leave it out to make the better sense of thy Blasphemy shouldest thou have put in that Conjunction what nonsense would it have been it would have been thus all Scripture given by Inspiration and is profitable the copula and methinks should couple like Sentences and the former part of the Text cannot be a sentence without a Verb and if it must be like Sentences the Verb in the former part must be is as in the latter and so it runs as we well translate it is by Divine Inspiration and is profitable rather than the Scripture should be a perfect Rule Howgil would make it perfect nonsense 2. The Scripture must be our Rule for we are to try all things by it and hold fast that which we find streight and right nay by that we are to try the Quakers Rule it self 1 John 4. 1. we are to try the Spirits What must we try the Spirit by the Spirit 't is evident we are to bring it to some Rule or Ballance to find out its just weight and rectitude for there are many Spirits that walk now about and haunt our stuary ground the Spirit of Muggleton Fox and Naylor and there is one Spirit to be sure that challenges it as its right to possess it and dwell there and by what rule shall we determine the Controversy but by Scripture there 's none of these Pretenders can challenge any greater Authority over our Faith than others only the Scriptures which are the Letters missive and circulatory of the Spirit of God to his Church have such a right which have their Authority confirmed by such a Seal as cannot be counterfeited by Men or Devils and therefore may oblige us to believe them and that Spirit which agrees with their testimony 'T is utterly false what Smith says That the Spirit was the rule to them that Primmer p. 10. gave forth the Scriptures We say not the Spirit it self but the dictates of the Spirit which were as much a rule to them when written as when spoken to them This does not exclude the Spirit from having any thing to do to direct us what to believe and how to live for the Scriptures are the Spirits Rule given to guide us by Besides the Spirit of God opens our Eyes too much closed up since the fall so that we may the better perceive and believe the things contained in the Scripture and stir up our affections to embrace them observe the Rule our Saviour sends us to Mat. 21. 42. Did you never read in the Scriptures Ver. 22 29. Ye err not knowing the Scriptures Acts 8. 35. He began at the same Scripture and preached unto them Jesus Acts 17. 2 11. Paul reasoned with them out of the Scriptures Acts 2. what a long Sermon St. Peter preacheth there from the 14 th almost to the end all out of the Scripture Luke 24. 17. as also 32. he opened to them the Scriptures Moses and the Prophets were the Text he preach'd on Ver. 46. he carries their attention to what was written Joh. 7. 38. He that believeth on me not as the Light but as the Scripture saith John 19. 37. another Scripture saith all along they are sent to the Light without them to see what the Scripture saith John 20. 9. their want of Faith in Christ's Resurrection is attributed to their ignorance of the Scriptures strange the Light could not have informed them Philip corrects not the Eunuch for poring upon and scraping in the Scriptures as Fisher does in his Velata Revelata p. 845. Such Men says he as the Scribes are ever scraping in the Scriptures neither does he call them to mind the Light within Away with this dead Letter this Dust will choak you this Serpents Meat will poison you Ver. 35. he opened his Mouth and began at the same Scripture and preached Jesus But when shall we hear a Quaker begin a Sermon from a Text of Scripture By the way you see a Man may preach Jesus from the Letter Acts 18. 24. Apollo was mighty in the Scriptures the Scripture was the Sword of the Spirit Ephes 6. 17. by which the mighty Man and Evangelical Hero hewed down the Enemy before him they were not able to stand before the Dint of his Scripture-charge he mightily convinced them out of Scripture ver 28. Paul in his Dispute about Justification Rom. 4. 3. crys What saith the Scripture Rom. 11. 2. Wot ye not what the Scripture saith he brings all his Proofs from the Letter of Scripture Rom. 15. 4. all our comfort flows from those Wells of Salvation all written for our Learning that we through comfort and patience of the Scriptures might have hope And should these envious Philistines be suffered to stop up these Wells 2 Tim. 3. 15. Paul commends Timothy that from a Child he had been well acquainted with this Rule so that he became a Workman that needed not be ashamed The Scriptures you see in the Apostles days as many as were written were the only Rule they appealed to Fox jun. for above 200 Pages hath vehement Exhortations to mind the Light but not a word of reading the Scriptures in that whole Book Esa 8. 