A Special VVarrant Given forth from the SPIRIT of GOD Who is Lord over all Lords and King above all Kings against the Spirit of Envy and Persecution who hath been is and will be the Greatest Enemy to God and Godliness and to all People ALSO Some Descriptions set down how this unsufferable Enemy the Spirit of Persecution may be known and what he is and from whence he came and where he lodgeth in the Night and what Weapons people may be armed with against him when they go to take him that he may not hurt them that so they may bring him to Judgment and Sentence may be past upon him Sathan shall go forth to deceive the Nations and Gog and Magog shall appeare together for the stirring up of an Army to Battel against the Saints the Number of whom is as the Sand of the Sea and they went upon the breadth of the Earth and compassed the Camp of the Saints about and the Beloved City and fire came down from God out of Heaven and devoured them as in Rev. 20. These shall make war with the Lamb and the Lamb shall overcome them for he is Lord of Lords and King of Kings Rev. 17. 14. Written by Joseph Fuce LONDON Printed in the Year 1663 A Special VVarrant Given forth from the Spirit of God A Special Warrant given forth from the Spirit of God who is Lord over all Lords and King above all Kings against the Spirit of Envy and Persecution which hath is and will be the Greatest Enemy against God and Godlinesse to Kings and Kingdomes Nobles and Nobility Neighbours and Neighbourhood and therefore would the God of the Spirits of all flesh have both Kings and Nobles and all other People in all parts of his Creation and that more especially in those Parts where Kings and Nobles and People of all sorts professe to owne God and his Christ to be awakened and moved to stirre and stand up and to set unto their helping hand and to lend their best assistance for the stopping apprehending and taking this Great and Notorious Enemy to God and all Mankind from the very Highest to the Lowest of all in the Creation and to True Religion it selfe With some Descriptions what this Insufferable Enemy is and from whence he came and where he Lodgeth in the Night and how he may be knowne and taken and what People of all sorts are to be Armed with against this Thief that cometh in the Night so that they may not be hurt by him nor hurt one another about taking him and bringing him to Judgement and Condemnation for they that profest themselves to be Religious people that have gone forth heretosore and have not beene Armed with the True Armour nor led by the True Leader they have Struck at this Enemy and missed him and Wounded and Killed one another and Taken and Imprisoned one another and let him goe at Liberty in every Nation and Country City and Towne like a roaring Lyon to devoure to the great Griefe of the Spirit of God who created Mankind and would have them all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth as the Scripture saith and then how peaceable people of all sorts may live and how in Life and Spirit they may Serve and Worship their Creator and in Love serve and doe one for another as Brethren and Friends and Neighbours and so every one may come to sit downe under his owne Vine and none shall make him afraid First What this Great Enemy unto God and Godlinesse and all Mankind is against whom this Special Warrant from the Spirit of God goes sorth This Great Enemy to all Mankind is that Old Envious Spirit of Persecution that got into Cain and moved and stirred him up against his Righteous Brother Abels Gen. 4 5 8. So he made Cain his Servant to Murther or Kill his Righteous Brother Abel and brought misery and sorrow and Everlasting Torment upon himselfe who then became a Vagabond from God to wander with a Burthen too heavy for him to beare and although he built a City to make himselfe an Habitation yet his Punishment was Greater than he could beare because he had done the Murthering Spirits Worke in Slaying his Brother and so became worthy of Everlasting Punishment like unto him that was a Murtherer from the Beginning And the same Envious Persecuting and Murthering Spirit was in Pharaoh who burdened and grievously Oppressed and Afflicted the Lords People for a long time Exod. 3. 7. which grieved the Lords Spirit who heard the Groanings of his People in Egypt Exod. 5 to the 14. And this Envious Spirit made Pharaoh the King do so Wickedly against the minde of God as to provoke the Holy One of Israel to bring the Plagues on the Kings owne selfe and the whole Land of Egypt and yet this Great Enemy to the King and Kingdome would not let the King be quiet but made him to oppresse them more than before and at last to pursue the Lords People with a Great Army of Horse-men and Charriots intending to Destroy those whom the Lord had Chosen to himselfe to be his People and by so doing the King brought everlasting destruction upon himselfe and all his Host who were destroyed by water in the Red Sea and that was the worke of the Envious Spirit to bring to everlasting destruction And the same Enemy was in Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazar and in the Presidents and Princes and in Haman and in all the rest of the envious Enemies of God and his People in those Generations Esther 7. And oh how did that great Enemy the Spirit of Persecution betray Haman even to the Gallows to be Hanged for devising mischief against poore Mordecai and all the Jewes which were the Lords People And also how was the great King Nebuchadnezzar deceived by the same Deceitful Spirit of Envy and Persecution that stirred him up to Persecute the Lords Holy Children and to exalt himselfe in the Pride of his heart until his Kingdome was taken and he drove our from amongst men to eat Grasse like an Oxe and his Body to be wet with the Dew until his Haires were growne like Eagles Feathers and his Nailes like Birdes Clawes Dan. 4. 