one Yet are we to understand this union to be onely in a way of relation through participation of the same Spirit and this dwelling to be onely in respect of grace and powerful operation and influence working in the hearts of believers according to the tenor of the New Covenant in making men holy and humble purifying their hearts causing them to walk in all good conscience towards God and man all which by them is trampled under foot and another kind of union and indwelling driving at in their discourses which although covertly expressed until by craft and subtilty they have prepared the hearts of simple and unstable souls to receive whatsoever they shall suggest unto them yet then is openly discovered being indeed the root of all bitternesse and desperate prophanenesse and blasphemy that can be imagined in the world for from thence they conclude that themselves are God and Christ and what God is they are and what they are God is for say they there is no spirit but one and so deny any created Angel or Spirit holding upon the same account the living soul in man to be uncreated and so consequently to be God himself and not created by God Now this being the ground-work of their delusion the building is answerable For first concluding the reasonable soul to be God Secondly they affirm that this soul being cloathed with their humane bodies or flesh is Christ or God in flesh hereupon they imagine that Jesus Christ spoken of in the Gospel as being born of the Virgin Mary accused by the Jews delivered by Pilate to be crucified dying at Ierusalem upon the Crosse rising the third day and ascending into Heaven is only to be understood Parabolically or Figuratively speaking of one thing and intending another pointing at and prefiguring a work only within us conceiving the Virgin Mary the Iewes Pilate Ierusalem the Crosse Christ rising and ascending spoken of in the Scriptures to be all within them and no such thing substantially or in truth without As they conclude all things spoken of Christ to be but in a Typical or Figurative manner intending and typifying out this God within or God incarnate in their flesh still meaning their reasonable souls conceiving this to be the substance of all those shadows so also upon this ground they are forced to conclude the whole New Testament with all the Doctrines Laws Rules and Administrations of the same to be but a shadow or figure holding forth a substance within As for instance Moses and Aaron being but figures of the substantial Saviour and Priest to come so the administrations of Moses as Mosaical were but fleshly and carnal administrations to be abolished when the substance was come they being only shadows of good things to come in like manner do they understand Christ in his Person to be but a shadow of Christ within and all his heavenly and spiritual Gospel to be but a letter and carnal History put to an end and abolished when they once come to apprehend that the substance of all is within they coming also to believe that the soul is God do thence infer that they are perfect and that they are in an happy estate as can be for this they urge 1 Cor. 15. 24. to the 28 verse to shew when the Kingdome is delivered up to the Father and then Christ ceaseth his Mediatorship and consequently all his New Testament ceaseth Now they conclude that all this is accomplished when they come to discern there is but one Spirit and their soul that Spirit which is God and then they are in the possession of all things And seeing that the Scripture declares that before our full possession of God and glory there must be a temporal death and resurrection of the body and eternal judgment they upon the former grounds judging themselves already glorified do understand this death of the body in all such Scriptures mystically and that the resurrection and eternal judgement are passed already in the soul as Hymeneus and Philetus did 2 Tim. 2. 18. compared with 1 Tim. 1. 19. Thence also they conclude that faith and justification by Christ together with all the Ordinances of Christ are abolished as fleshly forms like unto Christ that appointed them above and without all which they triumphantly in their own fancies live when they once have attained this supereminent life as they spâ—ak as being in the full fruition of God comprehending that infinite being which they blasphemously affirm themselves to do intruding themselves into things they are altogether ignorant of Hereupon it is that they as Peter saith scoffe at any second coming of Christ 2 Pet. 3. 3 4. and mock at the holy Scriptures those heavenly Oracles of God denying them to be the Word of God or that Law by which they ought to confirm their lives conceiving and uttering that there is no Law nor Rule but what is in man his light being his only Law that is to say whatever that spirit that dwelleth within which they call God within dictates to them that ought to be done by them strengthning themselves with this opinion that there is no sin but what contradicts a mans own light which is a mans only Law and sinne is onely sin to him that thinks it so and that there is no Hell but that torment that men sustain through crossing their own light which God knows is nothing but thick darknesse And then they proceed to discover the wretched effect of this damnable doctrine in the unclean lives and conversations of the followers of them which by the practises spoken against I apprehend to be intended against the Ranters that abominable crew of Religious Villains pardon the expression And I confesse these practises are the most natural issue of