Testimony against Tythes the Giver of them the Setter of them up and the Taker of them p. 40. This Priesthood which takes Tythes Now this was not the Popish Priesthood we in the Power of the Lord God deny them p. 63. VVe Declare with our Hands and with our Lives and Estates against the Ministery that â—akes Tythes and the Setters of them And the Law that upholds them p. 71. Are not all these set up by the Dragon's Power and held up by the Dragon's Power the Devourer the Destroyer Is not this the Power of the Devil These are their Words And they need no Comment They were and are Plainly for Destroying the Law if the Law will not Comply with them But then as now they were for Flattering the Powers in being They sooth that Rebel Parliament p. 54. Some of our Friends sâ— they who have been for the Parliament ever since the Beginning oâ— the late VVars have suffereâ— more by these Plundering Priests than by the Plundering Cavalierâ— and you have sadned the Hearâ— of them that are your Friends by setting up Tythes c. And p. 62. the well-wishers of the Choicest of the Nation are towards you Here is a Material Discovery Because the Quakers since 1660. wou'd make us believe that they had been Loyal in the Rebellion of 41. And the Reason they give is their Sufferings under those Usurpers But here it is plain that their Sufferings were not for their Loyalty to the King but for their Principles Destructive to all Government taking upon themselves a Power Superior to all Laws and to Annull what Laws they think fit For here they confess themselves to have been for the Parliament from the beginning of the War so the Traytors stil'd that Rebellion and as before Quoted out of G. Fox Souldiers in Oliver's Army And they urg'd this as their Merit to the Parliament 1659. and therefore complain that any of them shou'd suffer by Tythes And to shew what thorough-pac'd Commonwealths-Men they were G. Fox in his Letter to the Council and Officers of the Army before Quoted speaking of the several steps which were made by the Rebel House of Commons in Destroying the King and House of Lords burst out into an Extasie of Commendation of their Glorious Proceedings in these words p. 7. What a sincerity was there once in the Nation What a Dirty Nasty thing wou'd it have been to have heard talk of a House of Lords among them c. This was in the year 1659. They held out against the King to the very last And that not only in Talking and Writing and Fighting but in Watching and Discovering and Betraying Francis Howgil of great Name among the Quakers in a Book of his call'd An Information and also Advice to the Army and this present Committee of Safety Newly Erected c. Printed 1659. p. 7. boasts as a Merit of the Quakers their giving Intelligence against Sir George Booth and others who rose for the King in Cheshire and Lancashire whom he calls Rebels Them says he who were your Real Friends called Quakers who gave you and the Army Intelligence about the late Insurrection in Cheshire who were spoil'd by the said Rebels of their Goods c. But this with other now ungrateful Passages are left out of the New Edition of Francis Howgil's Works in a large Folio 1676. p. 330. By the bye Howgil in this Book Justifies the Title of the Committee of Safety against the late Parliament as he calls it as he did that of the Parliament against the late King p. 6. And as for the Long Parliament says he by whom God did good things and great things in the overthrowing that Power which was Deviated from the aforesaid end to wit the late King c. But these last words to wit the late King are left out in the New Edition p. 329. that if this shou'd come to be objected they might say that by the Power Deviated c. they did not mean the King but some other Power And as the King Deviated so says he the Parliament Deviated and thereby justifies the Committee of Safety against the Parliament And so every thing that is uppermost to the end of the Chapter They too have stumbld upon the Doctrine of Success During the long Reign of the Rump they run down the King's Prerogative and up with Privilege of Parliament But when the Parliament was kick'd out of Doors then Privilege was as great a Beast as Prerogative and the Committee of Safety only was in the right And in the year 1660 then round about again Hey for monarchy they wou'd make you believe that they were always for Monarchy The Ancient Courtiers says Howgil Ibid. p. 4. paragr 6. having found so much Ease and Profit by the late King turn'd all Cavaliers and cry'd up the Prerogative of the King But the Long Parliament and the People that aided them at that time counted it no Treason to Oppose him and God decided the Controversie in Overthrowing the one and Establishing the other c. Yet many are so blind to this day that they judge the Nation cannot be Established in freedom without a King c. This whole Paragraph is left out in the New Edition for the Reason aforesaid But having thus run down the King they fall as foul upon the Parliament when it was Discarded Many says Howgil Ibid. are so Doating on the Name of a Parliament as tho it were Essential and cries up the Priviledge of Parliament But if they will not hearken p. 5. to the Cry of their Masters the People but may be call them Rebels and Traytors if they shou'd be turned out c. And so he goes on to maintain the Title of the Committee of Safety against all others But they were enrag'd against none so Implicably as against the King They wou'd stop all means and possibility of his Return The Army of their VVomen before-mentioned shew'd particular Zeal in this They Advise in their above-told Address to the Parliament 1659. the very year before the King came home That the Late King as they Rebelliously term'd Him His Rents Parks and Houses shou'd be sold And to what end To pay the Sacrilegious Impropriators that they of all Men should not lose by the Abolition of Tythes which the Quakers demanded And to she their Zeal in this against the King they repeat it three times p. 59 63 and 65. In the same place they join with the Kings-Lands the Gleab-Lands and all the Colleges and their Lands to be sold upon the same foot and the very Bells out of the Churches except one in a Town to give notice of Fire Thus they had made sure of the Church and the very Nurseries for the Education of the Clergy Root and Branch If the Curiosity of any lead them to see the abovesaid Subscriptions they are all bound together and bear this Title These several Papers were sent to the Parliament the 20th day of the 5th
