any one of the particulars Charg'd upon him or his Followers in the Petition and Schedule which he Inserts Nay he downright owns and justifies the greatest part of them As their Preter-natural Convulsions and Quakings Foamings and swelling of their Bellies which seiz'd them at their Meetings even little Children who cou'd not Counterfeit and therefore was no doubt plain Possession but whether of a Divine or Diabolical Spirit has been above consider'd The matter of Fact Fox owns p. 5. and Vindicates it by the Ecstasies Recorded of the Holy Prophets of Old But none of these ever seiz'd little Children But the Lapland Possessions have in those who are given up to the Power of the Devil of which there are frequent Examples in our own Countries besides these of the Quakers Fox likewise owns the Indictment laid in the Schedule against James Milner and justifies him tho' he cannot deny the Fact As for James Milner says he p. 9. tho' his mind did Run out from his Condition and from minding that Light of God which is in him whereby the World takes occasion to speak against the Truth and many Friends stumble at it yet there is a Pure Seed in him This Pure Seed is what the Quakers mean by the Light within And which they make to be God and Christ and therefore take the Name of God and Christ to themselves because of God's thus supposed Dwelling in them But by this Rule every Man must be God and Equal to God as well as a Quaker because the Quakers say that This Light is in every Man that cometh into the World But every Man does not follow this Light No more did James Milner or James Naylor before-mentioned And how shall we then know that George Fox did or any other Quaker What is now become of their Pretence to a sinless Condition and to Perfection Equal even to the Perfection of God Himself Milner pretended to it And Naylor pretended to it They all pretend to it And they have it all alike But how comes Milner here to be so gently dealt with by Mr. Fox Why Because his mind did only Run out He did not follow his Light within And do the Quakers charge any thing else upon the Heathen the Papists the Church of England c. but not following their Light within No nothing else But then their mind Run out in Great Matters whereas the Quakers run out but in Peccadillo's Let us then compare a little We will pass the Heathen for the Quakers have a particular kindness for them Think their Light within sufficient to save them without any Merit or Satisfaction made for their sins by Christ without or Him who Dy'd at Jerusalem as they think of themselves and both stand upon the same Bottom But while they thus Christen all the Heathen they Unchristian and Damn to the Pit of Hell all the Christian World since the Days of the Apostles as you will see hereafter Sect. IV. p. 21. We will in this Comparison let the Papists pass too as being further off and come to the Church of England which the Quakers make to be no less than Anti-Christian their Clergy to be Baal's Priests False Prophets Conjurers Diviners c. And why Because they Preach upon a Text of Scripture as in Artic. 5. of the above Schedule and in Steeple-Houses which they call Churches Receive Tythes and have a set Form of Prayer in their Publick Worship and many such like things do they for which they deserve the above Epithets and All the rest hereafter mentioned p. 32. But as for Iames Milner there is yet a Pure Seed in him And the Lord did open true Prophecies See before p. 24. and mighty things to him For his Mind only Runned out a little to call himself God and Christ And he was only mistaken nâ— some Prophecies that he gave out And what great matter was all this in a Quaker These and 40 more shall be excus'd while you continue firm to the Friends but if you offer to expose their Errors tho' in the most Friendly way you touch Fire All Hell shall be Rakâ—d for Names to load you with Vile Cankerâ—d Apostate Devil-Driven Diabolical Devilish c. Thus have they treated those of their own Communion who durst once Budge or Grumble against the Impositions of Womens Meetings and forced Discipline set up by G. Fox or who presum'd to Pay their Tythes tho' their Light within did dictate it to them as Lawful and their Duty and consequently that it wou'd be a sin against Conscience if they did not do it But most of all are they Eurag'd against George Keith for Preaching up the necessity of a Christ without and that the Light within is not sufficient to Salvation without something else That is Christ Jesus without us Suffering and Dying outwardly for us For this is all the Heresie they have to Charge him with as you will see in the Printed Tryals in Pensilvania which I have Quoted And yet more fully in a Book which G. Keith Printed at Philadelphia the Metropolis of that Colony 1693. and carries this Title The Heresie and Hatred which was falsly Charged upon the Innocent justly Return'd upon the Guilty giving some Brief and Impartial Account of the most material Passages of a late Dispute in Writing that hath passed at Philadelphia betwixt Iohn Delaval and George Keith c. They are thus Mad and out of aâ—â— Patience with G. Keith for speaking against the Sufficiency of their Lighâ— within Because if their Light within be not Self-sufficient then will follow the necessity of a Christ without to take away Sin by making an outward Atonement and Satisfaction for it by an outward shedding of outward Blood And what then will you say Are you amaz'd why this shou'd provoke the Quakers so much Why will they not yield this Oh no. This was the Grand Design of him who first Inspired and Possessed them to Destroy the only Saving Faith in the Satisfaction made by Christ for our Sins by turning all this to a meer Allegory tending only to an inward Christ â—hat is their Light within to Spiritual Blood shed Inwardly in their Hearts where they make this their inward Christ to be Born Suffer Die Rise again Ascend into Heaven that is a Spiritual Heaven within them And the Appearing of Christ which they expect is within them Thus Samuel Buttivant Subscribes an Epistle he wrote to a most Virulent Quaker Treatise Entituled A brief Discovery of a Three-fold Estate of Anti-Christ Printed 1653. he stiles himself A Faithful Friend to the Faithful and an Affectionate Lover of all that love the Appearing of the Lord Christ in them And this inward Christ they make to be the Archi-Type of which that Man Christ Jesus was but the Type Figure and his Birth Sufferingâ— Death Resurrection c. but iâ—â— History of the Birth Sufferings c of the Light within them whiâ—â— they call the Mystery as of greatâ—â— Value
