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
the patern of Christ himself Yet let all people understand that such as Christ did call Hypocrites and his Enemies were so indeed as he proved by long experience but such as these creatures call so are the most precious and eminent and faithfull friends that the Lord hath amongst all the sons of men therefore now judg of the delusion Now followeth the third Rule of disclosing this secret which is my own experience in order to this particular The third Rule in Demonstr 1. is my own experience while I lay under these temptations Experence I have in this thing sufficiently although I was never carried much forth into any such practice for although I have had many movings and stirrings in my heart to write to some particular men with all possible haish language and unjust accusations as I now see yet the Lord did by one secret means or other prevent me onely once I wrote unto several people with abundance of bitter expressions and yet all exact Scripture-language and as I gave an hint before how they have told me that sometimes when they are made to write in this nature they are so siled up with matter and phrases of Scripture for their purpose that they know not how to make an end even so it was with me at that time when I wrote that Letter for I do at this time perfectly remember that I told them the very next time I saw them how I was made to write to such a people at such a time and in such a place such and such things and I said I was so filled and the Scriptures were so tumbled in upon me that I could have dictated fast enough for four Pens to have writ and I think I left three parts of four that were as it were laid open before me to pick and chuse unwrit Else beside this Letter I do not remember that ever I wrote any of that nature but I wrote several Letters to whole Congregations and private persons in high expressions in Scripture-phrase for it is the Devils policy to keep close to that and in high commendation of that dispensation as I then judged it and called it of God with many encouraging Arguments unto the people to whom I writ to wait and look for that glorious way and discovery of divine light and power to be brought forth among all the children of the Most High O Mystery Babylon Lastly we will make known the very truth of this delusion by comparing these kinde of actings and teachings of the heart The fourth Rule in Demonstr 1. is the teaching of the Spirit of God with those that the Spirit of Truth in the Lord was and is wont to bring forth in the souls of his people in this particular thing 1. Whereas these people are mistaken in their judgment and made to accuse and condemn people for what they ought not you shall finde the Spirit of God teaching his servants in another manner according to the promise of being guided by that Spirit into all truth and like that which the Lord maketh concerning his people Mal. 3. ult They shall discern between the righteous and the wicked between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not If any shall say this was a promise God made with some particular men as the Prophets or Christ or his Apostles c. You shall finde in reading that place that it was spoken to all the people of the Lord upon that great acceptation the Lord had of them upon the account of their meeting often together and speaking one to another c. And besides you shall finde the Apostle 1 John 2. writing unto all sorts of Gods people and telling them v. 27. that they have received such an holy anointing from the Spirit of the Lord which should teach them all things for in it there was no Lie and therefore they needed not that any man should teach them And furthermore if you do but observe you shall see when any poor sinners heart is called into and filled with the knowledg of the love of God as it is given forth through Christ A description of the new birth and is engaged in his desires and affections to the Lord that every such sinner thus converted is presently able to judg such a people to be indeed in truth the children of God and he is likewise able to judg on the other side that all such who are not brought in with the love and desire of their souls and in that love made one with his servants are yet in the first estate and so strangers to that dispensation or covenant of free grace in Christ. Although this alteration or change be but of a short time for he is become a new creature as Paul saith in 2 Cor. 5.17 New as well in his judgment apprehensions of the differing estates of the first and second Adam as well as new in his practice and conversation 1 Cor. 2.14.15 For though the natural man discerneth not these things yet consequently he that is baptized with that precious and holy anointing of the Spirit doth know and apprehend them for he judgeth all things although he himself or rather his new birth be no rightly judged of any man not under that divine operation 2. Whereas they are filled up with railing harsh and clamorous language it is but what is incident to such a mis-lead people 1 Tim. 6.4 5. 2 Tim 3.4 I finde here when once a people are drawn from sound Doctrine they may be brought to any thing but however they are continually acted thus against those whom they apprehend do oppose them and their deceits yet it is said of the Lord JESUS CHRIST Jude 9 that when he was disputing with the Devil about the body of Moses he durst not bring any railing accusation against him but said The Lord rebuke thee Yet these creatures do adventure to do what Christ would not Moreover we finde what counsel Paul giveth Timothy in 2 Tim. 2.24 25 28. The servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apt to teach patient in meekness instructing them that oppose themselves if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil who are taken captive at his will and Paul in his 1 Tim. 5.19 biddeth him that he should not receive any accusation against an Elder except it were before two or three witnesses and yet these people when they receive no accusation at all before any witness do through the imagination of their own hearts or rather the suggestions of Satan send most railing and unjust ones against such who are not onely Elders but Pillars of the Truth in the Church of Christ. Thirdly in as much as they say and I know it is true that they are filled up with matter Scripture and expressions yet note these two differences 1. When they are
