Sect. x. p. 132. and Sect. xiv p. 175 176. Let me add here one Proof more I have before Quoted a Book wrote by Five Ministers call'd A further Discovery c. There p. 23 24. is a Letter of Will. Baldwinson Dated 14. January 1653. and attested by Three others where Will. Baldwinson Declares that he before a Company where James Nayler and Richard Farnsworth were setting out this Doctrin of Perfection Demanded of them in these words Friends do you hold that a man may attain to that Height of Perfection in this Life to be as Perfect as Pure as Holy and as Just as God Himself And he asserts that They Joyntly Reply'd Yea and they were so After p. 62. of that Book these Five Ministers say of the Quakers But what dare not these men do who Dare lift up themselves in their Blasphemous Pride to be as Pure as God G. Fox Answers this Book in his Great Mystery and p. 232. Repeating these last words thus But how Dare these men lift up themselves in their Blasphemous Pride to say they are pure as God He do's not at all Deny the Charge but Justifies and Defends it from being Blasphemy and says Doth not Christ say Be ye Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect and As he is so are we in this present World c. These are the Texts they Commonly Abuse to this Blasphemous Purpose John Harwood a Quaker but who had fallen out with G. Fox wrote a Letter to The Friends against him An. 1663. which is Intitul'd To all People that Profess the Eternal Truth c. where p. 3. he says G. Fox hath call'd Himself The Son of God and also said I am the Seed which he might as well have said I am Christ for we know that the Seed is Christ c. To this G. Fox Printed an Answer the same year 1663 with this Title The Spirit of Envy Lying and Persecution made Manifest Where p. 2. He Answers the above Charge thus And first thou saydst G. F. calls himself The Son of God c. And this thou calls a Crime This is all he says to it Confessing the Charge but Retorting upon Joh. Harwood for his Ignorance being a Quaker to think it a Crime in G. Fox to call Himself The Son of God and Christ and The Seed Here now G. W. has a Plain Answer and out of the Mouth of one whom he will not call an Adversary And we need no more witnesses against G. Fox when we have it from his own Mouth Their Asserting the Sufficiency of their Light within to Salvation without Christ And Assuming the Name of Christ to Themselves VIII He comes p. 27. to a material Point indeed where it is objected against the Quakers That they hold the Light within Every Man that comes into the world sufficient to Salvation of it self without Something else that is without the outward Christ to suffer and Dye outwardly for Us. Which makes Christ's coming into the World of no Necessity at all to our Salvation And Faith in Him to be but a sort of an Accomplishment or Civility towards Him but no way Necessary And puts the Heathen upon as good a Foundation as the Christian Nay I must say upon a Better for if Faith in Christ be by the Gospel made Necessary to Salvation and the Light within the Heathen be sufficient without this Then is this not only Vnnecessary but it puts us farther off from Heaven by making more things Necessary to our getting thither than what is Requir'd from the Heathen Then might Cornelius have answered the Angel that commanded him to send for Peter who shou'd tell him words by which he and his House shou'd be saved Act. xi 14. that he had a Light within which was Sufficient without any thing else And that he had Duly follow'd this Light for he had the Testimony of a Devout man Act. x. 2. and one that feared God with all his House But this shews that ther was Something else Necessary without which he and his House were not to be Saved This was the Ground of the Quarrel which the Quakers took against G. Keith because he Preach'd among them the Necessity of Faith in the outward Jesus which they call'd Preaching of Two Christs i. e. one more besides their Light within which they call The Christ G. W. says in answer to this p. 28. That they were not offended at G. K's Preaching Christ or his suffering and Dying without Vs truly consider'd Truly Consider'd what do's he mean by this It is Impossible to catch these Quakers speaking one word Plain without a Mental Reservation By Truly Consider'd he means That the Quakers do allow the History of Christ of His Death and Sufferings i. e. That ther was such a man and that he Did and Suffered such things and that the Light or Christ was in the man Jesus whence he was called Christ as others who have the same Light may for the same Reason be called by the same Name of Christ which as they say belongs to Every Member as well as to the Head Is not the Substance the Life the Anointing called Christ wherever it is found Doth not the Name belong to the whole Body and Every Member in the Body as well as to the Head says Isaac Penington in a Book which he calls A Question to the Professors of Christianity Printed 1667. p. 27. And in the same place says That the Apostle gives them the Members the Name Christ together with Him that is together with Jesus who was called Christ and he Quotes for this 1 Cor. xii 12. in which Text ther is nothing like what he would be at But it shews the Quakers Notion which he go's on to fortifie thus The Body says he is the same with the Head one and the same in Nature and doth not the Nature belong to the Nature in the whole i. e. Because Christ has taken Our Nature therefore J. P. wou'd give us His Nature which wou'd be to make Us God As he words it p. 7. We are as well of His Flesh and Blood as He was of ours By Christ's Flesh of which we Partake he means the Heavenly Flesh which the Quakers say Christ had from Eternity and that it is in them that is Christ's Divine Nature of which J. P. makes us to Partake as well as He of our Human Nature which yet they say He took not Really for J. P. do's not allow Jesus to be the Lamb of God but that the Lamb i. e. the Light Dwelt in Him as in a Vessel in like manner as in us By Feeling says he ibid. and knowing the Lamb in our Vessels we know also what was the Lamb in His Vessel So that by this Jesus was not the Lamb or Christ but only the Vessel in which the Lamb or Christ did for a time Reside Which he further Explains p. 33. in these words Now the Scriptures Do Expresly Distinguish between
G. F. And the like is upon the Margin of several other Pages Now if this was not Intended for the Press it was to give the Friends Ground to say that they had seen this Exposition of his and to make use of it as they saw occasion But if it was meant as is most likely to be made Publick the Friends upon second thoughts found it cou'd not be done without Re-Printing of the Book which wou'd do them more Mischief than such a silly Excuse cou'd Heal. Therefore they took the safer Course which was by all the means they cou'd to stifle the said Book And I believe they thought they had Effected it For having by some Art Recover'd the Book aforesaid out of the hands of one of themselves whom they suspected into whose Possession it had fallen they have Condemn'd it to Perpetual Imprisonment unless Rescu'd by such Discoveries as these And if they put it not into the New Edition Design'd of G. Fox's Works they see they will be Detected nay more if they Leave out or Alter any of his Marginal Annotations they shall be told of it let them secure that Book where they are as well as they can Of which a New Edition cou'd be given if it were worth the while without their Help But now that I have mention'd G. Fox's Apologie wrote upon the Margin of this Book of his for the Treasons therein Contain'd it is fit that I shou'd shew the Falshood and Apparent Hypocrisie of this his Excuse viz. That what he wrote against Kings and Kingly Government was only meant against his Olefer when he Design'd to take upon him the Stile of King In Answer to which consider 1. That his words are against All Kings and Emperors among Christians since the Days of the Apostles and against All Kingly Government whether in Olefer or any body else 2. He speaks p. 15. against Fighting for the Kings of the Earth Now ther was no Fighting or any Appearance of it at that time when it was Under Consideration whether G. Fox's Olefer shou'd Assume the Name of a King And he was then None of the Kings of the Earth But â—â—wards the Restoration of King Charles â—â—â—â—er was Expectation of Fighting And G. Bishop and this G. Fox and others of the Quakers did violently Persuade to Fighting against his Restoration and that In the Name of the Lord as abundantly shewn in the Sn. Sect. xviii It is true they were against Fighting For Kings but they were as much for Fighting Against them 3. This Book of G. Fox's was Printed in the beginning of the year 1660. And Olefer had been Dead two years before And I suppose G. Fox was not afraid that they wou'd take him out of his Grave to make a King of him But if it be said that tho' this Book was not Printed till the year 1660 yet it might have been wrote before in the year 1658 when Olefer Dy'd then it wou'd be ask'd To what Purpose it was Printed two years after the occasion for which it was wrote And which cou'd never come again if the Design had been only against Olefer 4. But to put the Matter out of Dispute in the Book it self p. 6. G. F. speaks of Olefer as then Dead these are his words So when the Kings that Deny'd the Pope took the Tenth of Tenths the Popes wages that was Head of the Church and when the Kings Dy'd the Protector took Tenth of Tenths and He was the Head c. He Was now He was Dead G. F. falls upon Him as upon all others when they were Gon. But let the world now Judge let all the Quakers who Pretend to one Drachm of sincerity Confess at last what an Egregious Lyar and Hypocrite this G. Fox was to give it under his hand that this Book of his was wrote against Oliver And we may hence see what stress is to be laid upon their Contrary Testimonies and how they are to be taken as Vindications of all the vile Heresies Madness Treasons c. which they have Acted wrote Preach'd and Printed And All of them both Parts of the Contradictions Dictated as spoken Immediately from the Mouth of the Lord Almighty II. Thus to give a few more Instances if one shou'd Object the Implacable Rage and Nastiness of the Quaker-Spirit and Produce what has been herein before Mention'd what is Quoted in the Sn. Sect. xvii and much more of the same Sort that can be Produc'd they cou'd Answer All by Contrary Testimonies of which they have many where the Quakers do Abhor and Detest such manner of Proceeding as Abominable and Anti-Christian and set up Themselves for all the Meekness and Christian Patience in the World Thus in this Appen p. 43. Sam. Fisher is Produc'd saying That the Quakers are not for Reviling nor Threatning nor Cursing but Committing our Cause saith he in Quietness to Him that Judgeth Righteously And G. Fox in his Gr. Mystery p. 237. says That the work of the Ministers of the Gospel is not to Reflect upon Persons And so thou says he to a Minister he Disputed against that art Reflecting upon Persons do'st shew a Mark of thy self to be a False-Prophet and Reflecting upon Persons was never the way to Beget to God And Will. Penn says in his Address to Protestants p. 246. Second Edit They that are Angrie for God Passionate for Christ that call names for Religion may tell us they are Christians if they will but no body wou'd know them to be such by their Fruits To be sure they are no Christians of Christ's making He gave this Title to another Book he wrote viz. Reason against Railing in Answer to Thom. Hicks Whom he Accuses for Railing against the Quakers And thence Proves him not to be a Christian For says he p. 169. He that Rails Reviles calls Names c. is no True Christian But such is Thom. Hicks Therefore no True Christian And now what wou'd you have more Do's it not Plainly follow from hence That neither Will. Penn nor any of the Quakers did ever Raile Revile or call Names For then by Will Penn's sentence here Twice Repeated they are no True Christians To be sure they are no Christians of Christ 's making But a little before this p. 163. W. Penn sets down an Objection of T. Hicks's That the Great Quaker Ed. Burrough had Bestow'd upon Philip Bennet a Priest who oppos'd him by way of Answer these Names following Thou art a wicked Creature Blackness of Darkness is Reserved for thee Thou art a Serpent And the Curse of God is Eternally upon thee Thou Beast to whom the Plagues of God are Due Now these look very like Ill Names and Railing to be sure they are Reviling What says Will. Penn to this He says That this was the Fittest Return cou'd be made to the Questions which P. Bennet put to Ed. Burrough Why were they Rude or Reflecting Questions No. for W. P. confesses p. 164. 165. that they were Civil no
can be no Returning while we keep in that Principle the Scriptures can be no Reproof or Cheek to us while we think that what we call our Light with in is Superior to the Scriptures and by which the Scriptures themselves were given forth And Reason which is Human and as these Men term it Carnal can never be admitted by them to Rectify what they think to be Divine So that all Avenues are stopt to their Recovery This is the most Dreadful condition that any Man can be suppos'd to be in It is Desperate to any thing but a Miracle Therefore you see what Reason we have to Remove Men from this Principle And this is the Heart of Quakerism They Reckon themselves Secure without Reason They are sure because they are sure And this sort of Assurance proceeds from the Imagination and therefore is strongest in Mad-Men And the Maddest of the Quarkers the most highly Enthusiastick have the strongest Assurance of this kind How different are these Men from those sort of Christians to whom St. Peter writes and admonishes them To be Ready always to give an Answer to every Man that asked them a Reason of the Hope that was in them 1 Pet. 3.15 But our Quakers give no Reason they cry out upon Reason as Carnal and are against It because It is against them For no Reason can be given for any Hope or Inward Perswasion which is not Grounded upon Reason Fancy and Reason are two things And no Reason can be given for Fancy This is the Difference betwixt that Perswasion or Assurance which comes from the Sobriety of Religion and that which comes from Enthusiasm Enthusiasm is Imagination and no Reason can be given for what Assurance comes from thence But the Assurance of Religion is a Sober and a Rational Persuasion Grounded upon Reason and therefore ther is always a Reason to be given for it This do's not take away or lesson the Necessity of the Ordinarie Assistances and Inspirations of the H. Spirit which are in a sound sense call'd likewise Enthusiasm This is Explain'd and the difference of Enthusiasms clearly laid down in the Sn. Sect. xxii But I have said so much of it in this place that Line upon Line Precept upon Precept here a Little and there a Little I might by any means Instill this Difference of the Quaker from the Divine Enthusiasm into their Minds and Guard them from this Fundamental Error which carries in its Belly all the others into which they are led And of which they must first be Cur'd before they can be Retriv'd from any other And to Repeat it again that they may keep their Eye still upon this One Point all I desire of them is to let their Enthusiasm or Inspiration be Subject to the Scriptures and not set up Above them This was the Rule in all Holy Enthusiasms they submitted to be Try'd and Examin'd by the Rule of the Scriptures Then we have some Rule some Compass to Steer by But if we set our Enthusiasm Above the Scriptures this is the Wild the Mad the Diabolical Enthusiasm of which I have been speaking And of which if the Quakers were once Cur'd they wou'd with the Blessing of God soon Return to a Sober Mind 4. G. W. is very Angry it shou'd be said that the Quaker Principles do make men more susceptible of the wild Impressions of Enthusiasm than other Men. And says against this that as few of them have run Mad as of other Men. And p. 8. he Provokes his Adversary to produce his Catalogues of the Quaker Mad-Men Why truly if Catalogues had been kept of them I believe they wou'd be found to Exced any of such a Number of Men by the Instances which we have seen of them All of which G. W. wou'd throw off by Instancing in a Few whom he says they have Disowned Thus says he p. 3. 4. His Instances of John Gilpin in 1653. James Milner and John Toldervy cannot affect the Quakers since they have Long since testifi'd against the Madness of those Persons he Mentions Ans 1. Other Persons were Mention'd besides these And ther are Many More of the Like Ans 2. These Persons above Nam'd have not been Testify'd against as Mad-men by the Quakers But on the Contrary James Milner is Justify'd for a True Prophet by G. Fox after all the Madnesses he was Guilty of Which is shewn in the 2d Part. Sect. ii N. 7. G. F. calls him a True Prophet of The Lord. And G. W. Now calls him a Mad-Man which I know not how to Reconcile but by owning of the Truth That the Quaker-Prophets are Mad-Men If G. W. can find any other way let him shew his Parts In the next Place as to Toldervy he went Back and Forward And the Quakers did Own or Dis-own him as he went To or From them But I know not that they have made a Mad-Man of him before this time now in this Antidote If they thought him Mad they spent their time well in writing so Many Books against him And Answering of his Books But as for Gilpin he left them Quite after he had by the great mercy of God Recover'd from his so Monstrous Possessions by the Devil while he was a Quaker He had enough of them Therefore they Laid Load upon Him But what was it they Charg'd him with It is Horrible to Repeat it They Mistook the Devil for God! They Attributed the Possessions he was under to the H. Spirit And said That they were the Workings of The Light within or Christ in his Heart subduing the Devil or his Corruptions which Trembled in him And that this was the Cause of his Dreadful Convulsions That his Charging them upon the Devil was Blaspheming of God whose Work they were That his seeking for Relief from them which they call'd the Cross of Christ And not being willing to Ly Under them was his Deserting of God And Returning under the Power of the Devil being Weary of Bearing the Cross c. All this Appears by the Answers which the Quakers put out to this Relation which Gilpin gave of himself call'd The Quakers Shaken An 1653. One is in G. Fox's Gr. Myst p. 297. Ther is an other call'd The Standard of the Lord c. by Atkinson Burrough Howgil and 15 or 16 more whose Names are Subscrib'd the same year An. 1653. This Book I Forc'd my self to Read over with Horror and Reluctancy because of the Diabolical Fury Rage and Blasphemy which fill every Page in it There p. 23. They Answer Gilpin's saying that that Trembling which seiz'd him was of the Devil thus I manifestly witness against thee that it was the Lord of Heaven and Earth that made thee Tremble And p. 11. Concerning the Power that struck thee down from thy Chair that I own to be of God And that which spake to thee Bidding thee be Humble and brought the Low down upon thy Knees That I own to be of God c. Now what this
else did they Oppose and that so Vehemently those who Preached this Doctrin and who also own'd the Inward Presence and operations of Christ by His B. Spirit in our Hearts not only as Beneficial but Absolutely Necessary towards our Salvation and without which That the outward Sufferings of Christ and all His Ordinances wou'd be to us as if they were not at all or Worse as before Quoted Why did G. Fox G. Whitehead and all the Quakers oppose this They have Nothing left to say But that those whom they Oppos'd did Deny the Inward opperations of Christ in the Heart and that in this only they did oppose them Which being most False and they not being able to Produce one Single Person who did Oppose them In this shews what that was wherein they did Oppose them Or if they cou'd find such a Single Person why did they oppose Others who had sufficiently Explain'd themselves In this such as these before Nam'd Why did they call These Devils Anti-Christians Sorcerers for Preaching of Faith in Jesus of Nazareth Why did they Belch out in Fury such Spitefull and Blasphemous Contempt as before Quoted against the Person of our B. Lord Jesus Why did they call Him Accursed Let them hear the Apostle That no Man Speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Accursed 1 Cor. xii 3 And that no Man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Therefore till they come not only to say but to Believe this they may be sure That it is not the Spirit of Christ but of Anti-Christ by which they are Acted And they cannot Truly Believe this without not only being willing but in an High Degree Zealous to Confess Retract and Condemn the Above Quoted and all other their vile Contempts and Outrages against our B. Lord and only Saviour Jesus Christ I cou'd bring Multitudes of Quotations to the same Purpose of these before Produc'd be sides what are offer'd in the Sn to which G. W. has not answer'd which we may easily suppose he wou'd have done if he cou'd have found any thing tolerable to have said to them And till he or some other of the Quakers shall think fit to Answer to these it is needless to Cloy the Reader with more These being sufficient to let him see into the Depth of the Quaker Heresies and Clear his way from their Little Subtleties with which they use to Hide and Cover them G. W's Immethodical way has carry'd me from p. 30. of his Antid to p. 38. because both speak of the same thing and I wou'd save Repetitions for which Reason I must pass all he says from p. 30. to 35. which is a going over and over the same again and again Denying the Charge but not Answering of the Proofs Their Contempt of the Holy Scriptures XI He comes p. 35. to the Charge against them of Contemning the Holy Scriptures calling them Beastly-ware Death Dust and Serpents-meat c. He cou'd not nor do's he Deny the Quotations where these names are given to the Holy Scriptures for the Quaker Books and Pages are Particularly set down Yet he most Impudently Denies that they have call'd the Scriptures by such Names Tho' perhaps says he p. 36. making a Trade upon Scripture or Preaching for Hire or Moncy hath been so call'd by some or other Here is a Perhaps and a some or other to throw us off again And to make us believe that such Names were never given to the Scriptures but only to the making a Trade of them For which I must Desire the Reader to look again into the Quotations in the Sn. and he will there see what a Guilty and utterly False Excuse and Put off this is For these Names are given to the Holy Scriptures to Matthew Mark Luke and John So that his Perhaps is most Certainly and most Certainly G. W. knew it to be so tho' he with a Quaker Sincerity and Plainess wou'd have it only pass for a Perhaps And for his some or other as if he knew not who it was that said any such thing ther is mention made before of a Passage and it is Quoted in the Sn. p. 342 of the First Edit it is p. 110. of the Third Edit of one George Whitehead in his serious Apology p 49. where he says that what is spoken by the Spirit of Truth in any i. e. of the Quakers is of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and Greater Mark that George of Greater Authority than the Scriptures so that by this all Thy Preachments and of others Thy Quakers which you say are spoken by the Spirit of Truth are not only of as Great but George of Greater Authority than the Holy Scriptures And what more Vile Contempt cou'd be put upon those Sacred Oracles than to compare them to the most Sensless and Blasphemous Ramblements that ever came out of the Mouths of Men Nay to Prefer these and all their Cursed and Furious Venome and Beastly Nastiness see Sn. Sect. xvii to the Holy Scriptures of God! Now George are The Scriptures only the Preaching for Hire when you Question whether the First Pen-man of the Scripture was Moses or Hermes whether ther are not many words contained in the Scriptures which were not spoken by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit whether some words were not spoken by the Grand Impostor some by False Prophets and yet True and some by True Prophets and yet False c. And thy own Excuse for all this that this was meant only against some Parts of the Scriptures as in Sn. p. 86. Was all this only against Preaching for Hire When G. Fox said in his Gr. Mystery p. 302. That the Scripture is not the ground of Faith That the Scriptures being outward Writings Paper and Ink is not Infallible nor is not Divine And p. 246. when he says of the H. Scriptures that They are not the word of God And in his News coming out of the North. p. 39. where he argues against those who Plead for the Scriptures he says Hebrew Greek and Latin is your Original you say that Mathew Mark Luke and John is the Gospel which is Carnal c. was this only Preaching for Hire Now George be Asham'd and Blush if Thou Canst and Confess and Retract if Thou be'st a Christian all your Horrid Contempt and Blasphemy against the H. Scriptures of God and Preferring all your own Gross Delusions before Them which are your Life Deut. xxxii 47. This is all that G. W. says to this Point And yet in his Contents he Intituls this The Quakers clear'd from Calumnies in that Point This is the Clearing But some Read the Contents of Books who Read not the Books And such must think that something Material is Perform'd where so much is Promis'd And such only can be Satisfi'd with this and other Quaker Answers and Defences See more upon this Head of the H. Scriptures in Sect. xiv xv xvi Their Conforming
the Dark for want of the true Light yet shining which now shineth forth they have been suppos'd to be but Christ himself his Light and Spirit which shew Good and Evil in the Heart which are the only Guide Law and Rule And this is Infallible and there is the only sure and safe walking even in the Light in Christ in the Spirit and not in the Letter which is Fallible by false Interpretation and Translation Here are all our Translations and the Originals too both Hebrew and Greek that are Extant of the Holy Scriptures Damn'd at one Blow That is to say All the Bibles now in the world They are no longer a Rule or Law to us But all is Resolv'd into our own Light within without Limit or Controul of Scripture or any other Law or Rule whatsoever And this is the New-Light which the Quakers have brought into the world viz. Before the Quakers came that is In the Dark as Fisher words it for want of the true Light yet shining the Scriptures were Suppos'd to be the Rule That was Dark indeed But now that the True Light which the Quakers have brought Shineth forth the Scriptures are Discarded from being the Rule and the Light within i. e. what any man Fancies so to be is the only Rule Guide Law c. From this Ancient Quaker his Son Will. Penn has Lick'd the Spittle and thus Copies after him and Improves upon him I cannot but Observe says W. Penn after what a suspected Rate the SCRIPTVRES have been first Collected Are we sure that the Judgement of those who Collected them was sufficient to Determin what was Right Rejoinder to John Faldo An 1673. p. 38. and what not What Assurance have our Anti-Revelation Adversaries of their Doctors Choice How shall we be Assur'd that in above three hundred years so many Copies as were doubtless taken shou'd be Pure and Vn-Corrupted From hence we may Observe the Uncertainty of J. Faldo 's Word of God See with what Contempt he calls the Holy Scriptures John Faldo's Word of God! And makes them an Vn-Certainty And calls those who Adhere to them Anti-Revelation Adversaries Not that these Adversaries Oppos'd all Revelation for the Holy Scriptures are a Revelation But they are an Extraordinary Revelation far Exceeding the Discoveries which are made by that Light or Reason which is Common to all Mankind and which the Deists and Quakers do Improperly call Revelation And who will not own this as the only Certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice are those whom Will. Penn calls Anti-Revelation Adversaries He says ibid. That we can never by Authorities prove the Scriptures to be given forth by Inspiration nor that they are truly Collected That is That ther is no outward Evidence for them but only what our Light within tells Us of them And then they wou'd be Vn-Certain indeed How many Men's Light within tells them nothing of the Holy Scriptures of Moses or of Christ of the Law or the Gospel As for what Outward and Human Evidence ther is for these I Referr the Quakers to the Short Method with the Deists wherein they are Equally Concern'd But here see the Reason why they not only Equal but Preferr their own Writings and Speakings to the Holy Scriptures viz. Because we have the Original of their Writings and as they say but Corrupted Copies of the Scriptures And that They have The same Degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had Gr. Myst p. 213. therefore that what they say Now is of Greater Authority than the Scriptures wrote so Long ago Of which before G W's Sincerity and Ingenuity in some Objections with which he Concludes the First Part of his Book Wherein the Summ of the Quaker Doctrin is laid Open. viz. That they Deny the Humanity of Christ Ard the Divinity of Jesus XVII We are now come to the End of the first Part of G. W's Answer which concludes p. 48. with a Notable smart Repartee upon the Author of the Sn. for calling the Title of a Book Holy What was the Title of the Book Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected And what do's G. W. make of this He calls it Blasphemy But how Blasphemy George Is not the Detection of Gross Error and Hypocrisie a very Good work And is it Blasphemy to call a Good work an Holy work Good and Holy George are very near of Kin. And thou did'st strain very hard against the Author when thou found'st out this for Blasphemy But it falls out further Unluckily in this Matter for the Author never thought of any such Epithet as Holy to give to the Title of that Book or any Epithet at all but just to Name the Book It was a mere Error of the Press And it was put into the Errata to Dele that word Holy And the page and line are nam'd in the Errata p. 351. l. 9. but the Direction of Dele Holy was left out And ther is no other Error in that line which has but Six words in it so that a little Skill and as much Sincerity wou'd easily have found it out At least wou'd have stopt such Ingenious Remarks upon it It was corrected with a Pen in several of the Printed Books And in the Second Edit p. 350. the word Holy is left out But however this being the only Error which G. W. has found in the Sn. and shewing himself so Fond of it it is a Pity to Deprive him of the Pleasure of it And now being Flusht with this First Victory he Hews down G. Keith for company because in that Book of his Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected about the Title of which we have Quarrel'd he brings Answers to the Seven Queres Presented to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers 1695. and Sophistically Answer'd by the Committee of Seven thereto appointed of which G. W. was one out of the quaker-Quaker-Books since they wou'd not Answer Directly themselves But G. W. is very smart upon him and observes with Great Acuteness that those Books being wrote before the Queres were not Intended as Direct Answers to those Queres for says he They cou'd be no Proper nor Direct Answers to those Queries nor so Intended nor by us Adapted to any such Queries therefore the Greater Abuse in him to Collect and Place them for Answers thereto This was a Great Abuse indeed To make you Answer more Directly than you had a Mind to Your former Books spoke Plainly your Gross Heresies against the True Humanity of Christ c. and you had no mind this shou'd be known therefore you Contriv'd your Answers to bear a Double-Face that you might have Room to Escape And G. Keith most Vnkindly considering old Acquaintance wou'd stop your Passage and shew out of your Printed Books the Plain Truth of the Matter and Detect your Gross both Errors and Hypocrisie And all he has left you to say for your selves is That those Books were not Intended as an Answer to these Queries But was
sometimes at a Dead lift so have our Quaker Heroes made a Cats-foot of poor Joseph Wyeth to Blount their Enemies Swords That if he shou'd Prevail their Glory might appear the Greater in Giving the Foil by a hand so Inconsiderable as the Journey-Man of Ben. Antrobus a Quaker Linnen-Draper But if he was overthrown which they knew full easie unless from the weakness of his opponent then their shift was that all the Disgrace shou'd fall upon him who had no Honour to Lose and They and their Cause be Guiltless tho' All their strength was Exerted in what they put out under his Name For the Reader must know that it is a stated Disciplin of the Quakers notwithstanding of their Infallibility to let none of their Friends Books as they call them be put to the Press untill they have Undergone the Censure and obtain'd the Approbation of their Second-Days-Meeting which consists only of their Ministers or Preachers Nor Dare any of their Printers Print any of their Books without the Allowance of this Sanhedrin so that they stand All Chargeable for All of their Printed Books at least for All of them which they have not call'd in and witnessed against as they did against William Rogers his Christian Quaker because it had more of Christianity in it than they cou'd Digest and Punish'd both Printer and Publishers with the utmost severity that was in their Power as you may see in Sat. Dis Sect. iii. of the Gleanings N. 1. and 2. But instead of shewing any such Displeasure against this Book that bears Wyeth's Name the Chief of the Quakers do Recommend it and Hand it about among Persons of all Qualities which is owning of it as much as if their Names had been set to it Besides some Flourishes in the Stile which shew that some had a Finger in the Pye tho' they wou'd not have their Crâ—st Perking above the Lid as an Index to whether Goose or Turkey hid Underneath And if Joseph Improv'd himself or his Pupil no more in his Travels than to Undertake the Defence of his Patron without his Directions who was so much more Able to have Vindicated himself he has had as ill Luck in his second Trade of a Praeceptor as in his First Journey-Man Preferment In all of which no Employment so servile was put upon him as to set his Name to a Book that gives him the Lye so Egregiously in that Character which he himself Vn-brib'd and Vn-solicited has bestow'd upon the Author of The Snake in the Grass of being A man of Temper c. Whereas this Book do's Represent him so far otherwise as you will see hereafter Sect. ii that it is not possible to Reconcile such Contradictions if they came Both from the same Person Besides in the Title-Page of this Book it is said to Serve as an Appendix to George Whitehead 's Antidote against the Snake in the Grass And sure George Whitehead wou'd not suffer an Appendix to be fix'd to his so Famous a Book without his own Approbation nor can it be Imagin'd that Joseph wou'd have offer'd at it Therefore we must suppose that George Whitehead is more Particularly Concern'd in this Appendix And we must for all the Reasons aforesaid conclude That this is the Joint and Concerted Apologie of the Quakers otherwise it wou'd not be worth my while nor the Pains of the Reader to Labour a Point which cou'd End in no more than a Confutation of Joseph Wyeth And this in Probability was one Main Drift of the Quakers to Stop a Reply that they might have the Last Word which with many Passes for a Token of Victory But the Charity that I have for their Souls of those Many miserably Deluded by these their Leaders tho' they put all the Misconstruction upon it that Malice and Envy can Invent has Oblig'd me to Enter once more with them into the Lists And I hope to make the Detection of their Gross Delusions so Plain by this as to Stop any further need of my Labour herein And to Satisfie all who are Desirous or Capable of Conviction The Method I will take in Replying to this Appendix is to Take a View of the Quakers Manner of Answering Books that are wrote against them And Applying it to this Present Answer will shew That however in other things the Quakers are Chang'd yet they still keep true to their Original and Ever Constant Furie Falshood and Dodging either in Defending of Themselves or Representing of their Adversaries SECT II. The Method which the Quakers use in Answering of Books that are wrote against them 1. WHEN Pride is Disappointed and overcome it Naturally Vents it self in Rage and Madness against those who have Detected it These who have the Advantage in a Dispute like those who Win are seldom Angrie It is the Losers who have leave to Talk to Complain and be Vneasie And as ther is not so much Pride among any sort of People as the Quakers they thinking themselves to be Above all the Rest of Mankind and far beyond all Christians to be Perfect and Sinless Equal to Prophets Apostles to Angels yea to God Himself as Prov'd in the Six first Sect. of the Sn. so have None that ever were Born Vented their Rage and Madness against their Opponents with so much Venom Nastiness and Diabolical Furie as the Quakers have done see Sn. Sect. xvii Such words as they have found out of Spite and Inveterat Rancor never came into the Heads of any either at Bedlam or Billings-Gate or were never so put together by any that I ever heard and I have had the Curiosity to see Mother Damnable whose Rethorick was Honey to the Passion with which the Quaker Books are stuff'd And which is more strange it is not in their Power to Help it or they will not For they have been told of it one wou'd think sufficiently in the first Edition of the Sn. And in the Supplement to the Second Edition N. vi G. Whitehead's Relapsing into it in his Answer to the Sn. is again laid before them And they are Desir'd and Provok'd to try if they can Help it if it be possible for them to write Temperately and with Decency like other People But that seems a Task too hard for them for here again in this Appendix they cannot leave that Common-Place of Reviling and Abusing of shewing their Teeth and Malice in the most Venomous fashion tho' nothing at all Relating to the Cause in Dispute Which is not any ways concern'd in the Character of the Author who writes against them Unless he had Vouch'd something in Prejudice to them upon his own Credit without other Authority And in that Case Re-criminating is allowable yet so far only as to the Truth of the Accuser to take off the weight of his Evidence For other Collateral Crimes tho' true are not by the Rules of Charity to be Objected for that only serves our Spite but not our Cause Now the Author of
their Discourses tho' they were otherwise valuable most Nauseous to all men of Sense or Breeding For which Reason I have Insisted so long upon it in this to Cure them if Possible of what is so just a Prejudice against them that we may get them to be a little Sociable and Tame to Converse like other men tho' we Differ from them without Flying in our Faces But if they still continue to Bite they must be Muzl'd If they say that they never Snarle but where they are Provok'd It is Impossible to Begin with them without Provoking of them for if you oppose any of their Errors then they Rave and Rage like Furies Ther is no Provocation like it And the Truth of it is the Author of the Sn. did Begin with Them And has got his Reward for thrusting his Hand into this Nest of Hornets But will they be more Moderate where they Begin with others Invite and Provoke them to the Dispute No. It is all one They are as Fierce upon the Attack as in their Defence Ther was one John Wigan an Annabaptist Preacher who was Prisoner with George Fox and others of them in the Castle at Lancaster in the Year 1664. And without his ever opening his Mouth to one of them only Passing thro' a Common Room where they were they Attack'd him and the first words were Leave off thy Deceiving the People Thou art a Deceiver To which he return'd no more Provoking an Answer than to Ask wherein he was a Deceiver and how they cou'd Prove him to be such Then they Challeng'd him to a Dispute To which he not being over Forward They Drew up a Paper of 24 Queres against him which they Fixt upon the Hall Door This Forc'd him to Undertake a Publick Dispute with them in the Hall of the Castle of which has given a Particular Account in a Book Intituled Anti-Christ's strongest Hold overturned Printed 1665. But this Debate not sufficing them they fix'd up many other Papers upon the Door and Gave him a Paper wherein as he tells p. 52. They Challenge All the Sons of Adam to Discourse with them of this their Fundamental Principle viz. The Light within Which was the subject of their Debate with Wigan who held That Christ doth not Lighten Every man that cometh into the world with a saving Light p. 10. This was all the Provocation he Gave them Besides Proving it so Effectually that they were not Able to Answer him But when their Arguments were spent they fell to their old Artillery of the most Bitter and Beastly Rayling and Pronouncing Curses against Him In the Name of the Lord. To All which he Return'd Answers truly Christian and which shew'd that he Deserv'd that Character which Jos Wyeth gave to the Author of the Sn. That he was a man of Temper Yet all this notwithstanding see how they Treated him not only in the Heat of Dispute when their Passions who have none but in Absolute sway might be put upon the Frett But in Cold Blood by Letters under their Hands Some of which he has Added to his Book by way of Appendix from p. 56. Thomas Curwen who was the Man first spoke to him and call'd him a Deceiver going thro' the Hall in the Castle at Lancaster and Challeng'd him to the Dispute writes thus to him John Wigane Oh the Plagues of God will be thy Portion and be Poured out upon thy Head Thou filthy Deamer who Vomits up thy own shame Thy Book will be thy overthrow For it 's no more to me than Chaff and Dirt under my Feet This was a Full Confutation However it do's not Deny the Matters of Fact and Truth of Wigan's Relation of this Conference and therefore we may Depend upon this Book of Wigan's for so far True as it Concerns the Quakers that they are not thereby Mis-Represented But what they found fault with Curwin tells him in another Paper which he sent him Thy ill-bred Behaviour says he to Wigan thy ill-bred saucy Tongue un-nurtured and un-bred And besides thy saucy Language Thy Hypocrisie and saucy Tongue and unmannerlines and ill-breeding To see Quakers set up for Breeding And Reprove Sauciness But Wigan Provok'd them to Instance any the least Ill-Breading or Sauciness which he had shou'd towards them and they cou'd not for he carry'd it all along the Dispute with great Moderation But it is all one for that when the Quaker-Blood is up it minds neither Right nor Wrong Friend nor Foe True nor False G. Fox and Margaret Fell whom he afterwards Marry'd were Both Present at this Dispute Chief Managers and most Obstreperous as Wigan words it in his Narrative p. 12. where he Describes George Fox Entring the Hall after the Dispute was Begun and strutting like the Colosus at Rhodes he clapt one foot upon a Seat and the other upon the Table about which the Rest were standing And with his Vnwieldy Bulk look'd as Big as Both the Giants in Yield-Hall It was Present Death to any Man that he Fell upon And it shew'd the Courage of Litle Wigan who Durst Dispute betwixt his Legs But George was this Breeding Did this look like Good Manners No Matter If it was not Civil it was very GREAT In this Posture Fox propos'd some Scriptures in support of his Light which when Wigan had Answer'd without one word of Reflection or Abuse upon the Quakers only giving a Fair and Calm Exposition of those Scriptures which the Quakers had Strained in Favour of their Notion of the Light within Margaret Fell seeing her Huge sweaty Lover Reduc'd to his Principles first Open'd in his Rescue and Cry'd out to Wigan having now the Giant at his Mercy Thou art a Miserable Creature This was seconded by James Brown says Wigan p. 20. with great Fierceness saying Thou art an Enemy of God Thomas Davenport put in his Thrust and said Thou hast Deny'd Christ to Day Richard Cubban wou'd not be behind he said Thou hast Deny'd the Lord that bought thee and wou'd undertake to Prove that Wigan was one of those False Prophets mention'd 2 Pet. 2.1 This was struck home like Brutus But they had not Leasure in that Fray to his hear Proofs and so the Knight escap'd for that time But afterwards the Fox Giant having Recover'd Breath and Courage yet but Faint Attack'd Wigan in these words Thou art not a Rational Man This was much below his ordinary Mettle He was out of Breath But he was Seconded to Purpose by a young Hardy Champion John Berley who Hewed him thus The Eternal Judgments of God will fall upon thee and Burn the up as Chaff Thou art worse than a Drunkard At which the Knight Fled but did not Escape so For James Park Pursu'd him to his Chamber and there gave him the Parting Blow with great Vehemency says Wigan p. 21. in these words Thou art a Lyar and a Deceiver and the Curse of God will be upon thee in thy Bed-Chamber and Closet and wherever thou
same they were from the Beginning and not Chang'd at all Do's it then seem Tolerable to our Clergy and Magistrates to Ly under the odious Names of Beast False-Prophet Dogs Witches Anti-Christs Devils Incarnate c Did the Quakers for their Vindication Indict Bugg at the Sessions in London and object to him their own Dayly Practice of Printing without License Did they Complain against him to the Secretary of State and upon a False Information That his Papers were Seditious and against the Government Procur'd them to be Seiz'd taken from the Book-sellers and Deliver'd into the Hands of the Quakers Did they Imprison William Bradford a Printer in Pensilvania seize his Letters or Types and Forc'd him out of the Dominions of the Quakers for Printing G. Keith's Defences against Them and Prosecuted likewise the Publishers and G. Keith himself for his Life Improving his Disputes against Them into a Design against the Government Are they so Watchful so Industrious so Impatient lest any Indignity shou'd be Past upon Them And must all orders of Men among us Ecclesiastical Civil and Military Bear their most Bitter Reproches without any Sign of Repentance And Court them and do them Favours for it or suffer them to Usurp Favors that were never Intended them It is Plain the Act of Toleration do's Except those who Deny in their Preaching or writing the Doctrin of the Blessed Trinity as it is Declar'd in the Articles of Religion That is in our 39 Articles These are the words of the Act. And it is as Plain that the Quakers have all along done it G. Fox says in his Great Mystery p. 246. The Scriptures do not tell the People of a Trinity nor Three Persons but the Common-Prayer-Mass-Book speaks of Three Persons brought in by the Father the Pope Here it is Plain that the Quakers do not Acknowledge that Trinity which is own'd in the Common-Prayer And the Common-Prayer-Book being every word an Act of Parliament it is Plain what Trinity is Intended in the Act of Toleration And the Opposers of That Trinity are the Persons Excepted out of the Act. To which the Quakers have no Pretence Unless they will Disown G. Fox herein They must likewise Disown Will. Penn who wrote a Book in the year 1668. to which he Gave this Title The Sandy Foundation shaken Or Those so Generally Believed and Applanded Doctrins of one God Subsisting in three Distinct and Separate Persons of the Impossibility of God's Pardoning Sinners without a Plenary Satisfaction Of the Justification of Impure Persons by an Imputative Righteousness are Refuted And p. 12. The Title of that Section is The Trinity of Distinct and seperate Persons in the Vnity of Essence Refuted from Scripture I know for a Pinch they will own the word Trinity as the Sabellians and Socinians meaning three Manifestations or Operations but not Three Persons But that is not the Trinity Intended in the Act. But the Trinity which is Profess'd in the Creed of St. Athanasius and more Briefly in our Litany viz. The Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and one God This is that Trinity Intended in the Act of Toleration And which whoever opposes are Excluded from Claiming any Benefit by that Act. And this is that Trinity which the Quakers have and still do Oppose And therefore they are altogether Excluded from any Benefit of that Act. But their Opposing is not so Intolerable as the Manner of it Their Cursing and Damning Horresco Referens The Holy and ever Blessed Trinity into the very Pit of Hell And making it nothing but Conjuration Ther is a Book wrote by George Whitehead and three other Quakers viz. Christopher Atkinson James Lancaster and Thomas Symons of whose Character see Sn. Sect. vi n. v. p. 43. c. Intituled Ishmael and his Mother cast out c. Against Mr. Townsend a Minister in Norwich Where p. 10. they tell him And here is the three Persons thou Dreams of which thou wouldst Divide out of One like a Conjurer And ibid. He Mr. Townsend is shut up with the three Persons in perpetual Darkness for the Lake and the Pit This is thus Quoted by Christoph Wade in his Quakery slain p. 9. To which G. Fox Replies in his Gr. Myst p. 246. who Denies not the Quotation but Re-Blasphemes against the H. Trinity in the words above-quoted and more which you will find in the same place Christoph Wade wrote an Answer to this Gr. Myst which bears this Title To all those called Quakers c. To which G. Whitehead Replies in his Truth defending the Quakers An. 1659. And denies not the above Quotations out of his own Book Ishmael c. But as the Quakers use when Pinch'd he slips it over and takes no notice of it Not that he was Converted from his Heresie for in several other Places of the same Book he continues to Blaspheme at his old Rate against the H. Trinity as in p. 40. 41. c. But finding that the Matter was not thus Forgot being Re-Objected against them about the year 1690 in An Epistle to the Friends c. at their next General Meeting in London Subscrib'd N. N. Ther was Publish'd an Answer to this and two other Books wrote against the Quakers by Some of Them Intituled The Christianity of the People commonly call'd Quakers Vindicated c. Printed An. 1690. There p. 28. coming to this Objection they go a New way to work and lay the Fault Partly upon the Printer And Looks on the words as wrong writ or wrong Printed Wrong Writ and wrong Printed are two things But they Jumble them here that the Reader might mistake and overlook the Author and so think it only an Error of the Press But what was this Error Why they say That instead of And the three Persons it shou'd have rather been About the three Persons which makes it non-sense but not less Blasphemy But however was this taken Notice of by the Quakers in all that time from the writing of that Answer to Townsend which the Quakers say in this last book ibid. was about the year 1654. till this Book of theirs An. 1690 that is for the space of 44 years No. That is not Alledg'd But they say ibid. that G. W. Corrected it long since where he has met with that Answer How do's this Appear O you must take his own word for it for is not He Infallible But was not so Fatal a Slip of Infallibility fit to be Corrected in Print to Remove that most Hideous and Blasphemous Scandal which cou'd not be done otherwise For to what end was G. W's Correcting it with a Pen upon a Book that came in his way if he did it How shou'd this Un-deceive the World Who had never heard of it if he had not now told them And it is at their Pleasure how far they will Believe him This is like another Error of the Press which they let slip 28 years together See Sat. Dis. Sect. ii N. iii. p.
