was to remove an Offence taken against my Friend J. P. for using the same And it would have become this Adversary to have forborn his blasphemous Scoffing at my Light as George if thy Light has hitherto forgot to tell thee I bless the Lord my God who is my Light Life and Salvation he has shewn me the new and living way of the New Covenant which our blessed Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ consecrated prepared or set open thro' the Veil that is to say his Flesh yea through his Sufferings and Death as being the Testator he hath enforced that New Testament or Second Covenant he took away the First that he might establish the Second and so hath open'd the Passage into eternal Life into the Holiest of Holies within the Veil and beyond all the Shadows and Veils under the Law It was in the most Holy Place within the Second Veil in the Tabernacle which was called the Holiest of all in the Old Covenant that the golden Censor and Ark of the Testament were put and the Golden Pot which had Manna and Aaron 's Rod that had budded and the Tables of the Testament and over the Ark the Cherubims of Glory shadowing the Mercy-Seat Heb. 9. Exod. 26. So the most excellent things were within the Veil tho' there was a Beauty and Glory also without it All which I doubt not were Shadows of the New Covenant and the Spiritual Dispensation thereof in Christ Jesus in whom the Most Holy Place of that Divine Service and Worship in the New Covenant-Sanctuary which the Lord has placed in the midst of his People is in the Spirit and in the Truth And all our Spiritual Blessings and Heavenly Treasures are in Christ Jesus who is our Sanctuary and Hiding-place And it is in the inmost or most inward and Spiritual Dispensation of the New Covenant that Mercy and Forgiveness is receiv'd and Christ most livingly and effectually known to us and enjoy'd and in him the most holy and heavenly Places wherein the true Spiritual Believers sit down with him and as being washed from their Sins in his Blood by his Spirit are his Church and Sanctuary also and thereby have boldness to enter into the Holy Place even by that new and living Way which Christ hath prepared for us through the Veil that is to say his Flesh Heb. 10. that we may follow him therein into Heaven it self And what entrance through Christ our Mediator we have here in Measure received into this new and living Way and Holy and Heavenly Places in him we doubt not but it is to us an Earnest of a more full Enjoyment of Heaven and Glory hereafter with Christ Jesus our Fore-runner Leader and Captain of our Salvation we continuing faithful to the end in this his new and living Way as true and constant Followers of him God in his great Love and Wisdom has afforded several Dispensations one higher and more glorious than another in order to bring Man nearer and nearer to himself as that of the Law and of Shadows and Types that of the Prophets that of John the Baptist that of Christ in the Flesh and that of Christ in the Spirit and New Covenant which is higher more powerful and more glorious than the former and therein a more clear knowledge of Christ than in all the former wherein there was some Sight of him through Shadows and Veils but by his Divine Light shining in our Hearts God is pleased to give us the Light of the knowledge of his Glory in the Face of his dear Son Christ Jesus that we all with open Face as in a Glass may behold the Glory of God and be changed into the same Image from Glory to Glory as by the Spirit of the Lord 2 Cor. 3.18 and Ch. 4.6 7. Now tho' our Adversary has made a deal of Dispute and Quarrel with us about calling Christ's Flesh the Veil as in Heb. 10. yet he is fain to grant That Christ's Body is called a Veil in Relation to its Type the Veil of the Temple p. 182. but he 'll have this not to be in the Quakers Sense They call it a Veil that is saith he a Garment in contra-distinction to its being Christ's Substance and of his Nature Whereas it 's rather in contra-distinction to its Being his Divine Nature or to its Being in the first place or principally or chiefly Christ himself who is the Son of God for whom the Body was prepared because he did pre-exist it or was in Being before he took upon him that Body even in his Father's Glory before the World began wherewith he is Glorified However the Veil which was Christ's Flesh through which he set open the new and living Way we never deny to be Christ's Body or to be a real Body but own it was and never believed it be a Fantastical Body as I have often said but that Christ the Son of God took upon him real Flesh and Blood of our Nature yet pure and incorrupted in him And as his Flesh was called the Veil it answers its Type or Figure i. e. the Veil of the most Holy Place or Oracle where God gave Answers 1 Kings 6.20 and 8.6 8. and 2 Chron. 