there is no Name given under Heaven by which men can be saved but the Name of Jesus There is no Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 If it be asked Why I am sometimes Comical and Reflect so severely on some of their Leaders I answer Quacks and Jugglers and foolish Pretenders to any thing are not to be treated as wise and sober men Answer says the Wisest of Men a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.25 Says the serious Worshipper at Mount Carmel that approached the Altar of God with all imaginable Reverence and not as a Stage player when he saw the Priests of Baal seemingly most devout cut themselves and leap upon the Altar Cry aloud 1 Kings 18.27 either he is talking or in a journey or sleepeth and must be awaked A goodly God! For my severe Reflections on some Men I lived nigh them knew them well they were some of the great Advocates for their Cause talk'd of all England over for their Zeal among the Quakers who spared not the most Learned Religious Ministers and People in the world for want of self-denial which little appeared in the Accusers for leaving the Places of their open Meetings the Ministers were Hirelings 10. John 12 13. who did flee when the wolf came that cared not for the sheep and that because the sheep were not their own As if to flee from a Place were to flee from an Office And after they had call'd them and the People Hypocrites Children of the Devil Haters of Christ Lovers of the World that should be damned for ever for this their great open Sin and Wickedness they did the same thing themselves when their Fund failed Either what I have Charged them with is True or False if it be False let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to Record it is and can justifie the Charge before God and Man I do say it on mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind That Pen and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates Know Reader I have made no use of Books nor Men to help me in this Work tho it is said by some it were impossible I could thus describe them without help from some Man that had been a Quaker I have not troubled you with some stories of Quakers upon common fame though I doubt not the truth of them yet cannot prove them if required as that one Friend came to another and said The Lord hath sent me to thee to tell thee thou must lend me Twenty pound It was a lying Spirit sent thee said the other for the Lord knows I am not worth half the Money Neither have I troubled you with their denying such a sense of Scripture when writing against us and asserting the same sense to serve their own turn and all from one and the same Infallible Spirit Penn is a notorious instance who in a Book call'd Judas and the Jews said on those words Tell the Church 18. Matt. 17. That the Church was to judge of matters of wrong between Man and Man but not of Faith or Conscience yet in another Book to all Protestants asserts The Church had Power about matters of Faith and Conscience when he pleaded for the Church-Quakers Nor much of what I have read of some of them many y s since I remember in the time of a long continued Drought about Twenty year since when many fear'd and talk'd of a Famine out comes Fox and tells us What reason we had to expect a Famine That before the Plague he saâ— the Angel of the Lord with a drawn Sword over the Court. See the Cheat. Rain soon pour'd down You false Prophets tell us your Prophecies before not after their accomplishment I must recommend to you the aforementioned Book The Snake in the Grass If you are Dissenters pardon some warm passages proceeding from intemperate Zeal for Bishops and Liturgies In the Book may you be informed of The Authority of the Church-Quakers for so Penn's Faction are call'd who often Assemble at London and assume to themselves power over the Light within especially in the Separate Quakers for so are the Followers of George Keith call'd a Scholar once Master of Arts who owns Faith in an outward Christ crucified him that died at Jerusalem The Resurrection of the Body Defects to be bewail'd The insufficiency of the Light within without Scripture and speaks favourably of Baptism and the Supper All this George Keith hath printed and told me He proves George Fox their Great Apostle to be a Blasphemer and impostor That he said before some Governors That he said he was equal with God and Judge of the world He receiv'd the Title and Worship of Christ from many who lay prostrate before him he smoothing them on the face and blessing them So did Sabbata Sevi his deluded Followers and Nathan the Prophet in the Year 1666. till he turned Turk to save his Neck Penn pleads for this Fox attributes his abuse of many Terms to his Ignorance What! and yet inspired and sent of God! That he call'd on the Army to fight against Rome and the Turks That Balaam must be slain and all the Hirelings turn'd out of the Kingdom He bad them pull down Mass-houses and Colleges Give the Priests Blood to drink for they are worthy said Burroughs The Blasphemy of many of their Leaders who said they were as holy as God not only in quality but equality and that the preternatural distortions of their Bodies and their Quakings at first were of the Devil Though the Numen that then inspired them hath now left them Though Solomon Eccles a Quaker before the Fire of London went up and down with a Pan of burning Coals yet