The Worlds Wonder OR THE QUAKERS BLAZING STARR WITH An Astronomical Judgment given upon the same from 2 Cor. 11.13 14 15. Proving them to be altogether deluded by Satan both in their judgments and walkings Together with a probable conjecture of the end of the World and the estate of things in the interval By EDMUND SKIPP Preacher of the Gospel unto the People at Bodenham in Herefordshire Matth. 24.24 There shall arise false Christs and false Prophets and shall shew great signs and wonders in so much that if it were possible they shall deceive the very elect LONDON Printed by Henry Hills and are to be sold at the Sign of Sir John Oldcastle near Py-corner 1655. To all those who are willing to hold fast the Faith of the Gospel and to be guided by the Truth Grace Mercy and Peace from God the Father and the Lord JESUS CHRIST TWo things have much moved my affections unto this Work following 1. The one that herein I might shew an humble acknowledgment of love unto the Lord who delivered my soul from under those obscurities which would utterly have disabled me from being good to my own heart or others 2. That I might herein become a means of staying and directing many an unestablished soul to beware of those horrible Delusions and mysterious Deceits which I have in this ensuing Treatise with as much plainness and brevity as I judged convenient demonstrated for the sake of all who are unacquainted with these Apostacies and are willing to search out untill they gain an establishment in the knowledg of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus For it would have been great unworthiness in me if when I was brought so experimentally to the knowledg of these unheard-of ways of Satans deceiving the hearts of poor Creatures under fair pretences and glorious shews of righteousness and doing great signs and wonders I should have concealed from my generations such things that were never yet manifested in such a manner The writing of common experiences either of good or evil operations would neither have been an incitement to my Pen or my Readers attention but having an extraordinary understanding in an extraordinary apparition of a prodigious Comet whose beautifull scintillations make all the World to wonder what might be her fate I durst not for fear of wronging my own conscience but put my Light like a Candle upon the house-top that so it might be seen into all the Regions of Gospel-professions manifesting unto them that this Monster amongst men or this unnatural and unparalleld Planet promiseth nothing but Vae misero mihi sadness and loss of all the riches of Gods grace unto every soul that liveth under its malevolent and contagious influences My Book will expound my Allegory therefore I leave my Readers to that and rest Their Servant in the Gospel-service Edmund Skipp To the Reader COurteous Reader I have here presented thee with a little Tract as my New-years Gift unto thee and must desire thee to carry a favorable aspect in thy judgment towards it and me although thou maist finde it unpolished and void of such a method and eloquence of words as thou mightst judg would better have become me and it as well as many an acute Genius that shall honor it in the reading But give me leave to tell thee truth I have had but a fortnights time to begin and finish these lines which time I have through much difficulty borrowed from my other Studies and Employments and they are now calling upon me for a recompence with double diligence which hath been so little that I have not had time to write any one line from the first to the last twice but am necessitated to send forth these Conceptions of mine thus Embrio-like into the open view of the world and therefore I desire to receive from thee what I shall be willing to give unto thee or any other in the like ease a candid censure desiring also for thy good that thou maist have an heart more ready to receive sound judgment from it than to give a wrong judgment upon it I rest Ever willing to serve thee in the Lord Edmund Skipp From my Study at Bodenham this New-years day so called in the year 1654. The Worlds Wonder OR The QUAKERS Blazing Starr A sensible Discovery of some high and spiritual Delusions wrought by Antichrist in the hearts of of many poor Creatures and especially those that go under the notion of QUAKERS BY that power which bringeth good out of evil it cometh to pass that afflictions fallings back temptations overwhelmings of the soul with a deluge of spiritual troubles dejections and disconsolations are many times profitable and teaching to the hearts of the Lords sincere ones who are kept by himself through faith unto salvation and they are laid in as so many several advantages and as it were Land-marks to direct the soul in the perfect paths of peace that they turn not aside either to the right hand or to the left so that it may make the children of the Most High admire his continued faithfulness in his love and watchfulness manifested in their behalf while they are run a whoring after their own inventions Satans deceivable transformings of himself into glorious appearances words and actings If a reasonable heart should but digest it self into a methodical observation of the Lords Law of Retaliation Lev. 26.14 to 34. and correspondent dealings unto the standings and fallings of his creatures it might be overcome in the apprehensions of that great patience long-suffering and gentleness of the Lord to Apostates and unstable-minded people who have itching ears carried about with every winde of Doctrine But to the end he may gain himself a name in Judah is he pleased to wait upon poor sinners to be gracious unto them and to suffer many of them to fall to be tempted to be darkned with cloudy and obscure apprehensions of the eternal being that so their weakness and his strength their nothingness and his all-sufficiency their sluggishness and his watchfulness might more clearly appear in their proper place and to make good his former word and practice in gathering his servants together out of all Lands whither they had been scattered in the dark and cloudy day And surely were it not for the hopes of some such glorious and wise end that the Lord doth now intend in the fulness of time to make known amongst the sons of men it would minister cause of most unspeakable sorrow unto such who are established in the faith of our Lord JESUS CHRIST to see so many forsaking their faith and former knowledg and profession of the truth and instead hereof believing lyes 2 Thess 2.11 1 Tim. 4.1 and giving heed unto Doctrines of Devils walking according to the suggestions of the Prince of Darkness and every foolish idle fantastical imagination of their own deceitfull hearts These things do apparently teach the world to see how vigilant that great Enemy of mankinde
made thus to write abundantly unto men charging and accusing of them without knowledg or truth they are not able to justifie and make good their wrongfull accusations but when any man is moved of the Lord to write unto a man or people telling them in love and according to truth of their transgressions or failings he is able to justifie what he hath writ and to declare the truth of things more fully and that with so much power and majesty that it doth beget an acknowledgment commonly or filence in the heart of the transgressor but when they write especially unto people of sound judgment and well grounded and established in the faith of Christ it is so far from begetting any silence or convictions upon them that it doth rather discover it self to be what it is indeed delusion and good for nothing but to be returned back and strongly resisted in the Name and power of the Lord 2. This kinde of writing I know what I speak by experience is with such a kinde of lording and vain-glorying over the estate of such unto whom it is written as though they were not worthy to be writ unto I can hardly tell how to express this deceit in words it is with so much undervaluing and vilifying of men that in cannot match it self with the teachings of God in this kinde but when the soul is moved hereunto from that power as it cometh purely from God it is mixed with so much love and tenderness it remembers it self and remembers anothers condition it doth make anothers condition its own and its own anothers and so it was wont to work in the hearts of the servants of Christ as we may find by Pauls words when he saith Gal. 6.1 2. Brethren if a man be overtaken in a fault ye which are spiritual restore such a one in the spirit of meekness considering thy self lest thou also be tempted And as for that fulness of knowledg and words and the like which is a most strong and prevailing delusion and carrieth more the heart of a creature away than any other thing I know as yet manifested whither it be the heart of him in whom it is already conceived or of another that shall once clearly know it to be so for to see one as it were yesterday not able to write or say any thing although to a mean capacity to be able this day to write in such a large manner as I my self know some it begetteth abundance of admiration and silence for a time in the beholders especially such who are of small knowledg and understanding in mysterious things But let not this blinde any man you shall finde it nothing but delusion in considering these Particulars 1. It is like a lightning from the Sky come and gone in a little time for at another time as they confess themselves they cannot do so much if it were to gain the world and yet at that very instant of time while this deceitfull power worketh them thereunto they must do so nay if it be to rise of their beds and if they be not very observative hereunto they shall be made to suffer most unheard of troubles agonies and passions as they have often told me untill they do yield obedience unto that wicked spirit and then they apprehend themselves at very much peace for a time untill Satan have a desire to make use of them again Now that fulness of knowledg and words which are wrought in the soul from the power of truth is more lasting and durable it is the owners to day and to morrow the Lord doth not use to steal away his truth and his knowledg from his servants in this manner but if they see good and just ground of writing or speaking once they can do so twice or thrice or oftner and I have this thing to bless the Lord for in a special manner I cannot say that I do remember the time since I was in any noted and considerable measure endowed with the gifts of God through his beloved Son that ever I did want matter or expressions either to write or speak in publick or private to many or to few but have always found my self abundantly furnished with some kinde of experimental knowledg in order to one particular truth or other whereof I was to deliver my self that I needed not to go and create things by long digested serious meditations readings writings and the like for in my apprehensions it is very easie for a man to divulge that which he is truly and soundly taught of God as the Apostle saith 1 John 1.2 3. That Life and Light which we have seen and heard declare we