Presbyterians Independants or Baptists or whether each of us one out of each This I leave to you And since you are of late for distinguishing the Moderate from the more Rigid if your Case be good I hope you cannot but think there is four Moderate Men amongst them all who have both Reason and Sence to judge of Matter of Fact Fr. Bugg This he refused which shewed he either doubted his Case or that he had such Incharity as not to think there were four moderate wise and just Men in all the four Societies if the last what signifie his pretended distinguishing If the first why does he so bitterly complain that I wrong them in Charge Citation and Observation But his word any gave me my choice so when he refused the Terms abovesaid I made him a second Proposal viz. to prove my Charge exhibited also my Sheet to the Parliament and if I have asserted any thing falsely to retract it under my Hand before six Members of Parliament each of us to chuse three upon condition that you will do the same Sent and subscribed in the presence of Samuel Grove Samuel Place Henry Symons John Fenn Daniel Hassel by me Fra. Bugg This he also refused either judging we could not find each of us three moderate Men in the House of Commons or else he went from his words to leave it to any six ten or twelve moderate Men of Common Sence and Honesty Nay that is not all but he still refuses to abide by Burrough's Proposition above recited But that he might not have a starting-hole I sent him a third Offer viz. G. W. I was minded to except against Quakers as in my first and second Proposal I did because I know they cannot be impartial between us but because I perceive you cannot otherwise be prevailed withal I will renew my Offer viz. do you chuse three Men where you please in the King's Dominion and I will chuse three and I offer to prove my Charge on condition that you will engage under your Hand that what the Quakers hold you will either justifie by Scripture or retract under your Hand as also what your self have wrote And I do hereby engage the like c. Fra. Bugg This he also refused to abide by upon the account of a retractation tho' Ed. B. in the name of the Quakers offered not only to retract but also to renounce all their Religion and to confess to all the World under his Hands that they have been deceived c. as at large in his Epistle above-mentioned But still I pursued him and sent him a fourth Offer viz. Feb. 9th 1693. G. W. yours receiv'd and return you the Terms upon which I offered to debate the Controversie according to Agreement in other Circumstances I ask no more than I give which is equal I am not conscious to my self of being guilty of what you either have or now do charge me with and that encourages me to engage a retractation if need be If you think yourself clear of my Charge and that the Quakers hold no such Errors as I lay to their charge what make you so timerous of engaging under your Hands to retract if proved upon you If you think a retractation will marr the beauty of your pretence to write and speak by and from an Infallible Spirit remember that Hungate the Jesuite who professed Infallibility almost equal with the Quakers did not refuse to subscribe when he disputed with Bishop Bramhal Read the Life of the said Bishop Beside you see E. B. allowed the point Nay moreover it was W. Penn's way with the Papists see his Seasonable Caveat c. p. 35. To conclude says W. P. if we would not receive a Thief until he has repented let the Papists first recant of their voluminous Errors not known in Scripture nor ever heard of for Three hundred years together after Christ c. Yet if you will leave the Matter to disinterested persons according to the latitude of your Offer in your printed Sheet viz. to any Moderate Men of Sence and Common Honesty c. I will require no retractation but leave it to them whether I have wronged you in Charge Citation or Observation And as to the twelve Witnesses for whom you make such a complaint if upon examination I do not prove them guilty of Perjury on your own Propositions to Authority I will retract my Proceedings against them but if I do prove it then you shall engage that they shall retract under their Hands always excepting against the said twelve False-witnesses being present at the Debate unless it be when the four particulars in their Certificate be under examination or when any Matter depending thereon no under consideration Fra. Bugg But all would not do I could not get Sheba the Son of Bichri that Man of Belial 2 Sam. 20. to come out on equal Terms Neither will their People like the wise Women in Abel bring him out and thereupon I shall leave it to the World whether I have not performed what I promised in my Sheet and whether G. W. have