my forwardness should give them Offence in thinking I did it without such a religious Consideration and Preparation as was requisite before Receiving those Holy Mysteries That through Mercy being also much removed I became uneasie to delay that longer which I was convinced was my indispensable Duty and declared I would receive it at the first opportunity and accordingly did receive it as has been before related And heartily wish that all others who are under the same Delusions and Prejudices in which I too long continued would follow my Example and be made partakers of the same inward Peace and Satisfaction which through Mercy I enjoy in the Communion of the Church of England To conclude Another Reason why I deserted the Quakers was because I am able through Mercy to prove That they do not believe One Article of the Apostle's Creed in the true Sense of Scripture and all Orthodox Christians in the whole World and that all their Teachers pretences to Infallibility and extraordinary Prophetical Inspirations are all Artifice and Delusion which joined to the Errors Heresies and Blasphemy already mentioned will sufficiently justifie my leaving them Now what remains in this short account of my Change is to give you the Reasons why among all the Pretenders to the best reformed Church I have at last enter'd into Communion with the Church of England in which I shall use all the Brevity imaginable Now as nothing so much concerned me as the Salvation of my Soul and in order to that the choice of my Religion so I exerted all my Care in examining things conducing to it that I might be able to give account to others and have satisfaction in my self that my Religion was not the Effect of Chance but espoused upon a deliberate and well-advised Choice which I take to be the regular Method towards a Settlement Men may indeed be Confident but can never be Certain without Knowledge a diligent Examination of the Things proposed to their Consideration And this made me more in love with the Church of England that does not require a blind Obedience but is contented her Doctrines should be examined by the clearest Light in which I could largely expatiate in her Commendation and the Reproof of others that withhold the means of Instruction from their Members and boast of an absolute Infallibility which they have no pretence to but I hasten to the Reasons that obliged me to close with the Church of England And the first was because in Purity of Doctrine and Discipline the comes nearest to the Pattern of Primitive Christianity â— She retains the Three Creeds and does not reject the first General Councils and administers the Sacraments according to the Divine Prescription All her Children pray in a Tongue they understand and only to God through Jesus Christ This Church presses Men to Piety Loyalty Humility and Charity and earnestly desires the Salvation of Mankind She Preaches up the Excellency of Good Works but places her hope in the Mercy of God and the Mercy of his Son and every one that lives up to the Principles of this Religion are Safe and Happy Secondly Because in the main Articles of Faith the whole Church is of one mind and have as much Unity in Faith among them as they had in the first Churches planted by the Apostles themselves And their Differences are in lesser and secondary things which have no relation to the Primitive Doctrines of Christian Religion Which who ever opposes they disown him and look upon as in a Faction against the Church which is not thereby broken nor the Unity of its Faith destroyed For though some Men have preached strange Doctrines and drawn Disciples after them which is no more than they did in Apostles days yet they have not prevailed against this Church nor overturned its Faith And if some looser Part of the People have been carried away yet the Body of the Church like an unmovable Rock still persists in as great Unity as was antiently in any of the Apostolical Churches and that is abundantly sufficient to invite us to Conformity with it and Perseverance in it Thirdly Another Reason that induced me to embrace the Religion professed in the Church of England was Because she maintains the Scriptures to be the Word of God the Rule of Faith the Judge of Controversies and the Guide of Humane Life so that if we consult our Reasons use our Eyes and mind our Rule we cannot miscarry To this Rule St. Paul sends Timothy for Instruction and commands him to give attendance to Reading viz. the Holy Scriptures which he had known from a Child and which were able to make him wise to Salvation through Faith which is in Christ Jesus They being given by Inspiration of God that even a Man of God like the antient Prophets might be perfected and throughly furnished unto all good Works for every part of his Employment St. Paul directs him to these Holy Writings as a means to preserve him in the Christian Belief ver 14. But continue thou in the things which thou hast leâ—â—ned and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them and that from a Child thou hast learned the Holy Scriptures c. What we have learned from them we are assured of we know from whom they come and are certain we are taught of God when we read these holy Books But cannot be assured of any other Tradition or pretended Revelation of the Spirit and therefore ought to continue stedfast in our adherence to the Scriptures and both to suspect those who would draw us from this hold and stick to those Guides who bid us stick to this and prove all things by it for it is evident that they have no mind to deceive us but do in effect bid us believe God and follow his Directions and rely upon his Authority Who cannot mislead us and will