then impose it on all the Meetings in these Three Provinces when most of the Friends thereof are great Strangers to the Matter in Controversie not knowing which Party is in the right but they must take the said Judgment upon trust from them without enquiring into the Cause and Verity thereof and where they think their said Judgment will not readily be swallowed down they will follow it from Meeting to Meeting clothed with their Magistratical Robes and if any Friends shew their dislike of having it imposed on them without their own consent and consideration of the matter presently threaten to bind them to the good Behaviour and to the Peace and call out for a Constable thereby endeavouring to trample us down by their Magistratical Power and Authority as Samuel Jenings Sam. Richardson Thomas Lloyd John Delavall and Anthony Morris did lately at a Monthly Meeting near Frankford as is well known to many Oh! whither do you think these things will run Will it not give People just cause to say The Quakers are turned Persecutors but our Trust and Confidence is in the Lord alone who hitherto has pleaded the Cause of the Innocent and carried his People through all the Powers and Oppositions that have hitherto risen up against them in all Ages and we doubt not but he will do the same for us as we keep faithful to him and to the Guidance of his Holy Spirit Light and Life in our Hearts But are these your Proceedings Christian or Protestant-like Or do they not rather relish of rank Popery for the Clergy or them of the Ministry to impose their Edicts on the People without their enquiring into the matter Is not this blind Obedience Is not this believing as the Church believes in order to bring in Ignorance the Mother of Devotion Oh! who but ignorant and blind Men but can see these things And yet now will ye stand in them O ye Unjust Judges will ye not be willing to answer our just Complaint for a Hearing Will you come short of the Justice of the Baptists who admitted of another Meeting for a Hearing But perhaps you will say The Act of that Meeting was Infallible being made up of such a Body of the Ministry as Arthur Cook said lately in the House of G. K. That a Yearly Meeting could not err But we desire to hope that some of you will better consider of it and answer our just Complaint and not lurk in Holes and Corners but come openly and defend your selves and repent of the Error and false Doctrine you have run into and let a Time and Place be appointed and agreed on by both Parties for a Publick Hearing If you have Truth and Justice on your side come forth and let it appear before the World and say not That such and such things are false but prove them to be so and bring things to the light and let not Christ's words be fulfilled on you viz. You hate the Light because your Deeds are evil c. Say not that we are bold and daring thus to challenge you for it 's not writ in a presumptuous Spirit as relying on our own Strength or Parts but on the Lord alone on whom is our Dependance and who knows the Innocency of our Cause and therefore we are not afraid to bring it to the Test but willing to appear openly as hitherto we have done in Print and not as your Practice is to report false things secretly abroad which we know not whom to fasten upon but what we publish in Print remains to be the Author's whether true or false If false why don't you refute it the Press is free and open for you as for any But the matter in our late Printed Books is true and stands over your Heads and which you will never be able to refute But next let us enquire What have you condemned G. K. for Some of you say Partly for matter of Doctrine and partly for hard Words But as for Doctrine you have not mentioned what it is and as for the hard Names you mention it is made appear in The Plea of the Innocent c. that they were justly given by G. K. to them that deserved the same But have his Opposers given no hard Names no unjust and false Reflections Yea many But why only then must G. K. be condemned and not they also who have given hard Words and false Names to G. K. When G. K. complained against them for not giving Judgment against W. Stockdale's Blasphemy Samuel Jenings could excuse it by bringing the Example and Practice of worldly Courts saying George thou hast reviled thy Brethren and in Court we allow of Discount So that according to S. Jenings W. Stockdale's Blasphemy must be discounted against G. K.'s reviling his Brethren as they account it but can never prove But if Discount be allowable in this case why are not G. K.'s hard words discounted against those that have been given to him so far as they will reach And that it may appear what hard Names have been given we think fit here to mention viz. They say G. K. has called them 1. Fools 2. Ignorant Heathens 3. Infidels 4. Silly Souls 5. Lyars 6. Hereticks 7. Rotten Ranters 8. Muggletonians They of the other side have called G. K. 1. Brat of Babylon 2. Accuser of the Brethren 3. Apostate 4. Worse