Principles two years after he left us and joyned himself to the Church of England c. For which he quotes my Book The Quakers detected and their Errors confuted To which I answer The very Title shews the contrary And in the Book I charge them with False Doctrin Erroneous Principles their Teachers Cruel Taskmasters Persecutors and Tyrants and that part of their Doctrin which was true as I still believe some little of what they teach is true served only as a Decoy to catch simple Souls by charging their Ministers with Lyes gross Forgery and scandalous Defamations Babel's Builders Pharasaical Hypocrites See p. 4 5 18 21. And now let the Wise in Heart judge whether I did not account the Quakers criminal in 1686. With what face then can this gross Perverter G. W. say I did not account them criminal in 1686. unless to be guilty of the forementioned be not criminal As by the Quakers persisting therein they should not account it However I did then and do now account them great Criminals both in Doctrin and Practice and for leaving them am not condemned but bless the Day that ever I forsook such an Heresie as I deem them to hold defend and I fear wilfully maintain The Matters in that Book treated on I methodiz'd under these three general Heads viz. The first point under Consideration was How I came to be a Member of their Society The second How I came to see their Errors and leave them The third How I came perswaded and satisfied in going to the Publick In the first I did set forth what I thought of them in 58 and 60. and what they preached and how innocent they appeared G. W. in Norwich-Castle seemed as demure as the best yet in that Book I set forth as I then believed that all was but a Decoy or Cheat to draw Disciples after them and if I was cheated and mistaken in them so was Hugh Latimore that learned Prelate in the smooth Carriage of the Papists and their Infallible Delusions who said I am ignorant of things which I trust hereafter to know c. Read Fox's Acts and Monuments c. p. 410 467 468 1325 1488. where Bishop Latimer Bishop Cranmer M. Luther Dr. Barns and other pious sincere Christians have not been too good nor too holy to acknowledge themselves mistaken upon conviction though by your Doctrin render d Apostates in that they once thought the Popish Doctrine true c. Nay your Incharity renders many of your own People Apostates who before they were deluded by your black Art of calling the Scripture Death Dust and Serpents-meat the Ordinances an Institution of the Whore of Rome the publick Ministers Witches Devils Gormandizing Priests c. thought the Doctrine of the Church of England sound and orthodox But since they are turn'd to the Heresie of Quakerism G. W. accounts them Saints Lambs Prophets and what not But as these Weights are counterfeit so I purpose to try them by the Touchstone of the Scripture which cannot lye And I refer to my Book New-Rome unmask'd c. containing more than 100 Pages in Quarto divided into twelve Chapters which shew at large that forsaking the Quakers is no Apostacy from the Articles of the Christian Faith c. sold by Mr. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry and Mr. Guillam Bookseller in Bishopsgate-street Concluding my Introduction with St. Augustine Errare possum haereticus esse non possum The FIRST CHARGE Against the Quakers That they Deny Jesus of Nazareth who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be Christ and the Efficient Cause of Man's Salvation The ARGUMENT THE Method proposed to prove the recited Charge is 1st A brief Citation of Scriptures proving that Jesus is the Christ of God and Efficient Cause of Man's Salvation from the Testimony of GOD Angels and Men. 2dly A Recital out of the Quakers Books wrote by their most approved Authors alledging the contrary shewing them thereby to be of a different Faith from the Prophets Apostles Saints and Blessed Martyrs and all true Christians to this day 3dly That Geo. Fox the first Founder of Quakerism Anno 1650. have since assumed to himself those divine Attributes due only to Christ and thereby hath overthrown the Faith of some 4thly That his Disciples and Followers and such of greatest note amongst them hath said Amen to his Blasphemies by their frequent Adorations of him as the Star the Branch the Son of Righteousness c. 1st Scripture Texts proving Jesus to be Christ. John 1.14 And the word was made flesh and dwelt amongst us and we beheld his glory the glory as of the only begotten of the Father full of grace and truth Luke 1.26 And in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Gallilee named Nazareth and the Angel said unto her Fear not Mary for thou hast found favour with God and behold thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call his name Jesus 2.10 11. And the Angel said unto them Fear not for behold I bring unto you good