G. Whitehead upon it that there never were such Priests either in the North or any where else that were so Ignorant No George This is an Arrant Lye without all doubt Did any Man ever Think or Say that the very Material Paper and Ink and Letters wou'd Endure for ever Where is now thy Infallibility Where thy Common Honesty or Morality thus grosly to bely these Priests as thou callest them But they thank Thee that it was so Grosly for it is so very Ridiculous that it is in no Man's Power to believe Thee or that Thou canst have the least pretence to Infallibility or even that Thy word shou'd be trusted in any thing that Thou averrest when Thou darest Print so notorious and impossiblean Untruth Like G. Fox's senseless Reply to Richard Baxter c. Writing says he Paper and Ink is not Infallible Great Mystery p. 302. nor the Scripture is not the ground of Faith Your Rule Paper and Ink that will come to Dust Here I wou'd fain ask them a Question How it comes that since they are such bitter Enemies to the Letter they yet make a Conscience of saying Thee and Thou instead of You in the singular because these were old English words in the first Translations Is there any Immorality or Iniquity in these Letters y o u more than in T h o u And is not every Nation Master of its own Language Besides these were not the words of the Languages in which the Scriptures were wrote It is likely that G. Fox and the rest in the Year 1650. thought they were and lighting upon some old English Bible took it for the Original For if stress must be laid upon the Letter it must be surely upon the Original Letter in which the Scriptures were wrote And the Quakers may as well lay stress upon the Latine or French or Dutch Translation as upon the English in this Case How do they in other Languages make the Distinction betwixt thou and you when you is us'd in the singular Number Behold here these Men whose Chief Principle it is to Decry and Damn the Letter do set up at the same time the most Superstitions and Ridiculous sticking to the Letter that ever was heard of since Adam so very Extravagant that if it had not been no Man cou'd have believ'd that it cou'd have been Or that any Men cou'd have made a Case of Conscience of such a senseless and insignificant Criticism But as the Scorpion is said to carry Oyl which cures its own Venom so the wise Providence of God has dispos'd of most Errors that they carry Contradictions to themselves in their own Bowels But if the Holy Scriptures of God must not be call'd the Word of God because they are wrote in Letters why must the Quakers most Blasphemous and Prophane Scribbles be Stil'd the Word of the Lord Even Solomon Eccles's Lying Prophesie before told in his Letter to John Story To you all this is The Word of the Lord says George Fox of his own Writings Great Myst p. 225. I charge you says he in the presence of the Lord God Some of the Quakers Principles c. p. 4. to send this amongst all Friends and Brethren every where to be Read in all Meetings To you all This is the Word of God G. Fox's Letter to all Friends Printed 1671. with several Papers c. p. 60. 62. The Scriptures are not the Word of God G. F. c. Fire-brand c. p. 159. 2d Part 1678. A Printed Letter of G. Fox's which is now lying before me Dated at Dalston the 13th of the 10th Month 1683. Bears this Title All Friends every where this is The word of the Lord unto you all And there is a Postscript in these words This you may read amongst the Children of the Light and of the Day And p. 4. of the Letter he says I remember before we were call'd Quakers as I was sitting in an House in Nottingham-shire about the Year 1648. the word of the Lord came to me and said c. And yet in his Great Myst p. 246 247. he calls it Blasphemy to say that the Scriptures are the Word of God His words are these They the Scriptures are not the word of God which thou Christopher Wade hast Blasphemously affirmed But says he Jesuitcally to amuse the Reader Christ is the word of God As if Christopher Wade or any Christian had ever affirmed that the Book of Scriptures was the Word of God in the same sense as Christ or any otherwise than as the Records of those Revelations which God by his Holy Spirit did dictate to the Inspired Pen-Men But not a Living Person partaking of the Substance of the Father like the Word Eternally Begotten Cou'd this George either of these Georges Fox or VVhitehead produce any one Man even in Bedlam who ever asserted this of the Ink or Paper of the Holy Scriptures Why then do they use this Distinction Against whom do they use it Against No Body it was only to Shufle and Cut to Cover and Excuse their Contempt of the Holy Scriptures and in their place Deifying of their own Spirit and their own Scriptures They knew that the Holy Scriptures cou'd not be discarded openly and above Board nor all at once That the World had been long in Possession of them and of a just Veneration of them and therefore wou'd not so easily part with them nor accept of any Foxes Inspirations instead of them Therefore they set up a Power like that of the Church of Rome of Infallible Interpretation of Scripture And improv'd it as above is told into Immediate Revelation equal to that of the Prophets and Apostles And pursuant to this Plenitude of Power they have taken upon them not only to Abrogate the most express Ordinances of the Gospel and Pronounce them expir'd at their Pleasure as Baptism and the Lord's Supper But to set up and Institute new ones as the Womens Preachings directly contrary to 1 Cor. 14.35 which suffers not VVomen to speak in the Church and the Prelacy of the VVomens Meetings an Invention never heard of in the World till G. Fox Cobbled it out And they Enjoyn not these only as Ecclesiastical Injunctions of their Church but upon their pretence before told to the same Immediate Revelation which was given to the Apostles as the Institutions of Christ Solomon Eccles in his Letter already mention'd to John Story calls these the VVomens Preachings and the VVomens Meetings the Great and Good Ordinance which Christ Iesus hath set up in his Church This is directly giving us New Scriptures and a New Gospel For which they will find their Reward Gal. 1.8 9. Rev. 22.18 19. And they having as they pretend the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures they cannot be bound by the Scriptures or any Command in them unless their Spirit does anew require the same thing which the Scripture Commands So that the Scripture remains of no Authority with them