28. And their Appealing from their Printed Books to the Original Copies See hereafter N. 7. of this same Section And how came it that none but G. W. Corrected this Monstrous Blasphemy Were not the Rest of the Quakers likewise Concern'd Well if this will not do they have another Excuse They say ibid. That G. W. positively Disowns the words and Affirms they are None of his and that he writ not that Part of the Answer to Townsend And G. W. was sorry his Name was to that Paper without Distinction between what he writ and what he did not write in it wherein those words are which gave the Occasion Let this Advertisement Clear G. W. and Others and suffice every Charitable Reader as we hope it will And G. W. sets his Approbation upon the Margin in these words To this I subscribe George Whitehead And now George thinks he is Lick'd Clean No Spark of Dirt can Stick upon him But how is it that G. W. let his Name stand to this Book for 44 years without Vindicating of himself or cou'd not his Infallibility of Discerning Discover this Blasphemy all that time Especially considering that Christoph Wade wrote against this Book and objects this very Blasphemy And that both George Fox and George Whitehead wrote severally Answers to Wade And yet Neither of them found any Fault with the Writing or Printing of these Words But if this shou'd Clear G. W. how will the Others get off upon whom G. W. lays the Blame The Quakers say Let this Advertisement clear G. W. and Others And upon the Title Page of their Book it is said to be Sincerely Tendered in behalf of the aforesaid People and their Ancient Friends Now these Ancient Friends whose Names are Affix'd to that Precious Book Ishmael along with G. W.'s are here fairly Left in the Lurch Disown'd and Abandon'd with all this Dreadful Blasphemy upon their Heads And yet they will not Disown them No. They Pretend to vindicate their Ancient Friends still and that they have not Chang'd from the Beginning As they tell not only in their Books but in the Printed News-Papers that All the World may take Notice of it They are still Infallible Every one of them in Particular See Sn. p. 34.284 And they are Conjurers who speak and not from the Mouth of The Lord. Now how came G. W. to write a Book jointly with Conjurers And to set his Name to it along with theirs And that without Distinction between what he writ and what he did not write in it For which he says now that he is Sorry But they who Jointly Sign a Book or a Bond are Answerable Jointly and Severally Such a Poor Excuse as this cou'd not be taken from any Man of Common Animadvertence For who wou'd set his Name with others as Joint Authors of a Book if he had not weighed as well what the others had wrote as what Himself wrote Yet this is all the Defence that the Quaker Infallibility can make for it self that is That it did not Mind but let things Slip at Peradventure But then to Inscribe their Heedless Indigested Stuff as the Word of the Lord which these Quakers do This is Intolerable And the Blasphemy not to be Endur'd For this they give such another Excuse in the same place of The Christianity of the Quakers p. 28. putting it again upon the Printer They say that instead of Which is the Word of the Lord it shou'd have been From the Word How sensless is this for that which is From the Word of the Lord is not that The Word of the Lord But say they We shall not stand by the said Title as 't is worded without such Amendment Yet Charitably think it was worded Contrary to the Intent and Meaning of the Author This is Pretty But how then came the Quakers even the Great Fox himself to say of their vile Scribles as they almost do every where This is the Word of God See Instances particularly of G. Fox in the Sn. p. 89 90. Can we suppose that this was Contrary to the Intent and Meaning of the Author How then shall we know what was their Meaning They may Alter all their Books and every word in them Truly this wou'd be their Best way They will never be Right or their Books passable till this be done And if we cou'd take them at their Word they are in a fair way towards it For here they say That they will not stand by the said Blurrs in their Books as 't is worded without such Amendment Among other of their Infallible Errata I have spy'd two Letters in this same Page which I suppose must go into the Basket next time the Dust-Man comes about They are two Letters which are grown very offensive to the Quakers of late viz. G. K. But they say here We know no reason to Disown our Friends G. K. or R. B. for we have a True Tender and Christian esteem of Both. These were George Keith and Robert Barclay And p. 26. say they We have cause to Assure our selves that both G. Keith and R. B. wou'd Abominate this False-Brother's Attempt to make Divisions between them and their Ancient Brethren Yet now G. Keith is the Great Incendiary and Accuser of the Brethren An Apostat and as such Excommunicated by the Sanhedrin of the Quarkers But what Cause they had to Assure themselves of this G. K. will fall foul upon their Infallible Spirit of Discerning which they Insist upon Now as strongly as ever See hereafter Sect. v. And say that none can be a Minister of Christ who cannot Discern what Spirit is in any Man whether a Good or an Evil Spirit at the first sight without Speaking ever a word See Sn. p. 33. c. of which a Pleasant Instance is hereafter given of G. Fox in Sect. v. But to Return we have seen the Silly Excuses which the Quakers have made for that Most Horrible and Cursed Blasphemy before Quoted which they have Belched out against the H. Trinity of Damning the three Persons into Hell But they have another Put off which tho' they have not Adventur'd upon in Print that I know of yet some of them make use of in Private Conversation which is That it is only the word Persons which they Doom to the Lake and to the Pit with those who use that Vnscriptural word with Relation to God or Christ But then they must send Will. Penn thither too who in his Sandy Foundation p. 15. speaking of the Son of God the True Light which Lightneth every man c. says Who in Person Testify'd c. Tho' G. Whitehead in his Quakers Plainess p. 24. says That is not our Phrase that I know of or Remember And That the Title Person is too Low and Vn-scriptural to give to the Christ of God Now then let him Remember now let him Know That his Friend Will. Penn has us'd it And let them Reckon for thus Contradicting and Thwarting one
make the same Repartee upon Will. Penn and G. Whitehead Was it for this Cause Good William and George c. They Examin another Excuse for Wiggs viz. Some say shaving is to Prevent the Pox. To which they Answer Small honour to wigwearers to Incur such a suspicion of it This suspicion comes Near some of the most Able Holders-forth among the Quaking-Friends See Sn. p. 4.7 I know not whether G. Archer or if C. Atkinson wore a Wigg But he might have had Occasion for it from what you will find in the Sn. p. 43. c. And a Quaker said lately at the Conference in Norfolk That he was at Last Hanged for a High-way-Man A pretty Life and Death for a Quaker Apostle And therefore that they did Disown him It was full time They will Quit any of their Friends at the Gallows But they will not yet Disown his Books which G. Fox G. Whitehead c. have Defended and owned For then they must disown Fox Whitehead Howgil and Burrough c. who wrote a Preface to one of his Books call'd The Standard of the Lord And with 15 or 16 more of the Eminent Quakers Subscrib'd to it And they never Disown'd any of Atkinson's Books but Defended and Justify'd them when the Professors brought Quotations out of them But to Return In that Precious Declaration against Wiggs it is said That the Apostles went with Sandabs and a Single Coat whose Examples the famousest Primitive Christians followed yea and Primitive Quakers too who Generally went Bare-foot because they had no Shoos And few of them were Worth Two Coats or had one Good one Which might have been one of the Causes why they brought up the fashion of going Naked And they Urg'd the Example too of the Prophets for that They Boast ibid. how John Millner a Friend about Northampton a Wigg-maker left off his Trade and was made to Burn one in his Prentices sight and Print against it And that John Hall a Gentleman of Northumberland being Convinced sitting at a Meeting was shaken by the Lords Power Pluck'd off and threw down his Wigg c. When shall we see such a Power in the Quaker-Meetings now To see their Wiggs fly about or left for Mops to clean the House and they come out all Elisha's They must do this or else Renounce their Ancient Friends and their Precious Testimonies Else that is not True which they say in their yearly Epistle for the year 1696 That what their Light Convinced them of to be Evil in the Beginning it Reproves still For it Convinced them of these things Fine-Houses Coaches Wiggs c That they were very Evil In The Trumpet of the Lord Blown before Quoted p. 2. They made All those to be mere Heathens who us'd these things especially the Priests who Suffer'd them Thus say they And you say he is a Minister of Christ and he saith you are Christians Whereas you are All Heathens both Priest and People And so sure were the Quakers then of the Truth of this And of the Force of these their Doughty Arguments That they say ibid. p. 5. And if you will not believe this you wou'd not believe Dives and he shou'd Rise from the Dead Yet ther are not now more Dives's among any sort of People than the Quakers They are Rich and fare Sumptuously And they Direct these their Dictates to Christ Himself for thus say they ibid. To the Light in all your Consciences I speak Now they make this Light to be Christ and God Himself And thus they take upon them to Instruct and Teach the Light This Confounds All their Preaching and Teaching For has the Light has Christ need of being Taught by Them But this belongs to another Head And is spoke of in Prim. Heres to which this Appendix is said to be an Answer But says nothing to it Therefore I Return and go on with the Present Subject VIII Their Primitive Principle was That none shou'd Preach or Pray but as the Spirit mov'd them And they brought it as an Argument against all other Professions that they did not Preach c. by the Spirit because they had set and stated Times for it as if the Spirit were oblig'd to come at their Appointment Yet now the Spirit moves Them just at such Times as they Appoint And they have their Stated Days and Hours of Worship like other People IX They now Swear in the same Terms which before they Declar'd to be a Direct Oath and yet Pretend to stand still to their former Principle against the Lawfulness of taking an Oath See Sat. Dis. Sect v. N. vii p. 54. It wou'd be Endless to Pursue their Contradictions see a Catalogue that Mr. Peniman has Printed of them This I hope will be sufficient to shew that the Method taken in this Antidote and Appendix of bringing Contrary Testimonies is no Clearing of the Objections brought against the Quakers while they Refuse to Disown those Heresies c. which are plainly Prov'd upon them It is as if a Man Accus'd of Treason shou'd bring Testimonies where he spoke Honourably of the King but did not offer to Disprove any Part of the Evidence brought against him Double meanings and Cross-purposes 4. Ther is another Method of Great service to the Quakers in Answering their Adversaries and Deceiving of them which is The Double-Meanings they have in their words whereby tho' they speak the same Words that you do and know your Meaning fully in them yet they Mean them in a Quite Different Sense And so in Quakers Plainess make their Escape But ther being so much said of this in the First Part § v. p. 9. c. I need Add no more here tho' I cou'd Exemplify this their Artifice in Many other Instances were I not Tender of the Reader 's Labour and Mine own And that I think these are sufficient at least till Answer'd Ther is Another Trick of the Quakers may come in with this Head And I cannot give it a Better Name than Cross-Purposes that is They will not Answer Directly but as we say About the Bush But ther is always a Reason for it when they so do Thus if you Ask them whether they are Perfect even as God They will Answer Be ye Perfect as your Heavenly Father is Perfect And As He is so are we in this World If you Ask whether the very Body of Christ Flesh Blood and Bones be in them They will Answer We are Bone of His Bone and Flesh of His Flesh If you ask How they Understand these Scriptures whether Strictly and in a Literal Sense They will Answer Let him that Readeth Vnderstand And He that hath Ears to Hear let Him Hear And no other satisfaction will you get from them But the meaning is They Dare not Assert their Blasphemies Broad-Fac'd And wou'd thus Hide them But this shews them Plain And to what Sense they wrest the Scriptures which they thus Quote These are the sort of Answers you
speaking of it says In which Chapter the Malice and Impertinency of that Discourse is somewhat shewn Here is a Somewhat again to save their Credit But they tell not What! for that they cou'd not Yet that Discourse is Answer'd and there is an End of it It is very Easie Answering Books at this Rate And shews the Quaker-Cause to be past a Defence only something they must say to Amuse their Implicit Followers and those who will not be at the pains to Read what they write and Compare it with what is wrote against them Will. Penn at the End of his Primitive Christianity spends Eight Sections to Enumerate their Exceptions against the Church of England And these being the Causes of their Seperation are Particularly but Briefly Reply'd to at the Close of Primitive Heresie p. 30 31. and 32. And one wou'd think this a very Material Point for the Quakers to Justifie their Seperation The Appendix concludes with a Reply to this Which I will set down Every word to save the Reader the Pains of going thither for it Thus then it follows He now Numbers up in Page 30 31 32. divers things wherein he wou'd fain have the Church and Vs agree they not being sufficient as he says for Seperation This Man is of a very Changeable Humor in his Title and for near all the Book we are sad Hereticks but now he wou'd have us Associates which if we will not be he gives us a Threatning Advertisement that he will Trump up more Heresies upon us Well in that let him do as God shall permit But of two things he may be assured that we shall have no Communion with his Lies nor he true Peace in Persisting in them Thus the Appendix ends And ther is not one Syllable more in Defence of all the Alledg'd Causes of their Seperation Yet this is call'd an Answer to Primitive Heresie And it comes in but by the By as an Appendix to G. Whitehead's Antidote So now that Book Prim. Heres is Answer'd too And if you shou'd urge any of the Answers there given to the Causes which the Quakers Pretend to Justifie their Seperation and Schism from the whole Catholick Church They wou'd say O that Book of Prim. Heres is Answer'd And so their Cause stands Good and Firm Thus Easily do they Impose upon Themselves and wou'd Deceive the World if they cou'd I might give many more Instances of this Kind indeed thro' All their Answers But I cannot stay Their Pretending thaâ— the Quotations brought out of their Books are not Full because more than what is Pertinent is not Quoted 6. I must come to another Egregious Trick which they use when Quotations are brought out of their Books so Express and Full that nothing can be Answer'd to them then they look and see if ther be nothing else spoke of in the Place Quoted besides that which is brought against them of which they can seldom miss in their own Writings which are all Confus'd and Huddl'd a hundred things together without Head or Tail And then if the Objector brings only that which is Proper to the Subject he is upon as he ought to do to avoid Confusion they Cry out that they are falsly Quoted Why because forsooth the whole is not Quoted tho' All be Quoted that is Pertinent to the Subject which is all that ought to be Quoted and more wou'd be a Fault Thus in Prim. Heres p. 10. where the Subject was the Quakers Contempt of Baptism a Quotation is brought out of Edw. Burrough's works p. 190 191. where he Reckons up several things as Damnable Heresies such as calling the Steeple-House a Church saying that Singing David's Experiences in Metre was singing to the Praise of God and other like Perilous things Among the Rest he Names Sprinkling of Infants as they Contemptuously call Baptism and not only Reckons this among the other Damnable Heresies but says that to say Sprinkling Infants with Water is Baptism into the Faith of Christ this is the Doctrin of the Devil And this is thus Quoted in Prim. Heres Now what says the Appendix to this Do's it Deny the Quotation or any word of it No. What then it says p. 33. That ther are several things left out That is true For they did not belong to the present Subject which was Baptism But is not all that is said of Baptism in that Quotation And is it not Nam'd there among the Damnable Heresies And is it not said of Baptism particularly i. e. the Sprinkling of Infants and calling it a Baptism into the Faith of Christ that This is the Doctrin of the Devil Yea. None of all this is Deny'd What objection then can be made that other things which were not the Subject in hand shou'd be left out And which wou'd have Confus'd the Subject more if they had been in You shall see Appendix says That as the words lie in the Charge they are not like E. B ' s. words Why are they not his very Words Yea. But they are not Like them It says further The Snake has here declar'd himself an Enemy to well-plac'd slops and given us to Vnderstand that he more Merits Advancement in Spain than in England Why what 's the Matter now Don't they Love Well-plac'd stops in Spain As sure as can be here was some Reflection meant about Popery It is a Delicat Simile if Bays knew how to Apply it He was very Bigg with it he cou'd not keep it till the time of its Birth but threatens us with it two Pages before he says in the former Chapter p. 31. I shall anon Prove him this Snake to be a Splitter of Sentences an Enemy to Colons and Semi-Colons This Appen brought in to shew his Learning and that he had lodg'd one night next Door to a Grammer School Yet he looks a little Abash'd 'T is a Hopeful Lad He says his Lesson delicatly Come don't Cry don't be Asham'd Give me a Blow and I will Beat 'em What do they Laugh Did they do it Did they vex him Come The Direction of a Quakers Letter to one John Church at the Sun in Friday-street near the Church yard let us hear how your Master at Wansworth do's Dictate to your Precious youth Sit down Write Boys For John Steeple-House Comma in Sixth-Day Street Semi-colon at the Sign of the Great Light Colon near the Grave-yard There is the Punctum the Full stop Admirationis Captus Capta Captum O the Learning of Colons and Semi-Colons O ye Splitters of Sentences But Come All Play will not do We must to School again How Towardly soever you have been at your Colons and Semi-Colons you were put too soon to your Latin or to soon Left it And as Men are often Fondest of what they are worst at you had not the wit to Conceal it You had a Mind to have some Learning in your Book that the Poor Quakers might hold up their Hands and Bless themselves for that
Eyes of those who are Sincere among Themselves I will undergo the Penance of Exposing them Appen p. 35. makes a Great Noise of wrong done the Quakers in Prim. Heres Sect. v. by the Charge of their Forbidding to Marry and Preaching up of Fornication As if this were Laid out as a General Charge upon the whole Body of the Quakers Tho' it is Expressly sai'd in the very Beginning of the Sect. p. 12. That they are not All Charg'd with it nor Any of them but only the New Quakers in America And this Appen do's confess too And do's not pretend to Clear them from it Where then was the Abuse in Placing of the Charge O says Appen it s being against the whole Body of the Quakers is Imply'd in the Title Page and abundantly Charg'd in the Contents For says he I cannot find one Marry'd or Single Quaker left out First for the Title-Page ther is not one Syllable of it or any thing like it And the Contents saying Their forbidding to Marry is no more than the Hand of a Clock to Point where you may find the Hour And the Page being Nam'd There you See who are or are not Charg'd O but says Appen The first Charge runs over England and all the Rest of the World where ther are Quakers the last is Limited only to America Can any man make Sense of this This Implys as if ther were Two Charges one for England and one for America But by the first Charge they only mean the Title and Contents which they say Run over England and all the World of the Quakers This is Non-sense as to the Contents for they never go but where the Book go's Indeed Title-Pages are stuck up or may be put into the Advertisements of News-Papers But ther is not the least Hint towards this Charge of Marriage in the Title-Page So that all this Cry of the Quakers is no Wooll Yet Appen calls this Looseness in the Author and at best an Equivocal Lye They must give some Ill-words or else they cannot Speak If it were worth the while to make Reprisals upon these Quakers and Re-criminate upon them I might go over as many Books I believe as they have wrote for I can say it of as many as I have seen and shew not only in their Contents but Title-Pages the most Fulsom Boasts of what you will find nothing in the Book I have in the First Part given several Instances of it as to the Contents of the Antidote and cou'd give many more both in that and this Appen but that it is obvious to every one who will be at the Pains to Compare their Contents with their Performance I will here give the Reader one Instance because it is a Pleasant one and Discovers some other of their Principles Ther is a Gentleman who was long of their Communion now one of their Seperatists and a member of Turners-Hall Mr. Thom. Crisp who tho' a Quaker and Zealous even to Suffering with them yet run not to all their Mad Extravagancies he allow'd himself to Pay Tythes as a Just Debt being Enacted by the Laws of the Land for which he with others such Moderate Quakers were severely Censur'd by them He committed another Great Offence against their Orders and Constitutions he was Marry'd in a Church and by a Minister of the Church of England which Rais'd their Indignation Exceedingly Therefore they Press'd him very hard to make a Publick Confession of this Grievous Crime and to sign an Instrument of Condemnation against himself for it Pursuant to their Disciplin But not being able to Prevail they underhand and without his Knowledge dealt with his Wife who being Terrify'd with their Threatnings all In the Name of the Lord God Almighty did sign such a Paper of Condemnation as they Requir'd But Mr. Crisp knew nothing of it for several years after till they themselves upon his further Contests with them Publish'd it in Print without the Consent and against the mind of Mrs. Crisp who was not willing her Husband shou'd know it lest he might be Displeas'd with her But neither the sacredness of the Seal of Confession nor the Hazard of making Difference 'twixt Husband and Wife was strong enough for their Resentment when they thought they cou'd Reach a Blow at one who had Oppos'd them or rather who wou'd not be Intirely and Implicitly subject to their Popedoms for no other Opposition had Mr. Crisp then given them but only as to their Disciplin in the Jurisdictions of their Womens Meetings and other Institutions set up by George Fox as Cardinal Primat contrary to their Original Principle of leaving every one to the Measure of the Light within Himself Under which Pretence they Drew many away from their obedience to the Church But wou'd not Indure that Loose Plea as W. Penn calls it when urg'd by some among themselves See Sn. Sect. vi N. x. paragr 12. p. 79 against that High Authority which their Leaders Assum'd over all under their Dominion This was all the Contest at that time betwixt the Seperate and other Quakers as appears in what was then wrote by John Story Wilkinson Rogers Crisp Bugg and others of the Seperats wherein ther is nothing of those Errors in Doctrin and Damnable Heresies which they have since Discover'd but were then Involv'd in as Deep as the Rest Yet for their Refusing to be subject to this Plenitude of the Quaker-Church-Authority they call'd them Judases Apostats Devils In-carnate c. tho' Agreeing with them in Doctrin and all the other Articles of the Quaker-Creed It was this made them Discover Mrs. Crisp her Paper of Condemnation against her self for being Marry'd by a Priest of the Church of England in Revenge upon Mr. Crisp who joyn'd with their Seperatists But they were Disapointed of their Malice in thinking to make him Un-Easie as to his Wife for he as a wise Man Consider'd their Importunity and Terrible Denunciations of no less than Damnation to all who wou'd not come under their Disciplin which might work upon a Woman that had given her self up to be Guided by them And as he ought he plac'd the Abuse upon them who had thus Impos'd upon the Credulity of a woman whom they had Deluded to Believe them Thus says he in the 5th Part of his Babels Builders p. 9. Printed An. 1682. It is like She as too many more have gave too much Credit to what some of G. Fox 's CHEATS said And She is not the first that hath been Deceived by you And perhaps some among you that have Prated others out of their Money might Prate her unto the writing and giving you that Paper you Pretend to This is thus Quoted by G. Whitehead in his Judgement Fixed p. 290. And how do's he Answer it Why thus O Thomas be Asham'd of thus Abusing thy Wife And in his Contents which is the thing I am Coming to he sets it down thus p. 162. His Thom. Crisp's Abuse of his
And they Bow after the same Fashion Who wou'd speak Three words to Purchace their Ungainly Conges as Stiff and Grave as an Elephant's or to see them thrust out a Limb for a Salute as if they were going to make a Pass at you But ther is a Mystery at the Bottom of Iniquity and Rebellion All that was Couch'd under the Parallel that is made to them of Judas and his Gaulonites And we may the Rather Believe this because the Quakers in this Appen do in plain Terms Justifie Judas for having Repeated his Principle as given in Prim. Heres out of Josephus That he and his Followers wou'd Expose themselves to all Torments rather than call any Mortal Man Lord or Master Appen Answers p. 49. Now Believe me Friends I cannot See the Heresie of this Doctrin Here then the Charge is Confess'd And the Parallel Acknowleg'd to be Just betwixt Judas and the Quakers who own That they Maintain the same Principle with Him And who can Doubt but that it is to the same End They Quarrel Prim. Heres for bringing the Testimony of Josephus as they wou'd make the Reader believe instead of one of the Primitive Fathers which Appen p. 48. calls Canonizing this Jew Whereas Josephus is only Quoted to shew the Principles and Sect of Judas Galilaeus not for the Condemning of them That is shewn from the Apostles And what Canonizing is hear of Josephus Can the Reader bear with this Trifling But these men will Complain nay Boast if they are not Answer'd But whether is this so much a Canonizing of Josephus as Appen do's of Judas who Justifies his wicked Heresie And Consequently must Rank his Sufferings for it upon the score of Martyrdom as of the Quakers for the same Cause And is Every Primitive Father that is Quoted therefore Canoniz'd But what Patience can hold out to see these Quakers make objections for want of Primitive Fathers And to Quote them too as Gibson before and others Do they lay any stress upon the Primitive Fathers or Pretend to Follow Them O yes by all means They wou'd fain be in Good Company And they call Quakerism now of Late Primitive Christianity in which Book ther is not one Syllable of what the Primitive Fathers held not one Quotation from one of them nor any of them so much as Nam'd How then do's their Christianity appear to be Primitive No matter for that Primitive is a Good word especially to stand upon a Title-Page which 100 Read for one that Reads the Book This shews They wou'd be Primitive or have the Reputation of it And so they have As Primitive as Judas whose Doctrine they Espouse and the Apostles Oppos'd But if they are so much for Primitive what say they to those Quotations which are brought in Prim. Heres out of the most Ancient and Vn-doubted of the Fathers And which Confront their Tenets very Expresly For them They care not two pence for as many more of them Appen p. 10. 11. calls them Stale Tracts of Vncertain Persons Do's he shew how they are Vncertain No not he Let them look to that or have the Quakers any Better Editions or other Works of those Fathers than those which are come to our Hands No no no They have None of them they Hate and Abhor them they were a Company of Bishops and Doctors But ne'r a one among them like George Fox or Edw. Burrough or G. Whitehead or Little Appen No not one of them Therefore says Appen p. 10. We shall not need to be at all Afrighted if we do find our selves to Differ from what is to be found under the specious Names of Ignatius Polycarp c. tho' Living within 150 years after Christ nor under the Great Names of them call'd Fathers in the Succeeding Ages And p. 5. It will not Avail tho' he bring many Clouds of such Witnesses And notwithstanding he calls this a Cavil we learn'd from Elder Dissenters we are not Afraid to stand by it and therefore Pay little Reverence to those nor any thing not Purely Apostolical But Ignatius and Polycarp liv'd in the Apostles Days and were Disciples to the Apostles What is that to Us Quakers It is no matter what they were or where they were We will have None of them So set your heart at Rest We have Better at Home We never Lik'd G. Keith since he was so Insolent to Compare the Books of our Friends to them call'd the Greek and Latin Fathers as supposing Friends Books to have been written by no Better Guidance See Sat. Dis Sect. iv n. v. p. 47. nor Clearer Light than theirs who Lived and wrote in those Dark times For which Thom. Ellwood has Pay'd him to Purpose And it is no wonder that he has left Us. For when any once get Fathers and Councils and Antiquity and such stuff into their Heads they can never Endure Us afterwards Therefore we Hate all Schools and Colleges and Learning and Human Reason for all these things make against Us. And now that we are Setting up Schools c. of our own I 'm afraid we shall not be Long-Liv'd That by the bye Therefore Appen wisely throws off all your Fathers and Primitives which serve us only for Title-Pages But says p. 5. Indeed if he can Absolutely Determin the Question by the Scriptures the work is done Yet in the Last Case against Judas and the Quakers the Proof was brought from Scripture and from nothing else And yet the work is not done For then you call'd for the Fathers then he has not Perform'd his Promise of Giving us Quotations out of the Fathers but puts Josephus upon us and Canonizes him for a Father But will the Scriptures do Then indeed the work wou'd soon be done Will you let the Scriptures be the Rule we will Ask no more Appen Denies it as shewn before Yet they will stand to what the Scripture Commands Provided the same thing be Requir'd by Their Own Spirit Anew See Sn. Sect. vii p. 92 93. that is if they Like it They cannot Deny but that the Scripture Requires Honour to be Pay'd to Magistrates Or that Taking off the Hat is not a Paying of Honour as Prov'd above And therefore Except the Reason I have Given which they will not Give I cannot Conjecture the shadow of a Reason for their Refusing it They say as Howgil before That God has not Commanded it Not Particularly as to the Hat Neither has He Commanded to take off our Hats at Prayer Why then did they Contend so zealously for that They Render themselves Self-Condemn'd They will as Judas call no man Lord or Master Why then do they call any Man Father for both are Forbidden in the same Place Matth. xxiii 9. And in whatever Sense they take the one they may take the other But their Practice shews their meaning They do call their Quaker Masters by the Name of Masters And they do now use the word Lord Speaking of or to Noble-Men but
they will not add the word My to it or Say My Lord that is None but a Quaker must be Lord or Master to a Quaker They must not be Servants to Men that is to the Men of the World They who Expect as the Jews to be Lords of the whole World And the Quakers do Apply to Themselves all those Promises made to the Jews which they Understand of a Temporal Monarchy They make the Jews a Type of the Quakers Sam. Fisher in his Several Messages which he said he had By Commission from God p. 30. carries on the Parallel twixt the Jews and the Quakers and Endeavours to shew how the Promises to the Jews were Fulfill'd in the Quakers and speaking in the Person of God Says My People that were a Type of Them i.e. of the Quakers That is the Jews who where once God's People were in that a Type of the Quakers who think Themselves now to be the Only People of God and Heirs to all those Promises that were made to the Jews In the Testimonies to Francis Howgil affix'd before his works as is the Custom of the Quakers Thomas Langham and Thom. Carelton give theirs in Verse the Quakers are Special Good at Poetry and there Apply the Prophesies of Jeremiah and Ezekiel to Themselves thus say they of Fr. Howgil He was no Academian as he said But in our Northern Region he was Bred. Whereby this Observation may accrew That Jeremiah Prophesied true Because he said out of the North shou'd come A Nation that shall Ruin Babylon And this my Friend of whom I speak was one Among many Worthies more that shot at Babylon Which out of the North arose c. G. Fox and the Original Quakers came out of the North of England Omne Malum ab Aquilone thence they were very fond of the North and apply'd to Themselves all the Prophesies where the North was Nam'd or not Nam'd for they made the Branch and the Star of Righteousness arise out of the North of England that is G. Fox whom they made the Christ For Jesus of Nazareth did not come out of the North of England But Fox their Messiah did I say this because some of them wou'd now pretend as if this had not been spoke of Fox but of Christ G. Fox wrote a Book An. 1656. for the Conversion of the Jews to Quakerism to which he gave this Title A Visitation to the Jews from Them whom the Lord hath visited from on High Among whom He hath Perform'd His Promise made with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and to his Seed which Moses Saw and the Prophets gave Testimony of to which Seed the Apostles Witnessed Which Seed We are Here is a Full Recognition to Themselves and Their Vniversal Heirship If They are that Seed to which Abraham Moses the Prophets and Apostles did Witness they are no other than Christ For He was that Seed Gal. iii. 16. However in the Lowest Sense can be put upon it they think Themselves the Heirs of all the Promises made to the Jews Among which that of Vniversal Monarchy was certainly one And Fulfill'd in the Person of Jesus of Nazareth But the Quakers turn it to their Christ the Light within In whose Right they think That they have a Full and In-defeasable Title to it And then indeed All the King 's of the World ought to come with Cap in Hand to the Quakers And State belongs to Them of which they have already taken Possession in Refusing to Pay Homage to any Powers upon the Earth so much as to move a Hat to the Best of them or Treat them with Less Familiarity or other Ceremony than Plain Thee and Thou Of which we come next to speak and of the like Fig-Leaf Excuses they give for this as for that of the Hat Thereby to keep their Designs Undiscover'd Concerning the Pure Language of Thee and Thou Appen brings in by Head and Shoulders the business of their Singularity in Theeing and Thouing for ther was nothing spoken of it in Prim. Heres But this is a Great Point with the Quakers and cost them both Money and Pains in setting out a Large Folio upon this Subject call'd The Battle-dore under the Name of G. Fox which go's thro several Languages of which G. F. knew not one Letter tho he Impudently puts his Name not only to the Book but to the several Pages where the Hebrew Greek c. is Set down only to shew the use of the Singular Number to a Single Person which no body ever yet did Deny Yet the Quakers gave Large money one Jew had 60 pounds for this Learned Collection not worth one Half-Penny And that All might not be Lost Appen will have it Canvass'd here And Demands with Insulting p. 49. That any Apostle or Primitive Father shou'd be given to Condemn the use of the singular Number to a single Person I never heard of any that did Condemn it or to Authorize the use of the Plural in the same Case It was not a Case worth any of their Notice to Enter into little poor Grammar niceties Every Nation is Master of their own Language And England now has by Custom made the word You both of a Singular and Plural Signification And what has any man to say to this If you speak of the Propriety or Impropriety of this as to Criticising at which the Quakers are Able hands let them shew their Learning and Compare all the Languages in the World I wish they were no worse Employ'd But to make a Case of Conscience of this and set up this as their Discriminating Mark upon a Religious Account Exceeds Bedlam What Scripture what Authority have they for this Except G. Fox's Blasphemous Journal where he says p. 24. When the Lord sent me forth into the World He forbade me to put off my Hat to any and I was Required to Thee and Thou all Men and Women It was the same Lord that sent forth Judas upon the same Errand of Levelling to Destroy all Distinctions of Men and so bring the World into Confusion And lest our Outward Carriage shou'd not be sufficient here is Rudeness to Superiors brought into the Tongue as well as Hands Feet or Head That we shou'd call them by no Better Names than they call us And so verify the Old Proverb Familiarity breeds Contempt But if G. Fox had this by Special Command from God what needed he go to Grammar for it Or did God give Extraordinary Revelations to the world for no other End but to save Priscian's Head from being Broke in English Blasphemous Wretch These are like the Silly Senseless Excuses they have about the Hat But the Bottom of it is nothing but Pride and Contempt of Superiors because they think none Superior to Themselves If they Suppose that Genders and Cases Singular and Plural are such matters of Conscience why not the Eight Parts of Speech Syntaxis Prosody and Orthography too Colons Semi-Colons c. Right Spelling and