tydings of great joy which shall be unto all people for unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour Christ the Lord. Mark 9.7 Matt. 17.5 While he yet spake behold a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold a voice out of the cloud which said This is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased hear him Matt. 26.67 Then did they spit in his face and buffeted him and others smote him with the palms of their hands 27.38 Then there were two thieves crucified with him one on the right hand another on the left Ver. 50. Jesus when he had cried again with a loud voice yielded up the ghost 28.6 He is not here for he is risen as he said Come see the place where the Lord lay Acts 1.9 10 11. While they beheld he was taken up and a cloud received him out of their sight And while they looked stedfastly towards Heaven as he went up behold two men standing by them in white apparel which also said Ye men of Gallilee why stand ye gazing up into Heaven This same Jesus which is taken up from you into Heaven then not in them in the Quakers sence for as he said with reference to his Person Matt. 26.11 Me ye have not always shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into Heaven Acts 5.30 31. The God of our fathers raised up Jesus whom ye slew and hanged on a Tree him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour for to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins Acts 2.36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Heb. 5.9 And being made perfect he became the Author of eternal salvation to all them that obey him 12.2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our
Quakerism Withering AND Christianity Reviving OR A BRIEF REPLY TO THE Quakers Pretended Vindication In Answer to a Printed Sheet deliver'd to the PARLIAMENT WHEREIN Their Errors both in Fundamentals and Circumstantials are further detected and G. Whitehead further unmask'd By an Earnest Contender for the Christian Faith Francis Bugg Licens'd March 3. 1693 4. Because I have called and ye refused I have stretched forth my hand and no man regarded I also will laugh at your calamity and mock when your fear cometh Prov. 1.24 26. LONDON Printed for the Author and sold by J. Dunton at the Raven in the Poultry and J. Guillam Bookseller in Bishopsgate-street 1694. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND EDWARD Lord Bishop of Gloucester My Lord SINCE by Divine Providence after my many Years Conversation with the Quakers I heard the first Sermon by a Publick Minister in your Church whereby my Understanding was in great part cleared from those cloudy Mists which fell from the confused Notions and uncertain Doctrines of the Quakers I think my self bound in Duty to return Publick Thanks to God for that his Providence and Token of his Especial Favour as also to his Servants who labour in the Word and Doctrine and for the same however despised by the Ignorant are worthy of Double Honour And having been concerned in Conscience to unveil the Teachers of the Quakers who bring in Damnable Heresies even denying the Lord that bought them I presumed to present your Lordship with the ensuing Discourse who as you know how to rebuke with all Authority such as wilfully maintain Errors so you also know how to bear with and forbear such as through Infirmity may unwillingly err I therefore do most humbly offer what I have wrote to your Lordships Perusal and shall most willingly submit to your Censure the Matters therein contained And if for want of Judgment in the Matters controverted I have wronged the Quakers I shall most willingly Retract and make them publick Reparation believing on the other hand that if they be found guilty of the Errors charg'd that your Lordship will think it requisite that they under their Hands make an ingenuous Retractation according to their Pretences in their printed Works I am My Lord Your Lordships most humble and most obedient Servant Fra. Bugg THE PREFACE READER PRovidence hath so attended me as that a Judicious Person beholding the Injustice of G. W. to me and especially his Pervertions of the Truths asserted by me have answered his Book falsely stiled Innocency triumphant c. by his Book stiled Some Animadversions c. so that I need say nothing in answer to it As for his large Quotation out of my Book De Christianae Libertate it was some years before I left the Quakers and which G. W. need not boast of for it was levelled at the Usurpation of their Womens Meetings and it gave Them a sore Wound as well as G. W. who wrote in favour of them And indeed the Matter suited the Subject and the Book so Methodised the Time considered as I am glad it was no worse though I am grieved to behold so much wrote by me without any mention of the Death and Sufferings of Christ his Resurrection Ascension and the Benefits accrewing