Christ at the Door the Way the Truth Life the Rock the Elect Stone and all these are but One Here again quoth he is One added here is Octo Personas in the unity of their Essence Hence observe by the way what rare Syntax he makes viz. Here is Octo Personas instead of Here are Octo Personae but chiefly how he has defined Person which is not our Term for those Names given to Christ for to make so many Persons of Christ as Names are given to him as those in Metaphors Parables and Similitudes which are numerous in Sacred Scriptures may he not then by such Logick or Dofinition render Christ to be an Hundred Persons in One Essence What silly Conceits float in this Man 's giddy Head What think his Friends of the Clergy of him Is he a fit Champion to undertake to defend both Theml their Church and the Protestant Religion Moreover I do confess That altho' I have often seen it my Duty to explain some of our Christian Friends Meanings when mistaken or perverted by our Adversaries I really believe I have truly Construed their Intentions and that I have cause to understand the same better than our Adversaries or Enemies And as for my own part I have learn'd that Humility and Self denial that I am not Conscious of being Pertinacious against Light true Conviction or holy Scripture Testimony And I hope also this Advertisement may satisfie every Charitable and Ingenuous Reader having been Sincere and Consciencious towards God from my Youth upward to this day according to the Measure of Light and Understanding he hath bestowed upon me humbly hoping and verily believing he will so preserve me in Christ unto the End 'T is observable how insulting and boasting this F. Bugg is in his Dedication to the Parliament comparing himself in his Work of Darkness against the Light with Daniel his bursting in sunder the Baby lonish Dragon Even so quoth Bugg have I been instrumental and burst in sunder the Quakers great Idol their Darkness within which they call the Light within Thus presumptuously he Boasts and Blasphemes contrary to his former Confession to the Light which we called Quakers profess according to John 1. 4 9. There is a Wo to such as put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light He proceeds in his empty Boasting and Insulting thus viz. I have cut down the lofty Weeds and tall Cedars Pref. p. 27. The Sting of Quakerism being taken out and the Bowels thereof ript up and their Inside turn'd outward Part 2. p. 31. And having taken this Snake Quakerism out of the Grass and laid her on the Table and taken out her Sting Ibid. p. 27. But Reader I have not done with this Snake but must have the other blow at her and smite off her Head lest she get into the King's High Court of Parliament to do mischief for she is a mischievous Beast and full of deadly Poison and begins to stink all the Nation over Ibid. p. 30. Thus far F. B. Now let the serious Reader judge what a presumptuous reviling Boaster this is as if the High Court of Parliament were much beholden to him for his Defence of them by thus shamefully Reviling the Quakers But how helpless mean and indigent does he Imply the Parliament to be to have need of such a Physitian to prepare them Antidotes And then what lofty Weeds and tall Cedars has he cut down among the Quakers What great Execution has he done by his bitter Invectives Scorn Railery and Profanation of the Sacred Name of God and Christ as before is manifest Have not his mischievous Attempts tending to a New Persecution made him stink in the Nostrils of all Moderate Serious and Unprejudiced Readers and Observers of his Works of Revenge and Malice thereby making himself and Abettors Infamous while he seeks to make himself Famous But God will debase his Pride and Presumption Altho' he would render himself an Eminent Champion as having Cut down and slain Quakerism yet eagerly endeavours to Influence both King and Parliament against us he presumes to Dedicate his bitter and scurrilous Invectives against us to the King 's High Court of Parliament superlatively stiling himself Your Honours most Humble and most Obedient Servant and arrogantly presumes to write an Address to his Majesty King William the Third therein also stiling himself One of the Meanest yet most Dutiful Subject Francis Bugg therein notifying G. Whitehead in particular and in pretence Most humbly Praying in the Name of the Church of England and other his Dissenting Protestants that Care may be taken to suppress the same i. e. the Quakers Doctrine and Books viz. such as he writes against In which he would also encourage the King to Judge who is in the Wrong and to punish accordingly And in this Case saith he let not the King respect Persons in Judgment c. Hence observe the Presumption of this silly Creature thus to presume to be the King's Dictator and that in the Name of the Church of England and other Protestant Dissenters too to Influence and Incense him against his Peaceable Subjects called Quakers as if nothing short of Punishment Persecution and Suppressing would pacify his Revenge against us But how comes F. Bugg thus confidently to Address King William in the Name of the Church of England and other his Majesty's Dissenting Protestants as if they had set him on Work so bitterly to Inveigh against the People called Quakers as he hath done Seeing in his Dedication to the Parliament he tells them He can with good Conscience say That from first to last no Clergy-Man in the Kingdom ever asked or desired him to write one Book Page or Line against the Quakers nor have any one Man Clergy or Laity seen this Book till printed If this be true then both the Clergy Laity and all others are so far Excusable as to this Book of his unjustly stiled A Modest Defence But then hath he not wronged the Church of England and Dissenting Protestants too by his Addressing the King in their Names against the Quakers seeing they neither asked nor desired him to write one Book Page or Line against the Quakers no not one Clergy-Man in the Kingdom c. If none of the Church of England nor any other set him at work how durst he Address the King expresly in their Names If he writ Truly to the Parliament how could he so write Truly or Honestly to the King What an officious Agent was he then so peremptorily to Address the King against the Quakers their Doctrine and Books in the Name of the Church of England and other Dissenting Protestants and that for Punishment too He seeks to Incense both King and Parliament and Church of England and other Dissenting Protestants against the peaceable People called Quakers as if he aim'd at their sole Ruin and Destruction For which End they shall not want his Exclamations of Heresie and Blasphemy Cheats Impostors Jesuits c. ay to Incense the World against them if he could But God's Power is above the Devils Glory to our God and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne for Ever and Ever I conclude with this Scripture as applicable to our Persecuting Adversary Psalm 36. 1. There is no Fear of God before his Eyes v. 2. He flattereth himself in his own Eyes until his Iniquity be found to be hateful v 3. The words of his mouth are Iniquity and Deceit v. 4. He deviseth Mischief upon his Bed c. FINIS
Of Sam. Fisher's Prophecy and F. B.'s Malice and injurious Construction p. 14 15 16. PART II. Of the Light of Christ the Spirit 's Authority the Holy Scriptures Ten Commandments Silent Meetings p. 17 18 19 20. Of F. B's offence against Light and Conviction and his Self-Contradiction about the Light Lawgiver and Head of the Body the Church c. p. 20 21 22. Of his notorious Abuse about the Ten Commandments p. 22 23 24. How to charge F. B. if he will not behave himself quietly p. 24. Of his Falshood Envy Contradiction and Insolency against the Light and the Ministers thereof p. 24 25. Of his Calumnies and accumulated Lyes and Perversions against the Quakers compaering them to Jesuits to be distrusted in all they say p. 26 27. A Certificate on G. Whitehead's behalf against F. B's idle Detractions p. 27 28. Of his Trumpeting out his Hospitality and upbraiding our Ministers p. 28 29. Of his blasphemously comparing the Pope of Rome and the Quakers Light and of our Meetings c. p. 30 31. Of his Fallacy and Abuse in a Quotation out of G. Keith's Way cast up p. 31 32. Of Praying for the King and our plain Testimony against Plots and Conspiracies c. p. 32 33. Of F. B's exposing in Print a Passage of Two Clergy-Men's against the Liberty granted and Legally confirmed p. 33 34. Of his Pillory and Cage idle Mockery Contempt and Folly p. 34. Of his horrid Calumnies about a most Damnable Plot charg'd against our Meetings c. p. 35. Of his Hypocritical Asseveration and presuming to dictate to Authority unjust Restrictions and Limitations to prevent the Growth of Quakerism as he calls it p. 35. 36 37. Of his silly and insolent Boasting and Challenging and of our Discourse in the presence of the Bishop of Norwich and some Members of Parliament p. 37 38. His Spirit of Envy Falshood and Persecution still appearing in other things p. 38 39. A Catalogue of my Answers to F. Bugg's Books extant in Print p. 39 40. A Brief Answer to Francis Bugg's Book falsly stiled A Modest Defence c. p. 41. THE Rambling PILGRIM EXPOSED PART I. THE principal Notice I am concerned to take of Francis Bugg's Pilgrim's Progress from Quakerism to Christianity as he falsly terms it is of his Chap. XIII Entituled The Quakers Conversion G. Whitehead 's Sermon explaining their ancient Testimonies of above two printed Sheets which G. Whitehead utterly denies and in good Conscience solemnly testifies against as a Sermon never preached nor owned by him and which Fr. Bugg also knows in his own Conscience is a Fictitious Romance presumptuously contriv'd and invented by himself to ridicule defame and scandalize both G. W. and the People called Quakers and their Yearly Meeting which he calls their Convocation and The Quakers Synod also calling it a Sermon for G. W. to hold forth at their Convocation He is positive in his first Title that it is G. W's Sermon and as idle self-contradicting and false in the other that it is For him to hold forth consequently not G. Whitehead's Sermon but F. Bugg's Forgery And as the said fictitious Sermon is compos'd of base Forgery ridiculous Romance foul Perversions gross Lies idle and sordid Stuff with many curtail'd and abused Citations out of our Books besides his presumptuously Profaning the sacred Name of God and Christ and the Light within in his said Forgery And that it may evidently appear such I may recite some Passages out of it under the Title of Forgery and shew 1. His invented Cut of Pictures about a Table to represent the Quakers Synod as he calls it some having their Names over their Heads and others Deputies And on the Table two Books Pictur'd the one stiled The Journal of G. Fox and the other Church-Canons on the outsides Which is a meer Fiction of his own And in the same Cut or Figure which he entitles The Quakers Synod he feigns G. Whitehead to say Are the Doors shut And W. Bingley to answer Yea the Doors are lock'd And he feigns W. Penn to say Call over the List Are none of Truth 's Enemies here Then over one he has set B. Bealing the Scribe Which are fictitious Inventions of his own