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A77781 A testimony against the Quakers False-doctrine, and the image they have set up Being a defence of the book called Antichrist transformed. In answer to a little book, published by Giles Barnadiston. And for better information, the image is hereto annexed verbatim, with the subscribers thereof. Published by Geoffery Bullock. Bullock, Jeffery, of Sudbury. 1677 (1677) Wing B5426A; ESTC R201448 24,117 31

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God to an enjoyment of God who is Invisible and these are the Members of the Church in God who are only known to God and not Man and such are the Members of the true Church that is in God And in every Nation Those that fear God and work Righteousness are accepted of God and those that are accepted of God such are at Unity with the Spirit of God in their own particulars and those are the Members of the Church in God let them be either Barbarians Sythians Bond or Free for the Church of God is Universal as the Spirit of God is Universal so that in every Nation People Language or Tongue those that walk according to the Law written in the Heart such are at Unity and Peace with God But now there are many Visible Separations in the World which are called Churches who do not know whether they be in God or no and these are the false Churches who make a Profession of him and yet know him not And Gods appearance to them is as their Judg and Condemner Now Friends Christ he is the only Head of that Body or Church that is in God and I am sure that those only attend upon the Spirits teaching that is within them for God is able to teach his Church that is in him better than you can although there were a thousand times more of you then there are Now many of you have been Watch-men of the Night to inform People of their Darkness and also to direct them to the Light But remember what Solomon saith who was but a little past the Watchman of the Night and then he saw him whom his Soul loved Now the Church in God they are past all Visible Counsellors and all Fathers yea all Judges for they are come to God the Judg of all And to the wonderful Counsellor the everlasting Father and the Prince of Peace Now I owne my self a Member of that Church in God that gives all Authority and Superiority and Subjection both to God and Christ her Husband For the Church in God is compared to a Woman cloathed with the Sun and the Church is also compared to a Mans Wife that lives in Subjection to her own Husband and is willing to owne him to be her Head and so doth every true Member that lives in God Now the Church consists of Souls and Bodies who are truly subject to the higher Powers as Paul saith Now your Image and Paper of Orders that may serve those Quakers who are unstable and delight to gad abroad from God and Christ their Husband within but it can never be owned by the Church in God by such who are faithful to God who as a chast Virgin delights to keep with her Husband at home Now Friends I would desire to know what People or Congregation of these called Quakers it was that did impower you or set you at work to make them a Paper of Orders or a Rule or Guide for them to walk by or was it not a thing of your own Invention and if some had not seen an evil in your carved Image and so put a stop to it before it came to its Journeys end it had not lain hid so long as it hath done already if you could have found out a way to have set it up sooner for you intended that it should have gone to all the Quakers Meetings but now your work goes on apace the words that run round about this Image are these They that are unreconciled to the Church are unreconciled to God and also those that are not justified by the Witness of God in Friends are condemned of it in themselves And about this Image here danceth those that call themselves wise Men and Prophets Judges and Counsellors Fathers and Sons of God Elders and Ministers who are at work to set up this Idol upon its Feet But if it be true what those say who call themselves Elders and Ministers and Sons of God and that they are the only true Church in God and that none are like to be justified of God or reconciled to God in their own particulars but those who own them to be the only true Church in God and so bow down and Worship their Image which they have set up and they are resolved shall stand upon its Feet Then it will be sad for all the Sons and Daughters of Adam who do not owne and Worship this Image For if it be true as you say then it will be a thing of necessity for all People to enquire after this Image that so they may come and worship it because those that have set it up say that God hath given his Power to the Church and the Power that they say they have received from God it is both to justify and also to judg of Errors then this Church must needs be as Infallible as God is So that there is no People shall need to fear their being led into Error if they believe as the Church believes and own the Image which they have set up which is their Paper of Orders and the rest of their Inventions then such by them shall be admitted to Preach according to the Faith of the Church and this is Pope-like who hath set up his Image the mass-Mass-book for the Kings and Princes and their Subjects as a Rule for them to walk by Now every breaking forth of the Light or dawning of the day of God within those in whom this day have dawned they in the Light that hath appeared have seen many of the Errors that were in the World among those called Churches both as to their Doctrines and Practices but their Souls not abiding Humble and Low in the Spirit of God which appeared in their Understandings and gave them a true sight of things but having gone out from God in their own particulars and then those heaps of Teachers they have set up an Image of their own invention as you have done and their Souls have been so blinded and their Understandings so darkned by the Spirit of Error that they could never discern any evil that there was in their own Image that they have set up by their own inventions Let this thing be taken into Consideration by those that call themselves Ministers and Elders Now your Book saith in page the seventh That these that are unreconciled to the Church are unreconciled to God but the Scripture saith that God was in Christ reconciling the World to himself And again your Image or Paper of Orders declares That he that is not Justified by the witness of God in Friends is Condemned of it in himself But the Scripture saith He that believeth hath the witness in himself And if Gods witness in a Man justifies a Man his Witness and Justification is greater then yours so that the words of your Image are false and contrary to the Scripture and form of sound Words Friends you should do well if you can to vindicate both your Doctrines and Practices
