Christ at the Door the Way the Truth Life the Rock the Elect Stone and all these are but One Here again quoth he is One added here is Octo Personas in the unity of their Essence Hence observe by the way what rare Syntax he makes viz. Here is Octo Personas instead of Here are Octo Personae but chiefly how he has defined Person which is not our Term for those Names given to Christ for to make so many Persons of Christ as Names are given to him as those in Metaphors Parables and Similitudes which are numerous in Sacred Scriptures may he not then by such Logick or Dofinition render Christ to be an Hundred Persons in One Essence What silly Conceits float in this Man 's giddy Head What think his Friends of the Clergy of him Is he a fit Champion to undertake to defend both Theml their Church and the Protestant Religion Moreover I do confess That altho' I have often seen it my Duty to explain some of our Christian Friends Meanings when mistaken or perverted by our Adversaries I really believe I have truly Construed their Intentions and that I have cause to understand the same better than our Adversaries or Enemies And as for my own part I have learn'd that Humility and Self denial that I am not Conscious of being Pertinacious against Light true Conviction or holy Scripture Testimony And I hope also this Advertisement may satisfie every Charitable and Ingenuous Reader having been Sincere and Consciencious towards God from my Youth upward to this day according to the Measure of Light and Understanding he hath bestowed upon me humbly hoping and verily believing he will so preserve me in Christ unto the End 'T is observable how insulting and boasting this F. Bugg is in his Dedication to the Parliament comparing himself in his Work of Darkness against the Light with Daniel his bursting in sunder the Baby lonish Dragon Even so quoth Bugg have I been instrumental and burst in sunder the Quakers great Idol their Darkness within which they call the Light within Thus presumptuously he Boasts and Blasphemes contrary to his former Confession to the Light which we called Quakers profess according to John 1. 4 9. There is a Wo to such as put Light for Darkness and Darkness for Light He proceeds in his empty Boasting and Insulting thus viz. I have cut down the lofty Weeds and tall Cedars Pref. p. 27. The Sting of Quakerism being taken out and the Bowels thereof ript up and their Inside turn'd outward Part 2. p. 31. And having taken this Snake Quakerism out of the Grass and laid her on the Table and taken out her Sting Ibid. p. 27. But Reader I have not done with this Snake but must have the other blow at her and smite off her Head lest she get into the King's High Court of Parliament to do mischief for she is a mischievous Beast and full of deadly Poison and begins to stink all the Nation over Ibid. p. 30. Thus far F. B. Now let the serious Reader judge what a presumptuous reviling Boaster this is as if the High Court of Parliament were much beholden to him for his Defence of them by thus shamefully Reviling the Quakers But how helpless mean and indigent does he Imply the Parliament to be to have need of such a Physitian to prepare them Antidotes And then what lofty Weeds and tall Cedars has he cut down among the Quakers What great Execution has he done by his bitter Invectives Scorn Railery and Profanation of the Sacred Name of God and Christ as before is manifest Have not his mischievous Attempts tending to a New Persecution made him stink in the Nostrils of all Moderate Serious and Unprejudiced Readers and Observers of his Works of Revenge and Malice thereby making himself and Abettors Infamous while he seeks to make himself Famous But God will debase his Pride and Presumption Altho' he would render himself an Eminent Champion as having Cut down and slain Quakerism yet eagerly endeavours to Influence both King and Parliament against us he presumes to Dedicate his bitter and scurrilous Invectives against us to the King 's High Court of Parliament superlatively stiling himself Your Honours most Humble and most Obedient Servant and arrogantly presumes to write an Address to his Majesty King William the Third therein also stiling himself One of the Meanest yet most Dutiful Subject Francis Bugg therein notifying G. Whitehead in particular and in pretence Most humbly Praying in the Name of the Church of England and other his Dissenting Protestants that Care may be taken to suppress the same i. e. the Quakers Doctrine and Books viz. such as he writes against In which he would also encourage the King to Judge who is in the Wrong and to punish accordingly And in this Case saith he let not the King respect Persons in Judgment c. Hence observe the Presumption of this silly Creature thus to presume to be the King's Dictator and that in the Name of the Church of England and other Protestant Dissenters too to Influence and Incense him against his Peaceable Subjects called Quakers as if nothing short of Punishment Persecution and Suppressing would pacify his Revenge against us But how comes F. Bugg thus confidently to Address King William in the Name of the Church of England and other his Majesty's Dissenting Protestants as if they had set him on Work so bitterly to Inveigh against the People called Quakers as he hath done Seeing in his Dedication to the Parliament he tells them He can with good Conscience say That from first to last no Clergy-Man in the Kingdom ever asked or desired him to write one Book Page or Line against the Quakers nor have any one Man Clergy or Laity seen this Book till printed If this be true then both the Clergy Laity and all others are so far Excusable as to this Book of his unjustly stiled A Modest Defence But then hath he not wronged the Church of England and Dissenting Protestants too by his Addressing the King in their Names against the Quakers seeing