here is say they to him the three Persons thou dreams of which thou wouldst divide out of one like a Conjurer What you foul-mouthed apostate Qâ—â—kers is the affirming that there is three Persons in the Unity of the sacred Godhead like the coâ—juration by the Devil Into what corner of Hell will you flie next for further directions do you not know that God the Father who is and ever was totally spiritual and never took upon him any Person of humanâ— nature as God the Son hath done that notwithstâ—nding God the Father is by his own Spirit in his holy Scripture set forth to be a spiritual Person where it is said in plain and full effect That God the Son is the express image of his Fathers person And if you Qâ—â—kers be not afraid that the holy Spirit doth inspire his holy servants to conjure like the Devil then you may venture upon it to read the 1 2 and 3 verses of Heb. 1. and there you may see that God the Father is affirmed to be a Person God is called Christ's Father often in Scripture And do you not know that the tide Father cannot possibly be rightly applied to a bare denomination or title onely without a Person must not any one be a Person first before he can be a Father methinks you might understand something aright And now concerning the holy Ghost Do not you know that out blessed Saviour doth often call the holy Ghost He where he saith But the Comforter which is the holy Ghost whom my Father will send in my Name He shall teach you all things John 14.26 He shall testifie of me John 15.26 And if you Quakers dare venture further then you may read John 16.13 14 15. Hah what 's that you Quakers say doth the Father send the bare name or title of the holy Ghost to teach men without a spiritual Person can the expression He be by our Saviour so often given to a bare name or title onely without a Person As for God the Son you do acknowledge that since his incarnation he is a Person but know you further That Christ is called God's Son long before he took upon him a Person of humane flesh which you may see in full effect in Psalm 2. So is proved That there was a Trinity of Spiritual Persons in the Unity of the sacred Godhead even from Eternity before Christ was born of the Virgin Mary and a bare name cannot be a Son though you Quakers blasphemously account the three Persons in blessed Unity of the sacred Godhead to be like the conjuration by the Devil And your hellâ—sh language breaketh out still more largely by your telling of Mr. Townsend in full effect therewith in the same page 10. That he is shut up with the three Persons in perpetual darkness for the lake and pit What is in this your language any less then if you said That the three Persons are shut up with Mr. Townsend in perpetual darkness for the lake and pit it can be no less Oh horrible to what blasphemous height of iniquity against the holy Trinity will you Quakers mount And yet further to avoid conjuration you do pervert the Scripture to uphold your dreamed delusions for whereas God saith Behold I am against the Prophets saith the Lord that steal my word every one from his neighbour Jer. 23.39 this place you produce as if all men that are not taught by enthusiasms without the Scriptures which with you are counted immediate Revelations from God and you cite this place as if all men that are not so taught as you are do steal their Doctrine which they teach from their neighbours onely whereas it is evident in that chap. Jer. 23. even against all contradiction that God therein reproveth the Prophets that say I have dreamed I have dreamed and then to plant in their dreamed delusions into their neighbours hearts they craftily did as you quakers do steal God's true Words from their neighbours but not to teach others therewith but to make room in their neighbours hearts to settle in their dreamed prophetical delusions and this proveth to be your diabolical conjuration And wereas you say in your first page That Moses wrote forth Scripture and not Letter but the Word Herein I have taken you in a notable lye also for could Moses write Scripture without Letters or Characters but Moses five scripture-Scripture-books written with Letters proves all your four quakers lyers Thus every way by James Naylers sentence you abide not in the truth but are of the Devil and not of Christ And as for your frequent maundring to exclude the Scriptures from being the Word of God Because say you they are not that Word which was God and because God spake to his Saints of old immediately or before Moses and the Letter was Are these good Arguments you quakers to prove that the Scriptures are not the Words or Word of God But see your wilful ignorant folly in this also for we are taught that the Scriptures are the Word of Christ who is God and that so they are the Word of God undeniably except you dare deny that Christ is God Construe this place you quakers Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs Col. 3.16 Can you not see that it is not here said Let Christ the Word God and Man dwell in you personally as you quakers falsly say in full effect that Christ doth so dwell in your bodies but contrarily the Scripture-exhortation even by the inspiration of God is this you quakers Let the word of Christ it is not Let Christ the Word dwell in you personally but Let the word of Christ dwell in you and it is in the same place of Scripture shewed what that Word of Christ is viz. psalms and hymns and spiritual songs And those spiritual songs or hymns are Scriptures and they are herein in full effect affirmed to be the Word of Christ and Christ is God therefore the Psalms or Scriptures are hereby proved to be the Word of God though the Spirit of Satan in you quakers will not say Amen to that truth because he feels that that Word of Christ the Psalms or Scriptures will and must destroy his Kingdom of deluding quakery and therefore you his servants in ordinary must though there be three sorts or several dispensation of God's minde to the sons of men in three several ages of the world that is to say First by his immediate words to his Servants until his Scriptures were written during which time his Servants declaring what God spake immediately to them was mediately their preaching of the Word of God Secondly by God's commanding Moses and his other holy Prophets to write what was his minde towards men which is the scope of Rom. 16.25 26. during all which time the Prophets declaring in writings what God spake immediately to them is the mediate Word of God Thirdly by Christ the Son
