this Interpretation St. Jude tells us of a sort of Libertines risen up amongst v. 4. them whom he would not have to Batter themselves that they should escape the just severity of a righteous God if they continued such therefore he minds them that tho God most wonderfully saved the Children of Israel his peculiar People from their Egyptian Bondage yet he destroyed them for their Infidelity and also tells them how severely he dealt with the mutinous Angels that he v. 6. clapt them up in everlasting Chains of Darkness to be reserved to the Judgmeet of the last day From them he descends to Sodom and Gomorrha whose Wickedness provoked God to involve them in a dreadful Ruin and yet the outward Fire which burnt down their Cities was but an Emblem of those eternal Flames which were to be indured by them afterwards Having thus described the Fate of these great Sinners he presently inveighs against their Filthiness and Impurities telling them that to such is reserved the blackness of Darkness for ever and that Enoch the seventh from Adam foretold the Judgment which should befal such men in these words Behold the Lord cometh to execute Judgment even this Judgment which St. Jude had spoken of before Chains of Darkness the vengeance of eternal Fire and Blackness of Darkness for ever He cometh with ten thousands of his Saints Sure not Christ in his Saints for Christ even then was come in many of his Saints and that Vengeance was not executed upon those Sinners and as yet they felt not the least scorching of those Flames But Christ shall come with them to execute this Judgment at the last Day Eccl. 8. 5. The second Scripture is Eccles 5. 8. it should be Eccl. 8. 5. A wise man's Heart discerneth both Time and Judgment What a Text is this to prove the Infallibility Char. Essay p. 6. of discerning who are Saints and who are Devils He might e'en as well have proved from hence every wise man to be a judicial Astrologer able to give certain Judgment of Times and Seasons Rain or Wind Famine or Pestilence 1 Cor. 2. 15. Next 1 Cor. 2. 15. is called in as a witness which says thus He that is spiritual judgeth all things yet he himself is judged of none Here again wants the word infallibly neither doth the Apostle say the spiritual man judgeth all Men but Things We cannot but allow the spiritual man judges all things by the assistance of the Spirit but then this all must be restrained to what went before all things that are revealed to him in the Gospel All things there revealed that are necessary to Salvation the spiritual man the Spirit assisting him may certainly discern by the Gospel of Christ which is the Christian's Rule good or evil true or false which can never be done by the Rule or Standard of Fleshly Wisdom Further the Text says he cannot be judged by any viz. fleshly-minded men Being taught by the Spirit of God he is not to stand before the Tribunal of carnal Reason neither is he to stand or fall by such a Sentence as 1 Cor. 4. 3. ' T is a small thing for me to be judged by you or 1 Cor. 4. 3. of Man's Judgment And indeed what need he regard what such men talk of him and his Religion no more than he should heed what the blind man's judgment is about Colours or Beauty All this while where is the Infallibility of every Member of the Church in discerning who are Saints and who are Devils But above all his Ignorance or much worse is to be wonder'd at to think he 1 Cor. 6. 1-6 could suborn 1 Cor. 6. 1 c. as a witness to such an Infallibility of discerning when the Text speaks plainly of civil Disserences between Believers and is it not the Apostle's main design to take them off from seeking redress of wrongs at the Heathen Tribunals where the application would be scandalous and the Judgment partial but rather to refer the matter to some Christian Friends If there be a wise man to be found amongst you let him judg but must every Umpire or Arbitrator needs be infallible in their Judgments Does this suppose that the Christians of those days could penetrate into the very Hearts and secretest Actions of the Litigants and upon the first sight of them could discover who it was that did the wrong and who that suffer'd it without any further search into the business by examining Evidences only by the immediate Revelation of the Spirit of God If Quakers could do this we would readily subscribe to that Doom which Fox pronounces against all Rulers Judges Justices Lawyers c. and give our consent for the cutting down such a fruitless News out of the North p. 20. Tree and set up Quakers in the room of them who can discern which are the Just and Righteous which the wrong Doers and the wrong Sufferers without the tedious and expensive trouble of sending for Witnesses from York to Westminster without such dilatory Forms of Allegata Probata or feeing the Lawyers with Guineas to plead our Cause if they do but look them in the Face they can tell you from the Spirit of the Lord who it was that stole the Horse or rob'd the Glover's Till c. Next poor Job must be wronged by him even as much as by his censorious Friends He is a Witness as George Whitehead saith to this Blasphemy but let us not take his word since we find he has abused as great Saints as him What then says holy Job Cannot my tastâ— discern perverse things And we dare Job 6. 30. refer it to any that hath any taste at all whether he can discern Infallibility here God hath given us sensible Faculties to enable us to discern sweet and bitter hurtful or healthful things to these Bodies of ours as also rational Faculties to discern what is good or evil true or false for the welfare of our Souls therefore he has given us Infallibility of discerning who are Saints who are Devils Truly Reader both you and we had need of Patience as the Apostle speaks to be continually vexed with such Impertinencies as these Just thus deals he 1 Cor. 14. 29. with St. Paul Let the Prophets speak and let others judg 'T is well our Bibles have escaped the Censure of the second days meeting we should have had Infallibility trump'd upon us in every one of these Texts as from the mouth of the Lord by those bold Inquisitors who sit every week to correct and amend every Message from the Lord before it is licensed to go forth into the World We doubt not but this dead and killing Letter this Serpents Meat the Scriptures must have undergone the same sate e're now but only thanks be to God it was printed long before Quakery was born Heb. 5. 14. is another Heb. 5. 14. of their convincing Proofs Those that are strong have