That Man can no more be a Light to his mind than he is to his Body then cannot the Natural Vnderstanding of it Self see any thing not only of Spiritual but of Natural Matters more than the Eye when ther is no Extraneous Light That is it is Actually Blind But G. Fox's Blundering Spoyls at every Turn Will. Penn's Fine Schemes for this Mar-all will have the Light not to be any thing sent into the Vnderstanding or Eye of the Soul News out of the North. p. 19. but to be the Eye it Self The God of the World says he doth blind your Eye which is the Light By which Argument the Light it Self which they say is Christ is Blind And the Eye Christ is put out by the Devil who is the God of the World And this Hideous Blasphemy must be the Consequence upon the Quaker Foundation if ther be no Natural Light in the Vnderstanding And more if according to Fox the Divine Light that is Christ be the Vnderstanding it Self The Apostle says The Eyes of your Vnderstanding being Enlightned Eph. 1.18 Do's Christ Enlighten Himself Is the Light a Light to its Self so the Quakers think who Preach to the Light and Instruct Christ Himself ibid. p. 42. 43. To that in Every one of your Consciences I speak Says G. Fox which is the Light which Light is Christ This was his and the First Quakers common stile But since it is much left off among them for they have Discover'd the Nonsense and the Blasphemy of Preaching to Christ Instructing and Admonishing of Christ Which yet they cannot get off while they Allow no other Light in the Conscience They cannot come off with this Distinction which they bring in to Amuse the World of the Natural Light being only Un-Capable to see the Mysteries of Faith by its own Native and Inherent Powers For that has been Yielded to them And they Oppos'd it as it is Instanc'd in Prim. Heres p. 20. It was Granted by an Opponent to the Quakers in these words That no man by that Native Light Inherent in him had Power to Believe This G. Fox Opposes in his Gr. Mystery p. 42. and says The Light that doth Enlighten Every man he calls it Native and Inherent The names he gives of Native and Inherent are his own out of the Truth And Appen p. 54. do's Justifie this by way of Excuse he says That G. Fox had Reason to Oppose this Tenet Why Because he says his Adversary did mean by Native and Inherent Light that Light wherewith Every one that cometh into the World is Enlightned withal And what harm was ther in this Has not every man and must he not have what is Natural to Man else he were not a Man O but Christ is call'd The Light that Lighteth Every man Joh. 1.9 And what then May not Christ Enlighten a man that has a Natural Light in his Vnderstanding Indeed how otherwise cou'd He Enlighten him more than a Beast if he had no more Natural Light than a Beast to Vnderstand and Receive the Influences of the Holy Spirit It is said that Christ did open the Vnderstandings of His Disciples to Vnderstand the Scriptures Will it follow that they had no Natural Light in their Vnderstandings No. Therefore they had And Christ by the Blessed Influence of His Holy Spirit did Open and Improve their Light and work upon it You will not say That Christ the Light did Open the Light that is Open or Instruct Himself Therefore it was another Light i. e. The Natural Light of their Vnderstandings which He Opened Now here we have the Quaker Notion Truly viz. That ther is no Light in man that is Native or Inherent Tho' as W. P. says Some Mistakenly call it Natural Light But what other men Mistakenly call Natural Light that the Quakers say is the Light which is Christ and God And they say That ther is no other Light in the Vnderstanding of Man but that Now no man ever call'd Christ the Natural Light of our Vnderstanding What is it then which we Mistakenly call Natural Light It is not Natural say the Quakers else we do not call it so Mistakenly Is it not therefore Plain that they Deny all Natural Light otherwise how do we Mistake in Calling it Natural This Quotation out of W. P. is mention'd in Prim. Her p. 20. But not a word is said to it in Appen For indeed I think it cannot be Answer'd It is a full Demonstration that the Quakers Deny all Natural Light all that ever Mankind meant by the Light of Nature They will have no Light in Man but the very Original Divine Light which is God And this is the Original of all their Horrible Heresies as shewn in Prim. Her This do's necessarily Inferr that every Man is God for this Light which is God however it be in it self Supernatural to us yet if as W. P. says it be Natural for us to have it then it is of our Nature and consequently every Man is God even by Nature And whatever is Natural for us to have must needs be Native and Inherent Why then will they not have it call'd Natural or Native and Inherent Because Men do call the Light of Nature so And this is to beat down that Notion of any Natural Light in Man Thom. Lawson in his Book call'd The Lip of Truth opened Printed 1656. p. 47. says As for a Natural Light the Scriptures mention no such thing so when thou writes again acquaint People what thou means by Natural the Apostle speaks of a Divine Nature which the Saints were Partakers of 2 Pet. 1.4 But why do's Thom. Lawson Limit this to the Saints Here the Quakers confound themselves For they say That every Man that comes into the World is Partaker of the Light within But the Apostle here even as T. L. interprets it says of none but the Saints that they are Partakers of the Divine Nature which is Plainly the Import of that Text. And therefore the Light within and the Divine Nature are two things Because some may Partake of the One who do not of the Other Yet T. L. will not allow of Two Lights Or that ther is any Light in Man that can be call'd Natural Spiritual Reason or Grace for which his Adversary Contends in these very words But he Answers p. 42. The Light is but one even Christ. and p. 43. No Light we own but Christ who Lighteth every one i. e. The Light within is not any Inspiration from Christ but Christ Himself Nothing is more a Receiv'd and Common Principle of the Quakers than this nor more Zealously contended for Tho' now they wou'd Smooth and Cover it when they see it is thoroly Discover'd and thereby grown Odious to the Eyes of the World If you wou'd know for it seems strange why they are so Earnest against any Natural Light It is this That thereby they may bring Men to Lean wholly to their own Light
Paragraph which the Quakers put into The Post-Man 14. Jan. 1699. Page 81. VII A Declaration against Wigs or Periwigs Page 83 VIII The Excommunication of Will Wilkins for Marrying one who was not a Quaker And And for being Marry'd by a Clergy-Man Page 90. IX Their Denyal of Burial to Thom. Bradly for the same Page 92. I must trouble the Reader to Correct the Errata of the Press as he finds them For I am quite Tyr'd Advertisement AT the end of the First Part there is mention made of a Preface In which I have laid open the ways and means by which George Fox and the first Quakers came by all that Complication of the Ancient Heresies with further Improvements upon which they have set up For it was none of their Invention They had neither Parts nor Learning sufficient for such an Enterprise But the Second Part Swelling so much with the Collection beyond the first Intended Bounds And the Quakers last Answer to The Snake which they call Anguis or Switch having come out since And it being thought necessary That something shou'd be said to it particularly because the Quakers make such Boasts of it tho' in Effect it is Answered already in this Reply I have to Eease the Bulk of this Reserv'd the Preface to my Reflections upon the Switch which will be the shorter because there will need little more than Applying their Answers in the Switch to those Methods set down in the Second Part which they use in Answering of Books that are wrote against them And so that will serve as a Third Part to this And be the Last I intend upon this Subject Because I think to make it very Plain that by their Answers in the Switch they must be Satisfied and Know in their Hearts that these Heresies c. are Justly Charg'd upon them And that they have Taught them Onely here let me take Notice of an Answer lately come out to the Preface of the Snake concerning Mis Bourignon in an Apology wrote in Defence of her and her Priciples Wherein the Author shews That he is not without Passion at what he calls Passion in others But he vents it not in that Furious Nasty Fashion as the Quakers He calls that Zeal which is Exprest in the Preface against Bourignonism Spiteful and Malicious But that Author cou'd have no Malice against her Person whom he knew no otherwise than by her Writings And if the Doctrins she Taught were such as he has there Represented them believe it there was Cause for all that Concern and more than is there Exprest Now whether they are truly Represented in that Preface will appear plain enough by the Answer to it Which Denies not the Quotations but by Contrary Testimonies and some other of the Quaker-Methods here set down wou'd Squeeze and Force the Words out of their Natural Signification which yet can not be done The Apologist accuses the Author of that Preface of Prejudice and Un-charitableness Why Because he do's not Insist upon and Recommend the Good things in Ms Bourignons Writings as well as Expose what he thought Dangerous and Destructive But this was Blaming without Cause For it was Dangerous things only which ought to be Expos'd And they were the more Dangerous because they were Mixt with Good things as Satan when Transformed into an Angel of Light To Praise whose Light wou'd not be the way to Discover him No. We must look for the Cloven-Foot And Pull off the Sheeps-Cloathing to find out the Wolf The Apologist sets down his Belief in most Orthodox and Moving terms And I do Believe him And think him a Man of Piety and Sincere Intentions And that he has been deluded by the seeming Devotion Self-Denyal and Abstractedness from the World that Appears thro' the Writings of Ms Bourignon Therefore I do with Great Charity and an Hearty Concern Beseech him and others who follow her Devotion to consider whether it cou'd come from God and Cover such Terrible Doctrins as overturn the very Foundation of our Christian Faith Such as CHRIST's Dying being only by Accident That He came not with a Design to Suffer That it was not Consistent with the Glory of God Nor needful as a Satisfaction for our Sins And other things mention'd in that Preface I would Provoke their Zeal to be more for the support of the True Christian Doctrin than for the Flights of Ms Bourignon or any other which we do not Want We have the Lives of the Holy Patriarchs Prophets Apostles and of Christ Himself for our Examples There is no Addition to them in the Life of Ms Bourignon As to the Rest of this Apology in Answer to Dr. Cockburn's Narratives concerning Ms Bourignon I meddle not with them He is of Age and can Answer for himself My Province now is only The Snake in Grass And so much of Bourignonism as is there Contain'd for which I think this short Advertisement to be sufficient And that her Pretensions to the Spirit of Prophesie or Miracles have no better Foundation than Fox or Muggleton had And stand Chargeable with the same Enthusiasm and Blasphemy A DEFENCE Of the BOOK Intituled The Snake in the Grass Against George Whitehead's Antidote c. George Whiteheads Pleasantry upon the Author of the Snake I. IN his Epistle to the Reader P. 1. He tells that the Quakers did not Intend to write any Answer to The Snake in the Grass that it was not worth an Answer c. It was slighted by Vs says he and laid aside as scarce deserving any particular Answer Till the Importunity of some People he says did Extort this Answer from them And yet p. 265. I must Advertise the Reader says he that this Officious Author shou'd have spar'd his other Discourse against the Quakers untill he had seen an Answer to his Snake in the Grass This was very Cunning Here He had that Author at a why not For the Author as others did believe that the Quakers had no stomach to Answer that Book which made them so long in doing it because nothing is so hard to be Answer'd as Matter of Fact of which that Book do's chiefly consist And the Author was so Careful of his Quotations that all G. Whitehead's sagacity has not found out one False Quotation in the whole Book This George knew and therefore he was brought to this Answer like a Bear to the Stake But an Answer ther must be because as he confesses People did call for it and thought the Quaker-Cause Lost without it And this Forc'd Answer will sink it much Deeper in the Mire for the Excuses are so slight so Guilty so Confessing that every Discerning Eye must see thro' these Fig-leaves which they are not able so to Patch together as to Cover their Nakedness His Meek and Lamb-like Treatment of him II. This has Enrag'd them out of All measure against the Author And tho' in The Snake Sect. xvii one wou'd think ther were so much of
the Venom and Bitterness of their Spirit set forth as at least to Prevent their Falling for some time into the like again yet they verifie the Character that Author has given of them while they are Pretending to Clear themselves from it and shew that Bitterness and Fury are so Ingrafted into their very Natures that they cannot Refrain from it even when they are Pleading not Guilty to the Charge and call themselves The Lambs of Christ and The Meek of the Earth Ther is hardly a Page in this Antidote that is not be speckl'd with the Meek Froth of these Lambs Such as calling the Author of The Snake Ep. to Reader p. 2. Book p. 3. and all that take his Part The Devil and his Agents Furious Foul-mouth'd Persecuting Agents Precipitated by the Devil and Malice A Poor Dissembling Hypocrite thro' whom the Devil and Malice do Invent 44.88.188.251.253.255.257.262.264 c. Screwed up by the Father of Lies to such a Height of Malice and Outrage Like some Mercenary Soldier of Fortune A Persecuting sculking Adversary Persecuting Incendiaries This Author 's Great Malice Cruelty and Persecuting Spirit Most Hideous and sordid Calumny The sink of his Gross Calumnies and Malice Such Dirty Kennels of Lies and Abuses as the Books of the said Author c. This is enough for a Taste of such Delicious Fare I shou'd Transscribe Great Part of his Book if I gave you a Collection of all of this sort that runs thro' it And after all this Out-Cry he has not shewn one False Charge or Calumny cast upon the Quakers in All The Snake as you will see in the Examining of those which he do's Allege But this Bluster and Confidence by way of Meekness he thought wou'd gain Credit with some who wou'd take his word rather than be at the Pains to Compare or Read Defences His Cry of Persecution against him III. And such wou'd think by his Exclamations that some Grievous Persecution were stirr'd up against them that the Author of The Snake had Incited the Civil Power to Hang Draw and Quarter the Quakers to Confiscate their Estates Imprison Banish Torture or some Terrible Proceedings against them But not a word of this or any thing like it in The Snake no not as Alledg'd by G. W. himself but on the Contrary ther is nothing else there Propos'd but to Reason and Argue with them Fairly and upon the Square to Convince them out of their own Books and writings and Undeniable Matters of Fact Which if any man Quote wrongfully against them or Deduce Unjust Consequences from them he Exposes himself and gives them the Fairest opportunity can be to vindicate themselves Indeed if I shou'd Traduce and Defame in the General as G. W. here serves the Author of The Snake without Descending to Particulars and Producing my vouchers clearly and above board whereby the Accused may have free scope to disprove the Charge if False this wou'd be a Persecution of the Tongue and that is a Persecution and a Severe one But if I Quote Book and Page as the Author of The Snake has done and Recite fairly and Argue from thence in the Common way of Reasoning this cannot be call'd a Persecution Or it is such a one to which the Quakers have always Invited Encourag'd and Provok'd us Edw. Burrough in his Return to the Ministers of London A. D. 1660. Page 657. and 658. of his Works Reprinted A. D. 1672. says to them Search the Scriptures and that Religion and worship and Ministry which is not according to the Scriptures let that Religion worship Church and Ministry be utterly Condemned of The Lord and all his People and let such Ministers as cannot Prove their Call their Maintenance and Practices to be according to Scriptures let such Ministers be Confounded and silenced for ever And come to try this Matter when ye will For whereas you cry out against us as if we were Denyers of Scriptures as if we were Enemies to Church Deceivers Hereticks c. But I say unto you these things have you never yet justly Proved against us but rather Accused us behind our Backs And tho' for divers years together we have been Publick yet when did ever any of your Ministers seek by Lawful means to Convert us or shew us our Errors If we were as you say of us Oh it had been your time to have sought our Conversion If we be in an Evil way as you say let us hear your soundest Arguments by the Spirit of God and according to the Scriptures to Prove those things which you say of us Prove it by Evident Arguments that we Deny Scriptures that we are Hereticks I challenge you All in the Name of the Lord even All you Ministers of London Let us hear your sound Reasons openly Come out you Ministers we are willing to be Try'd according to the Scriptures and by the Spirit of God in our Religion and in Every Part of it and if you be the same then come forth and let us have fair Dealing Openly that Truth may be Manifested Publickly and Error may be Discovered And this wou'd be a Christian like way we wou'd hear what you have to Charge against our Religion by sound Arguments that we may Answer it and come out when you will in such away as this and this wou'd Satisfie thousands and this is the way to Exalt Religion and we wou'd think it a Happiness more than otherwise to be joyned in sober Debate and Dispute against you that all may be satisfy'd who are Doubtful and may hear your Principles and our Principles discussed in the Presence of the People who may Judge by the Light and witness in their own Consciences for to that in All we do appeal And in such a Proceeding come forth when you will c. But all this Daring was soon Quash'd when it came to the Tryal How have they Exclaim'd of late agaist George Keith for Provoking them to Dispute in Publick and have Quit the Field crying out and that in Print that they wou'd meet in no such way lest it might Provoke the Government tho' the Lord Mayor had given his leave for the Meeting in one of the Publick Halls of the City and one of the Sherifes was himself Present and his Officers attending to see order kept But all that was nothing the Quakers said it was a Turbulent way And that the People were not Competent Judges of such matters as they Printed in the Reasons they put out for their Declining to give G. Keith a Meeting two years after one another in Turners-Hall the first on the 11. June 1696. the other upon the 29. Apr. 1697. To take away both which Pretences four Reverend Divines of the City of London were appointed by the Lord Bishop of London to meet at Turners-Hall the 21 of Apr. 1698. And there to Hear and Examin the Charges of False-Doctrin and Heresies which G. Keith had Exhibited against the Quakers and
last Authority I shall Produce is of the Great Fox Himself in his Book call'd Several Papers given forth for the Spreading of Truth c. Printed 1671. There p. 54. is a Chapter which bears this Title Concerning Christ's Flesh which was Offered c. And this Flesh he makes not to be That which He took of the B. Virgin but That which he had from the Beginning and which he supposes was Crucify'd when Adam Fell And in That Crucifixion to Consist the Atonement and Satisfaction made for Sin And he takes that Text The Lamb slain from the Foundation of the world not as then Decreed and Purposed by God but Literally as then Actually Fulfill'd Thus he Begins that Chapter Christ the Lamb slain from the Foundation of the world when it began its Foundation then the Lamb was slain And Christ according to the Flesh Crucified the Lamb slain that Flesh of His which is a Mysterie when the first Adam's and Eve's Flesh was Defiled This he calls a Mystery And it is the true Mystery of Quakerism It is upon this account That the Quakers think all the Christian world to Lie in Darkness but Themselves That other Christians know of no other Flesh and Blood of Christ but that outward Flesh which He took in Time of the B. Virgin Hence it is common in their Discourse and in their Books to tell others That the Flesh of Christ is a Mysterie That they understand nothing of it As Solomon Eccles wrote That the Pope Sn. Sect. x. p. 138. the Episcopal the Presbyterian Independants and Baptists understand the Blood of Jesus Christ no more than a Brute Beast Therefore the Quaker's Confessing to the Blood of Christ in General Terms can be no Justification of them while they mean another Manhood Flesh Blood and Bones of Christ than any Christian ever Dreamt of But it Argues their Deep Deceit and Hypocricy to seem to Justifie themselves to the world by their General Confessions But Conceal their secret Meaning whereby they know that they Differ most Widely from those with whom they make this False Appearance of Agreeing Exactly Therefore their Answer to the Queres is no Answer while they Refuse to Renounce this Distinction that they have of Different Manhoods in Christ or otherwise to Explain themselves and tell us which of the Manhoods they mean The words of their Answer to the Queres upon this Head are these We sincerely believe in Jesus Christ the only begotten Son of the Living God both as he is true God and Perfect Man But what they mean by Man here they do not Declare Whether that Eternal or Heavenly Manhood before spoke of or the Outward and Terrestrial Manhood which he took of our Earth But Tho. Ellwood we thank him has told us and Discover'd the secret in his Answer to G. Keiths first Narrative p. 205. where he Recites a Quotation G. K. had brought out of G. Whiteheads Book The Malice of the Independent Agent p. 17. That Christ's Body now in Heaven is the same in substance He had on Earth which wou'd seem a Fair Confession to the Humanity of Christ But hold a little crys T. E. Did G. Whitehead ever call or own Christ's Body now in Heaven or while it was on Earth to be Terrestrial or of the Earth Here we see how to Understand their words and how to Interpret this their Answer to the Quaeres not of the outward or Terrestrial Manhood which Christ took of our Nature but of their Secret and Heavenly Manhood which they Madly Fancie He had from Eternity And thus G. Whitehead Explains himself in his Part of The Christian Quaker Printed An. 1674. p. 140. where he says That he was not at all against Jesus Christ being God and Man take Man says he as Christ is the Heavenly Spiritual and Glorify'd Man But he Confesses that he was against this viz. That Jesus Christ consisteth of Human Flesh and Bone Here he Distinguishes betwixt the Heavenly and the Human Manhood The first he Ascribes to Christ but Denies the Latter that Christ has any Human Manhood And the Reason he gives for it is Seeing Christ says he was from Everlasting which is the same we have heard before from Thom. Ellwood where he takes upon him to Explain Will. Penn's sense in this Matter viz. That Christ as Christ always had a Manhood And seeing He had it from Everlasting therefore it cou'd not be the Human but the Heavenly Manhood Flesh Blood and Bone What then was that Flesh and Blood which he took of the B. Virgin wherein He suffer'd and Rose again And of which he said Behold my Hands and my Feet Luk. xxiv 39. Handle me and see for a Spirit hath not Flesh and Bones as ye see Me have To this says G. W. ibid. p. 139. 140. yes Christ Had such Flesh and Bones but he did not Consist of them I distinguish between Consisting and Having Says he i. e. A man Hath anything that he Possesses or wears I Have a Cloak but I do not Consist of that Cloak that is It is no Part of my Nature and I may Put it on or Throw it off without any Change of my Nature And no otherwise do the Quakers reckon of the Body and Blood which Jesus our B. Lord took in Time in the Womb of the Virgin Not that He took it into His Person so as to Consist of it as a Man do's Consist of Both Natures of his Body and Soul But only that He Had it that is Made Vse of it and wore it for a Time as a Vail or Garment which He has now laid aside and subsists in Heaven only in that Heavenly and Eternal Manhood Flesh Blood and Bones which He had as Christ from Eternity And they make it a Contradiction to say That Christ do's Consist of any other Flesh and Bone that is of Human Flesh and Bone they think this to be a Contradiction to Christ's being the Eternal Word because they hold that He cou'd not be the Word or Christ without Consisting of Flesh Blood and Bone And therefore That if He had None but the Flesh c. of the Human Nature which was Created in Time it must follow That He was not the Word or Christ from Everlasting Thus says G. W. ibid. p. 139. Is there not a Plain Contradiction between Jesus Christ Consisting of Flesh and Bone Human Nature And that the Lord Jesus Christ is the Eternal word from Everlasting c. Therefore you see it is Necessary for us in order to Oblige these Quakers to Discover their Meaning that we Insist upon the word Human And that they will Answer whether they Allow Christ to have Now in Heaven any Human Body Or whether He do's Consist Now of that Body or did Consist of it while He was upon Earth But will the Word Human hold them Have they no Dodge nor Shift whereby to use even that word Plainly in a sense in which they know that
where by Jesus Christ His only Son our Lord they mean only Righteousness which they call Christ and Sin they call Anti-Christ and the Seed of the Woman they make to be only a Principle or Quality in our Hearts and not any Person which are the very Words and Sense of Will. Penn in his Part of The Christian Quaker p. 97 98. And in his Address to Protestants p. 118 119. What is Christ says he but Meekness Justice Mercy c. And thence Infers that every Meek Man must be a Christian But the Familists go on in the words of the Creed Who was Conceiv'd of the H. Ghost Born of the Virgin Mary that is in their Cant as every one of them is Conceiv'd of the H. Ghost by the Renewing of the Spirit in their Hearts Born of the Virgin Mary i. e. In their Virgin Hearts Thus the Quakers understand it See Will. Bayly's Works p. 291 292 293. where this is at Large Insisted on And the standard of the Lord. p. 17. says in this same sense That where Christ is Born He is Born of a Virgin that is In them as there Explained Again Suffer'd under Pontius Pilat was Crucify'd Dead and Buried and Descended into Hell i. e. That Jesus Christ or The Light is Crucify'd c. In Men under Pontius Pilate i. e. The Wicked one or our Corruptions and Lusts. Et sic de Caeteris And the same Author tells p. 100. That because of these Double Meanings of the Famalists ther was no way to Discover them by any Words or Tests that cou'd be fram'd But only by making them Renounce and Disown their Ring-Leader one Henry Nicholas and to Condemn his Doctrin which they wou'd not do And thus must we deal with their Spawn the Quakers while they Refuse to Disown the Pernicious Doctrins of Fox Whitehead Penn c. we must Conclude That they still do own them notwithstanding of all their Jesuitical and Janus-Confessions which they have Copy'd after the Like Plain-Dealing Familists Of whom you may see more in the Authors I have Quoted Who wrote before ther was a Quaker in the World or the Name known But this shews who were the Fathers that Begot them For they were the Sons of Many Fathers All the Pestiferous Sects of Forty One Whose Vomit they have Lick'd up and Render'd it ten times more Nauseous and Deform'd And the Legions which Possess'd these Sons of Belial are Enter'd with Double Force and Malice into this Herd of Swine whom They have Captivated both Souls and Bodies in an Higher Degree than any of the Former or than Any perhaps that have been known in any Age Which I come next to shew with G. Whitehead's Defence of them His Sober Caution consider'd as to these Quakers who were Possest with the Devil wherein the wonderful story of John Gilpin VI. His Sober Caution as he call's it contains the first 12 pages of his Book And it is all spent in warding off the several Instances which cannot be Deny'd of Quakers Possess'd with the Devil in most wonderful and Astonishing Manner The Bulk of his Reasons is that such Instances can be no Reflection upon the People call'd Quakers or upon their Principles more than if they had happen'd among any others of other Communions 1. But this is Answer'd in the Sn. Sect. xxi p. 309. c. where it is shewn that such Enthusiastical Madness and Possession do's proceed from the Principles of the Quakers and is caus'd chiefly by them And besides it is a most Notorious Mortification to their Pretence of Perfection and the Spirit of Discerning beyond all other Men. 2. But G. W. adds some other Arguments here as p. 3. he Asks How Satan is transform'd into an Angel of Light when he appears like a Mad-man a Witch a Devil a Blasphemer Ans. Who says that he appears then like an Angel of Light You must allow him sometimes to take his own shape But Secondly The Pretence of Godliness and High Illuminations which these Possess'd Quakers make such Great Boast of that is the Sheeps Cloathing and the Disguise of Light which Satan then puts on and with which many are Deceiv'd 3. G. W. adds next that Men thus Mad or Possess'd are fitter Objects of Compassion than of that Wit and Raillery which the Author of the Sn. bestows upon the Quakers Ans. That is true And that Author bestows none of what G. W. call's Wit or Raillery upon them unless G. W. reckons himself as one of them The Author of the Sn. do's not esteem All the Quakers in that High Degree of Enthusiastical Madness as Gilpin Toldervy c. And therefore G. W. ought to take that little Familiarity us'd sometimes with him as a Complement as supposing him not in that Excess as others as not yet Quite without the Boundaries of Reason out of which when he shoots sometimes with Extravagance so Excessive as to Pass the Reach of Argument then is he in kindness to be Reduc'd by shewing him his Folly in it's Plain Dress which he call's Wit and Raillery Nor is this without its Pity and Compassion though Laughing may be the Cure as to Hypocondriacks who cannot be Reason'd yet sometimes are Jested out of their Delirous Imaginations Which when any man comes to be Persuaded are the Immediat Dictates of the Holy-Ghost then is his Madness in Perfection And the Quakers have never yet been able to give us any Mark or Rule or shew of Reason that they do not thus mistake All their own Wild Imaginations for the Inspiration of God We see and G. W. cannot but own it to what Excessive Heights this Enthusiastical Principle has driven some of the Quakers therefore let the Rest beware for they are upon the same Rode They have lost their Compass while they set their Light above the Scriptures And have no other Assurance that they are in the Right but their own Assurance that they are so Which sort of Assurance not only Sometimes but Always do's accompany every Error For no Man can be in any Error who do's not think himself to be in the Right Else he were not in an Error but in a Willful Obstinacy if he Persisted in it after he knew it it to be an Error Now to Christians who believe the Divine Revelation of the H. Scriptures these are a Rule by which we measure our own Imaginations and if any thing comes into our Heads contrary to these we are bound to Reject it But to believe it a Divine Inspiration and so not Controulable by Scripture this is to be Mad to be given up to all Delusion to surrender our Hearts as a Blank Table for the Devil to write what he pleases upon and to pass it as the Ingravings of the Finger of God! And if ther be no Light that is no Vnderstanding in us but what is Divine we must think every thing Divine that is written there And then we are Seal'd up in Error from which ther
p. 301. Add to this another Instance given in the Further Discovery before Quoted wrote by Five Ministers p. 91. of a Quaker woman who came to Disturb one of their Congregations at Kellet in Lancashire she fell into a Trance her Belly puffed up her sides Extended her Back-bone thrust out her whole Body as a Bladder when it is in Blowing c. This is attested under the hand or Mr. Moore Minister at Kellâ—t But Instances are Endless See the General Account of it in a Book Printed at that time 1653. call'd A brief Relation of the Irreligion of the Northern Quakers Wrote by Francis Higgison p. 15. Those in their Assemblies that are taken with these Fits fall suddenly down as it were in a Swoon as tho' they were surpris'd with an Epilepsis or Apoplexy and ly Groveling on the Earth and strugling as it were for Life and sometimes more Quietly as tho' they were Departing While the Agony of their Fits is upon them their Lips Quiver their Flesh and Joints Tremble their Bellies swell as tho' Blown with Wind they Foam at the Mouth and sometimes Purge as if they had taken Phisick In this Fit they continue sometimes an Hour or two sometimes Longer before they come to themselves again And when it leaves them they Roar out Horribly with a Voice Greater than the Voice of a Man The Noise those say that have heard it is a very Horrid Fearfull Noise and Greater sometimes than any Bull can make The Speaker when any of them falls in this Fit will say to the rest that are sometimes Astonisht at this sight especially if they be Incipients let them alone trouble them not the Spirit is now strugling with the Flesh if the Spirit overcome they will Quickly come out of it again though it be sorrow now it will be Joy in the Morning c. And when they have said a few words to this Effect they go on with their Speaking Sometimes they carry those wretched Patients to Beds when they are near them and let them Ly on them till their Fit be over These Quakings they Maintain Saul's Errand p. 5. and in their Books and Papers call them the Marvelous works of the Lord Battels of Shaking and Trembling before the Presence of the Lord and call them that speak against them Ishmaelites that scoff at the works of the Lord They say also those that speak against this Quaking shew themselves to be Blasphemers and that it is Presumption and Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost to speak against it Thus that Account Take another two Years after this Wrote by Mr. Edmund Skipp then Minister of Bodenham in Hereford-shire but who as himself tells us had been before seduc'd by the fair Pretences of the Quakers and was one of them But by the Great Mercy of God having Discover'd their Gross Deceits he Return'd from them and then Gave notice of them to the World in a Book printed 1655. which he Intituled The Worlds wonder or The Quakers Blazing-Star c. there p. 22. he tells of these Mysterious Deceits of Anti-Christ Which I gather says he from those strange and unheard of Passions and Agonies those Great Burthens and Exercitations of Body in so much that they are sometimes in Trances and Soundings and if they are not brought into such a state of Deadness as it were yet they suffer most Extreme Tortures of Body that hath been Visible to me and several others many times nay so much Extremity that it maketh them Roar out for very Bitterness And I do clearly Judge that if the Lord did not Limit the Devil in their behalf as he did for Job saying Thou shalt not touch his Life it wou'd be Impossible for their Concaves to hold their Inwards in those Violent Motions for they are made under those Agonies to Tremble and Quake as though their Flesh must part from their Bones and Ligatures like unto Men in the strongest Fits of an Ague that ever you saw as tho' they had seen Belshazzar's Vision Dan. 10. that made his knees smite one against another In those strange Passions they are Exercised with so much Heat I know not of what sort that it maketh them cry out for Drink and maketh them Sweat like men in most violent Feavers Now they call these Agonies the Fiery-Trial and say it is the Power of the Holy Ghost burning up and Destroying their Corruptions and Purifying them like Gold that is tried seven times in the Fire And that which is very strange when they are thus in the midst of these Extreme Shakings Quakings Trials Roarings and Perplexities that one wou'd think ther cou'd be no more Torment upon the Damn'd Spirits than is upon them at the Present yet many times when they begin to come to their Speech for it falleth out often that they are not able to speak for a long time they will speak how much Joy and Pleasure they have mix'd with that Torment in such an Inseperable Manner as they themselves Express as Heat and Fire mix'd together that they cou'd wish to be in it for Ever and Ever This they call Drinking of the Cup or the Undergoing the Curse and wrath of God as Christ did for here they speak to my Understanding most Blasphemously and say they must be brought to suffer as Christ did and to Undergo as Great a sense of Wrath as He did when he Cried out My God My God why hast thou forsaken me In a word as far as ever I cou'd Understand their Apprehensions by their Expressions in this last particular I did Judge this to be their Delusion that they must suffer Eternal Burnings bearing the full weight of Divine Justice and wrath as fully as though ther never had been any Christ Crucifi'd or acceptation of His Sacrifice untill as they say ther shou'd be no more left in them but the Pure seed of God in its own Perfect Likeness And they say that Condition or state which is call'd in Scripture Hell or Everlasting Torment is but a Dispensation which shall End at such a time as that Burning and Torment of the Soul and Conscience shall have Refin'd it and brought it into its former Purity and Likeness of God Thus far I have transcrib'd out of this Author not only as to this of their Quaking but because he do's withal open to us the very Heart and Bottom of the Quaker Heresie viz. That the Meritorious Cause of our Justification is not the Sufferings of Christ in His Body upon the Cross but that the same sufferings must be wrought over again in us that we must Bear our own Sins in our own Bodies and must be Healed by our own Stripes which likewise they call the Sufferings of Christ or the Light within them And that what he suffers thus within every man is the only Meritorious Cause of his Justification and Reconciliation to God That what He suffer'd Outwardly upon the Cross is nothing to us but an Example a History
