in and see where they are and doth not see how they stand in God's sight Here the Quakers have Excluded all from the Church of Christ from having any Fellowship in the Spirit who have not this Infallible Spirit of discerning every Man's Heart And it is evident as I will shew presently that they did not discern George Keith Francis Bugg and many others whom for many years they own'd as true Quakers and some of them as Ministers among them and boasted a long time in their Gifts and thought them to be Principal Pillars among them whom now they Vilifie as Wicked Apostates And therefore by their own Argument they are Harlotted from the Church of Christ and have no Fellowship in the Spirit Page 33. He that is not infallible in his Council and Judgment and Advice is not he in Error And are they Ministers of Christ that are Fallable Page 105. G. Fox condemns all Protestant Churches as well as the Church of Rome for want of this Infallible Spirit which the Quakers ascribe only to themselves These are his words We says he the Pope and you the Protestants whom he calls Professors are Apostatized from the Infallible Spirit that the Apostles was in In which we are come For who witness these Conditions that they were in that gave forth the Scriptures they witness Infallibility an Infallible Spirit which is now Possessed and Witnessed among those called Quakers Glory to the Highest for ever This is dreadfully Astonishing But I was much more surpriz'd to find the otherwise Ingenious William Penn laugh at his Adversary for not being Infallible There was an Anonymous Book wrote against the Quakers call'd Controversy Ended to this Mr. Penn Reply'd in a Sheet of large Paper in Print which he Entituled A Winding-Sheet for Controversy Ended which bears Date the 16 of the 12th Month 1672. In the first page he catches up the Author whom he calls Henry Hedworth for saying that he had been mistaken in the good Opinion he had before of Mr. Penn's Judgment and Conscience How can he chuse says Mr. Penn who denies Infallibility But if mistaken before why not in the Quakers now And so ad Infinitum being so Fallible And p 3. Sect. 2. He Vindicates what George Fox had asserted of the Quakers Infallibility for having Repeated these words of G. Fox's which were put as an Objection against him How can ye be Ministers of the Spirit and not be Infallible And how can they but Delude the People who are not Infallible He makes this Reply I Answer says he G. F's words stand immovable for ever And he gives this strange Reason to support himself and G. F. For says he He that is a Minister of the Spirit is Infallibly for And in that Ministry is Infallible otherwise the Spirit 's Ministry is Fallible Which is such a Consequence as this that if any Man who is lighted by the Sun stumble or miss his way the fault is in the Sun which shew'd him a False Light What else can be the meaning of that saying that if a Minister be not Infallible then the Ministry of the Spirit is Fallible To make God himself Fallible rather than we shou'd not be Infallible But he comes quite off of this again in the next page and Sect. And this says he Roundly checks his Hen. Hedworth his Opponent saying That I bestow'd 32 pages to prove George Fox's Spirit to be Infallible For that belongs simply to God alone and then those that are led by it which was my Question and in which sense He is and all such persons are Infallible as he himself confesseth page 27. And if be fool'd himself by any other Belief of us before let him look to that Here Henry Hedworth is made Infallible too Whom in this same Winding-Sheet as above Quoted he calls a very Night-Bird and Vagrant Bursten'd with Folly and Revenge a Busie-Body Cavelling Conceited Proud Wrathful Equivocating Slandering Cowardly Man c. all which Epistles and all the rest which the Quakers so Liberally bestow upon their Adversaries may by this Rule belong to George Fox or any other Infallible Quaker Nay the Devil himself is Infallible at this rate for he has his Knowledge as well as Being from God Knowledge is Light and if that Knowledge which comes from God be Infallible then while the Devil follows that Light or Knowledge he must be Infallible And if this be all the Infallibility which the Quakers ascribe to themselves it distinguishes them not from Wicked Men or Devils But sure George Fox meant something more by it when by it he distinguish'd the Quakers from all other sorts of Men and ascrib'd to them an Infallible Discerning Spirit to know the Hearts of Men without speaking ever a word Of which I wish Mr. Penn wou'd afford us I will not say an Infallible but an Intelligible Comment for I protest I say not this out of any Obstinacy or Perverse Temper but to be able to apprehend if possible what these Men wou'd be at For they turn and wind this Infallibility of theirs at such a rate that no Man can I am sure cannot know what they mean by it Sometimes it makes them as Infallible as the Apostles nay as Christ Himself But at other times when they are press'd they bring down this Infallibility to mean nothing in the World that does distinguish them from other Men Tho' it was upon the pretence of this that they did separate them selves from the Church and from all other Men For they said that they ought not to be Subject to nor had need to be Guided by any Church who had an Infallible Guide within their own Breasts that is each Particular Person for himself as before is told But this pretence is now