20. To the Law and to the Testimony if they speak not according to this word they may pretend the Spirit of God and a Light within if they will but they have no light in them says the Prophet That such an one as W. Penn should please himself with such a Gimcrack as to say in his answer to Faldo By the Law and the Testimony are meant God and Christ seeing then William we are saved by Christ we are saved by the Law 'T is much Mr. Pool should forget to grace his Synopsis with this Criticism if thou hadst any respect for Scripture sure thou wouldst not dally and play with it so wantonly We conclude then that the Scriptures are a Rule to them they are given to and 't was never denyed by any in the Christian part of the World but Quakers besides Atheists Deists and Papists and we envy them not the Honour of such Company Whitehead says p. 23. l. 7. They don't slight the Scripture nay p. 17. l. 4. They acknowledg them to be divine and prefer them before all other Books in the World We do them wrong to lay such an heinous Crime to their charge Alas poor Quakers to be so hardly censured when they call the Scriptures Dust Serpents Meat killing and deadly this is all for the profound Veneration they have for Scripture When they say their own Speakings are of equal Authority nay to be preferred before them nay the Scriptures may as well be burnt as their nonsensical Scriblings This is yet for the great respect and honour they bear to the Scriptures When they tell us the Scriptures have no authority of themselves not so much as that golden Legend of Father Fox's Journal unless we have a Câ—mmand again from within that is they have no authority unless we think they have
the Objection no body denying that if Christ that 's crucified be not within us we are Reprobates but within six lines after he has these Passages the Brief Discovery charges The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within c. Now allowing this Sophistry we defy any Turk Jew or Atheist nay even the Devil himself to utter so vile a Blasphemy but that it may be made as Orthodox as the Creed But let wise Men judg whether this ought to be allowed any Writer who undertakes to vindicate another when by his confession if the words be read as they are and have been printed for many and many years the Author must be guilty of Blasphemy Great endeavours has he used in many places to vindicate himself and others from Blasphemy as where he says That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and greater but the best way he ever took was when charg'd with that most blasphemous passage against the Trinity in a Book put out by him and three other Quakers called Ishmael and his Mother cast out where they bespeak their Adversary thus The three Persons thou dreamest of which thou wouldst divide out of one like a Conjurer are all denied and thou shut up with them in perpetual darkness for the Lake and the Pit Geo. Whitehead does now expresly disown the words tho they were justly chargeable upon him as well as the others being Partner with them in the whole and setting his Name without any distinction to the intire Book affirming that they are none of his and that he wrote not that part of the Answer and that he shall neither stand by nor own these words c. This we are sure is the best way he could take to vindicate himself tho thereby he has left his three Brethren under this black mark of being Blasphemers for to say only The words appear too rash and irreverent is handling the Ulcer too gently which ought to be cut out to the very Coar But if we may believe a great and good Man Geo. Whitehead could not always thus excuse himself in this particular for the Reverend and Learned Dr. Falkner in his Treatise of Reproaching and Censure Part 2. cap. 3. sect 1. num 5 6. p. 265 266. tells us That when he disputed with Geo. Fox and Geo. Whitehead at Lynn Regis in the County of Norfolk Anno 1659 they sent him nine Questions or Positions rather the first of which was against the three Persons of the Deity And in the first day they plainly declared themselves against the three Persons of the Trinity and then says Dr. Falkner I charged G. Whitehead in the presence of Geo. Fox and a great number of other Witnesses with those horrid and blasphemous words against the Trinity aforementioned which says the Doctor he neither did nor could deny but this wicked Assertion was written and published by him and his Companions it seems he made no such excuse for himself then or declared that he would not stand by or own them as he now does for what Reason let the World judg Nay in his dispute with Mr. Suith of Christ's College in Cambridge he owned the Book for says Mr. Smith to him tell me plainly whether you will own it or not if you will not at all then tell me what you will own and what not if you will not own it speak To which George Whitehead answers Well I will own it prove what you can Smith's Quaker disarmed printed 1659. Tho the licentiousness of those times