nos hodie à Romano Pontifice sine ulla satis justa causa secessionem fecisse priscorum Patrum veterum conciliorum anctoritatem pronihilo putare Caeremonias antiquas à patribus proavis nostris multis jam Seculis bonis moribus melioribus temporis approbatus temerè insolenter abrogasse nostra tantum privata anctoritate injussu sacri Ocumenici consilii novos in Ecclesiam ritus invexisse atque ista nos omnia non Religionis causa sed contention is tantùm studio fecisse Se autem nihil prorsus immutasse omnia vero ut ab Apostolis tradita ab antiquissimis Patribus approbata fuerint ad hunc usque diem per tot secula retinuisse They cry every where this day We are all Hereticks departed from the Faith have rent the Vnity of the Church with now and ungodly Tents that we have Revived and Restored the old Damned Heresies have sown new and unheard of Sects and Madnesses and are already broke into Factions and Divisions nor by any agreement can never be united among our selves Impious Men of monstrous Manners making War against God and living without all Worship and Fear of the Godhead That we despised every right Way and used no Virtuous Discipline nor loved either Laws Manners Religion Right or Equity but let loose the Rein to all manner of Wickedness and Provoked the People to every kind of Licentiousness and Lust and sought and did this that the State of Kingdoms and Monarchies might be over-turned and reduced under the Rule of the Rash and Vnskilful Multitude That we have Tumultuously Separated from the Catholick Church and have shook the Earth with a Nefarious Schism and have troubled the common Peace and Quiet of the Church and as Dathan and Abiram from Aaron and Num. 16. Moses so we this day from the High Priest have made separation without any cause sufficiently just That we account for nothing the Authority of the Ancient Fathers and Old Counsels that we have rashly and insolently Abrogated the Ancient Ceremonies and Good Manners which by or Fathers and Fore-fathers for many Ages were Approved and only by our private Authority have brought new Rites into the Church no Holy and Ocumenick Counsel Commanding and that we have done all these things not for the cause of Religion but only in a Study of Contention But that she is not all changed but that all things as delivered by the Apostles and as they have been Approved by the Ancient Fathers do through so many Ages remain to this very day This with much more in the Apology is said to have been the Charge of Rome and yet I do not doubt but this Man will readily discharge Her from these these alledged Crimes Hence we may have at least this Consolation That we are not therefore Villanously Criminal because Villanously Charged and to shew that we are not so there hath been already Published an Answer to that Venomous Piece of Villanny The Snake in the Grass wherein is also ome notice taken and answer made to some noted Passages in two other Scandalous Pamphlets one Entituled Satan Disrob'd c. and the other A Discourse for Water-Baptism c. which Answer is Entituled An Antidote against the Venom of the Snake c. by George Whitehead in which Answer is a Discovery of the Falsity and Envy of this Loose Charger But as to what is here advanced being what he says he Promised upon this Subject in hopes that the Quakers seeing the Prim. Her P1 .. original of their Errors may bethink themselves and return from whence they have fallen I do tell him that whatsoever his Promise was his Performance is very bad because what he assigns for Original Errors are but his Coppied Fasitiâ—s upon us having been Charged by our Enemies many Years past and therefore we are very far from returning to Communion with one whose Fellowship is with the Father of Lies As to the Oral Traditive Faith by which he would Confirm Baptism tho' said to be learned within 150 Years after Christ it is what will not do it for the same Antiquity and pretended Authority may be brought for Mistakes more noted But besides Faith is the Gift of God to whom we must look for it and not to the Mouths of Men Indeed if he can absolutely determine the question by the Scriptures the Work is done and then there is no need of any doubtful help but if not it will not avail tho' he bring many Clouds of such Witnesses in the latter Ages and the Reason is plain because Scripture is what he calls his Rule not to be tried by them but they by it and if found contradictory thereto our Dissent cannot be Criminal And notwithstanding he calls this A Cavil we learned from Elder Dissenters we are not afraid to stand by it and therefore pay little Reverence to those nor any thing not purely Apostolical Here he says The late Representations of Quakerism hath given it quite another Turn and Face than it ever had before if he had added Ibid. p. 2. that he knew of it had shewn some Modesty but since he has shewn none I will tell him he is Dogmatically False for our Principles are now no other