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
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
of I take literally according to our computation of time The binding and chaining up of the Devil I take to be such a powerfull and blessed appearance of God in the hearts of his people who shall through the teachings of himself be brought to such an holy Conformity and Uniformity both in affection judgment and walking that Antichrist shall not be able to break in upon them to delude or entice them or the like but they through the glorious and in dwelling of God in their hearts shall be able to resist all the deceivable ways of Satan that he will be as it were no Devil at all unto them he will be as though he were tied with a Chain or cast into a I le not able to hurt or wrong any of them as now he doth Now this thousand years being taken out wherein the Church of CHRIST shall thus triumph over him and conquer him there remaineth but three hundred and fifty or there about which must likewise be divided into two parts one part must be for Satan to go about into all the corners of the earth to deceive and beguile the people again v. 7 8. at the exspiration of the thousand year after the manner as now he doth in my judgment and so to bring them into a state of apostacy which he cannot do probably under an age and a half or two ages for we see in our own experience there is no ground error or superstition sucked into the hearts of a people or rooted out under an age and an half at least and therefore I think he must have such an allowance as this for to bring an universal apostacy into all the earth before its destruction and if you shall allow him but an hundred and fifty years for this then there wil be but even two hundred before that thousand which is but a short time in comparison of what he hath had ever since he first beguiled Eve with the forbidden Apple and therefore no marvel he doth so bestir himself now and finde out new and more dangerous ways This is my present apprehension concerning the ending of the World and concerning that mystery in Rev. 20. Si quid novisti rectius istis Candidus imperti si non his utere mecum Question 2. In order to the people themselves called Quakers Peradventure some are inquiring seeing they are so exceedingly deluded and such a dangerous people what course should be taken by them whether it were best to imprison them or banish them or the like In my Answer hereunto I shall direct my speech unto two sorts of people First unto the common sort of people I do hear and believe it is true that the ordinary sort of people in all Countreys and Towns whither these poor creatures come do abuse them very much and beat them and despitefully use them I do not conceive that this is the right way to deal with them neither can any good ground be given for this kinde of usage of them seeing they come to places in a peaceable manner pretending they come for the peoples good and me thinks it is great inhumanity to use any people so uncivilly that come so civilly and withall they speak nothing in that nature but what their hearers themselves must confess to be true reproving them sharply for some unjust and unrighteous actings or other or for some carnal and secure conditions wherein they live c. And therefore I would counsel all such people to whom they shall come in this kinde to take a right way of opposing them which is through a strong knowledg and understanding of the Scripture to reason with them and to prove them fairly according to the rules of the Scripture and such rules as I have here given you in my Book to be those deluders and deluded people that are spoken of by Christ and his Apostles and upon that account neither to own them nor their Doctrine This is the warrantable way of the Gosple and I think I may be bold to tell you this for your encouragment that if you shall stick up closely and unanimously to this way you will finde the Devil a very Coward according to that word of St James Resist the devil and he will fly from But if any of you shall say that you are not able to deal with them in this nature they are too full of knowledg and you are not so well acquainted with the Scriptures as they c. I fear it is too true as you say but is not the fault your own Hive not you Bibles as well as they How comes it to pass that you are so empty of knowledg in the Word of God but for want of diligent reading and meditating in the same And therefore I would counsel all men both Preachers and people to be hereafter better armed against them for I suppose you will be more troubled with them than you have been and indeed when you have done all this your natural attainments of this kinde will prove too short to deal with them by therefore by all means laber father and feek to gain the spiritual armour of Christ Jesus which you shall have from him if you will receive him John 1.12 and hearken diligently unto the voice of God calling you and do not stand