unto you But I must confess that I do very well know it to be a difficult thing for such who are untaught in that thing they are to communicate unto others while they must be digging for it out of earthly mines 2. Me thinks if these creatures were moved and necessitated in this nature from the power and Spirit of God to write and speak such sharp things in such a terrible and threatning manner unto particular souls or people that their writing and speaking would be of great power and prevalency with them that they should be convinced by it and should not be able to defie it as delusion and madness When Nathan was sent in such a particular manner from the Lord unto David it presently convinced him and when Jonah was sent to Nineveh with that sad news from God they were presently convinced by it but I see no conviction or subjection or fear or love or any such thing wrought by it it being like the chirping of Birds in the air for matter of weight and worth which maketh me judg and so may any man else that hath his judgment rectified by divine Light that all this fulness of words and expressions as I have mentioned are meerly suggested and inspired into their hearts by Antichrist disguised This shall suffice for the Examination and Trial of the first Demonstration and I will now proceed to a second The second Demonstration of this deceit is thus to be considered It must needs be the power of Antichrist working through deceit that robbeth and depriveth the soul of all those former ways and means wherein the Lord did work faith Domonstr 2. is a robbing the soul of its former knowledg c. knowledg and enjoyments in the hearts of his children nay and which robbeth them of all those former excellent things which were brought forth in them by the power of Truth and as it stealeth away all those ways wherein God hath manifested his love and grace to them so it hath deprived them of the use of those ways of walking wherein they have manifested any love or obedience to God so that they are people bereaved of all things of this nature and they reckon it their happiness and their perfection so to be and I have heard them complain exceedingly that they were not wholly taken
10 11. They desite to become fools and to be made weak and I know not what And they had one expression which did stumble me a great while and it was this That the best things that ever we received from God mentioning knowledg and faith and high enjoyments as I well remember yet their words must be burnt up and destroyed this I thought to be a very strange kinde of language and indeed so it is when it is compared with that of the Apostle Peter 2 Pet. 1.5 6 7 8.9 where the Holy Ghost commandeth the servants of the Lord to be carefull to seek after the increasings of grace in their hearts and telleth them that while such things shall increase it will make them be fruitfull but if they shall lack these things it will cause them to be blinde that they shall not be able to see far off and truly so are these people that are thus misled for they are so far from being able to see things a far off that they cannot see the present horrible and devilish delusions under which they live and this is the just recompence of reward for such creatures who will negligently use those gifts and graces they have once received It is no marvel they say they have lost all their former experiences and enjoyments and the like for CHRIST taught so much in the Parable of the Talents where we may learn that idle sluggish people who will not improve their Talents shall have them taken away from them The understanding of this moved the Apostle Paul to give such a strict charge unto his Scholar Timothy 1 Tim. 4.13 14 15 16. Till I come give attendance to reading to exhortation to doctrine not neglecting the gift that is in thee c. and meditate upon these things and give thy self wholly unto them that thy profiting may appear unto all and further saith he Take heed unto thy self and unto thy Dectrine continuing in them for in so doing thou shalt both save thy self and them that hear thee Here we finde the Holy Ghost judgeth it meet and convenient that all care and diligence should be used both in reading exhorting one another and in the exercising of those graces where with the Lord had â—â—dowed the soul that so they might be kept alive but these beguiled wretches pretend they must not reade or speak a good word to one another or do any thing of this nature unless they can finde as they pretend themselves moved thereunto of the Spirit as it were by some extraordinary and immediate revelation or inspiration but the Spirit of the Lord teacheth his servants to know that it is always the minde of the Lord that those measures and proportions of grace which he hath bestowed should beused to the utter most of their extentâ— and it is the nature of the grace of God manifessed in CHRIST to enable and quicken the soul for a constant course of obedience and holy exercitations A description of spiritual prayer and therefore the Spirit of CHRIST is called a quickning Spirit and hence the Apostle biddeth the people to pray always with all manner of prayer and supplication in the Spirit Ephes 6.18 that is with that life power and strength which remains in the heart from that measure and operation of divine grace or love already received and saith he in this place Watch thereunto with all perseverance And again 1 Thess 5.17 Pray without ceasing 19. Quench not the Spirit These teachings you see of the Spirit of God are altogether contrary unto this negligence in them and a vain deceitfull waiting for a power as they call it if it be so they have no power the greater and more miserable is their loss I said before that when I lay under these kinde of Temptations my self that I did not finde my power gone but me thoughts I could have prayed and have spoken at some other times yet me thinks my will and desire was very cold thereunto and I found something disswading of me from the using of my gifts c. And as they are thus deprived of all abilities as they say themselves for reading and praying and the like so they say they have no freedom to speak admonish or discourse about any thing that they may glorifie the Lord or do good unto others but rather say that they must cease from their own words and wait till they have some immediate stirring or working of the Spirit as they fancy it for that purpose also How contrary this is unto the minde of the Lord you shall see 2 Tim. 4.2 Be instant in season and out of season to preach reprove rebuke exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine and as Paul saith 2 Tim. 1.13 Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me And v 6 7. Stir up the gift of God which is in thee for God hath not given us the spirit of fear but of power and love and a sound minde Here is you may easily finde such a vasâ— difference between both these sorts of Teaching and Language that without all dispute there can be but one of them the Language and Teaching of Christ the other must needs be the Teaching and mysterious deceits of Antichrist I will now end this and proceed to a third Demonstration Demonst. 3. Which I gather from those strange and unheard of Passions and Agonies those great burthens and exercitations of body in so much that they are sometimes in Trances or Sounings and if they are not brought unto such a state of deadness as it were yet they suffer most extreme Tortures of body that hath been visible to me and several others many times nay so much extremity that it maketh them roar out for very bitterness and I do clearly judg that if the Lord did not limit the Devil in their behalf as he did for Job saying Thou shalt not touch his life it would be impossible for their concaves to hold their in wards in those violent motions for they are made under those Agonies to tremble and quake as though their flesh must part from their bones and ligatures like unto men in the strongest fits of an Ague that ever you saw as though they had seen Belshazzars Vision Dan. 10. that made his knees smite one against another in these strange Passions they are exercised with so much heat I know not of what sort that it maketh them cry out for Drink and maketh them sweat like men in most violent Feavers now they call these Agonies the fiery Trial and they fay it is the power of the Holy Ghost burning up and destroying their corruptions and purifying them like Gold that is tried seven times in the fire and that which is very strange when they are thus in the midst of these extreme Shakings Quakings Trials Roarings and Perplexities that one would think there could not be more Torment upon the damned spirits than is upon them at the present yet many times
when they begin to come to their speech for it falleth out often that they are not able to speak for a long time they will speak how much joy and pleasure they have mixed with that Torment in such an inseparable manner as they themselves express as heat and fire mixed together that they could wish to be in it for ever and ever This they call the drinking of the Cup or the undergoing the Curse and Wrath of God as Christ did for here they speak to my understandings most blasphemously and say they must be brought to suffer as Christ did and to undergo as great a sense of wrath as he did when he cried out My God my God why hast thou forsaken me In a word as far as ever I could understand their apprehensions by their expressions in this last particular I did judg this to be their delusion that they must suffer eternal burnings beating the full weight of divine justice and wrath as fully as though there never had been any Christ crucified or acceptation of his Sacrifice untill as they say there should be no more left in them but the pure seed of God in its own perfect likeness Thus reckoning as far as I am able to determine by their words that upon this account they must be justified before the Lord. And I will here produce one grand Assertion more of theirs and then let all the world try my Exposition upon their Tenents which is this they say that condition or state which is called in Scripture Hell or everlasting Torment or as we are wont to understand those terms a perpetual undergoing a sense of the wrath of God and his pure and full justice gone forth against all the sins transgressions and disobediences of the creature this they say is but a dispensation which shall end at such a time as that Burning and Torment of the soul and conscience shall have refined it and brought it into its former purity and likeness of God Here is such an Assertion which I think the world never saw or heard of before you may spend your judgments upon it In brevity I have thus given you the mysterious deceit it self now I come to the Second Rule which is to shew you where Satan hides himself while he worketh thus upon them under Scripture lines and examples The second Rule in Demonstr 3. which is Scripture and instance First for their sore and cruel sufferings they take the example of Christ and think that they must suffer as he did comparing his Agonies and their own together and comparing his Cross and shame and reproach and cruel usage by the people and theirs together and say The Disciple is not greater than his Master And for that fiery Trial as they call it they are fed with a false gloss upon the words of Mal. 3.2 3. He is like a Refiners fire and Fullers soap and he shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of Silver c. And that of John Baptist Matth. 