3.10 16. And these Most Holy Places in the Tabernacle and Temple being Places of Divine Service then peculiar to the High-Priest to enter into their Antitype is in Christ Jesus the New Covenant where in Spirit and in the Truth God is truely worshipped and meets with and speaks to his People even by Christ Jesus their High-Priest who is present in the midst of his Church and Assemblies of his People the true and Spiritual Worshippers who meet in his Name Spirit and Power whose Light and Truth brings its Followers unto his Holy Tabernacles Psal. 43.3 And as to Christ's Substance and Nature what does our Opposer mean thereby how has he distinguished in this Point Christ has in him a Divine Nature as well as that of Man which he hath also in the purest Sense But which is the greatest Is not the Divine Nature the Deity in him greater than the Manhood As he said My Father is greater than all greater than I John 10.29 Nevertheless as our great and only Mediator and Intercessor it was necessary he should be Man as he is the most glorious heavenly Man and as the Christ of God he is Spiritually in Us in the Saints and Members in some measure by his Spirit Light Life and Power even as the incorruptible immortal Seed in Man is of the Father Son and Holy Ghost and therein all true spiritual Believers do in measure partake of the Divine Nature being born again of this incorruptible Seed SECT XXIII Some Reflections by G. W. upon A Supplement pretended upon occasion of his Answer to the Snake in the Grass p. 343. THE very Entrance into the said Supplement consisting of divers Falshoods I need take the less notice thereof and spend the less time in its strict Examination besides
Stranger when I was in Prison with these words Thy Name shall be no more James Naylor but Jesus This I judge to be written from the Imaginations and a Fear stroke me when I first saw it and so I put it in my Pocket close not intending any should see it which they finding on me spread it abroad which the simplicity of my Heart never occasioned So this I deny also that the Name of Christ Jesus is received instead of James Naylor or after the Flesh for the Name is to the Seed to all Generations and he that hath the Son hath the Name which is Life and Power the Salvation and the Unction into the which Name all the Children of Light are Baptized So the Name of Christ I confess before Men but not according to Men which Name to me hath been a Strong Tower in the Night and in the Day And this is the Name of Christ Jesus which I confess the Son and the Lamb in the Seed where he speaks in Male or Female but who hath not this in himself hath not Life neither can have by Idolizing my Person or the Person of any Flesh but in whom the Heir is born and hath spoken or doth speak there he must not be denied the Mouth to spake by who is Head over all and in all his own God blessed for ever And all those Ranting Wild Spirits which then gathered about me in that time of Darkness and all their Wild Actions and Wicked Words against the Honour of God and his pure Spirit and People I deny the Spirit the Power and the Works thereof and as far as I gave advantage through want of Judgment for that Evil Spirit in any to arise I take shame to my self justly having formerly had Power over that Spirit in Judgment and Discerning where-ever it was which Darkness came over me through want of Watchfulness and Obedience to the Pure Eye of God and diligently minding the Reproof of Life which condemns the Adulterous Spirit So the Adversary got advantage who ceases not to seek to devour and being taken Captive from the True Light walked in the Night where none can work as a wandring Bird fit for the prey And if the Lord of all my Mercies had not rescued me I had perished for I was as one appointed to Death and Destruction and there was none could deliver me And this I confess that God may be justified in his Judgment and magnified in his Mercies without end who did not forsake his Captive in the Night even when his Spirit was daily provoked and grieved but hath brought me forth to give Glory to his Name for ever And it is in my Heart to confess to God and before Men my Folly and Offence in that day Yet was there many things formed against me in that day to take away my Life and bring Scandal upon the Truth of which I am not Guilty at all as that accusation as if I had committed Adultery with some of those Women who came with us from Exeter Prison and also those who were with me at Bristol the Night before I suffered there of both which Accusations I am clear before God who kept me at that day both in Thought and Deed as to all Women as a little Child God is my Record and this I mention in Particular hearing of some who still cease not to reproach therewith God's Truth and People that the Mouth of Enmity might be shut from evil speaking though this touch not my Conscience And that Report as though I had raised Dorkas Erbury