still and rest your selves satisfied in your ignorant and carnal conditions but remember that word Ephes 5.14 Awake thou that sleepest and arise from the dead and Christ shall give thee light yea and power and strength also to overcome the assaults of Satan and you must pray with all your might unto the Lord to furnish your souls with his grace and holy Spirit that you may be able to stand fast in such perillous times Secondly I direct my speech unto the civil Magistrate and desire him to consider what he doth to these people I hear they are from City to City and Countrey to Countrey persecuted and imprisoned by you but by what Law of yours I know not I do not hear that they do transgress any of your Laws by sinfull and unrighteous actings if they should I shall give my consent they might have double punishment if they do not I would have you forbear them and see that they have not greater grounds to speak against your abominations than you have to punish them I fear because they tell you your own many of you they turn your Patience into Passion and from thence rather than from any Principle you have to do justice you act against them for if you were generally men possessed with a zeal to do justice we should not have such abominable and crying sins calling at the Throne of God for justice against such injusticers as many are If you will not believe the Truth because it comes from them yet I hope you will believe it as it comes from the mouth of God Isai 1.23 24. Thy Princes are rebellious and companions of Thieves every one loveth gifts and followeth after
the Churches wherein I am bold these poor beguiled creatures through that mysterious spirit of deceit and lying in them do lay this thing unto my charge Fourthly they charge me that I never passed the new birth but am onely acted by my natural parts to all that I do If it be so Not passing the new birth I wish all natural men were so acted too that they might bear witness unto what they affirm Although I do know that a natural man may make a very large progress in a Gospel profession and conversation yet I am through the rich grace and love of God shed abroad in my heart able to give a perfect and experimental discovery unto such who are able to judg thereof by that one Spirit we have both received of that new birth or creation in Christ 2 Cor. 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for otherwise there could be but little sound peace or joy in my soul seeing I know very well how little satisfactory the utmost attainments in the first creation would be unto me that have so much knowledg in the second Adam if my knowledg were meerly notional and formal and besides I hope there hath been long ago and many times good satisfaction given unto most of the Lords servants with whom there hath been mutual givings and receivings of testimonies and manifestations in that one common grace of God in Christ to the rejoycing of each others hearts and the building up of one another in that grace and faith wherein we were called But were it so that I lived in a Wilderness and all the men in the World were unsatisfied and ignorant in this thing so that I my self were knowingly satisfied and that upon good grounds it would be sufficient for my faith and hopes of an eternal weight of glory at the righteous revelation of the Judg of Heaven and Earthe and therefore let this unjust Charge prove a blank for all uses beside proving its original to be a spirit of Anitchrist and delusion Fifthly they charge me with back-sliding indeed in their senfe they may do so justly Back-sliding For it is the great mercy of God unto me I was delivered from under those grievous delusions and temptations unto which they are yet in bondage but that which they call back-sliding is my retuming back unto my God and my holding fast and contending for that faith which I had once received Jude 2. according to the minde of the Lord discovered Heb. 3.6 concerning the holding fast of confidence of rejoycing of hope firm unto the end Thus you may see that which they reckon my judgment is my mercy and that which they call my back-sliding is my owning and receiving my former principles and teachings according to truth Now let him that hath an eye see and who so hath an heart let him judg whence cometh this great mistake unjust judgment c. and when ye have well weighed these things ye shall finde it cannot stand with the honor of God to teach a people things which are not true as to my comfort and their shame doth clearly appear notwithstanding they pretend and say they were made to write these things as from the Lord. These five acousations are most that I have received from any of them and I suppose the most they were prompt with all from that spirit of deceit for had there been any more given in unto them it is like they would have disclosed it as well as this And it is not onely to myself they write thus but unto most people of any note or quality above others especially amongst those that make any profession of the ways of the Lord differing from the men of the world as I hear by several and by their own confession to myself formerly And I would have all the world observe how they write with abundance of railing and clamorous words and unjust accusations as you have heard me prove and their language is much after the same sort unto whom they write which maketh me note that they are exemplary one to another in their writing taking up the same form of words and it teacheth me also to consider how Satan is no Niggard as we say of his skill and power for they pretend they are abundantly filled up with matter of that nature as though they could never vent themselves of it all Now I have laid down