he was proved to be a false Prophet in other things That the Quakers moved not their Goods believing it was a Delusion and knowing that almost every Week one Quaker or another would go up and down the Streets in London and cry Thus saith the Lord Fire Pestilence Sword c. And if Solomon Eccles prophecied of the Burning of the City all know so did Oliver's Porter That Muggleton hath his Prophecies too to be printed How soon Josiah Coal died after he testified against him That Muggleton a Taylor and Fox a Shoemaker set up for Inspired Persons together Though Fox at first condemned all outward teaching by Man till he had gotten men from the Ministry then he set up Preaching but Muggleton doth not but keeps to the old Principle He saith The Father to whom Christ pray'd was Elijah who governed in Heaven when Christ was on Earth because in his absence there was no God there And such Blasphemous stuff They pretended to the Spirit of discerning Persons and Things and could tell what Men were on the sight of them They now Damn one another the Muggletonians and Quakers call one another Sorcerers Serpents and say
WILLIAM PENN And the QUAKERS EITHER Impostors or Apostates Which they please Proved from their avowed Principles and contrary Practices Inest sua gratia parvis 2 Tim. 3.8 9. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men as theirs also was By Trepidantium Malleus LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1696. TO THE Humoursom READERS My Brethren IN this quarrelsome Age wherein little that is written can please all or most I must expect to fall under the Censure of not a few Perhaps in an angry fit you will be ready to Object Is there not enough and more then enough in this scribling Age written against this People already I Answer There is too much and yet too little Many trouble the world with long vagaries about things less material or their more weighty things are not express'd in so few words nor their arguments managed with that conciseness as could be wish'd He is the best Soldier who attacking an Enemy runs on him and stabs him to the heart whether I have so stab'd Quakerism to the heart if you will be sober be you judges or the Quakere either who have any intervals from their Deliriums Two things are often enquired about Books How large they be And what they cost If they be too large or cost too much Men either neglect them or read them with a running eye but if short and of little cost not only their Money but that which is more precious to Studious men their time is well saved Here is a little Book and of small price and things not written of by others Some may ask What should induce you to this work A. I have sought for William Penn many years and coming as a stranger to London have here found him and I think the Queries sent to him are unexceptionable and unanswerable and I have more reasons than one to think William Penn is of the same Opinion for this I appeal from his mouth to his conscience if he hath any he may say as Ahab to the Prophet Hast thou found me O mine enemy 1 Kings 21.20 It may be you will say You are too hot A. Perhaps you are too cold read the after-account of the Man before you are so waspish and quick If you say I like not this Dispute then let it alone and leave it to them that do If the Bookseller have been deceived by me it is pity you should be so by him Look well to your Pockets and be sure you throw not away your Money for nothing especially when good Money is as scarce as good Subjects Many Writers get others to recommend their Books to the world but I care not to trouble any such for they overvalue their Freinds and so their Writings I will therefore do it my self In short I tell you I am a quick writer of sudden flights Yet if you will have my opinion I think it is not jejunely done nor to be reckoned among the meanest Books against this People However I have pleased my self and that is something and many an honest man too I doubt not and that is more But if I please not you I care not and so till you and I be in a better humour Farewell QUESTIONS SENT TO William Penn. Question 1. WHether He or any of them will or dare stand forth and say I desire no Pardon from a Holy God for any Imperfection in Thought in Word or in Action in the close of a Day of a Week of a Month of a Year since his or their imaginary perfect sinless State I intreat them into whose hands this Book shall fall to take notice That I kept no Copy of my Queries to him not intending them for open view much less for the Press I dare not therefore pretend strict exactness to words but sense and for this I dare challenge him to deny it Now if they are as Perfect as Adam was before he Fell as some have said I say he then needed no Pardon if they be as Holy as some have blasphemously said as God himself I say God need not Pardon himself Perfection in Scripture is sometimes put in opposition to Hypocrisy So all the Saints are Perfect God so loveth Holiness that he calls the least degrees of Holiness by this honourable name Perfection to encourage men in the thoughts of their present acceptance with him and to let them know the unshaken foundation is now laid So Noah Abraham Job and others are said to be Perfect that is no Hypocrites but Sincere ones Yet they were guilty of great and visible Sins and made Confessions of them to God in this their perfect State The instance