No they are not able to produce one word or any thing like it But on the contrary there are plain Intimations in the Gospel of their Continuance particularly 1 Cor. 9.13 14. But we need no new Command for them in the Gospel If they are not Forbidden and Abrogated by Christ they are still of force They are no part of the Typical or Ceremonial Law and nothing else of the Law was Abrogated by Christ They were before the Law and the Reason of them is Eternal That is Honouring the Lord with our Substance Prov. 39. as with our Time and that Proportion of either which He at first Reserv'd to Himself must so Remain But there is another Jesuitical Excuse in p. 2. of these Quakers Answer to Bugg viz. That these their Orders are not Constitutions or Canons but Epistles wherein several matters of Christian Advice are Recommended and not Imposed This wou'd seem as if these Quakers were left to their Liberty whether they wou'd pay Tythes or not But the contrary is made fully appear in the Instances of Crisp Story Rogers c. as before And as to the Stile of their Orders being call'd Epistles I suppose they have heard of the Pope's Decretal Epistles And he Commands most Absolutely when he writes himself Servant of the Servants of God Soft Words and Hard Meaning That Severe and Terrible Excommunication against John Story c. above told was by way of Epistle which is taken notice of in the above-Quoted Replication in the very Title of it viz. A Testimony against the 66 Judges called Quakers who writ an Epistle as they call it against John Story John Wilkinson and those join'd with them c. I have shewn before that not only Their Writings when they are call'd Epistles but all even the very Queries of Theirs are to be esteem'd Equal to the Scriptures so that as they say you might as well condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as their Queries That Their Writings are not to be look'd upon as the Edicts of Men but of God Himself c. But when they are Pinched then they are only Recommendations and Advices But such as must be Obey'd under the pain of being Rebels to God and Disown'd by them Which to much the greatest number of them considering their Dependance upon one another in Trade is their utter undoing Now such Advices look very like Commands And this last Excuse of the Quakers is no better than the former But in all this Answer to Bugg they have quite forgot the most material Objection against them which is some Quotations of theirs as to Tythes which are cited by Bugg particularly that mention'd p. 3. of Edw. Burrough in the 780 page of his Works Tythes says he as received and paid in these days are of Anti-Christ This totally overthrows the Quakers Excuse in their Answer to Bugg viz. That they only spoke against Tythes being paid to Popish Priests and by Popish Laws For here Edw. Burrough condemns those Tythes as Anti-Christian which are Receiv'd and Paid in these Days which are to Protestant Priests and by Protestant Laws And to this the Quakers Answer has not return'd one word or taken the least notice of it No nor to that other Quotation out of the Ancient Testimony c. p. 2. So it is no new thing that the People of the Lord call'd Quakers have suffer'd so deeply for but the Ancient Testimony to the Coming Death and Resurrection of Christ which they that Plead for Tythes in this Gospel-Day do in effect Deny c. Nor to that Quoted out of Thomas Ellwood's Antidote c. which I have mention'd before but Bugg here more at large Thus p. 78. of the Antidote Truth allows no Payment of Tythes at all under the New Covenant but Condemns it They who Pay Tythes do therein uphold a Legal Ceremony Abrogated by Christ and thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh which is a Mark of Anti-Christ c. To the Argument it is Answer'd before That Tythes are no Legal Ceremony nor any Ceremony at all They are a just Tribute and Acknowledgment to God out of that Encrease with which He has bless'd our Labours This is far above a Ceremony which in its own Nature is a thing Indifferent neither Good nor Bad which the Duty of Honouring the Lord with our Substance is not but a Necessary and even a Natural Duty And as to the particular Quantum of a Tenth part of our Substance that was determin'd long before the Law and was the Universally receiv'd Notion of the World in all Ages and therefore of Divine Institution and so far from a Legal Ceremony And as they were no Ceremony so neither were they any Type of Christ and to cease at His Coming like Sacrifices whose first Institution was to Prefigure the Death of Christ and the shedding of His Blood And therefore Christ is call'd by the Name of His Types Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us 1 Cor. 5.7 He is call'd our Passover and Sacrifice but he is never call'd our Tythe For that has no Relation to any Typical Representation of Christ â—hey Prefigure not His Passion or Death They are totally of another Nature a Tribute due from us to our Creator and Preserver And therefore