they neither asked nor desired him to write one Book Page or Line against the Quakers no not one Clergy-Man in the Kingdom c. If none of the Church of England nor any other set him at work how durst he Address the King expresly in their Names If he writ Truly to the Parliament how could he so write Truly or Honestly to the King What an officious Agent was he then so peremptorily to Address the King against the Quakers their Doctrine and Books in the Name of the Church of England and other Dissenting Protestants and that for Punishment too He seeks to Incense both King and Parliament and Church of England and other Dissenting Protestants against the peaceable People called Quakers as if he aim'd at their sole Ruin and Destruction For which End they shall not want his Exclamations of Heresie and Blasphemy Cheats Impostors Jesuits c. ay to Incense the World against them if he could But God's Power is above the Devils Glory to our God and to the Lamb that sits upon the Throne for Ever and Ever I conclude with this Scripture as applicable to our Persecuting Adversary Psalm 36. 1. There is no Fear of God before his Eyes v. 2. He flattereth himself in his own Eyes until his Iniquity be found to be hateful v 3. The words of his mouth are Iniquity and Deceit v. 4. He deviseth Mischief upon his Bed c. FINIS
if not Blasphemy thus to subvert the Gospel to serve their Corrupt Ends. How wary then had People need be of receiving the Quakers Doctrine Is it so that People being thus caught in a Snare and brought over to their silent Meetings c. thus thou p. 10. Thus contrary to thy former solid Confession to the Light hast thou appeared against it instead of Christ the Light or the Light of Christ the true Light which enlightens Men now with thee 't is Their Light the Quaker-Light p. 46 48. Thus and much more in Contempt of the Light like that profane Great Lying Libel The Snake in the Grass whose Pupil thou F. B. appearest to be in this thy Dark Enmity against the Light and the Children of the Light as also in thy high Commendation of the Author of that Snake as having been and still is a Gentleman a Man of Great Learning and Piety cloathed with Zeal as with a Garment for the Christian Religion and well accomplished every way c. p. 31. but thy Contempt and Profaness like his against the Light as well as thy gross and horrid Ignorance and Scorn in this Point is plainly detected and justly reprehended by Edmund Elys though one of the Church of England in his late half Sheet in Print entituled Some Reflections upon Francis Bugg 's Book entituled The Pilgrims Progress c. F. Bugg his opposing the Light in the Body to the Light in the Particular p. 12. is such a blind Contradiction as well as Contradistinction as is neither Scriptural nor ever allowed by us the Light Christ being but one pure Indivisible Light in himself and in every Member and in his whole Body nor do we know of any Council held in London either in the Month of May 1666. or any Time else of our Friends who decided That the Body should govern and the Light in the particular should submit to the Body as F. B. falsly relates But Mendacem oportet esse memorem A Lyar hath need of a good Memory which this seems to want For in Contradiction to himself herein he other-whiles accuses us with saying All Power in Heaven and Earth is committed to our Light p. 10 and That the Light in every Man is the higher Power to whom all must submit and obey and that this Light is one in the Male and in the Female p 23 24. and their President i. e. the Quakers President in their Convocation being their Light within p. 38. How then should the Body govern the Light Or how should we make any such Decision as he has told us That the Light in the particular should submit to the Body and the Body be without a Head like a Monster as F. B. Scoffs blasphemously For Christ the true Light is our Light and he is the Head of the Body and the Government is laid upon his Shoulders who is Lord of Lords and King of Kings And none can truly Perswade Counsel Judge or in such Gospel-way Rule or Govern for Christ in his House and Family but in and by his Light and Power for no other is allowed among us so that Christ in all things must have the Preheminence It is also an Impudent Falshood that any Council among us Resolved That G. Fox must be the Head of the Body and not the Light in the particular p. 11 12. Where have we ever so Concluded or Asserted But ever the contrary namely that Christ is the Head of the Body the Church the Light and Lawgiver thereof Again F. B. perverts my words and wrongs me over and over in saying p. 16. So Proud is G. Whitehead that he tells you The Jews might as well have carried them to Christ in the days of his Flesh viz. the Ten Commandments for him to learn observe and obey them as for the Christians to carry them to the Quakers to learn them observe and obey them And to this effect he has many times over perverted my words quoting Truth Defending the Quakers p. 18. Where did ever I say The Jews might as well have carried the Ten Commandments to Christ for him to learn observe and obey them as for the Christians to carry them to the Quakers to learn them observe and obey them I deny the words and Comparison and they are not in my Answer he refers unto wherein my saying The Christians Life and Rule is Christ who is the End of the Law for Righteousness who came not to destroy the Law but to fulfil it I neither make void the Ten Commandments nor render Christ to have as much need to learn them as the Quakers Oh for shame F. B. repeat these Lyes no more I cannot but observe what a Habit of Perversion and Abuse this Adversary is arriv'd unto Again 't is a notorious Abuse and Forgery in F. Bugg p. 16 18. to Accuse the Quakers with making the Commands of God of none Effect setting the Ten Commandments of Moses and Ten Commandments which he has fram'd patch'd up and number'd in G. Fox's Name opposite one to another in two Columns his Design therein being to make the People call'd Quakers as ridiculous absurd and silly as he can He feigns Ten Commandments in the Quakers Language instead of the Ten Commandments of God by Moses and places them in Opposition thereto to make the Commands of God of none Effect Though the Man's perverse Invention against us herein deserves not Repetition yet that his profane Forgery in this may appear I here give the Reader some Instances of the Method he has Invented against us viz. The Commandments of God by his Servant Moses c. Exod. 20. The Commandments of G. Fox the Quakers Second Moses c. I. Thou shalt have no other Gods but me II. Thou shalt not make to thy self any Graven Image III. Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold them guiltless that taketh his Name in vain I. Thou shalt not pay Tythes to the Covetous Priests nor to the Antichristian Impropriators II. Thou shalt not Marry by or with a Priest III. Thou shalt not put off thy Hat in respect to thy Superiours These F. Bugg forms in Opposition to the other to shew that the Quakers make the Commands of God of none Effect wherein his idle Impertinency as well as Injustice appears as also in the following VII Thou shalt not commit Adultery VIII Thou shalt not Steal IX Thou shalt not bear false Witness against thy Neighbour X. Thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's House thou shalt not covet thy Neighbour's Wife nor his Man-Servant nor his Ox nor his Ass nor any thing that is his c. VII Thou shalt not wear Lace nor Ribbons nor Skimming-dish Hats nor short Aprons c. VIII You shall have a Woman's Meeting distinct from the Men c. IX Thou shalt call the Days of the Week first second third and fourth Day c. and the Months first second and third Month
incense the Civil Government against them and he being therein often Refuted I am concern'd herein to take notice only of a few of his notorious Abuses Misrepresentations and Perversions viz. 1st In his Dedication to the High Court of Parliament p. 10. he tells them The Quakers tell you They own the Scriptures to be given by Divine Inspiration but mean not a word of it like other Christians 2dly They tell you they own a Scripture-Trinity but mean not a word of it and that Your Honours will find it as difficult a thing to gain the true Meaning of the Quakers touching the Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures and their Belief of a Scripture-Trinity as Constantinus the Emperor found it in the Examination of Arius the Heretick to get his true meaning touching the Faith of one Substance And he would have them believe The Quakers are such Enemies to the holy Scripture as that they say It is a rotten Foundation Ibid. p. 11. And that with them it is Beastly Ware c. part 2. p. 29. And that they render the holy Scriptures to be of no more Authority than Aesop 's Fables part 3. p. 40. Such abominable Falshoods this Incendiary presumes to Dedicate and Present to the Parliament expresly contrary to our sincere and publick Confession to the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures as Eminently given by Divine Inspiration and our Estimation and Preference of the Bible to all other Books extant in the World though many of them may be given by a Degree of the same Divine Inspiration yet the holy Scripture contain'd in the Bible have not only the Priority but more Eminently and Signally Confirm'd by Divine Authority more Comprehensive and more Generally accepted than other Books or Commentaries thereupon the holy Pen-Men of the Scriptures of Truth having also a higher Degree of Illumination and Inspiration in many things than other Writers in after-Ages And Christ himself whose blessed Testimonies are from him Recorded received the Holy Ghost or Spirit not by Measure but in Fulness and to be sure we are bound in Conscience highly to prefer the Authors of Holy Scripture i. e. Christ his Apostles and Prophets above our selves or any other Writers whatsoever therefore we have cause to allow the Bible the Preference as well as Priority before other Books But our embittered Adversary to render us the said People Incredible or not to be Believ'd and such a difficult thing to gain the true Meaning of the Quakers he thus treats us with his wonted Course of Defamation and Calumny giving this pretended Relation viz. That the honest Quakers for some such there are amongst them have suspected G. Whitehead to be a Jesuite at least like them This Witness is true quoth F. B. Pref. p. 18. And farther he proceeds with this Out-cry viz. By which Evidence we may know that the Quakers like the Cretians were always Lyars evil Beasts slow Bellies but not only so but Lyars Forgers and to speak comparatively Knights of the Post Jesuits and dangerous to the Government c. Pref. p. 19 20. Thus furiously he runs on and clamours like one without Eear or Wit he is Accountable for such odious Defamation and the Righteous Judge of all I doubt not will rebuke him for such his Folly and Outrage He strives in his Persecution against us as if it were for Life even for our Lives in not only defaming G. Whitehead for a Jesuit but the Quakers in General and yet some of them Honest Quakers too Such Confusion Envy produces But who these Honest Quakers are that suspect G. W. to be a Jesuit at least like them we are to seek he tells us not who is his true Witness in this Case G. W. utterly denies the Defamation against himself and the rest of his Friends called Quakers being known to be as wholly and absolutely Averse to Popery as any People in Christendom and more than all Persecutors whatsoever Persecution being a principal Prop and Pillar of Popery commonly raised by such Clamour and Outrage as Away with them Hereticks and Schismaticks