and setting some on Fire in order to burn them was prevented in this his Work of Darkness and being by me and others dealt with for this and other Mad Actions intreating him to come to Repentance and no more follow the Imaginations of his own Brain but he being too high for Counsel or Intreaty returns us Hatred for Love and goes on in Impenitency and Malitious Practices unto this time as all the High-minded and Despisers of Counsel ever did and therefore no marvel that he presents me as one doing Amiss in saying I should subject to one in Christ before me in any Case So all the Honest and Plain-hearted will come to see their End and Spirit and beware thereof And I have Justification with God in giving Honour to whom Honour is due and have no Man's Person in Admiration and know G. F. did never seek for Honour nor hath been trusted in or bowed to as a Man but who seeth him that is sent of God must hear and obey him and if any have or do exalt or worship any but the Seed Christ to whom all Honour Worship and Obedience is due they have another God and practise another Doctrine then G. F. hath been the Messenger of for unto him the only Begotten of the Father he came to gather and as he hath received hath given unto us that in the one Everlasting Covenant testified of by him and all sent of God we may know the Father and the Son whom he hath sent And many through believing can say He is ascended and lives for evermore But such as are out of the Faith Reprobate from God could never see the Descendings not the Ascendings of the Son of God who is to be Honoured as the Father And they that are without Guile may see the Heavens open and the Angels ascending and descending on the Son of Man But all out of the Spirit of Truth are Wonderers and Despisers thinking and speaking Evil of those things they know not We read of one that came to Christ in the outward and said unto him Good Master What may I do to have Eternal Life Christ answered him with a Question Why callest thou me Good None saith he is Good but God This was a Parable to me when out of the Faith but in the Faith it is given to know the Deep Things of God And I only mention this Scripture to throw back the many Accusations that these Carping Spirits do cast on us as if we Idolize Man or Men when all in the Faith know all Power all Good is of God manifest and revealed in the Son by that Eternal Light and Spirit in which we worship And none ever come unto the Father but by the Son nor none ever come unto the Son but whom the Father draweth And all those that are in the Dark prophane that Name whereby we are saved but our Peace they cannot Break nor the Purpose of our God Hinder for it must be accomplished The full Time is come and coming in which all things shall be put under his Feet in whom we believe And so I shall Conclude with minding J. Pennyman and that though I have Cause to believe He Tauntingly calleth me A Great Prophetess yet I would have him call to Mind what I writ to him when he was a Prisoner at Bishops-Gate and as it hath in part been fulfilled the full Truth thereof shall come upon him and be made manifest to many and if not the Lord hath not spoken by me Rebecca Traverse Ellis Hooks's Testimony OF late there have been two Scurrilous Books published against the People of God called Quakers one entituled The Spirit of the Hat and the other called Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected or a further Discovery of the Tyrannical Government Popish Principles and the Vile Practices of the now Leading Quakers Which Books are full of Taunts Jeers Lyes Scoffs and Scorns which indeed are scarce worth answering for God and all sober Men know us to be otherwise and our Neighbours that are not prejudiced But some thing has been answered and is answered for the sake of the Moderate and Simple that they may not feed with them upon Lyes Scoffs and Jeers and their Condemned Stuff and such that have been amongst them and have seen their Errors and have Condemned and been heartily Sorry of and for those things while they were amongst them that is Meat now for the Vagabond Quakers like the Vagabond Jews which they publish to the World to help them that deny the Principle of Truth it self and have made them a Feast with Lyes and nevertheless they boast of the Parts of the Hat-Men as in page 71. and those that Consent with them of the Abilities and Endowments and then Scoff and Jeer at the People of God and call them Foxonians Will this be taking think you with People that love Peace and Quietness But truly their Endowments and your Abilities are manifest to all the Peaceable People and Sober-minded The Hat-Men have been Raking and Watching these many years for Evil and Failings and give it you to publish which manifesteth your two Parties opposite one against another for one pretends to stand for the Principle of Truth but the other clearly denies it But Pilate and Herod were agreed against Christ and so here is Pilate Herod and Judas agreed against Christ's Members and so against him the Head And these Vagabond Quakers that have been Watching for Evil Corrupt Members these many years and you that Consented with them say