And yet I heard this Cut has been of a considerable Charge to ridicule us with such a piece of lying Vanity 2. He feigns me G. W. to Preach a Sermon in the said Synod some Passages whereof do follow with brief Observations thereupon viz. Forgery Beloved You see what great Mistakes are happened to this People of England who by following the Doctrine of their blind Guides have taken Matthew Mark Luke and John for the Gospel that is Glad-Tidings No no 't is Beastly Ware yea Dust and Serpents Meat And this I can prove by two Books wrot by our Apostle George Fox c. p. 108 109. Observe This is a horrid piece of Forgery I never preached this Doctrine in my days nor do I own it but abhor calling either Matthew Mark Luke and John or their Gospel-Testimony or holy Scripture Beastly Ware c. nor did I ever read those Expressions in any of G. F's or other Friends Books And for this gross Lye and Calumny Fra. Bugg has been several times reprehended in Print and yet still persists in the Repetition thereof see my Sober Expostulation p. 104 105. and p. 67 98 137. and other Answers to him c. Forgery Moreover the Scriptures are so uncertain that it is questionable who was the first Pen-man thereof whether Moses or Hermes yea either or neither p. 109. Observe I deny this to be Part of any Sermon of mine or ever so asserted by me There is not only Forgery against me in this but also a Perversion and Abuse against some other Friends The Questions were not their own but arose from some others as evidently appears in their Book entituled The Quakers Refuge c. p. 17. and 't is Answer'd in my Antidote against the Venom of the Snake in the Grass pag. 83 84. Forgery I still affirm the same and do tell you That it is according to our ancient Testimony and you know we cannot change nor alter being as Unchangeable as our Light within p. 109. Obs. I utterly deny that I did so tell them in any Sermon of mine That we are as Unchangeable as our Light within This is not only a Forgery but also a scurrilous Abuse of the Light within Forgery We our selves use many words not Scriptural as these of calling the Scriptures Death Dust Beastly Ware c. The Reason why we call them so and translate the Words of Christ John 5. 22. from the Son of Man to the Light within c. is because we believe there is no other Son of Man than the Light in us p. Ibid. Obs. Thus he falsly feigns me to Preach and to repeat his own gross Lye over and over of calling the Scriptures Beastly Ware and as if we used so to call them
O Abominable Abuse And I positively deny that we so translate the Words of Christ John 5. 22. as F. B. saith as if we believed no Son of Man without us but only the Light within us which is as falsly Charg'd as the rest though the Son of Man which is Christ the Son of the Living God be the true Light yea the Light of the World the Sower of the good Seed of Life and Light in the World Forgery Notwithstanding we call the Scriptures Death Dust Beastly Ware c. Obs. Note Upon this often-repeated Falshood is grounded much of his idle and wicked Romance which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon Oh F. B. repeat this Lye no more Forgery Now my Friends though this Confession be as contrary to our ancient Testimony as Light is contrary to Darkness as by our Books quoted you may see And what Confession that is he relates just before viz. I believe with my Heart and confess with my Mouth the sacred Scriptures to be Divine left us by Men inspired of God c. And I profess to believe in one only God who is the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son very God and very Man and in the Holy Spirit one and the same God with the Father and Son blessed for evermore Observe How he most falsly and ridiculously feigns me to Preach this Connfession to be as contrary to our ancient Testimony as Light is contrary to Darkness and consequently to make me Preach us all guilty of gross Dissimulation and Blasphemy What horrid absurd Folly is this Agent guilty of Forgery And therefore I exhort you this day to stand Faithful to your ancient Testimony which is to throw down the Scriptures and exalt our own Books and so will the Work of your Light prosper in your hands p. 113. Observe Thus he represents me to Preach expresly contrary to my known Principle and Testimony for the preferring and exalting the holy Scriptures above all other Books extant in the World So far am I from Preaching to throw down the Scriptures and from Fathering any such Doctrine upon our Light as I am wickedly misrepresented in contempt against the Light also contrary to this Man 's former serious Testimonies for the Light And the Preference I have ascribed to the Spirit of Truth and its Immediate Teaching either in or through its Ministers to the Scriptures or Chapters was not any Preferring of our own Books thereto as I am often misrepresented But allowing the Spirit its due Preference to the Scripture Letter or Chapters For the Spirit was before Scripture and I never heard any assert the Division of Chapters and Verses to be of Divine Authority though the holy Doctrine contain'd in Scripture be This Point is more fully explain'd in my late Just Examination of the three Norfolk Priests entituled Truth and Innocency vindicated c. p. 16 17 19 to 23. p. 57 58. Forgery My tender Lambs You see first that we are the true Church of Christ next that you are to believe as the Church believes and there lies G. Fox ' s Journal on the Table c. For as our Brother Mead has express'd himself It is the best Book in the World for our keeping up our ancient Testimony yea better than the Bible said he And now to conclude this Head look into the Book of Canons which lies before you on the Table p. 114. Observe Thus to ridicule me he forges such Stuff in my Name which I never owned preached or asserted neither did I ever hear W. Mead so express himself as That G. Fox ' s Journal is the best Book in the World yea better than the Bible but expresly the contrary and denies that ever he said so but gives the Bible the Preference to all other Books Forgery Friends I am now come to the last thing propos'd to speak to on this solemn Occasion and it shall be by way of Use and Application for your Comfort and Consolation c. First respecting Confession of Sin shewing your Exaltation above the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Primitive Christians Saints and Martyrs and all the Christian Churches to this day p. 114. And p. 115. You being the True Ancient Apostolick Church of Christ and as Quakers elected thereto c. have no need to make any Confession of Sin in our Prayers to God as our Practice for near Fifty Years does confirm c. Our Adversaries cannot prove from any one of our Books wrote by my Self G. Fox E. B F. H Father Penn S. Fisher c. that ever we made Confession of Sins and asked pardon for Christ's sake nor that ever we recommended such a Practice to our Disciples c. Now Friends what Cause have we to rejoyce and to magnifie our Light within which hath led us to such a State of sinless Perfection Obs. Thus F. Bugg represents me preaching such Stuff as I never preached in my Life nor ever own'd any such Flattery or Deceit as to exalt any Auditory above the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles c. or to disswade any from making Confession of Sin or asking Pardon for Christ's sake who have need of both or who have not received forgiveness of Sins And my known publick Practice both in Ministry and Prayer often times testifie the contrary To the True Witness in all who know me and my publick Exercise and Travel for the good of Souls I do Appeal to clear me in this Matter against this Man's absurd and abominable Forgeries which he terms George Whitehead's Sermon And he goes on still with his Forgery as my Sermon viz. Forgery Now Friends what a happy thing is this that you need not trouble your selves with any Confession of Sins since you are not like other Men nor like these Publicans And therefore I exhort you to keep to your ancient Testimony in all the parts of it make no Confession of Sins nor be sure you do not recommend the Practice of it by Word or Writing but keep to our ancient Practice Nor is there any need for our Hearers to follow those Christian Precepts viz. And whatsoever you do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him Col. 3. 17. Whether ye Eat or Drink or whatever ye do do all to the Glory of God 1 Cor 10. 31. Matth 15. 36. Observe Where did ever F. Bugg or any other hear me or any of us Preach such a Sermon as this to exhort the Hearers to make no Confession of Sin or ever tell them there is no need for them to follow those Christian Precepts cited as before out of Col. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 31 Oh poor Francis What will become of thee What will be the End of this thy Liberty and Profaness How wilt thou Answer the great God in the Day of Judgment for such presumptuous Forgery and Profanation of the Sacred Name of God and Abuse of me his Servant who have been many times
among thy manifold Repeated and Refuted Forgeries Lyes and Falshoods is an ill Sign and bespeaks an ill Omen against thee and that thy Day hastens Thou hast almost run thy Rope-length the Lord shall laugh at thee for he seeth that thy Day is coming the Pride of thy Heart and thy abominable Presumption and wicked Designs of Contempt and Persecution against His Heritage has reached unto Heaven and for thy great Iniquity and Apostacy thou hast got a secret Wound which is not cured if cureable but will increase to greater Anguish under a Gnawing Worm that will never die but Augment thy Torment if thou persistest in thy Impenitency to defame and make Lyes and Forgeries thy Refuge Remember thou hast been often warn'd in thy Life-time and thou shalt witness me to have been thy Soul's true Friend when thou shalt not be able to make me the Subject of thy Reproach nor the Object of thy Malice and Fury Forgery You may conclude Friends that he i. e. G. Fox was the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness spoken of in Scripture but mark This Epistle it is only to go among Friends p. 123. Observe again This Forgery which he now makes part of my Sermon has often been detected and charg'd upon him as it is a very foul Abuse and Calumny that either I or our Friends did so call G. Fox the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness or preach any such Doctrine as here he represents me O Abominable Forgery I yet challenge him and his Abettors to produce that Book or Epistle of any of our Friends which so terms G. Fox the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness For though I have found the words the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness in E. Burrough's Epistle To the Camp of the Lord in England in his Works p. 66 67. yet not apply'd to G. Fox nor his Name so much as mention'd in that Epistle And Bugg knows he has been told of this over and over in Print and particularly in my Sober Expostulation p. 5. p. 54 55 56. but never had Answer or Reply from him to clear himself in this Point and many other Lyes but a Repetition of the same Forgery over and over like a wilful impertinent scornful Scribler that will be still Imposing the same