them over night next day when I sent for them not one of them was to be had When he is Dead that too must pass the Index Expurgatorius with the Rest of his Works If Quakerism be not out of Fashion before that time which I Hope he may Live to see If they wou'd Call in or Commit to the Flames all their Old Editions I shou'd be very well Pleas'd to Rake no More into them But let them and their Heresies Die together And let the Present Quakers slide Gently from their Errors without the Shame of Recanting For it is their Conversion not Victory over them that we seek But when these Old Quaker Books are still kept as Sacred Relicts by the Generality of the Ignorant and Besotted Quakers And their Now Governing and Subtile Teachers in all the Apologies they have of Late Published still Pretend to stand by and Confirm All the Testimonies and Writings of their Ancient Friends and that In all the Parts of them And that they are thus Enjoin'd by the Yearly Epistle of their General Council as supposing them all Infallible and Dictated by the Immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as they Horridly Pretend yet are not Afraid to Alter Correct and Amend them It becomes Necessary and our Duty to Search out and Expose them That being the Most Likely Means to Open those Eyes which are not Seal'd up to their own Destruction And now let others think That if the Figure of Quakerism be so Abhorrent even as Represented to Us in their Re-Printed and Corrected Books How ten times more Deform'd and Frightful it wou'd Appear if taken off their first Rude Draught if their Original Books were Expos'd to Publick view if the Publick wou'd take some Method to have them Collected and Reserv'd in some safe Place till ther shou'd be no Longer Use for them but what they first Deserv'd the Animadversion of the Hang-Man and a Faggot In the mean time Let the more sober among the Quakers Reflect how the Words of their Prophets give a Certain sound as Boasted in the Title-Page of BVRROVGH's Trumpet before Quoted when they are Chopt and Chang'd as we have seen and made Speak the Language of Every Turn tho' in Direct Opposition to one Another And if their Words are the Immediate Dictates of the Holy-Ghost as they Blasphemously Pretend then must the Curse of Adding to or Diminishing from the Word of God Light upon those who have Added or Substracted or Alter'd any thing in Any of these Quaker-Writings Which Curse they May Read in the Book of Rev. xxii 18 19. To have their Part taken away out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book And to have the Plagues which are written in this Book added unto them This they must take to Themselves or else Confess as the Truth is That the Words of these Quaker-Prophets were not Wrote from the Spirit of God And if so then because they do Pretend to be so Written they must be Acknowleg'd to have been Wrote by the Spirit of Blasphemy that is the Devil And that this is the Spirit which has Possess'd these QVAKERS To Sir Thomas Lane Lord Mayor of London HAving been Lately Summoned before Thee by Dr. Linford and Marmaduke Hopkins who are more Diligent to seek thy Warrant to take Our Goods than to seek us thereby shewing That it 's Ours more than We they desire and Love Which to us shews That they have no more Right to esteem themselves Ministers of Christ than as such to take Tyths or Plead for them For Christ said to his Ministers freely ye have received freely Give He did not Advise nor Teach That if any would not Give they should take from them whether they would or nay Therefore Consider whether such who take by force abide in or transgress the Doctrine of Christ If they Transgress as certainly they Do who abide not in his Doctrine Then his Apostle declares their Condition 2. John 9. And we Intreat thee Mayor seriously consider how he either bids God speed to such or assists them in such a Work For Thou and All must receive a Reward from the hand of the Righteous God According to your Works We have also herewith sent a small Collection out of the Book of Martyrs Fol. 669.670 To shew that the Priests have no Right to Tythes and that it was anciently so Testified by other Consciencious men besides us and made an Article against them as well as it is against us Read and consider the following Collection is the Request of us who are Sincere Well wishers to the Mayor and All men and truely desire that We nor any Other may Do that here that we cannot Answer hereafter in the Great Day of Account John Feild Will. Bingley The Collection IN the New Law neither Christ nor any of his Apostles took Tythes of the People nor Commanded the People to pay Tythes neither to Priests nor Deacons But in the 1000 year of Our Lord 211. One Pope Gregory the 10th Ordained Tythes First to be Given to Priests Again Paul saith He was not Chargeable unto them but with his hands got his Own Living It were Good Councel That all Priests took Good heed to the Heavenly Learning of Paul not Charging the People for their Bodily Livelyhood And Paul saith since the Priesthood is Changed its necessary a Change also be made of the Law so that Priests Live without Tythes For the Priests that Challenge Tythes say in effect That Christ is not become Man nor that he Suffered Death for man's Love Again the Taking of Tythes and of such other Duties that Priests Challenge now wrongfully neither Christ nor his Apostles Challenged nor took such Duties Therefore these taking of Priests now are to be called and holden The Sclanderous Covetousness and because of the Covetousness of Priests and Pride it stirreth God to take Vengeance both upon Lords and Commons which Suffer Priests Charitably This is Verbatim according to the Original Letter which I have in my Possession The Collection added out of Fox's Martyrs is not as here set down But gather'd out of several places of the Answers of one Will. Thorp an Ignorant Zealous Man but no Martyr in the Reign of Hen. 4. I wou'd not Mend any of the words to make sense of them as In the 1000 year of our Lord 211. but give them just as Quoted by the Quakers Who took what was for their Purpose 1. To make Tythes to be Anti-Christian as being a Denyal of Christ's having Come in the Flesh 2 That the Clergy are not to be supported Nor so much as God Speed be given to them 3 That the Vengeance of God is upon both Lords and Commons who suffer Priests Charitably The Arguments of the Quakers against Tythes I have Promised to Consider in a Treatise by it self But I have Printed this Letter of theirs to shew what Moderation they now at
Paragraph which the Quakers put into The Post-Man 14. Jan. 1699. Page 81. VII A Declaration against Wigs or Periwigs Page 83 VIII The Excommunication of Will Wilkins for Marrying one who was not a Quaker And And for being Marry'd by a Clergy-Man Page 90. IX Their Denyal of Burial to Thom. Bradly for the same Page 92. I must trouble the Reader to Correct the Errata of the Press as he finds them For I am quite Tyr'd Advertisement AT the end of the First Part there is mention made of a Preface In which I have laid open the ways and means by which George Fox and the first Quakers came by all that Complication of the Ancient Heresies with further Improvements upon which they have set up For it was none of their Invention They had neither Parts nor Learning sufficient for such an Enterprise But the Second Part Swelling so much with the Collection beyond the first Intended Bounds And the Quakers last Answer to The Snake which they call Anguis or Switch having come out since And it being thought necessary That something shou'd be said to it particularly because the Quakers make such Boasts of it tho' in Effect it is Answered already in this Reply I have to Eease the Bulk of this Reserv'd the Preface to my Reflections upon the Switch which will be the shorter because there will need little more than Applying their Answers in the Switch to those Methods set down in the Second Part which they use in Answering of Books that are wrote against them And so that will serve as a Third Part to this And be the Last I intend upon this Subject Because I think to make it very Plain that by their Answers in the Switch they must be Satisfied and Know in their Hearts that these Heresies c. are Justly Charg'd upon them And that they have Taught them Onely here let me take Notice of an Answer lately come out to the Preface of the Snake concerning Mis Bourignon in an Apology wrote in Defence of her and her Priciples Wherein the Author shews That he is not without Passion at what he calls Passion in others But he vents it not in that Furious Nasty Fashion as the Quakers He calls that Zeal which is Exprest in the Preface against Bourignonism Spiteful and Malicious But that Author cou'd have no Malice against her Person whom he knew no otherwise than by her Writings And if the Doctrins she Taught were such as he has there Represented them believe it there was Cause for all that Concern and more than is there Exprest Now whether they are truly Represented in that Preface will appear plain enough by the Answer to it Which Denies not the Quotations but by Contrary Testimonies and some other of the Quaker-Methods here set down wou'd Squeeze and Force the Words out of their Natural Signification which yet can not be done The Apologist accuses the Author of that Preface of Prejudice and Un-charitableness Why Because he do's not Insist upon and Recommend the Good things in Ms Bourignons Writings as well as Expose what he thought Dangerous and Destructive But this was Blaming without Cause For it was Dangerous things only which ought to be Expos'd And they were the more Dangerous because they were Mixt with Good things as Satan when Transformed into an Angel of Light To Praise whose Light wou'd not be the way to Discover him No. We must look for the Cloven-Foot And Pull off the Sheeps-Cloathing to find out the Wolf The Apologist sets down his Belief in most Orthodox and Moving terms And I do Believe him And think him a Man of Piety and Sincere Intentions And that he has been deluded by the seeming Devotion Self-Denyal and Abstractedness from the World that Appears thro' the Writings of Ms Bourignon Therefore I do with Great Charity and an Hearty Concern Beseech him and others who follow her Devotion to consider whether it cou'd come from God and Cover such Terrible Doctrins as overturn the very Foundation of our Christian Faith Such as CHRIST's Dying being only by Accident That He came not with a Design to Suffer That it was not Consistent with the Glory of God Nor needful as a Satisfaction for our Sins And other things mention'd in that Preface I would Provoke