Labour I commit to Almighty God with whom I leave my Righteous Cause and in whose Mercy I trust through Jesus Christ that he will preserve me in Soul and Body from being a Sacrifice to their Fury and Rage I know their way of Extolling themselves as the only People of God discoverers of Truth vilifying all others as unfound and mistaken that have no such high Pretences whilst it 's a crying Sin that so many false Teachers should be suffer'd that speak Lyes in the name of the Lord pretending the same immediate Message and Authority that the true Prophets had when they can give no Proof of it but many undeniable Proofs can be given to the contrary as particularly their Antichristian Errors publish'd in their Books wherein they Lye for Conscience sake and Entitle their Errors and Blasphemies to the holy Spirit of God The last Objection that they raise against â—e is assign'd as a Reason for refusing to dispute with me at Turners's-Hall is That none of the Quakers that are at Unity with them do acknowledge or regard me Now to confute their Allegation and to prove it all of a Piece with the rest of their Suggestions I am obliged to acquaint the Reader That as an Evidence of my owning the Ch. of England to be a Branch of the True Catholick Church of Christ I did with great Inward Peace and Satisfaction I bless God Receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the Ministry of Dr. Bedford at his Church in Buttolph-Lane London with others of that Congregation the first Lords Day in the Month of February 1699 and since again at the same place by the same Person the first Lords Day in March 1699 and to let the Quakers know that my Example has influenced others the same day Robert Bridgman and Margaret Everard and some other of my Friends which formerly were Quakers and in great Repute among that People whom God in Mercy has lately enlightened to see their former Error and Renounce it did receive the Lord's Supper in Huntington and have declared That they received it with great inward Peace and Satisfaction In a Letter since of a later date I am imform'd That Ten of my Friends in Huntington Godmanchester and thereabouts who were formerly Quakers of good Reputation do all now go to Church there and that Margaret Everard has had her youngest Son and three Daughters baptized lately By Letters from Bedford I have an Account that some that had been Quakers both in that Town and Country are gone off from the Quakers and go to Church particularly W. Maâ—her and his Wife Also at Reading divers who were formerly Quakers and were so Educated have gone to Church and were Baptized and that others have brought their Children to be Baptized Here in London divers of both Sexes who were Educated under the Profession of Quakers have been lately Baptized and go to Church one of whom is my youngest Daughter my Elder having been Baptized above a year ago So that to my certain Knowledge above forty Persons within a few Months past are come off from Quakerism and brought to the Church which gives a good ground to hope that many more will follow Which God in his great Mercy grant and prosper my Sincere tho' mean Indeavours and Labours and other his Servants whom he has made Instrumental in this Work and for the Success he has been pleas'd to give us therein All Glory Honour and Praise be given to his most Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen And whereas my Adversaries George Whitehead and other Quaking Preachers have given it as a Reason why they would not meet me at Turner's-Hall was because they know none who had been in Unity with them since I came into England who did own me or were in danger to be brought off from them that Objection to their own Knowledge and full Conviction is now quite removed for both Robert Bridgman and M. Everard besides divers others that might be named were not only in Vnity with them since my Arrival in England but in great Repute among them Robert Bridgman having not only been a Member of their Mens Meeting in London but one that was enâ—rusted with receiving and distributing the Money Collected for their Poor in the City of London Margaret Everard has for many years till very lately been received and well owned as a Speaker among them both in City and Country And it is most certain That the Quakers refusing to meet and dispute with me in Defence of their own Principles at Turner's-Hall has been a great Means to let many of those formerly in Unity with them see their Sandy Foundation and the badness of their Cause and will yet be a further Means to give many others the like Discovery who are dissatisfied with their not appearing either to vindicate their Books and Authors or to acknowledge the great Errors contained in them and to Retract them They are indeed brought to a very Pinching Dilemma for if they dare not appear to answer the change of Error Heresie and even Blasphemy that is brought against them but invent frivolous Discourses to excuse themselves the People will soon perceive their Cause is