make us all able wise vigilant faithfull and succesfull So prayes he who is The furtherer of thy faith and the helper of thy joy RA FARMER And now Reader having laid before thee this great mysterie of Godlinesse from the un-erring truth of the eternall word revealed in the scriptures I shall discover unto thee a great mysterie of ungodlinesse a mysteric of iniquity and of abhomination even that abhomination which maketh desolate destroyeth all Christian Religion from the writings and speakings in a generation of men called Quakers And here in â—he first place I shall communicate unto thee that which I confesse was the first ground of the discovere of this my sterie unto me and that you shall finde in a beok intitl'ed A Confession of Faith of the several Congregations or Churches of Christ in London which are commonly though unjustly as they say called Anabaptists Vnto which is added Hearts-bleedings for Professors abominations Or a faithfull generall Epistle from the same Churches Presented to all who have known the way of truth forewarning them to flee security and carelesse walking under the profession of the same discovering some of Satans wiles whereby also wanton persons and their ungodly wayes are disclaimed The fifth impression Which Book is signed in the name and by the appointment of the aforesaid severall Churches meeting in London By William Kiffen John Spilsberry and twelve more of them And these men I look upon as competent for this discovery for several reasons first in respect of their residence and habitations sc London a place where if any where all Religions Opinions Professions are to be found secondly the parties themselves sc the Anabaptists a sort of men in many things many of them neer of kin I charge no man in particular but generally they have bin a sort of people much given to Enthusiasmes and immediate Calls Revelations and apt to entertain fantastick dreams and fancies And concerning them I fully concurre with that precious Servant of Christ now in heaven Mr. Cuthbert Sidenham in an Epistle of his before his excellent Book concerning Infant-Baptism and singing of Psalms where speaking of the Opinion of Anabaptists denying Infants Baptism An opinion saith he which hath been alwayes ominous and of a powerfull strange influence accompanied with the most dangerous retinue of errors since the first Embryo of it was brought forth whether by a judgement of God or from its naturall or secret connexion with other principles of darknesse I will not determin Only God hath shewed some black Characters on it in every Nation where it hath prevailed though we cannot but say many Saints are innocently under the power of it Thus farre he Now these men therefore both in respect of the conveniency of the place but especially in the likelyhood of acquaintance and familiarity with this kind of people who mostly have been Members of their Congregations and have departed from them which may be one of the black works before spoken of these Anabaptists may have probablie plowed with their heyfer and so may best unfold their riddle and discover their ungodly Mysterie within their generall Epistle before mentioned after some little Preface they do in these words To all the Churches os God sanctified in Christ Jesus called to be Saints with all that in every place professe the Name of Jesus Christ our Lord both theirs and ours Beloved Brethren HAving these many years through the grace and free-mercy of our God been kept in the profession of the Name of Christ contained in the holy Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles and findding the exceeding benefit and comfort of walking with God in some measure suitable to what he hath made known unto us and well knowing that we are called to live in the last ages of the world wherein iniquity abounds and the love of many waxeth cold as likewise considering those peculiar times spoken of in 2 Tim. 3. 1. c. are come upon us wherein men who sometimes have made a large profession of God and godliness are turned aside to commit all manner of uncleanness with greedines having turned the grace of our Lord Jesus into lasciviousness calling darkness light and light darkness by meanes of whom the way of truth is evill spoken of and many poor souls through temptations ready to quit their professions and to be taken with their snares We thought it our duty to declare our utter dislike abhorring and detestation of all such evill persons and wayes who shall under pretence whatsoever plead for or practise any way of ungodlinesse And having been through the goodness of our God inabled to discern the secret and subtill designs and snares of Satan which he hath laid to entrap poor souls in by carrying them from step to step untill they have bin wholly captivated in his snares and fitted by him to do him service We could doe no lesse then according to that measure of light we have received from the Lord to discover his wiles and stratagems and to caution all that professe the feare of the Lord to watch over their own hearts and ways and to take heed lest they fall into the same condemnation For this we have found that that way which God in his infinite wisedome taketh to bring souls unto himself by viz. the presenting unto men his great love in giving Jesus Christ to