The People of God called Quakers are fallen in their Principles But they are the Hat-Men that are fallen for the True Quakers ever stood against the Hat-Men as they call them in the time of them and the Ranters and we say They are fallen And you that take their Part and Consent with them should publish your Names and be ashamed of your Doings in the Dark but bring forth your Names to the Light and not work in the Dark nor challenge in the Dark without Name and great Boasts for we can appear before the King and the King of Heaven concerning our Actions And as for the Hypocrisie and Tyranny of the Hat Spirit which would thrust it self in among us which never was of us from the beginning we alwayes judged it by the Power of God to be of the Ranters who would have thrust in amongst us before it was born And as for Popish Practices we deny and Tyrannical Government but own the Order of the Gospel the Power of God And there is none of all them that are mentioned in these Books that hath done any Uncivil thing but hath been dealt withal according to the Order of the Gospel and what has been Amiss they have acknowledg'd and been heartily Sorry for and have Turned from the Evil of their Doings but these Hat-Men or the Spirit of the Hat that have not Repented and Some did make Confessions like Pharaoh and in Words seem'd to Repent are now turned
in the Holy Ghost Is not it established in Peace in the Heart and are not the Saints Heirs of the Kingdom and of the Life that hath no End and is not the Power of God Spiritual and Divine And because it is said G. F. has reached through his Children afar off to the begetting of many to a lively Hope And what then doth not the Apostle say many Members yet one Body they were baptized by one Spirit into one Body and though they were absent in the Body yet present in the Spirit and that it did reach one unto another mark reach which was the Spirit and Power of Christ in which was their Fellowship and Union Do you not manifest your dark Hat-Spirit here And the Life of Christ that has begotten G. F. the same it is that doth reach and beget others to God and that Spirit is blest which begets and brings out of the Curse he was blest and is blest in all Generations and who are of Faith are of Abraham who was the Father of many Nations And a great deal of malitious Stuff is in your Book which all that are sober can savour it from what a Blood-thirsty Spirit it is come who would fain stir up the People against us and the Powers but your Envy is seen And if any have gone out into any Uncleanness or Looseness it hath been a Grief to our Souls and a Wounding to our Spirits to see Goâ— his Truth and his People dishonoured and they have not been received amongst us again but by Repentance which is according to the Mind of the Lord and Practice of Christ his Apostles And why are these Apostates so mad that G. F. should inherit the Kingdom of God that is Everlasting Are not Christ's Words Seek the Kingdom of God first and all things shall follow and because he and thousands more have found the Kingdom of God this torments you that are in the Kingdom of Darkness and whosoever will receive the Kingdom must receive it as a little Child but you are too big for it and you that trust your own Riches Inward and Outward cannot enter the Kingdom Luke 18. and was not the Kingdom of God to be preached but you do not love to hear talk of it but you that once set your Hand to the Plough and look back are not fit for the Kingdom of God And is it not said the Kingdom of God is come to you Luke 10. and was it not said to the Backsliding Pharisees like you that the Kingdom was taken from them Is nâ—t this your Condition has not the little Flock a Kingdom but you shall weep and gnash your Teeth when you see Abraham Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom and your selves shut out for the Kingdom stands not in Word but in Power and are not the good Seed the Children of the Kingdom and will not God establish his Seed for ever And now John Pennyman and William Mucklow I have a few words to you who like Brethren in Iniquity have joyned together to betray the Innocent It had been better for you that A Milstone had been hanged about your Necks and you cast into the Sea then that you should have done what you have done And as for thee J. Pennyman Thou hast long been full of Envy and though Friends sought to preserve thee if it might be and to keep thee out of the Evil yet I feared this would come upon thee knowing that there was a Murderous Spirit in thee and now thou hast fully manifested it against G. F. and others of the Saints but Wo and Misery will be thy Portion if thou dost not Repent for thou hast set thy self against the Truth and art joyned with the Enemies of Christ to Persecute his Followers And thou hast been a long time a Persecutor of me as thou knowest and now thou vents thy Malice against my Brethren but I can say God forgive thee if it be his Will but I fear thou are wholely shut up in Darkness and so for Destruction And this was upon my Heart to write unto thee who am and alwayes desire to be a Servant to the Truth which thou despisest called Ellis Hooks THus