their Zeal to be more for the support of the True Christian Doctrin than for the Flights of Ms Bourignon or any other which we do not Want We have the Lives of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and of Christ Himself for our Examples There is no Addition to them in the Life of Ms Bourignon As to the Rest of this Apology in Answer to Dr. Cockburn's Narratives concerning Ms Bourignon I meddle not with them He is of Age and can Answer for himself My Province now is only The Snake in Grass And so much of Bourignonism as is there Contain'd for which I think this short Advertisement to be sufficient And that her Pretensions to the Spirit of Prophesie or Miracles have no better Foundation than Fox or Muggleton had And stand Chargeable with the same Enthusiasm and Blasphemy A DEFENCE Of the BOOK Intituled The Snake in the Grass Against George Whitehead's Antidote c. George Whiteheads Pleasantry upon the Author of the Snake I. IN his Epistle to the Reader P. 1. He tells that the Quakers did not Intend to write any Answer to The Snake in the Grass that it was not worth an Answer c. It was slighted by Vs says he and laid aside as scarce deserving any particular Answer Till the Importunity of some People he says did Extort this Answer from them And yet p. 265. I must Advertise the Reader says he that this Officious Author shou'd have spar'd his other Discourse against the Quakers untill he had seen an Answer to his Snake in the Grass This was very Cunning Here He had that Author at a why not For the Author as others did believe that the Quakers had no stomach to Answer that Book which made them so long in doing it because nothing is so hard to be Answer'd as Matter of Fact of which that Book do's chiefly consist And the Author was so Careful of his Quotations that all G. Whitehead's sagacity has not found out one False Quotation in the whole Book This George knew and therefore he was brought to this Answer like a Bear to the Stake But an Answer ther must be because as he confesses People did call for it and thought the Quaker-Cause Lost without it And this Forc'd Answer will sink it much Deeper in the Mire for the Excuses are so slight so Guilty so Confessing that every Discerning Eye must see thro' these Fig-leaves which they are not able so to Patch together as to Cover their Nakedness His Meek and Lamb-like Treatment of him II. This has Enrag'd them out of All measure against the Author And tho' in The Snake Sect. xvii one wou'd think ther were so much of
the Venom and Bitterness of their Spirit set forth as at least to Prevent their Falling for some time into the like again yet they verifie the Character that Author has given of them while they are Pretending to Clear themselves from it and shew that Bitterness and Fury are so Ingrafted into their very Natures that they cannot Refrain from it even when they are Pleading not Guilty to the Charge and call themselves The Lambs of Christ and The Meek of the Earth Ther is hardly a Page in this Antidote that is not be speckl'd with the Meek Froth of these Lambs Such as calling the Author of The Snake Ep. to Reader p. 2. Book p. 3. and all that take his Part The Devil and his Agents Furious Foul-mouth'd Persecuting Agents Precipitated by the Devil and Malice A Poor Dissembling Hypocrite thro' whom the Devil and Malice do Invent 44.88.188.251.253.255.257.262.264 c. Screwed up by the Father of Lies to such a Height of Malice and Outrage Like some Mercenary Soldier of Fortune A Persecuting sculking Adversary Persecuting Incendiaries This Author 's Great Malice Cruelty and Persecuting Spirit Most Hideous and sordid Calumny The sink of his Gross Calumnies and Malice Such Dirty Kennels of Lies and Abuses as the Books of the said Author c. This is enough for a Taste of such Delicious Fare I shou'd Transscribe Great Part of his Book if I gave you a Collection of all of this sort that runs thro' it And after all this Out-Cry he has not shewn one False Charge or Calumny cast upon the Quakers in All The Snake as you will see in the Examining of those which he do's Allege But this Bluster and Confidence by way of Meekness he thought wou'd gain Credit with some who wou'd take his word rather than be at the Pains to Compare or Read Defences His Cry of Persecution against him III. And such wou'd think by his Exclamations that some Grievous Persecution were stirr'd up against them that the Author of The Snake had Incited the Civil Power to Hang Draw and Quarter the Quakers to Confiscate their Estates Imprison Banish Torture or some Terrible Proceedings against them But not a word of this or any thing like it in The Snake no not as Alledg'd by G. W. himself but on the Contrary ther is nothing else there Propos'd but to Reason and Argue with them Fairly and upon the Square to Convince them out of their own Books and writings and Undeniable Matters of Fact Which if any man Quote wrongfully against them or Deduce Unjust Consequences from them he Exposes himself and gives them the Fairest opportunity can be to vindicate themselves Indeed if I shou'd Traduce and Defame in the General as G. W. here serves the Author of The Snake without Descending to Particulars and Producing my vouchers clearly and above board whereby the Accused may have free scope to disprove the Charge if False this wou'd be a Persecution of the Tongue and that is a Persecution and a Severe one But if I Quote Book and Page as the Author of The Snake has done and Recite fairly and Argue from thence in the Common way of Reasoning this cannot be call'd a Persecution Or it is such a one to which the Quakers have always Invited Encourag'd and Provok'd us Edw. Burrough in his Return to the Ministers of London A. D. 1660. Page 657. and 658. of his Works Reprinted A. D. 1672. says to them Search the Scriptures and that Religion and worship and Ministry which is not according to the Scriptures let that Religion worship Church and Ministry be utterly Condemned of The Lord and all his People and let such Ministers as cannot Prove their Call their Maintenance and Practices to be according to Scriptures let such Ministers be Confounded and silenced for ever And come to try this Matter when ye will For whereas you cry out against us as if we were Denyers of Scriptures as if we were Enemies to Church Deceivers Hereticks c. But I say unto you these things have you never yet justly Proved against us but rather Accused us behind our Backs And tho' for divers years together we have been Publick yet when did ever any of your Ministers seek by Lawful means to Convert us or shew us our Errors If we were as you say of us Oh it had been your time to have sought our Conversion If we be in an Evil way as you say let us hear your soundest Arguments by the Spirit of God and according to the Scriptures to Prove those things which you say of us Prove it by Evident Arguments that we Deny Scriptures that we are Hereticks I challenge you All in the Name of the Lord even All you Ministers of London Let us hear your sound Reasons openly Come out you Ministers we are willing to be Try'd according to the Scriptures and by the Spirit of God in our Religion and in Every Part of it and if you be the same then come forth and let us have fair Dealing Openly that Truth may be Manifested Publickly and Error may be Discovered And this wou'd be a Christian like way we wou'd hear what you have to Charge against our Religion by sound Arguments that we may Answer it and come out when you will in such away as this and this wou'd Satisfie thousands and this is the way to Exalt Religion and we wou'd think it a Happiness more than otherwise to be joyned in sober Debate and Dispute against you that all may be satisfy'd who are Doubtful and may hear your Principles and our Principles discussed in the Presence of the People who may Judge by the Light and witness in their own Consciences for to that in All we do appeal And in such a Proceeding come forth when you will c. But all this Daring was soon Quash'd when it came to the Tryal How have they Exclaim'd of late agaist George Keith for Provoking them to Dispute in Publick and have Quit the Field crying out and that in Print that they wou'd meet in no such way lest it might Provoke the Government tho' the Lord Mayor had given his leave for the Meeting in one of the Publick Halls of the City and one of the Sherifes was himself Present and his Officers attending to see order kept But all that was nothing the Quakers said it was a Turbulent way And that the People were not Competent Judges of such matters as they Printed in the Reasons they put out for their Declining to give G. Keith a Meeting two years after one another in Turners-Hall the first on the 11. June 1696. the other upon the 29. Apr. 1697. To take away both which Pretences four Reverend Divines of the City of London were appointed by the Lord Bishop of London to meet at Turners-Hall the 21 of Apr. 1698. And there to Hear and Examin the Charges of False-Doctrin and Heresies which G. Keith had Exhibited against the Quakers and
Sect. x. p. 132. and Sect. xiv p. 175 176. Let me add here one Proof more I have before Quoted a Book wrote by Five Ministers call'd A further Discovery c. There p. 23 24. is a Letter of Will. Baldwinson Dated 14. January 1653. and attested by Three others where Will. Baldwinson Declares that he before a Company where James Nayler and Richard Farnsworth were setting out this Doctrin of Perfection Demanded of them in these words Friends do you hold that a man may attain to that Height of Perfection in this Life to be as Perfect as Pure as Holy and as Just as God Himself And he asserts that They Joyntly Reply'd Yea and they were so After p. 62. of that Book these Five Ministers say of the Quakers But what dare not these men do who Dare lift up themselves in their Blasphemous Pride to be as Pure as God G. Fox Answers this Book in his Great Mystery and p. 232. Repeating these last words thus But how Dare these men lift up themselves in their Blasphemous Pride to say they are pure as God He do's not at all Deny the Charge but Justifies and Defends it from being Blasphemy and says Doth not Christ say Be ye Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect and As he is so are we in this present World c. These are the Texts they Commonly Abuse to this Blasphemous Purpose John Harwood a Quaker but who had fallen out with G. Fox wrote a Letter to The Friends against him An. 1663. which is Intitul'd To all People that Profess the Eternal Truth c. where p. 3. he says G. Fox hath call'd Himself The Son of God and also said I am the Seed which he might as well have said I am Christ for we know that the Seed is Christ c. To this G. Fox Printed an Answer the same year 1663 with this Title The Spirit of Envy Lying and Persecution made Manifest Where p. 2. He Answers the above Charge thus And first thou saydst G. F. calls himself The Son of God c. And this thou calls a Crime This is all he says to it Confessing the Charge but Retorting upon Joh. Harwood for his Ignorance being a Quaker to think it a Crime in G. Fox to call Himself The Son of God and Christ and The Seed Here now G. W. has a Plain Answer and out of the Mouth of one whom he will not call an Adversary And we need no more witnesses against G. Fox when we have it from his own Mouth Their Asserting the Sufficiency of their Light within to Salvation without Christ And Assuming the Name of Christ to Themselves VIII He comes p. 27. to a material Point indeed where it is objected against the Quakers That they hold the Light within Every Man that comes into the world sufficient to Salvation of it self without Something else that is without the outward Christ to suffer and Dye outwardly for Us. Which makes Christ's coming into the World of no Necessity at all to our Salvation And Faith in Him to be but a sort of an Accomplishment or Civility towards Him but no way Necessary And puts the Heathen upon as good a Foundation as the Christian Nay I must say upon a Better for if Faith in Christ be by the Gospel made Necessary to Salvation and the Light within the Heathen be sufficient without this Then is this not only Vnnecessary but it puts us farther off from Heaven by making more things Necessary to our getting thither than what is Requir'd from the Heathen Then might Cornelius have answered the Angel that commanded him to send for Peter who shou'd tell him words by which he and his House shou'd be saved Act. xi 14. that he had a Light within which was Sufficient without any thing else And that he had Duly follow'd this Light for he had the Testimony of a Devout man Act. x. 2. and one that feared God with all his House But this shews that ther was Something else Necessary without which he and his House were not to be Saved This was the Ground of the Quarrel which the Quakers took against G. Keith because he Preach'd among them the Necessity of Faith in the outward Jesus which they call'd Preaching of Two Christs i. e. one more besides their Light within which they call The Christ G. W. says in answer to this p. 28. That they were not offended at G. K's Preaching Christ or his suffering and Dying without Vs truly consider'd Truly Consider'd what do's he mean by this It is Impossible to catch these Quakers speaking one word Plain without a Mental Reservation By Truly Consider'd he means That the Quakers do allow the History of Christ of His Death and Sufferings i. e. That ther was such a man and that he Did and Suffered such things and that the Light or Christ was in the man Jesus whence he was called Christ as others who have the same Light may for the same Reason be called by the same Name of Christ which as they say belongs to Every Member as well as to the Head Is not the Substance the Life the Anointing called Christ wherever it is found Doth not the Name belong to the whole Body and Every Member in the Body as well as to the Head says Isaac Penington in a Book which he calls A Question to the Professors of Christianity Printed 1667. p. 27. And in the same place says That the Apostle gives them the Members the Name Christ together with Him that is together with Jesus who was called Christ and he Quotes for this 1 Cor. xii 12. in which Text ther is nothing like what he would be at But it shews the Quakers Notion which he go's on to fortifie thus The Body says he is the same with the Head one and the same in Nature and doth not the Nature belong to the Nature in the whole i. e. Because Christ has taken Our Nature therefore J. P. wou'd give us His Nature which wou'd be to make Us God As he words it p. 7. We are as well of His Flesh and Blood as He was of ours By Christ's Flesh of which we Partake he means the Heavenly Flesh which the Quakers say Christ had from Eternity and that it is in them that is Christ's Divine Nature of which J. P. makes us to Partake as well as He of our Human Nature which yet they say He took not Really for J. P. do's not allow Jesus to be the Lamb of God but that the Lamb i. e. the Light Dwelt in Him as in a Vessel in like manner as in us By Feeling says he ibid. and knowing the Lamb in our Vessels we know also what was the Lamb in His Vessel So that by this Jesus was not the Lamb or Christ but only the Vessel in which the Lamb or Christ did for a time Reside Which he further Explains p. 33. in these words Now the Scriptures Do Expresly Distinguish between
the Dark for want of the true Light yet shining which now shineth forth they have been suppos'd to be but Christ himself his Light and Spirit which shew Good and Evil in the Heart which are the only Guide Law and Rule And this is Infallible and there is the only sure and safe walking even in the Light in Christ in the Spirit and not in the Letter which is Fallible by false Interpretation and Translation Here are all our Translations and the Originals too both Hebrew and Greek that are Extant of the Holy Scriptures Damn'd at one Blow That is to say All the Bibles now in the world They are no longer a Rule or Law to us But all is Resolv'd into our own Light within without Limit or Controul of Scripture or any other Law or Rule whatsoever And this is the New-Light which the Quakers have brought into the world viz. Before the Quakers came that is In the Dark as Fisher words it for want of the true Light yet shining the Scriptures were Suppos'd to be the Rule That was Dark indeed But now that the True Light which the Quakers have brought Shineth forth the Scriptures are Discarded from being the Rule and the Light within i. e. what any man Fancies so to be is the only Rule Guide Law c. From this Ancient Quaker his Son Will. Penn has Lick'd the Spittle and thus Copies after him and Improves upon him I cannot but Observe says W. Penn after what a suspected Rate the SCRIPTVRES have been first Collected Are we sure that the Judgement of those who Collected them was sufficient to Determin what was Right Rejoinder to John Faldo An 1673. p. 38. and what not What Assurance have our Anti-Revelation Adversaries of their Doctors Choice How shall we be Assur'd that in above three hundred years so many Copies as were doubtless taken shou'd be Pure and Vn-Corrupted From hence we may Observe the Uncertainty of J. Faldo 's Word of God See with what Contempt he calls the Holy Scriptures John Faldo's Word of God! And makes them an Vn-Certainty And calls those who Adhere to them Anti-Revelation Adversaries Not that these Adversaries Oppos'd all Revelation for the Holy Scriptures are a Revelation But they are an Extraordinary Revelation far Exceeding the Discoveries which are made by that Light or Reason which is Common to all Mankind and which the Deists and Quakers do Improperly call Revelation And who will not own this as the only Certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice are those whom Will. Penn calls Anti-Revelation Adversaries He says ibid. That we can never by Authorities prove the Scriptures to be given forth by Inspiration nor that they are truly Collected That is That ther is no outward Evidence for them but only what our Light within tells Us of them And then they wou'd be Vn-Certain indeed How many Men's Light within tells them nothing of the Holy Scriptures of Moses or of Christ of the Law or the Gospel As for what Outward and Human Evidence ther is for these I Referr the Quakers to the Short Method with the Deists wherein they are Equally Concern'd But here see the Reason why they not only Equal but Preferr their own Writings and Speakings to the Holy Scriptures viz. Because we have the Original of their Writings and as they say but Corrupted Copies of the Scriptures And that They have The same Degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had Gr. Myst p. 213. therefore that what they say Now is of Greater Authority than the Scriptures wrote so Long ago Of which before G W's Sincerity and Ingenuity in some Objections with which he Concludes the First Part of his Book Wherein the Summ of the Quaker Doctrin is laid Open. viz. That they Deny the Humanity of Christ Ard the Divinity of Jesus XVII We are now come to the End of the first Part of G. W's Answer which concludes p. 48. with a Notable smart Repartee upon the Author of the Sn. for calling the Title of a Book Holy What was the Title of the Book Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected And what do's G. W. make of this He calls it Blasphemy But how Blasphemy George Is not the Detection of Gross Error and Hypocrisie a very Good work And is it Blasphemy to call a Good work an Holy work Good and Holy George are very near of Kin. And thou did'st strain very hard against the Author when thou found'st out this for Blasphemy But it falls out further Unluckily in this Matter for the Author never thought of any such Epithet as Holy to give to the Title of that Book or any Epithet at all but just to Name the Book It was a mere Error of the Press And it was put into the Errata to Dele that word Holy And the page and line are nam'd in the Errata p. 351. l. 9. but the Direction of Dele Holy was left out And ther is no other Error in that line which has but Six words in it so that a little Skill and as much Sincerity wou'd easily have found it out At least wou'd have stopt such Ingenious Remarks upon it It was corrected with a Pen in several of the Printed Books And in the Second Edit p. 350. the word Holy is left out But however this being the only Error which G. W. has found in the Sn. and shewing himself so Fond of it it is a Pity to Deprive him of the Pleasure of it And now being Flusht with this First Victory he Hews down G. Keith for company because in that Book of his Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected about the Title of which we have Quarrel'd he brings Answers to the Seven Queres Presented to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers 1695. and Sophistically Answer'd by the Committee of Seven thereto appointed of which G. W. was one out of the Quaker-Books since they wou'd not Answer Directly themselves But G. W. is very smart upon him and observes with Great Acuteness that those Books being wrote before the Queres were not Intended as Direct Answers to those Queres for says he They cou'd be no Proper nor Direct Answers to those Queries nor so Intended nor by us Adapted to any such Queries therefore the Greater Abuse in him to Collect and Place them for Answers thereto This was a Great Abuse indeed To make you Answer more Directly than you had a Mind to Your former Books spoke Plainly your Gross Heresies against the True Humanity of Christ c. and you had no mind this shou'd be known therefore you Contriv'd your Answers to bear a Double-Face that you might have Room to Escape And G. Keith most Vnkindly considering old Acquaintance wou'd stop your Passage and shew out of your Printed Books the Plain Truth of the Matter and Detect your Gross both Errors and Hypocrisie And all he has left you to say for your selves is That those Books were not Intended as an Answer to these Queries But was