suffer death and his great salvation to all that believe in his name Satan that old serpent through his instruments under the specious pretences of beating men off from all false rests endeavours with all his strength to oppose and make void perswading the sonnes and daughters of men that what is declared concerning the death of Christ at Jerusalem and his bearing our iniquities in his own body upon the Crosse is but a meer History and shadow the Scriptures are but a letter and the Ordinances of God but fleshly forms thereby labouring to beget in the peoples mindes a contempt and sleight esteem of Christ his Word and Ordinances and that he might cheat them to purpose tells them of a God within and a Christ within and a Word within and that God and Christ and they are one without any true distinct knowledge of the true meaning of that which is expressed whereby poor souls with great and swelling words of vanity triumph in a great mysterie of meer nothing but emptiness and confusion speaking things whereof they know not and many poor souls knowing such expressions to be Scripture phrases do greedily embrace them without a true distinct and clear understanding the sense of what is spoken having the persons of those who speak such language in great admiration as the chief tender charitable knowing high and spiritual Christians Whereas indeed although the words spoken by them are many of them true in themselves without which Satan could not so effectually deceive as that God and Christ and the Spirit dwell in us and that God and Christ and the Saints are
as it is made manifest in me and to declare what Faith we own and practise and what we do deny to that end that the simple may be informed and the way of truth cleered from such deceivers who are perverters of the Scriptures who would constrain people to follow their imaginations instead of truth as these men have done whose names are subscribed And now a few words in answer to that you call your first Principle First Principle That the Scripture is the rule of knowing God and living unto him which whoso doth not believe but betakes himself to any other way of discovering God instead thereof cannot be saved Answ The Scriptures are not the Saints rule of knowing God and living unto him but that which was before the Scriptures were written by which all the holy men of God knew him and here ye have made your selves manifest that ye have not the rule which Moses had which is the spirit of light by which he made himself known unto the sons of men and ye that teach people to walk in another rule are those that put light for darkness and darkness for light shewing forth the spirit of error and here ye pervert the Scripture and Moses words which prophesied of Christ Moses bad not the people walk by the Scripture neither did he tell them that living therein was the rule of knowing God but he directed them to the Life without which all their profession was abominable but ye are not come to walk in the Letter whose lips and practice doth not concord with it who are found acting those things which it declares against Matth. 23. who are called of men Master stand praying in the Synagogues which our Lord Jesus Christ cryed wo against and here your Faith and your Principle is descryed who are not so much as found acting in that which you call your rule Now lest you should boast in your glory and the simple be stumbled by your subtilty I am moved of the Lord to open and discover unto all that your Faith is no more then all the ungodly in this Nation doth profess and also that the Rule whereby the Saints are guided is that which was before the Scripture was First it is professed generally in this Nation that believing in the Scriptures is the rule of knowing God this have you preached for Doctrine among the people and yet the way of God is hidden from their eys who are found acting in the abominations of the Heathen as doth plainly appear by the sins of this people nay what sin is there that is not committed amongst this people which have professed the Scripture to be their rule and you that pretend to be their teachers are the greatest examples of their wicked practices Crying peace peace unto them when there is no peace one building a wall and another dawbing it with untempered morter but ye shall proceed no further but your folly shall be made manifest to all men Our rule is that whiâ—h Moses walked in and Abraham and David and all the Prophets which is Christ Jesus the light of the world which whosoever believeth not in him hath not God Moses walked in him Abraham believed in him and David delighted in his Law which is perfect and here we deny you who deny that rule in which the holy men of God walked in Second Principle That there is a God who is the Creator and Judge and Governor of the world and is to be known by Faith Answ The Saints God ye are ignorant of who put light for darkness and darkness for light and before him ye cannot stand in judgement who are found working wickedness making people believe that believing in a thing without them will bring them to the knowledge of God which none can know or understand but through death and if ever ye come to know this God whom the Saints worship in Spirit and Truth ye must witness a day of vengeance to pass through therefore