not shuffled and evaded a fair Debate 1st in refusing to leave the Matter to any moderate Men as he promised in print 2. And when debated before his Friends who are Parties in the Errors and cannot give it against him refuse to subscribe a Retractation according to the Offer of their great Prophet Edw. Burroughs and W. P. But before I proceed to prove my Charge I would premise some few things viz. First The Quakers Vind. c. p. 1. It 's not unknown unto you the Parliament that we are Dissenters from the Church of England and as such we enjoy our Liberty under you and consequently we ought not to be reputed Criminal for being such c. I grant that barely for being such you ought not to be reputed criminal But if under that notion you take Liberty not only to maintain and defend such Errors as tend to overthrow the Christian Faith but also print expose and spread your erronious Books all over England and Wales and beyond the Seas unlicens'd to the Scandal of Religion and not content therewith neither but to indict me for printing and exposing unlicens'd This seems criminal at least very bold For if you would not be reputed Criminal because your Opinion is for the present indulg'd forgetting perhaps that you stand but upon your good Behaviour why should you repute such as see your Errors and forsake you and conform themselves to the Establish'd Religion as that which is more true and orthodox Criminal calling me a Self-condemn'd Apostate Is not this throwing Dirt in the Face of the Government rendering their Religion so false and erroneous as that whoever forsake and conform to the Establish'd Religion must therefore be Self-condemn'd Apostates Do you think this may not affect your Superiors so as to consider of your bold Adventures c. Again That Fra. Bugg himself did not account us Criminal for our
Principles two years after he left us and joyned himself to the Church of England c. For which he quotes my Book The Quakers detected and their Errors confuted To which I answer The very Title shews the contrary And in the Book I charge them with False Doctrin Erroneous Principles their Teachers Cruel Taskmasters Persecutors and Tyrants and that part of their Doctrin which was true as I still believe some little of what they teach is true served only as a Decoy to catch simple Souls by charging their Ministers with Lyes gross Forgery and scandalous Defamations Babel's Builders Pharasaical Hypocrites See p. 4 5 18 21. And now let the Wise in Heart judge whether I did not account the Quakers criminal in 1686. With what face then can this gross Perverter G. W. say I did not account them criminal in 1686. unless to be guilty of the forementioned be not criminal As by the Quakers persisting therein they should not account it However I did then and do now account them great Criminals both in Doctrin and Practice and for leaving them am not condemned but bless the Day that ever I forsook such an Heresie as I deem them to hold defend and I fear wilfully maintain The Matters in that Book treated on I methodiz'd under these three general Heads viz. The first point under Consideration was How I came to be a Member of their Society The second How I came to see their Errors and leave them The third How I came perswaded and satisfied in going to the Publick In the first I did set forth what I thought of them in 58 and 60. and what they preached and how innocent they appeared G. W. in Norwich-Castle seemed as demure as the best yet in that Book I set forth as I then believed that all was but a Decoy or Cheat to draw Disciples after them and if I was cheated and mistaken in them so was Hugh Latimore that learned Prelate in the smooth Carriage of the Papists and their Infallible Delusions who said I am ignorant of things which I trust hereafter to know c. Read Fox's Acts and Monuments c. p. 410 467 468 1325 1488. where Bishop Latimer Bishop Cranmer M. Luther Dr. Barns and other pious sincere Christians have not been too good nor too holy to acknowledge themselves mistaken upon conviction though by your Doctrin render d Apostates in that they once thought the Popish Doctrine true c. Nay your Incharity renders many of your own People Apostates who before they were deluded by your black Art of calling the Scripture Death Dust and Serpents-meat the Ordinances an Institution of the Whore of Rome the publick Ministers Witches Devils Gormandizing Priests c. thought the Doctrine of the Church of England sound and orthodox But since they are turn'd to the Heresie of Quakerism G. W. accounts them Saints Lambs Prophets and what not But as these Weights are counterfeit so I purpose to try them by the Touchstone of the Scripture which cannot lye And I refer to my Book New-Rome unmask'd c. containing more than 100 Pages in Quarto divided into twelve Chapters which shew at large that forsaking the Quakers is no Apostacy from the Articles of the Christian Faith c. sold by Mr. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry and Mr. Guillam Bookseller in Bishopsgate-street Concluding my Introduction with St. Augustine Errare possum haereticus esse non possum The FIRST CHARGE Against the Quakers That they Deny Jesus of Nazareth who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be Christ and the Efficient Cause of Man's Salvation The ARGUMENT THE Method proposed to prove the recited Charge is 1st A brief Citation of Scriptures proving that Jesus is the Christ of God and Efficient Cause of Man's Salvation from the Testimony of GOD Angels and Men. 2dly A Recital out of the Quakers Books wrote by their most approved Authors alledging the contrary shewing them thereby to be of a different Faith from the Prophets Apostles Saints and Blessed Martyrs and all true Christians to this day 3dly That Geo. Fox the first Founder of Quakerism Anno 1650. have since assumed to himself those divine Attributes due only to Christ and thereby hath overthrown the Faith of some 4thly That his Disciples and Followers and such of greatest note amongst them hath said Amen to his Blasphemies by their frequent Adorations of him as the Star the Branch the Son of Righteousness c. 1st Scripture Texts proving Jesus to be Christ. John 1.14 And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Luke 1.26 And in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Gallilee named Nazareth and the Angel said unto her Fear not Mary for thou hast found favour with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus 2.10 11. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring unto you good tydings of great joy which shall be unto all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. Mark 9.7 Matt. 17.5 While he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear him Matt. 26.67 Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands 27.38 Then there were two thieves crucified with him one on the right hand another on the left Ver. 50. Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost 28.6 He is not here for he is risen as he said Come see the place where the Lord lay Acts 1.9 10 11. While they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight And while they looked stedfastly towards Heaven as he went up behold two men standing by them in white apparel which also said Ye men of Gallilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven then not in them in the Quakers sence for as he said with reference to his Person Matt. 26.11 Me ye have not always shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Acts 5.30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Acts 2.36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
preach was fined was distrained as recorded but all his Goods was returned and for this Noble Act he had 10 l. sent him out of the Treasury from London by John Peacock late of St. Ives as a Recompence but his poor Neighbors R. Crabb T. Paine and others was fined and distrained for meeting June 9.1670 and neither had their Goods again nor a Reward out of London Chest that I ever heard A notable way to encourage such Praters to banter all other Dissenters who are not so vainglorious as themselves nor so cunning and close as the Quakers who may compare with Jesuit and Jew as G. W. in his Christ Quak. and Dev. did who charged them to hold Erroneous and Blasphemous Principles carnal Policy timerous creeping occult cowardly base c. And as I said that I may make them ashamed of their deceitful Practices who thus banter and domineer over all other People I may recite part of an Edict only I must remember not to give their Laws such contemptible Names as Edicts which enjoined the Hearers to meet constantly and suffer greatly insomuch as that in the loss of 13550 l. their Preachers never lost 50 l. And the Reasons thereof are more particularly handled in my Book The painted Harlot both stripp'd and whipp'd c. An Abstract of their Antimagistratical Edict is as followeth viz. London 27. of the 3d Month 1675. IT is our Advice and Judgment That all Friends keep up those publick Testimonies and neither decline forsake nor remove their publick Assemblies because of Times of Sufferings as worldly fearful and politick Professors have done c. Signed by G. W. W. P. and divers others Yet notwithstanding how did G. Whitehead creep up and down here and there with all the caution and timerousness possible to evince which see a Letter he order'd to be writ to me to appoint a Meeting for him c. DEar Friend F. B. G. W. is now here and doth purpose