their Discourses tho' they were otherwise valuable most Nauseous to all men of Sense or Breeding For which Reason I have Insisted so long upon it in this to Cure them if Possible of what is so just a Prejudice against them that we may get them to be a little Sociable and Tame to Converse like other men tho' we Differ from them without Flying in our Faces But if they still continue to Bite they must be Muzl'd If they say that they never Snarle but where they are Provok'd It is Impossible to Begin with them without Provoking of them for if you oppose any of their Errors then they Rave and Rage like Furies Ther is no Provocation like it And the Truth of it is the Author of the Sn. did Begin with Them And has got his Reward for thrusting his Hand into this Nest of Hornets But will they be more Moderate where they Begin with others Invite and Provoke them to the Dispute No. It is all one They are as Fierce upon the Attack as in their Defence Ther was one John Wigan an Annabaptist Preacher who was Prisoner with George Fox and others of them in the Castle at Lancaster in the Year 1664. And without his ever opening his Mouth to one of them only Passing thro' a Common Room where they were they Attack'd him and the first words were Leave off thy Deceiving the People Thou art a Deceiver To which he return'd no more Provoking an Answer than to Ask wherein he was a Deceiver and how they cou'd Prove him to be such Then they Challeng'd him to a Dispute To which he not being over Forward They Drew up a Paper of 24 Queres against him which they Fixt upon the Hall Door This Forc'd him to Undertake a Publick Dispute with them in the Hall of the Castle of which has given a Particular Account in a Book Intituled Anti-Christ's strongest Hold overturned Printed 1665. But this Debate not sufficing them they fix'd up many other Papers upon the Door and Gave him a Paper wherein as he tells p. 52. They Challenge All the Sons of Adam to Discourse with them of this their Fundamental Principle viz. The Light within Which was the subject of their Debate with Wigan who held That Christ doth not Lighten Every man that cometh into the world with a saving Light p. 10. This was all the Provocation he Gave them Besides Proving it so Effectually that they were not Able to Answer him But when their Arguments were spent they fell to their old Artillery of the most Bitter and Beastly Rayling and Pronouncing Curses against Him In the Name of the Lord. To All which he Return'd Answers truly Christian and which shew'd that he Deserv'd that Character which Jos Wyeth gave to the Author of the Sn. That he was a man of Temper Yet all this notwithstanding see how they Treated him not only in the Heat of Dispute when their Passions who have none but in Absolute sway might be put upon the Frett But in Cold Blood by Letters under their Hands Some of which he has Added to his Book by way of Appendix from p. 56. Thomas Curwen who was the Man first spoke to him and call'd him a Deceiver going thro' the Hall in the Castle at Lancaster and Challeng'd him to the Dispute writes thus to him John Wigane Oh the Plagues of God will be thy Portion and be Poured out upon thy Head Thou filthy Deamer who Vomits up thy own shame Thy Book will be thy overthrow For it 's no more to me than Chaff and Dirt under my Feet This was a Full Confutation However it do's not Deny the Matters of Fact and Truth of Wigan's Relation of this Conference and therefore we may Depend upon this Book of Wigan's for so far True as it Concerns the Quakers that they are not thereby Mis-Represented But what they found fault with Curwin tells him in another Paper which he sent him Thy ill-bred Behaviour says he to Wigan thy ill-bred saucy Tongue un-nurtured and un-bred And besides thy saucy Language Thy Hypocrisie and saucy Tongue and unmannerlines and ill-breeding To see Quakers set up for Breeding And Reprove Sauciness But Wigan Provok'd them to Instance any the least Ill-Breading or Sauciness which he had shou'd towards them and they cou'd not for he carry'd it all along the Dispute with great Moderation But it is all one for that when the Quaker-Blood is up it minds neither Right nor Wrong Friend nor Foe True nor False G. Fox and Margaret Fell whom he afterwards Marry'd were Both Present at this Dispute Chief Managers and most Obstreperous as Wigan words it in his Narrative p. 12. where he Describes George Fox Entring the Hall after the Dispute was Begun and strutting like the Colosus at Rhodes he clapt one foot upon a Seat and the other upon the Table about which the Rest were standing And with his Vnwieldy Bulk look'd as Big as Both the Giants in Yield-Hall It was Present Death to any Man that he Fell upon And it shew'd the Courage of Litle Wigan who Durst Dispute betwixt his Legs But George was this Breeding Did this look like Good Manners No Matter If it was not Civil it was very GREAT In this Posture Fox propos'd some Scriptures in support of his Light which when Wigan had Answer'd without one word of Reflection or Abuse upon the Quakers only giving a Fair and Calm Exposition of those Scriptures which the Quakers had Strained in Favour of their Notion of the Light within Margaret Fell seeing her Huge sweaty Lover Reduc'd to his Principles first Open'd in his Rescue and Cry'd out to Wigan having now the Giant at his Mercy Thou art a Miserable Creature This was seconded by James Brown says Wigan p. 20. with great Fierceness saying Thou art an Enemy of God Thomas Davenport put in his Thrust and said Thou hast Deny'd Christ to Day Richard Cubban wou'd not be behind he said Thou hast Deny'd the Lord that bought thee and wou'd undertake to Prove that Wigan was one of those False Prophets mention'd 2 Pet. 2.1 This was struck home like Brutus But they had not Leasure in that Fray to his hear Proofs and so the Knight escap'd for that time But afterwards the Fox Giant having Recover'd Breath and Courage yet but Faint Attack'd Wigan in these words Thou art not a Rational Man This was much below his ordinary Mettle He was out of Breath But he was Seconded to Purpose by a young Hardy Champion John Berley who Hewed him thus The Eternal Judgments of God will fall upon thee and Burn the up as Chaff Thou art worse than a Drunkard At which the Knight Fled but did not Escape so For James Park Pursu'd him to his Chamber and there gave him the Parting Blow with great Vehemency says Wigan p. 21. in these words Thou art a Lyar and a Deceiver and the Curse of God will be upon thee in thy Bed-Chamber and Closet and wherever thou
they Profess'd from the Beginning How then came they to Excomunicate any for Receiving of Baptism as for Instance John Cox And call'd it a Drawing back to the Weak and Beggarly Elements Come Friends speak out in Plainess and tell Us wou'd you own any for a True Quaker who shou'd Receive Baptism and frequent the Holy Sacrament of The Lord's Supper wou'd you neither Censure not Condemn them if they made a Conscience of it as their Duty Wou'd you have Greater Tenderness towards these than for William Wilkins whose Excommunication is put in the Collection at the End of this for Marrying one that was not a Quaker and for Marrying by a Priest Was this a greater offence than the Receiving of the outward Baptism But in good Earnest did you never Censure or Condemn Baptism Is this new Moderation of G. W.'s no other than what you always did Profess In the Quotation before brought of Edw. Burrough's it is Rank'd amongst the Damnable Heresies even to the Denying the Lord who bought Vs And it is call'd The Doctrin of the Devil And p. 644. of his Works he says That it is not Lawful for the Saints of God to Join themselves to your Ordinances Yet now G. W. will let them go and neither Censure nor Condemn them He has forgot a Book of his own to which he gave this Title The Authority of the true Ministry in Baptizing with the Spirit And the Idolatry of such men as are Doting about shadows and Carnal Ordinances and their Ignorance of the Spirits Baptism of which water-Baptism was but a Figure Discover'd And herein is shewed that Water-Baptism is neither of Necessity to Salvation nor yet is now Practised either by Authority from Heaven or by any New-Testament Law that is in force upon Believers seeing the Substance and the End of things Abolished is come and Enjoyed wherein the Types Shadows and Figures are Ended Yet George now will neither Censure nor Condemn them if they be Conscientiously Tender in the Observation of these Abolished Types and Shadows tho' he calls it Idolatry nay and Doting Idolatry yet these men never Vary'd they always said the same since they were first a People that they say now Appen p. 5. slighting all the Authorities brought for Baptism in Prim. Her within the first 150 years after Christ they care for no Antiquity or Fathers says Indeed if he can absolutly Determin the Question by the Scriptures the work is done And yet in the Discourse of Baptism the Arguments are all Limited only to the Holy Scriptures and for any thing the Quakers have said to the contrary the Question is there Absolutely Determin'd They Referr to a Book of one Dell against Baptism This is their Great Assylum Yet he was not a Quaker he was one of the Professors whom they call Children of Darkness and Damn them All to the Pit of Hell And a Cambridge Schollar too another Mark of Reprobation with them and yet they fly to this Man to Help their Light against the Divine Institutions of our Blessed Saviour And they have Printed and Re-Printed this Book as oft as they have been Attack'd upon this Point of Baptism And out it has come since the Discourse of Baptism was Publish'd This made me Curious to look into it And there I found not one Objection but what is fully Answer'd in that Discourse Tho' I am satisfy'd that Author had never seen it before that Discourse was Printed Yet still they Referr to that Book which is only a Put-off because they have nothing to say and