than Prophane 5. A Troubler of the Church 6. A Person that no one could have difference with but he was in danger of the Life of his Soul 7. A Preacher of two Christs 8. A Teller of an old St. Andrew 's Story 9. Pope 10. Father Confessor 11. Lyar. 12. Devil 13. Muggletonian 14. Compared him to a Wolf Tyger c. 15. One that always endeavoured to keep down the Power of Truth 16. A more vexatious Adversary than Hicks Faldo Scanderet or the worst of Enemies 17. One that is fallen upon the soaring Mountains c. 18. As a Man slain 19. Become treacherous to the Spouse of his Youth 20. Fallen from his first Love 21. Gone into a Spirit of Enmity Wrath Self-Exaltation Contention c. 22. Foaming out his own Shame 23. A Person without the Fear of God before his Eyes 24. Letting loose the Reins to an extravagant Tongue 25. Broken out into many ungodly Speeches railing Accusations passionate Threatnings being Cruel c. like an unwearied Adversary With many more that can be proved Now let the impartial Reader judge which have exceeded in hard Words and whether they are not very partial to pass by all that hath been said against G. K. and condemn him for what he hath spoke in its right place as is made appear in the Book called The Plea of the Innocent And yet when G. K. was the Complainer for many Months for Justice to be done to Truth they could plead for Discount and put Blasphemy against Christ Jesus in the Ballance against Reflections upon themselves and yet now will not discount for hard Words
Tryal before you And let these particular things be discoursed of and come to a Publick Hearing and Tryal at the said Meeting and what other things they and we shall agree to viz. 1. Whether George Keith hath been proved guilty by these Twenty eight Men his Accusers of reviling ungodly Speeches and false Accusations Or whether he hath given Names to any of them as alledged in their Paper that they did not deserve and did not belong to them And whether it be not false that they say This Meeting having tenderly and orderly dealt with him 2. Whether they who have signed that Paper against him are not guilty of giving him Names that did not belong to him but may be justly accounted Names of reviling ungodly Speeches and false Accusations And whether Samuel Jenings particularly is not greatly to be blamed for calling G. K. Worse than Prophane and Apostate seeing we know not wherein G. K. is in any one particular gone from Friends Doctrine or Practice or what thing or things he is guilty of so as to be worthy of having his Ministry denied 3. Whether it cannot be proved that that Faction which have sufficiently shewn their opposition and prejudice against G. K. and have signed to that Paper against him are guilty of cloaking more damnable Heresies and Errors than any Protestant Society in Christendom while it can be proved against them that they have not only cloaked W. Stockdale for above Eighteen Months in saying To preach Faith in Christ within and in Christ without is to preach Two Christs and Tho. Fitzwater in saying The Light is sufficient without any thing else and that he owned no Man Christ Jesus as Mediator in Heaven but the Grace of God within him and saying in his Prayer O God that dy'd in us and laid down thy Life in us c. and saying That he had not learned that Lesson whether the Godhead was crucified on the Tree of the Cross or somewhat that he took of the Virgin c. But they have cloaked divers other Persons in their vile and gross Errors as can be sufficiently proved and particularly Sam. Jenings in saying To do our own Business as Men we needed not a supernatural Power And Tho. Lloyd in arguing some hours That we might be Christians good enough without the Faith of Christ as he died for our sins and rose again without us And Arthur Cook and J. Simcock in their charging G.K. for imposing Novelties upon them when he affirmed Christ was in Heaven in the same Body for being in which he suffered and J. Simcock denied that Christ rose in the same Body in which he suffered And Rob. Young in saying That he read not in all the Scriptures of Christ without and Christ within and that Christ was separated from his Body in the Cloud And Rob. Owen and Will. Southbe in denying any general Day of Judgment and the Resurrection of the Dead but only what every one witnessed within here Whether these with many more that can be proved were not cause enough for G.K. to say More damnable Heresies and Errors were cloaked among the Quakers here than in any Protestant Society in Christendom 4. Seeing their Paper signed by the Twenty eight mentioneth a main Matter of Controversie betwixt G. K. and them which they say they proffered to refer to one of his own Books or to the Yearly Meeting here or to the Yearly Meeting at London let them shew what that main Matter of Controversie is and wherein his present Doctrine doth contradict any of his former Books which he saith they can never prove 5. Whether the Act of the Monthly Meeting at Philadelphia