thereby to Mankind and the more to consider how many there are led Captive as I once was to the Antichristian Doctrine of the Quakers for whose sake I have been concerned and had not G. W. withstood our words I do think there might have been a better Understanding than there has For my part I declare solemnly no Man can pursue an Accommodation with more Sincerity than I have done How have I wrote how have I woo'd and entreated that we might have a meeting to sentence what was wrong and to press after Truth And when I came to London November last before I printed the Sheet to the Parliament I wrote to G. W. that we might have a meeting that so he and I might engage a Retractation if need were And as this was pursuant to their own Proposal mentioned p. 2. so it might have had a good effect viz. I being now in Town if you will come to my Lodging you shall be welcome if you will have an hours private Discourse I will promise if you will do the like never to take notice of what passes or be both at liberty which you please If we can agree on terms to have a meeting with 6 or 8 of a side it may be a means to prevent farther Controversie If you do not think good to come to me if you invite me to come to your House or any other place I will c. This I wrote before I printed the Sheet deliver'd to the Parliament but he was so far from consenting to what I proposed that he gave me no answer to my Letter and when I saw that I knowing what they had done against me I thought it prudence for my own preservation as well as for a general Good to keep up the Test against Quakerism I mean the Oath for tho' they say W. Smith's Catechism p. 79. Quest And are you so disposed toward your Enemies as that you cannot seek Revenge c Ans Yes that is the disposition of our Nature not to seek Revenge though we do suffer Wrong for the Revenging Nature is in the Fall but it is not so with us whom God has redeemed c. I say notwithstanding this pretended Innocency I found the Quakers so fallen and so much unredeemed that I should rather fall into the Hands of Papists if they had power for had they power they would be as often in the Fall as out of the Fall as often in old Adam as in their new as often in the Unredeemed as the Redeemed State so the best way is to keep them out of Places of Trust and Government and then they can only bark and shew their Teeth Canes timidi vehementius latrant But since such as revenge themselves are in the Fall then they are not in their Star their Branch G. Fox for he said He was when living in a state beyond the First Adam that fell and in the state of the Second Adam that never fell That his very Marriage was above the state of the First Adam in his Innocency in the state of the Second Adam that never fell and that he never fell nor changed that he had power to bind and loose whom he pleased c. See The Quakers unmask'd p. 27. Surely then W. C. and G. W's other Creatures was all in the Fall and unredeemed out of G. Fox that never fell nor changed out of their Star out of their Branch notwithstanding their idolizing his Motions his Travels his Sufferings and meritorious Labours and Books printed and reprinted sent abroad and dispersed but lest G. W. leave out the History of his Glorified State in the Reprint I may Recite it see The Examination and Tryal of G. Fox at Lancaster Assize c. p. 21.
the Doctrines contained in them in your esteem are blessed and holy and that is the reason why you are so tender and cautious of suffering any slight and contemptible Names and unsavory Expressions to be put upon them as Mens Edicts But as for the Scripture who knows says you whether Moses or Hermes was the first Pen-man or which part of Scripture was wrote so true that we may depend on it since what the Prophets wrote is false at least great part of it and thereupon you who are thus doubtful do not believe the Doctrine and Precepts to be holy And that doubtless is the Reason why you not only permit but your selves even the best of note amongst you call the Scripture by such unsavory Names and contemptible Expressions as Death Dust Serpents-meat Beastly ware c. Again by the care you take to spread your Books and Papers and not the Scriptures is self-evident that you do prefer your own Papers above the Scriptures See your Epist Renewed Advice to the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales for spreading Friends Books for Truths Service Anno 1693. Dear Friends HAving at several Yearly Meetings considered how all those Books printed for the Service of Truth might most effectually be spread for a general Service to Truth That the Printer send to his Country Correspondents c. 1. For Friends to have general notice what Books are printed c. 2. That they may send for what quantities they want 3. That the Printer may be encourag'd in printing for Friends 4. That one