moral Law onely are the Letter which God did write with his own finger in stone on Mount Sinai Thus strongly your confounding of â—e whole Letter of the New Testament or Gospel of which the Apostles were made able Ministers with the Letter of the Law written and engraven in stone which is called the ministration of death and the ministration of condemnation verse 9. of which killing condemning Letter the Apostles were not not made Ministers promiscuously and confusedly as if the Letter of them both are the Letter that is carnal death and killeth is by the force of your own Scripture-words by you used and abused totally confounded for ever and thereby sent back to the infernal den in which it was hatched for the New Testament is there said to be the ministration of the Spirit vers 8. and the holding forth the word of life Phil. 2.16 because the very Letter of the New Testament or Gospel containeth in it the mediate inspired teaching written Word of Christ the Word that was and is God and the Letter of the Law is in comparison to the Letter of the New Testament or Gospel affirmed to be the oldness of the letter Rom. 7.6 Do you quakers ransack thorow the whole Scripture see if you can find any Scripture that is called the letter that is carnal death killeth and it is not declared therewith That it is the letter of the Law onely And how having shewed how powerfully my Lord Jesus hath torn down this your refuge and with his written Word and Sword of his Spirit hath hewed in pieces your murthering Agag that would have murthered the holy mediate teaching use of the whole Scripture-letter I shall proceed FIFTHLY I do direct my pen to discourse with Thomas Biddal quaker who also with the four former audacious quakers doth deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God for he being with me I cited to him this place And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit which is the word of God Ephes 6.17 I then telling him That the written word of God is the sword of the Spirit but is not the Spirit it self and that the Scriptures are the Spirits word and spiritual sword also But he answered me saying That the Spirit and the sword of the Spirit are both one and the self-same thing As if he should have said A man is his sword and his sword is the man And these ridiculous shifts they are inforced to make for fear the holy Scriptures should be proved to be the Word of God but to their perpetual shame our Saviour Christ though he was furnished in himself with superabundant ability to have confuted and confounded the devil If he had but said I Jesus say unto thee Satan yet for our examples he would not conflict against the devil with his own all-sufficient spiritual power onely without his Scripture-sword but to confound the devil withal he takes up his Spirits never-failing sword his written Scriptures and therewith he enters the lists against his powerful spiritual inverate enemy the devil and overthrows him with that his Word and written sword by his saying to the devil in his perverting of Scriptuers against him Thus it is written Thus it is written Thus it is written Satan and by his confounding the devil therewith he gratiously teacheth us even by his own example by the spirit of Faith to take up his Spirits never-failing word and sword the holy Scriptures and to fight valiantly and undantedly therewith against the devil himself in his temptations and also against the deluding assaults of Thomas Biddal and all other brain-sick quakers Satans officious servants And accordingly the Apostles did lay aside all their glorious heavenly raptures and visions in case of teaching men and confirmed their sayings with our Saviours infallible word and sword the Scriptures frequently saying Thus saith the Scriptures But what saith the Scriptures It is written and such-like expressions And it is well known That the Apostles were better taught then any quaker whatsoever Again Thomas Biddal what infernal spirit taught thee to boast That thy large railing seducing letters directed to me and others were written from thee to us from the Spirit of the Lord as if thou hadst been a Messenger sent to us immediately from the Lord whereas to thy shame the same queries that thou therein makest appear in the same words and form in a printed book written by another man to thy hand before thou wrotest thy lying letters to us Thus thy Luciferian aspiring pride appeareth further even to publick view Again Thomas Biddal whither were thy giddy brains ranged when thou saidst in my hearing That Faith and Christ are one and the same thing as thou didst say That the Spirit and the sword of the Spirit are one and the same thing What now Thomas canst thou not creep out of the road-way to hell wouldst thou make people believe thy false spirit that when St. Paul said We preach Christ crucified 1 Cor. 1.23 that Paul