Book another Monstrous Possession of one James Milner who said that he was Christ and that he must suffer as Christ did and in a jugling manner with a Knife and a Bason pretended that his Blood was shed and that he gave up the Ghost as Christ did He prophesy'd Twelve strange Prophesies and liv'd to see them all prove False George Fox answers Gilpin in a very pleasant sort of manner He owns that the Lord did open True Prophesies Great Mystery Printed 1659. p. 298. and mighty things to him James Milner But then as an Excuse for his false Prophesies and his Blasphemies in calling himself Christ c. he makes this Comical Apology In some things his Mind runned out and that he condemns and yet these wicked men will go tell the Nation of it This was a very sad case that he could not call himself Christ and give forth false Prophesies but these wicked Men must tell the Nation of it It was nothing but his Mind Runned out He only Blasphem'd and sought to delude the Nation and yet they must not be told of it For notwithstanding of all this he is a good enough Prophet for Fox Fox thinks that the Lord did open true Prophesies and and mighty things to him True and False Prophet in one Or else there never was one among the Quakers I will trouble the Reader but with one Instance more John Toldervy has printed a very punctual Narrative of his own Conversion to Quakerism and of the most astonishing Possession of the Devil in which he was held after his said Conversion even to the Apparitions of Evil Spirits Dancing and Singing about him and directing him what he shou'd do and encouraging him in the Principles of Quakerism chiefly to adhere strongly to his own Light within which he was to make a superiour Guide to Scripture it being the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures and consequently that he himself was as Infallible as any of the Prophets or Apostles as having the same Spirit which they had And thus being brought to believe every strong Imagination which came into his Head to be the immediate Dictate of the Holy Ghost And these Unclean Spirits having the power to make Impressions upon his Imagination he became intirely subject to their Will and was carried into strange Excesses even to attempt Miracles That as Fire proceeded from the Lord See John Toldervy 's Book call'd The Foot out of the Snare Printed 1656. p. 30. upon the Altar in the sight of Moses Aaron and the Children of Israel so from the Lord in me says he so he call'd his Light within thinking it to be very God and Christ and that he thereby was Christ the true and real Christ of whom that Man Christ Jesus was but a Type or Figure which is the Quaker Doctrine as is shewn Sect. 17. and 18. shou'd there proceed that Vertue which shou'd infuse a heat into these Coles and Sticks which he had gather'd together for that purpose by which a Fire shou'd be kindled now being confident he goes on I shou'd effect the Work yea had I been Master of the whole World I shou'd have ventured all with a value of no worth upon the performance of this Deed having laid all things in their order as directed by that Spirit which moved me to the Work Page 31. I was moved to blow with my Mouth Expecting still that from my Life The Lord there shou'd Heat proceed with my Breath to the lighting of the Fire But in the end not being able to effect the thing I was extreamly troubled that I The Christ of God should fail in the performance of the first Miracle since so many Miracles were wrought by him that was a Figure of me It is dreadful to repeat such Horrid Blasphemy After this he was tempted to mimick over in himself our Saviour's Agony Crucifixion his Death Burial and Resurrection thrusting a Needle through his Thumbs Page 37. for the piercing of Christ's Body falling down and covering himself with Shavings of white Paper for a Winding-Sheet c. There are multitudes of prodigious Instances in the said Narrative of the incredible power of Enthusiastick Delusion to which I refer the Reader He pretended to be directed by Flies in most of his This minded me of the Etymology of Beelzebub Extasies which signifies The God of Flies But to go on James Naylor wrote an answer to Toldervy call'd Foot yet in the Snare c. printed in the same Year 1656. To which Toldervy reply'd the same Year and call'd his Replication The Snare broken c. And in the same Year again in two Sheets call'd The Naked Truth c. he made a sort of a half Vindication and half Recantation not of the Matters of Fact of his foresaid Delusions for these were undeniable but to free the Quakers from the Imputation and Scandal of them and to clear himself to have been and still to continue a true Quaker which makes the Cause much worse on their side James Naylor in his answer to Toldervy makes him to be both a true Prophet and a False like Fox 's Apology beforetold for Milner and where Toldervy tells of his being moved to say Thee and Thou Foot yet in the Snare p. 16. not to pull off his Hat to pull off the Points at his Knees and his Buttons that were unnecessary and not to direct his Mind in Drinking to any and the like Essential points these things Naylor says were dictated to Toldervy by the Spirit of God But as to his being led with Flies to Crucifie himself and to burn his Legs and prick Needles in his Thumbs and the like these Naylor says were the Devils Work And yet they were the same Spirits which bid Toldervy do both the one and the other and so both Good and Evil Spirits by Naylor 's Account But after Naylor had thus endeavour'd to Vindicate the Quaker-Spirit and to shew that Toldervy had it not like him Naylor in perfection even that same Year viz. 24. October 1656. all the Good or Evil Spirits entered into Naylor himself and he set up to be Christ and was Hosanna'd into Bristol Quakers leading his Horse strowing Branches and their Cloths in the way and singing Hosannah to him and Holy Holy Holy Lord God of Israel These Quakers said upon their Examinations That he James Naylor was the Christ that his Name was changed from James to Jesus that he was the only begotten Son of God the only Saviour See Ra. Farmer 's Narrative of this Triumph of James Naylor Entituled Satan Enthroned c. Printed 1657. p. 18 c. and that they knew no other Saviour but him And James Naylor upon his Examination wou'd not disown any thing of this But Justify'd and own'd it in Terms Equivalent p. 14. But this was Threatning to the Great For who pretended to be the Christ himself Naylor was but For 's Disciple And now was setting