not suffer us to be misled if we continue in the things which we have learned out of the Holy Scriptures For taking them to be our Rule we shall neither admit any thing which is contrary to that Rule nor shall we take any thing to be an essential part of the Christian Faith which is not there delivered unto us For it is not consistent with the Notions we have of God's Infinite Goodness and Wisdom to believe he would give us a Rule which is defective in necessary things No he hath abundantly provided here for our Instruction in all such Matters And as we ought to refuse that which contradicts any part of these holy Books so we ought not to think it necessary that we should entertain any thing which they do not teach us And teach us plainly and evidently for in all necessary things they are very clear and perspicuous else they could not be a Rule unto us but we must seek for some other The Apostles Creed for instance which the Antients call the immovable Rule of Faith a short Summary of Christian Faith beyond which as they speak we ought not to seek for Faith together with the Nice Creed and Athanasius's which expound the Apostles Ought throughly to be received and believed for that they may be proved by most certain Warrants of Holy Scriptures But whatsoever is not read therein nor may be proved thereby is not to required of any Man that it should be believed aâ— an Article of Faith or be thought requisite or necessary to Salvation This is the Doctrine of the Church of England in its Sixth and Eighth Articles unto which let us strictly keep if we would not be carried to and fro uncertainly with the Blasts of vain Doctrines which have no certain Warrant in the Holy Scriptures and therefore are not to be Received or are contrary to them and therefore are to be Rejected Here we must fix and believe that here we are safe For the Scriptures want nothing to compleat us in Christian Wisdom which they do not wrap up in Obscurity but as far as is needful give us a clear understanding of the Doctrines of Faith And make us understand withal if we please to consider them that having laid our Foundation well in a firm Belief of those great and necessary things which out of the Scriptures are summed up in the Creeds before named we need not trouble our selves about other Matters which are not so evident but make it our whole Business in this World to raise the solid Superstructure of a Holy Life upon the Foundation of Faith in Christ The last Reason I shall mention at this time is That this Church has not suited her Doctrines to advance any secular Interests but her Religion is Heavenly in its Principle and Pure in its Aim disdaining to stoop to mean Arts for Wealth and Worldly Dignities Religion was designed as the greatest Blessing to Mankind and the Author of the Christian was a great Lover of humane Race in conformity to whose blessed Example this Holy Church cancels none of our Obligations to God or Man but teacheth the absolute Necessity of Contrition and Repentance and Mortification of our Lusts to Obey our Superiors to Love God and our Neighbours to follow Justice Mercy and Peaceableness To be Charitable to the Poor and to do to all Men as we would they should do by us To use no Craft or Equivocations but to be Sincere in all our Actions and Professions to live in Kindness Civility and under the firmest Obligation to a true and lasting Friendship And if any of the Quakers think fit to oppose these Doctrines they may promise themselves an Answer FINIS
associate longer with them lest being tainted with their Erors I should be obnoxious to their Punishment I shall in the next place give you some of my Reasons that engaged me to Abandon Quakerism and to embrace Christianity according to the Doctrine and Discipline of the Church of England And the first Reason I assign for leaving Quakerism is because they are at such great Vncertainties in what they profess that no Man can have any assurance where to bottom or whether that which they own to day will be allow'd to be Truth to Morrow They are constant in nothing but in Contradiction and 't is Reason enough for them to Disbelieve any Position and with all their Force and Powers to oppose it if it had not the â—onour of their Invention and became Current by the Stamp of their own Authority and if it were not for their Habits they would be all taken for Mahometans by refusing to believe or act like Christians All other Religious Societies have their Confessions of Faith under some Appellation or other by which Men may know what they believe but the Quakers are such Lattitudinarians that if a Stranger should ask what they were he could receive no other Answer than that they are what other Men are not but such as in Humour Gesture Garb Meinâ— and Pedantick Canting Nonsence are Antipodes to all the World of which nothing is a greater instance than carrying dead Men to their Graves with their Heads foremost And if enquiry should be made what Faith they profess it must be answered that no Body knows nor themselves neither and their Meeting-Houses might be Dedicated to the unknown God A second Reason is That if their Principles may be collected out of the Books they publish they are too Erroneous Heretical and Blasphemous for any good Christian to comply with some of which I shall recite in this Discourse and refer you in the Margin to such Places in my Narratives where the Quotations are proved beyond contradiction Now the first thing I shall charge the Quakers with is That the Scriptures according the Dictate of their greatest Teachers are not the Word of God This Notion is so common among all their Authors and so frequent in the Mouths of their