33. And he humbled himselfe and looked up to Heaven and his Understanding returned to him Dan. 5. by which he spake to the great Praise of God and his Kingdome and Wayes and Judgements and he confest that they that walk in Pride he is able to abase and he knew it was the Most High that Ruled in the Kingdome of Men and that he appointeth over it whosoever he will And then after Nebuchadnezzar Belshazar was King and Reigned Dan. 5. and he made a great Feast to a thousand of his Lords and drunk Wine before them and then he sent for the Vessels that his Father had taken out of the Temple at Jerusalem and he and his Wives and Nobles drank wine in them and in the same Houre came forth
Fingers of a Mans Hand and wrote upon the Wall of the Kings Palace for a signe against the King and the King saw the part of the Hand that Wrote and his Countenance was then changed and his Thoughts troubled him so that he cryed to bring in the Astrologers the Chaldeans and the Southsayers which were the Wise Men of Babylon to see if they could read the Writing and tell the King the Interpretation thereof which none of them could doe then the King and his Nobles were sore troubled and astonished and in that time of trouble the Queen remembred Daniel the Lords Servant in whom was sound the Spirit of Light and Wisdome who read the Writing and told the King the Interpretation which was that God had numbred thy Kingdome and finished it and he told him Thou art Weighed in the Ballance and art found wanting and thy Kingdome is divided and given to the Medes and Persians And the King advanced and honoured Daniel to be the Ruler in the Kingdome although that Night Belshazar was slain and his Kingdome tooke from him by Darius and then it pleased Darius to set over the Kingdome an Hundred and Twenty Princes Dan. 6. to the end that should be over the whole Kingdome and over three Presidents of whom this Daniel was first and he was above the other and they were to give accounts unto him and then the King should have no Damage because there was an excellent Spirit in Daniel and therefore the King thought to set him over the whole Realme and so both the King and Princes and all were like to doe well and be in peace because of that excellent Spirit in Daniel who would let the King have no Damage for the Damage dishonour confusion overthrow and utter destruction came upon the Kings and their Kingdomes by reason of their following the Proud Envious Darkning Spirit of Errour that was known by his Persecution and Enmity but when the Excellent Spirit of Light and Wisdome that was found in Daniel the Lords servant was hearkned unto then the King was lyable to have no Damage although Daniels way of Worshipping of God was altogether contrary both to King and Princes yet all was well towards the King and Kingdome and Princes and Presidents because of that Excellent Spirits leading Daniel But then the Old Serpent which is the Devil the King of Pride and the greatest betrayer of mans Soul and Body which is and ever was the chiefe in doing mischiefe the Persecutor and Murtherer of Gods People I say this subtle Serpent seeing the Spirit of God and of Wisdome that was found in Daniel bearing Rule so in the King and over the Princes that there was like to be no Damage to the King nor Daniel nor Princes nor Presidents so that all was well and in Peace and his Kingdome of Enmity Pride and Darknesse lay wast then marke how subtilly he gets in amongst the Princes and begets them into Pride and Discontent because of Daniel's being set above them for that Excellent Spirits sake that no evil might besall the King or Kingdome and when this proud Envious Spirit was got up in and among the Princes and Presidents he exalted them into Pride and Discontentednesse with their places and then they began to watch for evill against honest harmlesse Daniel the Lords Servant and knowing they could find nothing against him except it were concerning the Worship and Service of his God which was differing from all their Worship and Services yet all was well and no Damage was against the King or Princes by Faithful Daniels Worshipping and Serving his God though differing from them all because of that Excellent Spirit of Light and Wisdome that was found in Daniel And then this Serpent led the Presidents and Princes subtilly to goe to the King and to stir up the King to make a Law and Decree for Conformity to make all Bow and Conforme to their way of Worship or to be cast into the Lyons Den intending this mischiefe against poore Daniel because he was confirmed and stedfast in the Worship and Service of his God and also Faithful to man in what he could doe for Conscience sake or in whatever he