or Facilt Representation of the Greater Mystery of what He Suffers and Acts within us Wherein only the Atonement and Satisfaction for Sin is Perform'd And this they suppos'd to be done in these Monstrous Possessions of Quaking c. And therefore were greatly Desirous of them as thinking their state not secure till they had gone thro' one of these Fits at least As Mr. Skipp tells of himself while he was a Quaker p. 25. I thought it was my unhappiness says he that I was not and it was great Cause of trouble and unspeakable sorrow to me and that which caus'd me to complain bitterly time after time but they wou'd tell me that I must wait for it and they said that they cou'd Believe for me and they were Confident I shou'd be a very Glorious Piece c. Here their Spirit of Discerning fail'd them But that which makes the long Quotation I have taken out of Mr. Skipp the more Valuable is because G. Fox has wrote an Answer to it in his Great Mystery where p. 314. he after his usual fashion Epitomizes and Falsifies Mr. Skipp's words above Quoted thus It is Blasphemy to say we must fill up the sufferings of Christ. Ther are no such words in Mr. Skipp not so put together but he referrs to that Part above Quoted where Mr. Skipp calls it Blasphemy to say that they must suffer as Christ did and are sav'd by Their own sufferings and not by Christs In which G. F. opposes Mr. Skipp and says in Answer Thou hast not Drunk the Cup of the Wrath and Judgment of the Almighty and that you must Drink before you come to know the seed of God come from under all the Power of Wickedness in thee And Christ who bore the Sin of the whole world felt it and was under it and was offered and over it all and makes his Enemies his Foot-stool This is all his Answer And shews what he means by considering what it is which he opposes for without seeing the Books which he Pretends to Answer of which few are now Extant ther is no Understanding by him either what they said for he seldom Quotes them True or what himself says who cou'd write neither Sense nor English But here you see he Denies nothing of Mr. Skipp's Charge against the Quakers but rather Justify's and Defends it in other words that we must suffer as Christ did till the Seed of God come from under the Power of Wickedness which are almost Mr. Skipp's own words And Fox do's not Deny that they Place the Meritorious Cause of ther Justification in those Sufferings within themselves and not in the outward Sufferings of Christ And that when these Inward Sufferings in their Consciences are over and the Seed Purged then that ther is an End of Hell that these Sufferings of the Seed in them is the only Hell this Fox do's not Deny tho positively Charg'd upon them Which is a Plain Confessing The Least one can do is to Deny as G. W. here in this Answer of his But when we Pretend to Answer and dare not so much as Plead Not Guilty it is a full and total yielding to the Charge The truth is the Light within is All things to the Quakers its Shining as they think they are sure within them they call Heaven its being obscur'd that is Hell And they Believe no other Heaven or Hell or God or Christ but their Light within And when they are Possest with their Quaking Fits they call it the Fighting of their Light within against their Darkness within which G. W. wou'd turn off here upon Convulsion Fits For which I leave him to be Chastis'd by those Quakers who have wrote Apologies for their Quaking as being the Effects of a Divine Inspiration And those who were much troubl'd because that Extraordinary Quaking had now in a Great measure left them as if thereby they had Lost that Measure of the Spirit which their Fathers Possest or which Possest their Fathers To Comfort whom Pat. Levingston wrote a Book call'd Plain and down right Dealing wherein he told them that their first years were Purging years but that when Phisick had Purg'd sufficiently then the Patient was more Still and Quiet See the Sn. p. 295. yes George and after Convulsion-fits too when they are over But George few Desire fits of Convulsion or any Natural Disease and Long for them as the Quakers for their Possessions None Express Extasies of Joy in Natural Diseases as we have heard of this Quaker Sickness And all this cou'd not be Counterfited for None can Counterfit such violent Convulsions and Distortions as Exceed the Power of Nature In the Next Place Young Children among the Quakers were often feiz'd with these Quaking Fits and these cou'd not Counterfit And many Earnestly Desir'd them but cou'd not have them when they wou'd And since they are neither Natural nor Counterfit they must be a Praeter Natural either Divine or Diabolical Possession And which of the two it is ther are some Rules whereby to Guess which are Mention'd in the Sn. Sect. xxi which G. W. wou'd do well to Consider and not Shuffle them off as he do's in this Answer But he gives up the Cause by Assigning such Contradictory Reasons for in the same breath within the Compass of one Page he makes three supposes for these Quakings First The word and Power of God Second Convulsion-Fits Third Exorcism or the Casting out of some Evil Spirit If he had said the Entrance of the Evil Spirit and its taking of Possession he had come nearer the Mark But however Why do's he make so many Guesses at the Causes of this Quaking Did he not know whether it was Convulsion or Inspiration or Exorcism or was he Asham'd to tell Well but as to our Present purpose from whatever Cause these Quakings do Proceed it is allow'd on all hands that the Possession is very Strong and carries with it the most visible Effects of Madness And as the Old Proverb says Once Mad and Ever the worse so they who have been once Possess'd with these Quaking Fits seldom Ever after recover the state they were in before but have Raz'd Looks and something Frightful about them But it is not all the Quakers whom God has Deliver'd so far into the Power of the Devil And others have been Possess'd as well as the Quakers But this was more Peculiar to the Quakers than to any others of any sort of People otherwise they had not got the Name of Quakers from thence And at the time when the Devil was most Busie and these Quakings were most Violent and most Frequent about the year 1653 Quakerism was then but very young only three years old and the Quakers did not then bear Proportion of One to a Thousand speaking within Compass to the Rest of England so that we have had a Thousand of these sort of Mad-Men among the Quakers for One any where else And if we Reckon those Mad who
small Summ which he receiv'd after the Fight at Preston That Josiah Coal was also a Soldier in service of the Common-Wealth and at Worcester Fight This was one of the Prime worthies of the Quakers a Preacher of Renown See his Blasphemous Letter to G. Fox in the Sn. p. 114. 115. Here the Treasons and Rebellion and Fighting of these Quaker-Leaders were Glory'd in instead of being Condemn'd by the rest of them in the year 1656. But since 1660 they have got a New Light they are now against all outward Fighting Treason and Rebellion Yet will not Censure any of their Ancient Traytors Fighters and Rebels for such were their Chief Apostles and led by the Infallible Light within But they wou'd have that Forgotten till a Day may come when as in 1656 they may again Plead these Glorious Merits of their Saints And in the mean time make a Mouth at us while they wou'd Pame them upon us as the only Lambs of Christ But ther is one of these Lambs that I have not yet Nam'd under this Head of Treason whom I must bring forth before G. W. to see what Character he will give us of him This Quaker in the year 1659 had a Dispute with one Thomas Smith in the Mayor's House at Cambridge soon after Sir George Booth had taken Armes for the King and was Suppress'd by the Rebels It is told in the Sn. Sect. xviii p. 228. How busy the Quakers were upon that occasion against the King's Interest and Boasted in it as their merit that they had given the first Intelligence to the Vsurpers against the Loyal Party and gave their Advice or Command and that In the Name of the Lord God! to cut off all the Cavaliers whom they had taken Prisoners They were Full of this their good service and very Vain of it And this Quaker whom I am speaking of taking his opponent Smith to be well Inclin'd towards the Royal Cause and having him in the Mayor's House he broke off from the Subject of Religion they were met about and Demanded of him whether he owned his Brethren the Priests who had so much stirred up the Rebellion against the present Government To which Insnaring Question the Quaker says Smith answer'd That he did not own them But that was said the Quaker because he saw they did not Prosper in their Designs But when they did Prosper as they did the year following then the Quakers were the only Royal and Loyal Party and said they had been so all along And accus'd these same Professors as they call'd the Presbyterians Independents c. that they had been the King's Enemies and therefore not fit to be Trusted by Him or to be suffer'd to Teach the People as shewn in the Sn. Sect. xviii Now G. W. tell us Plainly what do'st Thee think of this Quaker before mention'd we wou'd have thy opinion of him Was he then a Loyal Man when he call'd it Rebellion to assert the King's Cause against the Vsurpation that then obtain'd and upbraided others with being Concern'd in it If thou woud'st know his Name not to keep thee longer in suspence it is George Whitehead And this thee wilt find p. 25. of a little pretty Treasonable and very Blasphemous Book of his call'd Truth defending the Quakers c. Printed that same year 1659. said on the Title Page to be written from the Spirit of Truth in George Whitehead and George Fox the yonger I wou'd have thee Read it George It is as full of Heresies as a Dog is of Fleas Larded thick with Nonsense and Pride Prodigious And prithee George le ts have thy Censure of it the next time thou sets Pen to Paper if thou be'st not Tyr'd with that sport as well thou May'st considering thy Luck at it It is now 49 years since that precious Piece escapt thy Fist And if thee art not Grown Wiser as thou 'st Grown Older thou'lt verefie the Proverb no F l to an Old F l. It is told in the Sn. Sect. xviii How G. Fox and the Quakers stood out against the Restauration of King Charles II. to the very Last even in the Beginning of the year 1660. And yet Immediately upon the Kings Coming Home Run to him with Addresses of their Love c. I have one here to Add which came Lately in my way G. Bishop his Bitterness and Implacable Hatred to the King and his Cause is Particularly Insisted upon in the Sn. How he Preach'd and Commanded In the Name of the Lord That the Cavaliers who were then Prisoners shou'd be All put to Death This is in his Book of Warnings Printed in the Beginning of the year 1660 before the Restauration And now I find another Book of his warnings An. 1661. Directed to The King and Parliament to the Arch-Bishops and Bishops c. where p. 2. he Recommends the Innocent People the Quakers to their Protection as Those who suffer'd with you says he and by and under your Enemies who have Good will towards you c. And not Content with this Gross Dissimulation in Themselves he falls upon the poor Presbyterians for their Inconstancy and Turning about he upbraids them p. 18. with their being Vpwards and Downwards and Backwards and Forwards Now here and now there Reeling and Rouling Pinching here sometimes and Drawing as Contrary at another This needs no Application to the Quakers G. Fox his Aspiring to be Equal with God VII In the Sn. ther is set down a Tryal at the Assises and Depositions upon Oath that G. Fox and others of the Quakers did call themselves Equal with God c. To this says G. W. p. 25. That we ought not to take the Depositions of Adversaries against them This is Pleasant why if any of the Quakers had Depos'd this then they had been Apostats Judases c. as the Quakers have call'd their Late Seperatists and so Adversaries with a witness And all others are Adversaries of Course And if none of their words must be taken the Quakers may Blaspheme Rebel Murder Steal or what they Please For is not any one that wou'd Accuse them of any of these things an Adversary And an Adversaries word must not be taken But let alone Adversaries Has not G. Fox and others of the Quakers asserted the same in their Printed Books And are they not Quoted in the Sn. Sect. iii And has G. W. Answer'd to one of these Quotations No. Not to one of them yet he Pretends this Book of his to be an Answer to the Sn. And in the Contents he stiles the above Answer thus A False Charge against G. Fox c. Examin'd and Answer'd Yet this is all the Answer he has given to it In the same manner he passes off the Charge of their Assuming the Name of God and Christ to themselves and their Pretence to Perfection Equal Even to God c. He says to this p. 26. That it is False and Asserts the Contrary But Answers none of the Proofs See Sn.
Christ and the Garment which He wore between Him that Came and the Body in which He came between the Substance which was Vailed and the Vaile which Vailed it Lo I come a Body hast thou Prepared Me. There is Plainly He and the Body in which He came Ther was the outward Vessel and the Inward Life This we certainly know and can never call the Bodily Garment Christ but that which Appeared and Dwelt in the Body So that by this Jesus was not the Christ only the Prepared Body Garment or Vaile in which Christ Dwelt The same Argument is Prosecuted by Will. Penn in his Part of the Serious Apology p. 146. and in the like words with Is Penington to shew the Unanimous Consent of the Quakers in this the Heart of their Christianity These are his words He that laid down his Life and suffer'd his Body to be Crucify'd by the Jews without the Gates of Jerusalem is Christ the only Son of the most High God But that the outward Person which suffer'd was Properly the Son of God we utterly Deny A Body hast thou Prepared me said the Son then the Son was not the Body tho' the Body was the Son's i. e. The Body was the Son's as a man's Garment or Vaile is his who owns and wears it as the Body of Will. Penn is the Son's who he supposes Dwells in it But the Son was not the Body that is Jesus in whose Body Christ Dwelt was not the Son not Properly the Son of God but in a Large sense as other men are call'd the Sons of God And Christ Suffer'd His Garment or Vaile the Body of Jesus to be Crucifi'd But that the outward Person which suffer'd was Properly the Son of God the Quakers do Vtterly Deny And as that Person which Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God it follows as certainly that the Son of God was not Properly that Person or was not Properly a Man This was the Meaning of Will. Penn in his Sandy Foundation p. 20. calling Christ a Finit Impotent Creature He did not mean the Eternal word Or that this Word was Properly a Man in our Nature for then tho' the Manhood was a Creature and Finit yet the Man or Person was not so As a Man's Body is Corruptible yet the Person Consisting of Body and Soul is not so Tho' the Properties of Each Nature whereof a Person do's Consist may be Attributed to the Person as a Man is said to Dye to Eat Drink Sleep c. tho' these are Proper only to the Body And likewise he is said to Think to Reason to be Immortal tho' these are Proper only to his Soul Thus God is said to Dye to shed His Blood c. tho' this be Proper only to the Manhood which the Word assum'd into His own Person And Man is said to be God Infinit Almighty c. tho' this be Proper only to the Divine Nature of Christ who is likewise Truly and Properly a Man And none who had a True Notion of this cou'd ever have brought himself to call Christ a Finit Impotent Creature Such a Blasphemous Contempt of our B. Lord and God cou'd never have Dropt from the Pen of a Christian But upon Will Penn's Scheme that the Word was not Properly a Man it must follow that the Person who Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God And Consequently that the Person who Suffer'd which is the Christians Christ was but a Finit Impotent Creature and not Truly and Properly the Christ J. Pennington asserts that the Name of Christ did not belong to the Person of Jesus which he calls only the Vessel or Vaile as in his Quest to Professors p. 25. but only to the Light or Christ which Dwelt in Jesus as in the Quakers So that the Name Christ says he is not given to the Vessel but to the Nature to the Heavenly Treasure to that which is of him In the Vessel And he Contends That it was not the Flesh and Blood of the Vaile which was the Sacrifice that Cleanses i. e. not the Flesh and Blood of Jesus but The Flesh and Blood within the Vaile i. e. the Spiritual Flesh and Blood of their Light within Not the Flesh and Blood says he of the outward Earthly Nature but the Flesh and Blood of the Inward Spiritual Nature Not the Flesh and Blood which Christ took of the first Adam's Nature but the Flesh and Blood of the Second Adam's Nature And What is the Laver of Regeneration says he p. 24. wherewith the Soul is washed Is it the water which ran out of the side of the Natural Body when it was Pierced with a Spear or the Water which floweth from the Spirit And Can outward Blood Cleanse the Conscience c. Now G. W. is not against telling the History of the Life and Death of Jesus that is as he puts the Caveat Truly Consider'd i. e. so as not to lay the stress of our Salvation upon Faith in those outward Sufferings or to make that Necessary to us That Prerogative they Reserve only for the Sufferings Blood-shedding c. of Their Christ the Light within That only is sufficient without any thing else And when you come to this say they in a Book Intituled The Doctrin of Perfection vindicated Printed 1663. p. 19. you will cease Remembring His Death at Jerusalem and will come to see how He hath been Crucify'd In you c. His outward Death is to be Forgotten for the stress do's not Ly upon that And as Mr. Penn says in his Quakerism a new nick-name c. p. 12. Since they believe that appearance of Christ in the Flesh at Jerusalem they need not Preach what is not to be again See Satan Dis-Rob'd p. 11. Ther is an End of any more Preaching or Faith in that Nay it do's Hurt as taking men off from Trusting wholey and soley in the Light within as sufficient without it Which is the very Heart and Soul of the Quaker-Faith And therefore they think the Heathen in a Better Condition than those Christians who lay so much stress upon the outward Christ His Death and Sufferings for that the Heathen have not that Encombrance to Divert them from Trusting wholly to their Light within and to nothing else And they think the Faith in the outward Christ so very Destructive that G. Fox Denounces them to be Reprobates and Possest with the Devil who Expect to be sav'd by Faith in the outward Jesus and as wholly Ignorant of the Inward Presence of Christ in the Heart For thus he Replies upon Christopher Wade who had in a Book he wrote call'd Quakery Slain asserted the Necessity of Faith in the outward Christ but withall he is Full and Large upon as Great Necessity of the Inward Presence and Operation of the Spirit of Christ in our Hearts In his Inspections Influences and Operations and by His Spirit Dwelling even in the Hearts and Societies of His People as he words it
Body of Christ is within them as well as His Spirit Indeed they are here in a monstrous Confusion for by this Body they mean the Spirit and by a Spiritual Body they mean nothing but Spirit However this serves them to Dodge and Decieve others It was to meet with them in this that the First and the Sixth Quaeres of those given to their Yearly Meeting 1695. were fram'd viz. Do you believe in a Christ without you Now in Heaven And Quaer 6. Is Christ now at this Day and for Ever to come Truly and Really a Man in true and Proper Human Nature without all other Men But in their Pretended Answer to these Quaeres they wave Answering Directly and leave out the words without us and without all other Men and the word Human upon which the Chief stress was laid because they do believe that this Notional Body of Christ is within them as well as His Spirit Therefore they wou'd not Answer to this And tho' this was again Prest upon them in the Conclusion of the Sn. and they were told of all this Dodging and this was put upon them as a Criterion to Clear themselves and therefore they were Desir'd to begin their Answer to the Sn. with a Plain and Direct Ans Yea or Nay to these Two short Queres Yet no Provocation can bring them to it They will not yet Answer to it for it Discovers the Heart of their Cause It wou'd totally overthrow their Ancient Testimonies wherein they Deny That Christ hath now a Body of Flesh and Bones Circumscript or Limited in that Heaven which is Above and out of Every Man on Earth These are the words of John Whitehead in his Quakers Refuge Printed 1673. p. 40. And p. 41. he says that they are in the Error who wou'd Limit it to a Particular Place and out of every Man on Earth for says he The Spirit and Body of Christ is not Divided but wheresoever the Spirit and Life of Christ is it is in the Body of Christ. This shews plainly what they mean That the Body of Christ is not Now a Body Circumscript or Limited to any Place and consequently it is no Body at all for that is Inseperable from a Body but that it is wheresoever His Spirit is and that it is within them and not without all other Men. Thus Edward Burough being Demanded in these Positive Terms Is that very man with that very Body within you Yea or Nay And this he do's not at all Deny but Answers in the Affirmative p. 149. of his works The very Christ of God is within us You must take the meaning of these men by Considering that to which they Answer and which they oppose for in a Limited sense Christ by His Holy Spirit and Influences is within us and Christ is The very Christ so that ther is a sense in which that Expression tho' offensive in the wording of it may be admitted But then when we consider that which they Oppose or to which they Answer the meaning appears Plain for why wou'd they Oppose what they thought Orthodox And this is the method by which we must understand G. Fox's Great Mystery which is a Pretended Answer to 108 Books and Disputes against the Quakers For G. Fox's own words are â—eldom either Sense or English and he Miserably Mis-Quotes and Mistakes their words whom he writes against sometimes it appears to be on Purpose and sometimes out of Pure want of Vnderstanding Half Knave and Half Fool But by Reading those Books which he opposes you may Discover what he wou'd be at Instances of this out of Number can be given Which if any think it worth the while are Ready to be Produc'd But to the Subject we are upon The first Book he Answers in his Great Mystery is of one of the then Ministers Mr. Sam. Eaton call'd The Quakers Confuted Printed A. D. 1654. where p. 12. Mr. Eaton makes as full a Confession as can be to the Inward Presense and Operation of Christ by His Spirit in the Hearts of Believers And therein says he they have Him But they have not Christ in Flesh or the Flesh of Christ dwelling in them for that was taken up into Heaven and will there be Contain'd till the Restitution of All things This G. Fox opposes in his Great Mystery p. 3. And Quotes thus much of his words with the Page But the Saints have not Christ in the Flesh p. 12. And opposes this as Contrary to Christ and the Apostles Doctrin who said they were of His Flesh and of his Bone and they that have His Flesh have it in them This shews in what sense he Understood these Scriptures and what his Notion was of the Flesh of Christ viz. That it was now at this time in all Believers and so not any Literal Flesh but some Imagination or other that they have of Spiritual Flesh which they think that God Himself has and Christ or the Light had from all Eternity so nothing of outward Human Flesh or Nature Tho' if you take the word Human as it may be Deriv'd from Homo a Man thus they will allow that Christ has a True Human Body and Ever had from Eternity that is a True and Real Manhood In this sense it is said before p. 11. l. 8. that they allow the Body which they say Christ had from Eternity to be an Human Body For ther is no other word in Latin whereby to Express the Nature of Man but Humanitas whence we use the word Humanity to mean the same as Manhood But if you Derive the word Human from Humus the Ground or Earth of which Man was Made in this sense the Quakers Deny that Christ had an Human Body from Eternity or indeed while He was upon the Earth For which I Refer you back to p. 19 20. where you will find this Artfully Distinguish'd by the Quakers But we will now go on to see the further Salvos that the Present Antidote affords in this Case Their Denyal that Christ had any Human or Created richer Soul or Body while upon Earth 2. G. W. Skips to p. 38. And takes up this Argument again where he Pretends to Answer the objection of the Quakers making the Body of Jesus only a Vaile or Garment wherein Christ or the word Dwelt but that He took not that Body into His own Person so as to be Hypostatycally United to it And to this he says p. 38. We are to seek herein as not knowing where the Quakers say these things Yet Answers not or Names one of the many Proofs which are brought for this See Sn. Sect. x. This wou'd be very Provoking but that I am us'd to it for it is his Constant Method Yet in the Excuse he makes for it he Confesses enough to shew that the Quakers are Guilty herein For says he Tho' His Flesh is call'd the Vail yet it was that he own'd as His own Body being also call'd the Body of
likewise the Inward operations of His Spirit in our Hearts And that if Will. Penn or Thom. Elwood cannot Name one single Man much less any of those Communions which he Disputes against that ever thought Christ's outward Appearance wou'd save them without His Inward Appearance in their Consciences then against whom have they Disputed The Objection being thus stated wherein I take no Notice of his misplacing some words to hurt both the Sense and the English he Answers thus Yes I can Name one Single Man whom he has Vindicated against Us. in G. K's behalf who has both thought and said as much as That Christ's outward Appearance and Sufferings has saved them without his Appearance or Work in them And that is the said Rob. Gordon And it 's Charged against him among his many other Corrupt Doctrins by G. Keith in My and his Book Entituled The Nature of Christianity p. 70. 71. Artic. 1. That Christ without Us upon the Cross hath already subdued all things finished Transgression Made an end of Sin abolish'd Condemnation and Death Art 8. That Redemption Justification were finished and Completed in the Crucify'd Body of Christ for Us not in our Persons Art 12. That Redemption and all things are wrought Purchas'd for Us without the help of any thing to be wrought in Us. So that here was one Man i. e. R. G. and too many more that laid the whole stress and work of Mans Salvation Only upon Christ's outward Appearance and Suffering without His Inward Appearance and Operations by His Spirit in Vs I have given G. W's words at large because upon this Depends the whole Cause of Quakerism Therefore I will Examin them Fully and Fairly But first let me take notice of the Modesty of the Quaker-stile In My and His Book says G. W. It founds Harsh in English because so Vnusual But G. W. wou'd not Give Place to G. K. He Reserves His Dignity And Comon Civility is an Heresie among the Quakers But now to our Work And first I observe That G. W. has left out in the Articles he Quotes out of His and G. K's Book the pages in R. Gordon's Book call'd A Testimony to the true Saviour to which their Nature of Christianity is in Answer For there the Pages of R. G's book are Quoted after Each Article Which was wisely done of G. W. That none might know where to find the Quotations unless they wou'd have Recourse to G. W's Nature of Christianity which not one of a Thousand knows where to find It was Printed An. 1671. and now hardly to be Got. And G. W. not only leaves out the Pages but do's not so much as Name that Book of R. G's out of which they are taken that his Reader might be left Sufficiently in the Dark And that he had Good Reason so to do will soon Appear To These Articles here Quoted these pages of R. G's Testimony are added in The Nature of Christianity viz. p. 3. 4. 5. 20. And whoever will Read these will see R. G. fully Clear himself from this Imputation cast upon him and that he had given no Ground at all for these Objections made against him P. 4. and 5. he makes Two great Gospel Truths The first God manifest in the Flesh of Christ whereby Christ became our H. Priest in the Flesh therein to offer up himself the one Perfect Sacrifice Sufficient Atonement the Compleat Peace-Offering Once for Ever not often and in Every Generation and in Many Bodies as the Quakers say he Dayly offers Himself in their Bodies but in One Body by one Offering not in our Persons or Within Vs which is the Exact Quaker Notion but in His Crucifi'd Body without Vs and before any Good wrought in Vs whereby He hath already subdued all things finished Transgression made an end of Sin Abolished Condemnation and Death and so hath for Ever as our Head in Himself compleated the work of our Redemption and Reconciliation with God for Vs God thereby commending His Love towards Vs that while we were yet Sinners Christ Dyed for Vs when we were Enemies we were Reconciled to God by the Death of his Son The other Truth is the Mystery of Christ by His Spirit Dwelling in His Saints called in the H. Scripture Christ within you whereby God works In Us through Faith in Christ the Fruit and Effect of the work already wrought by Christ in His Crucifi'd Body for Vs without Vs And then he tells that for which he Reprehends the Quakers viz. That they Pretend so much zeal for this Mysterie of Christ within the Operations and Actings of the Spirit of God in themselves That they Deny the Mysterie of God in the Flesh of Christ as a Matter of no Necessity to them as to Redemption Reconciliation and Justification Reckoning to Accomplish this in their own Bodies Each for himself thro' Obedience to the Law or Light in his Conscience which Light they call Christ Redeemer and only Saviour without Respect to the true Christ and our only Saviour Jesus Christ of Nazareth and Redemption already wrought and Accomplished for Vs in His Crucifi'd Body Thus Plainly do's R. G. Express himself Giving full Testimony to Christ within Dwelling in our Hearts by Faith But Disputes only against that Quaker Heresie of Placing the Sacrifice and Atonement for Sin in the offering up of this Light within Perform'd in their Hearts and throwing off the Sacrifice and Atonement made by the offering which Christ made of Himself for Us upon the Cross as of no Efficacy to our Salvation This is it for which the Quakers so violently oppose him and which G. W. here calls Corrupt Dectrin And observe That in the 12 Art above Quoted R. G's words are Recited Imperfect for after the last words here put down viz. without the help of any thing to be wrought in us ther follows in R. G's words p. 20. so as to Atone with God for Vs which Explains his Meaning and is most Orthodox viz. That nothing Perform'd In us is the Atonement or Satisfaction for our Sins But this in no ways Hinders or Denies the Necessity of the Inward Presence and Operations of his H. Spirit to Sanctifie our Hearts whereby only that Atonement Perform'd by Christ in His own Body without Vs is Apply'd and Made Effectual to Us. Which R. G. over and over again not only Asserts but Zealously Contends for it Now let the Reader Judge whether G. W. has found an Instance in R. G. of one who Asserted That Christ's outward Appearance and Sufferings wou'd save any without His Appearance and Work in them The doing Right to R. G. is not the Matter I shou'd not have Detain'd the Reader so long meerly for that But by this it is very Evident That the Quakers have all along oppos'd the Christian Doctrin and Rejected all Faith in our Lord Jesus of Nazareth as to our Redemption or Salvation by His Death and Sacrifice of our Sins upon the Cross Why
greater Contempt in Bread-street This is told in the Sn. p. 343 of the First Edit and p. 110. of the Third And G. W. cannot get it Deny'd but yields it very un-willingly Vpon a late Enquiry says he we understand ther was such a Servant-Maid who under some Discomposure and Temptation Attempted such an Evil and Mad Action How George was it only Attempted Enquire again and thou wilt find she did it Thou know'st she did it but woud'st Simper it off thus And then sayst upon a Late Enquiry as if thou hadst never heard of it before O thy Mealy Modesty such Glorious Actions of the Saints do not Pass so un-regarded or are so soon forgotten tho' now for Temporizing a little they must be Dissembl'd For which Reason thou sayst she was under some Discomposure and call'st it a Mad Action Well! we have Mary Tucker too that was her Name aded to the Catalogue of Mad-Quakers But George must we not have the Great Quaker-Prophet Solomon Eccles in too for the same reason who coming Naked all over Besmear'd with T d into the Church of Alderman-bury in London and carrying his hands full of the same Filth compar'd it to the Bible which the Minister carry'd in his hands up to the Pulpit as is told before And the Famous Josiah Coal must in too who Justify'd our Bible being call'd a brazen-fac'd-Brazen-Fac'd-Book Vnjust Corrupt and Perverse-Bible as shewn p. 9. of the Gleanings to Sat. Dis. And I think they are no whit behind any of these who call it Death Dust and Serpents-meat Beastly-ware c. And then come in George Fox the Captain and the whole Rabble of Quaker-Prophets Teachers Writers and who not of them And all these must to Bedlam if Poor Mary Tucker go's Even thee George Whitehead must bear her Company for Burning of the Bible is not so Great a Contempt to it as making all the Riff Raff of thine and thy Fellow Quakers Blasphemous and Senseless Rattle to be of as Great Authority as It and Greater as I have shewn before from the words of G. Whitehead But George says that Mary Tucker was Severely Rebuk'd and Testify'd against by our Friends who came to Vnderstand that Attempt or Action He knows not yet which it was which we utterly Abhor But George how do's this Appear was she ever made to Sign an Instrument of Condemnation against her self according to the Quaker Disciplin and this Enter'd in your Register Book kept on purpose was she oblig'd to Begg Pardon for this Fact Publickly as the Fact was Publick and of General Scandal and as John Bringhurst the Quaker Printer was forc'd to do only for Printing a Book of Will. Rogers a then Seperat Quaker without the License of the Second Day Meeting was she Excommunicated as John Baâ—nâ—t a Quaker-Merchant was for selling some of these Books of Will. Rogers see Gleanings of Sat. Dis. p. 8. was any Mark of Publick Displeasure put upon her No. No. None of these things All this is a sham a meer sham George verily Have you treated her as you have done G. Keith or T. Crisp or F. Bugg only for telling you of your Errors or as you have done that most In-offensive old Gentlemans Mr. Pennyman who will not so much as Dispute with you whom you call Devils Drudge Devils Porter Devil-Driven Devil Incarnate Judases Apostats Dogs Serpents and 1000 such like ventings of your Meekness and Forbearance But why do'st George name this of Mary Tucker among the Lyes and Calumnies which thou say'st are in the Sn. when thou Confesses every word that is said in the Sn. of it But it serves for Clamour We come next to Examin G. W.'s defence of Ed. Burrough and Himself for two Quotations which are brought against them in the Snake shewing their Contempt of Scripture XV. First G W ' s. Defence of Ed. Burrough for his Contempt of Scripture as to Burrough You will find the Quotation out of him in the Sn. p. 109. it is of the First Edit which G. W. Quotes p. 339. and G. W. comes to it p. 42. and Excuses Burrough for this Assertion speaking of the Commands which are given to us in the H. Scriptures That is no Command from God to me which He Commands to Another Meaning that the Scriptures were Commands given long ago to other Men and therefore did not oblige us now To this says G. W. He intends this of Special Commands that were to some to BAPTIZE and PREACH the GOSPEL as he Immediately Explains it and not of General Commands of Duty Incombent upon All. Ans 1. It is well George that thou do'st admit the Commands to Preach and Baptize to be Special Commands given only to Some How then came Thee and thy Quakers by that Authority Think of this George for it Concerns thee 2. How do's Ed. Burrough immediately Explain himself as thee say'st that he means this of Special Commands It is true he do's name some Special Commands as to Baptize and Preach and some he says were sent to do both To Baptism as he Absurdly words it and to Preach the Gospel and Another was sent says he not to Baptize but to Preach the Gospel He Referrs to 1 Cor. 1.17 to which it is sufficiently Answer'd in the Discourse of Water-Baptism Sect. vii and thinks that St. Paul had not the same Commission with the Rest of the Apostles And if so He was not an Apostle This shews the Brutal Ignorance of these Enlightned and Infallible men as they Desire to be Esteem'd But were these Special Commands all the Contest betwixt Ed. Burrough and J. Turner in answer to whom he said these words No. not only not All the Contest But they were no Part nor Particle of the Contest and were very Impertinently brought in by E. B. according to Custom The objection put by J. Turner as Recited by E. B. himself was Charging this as a Quaker Principle viz. That Saints were not to do Duties by or from a Command without but from a Command within and that the word Command in Scripture was not a Command to them till they had a word within them And this E. B. Justifies instead of Denying it and says That is no Command from God to me what He Commands to Another and then J. Turner or any other who go's to Duty as you call it by Imitation from the Letter without This was wrote in the Year 1654. And we all know what they meant by that Phrase of Going to Duty to Perform Family-Duty c. It was the Duty of Prayer which was chiefly meant by these Expressions And here E. B. means the same for he speaks of Going to Duty as you call it says he that is in their sense and what they meant by it And in the same p. 47. upon the next Question As to the time of going to Duties he says Expresly All Duties as she calls them whatsoever She Jane or Joan Turner against whom he Disputes did not Pretend