Refuted Calumnies and odious Defamations This is his course of writing and scribbling Books with the same Abuses still over and over without regarding any Answer how plain so ever to his Confutation Which is a most silly bruitish Method he has enur'd himself unto still Idem per idem for Proof and that with a great deal of insolent shew of Confidence And withal he has so much studied the Art of idle Romancing Forgery and Detraction Scoffing Taunting Flouting Boasting Cracking and Insulting that he is arriv'd to a great Heighth of Impudence therein For which I may repeat this one Instance Twelve of our Friends in and about London giving Certificate against four principal Calumnies and Falshoods cast upon the People called Quakers by F. Bugg in his New Rome Unmask'd as they are related in my Charitable Essay p. 8. in 1693. This being one of his four said Falshoods viz. II. That the Quakers Prophets give witness to G. Fox instead of this Christ that they call him G. F. the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness and put the North of England for the Town of Bethlehem Epistle to the Bereans and p. 81. Now Observe further For our denying of this and other Calumnies in our said Twelve Friends Certificate the said F. Bugg counterfeits a Court of Judicature feigns a Jury pretends Proof out of Books perverted by him calls the Certifiers against him into Examination then forges their Answers and counterfeits the Jury to bring them in Guilty of Perjury Then has a Form of a Pillory and ugly Pictures to represent the Persons Condemned standing in it and the first Letters of their Names over their Heads and the word Perjury over them as may be seen in his New Rome Arraigned Epistle to the Bereans printed 1693. to the Scandal and Defamation of the Persons thus Reproached and Staged by him By all which it may appear what Proficiency Francis Bugg has attain'd to in his Invention of Forgery to Defame and make Men Ridiculous But when since he met with some Check for such his Audacious Abuse and Scandal and might have cause to fear the Issue then he could slily excuse the Forgery and Defamation and put it off as only a Mock-Trial and a Mock-Pillory and consequently a Mock-Sentence and a Mock-Perjury as if Persons may Defame Scandalize Steal Rob Kill and Murder Men either in their Reputations Livelihoods or Persons and then to excuse themselves from having their Demerits alledge That it was all but in Jest or in Mockery And so F. Bugg may say of his idle and profane Romance which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon that 't is but a Mock-Sermon and consequently that he uses the Name of God and Christ c. therein only in Mockery But this will not Excuse his presumptuous Profaneness no more than his Forgery and Defamation Have not some of the Priests own'd this Man for their Convert even an eminent Convert of their Church And do they not make use of him gratifie and reward him as their Agent and their Tool But will it redound to their Credit or Honour or Promotion of the Christian Religion to abet promote and assist such a profane Scorner to act for them in their Cause more like a Stage-Player a Merry-Andrew or Jack-Pudding than a Person of any Seriousness or Sobriety in Religion Forgery Again in G. W's Name viz. In the Application I have shewed how our Light within hath exalted you above the Prophets Apostles Martyrs holy Confessors and all Christian Churches to this day Our dear Brother W. Bingley hath well remember'd our ancient Testimony against the Hireling-Priests c. Benjamin Bealing hath found out a very suitable Hymn of Praise even a melodious Song of Triumph setting forth our Exaltation and the Downfal of the Christian Churches under the Notion of the False Church c. p. 125 126. Observe Thus he persists Forging such Stuff in my Name and as my Sermon like a silly Scorner playing the Fool against me to make me as ridiculous a Fool as he can What Stage-Player durst ever have adventur'd to profane Religion and the sacred Name of God Christ and the Light in their Interludes or Comedies as this Person has done Who is accountable to God for casting such Contempt upon the Light of Christ as if it led to such Self-Exaltation i. e. of our selves as he has scornfully related For such his Scorn and Contempt against the true Light which we profess he is Accountable to the righteous Judge of all and his own more serious Confession to the Light Recited in the Epistle will rise up in Judgment against him Forgery again in the said pretended Sermon
solemn Testimony how expresly contrary it is to his present Treatment of us the said People as it is in his Book stiled The Quakers Detected c. printed 1686. about Two Years after his leaving our Communion and Conforming to the Church of England as 't is in his own words following viz. The first Point under Consideration is how I came to be a Member of their Society c. i.e. of the Quakers In the beginning they taught That all Men were enlightned according to John 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith Christ had enlightned them was sufficient if obeyed to lead to Salvation and that it was the Work of the Ministers of Christ to turn the Peoples Minds from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God Affirming That this Light was a sufficient Teacher Leader and Guide to every Believer without the help of outward Prescriptions Forms Orders and Decrees of Men Upon these and the like Notions I became perswaded to make Trial of their Doctrine and when I came to see and observe their Practice Conversations and Deportments in the Beginning and what Simplicity and Plainness attended their Ministry I was still more Confirmed that it was a Dispensation of the Love of God sent as a Visitation to Mankind And being thus perswaded I was resolved to bear the Cross and did utterly despise the Shame that attended them and their Message and was not behind any of my Equals both in doing and suffering for the Testimony thereof as some amongst them can still bear me Witness And in this manner we went on for many Years and loved one another with Love unfeigned and doubtless God blessed our Meetings with the Comfortable Enjoyment of his Presence p. 3. From which solemn Confession thus made by Fra. Bugg after he forsook our Communion and went to the Publick as he saith it follows naturally that he did not forsake us because of our Christian Principle or Profession of the Light or because of our Doctrine Conversation Communion or Meetings or any Dislike had thereof but because he deem'd us guilty of Apostacy from our first Principle and Profession and that by his own Confession he did not thereby make his Progress from Egypt into Canaan appears by his applying to himself the words of Joseph when in Egypt viz. But I can say as Joseph did to his Brethren Gen. 50. 20. But as for you ye thought Evil against me but God meant it unto Good And Chap. 45. 5. Now therefore be not griev'd nor angry with your selves that you sold me hither Quakers detected p. 8. How came F. B. to apply these words to his State when turn'd from us to the Publick if he did not think himself then in Egypt or turn'd from the true Light into Darkness But we sold him not thither he fled in Winter when he had let in Unbelief and Fearfulness because of Suffering and Persecution which he had felt something of but fell into Impatiency and Quarreling under it and having lost Sincerity and Truth turn'd Envious Temporizer And because he has so frequently and falsly charg'd the said People with denying Jesus of Nazareth and Contempt of holy Scripture I may acquaint you with One or Two Passages more which concern himself as recited in my Answer to his New Rome Arraigned entitled Innocency Triumphant over Insolency and Outrage printed 1693. p. 25 26. as followeth viz. And to his saying The Names Jesus and Christ are given to the Mediator c. True but what follow Therefore quoth F. B. 't is no Absurdity to say It was not Jesus Christ for whom the Body was prepared it was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh but the Word John 1. 1. Apol. Introd p. 3. And yet he has confessed it was the Son of God that took the Body p. 4. What Confusion and Self-contradiction does the Man blindly run into And how contrary to the Apostle John's Testimony is his Doctrine herein See 1 John 4. 2 3. Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God and every Spirit which confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God but this is the Spirit of Anti-Christ What Spirit is this in our Adversary which saith It was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh Who was it then It was the Word the Son of God As if Jesus Christ were neither the Word nor the Son of God O horrible Anti-Christianism And contrary also to that Martyr Dr. Barnes his Confession as cited by F. Bugg himself p. 4. 5. viz. I believe that without Man's Will or Power Christ Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost and took Flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary Acts and Mon. p. 610. Now If Jesus Christ took Flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary then it was Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh But it was Jesus Christ that took Flesh Therefore 't was Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh. Consequently F. Bugg's Doctrine That it was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh is Anti-Christian Anti-Apostolical and Contradictory to the said Martyr's Doctrine In his Book stiled De Christianâ Libertate Part 2. Chap. 1. he confesseth in the Name and Person of the People called Quakers That we told them i. e. the said People that the Scriptures were good and a true Declaration of those things which were most surely believ'd by the Apostles and by us ought to be believ'd yet not the only Rule but still the Spirit of God which was the first Principle c. And many more Confessions he has given to the Truth of our Principles both with respect to Jesus Christ his Light and the holy Scriptures Now I recommend you to the faithful Witness of Truth in all your Hearts which will Judge Righteously and desire you seriously to peruse the following Treatise and hear us in our Answers and Defence as well as our Adversary in his Accusations remembering that common Maxim To Condemn no Man before he be heard By a Servant of Jesus Christ and real Friend to your Immortal Souls G. Whitehead London the 30th of the 4th Month 1699. The CONTENTS of this Treatise PART I. OF Francis Bugg's Fictitious Profane Sermon in G. Whitehead's Name From Page 1 to p. 16. Of our Yearly Meeting p. 1 2. Of the Scriptures p. 2 3. Of one only God the Father Son and Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures p. 3 4. Of Confession of Sin and Prayer to God p. 5 6. Of the Ten Commandments and Moral Law p. 7 8. Of his gross Fiction against the Holy Scripture and the Light within p. 9. Of his resembling the Mockers Psalm 35. 21. and 40. 15. p. 9. His Forgery against William Bingley and Ben. Bealing's Certificate p. 10 11. His repeated Forgery about G. Fox touching the Branch the Star c. p. 12 13. Of his Counterfeit Court and Condemnation p. 13. His Forgery and Frofaneness about our Light and Exaltation p. 14.