3.11 He shall baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire And the words of Paul are very much abused unto them by the false interpretation of their Enemy where he saith 1 Cor. 3.13 14 15. that every mans work shall be revealed by fire and the fire shall try every mans work of what sort it is c. Secondly for their Shakings Quakings Roarings and the like they have presented unto them that strange amazement of S. Paul at his Conversion Also they are put in minde of many of Davids words in the Psalms from place to place where he speaketh of the Heavens and the Earth trembling and falling down before the presence of the Lord as though they did see some mighty appearance of God at such times and then they are also put in minde how Davids heart was sometimes wont to fail him for fear and how he cried out sometimes all his bones were broken and such places and instances as these are abundantly brought into their thoughts when they are in their Agonies or Shakings as though they were prompt at the car with an audible voice and they themselves will confess that before and after they were not able to speak such things and generally except it be at such times you shall hardly gain a speech of one sort or another from them in so much that sometimes when I have desired to have some fair reasonings with them about some things and found they would not I have told them they were possessed of a dumb Devil as well as a railing Devil for Satan is all upon extremes he knoweth not the spirit of moderation he told Christ he would give him all the World not any competent part thereof He kept Dives in the Parable that he should not give any thing unto poor Laxarus So he acteth these poor creatures upon extremes of one sort or another such as they will be acted by as he doth the wretched people of the world whom he overcometh with an extreme care and desire after Covetousness and Riches that they never know any mean for their pains and increase or how to make any good use of what they have or else with an insatiable desire after profaneness lusts and pleasure untill they have spent all upon their own folly and baseness so that it will be a very wonderfull thing to finde a man so free from these two extremes that he should know how to use the world as though he used it not and to be content and praise the Lord if he do not enjoy things convenient The third Rule is to shew the Word how much I can speak unto this discovery out of mine own knowledg The third Rule in Demonstr 3. Here I have least to say of any thing whereunto I spake yet out of any knowledg more than by seeing and hearing of them which I have several times for that mighty hand and out stretched arm of the Lord under which I was then secretly kept did not suffer me very much to be captivated in this nature but I shought it was my unhappiness that I was not and it was great cause of trouble and unspeakable sorrow to me and that which caused me to complain bitterly time after time but they would tell me I must wait for it and they said they could believe for me and they were confident I should be a very glorious piece and words to that effect very many and this they would speak with as much confidence as I did apprehend as I can affirm that JESUS CHRIST is the Son of God and therefore from hence I clearly see how they are befooled by Antichrist for I am delivered out of the Temptation and am now through divine Light and Love cousselling all my generations to take heed of being overcome by the subtil stratagems of Satan and likewise to beware of them that they are his ministers and servants laboring through his deceitfull power and workings to bring other poor creatures in their own Region of
appear at all in my words or expressions concerning those enslaved creatures And thus trusting to my God and desiring his holy and blessed assistance withall intending a publick good as I spake I have thought best for the more clear manifestation of this mystery of iniquity to lay it down in several particular operations and workings according to my knowledg and understanding therein and that observing altogether this order 1. Laying down the Mystery or Work it self 2. Shewing what ground or colour Satan findeth out for the same in scripture-Scripture-words and instance 3. In giving my own once uncomfortable experience and testimony unto the said Works 4. To give in the way and manner of the teaching of the Spirit of God to each particular in its place Although I am ignorant whether the Lord hath drawn forth the heart of any man in all the Regions of our Gospel-professions to write and speak against this subtle archievment of Antichrist or no yet in this me thinks I am conscientious to my self that there is hardly a man to be found that hath been so much ensnared as I have been and delivered through divine love by reason whereof I am best able to give the truest demonstration and for ought that I do at the present know this might be one end in the Lord to suffer me to wade so far in that troubled Sea that I might afterward give an experimental testimony of the great danger and trouble thereof for the sake of others that they may learn to beware the same danger Faelix quem faciunt aliena pericula cautum Praemonitus praemunitus If Dives being in torment parabolically seemeth to discover so much natural affection as to desire his brethrens timely admonition and caution it would be a strange thing and miserable if any of the Lords servants should want what such a one should have while the law of nature teacheth us to be Alteri quod nobis that to another which we would have another be to us These considerations make me willing to use my best endeavour for a full and profitable unfolding of this secret work with all possible plainness and fitted language for the meanest capacities and so to return unto particular Demonstrations Demonstrat 1. It must needs be the spirit of Antichrist and delusion A misinformation of the understanding that doth misinform the heart and so maketh it judg amiss of things for the soul being possessed with an understanding of any thing accordingly discovereth it self while it is sincere and void of hypocrisie and by reason of this wrong information it proceedeth to wrong judgment disowning and condemning what it ought to own and approve and contrariwise owning and approving what it ought to disown and condemn This base deceit doth Antichrist bring forth in the hearts of those people called the Quakers who are so clearly mistaken in judgment that they call evil good and good evil knowing not what they say nor whereof they affirm they do judg the ways actings and practices of all people to be abominable Antichristian and unjust except their own and above all people do they cry out against and disown such who by the world are reproached and disowned as the Church and Disciples of CHRIST But I need not speak of the mistake in them in order to other people while I have so clear a testimony thereof in relation to my self for however I may be ignorant what is in the hearts of some others yet I cannot be altogether ignorant of my own because the spirit that is in man knoweth his heart and manifesteth the hidden things thereof 1 Cor. 2.11 I have been charged and accused by Letters from several of them First of Hypocrisie My own first charge was Hypocrisie now the Lord knoweth and I my self know how hatefull a thing hypocrisie dissimulation and double dealing both with God and man hath ever been unto me even in those days while I lived onely in the light life power and gifts of the first Adam And therefore knowing my own heart in this thing to be free I do clearly apprehend them to be mistaken and to judg with unrighteous judgment which a knowing man will confess to be of Antichrist Secondly they charge and accuse me for acting against my own conscience meaning my living For acting against my own conscience dwelling and preaching constantly unto a particular people in a publick meeting-place this they say is against my own light and convictions of heart as though they knew my conscience better than my self hereby do I see again they are acted through delusion and mistake for they urge that with confidence such as it is which I can with much more confidence and boldness in the Lord deny and justifie the the contrary hereof for I do with much peace of minde and that in the Lord I bless him for it preach that part of the Gospel which I have received from him unto this people with much tenderness of affections and out-goings of my heart towards them as they are my witnesses and it is noted and observed by this people generally I do not say how much more by my self that I am carried forth to speak unto them far more powerfully from time to time and more prevailingly upon their affections and understandings since I did freely knowingly and considerately in publick manner renounce Tyths than ever I did before Now let any sober man observe by what power these creatures are acted while they charge me with doing this against my conscience and light seeing the Lord qualifieth me more and more for the work and attends it with greater blessing Thirdly they charge me with being an Enemy to the Lords people meaning themselves I suppose I confess they are the Lords creatures To be an Enemy to the Lords people but how to call them in their present Apostacy and delusion properly his people I know not yet as they are his creatures I hate them not for I have not so learned Christ but rather to love and to desire to do good in my place unto all but to shew the world their great delusion and mistake in this I have had something from divine grace always working in me while I was not under this temptation of theirs an holy tenderness and honorable respect unto all that which I could discern to be the work of the Father through his Son upon the hearts of any people in whatsoever form they walked And I am perswaded the Churches of mine acquaintance in all countreys where I have been to see observe the work of God among them will witness on my behalf in this thing for this thing they did and I hope do still love tender me although I never did walk with any of them in their Church order since I came forth of Legalism Yet notwithstanding I am able to speak this truth from my own heart which is better known unto me than any of them and beside the testimony of