Stomach to Read it of Scal'd Heads Gall'd Horse Backs Spuing Purging Stinking and Wiping which they apply all to Wigan besides Grinning like a Dog Teeth like a Lyon a Paw like a Bear and Mouth like a Dragon's Beast c. And besides this Vn-savory Language says Wigan p. 57. They do their Vtmost to Render me Odious and Obnoxious to the Greatest Danger and that by Dark and Dubious Insinuations as That it is known what I have been and something else they have which must not yet be Manifested c. It seems Wigan was in Prison as they were for Non-Conformity and tho' they were in the same Condemnation yet as Rats in a Trap will worry one another this cou'd not Restrain the Rage of the Vermin But they Endeavour'd to Render him further Obnoxious to the Government tho' Themselves were more As they have serv'd the Author of the Sn. to shew that they are no Changlings But ther is one Complement which the Quaker Appendix I am now Answering passes upon the Author of the Sn. p. 49. where speaking of G. Fox 's Inspirations he says such Inspiration so Foul a Vessel i. e. as that Author must not Pretend to which I wou'd Recommend to the Consideration of the Clean among the Quakers if any such ther are to be found For if we may Judge of the Foulness of a Vessel by what comes out of it then certainly ther never were such Sh ten Nasty Scal'd Gall'd Filthy Stinking Vessels besides Blasphemous Venomous Furios sensless Vessels as G. Fox and his Fell Dame with the other Quakers their Assistants before-mention'd whom by their Language and Gust one wou'd Guess at the Best to be Gold-Finders who Dane'd as Gossops at their Wedding about mid-night And what sort of Inspirations such Foul Vessels are Capable of let all Judge who are not as much Defil'd as Themselves And if it be true what this Appendix tells us p. 6. That Truth Changes not And therefore that the Quakers are still the same they ever were then what Sh ten Folks have we to Deal with We must Encounter Them as St. Dunstan did the Devil with a Pair of Tongs And what is said of the Jews will be truer of the Quakers that they may be known by the Smell I confess by their Phiz and Meen ther are none who Look so much as if something were amiss with them But if this were the worst of them I wou'd not Foul my Fingers with them but leave them to the Scavenger That which I am Concern'd for is the much Greater Filthiness of their Spirits their Horrid Blasphemies and Heresies and that Implacable Furie that Reigns in them which shews from whom their Inspirations came For they are first not Pure and then far from Peaceable Gentle or Easie to be Intreated Theirs is not the Meekness of Wisdom they Answer more to the Description of Solomon's Fool Prov. xiv 16. who Rageth and is Confident And the Advice of St. James is very Applicable to Them But if ye have Bitter Envying and strife in your hearts Glory not and Lie not against the Truth This wisdom Descendeth not from Above but is Earthly Sensual Devilish And If any among you seem to be Religious c. i. 26. and Bridleth not his Tongue this man's Religion is vain I have shewn their Bitter and Nasty Treatment of one who Gave them no Provocation but was Provok'd by them Let me give one more Because it is of a man without any Gall whom I verily think and I have known him sometime all the Abuses in the World even Beating cou'd not Provoke to Return an Ill-word for it is not in him And besides he is a Grave Ancient Man and of an Honorable Family whose Gray-Hairs might Reconcile Respect from any not Destitute of Humanity It is Mr. John Pennyman whom the Gross Immoralities of the Quakers Drove from among them after he had in the meekest manner Represented it to them but met with no other Return than the most Bitter Reproaches for his Good-will and Christian Endeavours towards them And they threw out their Venom against him not only in Discourse in their Books and Letters but they thrust out their Forked Tongues at him in their Sermons at their Publick Meetings when they were Assembl'd for the Worship of their God which shews who it was that Inspir'd them and Presided over their Devotions Mr. Pennyman has Printed some of them in a Post-script to a Sheet fill'd with their Contradictions placed in Two Columns with the Time Place and Persons Names who in their Sermons were Inspir'd by their Numen to Breath forth these Meek and Christian-like Expressions of Mr. Pennyman calling him Grinning Dog Whisting Cur. Barking Dog The Devils Agent The Devils Emissary Thou Cursed Serpent thou art Cursed for ever I am moved of the Eternal God to Pronounce woes and Judgements against him God's Power will Choak thee This George Whitehead uttered at Grace-Church-street Meeting from the Preaching Place Vnclean Nasty Spirit c. All these were in their Sermons And in their Books and Letters when they had time to weigh and Consider what they wrote but they write too Extempore they call him The Devils Drudge The Chief of the Devils The Devils Porter setting open the Gates of Hell Vassal of Hell and Bondslave of the Devil Wolf Dog Betraying Judas Devil-Incarnat Devil-driven Dungy-God Judas Atheist Runagad Vagabond Creeping Judas Instigated by the Devil in the Spirit that wou'd Murther Christ Craz'd Crack-Brain'd Distracted This last is as true as where they call him Vagabond and Runagad who is a wealthy and Substantial Citizen whose Credit was never Blasted and his Reputation stands firm to this Day And as to his being Distracted it has no better Ground all that are Acquainted with him know the Madness as well as Malice of this Accusation Can they charge upon Him any one of the Eight Particulars before mention'd wherein They are Prov'd to be Mad and Stark-Mad Or that He was ever Guilty of any of them even while he was a Quaker For ther are Good and Sober men who have been Deluded into Quakerism from their Pharisaical Pretences to Holiness without for some time Discovering The Snake in the Grass and the Devil Hid under the Angel of their Light But yet who never Run with them into that Excess of spiritual Riot which Intoxicated their Possess'd Leaders and the Bewitched Herd that follow'd them And therefore have Happily Rescu'd themselves by the Good Grace of God out of those Snares of the Devil But the Quakers did not only Sharpen their Tongues against this most In-offensive and Harmeless Old Gentleman but they made use of their Hands for as he there tells at Ratcliff Meeting after James Parks had Bitterly Inveg'd against him in his Sermon calling him The Devil's Agent the Devil's Emissary c. as above Mr. Pennyman stood up with intent to have spoken one verse of Scripture that was all the Reproof he meant to Return
from the Drudgery my Self I. Therfore I will turn to shew that the worst Payers are the Hard est Cravers 2. The Quakers Insolence and Threatning to any who Oppose them That these Quakers who take so free Liberty with others are the most Impatient to have any thing said to Themselves They are Touchy upon the least Punctilio and Improve any Reflection upon them to the utmost Strech George Whitehead last year Printed a Book which he Intituls A sober Expostulation with some of the Clergy c. wherein he writes in a very Threatning stile to two of the Establish'd Clergy Mr. Smithies and Mr. Archer for the suspicion that lay upon them of shewing some Countenance to Francis Bugg in his writing against the Quakers If thou says he p. 11. doth not put a stop to his mischievous Attempts it will Affect thee and the Cry will ascend Higher than to thy self Here is an Innuendo against the whole Clergy And p. 20. says he Bugg's Abuses are in their own Nature Intolerable and we do not Intend to Lie under his Foul Calumnies Pag. 106. If you will be mute in this matter says he to these Clergy-men and suffer him to Persist without your Publick Dislike then may you be further Justly call'd in Question and Expos'd thereupon for your neglect of Justice This is Magisterial indeed Here Whitehead Acts the Metropolitan and corrects these Clergy-Men with a Super-Episcopal Authority What! must they be Accountable for Bugg's writing against the Quakers And if they do but stand Mute in the Case that is if they do not take Part with the Quakers against Bugg or any who shall hereafter come over as he has done from the Quakers to the Church of England and Endeavour to Detect the Errors of the Quakers What then Here Whitehead threatens that they shall be call'd in Question for it and Expos'd thereupon He says that Bugg's Abuses are in their own Nature Intolerable I am sure such Insolence as this is in its own Nature and according to the Nature of all Government or but the Shadow of a Church very Insufferable To see a Sniveling Quaker thus Brave it in the Face of the whole Church and in Print to Threaten Her Clergy for doing of their Duty It is not Toleration will serve these mens turns Ex Pede Herculem We may know by a Little what a Great Deal means Their Principles are Calculated for Empire Their Motto is Do no Right and take no Wrong John Gilpin in his Narrative call'd The Quakers Shaken before Mentioned happen'd to call them a Faction saying of a Pamphlet That it was set forth by some of that Faction in York To which they Answer in The Standard c. Quoted before p. 8. Thou full of Subtilty is this thy Revenge to Nick-Name the Truth calling the Children of the Lord by the Name of a Faction Which is Invented by the Devil whose servant thou art The Provocation was Greater to which Will. Penn Replys in his Scirmisher Defeated p. 10. In answer to this viz. That the womb of Iniquity was in the Quakers writings upon which W. P. Crys out He has Invaded my Body and Soul Religion and Life for Lam by my Doctrin if the Priest may be believ'd an Heretick a Blasphemer an Atheist c. And what remains but that the Dogs or Lyons devour me the Rabble or the Government sacrifice me c. And if Will. Pen may be Believ'd what are our Priests as he calls them That Cursed Bitter Stock of Hirelings who have made Drunk the Nations whilst they have Cut their Purses Serious Apology p. 156. and Pick'd their Pockets Tophet's Propared for them to Act their Eternal Tragedy upon whose Scenes will be Renewed Direful Anguishing woes of an Eternal Irreconcilable Justice The Idle Gormandizing Priests of England run away with above 150000 l. a year Guide mistaken p. 18. Printed 1668. under Protence of God's Ministers No sort of People have been so Vniversally thro' Ages the very Bane of Soul and Body of the Vniverse as That Abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God's most Dreadful Vengeance is Reserv'd to Act their Eternal Tragedy upon c. And for the Dissenters he calls them An ill-bred Pedantick Crew Quakerism a new nick-name c. p. 165. the Bane of Religion and Pest of the world the old Incendiaries to Mischief And the best to be spared of Mankind against whom the Boyling Vengeance of an Irritated God is ready to be Poured out And now has not he to use his own words Invaded their Body and Soul Religion and Life for besides Damnation which he never misses he makes them Cut-Purses and Pick-Pockets and The best to be spared of Mankind Do's not that look like throwing them to the Dogs or the Lions or setting on the Rabble or Government to Sacrifice them All this is made the Tragical Inference of Disputing against the Heresies and Blasphemies of the Quakers And yet the above Language and Furie of Hell which is Belch'd out with the Utmost Virulence against the Church of England and the Clergy of all sorts must be Ramm'd down their Throats while the Quakers will Fly in any mans Face and send him to the Devil who Dares call Them but a Faction And if any of our Clergy seem to Countenance the Conversion of any from Quakerism or but stand Neuter and not Hinder others from Writing against them he shall be Magisterially Threatn'd as here by Whitehead that is by the Body of the Quakers who own his and the other Books Licens'd by their Second-Day's-Meeting as has been told before And I think they have here Given a very Good Handle to Return their Complement upon Themselves That if they stand Mute and not Censure Will. Penn and the Rest of them who have spu'd their Venom in the like Furious and Standalous Manner against the Church of England And Disown their Books at least the Fore-Nam'd and other such like Passages that are in them then that the Cry shou'd Ascend Higher than to these Particular Authors even to the Second-Day's-Meeting that owns them if they will stand Mute and not shew their Publick Dislike as Whitehead here Requires from the Clergy-Men then That they may be further Justly call'd in Question and Expos'd thereupon for their Neglect of Justice Who will not do Justice let Justice be done to them Do's Bugg's Disputing against the Quakers and Giving them less than their Due seem Intolerable to Them And do they tell us plainly That they do not Intend to Ly under his Foul Calumnies And must the whole Church of England and the State too Ly under the Thousand times Greater and more outragious Calumnies that the Quakers have over and over again Loaded upon their Backs And they will not to this Day Retract one word or Letter on the Contrary they vouch it in several Places of this Appendix And have Printed it in the Post-man See Collection N. 6. That they are the
Quakers As a Christian Testimony and Heavenly Expression And to shew what Solid Instruction he had Learn'd among the Quakers it is told of him p. 5. and 6. That seeing some little Lyons of China upon the Chimney-piece he said Take away those Images for they are to be Trodden under foot And seeing another Piece of China which had several Hands he said Take away that Piece that is Covered for it hath Eyes and seeth not and Ears and Heareth not Then he took offence at a Pair of Guilded Tea-Pots And said you may take away the other things that are Guilded and wash it off And after they were taken away says the Relation He was at ease This is told to shew the Aversion of the Quakers to Idols and how Tender this Young-Man was upon that Head And this was Printed for the Instruction of those that come after To shew how Exactly this Precious Youth kept up to the Doctrin of their Great Master Fox who in his Iconoclastes makes it Heathenism and Idolatry to have the Likeness of any Creature Painted upon a Sign see Sn. Sect. xxi p. 299. And I suppose it is the same upon a Chimney-Piece See with what Froth and Chaff these Poor Quakers are Fed And Glory in at their Death And yet do not Believe themselves For if they did they wou'd not have the Likeness of Creatures Lyons Bulls c. Painted upon their Signs as is Common with them now in London Yea and China Birds Beasts and Men upon their Chimney-Pieces Guilt Tea-Pots too and moreover do Sell them for Gain and all the Rest that offended this Tender Youth upon his Death-Bed But not his Sins for Alas he had none he was one of the Perfect ones And his Example is set out to Encourage the Rest of the Quakers to follow it Now if you shou'd tell any Quaker who had the Likeness of some Creature Painted upon his Sign that he was an Idolater He wou'd take it very Ill and tell thee Thou art a Lyar a Satan c. If you shou'd Ask him again whether G. Fox was Acted by the Infallible Spirit when he call'd this Idolatry He wou'd Answer That G. Fox was above thy Shallow and Dark Mind That He was sent from God And Endowed with Power from on High And Taught the way of the Lord in Truth That thou wert one of those who made a Man an offender for a word He wou'd bid thee Read within And Hearken to The small still voice And such Banter nothing to the Purpose And then think that he had sufficiently Answer'd thee This is the Method they take to Reconcile Contradictions And no other will you get from them This brings me to another Topick they use in Answering Objections made against them 3. Bringing of Contrary Testimonies which is To bring Contrary Testimonies to those Objected without offering to solve those that are Objected not minding or Hoping the Reader wou'd not that this only Proves them Guilty of Contradictions which is one of the Great Objections made against them And indeed of this their Writings are so Fertile that hardly a Page can escape you wherein you will not find some of them For they are all Confusion and Contradictions This is the Method thro' all this Appendix which we are considering They bring Contrary Testimonies or so seeming to those which are Objected and think but they cannot so think that this has done the work and Clear'd their Cause 1. Thus Sect. vi In answer to their Contempt of Magistracy and Government their Manifold Treasons and Rebellions they bring Testimonys from p. 41. to p. 45. of their Acknowlegement to the Government And I cou'd have fill'd ten Pages more with the same for they made Submissions and Acknowledgments to all the Vsurpations and Governments that ever happen'd in their time as Each had the Fortune to get Vppermost And then they Beslav'd that which was Down which they had Worship'd before Of this Many Instances are given in the Sn. Sect. xviii To which not one word of Answer either in the Antidote or this Appendix But ther is an Answer which they have under their Thumb to some of the Passages there Produc'd which I must not Conceal tho' it shou'd fore-stall their Market because it will afford some Diversion to the Reader These Passages are in the Sect. above Quoted of the Sn. p. 222 223. out of a Book wrote by G. Fox which carries this Title Several Papers given forth by George Fox c. The Book I never saw yet will answer for the Quotations which notwithstanding I take not upon trust of any ones Memory or my own And can give them further Quotations out of that Particular Book which G. Fox Mark'd with his own Pen or Aule which he cou'd handle much better for I have seen of his Hand or Foot writing tho' not in that Book and it look'd rather like the Ingravings of a Sciver or the Scratches of an Aule than the Draughts of a Pen. Besides his Delicate Spelling of which I can Present the Reader with a Sampler out of that same Book Which shews how much he was oblig'd either to his Amanuensis or the Corrector of the Press that we had one Line right Spelt in all his Works tho' his Dictating has hardly afforded Us one Paragraph either of Sense or English The Book I Quote is in the Possession of the Friends where neither I nor any I can Employ can have Access I mention this as a Tryal for their Spirit of Discerning and will venture their Reproof for the Mis-Spelling but of a Word The above-Mention'd Quotations out of that Book are Bitter Invectives against the King Char. 2. to obstruct his Restoration and against All Kings and Kingly-Government It was Printed in the beginning of the year 1660 when things were coming on fast towards the Restauration But soon after when the King was Establish'd then it was time pursuant to their old wont to turn about and Tack with the wind Then G. Fox wrote Marginal-Notes upon one of these Books the same that I have mention'd to Reconcile those Treasons and Rebellions which were in it according to his Skill that is after the Manner of this Antidote and Appendix by giving a Contrary Testimony without Retracting the other In p. 5. ther are these words That the Christians were not to do any thing in the Name of an Earthly King And again The setting up of these Kings and Emperors and Protectors and giving them the Names of Excellency and Majesty amongst the Christians hath been since the Days of the Apostles amongst the Apostats in the Apostacy from the true Wisdom and Life Here he writes upon the Margin I give it you in his own spelling This was in the Days of Olefer Cromell who wou'd be King G. F. And the like upon the Margin of p. 8. where more of his Treasons were express'd This was the time when the was so besy of making Olefer Cromell King
will Generally find in Fox's Gr. Mystery But we know what they Hold by what they Oppose Of a Kin with this is their never failing Allegories by the Force of which they can Wrest any Text in Scripture From or To what Meaning they Fancy Much has been said as to this Point in their turning the Humanity of Christ His Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascension the Resurrection of our Bodies and Future Judgment with the Sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper and other outward Ordinances into an Inward and Allegorical Sense to the Total overthrow of the Whole Christian Faith I find some Pleasant Instances of this Kind in William Haworth his Quaker Converted to Christianity An. 1674. p. 7. 8. of his Prefatory Epistle to John Crook Where the Quakers turn this Text He brought his Son out of Egypt thus out of the Egyptian Darkness of our Hearts And this The only Begotten Son thus Begotten in Vs And speaking of those who were Beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus they Explain it thus That to part with Carnal Wisdom and Reasonings that is Beheading And thus we must Allow what they so much Boast in viz. That they have Beheaded their Carnal Wisdom and Reasoning And it is a very full Proof of it which Mr. Haworth tells us ibid. p. 3. I told says he Christopher Taylor a Quaker who Disputed with him What Will. Penn said to a Friend of mine viz. That G. Fox was as Good a Prophet as Isaiah And Taylor did not Deny it but did Affirm it likewise Nay the Quakers must think so Mr. Penn must think so if He or They believe the Half of what He and They have written of George Fox particularly in the Preface to his Journal Their Reason Mr. Penn his Wisdom and Reasoning was Beheaded Murder'd Drawn and Quarter'd when he cou'd believe thus of so Consummated a Brute as this Fox And which is more strange he must by the same Rule think thus of Himself See in the First Part. p. 32 33. the Quaker-Interpretation of Gal. iii. 13. Cursed is Every one that Hangeth on a Tree i. e. on the Tree of Knowlege that is what Knowlege is got by the outward Carnal means of Hearing Reading Catechising c. Tho' they cou'd bring Contrary Testimonies to this of Their own Hearing Reading Catechizing c. But here is that Carnal thing of Knowlege Wisdom Reason their Mortal Foe Hang'd and Crucify'd as before they had Beheaded it Here is Their Plain Easie Natural way of Interpreting the Scripture But why shou'd it be Natural For the Natural Man knoweth not the things of God! And the Letter Killeth Therefore they will take Nothing according to the Letter But they Mistake the Letter or the Spelling sometimes As one that I have seen who lately being Press'd with Christ being so often call'd The Son of Man in the Gospel And that their Light within cou'd in no Sense according to their Notion of it be call'd the Son of Man seeing they believe it to be God and Christ from Everlasting The Quaker Answered very Gravely Ah Friend ther is much in those words Mind mind them then Pointing upwards to the Sun said The Sun of Man that is The Light of Man or the Light in Man And so the Matter was solv'd Another of their Preachers Holding forth in a Publick Meeting I can Produce witnesses obviating that Text 1 Thess iv 17. We shall be Caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air did thus Learnedly Expound We must meet the Lord in the Heir that is in the Light which is Christ who is the Heir of All things Another speaking of the Resurrection of the Body And having heard some say That we shall then have Angelical Bodies Thence Prov'd that the same Body which Dies do's not Rise again Because our Bodies now are not made of Angelico As it is said they will be then being Angelical Bodies This is like what is told in Sat. Dis. p. 42 43. of Another of their Preachers mistaking that Text Joh. xiv 2. In my Father's House are many Mansions where instead of Mansions he cry'd Manchets And thence Improv'd what a Good House God kept There was Plenty of Bread many Manchets And Another Applying that Text Matth. xi 30. My yoke is Easie and my Burden is Light to the Light within I cou'd Multiply upon such Fooleries of the Quaker-Infallibility But you must Excuse such Blunders in their Learned Clerks for many of them Learn by the Ear and not by the Eye They cannot Read And so know not the Difference of words which sound alike as Son and Sun Air and Heir c. This is one of the Reasons that they Play with Us at Cross-Purposes and is one of their Glorious Methods in Answering what is Wrote against them Not to take an Answer Upon which I will Insist here no Longer But go to the Next 5. Another Method they have in Answering is never to take an Answer But to Insist upon the same thing over and over again without taking any Notice of the Answers that are Made to them of which some Instances are given above And then on the other hand if they Publish any thing which they call an Answer to such a Book if any thing in that Book tho' not touch'd at all in the Answer shou'd after be objected they Cry that is Answer'd already Confuted overthrown c. Thus in this Appendix p. 10. the Quakers say no more to all those several Charges which are laid against them in the Sn. And to save Repetition Referr'd to in Primitive Heresie but That these Charges are near All of them already Answered by George Whitehead in the Antidote This was spoke a little Guiltily Near All of them That confesses ther were Some not Answer'd If you mean a Fair and Full Answer then the truth is not one of them is Answer'd But ther are a Great Many and not Near All that are not so much as once Mention'd or the least Notice taken of them in that Antidote and these of the Greatest Consequence yet this must serve for an Answer to them All And to afford this Appendix to say in the same place That His Abuses and Falsities are therein lay'd at his Door Yet is ther not one Abuse or one Falsity in the Sn. made appear in either the Antidote or this Appendix Thus that Author's Discourse concerning Baptism is serv'd At the end of the Antidote ther are not two Leaves spent upon it with this Title Some Notice taken of the said Author's Discourse for Water Baptism And it is Some Notice indeed it is Nam'd and Rayl'd at that is all Not one of his Arguments Consider'd or Objections Answer'd Yet this passes among the Quakers as a Full Confutation And when I have urg'd something out of this Book to some of them they have said O that is Answer'd tho' not one word of it in this Some Notice of Whitehead's And this Appendix p. 34.
they Profess'd from the Beginning How then came they to Excomunicate any for Receiving of Baptism as for Instance John Cox And call'd it a Drawing back to the Weak and Beggarly Elements Come Friends speak out in Plainess and tell Us wou'd you own any for a True Quaker who shou'd Receive Baptism and frequent the Holy Sacrament of The Lord's Supper wou'd you neither Censure not Condemn them if they made a Conscience of it as their Duty Wou'd you have Greater Tenderness towards these than for William Wilkins whose Excommunication is put in the Collection at the End of this for Marrying one that was not a Quaker and for Marrying by a Priest Was this a greater offence than the Receiving of the outward Baptism But in good Earnest did you never Censure or Condemn Baptism Is this new Moderation of G. W.'s no other than what you always did Profess In the Quotation before brought of Edw. Burrough's it is Rank'd amongst the Damnable Heresies even to the Denying the Lord who bought Vs And it is call'd The Doctrin of the Devil And p. 644. of his Works he says That it is not Lawful for the Saints of God to Join themselves to your Ordinances Yet now G. W. will let them go and neither Censure nor Condemn them He has forgot a Book of his own to which he gave this Title The Authority of the true Ministry in Baptizing with the Spirit And the Idolatry of such men as are Doting about shadows and Carnal Ordinances and their Ignorance of the Spirits Baptism of which water-Baptism was but a Figure Discover'd And herein is shewed that Water-Baptism is neither of Necessity to Salvation nor yet is now Practised either by Authority from Heaven or by any New-Testament Law that is in force upon Believers seeing the Substance and the End of things Abolished is come and Enjoyed wherein the Types Shadows and Figures are Ended Yet George now will neither Censure nor Condemn them if they be Conscientiously Tender in the Observation of these Abolished Types and Shadows tho' he calls it Idolatry nay and Doting Idolatry yet these men never Vary'd they always said the same since they were first a People that they say now Appen p. 5. slighting all the Authorities brought for Baptism in Prim. Her within the first 150 years after Christ they care for no Antiquity or Fathers says Indeed if he can absolutly Determin the Question by the Scriptures the work is done And yet in the Discourse of Baptism the Arguments are all Limited only to the Holy Scriptures and for any thing the Quakers have said to the contrary the Question is there Absolutely Determin'd They Referr to a Book of one Dell against Baptism This is their Great Assylum Yet he was not a Quaker he was one of the Professors whom they call Children of Darkness and Damn them All to the Pit of Hell And a Cambridge Schollar too another Mark of Reprobation with them and yet they fly to this Man to Help their Light against the Divine Institutions of our Blessed Saviour And they have Printed and Re-Printed this Book as oft as they have been Attack'd upon this Point of Baptism And out it has come since the Discourse of Baptism was Publish'd This made me Curious to look into it And there I found not one Objection but what is fully Answer'd in that Discourse Tho' I am satisfy'd that Author had never seen it before that Discourse was Printed Yet still they Referr to that Book which is only a Put-off because they have nothing to say and shews them to be Self-Condemn'd Their Appealing from their own Printed Books to the Original Copies 7. They have yet another Contrivance which is the Prettiest of all to avoid the Quotations brought out of their Books When none of the former ways will do then they say They have not the Book as if they cou'd not come at their own Books or otherwise they Appeal from the Print tho' themselves have Publish'd it to the Original Copy which if Extant none can have but Themselves Yet they do not Produce the Copy or tell how it is worded there or that it is otherwise than in the Print Thus p. 9. of the Prim. Heres ther is a Bloody Quotation out of a Book of G. Fox's call'd News out of the North. p. 14. where he makes it as unlawful to Return to Baptism as to Circumcision and calls the Lord's Supper The Table of Devils and Cup of Devils which is in the Generation of Serpents c. and p. 39. where he Denies the Books of Matthew Mark Luke and John to be the Gospel and calls them Carnal c. To this says Appen p. 32. I cannot Examin it not having the Book by me but I much Question the Truth of the Quotation And this is all that is said to it Now I can assure the Reader that this Quotation was taken out of the Book it self and not from any second hand And will he believe that this Book which is Common enough for I have seen more than one of them cou'd not be Procur'd among the whole Quaker Sanhedrin or that if this Quotation were much Question'd the Quakers are so Good Natur'd or so very Remiss as not to be at the Pains to look into that Book if they thought to Catch that Author at one False Quotation which they have not yet been able to do or whether every sober Person will not rather Judge that the Quakers do herein Plead Guilty I leave it to their consideration But hear another Pleasant Instance G. W. being Press'd with a very untoward Quotation in Sat. Dis. Glean Sect. iv p. 82. out of the Works of Edw. Burrough p. 273. where he Blasphemously makes the Sufferings of the Quakers not only Greater but more Vnjust than the Sufferings of our Blessed Lord Himself He comes to give an account of this in his Antidote p. 254. and he says after the old Fashion that E. B. is Cited Vnfairly and Partially in this Point But he tells not wherein These are only words of Course in all their Answers Nay himself finds no Fault with the Quotation that ther is a word Added or Diminished or Alter'd But says he Whether it was so Verbally stated by E. B. himself or by some mistake since I shall not undertake to Determin unless I see his Original Copy This Justifies the Quotation out of his Printed Book And if ther was any Mistake it was not in him who Quoted it So that G. W. if he Reguarded Instice ought to make Satisfaction for saying that this was Vnfairly or Partially Cited But in the next place this was Printed by E. B. in the year 1657. And Re-Printed in his Works An. 1672. And these Works were Collected and Published by an Junto of the Chief of the Quakers whereof George Whitehead was one and his Epistle particularly among others Praesix'd in High Commendations of the Author and the Works Yet now he wou'd turn it
upon the Author of the Sn. to Justify these Works and to produce the Original Copy But may not that Author more Reasonably Ask him how this Passage of E. B's came to be Twice Printed without any Correction And why it was never taken notice of as any Mistake these Forty years that it has been Printed till just now Suppose that Author had been taken Napping at any False Quotation or Charge upon the Quakers and shou'd put it off from the Printed Sn. and bid the Friends Produce the Original Copy and accuse them of Quoting him Vnfairly and Partially because they Quoted out of his Printed Book I desire to know from the Quakers particularly from G. W. Come George I 'll take thy word for once but not to make a Custom of it tell it now in good sober sadness woud'st thou have so Excused him woud'st not thou have made an Hideous Out-Cry and Clapt thy Wings for Victory But mark me George I do not mean only a bare Error of the Press or what cou'd possibly be so constru'd but a whole Passage such as this of E. B's and not only saying such a thing but going about to Prove it as he there do's That the Sufferings of the Quakers were more Vn-just than the Sufferings of Christ Why Because says he What was done to Christ was Chiefly done by a Law and in great part by the Due Execution of a Law c. But that it was not so with the Quakers which he there Indeavours to shew most Horridly Blaspheming As to his Arguments I Referr to Sat. Dis. p. 82. But as to our present business G. W. is brought at last to say in the same page p. 254. We will not stand by the Comparison Well This is something This is the first Confession that ever we got from the Quakers They will not stand by the Comparison of their Sufferings and Christ's But what then will they do as to E. B. who made the Comparison Will they say that he was in an Error No. Barr that For he gave forth all he Wrote as the Immediate Word of The Lord God And all his Editors G. W. c. have Attested this for him And he stood the Highest among the Quakers next to the Great Fox himself Who has Determin'd as before Quoted That whoever speaks and not from the Mouth of the Lord is a False Prophet and a Conjurer And if E. B. was a Conjurer then G. W. may come in and All of them And then let the Quakers see how they have been Led Let them Now see Here G. W. says it in the Name of the Rest We will not stand by E. B's Comparison for indeed it is Blasphemous to the Highest Degree And thereby you are given to understand That you are not hereafter to Trust any Quaker Books that are Printed even tho' Publish'd and Recommended by the Greatest amongst you For such are E. B's Works And if now after they have been put so many years into your hands as the Words of The Lord Part of them is Disown'd how can you be secure of other Parts of them or any Part of them at all How are you secure of G. Fox's Writings or of any others of your Prophets Have you seen all their Original Copies You must either Disown G. W. in this Affront he has put upon E. B. or Down comes All whole Quakerism at one Blow Ther is but one Book amongst you that I can hear Except G. Fox's Marginal Notes of Oleser c. before mention'd which will Escape by this Rule if that will It is Humphry Norton's for I have seen a very Ancient Manuscript of it which for ought I know may be the Original It was Printed at London for so I sind it Quoted in a Book of Roger Williams's call'd The Great Fox duggâ— out of his Burrows p. 45. And this Precious Passage cited out of him where he is after the Quaker-fashion Ridiculing the Second Coming of Christ in these words Is not Christ God and is not God a Spirit You look for a Christ without you From what Coast or Country shall He come What Country-Man is He you stand Gazing up to the Clouds after a Man but we stand by you in White chiding of you Thus as he is there Quoted How it is in the Print I know not for I have not seen it but in the Ms. it is p. 71. thus Whence must this Christ come you wait for And in what Generation And of what Family And out of what Country And of whom must He be Born That they may no longer be Deceiv'd by you who have kept them Gazing after a False Christ Well may it be call'd Gazing but leave it and mind those in White Apparel which Reproves you for it Act. 1.10 11. by which they mean their own White Lights within I suppose R. Williams might take it short These are among several other Queres of the like Nature which Humphrey put to the Professors Ther is Abundance of such Blasphemous Hideous stuff in that Book which shews Demonstratively what the Genuine Doctrine of the Quakers is concerning the Resurrection Ascension and Second Coming of our Lord Jesus turning it only to the Rising Ascension and Coming of the Light within them The outward Christ H. Norton here calls a False-Christ He was a Great Apostle of the Quakers sent into Ireland thence to the West-Indies And most Highly Recommended by Edw. Burrough and Francis Howgil two Principal Pillars to be Receiv'd by the Friends as a True Messenger of the Lord. But because this Book is but in Few hands and those of the Friends who will not now let it be seen I have in the Collection added a Trans-script out of the Ms. of some Passages in it worth the Readers Notice which Abundantly Confirm the Charges given against the Quakers and I thought this more Proper than to Thrust them in here out of their Place where we are Considering of the Quakers Manner of Defending themselves against these and other such like objections 8. The Last of their Cleanly and Clever Method Their falsifâ—ing the Sense of what is Objected against them For which by W. Penn's Rule they are Excluded from being Christians of Answering which I shall Mention at Present is Their Ignorant or most Commonly Wilful Mistaking of what is objected against them and so Answering Quite out of Purpose That by starting of new Game they may Divert the Pursuer from the Cent of an Absurdity or Heresie in Distress This they think a venial Politique in Themselves But this Mote becomes a Beam in their Brothers Eye And when they Charge it against others then they can see Clearly into the Heinousness and Utmost Deformity of this Sin Then they Improve it into a Total Loss of the Character or Name of being a Christian. This is one of the Heads upon which W. Penn wou'd Prove Thom. Hicks his opponent not to be a Christian in his Reason against Railing p. 158.
