this cannot be true unless it be the same It that is the same Body which is spoke of in both Branches of the Comparison The Objection is in these words If the It in the Text be not the same Body how can it be callâ—d a Resurrection for that supposeth the same I Answer says Mr. Penn If a thing can yet be the same and notwithstanding Changed for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation for the Absurdity of it is rather out-done than equallâ—d by this Carnal Resurrection First the Church of Rome owes Mr. Penn thanks for so very kind a Representation of Transubstantiation as to make it stand upon a better foot than the Resurrection of the Body which is an Article in our Creed and receiv'd by the Catholick Church in All Ages Secondly This is answering one Objection with another But Thirdly as to his Objection Cannot he apprehend a thing to be Changed in many of its Qualities and yet remain the same in its Substance For that is the present Question Quite contrary to that of Transubstantiation which supposes a Change of the Substance the Qualities or Accidents remaining the same What does he think Was not Christ's Body Changed in his Transfiguration upon the Mount Was it not therefore the same Body or did Christ take a New Body That wou'd have been Death For after a Soul is Hypostatically that is Personally united to a Body their separation is call'd Death Unless he thinks that Christ took a Body no otherwise than as Angels have done that is not into any Hypostatical Union with his Person but only as a Cloak or a Veil which he might throw off and put on again without any alteration as to his Person And if so then Christ did not die upon the Cross more than upon the Mount that is He only put off that Bodily Garment but that was no Death more than an Angel is said to die when he lays down that Body which he took up only for an occasion But this will be discours'd of more fully in the Section concerning the Divinity of Christ In the mean time let me give an easie answer to the two Verses in the 15th Chapt. of the 1st Ep. to the Corinthians which the Quakers make use of against the Resurrection of the Body One is ver 37. Thou sowest not that Body which shall be The other is ver 50. That Flesh and Blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God Answ Flesh and Blood while Corruptible as ours is in this Life cannot bear the Incorruptible State of Heaven As it is express'd in the same ver in explanation of the Expression Flesh and Blood cannot Inherit the Kingdom of God neither doth Corruption Inherit Incorruption But our Corruptible Flesh will be changed in its Qualities and put on Uncorruptible Qualities and thus the Dead shall be rais'd Incorruptible and we shall be Changed for this Corruptible must put on Incorruption c. ver 53. c. The same Answer will serve ver 37. where the Apostle does Illustrate the Resurrection of our Bodies by the Resurrection of Grain that is sown in the Ground For the Body of such Grain is chang'd in its Qualities but not in its Substance The Grain must die or else it will not Fructifie or Rise again In this Death it loses something as the Husks but it retains the Substance which rises again much alter'd from what it was when it was sown for it rises in the Blade then the Stalk Ears and then the full Grain in the Ear. But to shew that the Substance is not alter'd in all this we find that every Grain rises the same it was sown if you sow Oats you expect not a Crop of Wheat And there is full as much Reason to say that God does Anew Create every year all the Grain that grows in our Fields without any respect to the Grain that was sown or any Natural Production from thence as that we shall receive totally New Bodies without any Relation or any part of the Body that was sown And as to Mr. Penn's mighty Wonder how a thing can be chang'd and yet the same which he cannot comprehend and compares to Transubstantiation it is so far from being any difficulty at all that it proves the thing that is changed to be the same because otherwise It were not changed If George be chang'd in Quality in the State of his Health or in Reputation this is a certain proof that it is the same George still But if William be chang'd this is no change in George So that a thing being chang'd proves it to be the same Nor is the greatness of the Change any Difference as to the sameness of the Person chang'd Death is a great change yet if VVilliam dies it is VVilliam even the same William that liv'd who dy'd and as sure it will be the same who shall rise again tho' undergoing another great change But I am now to tell you a very strange thing which I wou'd not believe when it was told me till I saw it And that is that Mr. Penn does understand that Long and Elegant Description of the Resurrection of our Bodies from the 35 ver of the 15. Chap. of the 1 st Ep. to the Corinthians only of the Spiritual State of the Soul in this Life The Invalidity of John Faldo's Vindication c. 1673. These are his own words p. 373. of his Book Quoted in the Margent and repeating ver 44. It is sown a Natural Body it is rais'd a Spiritual Body c. he adds p. 369. I do utterly deny that this Text is concern'd in the Resurrection of Mans Carnal Body at all I