that the time were come when these Quakers shou'd at last bethink themselves of this horid Scandal they have given to Christianity at least that Mr. Penn who has a stock of Breeding and Excellent Natural Parts too good to be thus Employ'd may Rescue himself from that Herd of Zealots sotishly possess'd even to Blasphemy And he is thus far towards it which to a Man of his Reason I reckon a great way that he must either make out his own Inspirations to be from God in as High a Degree as those which were given to the Prophets and Apostles or otherwise that he has no Authority to Inscribe the Name of God upon them as They did Nay he must not only Defend his own Works but he must likewise Justifie all the False Lying Prophecies hereafter told or otherwise he must Un-herd and be no longer of Them who dare Father the Lyes and Deliriums of their own Brain upon the Holy Spirit of God He must Answer one of their own Party John Penniman who has Printed the Paper he gave in to their last Yearly Meeting Entituled A few words of Moment to be Imparted to this Yearly Meeting at London 1695. of the People call'd Quakers And indeed they are Words of Moment and to be duly consider'd by the Quakers They are grounded upon two Quotations out of George Fox as follows 3. All you that speak and not from the Mouth of the Lord are False Prophets G. Fox's Answer to the Westmorland Pet. p. 5. 1653. They are Conjurers and Diviners and their Preaching is from Conjuration that is not spoken from the mouth of the Lord. George Fox 's Saul's Errand c. p. 7. 1654. Now the Advantage which these Quotations do afford is to shew from the words of this Great Prophet that unless all that he has said of his own and all the Quakers Infallibility of their Sinless Perfection Equal with God not only in Quality but in Equality of their Immediate Revelation in the same Degree as the Prophets and Apostles of their Souls being of one Substance and Person with God if all this and a great deal more which is shewn in the following Sections be not from the Mouth of the Lord then by G. Fox's own Confession he was a False Prophet and a Diviner But all that knew him or have taken the pains but to read three lines of his Works will free him from being a Conjurer If all the Black-Mouth'd and Hellish Venom mention'd Sect. V. was not spoken from the Mouth of the Lord then were all these Quakers Conjurers by G. Fox's Rule If all the Lying Prophecies mention'd Sect. X. of Solomon Eccles the Glover's Prophets c. were not from the Mouth of the Lord then were these Conjurers instead of Prophets If all the False and Foolish miracles which G. Fox tells of himself in his Journal Printed 1694. which exceed the Foppery of a Popish Legend if all these were not from God then was he and those who recommended that Journal all Conjurers If G. Whitehead cannot by some better Miracles than these vouch that the Curse and Prophecy above-told which he sent to G. Keith came from the Mouth of the Lord then is G. Whitehead to be esteem'd no better than a Conjurer Et sic de Caeteris In short if the Quakers cannot prove all their Books and Preachings many of which none of sense among themselves can deny to be thick larded with gross Ignorance and much nonsense if all and every scrap and tittle of these be not from the Mouth of the Lord then by Sentence of G. Fox himself all is Conjuration 4. And a visible effect of this was that extraordinary shaking and quaking like Fits of Convulsion which these Quakers at the first either acted or like the Heathen Priests of old were possess'd with whence they had their Name of Quakers George Fox in his Journal p. 156. to 161. strongly vindicates this their Quaking as a Mark of Divine Inspiration Which if it be not then it can be nothing else but Witchraft and Conjuration as G. Fox complains that the Prophane did call it If you see one says he ibid. p. 158. as Habakkuk whose Lips quivered whose Belly shook c. ye say he is Bewitched and p. 159. Some of them that scoff at this Power call it the Power of the Devil Yes and not only they that scoff'd at it but those that ador'd it and were possess'd by it and some of these have given us Relations of it in print which are indeed wonderful and do equal if not exceed all the Accounts in any Age even of Heathenism concerning the strange Possessions of the Devil or what has of later Years been told of Witches as their Bodies being seen to lie as Dead while they have told of their passing through the Air and acting their Phantastical Freaks c. Which is attributed by some to the strong impression made by the Devil upon their Imaginations whereby they really thought that they did such things as were transacted only in their Brain fully possess'd and turn'd with the force of an Enthusiastical Madness But whatever the power of the Devil may be in such cases or the Methods by which he works upon those miserable Mortals who are given up to his Inspirations which I will not take upon me to determine there never were more visible and dreadful effects of it no not in any of the possess'd Men mention'd in the Gospel than has been among the Quakers even as declar'd and witnessed by themselves and that not only as to the strange and preternatural Distortions Quaking and Shaking of their Bodies past the power of any to counterfeit or to act it by their Natural Strength But what is much more horrible and exceeding all other Witchcrafts and Possessions of the Devil that were ever heard of before These Possess'd Quakers do impiously Blaspheme and call themselves Christ and some of them have imitated his Passion Death and Resurrection Madly in themselves John Gilpin of Kendal in Westmorland has given us a strange and wonderful account of his own Possession by the Devil while he was a Quaker in a Book which he Intituled The Quakers shaken c. printed 1653. and attested by the then Mayor of Kendal the Minister of Kendal and several other persons whose Names are thereunto annexed The Story is prodigious and such astonishing Quaking and Distortion of his Limbs as cou'd not be counterfeited which the Devil told him was the effects of his Inspiration by the Spirit of God He tells that he was converted to Quakerism by the powerful preaching of one Christopher Atkinson a then renowned Quaker-Apostle and the Friends are desir'd to tell us whether he was not the same hereafter mentioned p. 90. to 95 I find another Edition of John Gilpin 's Book Anno 1655. which is mentioned by Christopher Wade in a Book of his call'd Quakery slain c. printed 1657. where p. 7 and 8. he quotes out of Gilpin 's