Miraculous such as the Gifts of Tongues of Prophecy and Miraculous Cures c. And these Miraculous Gifts as they are of much less Value to us than the Saving Graces so are they not greatly to be Covertd See Enthusiasm Exercis'd before Quoted nor are they at all to be Pray'd for We must be wholly Passive in this Case and leave it altogether to the Wisdom of God when where and how to bestow of these But to pretend Falsly to any such Gifts is down-right Diabolical it is Express Blasphemy against God and by His Law to be Punished with Death All such Enthusiasm or Inspiration is most certainly from the Devil And therefore we must be well aware of it and examine all such Pretences diligently and having detected Falshood in them to oppose them with all Zeal to Cry aloud and give the World warning of the Spirit of Delusion broken loose among them And there can be no Neuters in this War Whoever can be Patient to see the Name of God thus openly and presumptuously Blasphem'd is no Christian has no Zeal for God nor Love for the Souls of Men but is such a Latitudinarian Laodicean as God will Spue out of his Mouth Had the Quakers pretended to never so great Talents in Sanctifying Graces tho' greater than they had they shou'd never have been oppos'd by me Because I wish to them and to all Men much greater than they have and daily encrease of them But when I found them pretend to Miraculous Gifts and upon this Fund to set up Schism and Seduce Multitudes from the Peace and Unity of the Church and introduce Damnable Heresies I thought it an Unpardonable sin any longer to forbear to warn others and seek to undeceive the Poor and Simple sort among them who are â—â—d blindly in their Snares The Lord Rescue them of his Infinite Mercy Amen If G. Fox had set up for the greatest Zeal towards God and to the most Extraordinary Impulse of Spirit and Experiences the then â—and of God and that upon this Pretence he had been carry'd even to Excesses much might have been allowed to such a well-intended Zeal tho' not according to Knowledge But in his Journal p. 83. he despises such a low Dispensation which he turns over to the Priests as he calls them who Disputed against him One of them says he told me That He cou'd speak his Experiences as well as I. But I told him Experience was one thing but to go with a Message and to have a Word from the Lord as the Prophets and Apostles had and did and as I had done to them this was another thing and therefore I put it to them again Cou'd any of them say he had ever had a Command or Word from the Lord Immediately at any time Thus he And here can be no mistake Because he puts the Distinction himself betwixt Immediate Revelation and Inward Impulses those ordinary Assistances or Inspirations which Good Men Experiment of the Holy Spirit of God in their Studies and Meditations upon the Holy Scriptures their Preaching Praying and other Means of Grace which God has appointed Such Experiences the Priests own'd to G. Fox But he pretended to further that is to Immediate Command from God to go with such a Message c. as the Prophets and Apostles had Not a mediate Command by the Mediation of the Use and Knowledge of Scripture Preaching Praying or any Human Means But Immediately without help of Scripture or any thing else from God Himself as when He spoke to Abraham or any of the Prophets or Apostles If George had pretended only to have Reason'd with us out of the Scriptures we cou'd have born with him If Mr. Penn had contented himself to have told us of his great Knowledge in the Scriptures not to give us New to have Celebrated him for a Thousand Virtues or for his Learning or any other Natural or Acquir'd Aibilities He shou'd have Peaceably Enjoy'd all these Trophy's however Deserv'd for any Pains I had taken to the contrary But when p. 29. of his Preface Mr. Penn wou'd persuade us that this Fox had Outward Revelations and Visions from God upon a very high Mountain in Yorkshire and there had his Commission given by God to go to the North c. This obliges us to look more narrowly into the Matter For there is no Medium left by this but either that all these Nations and all the World to whom he directs some of his Papers are Fighters against God in not submitting to his Message by this Prophet Fox Or otherwise that this Fox was a Wizard possess'd with the Devil and that all are Deluded Fatally who follow him or wou'd Recommend him And when all this is but the Preface to Pretended Miracles Exhibited in his foolish Legend of a Journal as Vouchers of his Mission When Miraculous Gifts are not only ascrib'd to G. Fox but to the Rabble of these Quakers whom Mr. Penn ibid. Sect. 10. p. 23. compares to the Ancient Prophets and tells us of their Prophecies particularly of the Plagne and Fire of London in express Terms says be and likewise Particular ones to divers Persecutions I suppose it shou'd be Persecutors which accordingly overtook them and which were very Remarkable in the places were they dwelt and in time they may be made Publick for the Glory of God But Mr. Penn This wou'd be the best time For one Prophecy before it be fulfill'd is worth twenty that are Publish'd afterwards Besides People will be apt to say that you Pick and Choose out of your Register of Prophecies and having many Most if not All Curses and Iudgments some must likely happen or towards it and that you give us only them but throw all those that miscarry behind the Door And some may suspect even Forgery that Prophecies are Coin'd after the Facts come to pass Therefore to obviate all these Objections and to prevent the deceiving of after-Generations who may not be so well able to Examine into matters of Fact said to be done long before their time it is desir'd that Mr. Penn wou'd Now Publish his Register of Quaker Prophecies or for ever after hold his Peace But we must take them as he pleases to give them and by what he has told us we may guess at the rest He names Prophecies of the Plague and Fire of London in express Terms And there he leaves us in the General but tells not who where when that is reserv'd for after Ages when there shall be none alive to disprove it But notwithstanding it is fair in us freely to own what is come to our Knowledge tho' the Modesty of the Persons concern'd might let it sleep in Generals unexamin'd Be it known then unto all Men That one Solomon Eccles a Quaker Preacher and Prophet did go Naked through Bartholomew-Fair the year before the Fire of London with a Pan of Fire upon his Head warning the People to Repent c. But it must