will recite it says he with the five following verses which he there sets down but for Brevity I omit them referring to the Chapter and having repeated them which speak of the Natural and Spiritual Body that the First Man is of the Earth Earthly the Second is the Lord from Heaven and that as we have born the Image of the Earthly that is of Adam in this Corruptible Life so we shall bear the Image of the Heavenly that is at the Resurrection when our vile Bodies shall be made like unto Christ's Glorious Body but Mr. Penn p. 370. having repeated these verses goes on thus I say this doth not concern the Resurrection of Carnal Bodies but the two States of Men under the First and Second Adam Men are sown into the VVorld Natural so they are the Sons of the First Adam But they are Raised Spiritually through Him who is the Resurrection and the Life and so they are the Sons of the Second Adam who came to Raise up the Sons of the First Adam from their Dead to his Living the Natural to his Spiritual Estate But perhaps says he it will be objected that the 47. verse The first Man is of the Earth Earthly and part of the 9. verse We shall also bear the Image of the
Tribe Moses spake nothing concerning Priesthood Heb. 7.14 But he was a Priest after the Order of Melchisedec Heb. 5.6 And Tythes were Paid to Melchisedec long before Levi who Paid Tythes to Melchisedec being yet in the Loyns of his Father Abraham Heb. 7.10 Now the Evangelical Priesthood is after the Order of Melchisedec And therefore they Claim Tythes as being due to that Order of Priesthood So that all their Arguments as to the Law and Levitical Priesthood being superseded operate nothing against Priests of a Superior and more Excellent Priesthood 12. And there being as Ancient mention of Tythes as there is of Priesthood in the World I have no manner of doubt but they are as Ancient as Priesthood it self that is as Adam From whom Descended the Knowledge of Tythes as of Sacrifices and Priesthood which are all Relatives the one being the Maintenance the other the Office of the Priesthood and therefore the one must be as Ancient as the other And they were all alike Receiv'd by the Heathen World by an Immemorial Tradition from the Beginning without knowing of their Beginning as they knew not their own Origination nor of the World of Marriage and other Positive Institutions which by an Universal Tradition had been Convey'd down to them God reserv'd the Tenth Part of our Substance as the Seventh of our Time to be Paid as a Tribute and Acknowledgement to Him from whom we Receive All And therefore the Payment of Tythes is a part of God's Worship The Priests being made the Receivers because we cannot Pay them to God immediately is but a Secondary Consideration They were part of the Offerings to God under the Law Numb 18.24 They are call'd His Inheritance Deut. 18.1 not as then Instituted but then given to the Levites Nor is Melchisedec's Tything of Abraham mention'd as the Beginning or first Rise of Tythes but it is told only occasionly and as a thing well known and Receiv'd even in these Early Ages And being part of the Worship of God Holy unto the Lord Lev. 27.32 33. They were not Alienable or to be Chang'd with any thing else The Priests cou'd no more Excuse Men from the Payment of their Tythes for they were Paid to God than they cou'd Commute any of the other Offerings or Sacrifices upon the pretence that they were given to the Priests for their Maintenance No Man says that the People did offer Sacrifices to the Priests tho' the Priests did live of their Sacrifices neither are Tythes offer'd to the Priests but to God tho' they are Paid to the Priests and Received by the Priests from the Hands of the People as other Offerings to the Lord were Therefore the Substraction of the Tythes as of other Offerings is call'd a Robbing not of the Priests but of God Mal. 3.8 It is Invading what God has Reserv'd Peculiar to Himself that we may not Touch it of all the other Trees of the Garden 〈◊〉 may freely eat And this is the same Sacrilege as to taste of the Forbidden Fruit. That was the First Sin It was Sacrilege And I am not afraid to say that all are guilty of it who have seiz'd upon the Tythes of God and Pay them not to His Priests And that this Sin will not be forgiven without a severe Repentance and Restitution How far extreme Ignorance occasion'd by the Torrent of the Times will Excuse I will not now Dispute But I am sure Willfull or Affected Ignorance occasion'd by Negligence or Covetousness will not And let this be added to all that I have said That several Kings of England who had then the sole Right and Property in all the Lands of England have anew Dedicated by Particular Vows as Jacob Gen. 28.22 all the whole Tythe of the Lands of England to God and Sign'd Charters and Grants of the same tender'd upon their Knees at the Altar of God in Presence and with the Approbation of the Lords and Estates of the Land with Heavy Curses and Imprecations upon themselves or any of their Successors who shou'd Recall the same or Incroach in any part upon the said Tythe of God and upon all who shou'd Receive such Grants from them or assist them in such Sacrilege And the same has been confirmed by several Acts of Parliament