was pleased to make others and not the Cavaliers Instruments in his hand against his Sons therefore that was a Revelation to Geo. Fox that K. Charles II. should return to his Crowns again if Fox had such a Revelation he was strangely disobedient to the Heavenly Vision in writing as he did to the Presbyterians just before the Restauration as you will see by and by such another Prophecy we have in the next words given forth by Burroughs himself and yet the Letter was wrote December 1659. when almost every one but such blind Beetles as these did foresee it But what said the Oracle then It tells the Cavaliers That the same Spirit of Pride Oppression and Idolatry was entered into their Enemies and did live in them in as high a measure as it had done in the Cavaliers and their Iniquities were well nigh finished and the Lord would one way or another correct and repâ—ove them But mark it the Prophet was presently at a loss for whether says he the Lord will ever make use of you Cavaliers to reprove them as he did of them to reprove you this I determine noâ— but leave it to him who can do whatsoever he will by what Instruments he pleaseth A most wonderful Revelation that God should some way or other rebuke notorious open and universal wickedness especially in Men of Publick Place and Station when St. Paul tells us the Wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of Men and we have so many instances thereof from Scripture and our own Experience But his Prophecy gave little hopes to the Cavaliers since he reminds them therein that though they had made many attempts to be revenged on their Enemies they had not prosper'd the Lord had hitherto always defeated them and bow'd them down under a People as unworthy as others and Ch. Stuart must either be converted to God he was it seems at that time wholly estranged from him and ruled by him or else he can never rightly rule for God in this Nation and then he did believe it was not impossible but that he might be a Rod upon them that had once smote him Who would not travel a great way to be resolv'd in his Doubts by such a famous Prophet Truly had the Oracles of the Heathens been no clearer or more to the purpose than these Prophesies the Priests of Apollo would have had but a miserable Trade of it and yet says Burroughs it appears that these things in a great measure were foreseen and prophesied of And yet he presently after tells them that his Prophecy was nothing but a rational Observation of things for 't was says he verily believed that such a thing would be your Enemies having so acted and proceeded as to destroy themselves and so bring you in over their heads though they little intended the thing yet the effect of their proceedings could hardly prove otherwise than to destroy themselves and make room for you and these things I observed saith he So that all the Divine Revelations hereof shrunk at last into a prudent and rational Guess which he made upon their indiscreet management and ordering of matters Such another Prophet was Stephen Crispe who seeing the Nation engaged in a dangerous War and London at the same time suffering by a dismal Fire September 1666. began to foretel a sad time coming upon all the Inhabitants except his own Party and positively says it shall be before seven times which the Friends no doubt understood to be seven years should pass over them for thus he speaks Friends I am the more drawn forth at this time to visit you with an Epistle An Epistle to Friends concerning the present and succeeding Times p. 13 15. because the Lord has given me some sight of his great and dreadful Day and Workings in it which is at hand and greatly hastens of which I have something to say unto you that you may be prepared to stand in his Day and may behold his wonderous Workings amongst his Enemies and have fellowship with his Power therein to be sure they must joyn with their King and assist him against his Enemies And as concerning those succeeding times the Spirit of the Lord hath signified that they will be times of horrour and amazement to all that have and yet do reject his Council for as the Day of his Forbearance Warning and Inviting have been long so shall his Appearance amongst those that have withstood him be fierce and terrible even so terrible as who shall abide his Coming for the Lord will work both secretly and openly and his Arm shall be manifest to his Children in both And because of the hardship and sorrow of those Days many shall seek and desire Death rather than Life Had this been the Day of the general Judgment who would have doubted the truth of what was here said but as they believe no such particular Day shall outwardly be so 't was a Day that should come upon the wicked Inhabitants of this Nation who had so long withstood the Warnings and Invitings of their Teachers whereupon he proceeds Ah! My heart relents and is moved within me in