exploded by the Separate Quakers and Explain'd at some turns by the others as above by Mr. Penn to mean just nothing that is nothing which differences them from other Men or any thing New or other than what all Mankind have ever acknowledg'd to wit Thaâ— every Man's Reason Knowledge Conscience Light within or by what ever other Name or Names you may express it was given him by God and so is an Inspiration or Breathing of His into our Soul But this will no more prove it to be Infallible or Sufficient of it self to bring us to Heaven than it will follow that Man cannot die because God Breathes into him the Breath of Life or that he is Omnipotent because his Strength comes from God Omniscence and Infallibility is as much God's Attribute as Omnipotence And the Strength which God has given to our Bodies is as sufficient to climb up to the Skies as the Wisdom or Light which He has given to our Souls was sufficient of it self to have found out the Redemption of Lost Man by the Incarnation and Satisfaction of Christ to God's Justice for our sins or if found out to have paid that Price and to have accomplished that whole wonderful Oeconomy of
the Quakers p. 97. Witness Immediate Revelation They are come to that the Apostles was in the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God they Witness Immediate Revelation p. 153. But the rest of the World have never heard the Voice of God nor the Voice of Christ and have not the same Infallible Spirit as the Apostles had and no Immediate Revelation nor Inspiration as they had p. 221. Revelation is now witnessed in our Days as it was in the Apostles but not amongst you who have inwardly Ravened from the Spirit of God which have Apostatized from the Apostles And so you be in the Diabolical Devilish that expects not that now which was in the Days of the Apostles If ever you own the Prophets Christ New Rome Unmask'd p. 42. G. F's Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. Truth 's Defence G. F. and R. H. p. 2 89 104 and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power You may as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Quaeries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are now Answered from the Mouth of the Lord. Of their stiling their own Writings The Word of the Lord and denying it to the Holy Scriptures you will see farther Sect. 11. Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures SECT X. Concerning the Quakers Infallibility THis Section may seem needless as being included in the former For who pretend to an Equality with God to the same Immediate Revelation with Christ the Prophets and Apostles had must needs be Infallible But I conceive it will be worth the Readers while to see how they Branch it and Descend to particular Marks and Instances of their Infallibility This Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box And you may expect to see Rareties I told you before how their Infallibility was Palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome Of which they were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by whole-sale and wou'd have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome us'd to Defend themselves or else forgot them in their Haste and in their Hony Month while they were New-fangl'd Thus while the Church of Rome plac'd their Infallibility only in their Church or at most in the Pope alone as the Head of it the Quakers set up for it All and every One of them There was an Infallibility for you The Church of Rome had cunning Hiding Places and if you attack'd the Infallibility of their Church they wou'd not tell you what they meant by their Church nor where to find their Infallibility some wou'd make you believe that it was in the Pope as Head of the Church and only Successor of Peter to whom the Promises Super hanc Petram and Tues Petrus were made But then some distinguished and said not in Peter alone nor always but only when he was in Cathedra and some said that was with his Conclave others said no but only with a General Council Again some plac'd the Infallibility in the Council above the Pope others in the Pope above the Council others in neither of them asunder but only in both together And lastly some will have it none of all these ways but say it is only to be look'd for in the Diffusive Body of the Church And then as to the Infallibility it self some tell us that it relates to Manners as well as Faith and to Practice as well as Theory Others will by no means admit of that but confine it wholly to matters of Faith And then it will be a long Dispute what shall be adjudg'd a Matter of Faith and what not but only as Relating to Faith These are long and intricate Mazes and it requires no little Skill to be able to follow them thro' all these various Subterfuges But the Simplicity of our Quakers has depriv'd them of every one of these Helps For as they place Infallibility in every single Quaker so they confine it not to matters of Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things To know all Mens Hearts and all Things in the World by their inward Light without being told by any I am sure by this time the Reader is impatient to come to the Proof to see if it be possible for Men to be possess'd with such an incredible degree of Enthusiasm And I am willing to begin that I may no longer lie under the suspicion of Imposing unjustly or at least of Aggravating any thing against them G. Fox says plainly Gr. Myst p. 89. That they can