c. This is plain Language They will not yet take Arms not For the present not till they see their time But they have enter'd a Caveat to secure their Right and Title to it till they think fit to set up their Claim for their Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth But this is a Secret and to be kept under their Thumb for the present And therefore in their New Edition of Edward Burrough's Works Anno 1672. This Passage is left out with others against the King c. But no ways Disclaimed or Censur'd by them Which is now Requir'd from them or otherwise they must give us leave to believe that it is their Principle to take Arms and to Fight to set up their Heirship to any Kingdom they please when their King the Son of God Commands them And they believing that their Light within is that very Christ the Son of God as is fully shewn in what follows the Consequence is that they are free to take Arms whenever they say it is the time Or if the Mission of a Prophet be necessary to signifie the Command of their King to Fight for Him and for their own Heirship that can never be wanting to them because they do pretend to keep up a continual Succession of Prophets among them And the Word of every True Prophet being the Command of God Himself consequently whoever believes such a one to be a True Prophet must at his Command think themselves oblig'd to pull down any King and to set up whomsoever that Prophet names in his Place As Hazael was made King of Syria and Jehu of Israel by the Command of Elijah 1 Kings 19.15 16. Now the Quakers do pretend to have still Prophets and with as great a Power 9. For by their Printed Injunctions from the Meeting of Sufferings in London the 18th of the 6th Month 1693. to the respective Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales for preserving and spreading Friends Books for Truths Service among other of their Works to be carefully by them spread by way of Epistle Warning Caution and Exhortation they add likewise Prophecy And by a Canon of their General Assembly in London the 27th of the 3d Month 1675. they strictly Caution and Forbid to say That the Faithful Friends Papers which we say they testifie have been given forth by the Power of God are Mens Edicts And in their Paper of Orders from London in the 3d Month 1666. they reckon them as Heathens and Infidels who will not submit to the Judgment of their Church and dare oppose it as the Judgment of Man This is beyond all Acts of Parliament they are but the Edicts of Men And we pretend our Canons and Ecclesiastical Injunctions to be no other But whatever a Quaker Dictates if it were to Depose the King and set up their Universal Monarch above-told and to assert by Arms their own Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth If they should abrogate any or all of our Laws as they have done that of Tithes or any thing else whatever their Arbitrary Enthusiastical Spirit shall suggest to them this must not be look'd upon as any thing that is Humane that is below a Quaker's Pride but as the very Words of God as if pronounc'd by an Angel or an Apostle So that we must look well to our selves These are no Ordinary Men believe it 10. And their Design I mean of their Leaders is not only Liberty of Conscience that 's but a poor business but the total overthrow of the Church of England And that by a very Crafty Policy first to take away their Maintenance that is the Tithes and then they are sure it will fall to the ground And this Rob. Barclay does not conceal Anarchy p. 42. An. 1676. That Anti-Christian Apostatiz'd Generation says he the National Ministery have received a Deadly Blow by out Witness against their forc'â— Maintenance and Tythes So that their Kingdom in the Hearts of thousands begins to Totter and shall assuredly fall to the Ground But what if the Light within some Quakers shou'd allow them to pay Tythes And think that they ought in Conscience to do it as being Legally Established c. Wou'd the Quakers Rulers allow them Liberty of Conscience and give them leave to follow their Light within No. No. That is but scaffolding to pull down our Church and to build their own And they will not have their Cannon turn'd against themselves See his Animadversions on George Whitehead 's Innocency Triumphant 1694. p. 30. For when Thomas Crisp and other Quakers thought themselves oblig'd to pay their Tythes and did so accordingly they were Proceeded against as Rebels under no less a Denomination and that not only as against Men but against God Himself For their Writings as above told are not to be look'd on as the Edicts of Men. But as G. Fox Proclaims in his Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And in another place See G. F. and R. H. Truths Defence c. p. 2. 104. 107. You might as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Queries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are Answered from the mouth of the Lord c. And from the same mouth of the Lord Thomas Ellwood Denounces Antidote against the Infection of W. Rogers c. p. 78. That they who pay Tythes thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh which is a mark of Anti-Christ And G. Fox in his Decretal Epistle bearing Date the 3d Month 1677. See his Journal p. 431. Commands severely that the Friends Testimony against Tythes be kept up with vigor He says That for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them means and put into their Mouths is a Contradiction And therefore take heed says he for if the Lord God do Bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the outward things from you again So all the Preachers for Tythes and money and the Takers and Payers of Tythe must be testified against in the Lords Power and Spirit and therefore in the power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast that is as well Payers as Receivers of Tythes And that is the whole Kingdom King and Parliament who made Laws for the Payment of Tythes and all who dare obey those Laws are The Beast Anti-Christs and have deny'd Christ's coming in the Flesh as T. Ellwood and therefore G. Fox concludes his Epistle above-said keep your Authority and Dominion That is over that Beast and these Anti-Christs This was wrote 1677. and Printed 1694. whereby we may understand what Church they mean to which Tythes are paid and against which they have Proclaim'd War 11. But there