undertooke whomsoever bare Rule because there was in him an Excellent Spirit and the King Darius being innocent of their intent and not foreseeing their Plot they laid against Daniel in stirring him up and pressing him to make a Law or Seale a Decree about Service and Worship that none might ask a Petition of any God or Man for thirty Dayes save thee O King so for all to Consorme at such a time or to be cast into the Lyons Den And this Wicked Cunning Serpent he stirred up the Princes and Presidents and Governours c. of the Kingdome to Assemble together and vehemently to urge the King to Signe their mischievous Decree that it might be unalterable and when he had perswaded the King and he had Sealed the Statute or Decree then they Assembled themselves and tooke Daniel Praying before his God as he did aforetime then they came neere and spake before the King of his Decree and of Daniel who could not for Conscience sake leave the Worship and Service of his God although the Decree was Sealed against him but when the King did see how it reflected upon his True and Faithfull Subject Daniel he was sore displeased with himselfe and set his heart on Daniel to Deliver him and he laboured till the going downe of the Sun to Deliver him and then those men pressed upon the King to have the Decree executed upon Daniel who was brought according to the Decree that was contrived in the Envy of their hearts and cast into the Den of Lyons and the King Believed and said to Daniel Thy God whom thou servest continually will Deliver thee then the King went to his Palace and passed the Night pasting neither were Instruments of Musick brought before him and his Sleep went from him But oh how glad was he in the Morning when he saw how that Daniel was saved by his God and that because of his Faithfulnesse and Innocency that was found before the Lord and who had wronged no man and then the King in the exceeding Joy and Gladnesse of his Heart caused Daniel to be taken up out of the Den when they had taken him up no manner of hurt was sound about him because he believed in his God and the King commanded and they brought those men which had accused Daniel and they cast them and their wives and children into the Lyons Den and they were destroyed And thus were they blinded by the spirit of darkness and envy and betrayed even unto death and that was the fruit and work of the envious spirit of persecution to stir up to destroy the most honest and upright in the sight of God and man from off the earth or else to stir up and lead such destroyers to be destroyed and that more especially about and concerning
oh what havock hath this soul-betraying spirit of envy and persecution made with and among the Christians so called in the Apostacy how hath he set Kings Princes and Nations and Kingdomes and Priests and people one against another about Religion and Worship and how grievously have people been enslaved through Christendome by this spirit of persecution to martyr and murther one another the Papists against the Protestants Lutherans Presbyterians and other Sects and the Lutherans Protestants Presbyterians and others against the Papists and all about Religion and all called Christians and all lyable to suffer as often they have done by the Heathen so mischievous and trecherous hath this persecuting spirit betrayed people to death about their form of Worship that hath stood in outward things and all hath been without the spirit of love unfeigned and out of natures affection and they were the persecuters that had the powers of the earth on their sides and were uppermost and so they have rowled to and fro and tumbled up and down like the Sea and broke one another like the waves thereof and destroyed and devoured one another like the fishes of the Sea and beasts of the field and all about Service and Worship and every one counting his own way right and all others wrong while all their hands have been full of blood and all are out of the Spirit that teaches to love enemies and to forgive enemies and so to overcome the evil with the good spirit of love and forgiveness and so they have been all wrong in persecuting one another and revenging one upon another and seeking to overcome one another with the evil spirit of cruelty and persecuting and so the very name Christian is abhorred among the Heathen Turks and Indians and Jewes also by reason of this devilish spirit of envy and persecution which hath made slaves of whole Nations of people called Christians who hath done or fulfilled the lusts of the Old Dragon from whence all these Wars and Jars and killing one another about Religion and Service did first arise in this long Night of Apostacy which Christ the true Prophet said should come wherein no man should work c. And now take notice how this great enemy hath wrought in this Age in which we live after that it pleased God to enlighten mens understandings somwhat more than in some Ages past and to awaken the Consciences of some to seek after God more strictly than before Then they began to reform from some Idolatry as they counted it and to learn some of the Traditions of their forefathers which were almost all Papists about a hundred years ago and many were zealous for godliness but then this spirit began to work afresh among people in