the work or deceit it self in this nature I will return unto my second Rule The second Rule to find the colour in the Scripture which to finde out where Satan doth colour over and blinde this fallacy with some Scripture words or instances First for their railing and reviling language they will not own it as such but count it a sharp rebuking and reptoving men as though they had some special authority or power of truth in them acting of them thereunto and so Satan doth hide this deceit under that command which Paul giveth Titus in Chap. 1. vers 13. where he biddeth him rebuke the Cretians and others sharply and Chap. 3.15 he biddeth him rebuke with all authority and they observe the Prophet Nathans coming unto David and saying Thou art the man and why may not they who say they are sent of the Lord as Nathan was speak in that manner unto men be they Rulers or others seeing that God is no respecter of persons and besides this Satan cannot be ignorant of the manner of Christs reproving Peter when he called him Satan These and such like Examples carry out the deceit very fairly unto such who are ignorant of his devices Secondly as for their charging men with hypocrisie backsliding and being but onely in the first Adam for they judg all beside themselves to be ignorant of the new-birth be they never so well gifted and taught of God and the like it proceedeth from that blindness which Antichist hath cast in upon their understandings from whence they cannot chuse but speak evil of the things they know not Jude 10. And so judging all men to be in this estate they take the Example of CHRIST in calling them Hypocrites as he did the Scribes and Pharises and pronouncing Woes against them as they do against many people and places as they have told me themselves how they have declared Judgment and Woes against a place called Kendall in the North I know not well in what County it is but I will onely say this one word unto ye O people of Kendall if it be for your holding fast unto the faith of the Gospel and your bold courage to withstand Antichrist and all his mysterious actings of unrighteousness that you are so vilified and disowned by them it may be your grace and glory but if it be through a kinde of wilfulness and spirit of malice revenge and bitterness against the poor creatures that you are so carried against them I commend you not Therefore look unto it O what a vail or cover hath Satan got himself here under
off such things but they did finde as they were wont to say their hearts hanging upon old dispensations ways discoveries and the like All these things they say must be burnt up in them and destroyed and because there is so much hereof remaining they understand it is that they are brought into so great sufferings agonies and passions which they reckon the fiery work going on to perfect what is amiss in them They esteem also the more the heart is brought off from the meditations and considerations of Gods former dealings and the more negligent it is become in hearing reading praying or any such heavenly and their own once exercise the more pure and perfect it is become and they say if it were so with them they could altogether cease from these things it would be well with them waiting onely for that great and mighty power which they say is of God to act them unto any such consideration or meditation reading praying or the like for they think that all that acted them hereunto formerly was the power of the first Adam and therefore being not of Christ it ought to be denied and thrown away as an abominable thing Thus in brief they are acted in judgment and practice in this particular here is the work or mysterious deceit let us now proceed to our second Rule which is to finde where Satan hath Scripture and instance to help himself and hide his deceit in this thing The second Rule Demonst 2. is the Scripture and instance First then whereas they exspect and desire the dying and perishing of all such former ways of God to them Satan covereth himself in these words Isai 65.17 Behold I create new Heavens and a new Earth and the former shall not be remembred nor come into my minde And that of Paul 2 Cor. 5.17 18. Lo old things are done away and all things are become new and all things are of God here is a deep and dangerous covert that he hath got Secondly for the giving over all those practices and exercises of the soul unless it be when they are so moved as they say you shall finde Satan coloring over this business very fairly with that instance and writing of St Paul Phil. 3.7 8. in saying that all which was once his gain he now counted loss for Christ for the sake of whose excellent knowledg he did desire to count all his former righteousness but loss and dung A dangerous place while it is so mistaken And there is a saying of Christs own mouth which through the deceitfull unfolding thereof by Antichrist doth much blinde them John 4 21 22 23. The hour cometh and now is saith Christ that neither in this Mountain nor eke at Jerusalem shall the Father be worshipped for he is a Spirit and he will be worshipped in spirit and truth And besides these they are beguiled by the instance of Pauls conversion and the command that Christ gave the Twelve to go unto Jerusalem and there to stay untill they should receive such a measure of the spirit as is there mentioned Acts 2. from the beginning to v. 20. together with the mis-apprehending of Joels Prophesie in that place No question if Satan had need he could finde out more hiding places than these but these I am sure he maketh great use of as I my self do very well know My own experience in this thing maketh me speak what I do for had I received these things by relation onely