bad that stands in need of such weak Props to support it One Pretence for their non-appearance was That they might not offend that Authority that had indulged them with Liberty of Conscience and in the mean time make little other use of it than to Rail against that Religion and Church whereof the King himself and the best of his Subjects are Members and to call me and my Friends for owning that Church and coming into Communion with it and Relinquishing the Errors condemned by it Apostates and Runagado's For his Insinuating that 't is Envy increasing in me that has led me into a disturbance of Mind which in its Course resembles the returns of a delirious Affliction and that has caus'd me to give them so much Disquiet I think it not worth an Answer and therefore shall leave it as an Instance of their Scornful Proud and Haughty as well Vncharitable and Vnchristian Tempers They reckon me their Enemy because I tell them the Truth and labour to Rescue them out of the Snares of Satan But since God has been pleas'd to prosper this Work in my Hand both in America and England none of their malicious Insinuations shall be able to stop my Progress in this Duty to contend earnestly for the Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and which the Quakers labour to Destroy Having thus answered their Objections and being now by Imposition of Holy Hands Ordain'd a Minister of the Church of England that I may not be thought to desert the Quakers out of any Personal Disgust or for Worldly Interest but purely out of the Dissatisfaction of my Conscience because they had forsaken God and Renounced the Principles of Christian Religion And that I durst not on the Peril of my Eternal Salvation
no such thing as to imply a Bodily Resurrection but a change from Earthly Mindedness to a renewed State to God thro' the Operation of the Spirit Which shews us how they deceive the unwary Readers who would make them believe they own the Resurrection of the Body according to the Scripture and yet mean nothing thereby but Regeneration or the New Birth in time before the Death of the mortal Body And seeing this is the Resurrection they own and no other according to the Scriptures cited by George Whitehead one of them being Matthew 22.30 31 32. in the Resurrection they neither Marry nor give in Marriage might not one ask them whether they don't commit a hainous Crime who Marry and continue in a Married State after they have attained to this Resurrection And whether their Quondam Brother Thomas Case did not act more Agreeably to his Principles who turned away his Wife after he reckon'd he was come to the Resurrection and whom I heard say all Marriage was of the Devil and many know that it was his Principle but whether he did not supply that Defect by a more fashionable method Quere The Quakers also deny the last Judgment as is plain from George Whitehead in his Light and Life â— 40.41 who there contending with W.B. about Christ's outward coming in his Glorified Body to Judge the Quick and the Dead answer'd to the â—everal Scriptures that W.B. brought for Christ's outward coming at the end of the World and carries them all to his Inward coming already fulfilled and whereas it is said in the 1 Thess 4.5 That we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord He asks the Question after his way of Eluding positive Proofs Whether they did live and remain to a personal coming of Christ in the Clouds Yea or Nay Or whether it can be reasonably thought to be a Coming that is not yet nor that they â—ived and remained unto Which is so gross and absurd an Insinuation that it renders St. Paul to have spoken an Untruth even by Divine Inspiration when the Apostle said This we say unto you by the Word of Lord but they according to their common way of Shifting and Excusing themselves say these were but Queries tho' the imporâ—ance of those Queries imply a positive Denial â—nd so will be taken in the sense of all Mankind â—hat read them for it is evident in several plaâ—es in his printed Books besides what is here alâ—edged that he does deny that Christ would come to Judge the World in natural and passible Flesh and not only so but that he would not come in the same substance of that Body he had on Earth which was a mortal and passible Body of the same Nature with ours for he makes it most absurd that an Earthly Body and an Heavenly Body can be the same Substance and so denies Christ's being now in Heaven without us in that Body which rose from the Grave or his coming without us from Heaven in that Body to Judgment for there is no place of Scripture of the many that are justly brought by Orthodox Christians to prove Christ's coming without us in his glorified Body to Judge the World at the great Day of Judgement but some of their Teachers have turned altogether to his inward Coming which they say they Witness already fullfilled in them and they look for no other coming To which give me leave to add That they deny the Vse of Baptism and the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper which be pleas'd to take in their own words in a Book call'd Some Principles of the Elect People of God in scorn call'd Quakers p. 75. The Baptism say they that we own is the Baptism of Christ with the Holy Ghost and with Fire but we deny all other for there is but one Lord one Faith one Baptism one God and Father of all They that would have one Baptism outward and another inward would have two Baptisms when the Scripture saith the Baptism is but one and whosoever hath the Baptism outward are the same they are before but the Baptism of Christ makes a new Creature And now I see the other to be but a formal Imitation the Invention of Man and a meer Delusion And speaking of the Lord's Supper they say It is but feeding upon the Husk and Shell which is Carnal for the Bread which the World breaks is Carnal and â—atural and only feeds the outward Carnal Body and goeth into the Belly and so passeth out into the Dunghill and so likewise the Cup which they drink and so the Communion and Fellowship of the World passeth away but this is no Nourishment of the Soul but still the Soul lies in Death and here is no Communion but Natural Outward and Carnal of several Minds and Hearts full of Filthiness and Vncleanness which Is the Table of Devils eating and drinking their own Damnation not discerning the Lord's Body which is Spiritual and cannot be discerned by the Natural Man William Penn in his Reasons against Railing p. 108. affirms That Circumcision is as much in force as Water Baptism and the Paschal Lamb as Bread and Wine they were both Shadows and both Elementary and Perishable And we can testifie from the same Spirit by which Paul renounced Circumcision that they are to be rejected as not now required neither have they since the false Church espoused and exalted them ever been taken up afresh by God's Command or in the leading of his eternal Spirit and the Lord will appear to gather his People out of them but never to establish or keep People in them What a sad and fearful Delusion are the Quakers under who call the Institutions of our Blessed Saviour and which are expresly enjoined to be continued to the end of the World by such hard Names which is but spitting their Venom in the Face of the Institutor Some of the Quakers when they heard me defend the Sacraments said George since thou art for Outward Baptism and the Supper why dost not practice it To which I answered because I had no lawful Call to Baptize others and as to my self I was satisfied with the Baptism I received in my Infancy being born of Christian Parents for I believe that Baptism being a Seal of God's Covenant of Grace does as truly belong to the Infant Children of Believers under the New Testament as Circumcision did to Infant Children of Believers under the Old Testament Next as concerning the Lord's Supper after it pleased God to convince me that it was and is an Institution of Christ and let me see my Sin and Errour in rejecting it for which I have been humbled before God sincerely and heartily asking him forgiveness and which I hope God for his Blessed Son's sake has given me I had for a considerable time some Hesitations about the Lawful and Due Administrator and being clearly satisfied in all my Scruples in that particular I delaid receiving it for the sake of others lest
the Mouth and that the Ingrafted Word is able to save the Soul He did not preach a Visible Christ with Flesh and Bones as some others do So he taught them to pray Our Father not to look at his Person and to pray to him as a Person without them but within them Where we may observe that if they were not to pray to him as a Person without them by the same Reason they are not to believe in him as a Person without them but Christ not only consider'd as the Word who is Omnipresent and in all Men and Things but as made Flesh and having taken the true Nature of Man into a Personal Union therewith and replenishing the same with the fullness of the Godhead and with all fullness of Grace and Truth is the Object of the Christian Worship together with the Father and the holy Spirit dwelling and residing in him But of all this Antichristian Quaking Crew none have discovered more Indignity and Hatred to the Blessed Jesus Christ than William Shewen in a Book call'd A small Treatise concerning evil Thoughts p. 37. being about to conclude a Paragraph he saith Not to Jesus the Son of Abraham David and Mary Saint or Angel but to God the Father all Worship Honour and Glory is to be given A Mahometan would have expressed greater Reverence to Christ than this Quaker has done but what can be expected from such People as deny the Lord that bought them and count the Blood of Jesus as unprofitable to Mankind And whether these are not sufficient Reasons for leaving People of such Principles I leave the World to judge William Smith a great Man among them when he was alive in his Primmer Printed at London 1668 Asks this Question p. 8. Child but how may I know which are the True and which are the