discern who are Saint who are Devils and who Apostates without speaking ever a word Ibid. p. 5. That they have the Word of God Christ which is Eternal and Infallible in their Hearts to judge Persons and Things Thou says he to his Opponent p. 96. not being Infallible thou art not in the Spirit and so art not a Minister and art not able to judge of Powers that is not Infallible nor Magistrates nor Kingdoms nor Churches Now which of the Quakers is it who have this Spirit to judge thus Infallibly of Persons and Things of Powers Magistrates Kingdoms and Churches And to discern Mens Hearts who are Saints and who Apostates and that without being told by any as G. F. expresses it without speaking ever a word This is told us in p. 7. of Edward Burrough's Epistle to the Reader of G. F's Great Mystery where he says that this Infallible Spirit was given To us says he every one of us in particular And this Light gave us to discern between Truth and Error between every false and right way and it Perfectly discover'd to us the true state of All Things Thou say'st says Fox to his Opponent p. 107. that the Holiest Man is not able to give an Infallible Character of another Man Hast thou not in this discover'd thy self to be no Minister of Christ or of the Spirit Who cannot give an Infallible Character of another Man how canst thou Minister to his Condition How canst thou see where he is How canst thou see them that be turned from the Darkness and that be in the Darkness and distinguish the one from the oother and an Holy Man from an Unholy Man that canst not give an Infallible Character of and Man's Estate And p. 94. Have ye given your selves a Name of the Church of Christ and is there not a Spirit of discerning among you Have ye not manifested here that ye are Harlotted from the Church of Christ the Apostles were of And how can ye Minister or Teach People if ye do not discern their states how they stand before God How can you commend your selves to every Man's Conscience in God's sight How can ye present the Souls of Men to God and see not their states how they are in his sight How come ye to have Fellowship in the Spirit How can you or any Minister to the state and condition that People be
a thorough Examination of all their Errors only to give the Reader a short view of their Principal and most Monstrous Heresies and to provoke them if possible to a serious consideration of them At least I hope what has been said will be sufficient to keep others from going into their Snares till they have clearly and fully given satisfaction to what is here objected against them And let them either justifie what is plainly Quoted out of their Books or freely disown and condemn the Blasphemous Errors of G. Fox their first Apostle and others of their Party But if they will not do this latter for spoiling of their Infallibility Then let them stick to their Infallibility If they will do neither then we may truly judge them to be Self-condemn'd And in the next place That they have more concern for their own Honour than for the Honour of Christ or Truth of the Gospel who will refuse or scruple to condemn the most Monstrous Blasphemies but seek rather to Cover Palliate and Excuse them If they think that I have wrong'd them in this Character let their Vindication appear in a Clear Plain and Categorical Answer to what is said above Let that be the Criterion to judge of their Sincerity And so I leave them And now I have one word to say to those Quakers of the Separate Congregations These have thrown off the Pretence of Infallibility Yet they will be Quakers still They own Christ without and Redemption through his Blood Thus far they are return'd to the Orthodox Faith But they stick still to the Quaker Spirit in denying the Sacraments which Christ Ordained in his Church and in the Schism which G. F. the first Infallible Quaker made from the Church and that upon the account of their own Infallibility Now how can these who have thrown off that Blasphemous Pretence to Infallibility remain still in that Schism which is grounded only upon that Infallibility But farther a False Pretence to Infallibility is not only an Error but it is a high Blasphemy and can proceed from none but the Spirit of Delusion And therefore whatever comes from that Spirit is justly to be suspected Now it seems Incredibly strange that those who have Detected the Fundamental Forgery shou'd yet stick to that same Spirit in other things And those of no less consequence than the tearing Christ's Body in pieces and breaking the Communion of Saints by Schism and throwing off those outward Ordinances which are of Christ's own Immediate Institution and Commanded to be continu'd till his Coming again and Appointed by him as Means of Grace and therefore are the Grounds for our Hope of Glory But I thank God I have found in several of them a good Disposition towards receiving again the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper They have learnt to speak of them with Reverence and wish they had never been disused and are sensible that great hurt has thereby come to the Faith especially among the Quakers who for want of these outward and visible signs have lost the Substance and spirited away the Reality of Christ's Natural Body and his Body suffering for us together with those Holy Sacraments which he Instituted for the continual Commemoration thereof But there is a time for all things And these Beginnings will I hope grow into a Perfect