cannot be Infiniteness in it self Against this G. Fox Disputes and no Kind of Infiniteness will serve his turn but Infiniteness in himself which is the Infiniteness of God alone for He only has Infinity in Himself as not being given by any other Is not the Soul says he without Beginning Hath this a Beginning â—r Ending and is it not Infinite in it self and more than all the world P. 29. Now consider what 〈◊〉 â—â—â—dition these call'd Ministers are in They say that which is a Spiritual Substance is not Infinite in it self but a Creature Here he will not let the Soul be a Creature His proof is in the next words That which came out from the Creator and is in the Hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again That is Infinite in it self I do not medle with his Philosophy which is wretched I only shew you his Opinion that the Soul is not a Creature but Infinite and that in it self Which is making of it God in the strictest terms Will you have any more of it He makes the Soul to become one Soul with God Christ says he p. 19. brings the Soul up into God from whence it came whereby they come to be one Soul And p. 229. who are come up into the Bishop Christ they are one Soul It is horrid Blasphemy said Alexander Ross to say The Soul is a part of God It is not horrid Blasphemy reply'd G. Fox p. 273. to say the Soul is a part of God for it came out of Him and that which came out of Him is of Him Fox does not say that the Soul came from God that is that God Created it But that it came of God as a Part of God of his Substance Person and Essence And p. 100. is not this of God's Being Says he And he Disputes against this Position That there is not an Essential In-dwelling of the Divine Nature in God's People and That God dwells not in the Saints by a Personal Union Or that Christ's Person is not in Man which is as much as to say replies G. Fox p. 248. as if we were not of his Flesh and Bones and had not his Substance Here the Light within is not only an Illumination or Inspiration from Christ but the very Person of Christ his Substance his Flesh and Bones And he says p. 207. That Christ is not distinct from his Saints That Christ is the Elect. p. 88. That the Light within is Christ p. 310. That they who are of the Faith are the Flesh of Christ the Flesh of Him who Suffered But this will come under a following Head Sect. 17. therefore for the present we dismiss it Only I will tell you before I go Mr. Penn's Excuse for G. Fox in all these particulars He lays it upon George's extreme Ignorance The Invalidity of John Faldo 's Vindication c. 1673. p. 353. That when he said the Soul was Equal with God by Equality he meant only Unity And that when he call'd the Soul Infinite he did not mean Infinite but something that is not Finite or which comes to an End And that when he said the Soul was without Beginning and a Part of God he did not mean the Soul but the Breath of God c. He says that George observ'd no nicety of Expression and finds great fault with those who make ill use of his Plain and Vulgar Phrases An Indifferent Man wou'd rather have said Ne sutor ultra Crepidam That this Fox shou'd rather have kept to his Original Trade than to set up for Interpreting the Scripture before he had learned to speak Sense or write English A defect in which is a strange excuse for Infallibility But it is just with God thus to detect such Wicked and Blasphemous Pretences to all who are not resolv'd to shut their Eyes For will any one believe that that Spirit which cou'd dictate an Infallible Knowledge of the Scripture and of all Persons and Things as G. F. c. pretended cou'd not have enabl'd these Men to speak common sense or to understand plain English words But the truth is all this was a Bewildring of G. F's poor understanding and not to be charg'd only as Mr. Penn's over Charity does upon his Plain and Vulgar Phrases For in both the above Instances of the Soul 's Infinity and Equality with God the Distinctions were plainly given to G. F. what sort of Infinity and Equality was allow'd to the Soul and he expresly Disputes against such Distinctions and rejects any Limited Sense of the Souls Infinity and Equality with God But will have it Infinite in it self and no Lesser kind of Infiniteness which was allow'd him And to be Equal to God not only in Quality but in Equality which was a great deal too much to be Granted But that it self wou'd not satisfie G. F. And this must proceed past help of Mr. Penn and all the World either from a most Impious Blasphemy or such an immoderate degree of Dullness and lack of Understanding as cou'd not befall any thing in Human shape much less any one who pretended to Inspiration and proudly to Decry and Damn all the World since the Apostles SECT VIII Of the Quakers pretence to a sinless Perfection THis is dispatch'd already Sect. 6. where we see them claim a Perfection even Equal to God But because I suppose there are some of them who are not willing now to go that Blasphemous length I will set down some of their more Moderate Pretences to Perfection that is to a sinless State even in this Life I have before Quoted Mr. Penn upbraiding the Church of England as Opposers of Perfection and Ridiculing us for confessing our selves sinners and imploring God's Mercy Now hear G. Fox p. 101. It is the Doctrine of Devils that Preacheth that Men shall have sin and be in a Warfare so long as they be on Earth They that pretend coming to God and Christ out of Perfection they be in the Error p. 111. All who come to Christ they come to Perfection p. 231. They attain to Perfection in the Life of God p. 271. For who are Sanctified have Perfect Unity Perfect Knowledge Perfect Holiness p. 281. The Life of the Saints is Christ not sinful at all This will appear further in what follows which might be put all under one Head but for Method's sake and Plainness I distinguish them SECT IX Concerning the Quakers pretence to Immediate Revelation Equal to what was given to the Pen-Men of the Holy Scriptures GEorge Fox says p. 242. That they are in the same Power Understanding Knowledge and Immediate Revelation from Heaven that the Apostles were in Are not ye says he to the Professors p. 241. in the Presumption and Usurp Authority to Preach or to Teach that have not the Immediate Revelation as the Apostles had p. 213. Thou canst not know the Scriptures but by the same Degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had They