permitted Men to belch forth any Poison their corrupt minds had conceived against the Trinity which they durst not now do but to show says that Reverend Person their particular zeal to oppose the Holy Trinity I received a Paper of four Queries directed to them that affirm that there are three distinct Persons in the Godhead and that the Father is the first and the Word the second and the Spirit the third and that the second was begotten as to his Godhead wholly level'd against the Doctrine of the Trinity and subscribed by G. Whitehead and G. Fox After I had returned an Answer to these I received another large Paper containing a long Harangue against the Holy Trinity with Geo. Whitehead's Name alone subscribed In this Paper which says the Doctor I have by me it is declared That to call three distinct Persons in the Trinity are Popish Terms and Names the Papists do call the Godhead by c. As if none but Papists did so or 't was never done till the days of Popery thus labouring to render the Doctrine odious by representing it as Popish However whether it be owing to the change of his Mind or for fear of the Scourge that was over him viz. that Passage in the Act for Toleration which secures a Reverence to this Doctrine of the Trinity Provided that neither this Act nor any Clause Article or Thing herein contained shall extend or be construed to extend to give any Ease Benefit or Advantage to any Person that shall deny in his Preaching or Writing the Doctrine of the Blessed Trinity as it is declared in the aforesaid Articles of Religion we are glad to find him at length returning to a more fober mind and wish he would have corrected if not his Sentiment yet his Stile in many other Particulars as plainly blasphemous as this taken notice of in the Brief Discovery but meerly to seek out and study Evasions does but multiply words and argues a mind very mean and insincere studious only of preserving a Name and upholding a Party We have endeavoured a just and honest Reply labouring to set things in a right Light and thereby evidencing the Truth of what we had charged them with We speak as to wise Men and let them judg between us for we can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth And as to the Persons of these Men we have no particular quarrel with them neither have we to our knowledg any Family of their Perswasion in all our Parishes which is a happiness that many of our neighbour Ministers cannot boast of and had they not grown to such an insolence as even to dare all our Robe with a particular Challenge as not only we but our Superiors apprehended we should never for ought we know in any publick way have entred the Lists with them but being duly and regularly called forth as we made appear in our first piece stiled The Quakers Challenge we hold it both just and dutiful to our Religion Superiors and our selves to indeavour maintaining the Orthodox Faith of that Church we profess our selves Members and Ministers of And whereas many the Laodiceans of this Age have blamed us for contesting with so foolish a People as the Quakers generally are telling us That we might have found a better employment than to be busied with such Impertinents as these planting a Battery against Aspin Leaves
make even Caligula to run under his Bed again to hide himself from it I 'll break in pieces I 'll make Nations like dirt I 'll tread them into mire I 'll make Religions Professons and Teachings Gatherings of Heaps Gatherings of Multitudes Gatherings which they call Churches I 'll make mire of them The Wrath of the Lamb is risen the Scepter is gone out the Throne is set ye shall be shaken ye Dâ—â—mers ye Dreamers ye Notionâ—â—â— I 'll whirl you under Hailstones Vials Plagues Thunders Woes Judgments are come amongst you upon your Heads all Nations the Rod is over you which must rule all Nations Trumpets founding and sounded the Just will rule and you ken well enough we trow who those just ones are the Lamb will have the Victory Can this be the voice of the Spirit of the meek and peaceable Jesus the bleating of the Lamb that is risen as he tells us or rather the roaring of a Lion that wants his Prey You may easily know what Spirit it is by its vomiting up such Flakes of Fire and Brimstone For such a Wretch to pretend as he does in the close of the Paragraph that this rumbling Message he had seen and heard from the beginning and was the Word of Life when it was but a Flash of his own Wildfire and hair-brain'd Imagination what 's this but Blasphemy Again Brief Disc p. 4. cites George Fox's Book stiled the Teachers of the World unveil'd but George Whitchead grievously complains that we have left out somewhat which might have done him mighty service had it been called in Well he shall have fair play let him take in what he pleases the whole Book if he thinks fit it will yet appear blasphemous enough Hark how the Varlet struts I am the