from the Dead carnally this I deny also and condemn that Testimony to be out of the Truth tho' that Power that quickens the Dead I deny not which is the Word of Eternal Life And this I give forth that it may go as far as the Offence against the Spirit of Truth hath gone abroad that all Burthens may be taken off with the Truth and the Truth cleared thereby and the True Light and all that walk therein and the Deeds of Darkness be condemned and that all that are in Darkness may not Act in the Night but stay upon God who walks in the Light who with the Workers of Iniquity hath not fellowship which had I done when first Darkness came upon me and not been led by others I had not run against the Rock to be broken which so long had born me and of whom I had so largely drank and of which I now drink in measure to whom be the glory of all and to him must every Tongue confess as Judge and Saviour God over all blessed for ever And this further is given me to say to every particular Person to whom this Writing shall come Whatever is thy Condition walk in the Light which lets thee see it there is thy Counsel and thy strength to be received to stay thee and recover thee Art thou tempted to Sin Abide in that which lets thee see it that there thou mayst come to feed on the Right Body not on the Temptation for if thou mind the Temptation it will overcome thee but in the Light is Salvation Or having Sinned art thou tempted to despair or to destroy thy self mind not the Temptation for it's Death that Sin hath brought forth feed not on it nor mind it least thou eat Condemnation for that 's the Wrong Body The Body of Christ is felt in the Light in which is Life from Death Grace and Truth to Feed on which will overcome for thee being followed but if thou follow the Temptation Fear and Condemnation will swallow thee up If there appear to thee Voices Visions and Revelations feed not thereon but abide in the Light and feel the Body of Christ and there wilt thou receive Faith and Power to judge of every appearance and Spirit the Good to hold fast and obey and the False to resist Art thou in Darkness mind it not for if thou do it will fill thee more but stand still and Act not and wait in patience till Light arise out of Darkness to lead thee Art thou wounded in Conscience feed not there but abide in the Light which leads to the Grace and Truth which teaches to deny and put off the Weight and removes the Cause and brings Saving Health to Light Yea this I say to thee in the Name of Jesus Christ that tho' thou has made thy Grave as deep as the nethermost Hell or were thy Afflictions as great as Job's and thy Darkness as the Depths of the Sea yet if thou wilt not run to vain helps as I have done but stay upon the Lord till he give thee sight by his word which commands Light to shine out of Darkness from thence will he bring thee forth thy Eye shall guide thee and thou shalt praise his Name as I do this day glory for evermore and this word is nigh thee which must give thee Light tho' Darkness Comprehends it not And hast thou Gifts Revelations Knowledge Wisdom or
Answer to that Common Objection against the Quakers that they Damn all but themselves The words are these This then is the sum of our Answer in this respect We are not against the Life and Power of Godliness where-ever it hath appeared or yet appears under the Vail of any form whatsoever Nay all persons who singly wait upon the Lord in the simplicity and sincerity of their Hearts whether under any form or out of forms that matters little to us are very dear unto us in the Lord. But we are against all Forms Images Imitations and Appearances which betray the simplicity and sincerity of the Heart keep the Life in bondage and endanger the loss of the Soul And too many such now there are which hold the Immortal Seed of Life in Captivity under Death over which we cannot but mourn and wait for the breaking of the Chains and its rising out of all its Graves into its own pure Life Power and Fulness of Liberty in the Lord. This Testimony which has been published now near 40 years and others of like tendency which I could produce but that I would be as brief as may be shews that from the first we have not Damn'd all the Christian World as is falsly said by this Adversary SECT XV. The Holy Spirit Professed by the Quakers proved to be neither Venemous or Nasty as charged by the Snake but prov'd to be his own True Character HAving thus shewn the falsity of the Snake's Charge of our Damning all the Christian World and on the contrary prov'd that Love and Charity which we have from the first had and shewn to all the sincere hearted under any Form So herein I hope to make appear that the respect wherewith we have treated Men hath been according to it and that if Words and Language may be allowed to discover the Furious Spiteful and Envious Ebullitions of a distorted Soul that then