may write over their Doors as over the Doors of them that have the Plague Lord have Mercy on them But what then This is but one of his Complements upon us for he is sure we cannot be saved why then should he pray God to have Mercy on us Is not this to pray not only against Faith but certain Knowledge too besides taking the Name of God in vain which he so often exclaims against But what can we expect different from this from a Man that seems to be made up of Malice Forgeries and Lies as he appears to be through his Book But as for his Account of Hugh's of Plimouth I wonder his Friends would suffer him to over-hale it in Print unless the reviving of that Story would take off the Imputation which can never be unless there were better Vouchers for it than this Hammerer no nor then neither but with such as knew not the Man But being at length fully recovered from his Doctrinal Part he falls in p. 123. into an angry Humour with Ministers Wives for giving some Quakers an account of the ill Conditions of their Husbands I take this to be the Story and if so I say it was not well done of the Women to expose their Husbands Infirmities unless it were a Case of Conscience Though many a Poor Woman pays dear enough at Home for being led abroad once a Week in her Topknot but what their Lot is they must submit to and wade through it as they can Yet if the Women will Gossip and tell of the Cheats of their Husbands why should not they be believed as well as the Quaker's Wife he told of in p. 74. When it becomes his own Case he is not for hearing any Womens Complaints against their Husbands but then he not only if you will believe him heard it but hath also printed it though never the truer for that He says he knew a Famous Minister whose Wife broke his Heart he advises Ministers to keep their Ground for if they do not rule their Wives will He quotes many Presidents for being Henpeckt which would make one suspect that he himself was too deeply affected that way But on enquiry I find his Wife hath the hardest side of it by far and so according to the Proverb The worst Spoak cracks first But to come to an end for 't is time nor had I been here but to clear the Truth and its Professors and expose his Folly that if possible he may be ashamed of it and of himself for its sake with a Parcel of Verses though none of his very well adapted to a Chiding Woman and a few Scoffs and Jeers upon She Friends as he calls them together with another Ramble of unheard of Lies which he pretends to deliver as the Sence of the Quakers he ends his Work and lays down his Hammer but not without a false stroke to the very last lest it should any where fail of being all of a Thread which is thus This Barclay says he tells us if Infallibility be not in his Enthusiasms 't is not lodged in the Scripture but we must go for it to the Chair of Rome Here I cannot find a softer Expression than this The Lake is for the Liar and the Liar for the Lake and that 's the Portion of all such unless they Repent for R. B. no where in his Printed Books says so though this Lying Adversary of ours has the Impudence to assert it but the best of it is 't is with the same Credit with the rest But he goes on thus Every thing Poor Robin to its Centre thy Doctrine came from Rome tends to Rome and many that knew thee believe that thou were 't not to be reckoned in the number of Protestants But why thus Poor Robin And once before away Poor Robin what should induce him to call over his Name at this rate I will not determine whether it was from his great Intimacy with Poor Robin's Almanacks as part of his Study or with a design to lessen the Reputation of R. B. if it was the first he has shewn himself an apt Scholar by his Freaks and Comical Raileries But if it be the latter I pity him that he should be carried away with such Whims as to think that he was able to Impeach R. B. who was well known by most Ranks and Degrees of Men to be raised far enough above the Envy of such a Whiffling Petulant Adversary as this Hammerer hath all along appeared to be And now Reader having done for the present with Trepidantium Malleus I shall Address my self to thee IT is not because I Love Controversie or affect popularity that I have undertook to write the foregoing Reply but because I would take off those Bear-skins this lurking Adversary has endeavoured to wrap us in nor indeed had I undertook it if many or most of our Friends that are qualified for such Services had not declined it as a Scurrilous Libel not worth their notice partly from the Matter it self as being False Idle Comical and Vain and partly from the Knowledge they had of the Author since he is so well known to be out of his right Mind But because he may not be generally known to be so where his Book may come and understanding that the Book is handed about from one to another of the Brotherhood and entertained with great Applause as an unanswerable Piece I found my self concerned to Vindicate the Truth against his Malicious Slanders I observe it 's not his Case only but many more of that Complection for many Years past especially in peaceable Times to be throwing their Squibs at the Quakers although in Times of Persecution they generally are more quiet If they had any reasonable or just Cause to Reproach us for holding any Erroneous or Hurtful Principles it were something But when we are Condemned for Hereticks it is by their Forgeries Lies and Perversions which