Reader hast thou the Testimonies of several Persons named in that Libel some of whom are more obscure others more known their Truth and Honesty shall speak for them I will not But most of them are too Noted for Worth and Integrity to be doubted upon a Libel stuffed with that Rage Treachery Slander and Scoff We might also produce the Condemnations of three Persons against themselves the first Letters of whose Names are unworthily mentioned by the Libeller but the Truth is sufficiently cleared and their Addition would give the Book too great a Bulk we rather wish It had been many Sheets less knowing that great Books are seldom read in this Careless and Impatient Age only Reader be pleased to Consider the Deceit of this Adversary and how ready he is to stretch any thing to slander and defame both Particulars and a Society The Spirit of the Hat charg'd our Ministry with Whoredoms and Strumpets in the present tense This Apologizer tells the World our Answer was Evasion because we took it so for sayes he the Book meant it of time past that the Book meant no such thing unless a thing means quite otherwise then it sayes read the Passage Next what is that to us if a Judas or Demas that received part of the Ministry fall into the Evil of this World again can we do any more then Condemn it and we did nothing less Is that to prove our Ministry Vitious to tell a Story perhaps seven or ten Years since of any one or two that have at times opened their Mouth in our Assemblies Oh! God the Righteous and Terrible Judge will reckon with this Ungodly Libeller and those Base Murdering Judasses that have furnisht him with this dirty Trash God will clear our Innocency and detect their Envy and Hypocrisie more convincingly to all the World and that dreadful black and Stormy Day that hastens to try and win now the Nations will scatter them and their Mischievous Designs when God will preserve us in his Fear and Counsel by his Power to his Eternal Praise and our Consolation World without End W. P. A Postscript To the READER Concerning the Vnity of our Adversaries against us amidst the great Discord they are at amongst themselves HOw hearty these Men are in their Envy against us and Hatred to the Way we profess is very discernable from their close Confederacy and strict Union who are as remote and differing from and absolutely contradictory to one another in their Faith Worship and Discipline as to the Quakers themselves against whom they have combined They are made up of some Presbyterians Independents Anabaptists Socinians and Apostates from us A strange Medley of Adversaries and stranger that there should be such Union to Mischief But let us view some of their Principles
Spirit and committing of Disorder in Christian Assemblies as in Matter of Doctrine or any other essential part of Worship V. The generality of the Friends in the Nation renounced it where I cannot but take an Opportunity to defend a Passage in a private Letter writ by me upon the Entreaty of one of John Perrot's Disciples in much Kindness to satisfie and reclaim him and cited by the envious Author of Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected pag. 25. W. P. saith that God hath given greater Judgment to his Church then to the individual Members of it is a true Position and the Church of Rome errs not in that but in accounting themselves a True Church These are not my very words a Disingenuity if I am not mistaken this Author wrote once almost a whole Book against however I abide by the Passage For if Christ bid individuals tell the Church yet the Church has no more Discerning or Judgements then they had themselves before such Appeal which can't be better'd by it away with Reason If in the multitude of Counsellors there be safety respecting Worldly Matters why not respecting Spiritual Matters supposing as we ever did that Gods Power Spirit presence preside in any such Church Body or Assembly This is more then the Cavil deserves but I was willing to express my mind more fully for the Readers Satisfaction VI. This Innovation brought with it Division instead of Unity Confusion instead of Order Heart-burnings instead of Love and diverted the minds of some from the more weighty things of God's living and spiritual Law VII Had it been never so Innocent it cost more then it was worth and their insisting so much upon it to the Disturbance of the Church's Concord was no small Evidence of the Wrongness of that Spirit which introduced and maintained it This shall sufficiently rebuke and judge both it and them that it added nothing to Life and SalvaÌ„tion nor to the Edification of the Body of Christ which is the End of every true Motion for it carryed neither interiour nor exteriour Homage Service or Benefit in the least either to Persons in their own Particulars or to the Church in general And whereas they frequently have accused the Body of our Friends which still remains as they once confest the Body of Christ of being guilty of Popish Customs in not being guilty of their Irreverence and that the Minds of People were not yet inwardly and spiritually exercised in Worship it is evident that their new-fangled Practice Dissent about it and