the Quakers p. 97. Witness Immediate Revelation They are come to that the Apostles was in the Spirit of Christ the Spirit of God they Witness Immediate Revelation p. 153. But the rest of the World have never heard the Voice of God nor the Voice of Christ and have not the same Infallible Spirit as the Apostles had and no Immediate Revelation nor Inspiration as they had p. 221. Revelation is now witnessed in our Days as it was in the Apostles but not amongst you who have inwardly Ravened from the Spirit of God which have Apostatized from the Apostles And so you be in the Diabolical Devilish that expects not that now which was in the Days of the Apostles If ever you own the Prophets Christ New Rome Unmask'd p. 42. G. F's Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. Truth 's Defence G. F. and R. H. p. 2 89 104 and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power You may as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Quaeries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are now Answered from the Mouth of the Lord. Of their stiling their own Writings The Word of the Lord and denying it to the Holy Scriptures you will see farther Sect. 11. Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures SECT X. Concerning the Quakers Infallibility THis Section may seem needless as being included in the former For who pretend to an Equality with God to the same Immediate Revelation with Christ the Prophets and Apostles had must needs be Infallible But I conceive it will be worth the Readers while to see how they Branch it and Descend to particular Marks and Instances of their Infallibility This Section therefore is like opening the Jugler's Box And you may expect to see Rareties I told you before how their Infallibility was Palm'd upon them by the Church of Rome Of which they were so greedy that they swallow'd it down by whole-sale and wou'd have none of those Cautions with which the Church of Rome us'd to Defend themselves or else forgot them in their Haste and in their Hony Month while they were New-fangl'd Thus while the Church of Rome plac'd their Infallibility only in their Church or at most in the Pope alone as the Head of it the Quakers set up for it All and every One of them There was an Infallibility for you The Church of Rome had cunning Hiding Places and if you attack'd the Infallibility of their Church they wou'd not tell you what they meant by their Church nor where to find their Infallibility some wou'd make you believe that it was in the Pope as Head of the Church and only Successor of Peter to whom the Promises Super hanc Petram and Tues Petrus were made But then some distinguished and said not in Peter alone nor always but only when he was in Cathedra and some said that was with his Conclave others said no but only with a General Council Again some plac'd the Infallibility in the Council above the Pope others in the Pope above the Council others in neither of them asunder but only in both together And lastly some will have it none of all these ways but say it is only to be look'd for in the Diffusive Body of the Church And then as to the Infallibility it self some tell us that it relates to Manners as well as Faith and to Practice as well as Theory Others will by no means admit of that but confine it wholly to matters of Faith And then it will be a long Dispute what shall be adjudg'd a Matter of Faith and what not but only as Relating to Faith These are long and intricate Mazes and it requires no little Skill to be able to follow them thro' all these various Subterfuges But the Simplicity of our Quakers has depriv'd them of every one of these Helps For as they place Infallibility in every single Quaker so they confine it not to matters of Faith but extend it to all Persons and Things To know all Mens Hearts and all Things in the World by their inward Light without being told by any I am sure by this time the Reader is impatient to come to the Proof to see if it be possible for Men to be possess'd with such an incredible degree of Enthusiasm And I am willing to begin that I may no longer lie under the suspicion of Imposing unjustly or at least of Aggravating any thing against them G. Fox says plainly Gr. Myst p. 89. That they can discern who are Saint who are Devils and who Apostates without speaking ever a word Ibid. p. 5. That they have the Word of God Christ which is Eternal and Infallible in their Hearts to judge Persons and Things Thou says he to his Opponent p. 96. not being Infallible thou art not in the Spirit and so art not a Minister and art not able to judge of Powers that is not Infallible nor Magistrates nor Kingdoms nor Churches Now which of the Quakers is it who have this Spirit to judge thus Infallibly of Persons and Things of Powers Magistrates Kingdoms and Churches And to discern Mens Hearts who are Saints and who Apostates and that without being told by any as G. F. expresses it without speaking ever a word This is told us in p. 7. of Edward Burrough's Epistle to the Reader of G. F's Great Mystery where he says that this Infallible Spirit was given To us says he every one of us in particular And this Light gave us to discern between Truth and Error between every false and right way and it Perfectly discover'd to us the true state of All Things Thou say'st says Fox to his Opponent p. 107. that the Holiest Man is not able to give an Infallible Character of another Man Hast thou not in this discover'd thy self to be no Minister of Christ or of the Spirit Who cannot give an Infallible Character of another Man how canst thou Minister to his Condition How canst thou see where he is How canst thou see them that be turned from the Darkness and that be in the Darkness and distinguish the one from the oother and an Holy Man from an Unholy Man that canst not give an Infallible Character of and Man's Estate And p. 94. Have ye given your selves a Name of the Church of Christ and is there not a Spirit of discerning among you Have ye not manifested here that ye are Harlotted from the Church of Christ the Apostles were of And how can ye Minister or Teach People if ye do not discern their states how they stand before God How can you commend your selves to every Man's Conscience in God's sight How can ye present the Souls of Men to God and see not their states how they are in his sight How come ye to have Fellowship in the Spirit How can you or any Minister to the state and condition that People be
