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A45353
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An account of familism as it is revived and propagated by the Quakers shewing the dangerousness of their tenets, and their inconsistency with the principles of common reason and the declarations of Holy Scripture / by Henry Hallywell.
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Hallywell, Henry, d. 1703?
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1673
(1673)
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Wing H458; ESTC R25413
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52,525
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144
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An ACCOUNT of FAMILISM As it is Revived and Propagated BY THE QUAKERS SHEWING The Dangerousness of their Tenets and their Inconsistency with the Principles of common Reason and the Declarations of Holy Scripture By Henry Hallywell 2 Pet. ii 1. There shall be false teachers among you who privily shall bring in damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them and bring upon themselves swift destruction LONDON Printed for Walter Kettilby at the Bishops-head in S. Pauls Church-Yard 1673. To the Right Worshipful Sir John Covert Of Slaugham in the County of Sussex Knight and Baronet SIR THe daily and numerous Increase of the Heretical Generation of Quakers in these Parts made me a little more than ordinarily inquisitive into their Doctrins and Persuasions which I found not only destructive of all Civil Politie and Government but of Religion itself and the Worship of Almighty God established amongst us For what else can be expected from them who deny the Scripture to be the Word of God and our Rule and Guide in matters of Salvation And they being so well known to you as having had frequent Experience of their obstinate and perverse Humor in the Discharge and Execution of those Trusts and Employments committed to you under His most Sacred Majesty I could do no less than present you with this small Treatise that going under the Name and Protection of so worthy and accomplisht a Person as your self it may in some measure obtein its desired Effect by putting a stop to the growing Evil and confirming those who are not yet seduced in the Truth of their Profession and may testifie to the World how much I am Honoured Sir Your most Obliged and Affectionate Servant Henry Hallywell An Account of FAMILISM As it is Revived and Propagated BY THE QUAKERS CHAP. I. The Cognation and Agreement between the Quakers and other Antient and Modern Heretics OUr blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came from Heaven and took upon him our human flesh and bloud and by his sufferings and death upon the Cross redeemed and purchased a Church with his own bloud and of this he took a singular care after his glorious ascension into Heaven and fully instructed and impowered his chosen Apostles to gather it from all parts and quarters of the world and they communicated to men the Word of Reconciliation and the Doctrin of eternal Salvation But the Devil who looked with an evil eye upon the Happiness of our first Parents in Paradise now envied mankind so great a Good and stirred up Persecutions against the Church of God round about And when it pleased the watchful Providence of God to give Peace to his Church by the Conversion of Emperors and Kings to the Faith of Christ the Devil then quickly shifted the Scene and what he could not do by open violence he endeavoured to effect by Subtilty and sought to undermine the Church by Schisms and Heresies and to destroy her by those who pretended to be her own children And this Course he holds on still and to come nearer to my present design it is the envy and hate the Devil bears against true Christianity that hath stirred up here in England an Heretical sort of People called Quakers to draw away and seduce men from the true Profession of Religion into damnable and pernicious Errors And because they borrow something of many Heresies which have been already in the world it will not be amiss to shew briefly in some particulars the Agreement that is between them Simon Magus of old gave out That he was God the Father And how much I pray did George Fox come behind that great Magician when before the Justices of the Peace at Lancaster he affirmed That he was equal with God And James Nailor was no bad Proficient in that cursed School when he said That he did witness that he himself was as holy just and good as God Menander affirmed himself to be sent from the invisible Regions to be the Saviour of Mankind And it is well known to the world that James Nailor asserted himself to be Christ For though his followers would mince the matter as being ashamed of his Blasphemy yet it is certain that he accepted of Hosanna and Divine Worship in the Streets of Bristol and when he was charged with it would return no other answer but in the words of our Saviour Christ Thou sayest it which is as much as I assent to it or acknowledge it Photinus denied the Trinity acknowledging only the Father and excluding the Son and the Holy Ghost And George Fox in the Book called Saul's Errand to Damascus affirms that there is no distinction of Persons in the Godhead And if at any time they