the Churches wherein I am bold these poor beguiled creatures through that mysterious spirit of deceit and lying in them do lay this thing unto my charge Fourthly they charge me that I never passed the new birth but am onely acted by my natural parts to all that I do If it be so Not passing the new birth I wish all natural men were so acted too that they might bear witness unto what they affirm Although I do know that a natural man may make a very large progress in a Gospel profession and conversation yet I am through the rich grace and love of God shed abroad in my heart able to give a perfect and experimental discovery unto such who are able to judg thereof by that one Spirit we have both received of that new birth or creation in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for otherwise there could be but little sound peace or joy in my soul seeing I know very well how little satisfactory the utmost attainments in the first creation would be unto me that have so much knowledg in the second Adam if my knowledg were meerly notional and formal and besides I hope there hath been long ago and many times good satisfaction given unto most of the Lords servants with whom there hath been mutual givings and receivings of testimonies and manifestations in that one common grace of God in Christ to the rejoycing of each others hearts and the building up of one another in that grace and faith wherein we were called But were it so that I lived in a Wilderness and all the men in the World were unsatisfied and ignorant in this thing so that I my self were knowingly satisfied and that upon good grounds it would be sufficient for my faith and hopes of an eternal weight of glory at the righteous revelation of the Judg of Heaven and Earthe and therefore let this unjust Charge prove a blank for all uses beside proving its original to be a spirit of Anitchrist and delusion Fifthly they charge me with back-sliding indeed in their senfe they may do so justly Back-sliding For it is the great mercy of God unto me I was delivered from under those grievous delusions and temptations unto which they are yet in bondage but that which they call back-sliding is my retuming back unto my God and my holding fast and contending for that faith which I had once received Jude 2. according to the minde of the Lord discovered Heb. 3.6 concerning the holding fast of confidence of rejoycing of hope firm unto the end Thus you may see that which they reckon my judgment is my mercy and that which they call my back-sliding is my owning and receiving my former principles and teachings according to truth Now let him that hath an eye see and who so hath an heart let him judg whence cometh this great mistake unjust judgment c. and when ye have well weighed these things ye shall finde it cannot stand with the honor of God to teach a people things which are not true as to my comfort and their shame doth clearly appear notwithstanding they pretend and say they were made to write these things as from the Lord. These five acousations are most that I have received from any of them and I suppose the most they were prompt with all from that spirit of deceit for had there been any more given in unto them it is like they would have disclosed it as well as this And it is not onely to myself they write thus but unto most people of any note or quality above others especially amongst those that make any profession of the ways of the Lord differing from the men of the world as I hear by several and by their own confession to myself formerly And I would have all the world observe how they write with abundance of railing and clamorous words and unjust accusations as you have heard me prove and their language is much after the same sort unto whom they write which maketh me note that they are exemplary one to another in their writing taking up the same form of words and it teacheth me also to consider how Satan is no Niggard as we say of his skill and power for they pretend they are abundantly filled up with matter of that nature as though they could never vent themselves of it all Now I have laid down the work or deceit it self in this nature I will return unto my second Rule The second Rule to find the colour in the Scripture which to finde out where Satan doth colour over and blinde this fallacy with some Scripture words or instances First for their railing and reviling language they will not own it as such but count it a sharp rebuking and reptoving men as though they had some special authority or power of truth in them acting of them thereunto and so Satan doth hide this deceit under that command which Paul giveth Titus in Chap. 1. vers 13. where he biddeth him rebuke the Cretians and others sharply and Chap. 3.15 he biddeth him rebuke with all authority and they observe the Prophet Nathans coming unto David and saying Thou art the man and why may not they who say they are sent of the Lord as Nathan was speak in that manner unto men be they Rulers or others seeing that God is no respecter of persons and besides this Satan cannot be ignorant of the manner of Christs reproving Peter when he called him Satan These and such like Examples carry out the deceit very fairly unto such who are ignorant of his devices Secondly as for their charging men with hypocrisie backsliding and being but onely in the first Adam for they judg all beside themselves to be ignorant of the new-birth be they never so well gifted and taught of God and the like it proceedeth from that blindness which Antichist hath cast in upon their understandings from whence they cannot chuse but speak evil of the things they know not Jude 10. And so judging all men to be in this estate they take the Example of CHRIST in calling them Hypocrites as he did the Scribes and Pharises and pronouncing Woes against them as they do against many people and places as they have told me themselves how they have declared Judgment and Woes against a place called Kendall in the North I know not well in what County it is but I will onely say this one word unto ye O people of Kendall if it be for your holding fast unto the faith of the Gospel and your bold courage to withstand Antichrist and all his mysterious actings of unrighteousness that you are so vilified and disowned by them it may be your grace and glory but if it be through a kinde of wilfulness and spirit of malice revenge and bitterness against the poor creatures that you are so carried against them I commend you not Therefore look unto it O what a vail or cover hath Satan got himself here under
Darkness and Valley of Death Fourth Rule is the manner of the Teaching of God and his holy and blessed Spirit The fourth Rule in Demonstr 3. about this thing First where as they compare their sufferings and Agonies with those of CHRIST and say they must suffer the wrath of God and the like as he did and yet reckon themselves the servants of the Lord the Spirit of God will prove this to be a horrible Lie and delusion because that CHRIST suffered for his servants and bore the wrath and curse of God for them and made satisfaction to his Fathers Law and Justice in his own Bloud and his Father was pleased to accept it and so forth indeed it is true of the damned that they shall undergo the eternal wrath and justice of God upon their own consciences because they refused to believe love and obey the will of CHRIST concerning them and made known in them that so they might have had the benefit of that sacrifice which Christ gave unto his Father for the sins of others But this is not true concerning the Lords faithfull ones and that any judicious man may see by these ensuing testimonies of Scripture Isai 53. all that Chapter Reade O ye people all this blessed Truth and give your mindes to believe and by believing it let your souls love him that did so much for the sinfull sons of men and in loving of him give him up willing and chearfull obedience which if you shall continue unto the end your souls shall know in the testimony of Truth what this Scripture is worth and you shall be able through the witness of the Holy Spirit of Promise to say and prove it is a most devilish Lie and delusion to conceive that any who are one with God in Christ shall undergo the wrath of God in that manner that they speak of by this they make the Death of Christ of none effect Reade also about this matter the ninth Chapter to the Hebrews and when you have weighed it see whether it can stand with the Lords Justice to call any of his servants to hear so in their bodies and spirits as they do his Justice and exact Judgment untill he have wrought out of them his own satisfaction recompence in that nature But if Satan shall teach them a point of Sophistry and make them say they do not undergo this Wrath and Torment for Satisfaction but for Sanctification yet it will be a Lie and delusion that way for the Spirit of the Lord when it sanctifieth the hearts of his servants doth not go about to tear their hearts out of their bodies and their flesh off their bones in that nature And although it be compared and many times called Fire in the Scripture it is rather from the work wrought than from the manner of its working and therefore the Holy Spirit is compared unto Water Isai 55. John 4. And the Apostle saith concerning the Corinthians 1 Cor. 6.11 that they were washed from their former transgressions by the Spirit of the Lord by which seemingly contrary expressions an impartial man may judg that the Spirit of the Lord worketh sanctification in the soul in a blessed sweet moderate and peaceable manner First as it is a Light so it discovereth unto the soul the dangerousness and ugliness of sin and the unpleasingness thereof unto the Lord. The manner of the Spirit sanctifying the heart Secondly when it hath thus discovered it it bringeth the soul to a disliking thereof it begins to take away the affections and the delights of the heart from it Thirdly in as much as the Spirit of the Lord is called a quickening Spirit it doth raise up the soul to the contemplations of heavenly ways and duties wherein the Lord would have his people to walk and engageth the heart to love them and so in an holy blessed alluring manner stealeth the heart away to God who in the manifestation of that Spirit of Light is made appear to the soul more lovely excellent rich satisfactory and the like than all those former things were they riches or profane pleasures wherein the soul delighted it self before herein I appeal to the witness of such who have tasted of that Spirit hence it is that the Lord is said to allure his Church and to speak kindly unto her and you shall finde how blessedly the Lord speaketh unto a back-sliding people the worst of all sorts upon their returnings unto him Hosea 14.4 I will heal their back slidings I will love them freely for mine anger is turned away from them Me thinks if the Lord would have used such fiâ—e and fagot like burnings upon the hearts and consciences of any people for to have sanctified them withall it should have been upon such a people as these are But to end this which the Saints know by experience and most others by report to be true I shall turn over all that reade my Book unto that Parable of the polluted childe in Ezek. 16. from the beginning to vers 15. where you shall finde both the Lords purpose for acceptation of that polluted Babe and his powerfull operations for its sanctification in vers 9. and others Moreover if they shall urge Davids complaining that his bones were broken and his flesh would scarce cleave unto them and how he had no free part in his body and the like It is far from me to think that this was under an apprehension of wrath or that his soul did now bear the weight of Justice for its transgressions or so for David had long before said and known that the Lord was wont to cover the sins of his people and not to impute them to their charge and therefore he calls them blessed Psalm 32.1 2. and from this conifortable Doctrine of free forg veness and acceptation he concludeth his Psalm with this Be glad in the Lord and rejoye O ye righteous and shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart for as he saith in the beginning of the next Psalm Praise is comely for the upright so is a chearfull spirit upon this account I rather take Davids complaining thus to be for want of his communion with God as he seemeth to teach in that word Thou hidest thy face and I was sore troubled I am sure the soul that hath had sweet communion and refreshment with and from the Lord in the want of this will complain heavily as you may finde in Psalm 42. throughout And by the Spouse running so earnestly after CHRIST when she had lost him Cant. 3. in the beginning And this made her cry out she was sick of love for Christ. Was it not the want of the continued enjoyment of that extraordinary apprehension of love and glory in the presence of God that made Paul complain 2 Cor. 12.7 and suffer temptation which he calleth a messenger of Satan Shall any man think that he suffered this for his sanctifying Nay will you now in the last place