Bason he pretended his Blood was shed and said that he Gave up the Ghost as Christ did Thus C. Wade And hence he Charges Milner with Luciferian Pride to Save Souls as Christ did To this G. Fox Answers in his Gr. Myst p. 246. And Repeats no more of the Charge but these words He Crys says Fox Oh Luciferian Pride to save Souls And thence falls upon Wade as if he were an Enemy to the Saving of Souls and asks him What good then doth all your Preaching do And Quotes the Apostles who watched to save Souls by turning People from their Sins Now wou'd not any one have suppos'd upon G. F.'s Quotation of C. W.'s words That C. W. had been against all Methods or Means to Save Mens Souls and that he had call'd it no less than a Luciferian Pride for any one to Attempt it either to Preach or Pray or do any other Office of Religion Who cou'd have Imagin'd from this Quotation as G. F. gives it That C. W. only spoke of Attempting to Save Souls as Christ did that is by Shedding of our Blood and Giving up the Ghost as an Atonement or Propitiation for the Sins of others I will spare my Pains to Exemplifie the Truth and Faithfulness of this Quotation And when Will. Penn can make a 〈◊〉 of G. F. for this by his own Rule I will Promise Twenty and Twenty more of the â—ike if need be out of that one Book the Gr. Mystery In which p. 298. And in his Saul's Errand p. 9. G. F. Justifies this Wretch Milner And notwithstanding that he cou'd not nor did Deny this Matter of Fact and much more of the Like Blasphemy as Giving forth Twelve several Prophesies in the Name of the Lord all of which prov'd False Pretending to Fast Forty Days as Christ did and other Madnesses of High Enthusiasm yet G. Fox Justifies Milner says Ther was a Pure seed in Him And that The Lord did open True Prophesies and Mighty things to Him And calls those Persecutors and Wicked Men who wou'd go tell the Nation as he words it of the Above mention'd and such like Infirmities of that Precious Quaker Prophet And now that I have given the Reader a Taste of Rich. Hubberthorn's G. Whitehead's and G. Fox's sincerity in Reciting the Answers of other Men out of the Fountain that is behind of the like Instances in their Works and those of the other Quakers Approved and Recommended by W. Penn And by his standing Rule before Mention'd He himself and all the Rest of that Herd turn'd out of the Pale of Christianity together to Graze in the Common with Deists Jews and Pagans Themselves the worst of the Company Let me for a Concluding stroke upon this Head Divert my self a little with Witty Ap-Pen from whom I have thus far Digress'd to his more Considerable Brethren Now then you shall see Ap-Pen shew his Parts in behalf of Himself and Partners at the End of the Preface he gives their Authority for their so Frequent calling the Author of the Sn. a Serpent a Viper a Snake Will. Penn has lately Improv'd it to a Rattle-Snake and they say it is A Title of his own Choosing As I said before it is not very Material what they call him He is neither the Better nor the Worse for that They have call'd others by the same and worse Names where they had not the Pretence for such a witty Pun as this But that which I take notice of this for is to shew them the Consequences which Themselves have laid down of Mistaking or Mis-Representing the words of other Men. Did the Author of the Sn. then mean that Title for Himself or for the Quakers How you can Turn it upon him is not the Point free Leave you have But to say That you wou'd not Abridge him a Title of his own Choosing and to give this as a Reason of your calling him so is Expresly to Mistake and that Wilfully his words And then out of Christianity with you according to Will. Penn. If you may call him a Snake by this Argument you may as well call Him the Devil and say that too his A Title of his own Choosing for another of is Books is Intitul'd Satan Dis-Rob'd Therefore both Will. and Ap-Pen cum Sociis must either Renounce their Christianity and then they will be just where they were or else Correct the above Mention'd Rule which W. P. has Infallibly laid down to Thrust others from thence Thus Justly in the same Trap which they set for others is their own Foot taken SECT III. The Quakers Clear'd from Contradiction in those Seeming Contrary Testimonies which are Produc'd in this Appendix to Defend them from the Heresies Charg'd upon them WHAT I have already said may be thought sufficient in Answer to this Appen wherein ther is nothing like an Argument but the Contrary Testimonies which are Produc'd against the Charges Exhibited And these are Reply'd to without Considering of them in Particular in Sect. ii N. 3.4 Whereby it appears First That tho' these Testimonies produc'd were Contrary to what is Charg'd from other Testimonies of the Quakers yet that this is no Justification but rather a further Argument of Contradictions against them Secondly That by the Contrary Meanings which they have these Testimonies tho' seemingly Contrary yet are not so and do not Contradict the Charges laid against the Quakers To make the which more fully Appear I will go over the Contrary Testimonies Produc'd And shew the Deep Deceit of these Quakers 1. These Testimonies begin Appen Sect. 2. p. 12. with this Title Some Testimonies to Christ Jesus as the Son of God and Come in the Flesh The first is of Rich. Farnsworth An. 1651. in his Confession and Profession of Faith where he Confesses to the Father Son and Holy Spirit but he calls them not 3 Persons so that this is no Contrary Testimony to the Quaker-Heresie concerning the Blessed Trinity which makes them to be only three Manifestations or Operations of the same Person as the Sabellians Socinians c. But then how is this a Testimony to the Son of God as Come in the Flesh if the Son be not Distinct from the Father as G. Fox affirms in so many words Great Mystery p. 142. and 293. c. if so then it was God the Father who took Flesh as Muggleton said Ay and Fox too Gr. Myst p. 246. where he falls upon Chr. Wade for offering to say That not God the Father but the Son said Wade took upon him Human Nature This Fox opposes and brings as an Argument against it that Christ is call'd The Everlasting Father Isa ix 6. The truth is these Quakers make no Distinction at all betwixt God and Christ they mean the same thing by Father Son Spirit Christ Light or Light within which they make to be God If otherwise let them tell us how the Son took Flesh and not the Father if the Son be only a Manifestation of the
And to Him Only Yet but the very page before p. 148. they fiercely oppose Justification by the Rightcousness which Christ hath fulfilled in His own Person for Vs wholly without Vs Not that the Effect is wholly without us for it is rather wholly within us that is the Application of that Justification which Christ hath wrought for Us when it is brought home to our Consciences But the Price the Satisfaction for our Sins which is our Justification that is Wholly without Vs we are no Part of the Meritorious and Procuring Cause of our Justification that is only Christ His Blessed Death Sufferings and Perfect Rightcousness Perform'd in His own Person wholly without us But this is far from the Quaker meaning tho' it seems to be the Import of their Words And in the above Quotation where they ascribe their Sanctification Justification c. to our Lord Jesus Christ to Him Only and to His Blood they mean the Blood within and Christ within But as for Justification by the outward Christ as above they Return this Prodigious Answer which I have before Quoted And indeed this we Deny and Boldly Affirm it In the Name of the Lord To be the Doctrin of Devils and an Arm of the Sea of Corruption which do's now Deluge the whole World This is within less than the Compass of one Page to the above Quotation And but two pages before this they Deny that Person who Suffer'd that is our Lord Jesus Christ to be Properly the Son of God whom in this Quotation they Seem to call His only Son And this is not Contradicting themselves For the Mystery lies here they allow that Christ took Flesh but not into His own Person so that it was not His own Flesh only as He Borrow'd and wore it for a while And therefore that it was not His Person which Suffer'd only the Person of that Man Jesus in which He Dwelt The Person they Deny to be the Son of God but the Light within that Person they call the Christ the only Son c. And all this comes upon them because they do not truly believe the Incarnation of Christ or that He took our Nature into His own Person Which is the Charge against them and these are all the Testimonies which they have brought to Clear themselves And these do by no means Clear them But have Detected their Artifice much the more And Render'd them Doubly Guilty I have taken All the Quotations before-mention'd upon Trust except that out of the Serious Apology which I had by me for I wou'd not Causelesly suspect others of Deceit tho' themselves do it And because these Testimonies here brought by Appen are nothing to their Purpose as has been shewn Of the Reality of the Sufferings and Death of Christ II. The next Sect. 3. in Appen p. 19. c. contains Testimonies to the Truth and Reality of Christ 's Death and Sufferings But I may save the Reader and my self the Pains of Examining these Because if Christ was not Truly In-Carnat He cou'd not Truly Suffer And tho' He be said to Suffer Die c. yet that is not cannot be meant Properly by those who think that the Person which Suffer'd was not Properly the Son of God But they call these the Sufferings of Christ only because He permitted that Body to be Crucify'd which He assum'd as a Cloak or Vail but did not take it into His own Person by which Means only those Sufferings cou'd be said to be His Properly Therefore all they can say of the Death and Sufferings of Christ will never Clear them while they tell us that they mean it not in a Plain and Proper Sense But as our Sufferings may be call'd the Sufferings of Christ Col 1.24 Which in a Large Sense is True But our Dispute proceeds of Christ's Sufferings only in the Strict and Proper Sense Not as the Quakers think their own Blood to be the Blood of Christ And that same Blood by which we are sav'd Thus they told some who they said had shed their Blood You will by no means be thence Cleansed but by the same Blood which you so Cruelly shed This is in a Book Publish'd by them An. 1657. call'd The Guilty Clergy-Man Vnvail'd c. p. 17. Many Quotations of the like Nature can be Produc'd out of their Books But I stay not here Of the Resurrection and Future Judgment III. Appen Sect. iv p. 25. begins the Contrary Testimonies concerning The Resurrection and Future Judgment Where observe first their stating of the Case ibid. p. 25. We are more Learned say they in the School of Christ than to Deny or be Ignorant of so Inestimable an Advantage as is The Resurrection by Christ to Eternal Glory and of that Future Judgment by which the States of Men must be Determined Now nothing at all of this is the Question The Quakers have been told in the Sn. and Sat. Dis. of their Notion of an Inward Resurrection of Christ or the Light in their Hearts and of a Judgment there likewise Past upon Sin But the Question is of the Resurrection of the Body of the Same Body that Dy'd And concerning this ther is not one word of a Contrary Testimony among all those here Produc'd The word Body is not so much as nam'd in all these Testimonies except one which is a Testimony brought from Will. Penn. p. 29. where he says as there Quoted We own the Resurrection of the Body according to the Pleasure of God And every Seed shall have its own Body What Body they mean by this is told in the Sn. Sect. xii That by a Spiritual Body they mean no Body at all but only the Soul freed from the Natural Body which Natural Body they do not allow ever to be Raised again or Joyn'd to the Soul And there it is shewn at large That Will. Penn allows no Resurrection of the Body that Dies and Denies Positively That that Description of the Resurrection 1 Cor. xv Relates to the Resurrection of the Body at all but to the two States of Man in the Natural and Spiritual Birth And this same Appen instead of Contradicting do's Re-assert and endeavours to Justifie the Testimonies of the Quakers against the Resurrection of the Body And Repeats their old Argument against it p. 31. thus As for the Body 1 Cor. xv 37. Thou sowest not that Body that shall be Thence they Inferr That it is not the Same Body that Rises This is fully Answer'd in the Sn. Sect. xii of which no Notice at all is taken by Appen But the old Objection still Insisted upon And this where they Pretend to bring Contrary Testimonies to those Produc'd which Deny the Resurrection of the Body Yet this hinders not their Constant Boast which concludes Every of their Arguments of having fully Clear'd themselves and totally Overthrown their Adversaries Here says Appen p. 30. I have brought Twelve Witnesses to Testifie contrary to this Man 's
Infallibility and Spirit of Discerning Equally Infallible In their Description of the Light within p. 38. say they And it is Eternally true That men by Believing in the Light notwithstanding his Idle scoff may become Children of the Light And it is of necessity that them that are truly such must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of this World i. e. Darkness Thus Appen And if what I have said before be not sufficient to Prove these men to be stark Mad sure this will be such a Conviction as that none can Desire a Greater It has been Prov'd upon them over and over again that not only most Vile and Scandalous Livers but even Witches and Persons visibly Possess'd with the Devil have Preach'd VnDiscover'd amongst them some for Twenty years together see Sn. Sect. xxi as Winder's Witches c. Attested beyond all Contradiction And their Books are full of Complaints of Judases among Themselves so they call their Seperatists who liv'd long among them but were not truly of them whom yet they cou'd not Discover Did they Discover Christopher Atkinson and Thomas Symons's Maid till they Discover'd it themselves Sn. Sect. vi N. v. or George Archer Sat. Dis. Glean Sect. vi N. 2. p. 92. and many others till their Whoring and Vileness Grew Notorious in the Countries where they liv'd Who was it that Discover'd H. Winder's murderous Witches to the Quakers who stuck by them to the very Last Yet still notwithstanding of all these Convictions they stand firmly to it That it is of necessity that they must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of Darkness Have they not had Instances enough to shame them out of this Senseless and Blasphemous Pretence They call for more while they Refuse to Repent And tho' it be needless I will Gratify them or the Reader with one more that is Remarkable The Great Quaker Apostle of Mary-Land in America was Thomas Thurston who while the Deputy Governor was absent a year or more in England came with a Message from the Lord as he Horridly pretended to his Wife who was a Quaker that he was sent to Propagate the Holy seed with her And when her Husband Return'd finding a Child more than he had left she Confess'd the whole matter Upon which he oblig'd her to go to the Quaker-Meeting and there Publickly to Declare the whole Monstrous Truth which she did Nor cou'd Thomas Deny it Upon which he came to England and till it was otherwise Discover'd was Receiv'd by the Friends and Preach'd among them as Formerly As he did in Mary-Land for sometime after it was Publickly known there And his Light within was thought so Infallible that another Quaker-Preacher own'd it to him of Good Credit who told it to me That the Generality of the Quakers there nay said he I my self Durst not Judge him even in our minds not to have had an Inspiration from God for what he did Yet it is of necessity That they that are truly Quakers must be seperate from and Discerners of the Children of Darkness And Rich. Hubberthorn p. 212. of his works says That they can Discern the Elect from the World And Denies those to be true Ministers of Christ who cannot do it This was the Argument by which G. Fox thought that he had Prov'd one Nathanael Stephens who was Minister of Drayton in the year 1655. not to be a True Minister of Christ This you may see in a Book wrote by G. Fox and others of the Quakers with this Title The Spiritual Man Judgeth all things or The Spiritual Man's True Judgment And how by him the Hearts of others were and may be Judged by the Spirit of Truth and also how things by the Spiritual Man were Judged of concerning both Salvation and Dammation c. Printed for Giles Calvert at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Paul's 1655. This Spiritual Man here mention'd was G. Fox And the Judgment which he pas'd upon the Hearts of Others and the Occasion of it is told p. 3. of a Chapter which bears this Superscription This is to go abroad to stop Lies and Slanders that Truth may be Cleared c. And it is subscrib'd George Fox There he speaks of himself in the third Person and says GEORGE FOX coming to Drayton to his Fathers in the Flesh Christopher Fox's House This was to Imitate the Stile of our Blessed Lord. Rom. ix 5. upon the Sixth day of the week being the Twelth day of the Eleventh Month Thus Particularly he sets it down with other Circumstances as who were Present c. Because of the mighty Miracle he shewed that Day in Judging the Heart of Nat. Stephens which he go's on to Relate and tells how he came into the Grave-yard so he call'd the Church-yard and met with N. Stephens the Priest as he thought he Reproach'd him and there before the Company particularly Christopher Fox his Father According to the Flesh being Present Then George asked him the Priest what he did Believe whether he G. Fox had such a Familier Spirit as it seems with very good Reason had been objected against him Yea or Nay The Priest Answered and said He cou'd not tell He might have a Good and he might have a Bad. Then George told him Here thou hast Manifested thy self to be no Minister of God but a False Minister For the Ministers of Christ and the New Covenant of God they cou'd Discern Spirits and Try them 1 Cor. 12. 1 Joh. 4. And as you may Read in Isaiah he Discern'd the Familier Spirit and Judged it Isa 8. And the Apostle Discerned the Witch-Craft of the Witches that had Bewitched the Galatians read Gal. 3. And here thou hast Manifested thy self to be a Blind Guide who can put no Difference between the Precious and the vile who hast no Salt to savour withall therefore thou art good for nothing but to be Cast out and Troden under Foot Mat. 5. Then George told him that the Spiritual Man Judgeth All things And Stephens and the other Priest Chester both Denyed it and said the spiritual Man did not Judge All things These are the words of G. Fox And upon this occasion the Book wherein this is told was written And bears the Title of The Spiritual Man Judgeth All things c. Through all which Book this Argument is carry'd on That he can be no true Minister of Christ who cannot Discern and Judge the Hearts of other men And the Quakers here take to Themselves those Miraculous Gifts of the Holy Spirit which are mention'd 1 Cor. xii And equal Themselves to Isaiah and the Holy Prophets and Apostles of our Lord. None of whom ever Pretended to that Prerogative of God Alone to Know the Hearts of Men. Therefore it is said of Christ Joh. ii 24 25. â— That He knew All men And needed not that any shou'd testify of man for He knew what was in Man But this was never said of any Prophet or Apostle
the Quakers Sinless Perfection For they make Every Sin to be a Denying of the Lord that bought them And consequently to be not only Heresie but Apostacy and Renouncing of Christianity Whereby they have by their own Confession Vn-Christian'd All of Themselves in whom we can find the least Sin or Flaw And that has been done to Purpose in many other Instances besides this of the Hat But besides the Heresie and Great Mischief of this It is Gross Hypocrisie in you Quakers for at the same time that you will not shew that Respect to other men as to take off your Hats because Forsooth you wou'd not be the Servants of Men we Believe you you Exact that same Respect from your own Servants and make them take off their Hats to You. Nay not only your Menial Servants but your Apprentices as seen every Day in London Now do you think these to be more Servants to you and to owe you more Duty than you owe to the King or any Human Governor Yes You do think so and as Judas of Galilee and his Galileans that you ought not to be Subject to any King or Government but your own Jesus in whose Right you think that you have the Heirship of the whole Earth and Just Power to Fight for it too as you have set forth in your Printed Declaration which you have been so often told of but will Give no Answer to it This is the Secret of your Stiffness in not taking off your Hats to any Governors who are Children of the World as you call all but your selves that is the Children of Darkness as Appen do's Explain it and yet Requiring the same Respect to be Paid to your Selves by your own Servants I say not That all the Simpletons among you Understand this Ther are many that Follow your Leaders as some did Absalom in the Simplicity of their Hearts not knowing any thing It is not fit that the Great Secret of your Empire which you Hope for one Day shou'd be Expos'd to Every Body But may be you do not think that the taking off a Hat is any Token of Honour only a Foolish Fancy some People have got and you wou'd not Comply with the Folly of the World But you wou'd not Deny any True Respect to Governors No this will not do You Refuse it because it is a Token of Respect and for no other Reason As Francis Howgil a Quaker Pillar said to Mr. Burton a Magistrate before whom he was brought who told him he did not value his taking off his Hat to him but ther was a Respect due to Magistracy Howgil Reply'd That God had not Commanded him to take off his Hat and that he did not owe him that Respect nor wou'd he give it him Whereupon one that stood by took off his Hat and laid it upon the Table by him But Howgil took it up again and put it on Another took it off again and laid it on the Fire but within his Reach Yet Howgil wou'd not stoop to take it off the Fire for if it had been Burn'd ther had been Persecution and this Hat wou'd have been put into the Register of the Sufferings of Friends with the Childrens Clouts and Hundreds of Pins c. which are there carefully Inserted But Howgil had not that Pleasure for some body took his Hat off the Fire before any Harm came to it and gave it him which on he clapt again and wou'd not be Controul'd This and other Passages you will find in the Irreligion of the Northern Quakers Printed 1653. p. 67.68 But Instances of this kind are so Frequent that we need not make Quotations But to shew further how much they think the taking off of the Hat to be a Token of Respect ther was a Civil-War among them and several Books wrote upon it of taking off the Hat at Prayer Upon occasion of which Will. Penn wrote his Judas and the Jews against another Quaker Book call'd The Spirit of the Hat They may say that this is an Honour Pay'd to God True But still it shews what they think of taking off the Hat that it is a Token of Respect And this is the Reason why they will not Give it to any of the Worlds Magistrates But says Appen we Expected some Ancient Father to Condemn us pursuant to the Title of Prim. Heres And ther are none Nam'd in p. 17. But you were told p. 14. of the Repeated Exbortations in the Epistles especially of St. Paul of Obedience and Respect to Magistrates And that the Occasion of this was the Principle of the Gaulonits followers of Judas who like You threw off the Obedience and Respect due to their Magistrates who were not of their Religion And what needed this be Repeated over again in the next Leaf while he was treating upon the same Subject That is the manner of the Quaker Writers who Like so well what they do Themselves that they are never weary of Licking their Bears but never into Good shape But how did the Title of Prim. Heres Oblige the Author to bring any more of the Primitive Fathers in this Point besides the Apostles were not they Fathers of the Church and Primitive too And what the Title Engages is to shew that these Quaker-Heresics were Broach'd Condemn'd in the Days of the Apostles the first 150 years after Christ These are the words of the Title And is not this Answer'd by shewing the Authority of the Apostles in the Case But we see what it is to have to do with Angry Men who are Resolv'd not to be Satisfy'd and to find Exceptions whether they can or not It were Easie to Multiply Quotations out of the Fathers upon this Head But that wou'd be only to Over-Prove and Tire the Reader Especially considering what an Ample Testimony Appen has Produc'd p. 44. out of one of the Quaker-Worthys Will. Gibson in these words And those Rulers Governors or Magistrates who are a Terror to Evil Doers and a Praise to them that do well are worthy of Honour yea of Double Honour and all such are duly Honour'd by us with the Honour which belongs to them and we Really and with Pleasure Honour and Obey all such not only for fear of wrath but for Good Conscience-sake as the Apostles and Frimitive Fathers did Here are the Primitive Fathers Quoted and own'd by the Friends in this Case But Falsly and to very Ill Purpose For the Import of this Testimony of Gibson's is to Limit our Duty and Honour only to Good Governors But so did not the Apostles and Primitive Fathers for they both Pay'd and Preach'd Obedience and Honour to Wicked and Persecuting Governors Now we know whom the Quakers think Good Governors They shew it themselves they have Given us here a Test Those to whom they will take off their Hats and Pay them but that Single instead of their Double Honour these are they whom they Reckon Good Governors And all those to whom they
no Medium And not only thus Negatively have they Asserted it But Positively and in the Affirmative They say that the Soul is Infinite even Infinitness it self and without Beginning Which nothing can be but God And if the Soul be God it must follow that ther is no Soul but God Which R. Farmer p. 27. above Quoted do's charge upon the Quakers That they say Ther is no Spirit but One and so Deny any Angel or Spirit Which page G. Fox do's Quote in his Answer Gr. Myst p. 173. but says nothing at all to this he cou'd not Deny this to be the Quaker Principle And the Consequence of this is That ther is nothing Natural in Man for if all in Man be God then ther is no Nature of Man but only the Nature of God This is the true Ground why the Quakers will not allow any Light that is in Man to be Natural no not that Light or Reason which is Common to All Men. Nor will be Content to say That this comes from God No. They will have it nothing Less than God Himself It was Granted to G. Fox That the Eternal word Enlightneth All men with the Common Light of Nature This G. F. Repeats and Opposes The Light says he which Every Man that cometh into the world is Enlightned withal is not Natural Gr. Myst p. 172. What is his Reason Because says he The Light was before any thing was Made and all things that was made was made by it which Lightneth every Man that cometh into the World By this Argument nothing at all can be Natural to Us because not only our Light but out Life and Every thing we have is from God And Consequently we nor any other Creature can have any Nature at all And then ther can he No Creature at all but All is God This was the Ranters Blasphemous Notion That God is Every thing And Every thing is God Thus they Understand that Text That God is All in All. i. e. That Every thing comes by Emanation from God or that Every thing is the Nature and Essence of God Extended and Vary'd which Returns again into its self as Rivers come from and Return into the Sea And so All things Return into the Nature of God whence they Came. And that ther is no Nature or Being but only that of God And this the Quakers have Lick'd up from the Ranters from whom they came And tho' they seem to oppose them yet from them they Learn'd And still Propagate this with others of their Vile Errors This is the very Language of the Quakers Is not this that cometh out from God which is in God's hand Gr. Must p. 100. Part of God and from God and to God again is not this of God's Being And doth not the Scripture say God is All and in All Is not the Soul without Beginning ib. p. 90. coming from God Returning into God again who hath it in His hand Which brings it up into God which came out from Him hath this a Beginning or Ending And is it not Infinite in it self and more than all the world Now Consider what a Condition they call'd Ministers are in ib. p. 29. They say that which is a Spiritual Substance is not Infinite in it self but a Creature That which came out from the Creator and is in the Hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again that is Infinite it self And thou says ib. p. 91. the Soul is a Spiritual thing and yet a Creature But the Bishop of their Souls Christ the Power of God brings the Soul up into God from whence it came whereby they come to be One Soul Thus G. Fox which he had learn'd from his Lear-Father as he was call'd John Hinks a Chief man among the Ranters Who allow'd no Distinction at all betwixt God and Creatures but said that All was God And after him the other Quakers proceed in the same strain Christoph Atkinson sets down this as a False Principle which he opposes viz. That God who is Creator Sword of the Lord. p. 3. is Eternally DISTINCT from all Creatures in His Being and Blessedness And Replies in these words The Being of God is not Distinct from them that are Begotten of Him for as the Father and the Son are one without Distinction so are they that are Begotten by Him And p. 5. he Denies that Christ or God is a Distinct Person from all Saints and Angels For says he Christ is but one in All and not Distinct And this says he in his Title-Page I was moved by the Lord God of Life to lay open as it was made Manifest in me from the Lord. And now we see the Reason why G. Fox did not oppose what R. Farmer charg'd upon the Quakers of their Denying and Created Angel or Spirit and holding no other Spirit but God This G. Fox cou'd not Deny to be the very Principle of the Quakers Nay he Contends and Disputes for it In his Gr. Myst p. 207. he sets this as an Error of the Professors that they say God hath a Christ Distinct from all other things whatsoever whether they be Spirits or Bodies And Answers God's Christ is not Distinct from His Saints nor His Bodies So that by this not only all Spirits but all Bodies are God's Bodies nay every Body as well as Spirit is God For so it must be if God is not Dictinct from them This is true Ranterism And is the Dreggs of that old Corrupt Heathen Philosophy which made God to be only Anima Mundi the Soul of the World and consequently every thing to be Part of God of His Essence and Being The Blasphemous Absurdity of which has been Expos'd by many of the Heathens themselves And is now lick'd up again by the most Gross of Heathens the Quakers Mr. Farmer in his Book before mention'd is Large p. 58. c. in shewing now the Quakers took up this from the Ranters That they Approv'd of the Ranters Principles But Blain'd them for not keeping up to them to the Light that was in them as they say of their own Quakers when they Listen to the Flesh and are taken Napping In a Book wrote by G. Fox and Jam. Naylor An. 1654. call'd A word from the Lord unto all the Faithless Generation of the World c. p. 13. they give this Testimony to the Ranters You had a Pure Convincement I witness which did Convince you and you started up to be as Gods And Gods they thought Themselves and were thought by the Quakers till their Vileness as of the Quakers now was so fully Discover'd that meer Shame Drove all People from them Their Great Edw. Burrough and Fr. Howgill wrote an Answer to some Quaeres put by one Reeve of which this is the Second viz. What the true Creator was in his own distinct Essence Nature and Glory from all Eternity in Time and to all Eternity And wherein Elect men and
Human Nature of an Human Soul and Human Body And likewise Truly and Properly the Son of God Contrary to Will. Penn. And that He is not such in Any Other Person Whatsoever Not in the Person of Will. Penn G. Whitehead or Any of the Quakers Reader forgive me for using so many Words Less Particular and Positive will not do with these Men. It is for their sakes that I do it That I may by any Means if Possible Open their Eyes to Discover their Horrible Delusions They have by this Means of Allegorizing the Incarnation and Birth of our Blessed Saviour from the Letter to their Imagined Conception Birth Passion Death and Resurrection of the Light within taken away all Certainty whereby we may know Whether ever ther was Such a Man in the World as Jesus Christ or that He ever did any Miracle or had any Attestation from Heaven for His Ministry That Most Express of the Glorious Appearance of a Light from Heaven Descending Leasurly and Hovering upon the Head of Jesus at His Baptism after the Manner that a Dove Lights upon the Ground the Quakers have Deny'd that is turn'd it to an Allegorie Doest thou believe says G. Whitehead to his Opponent in his Truth Defending the Quakers p. 42. That it was visible to the Carnal Eye as a Created Dove is or its Lightning I believe he Meant Lighting upon Him as a Dove was in respect of its Nature and Comliness By this they Mean That Innocency and Simplicity like that of a Dove was all that did Light upon Jesus or which Exprest His Nature and Comliness at that Time And then indeed they might well Ask Was it visible to the Carnal Eye But by this they have Quite Overthrown the Validity of that Miraculous Attestation given to Christ And so they have done to all the Rest That as I said they have not left One Single Proof that Ever ther was such a Man in the World For that can not be known but by Outward Acts and Attestations And if they can be thus Turn'd ther is an End of all Proof from them But they wou'd have no other Proof for Christ or His Mission than ther is for their Own Since they vouch Themselves to be Christ and God! Indeed as many Gods as ther are Quakers For if as they say the Seed in them can Grow up to be God That God do's BEGET Himself in them Then I do not see how they can avoid the Consequence of a Multiplication of Gods Of God's having a Beginning and being Created For if He be Begotten in Time Every Day in Every New Quaker He must be Created and so is both the Creature and the Creator If He be Capable of Encrease of Growing up from a Seed to a Child c. He must likewise be Subject to Dissolution He must be Lyable to Infirmities and Passions as We are And this the Quakers do not Deny Nay they Argue Expresly for it They take in a Literal Sense those Expressions in Scripture Where God is said to Repent to be Weary to Suffer c. several of which G. Whitehead Quotes in his Divinity of Christ p. 56. as Isai 63 10. Amos. 2.13 Hos. 11.8 9. Psal 95. Gen. 6.6 Psal 78.40 Isai 1. and chap. 43.24 These he brings as an Answer to the Argument of Thomas Vincent against whom he Disputed That Christ as God Cou'd not make Satisfaction for our Sins because as God He cou'd not Suffer The Contrary of which G. W. here Endeavours to Prove and brings these Texts to shew That God can Suffer These are the Natural and Necessary Consequences of this Mad Foundation of the Quaker Faith in Setting up their Light Within for Christ and God I am Weary in Pursuing their Blasphemies But it is Necessary in Order to Un-Deceive the Simple and Deluded among them Who know not these Depths of Satan into which they have been Led Especially Considering the Tenacious Obstinacy of their Leaders Who tho' they know these things Yet for Popularity or other Ends will not Suffer their Implicit Followers to Repent But Buoy them up with all the Artifice and Cunning they are Able to Believe That all is Well And to adhere firmly to All that they haue Taught them from the Begining And that IN ALL THE PARTS OF IT Some Texts Rescu'd from the False Glosses of the Quakers to favour the Universality of what they call The Light within 3. Let me for a Conclusion Rescue some Texts of Scripture which the Quakers have wrested to their own Destruction And upon which they build their wild Notion of the Light-Within That being undeceiv'd in this they may by the Blessing of God see their Error and Return Their Chief Text which they have Constantly in their Mouths is Rom. x. 8. The word is Nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the word of Faith which we Preach This word of Faith they take to be the Light which is in Every man of the World and not to Refer to the outward Christ or to the Faith in Him His outward Sufferings and Death but to the Faith in their Light within which Every man has even those who never heard of Jesus of Nazareth But the very next words ver 9. shew the Apostle's Meaning to be quite otherwise and to Refer wholy to Faith in the outward Christ This is the word of Faith which we Preach says he That if thou shalt Confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt Believe in thine Heart that God hath Raised Him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Now that by Faith the Apostle did not mean that Light which is Common to All men is plain from 2 Thess iii. 2. For all men have not Faith Says he You see here That in the very next verse following Rom. x. 8. which is the Quakers Text the Apostle do's Limit it Expressly not to the Light within but to Faith in the outward Jesus So in Deut. xxx 11 12 13 14. Whence the Apostle Quoted it the very next Verse immediately Before viz. Ver. 10. do's Limit these words in Moses to the outward Book of the Law and not to their Light within For thus says he If thou wilt hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy God to keep His Commandments and His Statutes which are Written in this Book of the Law For this Commandment which I Command thee this Day is not far off It is not in Heaven or Beyond the Sea c. And Chap. xvii 18 19 20. The King is Commanded to Write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that before the Priests the Levits And to Read therein all the Days of his Life That he might thereby Learn to Fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them Was he to write a Copy of the Light within in a Book out of the Levits Book And by Keeping the words of this Law was no More
Meant than to Keep to his Light within Cou'd that have told him all that was Commanded in the Law of Moses How came all the Heathen then not to Know it for they had the Light within As little cou'd it of it Self without the Help of outward Revelation have Discover'd a Messiah the Son of God to be Incarnat and offer'd up a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World This Faith as the Apostle truly Says All men have not None Ever had it by Means only of their Light within But either by Express Revelation such as was Given of it to Adam to Abraham and the Prophets or by the outward Means of Hearing as the Apostle says in that same Chap. of the x. Rom. ver 17. Describing how that same Faith commeth of which he spoke ver 8. And he says That it cometh by Hearing viz. The outward Preaching of it For as he says ver 14. How shall they Believe in Him of whom they have not Heard And how shall they Hear without a Preacher So Mad and Void of all Common Sense as well as most Impious and Heretical Is that Quaker Exposition of Deut. xxx 14. And Rom. x. 8. Whereby they wou'd Exclude the outward Christ from being the Object of the Christian Faith And Blasphemously Translate it to Themselves that is to their own Light Within And by this make the Christian Faith Common to all Mankind even to those who never Heard of the outward Christ Which is To make Him His Blessed Death and Passion Vseless and Vn-necessary to the World Another Text they urge mightily for the Vniversality of their Light within is Joh. 1.9 That was the true Light which Lighteth Every man that cometh into the World This they Understand of Faith the True Saving Faith and so suppose that Every Man must have it But the Apostle from the beginning of this Chap. was speaking of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Word by whom All things were Made And therefore not only what Light but what Life Every man or any Creature has is from Him Act xvii 25.28 Seeing He giveth to All Life and Breath and All things For in Him we Live and Move and have our Being Now that Light which He giveth to All Men is not the Light of Faith which All Men have not But the Natural Light of our Vnderstanding which is Common to All Men. And is a Ray Communicated from the Supreme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reason The Quakers to Avoid this set about that Mad Task of Proving that All men have not Reason as before is shewn And yet wou'd give All men Faith of which no man is Capable without supposing him to have the use of his Reason Otherwise a Tree or a Stone might Believe as well as a Man I will Name but one Text more upon which they Chime Exceedingly that is 1 Joh. 2.20 27. But ye have an Vnction from the Holy one and ye know All things And ye need not that any man Teach you but as the Same Anointing Teacheth you of All things This they Interpret of the Light within which is Common to All Men. But then by this it wou'd follow That All Men do know All things Quite contrary to what the Apostle there Supposes who speaks of those who Knew not the Truth And Applys this of the Anointing only to those who Knew the Truth Ver. 21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the Truth but because ye Know it c. Therefore this of the Anointing was spoken only To and Of the True Believers and not of Infidels or Generally of All Men as is Plain to any who Read that Chapter These are the Chief Texts they Insist upon for the Vniversality of Faith which they call The Light within And they All prove Directly against them Ther are others so Forc'd and Strain'd as need not Confutation As 2 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more sure word of Prophesy c. which they apply to their Light within Whereas it was plainly spoken of the Holy Scriptures as the next Verse do's Expressly Determin it Knowing this first that no Prophesy of SCRIPTVRE is of any Private Interpretation I wish the Quakers wou'd Reflect Seriously upon this It wou'd correct the Exorbitancy of their Private Interpretations by what they call their Light within Different from the Sense of the whole Catholick Church in All Ages And let them see and Consider that ther was Great Reason for that Caution given in this same Epistle Ch. iii. 16. That the Vnlearned and Vnstable do wrest the Scriptures to their own Destruction The Quakers pretend sometimes to be Determin'd by Scripture and to admit of no Interpretation which is not in Express words of Scripture See a Book of theirs call'd The Divinity of Christ Wrote by G. Whitehead and G. Fox where in the Epistle they speak thus Where do the Scriptures speak of three Persons in the Godhead in these Express words Let us see where it is written Come do not shuffle for we are Resolv'd the Scriptures shall Buffet you about And where doth the Scripture speak of a Human Nature of Christ in Heaven And where doth the Scripture say the Soul is Part of Man's Nature Give us plain Scripture without Adding or Diminishing Come let us see Chapter and Verse c. Now the Quakers cannot Refuse the same Measure which they have Meated to others Therefore let us see Chapter and Verse where The Light within is spoke of In these Express words wher is ther any thing of Faith in the Light within of Believing In The Light within as this Appen do's often speak Where is it said that Christ was not the Lamb but that the Lamb was in Christ where is ther a word of the Manhood of God of Christ's Heavenly Flesh Blood and Bones of His Flesh that was Crucify'd when Adam Fell Where is His Body call'd a Garment or a Vessel where shall we find the Distinction of Christ Without and Within of an Outward and an Inward Christ of the Shedding of His Blood within Vs of the Blood and Bones of our Light within where is it said that the Person who Suffer'd upon the Cross was not Properly the Son of God He is oft call'd The Son of God what Text says that He was not Properly so In these Express words Come Produce Chapter and Verse Where are the Holy Scriptures call'd Beastly ware Serpents meat Death and Dust Where is the Text for Theeing and Thouing and for not taking off your Hats For your Silent-Meetings For the Ceasing of Baptism and The Lord's Supper For Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings which you call the Good Ordinance of Jesus Christ what Text do's Abolish Tythes in these Express words or Declare all going to War to be unlawful To keep Holy-Days or Marry by a Priest Where is it said that the Quakers are Infallible That their Preachings are of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and GREATER And