they would insinuate was our Belief One while we are Papists and Jesuites although we Challenge any of them to go as far as they dare in any of the Negative Doctrines of the Reformation Another while we deny the Humanity of Christ by and by his Divinity One while we cannot Pray without the Spirit by and by we expect to Merit Salvation by our own Works One while we are for turning the whole Scripture into Allegories by and by Persecuted because we keep to Scripture words Their great News about our not Confessing our Sins is as false as the rest though perhaps grounded upon our not doing it in the same Customary way and manner that our Adversaries use But what then doth it therefore follow as he wickedly insinuates page first That we think our selves too good and too perfect to ask a Holy God forgiveness for any imperfection in Thought Word or Astion by no means Nay see how Contradictory he is he chargeth L. S. for Pride and falling into the Condemnation of the Devil because he wisht
proceed to examine his Book To pass by his Humoursome Preface to his Humoursome Brethren as he calls his Readers I found a long and tedious Rattle as full of Noise Scoffing and Envy as empty of Truth and common Sence until I got to page 62. where he expresseth himself thus Either what I have charged them with is true or false if it be false let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to record it is and can justifie before God and Man I do say it upon mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind that Penn and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates This I took to be the most sensible since it was if you believe him the result of mature Consideration and great Composure of Mind which the rest wanted and Rational though Malicious Sentence in all his whole Book and that led me more seriously to consider Whether what he had Charged the Quakers with was or could be proved against them since if it could not he so freely at one Cast Condemned himself for the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor c. Let us therefore now take a view of his Charges and see whether they be true or not Page 6. His first is against Lawrence Steel for being lifted up with Pride and falling into the Condemnation of the Devil A great Charge But wherein was his Pride c The Reason he assigns for it was his saying Not that I am perfect would I were As if to be sensible of Imperfection and to wish to be freed from it were to be lifted up with Pride But to this I shall say more elsewhere Page 7. His next is by way of Query Whether George Bishop of the City of Bristol a Scholar was not a most deceitful Writer Ans He was not for any thing that he hath proved against him but that he himself has cleared him from being so is most evident from his acknowledging that G. B. has given a true account out of these Authors viz. Eusebius Socrates c and that Jerom and others were against taking Oaths as well as the Quakers to prove which was one of the grand Designs of that Book And that the Quakers were like them for Suffering he also grants But so says he were the Protestants in Queen Mary 's Days Now what is this but to eclipse if possible the Glory of those Martyrs But he adds So were the Papists in Queen Elizabeth 's Days and the Nonconformists in King Charles the Second's That the Protestants suffered in Queen Mary's Days is true and that they were Crowned with Martyrdom is equally true As also it is that the Quakers were the Objects of his Brethrens hatred who when they had the Power in their Hands exercised so much Cruelty that it cost many of them their Lives as also that they were exposed after their Joshua was turned out and King Charles came in to very great and terrible Persecutions as Imprisonments c. But that any of the Nonconformists suffered at that time was rare I will not say none did but it was very few for they found the same way for themselves that the Pope found for the Papists under Queen Elizabeth which was that though they did Conform to the Church of England in outward appearance yet they should keep their Hearts fixed on him and the Catholick Church which was the exact practice of our Conforming Nonconformists Thus Papists and such Noncons agree upon one and the same way to dissemble with God Almighty and to Cheat the World till the first could furnish themselves with Tools to Blow up the King and Parliament and the latter to Murder their King Remember Rye-house But that he is so angry with Geo. Bishop I do not wonder seeing he has so effectually laid open the Horrid Barbarity and Murther committed by those beloved Brethren in New-England upon the Persons of many of the People called Quakers Page 9. He Queries Whether the Quakers leaving their places of publick Worship for fear of Confiscation of Goods Imprisonment c. were not either Notorious Impostors or Apostates Asserting in their Printed Books that it was unlawful to leave their publick Worship for any Persecution whatsoever adding page 10. That they lived in the sinful omission of open Duties for many Years I Answer Such Books and the Quakers practice in the late Suffering Times abundantly proved their Unanimity and whoever is Ignorant of it must have lived farther off than Moorfields or Box either unless Infants Deaf Dumb or Idiots But perhaps he expects that the Quakers to purge themselves from this Calumny that he has so unreasonably formed against them should