sacramental sign and manifestation of mans ready obedience to all other Commands of the Almighty that should be given unto him But now the Devil being a Reprobate and a fallen Angel envying Gods glory and mans happinesse tempts man to the breach of this Commandement suggesting that by eating he should be like God whereas wretch as he was he knew by his own experience that by disobeying man should be like himself a Devil And now man being tickled with ambition of being like to God in knowledge and being but a Creature and so impossible to be good unchangeably which is the soveraign prerogative of God only by hearkening and yielding to the temptation of the Devil fell into the transgression And hereby involved himself and all his posterity he being the head and root of all mankind and a common person to lose or injoy for all his posterity who were in his loyns and by natural generation and descent to proceed from him hereby I say by this one transgression he involved himself and all his posterity unto a state of enmity and rebellion against his Maker And thereby forfeited both that blessed Image of righteousness holiness and saving knowledge in which he was at first created and contracted a perversness of spirit But also lost that chearful and comfortable light of Gods countenance which was to have bin his life and happinesse And as a manifestation of his losse and guilt man is driven out of Paradise that place of Gods special presence and mans earthly felicity as never to enjoy the like on earth again And an Angel with a flaming sword the wrath of the Almighty to keep him for ever out from eating so much as sacramentally of the tree of life and immortality And had not Christ by an eternal decree and covenant with the Father stept in and undertaken for us the world had bin presently consumed and man himself hurried into Hell and destruction to the eternal misery both of soul and body But man is reprieved and the execution of the sentence as to the full is deferred till the day of judgement Yet shall he not go here and in the mean time altogether unpunished for though the earth and other Creatures that were made for man continued the Creatures shall rebel and withdraw subjection from him and the earth being cursed for his sake shall yield him food with sweat and sorrow and all things shall be full of labour vanity and vexation so that he shall have no satisfaction from them And further when he has toyled all his life to little or no purpose as to true contentment he must leave all these nothings go unto the dust the grave and lie down if he go as he came in sorrow So that upon the matter man lives upon the earth as a condemned creature and by patience long suffering and forbearance permitted here to continue And by his â—in under guilt curse death everlasting death and condemnation and having brought the same misery not only upon himself but also upon those who never sinned actually in the very same manner in the same thing even upon all flesh children as well as others So that now by means hereof every Son and Daughter of Adam is conceived in sin and brought forth into the world in iniquity deprived of that Image of righteousness holiness and saving knowledge of God in which Adam was at first created of a depraved mind spirit alwayes lusting after evil Being all Saints as well as others till regenerated the children of wrath by nature dead in sins and trespasses as to the injoyment of Gods special love and favour and the chearful light of his saving countenance which only is true life and happinâ—sse Notwithstanding which fall and losse there remains in man as his intellectual nature and reasonable faculties by which he acts wisely and prudently as to worldly affairs and humane concernments so also he retains certain vestigia footsteps marks and impressions of that moral and eternal Law of righteousnesse at first ingraven in his heart by the finger of the Almighty So that although as to everlasting felicity man be dark dead by nature being under the power of Sathan the God of this world whose Kingdom is a Kingdom of darknesse and who rules in men by ignorance yet there remains so much light with which every man is enlightened that comes into the world as doth lead him to the knowledge of a God prompts him to the worship service of him mediately immediately immediately to God himself by some acts of piety and devotion tendered by all and every Nation according to those discoveries they have of him and mediately to their fellow Creatures by certain acts of duty and charity as they stand in several respects related to him and his light accusing or excusing according to his walking Which light some men and women living in sensuality and indulging to fleshly pleasures do as it were detain a prisoner stifling it and burying it under lusts and unrighteous practises thereby provoking the Lord to put out that Candle which he had set up and left within them and to give them up to hardened hearts and seared consciences past feeling to commit all manner of wickedness with greediness and so to make themselves seven fold more the children of wrath then they were before And so continuing finally impenitently to run headlong to everlasting destruction carrying in their very bosoms even in their consciences that which awakened at the day of judgment shall condemn them needing no other Law or witness Others more civillized by education custom fear of punishment good example wholsom counsel And some by the power and efficacy of Religion in a way of common