are forced to a Confession of it they deliver it so ambiguously that it amounts to no more than what Arius himself affirmed as his Faith who when he was commanded by the Emperor Constantine to give a Confession of it delivered a Creed in words ours but in sense his own Socinus denied the satisfaction of Jesus Christ and looked upon his Death and Passion only as an Example And this is expresly found in their Book called Saul's Errand to Damascus And James Nailor in his Love to the Lost p. 56. says That the end for which Christ did suffer was to be a living Example to all Generations The Valentinians arrogated to themselves a knowledge beyond Christ and his Apostles And what else do the Quakers when they so impudently throw away the written Word of God and by a false application of the Spirit of God to themselves blind and delude the easie and credulous Vulgar with new-fangled Revelations Thomas Holbrow a Quaker to one that urged Scripture answered What dost thou tell me of the Scriptures which are no better to me than an old Almanack Fox and Hubber thorn in a Book called Truth 's Defence say The Scriptures are no standing Rule and 't is dangerous for ignorant people to read them Are not these as impudent Heretics when they shall slight and contemn the Dispensation of Jesus upon Earth as an empty insignificant thing and reject the Ordinances of Christ as childish being themselves under an higher Oeconomy even the Rule of the Spirit And no question but they are under the Rule and Power of the Spirit but 't is of that Spirit which works in the children of Disobedience even the Prince of the Power of the Air. The fore-mention'd Heretics the Valentinians boasted of themselves as the only Spiritual Persons calling themselves Perfect and all others who in the humility of their souls profess themselves sinners and study to serve God with fear Idiots and Ignorant People And does not the same Spirit still possess the Quakers who in an extravagant and proud humour affect the Title and Appellation of Perfection When God knows the very boasting of a thing they have so little of argues their weakness and folly and those that talk and vaunt highest of this Perfection among them are
Sugar-Plumbs lay under their Tongues when a deadly poison lodges in their Hearts which being nothing but a canting in Scripture-phrase and expression and fitted to feminine fancies yet has a very great influence upon the people especially when their minds are prepared and prejudicated with an opinion of their being inspired In these respects now it appears that Quakery hath a very great advantage above all other Heresies and hath strong and powerful temptations to allure unstable and wavering minds from the knowledge of the truth But their Impostures and Cheats being so plainly detected and discovered in this foregoing Treatise if any man knowing and warned of them yet wilfully and presumptuously shall fall into them his destruction is of himself and his ruine inexcusable he hath now no cloak for his sin The Conclusion I have now run through the chiefest of the Quakers Opinions and plainly and evidently proved them in every thing to be exactly Familistical I shall now for a Conclusion of this Treatise only add this serious Admonition to those who approve of and are hankering after Quakery And to this end I would have them consider that the Quakers do deny the Books of the Old and New Testament to be the Word of God and say that they are no Rule of our Faith and Manners which must needs be of the most dangerous consequence to the souls of men for men being reasonable Creatures and in that Princely Prerogative Superiour to the Beasts of the Field must of necessity guide and determine their Actions by some Rule and Measure and if neither Reason nor Scripture be that Rule they are liable to be imposed upon by every Cheat and led into any errour whatever and so at last eternally destroyed for by this means having cast away Reason and Scripture from having any thing to do with their Actions good and evil Truth and Falshood will be all alike and there will be no difference between Virtue and Vice and to kill a mans Neighbour and seize upon his Estate may be no sin if the voice of Reason and Scripture be not to judge of it These things will be of a very sad consequence to every one that expects and looks for another life when this is ended But it may further be considered that the rejecting of the Scriptures and denying them to be the Word of God is likewise a piece of Familism and was a part of the Doctrine of Caspar Swenckfield a Silesian and that upon this ground which the Quakers likewise urge because Christ is called the Word But so are the Scriptures too called the Word of God 1 Thes 2. 13. For this cause also thank we God without ceasing because when ye received the Word of God which ye heard of us ye received it not as the word of men but as it is indeed the Word of God So Heb. 13. 