shews them to be Self-Condemn'd Their Appealing from their own Printed Books to the Original Copies 7. They have yet another Contrivance which is the Prettiest of all to avoid the Quotations brought out of their Books When none of the former ways will do then they say They have not the Book as if they cou'd not come at their own Books or otherwise they Appeal from the Print tho' themselves have Publish'd it to the Original Copy which if Extant none can have but Themselves Yet they do not Produce the Copy or tell how it is worded there or that it is otherwise than in the Print Thus p. 9. of the Prim. Heres ther is a Bloody Quotation out of a Book of G. Fox's call'd News out of the North. p. 14. where he makes it as unlawful to Return to Baptism as to Circumcision and calls the Lord's Supper The Table of Devils and Cup of Devils which is in the Generation of Serpents c. and p. 39. where he Denies the Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John to be the Gospel and calls them Carnal c. To this says Appen p. 32. I cannot Examin it not having the Book by me but I much Question the Truth of the Quotation And this is all that is said to it Now I can assure the Reader that this Quotation was taken out of the Book it self and not from any second hand And will he believe that this Book which is Common enough for I have seen more than one of them cou'd not be Procur'd among the whole Quaker Sanhedrin or that if this Quotation were much Question'd the Quakers are so Good Natur'd or so very Remiss as not to be at the Pains to look into that Book if they thought to Catch that Author at one False Quotation which they have not yet been able to do or whether every sober Person will not rather Judge that the Quakers do herein Plead Guilty I leave it to their consideration But hear another Pleasant Instance G. W. being Press'd with a very untoward Quotation in Sat. Dis. Glean Sect. iv p. 82. out of the Works of Edw. Burrough p. 273. where he Blasphemously makes the Sufferings of the Quakers not only Greater but more Vnjust than the Sufferings of our Blessed Lord Himself He comes to give an account of this in his Antidote p. 254. and he says after the old Fashion that E. B. is Cited Vnfairly and Partially in this Point But he tells not wherein These are only words of Course in all their Answers Nay himself finds no Fault with the Quotation that ther is a word Added or Diminished or Alter'd But says he Whether it was so Verbally stated by E. B. himself or by some mistake since I shall not undertake to Determin unless I see his Original Copy This Justifies the Quotation out of his Printed Book And if ther was any Mistake it was not in him who Quoted it So that G. W. if he Reguarded Instice ought to make Satisfaction for saying that this was Vnfairly or Partially Cited But in the next place this was Printed by E. B. in the year 1657. And Re-Printed in his Works An. 1672. And these Works were Collected and Published by an Junto of the Chief of the Quakers whereof George Whitehead was one and his Epistle particularly among others Praesix'd in High Commendations of the Author and the Works Yet now he wou'd turn it
because the Devil is said to Limit Him Then the Israelits were Stronger than God for David says that they did Limit Him But as C. W. said no such thing do's G. W. think that C. W. Believ'd the Devil to be Stronger than God No. he cou'd not think so for who ever thought so And then he said this against his own Conscience Without doubt he did And for this calls C. W. a Deceiver Now here are some small Mistakes First of G. Fox's in taking God for the Devil That was All Next of G. Whitehead's in saying that C. Wade did Affirm That the Devil was Stronger than God Now Recollect Will. Penn's Rule before Mentioned That he that gives that for a Man's Answer that is not his Answer is a Forger and so no true Christian The Application is Easie and Unavoidable That neither Fox nor Whitehead are Christians because they are Notorious Forgers and Give that for a Man's Answer which is not his Answer Nay more The very Objections which are put against them they Retort as being the Principles of the Objectors Thus five Ministers wrote a Book against the Quakers call'd The Perfect Pharisee An. 1654. And another in Defence of it the same year Intituled A further Discovery of that Generation of Men call'd Quakers in Reply to an Answer the Quakers had put out to the Former In both these they Charge the Quakers with Seventeen Gross Positions of which this is the Third That the Soul is a Part of the Divine Essence Thus plainly put down p. 5. of the Further Discovery Num. 3. of the Quaker Positions which are there first Rang'd in order And then particularly Disprov'd under their several Heads And coming to this Head p. 31. they call this Position as truly it is Blasphemy G. Fox Answers to this in his Gr. Myst p. 227. and sets down this as the first of the Ministers Principles That the Soul is a Part of the Divine Essence And thence Inferrs p. 229. That in calling this Blasphemy they had given Judgment against themselves And so you five says he have Judged your selves to be Blasphemers who said the Soul was Part of the Divine Essence and yet 't is Blasphemy to say so This is Giving that for a man's Answer which is not with a witness And if Will. Penn can any Longer Defend G. Fox even Dear George who Excelleth All the Quakers to be a Christian by his own Rule he will Exceed himself and Out-do all that he has Ever yet Done At least I hope he will Alter his Opinion if he spoke it sincerely That George Fox was as Good a Proas Asaiah which has been Mention'd before But not only Putting words upon a Man which he did not say nay Quite Contrary to what he says but Leaving out the Material part of a Man's Answer and giving that for his Answer is Belying of a Man and comes under Will Penn's Rule Let me give one Instance of this among many that I cou'd Produce Matthew Caffyn in his Damnable Heresies of the Quakers Discover'd p. 29. gives his Charge thus The Quaker saith that Christ is already Come the second time And George Fox Affirmed in Plain words before many Witnesses that he knew him come within him and he looked for Him to come NO OTHERWISE And James Parnal affirmeth That by Preaching of a Christ in Heaven the Devil gets his work done on Earth as appears in his Book call'd Satan's Design discover'd p. 19. 25. This Fox Answers in his Gr. Myst p. 141. And first he leaves his Brother Parnel to shift for himself He Denies not the Quotation But says nothing to it Then as to what is Charg'd upon Himself he Quotes the Page in Caffyn but Repeats his words thus And George Fox said that he knew Christ come in him p. 29. Then he Crys that Christ is in you except ye be Reprobates As if Caffyn had Deny'd the Inward Presence of Christ by the Influence of His H. Spirit in the Hearts of Believers which no Christian ever did Deny But they Deny the Person of Christ His Flesh Blood and Bones in Men as the Quakers Blaspheme And Caffyn found no Fault with Fox's saying that He knew Christ come within him On the Contrary he Justifies the Indwelling of Christ by His Spirit But he laid the stress upon G. Fox's saying That he Looked upon Christ to come NO OTHERWISE whith was put in Capital Letters to shew that the stress lay upon that as being a Denyal of Christ's Second Coming to the Final Judgment Of all which G. Fox took no Notice at all but gives his words short as above Quoted Whereby it appears which I have often observ'd before That without looking into the Books which this Fox Answers ther is no knowing of their Meaning or what they object by his False and often Absurd Chopping and Changing of their Words Caffyn ibid. p. 35. Charges thus The Quaker saith that the offering of Christ's Body to be Broken and His Blood shed Avails not so as thro' Faith therein to set free from Sin But Blood in a Mystery and a Body in a Mystery which we know not what it is saith Lawson in his Book p. 18. which was Typified by the Fleshly Body of Christ and His Blood And says Caffyn p. 36. Wherefore he saith Boldly but Blasphemously That the Lord Jesus whom we Profess is Accursed professing a Spirit within him to be the only Christ To this G. Fox Answers Gr. Myst p. 142. And Repeats the Charge only thus They say they own Christ that suffered meaning the Spirit within Page 36. Here he Quotes the Page in Caffyn's Book whereby we cannot mistake to what it is that he Answers And instead of Denying he Justifies in his Squinting way this Hideous Blasphemy by laying the whole upon the Light within But Denies nothing of the other part of the same sentence of calling that Jesus whom we Profess Accursed c. Blessed God Defend Us The Pen is like to Drop out of my Hand while I am forc'd to set down this Greatest Outrage that Ever the Devil durst Presume to Belch out against our Blessed Lord and Saviour thro' these the most Wretched of all his Instruments the Quaker Tongues which are set on Fire of Hell I cannot stay longer upon this Subject Ther is Infection in the very Air. Let us Return to their Moderate Sins of Lying and Mis-representing the Answers of their Adversaries and Rid Christianity of them at the Back-Door which Will. Penn has Pointed But not open the Mouth of the Gulph at once of Blasphemies not fit to be Heard upon Earth lest the Stench shou'd carry Plagues with it thro' the World Christoph Wade in his Quakery Slain p. 7 8. tells of a Quaker Wizard one James Milner who Pretended that he must Suffer as Christ did to save the Souls of two Women Dorothy Barwick and the Wife of Brian Fell of Ulverston and in a Juggling Inchanting Manner with a Knife and a