continual Defence of it did more draw out the Minds of some people and exercise and perplex them about Postures and Gestures then ever they were before so that what they falsly charge upon the Church is their own proper Character Our Friends prudent Stop to this troublesome and endless sort of Innovation deserves none of those Hard Names these scurrilous Libels give both them and their Proceedings But they object something G. F. and my self have writ against Hat-Honour as that we should repute it an Earthly vain and mean thing minded only of Men in the Fall that if pulling off the Hat were true Honouring or Respecting Vile Persons would be the most Civil Real Respect is a more substantial Thing manifested by Obedience This our Adversary quotes out of G. F's Book called True Honour among the Jews and mine intituled No Cross no Crown But they forgot to be so ingenuous or on purpose would not be so just as to tell People that we writ against the fallen Honour of the Hat to Men. Because we deny it to Men must we therefore deny it to God No but we therefore deny it to Men because we give it only to God as one of those Gestures which outwardly distinguishes Worship to God from Ministry to Man But this is their Drift Ground of their citing those Passages that if it be so Mean and Earthly a thing to pull off the Hat to Man how comes it so Eminent a Gesture in Worship and why not esteemed as earthly and empty a thing in respect to Worship as Civil Honour I think I give the Force of their Objection and shall as easily answer it That which gives Weight to any Gesture is the Reason inducing to it and both the End and Frame of the Mind in using of it God's Spirit has required this before ever J. Perrot was born into so much as the Profession of our Living Way as a Testimony against the Ranting Spirit that was then very rise in this Nation and hath continued it amongst us as a Gospel Decent and Reverent Expression or Token of the Vnvailing of our Spirits to God in Prayer Now strip this Gesture or rather empty it of this solid Reason inducing and both take away that End and remove that Frame of Spirit in which that Gesture is used and truly we may then very well repute it a mean and beggarly thing for the Sons of Men to bluster about To have it in the Sence it is given to God they can not To have it without that Sence is to have an empty insignificant Gesture And should we allow of it what Distinction could be found to save us from performing that to Man which we do to God since the Gesture denotes none neither can and our Adversary denyes a Way to judge the Meanings of an Inward Spirit by Besides Man's requiring it upon an earnest Thirst after Honour that Posture which we only give to God in his own pure Worship makes the Doing of it Sinful if there were nothing else in it and therefore we deny it to Men at what time in the Reverence and deep Humility of our Spirits we give it to God out of which Sence it is nothing but in it acceptable and requisite We also â—now that Men in the Fall can give but Fallen Honour an◠〈◊〉 Gestures are invented or practised by a Fallen and Earthly Spirit the Respect they set upon them is not the true Honour and Respect but Fallen and Earthly In this Sence it is we call it Fallen Earthly and Vain More Substantial things may be so reputed as Prayer c. when not proceeding from a right Ground much more a Gesture relating to it Our Adversaries do ill to conclude so general They should have weighed that as we can give it to God only in the Restoration out of the fallen Wayes and Worships of Men so the Use of it in that Estate must needs render it a Fallen Mean Earthly and Empty Thing as indeed are all their Worships who stand not in the Power and Spirit of God much more when any the like Practice is used to Mortal Man But they further object a Passage in a Letter to Je Perrot from R. Hubberthorn Then no such Reasonings had we had if so be the Free Spirit of the Lord had been minded which is not to be limited neither to the keeping on the Hat nor off the Hat in time of
this in the inwards of my Spirit I smote upon my Thigh and said What have I done and was willing to take Shame upon my self and to give Glory to the Lord. How hard it went with me inwardly none knows And he that knows how easie it is to let in a Snare and Temptation and to have the inward Eye blinded thereby will not wonder nor think too hardly of me but his Bowels will rather rowl in the Sense of the Misery I underwent God knows I did not mistake willingly Nay truly The Power was upon me when I wrote those Queries but I did not understand the Signification thereof which would rather have led me then as it hath since against that Spirit which brought up that new Vnprofitable and Vnseemly Practice of keeping on the Hat in time of Publick Prayer in the Assemblies of God's People Now the making use of this against the Infallible Teachings of God's Spirit and the Infallible Way in which he leads his People is not Just True and Equal What! Was I never Infallibly led because the Enemy once blinded my Eâ—e and deceived me Did not the Apostle Peter receive the Infallible Spirit and was not he led thereby And did he