the Snake hath discovered so much Ibid. p. 198. Kind and Sweet Expressions are natural to Love and Good Nature as Furious Spiteful Envious and other Grating and Violent Passions do naturally vent themselves in the like wicked and hateful Ebullitions of a Distorted Soul Love and Good Nature have no doubt expressions suitable to their Quality and Occasion which in their utterance are always Kind but may sometimes not be otherwise Sweet than as Reproof and Rebuke may be said to be when properly and seasonably given And on the contrary Fury Spight and Envy have ever Expressions suitable to their Wicked and Hateful Nature and are level'd against Men in order to their Hurt and Destruction and have falshood for their original but are not always tho' often in violent manner for they are sometimes cover'd with Hypocrisie Instances of both Violent and Hypocritical I shall anon shew in the Snake after that I have told my Reader that as Words and Language are the Servants of the Mind so they are to be varied as the occasions thereof require Hence Kind and Sweet Expressions are properly to be given to Men and Actions that are Good and Honest And it is as proper by a Sharp and Kind Severity to express the Just Indignation of the Mind against the Evil Actions of Wicked Men. A multitude of Examples in both kinds we have in Holy Writ where the Dejected the Disconsolate the Mourner and the Penitent are comforted by the Kind and Sweet Expressions of the Holy Spirit speaking through the Holy Prophets and Apostles as does also our Lord himself It being the way of the Holy Spirit by Love unfeigned to seek and to save Mankind But on the contrary to the Hypocritical the Wicked and Impenitent it hath been the way of the Holy Spirit by sharp and severe expressions even such sometimes as in ordinary discourse might not be seemly or convenient to reprove them How severely doth God both in the Law and in the Prophets threaten the punishment of Idolaters even in terms which the Rabinnical Scholiasts have thought fit to alter in obedience to that foolish rule in their Talmud that all words which in the Law are writ obscenely must be chang'd to more civil words Milton's Apology Printed 1642 p. 25. Much so foolishly wise wou'd this Snake appear in refusing to allow what God at times as occasion did require hath thought fit to speak thro' his Servants Thus the Holy Prophet Elijah hath pronounced from the Lord concerning Jezabel the Daughter of Eth-baal King of Zidon as mentioned 2 Kings 9.37 And the Carcass of Jezabel shall be as Dung upon the Ground Thus also the Lord by his Prophet Jeremiah threatneth the Inhabitants of Jerusalem Jer. 8.2 That they should be as Dung upon the Earth And the Prophet Malachi 2.3 Behold I will cast Dung upon your Faces even the Dung of your Solemn Feasts and you shall be like unto it And the Prophet Isaiah rebuking the Wickedness of the Priests and Prophets telleth them all Tables are full of Vomit and Filthiness so that there is no place clean Isai. 28.8 The Prophet Habakkuk when he objected to the People their Secret Nakedness he tells them The Cup of the Lords right hand shall be turned unto thee and shameful Spuing shall be upon thy Glory These with abundance more Instances there are in the Holy Scriptures which are sufficient to shew that Love and Good Nature for such is the Holy Spirit doth not always use such as in the account of this Snake are to be called Kind and Sweet Expressions No for tho' the Spirit of God is Purity and Meekness it self yet in the reproving the Iniquities of Men it hath often used severe expressions Thus John the Baptist calls the Hypocritical Jews a Generation of Vipers Our Saviour calls Herod a Fox and told the Wicked Jews they were of their Father the Devil The Proto Martyr Stephen detects their Hypocrisie as Paul does the injustice of the High-Priest The Snake will surely not be so Blasphemous as to say these were in them the marks of Fury Spight or Envy c. Nor will it be answer sufficient for him to say of all these and others of like sort recorded in Holy Writ that he believes them to be the immediate Dictates of the Spirit of God But that all such Speeches since that time are the effects of Fury Spight and Envy and that they are the wicked and hateful Eubullitions of a Distorted Soul unless he can shew that God hath promised that he will no more through his Servants in like manner rebuke the iniquities of Men. This as denied by the Snake puts him upon a worse Dilemma for all those in him which are not Kind and Sweet Expressions And some such I think he has They must of necessity be Furious Spightful and Envious and the wicked and hateful Ebullitions of his Distorted Soul of which I will give some Instances when I have first shewn that if it be denied that the Instances above are Authorities for us to build on Yet that
