not a falling into Sin but a falling into Affliction Secondly He perverted that Scripture 1 John 1.8 If we say that we have no Sin we deceive our selves and the Truth is not in us Thirdly He urged that the Apostle Paul said When he would do Good Evil was present with him and how to perform that which was Good he found not Fourthly He alledged that All Men have their Failings and the best of Men their Infirmities as may be read in the Scriptures instancing David and others The Perversions of these Scriptures I may well call Satan's Props for he propped up his Kingdom in me a great while by them and so begat me into the World's belief That there is No Perfection here no Freedom from Sin to be expected on this side the Grave And then I began to make merry over the Witness of God in my self But the Lord did not leave me there but in tender compassion visited me and his holy Witness began to arise again in me and to strike at those Props which the Enemy had set up in me And this holy Witness said that unless I was regenerated and born again I could not inherit the Kingdom of Heaven Then I began to see there was nothing but Purity and Holiness could stand before the Lord For all things are naked and bare before him And then I cried out for a Deliverer one that could redeem me from that which was too great a Burden for me to bear as one once said A wounded Spirit who can bear Prov. 18.14 But I could then see no way of Deliverance but being exceedingly troubled I went from Mountain to Hill from hearing this sort of People to the other But among them all there was none did speak Peace to my weary Soul nor could unless I could have had Peace in my Sins which I could not For all of them cryed out No Freedom from Sin on this side of the Grave But I felt a necessity for it else I could not injoy Peace with the Lord which made me still cry out for a Deliverer In this great distress being turned with my Face Sion-ward and inquiring the way thether I was at length through the abundant Goodness of the Lord who led me inclined to go to a Meeting of the People called Quakers where I did hear a Servant of the Lord declare that That which reproveth and condemneth a Man in himself for Sin and will not let him go on in Sin without reproof is the Light of Christ who is the Light of the World which enlightneth every Man that cometh into the World that all Men through him might believe and so come to be saved from Sin And that this Light which doth convince of Sin Obedience being yielded to it will redeem out of Sin and preserve and keep from Sin And I having a Witness for God in me it did testifie to the Truth of what was declared and I was then by it convinced that That was the Way of God and Those were the People of God But I thought I saw a Lion in the Way and that there was a great Cross to be taken up Yet I found if I could be delivered from that which was so great a Burden to me I could be contented to undergo a great deal From that time forward I still kept to the Meetings of the People of the Lord who are at this time distinguish'd by the Name Quakers as the People of the Lord were in Ages past called Christians Which Name is now given to Drunkards and Swearers and all manner of prophane Persons and by the Sons of Belial one to another so that the Name Christian is become a reproach amongst them that are called Heathens through the Blasphemy of those that have covered themselves with the Name Christian but do not live the Christian Life Now keeping to the Meetings of the Lord's People I did there hear many Declarations testifying to the Power of the Lord what it had wrought for his Servants in this Age and likewise what he do for all those who are faithful and obedient in this day of his Power Yet still Sin remained in me and that was my great Weight and Burden But now knowing where Strength and Power was a Secret Hope wat raised up in me and a Belief that All things are possible with the Lord. So I committed my Self and Cause to the Lord having had Experience that my own Strength was altogether in-sufficient For when the Judgments of the Lord have been upon me I have often made large Promises in my own will that I would resist the Enemy when he came but I could never prevail by my own strength or any thing set up in my own will while that was standing But now having listed my self under an another Commander my old Master was enraged and comes with his usual Boldness and Confidence to demand Entrance and being denied he makes use of his former Weapons but was disappointed and driven back by the Power of the Lord Glory be unto his holy Name for ever For I keeping or rather being kept to that which did make it manifest to me to be Sin it furnished me with this Weapon against him viz. Walk in the Spirit and thou shalt not fulfill