illumination and conviction which ordinarily goes along with it where not obstinately opposed and hindered walk more evenly sweetly usefully then the former with whom therefore it shall be more easie at the day of judgement then for them Yet they and the former are both in a state of estrangement towards God lyable to eternal condemnation for though the lives of some are lesse â—inful then others yet the heart of all are equally depraved And none is perfectly righteous without which no man by the tenor of the first Covenant can be justified and saved So that all are concluded under sin and none able to redeem or deliver his own soul much lesse anothers All having sinned and come short of the glory of God all of all Nations both Jew and Gentiles being under the curse and subject unto the bondage and thraldom of Satan for ever But now behold and wonder at this great and glorious mystery The
faith in the 14 of John v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the work that I do he shall do also and greater works then these because I go to the Father But all these Scriptures be hid from thine eyes and thou art one of those that Isaiah prophesied on and that Scripture is fulfilled on thee which saith He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts Now blessed be the Lord that hath discovered thee and such blind guides as thou art so we have answered thy Queries in the eternal light and life of God and we have given judgement upon thee and them which thou shalt eternally witness without roving or wandring but thou who art out of the light art roving and wandring and stumbling in darkness who hath put forth these stumbling Queries which we have answered lovingly and plainly and in the Scripture language and terms and with the eternal light and life of God set thee in thine own place which thou shalt eternally witness These are matters of great concernment and if you refuse to answer them in writing spare your tongues and spare your papers for I will henceforth neither hear the one nor read the other Ans Thou saith these are matters of great concernment we see that that which makes thee manifest and such as thou art and which laies thee open to poor ignorant people which is deceived by thee and led into the ditch and their souls kept in death by thee to make this manifest is of great concernment as these black dark stumbling Queries and thy conjured words hath done which thou hast no Scripture for as ambiguity efficacy exclusively antecede and non-imputation assume and assumption Now let all people read and consider what they do that hold such as thee up who is shut out from God and shut out from the Saints life and language and art shut out of the Scriptures though thou makes a trade of them for money and deceives poor people but thou knows nothing of the Life and Power that gave them forth So thou art to be condemned with the Light and with the Life that gave forth the Scripture Let all people read Deuteronomy 18. from the nineth verse to the fifteenth there the Priests and the Levites which was ordained of God was to have no inheritance among the people but the Lord was their inheritance and they were to have it of that which was offered up to the Lord. And this is a figure of the Everlasting Priesthood which ministers out of the Everlasting Treasure and the Lord God commanded Israel that not to do as they did when they came into the Land nor to go after their abominations as you may see But gave Israel their Land to possess that did hearken unto such as the Lord had not sent which was abomination to him And the Lord saith to Israel Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God Vers 15. The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and so to the end of the Chapter He that hath an eye may see and the Lord is the same that he was and he will not suffer the abominations that is committed in this Land but is discovering the abominations of it A horrible and a filthy thing is committed which Jeremiah cried against Covetous men preach Drunkards preach Swearers preach Liers preach Strikers preach and Proud men preach O wonderful where is your eyes Try your Priests by the Scriptures see if they be not found in the same Generation that all the false Prophets and the Deceivers were in which the true Prophets of God cryed against and discovered and in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees that Christ cryed wo against and see if they be not the Antichrists and the Deceivers which are entred into the world which John speaks of which cannot confess Christ come in the flesh but transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ so hath not God neither knows but preaches for sin and against perfection and denies the light which enlightens every one that cometh into the world and so keeps people in blindness and ignorance and out of the knowledge of God and never any that follows them shall ever come to the knowledge of the true and living God therefore all people see where you are and minde the light in your Consciences which is pure and which testifieth against all sin and it will let you see all your blinde guides which deceives you to be in sin and ignorant of God for they deny that which should make him manifest therefore beware what you hold up and give over going after them to that in your Consciences I speak which shall witness me eternally to speak the truth if you obey it and shall condemn you eternally if you disobey it These blinde guides that are in this Land denies the Prophets which