in the beginning we were Convinced by G. Fox that Matthew Mark Luke and John were Death Dust and Serpents Meat that the Scriptures were heastly-ware c. This Passage by the way is a gross Forgery and notorious Lie still I never thus preached nor ever were we convinced by G. Fox or any other that either the Doctrine of the holy Evangelists were Serpents Meat Dust or Death or the Scriptures Beastly-ware as 't is frequently repeated by F. B. Unto which foul Abuse he farther adds as my Sermon viz. And therefore I warn you all to take heed of Apostatising from our ancient Testimony as you have it in my Text for what we were Convinced of by our Light in the beginning to be Evil to be Death Dust Serpents meat 't is so still to be Beastly-ware and Conjuration 't is so still p. 120. Obs. This is a blasphemous Fiction not only against the Holy Scripture but against the Light which he calls Your Light For neither did the Light ever so Convince us to call the Scriptures Beastly-ware nor did I ever Preach such blasphemous Doctrine of the Light as here I am grosly misrepresented but the Contrary As no Man speaking by the Spirit can Blaspheme or call Jesus Accursed so no Man speaking by his Light can Blaspheme or Reproach his holy Scriptures which Testifie of him The Book Bugg quotes for his so often-repeated Lie of calling the Scriptures Beastly-ware is stiled A Brief Discovery of a three-fold Estate of Anti-christ printed 1653. Page 9. I have that Book by me and I have searched both Book and Page and I find no such words as calling the Scriptures Beastly-ware But Babylon's Merchants selling Beastly-wares for a large Price all the Week time heaping up a Rabble of Notions into the Brain So that the Beastly-wares intended was their Rabble of Notions and not the Scriptures Obs. Again How scurrilously F. Bugg makes me to come to a Stop in this Insolent and Presumptuous Romance which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon after this manner viz. And therefore keep up your ancient Testimony my Dear Lambs in all the part of it Ha ha ha hme hme hme silent p. 120. Thus this Scorner forges a ridiculous Tone as my Conclusion or Stop in that place somewhat resembling the Mockers of Old whom the Psalmist complains of Psalm 35. 21. Yea they opened their Mouth wide against me and said Aha aha And Psalm 40. 15. Let them be desolate for a Reward of their Shame that say unto me Aha aha And Psalm 70. 3. Let them be turned back for a Reward of their Shame that say Aha aha And then after a little Silence he most absurdly represents William Bingley as preaching in Confirmation of his Confused and Absurd Romance aforesaid which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon In W. Bingley's Name thus viz. Friends Friends I am filled I am filled as with new Wine I am ready to burst at the Joyful News I have heard to day respecting our Ancient Testimony And O magnified be our Light within which hath thus exalted us above the Prophets above the Apostles above the Martyrs and above all Christians as our dear Brother G. W. hath most excellently made it out first in opening his Text and also in the two Branches proceeding from it but more especially in the Use and Application where he hath confirmed me in not making Confession of Sin nor regarding the Ten Commandments nor those two Ordinances of Baptism and Supper p. 120 121. Obs. How shamefully he personates W. B. to asperse and abuse him as if he were highly Elevated and magnified our Light within because of what F. Bugg has most falsly feigned G. W. to Preach in Contempt of Scripture and for Exalting our selves above the Prophets Apostles c. Thus he presumptuously adds Sin to Sin Lye to Lye Forgery upon Forgery such sordid Stuff as we never heard W. B. preach but he utterly disowns and testifies against the same with Abhorrency to such Abuse of him and others And not only so but Bugg wickedly represents W. B. as making our Light within the Author of his foregoing Absurd Forgery and Romance in G. W's Name against the holy Scriptures Ten Commandments c. Consequently to blaspheme our Light within which is the Light of God and his Dear Son as if that oppos'd its own Testimony in holy Scripture and as if that led to Self-Exaltation above the Prophets and Apostles c. O wretched Man F. B How wilt thou appear before the Tribunal-Seat of Christ What a sad Account wilt thou have for such Profanation design'd Deceit and Wickedness Who further proceedest in W. Bingley's Name viz. Forgery But yet I have a short Testimony to bring in touching the Priests which I think our Friend G. W. left out unawares for I take it to be as necessary an ancient Testimony to be kept up as any other only a little more privately and prudently for they are as great Enemies to our design of Supplanting Christianity as any the World affords p. 121. Observe again Oh shameful Folly and Falshood Where and when did ever W. B. thus Preach That our Design is the supplanting Christianity Whenas our Design is well known to the contrary to such as truly fear God and to be for the Promoting of Christianity both in Spirit in Faith Life and Conversation Forgery Benjamin Bealing Clerk Let us sing an Hymn of Praise and Self-Exaltation and to the Confusion of our Adversaries as you will find it written in the Epistle of that Son of Thunder Edward Burrough prefixed to our Apostle G. Fox ' s Great Mystery printed 1658. The Waters have I seen dry'd up the Seat of that great Whore Who hath made all Nations drunk with her enticing Power Observe Now F. B. dost not thou Glory in thy Shame in such Invention as this Where did ever any in the World hear Benjamin Bealing set or sing such a Hymn as this in the end of a Meeting or any time else Observe his own Testimony viz. These are to Certifie all sober Readers That Francis Bugg's Representing me as calling to the Yearly Meeting To sing an Hymn of Praise and Self-Exaltation c. and making some Verses out of Edward Burrough's Preface to G. F's Great Mystery to be that Hymn 'T is all an idle false Invention and Forgery of his own for I never was concerned in any such thing in my Life-time and I am heartily sorry that this poor Man should be so given up in his old Age to serve the Father of Lyes with whom in the Lake he may expect to have his Portion without he unfeignedly Repents Witness my Hand Benjamin Bealing London the 4th of the 5th Month called July 1699. Oh F. B. thou appearest one of that sort who are arrived to that ill Habit of Iniquity and Hardness that they know no Shame And thy presumptuously Prophaning the sacred Name of God and of his dear Son and of his Light within using the same
c. X. I charge you all in the Presence of the Lord God That you Judge not one another i. e. Those that be in the Unity of the Ministry and Elders in the Church lest you fall into the Condemnation of the Monthly Quarterly Six-Week Second-Day or Yearly Meeting Amen Thus F. B's invented Method of forming Commands how Idle and Impertinent does the Man appear herein And how does he Profane and take the sacred Name of the Lord God in vain For which God will not hold him guiltless And when F. B. will not demean himself quietly towards any of our Friends but be Challenging of them in the Countries or else-where and will be Charging them out of Books they may Charge him First To prove his Trial and Condemnation of our Friends to Perjury and Pillory as in his New Rome Arraigned to be a Real and True Trial and Condemnation Judicial and Warrantable by the Law of God and of the Nation Secondly To prove his Sermon which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon in his Pilgrim's Progress from p. 107 to p. 126. to be a Real Sermon preached by G. W. Thirdly To prove where G. Fox or the Quakers did ever endeavour to make the Commands of God Exod. 20. of none Effect by those or such positive Commands as he has impudently form'd in opposition thereto in his Pilgrim's Progress p. 16 17 18 Now if F. B. will not learn to be quiet towards our Friends c. that he might the more quietly go to his Grave now he grows Old they may very well Charge him on these Three Forgeries last propos'd as many more I could charge him withal and have proved against him upon his own Calumnies and Occasions so manifestly given by himself and let him be held to the point in Charge or any other who dare undertake to Advocate for him therein which I could never yet find if he and they are not minded otherwise to study to be quiet And now that F. B's Falshood Envy and Contradiction may yet farther appear to his own Condemnation seeing he hath given plain Testimony and Confession to the Truth of our Doctrine and Ministry First With respect to the Universality and Sufficiency of the Light of Christ in all Men. Secondly To our Ministry that it was a Dispensation of the Love of God sent as a Visitation to Mankind Thirdly To our bearing the Cross and suffering for the Testimony thereof Fourthly To our Love unfeigned one to another Fifthly To our Religious Meetings as being blessed with the Comfortable Enjoyment of the Presence of God According as the said F. Bugg is more fully before recited out of his Book stiled The Quakers Detected printed 1686. being Two Years after he had left our Communion and joyned himself to the Church of England in 1684. So that his Conviction and Testimony for the Truth among the Quakers even when he had deserted them pursued him into the Church of England But now being grown more hardy and so far hardned against Conviction and Conscience he can out-face both and give himself the Lye in his fore-cited Solemn Testimony and Confession as appears in his envious Contradiction following in his own words viz. Having by this time shewed first how our Teachers in order to bring us over to them and to decoy us told us The Light within was a sufficient Guide Teacher and Leader even sufficient to lead to Salvation yea above Scriptures above Fathers above Councils and above Churches I have in the last Instance shewed the Fallacy of their so early and smooth Pretences and that from the beginning they have been a false perfidious and treacherous Tribe of Deceivers as ever the World produced Pilgrim's Progress p. 15. To such a degree of Hardness and Insolency is this poor Creature now arriv'd that he can now thus scribble in Opposition to the Sufficiency of the Light within and Contempt of the Ministers thereof expresly contradictory to his own Testimony for the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned Men and to the Sufficiency thereof if obey'd to lead to Salvation without the help of Decrees of Men And to his own Testimony also for the Simplicity and Plainness