I should have judged it untrue But I will shew plainly and orderly the thoughts of my own heart about this thing The third Rule in Demonstr 2. my own experience while I was so much under those dark clouds Although I was not wholly deprived or taken off my former experiences of the ways of Gods dealing with me neither was I made wholly to cease from the use of those ways of manifesting love and obedience to my God which I had lived in and owned of long time before yet I reckoned it my weakness and imperfectness that I was not and although I did without any intermission continue speaking and praying with my people in publick so that they perceived not any thing at all yet I was exceedingly tempted to have denied it and given it over and I was wont to complain very much of the hardness of my own heart that I would not yield unto that thing being in my then apprehension utterly condemned onely there was a mighty power of God keeping that little spark of light alive in me by his own breathing upon it and I was not aware that I might say Surely God was in this place and I knew it not for I am perswaded if the Lord had suffered me to have been overcome in this temptation I had been wholly carried away as the lest are and had been to this hour for ought I know in bondage with them but the wisdom and love of God which kept me is too deep to be spoken of in this nature onely I tell all the world that I am not able to tell them what a mighty warfare I did undergo many days and weeks about that thing but Michael the Archangel who was most worthy had the preeminence in that duel all honor and praise be given unto him for ever and ever And note this thing further while I lay under this temptation I did finde some power denying me to use those gifts and graces I had so that although they were alive in me and me thinks I could have prayed and have spoke as I was wont yet there was something turning me aside and as it were forbidding me which I did most of all hearken unto and yield unto for the greatest part except it were on the first days among my people in publick Thus I do well remember it was with me in order to this deceit as I may justly so call it because I know it to be so through a most powerfull manifestation of Truth Rule 4. in Demonstr 2. is the reaching of the Spirit of God I am now come unto the Fourth Rule which I observe in my method and that is the way of the teaching of the Spirit of God in Truth in order to these things and Scriptures whereby Satan hath beguiled the hearts of poor creatures First in as much as they reckon it their perfection and happiness to be deprived of all as you have heard The Spirit of God doth neither so act nor so teach but on the contrary bringeth forth more and more ways and manifestations and fresh experiences of his love into the hearts of his people and David was glad many times to remember the antient loving kindnesses of God and because of the excellency and comforts that arise from much knowledg and remembrance of Gods love and formermercies the Apostle prayeth so as he did for the Colossians that they might increase and be filled up with all knowledg and spiritual understanding strengthened with all might Col. 1.9
very low condition of body But as for the giving over of laboring and following of worldly business I could bear with them in that me thoughts for when I considered that most men are overcome and surfeited with the care and love of the things of this life I thought the people of God should be upon the extreme on the other hand The third Rule is to consider by what Scripture and Example Satan doth conceal this his deceit Rule 3. Demonstr 4. First for his acting of them to go and to run up and down an hundred or two hundred miles somtimes more sometimes less and to go they know not whither nor to what end he blindeth them with the Lords sending the Prophets from place to place as you reade of Jonahs going to Niniveh Jon. 1. and the Prophet Ezekiels being sent to and fro between Judea and Chaldea and then for their coming together and sitting like a company of dumb creatures for I know not how long and sometimes it may be they say nothing at all when they are come together and come to the place or person where they pretend they are sent of God And for this deceit you shall finde it coloured over with that instance of the Prophet Ezekiel who when he came to the captives at Telâ—abib that dwelt by the River of Kebar was constrained to wait in great amazement for the space of seven days before the Lord was pleased to manifest his minde concerning that people Ezek. 3.15 16. Now this coloureth over their dumbness and silence pretending they wait for the Vision Inspiration or Revelation as that Prophet did And they have also a Gloss put upon the words of CHRIST to his Disciples when he bade them Take no care what to speak for it should be given them in the same hour what to say Then for that gesture and principle of going naked they have a colour from that instance of Saul stripping off his cloathes and prophesying naked 1 Sam. 19.24 And they may finde the Apostle when he is speaking of the persecutions say that sometimes he suffered hunger and cold and nakedness c. Lastly for that deceit of theirs in giving over all care and callings and their honest imployment in the world they are made to mis-apprehend the teachings of CHRIST in Matth. 10.37 38. He that will not take up his Cross and follow me is not worthy of me here they think that CHRIST doth engage his people to leave off all care and diligence c. And those words of CHRIST in Matth. 