and other Saints meant to have said if they had not forgot it We preach Faith and it crucified What Thomas was Faith crucified for thee If thou saist That Faith is crucified to death in thee I shall readily believe thee Thomas though those thy sayings are to be abhorred And now to sum up together thine own begotten titles without addition to them thou hast proved thy self to be a very ignorant person a notorious lyer a proud luciferian and an audacious perverter of holy Scriptures and thereby art an enemy to God and his Truths and thereby also art a Traytor to mens souls And because you quakers do refuse the Gospel-imputation thou art not onely fallen under the eternal condemnation of God's Law but also thy brother quaker James Nayler's condemning sentence aforesaid fastens upon thee Thomas proving thou art a lyer and abides not in the truth but art of the devil and not of Christ Doubtless Thomas God had formerly given thee and others by thee a fair forewarning to avoid these delusions of the devil for thou Thomas Biddal some yeers now past was as appears inforced by the devil openly to declare That thou wert one of the two witnesses of God mentioned in the Revelations and thou didst thereupon make use of another man's new sackin-cloth which lay by him so far as to carry it to a Taylor a neighbour of thine thou knowest to whom and thou Tho. Biddal didst then lay a heavy severe charge upon that Taylor to make thee a suit of aparrel of that sack-cloth by such a day being within a little while after that it might be ready at that day for thee to put on and to prophesie in as being one of the two witnesses aforesaid then sent from God But that neighbour of thine the Taylor prudently discerning that thou wert deluded though he took the sack-cloth of thee to satisfie thy present resolute humour yet he totally neglected to make thy sackcloth-suit and
will tell thee That by thy taking out and adding to the words of that bock thou hast desperately involved thy self not onely to have thy part taken out of the book of Life but also to have all the plagues fall upon thee Leonard that are written in that book as is in full effect affirmed in Rev. 2.18 19. and not onely God's Law thus fiercely condemns thee and all such false quakers as thou hast proved thy self to be but also thy brother quaker James Naylers condemning Law aforesaid doth adjudge thee Leonard Fell by thy self manifested evil behaviour to be a lyer and so no abider in the truth but art of the Devil and not of Christ and because you quakers do refuse the gracious benefit of the Gospel-imputation that James Naylers censure of thee Leonard is true and just TWELFTHLY My twelfth Discourse is with thee Martha Simmonds and truely Martha thy folly is so apparent that I could almost have seemed to have thrown by my pen and have left thee to have been censured by thine own gross ignorance by thee published in print but yet I shall do thee this favour Martha to help thee to see how the Devil deludes thee if it may be Martha I finde in thy bock which thou callest A Lamentation for the lost Sheep amongst divers quakish errors by thee therein manifested as birds of a feather will flock together that even so thou Martha also hast perverted and wickedly falsified the cleer and plain sense of holy Scripture to serve thy master Satan where thou sayest Now Jesus Christ the second Adam who is God manifested in the flesh condemning sin in the flesh if thou live in him in thee and believe in him in thee thou shalt witness his power to the cutting down of thy will for thy will must come to death that the will of God may be done and so that Scripture comes to be fulfilled in thee which are the words of Christ Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God which is the book of conscience in thee there the will of God is to be done These be thy words Martha And now know thou and all quakers That Jesus Christ is before now come in his own distinct person of flesh without men but not come personally in yours nor any other mans body of flesh which is largely and firmly proved in my two last Discourses so that a man is not so to live in him in him nor so to believe in him in him as thou falsly saiest for you quakers Christ dwells in no man any other wayes but by Faith which is in plain and full effect proved in Ephes 3.17 neither is Christ abidingly in any man no not in God's sons but by his Spirit which is also proved in Gal. 4.6 and from this ground Christ's Spirit is called the Spirit of Faith 2 Cor. 4 4. and from thence the Saints are said to be the habition of God through to Spirit Eph. 2.22 but not whole Christ God and Man in men but by faith and his Spirit and therefore these Scriptures do confound that thy saying Martha And whereas thou saiest That that Scripture Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me to do thy will O God Heb. 10.7 is to be fulfilled in men It is so evident That that will of God in that same Scripture mentioned is already fulfilled in Christs person onely and never was fulfilled in any other person nor never can be wrought over again in Christs person neither for that will of God was fulfilled by Christs death in his being sacrificed but Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more death hath no more dominion over him Rom. 6.9 This again proves cleerly That you quakers are not Christ as you brag you are for Christ now cannot die but it is apparent that you quakers do die as other men do therefore you quakers are not Christ and yet you are so impudent that you dare to say That as Christ is so are you in this world but shame attends upon you But to proceed it is evident That that will of God in that thy cited