which attended our Ministry which did not import any Design to decoy or deceive Men nor any Falshood Perfidiousness or Treachery as F. B. has falsly and treacherously Scandalized Us and our Ministry and thereby notoriously given himself the Lye and shamefully Belyed his own Conscience and solemn Confession and Testimony in his Quakers Detected aforesaid And the Light now so much slighted by him will pursue him as it did Judas and other Apostates to his great Vexation and perpetual Torment if he persists in his Enmity Perfidiousness and Treachery against the Light and the Children of it Oh F. B If I may yet perswade thee Repeat thy Lyes and Scandals no more His Accusation against W. Mead That he said to one W. Harris I will give thee one of George Fox 's Journals it is a very good Book yea better than the Bible Which Accusation he has many times over p. 22 23 24 25 29. but various in it viz. That 't is better than the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles p. 23. This Accusation W. Mead positively denies as contrary to his Principle which is to prefer the holy Scriptures before all other Books in the World For I asked him seriously about this matter And I am sure it is a base and shameful Abuse of F. Bugg that It is the Heart of Quakerism in saying G. Fox 's Journal is better than the Bible p. 23. This I must tell him is a foul notorious Lye and Calumny against the Quakers so called 'T is neither the Quakers Mind Heart nor Mouth so to speak but the contrary i. e. To prefer the Bible to all other Books extant in the World as hath been often testified Wherefore F. B. repeat this Lye no more against us Again as 't is F. Bugg's common Course to add one Calumny after another and to accumulate Lyes and Perversions upon us he falsly saith The Quakers stand upon the same bottom i. e with the Jesuites and therefore they ought to distrust them in all they say as the Protestants did the Jesuites We do not expect he will trust us who has belyed his own Conscience Conviction and Testimony as before evinced And to add to his Iniquity and aggravate his Calumnies against me he saith Many of their Hearers of the honest sort begin to think G. Whitehead little better than a Jesuite already he hath been so False in Fact such a Glosser and Defender of every Error the Quakers hold I have quoth he a Letter by me which my Cousin Ann Docwra sent me dated 26. 12th Month 1682. viz. G. Whitehead has sent me one of his Books c. I was asked by an honest Friend If he was not a Jesuite I answered Nay it is not solid enough for them to own especially when they write to a solid People
it or cause payment to thee God willing How much less the publick Ministry has cost him these 15 Years that is since his Conformity as 't is a Question so there may be a Fallacy in it in that some of his Ministers have been some of his Benefactors and given him considerable Sums of Money as we have heard since he fail'd and got the Bishop's Certificate to go a begging withal 't was not likely the publick Ministry should be Chargeable to him when he has prov'd Chargeable to them I doubt more Chargeable than Judas was to the Chief Priests And pray what has the Publick Ministry cost him these 15 Years time since his turning to them May not his Gain by them overballance all that Cost suppos'd if ever they put him to any all that time But is it not to be suppos'd that the great Joy of some of them over such a Convert or Proselyte might save him that Cost or Charge which otherwise they might have put him to under such a Chargeable Ministry His Perversions Lyes Calumnies Sarcasms cruel Mockings Boastings frequent and manifold Repetitions of the same things idle Romances and gross Forgeries are so numerous both against Meetings and Persons and particularly against our Second Days Meetings Chap. XI which he falsly saith all Books Printed and Re-printed pass the Tryal of c. that I design not to spend much time in the Recital of them or to trouble my Reader therewith but to take notice of a few more of his Abuses and persecuting Invectives in this Treatise P. 48. He blasphemously brings the Pope of Rome and the Quakers Light as he scornfully calls it in their Body assembled in Council in Comparison so as to be suspected to undermine the Government but the latter most dangerous and thereupon ought to be prevented from holding such Councils as he saith And also p. 55 56. against our Monthly and Quarterly Meetings he inveighs bitterly insinuating What need there is to suppress these Meetings that he falsly saith thus alienate the Obedience of the Subjects from their lawful Soveraign and his Laws c. Here he shews his persecuting Spirit of Envy and Reproach against our peaceable innocent Meetings which are for the Exercise of Christian Care and promoting the Practice of pure Religion Love and Charity according as is fully explained in my Examination of the Three Norfolk Priests two Books Intituled Truth and Innocency Vindicated p. 39 to 44. p. 66 67 68. In his Chap. X. he undertakes to Treat of the Quakers Six Weeks Meeting in London falsly charging the same with Pernicious Consequences of which Meeting he saith viz. This Six Weeks Meeting of theirs is chiefly to Consult about and defend their own Members throughout the Kingdom of England and Dominion of Wales from the Penalties of certain Laws c. 2. This Meeting of theirs is one of the most Ancient Meetings for Government and is made up of chosen Men amongst them expert in the Laws and Customs of the Nation well skill'd in the Courts of London and Westminster and other his Majesties Courts of Records c. p. 65. Herein F. Bugg has grounded his Chap. X. upon false Suggestions which he is very apt to make as he has stuffed his Chap. XI against our Second Days Meetings with abundance of false Stories For 1st Our Six Weeks Meeting in London is not a Meeting of such Import to Consult such Defence as he relates 2dly Neither is this Meeting one of the most Ancient Meetings for Government neither is it made up of Chosen Men for many Sober Women are also concerned in it Therefore this History-Writer is greatly out in his Calculation and thus foolishly runs on to form History upon false Suggestions unjustly to make our innocent Meetings Obnoxious to the Civil Government Upon which Falshood he further goes on pretending to shew how our Six Weeks Meeting is Authorized by an Anniversary Epistle printed 1693. which he recites part of in which Recital of his are these words viz. And being sensible of the great Care of the Six Week Meeting for Sufferings still leave it to the said Meeting for Sufferings to continue their Care c. p. 66. Obs. Thus he runs on headily in his Falshood and Forgery for the words Six Week are not in the Yearly Epistle and place quoted by him of 1693. To his often quoting William Rogers against us and against me in particular as if he were of great Authority with him I shall say little now but am sorry for W. R's sake that ever he ministred such occasion for such a persecuting Apostate as F. B. now to glory in against us However I have cause charitably to hope that W. R. is now of a better Mind concerning us than to put any such Weapons again into the hands of such Implacable Persecutors as F. B. and his present Abettors or now to compare us with Rome or deem us Rome's Sister c. as p. 57. And his Commendation for G. Keith and quoting him so often against us and upbraiding G. W. with what he wrote lately to him that G. W. could further expose him c. p. 36. I say F. B's Commendation will add nothing to G. K's Reputation nor redound to his Esteem in the Eyes of any Sincere Consciencious Friends among us or Friendly People towards us But his intimacy with F. Bugg and some Envious Priests and Confederacy with the Author to The Snake in the Grass shew how readily he can close with any Inveterate Adversaries against the People called Quakers which tends to verifie that Proverb Nosciter ex Socio qui non cognosciter ex se. There is one remarkable and severe Quotation which F. Bugg seems to Summon me as the Author of viz. Come smooth George I have seen another of your Books wherein you say p. 52. Some of the Presbyterian Non-Conformists Preachers are fled beyond Sea others lurk in Corners here and there and keep private Conventicles where many times they Preach Sedition against their lawful Prince by Instigation of whom that Insurrection hapned in 1666. Again p. 53. And some of them have printed Books in Defence of the Lawfulness of making War against the supreme Magistrates c. Again p. 23. And how many Garments were rolled in Blood by the Instigation of the Presbyterian Teachers the whole Nation was a Witness so that many Thousands were made Widows and Fatherless by that War they stirred up the People unto P. 54. And in very Truth the Presbyterian Church will never be able to purge her self of the Iniquity of Killing many Thousands in the Three Nations by the Occasion of a most Bloody War rais'd up through the Instigation of the Presbyterian Teachers c. p. 81. On which he quotes in the Margent The Way cast up Now pray observe his Fallacy in this Quotation He names not the Author of the said Way cast up but calls Come smooth George I have seen another of your Books c. So