6.31 34. where he biddeth his Disciples take no thought what they should eat or drink or wherewith they should be cloathed neither would he have them take thoughts for to morrow for to morrow saith he shall take thoughts for it self and such other like Scriptures as these which Satan is well acquainted withall But such who are kept under the power and teachings of the Spirit of God do know the minde of Christ about the outward things The fourth Rule is the teaching of the Spirit of God in such things as these are Rule 4. in Demonstr 4. 1. As to their going from place to place far remote and likewise to particular persons we know that the Lord was wont to make great use of his servants in this nature Moses was sent into Egypt to deliver the Embassie of God unto Pharaoh but he would not hearken so say they it may fall out many times that our message will not be received Ezekiel was sent to the captives by the River of Chebar but the Lord had told him they should shew themselves a rebellious people and would not hearken so it may be with them they say Christ himself spake with authority and in such a manner that most that heard him wondered yet how doth he complain of the unbelief and hardness of the people hearts so they speak many times as though it were with authority and I believe it is with a great deal of impudency and boldness for I reade in what an insolent proud and authentick manner the Devil spake unto the face of Christ Mark 5.7 saying I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not and is it any marvel if he shall act his servants and ministers to speak with such audaciousness sometimes unto the Disciples of Christ seeing they are not above their Master The Lord also sent Ananias to Paul Acts 9. Peter was likewise sent to Cornelius by Vision Acts 10. Philip was sent by special command unto the Eunuch as he was travelling Nathan was sent to David Jonah to Nineveh Paul himself was bound in spirit to go unto Jerusalem and from hence they suppose they have ground sufficient for going to particular persons by Vision or Revelation as well as these whom God sent so making themselves to be either Prophets or Apostles But let him that would know this delusion mark these differences First the Lord sending these last mentioned servants of his to these several and particular men You finde the power of God so much manifested in them and by them that the Word of the Lord was blessed and made succesfull unto the hearts of those unto whom it was brought But these deluded creatures although they come with as a fair pretence and gloss as the other did for Antichrist in this fitteth in the seat of God in a special manner yet their word proveth but a Lie or an imagination of their own brain Secondly observe that if they do prevail upon any poor souls by this high mystery of deceit they are either 1. Such as are meerly ignorant unestablished and unacquainted both with the ways of Christ or Antichrist in this nature or 2. They are such who are meer Notionalists that have been full of brave words but have had but little if any of the powerfull actings of Truth and Grace in their souls not walking and maintaining close communion together in any visible exemplary and justifiable way and order of the Gospel And therefore let it not be thought so strange to see such carried away for they have been but like clouds without water as Jude saith and so might easily be blown about with every winde of doctrine but blessed be the Lord I do not hear or know any that have been well grown and experienced Christians walking and maintaining a close and strict communion and fellowship together according to those exemplary ways of Christ and his Disciples that are thus overcome and betrayed by the subtil wiles of the Devil and this I would have all the world to take special notice of and so it may be a means of unvailing unto their understandings that close and dangerous deceit under pretence of being sent with a special word from the Lord unto such a person people or place 3. Let this be also well observed these Dreamers say notwithstanding they pretend it is the Lord by some special Revelation or Inspiration or Operation be it what it will the Lord
must be the Author thereof if we will believe them that sendeth them hither or thither that they know not whither to go or to what person till they come to the place or person and when they are come whither they apprehend they were sent yet they say that they know not what to do or speak untill that be given them by Inspiration also Now let us return and examine the manner of the Lords sending his servants and Prophets upon such particular messages and we shall finde it to be far otherwise for the Lord was wont when he sent them to tell them unto whom to go and likewise what to speak When Moses was sent to Pharaoh he was taught at first by the Lord to whom to go and what to say When Nathan was sent to David he was told to whom to go and what to say 2 Sa. 12. the beginning When Ezekiel was to go to the River of Chebar he was told to whom to go onely at that time I never read the like any where else to my present remembrance he was made to wait upon the Lord for the manifestation of his pleasure When Jonah was sent to Nineveh he was told from the beginning to whom to go and what to say When Ananias was sent to Paul he was told to whom to go and what to say Acts 9.10.11 When Peter was sent to Cornelius he was instructed by his Vision what to say and by three men that came to him to whom to go Acts 10. Note well this difference and so judg Secondly concerning their going naked I never knew the minde of the Lord so discovered by any of his servants either under the old or new Covenant And as for that of Sauls stripping off his cloaths and lying down naked among the Prophets there is nothing in that place that