7.12 compar'd with ver 5. and 18. Ibid. He T. Ellwood quotes 1 John 4.3 which has no more relation to it than Neh. 10. to the 28 ver Did not the Snake sit playing at Tables a Sport he uses by him till his Eyes were dim when he read it he might one wou'd think have seen that T.E. did not quote that Text 1 John 4.3 to prove Tythes abrogated by Christ which he needed not do in that Controversie his Opponent then owning it but to prove that to deny Christ come in the Flesh is a Mark of Anti-Christ which that Text was aptly urg'd to prove and follow'd immediately after those Words is a mark of Anti-Christ So that both his foolish Cavil at T. E. for 1 John 4.3 and his frothy Squib upon the Prophet Nehemiah shews as well the weakness of his Cause as the levity of his Temper Ibid. p. 275. The Snake summons a great many Names without naming Books or Pages where to be found which he says F. Bugg an Apostate produces out of our Books but that Bugg's Charges upon us and Quotations from our Books have been repeatedly Answer'd not one Word No it will serve the Snake's base ends better either to be ignorant of our Answers or else knowing them not to consider them as they are but wickedly to pervert and false quote them of which two Instances now next follow The first is a Quotation borrow'd from this same Bugg out of the Guide Mistaken by W. P. Printed 1668 p. 18. which the Snake says was for the Church of England but it may appear otherwise by W. P's Words which are left out in this Quotation they are these But lest I may be Censur'd by the Reader for too Severe let me beseech thee to Inquire throughout the Story of the World where any kind of Religion has been or is Establisht by Authority and thou wilt doubtless find upon a diligent Search that the People's Judgments have ever been and are fast Chain'd in the Priest's Inquisition c. And of these Priests it is who through all Ages have thus Chain'd the Peoples Judgments in their Inquisitions that W. Penn does here speak And I think the Snake will hardly more own that they have done this than he can make it appear that the Church of England as now denominated hath been through all Ages If he can he will help her to one Mark which the Romanists say is a mark of the true Church And to another Mark which all will say is a mark of the false one The Second is a Quotation which he makes from W. P's Quakerism a new Nick Name c. p. 165. which the Snake says is For the Dissenters for he deals his blows round so Insinuating as if what W. P. there said did relate to all Dissenters which is notoriously false his Words are otherwise and do fully shew that they were only Relative to such grosly abusive Men as his then Adversary was to which I may add and as the Snake now is For his Words are these Is this the Man that must be thought fit to vaunt it over us with such Impudent Scurrility ungodly as well as unmannerly Reflections But in the Earth there is not any thing so fantastical conceited proud railing busie-body and sometimes ignorant as a sort of Priests to me not unknown among whom our Adversary is not the least who think their Coat will bear out their worst Expressions for Religion and practice an haughty Reviling for Christ as one of the greatest demonstrations of Zeal And of such as these it is that W. Penn said and said truly that they are an ill bred Pedantick Crew the Bane of Reason c. for so they really are And of such as these it was that W. P. in his Serious Apology speaks p. 156. as quoted by the Snake p. 275 276. And how strange soever he may make of it the Holy Prophets in the Scriptures do abundantly shew and denounce Woes and Plagues to those who made the People Drink and laid thâ—m to sleep on Downy Beds of soft Sin-pleasing Principles To such Isaiah spake Chap. 28.7 8. The Priest and the Prophet have erred through Strong Drink they are swallowed up of Wine they err in Vision they stumble in Judgment For all Tables are full Vomit and Filthiness so that there is no place clean And therefore he denounces from the Lord vers 18. And your Covenant with Death shall be disannulled and your Agreement with Hell shall not stand when the overflowing Scourge shall pass through then ye shall be trodden down by it And vers 22. he tells them I have heard from the Lord God of Hosts a Consumption even determined upon the whole Earth And in like manner Jeremiah 6.13 14 15. And from the Prophet even unto the Priests every one dealeth falsly Also the hurt of the Daughter of my People slightly saying Peace Peace when there is no Peace Were they ashamed when they had committed abomination Nay they were not at all ashamed neither could they blush And for this the Prophet says vers 26. For the Spoiler shall suddenly come upon us And the same Prophet Reproving the Great Wickedness of the Priests c. Jer. 23. denounces from the Lord vers 19. Behold a Whirlwind of the Lord is gone forth in Fury even a grievous