they are Seditions and Dangerous to the Government and then Imprisonment Havock Exile or Death must follow c. To his other odious Calumny viz. That the Quakers Church agrees with the Papists That our Bible is a Brazen-fac'd Book an unjust corrupt and perverse Bible part 1. p. 4. Oh Horrible The righteous Lord rebuke this Lying Spirit which possesses this Poor Creature How like a furious Incendiary in his boundless Outrage does he Defame and most unjustly Asperse the Innocent Are not the Bibles we frequently use in our Houses and Families the same used by other Protestants and allow'd by Authority Pray let this be observ'd and further inquired into that the notorious Lyes of this Adversary may more manifestly appear to the World to his own and his Abettors shame and disgrace And as I have often urg'd plain Proof from him that the Quakers call the Scriptures Beastly Ware but never yet could obtain it So I now demand Proof that they say The Scripture is a rotten Foundation as before Ded. p. 11. For Proof of this Lye he has quoted a little Pamphlet or Book which he has rak'd up and Reprinted Entitled Ishmael and his Mother cast out first printed in 1655. Upon the Margent on the 14th page he repeats the same gross Lye again thus viz. The Holy Scriptures they say are a rotten Foundation This is their ancient Testimony from which they have not varied This is F. B's Annotation against the People called Quakers but where is his Proof still 'T is upon these words viz. With the Light thou art seen to be a Wrester of the Scriptures and thy rotten Foundation being ready to fall thee c. Here is no such word as the Quakers saying The Holy Scriptures are a rotten Foundation but the contrary viz. Against that Adversary for Wresting the Scripture and that he was judged thereby And that the Scriptures of Truth proceeded from the Life and Power of God were spoken by holy Men as mov'd thereby as also a true Declaration of God the Words of God who with his dear Son Christ Jesus and Holy Spirit and the Baptism thereof are also confess'd in the said Book quoted but falsly noted on the Margent as before quite contrary to these Confessions unto the Truth and Divine Authority of the Holy Scriptures They that writ the said Book Ishmael c. did judge that pretended Pastor S. Townsend their then Adversary neither to be built upon Christ nor upon the holy Scriptures and that therefore neither of them was his Foundation but a Spirit of Enmity when he enviously writ and aspers'd those of us that were then Prisoners for Conscience sake in Norwich Goal which was in the year 1654. being 45 Years ago He then more like a busie Incendiary than a Minister of Christ with his envious defaming Pamphlet did Persecute us by Reproaches to add Affliction to our Bonds which
solemn Testimony how expresly contrary it is to his present Treatment of us the said People as it is in his Book stiled The Quakers Detected c. printed 1686. about Two Years after his leaving our Communion and Conforming to the Church of England as 't is in his own words following viz. The first Point under Consideration is how I came to be a Member of their Society c. i.e. of the Quakers In the beginning they taught That all Men were enlightned according to John 1. 9. and that this Light wherewith Christ had enlightned them was sufficient if obeyed to lead to Salvation and that it was the Work of the Ministers of Christ to turn the Peoples Minds from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan to God Affirming That this Light was a sufficient Teacher Leader and Guide to every Believer without the help of outward Prescriptions Forms Orders and Decrees of Men Upon these and the like Notions I became perswaded to make Trial of their Doctrine and when I came to see and observe their Practice Conversations and Deportments in the Beginning and what Simplicity and Plainness attended their Ministry I was still more Confirmed that it was a Dispensation of the Love of God sent as a Visitation to Mankind And being thus perswaded I was resolved to bear the Cross and did utterly despise the Shame that attended them and their Message and was not behind any of my Equals both in doing and suffering for the Testimony thereof as some amongst them can still bear me Witness And in this manner we went on for many Years and loved one another with Love unfeigned and doubtless God blessed our Meetings with the Comfortable Enjoyment of his Presence p. 3. From which solemn Confession thus made by Fra. Bugg after he forsook our Communion and went to the Publick as he saith it follows naturally that he did not forsake us because of our Christian Principle or Profession of the Light or because of our Doctrine Conversation Communion or Meetings or any Dislike had thereof but because he deem'd us guilty of Apostacy from our first Principle and Profession and that by his own Confession he did not thereby make his Progress from Egypt into Canaan appears by his applying to himself the words of Joseph when in Egypt viz. But I can say as Joseph did to his Brethren Gen. 50. 20. But as for you ye thought Evil against me but God meant it unto Good And Chap. 45. 5. Now therefore be not griev'd nor angry with your selves that you sold me hither Quakers detected p. 8. How came F. B. to apply these words to his State when turn'd from us to the Publick if he did not think himself then in Egypt or turn'd from the true Light into Darkness But we sold him not thither he fled in Winter when he had let in Unbelief and Fearfulness because of Suffering and Persecution which he had felt something of but fell into Impatiency and Quarreling under it and having lost Sincerity and Truth turn'd Envious Temporizer And because he has so frequently and falsly charg'd the said People with denying Jesus of Nazareth and Contempt of holy Scripture I may acquaint you with One or Two Passages more which concern himself as recited in my Answer to his New Rome Arraigned entitled Innocency Triumphant over Insolency and Outrage printed 1693. p. 25 26. as followeth viz. And to his saying The Names Jesus and Christ are given to the Mediator c. True but what follow Therefore quoth F. B. 