Moses wrote of which is the substance of the Priesthood which was before and here they are found in the same generation in the Sorcery and in the Witchcraft which the Lord commanded should be put out of the Land where the children of Israel went to possess And now the other Paper I commend to thy reading is this THE Sword of the Lord Drawn and Furbish'd against the MAN OF SIN OR Something in Answer to a Paper set forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are THOMAS GOODWIN and one NYE and SYDRACH SYMPSON which they have put forth to the propagating of the Gospel signed by him that is the Clerk of the Parliament whose name is HENRY SCOBEL With their deceits and deceitful actings laid open and cleered from Scripture that they have no example in Scripture for their practice Therefore I was moved by the Lord God of life to lay open their deceit by the spirit of truth as it was made manifest in me from the Lord that the simple might not be deceived by them but might have the knowledg of the Truth from that which is for ever and shall not change nor fade away By one whose name in the flesh is Christopher Atkinson who am one whom the World doth scornfully call a QUAKER LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert c. 1654. The Sword of the Lord drawn and furbished against the Man of Sin THere coming a Paper unto my hands put forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are Tho. Goodwin one Nye and Sydrach Simpson called the Principles of Faith put forth to the Committee of Parliament for the propagating of the Gospel as they call it and finding them out of the Apostles rule and the Prophets rule acting those things which they have no example for therefore am I moved of the Lord to lay open their deceits and to declare the living truth of God
THE GREAT MYSTERIES OF GODLINESSE AND UNGODLINESSE The one opened from that eternall truth of the un-erring Scripture of the ever-blessed JESUS The other discovered from the writings and speakings of a generation of deceivers called QVAKRRS Wherein their Sathanicall depths and Diabolicall delusions not hitherto so fully known are laid open And that which as they often say they have to deliver to the world which it is not yet able to receive is most probably manifested a little before their time To the rendring them and their way abhorred to all true Christians Unfolding also the delusive manner of their arguings answerings and discoursings In all which their chief endevour is to conceale themselves and their opinions from being known and discovered Published for the reduching of such as are seduced And the establishing such as yet stand from being seduced by them By RA FARMER a Servant of that Jesus Christ that was crucified at Jerusalem above sixteen hundred years ago 2 Pet. 21. 2. But there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction And many shall follow their pernicious waies by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evill spoken of 2 Tim. 3. 8 9. Now as Janues and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt mindes reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed further For their folly shall be manifest unto all men as theirs also was London Printed by S. G. for William Ballara Book-seller in Corn-street at the Sign of the Bible in Bristoll and Joshua Kirton in Pauls Church-yard 1655. TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE John Thurloe Esquire SECRET ARIE OF STATE Honourable and Honoured ALthough I dare not presume to reach so high as his Highnesse yet I can come very near under your shadow which to me is very substantial And I may speak so loud that if you please he may hear Awhile agoe there came to this City of Bristol certain Morice-dancers from the North. By two and two two and two with an intent here to exercise some spiritual cheats or as may well be suspected to carry on some levelling design And our souldiers here having nothing else to do unlesse work of their own making that they might seem to be necessary struck in with them in their quaking And my selfe with some other of my brethren in the Ministry here being by the Magistrates call'd to conference with them ingaged to inquire into their opinions I found it a harder matter to discover then to confute them They being the most egregious prevaricators that ever men met with Upon this account my Geni is led me on that way to pull off their vizor which is the principal intent of these following papers wherein is discovered their Mystery of ungodlinesse as to spiritual matters And my thoughts having been a little before upon the Great Mystery of Godlinesse In a publick discourse I spake something to both which gave some satisfaction and was perswaded might be useful if made publick Both which is here done under the Title of the Mystery of Godlinesse and of ungodlinesse And when I had done I needed no long time to deliberate to whose name to inscribe it My heart readily told me whom I honoured And I had a desire the world should know it For besides our old and familiar acquaintance The observation of your ingenuity when I was last with you whereby I perceived that your Honours and high imployments have not transported you hath laid strong ingagments upon me And I gladly took the very first opportunity to bear testimony to it Sir I was coming to you with a supplicatory Epistle But his Highnesse by breath from his mouth hath driven away these Northern locusts from us And given a command for the remove of their abetters favorites And now my