the 26th of the Third Month 1692 is according to Christian Doctrine That the Light is sufficient without any thing else thereby excluding the Man Christ Jesus without us and his Death and Sufferings Resurrection Ascention Mediation and Intercession for us in Heaven from having any part or share in our Salvation and thereby making him only a titular but no real Saviour as one zealous for that side lately called the Difference betwixt them and us concerning Christ An empty Barrel and another great Zealot said He did not believe to be saved by that which died at Jerusalem 6. Whether it be necessary to our Salvation to believe That Christ died for our sins without us and rose again and is gone into Heaven without us and there doth make Intercession for us And whether it doth not belong to sound Christian Doctrine to believe That Christ will come without us in his glorified Body to judge the Quick and the Dead and that there shall be a general Day of Judgment and that there is a Resurrection of the Dead to be that the deceased Saints have not yet attained generally but wait for it until Christ's coming And whether there is not to be a Resurrection of the Body that is not the Resurrection or Quickning of the Soul only as some falsly imagine Let them clear themselves in these things they having given us just cause to suspect them Unbelievers therein 7. Whether every true Christian is not taught and led to believe in the Power and Spirit of Christ and his Light and Life inwardly revealed and by the help of the said measure to believe in him who hath the fulness even the Man Christ Jesus without us glorified in Heaven And whether by true Faith in the Man Christ Jesus without us as it is wrought by the Measure of the Spirit and Light of Christ in us we receive not a daily supply and increase of more Grace Light and Life and a further Measure of the Spirit from the Man Christ Jesus And whether they who have not this Faith in the Man Christ Jesus without them are worthy to bear the honourable Name of Christians 8. Whether it is not a great and necessary part of Christian Doctrine necessary to be preached in order to bring People to an inward knowledge and enjoyment of God and Christ and the Holy Spirit to Preach Faith in Christ without us even the Man Christ Jesus as he died for our sins and rose again and is ascended into Heaven and there maketh Intercession for us as well as Faith in Christ in us as he doth inwardly enlighten us And whether it can be said that the Man Christ Jesus is in us otherwise than by a figurative Speech of giving the Name of the whole to the measure or part as when the Sun is said to be in such a House the fulness of the Sun's Light is only in the Body of the Sun and but a Stream of Light cometh from the Sun into the House 9. Whether the said Twenty eight Persons had not done much better to have passed Judgment against some of their Brethren at Philadelphia some of themselves being guilty for countenancing and allowing some call'd Quakers and owning them in so doing to hire Men to fight and giving them a Commission so to do signed by
to the Work of the Gospel as degenerating thereby from the Guidance of God's blessed and peaceable Spirit in their Hearts from whence proceeds the effectual New Testament Ministry and being turned from the peaceable Fruits thereof are gone to Uncharity and Contention And now all you who have walked in Fellowship and Communion with us and are drawn aside through Inconsideration or otherwise into this Spirit of Separation and Prejudice against our Meetings orderly established and wherein we have been often and mutually refresht together we cannot but in the fear of God and in love to your Souls admonish you also of the Insecurity of your present State and that therein we cannot have Unity with you and unless you return from under that Spirit Dryness and Barrenness from the Lord will be your Reward And so dear Friends we exhort you all to behave your selves in the Spirit of Meekness and peaceable Truth upon all occasions but more especially upon any Discourse or Conference with any of them who are discontented among you or started aside from you and avoid all Heats and Contentions in Matters of Faith and Worship and let not the Salt of the Covenant be wanting in your Words and Actions for thereby the Savour of your Conversation will reach the Witness of God in them The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all Amen Given forth by the Meeting of Publick Friends in Philadelphia the 20th of the 4th Month 1692. Samuel Jenings John Delavall William Yardly Joseph Kerckbridge Walter Faucet Hugh Roberts Robert Owen William Walker John Lynam George Gray John Symcock Griffith Owen John Bown Henry Willis Paul Saunders John Blunston William Cooper Thomas Thackray William Byles Thomas Loyd John Willsford Nicholas Walln William Watson George Maris Thomas Ducket Joshua Fearne Evan Morris Richard Walter Here follows Two Answers to the said Judgments To all