Reconciliation of these misled People to the True Christianity and the True Church of England from which they have so unhappily and causelesly divided It is this year just Forty years since their first appearing in London London is the Center of all of them through the World Whither Deputies come every year from the West-Indies and all other their Colonies through the World Such Intelligence and Politick Institution is no where else to be found but among the Jews and the Jesuits And therefore I begin with them here in London that if it please God their Return may proceed by the same Steps and in the same Rode by which their Deceivers have led them And I pray God that they may now at last find Rest and arrive safely in Canaan after their Forty years wandering through the Wast and Howling Wilderness wherein were Fiery flying Serpents of Mortal Heresie and Error Feb. the 28th 1694 5. FINIS
there is no more Fellowship than East with West But here take notice that there are no Christians in the World who deny Christ 's Spiritual Influence and Operation in the Hearts of Men and His Light within them And therefore this difference of Doctrine betwixt the Quakers and us which they say is as wide as East from West must be more than concerning the Light within as a Ray or Beam shining into our Hearts from Christ the Sun of Righteousness for in this there are none upon Earth that have any difference with them and therefore the difference must be concerning this Light within being not a Beam but the Sun it self the True Real and only Christ The very Person and not only the Influence of Christ So that the true state of the Question will be this whether this Light within be the Principal or a Secondary Agent in us For if it be only a Beam it is a Secondary Agent because it proceeds from the Sun but if it be the Sun it self then it is Principal Again if it be the Sun it is the only Agent because the Sun receives not his Light from another But if it be a Beam it is not the only Agent because the Sun does enlighten by the Beam And in both these respects the Quakers do positively determine their Light within to be not a Secondary Agent or sent from any other but that it is its self the Only and the Principle And this is the Language which they betimes teach their Children For in Smith's Catechism p. 57. there is this Question and Answer And is that which is within you the Onely Foundation upon which you stand and the Principle of your Religion Answer That of God within us is so for we know it is Christ and being Christ it must needs be Onely and Principal for that which is Onely admits not of another and that which is Principal is Greatest in Being And thus we know Christ in us to be unto us the Onely and the Principal c. Here they expresly disown any other Christ than what is within them But because all this may be pretended as meant only of Christ's Spirit not of His Body tho' there can be no room for any such pretence because all whole Christ is here spoke of And that it wou'd be as great Blasphemy to say that Christ had no other Spirit than what was within us as to say that He had no other Body but what was within us Yet to make it exceeding plain that the Quakers do not believe that Christ has any other Body or other Humanity than that Spiritual or Allegorical Body or whatever they mean by it which they say He has within them In Edw. Burrough's Works p. 149. this Question is ask'd in these plain and peremptory Terms Is that very Man with that very Body within you yea or nay And the Ans is as plain The very Christ of God is within us we dare not deny Him Pursuant to this Blasphemus Principle Solomon Eccles in a Sheet he Printed the 17th of the ninth Month 1668. called The Quakers Challenge p. 6. says these words of G. Fox 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 George Fox whom John said he was not This being objected by one Jeremy Ives in his Questions to the Quakers George Whitehead makes this excuse for it in his Serious Search Printed 1674. p. 58. he says that these words The World was made by him must not be apply'd to G. Fox but only these words The World knew him not Tho' they are both in the same Sentence and no Reason nor Rule of speaking in the World can apply the one without the other But even this Arbitrary Interpretation will not do For the following words whom John said he was not are past all help of Dodging apply'd to G. Fox Read the Sentence So it may be said of this True Prophet G. Fox whom John said he was not Now who was it that that John said he was not He said He was not the Christ He did not say He was not G. Fox And therefore this cannot be apply'd to G. Fox any otherwise than by supposing him to be The Christ Which the Quakers by a Monstrous sort of Transubstantiation think themselves to be And now you see the Reason why the Quakers cou'd Palliate and Excuse Iames Milner as above-told for saying that he himself was God and Christ but yet were all in a Flame against George Keith for Preaching the Insufficiency of their Light within to Salvation without the Person of the Man Christ Jesus as without us For this destroy'd all their Foundations and the Kingdom of Satan which he had set up high amongst them And therefore he stirr'd up all the Rage and Zeal of his Proselites against any who durst assault his Asylum his very Temple and Throne James Milner was judg'd to have a Pure Seed in him notwithstanding of his Horrid Blasphmy and Lying Prophecies