doth prove it to be the will of the Lord or that he was so acted and commanded of him and let it not scruple any one that the Lord gave him a spirit of Prophesie at that time for why might not the Lord make Saul prophesie as well as make Balaams Ass speak Numb 23. seeing he was a more likely creature for such a work Thirdly whereas they give over their Callings Professions honest Imployments in the world and give themselves over to idleness and pretend they must have nothing to do with the World but must be ready at a beck to run hither and thither when the Lord shall send them and the like Such who reade the Scriptures know how the Spirit of God was wont to speak and teach his servants about these things that their moderation must be known unto all men and that they should use the World as though they used it not and that it was more honorable to give than receive and that he that would not work should not eat and that every man should provide things honest before all men and take care for their families and housholds which they call the Language of Antichrist but Nature and Grace for the one destroyeth not but rather perfecteth the other do both teach the servants of CHRIST that this is true in the main and how to use it in a mean and do we not know how Paul was wont sometimes to labor had night and day at his Calling because he would not be troublesom or chargeable to a poor people And did not the Disciples of CHRIST follow their Callings when they had need or conveniency And doth not Paul advise such as should be called to the knowledg of the Truth to rest satisfied in that estate condition or calling wherein they should be called if any were called being a servant that he should not be dissatisfied if any were called being free he should rather desire to continue so I must intreat my Readers to note these Scriptures as they reade them for in regard of the scarcity of my time and multiplicity of business I am constrained to neglect the quotation of them here and so to pass more briefly and scantingly over things than I would otherwise have done willingly and glad I am to finde so much time as that my Pen might run with much speed to what it doth singlely without any Copy I shall now give the World but this one discovery more in this nature and that shall be such an one that had I spake no more might have given a sufficient understanding of this most horrible and dangerous deceit under which these creatures lie Demostr 5. I do collect from that spirit of enmity bitterness and prejudice which is conceived and brought forth in their hearts towards such of the servants of Christ who walk most strictly and orderly in their fellowships and communions togegether and towards such of them especially such as are the Pillars of the Truth in the Churches of Christ and that are most eminently gifted and most instrumental in the hands of Christ for the advancement of his Kingdom This I know to be too true by what I observed in my own experience of this nature when I was under those Satanish-angelical-metamorphosings beside that I have heard them say several times their hearts were more drawn out towards the creatures of the world that they were more tenderly affected toward such who were meetly atheistical and profane creatures than towards such and such Societies Fellowships Professions and Professors and the like And this may be witnessed by their railing lying clamorous false accusing Letters which they have writ against many pretious honest-hearted men that I know and yet they pretend all this is done in love Now will we try whether this inward core secret prejudice false surmise and heart-burning against the servants of Christ be the work of Christ or Antichrist It will every way appear they are under an horrible delusion in this very thing when the matter is clearly examined for First if they cannot see the servants of Christ that walk according to the manifest Rules of the Gospel to be the servants of Christ but reckon them to be the servants of sin hypocrites men in the first Adam acted onely by that first created excellency or light received and the like as they do commonly why then they prove themselves to be blinded and led forth by a lying and deceivable spirit of delusion by Antichrist like unto the men of the world that do not know the Servants and Disciples of Christ from his professed Enemies but speak evil of the things and men they know not and so there needs no further proof than their own open and professed mistake ranking themselves with the carnal and sinfull men of the world who are all under the power of Antichrist as you shall finde in the words of Paul to Ephes 2.2 In times past saith he meaning the time of irregeneration Ye walked according to the course of this world and according to the Prince of the power of the Air the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience and moreover saith