by some evident proof either from the Spirit of Truth or the Scriptures of Truth and if you cannot prove your Doctrine and the setting up of your Image Orders and comely Forms as you call them in those which you call your Churches either from the Scriptures of Truth or by the Spirit of Truth and so prove them by Revelation from God and make God to be Author of your false Doctrines and also the Father of your Image otherwise they must be held forth and also managed by Satan in you transformed into an Angel of Light But now I do believe that those Doctrines and Practices of yours which I have writ against were never revealed to you from Heaven by the Spirit of God but they rose out of Hell Now in page the eighth of your Book you write against me because I deny the Resurrection of the Power or the arising of the Seed or God in Man the which Doctrines I did deny in my first Book and do still deny them for it was neither the Seed nor God that fell from Heaven into Bondage and Captivity in the Sons and Daughters of Man but it was the first Man Adam that fell both Soul and Body and we were his Generation having been in the Fall as well as he And you also say that Christ descended to bring Man out of the Fall Then according to your own confession it is the first Man Adam which God created and made that fell into Transgression so then it both was and is the first Man Adam that is to be both quickned and also raised by the Spirit of Life that never sinned the which is God manifesting himself in these earthly Tabernacles by his own Spirit But now the Holy Ghost never descended into the Virgins Womb for the raising the Seed or God out of Bondage and Captivity but the Spirit of God doth descend in the Sons and Daughters of Men for the bruising the Serpents Head and for raising and bringing of them both Soul and Body to an enjoyment of God again But yet I do own the Power to be both the Resurrection and the Life as he is in himself and he is also Mans Resurrection and Life as he comes to believe in the Light and obey it so Man comes to be quickned and also raised from under the Power of Death by the Spirit of Life and so brought into an enjoyment of Light and Life again For the Seed did never descend in Man for the quickning and raising up of the Seed in Man neither doth the Spirit of God descend to raise up God in Man nor yet Christ within never descended to raise up the Spirit of Christ in Man Now you do suppose the Resurrection of the Power because the Light descends and appears to Man whilst he is in the Fall but yet it abides not with Man whilst he is in the Fall but only to convince him of his Sin and also to condemn him for it But now if Man hears the Spirit and believes in the Light and obeys it then Man is both Quickned and Raised and brought up to God again by him who is both the Resurrection and the Life Wherefore now look back and remember that God called to Adam in the cool of the Day after he had eaten of the Fruit of the Tree of Knowledg and had broke the Command of God then God cursed the Serpent and also drove Adam out of the Garden because of his Sin and Transgression And he also placed a flaming Sword against him But still God abode in the Garden in Dominion over all to Adams Condemnation But now in page the ninth of your Book in contradiction to what I have written you say If God be above in all the Sons and Daughters of Men he is taken in his proper place and the Devil is in his and I might have spared my pains But now I did never read or heard that God was out of his proper place for God is in his proper place and his Throne is established in Justice and Judgment over wicked Men to their Condemnation Psalm 11. as well as in Love and Mercy over those that hear him and obey him But now the Devil and Man both left their Place and Habitation in God and the Serpent hath had the Dominion over Man and Woman for the Scripture saith Darkness hath covered the Earth and gross darkness the People And because the Prophet saith Behold I am pressed as a Cart is pressed with Sheaves Again because the Scripture saith Let God arise and his Enemies shall be scattered therefore you do conclude and also believe that the Seed of God is underneath and must arise And indeed I once heard once Preach and in his Declaration did exhort all that had believed to feel God to arise and none to keep him down from which I do conclude thus much that the Creature is in dominion over his Creator and also hath Power to keep him down And another said All feel God to arise and take the Dominion over all which doth conclude that he is not yet in Dominion over all But now consider a little Wherefore did God swer in his Wrath that Israel should not enter into his rest And why did God strive with the old World by his Spirit was it because his Spirit was in Bondage and Captivity in them and so stood in need of help and deliverance from them Or wherefore did God strive with us by his Spirit in our youthful days was it because his Spirit or Seed was in Bondage and Captivity in us and so stood in need of our help to raise him up out of Bondage and Captivity or was it not we that were in Bondage and Captivity both Soul and Body being under the Power of Death and Darkness and so stood in need both of help and deliverance by the Spirit of God for the Apostle saith Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee Light So then it is we that have slept the sleep of Death that are to be awakened and also quickned and it is not the Seed nor God that is to be quickned nor yet that are to arise out of Bondage and Captivity in the Sons and Daughters of Men. Therefore you must find out some other interpretation for these Scriptures For is it not written that the Seed of the Woman shall break the Serpents head then must not the Seed of the Woman be uppermost and above the Serpents Head in all the Sons and Daughter of Men for the Seed of the Serpent as it is written shall but bruise his Heel And is it not also written that God is the higher Power and every Soul must be subject to him And in page 10. of your Book you say that I do deny the travelling Seed Now this I do deny that neither the Seed nor God in Man travels for their own deliverance because that neither God nor yet his Spirit were ever in Bondage or