't is no Absurdity to say It was not Jesus Christ for whom the Body was prepared it was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh but the Word John 1. 1. Apol. Introd p. 3. And yet he has confessed it was the Son of God that took the Body p. 4. What Confusion and Self-contradiction does the Man blindly run into And how contrary to the Apostle John's Testimony is his Doctrine herein See 1 John 4. 2 3. Every Spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is of God and every Spirit which confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the Flesh is not of God but this is the Spirit of Anti-Christ What Spirit is this in our Adversary which saith It was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh Who was it then It was the Word the Son of God As if Jesus Christ were neither the Word nor the Son of God O horrible Anti-Christianism And contrary also to that Martyr Dr. Barnes his Confession as cited by F. Bugg himself p. 4. 5. viz. I believe that without Man's Will or Power Christ Jesus was conceived by the Holy Ghost and took Flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary Acts and Mon. p. 610. Now If Jesus Christ took Flesh of the blessed Virgin Mary then it was Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh But it was Jesus Christ that took Flesh Therefore 't was Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh. Consequently F. Bugg's Doctrine That it was not Jesus Christ that came in the Flesh is Anti-Christian Anti-Apostolical and Contradictory to the said Martyr's Doctrine In his Book stiled De Christianâ Libertate Part 2. Chap. 1. he confesseth in the Name and Person of the People called Quakers That we told them i. e. the said People that the Scriptures were good and a true Declaration of those things which were most surely believ'd by the Apostles and by us ought to be believ'd yet not the only Rule but still the Spirit of God which was the first Principle c. And many more Confessions he has given to the Truth of our Principles both with respect to Jesus Christ his Light and the holy Scriptures Now I recommend you to the faithful Witness of Truth in all your Hearts which will Judge Righteously and desire you seriously to peruse the following Treatise and hear us in our Answers and Defence as well as our Adversary in his Accusations remembering that common Maxim To Condemn no Man before he be heard By a Servant of Jesus Christ and real Friend to your Immortal Souls G. Whitehead London the 30th of the 4th Month 1699. The CONTENTS of this Treatise PART I. OF Francis Bugg's Fictitious Profane Sermon in G. Whitehead's Name From Page 1 to p. 16. Of our Yearly Meeting p. 1 2. Of the Scriptures p. 2 3. Of one only God the Father Son and Holy Spirit and the Holy Scriptures p. 3 4. Of Confession of Sin and Prayer to God p. 5 6. Of the Ten Commandments and Moral Law p. 7 8. Of his gross Fiction against the Holy Scripture and the Light within p. 9. Of his resembling the Mockers Psalm 35. 21. and 40. 15. p. 9. His Forgery against William Bingley and Ben. Bealing's Certificate p. 10 11. His repeated Forgery about G. Fox touching the Branch the Star c. p. 12 13. Of his Counterfeit Court and Condemnation p. 13. His Forgery and Frofaneness about our Light and Exaltation p. 14.
O Abominable Abuse And I positively deny that we so translate the Words of Christ John 5. 22. as F. B. saith as if we believed no Son of Man without us but only the Light within us which is as falsly Charg'd as the rest though the Son of Man which is Christ the Son of the Living God be the true Light yea the Light of the World the Sower of the good Seed of Life and Light in the World Forgery Notwithstanding we call the Scriptures Death Dust Beastly Ware c. Obs. Note Upon this often-repeated Falshood is grounded much of his idle and wicked Romance which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon Oh F. B. repeat this Lye no more Forgery Now my Friends though this Confession be as contrary to our ancient Testimony as Light is contrary to Darkness as by our Books quoted you may see And what Confession that is he relates just before viz. I believe with my Heart and confess with my Mouth the sacred Scriptures to be Divine left us by Men inspired of God c. And I profess to believe in one only God who is the Father and in Jesus Christ his Eternal Son very God and very Man and in the Holy Spirit one and the same God with the Father and Son blessed for evermore Observe How he most falsly and ridiculously feigns me to Preach this Connfession to be as contrary to our ancient Testimony as Light is contrary to Darkness and consequently to make me Preach us all guilty of gross Dissimulation and Blasphemy What horrid absurd Folly is this Agent guilty of Forgery And therefore I exhort you this day to stand Faithful to your ancient Testimony which is to throw down the Scriptures and exalt our own Books and so will the Work of your Light prosper in your hands p. 113. Observe Thus he represents me to Preach expresly contrary to my known Principle and Testimony for the preferring and exalting the holy Scriptures above all other Books extant in the World So far am I from Preaching to throw down the Scriptures and from Fathering any such Doctrine upon our Light as I am wickedly misrepresented in contempt against the Light also contrary to this Man 's former serious Testimonies for the Light And the Preference I have ascribed to the Spirit of Truth and its Immediate Teaching either in or through its Ministers to the Scriptures or Chapters