to be at your Meeting the 27th Instant and therefore desireth that Friends may be together by the 11th hour at furthest Thou need not mention his Name to any particularly but maist acquaint them of a Friend's Intention to be with them the time aforesaid So with G. W's dear Love to thee and thy Wife I rest thy dear Friend Hen. Hubbard jun. Stoake 25th of the 11th Mon. 1675. Thus wary was G. W. and cautious in his Travels which had been well enough had he left the People free But for him to make a Law against the National Law that they must constantly meet and neither forsake remove nor decline c. like worldly politick and fearful Professors yea antiscriptural too For said Christ if they persecute you in one city flee or remove to the next And his inspired Disciples oftentimes met privately for fear of the Jews c. yet how did G. W. like Ahab go disguised he must not be known his Name must not be mentioned Well I knew him and his Name too and had his Company and dear Love too and called Dear Friend yea all dear to me at that time though now I have so disturbed this subtile Fox and so manifested his deceitful Practices in many things that he cannot afford me my proper Name only Bugg Bugg say so Bugg quote c. Bugg's Testimony yea 34 times he calls me only Bugg in one Sheet and since I came to London in a private Letter in one side of half a sheet he calls me eleven times only Bugg such is his proud disdainful and insolent Behaviour besides scurrilous Names and reproachful Terms far contrary to their pretence in the beginning See An Account of the Children of Light c. p. 16. Also it hath been laid upon us by the Lord to call Men and Women by their Names which their Fathers have given them to be known amongst Men by c. But G. W. is grown so great since he came first amongst the Quakers Anno 1652. a poor Boy about 15 or 16 years old travelling on foot and hath so gathered up his Crumbs though chiefly at other Mens Tables that he scorns to call him that hath fed him and his Friends at his Table by his proper Name Oh Insolent and Imperious George I have been the longer on this Head because 't is the most glorious Jewel in their Crown how counterfeit soever it be within For when there was no Persecution they cut themselves out Work by disturbing of Churches for which they sometimes suffer'd the Justice due to such Offenders and then they cried out of Persecution and resolved to go on against all Law Government and Rule and all that opposed them herein was Nebuchadnezzar Darias c. and themselves Daniel Shadrack c. and in a little time came to collect their Sufferings whether it was 6 d. 8 d. or 1 s. in it went and having by 1657. in England and Wales muster'd up 1568 l. 14 s. 8 d. they printed and taught That their Sufferings was greater and more unjust than the Sufferings of Christ his Apostles and Martyrs and more unjust in that they suffered by a Law and that Law duly executed I do not doubt but if G. F's Works be printed there will be such a discovery of Quakerism as the World never saw but I do declare my Belief is they will never print them lest they be laid by Sol. Eccles Fiddles Possibly they may print some Passages of his Travels to make Fools admire and Wise Men laugh VI Charges against G. W. I. A Publick Defamer See his Book Judgment fixed c. p. 263. Francis Bugg is turned Informer To let pass all his other Names as Canker'd Apostate Vile Apostate Self-condemn'd Apostate Judas Runagate Beast Dog Wolf Child of the Devil Enemy of all Righteousness c. That very Name Informer the time 1682. consider'd is sufficient to term and prove him a publick Defamer and a malicious Incendiary for he knew me to be no such manner of Person but one of the greatest Sufferers by Informers in the whole County But however T. Bird J. Mason J. Ellington W. Belslam and above Twenty more Quakers gave me a Certificate to certifie the contrary and did very nobly testifie against such Antichristian Treatment But it is by such Arts they have raised their Structure witness their Book entituled A Battledoor c. saying p. 3. Come ye Doctors Scholars Teachers and Magistrates c. in which beside the English and some other foreign Languages there was the Latin Italian Greek Hebrew Chaldee and Syriack and before each of these Six Languages in each Page at the beginning of each Language they erected the form and figure of a Child's Penny horning Battledoor subscribed on the Handle thereof Geo. Fox and all was about Thee and Thou singular and plural as if they had been such Ignoramussés as did not understand tu and vos without the help of Geo. Fox who was before a Quaker a poor Journey-man Shoemaker But it was a