stop your mouths ye proud and lustful ones the day of recompence is come in which ye shall receive double for all your wickedness The Lord is our Iudge our Law-giver and our King and this we witness though we had never seen the Scripture And here we deny you and your principles which is no more than that which the world professeth Therefore be ye ashamed ye wicked and ungodly ones who live in the beastly nature who knows no more of God than what ye have without in the Scriptures which they spoke forth that witnessed him before the Scriptures were written him we own and witness to be our King by him we are redeemed out of your generation glory to his name for ever who hath made himself manifest in us and hath brought us to that which was before the Scripture was Third Principle That this God who is Creator is eternally distinct from all other Creatures in his being and blessedness Ans God ye know not neither can ye see him but are found persecutors of him who would divide him from what he is by heathenish inventions which ariseth out of the corrupt sensual part which never shall inherit the Kingdom The being of God is not distinct from them that are begotten by him For as the Father and the Son are one without distinction so are they that are begotten by him and here you perverters of the truth are shut forth from God with all your distinctions and imaginations which ariseth out of the dark mind by which ye have all this while deceived the people Woe unto you ye enemies of God your foundation your compass and your end is made manifest unto the children of light who would divide God from his children whom he hath begotten unto himself through the word of faith in which we live and abide for ever And here I challenge you before the Lord to produce one Scripture which speaks of God being distinct from them that are begotten by him and if you cannot prove your words by plain Scripture let shame cover your faces and stop your mouthes for ever And for your fourth thing That God is three persons or substances this is also another of your lies never such a word is declared of in Scripture and thus have you made your folly manifest to all men and have cleared your selves from the Scriptures God is a mystery in whom the foundation of all things stands and he is but one in all though ten thousand times ten thousand Woe unto ye you perverters of the truth who blinds the eyes of the simple making them believe your imaginations and conceivings in stead of truth and this you run to the powers of the earth to propagate Ye men of sin did ever the Prophets declare of such Gospel as this or did ever the Apostles preach any such doctrine as this which ye would compel people to believe and would have the powers of the earth to propagate Here I challenge you again to prove your example
p. 68. That when the life of Jesus is made manifest the substance of all figures is come there is no more observing them And two lines after they say Who are here in their state denies all the carnal outward observances and traditions And in the 32 page of that book they say speaking of the Ministry that they bewitch men in telling them of carnal meanes and call Ordinances a graven image and an Idol and as for Baptism in particular they say Christ did not send forth his Disciples to sprinkle a little dirty water upon childrens faces as your filthy dreamers do and they say Christ did not mention any water to his Disciples when he sent them forth So that here is no baptism with water at all neither for one nor other and thereupon call it a beastical tradition which was never commanded Truths Defence p. 98. And in the next page being demanded whether Christ did not institute his last supper with bread and wine For answer they tell the Querist The cup which thou drinkest we deny 〈…〉 or thy cup is the cup of devils and thy table is a table of devils which is an idol and an imitation and thy sacrifice is to devils and not to God And as for Prayer I suppose Reader if thou wouldst pray to God for any thing thou wouldst pray to him for Grace but that they say is a tempting of God because the grace of God hath appeared to all men freely Truths Defence pag. 65. Indeed they speak it there of all means in generall And many can witness their expressions in this kind Reader I have done with this and I suppose in these few lines it appears that they offer violence also to all the Ordinances of the Gospel And now what sayst thou to the whole matter Are not these thinkest thou these Locusts that are come forth upon the opening of the bottomles pit mentioned Rev. 9. with whom comes forth a smoak by which the sun and the air are darkned Read there their description Certainly the King that rules in them and over them is no other then that Abaddon Apollyon mentioned there v. 11. Vastator that destroyer that dissolver as the word signifies of all religion and duty And surely were I perswaded that the Book of the Revelation were written for the Meridian of England I should be also perswaded that these were the Beast mentioned v. 13. to whom was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies who opened his mouth in blasphemy against God to blaspheme his name and his tabernacle and all that dwell therein Never men spake higher blasphemies with more or so much confidence and impudence against God and Christ and Gospel then these wretches do except those that are profest enemies to Christ and Christianity And therefore so much the more abominable in that under the name and vizor and disguise of Christian religion they dissolve and destroy all Which is that which makes it a mysterie of iniquity and is indeed the very name and title of that great Deceiver The Antichrist Rev. 17. 