very low condition of body But as for the giving over of laboring and following of worldly business I could bear with them in that me thoughts for when I considered that most men are overcome and surfeited with the care and love of the things of this life I thought the people of God should be upon the extreme on the other hand The third Rule is to consider by what Scripture and Example Satan doth conceal this his deceit Rule 3. Demonstr 4. First for his acting of them to go and to run up and down an hundred or two hundred miles somtimes more sometimes less and to go they know not whither nor to what end he blindeth them with the Lords sending the Prophets from place to place as you reade of Jonahs going to Niniveh Jon. 1. and the Prophet Ezekiels being sent to and fro between Judea and Chaldea and then for their coming together and sitting like a company of dumb creatures for I know not how long and sometimes it may be they say nothing at all when they are come together and come to the place or person where they pretend they are sent of God And for this deceit you shall finde it coloured over with that instance of the Prophet Ezekiel who when he came to the captives at Telâ—abib that dwelt by the River of Kebar was constrained to wait in great amazement for the space of seven days before the Lord was pleased to manifest his minde concerning that people Ezek. 3.15 16. Now this coloureth over their dumbness and silence pretending they wait for the Vision Inspiration or Revelation as that Prophet did And they have also a Gloss put upon the words of CHRIST to his Disciples when he bade them Take no care what to speak for it should be given them in the same hour what to say Then for that gesture and principle of going naked they have a colour from that instance of Saul stripping off his cloathes and prophesying naked 1 Sam. 19.24 And they may finde the Apostle when he is speaking of the persecutions say that sometimes he suffered hunger and cold and nakedness c. Lastly for that deceit of theirs in giving over all care and callings and their honest imployment in the world they are made to mis-apprehend the teachings of CHRIST in Matth. 10.37 38. He that will not take up his Cross and follow me is not worthy of me here they think that CHRIST doth engage his people to leave off all care and diligence c. And those words of CHRIST in Matth. 6.31 34. where he biddeth his Disciples take no thought what they should eat or drink or wherewith they should be cloathed neither would he have them take thoughts for to morrow for to morrow saith he shall take thoughts for it self and such other like Scriptures as these which Satan is well acquainted withall But such who are kept under the power and teachings of the Spirit of God do know the minde of Christ about the outward things The fourth Rule is the teaching of the Spirit of God in such things as these are Rule 4. in Demonstr 4. 1. As to their going from place to place far remote and likewise to particular persons we know that the Lord was wont to make great use of his servants in this nature Moses was sent into Egypt to deliver the Embassie of God unto Pharaoh but he would not hearken so say they it may fall out many times that our message will not be received Ezekiel was sent to the captives by the River of Chebar but the Lord had told him they should shew themselves a rebellious people and would not hearken so it may be with them they say Christ himself spake with authority and in such a manner that most that heard him wondered yet how doth he complain of the unbelief and hardness of the people hearts so they speak many times as though it were with authority and I believe it is with a great deal of impudency and boldness for I reade in what an insolent proud and authentick manner the Devil spake unto the face of Christ Mark 5.7 saying I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not and is it any marvel if he shall act his servants and ministers to speak with such audaciousness sometimes unto the Disciples of Christ seeing they are not above their Master The Lord also sent Ananias to Paul Acts 9. Peter was likewise sent to Cornelius by Vision Acts 10. Philip was sent by special command unto the Eunuch as he was travelling Nathan was sent to David Jonah to Nineveh Paul himself was bound in spirit to go unto Jerusalem and from hence they suppose they have ground sufficient for going to particular persons by Vision or Revelation as well as these whom God sent so making themselves to be either Prophets or Apostles But let him that would know this delusion mark these differences First the Lord sending these last mentioned servants of his to these several and particular men You finde the power of God so much manifested in them and by them that the Word of the Lord was blessed and made succesfull unto the hearts of those unto whom it was brought But these deluded creatures although they come with as a fair pretence and gloss as the other did for Antichrist in this fitteth in the seat of God in a special manner yet their word proveth but a Lie or an imagination of their own brain Secondly observe that if they do prevail upon any poor souls by this high mystery of deceit they are either 1. Such as are meerly ignorant unestablished and unacquainted both with the ways of Christ or Antichrist in this nature or 2. They are such who are meer Notionalists that have been full of brave words but have had but little if any of the powerfull actings of Truth and Grace in their souls not walking and maintaining close communion together in any visible exemplary and justifiable way and order of the Gospel And therefore let it not be thought so strange to see such carried away for they have been but like clouds without water as Jude saith and so might easily be blown about with every winde of doctrine but blessed be the Lord I do not hear or know any that have been well grown and experienced Christians walking and maintaining a close and strict communion and fellowship together according to those exemplary ways of Christ and his Disciples that are thus overcome and betrayed by the subtil wiles of the Devil and this I would have all the world to take special notice of and so it may be a means of unvailing unto their understandings that close and dangerous deceit under pretence of being sent with a special word from the Lord unto such a person people or place 3. Let this be also well observed these Dreamers say notwithstanding they pretend it is the Lord by some special Revelation or Inspiration or Operation be it what it will the Lord
must be the Author thereof if we will believe them that sendeth them hither or thither that they know not whither to go or to what person till they come to the place or person and when they are come whither they apprehend they were sent yet they say that they know not what to do or speak untill that be given them by Inspiration also Now let us return and examine the manner of the Lords sending his servants and Prophets upon such particular messages and we shall finde it to be far otherwise for the Lord was wont when he sent them to tell them unto whom to go and likewise what to speak When Moses was sent to Pharaoh he was taught at first by the Lord to whom to go and what to say When Nathan was sent to David he was told to whom to go and what to say 2 Sa. 12. the beginning When Ezekiel was to go to the River of Chebar he was told to whom to go onely at that time I never read the like any where else to my present remembrance he was made to wait upon the Lord for the manifestation of his pleasure When Jonah was sent to Nineveh he was told from the beginning to whom to go and what to say When Ananias was sent to Paul he was told to whom to go and what to say Acts 9.10.11 When Peter was sent to Cornelius he was instructed by his Vision what to say and by three men that came to him to whom to go Acts 10. Note well this difference and so judg Secondly concerning their going naked I never knew the minde of the Lord so discovered by any of his servants either under the old or new Covenant And as for that of Sauls stripping off his cloaths and lying down naked among the Prophets there is nothing in that place that doth prove it to be the will of the Lord or that he was so acted and commanded of him and let it not scruple any one that the Lord gave him a spirit of Prophesie at that time for why might not the Lord make Saul prophesie as well as make Balaams Ass speak Numb 23. seeing he was a more likely creature for such a work Thirdly whereas they give over their Callings Professions honest Imployments in the world and give themselves over to idleness and pretend they must have nothing to do with the World but must be ready at a beck to run hither and thither when the Lord shall send them and the like Such who reade the Scriptures know how the Spirit of God was wont to speak and teach his servants about these things that their moderation must be known unto all men and that they should use the World as though they used it not and that it was more honorable to give than receive and that he that would not work should not eat and that every man should provide things honest before all men and take care for their families and housholds which they call the Language of Antichrist but Nature and Grace for the one destroyeth not but rather perfecteth the other do both teach the servants of CHRIST that this is true in the main and how to use it in a mean and do we not know how Paul was wont sometimes to labor had night and day at his