those opinions and doe most freely flow from them especially from the tail or hinder part on 't But when I had read some of the Quakers papers I found them building upon the same foundation and making use of the same principles and materials And I could not but observe the artifice and skill of Satan like a cunning workman employing the same stuffe to several outwardly seeming ends and purposes but in the effect and issue the same viz. destruction which is his proper work and busines for the Ranters make use of them to boulster up themselves in all manner of lusts and sensuality without scruple of conscience And the Quakers improve them to seeming holinesse and mortification to secure themselves in a proud humility which not repented of casts down to Hell as readily as the former And here Reader let 's make a stand awhile and consider what saist thou Is not here a mysterie of iniquity Is not here the head of the Serpent that old Serpent that deceived our first Parents in Paradise to the fall and what in him lay utter ruine of all mankind And is not this the tail of that great red Dragon that draws and casts down a third part of the starres of
walk not after the flesh but after and according to the spirit And whereas we were under â—in God made him who knew no sin in himself to be sin for us by impuâ—ation that we might be made the righteousnesse of God in him in like manner And whereas we by reason of that sin were under the curse he was made a curse for us that he might redeeme us from that curse that so we might inherit the blessing therefore the Lord having laid hold on our surety who is mighty to save and to deliver being man that he might suffer in the same nature and in the behalfe of those that had sinned And God that he might make full satisfaction to God that was offended The Lord I say having thus laid hold upon our able suretie laid and charged upon him all our iniquities bruising and almost breaking his gracious heart with the hellish terrours of divine revenge and justice where he made his righteous soul an offering for sin So sharp and hot were the flames thereof that it made the maker of the whole creation grone and cry out my God my God why hast thou forsaken me A speech more dreadful fuller of astonishment then if the whole frame of heaven and earth all men angels had been tumbling headlong into everlasting torments for in this God had not forsaken himselfe but his creature onely but in that wrath was kindled beyond the finite apprehension of the creature here God as it were forsook and left himself Christ being God one God with the father blessed and beloved for ever And yet my God my God why hast thou forsaken me And here behold and see and in seeing weep was there ever sorrow like unto this sorrow which Christ suffered in the day of his fathers wrath and fury And again behold and see and in seeing rejoyce that Christ suffered these sorrows as our surety Surely he hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows he was wounded for our transgressions he was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement of our peace was upon him and with his stripes we are healed All we like sheep have gone astray and he hath laid upon him the iniquities of us all And thus was God in and with Christ in his everlasting decree Covenant and consent roconciling the world unto himself by that one sacrifice and offering whereby through the eternal spirit he offered up his life and shed his blood upon the Crosse a sacrifice for sin to reconcile us unto God For without shedding of blood there is no forgivenesse of sin to be expected Obedience to the Law because short imperfect cannot effect it make man right and perfect But now by this one offering up of the body of christ once for all he hath perfected for ever those that are sanctified separated and set apart for God So that Messiah the Prince of our peace and the Authour of our eternal salvation being thus cut off by death hath confirmed the Covenant made between him and his Father having finished the satisfaction for transgression and made an end of the reign of sin by making reconciliation for iniquity and bringing in an everlasting righteousnesse To the end that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have everlasting life So that now there is no condemnation to them that are by believing in Christ Jesus for the Law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath freed them from the Law of sin and death for this was the Covenant between Christ and the father that when he should have made his soul an offering for sin the pleasure of the Lord by him thereby fulfilled should take so good effect and so prosper under his hand that he should prolong his dayes and see a seed a holy seed he should see and enjoy that which his soul travelled for and should be satisfied for all his sufferings The reward whereof was this sc that by the knowledge of and faith in him who in that work was his Fathers righteous Servant he should justifie acquit many even as many as believe in him from all their sins by bearing the guilt and punishment of their iniquities in his body on the tree of the Crosse whereof assurance is given in that he raised him from the dead for it was impossible that he should be holden or detained by the grave who finished the work that his Father had given him to do viz. by suffering the heel of his humanity to be bruised by Sathan that to break the head and chief of all his designs which was to keep man captive for ever in his Kingdom of darknesse So that by suffering death Christ hath destroyed him that had