in and see where they are and doth not see how they stand in God's sight Here the Quakers have Excluded all from the Church of Christ from having any Fellowship in the Spirit who have not this Infallible Spirit of discerning every Man's Heart And it is evident as I will shew presently that they did not discern George Keith Francis Bugg and many others whom for many years they own'd as true Quakers and some of them as Ministers among them and boasted a long time in their Gifts and thought them to be Principal Pillars among them whom now they Vilifie as Wicked Apostates And therefore by their own Argument they are Harlotted from the Church of Christ and have no Fellowship in the Spirit Page 33. He that is not infallible in his Council and Judgment and Advice is not he in Error And are they Ministers of Christ that are Fallable Page 105. G. Fox condemns all Protestant Churches as well as the Church of Rome for want of this Infallible Spirit which the Quakers ascribe only to themselves These are his words We says he the Pope and you the Protestants whom he calls Professors are Apostatized from the Infallible Spirit that the Apostles was in In which we are come For who witness these Conditions that they were in that gave forth the Scriptures they witness Infallibility an Infallible Spirit which is now Possessed and Witnessed among those called Quakers Glory to the Highest for ever This is dreadfully Astonishing But I was much more surpriz'd to find the otherwise Ingenious William Penn laugh at his Adversary for not being Infallible There was an Anonymous Book wrote against the Quakers call'd Controversy Ended to this Mr. Penn Reply'd in a Sheet of large Paper in Print which he Entituled A Winding-Sheet for Controversy Ended which bears Date the 16 of the 12th Month 1672. In the first page he catches up the Author whom he calls Henry Hedworth for saying that he had been mistaken in the good Opinion he had before of Mr. Penn's Judgment and Conscience How can he chuse says Mr. Penn who denies Infallibility But if mistaken before why not in the Quakers now And so ad Infinitum being so Fallible And p 3. Sect. 2. He Vindicates what George Fox had asserted of the Quakers Infallibility for having Repeated these words of G. Fox's which were put as an Objection against him How can ye be Ministers of the Spirit and not be Infallible And how can they but Delude the People who are not Infallible He makes this Reply I Answer says he G. F's words stand immovable for ever And he gives this strange Reason to support himself and G. F. For says he He that is a Minister of the Spirit is Infallibly for And in that Ministry is Infallible otherwise the Spirit 's Ministry is Fallible Which is such a Consequence as this that if any Man who is lighted by the Sun stumble or miss his way the fault is in the Sun which shew'd him a False Light What else can be the meaning of that saying that if a Minister be not Infallible then the Ministry of the Spirit is Fallible To make God himself Fallible rather than we shou'd not be Infallible But he comes quite off of this again in the next page and Sect. And this says he Roundly checks his Hen. Hedworth his Opponent saying That I bestow'd 32 pages to prove George Fox's Spirit to be Infallible For that belongs simply to God alone and then those that are led by it which was my Question and in which sense He is and all such persons are Infallible as he himself confesseth page 27. And if be fool'd himself by any other Belief of us before let him look to that Here Henry Hedworth is made Infallible too Whom in this same Winding-Sheet as above Quoted he calls a very Night-Bird and Vagrant Bursten'd with Folly and Revenge a Busie-Body Cavelling Conceited Proud Wrathful Equivocating Slandering Cowardly Man c. all which Epistles and all the rest which the Quakers so Liberally bestow upon their Adversaries may by this Rule belong to George Fox or any other Infallible Quaker Nay the Devil himself is Infallible at this rate for he has his Knowledge as well as Being from God Knowledge is Light and if that Knowledge which comes from God be Infallible then while the Devil follows that Light or Knowledge he must be Infallible And if this be all the Infallibility which the Quakers ascribe to themselves it distinguishes them not from Wicked Men or Devils But sure George Fox meant something more by it when by it he distinguish'd the Quakers from all other sorts of Men and ascrib'd to them an Infallible Discerning Spirit to know the Hearts of Men without speaking ever a word Of which I wish Mr. Penn wou'd afford us I will not say an Infallible but an Intelligible Comment for I protest I say not this out of any Obstinacy or Perverse Temper but to be able to apprehend if possible what these Men wou'd be at For they turn and wind this Infallibility of theirs at such a rate that no Man can I am sure cannot know what they mean by it Sometimes it makes them as Infallible as the Apostles nay as Christ Himself But at other times when they are press'd they bring down this Infallibility to mean nothing in the World that does distinguish them from other Men Tho' it was upon the pretence of this that they did separate them selves from the Church and from all other Men For they said that they ought not to be Subject to nor had need to be Guided by any Church who had an Infallible Guide within their own Breasts that is each Particular Person for himself as before is told But this pretence is now exploded by the Separate Quakers and Explain'd at some turns by the others as above by Mr. Penn to mean just nothing that is nothing which differences them from other Men or any thing New or other than what all Mankind have ever acknowledg'd to wit Thaâ— every Man's Reason Knowledge Conscience Light within or by what ever other Name or Names you may express it was given him by God and so is an Inspiration or Breathing of His into our Soul But this will no more prove it to be Infallible or Sufficient of it self to bring us to Heaven than it will follow that Man cannot die because God Breathes into him the Breath of Life or that he is Omnipotent because his Strength comes from God Omniscence and Infallibility is as much God's Attribute as Omnipotence And the Strength which God has given to our Bodies is as sufficient to climb up to the Skies as the Wisdom or Light which He has given to our Souls was sufficient of it self to have found out the Redemption of Lost Man by the Incarnation and Satisfaction of Christ to God's Justice for our sins or if found out to have paid that Price and to have accomplished that whole wonderful Oeconomy of