notable Project to bring both Learning and the Learned into Contempt to the scandal of the English Nation Thus defamatory have their Libels been The next Book this Imperious Fox provided for the Clergy was entituled A Primmer for all the Doctors and Scholars in Europe but especially Oxford and Cambridge containing 2434 Queries of this import viz. What is a Verb a Participle an Adverb a Getive Case c. what is the word called declined who was the first Author of it and by whom it came c. And with the greatest Contempt and Reproach conceivable as by his lofty Strains bold Challenges and daring Interrogations with which the said Primmer is plentifully stuft doth appear saying These Queries are to call you out into the Field the little Davids are risen who have the Baggs the Slings and the Stones Ye that profess your selves wise and learned Men and are Novices and Fools answer me draw out your Weapons if you have any and answer me these things Come out of your Holes and do not skip nor hip from them answer every Word in particular for you have Tongue enough sometimes let us see now if it can wagg c. G. Fox For more of this impertinent Nonsence see my Book Battering Rams against New Rome Thus scandalous and defamatory have they been in their contemptuous Libels against both the Gentry and Clergy of the English Nation on purpose to raise themselves out of their Ruins for they had no better way to prove their own Religion true than by rendring all others false But when these Libels and pernicious Books would not do their business fully then they termed them False Prophets Deceivers c. See their Book A brief Discovery of a threefold Estate c. p. 7 8 9 10. viz. The Priests of the World are 1. Conjurers raising dead Doctrines out of the Letter which is Death raising Death out of Death notable Conjurers 2. Thieves and Robbers 3. Antichristians 4. Witches 5. Devils 6. Lyars The Commission and Call of Baal's Priests came from Oxford and Cambridge 7. A Viperous and Serpentine Generation 8. Blasphemers 9. Scarlet-coloured Beasts 10. Babylon's Merchants selling Beastly Wares the Letter which is Dust and Death 11. Whited Walls 12. Ravening Wolves 13. Greedy Dogs Really they are Bloudhounds still hunting and gasping after their Prey like the Mouth of Hell Wo wo wo was the Portions of those Pharisees then and wo wo wo is their Portion now and Wo and Misery is the Portion of the Upholders i. e. Parliament of that Treacherous Crew and deceitful Generation c. Come G. W. answer in your next whether your dispersing these Defamatory Libels unlicens'd be not seditious scandalous and tend to the scandal of the Clergy Parliament and People and yet they forgive you all your Trespasses pass by your many Affronts But you like the wicked Servant whom his Lord forgave all for a Trifle fall upon others But you will say this was in Oliver's time Why Was Oxford and Cambridge a Nursery for Baal's Priest in Oliver's time And is it otherwise now No you are the same you were See your Book The Guide mistaken p. 18. printed 1668. by W. Penn. And whilst the idle Gormondizing Priests of England run away with above 150000 pounds a year under pretence of being God's Ministers And that no sort of People have been so universally through Ages the very bane of Soul and Body of the Universe as that Abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God's most dreadful Vengeance is reserved to act their Eternal Tragedy upon Reader I hope by this time I have not only proved G. W. a Publick Defamer but also his Brethren the like II. A Wicked Forger The Vind. c. p. 3. Fra. Bugg affirms in his Book de Chr. Lib. par 2. p. 83. printed 1682. that Conformity is a Monster c. and about two years after he himself conform'd c. In answer I am not the Author of one word of that Page but the whole Passage is a Query of John Ainsloes propounded to S. Cater and others beginning p. 81. ending p. 87. with his Name to it and by me quoted as his sence touching that Conformity they requir'd of him about taking his Wife in subjection to their Law of Womens Meetings and to whom neither J. Ainsloe nor my self ever conformed And as it was J. A's and by me quoted to shew his sence and to manifest Quakers against Quakers so it 's an absolute piece of Forgery to say he affirms he himself conformed his own Testimony When all this while it was none of F. B. but J. H's writing and both his Name and Date with a black line drawn to distinguish it from mine Who then can give credit to this Insincere pretended serious G. W. this grand Forger III. A Wilful Lyar. The Content Apostate c. p. 3. F. Bugg and his Company being got to the Meeting before G. W. and into the Gallery where our Ministring Friends used to be c. In short 't is false and that to G. Whitehead's Knowledge too for there was not a Man of my Company in