Light of the World by whom the World was made a Blasphemy as appears by the former Paragraph personating so boldly the Lord of Glory without his Commission but the Caput Mortuum is in these Words There is your Condemnation from him who of the Lord was moved this to write He writes not this sure too in the Person of Christ he tells you plainly 't is from him who of the Lord was moved this to write the Lord sure was never moved of the Lord but he puts all out of doubt when he adds Whose Name of the World is called GEORGE FOX Here the Varlet sits as Judg of the World and See Snake in the Grass p. 20. truly as in the Quakers Challenge p. 6. a very unmerciful Judg if he be like his Brother Eccles who hangs all that fall not down and worship his imaginary Christ the Light within tho they worship a Christ without them never so devoutly and sincerely Come Protestants Presbyterians Independants and Baptists the Quakers deny you all the Quakers are in the Truth and none but they Good my Lord Mercy for this once for some Primitive Christians and Martyrs of the Church let not all these good Men because they did not yea it and nay it as the Quakers be sentenc'd to be hang'd up in Chains of darkness because they cannot how down and worship the golden Image you have set up an imaginary Christ within tho the true Christ God and Man without them they always lov'd and adored In the same Book and Page of the Quakers Challenge Eccles amongst his Brief Disc p. 4 5. Panegyricks of George Fox has these words It was said of Christ that he was in the World and the World was made by him and the World knew him not so it may be said of this true Prophet whom John said he was not Here 's no complaint now made that we have left out somewhat but rather that we have quoted too much these words it seems whom John said he was not ought to be omitted tho written from the Spirit of the Lord as well as Fox's Mystery and proved to be so by the same Arguments that his was his inward sense and feeling he was sure of it and now to disown these words printed so long since and the Error never discovered nay so ost examin'd by the Court of Inquisition the second Day 's Meeting and never put into the Index Expurgatorius But why George should such an Expression as this be disown'd a poor harmless innocent Expression as he deems it for George cannot see a jot of Blasphemy in it tho he says that George Fox was he that John said he was not i. e. Christ himself Alas 't was only a little want of skill in Language for he Good Man was not skilful in Expression but meant well whatsoever he said Sure George thou hast a notable Horoscope to see into the Hearts of Men let their words be what they will but thou knowest we charge not their Meanings but their Words with Blasphemy and his Intention ought not to be considered as thou sayest it should if contrary to the plain import of his words Thou tellest us he was none of the most eminent or approv'd Quakers Come George never be ashamed of Prophet Eccles who was as zealous and self-denying a Disciple of Christ within George Fox as ever St. Matthew was of Christ without him for he forsook all every Fiddle he had and which was more than that holy Publican did by his all burnt them all to a Gittern or a Juice-tromp But saith Whitehead he could not intend the World was made by George Fox no 't was impossible being secur'd from such a Blasphemy by the Amulet of Infallibility But we wonder why it might not as well have secured him from blasphemous Words as Meanings But how comes it to pass that a Quaker cannot intend Blasphemy tho he speaks never so much tho he says he was the Christ the Person that John said he was not Come George never stand mumbling of Thistles any longer and chewing blasphemous Words so gingerly sometimes this way sometimes that but spit them out of thy Mouth as putid and stinking Blasphemy But alas what shall we do with our poor Infallibility in the mean time Why even leave her to shift for her self as poor people turn their Children out of doors a begging when they cannot maintain them any longer George Whitehead here plainly disowns Eccles's Infallibility and why may not we disown Fox's and Burroughs's yea and his Worship 's too God Almighty grant that they may all at last see what extravagancies they have been fool'd into by a bold pretence to it and in time flee out of that House whose chief Pillar begins to crack Edward Burroughs as the Brief Disc p. 5. returns an answer to this Question propounded to him by the Priest Is that very Man with that very Body within you yea or nay To which he answers The very Christ of God is within us we dare not deny him Whitehead says To instance this as a proof of 2 Cor. 13. 5. Blasphemy is to charge the Apostle with Blasphemy who saith Christ is in you But does