Calling because he would not be troublesom or chargeable to a poor people And did not the Disciples of CHRIST follow their Callings when they had need or conveniency And doth not Paul advise such as should be called to the knowledg of the Truth to rest satisfied in that estate condition or calling wherein they should be called if any were called being a servant that he should not be dissatisfied if any were called being free he should rather desire to continue so I must intreat my Readers to note these Scriptures as they reade them for in regard of the scarcity of my time and multiplicity of business I am constrained to neglect the quotation of them here and so to pass more briefly and scantingly over things than I would otherwise have done willingly and glad I am to finde so much time as that my Pen might run with much speed to what it doth singlely without any Copy I shall now give the World but this one discovery more in this nature and that shall be such an one that had I spake no more might have given a sufficient understanding of this most horrible and dangerous deceit under which these creatures lie Demostr 5. I do collect from that spirit of enmity bitterness and prejudice which is conceived and brought forth in their hearts towards such of the servants of Christ who walk most strictly and orderly in their fellowships and communions togegether and towards such of them especially such as are the Pillars of the Truth in the Churches of Christ and that are most eminently gifted and most instrumental in the hands of Christ for the advancement of his Kingdom This I know to be too true by what I observed in my own experience of this nature when I was under those Satanish-angelical-metamorphosings beside that I have heard them say several times their hearts were more drawn out towards the creatures of the world that they were more tenderly affected toward such who were meetly atheistical and profane creatures than towards such and such Societies Fellowships Professions and Professors and the like And this may be witnessed by their railing lying clamorous false accusing Letters which they have writ against many pretious honest-hearted men that I know and yet they pretend all this is done in love Now will we try whether this inward core secret prejudice false surmise and heart-burning against the servants of Christ be the work of Christ or Antichrist It will every way appear they are under an horrible delusion in this very thing when the matter is clearly examined for First if they cannot see the servants of Christ that walk according to the manifest Rules of the Gospel to be the servants of Christ but reckon them to be the servants of sin hypocrites men in the first Adam acted onely by that first created excellency or light received and the like as they do commonly why then they prove themselves to be blinded and led forth by a lying and deceivable spirit of delusion by Antichrist like unto the men of the world that do not know the Servants and Disciples of Christ from his professed Enemies but speak evil of the things and men they know not and so there needs no further proof than their own open and professed mistake ranking themselves with the carnal and sinfull men of the world who are all under the power of Antichrist as you shall finde in the words of Paul to Ephes 2.2 In times past saith he meaning the time of irregeneration Ye walked according to the course of this world and according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience and moreover saith
suspition I have of my memory in this particular of time I shall not be positive yet I do well remember they have told me of three days and three nights and so many more presently after that several of them have been commanded to fast but here is the little-great wonder this man having fasted whether twice seven days and nights or twice three it matters not much to me but having so fasted as he was commanded by his Enemy under pretence of a friend he was commanded to go into such a Well in a certain place that he knew and so he did and he was appointed to drink of that water which he did having taken something with him for that purpose and when he drank he apprehended it to be pure and perfect good Wine and so he drank no more but on the morrow he returned unto the said Well to see whether it were so continued or not and then he found it meer Water as at other times Here was a remarkable thing which I believe to be true for I am perswaded they dare not tell a Lie knowing it to be so and if this were true then I shall be bold to affirm there was a false Christ appeared for we know that Christ converted Water into Wine at a Marriage in Cana of Galilee and because Christ did so therefore Satan he cometh as it were the same Christ doing the same thing but let not this be thought very strange by any one that reades my lines that Satan should be able to do this for it was a far easier matter for him to turn one Cup of Water into Wine to deceive this poor silly man than it was for him to turn all the Rivers streams and Ponds that were in Egypt into bloud Exod. 7.19 22. Or haply he might not really turn this Water into Wine and yet he might really deceive the man in deluding his taste for you must know that Satan can easily delude a mans senses as I have seen by these Jugglings and Popper-plays and the like I have heard them tell me some other fine things of this nature which I shall forbear to cite in regard they are no news to me because I do apprehend that they must become false Apostles and false Christs to do great signs and wonders yet this I do observe by the way that Satan is so politick that he will not do as yet any terrible acts by them whereby he might fear or amaze the people as he did by that man in Acts 19. for then he might lose them before he had gained them but he will rather chuse to do things that may be delightfull and pleasing unto the people such as healing some infirmities and turning of Water into Wine and the like and truly this is such a deceivable way that if he should use it much it would be enough to make all the Drunkards and Sack-belly-gods in England to become Quakers Comes hilaris quasi vehiculum viatori if it were but for that they might not empty their Purses to fill their bellies I should gladly hear of the charge of that Principle therefore that maketh so many ignorant people look after lying signs and wonders and to see them inquire after faith and knowledg and the grace of our Lord JESUS CHRIST that so they might be able to stand in such evil times as these are while Satan is playing his last game and let all the world assure themselves that we are now living in those last times that the servants of Christ hinted in so many places and indeed the most ignorant and scandalous men of our Nation called by the people like themselves Ministers and Preachers have of late years been telling their people over and over this thing but here was their mistake not in the time but in the persons and things for they have reckoned and railed at the Churches and servants of Christ who did most endeavour to demean themselves unto an exemplary and visible order of the Gospel to be those Hereticks and deluders of deluded people that are mentioned in the Scripture but considering their ignorance and blindness unto the things ways administrations and servants of Christ it was well they could come so near as to point at the time so rightly and I will forbear with them in this Yet let not the Readers of my Book think that I take their testimony for my own confirmation or shall offer it unto any other but if you will forbear me in this place you shall have my own grounds and reasons with the Scripture to prove this thing hereafter in my first question onely I shall be bold before I go any further to tell all carnal and natural men in the world be they Preachers or People that they must be beholding to those People whom they have ignorantly called Hereticks and Deluders I mean the servants of Christ not in form onely but in power evidence and demonstration of the Spirit to encounter with this spirituall mystery of iniquity that reigneth in such an high nature in the poor undone people There is nothing in any carnal man in the world that can enable him for this work if they had all Apollo's wisdom Minerva's learning or Sampsons strength it would not help them unless it were vi armis by an arm of flesh and that would be next unto nothing Peradventure this little labor of mine may make many thousands able to refuse their Errors and Delusions but it will not make any one able to resist and encounter with it Delinquere sed non evincere because it can be done no way but through a greater power and strength and light than is in Antichrist and he that shall observe me in this one thing shall see the reason hereof because Satan is by his creation an Angel of Light such as the rest of them were and we know that God made all things pure and good he made no Devil nor wicked man he made Adam an innocent righteous man he made the Angels innocent and righteous and far more excellent creatures than Adam was now if you compare the greatest excellency or glory in Adam while he was unchanged with that light and glory of the blested Angels into which Satan hath now transformed himself again you shall finde as much difference as you can judg between the light of a little star and the great Sun how much more then when you finde but the relicks reversions and some small remainders of Adams first excellency in any man that now liveth in that apostatized condition Therefore I would sain know how any man living in such a low carnal state of apostasie should be able to deal or to encounter with such an angelical and mighty appearance of Antichrist as is now manifest Will not it be now a Truth unto your understandings that there must be a greater light power glory and excellency thin his be found out to match and overcome him even that light power glory and excellency