betwixt Oliver's Porter and the other less Mad-Men who call'd him Mad and he call'd them Wicked and Prophane and Pronounc'd Curses against them In the Name of the Lord for Despising his Gifts and Mission so do the Quakers and Muggletonians Curse one another bitterly and call one another Serpents and Sorcerers I have heard a Quaker say that Muggleton deserv'd all that he met with that is New-Gate Pillory and his Books Burn'd because said the Quaker he was a Deceiver of the People And Muggleton says the same of them and that Fox met better Treatment than he deserv'd And the Authority of the one is as good as the other And there we leave them But this I must say that Muggleton sticks truer even to Fox's Principle of Enthusiasm than either Fox himself or his Followers For Fox 's Chief and only Principle was at first to Direct Men to the Inward Anointing and that They needed no Man to teach them See his Journal p. 5 31 and 57. but as the Anointing teacheth them Therefore that they shou'd come off from all Mens Teaching unto God's Teaching For that God was come to Teach His People Himself But Fox wou'd not trust to this for he went about Teaching outwardly and has Erected an Outward Church-Discipline and Authority to over-rule that Anointing if it prove Refractory And though they have rejected the Sacraments as Outward things yet they keep up an Outward Ministery and Preaching which are more Inconsistent with their Principle of Reducing all to the Inward and waiting for the Lord in silence within c. But Muggleton has no Outward either Sacraments or Teaching nor any Outward Worship or Assemblies for any thing Relating to Religious Matters But leaves every Man Free to follow his own Impulse and to an Vniversal Liberty of Conscience If any Embrace his Principles Welcome If not let them go This is true Liberty of Conscience And sticking to the Inward Principle With which the Quaker Preaching and Church-Discipline is altogether Inconsistent even as at first Taught by themselves However Muggleton and Fox must be allow'd to be Brethren tho' not in equal Perfection because they both set up to Destroy the Outward or whole Body of Religion and Reduce it all to a Skeleton or a Ghost upon Pretence of giving Preference to the Spirit or Inward part of Religion which none denies as if one should Destroy the Cask to Preserve the Wine upon Pretence that the Cask is no part of the Wine But these two Mad-Men Fox and Muggleton being totally Ignorant of this thought themselves Spiritual by running down all Outward Forms And both their Inspirations came from the same Author The Father of Lyes who in that Hurricane of Schism and Rebellion got an Act of Parliament for Toleration and Liberty of Conscience to sow his Tares at Noon-Day with Doors open c. and he made full use of his Liberty He enter'd into the Herd of our Swine the Beasts of the People and drove them over Precipices of Enthusiasm to Perish in the Ocean of Heresie and Error Amongst these Jannes and Jambres Fox and Muggleton were Chiefs of greatest Note But Fox has got more Followers and of late some tho' very Few of more Sense and Learning Whose Labours have rendered their Cause much more Deform'd like a Monkey Dress'd in Mans Clothes and set on Horse-back or as a Jewel hung in a Swines Snout The Jargon was something agreeable to the Enthusiasm of Mechanicks both alike Intelligible But to see it Dress'd up in the Guise of Learning and set off in Mr. Penn's Elegant Stile 'T is such a Sight And it has undone them by Discovering them For being now made to speak Sence they are capable of being answer'd by Reason 8. But Nothing so Diverting as to see them sick of their Prophecies and spue them up again when they happen to interfere with their Interest How they endeavour since 1660 to stifle and conceal the Flattering Prophecies they gave to Oliver and the Cursed ones against the King and Cavaliers But in the Re-printing the Works of their Prophets since 1660 they leave out these Now unsavory Passages Their Infallibility needs an Index Expurgatorius as well as that of Rome through which we suppose George Fox's Works are to pass which are design'd as a Second Volume to his Journal Of this Cleanly Art they have given us a fair Specimen in the Re-printing of the Works of Edward Burrough one of their main Pillars or Posts wherein they leave out at p. 100. the following Prophecies which he directs thus To all you who are and have been always Enemies to the very appearance of Righteousness who are called Dilinquents and Cavaliers And he holds forth to them as follows Thus saith the Lord my Controversie is against you And you are become Cursed in all your Hatchings and Endeavours i. e. to Restore the King and from time to time my Hand hath been against you in Battel Your Kings and Princes and Nobles have been cut off in Wrath You are given to be a Curse and a Desolation and a Prey in Houses and Lands and Persons to them whom I I have raised up against you i. e. Oliver Cromwel and then he goes on to Prophesie for the Future in these words And you and your Kings and Lordly Power by which you have thought to Exercise Lordship over my Heritage shall be Enslaved by the Devil in the Pit of Darkness in Everlasting Bondage where He shall Reign your Lord and King for Evermore These are the Mildest words they can bestow Pillars of Fire and Smoak like the very opening of the Infernal Pit In all whose Caverns there lodges not a more Furious and Cursed Spirit than that which Inspires these Prophets of the Quakers whose Breath is Fire and Brimstone That Book of Burrough's out of which I have Quoted what is above bears this Title A Trumpet of the Lord or Fearful Voices of Terrible Thunders uttered from the Throne Declared and Written by a Son of Thunder c. 1656. How does it make ones Hair stand on end And how ought it to raise the Indignation of every Christian to see such a Blasphemous Wretch Pretend that all these his Hellish Thunderings were Uttered from the Throne of God! To see him begin in such a Stile as this By Order and Authority says he given unto me by the Spirit of the Living God King of Kings and Lord of Lords the 31. day of the 10th Month in the Year of the World's Account 1655. about the 4th Hour in the Morning when my Meditations was of my God upon my Bed in Kilkenny City in the Nation he wou'd not say Kingdom that was too Monarchical at that time of day of Ireland at that time The Word of the Lord came unto me saying Write my Controversie with All the Inhabitants of the Earth unto All sorts of People as I will shew thee by this same Authority and Commission Declared this I send unto