produce a Catalogue of their Sufferings but that cannot be done without gratifying him and his Party by reflecting on the Instruments of that Work that he may have the Satisfaction to see them upon all Occasions stand Indicted Against whom as well as the Quakers he already hath not omitted to throw some of his envious Darts but in this he is not like to be gratified nor is it in any wise needful seeing their Sufferings are too fresh in the Memories of most staid Persons to require the Trouble to enumerate them or any proofs to perswade their Truth And besides that to recount but a small proportion of what they underwent for their constant maintaining and openly owning in the hottest Rage of Persecution what they were called to profess far contrary to what he would falsly suggest would swell this piece too much beyond its designed Bulk Or another Reason that might induce him to urge so unjust a Charge against us might be a desire to alleviate that just one brought against themselves of being Deserters of their Cause in Times of Danger by bringing the Quakers a People well known to exceed others for stedfastness in such Cases upon the level for Cowardice with himself and Brethren and so render them as fearful and from thence as guilty as they whose Principles and avowed Practice has been to shift from Corner to Corner in Woods remote and obscure Places or any where to save their Bacon supposing themselves not to be called to Suffer though to Believe so that this Charge of omitting open Duties for many Years together he seems to have aimed at us but directly hits at the Heads of his own Fraternity for it touches not the Quakers notwithstanding his unheard of Impudence in bringing it against them and that for several Years too though when and what Years there 's not one word nor in what particular place neither but generally all England over it seems which is so very false that almost every Parish where any Quakers lived can give him the Lie And for Bristol the place he so often with Indignation mentions it is Notorious that when the Men and Women that constituted the Meetings were taken up and committed to Prison the very Children by their
THE QUAKERS Cleared from being APOSTATES OK THE Hammerer Defeated And Proved an Impostor Being an ANSWER to a Scurrilous Pamphlet Falsly Intituled William Penn and the Quakers either Apostates or Impostors Subscribed Trepidantium Malleus With a POSTSCRIPT Containing some Reflections on a Pamphlet Intituled The Spirit of Quakerism and the Danger of their Divine Revelation laid open By B. C. LONDON Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious Street 1696. TO THE READER Reader IF thou art moderate Reading may do thee good and inform thy Vnderstanding and if thou wilt be just thou oughtest to Read our Defence as well as Charge and seriously consider both But if thou art rigid perhaps thou may'st do with Replies or Answers to thy Champion's Attempts as Goliah did by David Curse it and Despise it but never give it an Impartial Perusal the Common way our Adversaries have taken with our Answers The Design of this Preface is chiefly to let the Reader know what sort of Adversary I have to deal with a Person that is said by them that know him to have been Mad through Pride and Conceitedness for which he hath been under the Doctors Hands So deeply had Love-Melancholly seized him before his Marriage that as he said himself 'T was impossible for him to look upon a Woman but he must of necessity Lust to be Naught with her but how it is with him since I will not determine He was one while for exercising the Office of a Curate in the Parish of Bursletown near Bristol but smelling so strong of Presbytery he could not hold it there long So that his Residence has been mostly among the Presbyterians since and how he hath Improved his Gift of Preaching among them they can tell better than I But his Demands for Preaching have been so high as I am inform'd as to make some of them uneasie under him The Account I have had of his Conversation in general is such that I dare say no moderate Presbyterian as some such I know there are desires to hear more of it That he has a little Learning he need not be told of it for no Ape can be prouder of a Top-knot than he is of it A little Rambling Wit he also has but that with a Spirit of Pride has undone him since it has eat out all Charity and fill'd up the vacancy with Prejudice and Envy even to such a degree that is not common An instance of this thou hast in his Book Page 71. where he saith thus Did they the Quakers know by the Spirit of Discerning all the Priests and Jesuites that came among them whom they almost Adored insinuating That there were amongst the Quakers both Priests and Jesuites which is as false and sly an Insinuation as if it came directly out of Scotland from the Reformers there or with the last Ship from Boston But he goes on Bedloe told my Brother how often Whitebread and he as well as other Papists had been at Quakers Meetings that Whitebread Executed was a Speaker Behold this Impostor in his Colours Who that reads this and knew neither him that saith it nor the Quakers but would believe that Whitebread the Papist Executed for the Popish Plot in Charles the Second's Reign was a Quaker and a Preacher among them which is so great a Lie that it 's not possible for him to out-do it But if you ask him Whether he meant so And Charge it upon him he may have