the sense of these things and much more than I can write or declare which the Lord will do in the Earth and will also make haste to accomplish amongst the Sons of Men that they may know and consess that the Most High doth rule in the Kingdoms of Men and pulleth down and setteth up according to his own Will and this Men shall do mark that before seven times pass over them and shall be content to give their Glory to him that sicteth in Heaven That is if we may interpret so great a Mystery all Kings and Princes shall be forc'd to yield up their Crowns Scepters and Coronets into the hands of the Quakers King that he may give them to his Servants for the Meek must inherit the Earth and he assur'd them 't would not be long Before seven times pass over the wicked they should be forc'd to yield up all to the Most High who pulls down and sets up whom he pleases It were endless to trace these Men in all their Follies of this kind who so extremely doted upon uttering Prophecies that they could not write a Pamphlet without giving a cast of their Skill herein We will mention but one passage more though that alone is sufficient to confound these Persons for ever and make them asham'd of such a Lying Spirit as has all along possessed their Prophets One Richard Crane soon after his Majesty's Restauration wrote a Piece Rich. Crane's Strict Account of Bab. Merch. printed for Tho. Symons at the Bull and Mouth c. styl'd A Strict Account of Babylon's Merchants c. where he welcoms the Loyal Clergy who had suffered so long and so much for their King with these Presages no doubt out of great affection to his Majesty for they were then become the only Royal Loyal Men
Wenching and Fornicating which were the Wolf in him were not discovered till some time after Leeds in his Trumpet sounded p. 64. tells us of a counterfeit Quaker who tho a silly Woman could put a cheat upon their pretended Spirit of discerning how she travel'd from Meeting to Meeting through several Countries and held forth most powerfully and was entertained by Friends as a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to their great refreshment and admiration and never discerned to be no Quaker till discovered by others So that now they admit none to travel upon Truth 's account without Certificates Whitehead in his Quaker plainness tells us they have a record in peoples Consciences but now they must have a record in their Pockets too or their Friends will not receive them upon a Conscience-Record Who doubts but Judas was wicked enough yet the people might hear him and follow him whilst in his Doctrine he followed the Instructions of his Master Nay there is no doubt he might convert some by his Ministry and they receive Nourishment from this Wolf as Romulus and Renues from another seeing the efficacy of the Ministry depends not so much on the worth of the Minister as upon God's Grace Far be it from us to plead for the profane and scandalous we could heartily wish there were no more of such Wolves in the Church than there are of the other sort in the Kingdom because tho God may cooperate with the Ministry of such if their Doctrine be according to Truth and Godliness yet he does not so usually do it unless their Preaching be accompanied and enforced with the visible Doctrine of a holy Life Remember Judas was one of the Twelve sent out by Christ to gather a Church and it were an impeachment of the Divine Wisdom to say he made choice of an 2 Cor. 2. 17. Instrument which was no ways fit for the work As for the two Scriptures 1 Thess 1. 5. which he produces when he tells us what he brought them for whether to prove Infallibility or Transubstantiation we will return an answer P. 7. But there is another Quotation out of G. Fox given him by the Brief Discovery which George Whitehead is pleased to take no notice of and it is P. 96. this He says to the Priest Thou not being infallible thou art not in the Gr. Myâ—â— Spirit and â—o art not a Minister of Christ and art not able to judg of Powers that is not infallible nor Magistrates nor Kingdoms nor Churches So then it seems Powers Magistrates Kingdoms and Churches are to be judged at this infallible Bar. 'T is to be feared 't was this Judgment of such a Light within that câ—ndemned and cut off the Head of one great Magistrate in our own Country for nothing can stand before its High Court of Justice all Power P. 13. in Heaven and Earth as W. Smith in his Primer saith being given to it Let the Magistrates look to this perhaps ere long they may find it as necessary for their preservation to cause People to renounce the Authority of a Pope within as of a Pope without Whereas Edward Burroughs was charged in the Brief Discovery as saying Hereticks are infallibly known and discerned by the P. 7. Spirit of God in the true Church of Christ and by every Member of the same George Whitehead endeavours to justify him by desiring the contrary may be P. 13. inverted upon us and then saith he it must be thus That Hereticks are not infallibl known and discerned by the Spirit of God in the true Church of Christ nor by the Members thereof But George wilt thou never play fair with us always dropping the Card out of thy hand that may spoil thy Game Shouldst not thou have said by every Member thereof No that were too invidious and it would have been hard to have brought off Brother Burroughs handsomly for making too large a stretch if he had said every Member therefore he cunningly shuffles in an Indefinite for an Universal The Members of the Church which cannot imply every individual Member as Burroughs said but may mean some few of them as the Church-Representative in their yearly Juncto But does not Burroughs expresly say Hereticks are known