words Our Ministers do not teach that the Name of Jesus and Christ belong to every Member in the Body or Church as Amply as to Christ the Head And that you may take notice of it the word Amply is put in a different Character in old Black Letters lest you shou'd mistake and think that George was Christ as Amply as Jesus That was modest indeed But then George Thou art Christ as well as Jesus tho' not so Amply and then your first Art above Quoted which calls Jesus the Christ means no great matter but is rank Sophistry and Dodging and casting a Mist before the Eyes of poor deluded People For I have that Charity for a great many of your Followers as to think that they do not know those Depths of Stan and that Mystery of Iniquity into which thou and others have led them And out of which thou dost not desire to Rescue them but to bind them faster in it by this thy Equivocating and Jesuitical Confession of Faith As Article 2. where you confess with the Socinians Christ's coming in the Flesh That is as before explain'd taking Flesh upon him as a Veil or Garment but not in the Language and true Sense of the Scripture That he was made Flesh John 1.14 that is took it into his Person and joyn'd it in a Personal Union with his Divine Nature so that as it is express'd in the Athanasian Creed as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ. If you had believ'd what is contain'd in these words you wou'd not have scrupl'd setting it down in these words which must have given the best satisfaction if it had been your design to have given satisfaction without any reserve for that wicked Heresie which you wou'd seem not to plead for yet in such words as you might easily afterwards explain to mean nothing against it Article 7. You say We own no such saying as that the Holy Doctrine or Divine Precepts of Scripture is either Dust Death or the Serpent's Meat But you say that wicked Men have Perverted the Scriptures That no Body can deny to You. But what then Is the Holy Word of God therefore become Death and Serpent's Meat because you have made it Death unto your selves God forbid says St. Paul Rom. 7.13 in answer to the same Argument which you bring Wherefore the Law is Holy and the Commandment Holy and Just and Good tho' the Vnlearned and the Vnstable wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But what was it you call'd Dust and Serpent's Meat Was it nothing else but the Ink and the Paper Did any Body ever say that These were not Dust Or is that any part of the Contest betwixt us Was it the Ink Only and the Paper of which you doubt as before Quoted in the Quakers Refuge whether Moses or Hermes was the Pen-Man Thou meanedst verily which of them made the Pen that was all upon the word of a Quaker Was it the Pen or Ink of which you doubt that some of it was not spoken by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit And whether some of it was not spoken by the Grand Impostor Some by False Prophets and yet True some by True Prophets and yet False The Ink or Paper are neither True nor False but the Doctrine only which is written in them And therefore George notwithstanding all thy mealy Modesty it is It is indeed George it is the very Doctrine of the Scriptures which you Blaspheme as Dust and Death and Serpent's Meat on purpose to bring Men off from trying your Pernicious Heresies by those Sacred Oracles and to make your Followers trust wholly to your New Light within in comparison of which it is that you vilifie the written Doctrine and Precepts of God which are most opposite to all your Gross Delusions it is not the Ink nor the Paper that you quarrel at No they do you no hurt But it is the Law and the Testimony according to which written Word if any do not teach the same Holy Scriptures do Instruct us it is because there is no Light in them Isai 8.20 No Light George Mark that Your false Pretences to the Light within is here over-rul'd and to be measured by the written word without These are hard sayings to the Infallible Friends And it was for the sake of these and such like Texts which Detect and Explode the miserable Ignorance and Blasphemy of these Pretenders to Light which made Thee Friend George in this same Book to which Thou hast prefix'd Thy abovesaid Affirmative Confession of Faith p. 28. Excuse and Justifie the Diabolical Suggestions in the Quakers Refuge against the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures by saying that it Question'd but of some of the Scriptures not all as I have shewn before But now come George we are near an end and we know not if ever we shall meet again tell me in the Plain Downright Honesty and Simplicity of thy Light within Didst Thou mean no more by this but that only some and not all the Ink was thick and muddy and fit for Serpents Meat and that only some Sheets of the Paper or Parchment or Barks of Trees on which they wrote in ancient time and might write the Scriptures for ought thou knowest was course and ugly Is all thy Malice only against those base Printers or VVriters who Prophane the Letter by poor sneaking Impressions and provide not good Ink and Paper If thou thinkest all this to be Railery not becoming thy Gravity See I pray thee if it be any thing more than what thou settest forth as the very true and only Reason for those vile Epithets which thou and thy Friends do bestow upon the Holy Scriptures of God And be asham'd and blush if thou canst for that Silly and Childish come off with which thou Gravely undertakest to Banter all Mankind as if all your Ignominies and Contempt cast upon Scripture were to be understood only of the Ink and Paper Nor is thy salvo more Ingenious in the Eleventh Article of thy aforesaid Creed wherein thou endeavourest to reconcile the Heretical Notions of thy Sect against the true Incarnation of Christ calling his Body a Figure Veil c. It is really say'st thou contrary to our Faith and Principle to make Christ Jesus himself only a Figure a Veil or Garment Here the word only as the word Amply in the tenth Article is put in great Black Letters to shew the stress thou layst upon it And to discover thy Sophistication thou sayst That Christ Jesus is not only a Figure or a Garment Not only No more is a Cloak or a Veil It is not only a Garment for it is Cloath or Stuff and may be put to many other uses There is no one thing in the World that is only one thing It may be taken under more considerations than one But this as I observ'd at first of thy Equivocating manner is but a Negative Confession