of Asa is most pregnant it is said of him That he put the Prophet in Prison who Prophecied to him in the Name of the Lord that he was wroth with him very great sins sure and of a deep die and one would think inconsistent with true Grace When he was pained in his Feet he sought not to the Lord but to the Physician one would think he could be no Good Man yes says the Holy Ghost He was no formal Hypocritical Man he was good in the bottom and how is this express'd 1 Kings 15.14 Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord his God all his days What is that Without Sin Then the sense is this Asa committed very great sins nevertheless he sinned not all his days Sometimes perfection is put in opposition to imperfection This distinction is clear in the words of Paul 3 Phillip 13 14. Not as if I had attain'd or were already perfect I press on as many as are perfect be thus minded In the first place he speaks of Perfection in opposition to Imperfection I have not attained it says he if he had not by the way we have mad men running up and down among us that say they have but without the breach of Charity I dare be bold to assert the Perfection they have attained to is a perfection of Stupidity and Obduration but saith Paul I press forward I have perfection in my Eye tho not in my Heart as many as be perfect that is sincere upright be thus minded For they that in the former sense are perfect cannot be said not to have attained it or to press after it Job says of himself of whom God gave this testimony There was none like him in all the earth a perfect man that is a sanctified man 1 Job 1. If I should say I were perfect that would prove me perverse say it no he detests it in the next words I perfect for those words are only found in the Original I would not know my own soul 9 Job 20 21. Who can say his heart is clean says Solomon Yes A Pharisee a
Papist and a Quaker The Doctrine of Perfection or a Sinless State began among the Pharisees who thought mental sins nothing therefore Christ reproves them convinceth them that a Wrathful thought is Murther an Unchast thought Adultery a Covetous thought Theft for these are contrary to the Divine Law and stain the Heart of Man The greatest wickedness that ever was acted by the most Profligate man in the world was at first but a Thought and his greatest sin virtually therein The greatest Oak was once no bigger than an Acorn the Fire that Burnt London but a Spark I trouble not the Reader with the usual distinctions among the Learned of a Perfection of Parts and a Perfection of Degrees Not that I think them unuseful but not so intelligible to all Capacities He sinneth in his highest acts of Love to God that cannot say I love God so well it is not my duty to love him more neither have I reason to bewail the want of it So I might enlarge about Time Prayer c. Now as this Doctrine began among the Hypocritical Hereticks in the Church of the Jews so it was taken up by such in the Church of Rome and carried on by such in the Protestant Church I affirm and am able to prove it The Quakers borrowed their Expositions and Arguments out of Popish Authors Let any man compare Kellison the Jesuit his Survey of the New Religion and Barclay's Apologia pro Theologia vere Christiana together and speak his mind in this point I could never get any of our Perfectionists for so I often call them as detesting them for this worst of Doctrines to Answer this first Question They desire no Pardon of God for any Imperfection in the end of a Day For fear I think God should take them at their word few of them now pretend to it or talk so much of it for fear it may be they should be laught at so many living and conversing with them see so much pride passion unfair dealing neglect of all Family and secret Duties I remember one of Bristol a Scholar who tells us in Print his outward name was Lawrence Steel a Novice lifted up with Pride and so fell info the Condemnation of the Devil he once said to the Reverend Mr. Fairclough of that City Not that I am Perfect would I were yet going on in Disputing or rather Prating he urged that much mistaken and abused place He that committeth sin is of the devil then you are so said Mr. Fairclough to him on your own confession according to the wrong gloss you give of the words Instead of an argument for an answer he fell into an angry fit and so into angry words Question 2. Whether George Bishop of the City of Bristol a Scholar writing a Book call'd A Looking-Glass for the Times was not a most deceitful Writer though then their grand Champion He saith in the Title page That the quakers were most like to the ancient Christians as was proved in the Book out of Eusebius Socrates Scholastieus Evagrius and Dorotheus Yet in the Folio is so far from such a proof that he doth not attempt it But to do him right he gives a true account out of those Authors but such a description of Ordination by Laying on of Hands Singing of Psalms Swearing against the Arians and all other things that prove them to be altogether unlike the Quakers and like us It is true by the ble in a few leaves he speaks of Jerom and it may be some others who were against taking of Oaths which if true is not material for I knew one worthy Minister against it and some private Christians and would to God this were all the Controversie between us and our Perfectionists The Book cur'd me of the