c. This is plain Language They will not yet take Arms not For the present not till they see their time But they have enter'd a Caveat to secure their Right and Title to it till they think fit to set up their Claim for their Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth But this is a Secret and to be kept under their Thumb for the present And therefore in their New Edition of Edward Burrough's Works Anno 1672. This Passage is left out with others against the King c. But no ways Disclaimed or Censur'd by them Which is now Requir'd from them or otherwise they must give us leave to believe that it is their Principle to take Arms and to Fight to set up their Heirship to any Kingdom they please when their King the Son of God Commands them And they believing that their Light within is that very Christ the Son of God as is fully shewn in what follows the Consequence is that they are free to take Arms whenever they say it is the time Or if the Mission of a Prophet be necessary to signifie the Command of their King to Fight for Him and for their own Heirship that can never be wanting to them because they do pretend to keep up a continual Succession of Prophets among them And the Word of every True Prophet being the Command of God Himself consequently whoever believes such a one to be a True Prophet must at his Command think themselves oblig'd to pull down any King and to set up whomsoever that Prophet names in his Place As Hazael was made King of Syria and Jehu of Israel by the Command of Elijah 1 Kings 19.15 16. Now the Quakers do pretend to have still Prophets and with as great a Power 9. For by their Printed Injunctions from the Meeting of Sufferings in London the 18th of the 6th Month 1693. to the respective Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales for preserving and spreading Friends Books for Truths Service among other of their Works to be carefully by them spread by way of Epistle Warning Caution and Exhortation they add likewise Prophecy And by a Canon of their General Assembly in London the 27th of the 3d Month 1675. they strictly Caution and Forbid to say That the Faithful Friends Papers which we say they testifie have been given forth by the Power of God are Mens Edicts And in their Paper of Orders from London in the 3d Month 1666. they reckon them as Heathens and Infidels who will not submit to the Judgment of their Church and dare oppose it as the Judgment of Man This is beyond all Acts of Parliament they are but the Edicts of Men And we pretend our Canons and Ecclesiastical Injunctions to be no other But whatever a Quaker Dictates if it were to Depose the King and set up their Universal Monarch above-told and to assert by Arms their own Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth If they should abrogate any or all of our Laws as they have done that of Tithes or any thing else whatever their Arbitrary Enthusiastical Spirit shall suggest to them this must not be look'd upon as any thing that is Humane that is below a Quaker's Pride but as the very Words of God as if pronounc'd by an Angel or an Apostle So that we must look well to our selves These are no Ordinary Men believe it 10. And their Design I mean of their Leaders is not only Liberty of Conscience that 's but a poor business but the total overthrow of the Church of England And that by a very Crafty Policy first to take away their Maintenance that is the Tithes and then they are sure it will fall to the ground And this Rob. Barclay does not conceal Anarchy p. 42. An. 1676. That Anti-Christian Apostatiz'd Generation says he the National Ministery have received a Deadly Blow by out Witness against their forc'â— Maintenance and Tythes So that their Kingdom in the Hearts of thousands begins to Totter and shall assuredly fall to the Ground But what if the Light within some Quakers shou'd allow them to pay Tythes And think that they ought in Conscience to do it as being Legally Established c. Wou'd the Quakers Rulers allow them Liberty of Conscience and give them leave to follow their Light within No. No. That is but scaffolding to pull down our Church and to build their own And they will not have their Cannon turn'd against themselves See his Animadversions on George Whitehead 's Innocency Triumphant 1694. p. 30. For when Thomas Crisp and other Quakers thought themselves oblig'd to pay their Tythes and did so accordingly they were Proceeded against as Rebels under no less a Denomination and that not only as against Men but against God Himself For their Writings as above told are not to be look'd on as the Edicts of Men. But as G. Fox Proclaims in his Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And in another place See G. F. and R. H. Truths Defence c. p. 2. 104. 107. You might as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Queries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are Answered from the mouth of the Lord c. And from the same mouth of the Lord Thomas Ellwood Denounces Antidote against the Infection of W. Rogers c. p. 78. That they who pay Tythes thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh which is a mark of Anti-Christ And G. Fox in his Decretal Epistle bearing Date the 3d Month 1677. See his Journal p. 431. Commands severely that the Friends Testimony against Tythes be kept up with vigor He says That for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them means and put into their Mouths is a Contradiction And therefore take heed says he for if the Lord God do Bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the outward things from you again So all the Preachers for Tythes and money and the Takers and Payers of Tythe must be testified against in the Lords Power and Spirit and therefore in the power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast that is as well Payers as Receivers of Tythes And that is the whole Kingdom King and Parliament who made Laws for the Payment of Tythes and all who dare obey those Laws are The Beast Anti-Christs and have deny'd Christ's coming in the Flesh as T. Ellwood and therefore G. Fox concludes his Epistle above-said keep your Authority and Dominion That is over that Beast and these Anti-Christs This was wrote 1677. and Printed 1694. whereby we may understand what Church they mean to which Tythes are paid and against which they have Proclaim'd War 11. But there