never to cease They are never Fullfill'd but in being dayly Paid Sacrifices and all other Types of Christ are Fullfill'd For He only is now our Sacrifice But He is not our Tythe The nonsence of such a Pretence appears from the very Proposing of it But in the next place as Tythes are no Legal Ceremony nor Type so neither are they Abrogated by Christ as T. Ellwood affirms but cannot Prove We desire any one Text to shew it He quotes 1 Joh. 4.3 which has no more Relation to it than Neh. 10. to the 28. verse And is a plain Demonstration that they have no such Proof else they wou'd have brought it And it is as plain that they have no Answer to give to those Quotations which Fr. Bugg produces out of their Books otherwise it is impossible but they must have said something to them they being so exceedingly Scandalous and Provoking to our Government both in Church and State as their making our Magistrates to be Pharaohs Nebuchadnezzars c. and the Clergy very Conjurers Thieves Anti-Christs Witches Devils Baal's Priests Hell-Hounds c. and crying woe and misery to the Upholders whether Kings or Parliaments of that Treacherous Crew and Deceitful Generation But William Penn continues Bugg in his Impeachment p. 1. in his late Book Stil'd The Guide Mistaken c. goes a little farther viz. Whilst the Idle Gormondizing Priests of England run away with above 150000 l. a year under Pretence of God's Ministers And that no sort of People have been so Vniversally through Ages the very Bane of Soul and Body of the Vniverse as that Abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God 's most Dreadful Vengeance is reserved to Act their
of the Serpent that is the Devil Now which of these several Treatments do testifie the greatest Respect And whether their Veneration does Hereby appear more to the Holy Scriptures or to their own Writings I leave it without more Argument to the Reader Manger their Thin and Hypocritical Distinction of the Letter It is plain they never gave the Scriptures a good word but meerly for Popularity when forc'd to it to avoid the Odium of the World And therefore since the year 1660. when the Restoration of the Church and Her Liturgy brought the Holy Scriptures again into Request the Quakers have been more Pharisaically Civil towards them and upon some Turns will bestow upon them the Epithet of Holy because it is so common in the Mouths of other Men. But in all their Preachings or Writings before 1660 where-ever they had occasion to name the Holy Scriptures they seldom or never gave them that Epithet of Holy or Sacred but plain Scriptures at best tho' most commonly they did not let them pass without some of their sweet Appellations before-told of Beastly Ware Serpent's Meat Death and Carnal to beget the greater Reverence for them in the People And it is desir'd to Confute this Observation that they wou'd give us what Citations they can they will not be many out of all their Books which were wrote before 1660. and they are very numerous which name the Scriptures with the Appellation of Holy or Sacred or indeed with any sort of Respect Especially let them Quote Fox Burrough Howgil or some of their Principal Pillars But if this Observation be Malicious and that they cannot disprove it now then let them take time and put in such Expressions as oft as they please in the New Edition of G. Fox's Works according to their Laudable Custom before spoke of to chop and change the Writings of their Dead Prophets to answer the Exigency of the Times Tho' if what they wrote was Dictated Immediately by the Holy Ghost as they pretend they are of Equal Authority with the Scriptures and it must be as great a sin to Add or Diminish in the Writings of the Quakers as in the Holy Scriptures themselves And then by the Sentence pronounc'd Rev. 22.18 and 19. all those Quakers shall be Blotted out of the Book of Life who in the New Editions of the Works of Edward Burrough Francis Howgil c. have taken away from the Words of the Books of their Prophecies And I have given them Lawful Warning not to incurr the like Sin and Shame in the new design'd Edition of their great Apostle G. Fox's worthy Remains But that they may not pretend Ignorance or Inadvertence I do here particularly Caution that the following Passages may not be left out nor Blended in a Book Published by Him and other Quakers call'd The West Answering to the North Printed 1657. where p. 7 8. They tell That Strafford's Head was cut off and Canterbury's and Charles Stuart's as Traytors for endeavouring to subvert the Fundamental Laws And p. 79. That His Charles Stuart 's Arbitrary Actions were Recorded every where in the Blood and Misery of the late Wars and the Destruction of Him and His Family The Dreadful and Sad Examples of His Righteous Judgments who Renders to every one according to his Deeds And p. 89. Doth not here appear from the Grave the Spirit that was in Christopher Love Priest and his Fellow-Traytors who being within the Jurisdiction of this Common-wealth look upon them to Commissionate Divers Men to treat with Charles Stuart the Proclaim'd Traytor of the Government P. 95. The Common Enemy Charles Stuart c. and forget not the wonderful Deliverances from them all which the Right Hand of the Lord effected p. 96. 