temptation which I confess induc'd me to read it Tell me Was there ever such a cheat since Writing or Printing were known in the world Did he think we would look no further than the Title Page and take his word for all the rest One of these Books for this rare admirable Discovery was sent to every Doctor in the University in my time which was twenty seven year since for their Conviction and Edification If any say the Quakers were like them for Sufferings so were the Protestants much more in Queen Mary's days the Papist in Queen Elizabeth's days the Nonconformists in the Reign of King Charles the Second that Papist in Masquerade as he confessed on his Death-bed No he pretends likewise in Principles and Practice Since the Reading of his Book I could never think of the Author without great detestation as the greatest piece of Falshood and Impudence that ever appear'd in the world Yet our Perfectionists never testified against this man have call'd me a Persecutor for thus telling the truth I could name other Quakerish Writers of History but will not Question 3. Whether the Quakers in the time of the violent Proceedings against Dissenters begun about almost Fifteen years since and continued about Five years leaving the Places of their Publick Worship for fear of Confiscation of Goods Imprisonment or Banishment were not either Notorious Impostors or Notorious Apostates acting on our Principles after the severest Censure of them They have asserted in many many many of their printed Books Speakings and private Conference That it was unlawful for any to leave the Place of their Publick Worship for any Persecution whatever That they were moved by the Holy Spirit sent by the Ever-living God to testify to us in the Name of the Lord That we were Hypocrites Carnal Persons Lovers of the World more than of God for not appearing openly So Pen and others Though we declared we so far were from thinking such an open Appearance to as they phrase it bear our Testimony to be Duty that it was Folly Either say I when they themselves lest their Meetings which they generally did all England over where the then Rage was fiery and burning their Minds were changed about this thing or not If they were not they were Notorious Apostates to live in the sinful omission of open Duties so many years as many did going up and down about their business till not Conscience but King James's illegal deceitful Toleration brought them to those Places again They observ'd not their own Message from God to us And if we through ignorance must be damned they much more for acting against their Light and that after thousands of Protestations to God and man of the contrary If their Minds were changed as Richard Vicarr confessed privately to me he believed they were then were they Notorious Impostors to bring us a Message from the Devil in the Name of the Lord. Then have they blasphemed the Name of the Eternal God and belied the Holy Ghost Then have they defamed slandered the Generation of the Righteous and reprobated and damned them for an innocent lawful justifiable Action Know Reader that we ever asserted That it was lawful to flee in a
our selves more than him Thus he that pretends to exalt the Love of God hath debased it above all men I hope some learned Bishop or Clergy-man will soon take this conceited Man and cut him up and send him to the Tribes in Israel with a see consider and speak your minds who hath asserted that the Quakers Cause calls for their most Learned Pens and they may triumph in the Victory if they get it The Quakers ignorance discovers it self on all occasions G. Fox would call Preachers Conjurers But to do him right he was none as all know that read his Books or heard him talk George Whitehead that hath writ so much is a Notorious Dunce as proved before Mr. Speed Mr. Vickris of Bristol never speak among them who are Men of Parts and Sense I will imitate the Quakers way of speaking and judge what if you heard such stuff as this though sometimes better in their greater Meetings where contrary to their first Principles many of them forbid Womens speaking or the speaking of Nonsensical Fools that talk at this or the like rate Frunds I am moved by the to speak unto you though I know not what I shall say Noah was a Perfect Man yet some say Men cannot be Perfect or without Sin yet Noah was so and his Son Cham was Cursed for uncovering his Father's nakedness when drunk Judas was the Traytor and bore the Bag and cared not for the Poor It is said he that taketh Kirjah Sepher Now that is the Spirit of the Book Now look Fruâ—ds the Heart is the Book and the Spirit is the Light within It is said indeed I forbid a Woman to speak in the Church but the Priests are in the dark mind and understand it not by the Woman is meant the Flesh and by the Husband is meant the Devil but they in the Witchcraft cannot see it but I say look to the Light within you Frunds If you have motions to a Woman and do not do the act or desire to take another Man's goods and do not do it you Sin not Mary Fisher had leave from the Lord to go froâ— New-England to save her life when otherâ— had not Now they used carnal Weaponâ— Paul said These hands have ministred to â— necessities And whatsoever doth makâ— manifest is Light Now we abhor thâ— Papist Transubsistation and Infannibility and many things be taken figuratelâ— When I shoed a Horse the other day thâ— Horse