not the Seed and Christ Himself as the Quakers Blasphemously Dream only a Ray or Communication of His Light and Life to us How then can the Quakers have the True Christian Faith how can they be esteem'd as any Christians at all who will not allow Christ to be the Promis'd Seed or that He was more a Man in the Body of Jesus than in the Body of any other Man who make no more Reckoning of His Blood than of any other Saint who do not believe Him now to be a Man and as such our Mediator and Intercessor at the Right Hand of His Father These things I offer to their serious Consideration and I Pray God to Discover to them those Depths of Satan and that Bond of Iniquity wherein they are Captivated But I wou'd ask Mr. Penn one Question before I go upon his Hypothesis of the Light within being the Promis'd Seed And that is since the Quakers make this Light within to be in every Man that comes into the World how was it Promised Gen. 3.15 Was it not Then in the World And how then were they to look for it as to come But Mr. Penn has another Argument Ibid. to prove that the Outward Christ cou'd not be the Promis'd Seed which he says must be Inward and Spiritual Why Because says he One outward thing cannot be the proper Figure or Representation of another nor is it the way of Scripture so to teach us the outward Lamb shews forth the inward Lamb c. I am sorry Mr. Penn should tell us that this is not the way of Scripture because it is the Common High-way of the Scriptures For all the outward Sacrifices under the Law were Types or Figures of the Sacrifice of Christ the outward Christ upon the Cross Of whom St. Paul said 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us So that the outward Paschal Lamb in Aegypt and the striking of its Blood upon the Side-Posts of their Houses Exod. 12.7 13. that the Destroyer might not come in was a certain Type of the outward Blood of Christ which keeps off God's Wrath from us and not of any fansy'd inward Lamb slain in our Hearts c. as the Craft and Malice of the Devil has suggested to deface and wear out of our Minds the Faith in Christ's outward Blood by which only there is Salvation And by the help of this Distinction of an outward and Inward Christ outward and inward Blood c. the Quakers do keep themselves out of sight of all Men not throughly acquainted with their Deceits They can upon a Pinch subscribe the whole Creed and yet not mean one word of it of God or Christ at all that is of any God or Christ without Men or what all the World believe by God or Christ as existing without us tho' by their Blessed Influence operating within us But their Gross Ignorance cou'd not at First distinguish betwixt God and his Influence and those of them who know better now think themselves obliged to Justifie at least to Palliate and Excuse the Failings of their Leaders because they once own'd them to be Infallible By this means all the Non-sence and Blasphemy of G. Fox lies upon Mr. Penn's Shoulders If he will maintain him right or wrong then must Mr. Penn answer for G. Fox's calling himself Equal with God And his senseless Argument to prove it in his Saul's Errand before Quoted p. 8. because forsooth he had the Spirit of God as he Pretended whence he Argues in these words He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God Nor is this Madness peculiar to Fox alone it runs in the Blood of the Quakers The Renowned Francis Howgil is yet more Express in this Blasphemy if more can be His Works in Folio Reprinted 1676. Entituled The Dawnings of the Gospel-Day p. 232. The first thing thy Dark Mind stumbles at says he to his Opponent Edward Dodd is that some have said that they that have the Spirit of God are Equal with God He that hath the Spirit of God is in that which is Equal And he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and the Unity stands in Equality it self Thus he and lest you should think too little of the word Equality he gives it you with an Emphasis Equality it self But he seems to come into a calmer mood a few lines after and says There is Equality in Nature tho' not in Stature But instead of bringing him off this sets him deeper in the Mire For first it is Nonsence for whatever is equal to God in Nature must be so likewise in Stature Since His Nature is Infinite And for that Reason secondly making us equal to God in Nature is the highest Equality it is indeed Equality it self Which Expression Howgil repeats twice in the distance of three lines that he might be sure of it Having thus made themselves Equal to God in very Nature it is not strange to see them denying any other God or Christ but themselves They pull God out of Heaven and upbraid those who believe that there is any God or Christ there as I have hereafter Quoted their words out of a Book of theirs call'd The Sword of the Lord drawn c. p. 5. Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly deny'd to say this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye I will here add to this how careful they are to instill into their Children according to their Capacities these Principles of their most Anti-Christian Religion and exceeding the Blasphemy of all that we ever yet heard among the most Barbarous of the Heathen Nations There is a Primmer put out for the Quaker Children by W. Smith There p. 8. you have this Question asked How may I know when Christ is truly Preached And the Answer is They that are False Ministers Preach Christ without and bid People believe in Him as He is in Heaven above but they that are Christ's Ministers Preach Christ within Here was an admirable Cue given to young Children to prevent their ever receiving the least tincture of Christianity that if they shou'd at any time hear of a Christ in Heaven or of any Christ out of themselves they might immediately stop their Ears and believe all who spoke of it to be False Ministers Sure Satan never advanc'd his Kingdom in any Age so high as in these miserably Deluded People But lest the Child shou'd think that there might be only difference of Expression betwixt the Quakers and others who Profess'd a Christ Personally in Heaven tho' Present with us and operating in our Hearts by the Influence and Graces of His Spirit there is another Question p. 9. Here then is great difference in their Doctrine Answer Yes and no more Fellowship than East with West This Answer is true indeed For the difference is not only in the Expression but in the Doctrine And