Book of a sort may be kept in each Monthly and Quarterly Meeting Dear Friends It 's advised that ye be careful in spreading all such Books writ in defence and for the service of Truth whether by way of Epistle Caution Warning Exhortation or Prophecy that we may not be negligent in promoting Truth Record this Epistle in your Quarterly Book and sometimes read it for remembrance and notice Signed on the behalf of the Meeting by B. B. OBSERVATION Pray note what Care Caution and Industry they use to spread their Books working by Policy like Moles under ground little taken notice of until they turn up the Foundation Here is not a Word of Death Dust or Serpents-meat Beastly Ware c. No no nor not a word of Scripture-Proof in either of these Epistles I was minded to put a Sample of their Books and Epistles they write each to the other to be read in their Meetings in one Column and what they write to the World to decoy in another Column shewing their Books to be of two sorts of two Stamps and to carry two Faces as G. W. hath confessed of W. Smith's Primer One reads as F. B. hath quoted another reads the contrary and so is their general way But I shall exceed what I at first intended See what Labour and Pains here is to spread disperse and send up and down their Books to all the Counties in England and Wales In the Yearly Epistle p. 2. they tell them That in Germany their Books are dispersed and Epistles recommended to Barbadoes Maryland Pensylvania Virginia Scotland Holland Ireland but not a word of recommending the Scripture No their Language and Practice sufficiently discover their Disesteem they have for it and their way manner and care to disperse their Erroneous Books should re-mind all good Christians and especially Pastours and Teachers to assist in spreading such Books as are and have been wrote to detect their Errors particularly Mr. Norris's Book and divers others I shall conclude this with shewing the Quakers way of charging their Disciples to read their Epistles c. Several Papers given forth for the spreading of Truth c. Viz. I charge you in the Presence of the Lord God to send this Epistle amongst all Friends and Brethren every where to be read in all Meetings to you all this is the Word of God Geo. Fox Thus like the Pharisees of old they are making void the Holy Scripture by their Traditional Pamphlets which they esteem and prefer before Scripture as appears by undeniable Demonstration both from their Words and Practices and which G. W's 12 Witnesses may now perceive fairly proved The Fourth Charge against the Quakers They deny the Ordinance of Jesus Christ as Baptism and the Lord's Supper THat they deny these two Ordinances their Practices as well as their Doctrine sufficiently declare Yet in regard G. W. p. 2. says As for Baptism and the Lord's Supper Scripturally considered in their several Dispensations in their Figure and Substance we confess and own This is false as their Books declare viz. E. Burrough 's Works c. p. 51. The Bread and Wine is visible and carnal We see them But a Carnal Figure of a Spiritual thing The Figure is declared against For Christ never since he was Sacrificed brake of the Bread or drank of the Cup with his Disciples p. 581. we do deny and do say it is no Ordinance of God neither was it ever commanded of him or practised by the Saints but is an Institution of the Whore of Rome and England received it by a Popish Institution and your Practice of it is Idolatry and not any part of the true Worship of God And as for your breaking Bread and drinking Wine we do utterly deny to be of God News coming up c. A Voice and a Word to all you Deceivers and Blasphemers who utter both your Blasphemy and Hypocrisie that tell People of a Sacrament and tell them 't is the Ordinance of God Blush blush and tremble you who live in the Witchery and bewitch the People c. To the like purpose see Smith's Primer p. 36. and the Musick Lecture c. p. 35. Where they are I was viz. In Performances in Ordinances in Family-Duties in Hearing in Reading in Prayers and Fasting but when I came to bend my Mind to that of God in me I durst not give God Thanks for the Victuals set before me c. Observe Here is E. B. G. Fox Sol. Eccles all great Prophets and W. Smith one of their Ministers who testifie both by Word and Doctrine as well as the whole People by Practice that it is no Ordinance of God but an Institution of the Whore of Rome no part of God's Worship but absolute Idolatry and that such as tell People of a Sacrament are not only Witches but Deceivers and Blasphemers and ought not only to Blush but Tremble c. And that though they had been in the Observation yet Quakerism hath so alter'd their Judgment as they confess they have laid them aside But still for the Quakers thus to charge the Church of England with a Popish Institution Idolatry c. and yet seek to them for Favour and a kind Acceptation 't is preposterous So that I might well say How could you have the Face to seek for Relief till you retract these Errors As to your Exception against Sprinkling and seeming thereby to allow of Dipping