the power of death that is the Devil And thereby delivered them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to Sathans tyranny and bondage And now though the Devil accuse lay sin to the charge of Gods Elect yet God himself doth and must justifie them And whosoever condemns 't is not much to be valued for it is Christ that died yea rather that is risen again for he died for our sins and rose again for our justification having thus wrought the work of everlasting righteousnesse whereof the world may be clearly convinc'd to full satisfaction in that he is ascended unto his Father we see him no more for certainly had he not satisfied and made full payment and reconciliation he must have come again and died again yea again he must have been often offered up as the sacrifices under the Law were But his blood being the blood of God was of more worth value efficacy then the blood of all the sacrifices in the world And now having broken the prison dores of death and led Sathan who held us in captivity captive and openly triumphed over him on the Crosse he is now set down at the right hand of God in glory there to rule untill he hath subdued all his enemies not only to himself as then he had done but also to all his people there compleating his Priestly office by appearing in the presence of God and making intercession for them And by his Spirit as their king ruling in and over them untill the time of restitution and setting all things right when he shall gloriously come in great majesty to judge all men and to render to every one according to their deservings In the mean while a poor believer though in and of himself worthy of nothing but wrath and death hell may through that interest he hath in Christ by believing come boldly to God and plead that righteousness which is every way adequat and proportionate to divine justice And God in justice with all humble yet faithfull
reverence be it spoken must acquit the man though in himself ungodly for payment being made satisfaction given by the surety it is but just that the debtor be acquitted and discharged shall not the judge of all the world do right yea God is just and will declare his righteousnesse by justifying him that believeth in Jesus Now God the Father having thus reconciled the world unto himself by Christ for the farther carrying on of this work commits the ministery and service of this reconciliation to his Apostles and Ministers in their successive generations who as Heralds and Ambassadors authorized and commissionated by him should publish and in his na e preach the glad tydings of salvation this everlasting Gospell And to let all men even the Gentiles see what hope there is of their fellowship and participation of the blessings and benefits of this mysterie of godlinesse which from the begining of the world have bin hid in God who created all things by Jesus Christ no nation people or person being now excluded or shut out the partition wall of Jewish ordinances being broken down and both Jew Gentile bond and free male and female all may come drink freely of that well of salvation which Christ hath opened for all persons that will come unto him whereof for his part he is so free being no niggard of his blood and merits that he intreats all to come and partake of And by his servants making a full tender of himself as Priest Prophet and King to all that will receive him And to as many as thus receive him giving them right power and just claime to become the sons of God and heires of the kingdome which he had purchased But now man by his fall being dead in the dark yea darknesse it self and so in his natural state and blindness unable to receive and comprehend this glorious and gracious mysterie of being righteous by anothers righteousness and of being saved by anothers sufferings all men Jewes and Gentiles doting and being fruitlesly set upon seeking life and happiness by their own doings and performances Therefore together with the revelation of this mysterie by the ministry of his servants sent for that purpose Christ over and above that common work of the Spirit by which he enlightens every man that comes into the world gives unto those who are given him of the Father and who are to be called according to the eternal decree and purpose which he purposed in himself and whereby he surely knowes those that are and shal be his to them he gives a mind and understanding to know him and to receive him and to be in him and to be one with him who is the true God and eternal life And now a believer having Christ who is eternal life hath eternal life in and by Christ whereas those who thus have him not sc by believing have not eternal life because what in them lies they make God a liar not entertaining and closing with that testimony and record that he gave of his son which was that in him he was well pleased not onely with him for so he could not but be in justice forhe had never offended him But in him he was well pleased being in mercy and loving kindnes satisfied for the sins of all those who come unto God by him who therefore are received as sons and daughters by free grace and adoption And now that those who thus believe in Christ might have the witness in themselvs of their Sonship because they are sons God sends forth the Spirit of his Son into their hearts whereby they are imboldned to call upon God as Sons crying Abba Father being thereunto the more imboldned because by the same Spirit they are sealed and marked out unto the day of redemption And which is given to them as a pledge and earnest in hand for an assurance to them of