Whirlwind it shall fall Grievously upon the Head of the Wicked These with abundance more of the Just Denunciations of God's Judgments upon the Wicked and such who pervert the right way of the Lord are to be seen in the Scriptures of Truth And it is not unlikely that those to whom these denunciations were sent did as this Snake now does ask What flaming Ovens are the Hearts of these Men Belching forth nothing but Hell and Damnation They who are hard enough through Rebellion against God to draw down Judgments seldom fail of being hard enough to Ridicule and Dispise the Monitors of them Ibid. p. 276. Bugg tells us in the same place how industriously these Books are spread amongst the Quakers insomuch that a Poor Widow-Quaker to whom he administred whose Substance did not amount to Ten Pounds had more than two hundred of them And in this place I do tell the Snake that we should be wanting to our selves if we were not as industrious to spread our Defences as the Snake or any Apostate may be to spread their Defamatory and False Charges As to what Bugg may brag of having Administred to a poor Widow-Quaker I have no need to question the truth of it nor what the Substance she left really was tho if it was but ten pound yet it was a Real tho but small Substance which if himself could have pretended to no more his Debts being paid and discharged I see not what just account or reason he can give for his compounding with his Creditors And if this Quaker-Widow had 200 of them Books of ours which I take to be false she was the better stored so
of God the Unity of the Church and the Good of Souls But to his Flouting Question What will become of the First Quaker Infallibility I Answer Nothing but well because as I have largely shewn in the Section particularly treating of Infallibility neither the First Quakers nor the Present have ever placed Infallibility in any Man or Men but only in the Spirit of God And the Manifestations of this being given by the Mediation of Jesus Christ to lead Men to Heaven it is absolutely necessary that it be able on it's part Infallibly to answer the End for which it is given Well but if it be asked How comes the Voice of the Lord not to be distinctly discerned Since the Spirit of God is Infallible in its Manifestations to Men Why the Answer is ready because when the Mind is Hurried and Tossed and in the deep Exercise and Affliction because of its condition it cannot yet come to have so clear a discovery and so distinct discerning of the Voice and Will of God as afterwards in its further Growths in his Grace and Truth And the different attainments of such who are turned into the Way of the Lord the Apostle hath exprest by going on from one Degree of Grace unto Another Ibid. p. 297. It seems these Hurryings and Tossings did not come from the Holy Spirit of God The Effects of the Work of the Power and Spirit of God binding the Strong Man and purging out the Old Leaven does much agree with that which is described by the Prophet 1 Kings 19.11 12. and hath sometimes been as with a Great and Strong Wind sometimes as with an Earthquake sometimes as with a Fire before the Still Small Voice hath been heard And the Rage of the Enemy as P. L. saith is not small against the Soul which is redeeming from under his Captivity but endeavours to raise Hurryings and Tossings whereby the mind might be so darkn'd as not distinctly to discern the Voice of the Lord. Now again for Stories And there the Snake bestows 3 Pages about a Story bearing date the 19th of the 8th Month 1654. related by one whom he is contented pro hac vice to call a Minister because his Narration is against the Quakers But when that is over then with all the rest of the Dissenters he is with the Snake but as the Spawn of the Viper But to take him in his Character of Minister He was a Seventh-Day Baptist named Tho. Tillam sometime Resident in the County of Durham where he was Pastor to a People but they because of his Wickedness and Filthiness did cast him out and deny him This same Minister such a one in many respects as the Snake came up to London and wanting Induction to some place he apply'd himself to the then Commissioners for approving and giving Induction such as they then used to Ministers this T. Tillam from them gets a Place in Essex about Colchester and here it is that he spreads this Report This Report one Gyles Firmin another such Minister takes up and puts at the end of a Book of his which he writ against the Quakers and printed 1656. To this Edw. Burroughs did writ an Answer printed the same Year wherein he does positively deny both this Story of Tillam's and that other of Firmin's which the Snake mentions and says it is a Lye Then it was Incumbent upon the Snake's two Ministers Tillam and Firmin to have brought out their Testimonials of the Truth of what they had said but no such thing came nay indeed one of them could