notable Project to bring both Learning and the Learned into Contempt to the scandal of the English Nation Thus defamatory have their Libels been The next Book this Imperious Fox provided for the Clergy was entituled A Primmer for all the Doctors and Scholars in Europe but especially Oxford and Cambridge containing 2434 Queries of this import viz. What is a Verb a Participle an Adverb a Getive Case c. what is the word called declined who was the first Author of it and by whom it came c. And with the greatest Contempt and Reproach conceivable as by his lofty Strains bold Challenges and daring Interrogations with which the said Primmer is plentifully stuft doth appear saying These Queries are to call you out into the Field the little Davids are risen who have the Baggs the Slings and the Stones Ye that profess your selves wise and learned Men and are Novices and Fools answer me draw out your Weapons if you have any and answer me these things Come out of your Holes and do not skip nor hip from them answer every Word in particular for you have Tongue enough sometimes let us see now if it can wagg c. G. Fox For more of this impertinent Nonsence see my Book Battering Rams against New Rome Thus scandalous and defamatory have they been in their contemptuous Libels against both the Gentry and Clergy of the English Nation on purpose to raise themselves out of their Ruins for they had no better way to prove their own Religion true than by rendring all others false But when these Libels and pernicious Books would not do their business fully then they termed them False Prophets Deceivers c. See their Book A brief Discovery of a threefold Estate c. p. 7 8 9 10. viz. The Priests of the World are 1. Conjurers raising dead Doctrines out of the Letter which is Death raising Death out of Death notable Conjurers 2. Thieves and Robbers 3. Antichristians 4. Witches 5. Devils 6. Lyars The Commission and Call of Baal's Priests came from Oxford and Cambridge 7. A Viperous and Serpentine Generation 8. Blasphemers 9. Scarlet-coloured Beasts 10. Babylon's Merchants selling Beastly Wares the Letter which is Dust and Death 11. Whited Walls 12. Ravening Wolves 13. Greedy Dogs Really they are Bloudhounds still hunting and gasping after their Prey like the Mouth of Hell Wo wo wo was the Portions of those Pharisees then and wo wo wo is their Portion now and Wo and Misery is the Portion of the Upholders i. e. Parliament of that Treacherous Crew and deceitful Generation c. Come G. W. answer in your next whether your dispersing these Defamatory Libels unlicens'd be not seditious scandalous and tend to the scandal of the Clergy Parliament and People and yet they forgive you all your Trespasses pass by your many Affronts But you like the wicked Servant whom his Lord forgave all for a Trifle fall upon others But you will say this was in Oliver's time Why Was Oxford and Cambridge a Nursery for Baal's Priest in Oliver's time And is it otherwise now No you are the same you were See your Book The Guide mistaken p. 18. printed 1668. by W. Penn. And whilst the idle Gormondizing Priests of England run away with above 150000 pounds a year under pretence of being God's Ministers And that no sort of People have been so universally through Ages the very bane of Soul and Body of the Universe as that Abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God's most dreadful Vengeance is reserved to act their Eternal Tragedy upon Reader I hope by this time I have not only proved G. W. a Publick Defamer but also his Brethren the like II. A Wicked Forger The Vind. c. p. 3. Fra. Bugg affirms in his Book de Chr. Lib. par 2. p. 83. printed 1682. that Conformity is a Monster c. and about two years after he himself conform'd c. In answer I am not the Author of one word of that Page but the whole Passage is a Query of John Ainsloes propounded to S. Cater and others beginning p. 81. ending p. 87. with his Name to it and by me quoted as his sence touching that Conformity they requir'd of him about taking his Wife in subjection to their Law of Womens Meetings and to whom neither J. Ainsloe nor my self ever conformed And as it was J. A's and by me quoted to shew his sence and to manifest Quakers against Quakers so it 's an absolute piece of Forgery to say he affirms he himself conformed his own Testimony When all this while it was none of F. B. but J. H's writing and both his Name and Date with a black line drawn to distinguish it from mine Who then can give credit to this Insincere pretended serious G. W. this grand Forger III. A Wilful Lyar. The Content Apostate c. p. 3. F. Bugg and his