what Spirit did then Influence me for so it is that the Actions of men are many times Influenced both by Good and Evil Spirits tho' they Perceive it not I did many years since Recall them c. Now if so it is that the Quakers as Furly here may be Influenced by Evil Spirits and yet not Perceive it how know other of the Quakers how knows Penn or Whitehead but they are so Influenced tho they Perceive it not yet others do Perceive it and have Prov'd it But their Light within has not told them No. For then they wou'd Perceive it Therefore they may be Deceived and yet their Light within not Reprove them And therefore by their own Confession it can be no Sure Rule to them And their Faith in it is Vain And in that it leads them from the Sure Rule of the Holy Scriptures to Trust wholly to it it is Pernicious and of most Destructive Consequence to them Their Divisions among themselves who All pretend to be Guided by the Light within were Sufficient to Convince them if they had any Liberty of Judgment left that this can be no Sure Rule When G. Fox by opposing all Order and Decency in the Worship of God had Gather'd a Party and then Endeavour'd to Reduce them again to some Decency under himself so far at least as to be Vn-cover'd at Prayer No. That wou'd not Do. The Principle of their Light within wou'd Endure no Limits but what every one Pleas'd to put to Himself Thus some of them Argue against him from the Principles which he had Taught them Hidden things brought to Light An. 1678. Preface George Fox says they has attain'd to Great Reputation among the Quakers and is become of an Inconsiderable Shooe-Maker or Mean Servant a Great Teacher and Leader of a Numerous Company of Men and Women who All Profess to be Guided by the Light within them which they say Errs not but leads Every one of them and every man that is Obedient to it into all Truth Righteousness c Hence it is Manifest that according to their Doctrin every man who knows himself to be Sincere and obedient to his Light and sees not Absolute Truth and Goodness in Geo. Fox and the Quakers Principles and Practices is a Full Evidence against them that they are Notoriously Defective both in Truth and Goodness For whilst they are Sincerely Obedient to the Light in Themselves it is certain that according to Geo. Fox 's Principles they are Justify'd before God and then if G. Fox Condemns them he Condemns whom God Justifies he casts out whom God Receives Neither can he Pretend against these as against others That they were never Obedient to their Measure for as to Appearance they were as Obedient as Himself And therefore he can have no Ground upon which to Condemn them but meerly his Pride Censoriousness or the like Exorbitant Passion Behold here how they have openly Betray'd their Great Principle of The Light in Every Man his Vn-Erring Guide And say they p. 35 36. of the Book In as much as you Claim this Privilege to your selves why shou'd you Deny it to others to Walk as God Enlightens them Thus the Quakers not only See but Feel the Vanity and Vncertainty of their Rule The Light within It turns upon Themselves And Confounds them amongst Themselves It Countenances all the Schism Violence Outrage that can be Committed For having no Rule it is a Rule to it self And sets men Loose from all Tyes of Scripture Reason Laws or any Restraint whatsoever Of which Will. Penn became so Sensible in their own Concerns that he Run it down and call'd it a Loose Plea as shewn at large in the Sn. Sect. vi n. x. par 12. p. 79. Yet since has wrote Books in Defence of it So that he has given it two Handles viz. That it is a Loose Plea when Urg'd by others against Them But when Urg'd by them against others then it is Infallible Indefeasible c. He has Represented the Quakers and Twisted or Vn-Twisted their Light in such a Fashion it Looks like playing of Booty That as he says of the Papists Many Vnacquainted with their Practices A seasonable Caveat against Popery p. 3. An. 1670. are ready to believe them what they say themselves to be whose Moral is to have two strings to their Bow to be Ambo-Dexters and furnish'd with meanings to Sute the Compass of all occasions We know they have so far Master'd their Ancient Fierceness and Mask'd their Sanguin Looks with those more Modest and Familiar That tho' we need not more Reason than before we need more Skill and Caution Or else we may fatally Experience the force of that Vulgar Proverb LAVGH IN THY FACE AND CVT THY THROAT This Hits two sort of Folks with whom Will. Penn is very well Acquainted And the Law that he lays down for the one cannot in Justice be Refus'd to the other Since one Sauce will serve them Both Therefore as he says ibid. p. 35. To Conclude If we wou'd not Receive a Thief till he has Repented Let the Papist Quaker first Recant his Volumnious Errors But above all let Vs have good Testimony of his Hearty Sorrow A COLLECTION OF SEVERAL PAPERS Which Relate to the Fore-going DISCOURSE Numb I. Dr. Lancaster's Queries to the Quakers with the Christian Quaker's Answer Given at their General Meeting in Philadelphia in Pennsilvania the 18 day of September 1695. Sanctifie the Lord God in your hearts and be ready always to give an Account to every man that asketh you a reason of the Hope that is in you with Meekness and Fear having a good Conscience c. 1 Pet. 3.15 16. Printed in the Year 1695. THE PREFACE Christian Reader SInce the Breach and Division has happened a-among the Quakers here in America about the chief Doctrines Principles of the Christian Religion great has been the Noise they have made in the World one against another each endeavouring to clear themselves cast blame upon the contrary party so that many who live remote are amazed at this Difference not knowing where to lay the fault both Parties pretending to Christianity But there lately coming some Papers to my hand which seem pertinent to make some further discovery in this Controversie I thought my self obliged to commit them to publick view for the Information of all Christian Enquirers And further I do understand that this Difference among the Quakers first began in Pennsilvania in the year 1691. occasioned by Mr. George Keith's more earnestly preaching up the Person of our Saviour the Necessity of Faith in him as he Dyed was Buried Rose again and Ascended and as he is now in Heaven in the true Nature of Man our Mediator Intercessor and as he shall come again outwardly at the end of the World to judge the Quick Dead c. But this sort of Doctrine was disliked by many of the Quakers caused many private Conferences among
and Faith that is in us to every sober Enquirer and indeed are glad of an opportunity to satisfie any such Person who may be in doubt of the soundness of our Faith in the saving Fundamentals of the Christian Religion we have with the full and Unanimous Consent of this our said Yearly or General Meeting given a plain positive and we hope Christian Answer to each of the said Queries which that they may give thee full and ample satisfaction of our soundness in the Christian Faith in the sincere desire of Us who in behalf and by appointment of the said Meeting do subscribe and remain They Loving Friends Rich. Dungworth John Hampton Thomas Martin Geo. Hutcheson John Hart Thomas Budd Here follows Dr. Lancaster's Queries with the above-named Meetings Answer to each Query To the Quakers assembled in their Yearly Meeting at London this Whitson Week 1695. GReat objections have been made against you in many Books which of late Years have been writ as well by those who have departed from your Communion as by others But because we would not willingly take an Account of you only from your Adversaries no nor yet the advantage which may be had from some of your own Apologists we have chosen this solemn Time of your most general Assembly that you have in the World where there comes of your Number out of all parts where any of your Profession live even as far as from the West Indies on purpose to attend this your Yearly Meeting at London We have chosen this most solemn and convenient time for you to vindicate and clear your selves and to give satisfaction to the World particularly to the Church of England as to these great and grievous objections which are made against you It is said of you that as Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 did construe the Resurrection spiritually saying It was perform'd inwardly within our Souls and so avoided the litteral and outward Resurrection of the Body which the Scripture calls Overthrowing the Faith so that you do construe the Resurrection in the same spiritual manner to be the rising again of Christ or the Light in our hearts and consequently that the Saints generally have attained the Resurrection already and that ther will be no Resurrection of these our Bodies after they lie down in the Dust And not only this but That you construe likewise those Scriptures which testify of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Allegorical manner to mean no more than what you call the Light within and That this Christ or Light is Born and Crucified Dyes is Buried Rises again Ascends and is Glorified within you That it sheds its Bloods within you and thereby quenches the Wrath of God in you as your Sacrifice or Propitiation And that Christ has now no other Blood or Body than what he has within his Saints or other than he had with his Father before the World began That the outward Blood of that Man Jesus that was shed at Jerusalem was not the Propitiation or any Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins but only the spiritual Blood shed inwardly within us And by these means when you are asked Whether you believe in Christ that Dyed for our sins Rose again and Ascended and that by his Blood we are saved c. You can readily answer Yea That you believe all this and yet mean it all in an inward Allegorical sense that is The Blood shed within you The Light or Christ suffering within you c. and thereby deceive others and your selves and keep your meaning hid and double that the Truth of what you hold may not be known which if in plain words told and asserted would grate all Christian Ears and shew you to be those miserable Hereticks before told who brought in damnable Doctrines denying the Lord who bought them Therefore that you may clear your selves from this great and grievous Charge you are desired to give a plain positive and direct Answer to these following Queries Your Reasons or Explanations are not required this not being intended for a Dispute but only your plain Yea or Nay to each of these Queries that your Doctrine and Faith may be known Query 1. Do you believe in a Christ without you now in Heaven The Christian Quaker answers Yea. Qu. 2. Hath he now in Heaven the same Body tho' changed in Qualities and Glorify'd which he assumed in the Womb of the blessed Virgin in which he Suffered Dyed was Buryed Rose again and Ascended outwardly Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 3. Will he return in that same Body outwardly or without men to judge the World in the last day Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 4. Will our dead Bodies arise the same Bodies though altered in Properties and Qualities which we now have and shall lay down in the Dust Or do you believe an outward and litteral Resurrection contrary to Hymeneus and Philerus Do you believe that the Saints generally have already attained the Resurrectien either before or since Christ came into the World Ch. Qu. To the former part of this Query we answer Yea To the latter Nay Qu. 5. Do you believe that Christ or the Eternal Word was so made Flesh as that he truly and really became Man as truly Man as he was God and not only as the Socinians say that he dwelt in or did inhabit the Person of that Man Jesus Christ as a Garment or a Vail as he dwells in or inspires other holy Persons though not in so high a Degree or as Angels assume Bodies like men wherein they appear without taking them into their own Nature or thereby becoming Men Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 6. Is Christ now at this day and for ever to come truly and really a Man in true and proper humane Nature without all other men Ch. Qu. To this we answer Yea under the Qualifications contained in the second Query viz. changed in Qualities and Glorify'd Qu. 7. And lastlv Was his outward Blood outwardly shed at Jerusalem the true Propitiation and Satisfaction for our sins Is this the true saving Faith Was not his outward Blood that Blood without sheding of which there could be no Attonement Heb. 9.22 Ch. Qu. Answer Yea not excluding the work of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts The above Queries were signed by Dr. Lancaster Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of London and delivered Fryday the 17th of May. 1695. into George Whitehead's own hands in their general Assembly in Grace-Church-street and there publickly read They were desired to return their Answer to Dr. Lancanster at Mr. Wiseman's House a Chyrurgion in Long-Acre But we hear of no Answer that they returned Wherefore the said Queries were presented to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers in Philadelphia That Party which have Excommunicated Mr. Keith returned Answer as set down in the Preface But that Party which joyn with Mr. Keith presently returned the Answers above inserted after each Query THis is Verbatim what was Printed at Philadelphia
in Pennsilvania An. 1695. And by this the Reader may Judge whether it proceeded from Want of Capacity or Sincerity in George Whitehead and the Rest of the London Quakers That in their Printed Answer to these Queries they say They are Not Plain and Direct Queries therefore cannot Positively be Answer'd by our Single Yea or Nay to Each Query as Desir'd We therefore at present send this General Answer to the Queries Of which Sufficient has been said in the First Part Sect. v. p. 9. c. But here I wou'd observe That the Pennist Quakers in Pennsilvania durst not trust their own Light within to Answer these Queries And bound themselves to stand by the Answer of their London Friends Whereas those who with G. Keith had Return'd to the Truth of Christianity took no time to Consider nor Ty'd themselves Implicitly to the Determination of Any Whatsoever They said not that the Truth was farr off beyond the Seas in Old England And they must stay till some Good Body shou'd Fetch it to them with Safe Wind and Tyde and Deut. xxx 13. See before Second Part. p. 225. From all this we may take Notice of the Different Assurances which Proceed from a Rational Faith Founded upon the Rock of the H. Scriptures And that which is Built upon the Sand of our own Imagination which the Quakers call their Light Within A FAITHFUL RELATION Of the great Opposition made by some Preachers among the Quakers to three great fundamental Doctrins of the Christian Faith at Two several Meetings at London in the year 1678 appointed to hear the Charges made by them against me George Keith for my asserting the said Three Fundamental Doctrins in my Book call'd The way cast up Printed 1677. AND The Reasons of my Publishing the said Relation IN the Year 1678 at London there being great Whisperings and Complaints privately spread among the People called Quakers against Me on the Account of Certain Principles laid down by Me in a Book of Mine Printed in the Year 1677 called The way Cast up And I happening to be then at London and hearing of the said Complaints against me and my said Book I spoke to diverse of the Ministry of the People called Quakers that they would appoint a Meeting to hear the Complaints of those Persons that Objected against some things Contain'd in my Book charging them to be False and Erronious and also to hear my Defence and Vindication touching the things to be charged against me A Meeting was procured at a Friends house call'd John Osgood a Merchant in White-Hart Court in Grace-Church-street London in the winter Season which began about the Sixth hour at Night where a Considerable number of those called Friends of the Ministry were met together with divers other Persons of account among the Quakers among whom were William Penn George Whitehead Thomas Green William Mead William Gibson George Watt Francis More Thomas Hart James Claypowl John Bull And many other besides The persons that appeared against me at the said Meeting were chiefly Samuel Newtown a great Preacher then among them who not long after Broke and went to Virginia and still Preacheth there among the Quakers as I have been certainly inform'd by some that heard him and are ready to bear witness to it and William Shewen a Preacher and a great Writer among them who hath Printed divers Books highly approved by many of the People called Quakers Containing some abominable Principles whereof I have given some account in my Second and Third Narratives of the Proceedings at Turners-Hall This man was never Censured by Friends of the Ministry for his Antichristian Doctrin Contained in some of his Books but lived and dyed in Unity with them and had Solemn Commendations and Testimonies given him by some of the Ministry at his Funeral The first Meeting not having time sufficient to hear all that was to be said for and against appointed another Meeting at the house of James Claypool Merchant in Scotch Yard in London when some others were present and mostly all the foremention'd the Meeting began about the Sixth hour at night as did the former The particulars were Three especially wherewith these two above named Persons severally charged me and blamed my Doctrine and opposed against it to be Contradictory to the Ancient Friends Books whereof they brought a Considerable number which were laid on the Table but it happened that none of them were used but instead of them the Bible was called for and some places in it read and Discours'd upon The First Particular they blam'd in my said Book and charg'd to be false was that I had affirmed that Christ's Body that was Crucified on the Tree of the Cross and was Buried pag. 131. Rose again and Ascended into Heaven and was in Heaven Diverse spoke their mind to it one after another some against it and some for it and some very doubtfully which I was greatly astonished to find I Quoted that place of Scripture in defence of the Resurrection of Christ's Body Psal 16.10 compared with Act. 2.30 31 32. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy holy one to see Corruption Will. Mead said to me dost thou understand this of an outward Body that which was not to see Corruption was the Seed within I answered let the places be read and compared and it will be found that they are to be understood of Christ's Body that was laid in the outward Grave so these two places of Scripture were read and several gave their assent to it that by the Holy one that was not to see Corruption was to be understood Christ's Body that was laid in the Grave whereupon Thomas Green an ancient Preacher said Friends one of two things we must needs say either that Christ's Body remains in some hole or cave of the Earth or that it Rose and Ascended for it did not see Corruption and for my part I rather think it Rose and Ascended into Heaven as George Keith affirms than that it remains in any hole or cave of the Earth Diverse other places of Scripture I had to bring forth to prove the truth of the Resurrection of Christ's Body as his own words to the Jews Destroy this Temple meaning his Body and after three days I will raise it up and his appearing to his Disciples after his Resurrection having said as it is Luk. 24.39 Handle me and Feel me for a Spirit hath no Flesh and Bones as ye see me have After Thomas Green had spoke as is above related George Whitehead said that whereas many both Priests and Professors had questioned Friends much concerning Christ's Body what was become of it and where it was by occasion of Friends Preaching Christ within so frequently he confesses that Friends were at some stand to give a possitive answer but rather evaded the Question And though in former times Friends were shy to answer the Priests and Professors Questions about Christ's Body fearing they sought
by their subtilty to ensnare them yet now George Keith has given a plain answer to their Question he tells them Christ's Body is Ascended into Heaven and is in Heaven Note this fallacy G. W. knew well enough that what I had asserted about Christ's Body his Ascension into Heaven did contradict both his and his Brethren's Doctrine He doth Contradict what Friends had formerly said but is possitive and plain in his answer to the Professors question So my opposers ceased any more to object against me upon that Head The Second Particular they charged against me was that in my Book I had said the Friends did pray to Christ Jesus and did Worship and Pray unto the Mediator betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus the Anointed King Priest and Prophet of his People who also is God over all blessed for ever pag. 123. of The way cast up And whereas I had set down some words of prayers that I had said I had heard some use in our own Meetings and I had used as Jesus son of David had mercy on us pag. 121. O thou blessed Lord Jesus that wert Crucified and Dyed for our sins and shed thy Precious Blood for us be gracious unto us c. the which prayer containeth a whole page in Print wherein also the forgiveness of our sins is prayed for a thing many say they never heard in a Quaker's Meeting to this these two men observed that it was a sort of Popery but with this difference that the Papists prayed both to the Mother and the Son George Keith though he prayed not to the Mother yet he prayed to the Son Some present said it was a part of Common Prayer to say Son of David have mercy on us but these two before mention'd Persons my chief opposers put me hard to it to give some Instance where ever I heard any ancient Friend of the Ministry that was an English man pray to Christ Jesus It is possible said they thou hast heard some Scotch Friends pray so whom thou hast taught so and were thy Proselites I confess I was at a stand to name any one English man that ever I heard so pray though in Scotland I would have named one But William Penn prevented me and said Friends I am an English man and a Freind of the Ministry I have oft prayed to Christ Jesus to my great comfort and have been answered And not long ago being under some great weight upon my Spirit and like to have been swallowed up by a power of Darkness I uttered these words its true I was in private Lord Jesus who was Crucified for me have mercy on me and immediately I was eased and comforted They objected that William Penn was but a young Minister Let George Keith give an instance what ancient English Friend of the Ministry he ever heard pray to Christ Jesus As I could remember none so nor did any in all the Meeting give an Instance But said George Whitehead it is not what William Penn or George Keith saith let the Scripture decide it whereupon he call'd for the Bible and reads in 1 Cor. 1.2 Vnto the Church of God which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus call'd to be Saints with all that in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ both theirs and ours What say ye to this Friends ye see that Paul did-approve the Corinthians that called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Note Reader one would think that if G. Whitehead had made it his practise to pray to Christ Jesus being an ancient Minister and using to pray frequently in the publick Meetings of the people call'd Quakers he would have named himself to have been one who had prayed to Christ Jesus or some that had oft heard him ther present might have given him for an instance but no instance was brought of any English ancient Friend of the Ministry who had ever been heard so to pray and had it been a frequent practise among them to call upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ it could not be supposed to be possible that these two men my opposers could have objected it against me as a novelty or such a singular practise as that no English ancient Friend could be produced as a witness for that practise their answe to George Whitehead's Question was Paul was dark and ignorant in that thing as George Keith is for our parts we know better George Whitehead reply'd hold Friends say not so Ye know we have been accused by divers that we esteem our selves equal to the Apostles which for my part I never did how will this be received by Professors if they shou'd hear that we did set up our selves above them and above Paul one of the chiefest of them after he had so plentifully received the Holy Ghost and had planted so many Churches Pray let us not exalt our selves above Paul it is very well if we be where he was But they still continued blaming my assertion in my Book for saying that Christ was to be prayed unto and especially they blam'd the manner of praying to him by the name Son of David objecting against one of the prooffs in my Book how Bartimeus pray'd to Christ in these words Son of David have mercy on me Poor blind Bartimeus said they had George Keith no better Arguments for him than blind Bartimeus he was as blind in his Soul as he was in his Body Thomas Hart replyed to them Friends say not so ye are under a great mistake to think he was blind in his Soul he was greatly enlightned in his Soul and had a great Faith and Christ answered him and said thy Faith hath saved thee which proveth he was not blind in his Soul when he so prayed They still remaining dissatisfied and greatly blaming that manner of expression Son of David as improper William Penn said Friends we know that Christ after his Ascension call'd himself the root and off-spring of David Now why may it not be supposed that a Friend may be moved in prayer to say O thou root and off-spring of David have mercy on us Some also brought that place in Acts. 7.59 how Stephen being fill'd with the Holy Ghost at his death call'd saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit so after several words of discourse made by other Friends present mostly approving my assertion they passed to their Third particular charg'd against in my Book the passage in my Book that they blam'd is in pag. 123. Compared with pag. 136. where I had said pag. 123. He is that mighty one upon whom the Father hath laid help for that although the Father himself loveth us and is most willing and ready to help us in all our Necessities yet we can no otherwise receive his help but as it comes to us by the Conveyance of the Man Christ Jesus our alone Mediator And pag. 136. I had said But still as in respect of Union Manifestation
therefore not so strong as mine Secondly I have brought William Shewen's own Book Writ and Printed after that Meeting sufficiently declaring at least the Two last Particulars or rather indeed all the Three For since he construeth Christ's Ascension into Heaven to be inwardly in Men he has left us no proofs for his Ascension outwardly Thirdly had G. Whitehead been ingenuous he would have been positive to have told what he did remember seeing some present at these Meetings as old in years and as weak in Memory as himself hath very lately told what was said in one of them Meetings and that is the chiefest of the Three and indeed includes all the three Particulars above mention'd Fourthly know then for a further evidence that Thomas Heart an ancient Citizen of very good credit and fame a person of greater Age than G. Whitehead as I suppose and one whom G. Whitehead I think will own to be worthy of Credit in any other thing if not in this hath lately declar'd to me in answer to my request to him that seeing I was called in question as a Lyer for saying some of my opposers at one of these Meetings had said they needed not Christ then he would be pleased for the truths sake to speak what he did remember was said by them to that effect that he did remember that they did say They needed not Christ and also that he did reply to them It may be before they Dyed they would find their need of Christ thus he freely and voluntarily declared to me in my House 22d 12. Month. 1697. in answer to my request as above I having told him that to clear me of the Imputation of a Lyer I did desire him by a few lines in writing to speak with me who came to my House in complyance to my desire and I having repeated to him all his words as they are above mentioned that he spoke to them he answered me directly that his memory was weak and did not remember the other passages but this said he I do well remember that when some of them said they needed not Christ I told them before they Dyed they might come to find their need of him and he said further I own it to be a truth that I need Christ still for I find my obedience so short that I cannot rely upon it and therefore I need that God be merciful to me and forgive me my sins and failings for Christ's sake And diverse things he spoke to this purpose very sensibly and Christianly with which I was much refreshed to find him so sound and sensible and that he still adhered to his former Testimony he gave at one of these Meetings And seeing he hath confirmed the truth of my Relation in one of the chief Particulars that one containing all the rest I judge it is an Authentick evidence to the whole for if they needed not Christ then sure they were not to Pray to him and as sure it is that there is no need of any such belief according to their sentiments that Christ's Body did Ascend into Heaven for they having denyed the end of his Ascension which was that We might have him to be our merciful high Priest in Heaven to make intercession for us according to our need they must consequently deny his Ascension otherwise say he Ascended to no purpose or end as to us For a further evidence I here add the Testimony of John Bull who was present at one of these Meetings who had also at my desire and request obtesting him to speak the truth seeing my Christian Name and Reputation was concerned in the case declared Note since the writing of this Paper John-Bull is det ceased Bu I have Evidence of some alive who heard him so affirm that it having been long ago he did not remember much but this he did remember that they opposed to that passage in my Book wherein I did assert that Christ's Body that was buried rose again and ascended into Heaven As also that several Friends said they were much benefited by the things that they heard discoursed by way of Objections and Answers and blessed God for that opportunity This he told me at my House 23d 12th Mo. 1697. Having thus finish'd my Relation touching these weighty Matters which I solemnly declare to be true and which I think I have give a sufficient Evidence of by the concurring Evidences of some of their Brethren that remain in Unity with them it now remains to give some Reasons of making publick this Relation which I do thus 1. My first Reason of making publick this Relation is to clear my Name both as a Man and a Christian from the imputation of Lyer Slanderer and false Accuser which some of the contrary Party have cast upon me for my having affirmed that some noted men among the Quakers yea and Teachers too Twenty years ago have oppos'd some of the great Fundamentals of Christianity and greatly Censured me for asserting them 2. The second Reason is that this Account given by me here will serve for an Apologie and Excuse to me in great part why I have in some of my former Books especially in my Controversies with some of the Preachers at Boston in New England praised and defended William Penn and George Whitehead as sound and Orthodox in the Fundamental Principles of the Christian Faith Concerning Christ and the real existence of his Manhood-Nature consisting of a glorified Soul and Body in Heaven being both God and Man and yet one Christ And our Faith in him as such for Remission of Sin and eternal Salvation whom these men did represent as unsound Now that which gave me as I thought just ground so to judge was that they seemed to me by the defence they made for me at these two Meetings aforesaid to be not only sound in their judgements as touching these great truths but to be cordially and zealously concerned for the defence of them And in this persuasion of them I continued until the differences arose in Pensilvania betwixt my Adversaries and me in the year 1691 concerning the necessity of Faith in Christ without us for Remission of Sin and eternal Salvation as well as the beleif of his inward appearance by his Light and Grace in our hearts both which I affirmed was necessary to our Christianity which my Adversaries rose up against charging it to be false as well new Doctrine and contradicting the printed Testimonies and Books of sound Friends and particularly of William Penn and George Whitehead so that I was accused by my Pensilvanian opposers in our publick Meetings there for contradicting the Principles of William Penn and G. Whitehead in their Printed Books particularly in that Book called the Christian Quaker both in relation to the sufficiency of the Light within without any thing else to Salvation and also in relation to the Resurrection of the Body And thus time after time they opposed me with these men's Books and when I
desir'd them to begin with the Scriptures and prove the Contradiction of my Doctrine first to the holy Scriptures and then it was time to Consider these men's Books Samuel Jennings in a publick Meeting at Philadelphia on a first day said it was not necessary to prove me guilty of Heresie whereof they had accus'd me from the Scriptures but from Friends Books for said he the Question betwixt G. K. and them is not who is the best Christian but who is the best Quaker And though I still desir'd them to bring their Scripture proofs yet they for most part waved that and continued clamouring that my Doctrine contradicted Will. Pen. Geo. Whitehead and other Friends which I did not know all that time that it did for though the places they quoted out of their Books seemed much to favour my Adversaries yet I was not willing to think so but labour'd to retain my Charitable perswasion of them putting the most Charitable Constructions upon their Words as was possible so farr as I had read the passages in their Books that seemed to interfere with me At last I came to a firm Resolution in my mind to Come for England having first writ to George Whitehead and other Friends of the Ministry about our differences desiring to know their sense they seemed to blame me for the separation but in great part to approve of my Principles but the words in their Epistles were so dubious like the Heathen Oracles that as to the main difference of Principles betwixt my Adversaries and me in Pensilvania it was rather increas'd by their Epistles then allayd my Adversaries Construing them one way and I and my Friends another way After I arrived in England and came to London And had some private Conferrences with George Whitehead and William Penn about these very Principles of the sufficiency of the Light within to Salvation without any thing else by the something else that I did plead for declaring that I meant the man Christ Jesus and his most holy and perfect Obedience unto death for our Sins and his Intercession for us in Heaven I began easily to perceive that they greatly differed from me in those great things yet they did seek to hide themselves as much as they well could mainly and almost only blaming me for the Separation and making a breach in Pensilvania and the neighbouring Provinces among Friends But by degrees the difference in Principles betwixt them and me began plainly to appear before they Excommunicated me at their yearly Meeting in the Year 1695. For at a large Meeting of Friends of the Ministry where were many Country Friends about two days before the yearly meeting in 1694. William Penn accused me for seeking to bring in a new method of Preaching Christ and Faith in him differing from that of Friends and that new method was to preach the Man Christ without us and his Death and Sufferings in order to bring people to know the Divine Principle within them and the work of Regeneration And at the said Meeting G. W. blamed me for affirming that all the Light and Grace that any men had in any age of the World was the effect of Christ's Obedience unto death for us and argued against it thus Men had Light and Grace before Christ came in the Flesh to perform that obedience can the Effect be before the Cause this plainly enough let me see into G. Whitehead's Principles he had the same strength of Argument but that 's none at all against any mens having Remission of Sin by Christ's death before he came in the Flesh why can the effect be before the Cause I told him a Moral effect can be before its cause and oft times is and gave an Example how a man by a Contract or Covenant buyeth a House or Field and posesseth it before the Money is paid the Condition of the Covenant being that the Money is not to be paid until such a time so by Virtue of the Covenant of Grace which respected Christ to Come and the satisfaction he was to make to divine justice by his Death and Sufferings for mens sins past as well as to come all the faithful had remission of sin and inward Light and Grace as well before he came as since And some Months after this at a publick Meeting of the Quakers at Ratcliff by London William Penn did publickly oppose my testimony and charged me to be an Apostate and that I endevoured to pluck up the testimony of truth by the roots And at the same time He told the Auditory that Friends saw no great need to preach the Faith of Christ's Death and Sufferings for all England had that Faith and all Christendom had it but it did not profit them * Reader by this Argument it should not be Preached at all With many Abusive words all which he father'd upon a transport of the glorious power of God at the next yearly Meeting when I Complain'd upon his so abusing me Yet they have after all this sought to hide the differences in Doctrine betwixt them and me from publick notice so that in their sentence of Excommunication they blame not my Doctrine nor Morals in any particular thing but cast out some general charges against me for being turbulent c. and seperating my self from the Church of Christ But their unchristian dealings with me as well as Antichristian Principles have sufficiently proved them not to be a Church of Christ though still I have that charity to diverse among them that they belong to Christ and his Church but not as respecting that visible Society that has less the face of a Church than any Society of Protestants any where in the world A third Reason is that this publication of the foregoing Relation will be a true Evidence and Witness for me that as to the great fundamentals of the Christian Faith I am not changed from what I was Twenty years ago when own'd among them and for many years after acknowledg'd by them that I was in the Unity And that therefore it is manifest to be a Calumny and false Accusation rais'd by some Malicious Persons among the Quakers against me that I am Apostatised from my former Principles of Christianity and have embraced new notions or Priests and Professors Principles as they are pleased 〈…〉 that formerly I had relinquished and from a tentation that I had let prevail over me to seek and affect preheminence over my Brethren and not finding my desire and end answered in that I sought occasion to differ from them and purposely chang'd my Principles that I might have a ground of Strife and Contention with them all which the Righteous Judge of the whole Earth and the searcher of hearts knoweth to be false and injurious charges I have sufficiently in my late Printed Books proved that I am the same in all Principles of Truth that I was formerly and wherein I am changed in some lesser matters of Perswasion it is to