Eyes of those who are Sincere among Themselves I will undergo the Penance of Exposing them Appen p. 35. makes a Great Noise of wrong done the Quakers in Prim. Heres Sect. v. by the Charge of their Forbidding to Marry and Preaching up of Fornication As if this were Laid out as a General Charge upon the whole Body of the Quakers Tho' it is Expressly sai'd in the very Beginning of the Sect. p. 12. That they are not All Charg'd with it nor Any of them but only the New Quakers in America And this Appen do's confess too And do's not pretend to Clear them from it Where then was the Abuse in Placing of the Charge O says Appen it s being against the whole Body of the Quakers is Imply'd in the Title Page and abundantly Charg'd in the Contents For says he I cannot find one Marry'd or Single Quaker left out First for the Title-Page ther is not one Syllable of it or any thing like it And the Contents saying Their forbidding to Marry is no more than the Hand of a Clock to Point where you may find the Hour And the Page being Nam'd There you See who are or are not Charg'd O but says Appen The first Charge runs over England and all the Rest of the World where ther are Quakers the last is Limited only to America Can any man make Sense of this This Implys as if ther were Two Charges one for England and one for America But by the first Charge they only mean the Title and Contents which they say Run over England and all the World of the Quakers This is Non-sense as to the Contents for they never go but where the Book go's Indeed Title-Pages are stuck up or may be put into the Advertisements of News-Papers But ther is not the least Hint towards this Charge of Marriage in the Title-Page So that all this Cry of the Quakers is no Wooll Yet Appen calls this Looseness in the Author and at best an Equivocal Lye They must give some Ill-words or else they cannot Speak If it were worth the while to make Reprisals upon these Quakers and Re-criminate upon them I might go over as many Books I believe as they have wrote for I can say it of as many as I have seen and shew not only in their Contents but Title-Pages the most Fulsom Boasts of what you will find nothing in the Book I have in the First Part given several Instances of it as to the Contents of the Antidote and cou'd give many more both in that and this Appen but that it is obvious to every one who will be at the Pains to Compare their Contents with their Performance I will here give the Reader one Instance because it is a Pleasant one and Discovers some other of their Principles Ther is a Gentleman who was long of their Communion now one of their Seperatists and a member of Turners-Hall Mr. Thom. Crisp who tho' a Quaker and Zealous even to Suffering with them yet run not to all their Mad Extravagancies he allow'd himself to Pay Tythes as a Just Debt being Enacted by the Laws of the Land for which he with others such Moderate Quakers were severely Censur'd by them He committed another Great Offence against their Orders and Constitutions he was Marry'd in a Church and by a Minister of the Church of England which Rais'd their Indignation Exceedingly Therefore they Press'd him very hard to make a Publick Confession of this Grievous Crime and to sign an Instrument of Condemnation against himself for it Pursuant to their Disciplin But not being able to Prevail they underhand and without his Knowledge dealt with his Wife who being Terrify'd with their Threatnings all In the Name of the Lord God Almighty did sign such a Paper of Condemnation as they Requir'd But Mr. Crisp knew nothing of it for several years after till they themselves upon his further Contests with them Publish'd it in Print without the Consent and against the mind of Mrs. Crisp who was not willing her Husband shou'd know it lest he might be Displeas'd with her But neither the sacredness of the Seal of Confession nor the Hazard of making Difference 'twixt Husband and Wife was strong enough for their Resentment when they thought they cou'd Reach a Blow at one who had Oppos'd them or rather who wou'd not be Intirely and Implicitly subject to their Popedoms for no other Opposition had Mr. Crisp then given them but only as to their Disciplin in the Jurisdictions of their Womens Meetings and other Institutions set up by George Fox as Cardinal Primat contrary to their Original Principle of leaving every one to the Measure of the Light within Himself Under which Pretence they Drew many away from their obedience to the Church But wou'd not Indure that Loose Plea as W. Penn calls it when urg'd by some among themselves See Sn. Sect. vi N. x. paragr 12. p. 79 against that High Authority which their Leaders Assum'd over all under their Dominion This was all the Contest at that time betwixt the Seperate and other Quakers as appears in what was then wrote by John Story Wilkinson Rogers Crisp Bugg and others of the Seperats wherein ther is nothing of those Errors in Doctrin and Damnable Heresies which they have since Discover'd but were then Involv'd in as Deep as the Rest Yet for their Refusing to be subject to this Plenitude of the Quaker-Church-Authority they call'd them Judases Apostats Devils In-carnate c. tho' Agreeing with them in Doctrin and all the other Articles of the Quaker-Creed It was this made them Discover Mrs. Crisp her Paper of Condemnation against her self for being Marry'd by a Priest of the Church of England in Revenge upon Mr. Crisp who joyn'd with their Seperatists But they were Disapointed of their Malice in thinking to make him Un-Easie as to his Wife for he as a wise Man Consider'd their Importunity and Terrible Denunciations of no less than Damnation to all who wou'd not come under their Disciplin which might work upon a Woman that had given her self up to be Guided by them And as he ought he plac'd the Abuse upon them who had thus Impos'd upon the Credulity of a woman whom they had Deluded to Believe them Thus says he in the 5th Part of his Babels Builders p. 9. Printed An. 1682. It is like She as too many more have gave too much Credit to what some of G. Fox 's CHEATS said And She is not the first that hath been Deceived by you And perhaps some among you that have Prated others out of their Money might Prate her unto the writing and giving you that Paper you Pretend to This is thus Quoted by G. Whitehead in his Judgement Fixed p. 290. And how do's he Answer it Why thus O Thomas be Asham'd of thus Abusing thy Wife And in his Contents which is the thing I am Coming to he sets it down thus p. 162. His Thom. Crisp's Abuse of his
They needed to be told of what was in Man And sometimes God did tell them some things 2 Kin vi 12. by Particular Revelation as to Elisha what the King of Syria was doing in his Bed-Chamber To Peter the Deceit of Ananias and Sapphira Act. v. c. But they had no General Knowledge of Mens Hearts which these Blasphemous Quakers do Pretend to And they put this as a Test to Mr. Stephens whether he knew G. Fox's Heart And from his not knowing it concluded him to be a False Minister And they make this to be a General Rule so that none can be True Ministers of Christ who have not this Gift By which All the Present Quakers are Vn-Minister'd at least the Chief of them whom I have heard say That they do not Pretend to this Gift Yet will they not Disown this Blasphemous and Sensless FOX But still count him as having been a True Minister of Christ And that All he Wrote was from the Mouth of the Lord. Which if True ther is not One True Minister of Christ among the Quakers at this Day Even by their own Confession Yet all this notwithstanding They are Perfect and Sinless They have not Chang'd but are the same they were from the Beginning They still Maintain the Doctrin and Holy Testimony of their Ancient Friends And that In All the Parts of it For Truth is One and Changes not Thus it is worded in the Yearly Epistle for the year 1696. Given forth by their General Assembly at London They have no Sins at all to Answer for Poor Innocent Lambs No. Not They But did Christopher Atkinson while carrying on his Intrigue with Thom. Symmons's Maid or Thom. Thurston while Debauching the Deputy-Governor's Wife and Father'd his Adultery upon the Immediat Command of the H. Ghost O Dreadful or George Archer Or any others of the Long c. of the Quaker Harmless-ones while they were Wallowing in such Beastly Sins did they during that Time and before they Repented Continue in the Office of their Ministry Yea Verily They Preach'd and Pray'd for all this like Dragons And did they in all that time Confess their Sins in Publique I mean not their Private sins for that they were not oblig'd to do in Publick before they were Publickly known to make Reparation for the Scandal But did they Confess themselves to be Sinners in the General Or Begg God to Pardon their Sins or have Mercy upon them Or own that they had in the Least Transgressed Any of His Laws since they were Quakers No! Thank you for that What! Sinnersâ— and Quakers That wou'd never do That wou'd have Contradicted the Testimony of all their Ancient Friends and the Foundation of Sinless-Quakerism As it has Quite overthrown all their Pretence to the Spirit of Discerning and Knowing the Hearts of Men And consequently by G. Fox's Doctrin Render'd them all False Ministers and Conjurers How Dreadfully Astonishing is this To see these most Wretched and Desperate of Sinners even while Reeking in the Foulest Sins to set up the Pretence of Perfection And Scorn to Own any Sin or ask Mercy from God for it Which as before has been Observ'd was never yet Heard at any Quaker-Meeting See more upon this subject in the First Part Sect. xiii which begins at p. 149. There p. 155 156. You will find a Noble Stroke of a Quaker Prophet and Fidler who said of St. John That if John had said he had been a Sinner he had Ly'd This was to shew that St. John did not Include himself when he said 1 Joh. 1.8 9 10. If we say that we have not Sinned we make Him God a Lyar and His word is not in us But the Quaker here Returns the Lye upon the Apostle He must Return it too upon the Prophet who said While I was Confessing MY Sin and the Sin of my People Dan. ix 20. Here Daniel said My Sin Did he not then Confess Himself to be a Sinner Yet was he One of those Three whom God Nam'd as the most Perfect of all the Earth Ezek. xiv 14. But the Quakers think Themselves more Perfect than all these NOAH's Sin of Drunkenness is Recorded Gen. ix 21. DANIEL here Owns His Sin And JOB says I Abhor my self and Repent in Dust and Ashes Chapt. xlii 6. Wou'd he Repent for his Good Deeds Or Abhor himself for them But Will. Shewen another Quaker Prophet in his Treatise concerning Thoughts and Imaginations Printed An. 1685. P. 25. tells us that a QVAKER is Meeker than MOSES Stronger than SAMPSON Wiser than SOLOMON and more Patient than JOB Nay Harmless and Innocent as CHRIST But either St. John was in Good Earnest a Lyar as Solomon Eccles that was the Fidling Prophets Name Civily calls him Or otherwise if he said Truth then the Quakers make GOD to be a Lyar and His Word is not in Them They are Past all the ordinary Means of Grace who have Excluded the very first step of Asking and consequently of Expecting any Mercy from God For if they Expected it they wou'd Ask it And they Ask it not because they think they have no Need of it And this is Consequential to their notion of the Light within which this Appen instead of Excusing do's Re-maintain in Reducing all Religion to Believing In their Light which they make the Solid Christianity If by the Light here they meant the outward Jesus of Nazareth who was Born at Bechlehem and Faith in Him ther wou'd be no Dispute betwixt them and us But when by the Light they mean not any outward Person but something within themselves as elsewhere fully shewn whence they call it the Light within And tell us of Faith In That and that this Alone without any thing else is Sufficient for Salvation which they make Common to all Heathens to Everyman that cometh into the world then I say They are no Christians But are Gross Idolaters who Whorship something within Themselves or some special Presence of God which they suppose to be There For it is no less Idolatry to worship God In my Self than In any Other In the Sun Moon or any Creature for ther is a Presence of God In them All. And this is the Excuse and Pretence of all Idolatry For the Idolatries of the Quakers see Sn. Sect. viii and Sat. Dis Glean Sect. ii n. 4. p. 71. Let me here add one Instance more which will Explain the Rest It is in William Haworth his Book Intitul'd The Quaker Converted to Christianity An. 1674. p. 4. of the Prefatory Epistle where he tells That he saw Jam. Naylor Suffer for his Horrid Blasphemy in taking Divine worship to Himself and setting Himself up for the Messiah And tho' Some of the Trimming and Time-serving of the Quakers made a Shew of Disowning this Naylor after he was as he justly Deserv'd Whip't Pillory'd Bored thro' the Tongue and Branded on the Forehead for his Hideous Blasphemies Yet they did not Disown his Blasphemies for they