not stay for that purpose for he Scandalously run away from his Charge here in Essex to which he had been Inducted as before he was thrown out of his Charge in Durham because of his Scandalous Carriage in it As Witnesses yet living do testifie Snake p. 304. Since the Publishing the 1st Edition of this Book there has been published an astonishing account of some Quaker Witches who prosecuted one Henry Winder and his Wife for their Lives accusing them of Murder from the Mouth of the Lord. And since the Publication of the Snake an Answer hath been published thereto entituled An Old Apostate Exposed manifesting the great Wickedness and Uncleanness of the said H. W. to his lasting Shame and Confusion of Face and had he not been under strange Delusions and hardness of Heart he could hardly have been drawn by his abettors to have given such occasion to make his abominable Actions publick But so great is the Malice of the Snake and such like envious Men that even their own Shame will not deter them from venting their Malice but let them reap the Fruit of their doings and let 's hear the Snake further Ibid. One of them being examined how this Revelation came to her said she could not tell but she was sure it began in her Feet See what Idle and Ridiculous Stories this Snake licks up surely if Satan's Delusions had not began in his Malicious Heart he had never been brought so to vent it with his Pen. Ibid. But the Snake goes on to give an account of matters notoriously infamous of which the said H. W. was by these two Women accused Wherein whether the Women were altogether Wrong and how far the said Winder was Guilty God knows However for some satisfaction to the Moderate Reader hear the said Winder and his Wife what they said then viz. about 1674. under their hands as it is related by T. Cam in the aforesaid Answer p. 6. We acknowledge and confess that we have sinned and transgressed against the Lord God and against his People who have born grievous Burthens for us we must needs confess before you But this know dear Friends that the Enemy wrought in a Mystery in us to the persuading of us that we might do such things and yet live Then through the weakness of the Flesh Sin took occasion and overcame us then Sin being finished it brought forth Death to the Innocent Life which we once lived in Here it 's plain from H. W's own Confession he had been about some foul piece of Work then though now a fit Tool for the Snake's turn However let 's a little further view the account of H. W's matter as we have it in the Old Apostate Exposed page 9 10. I shall now add what is so notoriously known in the Neighbourhood that though the said H. W. be greatly hardned yet I presume he cannot have a Face to deny relating to their great Uncleanness for which they were denyed of us c. So that it seems before H. W. was fit for this Snake's Communion he was fit to be expell'd ours But since the Snake has him let 's shew him further what he has got Old Apostate Exposed p. 10. The said H. W. had her that is now his Wife so great with Child in his first Wife's days that there was but about Six Weeks betwixt the Death of his first Wife and the Birth of that Child However
it not been thrown in my way by his first crying out Thief Thief The Snake hath in this Section made very many scornful and false Comparisons according to his title between G. Fox Muggleton and Oliver's Porter which is but a repetition of somewhat of the same kind in the beginning of his Libel and which I have replied to from p. 33 to 36. it being there somewhat Argumentative and the Enlargement which he here makes together with the Addition of Oliver's Porter in the Comparison has so much of Scandal to all the Pretences of Religion that his Impudence deserves no other Answer than Silence nor himself any other treatment than as a Person very Contemptible even as the Scandal of Religion and the bane of Society In that against the Experience of many Thousands of our Friends against the knowledge of very many Persons of all Ranks amongst whom are some of Chief Note and Dignity who are not of Us before whom and with whom G. Fox for Forty or more Years even to his Death had occasion to converse Towards all which Persons his Sobriety of Life Peaceable Behaviour Exemplary Conversation in Godliness and Humility was evident Demonstration that he acted both as became a Man and a Christian Should yet after his Death be by this Incendiary listed with a Known Mad-Man and Profest Libertine I come now to Consider of a Letter which the Snake gives at the end of his Libel which he says is Spelt and Pointed according to the Original and of which he gives some bits before in p. 115. And here I have to say that what he calls John Audland's Letter I have many Reasons to believe is none of his For First Some former Adversaries have as the Snake p. 115. pretended to give some Pieces