else besides Ink and Paper and if not Pen Ink and Paper they must be somewhat conveyed to our knowledg by them But he tells us they mean only our dead preaching and commenting on it so then God be thanked the Letter is alive again and 't is only our preaching and commenting on it is dead tho Fox in direct opposition to him says 't is the Letter is dead But let us a little expostulate with the two Georges herein Why are they not as bold and plain with their own Writings as they are with the Scriptures are they not Pen Ink and Paper as well as these or are the Ink and Paper of Fox and Burroughs's writing made of more lasting materials than our Bible How comes it to pass then that they are not Dust and Death and Serpents Meat as well as the Scriptures No they are all messengers from Heaven given from the Mouth of the Lord sealed with the Eternal Spirit What care is there to guard the honour of their own Writings see Snake in the Grass p. 102. To you this is the Word of the Lord says Fox every where of his Scribbles No no yours are not dead and killing Serpents Food they are all Manna Quail Honey and the Honey-Comb our Souls Nourishment as Coal said of Fox's Book a good stomach surely he had which could feed so savourly as some Africans are said to do upon Guts and Garbage nay on Snakes and Serpents In the mean time St. Paul's Scriptures are but Dust Husks Rottenness scarce Dogs-meat 'T is true of late they give the Scriptures better names but 't is their cunning Artifice very highly to complement and caress this Favorite of the People especially when they have some Act of Parliament to procure which may tend to their advantage and when their turn is served perhaps you may hear of them under their old Character and they may be as much Serpents Meat as ever That place 2 Cor. 3. 6. which they often quote to depreciate the Letter of Scripture by is understood of the Legal ceremonial Dispensation which the Apostles were not made Ministers of and in that place the Law is the Letter that killeth and the Gospel the Spirit which giveth Life as will appear plainly to them who attentively read the following Verses to the end of the Chapter Lawson's Brief Discovery p. 9. saith The Ministers are Babylon's Merchants selling beastly Ware for a large price the Letter which is Dust and Death A very high complement to the Ministers as if they were no better than a company of Pedlars that cheat the Country selling the excrements of Beasts cunningly drest up for choice Perfumes but our comfort is we fare as well as the Holy Scriptures for they are the beastly Ware we sell as follows the Letter which is Dust and Death Here George begins to open against the injustice and falshood of this Quotation saying the Quotation runs thus selling beastly Ware for a large Price all the week time heaping up a rabble of Notions into the Brain And there he stops as Balaam's Ass could be got no further for the Sword truth is had he gone any further he would have felt the point of it which was in these words the Letter which is Dust and Death so that beastly Ware relates not only to the rabble of Notions in our Brains but to the Letter also George says again This was never spoken of the Ministers without exception P. 20. l. 19. but of the false Ministers Geo. we thank thee for nothing we know who they are very well that are the false Ministers in your account even my Lord of Canterbury and all the Bishops and Priests of the Nation that take Tithes as Rob. Barclay that Antichristian apostatized Generation the National Ministry His Anarchy p. 41. And as Smith says They are the false Ministers which preach Christ without Primmer p. 8. so that all the Christian Ministry in the World are here rank'd as well as ours amongst a company of cheating Pedlars And when he says He excepts the Ministers that are not the false ones he excepts none but themselves Br. Discov p. 9. quotes Saul's Errand All that study to draw a living thing P. 7. out of a dead the Spirit out of the Letter are Conjurers neither is Fox alone His brief Discovery of the threesold state p. 7 8 9 10. for Lawson says the same The Priests of the World are Conjurers raising dead doctrines out of the Letter dead reasons dead uses dead motives We have proved before 't is not the Scripture as it is barely Ink and Paper but as containing a System of Doctrines necessary to be believed and practised for our Salvation which they profanely call a dead Letter which is yet that very salutary Letter the Spirit himself hath written to his Church Besides how can we or the Devil himself draw any Doctrines Reasons or Uses at all from Paper and Ink abstractly considered as G. says but from some doctrinal Propositions contained under those Letters and so there will be no such need to conjure to raise a living thing out of a living viz. the Word of Life or a spiritual Doctrine from the Spirit 's Letter yet thus all the Ministers of the Gospel from Christ's time to this day are villainously traduced by the yea and nay Men as a company of Magicians and Sorcerers that work by the Black Art that preach out of the Scriptures as out of a conjuring Book and no doubt those Wretches would not be much concerned to see them burnt with the rest of those Acts 19. 