only as an Extraordinary Inspiration for some time but as an Holy Duty And if it be such it must bind for ever Sam. Fisher in his Rusticus ad Academicos Exercit. 2. p. 18. says As for that Holy Duty it self of Quaking which as Blind a Guide and Brute a Beast as Thou thus he treats Dr. Owen in the Quaker Courtly Dialect art in speaking evil of c. Now if it be an Holy Duty then are the Present Quakers fallen from their Duty and from their Holiness If it is an Effect of the Extraordinary Inspiration of God then have not the Present Quakers such a Degree of the Spirit as the First Quakers had which I suppose they will not be willing to own For then there will be Degrees in their Infallibility And if it be once coming Down Stairs But if as in truth it is that their Quaking and Shaking proceeded from a strong Possession of the Spirit of Enthusiasm it will follow that all was a Delusion then and must be so still while our Modern Quakers take upon them to Justifie those who went before them and their Doctrines And by G. Fox's Sentence above-told all Was and Is Conjuration and their Quaking was the Possession of the Devil and the Quakers now are Inspir'd by Him and are False Prophets Diviners and Conjurers And this as G. Fox teaches must certainly be so if they have spoken any thing not only Against the Word of God but if All that they have said was not spoken from the Mouth of the Lord. Even to make it Heathenism and Idolatry to have the Image or likeness of any Ceature in Heaven or in Earth painted upon a Sign See a Treatise of G. Fox's which was surnam'd Iconoclastes And an Order of his Printed at the end of Tyrany and Hypocrisie 1673. But only a Bed-Staff Fire-Shovel Saw Fork or the like of Man's making And where he Preaches against Skimming-Dish-Hats Unnecessary Buttons on Coats or Cloaks Slit-Peaks behind on the Skirts of Womens Wast-coasts Short Black Aprons needless flying Scarfs Vizard-Masks Bare-Necks c. All which he Dictates as from Immediate Inspiration 5. But because these poor misled Quakers and other Enthusiasts among us are made to believe that the Church of England does wholly throw off all Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and rests only on their outward Forms I will here briefly set down the Doctrine of the Church of England in this Point and shew what sort of Inspiration She allows and what it is which She rejects 1st She constantly Teaches That all the Saving Graces are wrought in our Hearts by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost Insomuch that of our selves we are not able so much as to think a good Thought And that this Inspiration is as necessary to our Fructifying or bringing forth Good Works as the Influence of the Sun is to the Earths bringing forth of her Fruits That whatever may bear the appearance of Good Works in us and is not wrought by this Inspiration is not Good nor Acceptable to God As it is express'd in our 13th Article Works done before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of His Spirit are not pleasant to God Yea rather for that they are not done as God hath Willed and Commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin What fuller can be said for the necessity of this Inspiration And if the Quakers will have this call'd The Light within we will not Dispute with them about a Word it is the Thing and Meaning that we Contend for This is the constant Tenor of all our Prayers Almighty God 2d Sunday after Lent who seest that we have no Power of our selves to help our selves keep us c. And because we can do no good thing without Thee Who seest that we put not our Trust in any thing that we do We humbly beseech Thee 1st Sunday after Trinity that as by thy special Grace preventing us Sexagesima Thou dost put into our Minds good Desires Easter-Day so by Thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect That 5th Sunday after Easter by Thy Holy Inspiration we may think those things that be Good Grant us by Thy Spirit to have a Right Judgment in all things Whit-Sunday c. And in The Ordering of Deacons this is the first Question Demanded by the Bishop from those who are to be Ordainâ—d Do you trust that you are Inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office Do you think that you are truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ c. The same is Demanded in the Ordination of Priests and Bishops And the words of Consecration of a Bishop are Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God And the Hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is Sung Come Holy Ghost our Souls Inspire And lighten with Coelestial Fire c. And according to this we Pray that God wou'd Cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of His Holy Spirit First Collect in the Communion Service That He would Prevent and Further us Last Collects in all our Works And that of His only Gift it cometh 13th Sunday after Trinity that we do unto Him True and Laudable Service Nay