infallibly by the true Church of Christ and every Member thereof And is this a fair Conversion of such a Proposition to say The Members thereof Whitehead hath some Scriptures which he hopes may help him at a dead lift to prove this Infallibility of discerning amongst the Quakers but 't will easily appear they have not the least disposition to testify to this Infallibility nay that 't is impossible to wring such a sensless Blasphemy from them for can any imagine the Scriptures of God should go about to set up another God which they would do should they assert another infallible Yet give us leave out of pure Love to them to rescue them from such barbarous violence that they may only give their voluntary and unconstrained Testimony in this matter We will begin with the last being a reserve he places the greatest Confidence in Enoch prophesied of this Behold the Lord cometh 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 he Jude v. 14. 15. would have it rendred in ten thousands of his Saints and denote only Christ's coming in the Spirit into his Saints and then it must be only a Christ in them must execute Judgment upon the Ungodly and convince them c. and so Christ will have as many Courts of Judicatory as there are Saints in which he shall judg and condemn Sinners But all this while tho Christ in executing Judgment be every where infallible in judging or discerning how proves this the Saint is so in whom he is But perhaps he means every Saint must be infallible in his Judgment having such an infallible Director and Mover within him But the Lameness of this consequence is shewn before it will be still with us as with our Watches tho the Spring be never so strong and good yet by reason of some Cracks and Bruises it got by the fall there may be some Errors and Stops in the motion even of this Masterpiece of the Creation which was at first so fearfully and wonderfully made by God But after all 't is plain the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 must be rendred as in our Translation with and it was never otherwise interpreted by any Christian Writer than of the coming of Christ to Judgment with his Saints to this day till it fell into Quaker hands We have a parallel Deut. 33. 2. place He came with thousands of his Saints So The Lord my God shall Zach. 14. 5. come and all the Saints with thee At the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ with 1 Thess 3. 13. all his Saints Which he explains by being caught up together in the Clouds to Chap. 4. 17. meet the Lord in the Air. Mind but the Context and it will necessarily â—â—ad to
he says the P. 21. l. 6. words are these T is dangerous to read and to make a trade of that which the Prophets Christ and his Apostles spoke forth freely and to give meanings to it contrary than it is We have not now the Book by us and therefore are forced to yield him his Quotation neither do we see any great hurt it will do us as he hath stated it for he makes three different Sentences of it joined together by two Conjunction Copulatives 't is dangerous to read them and to make a trade of them and to give contrary meanings to them so that with him every one of these is dangerous both to read them to make a trade of them and to pervert the sense of them which is Blasphemy Nay further we say 't is a profane Slander upon the Scriptures to affirm that they are dangerous to be read by any tho they wickedly make a trade of them or pervert their Meaning 't is only that wicked Merchandize and Perversion that is so dangerous nay to say 't is dangerous for Men to read the Scriptures that read them with a design to pervert and scoff at them such a design is dangerous but not their reading the reading the Scriptures being a good means to bring them into better Temper and Sobriety 'T was happy for St. Austin that he heard that Sermon of St. Ambrose tho it 's said he went with a purpose to flout and jeer at him and the Officers had no reason to repent them John 7. 45 46. of their coming to Christ though they came with a purpose to take him Prisoner who were so happily taken by him they could not for never man spake like him So then this must still go for a Blasphemy against the Scriptures that Ibid. l. 16. it 's dangerous to read them as 't is to make a trade of them and pervert them As for what he says 'T is dangerous for any to read them for an unlawful end we say 't is not the reading them is dangerous but the propounding an unlawful end is dangerous such a man that hath such ends may safely read them though he may not safely read them with such ends Come come G. never stand mincing of this gob 't will go down well enough with other Friends Isaac Pennington very ingenuously tells us That Knowledg gain'd by the Letter of the Scripture makes a Man wise and able in his Head to oppose Truth and brings him into a state of Condemnation Wrath and Misery beyond the Heathen and makes him harder to be wrought upon by the Light than the very Invalid of Faldo's Vindie p. 124. Heathen This Citation of Faldo Will Penn quotes and owns Well said Isaac thou sayst the Knowledg gain'd by the Letter makes us worse than Heathens and it must be very dangerous sure to read such a Letter that will make us all turn Heathens or worse perhaps to Will. Penn this seems to be no fault to His Address to Protestants p. 118 119. make us Heathens since with him to be an Heathen and a Christian is 〈◊〉 one He says every meek and patient Man is a Christian he argues largely for Heathens to be Christians Thomas Elwood justifys this That moral Heathens are very good Christians See his Answ to Keith ' s Narrat p. 75. and pleads for his Master Penn at large so that a Man may learn the Principles of