Company being got to the Meeting before G. W. and into the Gallery where our Ministring Friends used to be c. In short 't is false and that to G. Whitehead's Knowledge too for there was not a Man of my Company in the Gallery with me but S. Cater and this he wilfully and maliciously sent abroad to render me a turbulent Disturber which is fully proved in New Rome unm c. p. 50 51. IV. A Gross Perverter The Quakers Vind. c. p. 3. Note that the Instances Bugg has to prove the Quaker's Contempt of Governors being between the years 1654. and 1659. when 't is clear thereby that the Magistrates and Ministers instanced were those very Persecuters and Usurpers in O. Cromwel's days whereby F. B. has at once justified those Magistrates or Governors in those days as Christ's Magistrates and consequently the Usurpation of that Government testified against by E. B. and others Reader the main thing intended by this Perverter G. W. is to make the World believe that they were such Enemies to Oliver and his Usurpation as that E. Burr and the Quakers only reprehended those Governours and Magistrates as such when 't is no such matter for tho' I grant they were wrote in O. C's time yet they were reprinted in 1672. and by the Quakers common consent and approbation and for which they are responsible until they condemn them Well but did G. Fox E. Burrough so severely reprehend that Usurpation I do think who ever read The Quakers unmask'd c. will be of another mind P. 21. To all you who are called Delinquents and Cavaliers Thus saith the Lord My Controversie is against you even my Hand of Judgment is upon you already and you are become cursed in all your hatchings And though your Kings and Princes and Nobles have been cut off in Wrath yet you repent not nor will you see how you are given up to be a Curse and a Desolation and a Prey in Houses and Lands and Persons to them whom I raised up i. e. O. Cromwel against you and gave Power over you And you and
your Kings and Lordly Power shall be enslaved by the Devil in the pit of Darkness in everlasting Bondage where he shall reign your Lord and King for evermore c. Given under my Hand and sealed by the Spirit of the Eternal God through Edw. Burrough Taken at first out of the Trumpet of the Lord sounded p. 9. but left out of E. B's Works in the reprint which argues that G. W. c. did not believe E. Burr was so moved nor that his Message was so sealed by the Eternal God as E. B. pretended for if they did they dealt very unfaithfully to leave out such a notable Prophecy Thus you see E. Burrough was so far from reprehending Oliver or his Usurpation that he tells what the Delinquents was and how God's Hand was upon the Royal Party their Kings Princes Nobles Lands Houses c. in Judgment and that Oliver was raised of God c. Well let us hear what G. R. another of their Prophets says viz. TO thee O. Cromwel thus saith the Lord I have chosen thee amongst the thousand of the Nations to execute my Wrath upon my Enemies and gave them to thy Sword with which I fought for the Zeal of my own Name and gave thee the Enemies of my own Seed to be a Curse and a Reproach for ever and many have I cut down by my Sword in thy Hand that my Wrath might be executed upon them to the utmost The Righteousness of God c. p. 11. Geo. Rose Come G. W. was this reprehending O. C. or his Government Are you not ashamed to give occasion thus to discover your corrupt Principles by your base Pervertions Well hear G. Fox To the Parliament of the Common-wealth c. p. 8. Let all these Abby Lands Gleab Lands that 's given to the Priests be given to the Poor of the Nation and let all the great Houses Abbies Steeple-houses and White-hall be for Alms-houses Come G. W. what Paint have you in store to salve these your grand Pervertions horrible Principles and new Forgeries and false Glosses What! did you think your Sheet would never be answer'd Well George I have not done but having retrieved my Head from the Wall by acquitting my self from justifying O. C's Usurpation and also pointed to the very Creatures Flatterers and Prophets who both justified abetted encourag'd and assented to the said Usurpation See The Quakers unmask'd c. I am now coming to tell you what Usurpation I am against viz. The Vsurpation of the Quakers And that in divers respects first In that you summons the King's Subjects to meet annually in London by way of general Council or Convocation without any legal Warrant Writ or other legal Authority And when sate in Councel in Devonshire-house you make Laws Edicts and Canons for the King's Subjects throughout England to observe contrary and in direct opposition to those very Laws Rules c. which the King and Parliament make at Westminster This is the Usurpation I am against if you would needs know of me what I account Usurpation And that you have done so see your yearly Epistle