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
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
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-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
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
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
consider how St Paul doth reckon the fruit of the Spirit Gal. 5.22 23. The fruit of the Spirit is love joy peace long-suffering gentleness goodness faith meekness temperance c. Now compare their shakings roarings out through extremity cruel torturings of body and minde which they call the fruits and operations of the spirit with these fruits and operations which the Spirit of the Lord doth assume and take unto it self and then tell me which you will judg to be delusion for one must because they are so contrary Demonstr 4. From that great bondage and slavery which is laid upon them they are captives by Satan at his will and made to suffer more cruel burthens than the Israelites were under Pharaoh in Egypt as you may see in these Particulars First whatsoever journey Satan shall suggest unto them they must undertake it if it be an hundred or two hundred miles as I hear some have gone from some parts of the North unto London two hundred miles an end and they must go with all expedition upon his command and many times shall not have so much leasure as to dress them first an hard Master surely Christ was not wont to be so cruel unto his servants and they say they are commanded to go but whither to go or to whom or what to do they know not yet they must go like a blinde-folded man that knoweth not where his mark is yet I suppose Satan who is the greatest Traveller himself that ever was for he is ever compassing the Earth to and fro and doth know all the parts thereof and observeth the temperature of the peoples hearts in every corner of the Earth when he sendeth them his poor beguiled Vassals upon such designs he sendeth them unto such persons be they many or few that are ready to be overcome and to yield unto such temptations as are offered unto them by these creatures and so they seldom miss of drawing some unstable hearts into bondage with themselves under fair notions and pretences unless it be where Satan himself is mistaken concerning the faith and stedfastness of some soul for what he does is at forte fortuna hit or miss for they have come sometimes unto me and to some others whom I know pretending they were sent of God in a special manner with a message to deliver but I know they were deceived and therefore by Satan for the Lord is not wont to do things ignorantly and to deceive his servants in that nature and sometimes they have not power to speak and therefore you may see how well the Lord sent them and if they be able to speak yet they are told their language is the Devils and they come with a Lie in hypocrisie Satan I suppose will not send very often where his Ministers finde no better welcome Secondly the poor creatures are made to fast from all manner of food sometimes three days and three nights and sometimes as I have heard by them when they have fasted those three days and nights he commandeth them to fast three more unto that and when they do eat any thing it is with so much penuriousness and scarcity that they are brought most feeble and wretched creatures by that means contrary to the law and wisdom of nature which would teach a man to nourish and cherish his poor body if it were but with moderation but as I said once before The Devil knows no mean but is all upon extremes either he maketh men meerly Gluttonous as your Drunkards and Belly-gods that can never hold till their bellies and chins do almost meet or else he maketh other poor wretches sterve themselves he doth so far deprive them of natural affection which you may well know to be his work if you consider of what kinde of people the Apostle Paul speaketh Rom. 1. Thirdly he maketh them go naked as I have seen in some of their Books and herein they glory by their expressions and speak how triumphantly they were made to come up naked into some Ministers Pulpits in the North and this I finde Satan doth act in them for these two Reasons 1. Because the people who are naturally novitatis avidi greedy of news might take these things to be as pety wonders or miracles and indeed it cannot chuse but make many simple people admire to see creatures fast so long and be able to go naked hereby I do apprehend Satans design is to bring on these people to false works as the Apostle calleth them and as I do intend to shew when I come directly upon that Doctrine 2. Satan doth labor by weakning and disabling their poor bodies in this nature to bring them the sooner to their dissolution if the Lord prevent not that so he might exercise his will more fuily upon them for certainly as the servants of Christ while they bear about them their earthly tabernacles are not so capable either of glorifying God or bearing the glory of God so the Ministers of Antichrist in this their being are not so fit to act or suffer what he would appoint them Thirdly they are made to deny their Callings Professions and honest Imployments many or most of them and to neglect and disregard their Families and new Relations and to say it is the language of Antichrist that biddeth a man take care for his own houshold and family and some of them have said to me when I have been inquiring what our families should do if all Callings and Labors should be so neglected that truly they must shift for themselves which I thought was very strange teaching for my heart was very tender of my near alliances in the flesh and they are a people for as many as I know of them that are wholly possessed with a principle of idleness and going about from place to place pretending that they are so moved of the Lord to go hither and thither and if they are set about any honest work or design I mean in civil affairs if Satan do but suggest any thing to the contrary they neglect it and give it over presently if it be of never so great concernment this I know by them saying They must leave all to obey the voice of CHRIST and to follow him to whatsoever he commandeth them and they are become altogether unprofitable to their generations and fit for nothing but to carry about the abominable deceits suggestions and Lies of Antichrist The second Rule which is my experience herein Rule 2. in Dem 4. is Experience and that through mercy is not much besides the understanding of this deceit from them onely in the business of Fasting my fancy was somewhat carried away for I could have forborn Eating and Drinking me thoughts for a great while but through the perswasions of my Table-companions I would eat more than I had a desire to because I would not give them offence but I am perswaded had I been left to my own freedom I should have brought my self unto a
