self against truth and peace at Rochester. Together with the work of four daies disputes, in the Cathedral of Rochester, in the Countie of Kent, betweene several ministers, and Richard Coppin, preacher there, to whom very many people frequentlie came to hear, and much rejoyced at the way of truth and peace he preached, at the same whereof the ministers in those parts began to ring in their pulpits, saying, this man blasphemeth, ... Whereupon arose the disputes, at which were some magistrates, some officers, and souldiers, peaceable and well-minded, and very many people from all parts adjacent, before whom the truth was confirm'd and maintained. The whole matter written by the hearers, on both sides. Published for the confirmation and comfort of all such as receive the truth in the love of it. By Richard Coppin, now in Maidston Prison for the witness of Jesus. Twenty five articles since brought against him by the ministers, as blasphemie, and his answers to them, how he was

To Mr. Richard Coppin on his Suffer∣ings, by some Priests of Kent.

REnowned Friend, bear up thy mind, Thy light it is profound, It will Sin, Hell, and Devils bind, And all their cheats confound. What though the * 1.1 Chimmerims conspire, As alwayes they have done, Against Gods life, which is as fire, To burn their Babel down: But go thou on, for truth contend, And Christian liberty, Though blinded minds against it bend, Yet God at last shall free Ʋs from the hellish snares of Priests, And formall Whiners too, Although they now do what they lists, That rope will them undoe: For surely they themselves will hang, If they are let alone, For most they do is but to bang Themselves; but when they moan, Who shall them pity, or respect, Reward, reward them double, Who nought but cruelty assert, And fill the world with trouble: But thou brave soule, whose life is love, To all the whole Creation, Go on, be brave, thy mind's above; Preach still the great Salvation; And Christ within, the life of all That is, or hath a being,

The Eye Eterne, and yet Mentall, Whose work is alwayes freeing Ʋs from all enemies within, And raising us with Christ, And clearing us from fancied sin, To live with God the highest. What shall I say, time would me fail, Thy sufferings to relate, Yet all thy enemies cant prevail, God still doth dissipate * 1.2 Men to their shame, their horrid lies That they have still invented, To cloud Christs real mysteries, By truth they are tor mented.

Notes

• * 1.1

  For the word Chimmerims read Bezaes Transla∣tion, Zephany 1. 4. Hosea 10. 5. 2 Kings 23. 5. with notes on the Margent.
• * 1.2

  As they were at Oxford, Worcester, Glocester, and elsewhere.