this our native Country of England and after some reformation inwardly the enemy got up among them and led many into new inventions and Traditions of their own and then the envious spirit of persecution got up and then they that were in the old Traditions and Invented wayes of Service and Worship and they that imagined and invented new Inventions and set up other Traditions rose up one against another in the spirit of envy and persecution And oh what a work hath been within this 20 years which may never be forgotten First what killing and slaying one another and throwing down others Traditions and slighting their Way and Ministers and setting up others that had stollen more of the good words and fair Speeches whereby they so much the more deceived the hearts of the simple And oh how lovly were the Reformed Ministry and people and how did they crow over others that did not reform while they had a dunghil to stand upon and then what hunting was there among the best reformed Ministers for great Benefices and sometimes laying two or three little ones together and then they mounted into the chief Seats in their Temples called Churches and there they cryed against the Church of Rome and against the Common-Prayer and Organs and Singing Boyes and the like and yet would take Tythes which was the Romish wages and hire although they refused to do the Romish Service and so that hath stood notwithstanding their changing and that was not enough to serve some but they would run and complain to the Powers that then were to get Augmentations And notwithstanding their good words and fair speeches their hearts went after their covetousness And as the Priests did so did many Rulers Oh how they sought after Lordships and others Estates and so threw down others and exalted themselves notwithstanding their Reformation so full of Pride Covetousness and Envy was their hearts And when the Presbiterians Independents and Baptists and the like who pretended for Liberty of Conscience were at the highest and had the Rule among them and the Papist and Episcopal were very low in England which one would think were enough to make them remember a poor low and afflicted people throughout their Generation I say their Liberty of Conscience was but to themselves for it neither reached back to the Common-Prayer men nor the Papist Then the Lord would try them a little further with a poor despised low and humble people whom he chose out from among them all some from the Common-Prayer men and some from the Presbiterians and some from the Independants and some from the Baptists and the like and when the Lord had called us and begun to break our hearts in pieces by the power of his living Word that was as a hammer in us and thereby were we made to fear tremble shake and quake and weep and mourn like the holy men of God in Ages past And when the Lord was thus fitting us for his own service to sound sorth his praises then the Professors they stood and wondred scoffed and mocked at us calling us Quakers both Rulers Priests and people and although they pretended Liberty of Conscience yet we were haled out of our Meetings and put in the Stocks and beaten and abused and imprisoned for declaring the Truth and our Goods made havock of because we could not uphold such covetous hypocrites as these Priests were And much more did we suffer notwithstanding their talk of Liberty of Conscience and then in the power of God we were made to cry out against deceit and hypocrisie for which we suffered by the hands of the unreasonable and this wicked envious persecuting spirit was the Author of all that mischief And we were so mortified in our minds and humbled in our spirits by the opperation of the power of our God which we received in his eternal Light that we could do them no evil but good for evil and thereby were we made both able and willing to do or to suffer whatsoever we were called unto for his Names sake and waiting in his true Light we have seen how this wicked soul-betraying spirit of envy and persecution hath betrayed and took Captive and then made slaves of the sons and
daughters of men both souls and bodies who were Gods people by Creation but the Devil he stole their hearts and minds from God and out of the true Liberty of the sons of men as men and in that wretched and deplorable state were all Mankind in we as well as others before the new Creation or being Regenerated and Ransomed and created again in Christ Jesus unto good works by his living Word and then the love of God the Father which he hath shed abroad in our hearts did abound towards all Mankind upon the face of the whole earth insomuch that our hearts were made sad and heavy and our souls did mourn in secret for them and on their behalf to see their bondage and slavery and how this unreasonable envious persecuting spirit ruled over them and made them unwilling to hearken unto the counsel of God their Creator who sent many of us in his love and pity to call them to repentance that they might receive the remission of sins c. and embrace the love and mercy that God held forth unto them-wards not only in these neer Nations out also to them that are afar of but they have required us evilly for our good-will and true love towards them both soul and body even because we have told them