19. Books of Sorcery thereby to spoil the Priests trade of conjuring by them Here again G. upbraids us of partiality for leaving out some passages of Fox P. 20. l. 29. wherein he distinguishes between the Letter and the Light the Letter and the Spirit while by his good leave the Letter containing such Doctrines as abovesaid is the Light as David says the Spirit 's Epistle to us containing lively Directions in our way to Heaven the lively Oracles of God which are quick and powerful and therefore there needs no conjuring to raise Spiritual matter out of them As for what he adds ibid. Mic. 3. 11. that the Prophet prophesys against such Priests that preach for hire we can't imagin how it comes to be fetch'd in here unless it be a device to start another Subject before us about Tithes on purpose to divert us and draw us off from the pursuit of their Blasphemy only by the way we say our Tithes are no Hire neither did we ever hear that it was accounted Wages what was paid to a Man out of his own of that which was due Debt before * P. 9. l. 31. Brief Discovery quotes Truth 's †P. 101. defence saying 'T is dangerous to read the Scriptures which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles spoke forth freely G. Whitehead clamours hideously the Qotation is abused for
THE PRINCIPLES OF THE QUAKERS Further shewn to be Blasphemous and Seditious In a REPLY to GEO. WHITEHEAD'S Answer to the Brief Discovery Stiled Truth and Innocency Vindicated BY EDWARD BECKHAM D. D. Rector of Gayton-Thorpe HENRY MERITON M. A. Rector of Oxborough LANCASTER TOPCLIFFE LL. B. sometimes Senior Fellow of Gonvil and Caius College in Cambridg now Rector of Hockwold Norfolk LONDON Printed for Brabazon Aylmer at the Three Pigeons against the Royal Exchange in Cornhil 1700. To the honble Sir JACOB ASTLEY Knight and Baronet and Sir WILLIAM COOK Baronet Members of this present Parliament for the County of Norfolk GENTLEMEN YOUR known Love to our Church and Loyalty to your Prince render you deservedly esteemed by all that have a value for each and was our encouragement to shelter the following Papers under your Names We are forced in a Christian Country Quis temper at à lachrymis to contest for Christianity and appear Advocates for our Antient and English Government against a sort of Men who are risen against the Lord The Apostles preached Christ that was crucified within and not another for the other is the Antichrist Now I say if there be any other Christ but he that was crucified within he is the false Christ Geo. Fox ' s Great Myst p. 205. Do you read that there were any Kings since the days of the Apostles but among the Apostate Christians We know that these Kings are the Spiritual Egyptians got up since the days of the Apostles Geo. Fox in his several Papers given forth c. See Brief Discovery p. 16. The Priests of the World are Conjurers Thieves and Robbers Antichrists Witches Devils Scarlet-coloured Beasts really they are Blood-hounds says Geo. Fox See Pennyman ' s Quakers Contradictions p. 3. Sect. 7. And Richard Crane stiles them Antichrists Deceivers Sorcerers ravening Wolves and Babylons Merchants See Will. Mather's Appendix to his Answer to the Switch p. 10 11. and his Anointed reproaching them both as Antichristian As for the Ministers of Christ they upon all Occasions have been sufficiently reviled by them and we doubt not but 't was spoken by way of Contempt when George Whitehead at every turn calls us Priests and in his Title Page stiles us the Three Norfolk Priests he very well knowing that the common People have an ill apprehension of the Word tho very honourable and worthy in it self and of great esteem in the first and Primitive days For who can deny says a most Learned * Mr. Jos Mede l. 1. Disc 5. p. 27. Man of our own that the word Priest is corrupted of Presbyter our Ancestors the Saxons first using Preoster whence by a farther contraction came Preste and Priest the High and Low Dutch have Priester the French Prestre the Italian Prete but the Spaniard only speaks full Presbytero A Name which those two great Apostles of our Lord St. Pet. 5. 1. 2 d and 3 d Epist of St. John v. 1. Peter and St. John were pleased to call themselves by and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies both in our Holy Books and amongst the Greek Cor. 5. 20. Ephes 6. 