dote so much of an Earthly King Traytors against Christ And will these that are true Christians have any more Kings among them but Christ I say that is the False Church that doth not live Upon the Heads of the Kings Such that are out of the Life and Power Work for an Earthly King and will change as they change These all quench the Spirit of God in themselves These all deny the Light c. Alas Wretched George Now must all Men know that Thou even Thou thy self didst quench the Spirit deny the Light c. because Thee didst Change just as the Times did Change and just as soon Thee didst not stay a minute nor thy Friends with thee For after all your Treasons and Rebellions continued from your beginning with the utmost virulence to the very last day even while the above Antimonarchical and Poisonous words were in the very Mouth of thee the King was Miraculously and Unexpectedly Restor'd And this Changling Fox Immediately Tack'd about as did they All. They lost no time the King came to London the 29th of May 1660. and in seven days after the 5th of June they had drawn up a Declaration of their Sincerity and good Wishes to the Government which they delivered into the King's Hand the 22d of the same Month as soon as they cou'd get Access This is indors'd upon the said Declaration in Print but it bears Date the 5th of June It is Subscrib'd by a Bakers Dozen of them and George Fox the Fore-Man in the Name of themselves and of those in the same Unity And it is worth ones while to compare the words of this Declaration with those of Foxs before-quoted and much more of the same strain in that Book of his out of which I have taken them Printed in the foregoing part of the same year 1660. There they were Traytors against Christ and Crucifiers of Jesus who were for any Earthly King and it was The False Church which did not live upon the Heads of the Kings But now they lay themselves under the Feet of an Earthly King The same Earthly King against whose Restoration they had Belched forth so much Venom See their Declaration p. 4. We do therefore Declare say they to take off all Jealousies Fears and Suspicions of our Truth and Fidelity to the King and the present Governors that our Intentions and Endeavours are and shall be Good True Honest and Peaceful towards them and that we do Love Own and Honour the King and these present Governours But there was a pleasant Passage which I am confident the Reader will Excuse me to tell In the first Draught of this Declaration approved by G. Fox and the Body of the Quakers the words Loyal Subjects were put in viz. That the Quakers were the King 's Loyal Subjects and that they had suffer'd much as himself had done This wou'd imply as if their Sufferings had been for him For how otherwise was it any Merit in them with regard to the King Which looking like a piece of Gross Hypocrisie one Edward Billing a Quaker of more open Sincerity and Courage than the rest rose up against it and knowing well that the Quakers had never Suffer'd nor Acted any thing for the King But on the contrary were always most bitter Enemies to Him and to His Interests he Protested against these words in the Declaration and said that it was a Mockery in the Face of the World to give themselves the stile of Loyal Subjects But G. Fox and the Generality of the Quakers oppos'd him and thought it convenient that these Expressions should stand whereupon Billing being heated avow'd to them that if they pass'd the Declaration with these words he wou'd Print against it tho' it cost him his Life And this did so startle them having a guilty Conscience that to avoid being thus expos'd they at last submitted to have these words left out which they wou'd never have done if they cou'd have stood the Test But rather such an Objection wou'd have made them more Zealous to have asserted their Loyalty with the greater vigor and to have Censur'd this Billing and caus'd him to sign an Instrument of Condemnation against himself for so Foul and at that time Dangerous an Imputation upon the whole Body of the Friends And that so Publickly in the Face of their Assembly which they according to their stated Discipline have done in Cases of much less Importance than this and wou'd not have fail'd to have done in this if they had not known his Charge to be True But this Contest about the word Loyalty was perfectly needless since they suffer'd the words which I have Quoted to stand viz. Truth and Fidelity to the King For these imply all that Loyalty can mean But it serves to this purpose First to discover their Disloyalty and Secondly Their deep Hypocrisie of which there never was surely such an Impudent Instance given as in this Declaration for having themselves serv'd all turns that ever happen'd in their time the Rump Parliament then Oliver Protector Dick the Army that turn'd him out the Committee of Safety c. as before is told and now but just turn'd to the King they had the Face to upbraid others for their Changing and Trimming Hear the words of their Declaration p. 6. And these Priests turned to every Power and every Government as it turned and made Addresses and Acknowledgments to every Change of Government Now let any honest Hearted People judge whether these be sound Principled Men that can Turn Conform and Transform to every Change according to the Times Whether these be fit Men to Teach People One wou'd think that this were a Lampoon some Enemy had made upon the Quakers especially when in the next page and p. 8. they tell the King False Dealing we do utterly deny and speak the Truth in Plainness and Singleness of Heart Of which I leave the Reader to judge when I have told him farther That besides G. Fox 's several Papers before-mentioned the Quakers in the beginning of the Year 1660 before the Restoration did likewise Print several Papers of George Bishop another of their Apostles containing violent Invectives against the King and Kingly Government and stirring up all People to keep them out That Book of Bishop's bears this Title The Warnings of the Lord to the Men of this Generation c. London Printed by M. Inman and are to be sold at the Three Bibles in Pauls Church-Yard and by Richard Moon Bookseller in Wind-steet in Bristol 1660. Thus Industriously did they spread their Treasons and set all their Shoulders to support the then Usurpation and obstruct the Restauration of the King and that to the very last in the same Year 1660. Bishop p. 26.27 Writing to the then Council of State warns them In the Name of the Lord to be very vigorous in opposing all Attempts that were made towards the Restauration persuades them as Ahitophel to Absalom 2 Sam. 16.21 to be