supplicatory is by this good hand of providence turned into a gratulatory Epistle And I beseech you let the thanks be bestowed where you know 't is due for I am sure you know And surely Sir his Highnesse hath gained much upon the hearts of our Citizens by this act of grace and duty We were made believe these men had countenance from him which upon my knowledge made our Magistrates here so backward to be quick with them and to deal so severely and justly with them as they have been dealt with in other places And therefore I rejoyce that you breath so good an ayre at Court. And oh that the same salutiferous ayre might blow and continue to blow through all the quarters of our English Elements But Sir will you give me leave to speak my mind this once and we were wont to speak freely one to another And I 'le speak for his Highnesse 't is not for his honour nor saftety that every petty Captain should dally with his Commands and ride away from their obedience to them Some men know not how to bear an even sail to that condition which these late troublous times have rais'd them They could live in warre but now know not how to live in peace if it make not for their profit Hence many places and persons are rendered malignant by those who in themselves are not better no and I am sure of it nor so well affected And I beseech you let not selfish insinuates finde too much countenance to the publick grievance Sir I write not this to loosen the reigns of Government either in it self or its necessary supports my soul abhorrs such thoughts But it pains me to the very heart that a people that may easily be mannaged should be over-ridden by such who seek not what ever they pretend by their suggestions of some friends the publick weale so much as their own advantage If people be refractory or stubborn 't is fit they should know their Rider But if they goe readily why should they be spur-gald I know not where ever I shall have the like occasion because I love and honour you and would have you be truly everlastingly honourable I 'le beg one thing of you Improve you the high advantage of ground you have gotten for God his truth and the common welfare I need not mention his Highnesse 't is eminently included And to this end let order and establisht Government have a high place in your thoughts And that in Church as well as State But why do I divide them are they not Hippocrates twins do they not live and die together how true did that saying prove No Bishop no King And will it not hold No Minister no Magistrate And every one a Minister every one a Magistrate I hate persecution 'T is a judgement and is not want of Government so too When there was no King in Israel every man did what seemed good in his own eyes And then they made Priests but yet they made them of the
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Theeves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdome of God and of Christ For there shall in no wise inherit there any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie Therefore Christ who hath purchas'd his Church doth also purifie it and cleanse it that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy without blemish For they are redeemed from their vaine Conversation which they learned from their Fathers and do not after they have once learned Christ and have heard him and are taught by him in truth and as the truth is in him they do not walk as other people walking in the vanities of their darkned minds being through the ignorance that is in them strangers from the life of God But being renewed in the spirits of their mind and the Image of God being restored in them by the power of their new creation in and by Christ Jesus they put off as to their former conversation and manner of life the old man which is corrupt by deceitfull lusts formerly mentioned But they now also put off all this lying and defrauding and stealing and bitternesse and wrath anger clamor evill-speaking foolish talking and unfitting jesting And putting on the new man they now use such language that do edifie and built up others in holinesse and such as ministers grace to the hearers Their conversation being now without Covetousnesse and such as becomes the Gospel And according to their hopes and expectation as knowing that though God of free grace chose them from the beginning to salvation yet the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ must be by and through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth and saithfull obedience And now acknowledging no other Soveraigne but Christ and acted by a spirit of love as sons they live to him who died for them being contented to be or to be accounted any thing so Christ may be glorified in them and by them whether by life or by death And having no confidence in the fesh or fleshy priviledges they worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus Counting all things losse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord that they might obtaine him and be sound in him not having their own righteousness which is of the law or by the law of working but that righteousnesse which is by believing in Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith And although they know that whiles they are in the flesh they shall not be in all things perfect yet forgetting that which is behind that to which they have already attained as not answerable to their longings they presse forwards more and more toward perfection grieving under their imperfections and longing to be disburthened until they