truth and not from truth God having been pleased further to Enlighten me for which I desire to Praise him and I have shewed my adversaries both William Penn and George Whitehead to be much more guilty of Contradictions than any thing that any have laid to my charge as in my first Narrative of the proceedings at Turners-Hall and in other late Books And wherein they charge me to contradict some passages in my former Books as in relation to Baptism and the Supper and the having a better understanding of some places of Scripture than formerly I had this is properly no Contradiction but a Retractation But my adversaries are justly chargable with many contradictions that without any Retractation hold contradictory propositions at once to be both true This is contradiction with a Witness Now judge Reader whether as the above said Relation of the particulars mentioned in the first Sheet is not some Apology for me to excuse my praising G. Whitehead and William Penn as Orthodox and sound Men as to Christian Principles they having by their seeming Orthodox at that time Deceiv'd me so hath not the late discovery of their insoundnesses in the Christian Faith given me a farr greater ground of Apology to excuse my charging them to be guilty of Vile Anti-Christian Errors as I have largely shewn in my late Printed Books particularly my three Naratives of the Proceedings at Turners-Hall the Second and Third of which has as yet received no shadow of answer and what shadow of answer the First received by Thomas Elwood hath been sufficiently demonstrated to be a meer Shadow by the Book call'd Satan Disrob'd and also by my Second and Third Narratives all which lye on their hand unanswered and yet they falsely glory in Print that they have answered all my former Books And their most partial siding with my Adversaries in Penselvania to cloak their vile Errors as well as unjust Practises is another ground of my just Apology for my changing my thoughts of them besides other great Prooffs I have to manifest their unsound and Anti-Christian Principles Some Passages taken out of Humphry Norton's Ms mentioned in the II. Part p. 99. 100. I Begin with a Letter of George Fox's which is not only Inserted but Attested in this Ms of Humph. Norton's Part of which Letter being Quoted in The Snake p. 113. The Quakers in their Last Answer which they call A Switch for the Snake p. 175. say That it may be either Adulterated by the Snake or some Apostate or Forged by them And if they were G. F 's words why did not the Snake give the whole Letter To what purpose hath he made a Break in it And what is Left out at it Therefore you shall have the whole and sufficiently Attested Together with H. Norton's Impious Parallel of Oliver to our Lord Jesus Christ his Death Burial and Resurrection Which take as follows out of the Ms p. 21. The Message from O. Cromwell to G. Fox upon 5th day of the 1st Month. That it was required by Oliver Cromwel from G. F. that he would promise that he would not take up a Carnal Sword or weapon against the Lord Protector or Government as it is now And that G. F. would write down the words in answer to that which the Protector required And for G. F. to set his hand to it THIS was demanded of G. F. in our presence and hearing p. 21. whose names in the Flesh are called Tho. Aldam and Robert Craven Upon the Sixth day of the First Month G. F. was moved to give forth these words following which were written and given to Oliver Cromwell by Capt. Dury Ans I who am of the world called G. F. doth deny the carrying or drawing any carnal Sword against any or against thee O. C. or any man in the presence of the Lord I declare it God is my witness by whom I am moved to give this forth for the truths sake from him whom the world calls G. Fox WHO IS THE SON OF GOD who is sent to stand a witness against all violence and against the works of Darkness and to turn the People from Darkness to Light and to bring them from the occasion of the War and from the occasion of the Magistrates Sword which is a terrour to the evil doer which acts contrary to the light of the Lord Jesus Christ which is a praise to them that do well which is a Protection to them that do well and not the evil and such Soldiers as are put in place no false accusers must be no violence must do but be content with their Wages And that Magistrate bears not the Sword in vain from under the occasion of that Sword do I seek to bring people my weapons are not Carnal but Spiritual and MY KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD therefore with Carnal weapon I do not fight but am from those things dead from him who is not of this world call'd of the world by the Name of G. F. and this am I ready to seal with my Blood this I am moved to give forth for the truths sake who a witness stands against all unrighteousness and all ungodliness who a Sufferer is for the righteous Seeds sake waiting for the redemption of it who a Crown that is mortal seeks not for that fadeth away but in the Light dwells which comprehends that Crown which Light is the condemnation of all such in which Light I witness the Crown that is Immortal which fades not away from him who to all your Souls is a friend for establishing of righteousness and cleaning the Land of evil doers and a witness against all the wicked inventions of men and Murderers Plots which answer shall be with the Light in all your Consciences which makes no covenant with death to which Light in you all I speak and am clear G. F. who a new Name hath which the World knows not We are witnesses of this Testimony whose names in the flesh are Tho. Aldam Robt. Craven A call to O. Cromwell OLiver thou art shut up the Stone is sealed p. 37. and the watch is set and Christ suffers And the Lord God hath sent his Angel to call thee and to rowl away the stone and if thou wilt come forth come forth This call is to thee through his Servant Humphry Norton A Question put with others to all that stumble at the Light p. 31. WHat Child is it Eve shall be saved by she Continuing in Faith and Sobriety Norton's Ms p. 31. Seeing the Apostle gave this Advice to the Un-Married that could so abide not to Marry for he did better that did not give in Marriage than he that did N.B. The Meaning of this is plain viz. That the Child by which Eve and consequently the rest of Mankind was to be saved was not to be an outward Child of Flesh and Blood born of a Woman Because that if so it wou'd have been better for Men to have Marry'd in order
to John Draper by H. Norton p. 84. of Ms WHether Christ Jesus suffered not upon that Cross which he Preached when he was in the Body and said He that will be my Disciple must take take up his Cross Daily Luk. 9.23 Or what Cross he suffered on And how oft he hath suffer'd since the beginning See Second Part. p. 114. Ms p. 81. Wherein thou asketh me what do I understand by the Eternal Judgment Or whether ther shall be a time when God shall Judge all Men and make their works manifest and also give to every Man according to his Deeds Ans The Eternal Judge is upon his Throne and the time of his Judgment is come and the Hearts of all Men are made manifest before him And the wicked shall not Escape but shall Receive a Portion according to their Deeds Therefore say I arise ye Dead and come to Judgment for the Hour is Coming and now is when the Dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and they that hear shall Live Joh. 5.25 N. B. This shews in what sense they Vnderstand the Scriptures viz. That the Resurrection of the Dead and the Final Judgment is already Come as before Quoted which they bid us Mark That the End of the World was Come in the Apostles time which they Infer from 1 Cor. 10.11 Ms p. 57. in a Letter to Lieut. Scot. NEver hereafter suffer such words to proceed out of thy Mouth as to say that the Glorious God was in a Wall because thy Dark Wisdom finds it Written that He fills Heaven and Earth But this I say unto thee That that Heaven and that Earth which he fills thou knowest not neither can any Vulturous Eye see into it H. Norton N. B. The Quaker Means the Inward Heaven in the Heart which he says no Vulturous Eye can see into And they Acknowledge no other Heaven or Hell See First Part. p. 62. Snake p. 164. And Sat. Dis p. 55. For the Outward Heaven the Quaker Eyes can no more see into than those Eyes which they call Vulturous I will close my present Excerptions out of this Precious Ms with an Account which this Norton and one Will. Shaw gave of their Examination before John Bret Governor of Wexford in Ireland p. 86. of the Ms Governor Are you the Men Quakers Yea. Gov. Why did you Disturb the Minister yesterday Hum. Norton Examine the business to the bottom we were forc't out of our Meeting and brought to the Steeple-house And if there was any wrong done we had it Gov. By whom Hum. By a Lieutenant Gov. But not to disturb the Minister Humb. A Minister of Christ cannot be disturb'd neither is it contrary to the order of the Church of Christ for all to speak one by one Gov. But you have transgrest the Law in disturbing our Minister Hum. What 's your Law contrary to the Law of God Gov. Nay Hum. He is no Minister of Christ neither have we transgressed any Law of God Gov. Why is he not a Minister of Christ Hum. He was found in the Idols Temple having the chief seat in the assembly standing Praying in the Synagogue Gov. You all say so Hum. Send for him hither let us speak with him Gov. I have no command of him but I shall axamine the Lieutenant and if he have transgrest let him suffer Hum. Be not partial but let it be before us Gov. Take these men into your charge Gaoler Hum. Well mind the fear of God This was the effect of what was spoken so near as can be remembred Hum. Norton Will. Shaw The Recommendation of the above named Humphrey Norton by E. Bourrough and Francis Howgil when he went to Ireland and Answered and put the above Queries NOw dear Friends I rejoyce in the Lord that his care is towards you and his love abids for you who are unto him begotten and not of him forgotten in visiting you with his power to the refreshing of you in sending this my dear Brother and faithful companion in the Kingdom of Jesus call'd Humphry Norton who cometh to you in the name and fear of the Lord and not of his own will but according to the will of God as being moved thereunto by the spirit of the Father And unto you all I do him recommend as a faithful Labourer to be received by you in the name of him that sends him in tender pitty for you all and the blessing of the Lord upon his Faithfulness I doubt not But the flock will receive refreshment the weak will be strengthened the weary laden will be comforted and the body will be edified and for this cause hath the Lord chosen him into this service to manifest further unto you the power of the Gospel of God by his Ministry upon which the blessing of the Lord be for ever And with my dear Love in the Lord saluting you all that are faithful farewel in the Lord. London 10th of 3d. Month 56. to the Churches in Christ in Ireland by a lover of your Souls and a Labourer in the Gospel of Jesus Christ E. B. Receive Hum. Norton in the Lord whom the Lord hath moved to come unto you who is a brother and faithful in the Lords work and be subject unto him in the Lord all unto him for I much desired that he might come unto you and so the Lord hath orderd it And as you receive him you receive me Francis Howgill Some Few of the Many OMISSIONS and ALTERATIONS in the Re-printing of the Works of the Deceased QVAKERS tho' said to have been given forth by the SPIRIT of the ETERNAL GOD to Trim with every Turn of Government And Cover the Deceit of their Horrid Principles 1. EDWARD BVRROVGH the Second in Honour to the Great FOX among the Apostles of the Quakers Printed a Book An. 1656. to which he gave this Title A TRVMPET OF THE LORD Sounded out of Sion Which gives a Certain Sound in the Ears of All Nations And is a True Noise of a fearful Earth-Quake at hand which shall shake the whole Fabrick of the Earth and the Pillars of its standing shall Fall and never more be set up again Or Fearful Voices of Terrible Thunders uttered forth from the Throne And is an Alarum and Preperation for War against all Nations where Gog and Magog resideth And sheweth the Wounding Sword of the Mighty God from whose Blow the Kings nor the Captains nor the mighty Men cannot Fly to Escape Declared and Written by a Son of Thunder In an unknown Language which none can Vnderstand save the Redeemed of the Lord. By one whose Name is truly known by the Children of the same Birth but unknown to the World though it be called EDWARD BVRROVGH Ther is more than here set down in that Magnificient Title-Page But I would shew the Reader thus much to let him see the no ordinary Stile of the Quakers In this Book p. 9. Ther is a Chapter against the King and his Cause then under the
had made them Conceive of his very silly Reign Especially considering that according to their wont they gave forth the above Quoted words to Richard P. in the Name of The Lord for Immediately after those these words follow And thus Friend according as it lay upon me from the Lord I have Written this unto thee in Dear and Pure Love God is Witness And yet they have Hypocritically Nibb'd This out of the aforesaid Letter to Hide their Shame And God is Witness of that too 9. Ther are several other Instances of the like Practise in other Parts of this same Book as in p. 23. where the Quakers Boast to the Protector and his Council of their own Merits thus Who have in times past as faithfully as your selves serv'd their Nation with their Lives and Estates to the Purchasing of this Peace and Freedom out of the Hands of TYRANTS But in the Re-print p. 563. of E. B's Works instead of the word Tyrants they put the word Oppressors that it might not look so Directly upon the Kings Cha. I. and II. but be Turn'd to any other as they saw Cause Tho' it cou'd not properly be Apply'd to any other For the Government was in Their Hands and therefore cou'd not be Purchas'd out of Other Hands And therefore They the Kings were the Tyrants here meant at least Principally and Chiefly They having the Chief Part in the Government and it was against them that Oliver and the Quakers took Arms. 10. Again p. 35. they say to Oliver in the like strain as that before Quoted to his Son Richard And as concerning thy War and Armies abroad in Spain something ther is in it known to the Lord seek not thine own Honour in it but be faithful and leave the Issue of all things to the Lord Make no Covenant with Idolators but Tread down their Idol Gods that they have set up and Hew down their Mountains in which their Confidence stands and Plow up their Ground that the seed may be sowen after thee it 's Honour enough to be the Lord's Plow-Man All this is left out in the Re-print p. 568. of E. B's Works They had conceiv'd mighty Hopes of that Army in Spain Which they Hollood thus to Shed Blood without Mercy see Sn. p. 239. what is there Quoted out of this same Book Councel and Advice That they might Sow their Seed in the Ruin and Destruction of whole Nations This they then Greedily Gaped for and Expected They were sure Something ther was in it known to the Lord. But the Lord knew that ther was Nothing in it For Oliver Dy'd about a Month after they had Wrote this Letter to him which bears Date in the 6. Month. 1658. And was then Deliver'd to him at Hampton Court as is told at the end of this Letter p. 36. But their Confidence did not Dye with him One Disappointment is a small matter with a Quaker Prophet Two Months after they renew'd the same to his Hero Son Richard as before Quoted And then they were as sure To say no more about it That ther was something in it But he fail'd them too And now they have Dasht out Both these Prophesies for Spite or Shame Yet they are not Asham'd However will say no more about it 11. In this same Edw. Burrough his Message to the present Rulers of England An. 1659. p. 6. these words viz. He God overthrow the oppressing Power of Kings Lords and Bishops both in Church and Civil State And brought some Tyrants and Oppressors to Just Execution for their Wickedness are left out in the Re-print of E. B's Works p. 591. Yet this Message E. B. said he had from the Lord God whose Ambassador he stiles himself and says p. 1. In his Name and Authority I am come unto you And as such Affixes an Imprimatur to his Book in these words I order this to be Printed and given to their Particular Hands with Speed E. B. 12. In what he calls A Just and Lawful Tryal of the Teachers and Professed Ministers of England The Re-print instead of England put of this Age and so in several other places in this Book And p. 8. where they Reproach other Mens Preaching to be At the best but what the Saints of the Lord said before them And this is no more then stealing of the Prophets words They seeing how this must Expose them and make them Stealers too if they said any thing of what the Saints said before them in the Re-print they Add to these words thus And this is no more AS DONE BY THEM then Stealing c. i. e. It is Stealing in Others but not in the Quakers 13. Ibid. p. 9. E. B. says of the Ministers of England or of this Age as they now turn it Most of them are Lovers of Wine c. But his new Editors knowing the Wicked Falshood of this Charge and how it must Expose their Boundless Malice have taken away the word Most and put in the Re-print only SOME of them are Lovers of Wine c. So that if they can fix this but upon One or Two they may come off with the word SOME The like Trick is us'd in several other Places of this Book And thus they take upon them to Alter and Mend E. B's Message which he said he had from The Lord God! It is not worth while to make Reprisals upon the numerous Train of Wet-Quakers That is not the business now 14. But if they take from the full Extent of his Message in one Place they Add to it in another Speaking of those who Profess themselves to be Orthodox Divines he says p. 16. They seek to Allure all People to follow them in their way of Wickedness But the new Editors of his Works thinking this not to be Angry enough instead of their way of Wickedness put it their Idol Worship 15. Ibid. p. 22. Says E. B. I have accounted and I find the Sum of their the Ministers Maintenance yearly in this Nation being Reckoned in a whole Sum is about or above Fifteen hundred Thousand pounds a Year This was wrote in the year 1657. And the Quakers being sensible how Grossly their Prophet had over-shot himself to make the Mistake more Easie in the Re-print they leave out the words I have Accounted and I find which being so Possitive an Assertion wou'd Render this Horrible Prophet a most Impudent Blasphemer to Father what he knew to be a Lye upon the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost And to Deliver it as a Message from the Lord God! But E. B. goes on to Prove it ibid. If any doubt of this Account says he and shall think this not to be like to be true upon an even Reckoning it may be Proved and made Appear considering how many Parishes ther is in England and Reckon what belongs to every Priest's Parish But this very Reckoning will Prove him to be a Blasphemous Lyar for what was Allotted to every Parish Priest as he calls
Journal of G. Fox I will add one more here In a Book of his and other Quakers call'd The West answering to the North. Printed An. 1657. p. 16. ther is a Long Letter to Chief Justice Glynn which begins thus Friend we are Free-Men of England Free-born our Rights and Liberties in and with our Countries with the Laws the Defence of them have we in the Late Wars Vindicated in the Field with our Blood Which in the Journal is Alter'd thus Friend We are Free-Men of England Free-born Our Rights and Liberties are according to Law and ought to be Defended by it Leaving out that Ugly Passage The Defence of them have we in the Late Wars Vindicated in the Field with our Blood For this they have now a Mind shou'd be Forgotten Both as to their Pretended Principle against Fighting And also their Siding with the then Vsurpations against the King Whereas they say in p. 14. of their Declaration just now Mentioned We have been Silent and not Medling with this Party or the other but by way of Reproof of evil in All and Informing all to the Good And it cannot be Charged upon us that we have sided with One or other But in the 9th Instance before Mentioned they made their Braggs That they had served with their Lives and Estates as Faithfully as the Protector Oliver himself and his Council to the Purchasing that Peace and Freedom An. 1657. out of the Hands of TYRANTS i. e. of K. Char. I. and II. Of their Siding and Medling to Purpose against the King with all the Vsurpations in their time see sufficient Testimonies in Sn. § xviii And which in their new Switch they do not Deny nor Justify themselves any otherwise than by Endeavouring to cast as Black Aspersions upon the King himself Char. II. And of their Silence you may Judge by that Paper which they have stifl'd of Ed. Burrough's which I have Printed in the 1st of the 15 Instances besides many others that can be Produc'd wherein they Damn the King and Caviliers to the Pit of Hell See Sn. p. 216. and p. 228. of their Giving Intelligence against Sir George Booth and other Royalists who Rose for the King And Commanding in the Name of the Lord to put such of them to Death as they had taken Prisoners And to stand out to the Uttermost against the King and think of No Reconciliation with him 2. In the year 1659. One of the Quakers Great Apostles Richard Hubberthorn wrote an Answer to A Declaration of the Ana-Baptists in London wherein they Owned it as their Principle That they were Willing to Live peaceably Vnder whatever Government is or shall be Established in the Nation This the Quakers then did violently Oppose as a Poor Time-serving and Pernicious Principle tho' of Late they Pretend That it is their own Principle and that they do Now Govern themselves by it And Promise so to do But then they fell upon the Ana-Baptists and said This is far below that Spirit which was once in some of you in that Profession for you told of having the Laws regulated according to the Scriptures And of having Judges as at the first and Councellors as at the beginning And then not to submit to what Government soever but that which is according to Equity and Justice And what do you bear Arms and Fight for if not for a Government according to Truth and that Righteousness may Establish the Nation Some have Judged this to be the very Design and End of the War and Controversy against many that were called Governors and Magistrates and were by some called the Ordinance of God and the Higher Power And if now you Resolve to live Peaceably and submit to whatever Government shall be Established then your Fighting is at an End And if Charles Stuart shall come in and Establish Popery and Govern by Tyranny you have begged Pardon by Promising to live Peaceably under it as the Ordinance of God c. But this smelling so Rank in the Re-Printing of Hubberthorn's Works An. 1663. they leave out the words Charles Stuart And instead of that they put it thus And if any Shall Come in and Establish Popery c. That Principle for the Breach of which they Charge the Ana-Baptists was not Peculiar to the Ana-Baptists nor any thing wherein they Differ'd from the Quakers for it is mostly in the Quakers own words But it was the Joint Principle of all these several sorts of Rebels and is and ever will be the Pretence of all Rebels to Reforme and Change for the Better And to this that Principle of Submitting to whatever Government is Established is most Adverse And for which the Quakers did at that time Upbraid this Pretence of the Ana-Baptists As sincere perhaps in the Ana-Baptists then as it is in the Quakers now For the Quakers Principle of Obedience to the Higher Powers And what they mean by the Higher Power I Refer backward to 2. P. p. 172 173. c. 3. Humphrey Smith a Notable Quaker Printed a Book An. 1658. Intitul'd The True and Everlasting Rule from God Published from the Spirit of Truth Where p. 48. he says Where are Queen Mary 's Judges and Bloody Persecutors Where are King Charles 's Nobles and his Vn-Merciful Tyrants who sought to Drive down all by their Devilish Power who were as High in Tyranny as any of you Where are your Cardinals Jesuits and Monks Where are your Bishops Arch-Bishops Deans and Deacons your Abbots Nunnerys and Bishopricks Altars Crosses Surplices and Common-Prayer-Books your Rails about your Tables Organs Quiresters and Singing-Boys Even as your Eyes have seen the Overturning of all these so shall the Off-Spring and Residue follow after and the Priests Howle c. But in the Re-Printing of this Man's Works after the Restoration All that concerning King Charles his Nobles Tyranny c. And all concering the Church of England then Established of Bishops Deans Common-Prayer Surplices Organs c. are left quite out Tho' said to be Publish'd from the Spirit of Truth But the Spirit of Convenience and Worldly Politicks has Prevail'd I have given but one Instance a piece in the Re-Printed Works of Fox Hubberthorn and Smith because I wou'd keep within Limits this having swell'd so much already And if I shou'd go thro' all it wou'd take up more Paper than all that I have Written But we wou'd Desire them more Particularly to Produce two Tracts they have taken care to stifle one is a Piece of Parnell's call'd Satan's Designs mention'd 2 P. p. 106. The other of Lawson's mention'd ibid. p. 108. And now the Reason appears Plain Why the Quakers are so Diligent in keeping up the First Editions of their Friends Books That none might be seen but as they have New-Drest and Vaumpt them Their Book-sellers have Refus'd to Sell them or so much as Shew them to several that I have Employ'd Particularly W. Penn's Sandy Foundation And where one I sent had found Six of
them over night next day when I sent for them not one of them was to be had When he is Dead that too must pass the Index Expurgatorius with the Rest of his Works If Quakerism be not out of Fashion before that time which I Hope he may Live to see If they wou'd Call in or Commit to the Flames all their Old Editions I shou'd be very well Pleas'd to Rake no More into them But let them and their Heresies Die together And let the Present Quakers slide Gently from their Errors without the Shame of Recanting For it is their Conversion not Victory over them that we seek But when these Old Quaker Books are still kept as Sacred Relicts by the Generality of the Ignorant and Besotted Quakers And their Now Governing and Subtile Teachers in all the Apologies they have of Late Published still Pretend to stand by and Confirm All the Testimonies and Writings of their Ancient Friends and that In all the Parts of them And that they are thus Enjoin'd by the Yearly Epistle of their General Council as supposing them all Infallible and Dictated by the Immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost as they Horridly Pretend yet are not Afraid to Alter Correct and Amend them It becomes Necessary and our Duty to Search out and Expose them That being the Most Likely Means to Open those Eyes which are not Seal'd up to their own Destruction And now let others think That if the Figure of Quakerism be so Abhorrent even as Represented to Us in their Re-Printed and Corrected Books How ten times more Deform'd and Frightful it wou'd Appear if taken off their first Rude Draught if their Original Books were Expos'd to Publick view if the Publick wou'd take some Method to have them Collected and Reserv'd in some safe Place till ther shou'd be no Longer Use for them but what they first Deserv'd the Animadversion of the Hang-Man and a Faggot In the mean time Let the more sober among the Quakers Reflect how the Words of their Prophets give a Certain sound as Boasted in the Title-Page of BVRROVGH's Trumpet before Quoted when they are Chopt and Chang'd as we have seen and made Speak the Language of Every Turn tho' in Direct Opposition to one Another And if their Words are the Immediate Dictates of the Holy-Ghost as they Blasphemously Pretend then must the Curse of Adding to or Diminishing from the Word of God Light upon those who have Added or Substracted or Alter'd any thing in Any of these Quaker-Writings Which Curse they May Read in the Book of Rev. xxii 18 19. To have their Part taken away out of the Book of Life and out of the Holy City and from the things which are written in this Book And to have the Plagues which are written in this Book added unto them This they must take to Themselves or else Confess as the Truth is That the Words of these Quaker-Prophets were not Wrote from the Spirit of God And if so then because they do Pretend to be so Written they must be Acknowleg'd to have been Wrote by the Spirit of Blasphemy that is the Devil And that this is the Spirit which has Possess'd these QVAKERS To Sir Thomas Lane Lord Mayor of London HAving been Lately Summoned before Thee by Dr. Linford and Marmaduke Hopkins who are more Diligent to seek thy Warrant to take Our Goods than to seek us thereby shewing That it 's Ours more than We they desire and Love Which to us shews That they have no more Right to esteem themselves Ministers of Christ than as such to take Tyths or Plead for them For Christ said to his Ministers freely ye have received freely Give He did not Advise nor Teach That if any would not Give they should take from them whether they would or nay Therefore Consider whether such who take by force abide in or transgress the Doctrine of Christ If they Transgress as certainly they Do who abide not in his Doctrine Then his Apostle declares their Condition 2. John 9. And we Intreat thee Mayor seriously consider how he either bids God speed to such or assists them in such a Work For Thou and All must receive a Reward from the hand of the Righteous God According to your Works We have also herewith sent a small Collection out of the Book of Martyrs Fol. 669.670 To shew that the Priests have no Right to Tythes and that it was anciently so Testified by other Consciencious men besides us and made an Article against them as well as it is against us Read and consider the following Collection is the Request of us who are Sincere Well wishers to the Mayor and All men and truely desire that We nor any Other may Do that here that we cannot Answer hereafter in the Great Day of Account John Feild Will. Bingley The Collection IN the New Law neither Christ nor any of his Apostles took Tythes of the People nor Commanded the People to pay Tythes neither to Priests nor Deacons But in the 1000 year of Our Lord 211. One Pope Gregory the 10th Ordained Tythes First to be Given to Priests Again Paul saith He was not Chargeable unto them but with his hands got his Own Living It were Good Councel That all Priests took Good heed to the Heavenly Learning of Paul not Charging the People for their Bodily Livelyhood And Paul saith since the Priesthood is Changed its necessary a Change also be made of the Law so that Priests Live without Tythes For the Priests that Challenge Tythes say in effect That Christ is not become Man nor that he Suffered Death for man's Love Again the Taking of Tythes and of such other Duties that Priests Challenge now wrongfully neither Christ nor his Apostles Challenged nor took such Duties Therefore these taking of Priests now are to be called and holden The Sclanderous Covetousness and because of the Covetousness of Priests and Pride it stirreth God to take Vengeance both upon Lords and Commons which Suffer Priests Charitably This is Verbatim according to the Original Letter which I have in my Possession The Collection added out of Fox's Martyrs is not as here set down But gather'd out of several places of the Answers of one Will. Thorp an Ignorant Zealous Man but no Martyr in the Reign of Hen. 4. I wou'd not Mend any of the words to make sense of them as In the 1000 year of our Lord 211. but give them just as Quoted by the Quakers Who took what was for their Purpose 1. To make Tythes to be Anti-Christian as being a Denyal of Christ's having Come in the Flesh 2 That the Clergy are not to be supported Nor so much as God Speed be given to them 3 That the Vengeance of God is upon both Lords and Commons who suffer Priests Charitably The Arguments of the Quakers against Tythes I have Promised to Consider in a Treatise by it self But I have Printed this Letter of theirs to shew what Moderation they now at
Ornament Answer It appears very opposit to the Apostles Doctrin and also their Practice for not only the Apostle James James 2.2 reproves respect to gay Cloathing in general and is not Gay Cloathing to gain Respect as Modest is to avoid Contempt but also in particular the Apostles Peter and Paul forbad ornament of platted Hair 1 Pet. 3 3. 1 Tim. 2.9 Vulger tortis Lucian Clemens Chrysostom as ours translate Crisped or Curled as others and the Ancients write that they both had Bald-Heads and if they should have covered them with Womens Hair would they not have retorted Was that the Cause Peter and Paul that you bad us leave off our Locks that you and such like might get them your selves to make Peri-wigs of Can any Christian believe that Peter and Paul would run into such an absurdity who 't is very probable restrained Women not Men expresly as needless Solon a Wise Virtuous Lawgiver made none against Parricide as not to be supposed It was a shame then for Men to have long Hair naturally like Women among the Greeks and Romans too For Julius Caesar as I remember was by his Foes called scornfully Puer comatus Long hair'd Lad viz. in effect a Lass Was it then likely they would wear long Wigs of Lasses Hair for an Ornament Woodland a Martyr a Deacon taunted by a Persecuting Bishop for his stock'd Hose saying He was deck'd like a Deacon answered More like a Deacon then thou like an Apostle True For if Deacons Wives must be Grave and Sober and their Ornament not outward but inward much rather the Deacons and then much more Bishops And most Apostles whom Christ sent forth with Sandals a single Coat c. Math. 10.10 whose Examples the famousest Primitive Christians followed Origen went in a plain Coat bare Footed and that too before the Emperor who yet admired his Majesty Tertullian left off the Gown and took the plain Coat for which he wrote a Book Depallio Clemens wore a White Coat and writes in defence thereof So did John Huss the Martyr the eminentest Preacher in Bohemia and bequeathed his White Coat to one his Gray Coat to another not his White Wig to one his Brown Wig to another He suffered for opposing Preachers Pride It remains to shew That 't is not an Ornament but a Deformity more then that it would Cover as if it were not in Fashion would appear even to the simple natural Eye The Americans seeing one Captain Morley take off his Wig cryed he had two Heads And 't were apt to affright a Child unused to it like the horrid and hideous Head of a Snake-hair-twisted Gorgon or cristed Bellona as Homer says Hector did his Son with his Horse-maned Helmet And who can refrain to fall into a Poetical Vein and Paint it out in such sad Colours that it may look as ugly as it doth For a glorying in a Shame as an Ornament sharpens a Pen to describe it to make it appear as it is Difficile est satyram non scribere Metamorphoses The manner of this Age unmannerly Is Man unmaning Womens hair to buy Dub Poles and Joles Dame Venus Knights to be Smock-Coat and Petticoat Breech their Livery Scarce Man-like Fac'd though Woman like in Hair As sting-tail'd Locusts in the Vision were As of Hyena's kind Hermaphrodites Or as abus'd Italian Catamites And like unto the Phrygian Ganymede Or as Tiresias Femaliz'd indeed Or one that sith he would a Woman be Put Period to Assyrian Monarchy Hair in a Night turn'd hew of Old 't was said An Old Man Young a Boy a Girle was made Elders so now transformed to Girles appear And Girles to Boys by their short curtail'd Hair By Bulls some seem 'i th ' twilight turn'd to Owls As Antique Harpyes or some new Night Fowls As charming Sirens bate their ugly Hair Having their Arms Necks Brests Backs Shoulders bare Nay for their Knights rich Garters some prepare Richard Richardson I have not Mended any of the Spelling or other Blunders as Depallio for de Pallio c. As in the foregoing Letter to Sir Thom. Lane N. V. p. 80. Sclanderous for Slanderous But I give it you in pure Quaker Orthography Points Spelling and all The Excommunication of Will. Wilkins for Marrying one who was not a Quaker And for being Marry'd by a Clergy-Man From our Quarterly Meeting held at Dorchester the 15th of the 5th Month 1696. WHereas William Wilkins of Vplime in the County of Devon Cloathier have for a long time frequented the Meetings of the People called Quakers and made profession of the holy truth and been some time a Sufferer in Testimony thereof which as believed in is sufficient to cleanse the heart purge the Conscience and preserve out of the evil of the world but of late the said William for want of watchfulness in the pure Light of Christ have let in a contrary Spirit by which his mind is drawn aside from the way of the Lord so far as to joyne himself in Marriage with one who do not profess the same way and truth with us and thereby is become unequally yoaked and also Married by a Preist contrary to the practice of God's people in all Ages for we do not find in all the holy Scriptures the Priests in time of the Law or Ministers of the Gospel ever Married people and altho' we are far from judging all the Marriages of other people to be unlawful yet for any of us whom the Lord hath seperated from the world its ways customs and Traditions that are vain to return thither again for the sake of a Wife Husband or any other advantage is no less then turning with the Dog to his vomit and with the Sow that was washed to her wallowing again in the mire And notwithstanding the said W. W. have been often in the love of God visited and in much tenderness warned to avoid going into the aforesaid practise as being perswaded it would prove to his hurt and loss yet he have very wilfully and obstinately slighted the love of God and good counsel of his Friends and followed the counsel of his own evil heart and is backsliden from the way of the holy truth he have long made profession off by which he hath excluded himself from the fellowship of the Gospel and those that walk therein And therefore for the clearing of the blessed truth and our holy profession we do hereby Testify and declare that the said William Wilkins is departed from the truth and is gone into the Spirit of the World and therefore we do not own him nor can we have fellowship with him altho' he may frequent our Religious Meetings untill he shall publickly condemn his evil practise and unfeignedly repent of the same if he can find a place which is truely desired by us who are grieved and our hearts saddened whom the Lord hath not made so at the hearing of this or any disorderly walking by any professing the holy truth Signed by appointment and on behalf of the said Meeting By Daniel Taylor The Quaker Disciplin go's on like the Roman to Deny what they call Christian Burial to those who Die not in their Unity And they have Refus'd to those Quakers who had some Differences with their Church or Governing Part the Privilege of Burying their Children in their Burying Ground tho' they had been Contributors towards the Purchase of it Of which I cou'd give several Instances But for the Present shall Name onely one because Part of the Cause was having been Marry'd by one of our Clergy And I will give it in the words of an Account of it sent to me from a Quaker who will make it good if Deny'd But I set not his Name to Avoide the Now Vn-governable Malice of the Quakers THomas Bradly of the Parish of St. Olives Southwark Bodice-maker died the 25th of October 1693. and that day upon his Death-Bed desired that he might be inter'd in the Park Burying ground where he had buried a Wife and Seven Children he requested of those called Quakers that visited him that day while his sences Remain'd that he might be buried there i. e. in the Quakers Burying ground The next day following being the 26th his Daughter Eliz. Bradly desired a Friend to go with her to have the Ground granted for her Father and accordingly one went with her to James Braithwaite one intrusted by the Quakers to grant the Ground but his Answer was he could not do it And the said James Braithwaite went with Eliz. Bradly and the Friend aforesaid to Hen. Snooke another intrusted for the same purpose who also said he could not nor would not i. e. give the Ground notwithstanding the said Tho. B. so earnestly desired it upon his death Bed And when an answer was demanded of J. B. and H. Snooke whether they would give it or not The said J. Braithwaite answer'd They could not do it by Reason he was at a Twofold distance from them First as belonging to a seperate Meeting by him so called Secondly by Reason he was some years past Married by a Priest And withall shifted Eliz. Bradly off by sending of her to Walter Miers and William Chandler for to ask them who also Denied it saying there was the Artilery nearer so they would not give it this is in short a true Relation of there Unchristian behaviour in Denying of the said Tho. Bradly his desire Thus that Account sent to Me. FAS EST AB HOSTE DOCERI