was not any Preferring of our own Books thereto as I am often misrepresented But allowing the Spirit its due Preference to the Scripture Letter or Chapters For the Spirit was before Scripture and I never heard any assert the Division of Chapters and Verses to be of Divine Authority though the holy Doctrine contain'd in Scripture be This Point is more fully explain'd in my late Just Examination of the three Norfolk Priests entituled Truth and Innocency vindicated c. p. 16 17 19 to 23. p. 57 58. Forgery My tender Lambs You see first that we are the true Church of Christ next that you are to believe as the Church believes and there lies G. Fox ' s Journal on the Table c. For as our Brother Mead has express'd himself It is the best Book in the World for our keeping up our ancient Testimony yea better than the Bible said he And now to conclude this Head look into the Book of Canons which lies before you on the Table p. 114. Observe Thus to ridicule me he forges such Stuff in my Name which I never owned preached or asserted neither did I ever hear W. Mead so express himself as That G. Fox ' s Journal is the best Book in the World yea better than the Bible but expresly the contrary and denies that ever he said so but gives the Bible the Preference to all other Books Forgery Friends I am now come to the last thing propos'd to speak to on this solemn Occasion and it shall be by way of Use and Application for your Comfort and Consolation c. First respecting Confession of Sin shewing your Exaltation above the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Primitive Christians Saints and Martyrs and all the Christian Churches to this day p. 114. And p. 115. You being the True Ancient Apostolick Church of Christ and as Quakers elected thereto c. have no need to make any Confession of Sin in our Prayers to God as our Practice for near Fifty Years does confirm c. Our Adversaries cannot prove from any one of our Books wrote by my Self G. Fox E. B F. H Father Penn S. Fisher c. that ever we made Confession of Sins and asked pardon for Christ's sake nor that ever we recommended such a Practice to our Disciples c. Now Friends what Cause have we to rejoyce and to magnifie our Light within which hath led us to such a State of sinless Perfection Obs. Thus F. Bugg represents me preaching such Stuff as I never preached in my Life nor ever own'd any such Flattery or Deceit as to exalt any Auditory above the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles c. or to disswade any from making Confession of Sin or asking Pardon for Christ's sake who have need of both or who have not received forgiveness of Sins And my known publick Practice both in Ministry and Prayer often times testifie the contrary To the True Witness in all who know me and my publick Exercise and Travel for the good of Souls I do Appeal to clear me in this Matter against this Man's absurd and abominable Forgeries which he terms George Whitehead's Sermon And he goes on still with his Forgery as my Sermon viz. Forgery Now Friends what a happy thing is this that you need not trouble your selves with any Confession of Sins since you are not like other Men nor like these Publicans And therefore I exhort you to keep to your ancient Testimony in all the parts of it make no Confession of Sins nor be sure you do not recommend the Practice of it by Word or Writing but keep to our ancient Practice Nor is there any need for our Hearers to follow those Christian Precepts viz. And whatsoever you do in Word or Deed do all in the Name of the Lord Jesus giving Thanks to God the Father by him Col. 3. 17. Whether ye Eat or Drink or whatever ye do do all to the Glory of God 1 Cor 10. 31. Matth 15. 36. Observe Where did ever F. Bugg or any other hear me or any of us Preach such a Sermon as this to exhort the Hearers to make no Confession of Sin or ever tell them there is no need for them to follow those Christian Precepts cited as before out of Col. 3. 17. 1 Cor. 10. 31 Oh poor Francis What will become of thee What will be the End of this thy Liberty and Profaness How wilt thou Answer the great God in the Day of Judgment for such presumptuous Forgery and Profanation of the Sacred Name of God and Abuse of me his Servant who have been many times
the Bible not to be first given forth from one and the same Spirit of Truth from which we have given forth Writings and Religious Books which contain many Doctrines in the Bible and by referring thereto they prefer the Bible and the Divine Authority of the holy Scriptures contain'd therein And we still prefer the Bible before all other Books extant in the World For even the statute-Statute-Book is of greater Authority than all the Abstracts made of it how true so ever And whereas he takes Occasion against me about an Answer given to a Priest's Question viz. Is the Moral Law or Ten Commandments a Rule to the Christians Life The Answer is Thou mightest as well ask If the Moral Law be a Rule to Christ For the Christians Life and Rule is Christ to which F. B. adds Meaning their Light within And suppose I meant so as I did mean That Christ was and is the Christians Light and Life Col. 3. 3 4. 't is not Christians Lives and Conversations in the Question but Christian's Life in the Singular to which the Answer was adapted that the Christian's Life is Christ when Christ who is our Life shall appear Col. 3. 