Now if a Man cannot violate Hâ—own Vow how can he Annull that of another Especially where his Vow was only for the Payment of what God had before Reserv'd to Himself But I will not Launch out here upoâ— this Subject only tell these Quakers That it was the Friars and School-Men who first set up the Notion of Tythes being Eleemosynary against their own Canonists on purpose to leave the People at Liberty to bestow their Tythes upon the Regulars and to maintain the Sacrilegious Impropriations which the Pope had made of the Tythes of the Secular Clergy to endow their Monasteries which Hen. VIII instead of Restoring did yet more Sacrilegiously Impropriate to the Laity And here let the Quakers take a view of the Original of their Arguments against Tythes They have only lick'd up the Spittle of the most Corrupt Part of the Church of Rome and gone in to the Scandal of our Reformation which is most justifiable in our Doctrine and Worship but the High Places were not taken away Our Iehu Reformer destroyed indeed Baal out of the Land 2 Kings 10.28 29. but he departed not from the sin of the Golden Calves O thou that abhorrest Idols dost thou commit Sacrilege Rom. 2.22 But our Quakers exceed all Corruption even in this They not only refuse to Pay their Tythes to God But they are Tempted by the Seducer to Rail against them as utterly Unlawful and Anti-Christian And to add even to this they wou'd now Hypocritically excuse themselves at the Hands of the Government and dare not bear their Testimony openly and above-board They simper with half a Mouth and say they mean it not against a Protestant Civil Government when no longer since than in their Yearly Epistle for the Year 1693. directed from the Yearly Meeting at London to the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England Wales and Elsewhere it is positively Enjoin'd That none shou'd Pay Tythes but Refuse the Payment thereof as an Anti-Christian Yoke of Bondage And in a Book deliver'd by them to the House of Commons 1694. Intitued the Counterfeit Convert c. which was wrote by George Whitehead and wherein they pretend to vindicate themselves from Calumnies cast upon them and to set forth their true Doctrine which they will stand by and own as such before the Parliament There p. 73. they openly Declare That their Testimony against Tythes was not a Law of Their making but of Christ's This is high indeed For then it must supersede all our Laws and render them Anti-Christian This is a full Confession of Francis Bugg's Impeachment But I meddle not now with that only as to the Conscience of the thing Where do they find any Law of Christ against Tythes
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
Eternal Tragedy upon c. What Flaming Ovens are the Hearts of these Men Belching forth nothing but Hell and Damnation Bugg tells 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 yet she was so well stor'd with these Quaker Printed Books and Pamphlets that she had more than two hundred of them Enough says he to Infect a Nation their Chief tendency being against Magistracy and Ministry and all Instituted Religion And to all this Heavy Impeachment there is not one word of Answer in that which is call'd The Quakers Answer to Bugg Nihil Dicit is Confessing of Judgment And by this we must believe all these Quotations of Bugg's to be True And that there is nothing to be said in Defence of them But that the Quakers own them still and are just such Men as he has Represented them But to Conclude If they thought that they cou'd prove Tythes to be Abrogated by Christ their being against the Law of the Land ought to be no Objection But their poor Trimming and seeking Excuses shews either that they dare not stand to the Truth or that they think not their own Pretences to be Truth though they wou'd pass them as such upon others If they cou'd prove Tythes to be Abrogated by Christ then indeed Bugg's Impeachment wou'd appear to be Malicious only to stir up Persecution against the Truth of Christ because it was not own'd by the Law of the Land But if it cannot be made appear that Tythes are contrary to the Law of Christ then they are justly Impeachable who shall oppose the Laws of the Land in that particular And this shews how dangerous a thing it is to admit Enthusiasm in any Government when their Imaginations and Crotchets shall be thought Equal to the Scripture and to have Force to dissolve the Laws of the Land It is no Objection against Quakerism that it has not been Voted in St. Stephen's Chappel as bad things have and I shou'd like it not the better but the worse if it were made the Parliamentary Religion of the Nation which it may come to in its turn All Persecution for the Faith is suffering in opposition to Laws And the Psalmist tells of those who establish Wickedness by a Law Therefore this was the easiest Objection in the World to get over But now for the Quakers to curry a little favour to Sham and Trim as in this their Answer to Bugg and that in a matter of Conscience gives us an Idea of these Men far short of Infallibility even as the poorest Time-servers and in their unmannerly way of Flatterers and Sycophants And I have shewn that they were always so Courting all the Prosperous Rebellions