place mentioned Heb. 10.7 is not to be fulfilled in any mans person whatsoever but as that will of God hath been already perfectly fulfilled in Christ's person by his being personally sacrificed without men whereby he did put a total end to the vertues of all or any typical sacrifices And this is so evident a truth flying even in the very face of that thy false and lying saying Martha that it would be altogether superfluous any further to prove it then to intreat my Reader to peruse Heb. 10. from the 1 vers to the 12. In which space Martha's wickedly abused vers 7. is included And again Nartha whereas thou saiest That by the volume of the book in that place mentioned is meant of the volume of the book of mens consciences it is evident against the Devil speaking in thee Martha that by the volume of the book in that place mentioned is plainly meant to be the volume of the books of the Prophets for the same words written in thy cited vers Heb. 10.7 Lo I come in the volume of thy book it is written of me do appear plainly in the Prophet David's book in his Psalm 40.6 7 8. and in the volume of the Prophet Moses book and Esay 53. and divers other Prophets do in the volume of their books speak so clearly of Christ's death and being to be sacrificed that it would utterly be time lost any further to prove against thy quakish notorious lyes which thou hast learned by-heart by thy accustomed dancing after the Devil's pipe And hereby appears That by your quakers luciferian-like bragging as if you onely were in the light and yet by your falling down so extremely short in the understandings of such cleer and plain places of Scripture and by your delivering such eternally destructive Doctrine from them you deliver up your selves to be one of the most deluded and deluding miracles and monsters of the whole world THIRTEENTHLY My thirteenth Discourse is directed to the four and twentieth quaker the mighty writing quaker James Parnel And now comes his fearful blasphemies tumbling out of his Thraso-like boasting lying book which he calls A Shield of the Truth for observe my Reader and though it be one or more of the self-Christed quakers I care not for as it were passing by James Parnels murthering of himself in Colchester-Goal by his inordinate and by Scripture-condemned fasting as he said luciferian-like to shew himself to be a Prophet of the Lord for people to believe in him which was not to believe his words but to believe in him to whom he promised the eternal joyes of heaven as I finde recorded and said to be licensed according to order And passing by the numerous bulk of his great quakish errors his whole book being nothing else but lyes in
the drift of it I shall for brevity sake onely discover some few of them to give a taste to all the rest and to this end I finde recorded by him in his 31 pag. he therein affirming That John to wit the holy Apostle Sâ— John though his peramount height would not stoop so low as to call him so but as being his equal if not his superiour he affirmed John said He that hath hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure but St. John did not say so for he saith Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself c. But James Parnel hereby not onely falsifieth the very words of Scripture by his taking the most significant word this out of that Text but he also therewith telleth a notorious lye against all denial by his affirming John said so and so he also fathereth his loud lye upon St. John by his affirming John said so He that hath hope in him whereas St. John said not so but said Every man that hath this hope in him But beloved it is worth our search to futer out the cause why James Parnel was so frighted as to take out of that Text that significant word this and we shall finde that if James Parnel had not taken out the word this it would have led his Reader to search further to know what is meant by this hope as distinct from all other hopes and his Reader would finde out in the very next verse going before that verse what St. John meant by his saying Every man that hath this hope for St. John in his very next precedent verse saith Behold now are we the Sons of God and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that when he shall appear we shall be like him for we shall see him as he is 1 John 3.2 but then in the next verse St. John saith And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself c. vers 3. to wit that hope which St. John declareth in his 3 verse But James Parnel was so amazed at those words this hope that he craftily took that word this out of that Text before he could make any quakish Doctrine of it But why so why so say you Why if he had taken in those words this hope they would have discovered First That whereas the quakers say That Christ's appearing the second time without sin unto salvation is manifested and accomplished in them both as Christ is God and Man But even the Sons of God in that Text do cry down that the quakers affirmation as being a delusion of the Devil for they even the Sons of God do affirm the flat contrary and say in full effect That Christ had not appeared by his second personal coming not so much as to them therefore much less in them though the quakers say That Christ is in them God and Man Secondly Those words this hope doth discover that whereas the quakers do affirm That they are so like Christ even in these their dayes of mortality that they do venture audaciously to say As he is so are we in this world even totally without sin in them as Christ is for they affirm That if a man be not totally free from sin in him he cannot be saved But even the sons of God do even in that Text affirm against the