not only our Works 3d. Sunday after Trinity or Prayers but that our very Desire to Pray is his Gift We Pray for Pensons to be Baptized that God wou'd Wash them and Sanctifie them with the Holy Ghost Baptism And our Catechism teaches 1st Collect. that we are not able of our selves to walk in the Commandments of God Catechism and to serve Him without His special Grace And lastly for I must Transcribe our whole Liturgy to name every place where the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost is Witnessed and Prayed for thus the Bishop Prays for Persons to be Confirmed Strengthen them we beseech Thee O Lord with the Holy Ghost the Comforter and daily increase in them Thy manifold Gifts of Grace Confirmation the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Council and Ghostly Strength the Spirit of Knowledge and true Godliness and fill them O Lord with the Spirit of Thy Holy Fear now and for ever Here is an Enumeration of the Principal Gifts of Grace for which we Pray And in the Exhortations before the Communion it is earnestly Inculcated upon us that if we be not thus Spiritually prepared all the Outward Ordinance will avail us nothing For otherwise as it is there worded the Receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but encrease your Damnation And there is not one Book of Devotion us'd among us that does not tell us the same That the Inward is the Soul of Religion without which the Outward part is but a Dead Carcase and stinks before God And that the Inward Purity of the Heart cannot be wrought but by
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
Burrough in his Word of Advice to the Soldiers p. 2. Oh! says be with a Gusto give the Priests Blood to drink for they are worthy But this with other sweet bits is left out in the new Edition of his Works wherein there is yet enough behind to shew the largeness of his Bowels and to what narrow Limits he wou'd confine that Inundation of Blood which the Good Old Cause had brought upon these Nations and which he Justifies and that from the Mouth of the Lord. In his Warning to the English Army 1659. he assures them p. 540. of his Works in these words Your Victory hath been of the Lord. But then he wou'd have them go on and carry Blood and Slaughter into other Countries What are these few Poor Islands says he p. 537 538. that you have run through And then he advises them to fall upon 〈◊〉 and Spain and Avenge says he p. 537. the Blood of the Guiltlâ—ss through all the Dominions of the Pope p. 538. that your Sword and the Sword of the Lord may neither leave Root nor Branch of Idolatry that your Sword be lifted up against them p. 540. Set up your Standard at the Gites of Rome And Prophesying of the time when Vengeance shou'd be taken of Rome The time is come says he p. 537. their Church cannot stand Long. p. 535 536. and as sure as the Lord lives so shall it come to pass But this is long since pass'd and their Church stands still And which is much a greater wonder this Burrough is counted still a true Prophet among the Quakers in whom the fullness of Grace and Virtue châ—elâ— â—us was said of him in his Life â—rote 1663. p. 24. by a Club of the Principal Quakers G. Fox â—os Coal G. Whitehead c. who thus Blasphem'd in Praise of a Wretch that durst Pawn the very Being of God That as sure as the Lord lives so it must come to pass as he said And since it is not so come to pass are â—â—tiâ—ll the rest of these Quakers as Mad and Blasphemous as he who will still believe that he was sent from God or spoke His Words And that all these Lyes and Preaching up of Blood their Blasphemies and Treasons are of Equal Authority with the Holy Scriptures yea of Greater as I will shew you presently from George Whitehead And if this be true we must believe the 〈◊〉 Contradictions of the Quakers before the Scriptures As that notwithstanding all these loud Proclamations of Blood and War which we have beâ—â—d from them and that if their Advice were follow'd all whole Christendom wou'd be turned into an Aceldamâ— the Protestants falling upon all Popish Countries and the Papists upon them I say that notwithstanding of all this if the Quakers Writings are given forth by the Spirit of God as they boldly pretend we must believe their Declaration given to King Charles II. upon the 21st of January 1660. subscrib'd by G. Fox and Eleven more in the behalf of the whole Body of the Quakers wherein p. 4. They Declare positively against the lawfulness of Fighting upon any account And this say they is both our Principle and Practice and hath been from the beginning so that if we suffer as suspected to take up Arms or make War against any it is without any Ground from us for it neither is nor ever was in our Hearts since we owned the Truth of God neither shall we ever do it because it is contrary to the Spirit of Christ his Doctrine and the Practice of his Apostles And in The Quakers Plea Printed 1661. p. 5. They say Such of us whose