from 1650. to 1660. I have done this for the sake of those Honest Loyal Quakers now amongst us If they were all guided with the same Spirit they wou'd be all such especially Mr. Penn having told us ut supra p. 61. That their Light within did serve them both in reference to Religion and Civil Concerns And we believe it does both alike Infallibly And then let our Now Loyal Quakers take a measure of their Infallibility in other things by the Traiterous Principles and Actions of G. Fox and all the rest of them from 1650. to 1660. in that Scene of Rebellion and Schism the two Breasts of the Covenant whence the Quakers suck'd their Infant Milk I hope this dismal Prospect of the Birth and Growth of Quakerism will cure those Quakers of Honesty and Sense who have a just apprehension of the Heinousness of Schism in the Church and Rebellion in the State And I wou'd desire them not to satisfie themselves it will not satisfie the World to slip out some of the most Monstrous Passages of Treason out of the new Editions of their Prophets as I have shewn they have serv'd Edw. Burrough Francis Howgil c. and I have given them a timely warning as to the New Edition of G. Fox 's Works which is upon the Stocks For this disingenuous Trick exposes their Infallibility much more and they are not to think that some will not watch them and Detect their Double Dealing There is nothing less will serve their turn than down right to Acknowledge the Folly and Wickedness of their Former Prophets to Renounce Disown and Condemn their Blasphemies and Treasons otherwise they must be judg'd Partners with them and Favourers at least of their Impious Principles who refuse to Condemn them when it is so necessary for the Glory of God and removing so horrid a Scandal not only to the Quakers but to the Reform'd Religion and to Christianity it self which Appellations the Quakers assume to themselves but how justly I leave to the Reader 13. And the Quakers cannot refuse thus to Condemn these Scandalous Prophets and Teachers of theirs even by their own Discipline For in their Yearly Meeting 1675. they made a Decree That the Churches Testimony and Judgment against Scandalous Walkers and the Repentance and Condemnation of the Parties Restor'd shou'd be Recorded in a Distinct Book to be Produced or Published for that end Now if they think Blasphemers and Traytors and False-Prophets to be Scandalous Walkers they are oblig'd here by their own Rule and their Practise in other Cases to cause them to sign Instruments of Condemnation against themselves and to Record these in their Publick Register together with their Churches Testimony and Judgment against them to be Produced and Published for that end to vindicate their Church from the Scandal But if they refuse as I am afraid they will to Execute this Discipline upon those False-Prophets herein Detected and many others whom they know upon all their Blasphemers and Traytors upon their Persons if alive and their Works if they are dead if they refuse this it is plain that they think not such to be Scandalous Walkers but that they justifie them and their Principles Tho' as in this their Answer to Bugg they wou'd for their Temporal Ease and Advantage and to blind the Eyes of the World Cover and Cut and Shufle and Hide themselves Let this therefore be the Touch-Stone to prove them Let them Produce and Publish such their Condemnation of Fox Burrough c. for their False Prophecies and Trayterous Abetting of Oliver and the Rump and that In the Name and From the Mouth of the Lord adding Blasphemy to Rebellion Let them either Convict Bugg of False Quotation in those Barbarous Passages he has produc'd out of several of their Books in this his Impeachment or let such Persons be Censur'd by them and their Books Disown'd But if they will do none of these things then let them lie under the Impeachment and the Condemnation laid against them and it must in that Case and for that Reason be laid upon their Church as their avowed Doctrine and Principle and not only as the Failing of
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
cannot be Infiniteness in it self Against this G. Fox Disputes and no Kind of Infiniteness will serve his turn but Infiniteness in himself which is the Infiniteness of God alone for He only has Infinity in Himself as not being given by any other Is not the Soul says he without Beginning Hath this a Beginning â—r Ending and is it not Infinite in it self and more than all the world P. 29. Now consider what 〈◊〉 â—â—â—dition these call'd Ministers are in They say that which is a Spiritual Substance is not Infinite in it self but a Creature Here he will not let the Soul be a Creature His proof is in the next words That which came out from the Creator and is in the Hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again That is Infinite in it self I do not medle with his Philosophy which is wretched I only shew you his Opinion that the Soul is not a Creature but Infinite and that in it self Which is making of it God in the strictest terms Will you have any more of it He makes the Soul to become one Soul with God Christ says he p. 19. brings the Soul up into God from whence it came whereby they come to be one Soul And p. 229. who are