the Quakers p. 97. Witness Immediate Revelation They are come to that the Apostles was in the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God they Witness Immediate Revelation p. 153. But the rest of the World have never heard the Voice of God nor the Voice of Christ and have not the same Infallible Spirit as the Apostles had and no Immediate Revelation nor Inspiration as they had p. 221. Revelation is now witnessed in our Days as it was in the Apostles but not amongst you who have inwardly Ravened from the Spirit of God which have Apostatized from the Apostles And so you be in the Diabolical Devilish that expects not that now which was in the Days of the Apostles If ever you own the Prophets Christ New Rome Unmask'd p. 42. G. F's Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. Truth 's Defence G. F. and R. H. p. 2 89 104 and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power You may as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Quaeries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are now Answered from the Mouth of the Lord. Of their stiling their own Writings The Word of the Lord and denying it to the Holy Scriptures you will see farther Sect. 11. Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures SECT X. Concerning the Quakers Infallibility THis Section may seem needless as being included in the former For who pretend to an Equality with God to the same Immediate Revelation with Christ the Prophets and Apostles had must needs be Infallible But I conceive it will be worth the Readers while to see how they Branch it and Descend to particular Marks and Instances of their Infallibility This Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box And you may expect to see Rareties I told you before how their Infallibility was Palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome Of which they were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by whole-sale and wou'd have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome us'd to Defend themselves or else forgot them in their Haste and in their Hony Month while they were New-fangl'd Thus while the Church of Rome plac'd their Infallibility only in their Church or at most in the Pope alone as the Head of it the Quakers set up for it All and every One of them There was an Infallibility for you The Church of Rome had cunning Hiding Places and if you attack'd the Infallibility of their Church they wou'd not tell you what they meant by their Church nor where to find their Infallibility some wou'd make you believe that it was in the Pope as Head of the Church and only Successor of Peter to whom the Promises Super hanc Petram and Tues Petrus were made But then some distinguished and said not in Peter alone nor always but only when he was in Cathedra and some said that was with his Conclave others said no but only with a General Council Again some plac'd the Infallibility in the Council above the Pope others in the Pope above the Council others in neither of them asunder but only in both together And lastly some will have it none of all these ways but say it is only to be look'd for in the Diffusive Body of the Church And then as to the Infallibility it self some tell us that it relates to Manners as well as Faith and to Practice as well as Theory Others will by no means admit of that but confine it wholly to matters of Faith And then it will be a long Dispute what shall be adjudg'd a Matter of Faith and what not but only as Relating to Faith These are long and intricate Mazes and it requires no little Skill to be able to follow them thro' all these various Subterfuges But the Simplicity of our Quakers has depriv'd them of every one of these Helps For as they place Infallibility in every single Quaker so they confine it not to matters of Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things To know all Mens Hearts and all Things in the World by their inward Light without being told by any I am sure by this time the Reader is impatient to come to the Proof to see if it be possible for Men to be possess'd with such an incredible degree of Enthusiasm And I am willing to begin that I may no longer lie under the suspicion of Imposing unjustly or at least of Aggravating any thing against them G. Fox says plainly Gr. Myst p. 89. That they can discern who are Saint who are Devils and who Apostates without speaking ever a word Ibid. p. 5. That they have the Word of God Christ which is Eternal and Infallible in their Hearts to judge Persons and Things Thou says he to his Opponent p. 96. not being Infallible thou art not in the Spirit and so art not a Minister and art not able to judge of Powers that is not Infallible nor Magistrates nor Kingdoms nor Churches Now which of the Quakers is it who have this Spirit to judge thus Infallibly of Persons and Things of Powers Magistrates Kingdoms and Churches And to discern Mens Hearts who are Saints and who Apostates and that without being told by any as G. F. expresses it without speaking ever a word This is told us in p. 7. of Edward Burrough's Epistle to the Reader of G. F's Great Mystery where he says that this Infallible Spirit was given To us says he every one of us in particular And this Light gave us to discern between Truth and Error between every false and right way and it Perfectly discover'd to us the true state of All Things Thou say'st says Fox to his Opponent p. 107. that the Holiest Man is not able to give an Infallible Character of another Man Hast thou not in this discover'd thy self to be no Minister of Christ or of the Spirit Who cannot give an Infallible Character of another Man how canst thou Minister to his Condition How canst thou see where he is How canst thou see them that be turned from the Darkness and that be in the Darkness and distinguish the one from the oother and an Holy Man from an Unholy Man that canst not give an Infallible Character of and Man's Estate And p. 94. Have ye given your selves a Name of the Church of Christ and is there not a Spirit of discerning among you Have ye not manifested here that ye are Harlotted from the Church of Christ the Apostles were of And how can ye Minister or Teach People if ye do not discern their states how they stand before God How can you commend your selves to every Man's Conscience in God's sight How can ye present the Souls of Men to God and see not their states how they are in his sight How come ye to have Fellowship in the Spirit How can you or any Minister to the state and condition that People be