a way according to the Cameronian Cant to creep out by saying I said that he and other Papists did go to the Quakers Meetings which perhaps may be true enough as well as many Presbyterians and that he was a Speaker is true for so he was unlâ—ss Dumb but he did not say that he was a Preacher amongst the Quakers I must confess when I saw that passage I thought him too great an Impostor to be Honoured with a Confutation to use his own words and had it not been for that his Books is handed about and sold and extoll'd by many of that Fraternity in the City of Bristol I should have left him to Triumph in his Imaginary Victory as G. K. lately did in his for such sort of Cattel are as ungovernable in their Passions when they dote on their own doings as they are unsupportable when they see their own Folly which rarely happens till all the World sees it first I have not replied to every particular Paragraph of his Book since 't is a considerable part of it Tautological as well as Comical not fit for a Sober Man to take notice of and another part is Collections out of the Snake in the Grass c. which I have understood is Answering by another Hand and to that I refer using as much brevity as possible Another part of it is Directions to his own Tribe in which though he has given me just occasion to detect him for his Vain and Foolish pretences to Divinity yet since 't is to them and not me I shall take little notice of it let them discover his Foolish Pretences if they please and detect it too or else the more will be their shame but pass it by in Silence nor have I taken notice of all his Allegations against the Quakers since many of them are both Foolish False and Insignificant and too Apish for any Reply but all his Capital Charges I think I have fairly Confuted and proved him the Impostor by Clearing the Quakers of his Charge against them THE QUAKERS Cleared From Being Apostates c. AS Madmen are to be known by the places they are committed to for Cure more than by their Discourse at some times since the maddest of Men may have their lucid Intervals and speak intelligible so had the Author of the Book Intituled William Penn and the Quakers either Impostors or Apostates c. but put his Name to it there had been little occasion for an Answer especially in those places where the Author is known But since he conceals his Name and instead thereof Subscribes Trepidantium Malleus and that being such an Herculean Character as if after this Club Beetle or Hammer the Quakers were no more to hold up their Heads I think my self obliged to Vindicate the Quakers and their Christian Principles from the Abuses of this Hammerer whose Malicious Design seems to be no less than to set the Mob or his Cameronian Brethren to tear us if it were in his Power to pieces But if any should think that I am obliged to Answer it Methodically because an Adversaries Book I must take the liberty to tell them that as it is next to an Impossibility to reduce a Mad-man's Work to method so it cannot reasonably be expected that I should exactly trace all his wild ranges or be very Methodical in a Reply to such for to attempt it would shew but little Discretion Yet nevertheless lest any should object That a Mad-man may sometimes speak Truth I shall therefore
constant Attendance at the usual times and place kept up the Meeting till they also were sent away with the rest until the very Floors of the Prison Tables and Hammocks were so full that it was scarce possible to croud in any more unless they should stow them one upon another At which time there was scarce a Presbyterian to be found that had Religion enough to think it worth Suffering for Nay so far were they from it that they were frighted out of the very Profession into a Conformity to that which they esteemed little better some time before than Idolatry and in that Converted State they continued till K. James his Toleration awakened them for which Favour by their Addresses to him they Mortgaged their Lives and Fortunes Nay so stedfast were the Quakers to what they profest that when by the great Heat and Fury that possest some Men who since I hope have seen the Evil of such violent practices there were Distresses of great Value made on them and had their Meeting-house rifled and shut up against them they continued their usual gathering at the Door and from thence were haled away to Prison till Bridewell as well as Newgate was fill'd with them and yet even then they desisted not from their accustomed Service for the Worship of God though by the violence of the Keepers they often suffered great Abuses for it Let him therefore prove that instead of omitting publick Duties for many Years together there was Omission in any part of England when their Persons were at liberty from Prison to meet and till he does this he must stand Charged as an Impostor himself and by his own free Election assumes the Titles of the Greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what we please But if he should find two or three or a few Particular Persons profâ—ssing themselves Quakers did act such a part of Christian Policy as his Brethren did both practise and advise to they therein declined from their Principles and from the Quakers general Practice But this neither affects the Quakers in general nor their Principles at all but thanks be to God there is no one thing they could have more belied us in For as the Lord by his Grace called us to