he in v. 12. At that time meaning this time last mentioned ye were without Christ aliens from the Common-wealth of Israel strangers from the Covenant of Promise having no hope and without God in the world O ye poor deluded creatures of the world also your spirits and persons I love and wish well unto and therefore as my brethren in the first creation I desire you all in the bowels and mercies of Christ to weigh well and consider this Scripture for here is your condition exactly and truly characterized and held forth unto you and when any of you shall finde it so give neither the Lord nor your own souls any rest untill you finde your selves in some measure washed and sanctified by the Spirit of Christ from that uncomfortable condition But to return Secondly if these poor beguiled wretches of whom we are speaking all along shall judg them to be the servants of Christ and reckon themselves the servants of Christ also why then they are brethren and if brethren and yet hate their brethren they must needs be under delusion and the words of the Apostle John will render them to be Liars and a deceived people to take the words of the Apostle before us 1 John 3.10 In this the Children of God are manifest and the Children of the Devil whosoever doth not righteousness Look to that O ye unrighteous men is not born of God neither he that loveth not his brother Vers 14. We know that we are passed from Death to Life because we love the brethren he that loveth not his brother abideth in death Vers 15. Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer and ye know no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him Chap. 4. v. 7. Beloved let us love one another for love is of God and every one that loveth is born of God and knoweth God Vers 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God for God is love Vers 12. No man hath seen God at any time if we love one another God dwelleth in us and his love is made perfect in us Vers 16. He that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him Vers 20. If any man say he loveth God and hateth his brother he is a Lyar. This testimony of John proveth all manner of envy hatred bitterness evil surmisings and the like against the servants of Christ to be none of the work of God because God is love and acteth all in love and as he doth act and as he is so are his servants in this present world 1 John 4.17 But if they shall go about to perswade further and to say that notwithstanding they speak sharp and harsh language yet it is all from a principle of love This will not agree with that operation of divine love which the Apostle Paul mentioneth 1 Cor. 13.4 5 6 7. Charity suffereth long and is kinde it envieth not it vaunteth not it self it doth not behave it self unseemly seeketh not her own is not easily provoked thinketh none evil rejoyceth not in iniquity but rejoyceth in the Truth beareth all things believeth all things hopeth all things endureth all things Now let any judicious man compare the operations of that which they call divine love and these operations which the Apostle doth here mention and see whether they are like to proceed from one author If I had used onely this one Demonstration it might have suffreed to have proved them to be under a most deceitfull power of Antichrist but while here are variety of discoveries with plain and easie Rules for manifestation thereof I suppose he must be wilfully blind that will be lead away with these people and their pernicious Errors when he shall have well weighed and compared one thing with another I do not for the present apprehend any thing more material to have been illustrated in this nature beside what I have done I will therefore proceed to what I finde next to be considered in the Apostles discoverings of them which is that as Satan transforms himself into an Angel of Light so it will be no great thing to see his ministers transformed as ministers of righteousness The second remarkable Truth from the Text is thus That such as are be guiled by Satans angelical transformings of himself in the manner as hath been shewed are likewise transformed themselves as though they were Ministers of Righteousness For if it were not so they would presently discover it themselves to be of Antichrist if such a wonderfull and extraordinary power should appear exercising and terrifying both their bodies and mindes and yet they themselves carried forth as ministers of unrighteousness they would apprehend it not to be of God and all other people for the most part would know it so likewise whereas they now stand amazed not knowing what to think of it for every one can see and say that is not quite blinde that all open profane wicked lewd unconscionable and unrighteous men are deluded of the Devil and by him lead into those wicked ways of sin and uncleanness for God never leadeth men into such courses Note this all you that go astray from the ways of holiness and sin against your own Light and being so in the ways of unrighteousness Satan findeth himself to be open and unmasked he transforms his ministers as well as himself and so maketh them act as though they were Ministers of Righteousness and that they were indeed moved thereunto of the Lord. And this is the reason why this prodigious Comet doth through these its scintillations and sparklings beget such a dreadfulness in the hearts of the beholders and to speak out I am afraid it doth prognosticate a sad destiny unto many people as I shall shew toward the end of my Book onely such who walk in the statutes and ordinances of CHRIST shall be kept by him as Lambs in his bosom but let all other wandring stars and empty clouds such who are mighty in words and expressions little or nothing in a sound experimental and lively knowledg of CHRIST look to themselves and if this cautionary word make any of them wise let them glorifie God on that behalf Did you ever know a people acted through a more glorious shew or appearance of righteousness than they are Their denying and throwing off the world and all the cares and pains thereof for Christs sake as they say and their forsaking father mother wife and children What a fair colour hath this Their enduring so much affliction opposition persecution and disgrace from men Is not this like the Cross of Christ and like the susterings of Christ and his Apostles Their running and travelling so many miles from place to place and speaking so boldly unto great men crying out against their abominations Doth not this blace abroad mightily in the eys of the world Their writing so many Letters and dealing so plainly with men carrieth a fair shew of holiness And there are hardly a people to be found that cry out more against