their full inheritance when their adoption and son-ship shall be compleated by the redemption of their bodies from the power of Corruption as now their soules are from the reign and power of sin The same spirit also in the meane time leading them into all saving truth comforting them in all their troubles and helping them in all their infirmities And thus hath a Believer in himself the testimony both of blood and of the spirit witnessing to and with his spirit that he is a son and child of God But then as there are three in Heaven that bear record and give testimony to this great mysterie of godliness sc The Father the word the holy Ghost So there are must be three witnesses on earth i. The heart of a true believer before the work can be compleated which are three the Spirit Blood and Water For Christ came not by blood alone for justification nor by water onely for sanctification but by water and blood both which Sacramentally flowed forth from his precious body when he hung upon the Crosse a Sacrifice for our redemption thereby shewing forth the end of his suffering viz. both the justification sanctification of his people And therefore he that hath not the witness testim within himself of all three hath not the witness of either he whose heart conscience cannot witnes to him his faith believing in that blood of Christ shed for his justification cannot have the witness of this blood as water for cleanâ—ing and sanctification For Christ sanctifies none but whome he justifies he whose heart cannot witnes to him his faith operating on the blood of Christ as water for sanctification canot have the testimony of blood and his interest in it for justification For Christ justifies none but he also sanctifies the n. And he that hath not the testimony and witnesse in himself of his intrest in blood and water for justification sanctification cannot have the testimony and witnesse of the spirit sealing for these three agree in one all beare witness to one the same truth sc Christs comming dying to redeeme us from sin and all iniquity both in the guilt and in the filth of it both from the condemnation and from the domination of sin For the grace of God which bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teacheth us that denying ungodlinesse and world y lusts we shâ—ud live soberly righteously and godlily in this present world looking for that blessed hope and glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ who gave himself for us that he might redeeme us from all iniquity and purifie unto himself a peculiar and choice people zealous of good works And for asmuch as no uncleane person can enter into the Kingdome of Heaven where the inheritance is For know ye
not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdome of God Be not deceived neither Fornicators nor Idolators nor Adulterers nor Effeminate nor Theeves nor Covetous nor Drunkards nor Revilers nor Extortioners shall inherit the Kingdome of God and of Christ For there shall in no wise inherit there any thing that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie Therefore Christ who hath purchas'd his Church doth also purifie it and cleanse it that he might present it unto himself a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing but that it should be holy without blemish For they are redeemed from their vaine Conversation which they learned from their Fathers and do not after they have once learned Christ and have heard him and are taught by him in truth and as the truth is in him they do not walk as other people walking in the vanities of their darkned minds being through the ignorance that is in them strangers from the life of God But being renewed in the spirits of their mind and the Image of God being restored in them by the power of their new creation in and by Christ Jesus they put off as to their former conversation and manner of life the old man which is corrupt by deceitfull lusts formerly mentioned But they now also put off all this lying and defrauding and stealing and bitternesse and wrath anger clamor evill-speaking foolish talking and unfitting jesting And putting on the new man they now use such language that do edifie and built up others in holinesse and such as ministers grace to the hearers Their conversation being now without Covetousnesse and such as becomes the Gospel And according to their hopes and expectation as knowing that though God of free grace chose them from the beginning to salvation yet the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ must be by and through the sanctification of the spirit and belief of the truth and saithfull obedience And now acknowledging no other Soveraigne but Christ and acted by a spirit of love as sons they live to him who died for them being contented to be or to be accounted any thing so Christ may be glorified in them and by them whether by life or by death And having no confidence in the fesh or fleshy priviledges they worship God in the spirit and rejoyce in Christ Jesus Counting all things losse and dung in comparison of the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus their Lord that they might obtaine him and be sound in him not having their own righteousness which is of the law or by the law of working but that righteousnesse which is by believing in Christ the righteousnesse which is of God by faith And although they know that whiles they are in the flesh they shall not be in all things perfect yet forgetting that which is behind that to which they have already attained as not answerable to their longings they presse forwards more and more