It is a loud and horrid Calumny to say That we are in a most Damnable Plot against the Christian Religion p. 166 167. When we seek daily to promote it in its Purity both in Faith and Practice Life and Conversation For it stands not in empty Talk and barren Profession And as foul a Calumny it is against the People called Quakers That such Hellish and Damnable Plot is the main Business of their whole Body in their Convocations both in their Monthly Quarterly Six-Week Second-Day and Yearly Meetings which he saith ought to be taken Care of at least Inspected p. 168. The Poor among us if they understood these his wicked Invectives against our said Meetings might see cause to Exclaim against this Incendiary for seeking to Incense the Government against those very Meetings wherein our Poor are taken Care of as in the most of the said Meetings And as for the Growth of what he calls Quakerism which he excites all Christians to take Care of he undertakes to prescribe Methods to prevent it Wherein he presumes to dictate to Authority such Restrictions and Limitations as he and his Two or Three Norfolk-Priests have aim'd at in Soliciting their late Petitions to the Parliament and yet Hypocritically pretends he would not have us persecuted he would not have the Government fall upon us to destroy us no by no means he would not be understood so For quoth he this I solemnly declare in the Fear of God and as I hope for Mercy at the great Day of Account when both they and I shall appear before the great Tribunal I do desire neither i. e. Fire from Heaven to consume them nor the Government to fall upon them c. I would not have a Hair of their Head hurt p. 169. Has not F. B. here made a great Asseveration As he hopes for Mercy c. to shew himself thus demure and innocent towards the Quakers No he would not have a Hair of their Head hurt And yet bitterly Asperse their Convocations or Meetings Monthly Quarterly c. as if their main Business were for carrying on a hellish and damnable Plot consequently to be suppressed O horrid Falshood Hypocrisie and Envy that a Person should thus presumptuously Swear with Imprecation included As he hopes for Mercy at the great Day he desires not our Destruction he would not have a Hair of our Head hurt yet would have our said Meetings put by which are to promote Christian Charity and the Exercise and Practice of pure Religion and Christianity and wherein we have Divine Worship also and yet he reckons Suffering the ready way to increase them i. e. the Quakers for they glory in nothing more saith he than to be thought great Sufferers p. Ibid. So that he pretends to be against that Cause No saith he let them have Liberty in their Licensed Meeting-Houses to preach pray and exercise their Talent equal with others if the Government think fit p. Ibid. So that these are no Meetings to carry on any horrid Plot they are Licensed Meeting-Houses to preach pray and exercise our Talent in But F. B. does not think fit we should have our Monthly Quarterly Meetings c. though they be in the same Meeting-Houses and have both Preaching Praying and Exercising our Spiritual Talent in them as also our Care of the Poor Fatherless and Widows But F. B. will have the main Business in these to be the carrying on of a hellish damnable Plot against Christ and Christianity c. consequently the Quakers to be limitted only to Preaching Praying and Exercising their Talent in their Licens'd Meeting-Houses at this rate our Poor must starve and our Christian Profession be scandaliz'd by any loose and disorderly Walkers and false Pretenders to it without Reprehension No Care nor Christian Discipline in such Cases to be exercised if no Meetings may be allow'd for these good and necessary Ends. And I dare say he wrongs other Dissenters in saying This is all they desire or expect namely Liberty in their Licensed Meeting-Houses to Preach Pray and Exercise their Talent for I am perswaded many of them are so Consciencious as to allow the Extent of Religious Exercises to Practice Acts of Charity Discipline and Order among them as well as in Preaching and Praying c. Again in his Pretence to let us have Liberty equal with others he appears very Insincere and Contradictory to himself For p. 171. he dictates this Restriction for a firm and lasting Cure To admit each Congregation of Quakers to have their Teacher or Two if One will not do and likewise that those Teachers may attend only their own Flock and not to range all the World over at most not above Five or Ten Miles to hold forth c. Thus he dictates to Authority for Restrictions to be put upon our Ministers not only to confine them to several Congregations but also from Travelling in the Work of the Ministry above Five or Ten Mines somewhat like the Oxford-Act upon which many suffered Imprisonment for six Months c. So that this presumptuous Dictator's Work still tends to renew Persecution and to confront the Liberty of Conscience already Graciously Granted by the King and Government And I don't believe that other Dissenters from the Church of England are contented with such Restrictions as F. Bugg has dictated in this Case viz. That their Ministers should at most not Travel above Five or Ten Miles to Preach as he would insinuate p. Ibid. His dictating to Authority against us to stop the Growth of Quakerism p. 169 170 171. appears empty silly and boasting as well as envious and interfering with the Liberty granted For as one swelling in his Pride and empty Boasting First he saith Let G. Whitehead and some other of the Quakers chief Leaders and Fr. Bugg be summon'd by Authority to Appear as if he were such an Eminent Champion that none were fit to appear to meet him but some Chief Leaders as he calls them One would think the Man should be asham'd of such Dictating and Boasting as also of his Challenging of G. W. and others when he knows in his own Conscience he has been so often detected of horrid Falshoods and Forgeries particularly in that part of my Charge against him which he leaves out in his Challenge viz. That in his late Book New Rome Arraigned he has forged notorious Lyes in other Men's Names to ridicule defame and scandalize divers Citizens of London and Men of good Repute condemning them also to the Pillory as Perjur'd Persons in his pretended Trial in a way of Judicature unwarrantably acted by himself c. as 't is charg'd in Quakers Vindication against F. Bugg 's Calumnies Which part of the Charge he skips and is afraid to touch with it in his Challenge And the other part of his wronging the People called Quakers both in Charge Citation and Observation is abundantly prov'd against him not only in that Sheet but in other Answers of mine
and therefore his Cracking Vapouring Boasting and Challenging looks most silly and insolent and deserves to be slighted and contemned by all Peaceable Serious and Religious Persons His Norfolk-Priests who abetted him have greatly labour'd to acquit themselves from being the Challengers of our Friends and labour'd to cast the blame of first Challenging upon the Quakers in Norfolk as if it were a Crime to Challenge but let them read what an insulting vapouring daring Challenge their Tool and Agent F. Bugg makes in his Appendix p. 171 172. Taunting against the Quaker Teachers as he calls them viz. You may Challenge them long enough but cannot get them out of their holes they see and know they are discovered this makes them timorous Fearfulness surprizes the Hypocrite c. p. 171. And The way to deal with such cunning Sophisters G. W c. is still to pursue them with Challenges to call them into the Field and thereupon I will pitch my Standard here in behalf of the Christian Religion and Protestant Profession against Quakerism head and tail C. and let us Dispute it out fairly and above Board and thereupon I shall renew my Challenge and let it stand here as a Monument of the Quakers Cowardise and Self-condemnation C. p. 172. Now F. B. may'st thou not be ashamed thus to brag and vapour and thus basely to fling Fearfulness and Cowardise upon us What Earnings didst thou make in our late Discourse before the Bishop of Norwich and Four Members of Parliament at the Bishop's House near Jame's Square Westminster Do'st thou not remember how soberly thou wast answered both by me and the other two Friends present And how I discovered thy repeated Falshoods Forgery Deceit and Wickedness in divers matters wherein thy Quarrel much depends against us And how thou wast confounded when Matters were closely urg'd and argu'd upon thee both about the Holy Scriptures and thy charging the Quakers Prophets with giving Witness to G. Fox instead of Christ and calling him G. F. the Branch the Star the Sun of Righteousness c. Which notorious Falshood often charg'd upon thee thou could'st never produce Proof for though thou hast often repeated it against us after an insolent manner as in p. 121. and as thou hast partly done by way of Question in this thy Pilgrim's Progress p. 135. viz. Do they not all agree in the main That G. Fox was the Quakers Branch and Star yea their All in All the Bottom and Corner and Top-Stone of their Building Answer We deny any such Agreement and thou couldst never yet prove it nor hast thou shewn us any Book of ours wherein G. Fox is so called or esteemed by us no more than thou canst prove that the Quakers speak so contemptuously of the Scriptures as to call them Beastly Ware c. which old refuted Lye thou hast again repeated over and over p. 172 173. as also that they say The holy Scripture is Carnal Dust Death c. as in thy New Rome Unmask'd see Cr. 6. p. 78. And also thy fictitious Sermon which again thou falsly termest George Whitehead's Sermon p. 168. wherein thou hast grosly abused and belyed him and W. B. and profaned the Sacred Name of God with other Abuses and Defamations as it was evinced before the said Bishop of Norwich and Members of Parliament to thy shame and confusion What Ground hast thou then to Boast of our being Timerous to meet thee Or to Accuse us with Cowardise I told thee there before them at the Bishop's House That I would not go over the Door-Threshold to meet thee nor spend so much time then in Discoursing with thee if it were not for their Sakes and Information who were present i. e. the Bishop and said Members of Parliament Thy dictating lastly That they i. e. the Quakers may not be permitted to teach School publickly p. 171. This still shews a Spirit of Envy and Persecution in thee like those Papists that would not suffer Protestants to Educate their own Children or to discharge their Duty as Parents towards them according to their Consciences Thy many bitter Invectives and false Clamours against us as also thy ambitious presumptuous way of Dictating to the Government to Incense them does all bespeak a foul Persecuting Spirit in thee and that thou art fallen and caught in the Cage which thou hast feignedly formed a Figure of unjustly to represent the State of those Persons whom thou hast defamed and branded therewith As I am not bound to trace all thy numerous Lyes Calumnies and Perversions in thy Pilgrim's Progress not herein touched so I therefore refer the Reader to other Answers of mine extant in Print Entitled as followeth 1. Judgment Fixed Printed 1682. Chap. 7. from page 203 to page 259. 2. The Quakers Answer to a Scandalous Libel stiled A Letter to the Quakers in 1690. One half Sheet 3. Innocency against Envy 1681. Two Sheets and a half 4. The Contentious Apostate and his Blow Refelled 1691. Four Sheets 5. The Contentious Apostate Recharged One Sheet 6. A Charitable Essay in order to Allay the Out-Rage of a Contentious Apostate 1693. One Sheet 7. The Quakers Vindication against Francis Bugg ' s Calumnies 1693. One Sheet 8. Innocency Triumphant over Insolency and Out-rage 1693. Five Sheets 9. A Just Enquiry into the Libeller's Abuse 1693. Two Sheets Which Answers much of Bugg's Stuff though that has not his Name 10. The Counterfeit Convert a Scandal to Christianity 1694. Six Sheets and a half 11. An Answer to Francis Bugg ' s Presumptuous Impeachment 1695. One Sheet 12. A Sober Expostulation with some of the Clergy against their pretended Convert Francis Bugg his repeated gross Abuse of the People called Quakers 1697. Twelve Sheets In Answer to several of his Books Now Reader whoever peruses these Books or but Six or Seven of the last of them mentioned and compares F. Bugg's Books therewith may find that they contain full Answers to his principal Objections frequently repeated in his Books against us and what chiefly concerns Doctrine is comprehensively Answered in the 6th and 7th viz. A Charitable Essay and The Quakers Vindicated which though but one Sheet a piece I could never yet find any Reply to either from F. Bugg And the 8th i. e. Innocency Triumphant is so plain a Discovery and Confutation of his Forgeries Perversions Falshoods and notorious Self-Contradictions that the same is made obvious to every Impartial Reader So that our Innocency stands still Triumphant in Christ Jesus over our Adversaries Outrage Boasting Scorn and Contempt Glory to our God and to the Lamb who shall have the Victory and Reign in Glory and Triumph for Ever and Ever A Brief Answer to Francis Bugg 's late Book falsly stiled A Modest Defence c. HAving trac'd and observ'd the numerous bitter and accumulated Calumnies in the said pretended Modest Defence and in many more of the same Author's Books Scurrilous Pamphlets and Fictions against the peaceable People called Quakers to