Proselites that it is almost lost labour to prove it upon them One of their famed Authors is so angry with his Opponent for affirming that the Scriptures are the Word of God that he charges him with Blasphemy * Nar. 4 p. 22. for Asserting it and by consequence makes the Church of England and all other Protestant Churches to be guilty of that direful Imputation Nor is this Doctrine of theirs a strife about Words but the Foundation of their Deism and a handle for the Overthrowing Christianity and therefore the Quakers have very lately Reprinted William Penn's Discourse concerning the General Rule of Faith and Practice who brings Fourteen Arguments to prove that the Scriptures are not the General Rule of Faith and Practice in Three of which Arguments he accuses them of Imperfection Vncertainty and Obscurity And this is a most dangerous Heresie for by this Principle they are not obliged to believe one intire Doctrine in the Apostles Creed as indeed I could easily prove they do not George Fox does not only deny the Scriptures to be the Word of God * Nar. 4. p. 24. but gives them contemptible Names as Ink and Paper Dust and Serpent Meat But that the Scriptures are the Word of God is clear from abundant of Places in the Scriptures Our Gospel came unto you said Paul to the Thessalonians not in Word only by Word here is meant Doctrine Isai 28.13 The word of the Lord was made unto them Precept upon Precept Line upon Line here the Precepts and written Lines of the Prophets are called the Word of the Lord and John 15.25 it is called the written Word which was a short Sentence written in one of the Psalms And when Paul bid Timothy preach the Word it cannot be justly thought that he would have him only preach the Inward Word but by the Word he meant the Doctrine of the Gospel and all that the Quakers say against this received Truth is but mere trifling and humouring their Spirit of Contradiction The next stroke the Quakers make towards the Destruction of Christianity is against the Divinity of Christ and to this purpose William Penn in a Controversie between himself and some Presbyterian Ministers in Ireland where the Question was whither he that suffered Death without the Gates of Jerusalem was not and is properly the Son of God William Penn in his Book called a Serious Apology p. 146. saith That the Outward Person which suffered was properly the Son of God we utterly deny With the like Confidence G.W. assaults the Humanity of Christ in pos 〈…〉 tively denying that Christ consisted of Flesh and Bones in those words I distinguish says he between consisting and having Christ had Flesh and Bones but did not consist of them as a Man has a Coat or Garment but does not consist of it and that outward Person that suffered at Jerusalem was Christ by a Metoning of the the thing containing for the thing contained But all Sound and Orthodox Christians say according to the Scriptures that Christ is both God and Man having his Godhead and Manhood so united as to constitute one Christ which is a miraculous and extraordinary Vnion that no other Creatures neither Angels nor Men are dignified with And though Christ as Man was the Son of God miraculously conceived and born in time and also as God was by a Generation from all Eternity yet he is but one Son of God and because of the personal Union of the Godhead with his Manhood both as God and Man is properly the Son of God The Excuse the Quakers make that Christ did not meerly consist of Flesh Blood and Bones signifies nothing for none ever affirm'd any such thing Whatsoever has Parts consists of those Parts Incompleatly of one or more Parts Compleatly of them all The Foundation of the Quakers great Error on this Head lieth here That because Christ was before the Body was therefore that Body is no part of him which is easily answered thus Christ was before that Body was but he was not compleatly and in all respects fitted to be the Anointed Saviour of the World until the Word was made Flesh that is till the Word did take our Flesh and whole Nature into a personal Union with him which was necessary to the compleat Performance of his Mediatory Offices of King Priest and Prophet and especially of his Priestly Office The next thing I charge as abominable Blasphemy upon the Quakers especially G.F. and G W is for affirming That Christ's coming in the Flesh and his Suffering without us in the Flesh and his outward Flesh and Blood was a Figure and but a Figure of Christ of what he suffered in us and his Blood shed in us Thus
Adversaries in Pensilvania and then it grew to Rupture and I withstood them to their Faces Another Objection that they raise against me is That the things which I now call Vile Errors and Heresies in them I had formerly Defended and declared that in so doing I had a Divine Sense and Acceptance to which I answer First by utterly denying that ever I defended them in those Vile Errors which oppose the four great Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Religion which I have since charged them with or indeed any other Article of the Christian Faith properly so called or distinguished Those things wherein I defended them were only stating the Matter fairly between them and their Opponents in several Cases wherein I thought them unduly charged partly in the undue Use and Application of places of Scripture to prove certain Truths and partly in too much aggravating and widening through my too great Heat and preposterous Zeal and being too Biggotly affected though ignorantly to that Party who call all others Sects and Sectaries and themselves the Church yet are certainly more Biggoted into a Sect and more implicitely led by Sect-Masters than any People in