and Operation and also in respect of Communion and Fellowship the Man Christ Jesus or word Incarnate is the only and proper middle and Mediator between God and us so that whereas God is immediately United with the Man Christ Jesus no other Men or Angels have or indeed are Capable to have an immediate Union with God their Union is only Mediate with God and so their Communion and Fellowship with him is but Mediate also by the means of Christ Jesus although inrespect of other means it is Immediate All this passage they mightily censured as Contradicting their own experience 't is true said they when we were Young and weak at our first Convincement and Beginning we had need of Christ but now we have no need of him we have access to God Immediately without Christ Thomas Hart reply'd to them Friends I am sorry you should think ye have not need of Christ now I cannot say so and I dare not say it I have as much need of him now as ever formerly I need Him not only to cleanse me from my Sins but to preserve me that I sin not let me tell you It may be before ye Die you may come to find your need of Christ These words of Thomas Hart were much noticed and approved by divers Present and after divers had spoke their minds about this whole matter particularly George Whitehead and William Penn who approved and Vindicated all these Three Particulars which my opposers have objected against and severely censured and all other lesser Matters to every tittle and word that was objected so that I had need to say little and indeed said not much because I found them as seemed to me well disposed and inclined to answer for me as they readily did Divers other Friends present stood up in the Meeting and declar'd their great Satisfaction with having heard those things so well cleared and opened to their understandings which they Confessed they had been formerly Mudled about and blessed God for that good opportunity they had to have things made so clear to them among whom were Francis More and James Claypool both Citizens of good account and of good reputation among Friends and Neighbours This is but a Summary and Abreviation of the matter which was much more largely discoursed and took up several hours time at each Meeting In the Conclusion the persons that had accused me were desir'd by the Meeting to desist from their Charge and say nothing against the Book and whereas some Friends that were dissatisfied at my Book had forbidden the Stationer in George-Yard to sell it because it was unsound Order was given by the Meeting that that the Stationer might be encouraged to Sell it that it might have its Service in City and Country as accordingly was done And now Reader wouldest thou not think that these men who had so exposed their Ignorance Unbelief and Antichristian principles directly opposest to the great Fundamentals of Christianity would have received some severe Censure from the Friends of the Ministry or at least that they would have put them to disown their vile errors before they could be owned as either sound Ministers or sound Friends But nothing of this was done and to the certain knowledge of divers as well as mine these men as well as others that had privately sided with them remained Resolute and Stiff in their former errors whereof the one to wit William Shewen sometime after gave a publick demomstration in the Face of the World having after all this printed a Book called by him A Treatise of Thoughts where he saith pag. 37. Not to Jesus the Son of Abraham David and Mary Saint or Angel but to God the Father all worship Honour and Glory is to be given through Jesus Christ c. Note Reader what he means by Jesus Christ c. is easie to apprehend not the Son of Abraham of David or Mary for him he hath excluded from being the object of Worship together with Saints and Angels as in his own words is manifest but this Jesus Christ c. is the Light within so here are two Christs with a witness by this Man's Doctrin one the Son of David to whom no Worship Honour and Glory is to be given another through whom God the Father is to be Worshiped and certainly he through whom we Worship God the Father must be the object of Worship together with the Father But how long did he allow Jesus Christ c. to be him thro' whom God the Father is to be Worshiped No longer than untill he hath restored all things into their primitive Order that is brought William Shewen and his Brethren to a Sinless state which many think they have attain'd already and then Christ in them is known to surrender up the Kingdom to the Father and God to become all in all As he plainly declares in his pag. 38. and on the Margin he adds This is the assending of Christ up where he was before he descended and before there was any Cause for his descension he that can understand saith he let him this passage of Wiliam Shewen is more fully Quoted out of his Book in my Third Narrative lately Printed Judge Reader what imaginary Heavens had this man got up into after he hath witnessed a Sinless state even in the mortal Body then Christ surrenders up the Kingdom to the Father in him and it is no more Christ in him but God all in all And what Christ spoke of his Ascension as Man into Heavens without us He wholly applyeth to Christ's putting off his Offices as Christ and ceasing any more to Officiate as Christ in them but as God the Father The mystery of this is Rank and wild Ranterism to wit that God and Christ within men are but two inward Ministrations and Operations Christ is the lower and the Father is the Higher and by passing from the Lower to the Higher as men pass from the lower story of a House to the higher they pass from Christ to God and leave Christ behind or below them and ascend up to God all in all and so need not Christ either within them or without them That this is the real and genuine Sense of William Shewen's words in that above mentioned Treatise any intelligent person that reads them more especially if he read those passages throughout from first to last a part whereof I have but quoted for brevity sake cannot but acknowledge Now because it is probable many of the people call'd Quakers will say that these things which I have above related as matter of Fact are not truly related and will be ready to oppose to the credit of my relation That G. Whitehead who confesseth there was such a Meeting where he was present denyeth that he remembereth that any such things were affirmed by them that found fault with me for some things contained in my Book But First his not remembering is but a Negative evidence against my possitive evidence
desir'd them to begin with the Scriptures and prove the Contradiction of my Doctrine first to the holy Scriptures and then it was time to Consider these men's Books Samuel Jennings in a publick Meeting at Philadelphia on a first day said it was not necessary to prove me guilty of Heresie whereof they had accus'd me from the Scriptures but from Friends Books for said he the Question betwixt G. K. and them is not who is the best Christian but who is the best Quaker And though I still desir'd them to bring their Scripture proofs yet they for most part waved that and continued clamouring that my Doctrine contradicted Will. Pen. Geo. Whitehead and other Friends which I did not know all that time that it did for though the places they quoted out of their Books seemed much to favour my Adversaries yet I was not willing to think so but labour'd to retain my Charitable perswasion of them putting the most Charitable Constructions upon their Words as was possible so farr as I had read the passages in their Books that seemed to interfere with me At last I came to a firm Resolution in my mind to Come for England having first writ to George Whitehead and other Friends of the Ministry about our differences desiring to know their sense they seemed to blame me for the separation but in great part to approve of my Principles but the words in their Epistles were so dubious like the Heathen Oracles that as to the main difference of Principles betwixt my Adversaries and me in Pensilvania it was rather increas'd by their Epistles then allayd my Adversaries Construing them one way and I and my Friends another way After I arrived in England and came to London And had some private Conferrences with George Whitehead and William Penn about these very Principles of the sufficiency of the Light within to Salvation without any thing else by the something else that I did plead for declaring that I meant the man Christ Jesus and his most holy and perfect Obedience unto death for our Sins and his Intercession for us in Heaven I began easily to perceive that they greatly differed from me in those great things yet they did seek to hide themselves as much as they well could mainly and almost only blaming me for the Separation and making a breach in Pensilvania and the neighbouring Provinces among Friends But by degrees the difference in Principles betwixt them and me began plainly to appear before they Excommunicated me at their yearly Meeting in the Year 1695. For at a large Meeting of Friends of the Ministry where were many Country Friends about two days before the yearly meeting in 1694. William Penn accused me for seeking to bring in