May 1675. where in opposition to the Law the King and Parliament made that you should not meet above Four c. you in opposition made a Law That your People should neither forsake decline nor remove their Meeting This was one remarkable Instance of your justling with Authority and of your setting your usurping Post by the legal Post and a Hundred Instances more of your arbitrary illegal Proceedings and Usurpations might be brought But to mention a few fresh Instances see your last yearly Epistle entituled The Epistle to the Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales and elsewhere from our Yearly Meeting held in London the 5 6 7 8. days of the 4th Month 1693. in which amongst other things you p. 3. order 1. That your Books be spread up and down the Nation as well as in parts beyond the Seas which being unlicens'd and tending to defame both the Clergy and Gentry is a Usurpation I am against 2. That none should pay Tythes but refuse payment thereof as an Antichristian Yoke of Bondage which shew that you at Devonshire-house interfere with those at Westminster 3. That none should pay to the Steeple-house Rates or Leys which put the Country to great trouble and your Proselytes who submit their Necks to your Usurpation to great Sufferings tending to Sedition and very evil Effects 4. That none should carry Guns in their Ships This shews that you are not content with your own Ease but as far as your Usurpation prevail you weaken the Government and are not willing to leave your People your People did I say yes your People for if you say once what they shall or shall not do 't is a Law like that of the Meads c. to their Freedom in this and many other Instances 1. Whether to publish their Intentions to marry before Womens Meetings or not 2. To meet precisely at the time day and place whether the Law command the contrary or not 3. To pay Tythes or not 4. To pay to the Church Rates or not 5. To carry Guns and serve their King and Country or not 6. To buy of your Books as they are perswaded concerning the Truth of them or not I say Did you leave your People free and at liberty in these and other things you would do well Then if any particular person could not for Conscience sake acquiesce in any of these things wherein the Law requires their active Obedience then let such pray the Magistrates and Government to hold them excus'd and when so done let them acknowledge the Favour from the Government who only ought to be Judges in that Case But your taking upon you this Usurped Dominion the more you prevail upon the People the less the Kingdom is and consequently the more you encrease the more dangerous And this Usurpation I testified against in my Book de Chr. libertate Anno 1682. and in Painted Harlot c. 1683. and in several other Books and now you see I am of the fame Judgment still touching Usurpation c. V. A False Glosser The Qua. Vind. c. p 2. F. B. accuses somebody with objecting against paying Tythes under the new Covenant because abrogated by Christ observing from thence that the Quakers condemn the Martyrs c. Observe this False Glosser I did not say they condemn either Martyr or others who did refuse payment of Tythes I neither said so nor will my words carry any such intendment but by that Doctrine laid down by Tho. Ellwood in his Antidote c. p. 78. Truth allows no payment of Tythes at all under the new Covenant they who pay Tythes uphold a legal Ceremony abrogated by Christ and thereby deny Christ come in the Flesh which is a Mark of Antichrist c. I say by this Doctrine they do conclude That all that pay Tythes whether voluntary or by force and all such as receive Tythes and make Laws that Tythes shall be paid are Antichristians nay not only the present Generation of Men but all former and future Generations that have been or shall be since the days of Christ being personally on Earth to the Worlds end And 't is this your Incharity that I oppose and think it great presumption in you to seek Favour at the hands of such as you condemn as Antichristians c. VI. A Deceiver of the People See Judgment fix'd Introd c. If the Lord did not lay a Necessity upon me I should chuse to be mute but the Lord has laid the Necessity upon me I neither consult Events nor fear Effects c. If what I have herein said be true and which I offer to prove before 10 or 12 impartial Men then he is a great Deceiver of the People nay were it needful where I have mentioned one President which in order to prove my Charge I was obliged to do I could have mention'd ten both Lyes Pervertions Forgeries False Glosses and scandalous Desamations both of my self and others But this may serve for both Caution and Warning to such as like the noble Bereans of old are willing to try all things Which that they may is the hearty Desire of him that was once led away by their Dissimulation Fra. Bugg FINIS