toward perfection grieving under their imperfections and longing to be disburthened until they reach the mark they ayme at the price of their high calling whereunto God hath called them in by Christ Jesus desiring in the meane time so to know him by an operative and effectuall knowledge and the power of his resurrection and to have communion and fellowship with him in his sufferings that being conformed to him in his death they might by all or any attaine their part and portion in the blessed resurrection And to this duty of holy walking a believer holds himself bound by his very profession for having by baptisme put on Christ and Christian profession he thereby engages himself as the Jew by circumcision to keepe the whole law so he by baptisme to believe observe and keepe the whole Gospel That very ordinance in its intent purport and signification directing him and pointing out unto him his duty as one specially interested in the ends and benefits of Christs death thereby sealed and signified So that he doth and must conlude that where sin had abounded and reigned in him before even unto death that there now grace and favour through Christs righteousnes doth reign much more to eternall life yet he dares not he may not still continue in his sin that grace might stil abound Nay he concludes as it is indeed it is impossible For how shall they that are dead to sin and so have no more to do with it live any longer therein for they know if they know any thing that as many as are baptized into Jesus Christ thereby baptized into his death buriall and resurrection are baptized and thereby engaged not only to the name profession and calling of Christ and Christianity and to own him in these particular actings But also if they expect to finde reall benefit by the worth and merit of them that they finde the reall and efficacious fruit of all these powerfully by the spirit working in them So that he concludes the death of Christ to be the death of sin And the resurrection of Christ the resurrection of the life of his grace holines Reckoning himself now no longer debtor to live unto the flesh and its corruption but debtor to live unto the spirit and its holy motions And having alwaies an eye to the great love of Christ who by his death and blood shedding hath thus redeemed him He cannot but often thinke upon him and thankefully remember him in and by that ordinance which he appointed in an especiall manner a little before his death for that very purpose wherein he publikely owns him and makes profession to the world of his faith and hope and rejoycing in him And thus Reader thou hast a little of much more that might be written of this great mysterie of godlinesse in which thou hast a rude delineation of Gods method in restoring fallen man into his favour through the whole progresse whereof as is easily perceiveable there runs a continued line and cord of free grace and mercy thus contrived and ordered by him for a threefold reason The first reason respects God himself who hath ordered it in this manner is that he alone might have all the praise the glory If salvation had been attainable by the law of working man might have had somewhat whereof to have boasted and gloried in himself For although that working had come infinitely short in proportion to the reward proposed And although that reward therefore was but upon a free promise And so only to be claimed Not through the worthinesse of the work or worker And although that work had been performed but by strength received from him by whom the reward was promised yet if man had performed the condition on his part required the Lord would
DISCOVERED From the Writings and Speakings of a Company of Spirituall Juglers called QVAKERS WHEREIN Their Cheats are manifested to the World for the reducing of those they have seduced and the establishment of such as by Gods mercy are not yet taken in their Snares By Ra Farmer a Servant of that Jesus Christ that was crucified at Jerusalem above sixteen hundred years agoe LONDON Printed in the Yeare MDCLV A Prefatory word of advice to the seduced Followers of the seducing QVAKERS Friends DId you never see Hocus Pocus playing his prancks of Legerdemain and deceptions of the sight perswading people they see that which is not such spiritual Juglers Juglers in spiritual things are come among you and if you look not to your selves you will be cheated by these worse then by others there you lose a little money here your souls if I have endevoured to discover them that you may know and avoid them I hope you will not be angry If you be and be so long you are more then angry you are mad And its common to mad men to be offended with their Physitian yet he must not cease his work It was the great blessing God gave to mankind at first to have one language that all might understand one another for words are the Interprâ—ters of the mind and heretofore for the proud attempts of the sons of men God came down and confounded their languages so that though they meant the same things and things retained the same names and nature yet by the obscurity of their newly gotten expressions they understood not one anothers meaning and so upon the matter were as bad as dumb one unto another So that when the Brick-layer cald for morter the Labourer apprehended a trowel and when he cald for his rule he would bring him a hammer this would make mad work you 'l say and so it did it brought all to a Babel confusion And now since by the blessings of the Almighty this confusion of tongues is pretty wellhealed by the reconciling of languages and bringing words