Christianity out of a Seneca or a Socrates as well as out of a Bible Well whatever Whitehead may think if Isaac says true that the reading the Scriptures will bring us into an Estate of Wrath worse than Heathens we can't but think it sadly dangerous to meddle with them and if Will. Penn be to be believed the Scriptures are at leastwise needless and 't is but a wise caution to cast them quite out of their Meetings * P. ◠l. 2◠Brief Discovery quotes Fox and Hubberthorn †Truths Defence p. 2. and 〈◊〉 4. again saying You might as well condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as some of our Queries and also giving this Reason Because our giving forth Papers and printed Books is from that same immediate Eternal Spirit of God G. says 't is a great Evil to condemn the Scriptures to the Fire or any of their Books given forth by the Eternal Spirit of God as without question all those are that are authorised by their second Day 's Meeting nay all that they have spoken or printed or else they must be Conjurers that have so spoken and printed if not from the mouth of the Lord you may be sure Fox's Great Myst and Burrows's Works were so for they stoutly witness it in the beginning of them May the Bible as well be burnt as these Most impudent Blasphemy To compare such Writings full of Ignorance Blasphemy Barbarisms Nonsense Contradictions pouring out such Filth and Nastiness upon God's Ministers not to be read but when a Man stands in need of a dose of Physick to make him vomit Must such Stuff come in competition with that holy and heavenly System of our Religion the Scriptures that are able to make a Man wise unto Salvation Ah G. may we as well spare all the Bibles the World as such Writings This thou cunningly insinuatest while thou only sayst 'T is dangerous to burn them both but rebukest not in the least that blasphemous comparison That 't was as well to burn the Scriptures as their Writings but speakest as if it were equally wicked to burn either which Fox and Hubberthorn have spoke out plainly yet sometimes the Bible is the best Book in the World though now it be no better than a nonsensical Battledoor and may as well be burnt We have known the time when such a comparison as that would have made their Tongues have hist with an hot Iron though we are accounted Persecutors we rather desire their Tongues should confess the Blasphemy than so hiss for it 'T were an easy matter for us to pretend to immediate Revelations and Inspirations such as the Apostles had as well as they and we could cry as loud as they This is from the Mouth of Lord a Message from the Great God and could prove it too by the same Argument that they prove theirs by we are sure of it and we could cluck and call Shoals of Followers after us among the credulous Multitude as well as they but we dare not be so bold with God as to set his Hand and Seal to every Fancy and Dream of our own and call it divine Revelation nor dare we be so treacherous to the Souls of Men as to loobel them into a snare by false Lights or to hold up an Ignis fatuus before them which God knows some are apt enough to follow thereby to lead them into Pits and Precipices could they prove their Revelations as convincingly as Christ and his Apostles did theirs we should not envy them the comparison What
Semblance and Appearance But further if you turn in you shall see greater Abominations than these Is it not says he ibid. a Spiritual Supernatural Virtue Power and Efficacy that cleanseth saveth and justifieth if it be how then can it proceed from the shedding of the Blood outwardly If it perished and be not in being Pag. 16. Where is the Blood is it in being or no or did it sink into the Ground and corrupt How then does it cleanse justify redeem and save Pag. 17. That Blood that saves is in being and not corruptible for we are not redeemed with corruptible things Thou mayst remember George The Lamb was slain Rev. 13. 8. from the Foundation of the World He was not actually crucified from the beginning but the virtue and merit of his Death might reach to the beginning of the World though not then in being and why not to the end of it too though not in being The Purchase may be enjoyed either before or after the Payment of the Price and if it be not in being we may enjoy the benefit of it by Faith He asks again p. 55. whether any thing be of Eternal Merit or Worth that is not everlasting and then scoffingly upbraids us as not being well agreed what Blood of Christ we should assign that Virtue and Efficacy to whether to that which was let out of his Side by the Soldier 's Spear after Death or that Blood that drop'd from him in his Agony and at last confidently resolves that the Blood of Christ that cleanses us c. is the Life of the Spirit and that this is the Blood of the Covenant Here we have the outward Blood of Christ thrown out of Doors by Whitehead as if it were but the Blood of an Ox or Sheep let out at the Shambles only because the Scripture speaks so much of the Blood of Christ and we must not affront its Testimony too much They tell us of an inward Blood of Christ a Blood never heard of before neither in Scripture nor any of the Writings of Christians from the Apostles times till Satan in these last Ages of the World opened a Vein in Fox's Crown and so furnished us with plenty of it Ah how willingly would you be rid of the outward Christ as well as the outward Blood of Christ as the Jews Joh. 9. 