than what they were when we were first a People for Truth changes not and this I hope will appear beyond Contradiction from the many Quotations I shall have occasion to bring in out of many of our former and latter Books so that the Ground of what he calls our Schism and which I say is our just Dissent will consequently appear as large as before He says He hopes our Conversion is nigh or if already Converted our full Reconciliation to the Church He should have told us what Church he meanes for if he means into Communion with himself that is Scandalous to say no worse at present if he means to the Church of England I cannot think she would send a Rebellious Son to call us And here I will take opportunity to Confute a Lying Boast I have heard and which is favoured by what himself hath said above viz. He hath brought over a great many from Us I know not nor cannot hear and I have inquired of one Silly Quaker who is yet so Ignorant as to go from our Allowed Meetings to his Unallowed One And therefore when this his pretended Service is urged as an Argument for his Attonement and Reconciliation I can assure them the Argument is False and there is great Reason it should for God advances not Truth by Piè fraudes much less Impié fraudes He changes Stile and now Fawns calling W. Penn The Valuable Mr. Penn. At the end of his Book he changes again and would there Insinuate This his now Valuable Mr. Penn to be there very weak of which in its place I shall here a little interrupt the Thread of my Discourse upon this Pamphlet of Primitive Heresie c. and bestow a few Words
Primitive Christianity CONTINUED IN THE Faith and Practice Of the PEOPLE called QUAKERS BEING IN ANSVVER To a Pamphlet Entituled Primitive Heresie c. And which may serve as an Appendix to a Book Entituled An Antidote against the Venom of the Snake in the Grass by George Whitehead Joseph Wyeth Prov. 24. 8. He that Deviseth to do Evil shall be called a Mischievous Person Psal 140. 3. They have sharpened their Tongues like a Serpent Adders Poison is under their Lips Selah London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next Door to the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Gracieus-street and at the Bible in Leaden-hall-street near the Market 1698. THE PREFACE Friendly Reader THE Ensuing Leaves which contain our Vindication against the Black Attempts of a Necessitous and Malicious Priest in a Piece of his Emtituled Primitive Heresie c. are Commended to thy Perusal wherein thou wilt see the Consonancy and Constancy of our Principles to the Holy Scriptures Asserted in Opposition to the Charges of Heresie and New Representation by him Falsly but not first laid For it hath often been the Practice of our Adversaries when we have brought forth our True Testimonies to say our Representation was New But as this Man seems to Love Controversie in Opposition to Peace and Quiet because he may find his Bread or Base Ends supplied by the Contest and to make use of False Glosses to Colour the Pretended Occasion So I Esteem it a Duty to wipe off the Dirt he hath flung at us herein for which though I have none of his mean Profits yet I can assure thee Reader I have Satisfaction in so doing The Method I have herein taken is this I have from the Year 55. or there about brought in a Succession divers Testimonies against the Particular Charges which do at once shew that what we now Profess is no other than what we did The Quotations all speak the Minds of the Persons whose Names they bear I say this because those Quotations of our Friends which this Man brings does not nor can after the Barbarity he hath used toward them of which I have herein given divers Instances I need Preface no further than to Acquaint thee that as the Author Stiles himself from the Snake in the Grass I also have frequently Stiled him so not being willing to Abridge him a Title of his own choosing which fitly Expresses the Workings of that Deceit which was first began by the great Enemy of Man the Devil from whose Temptations and all Deceit howsoever working The Spirit of Truth which comes by Jesus Christ can only be thy Safe Guide To this thou art in all Sincerity Commended THE CONTENTS I. THE Incarnation of Christ that is the Vnion of the Divine and Humane Natures in his being made Flesh Asserted and Believed p. 12 II. The Truth and Reality of his Death and Sufferings Asserted and Believed p. 19 III. The Resurrection and Future Judgment Believed and Testified to p. 25 IV. Baptism and the Supper spoken to p. 32. Marriage owned and Fornication Preached down and denied p. 39 V. Magistracy and Government owned p. 46 No Stiffness in not taking off Hats Civility acknowledged to all p. 48 The Conclusion p. 49 Misrepresentation fixed p. 51 Our Ancient Belief no Modern Representation p. 53 Expostulation with W. Penn Considered ibid. Primitive Christianity CONTINUED c. SECT I. LOVE to Truth not Controversie hath drawn this from me for