to some commonly received significations and intimations what do those men do but build Babylon agen who have brought up a jugling trick of speaking one thing and yet meaning another this is the practise of the Quakers and that discovery of it is the subject matter of this following discourse And this I drive at in it to let thee know that many times most times when they speak of God and Christ and Scriptures c. They do not mean that God and Christ and Scriptures that thou dost and other men wise men godly men do They do not mean a God and Christ and Scriptures without thee but within thee onely 'T is very plausible and seems to have much piety godlinesse in it what will any man dare to speak against God within us and Christ within us and Scripture within us and Ordinances within us they are sure Seducers false Prophets idol-shepheards these will never convert souls They in the letter and they speak onely the letter here 's no life no spirit no no come hither come and eat here 's a new Tree of Knowledg eat you shall be as Gods nay Gods equal with him all-sufficient in your selves A Light a God a Christ Scriptures Ordinances all within you and so within you as these without you are not worth looking after they be carnal fleshly yourimagined God beyond the Stars and your carnal Christ which you would make appear through your Heathenish Philosophy is utterly denyed you shall see by whom and to whom these words are vomited Friends I le onely say thus muck for I undertake not the confutation o so much as one of their opinions nor I think need I. To discover them is sufficient to render them abborred to all Christian ears I le onely say thus much Though God and Christ and Scriptures and Ordinances be and be never so glorious and excellent yet if they be not in thee in their life and power and efficatiously reforming and conforming vertue they are to thee as if they were not at all or worse but when ever they shall be in thee let the measures and degrees be never so high they will and must also be without thee and shall never be indistinctly the same with thee Waders you have need revive your old principles received from the word of truth and looke about you deceivers are come into the world and would cast a mist before your eyes that you may not perceive their end They often say they have somewhat to deliver which the world is not yet fit to receive I suppose I have discovered their meaning if they dursi speak out for thy most profitable reading whereof besides a few brief directions hereafter given thee concerning their manner of answering to the queries or questions proposed unto them let me here a little admonish and inform thee In all inquires after truth when a matter or question is proposed or demanded he that is to answer if he be willing to have the truths discovered doth either affirm and grant the question or deny it or in the third place if there be need distinguish and explain some words that may be doubtfull or have a double meaning And accordingly make his answer There is no fourth way But to be wholy silent or to shuffle and avoid the question by impertinent matter that is not to the thing purposed And such men that shall take this and their usuall way and course are to be accounted as prevaricators impostors and deceivers But is there no fourth way did I cry but silence and shuffling There are a generation of men have found out that way of equivocating and jugling even now mentioned sc To speak one thing and mean not the same thing which the words usually and in most mens sense and construction signifie Now observe in all their answers these quakers neither grant nor deny nor distinguish But constantly betake themselves for one of these two refuges of liers Either to avoid answering by talking nothing to the purpose Or if they do affirm or deny which is very seldome their words have another meaning then is intended thou in the question By the help of this observation thou maist trace and perceive Then in all their wrightings and arguings where any such is controverted or debated by or with them And much in all their speakings And if thou be now deceived by them the fault is much nay most if not altogether thine own who will so easily be led blindfold by such palpable deceivers impostors juglers This first onset of theirs is but to unsettle thee from off thy old If thou hold here a while they 'l come and compleat the work hereafter But I hope the Lord will stirre up the zeale of our Magistrates to stop the mouthes of blasphemers though they have regard as is fit to tender consciences however Reader do thy work And I 'le indeavoure to do mine and the Lord
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
by Scripture and where ever the holy men of God did divide him into three substances And if ye refuse to prove the same I proclaim as in the presence of the Lord that ye are perverters of the Scriptures and of the right way of the Lord and your propagating the Gospel and your principles are accursed from God having no example in Scripture Fifth Principle The fifth is That Christ is the Mediator between God and man without the knowledge of whom there is no salvation Answ Him we witness made manifest in us who is the Mediator but what have you to do to speak of his name or profess his words who are found in the steps of the Scribes Pharisees that put him to death who are called of men Master have uppermost rooms at feasts stand praying in the synagogues as they did that Christ cried wo against Math. 23. Thus you are separated from Christ who are not found in his doctrine and are found