97. Multitudes of People flock'd up out of the City to Westminster to complain of their Sufferings which Charles Stuart called Tumults and by the Guard one of them was slain at the place of the shedding of whose Blood was Charles Stuart's Head struck off and His Blood poured forth on the ground A remarkable Record of the Righteous Iudgments of God Lastly Mark these words p. 102 The Righteous Ends of the Wars for Liberty and Law And these Innocent Servants of the Lord who have been All of them Always Faithful to the honest Interest of the Nation and many of them for it have drawn the Sword and Fought in the Field from first to last And p. 83. The honest Men then who own'd them the Parliament Army throughout England against the Priests and the Common Enemy That is the Church and the King And by the Honest and Innocent Servants of the Lord they meant Themselves For they allow none other to be such as is fully shewn hereafter The Defence of them the Laws say they p. 16. have we in the late Wars vindicated in the Field with our Blood c. There is another Book of this Great Apostle wherein I am very apprehensive his New Editors may do him wrong It is a most Bitter and Senseless Invective against all Kings and Monarchical Government which was Printed in the beginning of the Year 1660. but before the Restoration which was in May the same Year to shew what Obstinate Rebels these Quakers were who held out against the King to the very last Day That Book bears this Title Several Papers given forth by George Fox London Printed for Thomas Simonds at the Sign of the Bull 1660. I set it down thus particularly because the Friends may know that it is still in being and in the Hands of those who will watch the New Edition of Fox's Works that they shall neither Add nor Diminish without being told of it I give this Caution because great pains has been taken and by some Arts which I will not here mention to recover this Book out of the Hands of any who are in the least Disaffected to their Cause and it may rationally be suppos'd that the Design is either wholly to suppress it or to take out its Sting that it hurt them not and render them odious to all Kingly Government I will give the Reader but a Taste out of that Delicious Dispensatory He says p. 8. That all Kings and Emperors have sprung up in the Night since the days of the Apostles among the Anti-Christs p. 12. So the Christians goes out from Christ and set up Kings like the Heathens p. 15. And all these Novice-Christians that are crying up Earthly Kings and fighting for the Kings of the Earth are not such as follow the Lamb. p. 16. We know that these Kings are the Spiritual Aegyptians got up since the days of the Apostles p. 18. and 9. You never read of any King among the Christians but among the Apostates since the days of the Apostles p. 8. Many cry for an Earthly King and will have Caesar and is not this the same Nature the Jews was in and do not they in this Crucifie Jesus p. 9. Are not all these Christians that will
dote so much of an Earthly King Traytors against Christ And will these that are true Christians have any more Kings among them but Christ I say that is the False Church that doth not live Upon the Heads of the Kings Such that are out of the Life and Power Work for an Earthly King and will change as they change These all quench the Spirit of God in themselves These all deny the Light c. Alas Wretched George Now must all Men know that Thou even Thou thy self didst quench the Spirit deny the Light c. because Thee didst Change just as the Times did Change and just as soon Thee didst not stay a minute nor thy Friends with thee For after all your Treasons and Rebellions continued from your beginning with the utmost virulence to the very last day even while the above Antimonarchical and Poisonous words were in the very Mouth of thee the King was Miraculously and Unexpectedly Restor'd And this Changling Fox Immediately Tack'd about as did they All. They lost no time the King came to London the 29th of May 1660. and in seven days after the 5th of June they had drawn up a Declaration of their Sincerity and good Wishes to the Government which they delivered into the King's Hand the 22d of the same Month as soon as they cou'd get Access This is indors'd upon the said Declaration in Print but it bears Date the 5th of June It is Subscrib'd by a Bakers Dozen of them and George Fox the Fore-Man in the Name of themselves and of those in the same Unity And it is worth ones while to compare the words of this Declaration with those of Foxs before-quoted and much more of the same strain in that Book of his out of which I have taken them Printed in the foregoing part of the same year 1660. There they were Traytors against Christ and Crucifiers of Jesus who were for any Earthly King and it was The False Church which did not live upon the Heads of the Kings But now they lay themselves under the Feet of an Earthly King The same Earthly King against whose Restoration they had Belched forth so much Venom See their Declaration p. 4. We do therefore Declare say they to take off all Jealousies Fears and Suspicions of our Truth and Fidelity to the King and the present Governors that our Intentions and Endeavours are and shall be Good True Honest and Peaceful towards them and that we do Love Own and Honour the King and these present Governours But there was a pleasant Passage which I am confident the Reader will Excuse me to tell In the first Draught of this Declaration approved by G. Fox and the Body of the Quakers the words Loyal Subjects were put in viz. That the Quakers were the King 's Loyal Subjects and that they had suffer'd much as himself had done This wou'd imply as if their Sufferings had been for him For how otherwise was it any Merit in them with regard to the King Which looking like a piece of Gross Hypocrisie one Edward Billing a Quaker of more open Sincerity and Courage than the rest rose up against it and knowing well that the Quakers had never Suffer'd nor Acted any thing for the King But on the contrary were always most bitter Enemies to Him and to His Interests he Protested against these words in the Declaration and said that it was a Mockery in the Face of the World to give themselves the stile of Loyal Subjects But G. Fox and the Generality of