quakers That they were not like him in the dayes of their mortality and so were not then free from all sin in them as Christ is nor that they though they were even the Sons of God yet were not then so like Christ nor should be untill his second personal appearing for they there say We know that when we shall appear we shall be like him and it doth not yet appear what we shall be Thus punctually the Sons of God do by those words this hope confound that the quakers luciferian comparing themselves in equality to Christ Thirdly Those words this hope do discover that whereas the quakers tenents do maintain that no man can be a Son of God until Christ's second appearing God and man be manifested and accomplished in him But St. John and other Sons of God do in that Text maintain in plain and full effect that the Saints are the Sons of God even before Christs second personal appearing to them much less in them And whereas the quakers in full effect affirm that they have Christ God and Man in them in possession the Sons of God do affirm by that Text that it is their hope that Christ will appear at his second personal coming to them and not personally in them in possession And thus the holy Gospel-truths comprehended under those words this hope in that Text mentioned do utterly destroy all the three grounds upon which the whole Doctrine of quakery is founded even root and branch Now was it not high time think you my beloved for James Parnel to flie swiftly away from those words this hope This hope quotha it is enough not onely to affright James Parnel out of his light quakish wits but it doth also confound all the quakers not onely these in all England but also all quakers in all the whole world although no other Scriptures which do maintain the same Gospel infallible truths be produced against them for those two verses 1 John 3.2 3 are a key as is shewed to open a door of truth which doth utterly destroy all quakery root stem and twig this hope quotha I wonder James Parnal durst venture to come so â—eer it but you may see beloved That Satan in him and with him did go as waâ—ily to work as they could for they first dragged that directing word this out of that Text and then so falsified they vapouringly howl'd iâ— forth as it were saying See here â—â—e purity of the quakers Behold John saith That the quakers have sâ—me kinde of hope in them And now note James Parnel's direct falsifying the very words of the Scripture again for iâ— his 30 and 31 pag. he saith He that hath sin and saith he hath no sin deceives himself and is a lyer Thus be insers That there are some meâ— that have no sin in them which â—elâ—â—th affirmed of himself in my â—earing of which hereâ—fâ—ere but thâ—se his added words He that hath sin did not in that Text 1 John 1.8 and 〈◊〉 by his taking the word this out of the Scriptures as bâ—â—â—â—e 〈…〉 his adding words unto the Scripture to delude people with 〈◊〉 â—â—volved himself not onely to have his part taken out of the book 〈◊〉 but also to have all those plagues inflicted on him that are written in the book as is in full effect shewed Rev. 22.18 19. and for his lying brother quaker James Nayler's condemning law also adjudgeth him to be of the devil and not of Christ And now to discover James Parnel's notorious lyes and fearful blasphemies mixt together in his quakish Shield of the Truth note That in his 29 pag. he saith
would with the Dâ—vâ—◠〈…〉 God and Christ the Spirit and Light ouâ— of the World and that he should no more dwell in his people till dooms-day but it is plain to the flat contrary That T. M. in that his book out of which he is charged saith in page 39. That the Majesty of God whose Throne is in Heaven is in his Inspections Influences and Operations everywhere and in his gracious and spiritual Presence and manifested nighness in and through his Son dwelling in Sion even in the hearts and societies of his people Now note doth Tho. Moor exclude God and Christ Spirit and Light out of the World and out of his people while dooms-day Dâ—â—h not T. M. affirm directly That God in his spiritual Influences is everywhere in the World and by his Spirit dwelling even in the hearts and societies of his people what can we think of these desperate attempts of J.N. against the truth But he must needs go whom the Devil for just causes is appointed to drive and these are but a little sample taken out of his manifold detestable lyes and slanders And again to shew how expresly James Nayler doth prove himself to be a falsifier of Scripture to give but a little Sample of his ample falseness Note That James Nayler in his Satan's Design in pages 20 21. he there speaking of our Saviour's words which he spake to his Disciples James thereto saith He told them also That they should mourn in the time of his absence but he would come again and their mourning should be turned into joy when the man-childe should be born into the world and he citeth to prove these his words Act. 14.8 Joh. 16.19 20 21 22. Joh. 16.16 But there is not in any of them places these his forged words That their mourning should be turned into joy when the man-child should be born into the world though our Saviour shewed them an inferiour simile of that their joy at his appearing again unto them by telling them of a womans joy when she is delivered of a man-child which word man-child as it appears fumeth up into the Quakers distempered brains and causes them to conceit That Christ a Man-child is appeared in them for they do affirm That Christ God and Man Flesh and Spirit is in them I could relate divers of these whimsical forgeries which James hath recorded in his Satan's Design discovered but these are sufficient to give a true