reach the mark they ayme at the price of their high calling whereunto God hath called them in by Christ Jesus desiring in the meane time so to know him by an operative and effectuall knowledge and the power of his resurrection and to have communion and fellowship with him in his sufferings that being conformed to him in his death they might by all or any attaine their part and portion in the blessed resurrection And to this duty of holy walking a believer holds himself bound by his very profession for having by baptisme put on Christ and Christian profession he thereby engages himself as the Jew by circumcision to keepe the whole law so he by baptisme to believe observe and keepe the whole Gospel That very ordinance in its intent purport and signification directing him and pointing out unto him his duty as one specially interested in the ends and benefits of Christs death thereby sealed and signified So that he doth and must conlude that where sin had abounded and reigned in him before even unto death that there now grace and favour through Christs righteousnes doth reign much more to eternall life yet he dares not he may not still continue in his sin that grace might stil abound Nay he concludes as it is indeed it is impossible For how shall they that are dead to sin and so have no more to do with it live any longer therein for they know if they know any thing that as many as are baptized into Jesus Christ thereby baptized into his death buriall and resurrection are baptized and thereby engaged not only to the name profession and calling of Christ and Christianity and to own him in these particular actings But also if they expect to finde reall benefit by the worth and merit of them that they finde the reall and efficacious fruit of all these powerfully by the spirit working in them So that he concludes the death of Christ to be the death of sin And the resurrection of Christ the resurrection of the life of his grace holines Reckoning himself now no longer debtor to live unto the flesh and its corruption but debtor to live unto the spirit and its holy motions And having alwaies an eye to the great love of Christ who by his death and blood shedding hath thus redeemed him He cannot but often thinke upon him and thankefully remember him in and by that ordinance which he appointed in an especiall manner a little before his death for that very purpose wherein he publikely owns him and makes profession to the world of his faith and hope and rejoycing in him And thus Reader thou hast a little of much more that might be written of this great mysterie of godlinesse in which thou hast a rude delineation of Gods method in restoring fallen man into his favour through the whole progresse whereof as is easily perceiveable there runs a continued line and cord of free grace and mercy thus contrived and ordered by him for a threefold reason The first reason respects God himself who hath ordered it in this manner is that he alone might have all the praise the glory If salvation had been attainable by the law of working man might have had somewhat whereof to have boasted and gloried in himself For although that working had come infinitely short in proportion to the reward proposed And although that reward therefore was but upon a free promise And so only to be claimed Not through the worthinesse of the work or worker And although that work had been performed but by strength received from him by whom the reward was promised yet if man had performed the condition on his part required the Lord would
as it is made manifest in me and to declare what Faith we own and practise and what we do deny to that end that the simple may be informed and the way of truth cleered from such deceivers who are perverters of the Scriptures who would constrain people to follow their imaginations instead of truth as these men have done whose names are subscribed And now a few words in answer to that you call your first Principle First Principle That the Scripture is the rule of knowing God and living unto him which whoso doth not believe but betakes himself to any other way of discovering God instead thereof cannot be saved Answ The Scriptures are not the Saints rule of knowing God and living unto him but that which was before the Scriptures were written by which all the holy men of God knew him and here ye have made your selves manifest that ye have not the rule which Moses had which is the spirit of light by which he made himself known unto the sons of men and ye that teach people to walk in another rule are those that put light for darkness and darkness for light shewing forth the spirit of error and here ye pervert the Scripture and Moses words which prophesied of Christ Moses bad not the people walk by the Scripture neither did he tell them that living therein was the rule of knowing God but he directed them to the Life without which all their profession was abominable but ye are not come to walk in the Letter whose lips and practice doth not concord with it who are found acting those things which it declares against Matth. 