the Quakers oppos'd him and thought it convenient that these Expressions should stand whereupon Billing being heated avow'd to them that if they pass'd the Declaration with these words he wou'd Print against it tho' it cost him his Life And this did so startle them having a guilty Conscience that to avoid being thus expos'd they at last submitted to have these words left out which they wou'd never have done if they cou'd have stood the Test But rather such an Objection wou'd have made them more Zealous to have asserted their Loyalty with the greater vigor and to have Censur'd this Billing and caus'd him to sign an Instrument of Condemnation against himself for so Foul and at that time Dangerous an Imputation upon the whole Body of the Friends And that so Publickly in the Face of their Assembly which they according to their stated Discipline have done in Cases of much less Importance than this and wou'd not have fail'd to have done in this if they had not known his Charge to be True But this Contest about the word Loyalty was perfectly needless since they suffer'd the words which I have Quoted to stand viz. Truth and Fidelity to the King For these imply all that Loyalty can mean But it serves to this purpose First to discover their Disloyalty and Secondly Their deep Hypocrisie of which there never was surely such an Impudent Instance given as in this Declaration for having themselves serv'd all turns that ever happen'd in their time the Rump Parliament then Oliver Protector Dick the Army that turn'd him out the Committee of Safety c. as before is told and now but just turn'd to the King they had the Face to upbraid others for their Changing and Trimming Hear the words of their Declaration p. 6. And these Priests turned to every Power and every Government as it turned and made Addresses and Acknowledgments to every Change of Government Now let any honest Hearted People judge whether these be sound Principled Men that can Turn Conform and Transform to every Change according to the Times Whether these be fit Men to Teach People One wou'd think that this were a Lampoon some Enemy had made upon the Quakers especially when in the next page and p. 8. they tell the King False Dealing we do utterly deny and speak the Truth in Plainness and Singleness of Heart Of which I leave the Reader to judge when I have told him farther That besides G. Fox 's several Papers before-mentioned the Quakers in the beginning of the Year 1660 before the Restoration did likewise Print several Papers of George Bishop another of their Apostles containing violent Invectives against the King and Kingly Government and stirring up all People to keep them out That Book of Bishop's bears this Title The Warnings of the Lord to the Men of this Generation c. London Printed by M. Inman and are to be sold at the Three Bibles in Pauls Church-Yard and by Richard Moon Bookseller in Wind-steet in Bristol 1660. Thus Industriously did they spread their Treasons and set all their Shoulders to support the then Usurpation and obstruct the Restauration of the King and that to the very last in the same Year 1660. Bishop p. 26.27 Writing to the then Council of State warns them In the Name of the Lord to be very vigorous in opposing all Attempts that were made towards the Restauration persuades them as Ahitophel to Absalom 2 Sam. 16.21 to be
as by the other But this plainly discovers their Preference of their own Writings to the Holy Scriptures that while they rejected the Scriptures as not Necessary to the Guidance or Direction of their Light within they at the same time enjoin'd under the severest Penalties even of rejecting the Authority of God Himself not only the Private Studying but the Publick Reading of their own Writings in their Meetings Thus their Great Fox Commands This is the Word of the Lord says he I charge you in the Presence of the Lord God to send this Epistle amongst all Friends and Brethren every where to be read in all Meetings To them All this is the Word of God c. Yet he calls it Blasphemy to say the Holy Scriptures are the Word of God as you will see hereafter p. 150 151. and George Whitehead in what he calls An Epistle for the Remnant of Friends concludes thus Let this Epistle be read distinctly in the Life and Authority of God from whence it came amongst Friends in and about London and elsewhere c. Now I do desire G. Whitehead to produce out of any of his or all of their Writings such an Advice or Encouragement as this for reading of the Holy Scriptures Or to tell us whether they ever yet endur'd so much as one Chapter of them to be read upon any occasion whatsoever in any of their Meetings And then whether it be not a plain Consequence that they do Prefer their own Writings which they so strictly enjoin to be read to the Holy Scriptures which they not only not Enjoin or Command but never so much as Advise or Recommend to be read But on the contrary they give all the Threatning Discouragements that can be to deter any from reading of them calling them Carnal and Death as before is told But to come to further Evidence and give you even a Judicial Determination of the Quakers Assemblâ—d in their Publick Meeting when they durst speak out against the Scriptures about the Year 1658. this Cause was brought before them and solemn Judgment given For then it was that Thomas Padle accus'd John Chandler both of Southwark Quakers at a Meeting of the Quakers at the Bull and Mouth up one pair of Stairs I give it thus particularly that the Friends may not pretend Ignorance and because I have Eye and Ear Witness to produce if it be in the least Disputed that Then and There the said John Chandler was Accus'd by the said Thomas Padle for saying That he Preferr'd the Scriptures before the Friends Books which Accusation