rellish of his wickedness for besides his equivocating hypocrisie here are his own three witnesses produced to his face one proving that he is a notorious lyer the second shewing that he is a foul-mouthed envious slanderer and another proving that he is a forger of new and false Scripture all which are his presumptuous sins of his personal fact though his false Doctrine be not at all medled with for a threefold cord is not easily broken And now behold the condemning sentence that James Nayler himself hath passed upon such sinners as he hath proved himself to be which is thus where James Nayler is speaking of Christ Jesus in his book he calls Love to the Lost he saith But who says they know Christ and are redeemed and commits sin not keeping his commands is a lyer and so abides not in the Truth and anoynting and so is of the Devil and not of Christ for he that abides in Christ sins not These be thy words James Nayler but now James take notice how the Devil hath over-ruled thee to publish thine own shame and condemnation in print whereby thou hast rendered up the Quakers and also Quakery it self odious to present and future posterity and first for thy self Iames thou dost pretend in thy tenents That thou dost know Christ and art redeemed and yet thou hast made it appear even against all contradiction whatsoever that thou dost commit notorious sins and so thou dost not keep his commands nor dost abide in Christ for thou sayest that he that abides in Christ sins not but thou James hast made thy sins of thy personal act and fact manifest therefore by thy own mouth thou dost stand condemned to be a lyer and so art of the Devil and not of Christ and considering that you Quakers do refuse the imputation of Christ's righteousness wrought without you to be applied to you as being sinners for your justification Thy judgement is true James that thou art of the Devil and not of Christ and this thy self-condemning law being by thee recorded in print it must stand firm as the Law of the Medes and Persians to remain as an established monument to posterity testifying against wicked James Nayler himself and also against all such Quakers which are found to be sinners And now under my Lord Christ his protection I will try how many such wicked Quakers I can finde out by name not exceeding an ordinary volume for it appears that not onely James Nayler's Law will condemn them all to be of the Devil and not of Christ but also God's Law Exod. 20.16 doth condemn not onely James Nayler but also all such lying slandering Quakers as he hath made himself appear to be for God's Law saith Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour but James Nayler doth even upon his own record bear false witness not onely against man but also against God by his forging new and false Scripture Thus James Nayler hath set himself by a condemned man both by God's and his own Law And now beloved we are to take special notice hereto that James Nayler hath established the grounded Principles of Quakery largely in twenty four several Distinctions in the very self-same book which he calls Love to the Lost in which self-same book he hath firmly proved himself the Teacher of Quakery to be a lyer and of the Devil and not of Christ even at that time when he declared in print the Grounds and Principles of Quakery And this being well considered of what hope or expectation can there be in the least measure that any Doctrine can proceed from him that hath so firmly proved himself to be a lyer and of the Devil and not of Christ even at the same time and in the very same book wherein he teacheth the grounded Principles of Quakery but devilish Doctrine I say again what Doctrine can any manner of ways be expected to proceed from such a self-proved devilishfied man then devilish Doctrine And note also herewith That the same Principles of Quakery which James Nayler taught even when he proved himself to be a lyer and no abider in the truth and so is of the devil and not of Christ are received and taught by all right Quakers as if they were divine Oracles of God All which also proveth clearly against all contradiction That if the Quakers possibly could and would forsake their Practice in personal sins yet if they do not also therewith totally forsake their Doctrine of Quakery which is before proved to flow forth of a devilish
his inspiring his holy Servants his Apostles to write his minde to men during which time also even unto the worlds end those his holy Servants his Apostles declaring in writings what Christ spake immediately to them concerning men is the mediate Word of Christ the Son of God and God and so in truth are the Words or Word of God And fourthly God's book of his glorious creatures continuing even from the creation of the World to the end thereof being subservient unto all those three dispensations of God's minde to the sons of men to make up a sweet harmony in visibly declaring of God's incomprehensible Glory Majesty Power Providence Mercy and Goodness even throughout the whole World yet notwithstanding all this though the Spirit saith in Scripture Let the word of Christ dwell in you and do not say Let Christ the Word dwell in you personally and though the Psalms or Scriptures are set forth to be the Word of Christ and though it be not said as you quakers dream That Christ the Son in his established ordinary way doth now teach men by his immediate words without the Scriptures and though it be said God who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the Fathers by the Prophets hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son note it is not said God doth speak to us by his Son as your tenents falsly say he doth now