False Teachers seeing Words may be the same and makes Childs the Father thus instruct the Child Why they that are false Preach Christ without and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above but they that are true Ministers they Preach Christ within and direct People to wait to feel him in themselves and so to believe in him as he makes himself manifest in them And having given this as an infallible Sign of a Quaker he makes the Child ask but must I not try all things by the Scriptures and the Father answers Nay for the Scriptures were given forth by the Spirit and it is the Spirit that tries whether the things be true or false good or evil Here is another piece of the Old Serpents Subtilty for since the Spirit must try all things they laying a claim to the Spirit have invested themselves with a pretence to make their own Sentiments of greater Authority than the Sacred Scriptures Which is another good Reason for leaving them that deny the Word of God to be the Test of Christian Doctrines and though we are commanded to Search the Scriptures discharge us from doing it Through the Pride of their Hearts the Quakers pretend to Infallibility and a sinless Perfection in this Life * Nar. 4. p. 1 2. vilifying all those that deny them this Prerogative as under the Curse in another Spirit than Christ the Prophets and Apostles were in that gave forth the Scripture And George Whitehead affirms Those that Ministers that want Infallibity have not the Spirit of Christ but are out of the Truth and their Ministry is deceiful And this they as confidently and proudly affirm as the Pope himself But it is denied by all Oxthodox Christians as repugnant to the Doctrine of the New Testament who yet grant that all the Faithful are infallibly led into all Truths necessary to Salvation by the infallible Spirit in the use of the Holy Scriptures which contain the infallible Truths of the Gospel But as this Doctrine of the Quakers is contradictory to Scripture which brands all with the Infamous Character of Lyars that pretend to it so it is seldom claim'd but by those that are farthest from it as is manifest among the Quakers who though they pretend to be guided by an infallible Spirit 't is apparent that many of them are under great Delusions and Errors concerning the great Truths of the Evangelical Dispensation as has been proved by the foregoing Instances Again as to their pretence to Sinless perfection he that makes a Scrutiny into their Morals will scarce find them such a Church as is without Spot or Wrinkle but are as far from that Perfection which they boast to have attained to as any other sort of People that pretend to any exactitude in their Conversation and as to their Principles 't is certain that George Fox their Quondam Metropolitan Edward Burroughs Francis Hougil Richard Hubberthorn and some of their greatest Saints lived in great Ignorance Error and Unbelief in divers great Fundamentals of the Christian Faith and in great uncharitableness toward such as differ'd from them The same humour of Self-conceit that began with this People still continues among them and G.W. laughs at the Church of England who are always from Seven Years of Age to Seventy Praying Lord have mercy upon us miserable Sinners Is not this a plain Evidence of the intollerable Pride that reigns among the Quakers concerning their Sinless perfection who despise not only the Church of England but all other Christian Churches throughout the World who pray for Forgiveness of Sins tho' when Christ taught his Disciples to pray for their Daily-bread he enjoined them also to pray for the Forgiveness of their Sins Must not the Diseased come to the Physician till they are cured and those that feel the Burden of Sin pray to be Eas'd How arrogantly does George Whitehead charge the Church of England for Confessing and not Forsaking their Sins How can he more prove his Charge against them than against his own Society or himself Many in the Church of England and among other Protestants may compare with the best of Quakers for Holiness of Life and far exceed them in many Vertues especially in Sobriety and Humility But pray tell me you Self-conceited Quakers are not they better employ'd who confess their Sins and yet through humane Frailty find they Relapse into some Sins than such proud Pharisees as you are that neither Confess nor forsake your Sins but employ your Selves in Railing against them that do They that Confess their Sins shew a Desire and pray for ability to forsake them whilst those that say they have no Sin deceive themselves into such a Security as is the ready Road to Damnation The next great Article of Faith which they deny and Fight against is the Resurrection of the Body but because the denying this in plain terms they think would make them be despised among all the various Professors of Christianity William Penn being urged to Answer the Proofs that were brought from the 1 Cor. 15. says in his Rejoinder That let the whole Chapter be considered and we shall find