some dross or counterfeit stuff in the stead thereof such as they take to be better and more pure metall than what they had formerly and therefore they seem very much to rejoyce that they lost it O the most unparalleld apostacy and delusion that ever was yet manifest But if any one shall ask what I do judg to be the reason why the Lord CHRIST did with draw his presence from these people and so consequently suffer Satan to rob them of their heavenly treasure in this kinde I shall by way of answer hereunto give one Reason whereof I am confidently convinced and another whereof I am but in part 1. I am really perswaded was their negligence in using those eminent gifts of speaking praying reasoning discoursing building up one another and the like wherewith they were endued and that so largely that I could not finde in my apprehensions such excellent attainments amongst other people generally which was the reason of engaging my affections so much to them above others and as they grew negligent in using those gifts so from time to time they neglected keeping communion together and became a scattered people every one giving himself over to a selfish retired condition because they were so full of knowledg that they found not one able to instruct another or to be a means of increasing any farther understanding and thus by little and little the bond only being broken which I reckon to be a close and strict communion of Saints under every atainment or discovery therein watching over one another and praying for and with one another Satan carrieth away their hearts into a very meer confusion loss and nothingness and having brought them to that pass he presenteth them with something under most fair and glorious pretences whereunto he gaineth their affections even as far as unto willing obedience and so acteth them therein according as you have heard all along Reason 2. Whereof I am but in part convinced is that peradventure the Lord would have his people walk in some one way administration or form call it what you will whereby they might be brought unto a perfect unity in heart judgment and obedience making but one eccho or voice both in their prayers and praises that so all that indignity and disgrace which is cast upon the servants of Christ and that in a great measure justly might be taken away for as yet the world say that we cannot be the Church of Christ because we are so divided both in our judgments and practices and me thinks I do apprehend the Lord as going about to take away all occasion of stumbling of that nature from before the eys of the world and to render his Church and people so like his people that the enimies of Christ may see and say they are so indeed and in truth And not onely for want of this is there a prejudice suspition and wrong judgment begot in the hearts of such who are without but also the hearts of the Lords own servants become very dead cold and unprofitable to others and uncomfortable to themselves and their gifts and graces for want of holy and continual exercises do exceedingly fade away I do not speak this by report but I have too much experience of this nature my self and so much it is that I hope I shall not give over untill I finde through an holy and humble waiting and diligent inquiry some way or means of having my former enjoyments refreshings and blessed communion with the Lord and his CHRIST restored unto me again for in the loss of the former means and way of God wherein he was pleased most of all to afford me the comfort which was in a strict and diligent maintaining communion of Saints I am very sensible I lost my comforts and therefore I hope when I shall be brought into the same way again I may finde my former mercies and much mercy and peace in Christ Jesus be unto all such who shall be solicitous at their Fathers Throne for the teachings of his Spirit in such casea of difficulty as this is to deliver any of his poor servants out of these straits I had once thoughts in this place for the confirmation of my apprehensions and exposition upon Heb. 6. to have presenced a rehearsal of a sad self-murther judgment which in these parts did lately befall one such creature carried away with these deluders and their delusions who was for many years in my judgment and so I think in most of the Lords people a Pillar of Truth in the Church of Christ and like a Mother in Israel but finding it to be an occasion of glorying or rejoycing among the wicked in all these parts I shall forbear to give any more of them this cause of bringing down their own judgments upon their own heads hoping that this brief hint may suffice to teach all the children of God to ake heed 1. Of living in a condition of idleness without any just or warrantable â—mployment 2. In growing cold in the ways and administrations of God wherein their souls had been richly fed by him 3. Of neglecting praying watchfulness c. Such things as these were the apparent and fore going causes of this sore Judgment And this instance maketh me afraid that but few such once eminent of them will ever be brought to repentance but have their end according to their works I shall here leave off speaking any further concerning this delusion and the doctrines thereof and would have fimshed with this were it not that there are two Questions of some concernment that I conceive might be urged in order to these things and persons whereof I have spoken Question 1. Why doth Antichrist act in this nature and with so much fierceness beyond what he hath been wont to do Answer First because he was necessitated hereunto for these creatures would not be taken with Hue and Cry nor with allurings and drawing back nor with the common baits of ungodly practices so that he was constrained to leave the pursute of them and to get before them disguising himself into some form or other that might best fit their dispositions Secondly he acteth with so much diligence and watchfulness thereunto because he hath a short time to effect his designs Rev. 12.12 We unto the inhabiters of the earth and the sea for the Devil is come down unto you having great wrath because he hath but a short time and it is short indeed according to my understanding of time to the end of the Creation to make up seven thousand years compleat The end of the world and no more I have in my apprehension a fair Scripture and reason for this and of this there are not above thirteen hundred and fifty behinde and out of this there must be a thousand taken wherein Satan shall be chained up and cast into the bottomless Pit Revel 20. Reade all this Chapter and see what you can understand therein The thousand years there spoken
of I take literally according to our computation of time The binding and chaining up of the Devil I take to be such a powerfull and blessed appearance of God in the hearts of his people who shall through the teachings of himself be brought to such an holy Conformity and Uniformity both in affection judgment and walking that Antichrist shall not be able to break in upon them to delude or entice them or the like but they through the glorious and in dwelling of God in their hearts shall be able to resist all the deceivable ways of Satan that he will be as it were no Devil at all unto them he will be as though he were tied with a Chain or cast into a I le not able to hurt or wrong any of them as now he doth Now this thousand years being taken out wherein the Church of CHRIST shall thus triumph over him and conquer him there remaineth but three hundred and fifty or there about which must likewise be divided into two parts one part must be for Satan to go about into all the corners of the earth to deceive and beguile the people again v. 7 8. at the exspiration of the thousand year after the manner as now he doth in my judgment and so to bring them into a state of apostacy which he cannot do probably under an age and a half or two ages for we see in our own experience there is no ground error or superstition sucked into the hearts of a people or rooted out under an age and an half at least and therefore I think he must have such an allowance as this for to bring an universal apostacy into all the earth before its destruction and if you shall allow him but an hundred and fifty years for this then there wil be but even two hundred before that thousand which is but a short time in comparison of what he hath had ever since he first beguiled Eve with the forbidden Apple and therefore no marvel he doth so bestir himself now and finde out new and more dangerous ways This is my present apprehension concerning the ending of the World and concerning that mystery in Rev. 20. Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum Question 2. In order to the people themselves called Quakers Peradventure some are inquiring seeing they are so exceedingly deluded and such a dangerous people what course should be taken by them whether it were best to imprison them or banish them or the like In my Answer hereunto I shall direct my speech unto two sorts of people First unto the common sort of people I do hear and believe it is true that the ordinary sort of people in all Countreys and Towns whither these poor creatures come do abuse them very much and beat them and despitefully use them I do not conceive that this is the right way to deal with them neither can any good ground be given for this kinde of usage of them seeing they come to places in a peaceable manner pretending they come for the peoples good and me thinks it is great inhumanity to use any people so uncivilly that come so civilly and withall they speak nothing in that nature but what their hearers themselves must confess to be true reproving them sharply for some unjust and unrighteous actings or other or for some carnal and secure conditions wherein they live c. And therefore I would counsel all such people to whom they shall come in this kinde to take a right way of opposing them which is through a strong knowledg and understanding of the Scripture to reason with them and to prove them fairly according to the rules of the Scripture and such rules as I have here given you in my Book to be those deluders and deluded people that are spoken of by Christ and his Apostles and upon that account neither to own them nor their Doctrine This is the warrantable way of the Gosple and I think I may be bold to tell you this for your encouragment that if you shall stick up closely and unanimously to this way you will finde the Devil a very Coward according to that word of St James Resist the devil and he will fly from But if any of you shall say that you are not able to deal with them in this nature they are too full of knowledg and you are not so well acquainted with the Scriptures as they c. I fear it is too true as you say but is not the fault your own Hive not you Bibles as well as they How comes it to pass that you are so empty of knowledg in the Word of God but for want of diligent reading and meditating in the same And therefore I would counsel all men both Preachers and people to be hereafter better armed against them for I suppose you will be more troubled with them than you have been and indeed when you have done all this your natural attainments of this kinde will prove too short to deal with them by therefore by all means laber father and feek to gain the spiritual armour of Christ Jesus which you shall have from him if you will receive him John 1.12 and hearken diligently unto the voice of God calling you and do not stand still and rest your selves satisfied in your ignorant and carnal conditions but remember that word Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light yea and power and strength also to overcome the assaults of Satan and you must pray with all your might unto the Lord to furnish your souls with his grace and holy Spirit that you may be able to stand fast in such perillous times Secondly I direct my speech unto the civil Magistrate and desire him to consider what he doth to these people I hear they are from City to City and Countrey to Countrey persecuted and imprisoned by you but by what Law of yours I know not I do not hear that they do transgress any of your Laws by sinfull and unrighteous actings if they should I shall give my consent they might have double punishment if they do not I would have you forbear them and see that they have not greater grounds to speak against your abominations than you have to punish them I fear because they tell you your own many of you they turn your Patience into Passion and from thence rather than from any Principle you have to do justice you act against them for if you were generally men possessed with a zeal to do justice we should not have such abominable and crying sins calling at the Throne of God for justice against such injusticers as many are If you will not believe the Truth because it comes from them yet I hope you will believe it as it comes from the mouth of God Isai 1.23 24. Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of Thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after