faithful Friends in Pensilvania East and West-Jarsey and to all every-where else in all parts of the World to whose Hands this may come The Salutation of Love WE in behalf of our selves and many Brethren who are falsly called the Separate Meeting at Philadelphia having taken into our serious and weighty Consideration Three several Papers given forth by them of the opposite side who have opposed us and continue to oppose us in our present Testimony to the Truth of Christ and his blessed Gospel and Doctrine viz. The first given forth by the Monthly Meeting of the opposite side the 20th of the 3d Month 1692 wherein they clear T. Fitzwater of his falsly accusing G. K. for denying the sufficiency of the Light saying expresly in their said Paper That Four credible Witnesses giving their Testimony That they heard G. K. say He did not believe the Light was sufficient without somewhat else the Meeting saw no reason to give Judgment against T. Fitzwater in this particular the said Thomas condemning the rash Spirit that he spoke these Words in though the Charge in itself was true And G. K. having both at Quarterly and Monthly Meeting preceding sufficiently proved and which was confessed by T. Lloyd as the Mouth of these Meetings That by that somewhat else G. K. had frequently declared he did not mean Humane Learning nor the Scriptures nor outward Preaching altho' the Scriptures and outward Preaching are instrumental in God's ordinary way of working together with the inward Operation of the Spirit to Mens Salvation as absolutely necessary but the Man Christ Jesus and what he did and suffered for us on Earth and what he now doth for us in Heaven and the fulness that dwelleth in him By which it plainly appeareth the said Monthly Meeting hath excluded the Man Christ Jesus our blessed Mediator and Saviour from having any part or concern in our Salvation and therefore we do unanimously and with one Heart judge and condemn their false Judgment in clearing Tho. Fitzwater that hath this tendency not only to condemn G. K. for his sound Christian Doctrine but is a plain denyal of the Man Christ Jesus and the great Merits and Value and Efficacy of his Suffering Death Resurrection and Ascension and his Mediation for us in Heaven All which are somewhat else than the People called Quakers commonly understand by the Light to wit the Light in every Man's Conscience And by this rash and inconsiderate Act of their Monthly Meeting proceeding from great Ignorance Error and Unbelief in them they have sufficiently declared themselves to be no true Believers in the Man Christ Jesus and therefore No Christians and for this cause we cannot own them to be our Christian Brethren nor joyn with them in any Religious Worship until they condemn themselves for the said Act and give us some Evidence of their unfeigned Repentance and sincere Faith by their open Confession and Declaration of the Truth of Christ which now they have denied The Second Paper is given forth by a Meeting of these called Friends of the Ministry signed by Sam. Jenings as Clerk of the said Meeting wherein they give too partial and defective Judgment against William Stockdale not blaming him for any Offence to God or Christ nor convicting him for his Sin of Blasphemy whereof he was guilty in charging G. K. for preaching Two Christs because he preach'd Faith in Christ within and in Christ without us wherein he plainly denied Faith in Christ without us that we judge Blasphemy against the Son of Man Also the said Meeting hath falsly judged and blamed G. K. for calling W. S. an ignorant Heathen for seeing he denied Faith in Christ without us we judge it was his proper Name and he was not worthy to be accounted in the Truth having discovered his so great Ignorance and Unbelief in one of the great Fundamenals of the Christian Faith Also they falsly accuse G. K. for not giving W. S. Gospel Order whereas upon due Examination we find that he had given him sufficient Gospel Order The Third Paper is signed by Samuel Jenings John Simcock Thomas Lloyd and others in Number 28 all pretended Preachers wherein they have passed a most false Judgment against G. K. for his sound Christian Doctrine and Godly Zeal in sharply reproving gross Antichristian Errors that he had detected them guilty of partly by the open Confession of some and partly by the Connivance of others and seeking to cloak and cover and defend the Guilty and the said Three Papers and the Matter contained in them being sufficiently answered in a late Book called The Plea of the Innocent c. which we having read and well considered do approve of and allow to be given forth by our unanimous Consent and Approbation the particular things in matter of Fact therein contained being all known to some of us and the most principal to most of us And we of this Meeting deliver it as our unanimous Judgment that all these who have given Judgment in the said Three Papers above-mentioned have given a false Judgment in them against the Truth