speak to men immediately but it is said God hath spoken to us by his Son Heb. 1.1 2. intimating plainly thereby That the Sons immediate speaking his minde to men in his established ordinary way of teaching them is gone and past and though it be said therewith to confirm that truth That the great Salvation at the first began to be spoken by the Lord and was confirmed to us by them that heard him which can be no otherwise since the Apostles deaths but by their Scripture-writings and though our Saviour did not say Father I pray not for these alone but also for all them that shall believe on me through mine own immediate words spoken by me to them as your quakers fantastick brains imagine but not so though that false sense is the quakers killing livelihood but according to Heb. 1.1 2 3. so also Christ the Son saith in his prayer Neither pray I for these alone but for them also which shall believe on me through their words John 17.20 so not through the Sons immediate words but through theirs his Apostles or Disciples words who at first heard the Son speak immediately to them who are to confirm those the Son's words to us which did not hear the Son speak immediately to them And fifthly though it be so that if the Apostles confirming of the Son 's immediate words to us be not taken to be by their Scripture-writings left to us that then the whole world of men that have lived ever since the Apostles died are totally deprived of the Apostles confirmation of the Son's words to us who heard not the Son speak immediately to them and so those vast multitudes of people have not had nor have not any means to know the great Salvation which the Son at first began to speak or teach to them his Apostles immediately for them to confirm to us mediately by writings which considered sheweth the vanity of the quakers deluded fancies And sixthly though St. Paul who affirmeth That he did not receive his Doctrine from man but by the Revelation of Jesus Christ Gal. 1.12 and so being an Apostle that heard the Son speak immediately at first to him also and so was one of them that did confirm those the Son's words to us in writing I say Though even he that great Apostle saith to the Thessalonians For this cause thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the word of God ye heard of us then not immediately of the Son not so but the word of God ye heard of us to wit of those that heard the Son speak to them immediately ye received it not as the word of man or our words but as it is in truth the word of God 1 Thes 2.13 And seventhly though Moses that admired pen-man of God's Works for us and minde to us hath discovered in his Scripture-writings the particulars of God's wonderful Works which he wrought in his first five days-works of Creation which were all past before any man had any being or before man was and therefore could not possibly be taught to Moses by any man but onely by God's teaching of him and though all this of God's immediate teaching Moses appeareth in his recorded written Scriptures yet even yet I say notwithstanding all these and many more such-like infallible inspired Scripture-Testimonies of God which do firmly prove That the holy Scriptures are in truth the mediate Word of God to us yet say by experiences which God hath formerly for my humiliation and instruction permitted Satan to act in my body for a time even the same strong delusions in kinde which Satan acts in your quakers bodies though my heavenly Father in great mercy hath delivered me from them yet I know that your quakers diabolical spirit in you will not permit you to acknowledge that truth though he doth give you leave frequently to affirm That the Scriptures are true as the Devil of old spake some truths to usher in his manifold deceits even so he over-powers you quakers though you say the Scriptures are true yet to deny the Scriptures to be any help in saving teachings and are led to deny in that respect the second dispensation of God's minde to men declared in the writings of his holy Prophets and also God's third dispensation of his minde to men by his inspired writings manifested by his holy Apostles And as he thereby limits the supreme holy One so he over-rules you to acknowledge but one dispensation of God's minde unto the sons of men And that by this his first dispensation of his minde to men by his immediate words that so the devil the father of lyes by his servants quakers may make elbow-room for his enthusiasms to teach men crafty devices closely contrived both to deceive themselves and others also and that his freedom in this destructive way may not be disturbed by the contradiction or controle of holy Scriptures he hath taught you the â—eâ—diest way to please him and you as cheerfully imploy your selves in his business And thus you four principal quakers have made your spiritual pestilential infectious black spots appear upon you to publick view and your brother quaker James Nayler's condemning Law aforesaid looks very fiercely upon you I 'll warrant you to justifie that you all are of the devil and not of Christ And herewith know you quakers That we your Opposers do not trust to nor expect to be taught by the Letter of the Scriptures written with ink on paper as you shrawme out against your Opposites but by the Spirit of Christ