before-told For they were indeed the Pure Seed and Doctrine of the Quakers tho' he blurted it Unseasonably and too Plainly But G. Keith for his most Christian Doctrine of a Christ without was Condemn'd by their last Yearly Meeting in their Bull of Excommunication as Acted by an Vnchristian Spirit And it is the Sense and Iudgment of this Meeting say they That the said George Keith is gone from the Blessed Vnity of the Peaceable Spirit of our Lord Iesus Christ and hath thereby separated himself from the Holy Fellowship of the Church of Christ c. This is as high as any Pope or General Council ever yet pretended It is not only from the Fellowship of the Quakers in England or Pensilvania but of the whole Church of Christ Of which the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers in London think themselves the sufficient Representatives and capable to Determine and Conclude them by their Votes But there is one thing come in my way which I ask the Reader 's Patience to set down It is told hereafter p. 136. how Mr. Penn at Ratcliff-Meeting the 17th of Feb. 1694. Pronounc'd G. Keith an Apostate In the Name of the Lord. This was before G. Keith's Condemnation in the Yearly Meeting 17th of May 1695. This Apostacy of G. Keith's was by the New Doctrine of a Christ without he had Preach'd in Pensilvania which occasion'd the Tryals and Debates there I have mention'd And upon the noise which these Proceedings made here in England amongst the Quakers Mr. Penn the Proprietor of Pensilvania wrote to one Robert Turner a Quaker Justice of Peace in Philadelphia where the greatest Contest was about G. Keith's New Doctrine in which Letter were these words I am sorry any shou'd Quarrel Honest and Learned George Keith My Love to him Let him live in his Principles If I come there that Controversie with the rest shall soon vanish
and he shall want no Encouragement from me for I love his Spirit and Honour his Gifts and his Peculiar Learning especially Tongues and Mathematicks his Platonick Studies too All being sanctify'd to the Truths service which is worthy to have the Preheminence Thus Mr. Penn. And that which I wou'd know from him is whether G. Keith has since vary'd from that Doctrine which he Then Preach'd in Pensilvania I do not hear that it is so much as alledged that he has in the least tittle vary'd since that time And if so Here will be sad account of that Infallible Discerning Spirit which the Quakers do appropriate to themselves to Judge Persons and Things See hereafter Sect. X p. â—1 Powers Magistrates Kingdoms and Churches And may it not upon this occasion be said to Mr. Penn in the words of G. Fox Gr. Myst. p. 96. Thou not being Infallible thou art not in the Spirit and so art not a Minister For when he wrote the above Letter he judged G. Keith to have a Right Spirit and desir'd to let him live in his Principles And yet for the very same Principles he has since judged him an Apostate over the Head of him I love his Spirit says Mr. Penn. It is An Vnchristian Spirit says the Yearly Meeting whereof Mr. Penn was a Principal Member The Tendency of divers of his late writings says the Yearly Meeting in their aforesaid Bull of Excommunication against G. Keith hath been to Expose the Truth Did not Mr. Penn then Guess very ill when he gave it under his Hand as abovesaid that All G. Keith 's Studies were Sanctify'd to the Truths service These Writings which the Meeting meant were what G. Keith had Printed in Pensilvania in Defence of those Principles which Mr. Penn then approv'd at least so far as to give them Toleration and to let G. Keith live peaceably in them For G. Keith had not before that Excommunication Printed any thing against the Quakers after his return into England from Pensilvania The use I have to make of this is not to Upbraid or Expose but to beseech Mr. Penn and all the sober-minded among the Quakers now at last to consider whither their strange Pretences to Infallibility has led them Even from the only Infallible Oracles now in the World the Holy Scriptures by setting their Light within above the Scriptures which they do in refusing to let their Light within be judg'd by the Scriptures But on the contrary allowing no Obligation which the Holy Scriptures have upon them in any thing which is not likewise Dictated to them by their Light within But thinking the Dictates of their Light within to be Obligatory and Infallible in things wherein the Scriptures are silent Alas If that were all Even in things where the Scriptures are Repugnant and Command quite otherwise But in the Authority which they have taken over the Letter of the Scriptures they can over-rule every Command in Scripture tho' in Terms never so Positive as in the Case of Baptism and the Lord's Supper and many other Instances Chiefly in that upon which I have so much insisted because it is the Principal their Spiriting away the Letter of the Promised Seed The Humanity of Christ and the Satisfaction Thereby made for our sins and his Intercession and Mediation Therein now at the Right Hand of his Father to which we Dayly owe the Gifts and Graces of his Blessed Spirit And the Adversary cou'd never have gain'd this point upon them which is the Heart of Christianity if he had not first Disarm'd them of the Assistance of the Holy Scriptures wherein this is so mainly and so frequently insisted upon by persuading them to take their own Light within for the Infallible Rule instead of the other And the Devil cannat keep