come up into the Bishop Christ they are one Soul It is horrid Blasphemy said Alexander Ross to say The Soul is a part of God It is not horrid Blasphemy reply'd G. Fox p. 273. to say the Soul is a part of God for it came out of Him and that which came out of Him is of Him Fox does not say that the Soul came from God that is that God Created it But that it came of God as a Part of God of his Substance Person and Essence And p. 100. is not this of God's Being Says he And he Disputes against this Position That there is not an Essential In-dwelling of the Divine Nature in God's People and That God dwells not in the Saints by a Personal Union Or that Christ's Person is not in Man which is as much as to say replies G. Fox p. 248. as if we were not of his Flesh and Bones and had not his Substance Here the Light within is not only an Illumination or Inspiration from Christ but the very Person of Christ his Substance his Flesh and Bones And he says p. 207. That Christ is not distinct from his Saints That Christ is the Elect. p. 88. That the Light within is Christ p. 310. That they who are of the Faith are the Flesh of Christ the Flesh of Him who Suffered But this will come under a following Head Sect. 17. therefore for the present we dismiss it Only I will tell you before I go Mr. Penn's Excuse for G. Fox in all these particulars He lays it upon George's extreme Ignorance The Invalidity of John Faldo 's Vindication c. 1673. p. 353. That when he said the Soul was Equal with God by Equality he meant only Unity And that when he call'd the Soul Infinite he did not mean Infinite but something that is not Finite or which comes to an End And that when he said the Soul was without Beginning and a Part of God he did not mean the Soul but the Breath of God c. He says that George observ'd no nicety of Expression and finds great fault with those who make ill use of his Plain and Vulgar Phrases An Indifferent Man wou'd rather have said Ne sutor ultra Crepidam That this Fox shou'd rather have kept to his Original Trade than to set up for Interpreting the Scripture before he had learned to speak Sense or write English A defect in which is a strange excuse for Infallibility But it is just with God thus to detect such Wicked and Blasphemous Pretences to all who are not resolv'd to shut their Eyes For will any one believe that that Spirit which cou'd dictate an Infallible Knowledge of the Scripture and of all Persons and Things as G. F. c. pretended cou'd not have enabl'd these Men to speak common sense or to understand plain English words But the truth is all this was a Bewildring of G. F's poor understanding and not to be charg'd only as Mr. Penn's over Charity does upon his Plain and Vulgar Phrases For in both the above Instances of the Soul 's Infinity and Equality with God the Distinctions were plainly given to G. F. what sort of Infinity and Equality was allow'd to the Soul and he expresly Disputes against such Distinctions and rejects any Limited Sense of the Souls Infinity and Equality with God But will have it Infinite in it self and no Lesser kind of Infiniteness which was allow'd him And to be Equal to God not only in Quality but in Equality which was a great deal too much to be Granted But that it self wou'd not satisfie G. F. And this must proceed past help of Mr. Penn and all the World either from a most Impious Blasphemy or such an immoderate degree of Dullness and lack of Understanding as cou'd not befall any thing in Human shape much less any one who pretended to Inspiration and proudly to Decry and Damn all the World since the Apostles SECT VIII Of the Quakers pretence to a sinless Perfection THis is dispatch'd already Sect. 6. where we see them claim a Perfection even Equal to God But because I suppose there are some of them who are not willing now to go that Blasphemous length I will set down some of their more Moderate Pretences to Perfection that is to a sinless State even in this Life I have before Quoted Mr. Penn upbraiding the Church of England as Opposers of Perfection and Ridiculing us for confessing our selves sinners and imploring God's Mercy Now hear G. Fox p. 101. It is the Doctrine of Devils that Preacheth that Men shall have sin and be in a Warfare so long as they be on Earth They that pretend coming to God and Christ out of Perfection they be in the Error p. 111. All who come to Christ they come to Perfection p. 231. They attain to Perfection in the Life of God p. 271. For who are Sanctified have Perfect Unity Perfect Knowledge Perfect Holiness p. 281. The Life of the Saints is Christ not sinful at all This will appear further in what follows which might be put all under one Head but for Method's sake and Plainness I distinguish them SECT IX Concerning the Quakers pretence to Immediate Revelation Equal to what was given to the Pen-Men of the Holy Scriptures GEorge Fox says p. 242. That they are in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in Are not ye says he to the Professors p. 241. in the Presumption and Usurp Authority to Preach or to Teach that have not the Immediate Revelation as the Apostles had p. 213. Thou canst not know the Scriptures but by the same Degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had They