the Lust of the Flesh And so the Enemy was chased away by the Spirit of the Lord who had lifted up a Standard in me against him And he being thus put to flight there did arise Joy unutterable in my Soul feeling the work of the Lord begun in me And so continuing faithful and obedient to the Lord he hath by his mighty Power redeemed me from that which once I did believe I could never be redeemed from Praises Praises be given unto the Omnipotent God who reigns for ever For that which formerly was so pleasant and delightful to me and was as my Meat and Drink is now become hateful and abominable in my thoughts Glory be to the Lord for ever whose Mercy is over all his works and is not to be forgotten by those that have tasted of it Yet the Enemy would not leave me so but going up and down like a roaring Lion seeking whom he may devour he comes and presents his Temptations again though the main Pillar of his Kingdom was broken down in me So now he goes another way to work and sets before me the difficulty and straitness of the Way I was to walk in For my nearest and dearest Relations would be great Enemies to me and would slight and contemn me whereas before I was well beloved and esteemed by and amongst them and they were ready and willing to do me what kindness they could And if I would now turn fool at last and disoblige my Friends and so leave my Wife and Children to the Mercy of the World who would pity me For he that takes not care for his Family is worse than an Infidel And said the Enemy if thou wert of any other Religion but a Quaker thy
A TESTIMONY TO THE Power of God Being Greater than the Power of Satan Contrary to all those who hold No Perfection here No Freedom from Sin on this side of the Grave Which Doleful Doctrine is here Testified against By a Witness of the Power of God against the Power of Satan Richard Baker When a strong Man armed keepeth his Palace his Goods are in peace But when a stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome him he taketh from him all his Armour wherein he trusted and divideth the Spoils Luke 11.21 22. I am the Almighty God Walk before me and be thou perfect Gen. 17.1 Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the World 1 John 4.4 London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street 1699. TO THE READER THE Author of this little Book having been one with whom I had an intimate Acquaintance and strict Friendship for many Years And he having upon his dying Bed committed the Copy to my Perusal and Care I hold my self the more concern'd to give the World this short Account of both Him and It. I. Of Him As He at first received the Truth in the Love of it So he testified his Love to it in a three-fold way 1. By a circumspect Walking in it He was careful so to order his Conversation that he might not only not bring any Scandal upon the Profession he made of Truth but might shew himself a Pattern of good Works And therein he was Examplary 2. By a cheerful Suffering for it He never flincht in any Trial nor baulk'd his Testimony to the Truth for fear of Suffering for it either in Person or Estate But a Prison for the Truth 's sake was pleasant to him and he took joyfully the spoiling of his Goods Which shew'd He knew in himself that he had in Heaven a better and an enduring Substance 3. By an hearty Zeal for the Prosperity and Propagation of it A vigilant Watchman he was in his Station against every thing of what kind soever which he saw would hurt the Truth or bring any the least Reproach upon it A sharp Reprover of Evil As well as an Incourager of the Good An earnest Contender not only for the true Faith by which the Heart is purified and Victory over the World obtained but for the good Order and holy Discipline which Christ hath established in his Church rejected and opposed by too many Modern Libertines In the Work of the Ministry which the Lord had called him to he was diligent and fervent earnestly Labouring by a quick and lively Testimony to bring those he ministred to into an inward Exercise of Spirit towards God that therein they might come to be more and more acquainted with and subject to that divine Power of which in the following Sheets he treats II. Of It. As for the Book it self it treats of one of the highest and most noble Themes The Power of God Which from the Author's Experience of the effectual Working thereof it exalts above the Power of Satan The Drift of it is 1. To lay open the many Wiles and crafty Devices of the Enemy whereby he lies in wait to destroy 2. To set forth the Goodness and Power of God in discovering and breaking the Snares of that Wicked One and delivering the Soul therefrom 3. To invite and persuade Men to forsake and abandon the Service of Satan and enter indeed into the Service of God 4. To inform and direct Men