from a well-grounded Satisfaction Knowledge and Belief according to my measure in the Manifested Principles of True Religion I could with more ease have been pleased to Injoy that quiet which results from the Practice of them and which it hath Pleased the Government to allow to Persons quictly tho' differently Opining To the Disturbance of the Quiet thus allowed there hath of late appeared an Expulsed Clergy-man boasting himself to be some great one and indeed in all the Qualities of Venom Slander and Abuse he is so his first for what I know Libel against us The Snake in the Grass shews this and this he makes the Epoch of his Scandalous Practice in his succeeding Scurrilous Pamphlets which his Sculking Leisure and Malice Furnishes him with Opportunity to multiply for from being an Expulsed Priest he makes it a Trade for Bread and in part to repair those Losses which he charges the present Establishment to have brought upon him What he says of himself is That he Fights for his Soul the Joy and Vnion of Christendom the Honour of Religion and Pri. Her p. 20. the Glory of God But upon better Information this appears to be False and that he seeks nothing less than those good things he speaks of but to varnish ill Attempts with Specious Titles and the Confusion of a Church and Nation with a Prayer Dis Shewing who they are that are now qualified c. p. 33. for a Removal of High Places is no new thing But to come more parcularly to his Out-rage against us He is pleased to Charge us with Follies Crimes Errors and Heresies of very many sorts and herein hath gone so far that I think there are few that know and impartially consider us but know that it is False though Attested Verbo sacerdotis in the disguise of a Snake c. It is true it is no new thing for particular Persons or Communities of Men to be Charged with Blackest Crimes Greatest Errors Schisms and Heresies An Instance of this kind and which comes to our present purpose is seen in the Apology of the Church of England for her separation from Rome in the Fifth Article there is numbred up some of the Crimes which were Charged upon her the Article it self follows Clamant hodie passim nos omnes esse haereticos disccssisse à side novis persuasionibus atque impiis dogmatis Ecclesiae causam dissipavisse nos veteres jam Doctrina Politia Ecclesiae Anglicanae c. p. 3. Ar. 5. olim Damnatas Haereses ab inferis redivivas restituere novas sectas inauditos furores disseminare jam etiam in contrarias factiones sententias distractos esse nec ullo pacto potuisse unquam inter nos ipsos convenire esse homines gigantum more Deo ipse bellum facere prorsus sine omninuminis cura cultuque vivere nos omnia rectefacta despicere non virtutis disciplina uti ulla non legibus non moribus non jus non aequum non rectum colere ad omnia flagitia laxare fraenoe populum ad omni genus licentiae atque libidinis provocare nos id agere querere ut monarchiae regnorum status evertantur omnia ad popularem temeritatem imperitae multitudinis dominationem ridigantur nos ab Ecclesiae Catholicae tumultuose defecisse nefario Schismate orbem terrarum concussisse pacem communem atque otium Ecclesiae publicum conturbasse utque olim Dathan Abiram Arone Mose Num. 16. ita
is their own this W. Penn further speaks to in p. 51. his words are For the reasonable part of Man is his Spiritual part and that guided by the Divine 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Word which Tertullian interprets Reason in the most Excellent Sense makes Man truly reasonable and then it is that Man comes to offer up himself to God a Reasonable Sacrifice In what plainer words can a Man own Man's Reason and God's Revelation the first as it is Natural and the other as it is Divine He leaves W. Penn at present and turns to Edw. Burroughs p. 17. of his Works from whence he makes a Quotation but hath abused the Sence of the place by leaving out the two following Sentences and then the place is thus I wrote not as from Man whose Light is ONLY Natural and Carnal and doth ONLY make manifest Carnal Transgressions of a Carnal Law but as from the Eternal and Spiritual Light which doth make manifest Spiritual Transgressions of a Spiritual Law From this place John Stalham would fastly conclude that Edw. Burroughs called the Light of Christ Carnal which that he did not I think is very plain And accordingly Richard Hubberthorn p. 144. says That we do not allow any to call the Light of Christ Jesus Natural but the Light of Man by which Carnal Men do judge of Carnal Transgressions So that W. Penn and both these do allow the Natural Reason or Light of Man to be one thing and the Divine Revelations of the Holy Spirit another so that they do all plainly agree in the One Holy Spirit or Light of Christ Jesus given in measure to all Men to guide them and this W. Penn hath not opposed nor the reasonable Understanding of Man as this would falsly suggest He comes back to p. 29. where he would have