the Truth and spoke against and struck at their greatest Enemy the soul-betraying spirit of envy and persecution and they would not hear and consider nor lay those things to heart which most concerned their peace and everlasting welfare of body and soul but went on in hardness of heart very contrary to the Light of Christ in their own Consciences until they had filled up their measures of iniquity and provoked the Holy One of Israel utterly to overturn them and cast them out to be made a prey upon by the old betrayer of Persecuters to be destroyed and cut off as others have been before in Ages past and that is the persecuting spirits work to lead to destroy and then to bring destroyers to destruction also as all may see that reads these lines with a good understanding And this is a true and brief Description of this greatest and most destructive enemy of Mankind in the whole Creation and how he hath betrayed Kings and Princes and Kingdoms and Nations of Jewes Heathen and Christians so called and also how he may be known and apprehended by a special Warrant And further be it known unto all that reads and understands that God the Creator of Mankind hath wholly and firmly decreed the taking and binding of this old Serpent which is the Devil shortly and to cast him into the bottomless pit and to shut and seal him down that he may deceive the Nations no more and God will also cast them into the Lake to be tormented with the Devil and his Angels for ever that will not return to the Lord in the time while he calleth unto them and striveth by his Light and Spirit with them and waiteth to be good and merciful and gracious unto them and this old Dragon is in a great rage because his Kingdome and Reign draws towards an end and he hath but a short time as it is written in Rev. 12. And then shall those words of God be fulfilled which he spake by the mouth of his Prophet Isaiah For out of Zion shall go forth-the Law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem and he shall judg among the Nations and rebuke many people and they shall beat their Swords into Plow-shares and their Spears into Pruâ—ing hocks and Nation shall not lift up Sword against Nation neither shall they learn war any more and they shall rejoyce together in love and cry Come let us walk in the light of the Lord and go up unto the house of God that made us for he shall teach us of his wayes And then shall the people sing a new Song unto the Lord and his people shall praise him from the ends of the earth and they that were as a barren Wilderness shall lift up their voyce unto the most High and shout for joy of heart to see the Dragon that old Serpent which is the Devil that betrayed them into the curse and bitterness and enmity one against another taken and bound and cast out into the bottomless pit and sealed down that he no more can deceive them and then all may dwell together in love safely and their souls greatly to rejoyce in the Lord of Hosts and be exceeding joyful in God their Saviour who cloaths his with the Robe of righteousness and covereth them round about with the garment of salvation And the Wolf and the Lamb shall feed together and the Lyon shall eat straw like the Bullock and they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy Mountain saith the Lord. And we the people whom God hath called and chosen and made faithful and acceptable to himself through the work of his Son Jesus Christ in us and for us who are thereby made the first fruits unto God in this Age after the long Night of Apostacy into the grosse darkness and great ignorance from the true Light and Spirit of God and Christ that reveals and gives the knowledge of the things of God and from the first of our true convincement of sin and evill by the Light in our Consciences and from that very day in which God began to work in this great work of conversion out of the evil envious nature into true love and humility and out of the flesh into the Spirit and to be of the new Birth being born of the blessed womb of love and to be translated out of the Kingdome of darkness and Satan into the Kingdome of the Dear Son of God I say even from the very beginning unto this day have we been hated rejected vilified despised and reproached and greatly afflicted and persecuted and oppressed beyond measure and all hath been for the exercise of our Conscience in the Service of God and in love and good will towards men And thus have they sought to weaken and break us and scatter us into division like themselves and so to wear us out and none of all the Powers of the earth that hath reigned in their time hath been for us but against us But the Lord God Almighty who raised us up out of the Dust he hath been with us and among us all along and his right hand hath upheld us and his outstretched arm hath sustain'd us and they of us that had used carnal weapons heretofore some in the former Kings Army and some in the Parliaments Army when they came to seel the stroak of the Sword of the Spirit of God upon that nature that led to draw the Sword then he fell and perished by the Sword of the Spirit that led to draw the carnal Sword as Christ said it should be and notwithstanding the great occasions and provocations without number that hath been given us we have been kept by the