Christendom that I know of And lastly I have acknowledged and lamented my Sinful Ignorance and Rashness in my former opposing any Divine Institution or reflecting in my Books upon any particular Persons or Religious Societies And to argue a little with my Adversaries who object That I have formerly defended the Quakers Principles I would fain know what Principles they mean Whether they relate to the Fundamentals of Religion if so let them name them that I may give the World Satisfaction by confessing my Fault or justifie my self where I am falsly accused And if through Humane Infirmity Weakness or Ignorance for humanum est Errari Labi Decipi I have misunderstood any thing which by a more diligent Examination and Application to the Holy Scriptures I have discoverd afterwards to be a misapprehension this will be no proof of my Insincerity or that I am an Apostate gone from all Divine Sense and Tenderness lost my good Condition without any inward Feeling for these are the lovely Epithets they bestow upon me But are not these Qaakers uncharitable Men Can a mistake in some things render a Man Universally mistaken in all things Because some are beguiled with Shews and Shadows of Reason Is there therefore no such thing as true and sound Reason in the World Because St. Paul once thought he ought to do many things against the Name of Jesus must his Conversion be call'd an Argument of his Insincerity Must he be thought an unsound Christian because he was once a Jew and continue a Persecutor and a Blind leader of the Blind for fear of being call'd an Apostate from the Principles which he imbibed in the days of Ignorance Away with these ridiculous Notions which are but the Evasions Quiblings and Shiftings of the Party which by muddying the Water hope to escape undetected Why will they not be try'd by their own Rule and allow that Liberty to others that they exercise among themselves Have not some of the most Eminent among them been egregiously deceived and taken their Fanciful Imaginations for Divine Lights Their Consciences will tell them what particular Persons of great Note among them I could name that have been scandalously mistaken by their own Confession and took things upon Trust for Divine Breathings that upon better Examination proved to be Infamovs Delusions Did not some of the most celebrated Quakers nay even their Preachers follow the Blasphemous Enthusiastick Delusions and Waking Dreams of James Naylor and John Perrot Was it not one of their great Preachers Samuel Cater by Name now living that lead James Naylor's Horse by the Bridle when he Rid Triumphantly into Bristol Was that a Divine Sense in George Fox who said his Marriage with Widow Fell was a Figure of the Church coming out of the Wilderness and that the Figure might be compleat those that credited that Deceit concluded her to be with Child though she was past Sixty Years of Age and therefore accounted it Miraculous Other considerable Instances might be given of their extravagantly Wild and Frenetick Delusions than I thank God can be charg'd upon me for notwithstanding all the Mistakes and Errors I lay under yet as to the main I bless God I was preserved But what a sad and scandalous Inference does this way of Arguing cast upon themselves who generally in their Books Father all their Vilest Errors and Heresies upon the Spirit of Truth according to the Notion they have of the Spirit dwelling in them by which means they Hedge up their way and Baricado up themselves against all discoveries and acknowledgments of their Errors because they think they are guided by the Spirit and are sure they possess the Spirit because they think so otherwise by their own arguing they must be Apostates When a Man turns from Error to Truth must he be call'd an Apostate When a Man through humane Infirmity slides into Mistaken Notions without denying or opposing any Article of the Christian Faith can this be call'd Apostacy Surely in the Judgment of any sober and unprejudiced Party it cannot and therefore their censuring me is unchristian as well as uncharitable since I have only renounced the Errors I was tainted with whilst I lived and convers'd among them as for their Herisies I was never I bless God corrupten with them As Idle Impertinent and Vain is their arguing that 't was very unlikely that living thirty years among them I could be Ignorant of their Principles Which is a Fallacy in Terms for as they are a Body of People how could I or any Body else know their Principles when 't is known to all the World they have none and are profess'd Enemies to All Creeds and Confessions of Faith owned by all their Members without which 't is impossible without a Miracle to know what their Principles are for to this day never any Confession of Faith has been universally received by them but some are of one Opinion some of others and what is affirm'd to Day for Truth is denied to Morrow A Weather-Cock is not more variable in its Motion than the Quakers are dexterous in shifting their Opinions through all the parts of the Compass They are now more enraged against me than ever and call me the Epitome and very common place of all their Preceding Adversaries with other vile and abusive Names which is but acting like themselves and spewing out the Venom of their Hearts against me from the Infection of which I pray God preserve me and all Christian People and that if it please God he may give them a Sense of their great Sin of uncharitableness towards me and true Repentance and forgiveness of it who hate me and count me their Enemy for endeavouring to do them good and seeking sincerely to reduce them from their Errors to the Truth the Success of which my sincere