the Gallery with me but S. Cater and this he wilfully and maliciously sent abroad to render me a turbulent Disturber which is fully proved in New Rome unm c. p. 50 51. IV. A Gross Perverter The Quakers Vind. c. p. 3. Note that the Instances Bugg has to prove the Quaker's Contempt of Governors being between the years 1654. and 1659. when 't is clear thereby that the Magistrates and Ministers instanced were those very Persecuters and Usurpers in O. Cromwel's days whereby F. B. has at once justified those Magistrates or Governors in those days as Christ's Magistrates and consequently the Usurpation of that Government testified against by E. B. and others Reader the main thing intended by this Perverter G. W. is to make the World believe that they were such Enemies to Oliver and his Usurpation as that E. Burr and the Quakers only reprehended those Governours and Magistrates as such when 't is no such matter for tho' I grant they were wrote in O. C's time yet they were reprinted in 1672. and by the Quakers common consent and approbation and for which they are responsible until they condemn them Well but did G. Fox E. Burrough so severely reprehend that Usurpation I do think who ever read The Quakers unmask'd c. will be of another mind P. 21. To all you who are called Delinquents and Cavaliers Thus saith the Lord My Controversie is against you even my Hand of Judgment is upon you already and you are become cursed in all your hatchings And though your Kings and Princes and Nobles have been cut off in Wrath yet you repent not nor will you see how you are given up to be a Curse and a Desolation and a Prey in Houses and Lands and Persons to them whom I raised up i. e. O. Cromwel against you and gave Power over you And you and
your Kings and Lordly Power shall be enslaved by the Devil in the pit of Darkness in everlasting Bondage where he shall reign your Lord and King for evermore c. Given under my Hand and sealed by the Spirit of the Eternal God through Edw. Burrough Taken at first out of the Trumpet of the Lord sounded p. 9. but left out of E. B's Works in the reprint which argues that G. W. c. did not believe E. Burr was so moved nor that his Message was so sealed by the Eternal God as E. B. pretended for if they did they dealt very unfaithfully to leave out such a notable Prophecy Thus you see E. Burrough was so far from reprehending Oliver or his Usurpation that he tells what the Delinquents was and how God's Hand was upon the Royal Party their Kings Princes Nobles Lands Houses c. in Judgment and that Oliver was raised of God c. Well let us hear what G. R. another of their Prophets says viz. TO thee O. Cromwel thus saith the Lord I have chosen thee amongst the thousand of the Nations to execute my Wrath upon my Enemies and gave them to thy Sword with which I fought for the Zeal of my own Name and gave thee the Enemies of my own Seed to be a Curse and a Reproach for ever and many have I cut down by my Sword in thy Hand that my Wrath might be executed upon them to the utmost The Righteousness of God c. p. 11. Geo. Rose Come G. W. was this reprehending O. C. or his Government Are you not ashamed to give occasion thus to discover your corrupt Principles by your base Pervertions Well hear G. Fox To the Parliament of the Common-wealth c. p. 8. Let all these Abby Lands Gleab Lands that 's given to the Priests be given to the Poor of the Nation and let all the great Houses Abbies Steeple-houses and White-hall be for Alms-houses Come G. W. what Paint have you in store to salve these your grand Pervertions horrible Principles and new Forgeries and false Glosses What! did you think your Sheet would never be answer'd Well George I have not done but having retrieved my Head from the Wall by acquitting my self from justifying O. C's Usurpation and also pointed to the very Creatures Flatterers and Prophets who both justified abetted encourag'd and assented to the said Usurpation See The Quakers unmask'd c. I am now coming to tell you what Usurpation I am against viz. The Vsurpation of the Quakers And that in divers respects first In that you summons the King's Subjects to meet annually in London by way of general Council or Convocation without any legal Warrant Writ or other legal Authority And when sate in Councel in Devonshire-house you make Laws Edicts and Canons for the King's Subjects throughout England to observe contrary and in direct opposition to those very Laws Rules c. which the King and Parliament make at Westminster This is the Usurpation I am against if you would needs know of me what I account Usurpation And that you have done so see your yearly Epistle May 1675. where in opposition to the Law the King and Parliament made that you should not meet above Four