J. Chandler did not deny he was something of a Scholar beyond the common Quaker Level but being Reprov'd for it by the Meeting he said in Excuse that it was in Dispute with some Opposers and that the People urg'd him to it And some of those who were present at that Meeting do very well remember that one principal Reason they gave for the Preference of their own Books to the Scriptures was That tho' the People had had the Scriptures many years yet they had not Converted so many to the Truth as Their Books had done They really thought themselves tâ—â— have a Dispensation beyond the Prophets or Apostles whom they call'd Low and Carnal in their Day see hereafter p. 235. I can name those that now stand high among them who being press'd with a Text out of one of St Paul's Epistles not twenty years ago did before many Witnesses of the Principal Quakers not stick to say That Paul was Dark and Ignorant like him whom they oppos'd and that they saw beyond him The occasion of this if the Friends pretend not to remember it was a solemn Meeting or Council which was call'd of some of their Principal Preachers in London about the Yeaâ— 1678. upon an Accusation preferr'd by some of them against one of their Number for these three Heretical Doctrines as they esteem'd them 1. That the Body of Christ arose out of the Grave 2. That Christ is â—o be Pray'd to 3. That we must come to the Father through Christ There were various Opinions in that Learned Council concerning all of these they being such Deep and Abstruse Points in Divinity But none of the Heretical side were Disown'd by the other or caus'd to sign Instruments of Condemnation against themselves as in other Cases is usual with them Upon the 2d Point that Text 1 Cor. 1.2 being urg'd as a Proof for the Invocation of Christ the above Answer was return'd That Paul was Blind and Ignorant and that they saw beyond him Anâ— they stood upon it that no English Quaker was ever heard Pray to Christ If the Friends think it more for their Service that Names Time and Place be set down it shall be done whenever I can say that it is upon their Request because I wouâ—d be Civil In the mean time I can tell them that about the Year 1662. John Parrot one of their Chief Preachers being question'd for some Expression he had us'd he justify'd himself by shewing the like in the Prophet Hosea to which G. Fox answer'd That the Prophets were not come to the Son This was a common saying with him And at another time one pressing him hard with the Authority of Abraham he said Abraham was before John â—nd that the least in the Kingdom â—i e. of the Quakers was Greaâ—er than He. Greater indeed When as is shewn hereafter near the â—nd of Sect. V. and of Sect. XII G. Fox was Ador'd with the Epithets and Worship of Christ And that Blasphemous Vulpone took it Gravely without any Reprehension but on the contrary with Delectation stroaking his Hand over their Faces as his Custom was who kneel'd or fell Prostrate before him But because the Friends call always for an Instance tho' the Case by never so common I will to oblige them go a great way back and name Ann Gargil who when G. Fox came first to London threw her self upon her Knees betwixt his Feet and cry'd out to him Thou art the Son of tâ—â— Living God! S. B. another Quâ—ker now alive was present aâ—â— confesses she was struck with that Blaâ—phemous Expression At another time a She-Preacheâ— arose in a Publick Meeting anâ— with a Trembling Voice anâ— singing Tone thus accosted G. Fox then present Thou art the King of Saints Whereat another Quakeâ— Woman being offended did expostulate with her after the Meeting anâ— her excuse was that it was not to G. Fox she spoke those words but tâ— Christ who was within him thâ— same Distinction which all Idolater use for Worshiping their Idols Anâ— which G. Whitehead uses in thiâ— same Case as you will see hereafter at the close of Sect. XII And the same wou'd excuse Simon Magus for being call'd The Great Power of God Act. 8.10 That was more modest than our Magician who was call'd The Christ himself and not only His Power or Virtue Simom desir'd only That the Holy Ghost might be given by his Hands
of the Truth as were in few years gathered then the Heavenly motion came upon George Fox as the Lord 's Anointed as being the Great Apostle of Jesus Christ and as one whom the Lord had ordained to be in the place amongst the Children of Light in this our Day as Moses was amongst the Children of Israel in his Day to set forth Methods and Forms of Church Government and to Establish Monthly and Quarterly Meetings of Men and of Women distinct from Men and these Meetings are since called the Church whose Counsel Advice and Judgment as occasion shall offer is to be submitted unto by every one who Professeth himself a Member of the Church And saith George VVhitehead We are to Believe as the true Church Believes c. Christian Quaker Part 1. p. 9. 