22. they would have thrust him out of their Synagogues long ere now but for fear of the People though in effect they have cast out Jesus of Nazareth as well as his Blood only drest up one as Michael dealt with Saul a counterfeit Phantasm as like him as they can which they call a Christ within Ah George thou wilt one day find it better to have remembred the Blood of Christ at our Communion with Raptures of Joy and Thankfulness than thus to have remembred it in your Light and Life with Scorn and Contumely No wonder you abandon and explode the Ordinance of the Lords Supper which was instituted as a Commemoration of the outward Blood of Christ which if it were as thou hast wickedly represented it would not be worth remembring God open thy Eyes and give thee Repentance for belching out such Blasphemies against that Blood and grant that thou mayst feel the Virtue of that which thou hast so much vilifyed and experience the merit of it in the pardon of thy so great Blasphemies What G. Whitehead says p. 27. ult touching their giving Liberty to all is so little to the purpose that nothing need to be returned to it the Charge in the Brief Discovery p. 13 14. quoted from the Spirit of the Hat standing firm against them Fox saying What! Liberty to the Presbyter No. To the Independent No. To the Baptist No. Liberty is in the Truth which if it has any sense must be this no Liberty to any but those that are in the Truth equivalent to that of the Papists as the Quotation takes notice who say What! Liberty to the Sectary No. To the Hereticks No. No Liberty out of the Church say they No Liberty out of the Power says Fox which amounts to the same as one Quaker wrote to another in their bemoaning Letter call'd the Spirit of the Hat which plainly refers to a Liberty from external Coercion and Force because it speaks of such a Liberty as they could give to or take away from Presbyters Independents and Baptists And therefore when George Whitehead says in answer hereunto there 's no true Liberty but in the Power and Spirit of the Lord and William Pen calling it a Spiritual Liberty is nothing to the purpose Spiritual Liberty being wrought within not given by Men without that which no mortal Man can give or take away neither do Presbyterians Independants or Baptists whatever Power the Quakers may come to fear their Spiritual Prisons Chains or Fetters but their material ones And whereas George Whitehead shifts to another corner telling us in canting words 't is a Liberty in truth and adds 't is for Unity Society and good Order against the Spirit of Strife Division and Separation What is this to Presbyterians Independants and Baptists who were the persons spoken of Were they ever taken into your Society or did they turn Quakers that you should be concern'd at their making any Division or Separation from you under pretence of Liberty of Conscience All this is to amuse the Reader and lose the true Case in hand which was to show that the Quakers had they as much Power would afford as little Liberty to Dissenters from them as any of the Persecuting Priests or Powers of the Earth as William Pen calls them yea even as the Papists themselves of which Instances enow might be given wou'd it not swell this piece too much which has already exceeded the Limits we design'd it Some are given by the worthy Author of the Snake in the Grass 3d Edit p. 63 64 c. But we leave this and proceed to another Head CHAP. XIâ— Of Government SEditious Principles against the State is the second thing we charg'd them with the bare Representation of which wou'd we had hop'd have prevail'd with any who design'd to clear this People of Blasphemy to own the Maâ—ignity of such Passages as those which the Brief Discovery quoted from their Authors but we find our selves deceived herein George Whitchead coming forth as a Champion prepared to vindicate and defend them making their Authors Prophets and their Sayings prophetical Passages touching Government but whoever shall consider the dire Effects those wild Prophesies of Munster Phifer John Matthias John of Leyden and the rest of that Gang had upon the Civil Government of those places they came unto will acknowledg there 's great reason to discourage such an extravagant Spirit whatsoever Pretences it makes to prophetick Inspiration For how did these Prophesies not only lead them into all Impurity as we have shown but incited the People to run upon their Magistrates and deprive them of all Authority and
of all the Dissenters and had ever been so if you will take their own word Go to ye Merchants of Babylon who are now bringing forth and exposing to Sale your old Cankered Rusty and Moth-â—aâ—â—n See Will. Mather's Answer to the Switch for the Snake p. 10. in the Appendix Ware you gather some heat from the Sun K. Charles II. that is newly risen and from it receive some small Vigour and are like the Insect and Reptilia of the Earth who creep out of their holes at the Sun's warmth by which they are vivified Yet know such are not permanent but the withdrawing of the Sun's heat from them soon return to their holes and some perish you may take this as a Figure there is a Cup prepared for you being mixed with Plagues Woes Miseries Sorrows Torments and Eternal Burnings which you shall not pass for you are found from the Lord worthy and a treble Portion is to be given unto you In some things you parallel Simon and Elymas the Sorcerer you are discovered and known to be as you are viz. Antichrists Deceivers Sorcerers and Ravening Wolves Flames Flames Flames of Fire is prepared by the Lord to consume you as dry Stubble Woe is me for the Day which I see is coming upon you from the Lord and all them you have made drunk by puttng your Bottle of Poyson to their Noses who have drunk deep and so are become one in Nature with you It had been better you had never been born it had been better for you that you had been strangled in your Mothers Wombs and still-births had been presented to them than living Children into