5. Upon her forehead was writen a name Mysterie Babylon the great The mother of harlots and abomination of the earth And though he hath horns like the lamb yet he speaks as a dragon Rev. 13. 11. And he doth great wonders so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men and deceives them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles v. 13 14. But Reader there is one mark of the Beast upon these wretches which I must needs mind thee of before I leave them which I find in the first of Tim. 4. beginning which because it so fully sets them forth I 'le give thee in the words Now the Spirit speaks expresly and therfore you may expect it that in the latter times some shall depart from the Faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrins of Devils speaking lyes in hypocrisie having their Consciences seared with a hot iron forbiding to marry and to abstain from meats c. They speak lies in hypocrisie and what 's this But to dissemble and to deceive to jugle and play the cheater speaking one thing and meaning another to speak plain words that other men use But with a reserved sense to themselves of their own coyning So that no man knows how in an ordinary way to understand them they pretend to speak and approve of the truth but they lie and play the deceivers not using words in that sense they are usually taken and commonly understood And if ever men were guilty of this kinde of hypocrisie these Quakers are It would be endless to trace them all along I 'le instance in one or two by which thou maist judge of them in other things they speak It s usual with them to say they own the Scriptures yea we confirm we establish the Scriptures c. Yea that they do And they witness the Scripture Now an honest man that means plainly would think that they held forth nothing but what is in and agreeable to the Scriptures and that they did believe the Scriptures which we call our Bible to be the written Word of God And the rule of a Christian to walk by in things to be believed and practised And that whoso walks accordingly shall be saved And that whoso doth not cannot be saved Thus I dare say honest plain hearted men would think by those words to be their meaning But these wretches speak lies in hypocrisie they mean otherwise they say in express words elsewhere The Scriptures are not the Saints rule of knowing God and living unto him Answer to the first Principle in their sword drawn here before Printed I will not quarrel them as I might for mangling the Principle and so altering the sense But what sayst thou Reader to their own words do these men establish the Scripture in thy sense and the usual sense of that word do not they presently say that to affirm the Scriptures to be the Rule is to put darkness for light and light for darkness What mean they then by the Scripture Not the written word without But that word that light that is within and which every man hath that comes into the world but that some stiflle it This is the Rule This is the Scripture The Scripture in its right place The Scriptures are not laid aside say they but witnessed every Scripture in its place i. e. within So they pag. 13 14. Let all see say they you to be lyars whether we do no set the Scriptures in the heart of every one How they tell you in the next words For say they every one having the light within which shews his evil deeds which light is his condemnation that hates it And brings up to salvation where followed as elsewhere often And this say they is Scripture within The Scripture without is not their Scripture We believe his Doctrine say they not an outward testimony
faith in the 14 of John v. 12. Verily verily I say unto you he that believeth on me the work that I do he shall do also and greater works then these because I go to the Father But all these Scriptures be hid from thine eyes and thou art one of those that Isaiah prophesied on and that Scripture is fulfilled on thee which saith He hath blinded their eyes and hardned their heart that they should not see with their eyes nor understand with their hearts Now blessed be the Lord that hath discovered thee and such blind guides as thou art so we have answered thy Queries in the eternal light and life of God and we have given judgement upon thee and them which thou shalt eternally witness without roving or wandring but thou who art out of the light art roving and wandring and stumbling in darkness who hath put forth these stumbling Queries which we have answered lovingly and plainly and in the Scripture language and terms and with the eternal light and life of God set thee in thine own place which thou shalt eternally witness These are matters of great concernment and if you refuse to answer them in writing spare your tongues and spare your papers for I will henceforth neither hear the one nor read the other Ans Thou saith these are matters of great