not walk in the infallible Way because once he did that which was justly to be blamed and doubtless erred in Judgment concerning the Practice Gal. 2.11 I do not desire that Men should judge me Infallible or hearken to me as to one Infallible but this I desire that I may alwayes understand and follow the Voice and Guidings of God's Holy Spirit and then I am sure I shall alwayes walk in the Certain Vnerring Infallible Way besides which indeed there is no safe Way And I desire also that others with Ears and Eyes opened by the Lord may hear that Living Sound and Testimony which cometh from the Spirit of the Lord in those whom he sends that the Gathering may be to him and the Walking with him in the Spirit of his Son in the Light which is Eternal which ever was and ever will be Infallible which is the Path of the Living in this Day of the Breaking forth of God's Pure Power and Love in the Heats of many Oh Glory Oh fresh living Praises to his Name forever Isaac Penington John Crook's Testimony Having seen a Pamphlet intituled Tyranny and Hypocrisie Detected in which is printed a Paper of mine writ by me about Eleaven or Twelve Years since about Gestures and Postures c. it is thus in my Heart to write MY Desires and Breathings from my tender years have been after the Living God and since I have tasted of his Goodness and Mercy I have had a Love for and Longing after the Eternal Welfare of all that in any Measure sought after him in Truth and Righteousness knowing the Enemy's Devices to be many and various seeking by all Means to devour them And from a deep Sense of the same I writ the Paper about Gestures and Postures c. many years since knowing how busie the great Enemy of Man's Soul was at that juncture of time to draw out the Minds of some into the Observation and Innovation of Keeping their Hats upon their Heads in the time of Prayer in the publick Assemblies of God's People hoping that those Lines at that time might have been Successful to stop that Practice in some of them at least and also have allayed any thing in any others which might be of tendency to hinder their Information and Recovery But it was never in the least in my Heart or Intention to Encourage or Strengthen that Spirit and Practice which my own Judgment and Practice was against Neither did I intend any other Liberty then what was in the Lord and the Maintaining Love and Vnity amongst Brethren And truly in these various or contrary Practices of some keeping on their Hats and others putting off their Hats my Heart was affected desiring that the Lord would put a Stop to whatever tended to Discord which since hath appeared manifestly to arise from that Spirit which first brought in that Innovation Therefore in Good Conscience I cannot but bear my Testimony against the Author of this scurrilous Pamphlet for endeavouring not only to fasten such a Sense and Imputation upon me but also for his Attempt and Industry what in him lies to render God's People Odious and his ever-blessed Truth Contemptible to the World and thereby himself becomes a Murderer of Souls in perverting the Right Way of the Lord for which the God of Heaven will undoubtedly rebuke both him and all his Confederates in this wicked Vndertaking and in his time bring them to open Shame if they Repent not of this their Wickedness and Sin For the Epistle subscribed by Edw. Burroughs John Perrot and My Self it was writ when we were Prisoners together in New-Gate where John Perrot forbore the Wearing his Hat on purpose as we supposed to avoid Offence and also at that time be writ a Paper which was Satisfactory concerning the Matter of the Hat and had he made it publick at that time it might have prevented what afterwards befel him At this very juncture when there was such a Compliance and Hopes of his Recovery was the fore-mentioned Epistle writ Now let the Impatrtial Reader judge whether the Author of this Envious Libel hath shewed either Ingenuity or Humanity in his recital of the fore-mentioned Papers to the End for which he hath made them publick John Crook Solomon Eccle's Testimony FRIENDS I Give my Testimony for the Lord and for this blessed Truth this Day The Lord is amongst us and through the Riches of his Love towards us hath he made himself known unto us by his Eternal Light which shines in our Hearts And this Light is exceeding pretious to all that receive it in the Love of it for it is Pure and Divine and to be admired in all that do believe The Life is the Light of Men Jo. 1.4 and to know this is the excelent Knowledge And by believivg in this Light and walking in the same We have Fellowship one with an other 1 Jo. 1.7 and Peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ But some are gone out from us and gone from their own Mercies and are turned against the Truth yet pretend to follow the Lamb They would Exclude us that the World might Affect them Of this sort is John Pennyman who hath sought Occasion against me and G. F. and hath printed and caused to be printed three times against me that never did him hurt first in his own Pamphlet next the Baptists called the Spirit of the Hat 3lY the Tyranny and Hypocrisy detected But in this he hath not done any wayes like a Servant of the Lord as he stiles himself nor a Follower of the Lamb for he never came to me in a Brotherly Way according to Gospel Order Mat. 18.15 first in secret by my self to shew me wherein I had done amiss if I had done amiss Nor was he so