1680. I was told by one present at the Quaker-Meeting at Radcliff on Sunday the 17th of February last 1694 5. that Mr. Penn having Preached and after George Keith rising up and Expounding some Scripture in another manner than Mr Penn had done that Mr. Penn stopt him and solemnly Denounced these words against him In the Name of the Lord I Pronounce him an Apostate over his Head Upon which occasion I have these few Questions to ask 1. Whether this was a Sentence from Mr. Penn himself or from their Church If the latter it comes in the Class just before-mention'd of their Church-Authority over the Light within particular Persons But if the former then here is Private Light against Private Light And Mr. Penn will please to tell us by what Authority he Pronounc'd this Sentence against G. Keith in the Name of the Lord. If by an Ordinary Commission of Succession to Christ and the Apostles by Regular Ordination That I should be glad to hear But if by an Extraordinary Commission such as the Prophets and Apostles had we wou'd desire such Credentials as they had that is Miracles Otherwise any Reason why this is not rank Enthusiasm and liable to the Sentence of those who spoke In the Name of the Lord when He had not sent them Mr. Penn owns the Enthusiasm but does not shew the Miracles for he said publickly in their last Yearly Meeting in May 1695. in Excuse or Justification of his above-said Sentence of Apostacy against G. Keith That he was then so Transported with the extraordinary Power of God upon him that he knew not whether he was sitting standing or kneeling when he spoke the words But whether this Enthusiasm proceeded from Divine or what other Inspiration will be best known from the Doctrine it supported and which was the ground of the Contest And it was thus told to me by one who was present viz. That Mr. Penn at a former Meeting had Explain'd this Scripture 1 John 1.7 The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin in this manner That the Blood was the Life and the Life was the Light within This Resolves all into the Light within which as will be further shewn they make to be the Archi-Type and Substance of what Christ's outward Body Blood and all that He did or suffer'd in it were but the Types and Shadow and so of much less Value and Consequence to our Salvation But to go on with our present matter of Fact At the fore-mention'd Meeting the 17th of Feb. 1694 5. G. Keith taking occasion to Discourse upon the above-said Text 1 John 1.7 did Expound it in a quite different manner from what Mr. Penn had done but without naming of Mr. Penn Said that it ought to be taken Literally that it was the outward shedding of Christ's Blood which cleanseth from sin and that this was not to be Resolv'd into the Light within nor to be Spiritualiz'd away from the Letter For that this was overthrowing of the Faith Upon which Mr. Penn rose up and Interrupted him in the middle of his Discourse which I am told is contrary to the Method and Freedom of their Meetings and Church-Discipline and taking it to himself and his former Exposition of that Text which is told above he inveigh'd not without great Passion against G. Keith concluded with the Sentence of Excommunication above-told and stopping G. Keith from any Reply immediately Dissolv'd the Assembly I will not here enlarge upon the Subject matter of this Dispute betwixt them because it will be fully Discuss'd in the following Sections Particularly Section 12 17 and 18. But for the present I only apply it to the point of their Church-Authority over the Light within particular persons which was their Original and Great pretence SECT XI Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures THE Quaker's Refuge Printed Anno 1673. p. 17. states this as truly own'd by the Quakers in these words VVhether the first Pen-Man of the Scriptures was Moses or Hermes or whether both these are not one or whether there are not many words contained in the Scriptures which were not spoken by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit whether some words were not spoken by the Grand Impostor some by wicked Men some by wise Men ill Apply'd some by good Men ill Express'd some by False Prophets and yet True some by True Prophets and yet False And from these Suppositions he goes on and concludes that some part of the Scriptures concerning the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind were True And p. 18. That the Scriptures as above Distinguished are a true Record c. Instead of Answering these Diabolical Suggestions against the Sacred Authority of the Holy Scriptures of God and which evidently overthrow the Certainty of the whole G. VVhitehead in his Innocency Triumphant Printed 1693. in Answer to F. Bugg's New Rome Arraign'd p. 28. does own the whole by way of an Excuse for it and says That this question'd but of some words in Scripture not all But the Holy Scriptures confirming the whole of themselves one part Quoting another if the whole be not therefore True the whole must be False And we must take this to be the Opinion of the New Quakers as well as the Old because Non Asserted G. VVhitehead endeavours to solve this Ibid. p. 21. in Answer to the Quotations which F. Bugg had brought out of their Authors which call'd the Holy Scriptures by the Wicked and Contemptible Names of Dust Death Serpents Meat c. Whitehead says that was only in opposition to those who wou'd have the very Paper and Ink and Characters to be the Word of God and the Gospel wherein they were oppos'd says he Christ being the Word and the Gospel the Power of God which Endures for ever which the Books and Letters or Characters cannot Here Whitehead says that there were some Priests in the North in and before the year 1653. when those Books which Bugg Quoted were Printed who were thus Ignorant And that this was the Reason for those Expressions in these Quaker Books First This had been no Reason for these Barbarous Expressions if it had been so But Secondly I will joyn Issue with