their Arms. Oh! What shall I say concerning you God's Everlasting Decree is sealed against you Burnings Burnings Burnings with unquenchable Fire is your Portion from the Lord God of Heaven and Earth Oh! I have seen Eternity I have seen Eternity and a dreadful Day is very near at hand to be revealed Oh the overflowing Scourge Oh the Besom of Destruction Oh the Plagues and Vengeance that is to be poured out upon the wicked in this Nation both Priests and People Howl howl Hireling Priests of all Orders for the Wine-press of the Wrath of God Almighty is even near to be trod into which you are to be cast for the Lord God hath spoken it and he will not repent a treble Portion a treble Portion of the Plagues of God Almighty you are to have above all others Thus this famous Quaker-Prophet Divin'd about Forty Years ago but with what truth the Event has shewn And now Reader 't is strange any Person should at this time of Day stile the Issues of these hot-headed Persons Prophetical Passages when Divine Providence has so ordered matters as to encourage every one to hiss them off the Stage We very well know what little reason there is to expect Prophesies in these latter Days nay that a Rational Intellectual Christian Casaubon of Eâ—thas 2d Edit cap. 3. p. 270 171. Knowledge is as the Learned Dr. Mer. Casaubon observes from Aquinas to be preferred above all Prophecy to whom Maimonides the Aquinas amongst the Rabbins as he there calls him does agree in many places of his More Nevochim making Rational Intellectual Divinity the highest degree of Prophecy who has also a Chapter of very good use to keep Men from running themselves out of their right Wits touching Moderation to be observed in Contemplation The Man who can enjoy his natural Wit and Reason with Sobriety and yet affects Raptures and Alienations of Mind has attained to a good degree of Madness without Rapture which makes him so much undervalue sound Reason the highest Gift of God Grace excepted which is but the Perfection of Reason or the Reformation of Corrupt Reason as the same Learned Man speaks Cap. 2. ult And that the Quakers who so much affect Defence of the Snak in the Grass Part 1st from p. 42. to p. 72. these things are all of them touch'd with Madness is prov'd beyond any just contradiction by a Worthy Author It has been the Fare of these Modern Prophesies to continue in vogue but a short time by reason of their evident failure as to Truth discover'd by the Event and Issue of things for a Miscarriage but in a Cicumstance is enough to make the whole Prophecy suspected of Imposture whereas never one word which God spake fell to the See Numb 23. 19. Josh 23. 14. 1 Sam. 3. 19. Es 14. 24. Hab 23. Mat. 5. 18. ground as the Scripture most abundantly assures us and for this reason perhaps the Seventy chose to render Vrim and Thummim by 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Manifestation and Truth because especially by these two were God's Oracles distinguish'd from the Devil 's God's being eminent for Perspicuity and Truth and the Devil 's for Obscurity and Falshood God hath given us this Character to know a False Prophet by Deut. 18. 22. When a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass this is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it presumptuously and therefore we may rest assured that what God speaks with his Mouth he will fulfil Mr. Mâ—de in his 93 Letter to Mr. Hartlib lib. 4. p. 878. with his Hand 1 Kings 8. 15. Famous for a while were the Predictions of Grebner but what esteem are they now of A Learned Man tells us the Year 1572 when the new Star appear'd in Cassiopoia was the Epocha or beginning of his Prophesies and he ended them at the Year 1613 which he supposed to be the Day of Judgment having no other ground for it than the Numeral Letters of the Latin word Judicium which in all makes the Number He prophesied great matters of Henry IV. of France which proved clean contrary of Queen Elizabeth and other Princes which never came to pass Men are prone to believe any thing they would have and any words which seem that way they lay hold of saith that Judicious Man upon them How did the Predictions of those three pretended Prophets Kotterus Christina and Drabicius delude the See Dr. Spencer's Vanity of Vulgar Prophesies cap. 1. p. 6 7 21. cap. 5. p. 85. People for a while and which was much to be wondered at that Excellent Person also Joh. Amos Comenius whose other Works praise him in the Gates that he greatly Reverenced their Persons Recorded and Published their Visions and Prophesies under the specious Title of Lux in Tenebris But God has cloathed all those with Shame and Confusion who have relied upon the Prophesies of such Men by frustrating the Tokens of these Lyars making the Diviners mad and their Knowledge foolish Isai 44. 25. And we earnestly wish and pray that the Quakers and all others who are fond of them would at length own the folly and danger hereof in either assuming to themselves or attributing to their Teachers a