incense the Civil Government against them and he being therein often Refuted I am concern'd herein to take notice only of a few of his notorious Abuses Misrepresentations and Perversions viz. 1st In his Dedication to the High Court of Parliament p. 10. he tells them The Quakers tell you They own the Scriptures to be given by Divine Inspiration but mean not a word of it like other Christians 2dly They tell you they own a Scripture-Trinity but mean not a word of it and that Your Honours will find it as difficult a thing to gain the true Meaning of the Quakers touching the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and their Belief of a Scripture-Trinity as Constantinus the Emperor found it in the Examination of Arius the Heretick to get his true meaning touching the Faith of one Substance And he would have them believe The Quakers are such Enemies to the holy Scripture as that they say It is a rotten Foundation Ibid. p. 11. And that with them it is Beastly Ware c. part 2. p. 29. And that they render the holy Scriptures to be of no more Authority than Aesop 's Fables part 3. p. 40. Such abominable Falshoods this Incendiary presumes to Dedicate and Present to the Parliament expresly contrary to our sincere and publick Confession to the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures as Eminently given by Divine Inspiration and our Estimation and Preference of the Bible to all other Books extant in the World though many of them may be given by a Degree of the same Divine Inspiration yet the holy Scripture contain'd in the Bible have not only the Priority but more Eminently and Signally Confirm'd by Divine Authority more Comprehensive and more Generally accepted than other Books or Commentaries thereupon the holy Pen-Men of the Scriptures of Truth having also a higher Degree of Illumination and Inspiration in many things than other Writers in after-Ages And Christ himself whose blessed Testimonies are from him Recorded received the Holy Ghost or Spirit not by Measure but in Fulness and to be sure we are bound in Conscience highly to prefer the Authors of Holy Scripture i. e. Christ his Apostles and Prophets above our selves or any other Writers whatsoever therefore we have cause to allow the Bible the Preference as well as Priority before other Books But our embittered Adversary to render us the said People Incredible or not to be Believ'd and such a difficult thing to gain the true Meaning of the Quakers he thus treats us with his wonted Course of Defamation and Calumny giving this pretended Relation viz. That the honest Quakers for some such there are amongst them have suspected G. Whitehead to be a Jesuite at least like them This Witness is true quoth F. B. Pref. p. 18. And farther he proceeds with this Out-cry viz. By which Evidence we may know that the Quakers like the Cretians were always Lyars evil Beasts slow Bellies but not only so but Lyars Forgers and to speak comparatively Knights of the Post Jesuits and dangerous to the Government c. Pref. p. 19 20. Thus furiously he runs on and clamours like one without Eear or Wit he is Accountable for such odious Defamation and the Righteous Judge of all I doubt not will rebuke him for such his Folly and Outrage He strives in his Persecution against us as if it were for Life even for our Lives in not only defaming G. Whitehead for a Jesuit but the Quakers in General and yet some of them Honest Quakers too Such Confusion Envy produces But who these Honest Quakers are that suspect G. W. to be a Jesuit at least like them we are to seek he tells us not who is his true Witness in this Case G. W. utterly denies the Defamation against himself and the rest of his Friends called Quakers being known to be as wholly and absolutely Averse to Popery as any People in Christendom and more than all Persecutors whatsoever Persecution being a principal Prop and Pillar of Popery commonly raised by such Clamour and Outrage as Away with them Hereticks and Schismaticks they are Seditions and Dangerous to the Government and then Imprisonment Havock Exile or Death must follow c. To his other odious Calumny viz. That the Quakers Church agrees with the Papists That our Bible is a Brazen-fac'd Book an unjust corrupt and perverse Bible part 1. p. 4. Oh Horrible The righteous Lord rebuke this Lying Spirit which possesses this Poor Creature How like a furious Incendiary in his boundless Outrage does he Defame and most unjustly Asperse the Innocent Are not the Bibles we frequently use in our Houses and Families the same used by other Protestants and allow'd by Authority Pray let this be observ'd and further inquired into that the notorious Lyes of this Adversary may more manifestly appear to the World to his own and his Abettors shame and disgrace And as I have often urg'd plain Proof from him that the Quakers call the Scriptures Beastly Ware but never yet could obtain it So I now demand Proof that they say The Scripture is a rotten Foundation as before Ded. p. 11. For Proof of this Lye he has quoted a little Pamphlet or Book which he has rak'd up and Reprinted Entitled Ishmael and his Mother cast out first printed in 1655. Upon the Margent on the 14th page he repeats the same gross Lye again thus viz. The Holy Scriptures they say are a rotten Foundation This is their ancient Testimony from which they have not varied This is F. B's Annotation against the People called Quakers but where is his Proof still 'T is upon these words viz. With the Light thou art seen to be a Wrester of the Scriptures and thy rotten Foundation being ready to fall thee c. Here is no such word as the Quakers saying The Holy Scriptures are a rotten Foundation but the contrary viz. Against that Adversary for Wresting the Scripture and that he was judged thereby And that the Scriptures of Truth proceeded from the Life and Power of God were spoken by holy Men as mov'd thereby as also a true Declaration of God the Words of God who with his dear Son Christ Jesus and Holy Spirit and the Baptism thereof are also confess'd in the said Book quoted but falsly noted on the Margent as before quite contrary to these Confessions unto the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures They that writ the said Book Ishmael c. did judge that pretended Pastor S. Townsend their then Adversary neither to be built upon Christ nor upon the holy Scriptures and that therefore neither of them was his Foundation but a Spirit of Enmity when he enviously writ and aspers'd those of us that were then Prisoners for Conscience sake in Norwich Goal which was in the year 1654. being 45 Years ago He then more like a busie Incendiary than a Minister of Christ with his envious defaming Pamphlet did Persecute us by Reproaches to add Affliction to our Bonds which
then were severe and we under Hardship in the depth of Winter wherein my self with the rest had my share Though I then was but weak and young being but about 18 Years of Age yet was in my Heart truly tender and sincere to God and his Presence I often felt to strengthen me in that and divers other hard Imprisonments in Cromwel's time and by his Special Divine Providence I was supported in his Work and Service blessed be his Name for ever Who also hath made me to Triumph in Christ over Reproaches and Aspersions of This and all other my most Implacable Adversaries F. B. may think he has found out a deadly Weapon against me by his raking up and reprinting the said Ishmael c. printed in 1655. But he does very ill and very dis-ingenuously in upbraiding me and my Friends with some unwarrantable Expressions which I have positively disown'd and disclaim'd in Two Books as he knows And yet from thence he unjustly asperseth the Quakers That they dissemble the Doctrine of the Trinity when they pretend to own it whilst in their Books they damn it to the Pit and Lake Ded. p. 11. And part 2. p. 22. Margent This is their ancient Testimony to damn the blessed Trinity to the Pit of Hell the like in Part 3. p. 35. I say This is not true 't is neither the Quakers Ancient nor Modern Testimony and the passage upon which he makes this Note in the Margent though never intended against either God his Son or Holy Spirit or this Scripture-Trinity as I may say Yet I say as to the said Passage noted upon on the Margent I have positively disown'd those offensive Expressions publickly in Print in Two Books The 1st Entitled The Christianity of the People called Quakers Vindicated 1690. p. 28. The 2d Truth and Innocency Vindicated 1699. p. 51. Besides many Years since I corrected them where I met with that Answer And though I writ some Passages therein yet I still affirm I was not the Author of the said Unwarrantable Expressions nor of divers other sharp ones but C. Atkinson who miserably fell into Pollution and Condemnation after my self and my other Fellow-Prisoners had left him in Prison being discharg'd before him I was sorry my Name was to that Answer without distinction between my own Words and his For though I was then but Young Weak and Low yet I still believe and am satisfied I had a Measure of Understanding given me of the Lord and a Sense of his Power and Presence And I do not deny but I writ some Part or Paragraphs in that Book aforesaid by reason whereof I suppose my Name was to it and the Substance of what I writ I cannot disown to this day namely 1. Asserting the Word which was in the beginning to be God Christ the Light and the Foundation of Faith 2. And that the Word was before the Scripture or Writing or Letter thereof was 3. That Jesus Christ was the true and only Foundation 1 Cor. 3. 