his power say they no mortal can take out of our hands neither will our God any more give such power to men while the world indures These be their words They say also That they were sent to New-gate by the then Lord Major of London in Sept. anno Dom. 1653. And I finde that they have their wandring walking disciples to carry abroad their doctrine and books for by that means these two books came to my hands even as the wandring quakers do disperse abroad their doctrines and books and those two pretended witnesses of God their doctrines are also fearfully blasphemous though they are no quakers but for brevity sake I shall give but a hint of them they affirm in very plain and full effect That God the Father came down with his Son Christ unto the earth and abode with him upon the earth during all the time of his continuance thereon and that the personal presence of God was all the time of his Sons being on earth wholly absent from the Angels whom he left in the heavens above the stars All which is flat contrary to John 4.9 and John 5.37 therein being said That God sent his Son into the world which proves fully against them that God the Father did not come in his spiritual personal essence with his Son unto the earth and they also thereby do fight against the truth of Mat. 10.32 and Mat. 12.20 where our Saviour even when he was on the earth even then said My Father which is in heaven which firmly proveth again That God his Father was not in his spiritual person with Christ his Son upon the earth And they say That God the Father whilst he was absent from the Angels in heaven did then give the Prophet Elias a commission to represent the glorious person of the Creator in heaven whilst he was with his Son on earth which their saying doth audaciously affront Isa 42.8 where God saith he will not give his glory to another It 's marvel that they do not imagine with their moon-eyes that the man said to be in the Moon is God and they in very full effect say accordingly That Jesus in all his extreamities cried to the Prophet Eliah he being then an immortal God and Father in glory and that the Prophet Eliah as a faithful Steward with Moses did from the Throne of Glory minister consolation unto his Lord and Saviour in mortality and that the whole Godhead was dead and buried for a moment and that if any man prayes unto any God or Father but unto the Man Jesus he prayes unto his own lying imagination which is the Devil which is a desperate contradiction against the blessed Man Jesus his own commands John 16.23 and John 15.16 wherein our Saviour doth not direct men to pray to himself the Man Jesus but he doth direct men to ask of his Father in his Name And they say That there is no Creator nor God nor never was but the Man Jesus which their saying is a blasphemous denial of the Holy Trinity and is flat contrary to Gen. 1.26 wherein it 's said in the plural number Let us make man in our image And truely beloved I finde little or none other Doctrine in their two books but such brain-sick fantastical stories which proveth to veiw that the aforesaid Witnesses John Reve and Lodowick Muggleton are the Devils and not Gods Witnesses And my beloved I think it not fit to set any more of their noysome silthy stuff before thee onely I shall give thee a little notice how far the two Witnesses Doctrines are making open wars against the quakers teachings 〈…〉 the two Witnesses say That heaven is beyond the stars and so without men but the quakers do in their doctrines affirm the flat contrary and do say therein That heaven is not without men but is in mens bodies the two Witnesses do affirm that the Man Jesus in his body of flesh and bone is ascended far above all heavens Angels and men but the quakers in their doctrines do deny that and do affirm in full effect to the flat contrary that Christ is not ascended into any heaven without men but that Christs person of flesh is in mens bodies God and Man And I could shew many other ways how punctually those two Witnesses do prove the quakers to be deluding lyers and how expressly the quakers do affirm that those two witnesses are lying deluders And truely beloved I would not have done so much as once to have put pen to paper aboâ—â— these two frantick pretended Witnesses of God but only because that there is not in the whole Christian world that I 〈…〉 any other people that say they are taught immediately by Christ himself without the mediate use of Christs inspired Scriptures but these two sorts of people only the two witnesses and and the quakers and yet they one contradicting another and proving one another in full effect to be devil-like deluders they both confirming that to be true of one another by both their hellish doctrines which doubtless for hellishness cannot be fully sampled by any other people but they the witnesses and quakers onely in the whole Christian world and they both have blasphemously fathered their Satan-like doctrine and hellish lyes upon our blessed Saviour Christs own immediate teaching though they are both so flat contrary one to the other in falsbood thereby they both rendring up in full effect our blessed Lord Christ to be the supreme Author of confusion and the chiefest Father of hellish lyes All which shews plainly beloved by the Devils over-ruling both these sorts of people being both for immediate enthusiasms how exceeding dangerous it is for any man to trust to immediate revelations not issuing from the mediate use of Gods Word the Scriptures for by that his teaching the Devil hath provided the quakers false Christ in men and the two Witnesses false Christ without men to please every mans palate what he can thereby to lay his hellish snares the more numerously abroad to destroy eternally as many people as he possibly can who are seeking to enjoy the heavenly benefits of our blessed Christ And now the good and gracious all-seeing God of heaven and earth in mercy preserve all tender-hearted seeking unsettled Christians out of these manifold eternally destructive secret snares of the Devil the inveterate enemy of God and all his Servants FINIS