7. Remember them which have the rule over you and have spoken to you the Word of God Moreover they would do well to reflect and consider how they hope to be saved If they profess Quakery it cannot be by the Death and Satisfaction of Jesus Christ the Son of God because the Quakers own no such Person living without them nor do they believe the History of his Death and Passion at Jerusalem in the letter of it so that every man who turns to be a Quaker puts himself out of a capacity of being saved for there being no Name by which any man shall be saved but by the Name of JESVS and he being denied by them as a Person living in Heaven they are by the Tenour of the Gospel excluded from having any Salvation by him By which it appears that every man professing and embracing Quakery hazards and sets at stake the everlasting Happiness of his Immortal Soul But it is no wonder they take so little notice of their Souls when they believe they have none and he that follows their ways and opinions must cast away all care for another life nor think of any thing but for the present for Heaven Hell and the Day of Judgment are as they say in this Life And though the Quaker will impudently deny all this and boldly affirm that he holds no such things yet I have produced nothing as their Judgment but what I find published by some of them in their printed Papers or has been delivered by them at their own Conventicles and Meetings and therefore is sufficiently known to be their own opinion But it need not startle any man to hear a Quaker out-face his own Errours when challenged with them for he that takes away all distinction between good and evil will not stick to lye when it is for his advantage Wherefore these Hereticks being so dangerous and their Doctrine so destructive of the Salvation of mens Souls they ought carefully to be avoided and their society detested and abhorred for he that associates himself with them cannot be free from Sin but as he is guilty of Sin in the sight of God by joyning himself to them so unless he speedily return and repent he will partake of their Punishments For so said the Spirit of God Numb 16. 26. Come out from the Congregation of these men lest ye be consumed in their sins And the Apostle St. John Epist 2. ver 10. 11. says that If there come any to you and bring not the Doctrin of Jesus Christ which is conteined in the Books of the New Testament he is not to be received into your house nor to be bid God speed for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds Lastly if any man would keep himself from being drawn into their Errors he must be sure to observe the written Word of God as the Rule of his Belief and Actions nor must he forsake the Dictates and Notices of right Reason For by these two things he may judge of any Doctrin propounded to him and whatever any man tells him if it be contrary to Scripture and Reason he may be certain that it is false As for instance the Quaker comes and pretends that what he delivers it is divinely inspired to him by the Spirit and that he hath immediate Revelations from God In this Case now I am to try what he brings by the Word of God and right Reason St. Paul says Gal. 1. 8. 9. That if any man or an Angel from Heaven should preach any other Doctrin than what they had already preached and the believers received he should be accursed Now therefore if these Quaking Inspirations contein any other Doctrin than what is delivered in the Bible that Doctrin is false and those that broached it are accursed And if the Revelation be of something which the Word of God meddles not with as concerning the going or not going to such a Place the doing or not doing of such an Action Common Reason will help a man to judge very much in it and will afford so much light as to discover the Revelation to be foolish and ridiculous and nothing else but a Fansie arising from a deep Melancholy and mistaken for the Inspiration of the Spirit of God And by these two helps supposing a man to be faithful to God and his own soul he may easily discover and avoid such pernicious Errors For it is the cunning of these wicked People to deny the Scriptures and the use of Reason because they know they are so diametrically opposite to their Doctrins and Opinions The Contents CHAP. I. THe Cognation and Agreement between the Quakers and other Antient and Modern Heretics CHAP. II. Of the Authors of Familism and the Quakers Agreement with them in their Doctrin CHAP. III. Of the Holiness of Times Things and Persons under the Gospel CHAP. IV. That Quakery though it pretend high is mere Sadducism at the Bottom CHAP. V. That the Quakers are dangerous Enemies of the Civil Magistrate CHAP. VI. Of the Light within CHAP. VII The Quakers Pretence of Immediate Revelations CHAP. VIII Of the Quakers Perfection CHAP. IX The Ways and Arts the Quakers use in gaining Proselytes CHAP. X. The Advantage of Familism above other Sects and Heresies FINIS Lib. 1. c. 18. Concerning a form of Prayer Of Baptism Of the Sacrament of the Lords Supper Of the Time allotted for the Service of God Exod. 20. 8. Of the Place of Gods Worship 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 pro 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is found to signifie in Homer So Herod in Erato 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Et apud Euripīdem Helena 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Of the Ministers Maintenance 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Object I. Of the Ministers of the Gospel The Lawfulness of taking an Oath Rom. 14. 11. * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 v. Job 34. 30. Mat. 24. 51. 2 Thess 2. 10 11.