concernment we see that that which makes thee manifest and such as thou art and which laies thee open to poor ignorant people which is deceived by thee and led into the ditch and their souls kept in death by thee to make this manifest is of great concernment as these black dark stumbling Queries and thy conjured words hath done which thou hast no Scripture for as ambiguity efficacy exclusively antecede and non-imputation assume and assumption Now let all people read and consider what they do that hold such as thee up who is shut out from God and shut out from the Saints life and language and art shut out of the Scriptures though thou makes a trade of them for money and deceives poor people but thou knows nothing of the Life and Power that gave them forth So thou art to be condemned with the Light and with the Life that gave forth the Scripture Let all people read Deuteronomy 18. from the nineth verse to the fifteenth there the Priests and the Levites which was ordained of God was to have no inheritance among the people but the Lord was their inheritance and they were to have it of that which was offered up to the Lord. And this is a figure of the Everlasting Priesthood which ministers out of the Everlasting Treasure and the Lord God commanded Israel that not to do as they did when they came into the Land nor to go after their abominations as you may see But gave Israel their Land to possess that did hearken unto such as the Lord had not sent which was abomination to him And the Lord saith to Israel Thou shalt be perfect with the Lord thy God Vers 15. The Lord thy God will raise unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee of thy Brethren like unto me unto him shall ye hearken and so to the end of the Chapter He that hath an eye may see and the Lord is the same that he was and he will not suffer the abominations that is committed in this Land but is discovering the abominations of it A horrible and a filthy thing is committed which Jeremiah cried against Covetous men preach Drunkards preach Swearers preach Liers preach Strikers preach and Proud men preach O wonderful where is your eyes Try your Priests by the Scriptures see if they be not found in the same Generation that all the false Prophets and the Deceivers were in which the true Prophets of God cryed against and discovered and in the steps of the Scribes and Pharisees that Christ cryed wo against and see if they be not the Antichrists and the Deceivers which are entred into the world which John speaks of which cannot confess Christ come in the flesh but transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ so hath not God neither knows but preaches for sin and against perfection and denies the light which enlightens every one that cometh into the world and so keeps people in blindness and ignorance and out of the knowledge of God and never any that follows them shall ever come to the knowledge of the true and living God therefore all people see where you are and minde the light in your Consciences which is pure and which testifieth against all sin and it will let you see all your blinde guides which deceives you to be in sin and ignorant of God for they deny that which should make him manifest therefore beware what you hold up and give over going after them to that in your Consciences I speak which shall witness me eternally to speak the truth if you obey it and shall condemn you eternally if you disobey it These blinde guides that are in this Land denies the Prophets which Moses wrote of which is the substance of the Priesthood which was before and here they are found in the same generation in the Sorcery and in the Witchcraft which the Lord commanded should be put out of the Land where the children of Israel went to possess And now the other Paper I commend to thy reading is this THE Sword of the Lord Drawn and Furbish'd against the MAN OF SIN OR Something in Answer to a Paper set forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are THOMAS GOODWIN and one NYE and SYDRACH SYMPSON which they have put forth to the propagating of the Gospel signed by him that is the Clerk of the Parliament whose name is HENRY SCOBEL With their deceits and deceitful actings laid open and cleered from Scripture that they have no example in Scripture for their practice Therefore I was moved by the Lord God of life to lay open their deceit by the spirit of truth as it was made manifest in me from the Lord that the simple might not be deceived by them but might have the knowledg of the Truth from that which is for ever and shall not change nor fade away By one whose name in the flesh is Christopher Atkinson who am one whom the World doth scornfully call a QUAKER LONDON Printed and are to be sold by Giles Calvert c. 1654. The Sword of the Lord drawn and furbished against the Man of Sin THere coming a Paper unto my hands put forth by three of the chief Priests of London whose names are Tho. Goodwin one Nye and Sydrach Simpson called the Principles of Faith put forth to the Committee of Parliament for the propagating of the Gospel as they call it and finding them out of the Apostles rule and the Prophets rule acting those things which they have no example for therefore am I moved of the Lord to lay open their deceits and to declare the living truth of God