among the Heathen whom the condemnation is upon and the Scripture bare testimony against you that you are not in the doctrine of Christ but are found to be lyars 1 Joh. 2. â—2 and the acts of your fathers you are found acting And in the sixth you say that Christ is the true God Here you be witnesses against your selves that you divide the Father from the Son who you say is three distinct substances But the Lord will make you manifest ye that blindfold the simple by your subtilty and witchcraft making them believe lyes in stead of truth and would divide that in which there is no division for he that hath the Son hath the Father also This man Christ Jesus who was made with an oath the everlasting covenant the oath of God is not divided from him in whom the foundations stand for without this man Jesus was nothing made and as he was so he is He that hath an ear to hear let him hear And here Sottish minds your imagined God beyond the stars and your carnal Christ which you would make appear through your heathenish Philosophy is utterly denied and testisted against by the light which comes from Christ which ye resist as your forefathers have done And in your seventh Principle ye are laid open 1 Joh. 4. 2. Hereby know we the Spirit of God every spirit that confesseth Christ come in the flesh is of God and this is he that is one with the Father even Jesus Christ the man of God who was given for a covenant but him ye are enemies unto And whereas you say in the eighth that this Christ the man of God is God and Man in one person it is a lye He is not divided from what he was before the foundations of the hills were laid but him ye know not but as ye do imagine and the Heathens do and here you are shut forth from the Scriptures and from Christ and the new man which is witnessed in the sons of God Therefore stop your mouths for ever who would make people believe that believing in those words which are declared from the Life without the same spirit as they had that spoke them forth will bring them to the same knowledg of God And thus in your Ninth you have also shewed forth your ignorance and telling people that Christ hath paid a ransom for sin This is witnessed by the children of light but what have ye to do to take these words into your mouths that never yet came to repentance for sin and if ever you witness him a Redeemer you must witness the vengeance of God which is upon the man of sin But you men of sin who live in your filthiness shall receive your recompence from the hand of the Lord and this ye shall eternally witness whether you will hear or forbear And as for the eleventh that Christ being the onely God and man in one person remains for ever a distinct person from all Saints and Angels notwithstanding their union and communion with him your words are utterly denied and detested and your distinctions are abominable I challenge you from the Lord to prove such a thing in Scripture or else stop your mouths for ever for Christ Jesus is but one in all and not distinct and you that would divide him and them that are begotten by him are enemies unto him As for the twelfth That all men by nature are dead in trespasses and sins this is fulfilled in you and ye shall receive the wages of it ye men of sin whose ungodly practises are laid open and discovered to the children of light who have obtained the victory And I tell you plainly that vengeance of God hangs over your heads and the recompence of God shall be doubled upon you that live in your sins except ye repent ye shall likewise perish And whereas ye say ye are justified and saved by grace ye are they that have turned the grace of God into wantoness and holds the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ with respect of persons as is made manifest by you daily And in your last you say That to continue in any known sin under what pretence soever is damnable Here be you witnesses against your selves that ye are proud and that ye live in the practice of the world which is sin and seek for your gain from your quarters which is sin and the Lord sent his prophets to declare against such and the same woe from God is upon you that act the same things Isa 56. 11. And here your practice and example is found among the false prophets of Israel which the Lord sent his true prophets to declare against which received his word from his own mouth for which they were both persecuted and stoned by your generation which professed that in words which they persecuted in the Saints who witnessed the life and power of what they spake Thus have ye brought shame upon your selves ye deceitful workers who are professing that outwardly in words which ye are enemies to the life of So from the Scriptures ye are razed out and your bottom and foundation is made manifest to the children of light and your deceits are made manifest by them that walk in the light at which you are stumbling as your forefathers did though you profess the words declared from the light Thus have I returned an answer to your confused Paper lest you should boast your selves in your folly and blind the eyes of the simple by your heathenish inventions as ye have formerly done and have laid your shame open unto the simple-minded that they may discover and see your confusion And now a word unto you from whom this Paper was put forth Your spirits and your actings are contrary to the Spirit of Christ as having no example from him not his Apostles for it be ye ashamed and stop your mouthes from professing godliness who are found in the pride and in the wickedness of this world out of which the Ministers of