a new method of Preaching Christ and Faith in him differing from that of Friends and that new method was to preach the Man Christ without us and his Death and Sufferings in order to bring people to know the Divine Principle within them and the work of Regeneration And at the said Meeting G. W. blamed me for affirming that all the Light and Grace that any men had in any age of the World was the effect of Christ's Obedience unto death for us and argued against it thus Men had Light and Grace before Christ came in the Flesh to perform that obedience can the Effect be before the Cause this plainly enough let me see into G. Whitehead's Principles he had the same strength of Argument but that 's none at all against any mens having Remission of Sin by Christ's death before he came in the Flesh why can the effect be before the Cause I told him a Moral effect can be before its cause and oft times is and gave an Example how a man by a Contract or Covenant buyeth a House or Field and posesseth it before the Money is paid the Condition of the Covenant being that the Money is not to be paid until such a time so by Virtue of the Covenant of Grace which respected Christ to Come and the satisfaction he was to make to divine justice by his Death and Sufferings for mens sins past as well as to come all the faithful had remission of sin and inward Light and Grace as well before he came as since And some Months after this at a publick Meeting of the Quakers at Ratcliff by London William Penn did publickly oppose my testimony and charged me to be an Apostate and that I endevoured to pluck up the testimony of truth by the roots And at the same time He told the Auditory that Friends saw no great need to preach the Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings for all England had that Faith and all Christendom had it but it did not profit them * Reader by this Argument it should not be Preached at all With many Abusive words all which he father'd upon a transport of the glorious power of God at the next yearly Meeting when I Complain'd upon his so abusing me Yet they have after all this sought to hide the differences in Doctrine betwixt them and me from publick notice so that in their sentence of Excommunication they blame not my Doctrine nor Morals in any particular thing but cast out some general charges against me for being turbulent c. and seperating my self from the Church of Christ But their unchristian dealings with me as well as Antichristian Principles have sufficiently proved them not to be a Church of Christ though still I have that charity to diverse among them that they belong to Christ and his Church but not as respecting that visible Society that has less the face of a Church than any Society of Protestants any where in the world A third Reason is that this publication of the foregoing Relation will be a true Evidence and Witness for me that as to the great fundamentals of the Christian Faith I am not changed from what I was Twenty years ago when own'd among them and for many years after acknowledg'd by them that I was in the Unity And that therefore it is manifest to be a Calumny and false Accusation rais'd by some Malicious Persons among the Quakers against me that I am Apostatised from my former Principles of Christianity and have embraced new notions or Priests and Professors Principles as they are pleased 〈…〉 that formerly I had relinquished and from a tentation that I had let prevail over me to seek and affect preheminence over my Brethren and not finding my desire and end answered in that I sought occasion to differ from them and purposely chang'd my Principles that I might have a ground of Strife and Contention with them all which the Righteous Judge of the whole Earth and the searcher of hearts knoweth to be false and injurious charges I have sufficiently in my late Printed Books proved that I am the same in all Principles of Truth that I was formerly and wherein I am changed in some lesser matters of Perswasion it is to
Journal of G. Fox I will add one more here In a Book of his and other Quakers call'd The West answering to the North. Printed An. 1657. p. 16. ther is a Long Letter to Chief Justice Glynn which begins thus Friend we are Free-Men of England Free-born our Rights and Liberties in and with our Countries with the Laws the Defence of them have we in the Late Wars Vindicated in the Field with our Blood Which in the Journal is Alter'd thus Friend We are Free-Men of England Free-born Our Rights and Liberties are according to Law and ought to be Defended by it Leaving out that Ugly Passage The Defence of them have we in the Late Wars Vindicated in the Field with our Blood For this they have now a Mind shou'd be Forgotten Both as to their Pretended Principle against Fighting And also their Siding with the then Vsurpations against the King Whereas they say in p. 14. of their Declaration just now Mentioned We have been Silent and not Medling with this Party or the other but by way of Reproof of evil in All and Informing all to the Good And it cannot be Charged upon us that we have sided with One or other But in the 9th Instance before Mentioned they made their Braggs That they had served with their Lives and Estates as Faithfully as the Protector Oliver himself and his Council to the Purchasing that Peace and Freedom An. 1657. out of the Hands of TYRANTS i. e. of K. Char. I. and II. Of their Siding and Medling to Purpose against the King with all the Vsurpations in their time see sufficient Testimonies in Sn. § xviii And which in their new Switch they do not Deny nor Justify themselves any otherwise than by Endeavouring to cast as Black Aspersions upon the King himself Char. II. And of their Silence you may Judge by that Paper which they have stifl'd of Ed. Burrough's which I have Printed in the 1st of the 15 Instances besides many others that can be Produc'd wherein they Damn the King and Caviliers to the Pit of Hell See Sn. p. 216. and p. 228. of their Giving Intelligence against Sir George Booth and other Royalists who Rose for the King And Commanding in the Name of the Lord to put such of them to Death as they had taken Prisoners And to stand out to the Uttermost against the King and think of No Reconciliation with him 2. In the year 1659. One of the Quakers Great Apostles Richard Hubberthorn wrote an Answer to A Declaration of the Ana-Baptists in London wherein they Owned it as their Principle That they were Willing to Live peaceably Vnder whatever Government is or shall be Established in the Nation This the Quakers then did violently Oppose as a Poor Time-serving and Pernicious Principle tho' of Late they Pretend That it is their own Principle and that they do Now Govern themselves by it And Promise so to do But then they fell upon the Ana-Baptists and said This is far below that Spirit which was once in some of you in that Profession for you told of having the Laws regulated according to the Scriptures And of having Judges as at the first and Councellors as at the beginning And then not to submit to what Government soever but that which is according to Equity and Justice And what do you bear Arms and Fight for if not for a Government according to Truth and that Righteousness may Establish the Nation Some have Judged this to be the very Design and End of the War and Controversy against many that were called Governors and Magistrates and were by some called the Ordinance of God and the Higher Power And if now you Resolve to live Peaceably and submit to whatever Government shall be Established then your Fighting is at an End And if Charles Stuart shall come in and Establish Popery and Govern by Tyranny you have begged Pardon by Promising to live Peaceably under it as the Ordinance of God c. But this smelling so Rank in the Re-Printing of Hubberthorn's Works An. 1663. they leave out the words Charles Stuart And instead of that they put it thus And if any Shall Come in and Establish Popery c. That Principle for the Breach of which they Charge the Ana-Baptists was not Peculiar to the Ana-Baptists nor any thing wherein they Differ'd from the Quakers for it is mostly in the Quakers own words But it was the Joint Principle of all these several sorts of Rebels and is and ever will be the Pretence of all Rebels to Reforme and Change for the Better And to this that Principle of Submitting to whatever Government is Established is most Adverse And for which the Quakers did at that time Upbraid this Pretence of the Ana-Baptists As sincere perhaps in the Ana-Baptists then as it is in the Quakers now For the Quakers Principle of Obedience to the Higher Powers And what they mean by the Higher Power I Refer backward to 2. P. p. 172 173. c. 3. Humphrey Smith a Notable Quaker Printed a Book An. 1658. Intitul'd The True and Everlasting Rule from God Published from the Spirit of Truth Where p. 48. he says Where are Queen Mary 's Judges and Bloody Persecutors Where are King Charles 's Nobles and his Vn-Merciful Tyrants who sought to Drive down all by their Devilish Power who were as High in Tyranny as any of you Where are your Cardinals Jesuits and Monks Where are your Bishops Arch-Bishops Deans and Deacons your Abbots Nunnerys and Bishopricks Altars Crosses Surplices and Common-Prayer-Books your Rails about your Tables Organs Quiresters and Singing-Boys Even as your Eyes have seen the Overturning of all these so shall the Off-Spring and Residue follow after and the Priests Howle c. But in the Re-Printing of this Man's Works after the Restoration All that concerning King Charles his Nobles Tyranny c. And all concering the Church of England then Established of Bishops Deans Common-Prayer Surplices Organs c. are left quite out Tho' said to be Publish'd from the Spirit of Truth But the Spirit of Convenience and Worldly Politicks has Prevail'd I have given but one Instance a piece in the Re-Printed Works of Fox Hubberthorn and Smith because I wou'd keep within Limits this having swell'd so much already And if I shou'd go thro' all it wou'd take up more Paper than all that I have Written But we wou'd Desire them more Particularly to Produce two Tracts they have taken care to stifle one is a Piece of Parnell's call'd Satan's Designs mention'd 2 P. p. 106. The other of Lawson's mention'd ibid. p. 108. And now the Reason appears Plain Why the Quakers are so Diligent in keeping up the First Editions of their Friends Books That none might be seen but as they have New-Drest and Vaumpt them Their Book-sellers have Refus'd to Sell them or so much as Shew them to several that I have Employ'd Particularly W. Penn's Sandy Foundation And where one I sent had found Six of