went the better so you if you loâ—â— to the Light within you ah the pure Lighâ— The Priests use Heathenish words such aâ— be not in Scripture as Sacrament c. Thâ— word of the is come upon mâ— I am to read a Letter from Friend F. oâ— P. though we read not Scripture thâ— was of old yet we may what comes froâ— the pure streams One came to me 〈◊〉 know where John Steeplehouseman dwelâ— whom he prophanely call'd Mr. Churâ—â— man but I bid him defiance for Woâ—shipping the Beast They say if you 〈◊〉 Persecuted from one City flee to anothâ—â— But these Hell-hounds understand noâ— they be Baals Priests Hirelings a Geneâ—tion of Vipers for it is revealed unto 〈◊〉 Flee to another is to the City Heaveâ— O Frunds flee there flee there Frund There is none that doeth good they say 〈◊〉 not one but David said after O that the salvation of Israel were come out of Sion The Priests say this world shall in time end but they be in the dark and make Solomon a Lyar who sayeth yea he sayeth One generation passeth away and another cometh but the earth abideth for ever now mark Frunds what abides for ever shall never end but they be Sorcerers Wolves in Sheeps cloathing They say That when the outward fleshly Christ was Crucified the vale of the Temple was rent in twain and the Rocks rent and the Graves were opened But they be blind Guides that lead the blind and so both fall into the Ditch I am moved to tell you Frunds and now the two thumbs must be put against the Breasts that this is meant Mens Hearts were torn Hearts as hard as Rocks what think you Doth the Scripture tell you of outward Temples and outward Books Do not Fâ—unds strike any one after the manner of Men for Paul saith Lay hands suddenly on no man The world is angry if we Honour them not by putting off our upper Covering and say Thee to them but abide you in the Light c. They talk much of Paul's Epistles But what do they tell us of the Epistles of Apostatizing Jews And they talk of Abraham's Faith we must be better than they in their day They telâ— us what David and what the Apostles did 〈◊〉 but being led by Example hath undonâ— the world Now my Frunds the People of God of old were Quakers Moseâ— was a Quaker for he said I exceedingly quake and fear and Habakkuk was a Quaker for his lips quivered yea they were all Quakers for they taught Righteousness which is the very Principle of the Quakers yea I say so do the Quakers sayâ— Now the world saith That the Body of Christ is gone to Heaven but it turned to the dust They say the Scriptures be Gold's Word but they lie they be dirt Serpent's meat some Frunds threw their Bibles into the fire and they perished and therefore are not God's word Frunds It is often said and truly the Scriptureâ— and the Body of Christ be the Two great Harlots that have deceived the world many things in Scripture are evil in onâ— place Circumcision is commanded in another place forbidden c. That such and worse Speeches have been made in thousands of their Assemblies 〈◊〉 doubt not and I am ready to give an account of the things as their assertions that I have read in their Books or heard in hearing them or talking with them Because many are decoyed by the Quakers mode of Speaking as most agreeable to Scripture as Thou to a Single Person not you which word we use Thou not You to God I will consider it We are no more bound to Scripture modes of communication than to Scripture dresses and because many many weak ones are deceived by these specious pretences I will plead this case Bildad said to Job only 18. Job 1 2 3. How long will it be ere You make an end of words How long shall we appear vile in your sight for be teareth Why may I not say You to one as well as Thou to many When God delivered the Law on Mount Sinai Thou shalt not kill Spoke he not to Thousands We borrow this from the French Vouz for they have no other word to a single Person we took You from it We despise not the word Thee to a King as they often say in all cases he that Marrieth him to his Queen saith Wilt thou have this Woman He that gives him the Lords Supper saith The Body of Christ given for Thee preserve thy Body and Soul What if men agree such a word
what was inflicted by the Civil Magistrate on one another was just That Penn defended and engaged so to do Pensilvania by Soldiers and Arms against the Indians Commissions were given to Fight for the recovering of a Sloop taken from some Privateers that they Imprisoned some Quakers for Printing some Books without a License though but in their own defence That Burroughs said God could Arm Thousands of his Saints yea and Ten Thousands to Fight his Cause but for the present must not be so till Christ command them and this Christ is the Light within He asks this one plain Question of Friends Is not force of Arms necessary in England and all other Nations though condemned and that by the Spirit of God as Antichristian and Diabolical This Gentleman entertains you with a very pleasant Comedy how they play their Infallibilities Inspirations Prophecies one against another how they damn all the Christian world and yet assert the Salvation of Heathen How Fox and especially the Old Cheat George Bishop told Oliver How much they loved him and stood by him and what should be done to prevent the coming in of Charles Stuart And yet when he came in told him They acted not against him but mourned for him And talk much how they