4. Can we suppose this Life or Light to be under the Law which was added because of Transgression till the Seed came or under those Prohibitions in the Ten Words or Commandments Or is it meet or proper to apply them thereunto and say to Christ or his Light in Christians Thou shalt not take the Name of the Lord thy God in vain Thou shalt not bear false Witness c. Or is it good Doctrine to suppose True Christians in Christ to be literally under the Law of those Prohibitions and thereby only restrained from Idolatry from taking the Name of God in vain from Killing from committing Adultery from Stealing and bearing false Witness against their Neighbours Or are they not rather redeem'd by Christ from that Depravity and corrupt Inclination from whence those Evils proceed and consequently under a higher Restraint from those gross Inormities prohibited even by his Light and Grace dwelling in their Hearts than only the Letter of the Law as outwardly written The Substance whereof God first writ in Man's Heart and after writ it in the Two Tables Exod. 31. 18. Deut. 9. 10. Exod. 34. 1. before Moses writ the Law And Christ the true Light and Lawgiver writes his Laws of the New Covenant in Men's Hearts and he it is who came not to destroy the Law but fulfils the Righteousness of the Law in them that walk not after the Flesh but after the Spirit Rom. 8. Christ being also the End of the Law for Righteousness not for Transgression to them that believe This Point is spoken to before though here farther Explain'd And further F. B. bitterly inveighs against our Silent Meetings which in Derision he calls Silent Universities tending only to empty the Mind of all true and solid Notions of the Christian Religion and only to prepare them to the wild Notions of Quakerism and this he affirms from an Experimental Knowledge he saith p. 7. and calls them Schools of Ignorance and that they had strange Effects upon us and how we thereby became not only levened into a Temper to throw off all Instituted Religion but to a degree higher even to throw Contempt both upon the Scriptures Ordinances and Ministers and all things Sacred p. 8. And by their Silent Meetings weaned and drawn off from the Principles and Practices of the Christian Churches in all Ages p. 10. Answer Whither art thou now run F. B Thy own Confessions condemns thee and shall rise up in Judgment against these Envious Evil Reports of thine against those Meetings of our's for which thou hast confessed even since thou left them That God blessed our Meetings with the comfortable Enjoyment of his Presence Which could not tend to any such ill Effects as before rehearsed as either To Empty our Minds of the Knowledge of the Christians Religion or To make our said Meetings Schools of Ignorance or To Throw Contempt upon the Scriptures or To draw us off from the Principles and Practices of true Christian Churches How hast thou herein blasphemed against the true Light against the comfortable Presence of God wherewith he blessed our Meetings And how hast thou Given thy self the Lye and bely'd thy own Conscience in thus contradicting thy own solid Confessions made to our Doctrine of the true Light Ministry Dispensation of God's Love our Sufferings Love unfeigned blessed Meetings c. As also that We told People That the Scriptures were Good and a true Declaration of those things which were most surely believed by the Apostles and by us ought to be believed yet not the only Rule but still the Spirit of God which was the first Principle c. As more largely thou hast confessed in thy Book De Christianâ Libertate Or Liberty of Conscience upon its true and proper Grounds asserted and vindicated printed 1682. Part 2. Chap. 1. And thy Offence against Light Conviction and Conscience and thy Self-contradiction and Condemnation may farther also appear 1st From thy own Account and Consideration How thou camest to be a Member of our Society The Reasons thereof thou hast given in thy Quakers Detected printed 1686. two Years after thou left us and Conformed wherein thou hast given solemn Confession to the Truth of our Principle the Light and the Sufficiency thereof our Ministry Conversation Love Society blessed Meetings c. 2. And then placing the Cause of thy being Weary of our Society and turning to the Church of England upon the Quakers Apostacy as thou judgedst i. e. from our first Principles of Union see thy Quakers Detected p. 3 4. 3. Now to go round again Thy Great Work is to Expose our ancient first Principles and Testimony to as much Derision and Contempt as thy loose Invention can Produce Witness thy idle Romance and false Fiction which thou falsly termest George Whitehead's Sermon detected but especially thy profane Contempt against our Testimony of the Light within or in Man which now instead of owning it to be that True Light testified of in John 1. 9. wherewith Christ hath Enlightened Men the Treatment and Characters this Light meets withal from thee is That 't was a Parodox not Orthodox but absolutely Heterodox to exhort to the Light within to obey the Light within and to follow the Teachings thereof as a Guide sufficient to lead us to Salvation c. Pilgrim's Progress p. 5. opposing their i. e. the Quakers Light within to the Christians Life which is Christ p. 6. to the Man Christ as if Christ being Man without us hindered him from being our Light as he is the Word in us which were Ignorantly to suppose him divided And F. Bugg perverting Josiah Cole's words on John 5. 22. All Judgment is committed unto the Son i. e. the Light J. C's Works p. 93. This say'st thou Is a bold Attempt this is most Horrible