his hold much longer than we shall return to the Scriptures and submit to them as our Rule Which we may perceive by this That no other Sect amongst us has run into this Excess of throwing off the Humanity of Christ but the Quakers because no other has under valu'd the Scriptures so much as they What other sort of Men that call themselves Christians have abus'd the Scriptures by the contemptible Names of Beastly Ware Dust Death Serpents-Meat c. but the Quakers If they say That this was only meant of the Letter that is sufficiently answer'd in what follows But I have now to ask them whether the Letter of their Writings be not as Beastly Ware c. as the Letter of the Scripture And then why they do not give the same Epithets to their Writings No no. Let them not Dissemble the matter They know very well that the giving of Vile and Contemptible Names to any Writing can be for no other end but to render the Contents of such Writing not the Letters Ink or the Paper Vile and Contemptible And this is the Reason that they have taken such care to secure the Honour of their own Writings not only from such Vile Names as they bestow upon the Holy Scriptures but even from such Names as are Honourable and of the Highest Estimation among Human Writings such as Canons for the Laws of the Church and Edicts for the Laws of Emperors and Temporal Government But these the Quakers think too Mean and Contemptible Names for their Writings they will have them nothing less than the Immediate Commands of God Himself And as to themselves they scorn the Titles of Elders Popes and Bishops or that their Meetings shou'd be call'd by such Contemptible Names as Courts Sessions or Synods Hear the Order of their Yearly Meeting at London for the Year 1675. in the following words It is our Sense Advice Admonition and Judgment in the Fear of God and the Authority of his Power and Spirit to Friends and Brethren in their several Meetings That no such Slight and Contemptible Names and Expressions as calling Mens and Womens Meetings Courts Sessions or Synods That Faithful Friends Papers which we testifie have been given forth by the Spirit and Power of God are Mens Edicts or Canons Elders in the Service of the Church Popes and Bishops with such scornful sayings be permitted among them but let God's Power be set upon the top of that unsavory Spirit that uses them c. Here you see the World has not Language or Titles good enough for the Quakers nor for their Writings Edicts or Canons are too slight and contemptible Popes and Bishops are scornful sayings to them But while they thus vindicate their own Honour and the no less than Divine Authority of their Writings at this Sublime raâ—e They take upon them to vilifie the Holy Scriptures of God in the most opprobrious and disgraceful Terms You must not call their Writings by such Slight and Contemptible Names as Canons or Edicts of Men. But you may call the Holy Scriptures by the not only much more Contemptible Names of Dust and Beastly Ware but the Cursed Appellations of Carnal Death and the Meat
from the Priesthood of Aaron as well as from the House of David and set up opposite Altars to that of Jerusalem But on the other Hand tho' God sent many Prophets to Reprove the Kings and the Priests yet they neither Rebell'd against the Kings nor set up opposite Altars against those of those wicked Priests But as they paid all Dutiful Obedience to their Persecuting Kings and suffer'd Martyrdom under them without Resistance so did they always keep in the Communion of those same Priests whom they had Provok'd and Reprov'd and paid all due Obedience to their Sacred Authority and never wou'd Countenance any Separate Communions set up in Opposition to Their Communion at the same time that they were Denouncing the Judgments of God against them for their manifold Iniquities and Prevarications And when our Saviour himself came into the World he did not Separate from the Publick Worship and Communion of the Jewish Church But in the same Chapter Mat. 23. where he inveighs most severely against their Wickedness he Guards their Authority as Sacred and Inviolable and to shew that the receiving of Christianity it self was no Exemption from paying all Obedience to them he Commands his own Disciples as well as the Multitude to pay them all manner of Obedience Then spake Jesus to the Multitude and to his Disciples saying The Scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses Seat All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe that observe and do And the Apostles after our Saviour frequented the Jewish Temple Luke 24.53 and observed their hours of Publick Worship Acts 3.1 Acknowledged the Anthority of their High Priest and submitted themselves to him as to one invested with God's Commission as to God's High Priest even when he was judging them unjustly and Commanding them to be smitten contrary to the Law Acts 23.3 4 5. And they frequented the Jewish Temple and Liturgy tho' they had Separate Meetings for the breaking of Bread and other Institutions of the Christian Religion which they cou'd not have in the Jewish Communion from which they did not abstain while it lasted in the World that is till the Destriction of Jerusalem by the Romans By all which Examples we are instructed how strongly we are to adhere to the Publick Communion of the Church and to suspect all pretended Inspirations which wou'd draw us away from it But this concerns the others of our Dissenters as well as