suffered as he did and what was their Loyalty till Billin a great Quaker Protested That if it cost him his life he would declare against any such pretences for said he we were not for the King but against him Howgil stole whole Paragraphs out of Mr. Selden of Tythes verbatim Yet this in others hath been highly condemned where not practised but injuriously charged He gives you an account of their horrid Blasphemies about Scripture as Serpents Meat dust about Christ and the Light within about Perfection Ordinances c. AND now I advise all Persons of Parts and Wisdom that look into the Controversie between us and the Quakers especially Gentlemen and Ministers to buy and peruse the aforenamed Book the best in my opinion that ever I saw I have given you some of the dainties there to invite you to a more plentiful eating What shame is it for Men to pretend as Preachers to convince Gainsayers and yet know not the most convincing Arguments to confute their Folly whom they know to be the worst of Hereticks and oppose them as such Or what a shame is it for Gentlemen who should be advocates for truth not to know what can be said against such Deceivers as these These are Hereticks indeed some of the worst when others cannot be so call'd though they are too often so but rather Erraticks and perhaps we are all such though some more than others As I have recommended the Snake in the Grass so I will Pennyman's Paper call'd The Quakers Contradictions according to the Times and their Interest Once a Quaker but left them for their Folly and Madness Some have said as he proves out of their Writers That their Writings are equal to the Scriptures and of as great Authority Some That the Scriptures are Carnal Dust Death Others have declared before the Lord That such words were never spoken by Friends which if not great impudence must be great ignorance For it may be Friends in one place know not what Friends in another place do say or Print I therefore commend Pennyman for sometimes repeating their words and no more He proves that they that have denied the Scripture to be the word of God have called their own Writings so Some have said That they are no Ministers but are under the curse that be not infallible and speak not immediately from God that cannot resolve all doubts and convince all Gainsayers What a cursed sort of Teachers then say I are most of the Quakers Teachers who are so far from this that they cannot speak tolerable sense nor pronounce right many common words They also have said That they that have not the Spirit of discerning and know not Mens state infallibly upon the sight of them cannot apply themselves to them accordingly not knowing whether they be holy or unholy But did they know all the Priests and Jesuits that came among them whom they almost adored Bedlo told my Brother how often Whitebread and he as well as other Papists had been at Quakers Meetings that Whitebread Executed was a Speaker Why discerned they not such Speakers that have been found to have lived in Drunkenness Whoredoms Must you know hearts too this is the work of Christ Judas was not smelt by the Disciples Some say they know Thousands of Friends that are free from Sin Once they all pretended to be so and that they that were not so were not of God but of the Devil Some say That Friends be all of one Mind and Soul Yet we know there are great divisions among them here at home and beyond Sea He tells you of a Quaker's stealing the Hour-glass out of a Church and that Fox said If a Friend be moved to such a thing by the Lord by the Eternal Spirit it is defended Now you Priests and Steeple-house Wardens look to the Silver Vessels used in the Sacrament for if a Friend should be moved to take them away by the Eternal Spirit it would be defended Some of the Separate Quakers have desired Liberty of Conscience in things not Evil as was once pleaded for but they cannot be heard Some have condemned asking any thing of outward Rulers Others have often Petitioned King and Parliament The Quakers Speakers take the chief Seats in their Assemblies now though once they condemned it Many now in Disputes and Discourse use terms others condemn as wicked Some have said It is laid on them by Christ not to Sue any Man at Law others I say have done it and as I have been credibly informed they that would not take an Oath in Bristol have in London Pennyman tells you how Penn blamed the Church of England in the Reign of the Late King James for Censuring the King's Acts and Reflecting on Roman Catholicks as not Manners nor Justice He cites the Book Some have said If the Spirit direct to fight we have nothing to say against it Others say they can never be directed by the Spirit to any such thing for it is not of God He speaks of their rudeness to him saying he deserved to be whipp'd at a Carts tail that they thrust him in the side with a stick Yet all these were Inspired and Infallible in contrary Doctrines Now having given an account of these two excellent Writers Let me a little consider the Plea of some among us for this People Question 1. Are not the Quakers more sober than once they were Yes and many know not the Opinions nor Practices of their first old Leaders No Men or Women run up and down Naked now c. Question 2. Are they not a People very Temperate above others Let every Man speak as he finds I lived long next door to one who was found out to be a