of a Book of theirs Entituled The Sword of the Lord drawn c. Quoted by F. Bugg in his Quakerism withered p. 26. Printed 1694. The Devil was in thee says G. F. to his Adversary Chr. VVade in his Gr. Myst p. 250. thou say'st thou art saved by Christ without thee and so hast Recorded thy self to be a Rebrobate And p. 183. such as have Christ in them they have the Righteousness it self without Imputation the end of Imputation the Righteousness of God it self Christ Jesus And in his Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 14. Christ says he that is The Light within is the Substance of all Figures and his Flesh is a Figure i. e. of their Light within which they make the only Christ F. B's Sheet p. 3. The very Christ of God is within us And the Flesh or Body which Christ â—ssum'd they do not call the Body â—f Christ as a Man's Body is call'd his Body that is as one Person with his Soul both which together make the Man but only as when an Angel assumes a Body he â—akes not that Body into his own Nature so as to be part of his Person but only as a Cloak or a Garment which a Man wears which he may throw off or put on again without any alteration in his Person Nor can such a Garment be call'd the Man So we say the Quakers F. B's New Rome Araign'd p. 24 can never call the Bodily Garment Christ p. 27. For that which be took upon him his Body was our Garment even the Flesh and Blood of our Nature which is of an Earthly Perishing Nature And as a Cloak alters not its Nature but is the same whoever wears it because it does not thereby alter its Nature nor is taken into the Nature of him who wears it so and no more do they make of the Flesh of Christ which they say as above was of an Earthly Perishing Nature And is Perished by their account for they allow not that it was taken up into Heaven Some of them say it vanished or was aninhilated But they have not that I find determin'd Judicially what is become of it And so their Doctors may vary about it But from this account which they give of it they think that the Name of Christ does belong to every one of them not only more than to that Body now but as well as to It while it was upon the Earth and when Christ did Inhabit It. Yea their very words are F. B's New Rome p. 28. Doth not the Name Christ belong to the whole Body and to every Member in the Body as well as to the Head A Quest c. p. 27. and G. Fox says Myst p. 88. Christ is the Elect. Thus Christ is the Elect and the Elect are Christ they make them convertible terms And p. 207. he desputes against this Position That God hath a Christ distinct from all other things whatsoever And says in opposition to it That God's Christ is not distinct from his Saints I shew'd in the last Section that they wou'd not allow God the Father to be distinct from the Son But here is a stretch which far out-does that to shew that there is no stop as in Art so neither in Enthusiasm which indeed is an Art to put upon our selves as well as others They say a Man may tell a Lye so often that he may come to believe it himself at last And a strong Enthusiastick habit may fix a Man's Thought so long upon a beloved Object as to dazle his Understanding and glare so in his Eyes that without considering the grossest Absurdities will go down and the highest Blasphemies gain a pretence even of Piety and Exalted Devotion This is the Devil transform'd into an Angel of Light This is the most Fatal an Irrecoverable State of a Soul when we fall in Love with our Diseases and as in a Calenture mistake the deepest Oceans of Presumptuous Blasphemy for sweet and pleasant Fields of Contemplation and even of Humility and thus mistake Hell it self for our Heaven Who that had not his Head turn'd with such Enthusiastical Delusion cou'd have imagin'd that G. Fox cou'd find no Difference no Distinction at all betwixt Christ and Himself And that Men of Sense shou'd lick up his spittle And it is but consequential to this that all the Divine Attributes shou'd be given to G. Fox as well as unto Christ if there be no Distinction between them then they are the same And I have shewn some Instances Sect. 5. where G. Fox does assume the Stile and Names of Christ to Himself and that others do allow them to him All which is excus'd by Mr. Penn in the XI Chapt. of the Invalidity of Iohn Faldo's Vindication in such a wonderful manner as will leave no Blasphemy or Idolatry in the World without a very fair pretence But I turn from him out of respect to him and invite the Reader to go along with me as a Conclusion to this whole Discourse and take a short view of G. Whitehead's Creed where it relates to some of the particulars before spoke of that especially which is Treated of in this Section SECT XVIII Some Remarks upon George Whitehead's Creed Relating to some of the Particulars before-going IT has been a great and just Complaint against the Quakers that they wou'd never give us any Creed or Summary of their Faith They find fault with others but tell not what they hold themselves They dwell upon Negatives but love not to speak in the Affirmative what they wou'd be at Well! Now G. Whitehead has at last done it in the Introduction to his Innocency Triumphant which he Entitles thus Our Christian Testimony re-assum'd in the Affirmative And so far he keeps pace with the Apostles Creed that he comprises it in just Twelve Articles But alas when you come to consider them they do not go cleverly off from the above-said Damnable Errors of the foregoing Quakers but on the contrary he words his new Confession of Faith in such Dubious and General terms as may indeed at first sight deceive an unwary Reader but yet keeps off contradicting the Heart of the Heresie which he still preserves safe and untouch'd And not only so but often with a slily insinuated Excuse and Defence of it Thus in his 1st Articl he confesses Jesus to be the Christ Even the same Jesus Christ who was born of the Virgin Mary at Bethlehem c. This wou'd seem a plain Confession to the Christ without that it was meant of that Man Jesus Christ and not only of the Light within But then when you consider that as above-said they attribute the Name of Christ to their own Light within and to every one of Themselves as well as unto Jesus Christ then it will appear that this Confession of Whitehead's is a meer Fallacy while it attributes no more to Jesus Christ than to G. W. But let us not wrong honest George He confesses Art 10. in these