20. See Scapula Steph. Thes Writers to perform the Office of an Embassador and sure both the Name and the Persons were in great esteem with the Christians of the best and earliest Times Epist ad Smyrn p. 6 9. ad Ephes p. 19. ad Magnes p. 31 33. ad Phil. p. 43. ad Trall p. 48 50 53. Edit Voss whenas Ignatius scarce wrote an Epistle wherein he gave not some Marks of Honour to them stiling them the Council of God charging the People to reverence and obey them as the Apostles and in holy things to do nothing without theirs and their Bishops Advice But had the Word been a stile of Reproach we should have worn it as our Crown since it was for vindicating the great Truths of the Gospel and discovering the Blasphemies of those who would introduce another for when our Saviour was so coarsly used yea blasphemed by a new Race of Scribes and Pharisees should his Disciples as St. Peter stand a far off whilst they buffet and spit upon him that were in construction to deny him or at least to say we know not the Man how could we but with the Lydian Prince who tho dumb before broke silence when he saw his Father ready to be assassinated cry out ' t is our Saviour and our holy Books the Scriptures Oh! do not vilify and blaspheme them God knows we wou'd not imitate St. Peter's rashness no more than his cowardice draw a sword to cut off an Ear no not so much as an Hair of their Heads our hearts desire is with holy Paul that they may be saved that they may own their Blasphemies and repent of them if it be posiible for Infallibility or Perfection to acknowledg Sin or Error and that they would take the Advice of a great tho Heathen Woman Mat. 27. 19. to meddle no more so wickedly and blasphemously with the Holy Jesus We know it has been the usage of many to turn their Dedications into Panegyricks on their Patrons and sometimes deservedly too great Merits calling for just Acknowledgments as a due return and to encourage others to become imitators of them but tho your Worth would afford us a large Field to expatiate in your Modesty forbids our very entrance upon it since to do you justice Ignat. Epist ad Trall p. 49. Edit Voss herein would we are sure render you very uneasy like the holy Martyr who underwent a Penance when he heard himself commended Gentlemen You had our Votes and you shall not want our Prayers That God would by his Grace establish you in all Goodness and continue you whilst in this Station the true Representatives of the best and worthiest part of your Country in a just Zeal for the Established Religion and a ready support of the Antient Government of our Church and State which is the only way wherein we can manifest our selves May 10. 1700. Your most affectionate most humble and devoted Servants EDWARD BECKHAM HENRY MERITON LANCASTER TOPCLIFFE A PREFACE To the Judicious and Impartial Reader THE Piece lately put forth by George Whitehead called Truth and Innocency Vindicated might more properly have been stiled Blasphemy and Sedition palliated We acknowledg the Charge which the Brief Discovery gave was high and home and could not but affect them deeply and therefore some Paint and artificial Colours must be procured to render their Doctrines at least tolerable in the Eyes of the World which how far they have done the Reader will easily discern by the following Reply 'T was hop'd after we had given so many clear Instances out of their approved Authors of several blasphemous and seditious Principles maintained by them that either the Citations would have been evidenc'd to be false and forged or the Authors disown'd as to these Particulars at least and so the Doctrines being pernicious
for Conscience sake out of regard to the Command of your Lord and Master Christ who have made Obedience to Magistrates a part of his Religion and therefore herein they rebel not only against the Law of the Land but against the Law of Jesus whom they pretend to be their King and only Ruler But King and Parliament can make no Collars for the Necks of Quakers they are established contrary to all Men and to any outward Authority they cannot seek but to the Lord alone though now they can creep and cringe to Parliaments as well as any other The next Citation is from George Fox who p. 31 of his Great Mystery saith That the Quakers are in the Power of God and in the Authority of the Lamb above all Houses and into Houses creep nor but are upon the Throne Not standing about the Throne as Angels do those daily Attendants on the King of Glory but they are upon the Throne as well as Christ and who knows but ere long they may croud him out and reign alone But this saith George Whitehead “ is no doubt meant Spiritually not Literally Then the Sense must be this they are above all Spiritual Houses and into Spiritual Houses creep not for they are upon a Spiritual Throne for otherwise their being upon a Spiritual Throne can be no reason why they should not creep into Material Houses for all Quakers as Whitehead here owns are upon a Spiritual Throne and yet can nestle into these Material Houses and some very fine ones too We are therefore afraid George thy Brother Fox had a farther design even at these Material and Earthly Thrones But says Whitehead p. 29. l. 9. He must mean Spiritually for