the Quakers Let us return to them And we shall find their Infallibility disprov'd not only in particular Instances such as that fore-mentioned of Solomon Eccles and the Glover's Prophets But 2dly in whole Floods and Parties for Francis Bugg and many others have come openly off from their Communion after having liv'd many years with them and as Zealous Quakers as the best But now Detect their gross Errors Publickly and in Print But Thirdly Those among them who continue still Quakers have notwithstanding joyn'd in disproving their Pretences to Infallibility and discovering many other Damnable Heresies and Doctrines of Devils among them Denying the Lord who bought them c. From which Diabolical Errors George Keith being Converted he has endeavour'd to strengthen his Brethren and has gain'd many and has Separated them in a distinct Communion from the other Quakers who call these Separatists Apostates and False Brethren that have Erred from the Faith And the Separatists say the same of Them Now if their above-told Pretences to Infallibility do hold then it will follow that these their former Opinions which the Separatists now Condemn were True Then and False Now. Nay that they are both True and False even Now because some Quakers do now hold them to be True and others contend as Zealously that they are False Then the Separate Quakers and the others do not differ tho' they Damn one another nor are they Separate tho' they be Separate All these Contradictions must be Reconcil'd or else it must be granted that G. Fox and others have grosly Erred who asserted that They the Quakers and every one of them in particular were Infallible as above is Quoted And that they cou'd discern who were True Quakers and who were only False or Pretended ones without speaking ever a word For either Francis Bugg who liv'd 25. years in their Communion their Secretary and a Principal Man among them G. Keith who as Sam. Jennings tells us in his State of the Case hereafter mentioned p. 2. was 28 years of their Communion Yea says he most of that time a Preacher amongst us a Vindicator of us and others were true Quakers or not If not why were they own'd as such all that time Then G. Fox nor any of them had an Infallible discerning Spirit to which they have falsly pretended But if Keith Bugg c. were True Quakers then True Quakers are not Infallible And then G.F. c. who said they were Infallibile were led by the Spirit of Delusion and not by the Spirit of Truth But that nothing may be wanting to the full Conviction of this Fourthly The Infallibility of the Private Spirit or of each Particular Quaker is now Damn'd by their Church and their Infallibility is now Reduc'd by them as in the Church of Rome whence their first Inspiration came as told before and wherein it naturally ends to that of their Church For Proof of this First Their Meetings or Churches in Pensylvania c. in America have Censured G. Keith and other Separatists there for not submitting to their Judgment which these Churches have given forth against them This appears in the Account of the Proceedings There against the said G. Keith c. in the Year 1692. which was Published by G. Keith or some of his Party and Printed in the Year 1693. under this Title New-England's Spirit of Persecution transmitted to Pensylvania and the pretended Quaker found Persecuting the True Christian Quaker in the Tryal of Peter Boss George Keith c. In Answer to this was Publish'd a Vindication of the Proceedings against G. Keith c. call'd The State of the Case betwixt the People called Quakers in Pensylvania c. in America and George Keith with those seduc'd by him into a Separation from them This was wrote by Samuel Jennings a Quaker Justice of Peace in Pensylvania and one of the Prosecutors of G. Keith and the Separatists and Printed in London in the Year 1694. To which G. Keith hath Printed a Replication Entituled A further Discovery of the Spirit of Falshood and Persecution c. I will not trouble my self nor the Reader to say any thing either for or against the manner of these Proceedings of the Old Quakers against their Modern Separatists let them implead one another as to that All I am at present concern'd for is that their Churches have Censur'd these Separatists and consequently given Judgment against the Light within Particular Persons which was the Original Pretence and only Infallible Guide of the First Quakers And upon this only ground they
G. Whitehead upon it that there never were such Priests either in the North or any where else that were so Ignorant No George This is an Arrant Lye without all doubt Did any Man ever Think or Say that the very Material Paper and Ink and Letters wou'd Endure for ever Where is now thy Infallibility Where thy Common Honesty or Morality thus grosly to bely these Priests as thou callest them But they thank Thee that it was so Grosly for it is so very Ridiculous that it is in no Man's Power to believe Thee or that Thou canst have the least pretence to Infallibility or even that Thy word shou'd be trusted in any thing that Thou averrest when Thou darest Print so notorious and impossiblean Untruth Like G. Fox's senseless Reply to Richard Baxter c. Writing says he Paper and Ink is not Infallible Great Mystery p. 302. nor the Scripture is not the ground of Faith Your Rule Paper and Ink that will come to Dust Here I wou'd fain ask them a Question How it comes that since they are such bitter Enemies to the Letter they yet make a Conscience