23. who are called of men Master stand praying in the Synagogues which our Lord Jesus Christ cryed wo against and here your Faith and your Principle is descryed who are not so much as found acting in that which you call your rule Now lest you should boast in your glory and the simple be stumbled by your subtilty I am moved of the Lord to open and discover unto all that your Faith is no more then all the ungodly in this Nation doth profess and also that the Rule whereby the Saints are guided is that which was before the Scripture was First it is professed generally in this Nation that believing in the Scriptures is the rule of knowing God this have you preached for Doctrine among the people and yet the way of God is hidden from their eys who are found acting in the abominations of the Heathen as doth plainly appear by the sins of this people nay what sin is there that is not committed amongst this people which have professed the Scripture to be their rule and you that pretend to be their teachers are the greatest examples of their wicked practices Crying peace peace unto them when there is no peace one building a wall and another dawbing it with untempered morter but ye shall proceed no further but your folly shall be made manifest to all men Our rule is that whiâ—h Moses walked in and Abraham and David and all the Prophets which is Christ Jesus the light of the world which whosoever believeth not in him hath not God Moses walked in him Abraham believed in him and David delighted in his Law which is perfect and here we deny you who deny that rule in which the holy men of God walked in Second Principle That there is a God who is the Creator and Judge and Governor of the world and is to be known by Faith Answ The Saints God ye are ignorant of who put light for darkness and darkness for light and before him ye cannot stand in judgement who are found working wickedness making people believe that believing in a thing without them will bring them to the knowledge of God which none can know or understand but through death and if ever ye come to know this God whom the Saints worship in Spirit and Truth ye must witness a day of vengeance to pass through therefore stop your mouths ye proud and lustful ones the day of recompence is come in which ye shall receive double for all your wickedness The Lord is our Iudge our Law-giver and our King and this we witness though we had never seen the Scripture And here we deny you and your principles which is no more than that which the world professeth Therefore be ye ashamed ye wicked and ungodly ones who live in the beastly nature who knows no more of God than what ye have without in the Scriptures which they spoke forth that witnessed him before the Scriptures were written him we own and witness to be our King by him we are redeemed out of your generation glory to his name for ever who hath made himself manifest in us and hath brought us to that which was before the Scripture was Third Principle That this God who is Creator is eternally distinct from all other Creatures in his being and blessedness Ans God ye know not neither can ye see him but are found persecutors of him who would divide him from what he is by heathenish inventions which ariseth out of the corrupt sensual part which never shall inherit the Kingdom The being of God is not distinct from them that are begotten by him For as the Father and the Son are one without distinction so are they that are begotten by him and here you perverters of the truth are shut forth from God with all your distinctions and imaginations which ariseth out of the dark mind by which ye have all this while deceived the people Woe unto you ye enemies of God your foundation your compass and your end is made manifest unto the children of light who would divide God from his children whom he hath begotten unto himself through the word of faith in which we live and abide for ever And here I challenge you before the Lord to produce one Scripture which speaks of God being distinct from them that are begotten by him and if you cannot prove your words by plain Scripture let shame cover your faces and stop your mouthes for ever And for your fourth thing That God is three persons or substances this is also another of your lies never such a word is declared of in Scripture and thus have you made your folly manifest to all men and have cleared your selves from the Scriptures God is a mystery in whom the foundation of all things stands and he is but one in all though ten thousand times ten thousand Woe unto ye you perverters of the truth who blinds the eyes of the simple making them believe your imaginations and conceivings in stead of truth and this you run to the powers of the earth to propagate Ye men of sin did ever the Prophets declare of such Gospel as this or did ever the Apostles preach any such doctrine as this which ye would compel people to believe and would have the powers of the earth to propagate Here I challenge you again to prove your example
him tell one of the Quakers That he had a Devil in him but he should cast it out and that he should quake and tremble which accordingly he did Then the Devil bad him to speak to him to fall flat on the ground which he did and presently rose again whereupon Gilpin asked him Whether now the Devil was gone out of him to which he answered not but the Devil told him That he was now ejected c. A while after he began again to question Whether in all this he were not deluded by Satan which made him fall into a great fear and then the Devil told him That all this while he had been serving him and blaspheming God and that now it was too late to repent Hereupon he fell into dispair for a time Thinking that every thing which he either saw or heard was the Devil that came to fetch him away Sometimes he thought That he should be taken away in a flame of fire other times That the Earth would open and swallow him Yet at last it pleased God as it seems to give him repentance and peace in his