he hath chosen us to be his People and he might command Thousands and Ten thousands of his Saints at this Day to fight in his Cause c. as in Brief Discovery p. 22. But he adds We cannot yet believe that he will make use of us in that way though it be his only Right to rule in Nations and our Heirship to possess the uttermost parts of the Earth but for the present we are given up to bear and suffer Against these Passages was this Marginal Note made And may reassume it viz. the use of the Carnal Weapon when they shall judge it meet which Geo. Whitehead says look like a very invidious Design â—â—â—â—â—ise Suspicion and Jealousy in the Civil Government against them but let any one judg whether it be not an Inference proper from these and the like Citations out of their Writings Such Passages may well awaken the Government to â—â—re and caution that we suffer not by the Pretences of Meekness and Humility in such Me whose Teachers have laid down Principles so destructive and that was the only reason of our mentioning them When as the Quakers by their renewed Declarations and pretended Messages from Heaven would not suffer Oliver to rest but resolved to put him upon fighting work enough and had he been as enthusiastick as they his Sword must have been sheathed in the Bowels of all the Nations round about him For thus did they rave O Oliver arise and come out let not another take thy Crown but let thy Souldiers go forth with a free and willing Heart that thou mayst rock Nations as a Cradle and then comes forth the broad Seal of Heaven which they affix to the Commission they brought him This is a Charge to thee in the presence of the Lord God Prodigious Madness which one would think could proceed from no Society but that of Bedlam P. 21. This passage and the next cited in the Brief Discovery Geo. Whitehead cannot disown but says he has not the Books but it matters not for he can answer them without Book i. e. nothing to the purpose saying Oliver and his Officers and Army had a day and Power given them and so had Nebuchadnezzar and Rabshakeh with his Hosts But he very well knew the design of quoting them was to shew how eager the Quakers once were for using the carnal Weapon and what dangerous Beautefeu's they had been who endeavour'd to kindle a Fire that should consume Nations and Kingdoms yea to manifest with what a Gust and Relish they remembred the Slaughters made of the Royal Party all the Glory of which they gave to Oliver For thus Geo. Roffe in his Book stiled The Ibidem Righteousness of God speaks to Oliver Cromwell Thus saith the Lord I have chosen thee amongst the thousands of the Nations to execute my Wrath upon mine 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 made thee an Instrument against them and many have I cut down by my Sword in thy Hand that my Wrath might be executed upon them to the uttermost 'T was sure a mighty pleasure to some Persons to be satiated with Blood God grant them better Tempers and no opporunity to be so gratified for the future Brief Discovery p. 21 22. As to Geo. Fox's Letter to the Council of Officers complaining that many Quakers were disbanded out of the Army who had been mighty serviceable there and Eurroughs's Declaration in the Name of all the Quakers telling the Nation how dreadful they were to the Wicked to the Cavaliers to be sure who as Whitehead says were for Swearing P. 38. Cursing and Damning c. and what right they had to possess the utmost parts of the Earth tho for the present they did bear and suffer To these being so notoriously obnoxious Geo. Whitehead is pleased to say nothing but according to his shifting way tells us he has P. 39. answered them in another place viz. in Christ's Lambs defended a most proper place to do it in for these were meek Lambs indeed but fought like Dragons since as Geo. Fox there says they could turn one of them to seven Men and had rather have one of them than 7 others but upon perusal it appears so frivolous that we think he was asham'd to repeat it the 2 d time to the World which he has not in other places been nice or shy of doing especially where so much Learning was shown as in his Discourse about Truth and Innoc p. 25. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 CHAP. XII Of their ASSEMBLIES c. GReat care is used to preserve their Assemblies their Fund or Exchequer the Register of their Sufferings c. from having an evil Eye cast upon them by the World telling us for reflecting upon these that we seem to be influenced by some treacherous Judas's or envious Apostates and that we might not mistake whom they meant he immediately mentions Mr. Bugg and Mr. Keith being quoted by us as to these things As for what we have cited from Mr. Bugg's Books if he has wronged them in that or by false or forged Quotatâ—ons we desire they would â—arâ—â—â—est it by a particular Notation of them and then appeal to the Honourable House of Commons to whom he has tendred several of his Papers that they would inflict a condign Punishment on him But we are well â—ffured that his Truth and Sincerity herein will abide the Test of their severest Scrutiny G. Whitehead knows he had lately an opportunity could he have made good his Accusations of exposing Fr. Bugge before several of those Worthy Members in the House of our Rt. Reverend Diocesan in London but what did he get by the Attempt but shame and confusion before so great a Presence And as for Mr. Keith who is now received into our Church and deservedly respected by all the Members thereof his excellent Learning and which is better his great Modesty and known Sincerity sets him as much above those that defame him as a Chalice of pure Gold is in price beyond sounding Brass or a tinkling Cymbal However let us see what Defence he is pleased to make for the things we reflected on P. 39. Concerning their Assemblies he here in good conscience affirms That they are all Religious P. 41. Meetings and afterwards particularly says That their monthly quarterly and yearly Meetings with their first Day and weekly Meetings are upheld in the Name of the Lord for his Worship and Service So then all their Meetings monthly quarterly yearly with their First-day and weekly Meetings are Religious ones and if so how can they answer their not having them all open and free for every one to come into that have a mind to do so Is there not a Clause in that Statute which gives them Liberty that