c. you in opposition made a Law That your People should neither forsake decline nor remove their Meeting This was one remarkable Instance of your justling with Authority and of your setting your usurping Post by the legal Post and a Hundred Instances more of your arbitrary illegal Proceedings and Usurpations might be brought But to mention a few fresh Instances see your last yearly Epistle entituled The Epistle to the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales and elsewhere from our Yearly Meeting held in London the 5 6 7 8. days of the 4th Month 1693. in which amongst other things you p. 3. order 1. That your Books be spread up and down the Nation as well as in parts beyond the Seas which being unlicens'd and tending to defame both the Clergy and Gentry is a Usurpation I am against 2. That none should pay Tythes but refuse payment thereof as an Antichristian Yoke of Bondage which shew that you at Devonshire-house interfere with those at Westminster 3. That none should pay to the Steeple-house Rates or Leys which put the Country to great trouble and your Proselytes who submit their Necks to your Usurpation to great Sufferings tending to Sedition and very evil Effects 4. That none should carry Guns in their Ships This shews that you are not content with your own Ease but as far as your Usurpation prevail you weaken the Government and are not willing to leave your People your People did I say yes your People for if you say once what they shall or shall not do 't is a Law like that of the Meads c. to their Freedom in this and many other Instances 1. Whether to publish their Intentions to marry before Womens Meetings or not 2. To meet precisely at the time day and place whether the Law command the contrary or not 3. To pay Tythes or not 4. To pay to the Church Rates or not 5. To carry Guns and serve their King and Country or not 6. To buy of your Books as they are perswaded concerning the Truth of them or not I say Did you leave your People free and at liberty in these and other things you would do well Then if any particular person could not for Conscience sake acquiesce in any of these things wherein the Law requires their active Obedience then let such pray the Magistrates and Government to hold them excus'd and when so done let them acknowledge the Favour from the Government who only ought to be Judges in that Case But your taking upon you this Usurped Dominion the more you prevail upon the People the less the Kingdom is and consequently the more you encrease the more dangerous And this Usurpation I testified against in my Book de Chr. libertate Anno 1682. and in Painted Harlot c. 1683. and in several other Books and now you see I am of the fame Judgment still touching Usurpation c. V. A False Glosser The Qua. Vind. c. p 2. F. B. accuses somebody with objecting against paying Tythes under the new Covenant because abrogated by Christ observing from thence that the Quakers condemn the Martyrs c. Observe this False Glosser I did not say they condemn either Martyr or others who did refuse payment of Tythes I neither said so nor will my words carry any such intendment but by that Doctrine laid down by Tho. Ellwood in his Antidote c. p. 78. Truth allows no payment of Tythes at all under the new Covenant they who pay Tythes uphold a legal Ceremony abrogated by Christ and thereby deny Christ come in the Flesh which is a Mark of Antichrist c. I say by this Doctrine they do conclude That all that pay Tythes whether voluntary or by force and all such as receive Tythes and make Laws that Tythes shall be paid are Antichristians nay not only the present Generation of Men but all former and future Generations that have been or shall be since the days of Christ being personally on Earth to the Worlds end And 't is this your Incharity that I oppose and think it great presumption in you to seek Favour at the hands of such as you condemn as Antichristians c. VI. A Deceiver of the People See Judgment fix'd Introd c. If the Lord did not lay a Necessity upon me I should chuse to be mute but the Lord has laid the Necessity upon me I neither consult Events nor fear Effects c. If what I have herein said be true and which I offer to prove before 10 or 12 impartial Men then he is a great Deceiver of the People nay were it needful where I have mentioned one President which in order to prove my Charge I was obliged to do I could have mention'd ten both Lyes Pervertions Forgeries False Glosses and scandalous Desamations both of my self and others But this may serve for both Caution and Warning to such as like the noble Bereans of old are willing to try all things Which that they may is the hearty Desire of him that was once led away by their Dissimulation Fra. Bugg FINIS