of saying Thee and Thou instead of You in the singular because these were old English words in the first Translations Is there any Immorality or Iniquity in these Letters y o u more than in T h o u And is not every Nation Master of its own Language Besides these were not the words of the Languages in which the Scriptures were wrote It is likely that G. Fox and the rest in the Year 1650. thought they were and lighting upon some old English Bible took it for the Original For if stress must be laid upon the Letter it must be surely upon the Original Letter in which the Scriptures were wrote And the Quakers may as well lay stress upon the Latine or French or Dutch Translation as upon the English in this Case How do they in other Languages make the Distinction betwixt thou and you when you is us'd in the singular Number Behold here these Men whose Chief Principle it is to Decry and Damn the Letter do set up at the same time the most Superstitions and Ridiculous sticking to the Letter that ever was heard of since Adam so very Extravagant that if it had not been no Man cou'd have believ'd that it cou'd have been Or that any Men cou'd have made a Case of Conscience of such a senseless and insignificant Criticism But as the Scorpion is said to carry Oyl which cures its own Venom so the wise Providence of God has dispos'd of most Errors that they carry Contradictions to themselves in their own Bowels But if the Holy Scriptures of God must not be call'd the Word of God because they are wrote in Letters why must the Quakers most Blasphemous and Prophane Scribbles be Stil'd the Word of the Lord Even Solomon Eccles's Lying Prophesie before told in his Letter to John Story To you all this is The Word of the Lord says George Fox of his own Writings Great Myst p. 225. I charge you says he in the presence of the Lord God Some of the Quakers Principles c. p. 4. to send this amongst all Friends and Brethren every where to be Read in all Meetings To you all This is the Word of God G. Fox's Letter to all Friends Printed 1671. with several Papers c. p. 60. 62. The Scriptures are not the Word of God G. F. c. Fire-brand c. p. 159. 2d Part 1678. A Printed Letter of G. Fox's which is now lying before me Dated at Dalston the 13th of the 10th Month 1683. Bears this Title All Friends every where this is The word of the Lord unto you all And there is a Postscript in these words This you may read amongst the Children of the Light and of the Day And p. 4. of the Letter he says I remember before we were call'd Quakers as I was sitting in an House in Nottingham-shire about the Year 1648. the word of the Lord came to me and said c. And yet in his Great Myst p. 246 247. he calls it Blasphemy to say that the Scriptures are the Word of God His words are these They the Scriptures are not the word of God which thou Christopher Wade hast Blasphemously affirmed But says he Jesuitcally to amuse the Reader Christ is the word of God As if Christopher Wade or any Christian had ever affirmed that the Book of Scriptures was the Word of God in the same sense as Christ or any otherwise than as the Records of those Revelations which God by his Holy Spirit did dictate to the Inspired Pen-Men But not a Living Person partaking of the Substance of the Father like the Word Eternally Begotten Cou'd this George either of these Georges Fox or VVhitehead produce any one Man even in Bedlam who ever asserted this of the Ink or Paper of the Holy Scriptures Why then do they use this Distinction Against whom do they use it Against No Body it was only to Shufle and Cut to Cover and Excuse their Contempt of the Holy Scriptures and in their place Deifying of their own Spirit and their own Scriptures They knew that the Holy Scriptures cou'd not be discarded openly and above Board nor all at once That the World had been long in Possession of them and of a just Veneration of them and therefore wou'd not so easily part with them nor accept of any Foxes Inspirations instead of them Therefore they set up a Power like that of the Church of Rome of Infallible Interpretation of Scripture And improv'd it as above is told into Immediate Revelation equal to that of the Prophets and Apostles And pursuant to this Plenitude of Power they have taken upon them not only to Abrogate the most express Ordinances of the Gospel and Pronounce them expir'd at their Pleasure as Baptism and the Lord's Supper But to set up and Institute new ones as the Womens Preachings directly contrary to 1 Cor. 14.35 which suffers not VVomen to speak in the Church and the Prelacy of the VVomens Meetings an Invention never heard of in the World till G. Fox Cobbled it out And they Enjoyn not these only as Ecclesiastical Injunctions of their Church but upon their pretence before told to the same Immediate Revelation which was given to the Apostles as the Institutions of Christ Solomon Eccles in his Letter already mention'd to John Story calls these the VVomens Preachings and the VVomens Meetings the Great and Good Ordinance which Christ Iesus hath set up in his Church This is directly giving us New Scriptures and a New Gospel For which they will find their Reward Gal. 1.8 9. Rev. 22.18 19. And they having as they pretend the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures they cannot be bound by the Scriptures or any Command in them unless their Spirit does anew require the same thing which the Scripture Commands So that the Scripture remains of no Authority with them