we were Worshippers of Angels which is indeed Idolatry To which I am called to say something as being presented with others whom I am bold to say believe all Obedience Honour and Thanks-giving belongeth unto him that sits upon the Throne and to the Lamb for evermore and are not guilty of what this malitious Spirit would present them to be But being acted by the same Spirit that they were that said this Man sayes he is the Son of God and therefore ought to dye So they not being in the Spirit that revealeth the Son of God thinks we worship Man for him but he that knew Christ revealed in him bids follow him as he followed Christ and that if I forgave any I forgave it saith he in the Person of Christ This I speak to the Simple and Upright-hearted that they may be delivered out ot the Snare of the Cunning Hunter that seeks the pretious Life and to such it will be given to know what is hid from the Serpent that is still blind and on Dust feeds and the Children's Bread I nor any in the Faith dare give unto them But that every honest Heart may see what Spirit acts in these Purposers of Evil I take notice of another Passage where this Libeller names my Name and indeed I knew not of it when I writ the former Part but an honest young Man in the Street told me of it and then I looked on that which they accuse me with some times before that and after it I read and being by the Power of the Lord whom I serve in my Spirit made as willing to remove any Offences as these by whom the Offences come and on whom the Wo must come are to lay Stumblings and I shall freely confess to that which is true in their Charge and deny the Falshood in this as the former and I shall begin with that in the 19th Line pag. 44. It 's not unusual say they with the Quakers to give as much Credit to one another as is the setting their Names to things they know not Answ Friends take notice how Ignorant the Carnal Man is of the things of God and not knowing that Nearness and Strength of Love that is among the Disciples of Christ he brings it among the rest of the Rabble of his Accusations that the Quakers credit one another in such matters as indeed no Money-Lover nor Unbeliever could never do for every Deceiver is afraid to be deceived but who out of the Deceit is brought into the Faith and Love that is unfeigned cannot fear that a Brother will deceive or hurt him and had rather bear the harm of a False Brother if it should so be suffered to be then mistrust or think Evil of him that is the Faith But the Accuser of the Brethren with all his Adherents are out of this Faith and are Strangers to this Love by which it works And though I never knew such a Practice among the Quakers not in one President ever offered to me or any to put their Hands to what they know not but this here rehearsed and is this only by what he himself and my Maid said some of which I know to be true and some false but I had Joy that all should know in this Pack of Falshoods this Truth That the Quakers have and do still credit one another But whether it was so or no that G. F. sent to our House to have J. P. and my Husband put their Hands to such a Paper as they knew not all I know of it I may speak of My Maid-Servant then living with me many Years since told me in a Morning when I came down that there was a Man with a Paper to have some Friends put their Hands to and that J. P. was a wise Man because he refused it and this I upon some Occasion told J. P. of for I do not believe he ever heard my Maid say so to him but he being affected with his own Commendations hath repeated it before me more then once that my Maid should say he was a Wise Man What was said was said to me and from me he had it and to my Knowledge I never heard my Maid to say Nor did I ever tell him or hear him speak those words That she believed her Master would have done it until now I see it in Print so I cannot but take notice of their adding that which is False to make their Matters hold together nor do I remember that Time or Day or Week that I said any thing of George Fox these words that he repeats as though I spoak them at the same time but that I did at some time speak those words to J. Pennyman and it may be to some others I deny not for in the Love of the Lord I travelled for him and some others of them that were in Danger by their Imaginations to fall into the Pit of Perdition and so as one that lived in the Love of God I according to the best of my Understanding endeavoured their Return and Safety by imparting to them what I had found to be my Profit and Safety and bowed to him and several of them in telling them that in the Light none errs yet that I was such a Child as for many years I might not know my Right-Hand from my left and if there were a Motion or Revelation did arise in me that I might think was true and we that are in Unity in the Spirit of God may and do speak our Motions one to another for the Spirit