believe so also were we enabled to suffer for his Name and the Gospels sake and of our Faithfulness herein we have by the Goodness of God who hath helped us given sufficient demonstration But the Devil commonly destroys his own Work at last by some Folly or Lies he plunges his Vassals into as is evident in the envious but false Information this Man gives of Lawrence Steel's deserting the Publick Worship of God after his Releasment from Prison which though true in a Sense yet is notoriously false and wicked in him for this reason viz. That though he never frequented Meetings after yet it was not either through Fear or Policy but only because of his great Indisposition and Inability of Body through a Complication of Diseases that attended him some time before his Releasment out of Prison and afterwards continued and encreased upon him to the terminating of his Days So that it was not want of Will but Ability of Body that kept him from it And as for E. S. who he saith With one more were the only Persons that held out is as false as the former E. S. not being resident in Bristol but was several Miles from it nor in any wise belonging to it but rather a Stranger in that respect And that none but she and D. D. kept to the Principles of the Quakers is as true as his alledging that on private Conference with R. V. concerning the deviation of the Quakers from their Principles R. V. should tell him That they had now changed their Minds which R. V. solemnly declares is a great Lie for as he had no reason to say so neither doth he remember he had Discourse with him on that Subject But if any were so weak and feeble as not to be able to stand Suffering for the Faith of Christ it may be partly owing to the Intimacy they had with Neighbours of his Perswasion whose wheedles went a great way with too many For when the Fury of the Persecutors was vented upon the Quakers the others being fled it was common with them to come creeping Ah Neighbours the Lord comfort you and keep you we pray for you that you may stand but we are not able we hope we shall all be brought nearer together by these Storms we have all but one Head our Ministers have left us c. Thus in Times of Suffering there was great shew of Love and Friendship as likewise upon Occasion of Elections for Parliaments for then they use to alledge we have but one Interest and therefore ought to join together against the common Enâ—my But when there is no turn to serve nor fear of Persecution but the Sun of Toleration â—hines out all those creeping Insects that lay lurking in Woods and hollow Trees got Wings and became Hornets if not flying Scorpions to the Annoyance of such that live near them Thus was the Land of Vprightness New England as C. M. called it Infected with those Vermin till from Whipping and cutting off of Ears they came to Hanging and yet they are the Lord 's Dear and Precious Ones of the Election of Grace forsooth But to proceed page 12. he tells us a Story of Lawrence Steel that for refusing to Swear he was committed to Prison and after that never went to Meeting more and why pray But because he Died. Is not that a great Argument of his and the Quakers Apostacy R. V. he says did the like what like Never went more till his Death or never since else it could not be like Lawrence Steel but that this is notoriously false is evident R. V. being still Alive and since that time hath been at 500 Meetings at least and frequented them at that time and suffered Imprisonment for it being even then under a Persecution on the Statute of the 35th of Queen Elizabeth for not coming to Church and being by Habeas Corpus and Writ of Error removed from Newgate in Bristol to London at the King's Bench-Bar he was legally Discharged but three Days after his return Home his Father dying and by his Will the place where he Deceased at Chew in Somersetshire falling to R. V. he has ever since had his Residence there where it is well known he has no more deserted his Duty in frequenting Meetings than he did while he lived at Bristol But all the rest he says did the like except E. S. and D. D. and that they wrote a Book Damning in the Name of the Lord the rest of the Quakers for leaving their Testimonies That this is false in Fact the Book it self will manifest to which I refer But all the rest save these two declined meeting from the time that Lawrence Steel was put out of Prison If this be true then
their Hearts are filled with Thankfulness And Active in expressing such Thoughts as the Spirit shall suggest to their Understanding as suitable to the present occasion Thus for Thanksgiving and for Prayer it is the same thing for since it is the Spirit that quickens how can a Man pray with a true Sence without it For till that quickens him to it his Prayer is dead dry and formal which God will not hear since 't is his own and not another Spirit he will hear And in Preaching the Gospel it is the Spirit that opens the Understanding and makes it fruitful in the Knowledge of God and incites Men so qualified to impress the same Image on others which cannot be without being Active as well as Passive Aâ—â—â—r his Story of the Woman 22 Years since that pretended to Fast Forty Days and Forty Nights with the other that pretended to fetch the Dead Child to Life with many more such as in page 22 c. I say if there were ever any such Persons that so said or so did he ought in Justice to have told us their Names and where they