of it but have contradicted one another as to the Matter of it by which contradiction in terms it is fully shewn that they could not all be right as they have pretended they were Secondly As to the Spelling and Pointing of it it is so far from being agreeable to John Audland in other of his Writings that it hath many plain marks of being Spurious because he was Correct in both and did understand Orthography better than is shewn in this pretended Letter Thirdly This Pretended Letter from J. Audland to G. Fox was not so well contriv'd but that the Forgers who have heretofore given it with a date have made it bear date from Bristol Anno 1665. This was a very unlucky oversight which as it cannot be now mended so it absolutely overthrows the pretence of its being his because John Audland was buried in Westmerland the 24th of the 1st Month March 1663. being the last day of that Year So that it appears he was dead about two years before the Date of the Pretended Letter But Lastly John Audland has in a Collection of Books and Epistles writ some by himself and some by him and John Camm and of which we have undoubted Proof that they are genuine giving very many Testimonies of his Clear and Christian Principle Holy Reverence and Honour to Jesus Christ according to Holy Writ which do effectually shew that it was far from him to attribute Divine Honours to G. Fox or any Man Some of which Testimonies I shall here subjoin from that Collection c. Collection c. p. 180. I must walk according to the Commands of Christ and his Apostles Ibid. p. 188. Walking in the Spirit which mortifies the Deeds of the Flesh being subject to the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ here is rest to the Soul Ibid. p. 190. We see the way of Life to all that believe in the Name of the Lord Jesus Ibid. p. 202. The Jews had a Law by which they judged the Holy One that he ought to die Ibid. p. 222. We find acceptance with God through Jesus Christ. Ibid. p. 287. They the Holy Prophets Prophesied of Christ who was born not by the Will of Man supposed to be the Son of Joseph which was the Son of God These with very many more Plain and Voluntary Confessions of J. A. to the very Christ of God in that Collection of Books c. do fully shew that he was very far from owning any such Blasphemy or Idolatry as the Snake does suggest Besides what I have now here said both in opposition to the Pretended Letter and also by Quotation from that Book of John Audlands hath been before spoken to by G.W. in his Just Inquiry printed 1693. which the Snake ought to have invalidated if he could before he repeated these Objections of other Adversaries What I have herein said hath been with purpose to remove that False and Envious Covering which the Snake in his several Charges hath endeavoured to cover Us with Reader As thou shalt have read it with an Impartial Mind thou wilt then be able to make a true Judgment how far my End is Answer'd As for what follows it is G. W's own Defence in Answer to the Snake's particular Objections to him in what he calls Remarks upon G. W 's Creed and a Supplement upon Occasion of G. W's Answer to the Snake in the Grass lately Published A Supplement upon occasion of what the Snake calls Remarks upon G. W 's Creed and in Reply to the Supplement in the Snake upon occasion of G. W's Antidote c. in Answer to the First Edition of The Snake in the Grass By George Whitehead SECT XXII A Reply to what the Author stiles Some Remarks upon George Whitehead's Creed Relating to some of the Particulars beforegoing taken out of the Antidote c. THe nameless Author of the Snake in the Grass having vented his and others Venome and great Spite against the People called Quakers in General and divers Particulars by Name Now to compleat his Design of great Envy he must put forth his Sting and have a fling and fit of Hissing like an angry Snake or as one that Whispers out of the Dust Isa. 29.4 against the said G. W. I being the Person aim'd at may now briefly answer for Truth and for my self as concerned 2. The word Creed he imposes upon me 'T was no formal Creed or Summary of our Faith though real Truths by way of Positions in the affirmative as a Christian Testimony in direct Opposition to F. B's great Abuse false Charge and Perversions which with a negative Testimony against him therein are both adapted to answer his own Terms Words and Phrases that our Testimony and Positions might be the more apparent against his Abuse and Perversions for I know no Adversary that I find fault with but I can freely and in good Conscience assert my own Sense in the Matters in Controversie as well as oppose his tho' it be not in the manner of a formal Creed yet true in it self for we should have numerous Creeds if all Positions we write in Opposition to Opposers must be esteemed Creeds or Summaries and Confessions of our Faith nevertheless we believe