they are not upon an Outward Throne No God be thanked for it but Burroughes in a Declaration tells us They are the right Heirs to it 't is their Right of Inheritance they are Kings de See the Declaration in the Brief Discovery p. 22. Jure though not de Facto 't is their Heirship to possess the utmost parts of the Earth and doubt not ere long to tumble down the Usurpers out of their Thrones though at present they must bear 'T is true the Scriptures every where encourage the Servants of God to persevere in their Christian Course with the hopes of a Crown and Kingdom but the time of their Reign is not yet come they are not already upon the Throne but Quakers it seems are and therefore it must be a different one from that promised by God hereafter to the Saints As an evidence of the truth of what George Fox said Whitehead quotes Job 36. 7. with Kings are they viz. the Righteous on the Throne and are exalted but George's are Kings upon a Spiritual Throne and is not this Text then cited very pertinently to prove Quakers upon a Spiritual Throne The truth is they cannot stay for the promised Kingdom after Death Kings they must be presently and a Throne they must now possess but whether Eternal Spiritual Material or Figurative they know not so * His Letter is at the end of the Snake Coale tells George Fox He was a King and ruled in Righteousness and of his Kingdom there was no end But Eâ—ihu going upon this Principle That God could not be so severe to them that were dear to him insinuates that Job must be a Hypocrite for God uses to exalt his Friends and true Servants unto Thrones and not throw them upon Dunghils he makes them even Companions for Kings and by way of Hyperbole says they set them upon the Throne with them the expression is Figurative for 't is not said they are Kings upon the Throne but on the Throne with Kings meaning in short no more than what 's express'd in the close of the verse they are exalted and honoured even by Kings though we do not remember Quakers ever so honoured by any save by the late King some of them being admitted though not to sit with him on 's Throne yet in his Closet and lean too much on his Bosom Brief Discovery p. 15. quotes Truth defending the Quakers p. 9 10. wrote by Whitehead and George Fox Jun. who being ask'd whether they did not say That the Magistrate who made Acts of Parliament and doth not receive them from God as Moses doth act contrary to the Law of God They answered The Magistrate that is sent of God he receives the Law from the Mouth of God and he is the Prophet whom Moses spoke of Deut. 18. 58. An Answer notoriously shuffling The Question being whether the Magistrate that is sent of God receives the Law from God as Moses The answer is if sent of God he receives the Law from the Mouth of God but does not say as Moses No doubt thou wer 't sensible George that the Laws of Magistrates are not accompanied with those Appearances of Terrour and Amazement which Moses's Laws were and therefore as Moses must be drop'd Well George we will abate thee the thick Cloud the Thunder and Lightning the Smoak and the Tempest Exod. 19. with which Moses's Law was attended Must every Law of the Magistrate be from the Mouth of the Lord as Moses's was or else he that made it is not sent of God then every Law of the Magistrates even that for burying in Woollen may be prefac'd God spake these Words as well as the Ten Commandments or else the Magistrates that make them are not sent of God And thâ—â— all the Magistrates in the World are exaucthorated by a dash of Whitehead's Pen who made Laws which came not from the Mouth of God as the Ten Commandments did Our Magna Charta and other Statute Laws may oblige us surely to Obedience tho not of equal Authority to our Bibles But Whitehead complains the last Words are mis-quoted instead of he is the Prophet it should be he hears the Prophet whom Moses spoke of We had the Book it self when we wrote the Quotation tho now it be out of our hands and can't but wonder that three of us together should be so dimsighted as not to discern he is from he hears Howsoever George the Objection we make is thou seest strong enough without any support from that Passage We desire therefore thy clear and positive Answer whether the Magistrate be sent of God who makes Laws and yet does not receive them from God as Moses This is what was objected against thee and thy Companion Fox Jun. that you had affirmed formerly and tho Friends may be satisfied yet do not believe that wise Men will think thou hast conquered the Objection as the French use to conquer our Fleet by running away from it There is a bloody Charge laid against George Fox in the Brief Discovery p. 16. where out of his Book called several Papers given forth to Presbyterians c. just before the Restoration of King Charles II. these Passages are cited Friends to all you that desire an Earthly King in England c.