rewards they judg not the fatherless neither doth the cause of the widow come before them therefore saith the Lord I will ease me of mine adversaties and avenge me of mine enemies And I would desire you to reade judiciously over most part of the second Chapter of Isaiah there you shall finde the minde of God against self-seeking and pride c. But that my counsel may appear more fully I shall desire you to give me leave to instruct you with much love and single-heartedness in these two things First that you will carefully in the fear of the Lord see to your selves and your ways that these people may not charge you justly with any coverousness pride vain-glory self-seeking oppression or injustice or profane and loose walking and in so doing you will in a most victorious manner disarm them of their offensive weapons Secondly that you would with all possible diligence seek for the armour of Christ Jesus and have your selves strengthned with that faith and knowledg which comes from him and these will be your defensive weapons and then by that time you shall have disarmed them and armed your selves in this kinde I know you will prove so able to deal with them your selves that you will never need to cry for your Sergeants and Officers to imprison them This I apprehend to be the most Gospel-like and most honourable way for Magistrates Ministers and People to take against the Quakers I have now through the good hand of the Lord attained unto the end of my thoughts and mediatations about this mysterious work and workers and have no more behinde but a few single words and then I have done Let not any wonder while I am speaking some particular words in a particular manner that I have not a word for the Quakers seeing they have been the whole object of my discourse my reason is because I finde the strongest of them to be beyond all hopes of returning or being convinced by such means for I have had some trial by reasonings with them and writings unto them and I finde it bringeth forth nothing in them but more obdurateness of heart and some railing unchristian-like expressions in their Letters so that I chuse rather to leave them to the wisdom and power of God in this thing and shall onely give these Cautions to such younglings of them who never were yet in any powerfull working of the Truth and Light of Christ and are but as it were entring into that deceitfull condition 1. With speed forsake their society wholly both in publick and private manner for although they may not prevail upon a knowing Christian yet they may easily carry away your hearts 2. Adjoyn your selves unto the societies of such people especially who walk according to the most plain and sure Rules of the Gospel and they are the Baptists so called 3. If there be any power or faculty to pray left in you I would have you use it to the utmost desiring the Lord in sincerity and with diligence from time to time to teach and shew you the ways that you shall chuse and then to establish and keep you in the same and undoubtedly if the Lord through his mercy will be pleased to help you to observe these three things it may be much for his glory and your comfort First a word to the Seekers so called You are that progeny of mankinde or parentage of people that have born forth unto the world that uncomfortable fraternity of Quakers and Ranters These brethren in iniquity are now in a state of desperate apostacy who were once a people of most blessed principles and great attainments for which things sake I was in my affections and judgment engaged to maintain fellowship and society with them in a special manner above and beyond all other people professing the ways of the Lord for the space of six years compleat For the worth of those principles sake which did so much affect me I shall make bold to mention three above the rest in this place 1. Was their readiness and willingness to own and receive any farther manifestations or appearances of God in power and truth that he should be pleased to shew unto them and this was no small mercy or attainment when I consider how many other poor creatures are possessed with a selfish rigid principle crying out against any farther manifestations or operations of God than what they have received as Heresie Error and the like 2. Was their chearfull owning and embracing all the workings of the grace of God in truth that did appear in the hearts of any poor creatures with much love and tender-heartedness towards them This was much compared with the frame of spirit that possesseth most professors 3. Was a greater careand seeking after a power life and spirit from the Lord to perform their worship and duty withall then standing upon the form or outward appearance of such worship or duty Which 3. Principles as I did so I do own them and judg them to be very heavenly and spiritual onely by these poor creatures sad example I hope I shall be more carefull to try well what I receive under either of them As you see these to be very high and spiritual so they ly very open to temptation and deceit And I will shew all people how Satan hath insinuated himself into the hearts of these people under every one of these principles and that with a very fair and unknowne guile First whereas they were ever ready and willing to receive all further discoveries and manifestations from the Lord he transforming himself into an Angel of Light that so he might seemingly act the part of God hath presented some new things or ways and operations un o them more seemingly spiritual than any they had before such as you have seen throughout this book and so easily engageth their hearts to receive what their principles led them unto Secondly they being very tenderly affected to all such whom they judged to be sincere although under the lowest discovery of truth Here Satan deceiving of them maketh them to become very much affected with the carnal creatures of the world and to disown such as they formerly owned and tendered under small attainments as though they were in a worse estate than meer carnal and atheistical persons Thirdly in as much as they did more look after the power of godliness than the form and more after spiritual enablings of the soule to duties than its going forth in its own strength Here the Deceiver beguileth them and carrieth them first away from that form they did use and secondly under waiting for spiritual endowments he suggesteth by fits much power of speaking and praying likewise for he can enable men to pray as well as to speak rumable words I know this to be true for when some of them have been under the greatest delusion that might be in speaking they have been carried out to pray in as ample manner and as good
great while since convinced that you are the people who are best able according to the exemplary rules of Christ and his Apostles in the Gospel to prove your selves to be the visible Church of Christ amongst men being necessitated by my Antagonists in a publick disputation against Infant-baptism to fly unto your practice and rules for my own defence ever since which time I have more and more seen the clearness therof although not yet carried forth to the practice thereof my self judging that the Lord did not require any of our ages to walk so but yet did very gladly own and receive such who out of simplicity of conscience and obedience to Christ did take it up thinking also that it was but a creaturely act whereunto any carnal man might be brought through the convictions of his own heart as well as Simon Magus But indeed that which I conceive did most keep me from it was these comforts and refreshments which I do receive from the Lord without it and having also communion with my former society which now is wholly broke off through the mysterious workings of Antichrist and I am afraid that I shall receive some Eclipse of my former enjoyments and divine operations yet I know whom I have believed which thing if it shall be joyned to the loss of my communion with Creatures I hope they shall produce much diligence to inquire further into that administration of Baptism and make me more entirely one in the will of the Lord concerning it and I would gladly desire you upon the terms of Christian love to use often those words of Paul Col. 1.9 10 11. and when you use them let me be your object as the Colossians were Pauls and I would desire you also to walk so dexterously that you might ever more and more prove your selves to be the Church and Disciples of Christ and that you would endeavour to remove all things that might be an occasion of stumbling to any weak creatures and that you would so far deny your selves that you might not live in the practice of such things which neither Christ not his Apostles would by any means allow of The Lord help you and me to walk blameless A third word to my Book While I have saluted so many by the way I cannot chuse but bid thee Farewell also telling thee that as thou art like to be a great Traveller so thou must expect to pass through evil report and good report through honor and dishonor as a deceiver and yet true thou must become subject to every mans judgment the godly and the wicked the learned and the ignorant the wife man and the fool but regard it not it is that common destiny of others with thee and thou maist expect to hear very suddenly a mighty Hue and Cry sent after thee as though thou wast some notorious Thief or Robber by him who will act like a roaring Lion in those that are his servants at command endeavouring thereby to hinder thy travels knowing that thou maist be a great means of destroying his Kingdom he will questionless as he dealt by the Woman Revel 12. so by thee cast a mighty floud out of his mouth of all manner of opprobries Lies and disgracefull railing speeches but if there be no other means the Earth shall help the Woman thou needest not be afraid of being overcome because as the truth of him who is said to be Truth it self in whom there is said to be more power and strength for the propagation than in all thine Enemies be they men or devils for thy opposition therefore expect not from me who am but in that respect thy servant any defence by raising an Army of Reasonings Argumentations and Disputings either by my Pen or words But go forth like a Man of War in thy own power and strength and in the Name of the Lord be prosperous FINIS