knew no visible Man But Christ he was the Son of David by generation from God he being begotten by the Spirit of God in the womb of the Virgin and this was the flesh of David and this was David's Lord. Now let all that read and understand consider whether this is not a true Declaration according to the Scriptures concerning the Flesh of Christ and of his Generation also Again you say That I and my Brethren are Judges of wholesom Orders and commendable Forms in the Church Now both Rome and those that are called Priests in England they say that they are the true Church and that their Forms are both in Order and commendable But now the Quakers in the days of their first Convincement they in the Light did see an evil in all invented Forms both in their own as well as others and in obedience to the Light they denied the Form that was acted by others and their own also Now that Spirit that sets up the Form of Prayer or that acts the Form and requires People to bow to the Form that is acted that is the Spirit of Antichrist Now the Spirit of God being in all God requires all to bow to the Spirit and to worship him in the Spirit and not to worship the Form that is acted although it may be performed by the Spirit of God There is no such Scripture that I know of And in pag. 14 of your Book you say that I have been a shame to you But if those words be true that I have been a shame to you then why did W. D. R. D. G. W. G. B. and others of the Quakers labour so much with me to keep me still among them And you do also accuse me as if I were an Hypocrite Now If I had given up my Faith to your Church and to have believed as those called Elders and Ministers believe then I must have been an Hyprocrite For then I must have believed what your Image or Paper of Orders saith that is that I must be reconciled to the Church and that I must also be justified by the witness of God in Friends the which I cannot believe Wherefore I have disowned both you and that Doctrine and also other of your Doctrines likewise And you also write against me because I am for marrying with the Nation and for my saying that God hath made all Nations of one blood But you say in your Book that the Nations have polluted themselves and are gone from God's make But I will ask you one Question and answer me Hath King Charles polluted himself by his marrying of a Portugal Woman Or did Moses pollute himself by his marrying of an Ethiopian Woman Or did the two Sons of Naomi pollute themselves by marrying of a Moabitish Women And had not Moses God's universal Spirit within him to be his Rule for him to walk by when he took the Ethiopian Woman to Wife And was not the Law Spiritual greater than the Law Moral or the Law Ceremonial And hath not King Charles a measure of the same Spirit given him for a Rule for him to malk by as Moses had before he received the Law outwardly And is not the Spirit of God in all the Sons and Daughters of Men given them of God to be their Rule and Guide to walk by And had not King Abimelech the Spirit of God as well as Abraham and did not he obey the voice of God concerning Sarah Abrahams Wife And was not the Law Moral and also the Law Ceremonial ended And doth not the Law Spiritual remain in all the Sons and Daughters of Men to this day And again you say That you are Witnesses to the Matches in the Land of Israel Now was there ever a more wicked Match in the Land of Moab than there was in the Land of Israel than the Match between David and Vriah's Wife And the Prophet in the Spirit of God was a Witness against it So that your Witness and God's do not agree And in pag. 15 of your Book you say That God is raising up Judges and Counsellours as at the beginning Men fearing God and hating Covetousness Now if Buyers of Corn to sell again and Transporters of Corn and Managers of great Brew-houses and Men entring into other Mens Trades and Men being greater Maulsters than ever they were before if these be the Marks of Men fearing God and hating Covetousness then some of the Quakers Ministers are the Men. And you say I do not understand my own Queries because I said the Book of the Scriptures is part of the fruit of the Tree of Knowledg Now I knew that the Book of the Creation was before the Book of the Scriptures but if you own what I say that the Book of the Scriptures is the Fruit that the Tree of Knowledg bears then why do you feed so much upon them as you do For let all that read your Book and also the Letter that was given me which I disowned which Letter is printed in my first Book and they may easily perceive that the Line of your Testimony is in the Letter and Book of the Scriptures and not in the Light and Law written in the Heart from which Law or Light within which was before time was and from which in time the Scriptures came And is not this Light Gods universal Spirit the only Rule for we Gentiles to walk by And was not the first Testimony that was sounded by the Quakers to direct People to the Light within And they told us that was the only Rule But now your Images Dictates and Orders and comely Forms as you call them they must be the Rule for King Charles's Subjects to walk by But as Paul saith in his Epistle Col. 2. so say I to the People Touch not taste not handle not And they were Gentiles as well as we And because I said in my Book I was an Informer therefore you write against me and say I may take my Place among the Informers But now I desire no greater place among the Sons of Men than to be an Informer against Antichrist in his Ministers For God Himself was an Informer for he informed Moses against Israel because of their wickedness and would also have destroyed them because the People had made a Calf and worshipped it and they also danced about it And there was also a Man of God who in the Word of the Lord was an Informer against both the Altar and the Calves that Jeroboam had set up both at Dan and Bethel for the People to worship at And was not Paul also an Informer when he wrote to the Corinthians and told them that Satau was transformed in his Minister into an Angel of Light And John also in the Spirit of the Lord was an Informer against the Churches of Asia when they were gone from God and fallen into Apostacy then he in the Spirit wrote both against them and their Ministers and told them that they were grown lukewarm