Principles were once so that is for Fighting are changed even from that Principle and Practice of going to Wars and Fighting and Now are all of that Mind and Heart That in the Administration of the Gospel 〈◊〉 on all Occasions whatsoever unlawful to go to War and Fight with any Man with Carnal Weapons contrary to the Doctrine of Christ This was in the Year 1661. to fix this Opinion of them the Quakers in the King and Government But when by this Deep Deceit and Hypocrisie they did prevail and it had for Twelve Years after the Restauration been generally receiv'd that this was in good earnest the Principle of the Quakers as it continues with most to this day and I doubt not but many of the simple well-meaning Quakers themselves are Imposed upon in this to think that the Quaker Principle is against all War and Fighting upon any Occasion whatsoever as in their Plea above Quoted Yet I say when the World and many of themselves had been thus Deluded by their Leaders they in the Year 1672. to secure to themselves their Old Principle of Fighting whenever The Good Old Cause shou'd stand in need of it did Reprint what I have above Quoted of Edward Burrough for carrying Blood and War into all the Popish Countries and much more to the same purpose in the New Edition of his Works To which there are high Testimonies affix'd of George Fox George VVhitehead Josiah Coal Francis Howgil and Ellis Hookes Now if this Doctrine of Fighting or making VVar upon any Occasion whatsoever was contrary to the Spirit of Christ and His Doctrine in the Year 1â—60 that part of the Year I mean after the Restauration how came the Saints above-nam'd to Publish the contrary Doctrine of Edw. Burrough with such mighty Pomp in the Year 1672 And we must believe Both to be Infallible as the Holy Scriptures themselves being Both given forth by the same Spirit But these Editors of Burrough's Works are yet more Chargeable with whatever is in the New Edition because they took more upon them than barely as Editors that is to Correct and Amend and to Expunge what they thought fit as his Declaring VVar against the King and the Church before-told which tho' Dictated as he said by the Eternal Spirit yet they made bold to set these things aside lest they shou'd offend the Powers then in being but they thought that carrying the VVar into Italy and Spain wou'd be less taken notice of and wou'd continue their Claim to the Privilege of Fighting when they shou'd have occasion for it Why otherwise were not these Expung'd as well as the Traiterous Passages against the King and the Government If it was through the Inadvertence of their Infallibility let them now Disclaim it and confess Burrough to have been in an Error as to that Principle of Fighting No they will not and therefore it is their own They will not They have not done it for since the New Edition of Burrough's Works 1672. when a fair occasion seem'd to offer towards the Re-asserting of the Good Old Cause in Monmouth's Rebellion 1681. Several of the Quakers in the VVest where he Landed took Arms and Fought in his Quarrel and tho' some of them were taken Prisoners yet we heard nothing of their Repentance or that they were oblig'd by the rest to sign any Instruments
in their Answers to all the rest of this Book And that they are not sound in the Faith THE SNAKE in the Grass OR SATAN Transform'd into An Angel of Light Discovering the Deep and Unsuspected Subtilty which is Couched under the Pretended Simplicity of many of the Principal Leaders of those People called QUAKERS THE Controversie with the Quaker-Dissenters has not been pursu'd by the Church of England with the like Zeal and Pains as those against the Presbyterians Independents and other Dissenters because the Quakers were not so Considerable either for their Learning or for their Influence upon the Publick Revolutions which the others caus'd both in Church and State But their Numbers whether increas'd by being so neglected are now really Formidable I mean for the many Souls Seduc'd by them for I speak not now of Temporal Considerations they not only swarm over these Three Nations but they Stock our Plantations abroad It is wholly for the love of Souls that I have enter'd into this Controversie And therefore to do Right to All I have made a Distinction between them in the very Title I name many of their Principal Leaders because I have great Charity for the generality of the Ignorant sort of them some of whom I know to be very Honest and Well-meaning Men and Devout in their way and who suspect nothing of the Depth of that Mystery of Iniquity wherein they are Blindly and Implicitly led And therefore it is chiefly for the sake of these that I detect the Errors of their Leaders and Ministers that they may now at length if it be the Will of God recover themselves out of the Snares of the Devil wherein they are taken Captive by him at his will Secondly I name the Subtilty of these Rabbies of the Quakers Sect. For tho' they