c. X. I charge you all in the Presence of the Lord God That you Judge not one another i. e. Those that be in the Unity of the Ministry and Elders in the Church lest you fall into the Condemnation of the Monthly Quarterly Six-Week Second-Day or Yearly Meeting Amen Thus F. B's invented Method of forming Commands how Idle and Impertinent does the Man appear herein And how does he Profane and take the sacred Name of the Lord God in vain For which God will not hold him guiltless And when F. B. will not demean himself quietly towards any of our Friends but be Challenging of them in the Countries or else-where and will be Charging them out of Books they may Charge him First To prove his Trial and Condemnation of our Friends to Perjury and Pillory as in his New Rome Arraigned to be a Real and True Trial and Condemnation Judicial and Warrantable by the Law of God and of the Nation Secondly To prove his Sermon which he calls George Whitehead's Sermon in his Pilgrim's Progress from p. 107 to p. 126. to be a Real Sermon preached by G. W. Thirdly To prove where G. Fox or the Quakers did ever endeavour to make the Commands of God Exod. 20. of none Effect by those or such positive Commands as he has impudently form'd in opposition thereto in his Pilgrim's Progress p. 16 17 18 Now if F. B. will not learn to be quiet towards our Friends c. that he might the more quietly go to his Grave now he grows Old they may very well Charge him on these Three Forgeries last propos'd as many more I could charge him withal and have proved against him upon his own Calumnies and Occasions so manifestly given by himself and let him be held to the point in Charge or any other who dare undertake to Advocate for him therein which I could never yet find if he and they are not minded otherwise to study to be quiet And now that F. B's Falshood Envy and Contradiction may yet farther appear to his own Condemnation seeing he hath given plain Testimony and Confession to the Truth of our Doctrine and Ministry First With respect to the Universality and Sufficiency of the Light of Christ in all Men. Secondly To our Ministry that it was a Dispensation of the Love of God sent as a Visitation to Mankind Thirdly To our bearing the Cross and suffering for the Testimony thereof Fourthly To our Love unfeigned one to another Fifthly To our Religious Meetings as being blessed with the Comfortable Enjoyment of the Presence of God According as the said F. Bugg is more fully before recited out of his Book stiled The Quakers Detected printed 1686. being Two Years after he had left our Communion and joyned himself to the Church of England in 1684. So that his Conviction and Testimony for the Truth among the Quakers even when he had deserted them pursued him into the Church of England But now being grown more hardy and so far hardned against Conviction and Conscience he can out-face both and give himself the Lye in his fore-cited Solemn Testimony and Confession as appears in his envious Contradiction following in his own words viz. Having by this time shewed first how our Teachers in order to bring us over to them and to decoy us told us The Light within was a sufficient Guide Teacher and Leader even sufficient to lead to Salvation yea above Scriptures above Fathers above Councils and above Churches I have in the last Instance shewed the Fallacy of their so early and smooth Pretences and that from the beginning they have been a false perfidious and treacherous Tribe of Deceivers as ever the World produced Pilgrim's Progress p. 15. To such a degree of Hardness and Insolency is this poor Creature now arriv'd that he can now thus scribble in Opposition to the Sufficiency of the Light within and Contempt of the Ministers thereof expresly contradictory to his own Testimony for the Light wherewith Christ hath enlightned Men and to the Sufficiency thereof if obey'd to lead to Salvation without the help of Decrees of Men And to his own Testimony also for the Simplicity and Plainness which attended our Ministry which did not import any Design to decoy or deceive Men nor any Falshood Perfidiousness or Treachery as F. B. has falsly and treacherously Scandalized Us and our Ministry and thereby notoriously given himself the Lye and shamefully Belyed his own Conscience and solemn Confession and Testimony in his Quakers Detected aforesaid And the Light now so much slighted by him will pursue him as it did Judas and other Apostates to his great Vexation and perpetual Torment if he persists in his Enmity Perfidiousness and Treachery against the Light and the Children of it Oh F. B If I may yet perswade thee Repeat thy Lyes and Scandals no more His Accusation against W. Mead That he said to one W. Harris I will give thee one of George Fox 's Journals it is a very good Book yea better than the Bible Which Accusation he has many times over p. 22 23 24 25 29. but various in it viz. That 't is better than the Scriptures of the Prophets and Apostles p. 23. This Accusation W. Mead positively denies as contrary to his Principle which is to prefer the holy Scriptures before all other Books in the World For I asked him seriously about this matter And I am sure it is a base and shameful Abuse of F. Bugg that It is the Heart of Quakerism in saying G. Fox 's Journal is better than the Bible p. 23. This I must tell him is a foul notorious Lye and Calumny against the Quakers so called 'T is neither the Quakers Mind Heart nor Mouth so to speak but the contrary i. e. To prefer the Bible to all other Books extant in the World as hath been often testified Wherefore F. B. repeat this Lye no more against us Again as 't is F. Bugg's common Course to add one Calumny after another and to accumulate Lyes and Perversions upon us he falsly saith The Quakers stand upon the same bottom i. e with the Jesuites and therefore they ought to distrust them in all they say as the Protestants did the Jesuites We do not expect he will trust us who has belyed his own Conscience Conviction and Testimony as before evinced And to add to his Iniquity and aggravate his Calumnies against me he saith Many of their Hearers of the honest sort begin to think G. Whitehead little better than a Jesuite already he hath been so False in Fact such a Glosser and Defender of every Error the Quakers hold I have quoth he a Letter by me which my Cousin Ann Docwra sent me dated 26. 12th Month 1682. viz. G. Whitehead has sent me one of his Books c. I was asked by an honest Friend If he was not a Jesuite I answered Nay it is not solid enough for them to own especially when they write to a solid People