11. This was in Opposition to our then Adversary's Asserting the Scripture to be the only Foundation of Faith c. And I cannot in the least believe that there ever could be any Intention of Contempt or Contemptible Expressions design'd against God or his Dear Son or Holy Spirit among us or that we could be so grosly dark and ignorant as to think to confine him in Darkness who is an Omnipresent God and he being Light in whom is no Darkness at all this hath been our Principle from the beginning But to fasten the whole Book Ishmael on G. W. F. B. saith he owns the Book viz. in Truth Defending 1659. 1. From Tho. Smith's calling it G. Whitehead's Book 2. From the words Our Book Part 1. p. 31 32. Answ. How far I then own'd it I have signified 1. As having writ some part of it 2. But not then espousing the very words chiefly objected by F. B. and disown'd by me as before but my own Construction then given partly in these words viz. And he that Dreams and tells Lyes contrary to the Scriptures of Truth which we own he with his Imaginations and Dreams is for the Lake Rev. 21. 8. Yet what the Scripture saith of the Godhead the Father the Word and the Spirit which are one 1 John 5. 7. we own Truth Defend p. 1 2. Tho' I confess I there questioned the Notion of Three Distinct or Divided Persons as not Scripture but an Imagination And in our Disputes at Cambridge in the same Year 1659. My Opponents then Arguing They i. e. the Father Son and Holy Ghost are Three Hees therefore Three Persons and that because Christ was under the Water when baptised and the Holy Ghost then descended upon him like a Dove therefore Three Distinct or Separate Persons I then thought such Arguing as much beside true Scripture-Divinity as good Logick However I cannot call to Mind That at those Disputes I had with Tho. Smith the Library-keeper c. in Cambridge 1659. I either did own or defend that very Passage now objected against us out of Ishmael which I have disown'd and disclaim'd as before If I were now Conscious thereof I should be sorry for it To conclude this Point about the Trinity I refer the Reader 1. To a Catechism in the Words and Phrases of Scripture with this Imprimatur Guil. Sill. R. P. D. Henr. Episc. Lond. â Sacris Domesticis printed 1693. wherein are these Questions and Answers viz. Q Is there any more than One God A. There is none other God but one 1 Cor. 8. 4. Q. What is said of the Father the Son and the Holy Ghost A. It is said That these Three are One 1 John 5. 7. Note Here they confine themselves to Scripture-Language 2. 'T is worthy of Observation what Dr. Burnet now Bishop of Sarum in the Life of John Earl of Rochester p. 104. speaking of the Trinity saith Which for want of Terms fit to express them by we call Persons and are called in Scripture the Father Son and Holy Ghost Besides the false Printing and bad English in the said Ishmael as F. B. has expos'd it there 's another Defect after the words The Lake is thy Portion which is the Portion of Lyars the words except thou speedily Repent are omitted there and in some other places The Old Impression I have not seen for many Years nor do I know where to find it tho' it seems F. B. hath industriously sought it out and reprinted it after a fashion with his perverse Annotations in the Margent to reproach Quakers withal And now let 's a little observe F. B.'s Definition of Person part 1. p. 18 19. viz. From the words God Christ the Light the Word the Spirit the Truth the Kingdom of God within me and these are one F. B. infers viz. Reader here is in the Quakers Essence Septem Personas Also from the words Stumble not at the Light for if thou dost thou stumblest at God at
with more Reflections in her Name And then to defame me he infers viz. Thus it appears how long the honest sort of Quakers have taken G. W. to be little better than a Jesuite and my Cousin Docwra was of the same mind too else she would not have given me her honest Friends Judgment p. 25. I leave A. D. to answer for her self in this matter she knows me better But for this Defamation of being little better than a Jesuite thus insinuated against me by F. Bugg he is Accountable as he is for his Trial Condemnation and Pillory forged against us under the Pretence of Perjury and as a Pack of Perjur'd Persons making no Conscience how Criminal and Scandalous he renders us and highly defames us But I challenge him and his Abettors to manifest and produce those many of our Hearers of the honest sort who either begin to think or have taken G. Whitehead to be little better than a Jesuite Let him bring forth and manifest that honest sort of Quakers that so think or have taken me to be such an one for I utterly deny the Accusation as a false Aspersion and Defamation As I also testifie against his other Calumnies as these following viz. That G. W. can vindicate or excuse any Blasphemy Idolatry Contempt of the Scriptures Contempt of Magistrates of the Ministry the Person and Sufferings of Christ c. p. 26. I am not conscious to my self of any such Vindication or Contempt but have often testified the contrary in publick both in behalf of the holy Scriptures Magistracy Christ's Ministry his Person and Sufferings and abundantly answered the same in Print Wherefore F. B. repeat these foul Slanders no more 'T is a wonder F. B. should so much by Insinuation endeavour to represent G. W. like a Jesuit or little better and yet upbraid him as one so Illiterate that neither writes true School-Learning nor one Page good Grammar-English as well as some part meer Non-sense i. e. in Jacob found in a Desert Land Yet he will not call him Fool nor yet nothing of a Schollar for perhaps he might be then enter'd in his Accidence p. 30. Thus F. B. upbraids and detracts against G. W. but to exalt his own Endowments as having both a Competency of Learning and Judgment afforded him to deal with the Quakers p. 30. 'T is a wonder I should be such a Proficient in Learning now as to be compared to a Jesuit seeing I never went to Learn at School since the time I writ that which he deems so foreign to true School-Learning or good Grammar-English although I learned a considerable time after I enter'd my Accidence But I am sure all his Writings are not true Syntax nor true Concord but sometimes both Person and Number confounded But how comes F. B. such a Proficient in his Competency of Learning now When in his New Rome Unmask'd in his Apology he more submissively confesses thus viz. I am not accomplish'd with Parts and Learning sufficient to grapple with such Scholars as are some of the Chieftains of the Quakers Against some others of his silly Detractions please to read the following Ceretificate viz. Whereas Francis Bugg in his Pilgrim's Progress printed 1698. Page 32. after a contemning and detracting manner against George Whitehead hath these Expressions viz. You came from Penury to Plenty from Labour and Toil to Ease and Pleasure you came from your Father's poor Cottage which I have been told by them that saw it that it was not worth 50s to Houses worth 500l And in his Quakerism Exposed printed 1699. he also saith Do Gentlemen live in a poor Cottage standing on Mud-Walls not worth 50s as G. W. did as I am credibly informed by a Person of Note that saw it We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed do Certifie the contrary to this Information of F. Bugg's namely That we have been Lodged and kindly Entertained both Horse and Man at the House that was George Whitehead's House the Father of this George Whitehead at Sunbigin in the Parish of Orton in Westmorland from whence his Son the said George Whitehead came and where his own Sister Ann Pratt and her Husband and Family do now Reside and the House is a Large Substantial and Commodious House after the manner of that Country and of Stone-Walls and no such thing as Mud-Walls pertaining to it Neither do we know of any Houses standing on Mud-Walls in those Parts being greatly replenish'd with Lime-Stone and Quarries meet for strong and durable Building both for their Mansion-Houses and Barns and therefore no need of Mud-Walls for their Buildings And also that the said George Whitehead's Kindred and Relations and the Families from whence he came were and are generally People well Esteemed of and of good Reputation as we have understood and he well Educated and needed not be expos'd to Penury or Want either when at his Father's House or when he was put to Board and Free-School in Cumberland as on credible Information we verily Believe Joseph Baines George Knipe John Thompson I do not think it worth my time to repeat or answer all his Detractions Aspersions or Calumnies against my self however I 'm sure he wrongs me in rendering me a Covetous Worldly-minded Person as none exceeds p. 32. and our Ministry the Chargeablest this day in England but to come off here he says to some particulars But to what Particulars they exceed all other Ministries in being Chargeable he instances only himself viz. That the Ministry of the Quakers has cost me as much in Three Months time nay much more than the publick Ministry have cost me this Fifteen Years p. 24. I do not know what Account he keeps of the Charge our Ministry has put him to yet I do not believe his Hospitality to any of them made him either Break or Fail in the World However he is very apt not only to sound a Trumpet of his Hospitality but also to upbraid such as he has afforded any Entertainment at his House in the time of his Prosperity among the People called Quakers as he upbraided me in Print with his Entertainment of me To which I gave him this Answer As for being Fed at F. B's Table I think 't was not very often whether Three or Four times I remember not which was but seldom in 25 Years time and I suppose it was not without some Invitations by him Didst not thou F. B. invite me to thy House sometimes Surely 't was not then intended to upbraid me in Print with feeding at thy Table thou wast then more a Man and of more Civility 'T is pity thy Conversion to the Priests and Levites should so much deprive thee both of Compassion Natural Affection and Civility However since 't is thy pleasure thus to upbraid Me I offer thee reasonable Satisfaction let me have a true Bill how oft I have fed at thy Table and what each Meal comes to according to the usual Rates of Ordinaries and I will pay