Conscience whereupon he published a Narrative of these things to discover the danger of these ways and to be for Caution to others to take heed how they go out of Gods ways and forsake his Ordinances least falling into the error of the wicked they decline from their former stedfastness and least not receiving the love of the truth that they might be saved God gave them over to strong delusions to believe a lie This is attested under the hand of the Major of Kendal the Minister School-master and some others And now Reader are not these Arguments of Diabolical Possessions and in the last story was not the Devil many times devout as it were and seemingly-humble and religious I wont enlarge But remember the Devil will advise to some good things with a purpose to deceive And there thou maist read our Quakers Mortification and the end on 't sc to overthrow Religion And thus you see on whose errand these men come and whose work they do either their own the Popes or the Devils or all three But sure not from God it being his neither for matter nor manner and they having no call either ordinary or extraordinary For besides the no-satisfaction given to us by them before the Magistrates in this particular which they all attest a Merchant of this City upon the Road discoursing with one of them and demanding of him what miracles they wrought to justifie their extraordinary call he answered We do work miracles but thou hast no eyes to see them Much after the conceit of a dame of this Town now of the gang who some few years since having some conference with one once a Minister in this City from whom I received it She affirmed she was God Why then said he you can do all that God can do I can said she And there lying upon his Table a Greek Testament why then said he make me such another Book as this is To which she replied It is done Let me see it then said he where is it In my fancy said she And indeed this is a short Summary of all their Religion it is all in their fancy and no where else I thought to have set forth the effects of their doctrines for their fruits discover them and will do more and more As breaking the bonds of duty in all relations which we evidently finde here already Husband and Wife Parents and Children Masters and Servants Magistrates and Subjects Ministers and People I need not instance it is so evident though I bless the Lord I finde it not in my Family nor Congregation And I look upon it as a singular mercy There are one or two things which seem to take much with people sc The multitude of followers and the effect of their teaching in prevailing with people to lay aside pride and worldly contentments I will say little to the first not much to either To the first Novellism is the reigning sin of this age the multitude are as unstable as water they are led by opinion run for company and are sufficiently ignorant And for those few who seem to know more then others and pretended to Religion They are for the most part if not all very fanatick and withal proud of their knowledge and self-conceited And stepping beyond their line and call to teach others by degrees have come to scorn to be taught by others And at length as error is fertile they have come to slight all outward Ordinances as too gross and carnal for their more refined spirits Which hath been nurst and cherished by some flattering Teachers which they heap up unto themselves for that purpose All others being an abomination to them And now if such as these be given up of God to delusions to believe lies Is it a wonder I conclude this Multitude of followers is no Argument of truth If so Antichrist were the best Christian and St. Peter 2 Epist 2 Chapter at the beginning tells us We must look for many Seducers and many followers As for the second Laying aside pride and worldly contentments Laying aside Apparel is not always laying aside pride nay may not the putting off Apparel be the putting on of pride What else prompted the Pharisees to disfigure themselves and to look ugly But that they might appear to men to be religious that they might see they fasted and exercised acts of Mortification Was not this pride I could enlarge here but I will not because I fear too large already But may not an unknown Devil go forth to make way for more What may the meaning be of that Luke 11 24 25 26. Of an unclean spirit going out of a man and returning again findes his house swept and garnished and then goes and takes seven Devils worse then himself and they enter in and dwell there And so the mans end is worse then the beginning Worse then when that unclean Devil was in him Cannot the Devil change sides and shapes and gain by it What think you of the mortifications pennances whippings fastings pilgrimages c. of the Papists is not think you the Devil well pleased with it Doth not he farther it all he can to confirm them in their Superstitions and Idolatries and to draw others to their perswasions It is but one Devil giving way to another or more to advance their masters service and if there be not seven Devils in these mens hearts worse then that one Devil upon their backs Let all men judge by what I have discovered If ever men were possessed with spirits of lying railing proud censuring blaspheming dissembling equivocating prevaricating forging and falsifying the writings both of God and men These men are Reader I suppose I have demonstrated all this clearly to thee I will give thee but a Testimony of one of their own Countreymen that knew them sooner longer and better then I have concerning