how they may get from under the Power of Satan and how they may come to be guided and governed by the Power of God and be kept thereby through Faith unto Salvation How well the Vndertaking is perform'd thou wilt be best able to judge when thou shalt have read and weighed the whole with a sober and impartial Mind And that I may not anticipate thy Judgment by a Commendation of the Work I shall only say It is written in a plain familiar Stile not deck'd with Flowers of Rhetorick nor set off with Ornaments of Humane Learning which it needed not Being more comely to the Eye of the serious Mind and pleasing to the spiritual Ear in the native Beauty and unaffected Simplicity of Truth By the Date it appears to have been written many Years ago Which may raise Inquiry Why it was not published sooner or in the Author's life-time Of this I have no other Account to give but that which he himself gave me when he imparted the Copy to me a few days before his Death viz. That he had read of many in former days and observed some in his own time who had made fair progress in the Way of Truth and had said done and suffered much on behalf of it who yet had not held out to the end But through a too great Security or Self-confidence and for want of a continual Subjection to the Power of God in and by which alone Strength and Preservation is to be found have by the violent Assaults or subtle Insinuations and mysterious Workings of the Enemy been drawn back again under the Power of Satan to the Invalidating at least in the Eye of the World the Testimonies such had before given to the Sufficiency of the Power of God And that ' He having by others Miscarriages learnt to beware had from a Godly Jealousie over himself suspended the Publication of the following Sheets until he could with greater Confidence and more full Assurance say with the holy Apostle when the time of his departure was at hand 2 Tim. 4.6 I have fought a good Fight I have finished my Course I have kept the Faith c. How far this Consideration will justifie his depriving the World so long of the Benefit of so serviceable a Treatise I will not undertake to determine But certainly it is an Indication of uncommon Modesty and rare Humility of Mind a sufficient Proof that the Author did not seek Applause to himself It is now published in Love to Mankind God grant that It may be Instrumentally Serviceable to the turning many from the Darkness wherein Satan's Power works to the divine Light in which the Power of God is felt and Deliverance thereby from Satan's Power witnessed That God may be glorified his holy Name honoured his divine Power exalted his blessed Truth promoted and spread and Mankind benefitted thereby and blest therein for ever Which Reader is the earnest desire of him who heartily wishes thy Eternal Welfare Tho. Ellwood Mary Baker's TESTIMONY Concerning her Husband WE read in the holy Scriptures that when Jesus went into the Temple of God and cast out the Buyers and Sellers the many things that had taken up the room there and healed the Blind and the Lame that came to him the little Children crying in the Temple said Hosanna to the Son of David At which the Chief Priests and Scribes were sore displeased and said unto him Hearest thou what these say To whom
Relations would be contented but that is the most contemptible Religion in the World and laden with Reproaches O see the Deceit of the wicked Enemy and avoid it as I did by keeping to the Measure of the Grace of God in my self And as my mind was turned inward to consider and see what the Lord had done for me this sprang up in me as a Defence against the Enemy If I have not done those mighty works for thee which no other could do believe me not else believe me for my works sake Then did the Enemy vanish at the Brightness of the coming of the Lord who hath preserved me out of the Mouth of the Lion and out of the Paw of the Bear and out of the hand of that uncircumcised Philistine that once had encompassed me about Praises be given unto the Lord for ever O Friend Let me beseech thee let not the Enemy of thy Soul deceive thee under what pretence soever though he should guild his Bait and cover his Temptations over with never so many Scripture-words But keep thou to that true Light in thee which makes all things manifest And by taking heed to that pure Witness of God in thee thou wilt come to see Satan's Devices which they of Old who were led by the Spirit of God were not ignorant of as such now are not And now I have this Testimony to bear for the Lord with many Thousands more That Perfection or Freedom from Sin is to be obtained on this side the Grave through Faith in Christ Jesus And I do Testifie and Declare That in this Life is the time of working out our Salvation For where the Tree falls there it shall lie and