are generally thought the most Ignorant and Contemptible Sect amongst all our Dissenters and therefore are most neglected by us yet since I have perus'd their Books and Convers'd with some of them I have much alter'd my Opinion as to that I find them to Inherit the Subtilty as well as Heresie of the Arians and Socinians who were the most Subtile and hardest to be Detected of any of the Christian Hereticks And the Quakers do defend themselves with the same Distinctions and even add to their Arts as you shall see But they are now at a very hard Lock For many of them have really gone off from the height of Blasphemy and Madness which was Profess'd among them at their first setting up in the Year 1650. and so continu'd till after the Restauration Anno 1660. since which time they have been coming off by degrees especially of late some of them have made nearer Advances towards Christianity than ever before And among them the Ingenious Mr Penn has of late refin'd some of their gross Notions and brought them into some Form has made them speak Sense and English of both which George Fox their First and Great Apostle was totally Ignorant as you will see in the few Quotations which I have Transcrib'd out of his Great Mystery in his own words But so wretched is their State that tho' they have in a great measure Reform'd from the Errors of the Primitive Quakers yet they will not own this because as they think it wou'd Reflect upon their whole Profession as indeed it does and Argues that their Doctrine was Errouneous from the Beginning and their Pretence False and Impious upon which they first left the Church and run into Schism Therefore they endeavour all they can to make it appear that their Doctrine was Uniform from the Beginning and that there has been no alteration and therefore they take upon them to defend all the Wrizings of George Fox and others of the first Quakers and turn and wind them to make them but it is impossible agree with what they Teach now at this day On the contrary they have by these Arts brought back their New Reformation to the Old Standard and while they wou'd Reconcile they in effect Justifie and still Maintain their first Blasphemous Pretences only have Dress'd and Couch'd them more Craftily which is more Wickedly Therefore to rid them out of this Difficulty I wou'd persuade them openly and above-board to Renounce George Fox and their first Reformers and all their Blasphemous and Heretical Doctrine Which whoever refuses to do must be concluded to remain still in that Root of Bitterness and Bond of Iniquity For this Reason I have taken my Rise from the Writings of George Fox and others of their Scribes and shewn the little pretty Distinctions which the Modern Quakers make use of to Cover Palliate and Reconcile those Doctrines of Devils at first taught by them And I hope I have perform'd thus much That our present Quakers must either plainly Renounce George Fox and other their Original Rabbi's or otherwise that they are not to be believ'd in that fair Face which they at present wou'd put upon their Doctrine There is nothing so Monstrous or so Senseless for which excuses may not be made and some seemingly plausible meaning put upon the grossest Absurdities No Quakers in the World do Defend themselves with greater vehemence and self-assurance than the Muggletonians do And they go as the Quakers do upon the Pretence of an Infallible Inspiration of the Spirit of God or the Light within and are as Positive as any Quaker of them all And I must say it they give the same Proof for their Extraordinary Inspiration as the Quakers do that is none at all but their own Confident averring of it Mr Penn in his Winding-Sheet hereafter Quoted p. 6 Sect. 6. calls Muggleton the Sorcerer of our Days Now I wou'd beseech Mr. Penn who has more Wit than all the rest of his Party to let us know what Ground he had for leaving the Church of England more than Muggleton Or than others of the Separate Quakers have for leaving of him and his Party Or why we shou'd trust the Light within Him or George Fox rather than the Light within Lodowick Muggleton Has Lodowick wrought no Miracles to prove his Mission No more have George Fox or William Penn. Are they very sure that they are in the Right So is he Are they Schismaticks So is he Are they above Ordinances Have they thrown off the Sacraments Muggleton has done more He has discarded Preaching and Praying too For these are Ordinances Is He against distinct Persons in the Godhead So are They. Is He against all Creeds So are They. Does He deny all Church-Authority So do They. Yet does He require the most Absolute Submission to what Himself teaches So do They. Does He make a Dead Letter of the Holy Scriptures and Resolve all into his own Private Spirit So do They. Does He Damn all the World and all since the Apostles So do They. All which will be shewn at large in what follows These are Twin-Enthusiasts both born in the year 1650. for then