W. Penn to Suppose that nothing but the Divine Light could reprove of Evil. But I have look'd and find no such Supposition and therefore no further notice need be taken of the Consequences he draws as depending on that Supposition Yet nevertheless I may add That as no one knows the things of God but by the Spirit of God so if Man do attend upon the Manifestation of this Holy Spirit it will discover to him all that is Reproveable and without which by any reason of his own he cannot make such Discovery and by its Power it can and if Man be Obedient it will enable him to turn from that which it does so Discover and Reprove him for This is that sure Basis upon which being fixed we easily reject all Guileful Pretences to the contrary And tho' this Man may have a great Opinion of his Wise Charming p. 24. yet I never understood that the Hissing of a Snake was Wise Charming Now if any go from the Spirit of God into Delusions is that reason sufficient why none shall depend upon the Guidance of the Spirit of God Because there have been innumerable Falsly pretended Miracles must we therefore believe no true Ones No the Effect it ought to have should be quite otherwise have others by Disobedience and leaving of their Guide fallen into Delusion let me therefore attend my Watch more closly have others by forsaking their True Guide the Holy Spirit been given up to believe Lies let me keep close to it that it be not so with me But if instead of this Men will pretend to subject the Unerring Spirit of God to be tried by the Erring Spirit of Man as it is not Scriptural so neither is it safe nay it cannot be safe if to the Spirit of Man they add all Study all meer Humane Endeavour all Communities Ordinances Histories or Humane Learning all these will not Poise the Ballance where the Spirit of God is wanting nor can any of these perform that excellent Office of the Spirit of Truth which our Saviour hath Infallibly Assured will lead into all Truth and when we have all Truth what Spiritual Good can we want And this destroys not the Freedom of Man's Will nor Understanding nor extinguishes his Humane Page 26 27. Reason but on the contrary exalts and enobles all the Powers and Faculties of the Mind So that it is utterly impossible for a Man under the Guidance of the Spirit of Truth to make God the Author of Sin Nor does this Principle arraign the Wisdom of God in his Ordinances but shews forth his Good Will to Men in that he has not only sent forth the Spirit of Truth but also sends forth his Servants guided by it to call the People into Obedience to it And thus God is pleased to work mediately and immediately Here in p. 29. he would seem to approve and congratulate W. Penn upon his Exposition of Justification but his Assent or Dissent we value not nor our selves for its sake but the Doctrine is true and hath from the first been professed by us But to remind him a little How is it possible for us to be Orthodox herein as he says we are and Heretical in the Articles which relate to Christ Jesus as God and as Man by and through whom Justification comes But Self-contradiction is no new thing to this Man He now numbers up in Page 30 31 32. divers things wherein he would fain have the Church and us agree they not being sufficient as he says for Separation This Man is of a very changeable Humour in his Title and for near all the Book we were Sad Hereticks but now he would have us Associates which if we will not be he gives a Threatning Advertisement that he will Trump up more Heresies upon us Well in that let him do as God shall permit but of two things he may be assured that we shall have no Communion with his Lies nor he true Peace in persisting in them FINIS BOOKS Printed and Sold by T. Sowle next to the Meeting-House in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-Street And at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-Street near the Market 1697. SAmuel Fisher's Works in Folio The Works of the Long Mournful and Sorrowful Distressed Isaac Penington's Folio William Bayly's Works Quarto The Works of that Memorable and Ancient Servant of Christ Stephen Crisp containing also a Journal of his Life giving an Account of his Convincement Travels Labours and Sufferings in and for the Truth Price bound 5 s. A Collection of the several Writings and Faithful Testimonies of that suffering Servant of God and patient Follower of the Lamb Humphry Smith Price bound 2 s. 6 d. A Collection of certain Epistles and Testimonies of Divine Consolation Experience and Doctrine Written by that Faithful Patient and Long-suffering Servant of Christ William Bennit Price bound 1 s. 8 d. The Memory of the Righteous Revived being a brief Collection of the Books and Written Epistles of John Camm and John Andland Together with several Testimonies relating to those two Faithful Labourers Price bound 2 s. Truth Vindicated by the Faithful Testimony and Writings of the Innocent Servant and Handmaid