of the eternal being brought forth in the hearts of the sincere and faithfull servants of Christ You know that Christ saith If a strong man keep the house then all things are safe untill a stronger than he cometh but then Minima cedant maximis What would a wicked drunken profane ungodly man say for himself if one of these creatures in whom there is such a mighty power of Antichrist should come unto him with so much audacity and boldness of speech as the Devil came to the face of Christ Mark 5.7 saying I adjure thee by God that thou torment me not and tell him plainly and with all authority Thou art a damned wretch there shall no such as thou art enter into the Kingdom of Heaven thou art such and such a creature and all such are fit for nothing but to undergo the eternal wrath of God and the like What would such a miserable creature be able to say for himself he is conscientious to himself that he is told truth Where is the power now to resist this mighty apparances rance and to filence this accuser of the brethren you will be lest like Belshazzar one knee smiting against another Moreover what if one of these creatures should be sent with much power and boldness unto a profane scandalous Preacher and made to tell him He is a blinde Leader of a blinde People and a man that crieth Lord Lord and that speaketh of a Christ without but knoweth not neither hath he received any of the power grace or Spirit of that Christ within he speaketh he knows not what he telleth his people hey should not be envetous proud or sinfull and yet he him self the Ring-leader of these base things he is told further he is onely an hireling preacheth for Tyths and stipends and if it were not for this he would not preach at all and that he knows not what to say till he hath stollen it from other mens lines he hath no experience of truth in his own soul and lays this hard upon his conscience which will joyn with this his adversary and tell him all this is true and by that time he hath charged him home with truth to his own knowledg What a trembling dumb and miserable condition will this poor man be in standing like one ready for his dissolution notable to reply any wise word like unto a pale-faced image that the stander by must cry Opertet aliquid intus and yet may be the man a good Scholar of great natural parts a blazing star in his countrey but what is this star-light worth when the Sun ariseth all his light is become darkness now by reason of that angelical light which appeared in one of the ministers of Satan become a false Apostle or a false Christ This me thinks should be wonder big enough for such who will not believe except they see wonders but what will you say if you should see Satan stirring up one of his foresaid ministers to fall upon any such creature that is so naked and unarmed from all power of Christ and his powerfull Spirit and to tear him hurt him wound him and peradventure take away his life also Remember still that instance Acts 19.16 then it would make your hearts ake with wonders and when by such time you shall be told your own in this nature you carnal and ignorant creatures of the world you will believe it is not well with you notwithstanding you had been told the same things several times before by the servants of Christ by their preachings writings and discourses in much love and tenderness and moreover when you shall see your selves not able to defend your selves against them and yet shall see those people you so much vilified and reckoned the Hereteticks and Deluders upon whom the Scripture was fulfilled able to silence them to defie them to prove them through the power of Truth to be Deceivers and false Christs and false Apostles and in the end to make the Devil flee from them as James saith by their strong resistings of him with that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or compleat armour of God spoken of Eph. 6.11 Reade on this Scripture you feeble creatures of the world and you shall finde that for want of this spiritual armour of proof it is that you are not able to deal with that mighty appearance and power in them and on the other side by reason of the investing of the soul with this armour it is that the servants of Christ are able thus to foil them and the more holy heavenly humble selidenying any of the servants of Christ are A Caution for Saints the more powerfully they will be able to withstand all these fiery durts of the Devil Note this all you holy ones of the Lord and take heed that Satan finde no hole of covetousness pride vain-glory or the like in any of your coats for I will assure you if he do you will have an hard match of him as I know by experience in others The breaking forth of things in this nature will bring honor to God and his servants before all the world and convince them of the Truth and make them see and know the people of God from others and that there are none able to withstand such assaults of the Devil as these are either upon themselves or others but onely such who have received power from Christ. I had here thoughts to have gone unto the last thing in the Text but fearing lest there should be any scruple in the hearts of some ignorant people about their prevailing so much and encreasing their number in so many places of this Land I will take away if I can the ground of this first There hath been enough in my thoughts spoken to this already upon this last Doctrine of doing false works for here I have shewed that they must act as Ministers of Righteousness and thence they must come to act as false Apostles nay as false Christs and if they shall be brought to this as Christ and his Apostles did true signs and wonders so these must do lying signs and wonders even such things as Christ and his Apostles did and if those things wrought by Christ and the Apostles did convince and draw in many into their ways why shall not the same things done now under the same shew and pretences draw in many as well into the ways of those that do them And beside you shall reade in Acts 5.36 that there was one Theudas that rose up among the people boasting himself to be some-body it is like far short of these Quakers to whom a number of men about four hundred joyned themselves who was slain and as many as obeyed him were scattered and brought to nought After him rose up one Judas of Galile in the days of the Taxing and drew much people after him he also perished and as many as obeyed him were scattered I hope in the consideration of this there will remain no jealousie