Christ did Inspire the Person of that Man Jesus in an higher measure than other Men. But they deny any proper Incarnation of Christ that is that he was made Flesh or that He and Jesus were one Person Yet they allow Jesus to be call'd Christ from the Dwelling of Christ in him But for the same Reason they take the Name Christ to themselves and say that it belongs to Them as well as to Jesus from the same Dwelling of Christ in Them as was in Jesus They say that Christ did raise up the Body of Jesus from the Dead but they say not that Christ did carry it up with him into Heaven So that tho' there be a Christ now in Heaven that is as he was before his Descent upon Jesus as he is the VVord of God yet they do not confess that there is any Jesus now in Heaven or any where else they know not what is become of him or what Christ did with that Body of his after he had rais'd it from the Dead They say there is no Christ without them no other Christ but what is within them They allow him now no other Body but their own they call themselves his Body that is the Church And as they give him no other than a Mystical Body so they Spiritualize all his Life and Death to his Spiritual Living and Dying within them As one of their Preachers Pray'd at a Solemn Meeting O God who was Crucify'd Dy'd and rose again in us And G. Fox says That if there be any other Christ but he that was Crucify'd within Great Myst p. 206. he is the False Christ this Christ that was risen and Crucify'd within Devils and Reprobates make a talk of him without And he disputes against those who say That the Man Christ that was Crucify'd his Body is now in the Presence of his Father Gr. Myst p. 211. or that Christ is absent from them the Quakers as touching his Flesh p. 210. and p. 254. they that profess a Christ without them and another Christ within them here is two Robert Gordon was the first among them that I find who taught the Orthodox Faith in this point of the Divinity of Jesus and his Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins by which he purchas'd Redemption for us through Faith in him as outwardly suffering Death for us upon the Cross and now Personally Reigning in Heaven and not only as a Light within us Tho' he denies not that Light within but strongly asserts the necessity of it as it is an influence sent from the Spirit of Christ into our Hearts to guide and enlighten us but not the very Christ it self and the only Christ and Saviour as the Quakers Impiously do Blaspheme denying any other at all The Book wherein Rob. Gordon taught as above-said he Entituled A Testimony to the true Saviour or Jesus Christ of Nazareth as having already purchas'd Redemption for us in the Body of his Flesh and revealing it within us by his Spirit It was Printed in London in the year 1670. Against this wrote George VVhitehead with three other Quakers And Rob. Gordon Published an Answer to every one of them severally which was Printed 1671. and call'd Christianity Vindicated And in R. Gordon's Reply you will find the abominable broad Blasphemous Heresies which these Quakers did hold as p. 20. That Christ was never seen with any Carnal Eye nor his Voice heard with any Carnal Ear. Hereby says Gordon plainly denying him to be the Son of Man And p. 21. You neither confess nor Preach him Christ as a Man but as a Light in that Man Christ and as a Light in every Man as it is in every Man as he comes into the World And p. 30 Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the VVorld a Voice not heard among you says Gordon of the Man Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary as now perishing Outwardly Bodily without us but apply'd by some among you to Meekness Humility and the life within you And p. 33. The Light the Seed within is Christ then I am he that speaketh then Hosanna The Son is equal with the Father I witness the Son in me so I witness Equality with the Father The Light in me is Christ Christ is the VVord by which the VVorld was made then it was said of Christ that he was in the VVorld and the VVorld was made by him and the VVorld knew him not so it may be said of this Prophet G. F. as is said by S. E. in his Paper Entitled The Quakers Challenge p. 6. Christ is the VVay the Truth and the Life Christ is in me and must not he say where he is I am the VVay the Truth and the Life He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the Dead is Equal with God Jesus Christ the Mystery passed before the same Spirit takes upon it the same seed where it is manifested as it is mentioned in G. Fox's Book Entituled Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 7 8. Here you see them making themselves Equal to God by their having the true Christ in them Now see them for the same reason Preferring themselves before that Man who was called Christ they make that Man Christ and all that he suffer'd and did to be but a Type or Shadow of what is really perform'd in them by the true Christ as you may see in Gordon's Testimony to the true Saviour above Quoted p. 36 37. The same things are fulfilled in thee speaking to the Quaker that was figured in him Christ But tell us plainly says he p. 37. is that one Sacrifice of the Crucify'd Body of our Lord once offered to bear the sins of many a Pattern and Figure of things to be done over again in us the Blood without Typifying Life and Spirit within Is this Sacrifice so weak so empty a thing that it is a Pattern and Figure having nothing in it self but as Painting to another to wit this Light enlightning every Man How are you beguiled does Gordon Reason with them to Preach up the Light enlightning every Man that comes into the VVorld for the true Christ to cry up a Light within to cry down the Blood without to Preach him as an Example to cast out the Atonement to speak of him as a Figure pointing at this Light within as the abiding Substance p. 40. Denying him to have any Real Outward Individual Glorified Bodily Existence in his Father's Kingdom The Preaching of a Christ without them they call old Beggarly stuff and those who have formerly Preach'd him as without us tho' Prophets or Apostles to be Low and Carnal in their day according to their Cant which he there Repeats See more Quotations of this sort in T. C's Animadversions above-mentioned p. 35. Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly deny'd That this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye This is in p. 5.