liv'd that we might know as well as he whether they were Quakers or not for where-ever he can find any thing that is Ridiculous and a flying Story he is very liberal to bestow it upon them as he did that of Cullompton But to do him Justice he has been kind to us in not pretending himself a Quaker for if he had we should never have been able to have defended him from Folly Madness and Confusion any more than we can such as he tells of if any such there were though for my part I see not the least shew of Truth in it What he says of Dr. Griffin and Honest Mr. Blinman as he calls him concerning Lawrence Steel he seems to be safe in seeing they are by Death put out of a Capacity to detect him but that he has Notoriously Abused and Belied L. S. is most certain Page 16 17 18. He gives us undeniable Proofs of his Abhorrence of Perfection unless it be of perfect Nonsence for he saith p. 16. I wrote W. P. I would not trouble him with one Question more At first I thought 〈◊〉 an Errour of the Press considering what follows but finding no Errata I shall leave him to Correct in his next But in Page 17 18. He tells how he sent W. P. another Letter and that he had more Questions to propose to him Ay and to a publick Disputation too See the Confusion of the Man Are not his Questions like Hydra's Poor Conceited Man that he should think W. P. had so little Sence as to imploy his Time and Parts to Dispute him or Regard his Nonsensical Clamours Almost every Page affords such a Rhapsody of Nonsence and Folly that to follow him would require a great deal more Pains than his work deserves Page 23 24 25 26. is taken up about William Penn his Letter to him and W. P's Answer with his Reflection upon it That Penn was a Roman Catholick That he was not able to Answer him That he Saluted King James commended his Integrity how he writ a Book in which he said There was not Papists enough in London to make Coal-fires But to what purpose is all this unless to render W. P. odious to the People If he did Salute King James did not his Brethren do the same And Address to him too in such terms as I will not mention now Far differing from what W. P. did But that W. P. endeavoured with the Intereâ—â—â—e had what he could to prevent K. James from taking such Methods as would undo him and the Nation too is better understood by many Persons of Quality than by this Hammerer As to his Story of C. Niccolet's the Licenser being turned out by W. P 's means for Licensing a Book against Popery if this had come directly from C. N. there might have been some more shew of Truth in it but when 't is only Anonymus's Friend that will give it upon Oath that C. N. told him so it is justly to be suspected for you may know the Man by his Company and I shall only ask him this Whether it was at Box or Bedlam his Friend told him this Story For W. P. affirms it is a great untruth in every part of it Page 27. Hequeries What the Quakers are And then Answers himself They are the Sink of all Heresies some are Socinians and some are Sabellians and what next but to revive the Writ De Comburendo Haeretico And then would not Old England grow New and Religion flourish and the Elect rejoice Perhaps he has not forgot who it was that Writ from New-England to justifie their Hanging the Quakers there as being according to the Laws of God as well as Men And also who that Zealous Person was that because by one Vote another Quaker was saved from Hanging Preached against the Man whose Charitable Suffrage had turned the Ballance in these Terms Because thou hast let 〈◊〉 the Accursed Man thy Life shall go for 〈◊〉 But the Sink of Herèsie I find to be in this their denying the Divinity of Christ and the Trinity c. to which I shall reply in its place and detect his Falshoods therein Upon all Occasions he is bringing in his Ridiculing Stories and Reflections in Derision of the Quakers most of which are either false or foolish and among the rest he brings this page 30. What saith the Scripture said one to me Every Tub must stand upon his own bottom Now whether this is true or not I will not Dispute for 't is possible such a mistake might be committed by taking a common Maxim for Scripture but what is this to Religion I can tell him of as great a mistake in one of his Fraternity whom I could name if I pleased that told me That Christ foretold Deceivers should come in the last Days and that he said By this shall they be known they shall come fore in Gray Clothing but your Friends the Quakers come in Gray Clothing and therefore c. Is not this altogether as gross as the former or worse And yet for such lapses as these in particular Persons to Condemn a Religion in general would argue but too little Christian Charity From p. 28 to 48. there is little besides a Collection of such Idle Stories is these that he has pickt up here and there to asperse others with 〈◊〉 well as the Quakers Nay what shall one say of him that will foul his own Nest for which see page 36 37. But that he should go about to Ape and Ridicule the Church-men and Quakers way of Preaching and know that there is such a Book as the Scotch Presbyterian Eloquence in the World shews his Impudence and is Astonishing if the Man were not known However I would advise him to spend some time on that Book and then let him tell me Whether it would not be more becoming him to endeavour to