in what State Death leaves a Man in that State Judgment will find him For in the Grave there is no Repentance Now true Repentance through a godly Sorrow is a Change from Sin and Iniquity to serve the Living God in the New Life or in the Newness of Life Not in the Oldness of the Letter which too many are found in at this day but in the Newness of the Spirit For it is the Spirit that giveth Life the Flesh profiteth nothing John 6.63 Reader If thou are a stranger to Truth and to the right Way of the Lord and hast been led Captive by the Enemy at his Will as I was while ignorant of the Light of the Lord in me and art now come to a sense of the Burden and Weight of thy Sins and hast a desire to be Redeemed from them To thee and for thy sake chiefly are these Lines written that thou mayst here see the Mysterious Working of the Prince of Darkness and take Warning in time whilst the Spirit of the Lord strives with thee For the Spirit of the Lord will not always strive with Man But be not discouraged at the Greatness or Number of thy Sins For all Power in Heaven and in Earth is given to Christ Jesus Only Faith in him and Faithfulness and Obedience to what he makes manifest is thee is re-required of thee And if thou hast Mountains of Sin thou shalt see them in the Faith to vanish away For it is The Willing and the Obedient shall eat the good of the Land And if thou are one that has known in any measure the Work of the Lord carried on in thy Heart I have this further to say for thy Incouragement from my own Experience That thou hast to do with a Tender-hearted Father who gently leads those that are but young in the Truth and his Lambs he will carry in his Arms and will lead thee no faster than thou art able to follow But be sure whatever he maketh manifest to thee to be Evil Give up to the Lord in Faithfulness and Obedience and the Lord will give thee Power over it For the End wherefore the Lord doth manifest Sin to be Sin is that he may Redeem out of it And as thou are faithful in the small thing thou wilt be made Ruler over more And as thou standest in that Faith which is the Gift of God thou wilt find nothing too hard or difficult for thee but thou wilt be able to say as the Servants of God did in Days past and do now in this Age All things are possible with him with whom we have to do And thou wilt feel the same Power to work and beget the same Faith in thee as it did in them For without Faith it is impossible to please God whatever Men may pretend to in words There are many Pretenders in our day to the Worship and Service of God as there were in Ages past But what avail their Pretences or Performances while they are fain to confess their Worship ends in Imperfection and that their best Duties are Sin or they Sin in performing their best Duties Sin in Praying Sin in Preaching Sin mixt with their most holy Duties That it is so with them I do not deny But my Heart is grieved at their Captivity Bondage and Misery because they believe it never can be otherwise And indeed it never will be otherwise with them so long as they content themselves with large Confessions of their Sins and come not to forsake them Would they content themselves that the time past is sufficient that they have wrought the Will of the Gentiles there would be some ground to hope that they were as willing to forsake their Sins as to confess them and so might come to have Faith in the Gift of God with whom all things are possible which thing many have formally in words acknowledged who in works have denied it But I testifie If they who make such large Confessions of their Sins do not come to that Gift of God in them which can enable them to forsake their Sins their Condition is no better than his who knew his Master's Will and did it not who was to be beaten with many Stripes For the Lord hath made manifest his Unerring Way and he is daily calling and inviting the Sons and Daughters of Men to walk therein and to be reconciled unto him that they may know their Sin blotted out For the Lord hath no delight in the Death of a Sinner of which I am an Instance and a Witness but is willing that all should Repent Return and come to the Knowledge of his Truth and be saved For he hath not Ordained Men to Reprobation so that they cannot be saved Neither hath he so absolutely Elected a certain Number of Persons to Salvation that what Evil soever they do they cannot miss of Salvation as many do falsly believe Which dangerous Doctrines have on the one hand thrown many down to the Bottomless Pit of Despair And on the other hand raised too many up into a Presumptuous Security Reader my desire is that thou wouldst come to the Witness of God in thy self that thou mayst see and learn the Mystery of these things For the Grace of God which hath so manifestly appeared in this