built her a house she crieth Whoso is simple let him turn in hither and for him that is void of understanding Thus a simple thing said he is a thing unmixt pure so he that is holy hath no Sin Now to know who is the Dunce and Liar too it will be sit to enquire whether or no G. W. did thus Expound the Text which seems to me to be this Hammerers part to prove as well as say for G. W. denies it as a gross Perversion and they that know G. W. far better than this envious Scribler knows he understands the Scriptures better than thus to abuse them and for my part seeing that in none of his Writings any such incongruity is to be found nor in all his Preaching that ever I heard which I have often done both in Bristol and London and elsewhere never was there any such incoherent Expression used by him And for his Knowledge of Scriptures and Soundness of Doctrine he is too far out of the reach of any Impeachment by such a vain trifling Adversary to be wounded by his Malice And now after so many Falshoods and Forgeries detected in him with what Face can he think of his 62 page I need but quote it 't is his Doom Oh horrid hardness and presumption for a Man to call Heaven and Earth to Record to the Truth of what he knows to be apparently False In his next Page he saith Know Reader says he I have made no use of Books nor Men to help me in this Work and yet from p. 64 to 73. is little else but Quotations out of the Snake in the Grass and Pennyman's Papers according to his own Confession And from page 63. backwards no less than between 50 and 60 times has he told his Reader what such an one told him or what he hath heard or read concerning the Quakers and yet after all this hath the Impudence to tell his Reader That he hath made no use of Books nor Men in this Work What can be said of so grand an Impostor Oh heighth of Impudence and Falshood This is the Man that undertakes to prove W. P. and the Quakers either Impostors or Apostates and if he do not do it desires that he may be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what we please which now according to his Imprecation is fastned upon him And though Apostacy I am apt to think he was never guilty of because 't is reasonable to believe he was scarcely ever good for any thing yet Impostor is his Character and that in the highest degree and with that I would leave him were it not for a few passages more that I will proceed to take notice of Page 73. He queries thus Are not the Quakers more Sober than once they were He Answers himself in the Affirmative Well since we are amending 't is to be hoped we shall be mended at last I am glad we are growing better and better But for his part if he be sure of any one thing in Religion notwithstanding our mending we shall never be saved no not one of us Such Charity is suitable to his Principles He queries again Are they not temperate above others To this he Answers Let every Man speak as they find but a Quakers Wife next Door to him at Bristol confess'd to him that her Husband was a Notorious Secret Drunkard I will not descant on his Notorious Secrecy since he pretends to be a Scholar but when he is in his Tantarums I suppose publick and private open and secret are all one with him But since he allows every Man to speak as he finds and seeing that is the easiest way to make up the Accompt will e'en leave it there But then he should not speak contrary to what he had found which I dare say he did not only in this but in the Case of the Strong-water-sellers or else to be sure his Charity would not conceal their Names if publishing them might Reproach the Quakers for 't is apparent he neither sticks at Persons nor Things that he thinks will discredit the Quakers Nay if he cannot find matter to asperse them with here he will fetch it from the other side of the Globe but he 'll have it Besides any Man shall straight have the Title of a Quaker thrown on him that acts Ridiculously if from thence there may any Scandal arise or it can yield any thing to Reproach the Quakers as witness the Cullompton Prophet mentioned before But wet and dry Quakers are a distinction says he in other places besides Bristol And what of all that Suppose there were such that use his or his Brethrens or others Company till they demerit the Name of a Wet Quaker because they frequent the Quakers Meetings Doth that Intitle the Quakers to their Misbehaviour Let him at this Day or Days past prove that any Person so Chargeable was not dealt with and followed by the Quakers till they had disowned him Nay though it were such an one as after many Years like the Sow turn'd to the Mire again This is too Notorious in Bristol to be denied and it would be well for his Brethren if they did as the Quakers do in such Cases the Reproaches that are cast on Religion would in a great degree be taken off But besides I admire he should bring this as a Charge against the Quakers for certainly in my Judgment it makes more for their Credit than the contrary for that none of them can deviate from the strictness of the Rules they profess but they shall have presently upon it a distinguishing Character fixt on them is a great Argument of the Peoples Temperance and Regularity in general above other Professors among whom no such thing is to be found though the worst of these Quakers are seldom so Bad as Thousands of others of most Professions that nevertheless are suffered to pass in the throng But he queries again Are they not very humble Persons His Answer is Negatively first and then Positively That they are more Proud of their Plainness than others of their Bravery All to me is how Anonymous came to know this since Inspiration with him is Heresie And to be sure the Quakers never told him so But this is like the rest a Birth of his own Fancy and as such I return it to him He queries once more and that is Whether the Quakers are not more just in their Dealings than others and careful not to tell a Lie To this he assents though very unwillingly but to make it as bad as he can for this you know is but dry Morality he yoaks us up with the Turks in it While he that is of the Election of Grace is pleading for Lying as no unlawful thing But to prove G. B. a Liar he quotes New-England Judged for saying The Persecutors of the Quakers there whipt them so that the Flesh came off with the Whips All his Argument to prove this a Lie was because
that Matter that he hath so confused himself about that in Eight Lines has told so many Lies but perhaps shortly we may see his Reply to this for if he have any Regard to his Credit he is obliged to it since I positively Charge him for a Malicious Publisher of Notorious Falshoods and then it will be time enough in mean time I observe his Directions like such another Doctor as S. Y. a true Representation of the Author viz. a Rambling Confused Adversary see it page 46. Grieve not the Holy Spirit of Truth Ah! where wilt thou run when he ceases to lead thee This in a Quaker had been rank Herefie enough to have had him write a Book to lay open the Danger of it but in him Orthodox In the next Paragraph and first Sentence of it he saith Dread the Methods whereby others are inveigled viz. a Pretence to all inward Spirituality in Religion You may see what a Religion he is for nothing of Spirit but all Flesh But to fix the aforesaid Character upon him read his next words A Form of Godliness without Life and Spirit God abhors saith he 't was well in one respect he did not set his Name to his Book for if he should be known to be a Member of any Society at all we might if we would act like him Accuse them for Madness or Folly since this Member has shewed himself so in this Case for till he can reconcile the aforesaid Directions viz. Dread Inward Spirituality in Religion viz. Beware of it don't pretend by any means to such a thing yet don't grieve the Spirit of God for a Form without the Spirit God abhors I say until he can reconcile these two opposite Directions I shall not forbear thinking him a Mad-man or worse but this is no more a wonder to me than his Envying the Quakers both for the sake of their Religion as well as for their Temporal Enjoyments since believing the Saving Grace of God in all Men is with him an Intoxicating Notion one would think he was no better acquainted with the Holy Scriptures than he seems to be with the Principles of the Quakers for had he not been intoxicated himself and a Stranger to both how could he have belied the one or contradicted the other as he hath done And until he is better informed of both I intend to leave him or at least for the present since he is so foul and abusive from End to End that hardly one Paragraph is to be found free from Lying Detraction and Perversion It shall suffice me that all Men in their Senses and that are of a good understanding will agree with me in this that this Adversary has most notoriously abused the Quakers by Intituling them to the Mad and Foolish Freaks that some silly People has run into For who would think it just to charge the Church of England for Libertinism because some Men Professors of that Communion has been Convicted for Theft and Murther c Or that the Presbyterians Doctrine is Damnable because some of their Members have Hanged or Stabb'd themselves Or that the Baptists Religion is Lunacy because some of their Members has Drowned themselves A very unjust and uncharitable Conclusion So let the sober Reader judge whether supposing but not granting many such like Idle and Foolish Stories to be true concerning here and there one amongst many Thousands of a regular People is our Christian Communion and Society answerable for it And our Principles Destructive and we Hereticks because of it The Answer I hope is easie In short we know there has been much Industry us'd and what Wit and Malice as well as Madness could rake up has been thrown at us to Reproach our Christian Profession and render its Professors obnoxious to the Government that our Liberties might be by a Legal Power stâ—eightned But Blessed be the Merciful God who hath hitherto helped us by his Grace and good Spirit that though our Adversaries hath not forborn but with open Mouth hath spoken all manner of Evil of us yet it is falsly and we know it to be for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ in whom we have believed Psalm 2. 1. Why do the Heathen Rage and the People imagine a vain Thing Isaiah 37. 22 23. The Virgin Daughter of Zion hath despised thee c. London September the 12th 1696. FINIS * Bedlam and Box places for Cure of Mad People Page 48. Page 48. See C. M. of W Page 60. Page 71. Page 60. a Ezek. 36. 27. b 2 Tim. 3. 16 17. c 2 Pet. 3. 16. d Mic. 5. 2. e John 1. 1 2 3. f Col. 1. 15. g Ver. 16. h Rev. 22. 16. i Heb. 1. 1. 2 3. k Eph. 3. 9. l Heb. 2. 14 16 17. m Heb. 4. 15. n Isa 53. 10 11. o Heb. 9. 12 14. p Tit. 2. 14. q 1 Pet. 3. 18. r Eph. 5. 2. Å¿ Phil. 3. 10. t 1 John 5. 7 8. u Acts 1. 11. x Acts 2. 31 to 37. y Acts 3. 21. z Heb. 8. 1. a Eph. 4. 13.