of the Prophets is subject to the Prophets and the Order of the Church was that they might Prophesie one by one and the rest might Judge yet if G. F. should deny it to be of the Lord I should be subject to his Judgment therein as one in Christ before me This or to this purpose I spoke and deny it not But that this Despiser of Dignities may attain his own End to pervert the Good Way of God by giving them to know what I was he said A Great Prophetess Now if he did believe what he saith though it was then a young time with me being nigh Ten Years ago he should have followed my Example and have brought his Motions to some in Christ before him to have tried his Motion and so by Counsel have been delivered from those Wanderings and Runnings and Mad Actions that he ran into when he brought that Truly-Valued Book called the Bible that I and many are come to the Comfort of and know that it hath been the Mighty Power of God that hath preserved it from the Hands of those that would have utterly Extinguished or Destroyed it to be burned But Praises be to the Lord that hath preserved iâ— unto this Day to give Testimony to the Light and Spirit which gave it forth though J. P. may be reckoned among the Intenders that would Destroy the Bible who brought it to the Exchange with other serviceable Books in their Places
not very many which we that have kept the Power of God and our Habitations in the Truth of Christ did judge it the Ranters that would have imposed the same thing upon us so we have been kept as we were all along from the first and because we could not own such and J. P. carrying his Books to burn them at the Exchange because we coâ—ld not be conformable to them therefore come these Out-rages Nick Names Jeers and Mockeries against us who have kept in the same Power of God that we were first convinced by which they malitiously call Tyrannical so they are gone out from us and it is manifest they were not of us for if they had been of us they would have continued with us But as it was it is Deceitful Workers and False Apostles there are and the true Prophecy is come upon some of them The Dog is turned to his Vomit and the Sow to the Wallowing in the Mire that they thus bite and cast their Vomit out against us and who cannot tell how to worry us themselves but have others that consent and Confederates with them and these are their Abilities and Endowments they boast of but to all the Godly and sober People it savoureth that their Books are but as a Raging Wave of the Sea wherein they foam out their own Shame And as for the People of God called Quakers Conformity It is to be made conformable to the Son of God and as for the Vniformity it is in the Gospel the Power of God And whereas you say in pag. 12. the Papists say They believe as the Church believes so likewise sayes G. F. but the Spirit of the Hat sayes Nay This is known to all the People of God called Quakers to be a Lye against G. F. for G. F. his Words are and have been to believe in the Light as Christ commands who is the Head of the Church and as for the Hat-Man's Nay we dare not believe him who puts Darkness for Light and Light for Darkness But these Hat-Men are now turned into the Spirit of Wars and Fightings against the Believers in the Light and our Vncovering our Heads when we pray to God c. is by the same Spirit and Power as the Apostles did who commanded Men to pray Vncovered And whereas the Spirit of the Hat enviously saith The Spirit of Anti-Christ in G. F. would wrest from me what I am not willing to part withal to wit my Conscience What is not that concerning Wearing thy Hat in time of Praâ—er which I said before is contrary to the Apostles Order And yet this is the Hat-Man's Conscience who going from the Apostles Order and Excommunicates thy felf and casts out thy felf and your selves for Our Fellowship is in the Power of God the Gospel and we cast out none for they cast out themselves when they go from the Power of God and our Work was and is to seek to bring in again from under the Power of Antichrist by the Power Spirit of Christ as is sufficiently made manifest and not to wrest the Spirit of the Hats Conscience from him but that his Conscience and all others might have Liberty in the Gospel the Power of God and I leave it to the Lord to Reward thee according to thy Words which will be thy Burden for terming G. F. as a Pope and as the Spirit of Antichrist with such like Malitious Words for we nor he own no Head but Christ Jesus over our Church who exerciseth his Office amongst us and the Law that G. F. and others the People of God called Quakers own and are bounded with in which they have Liberty in the Order of the Gospel is the Law of the Spirit of Life which is in Christ Jesus in which we have been kept from the beginning though you have a Liberty to speak and write what you please and complain and murmur against such that cannot bow and have Fellowship with you who will have a Liberty for your Conscience but not in the Power of God And the Hat Spirit sayes He is informed of a Meeting appointed by G. F. and other Elders to Judge and Condemn several Men and Women of Good Report and to Shelter and Cover the Wanton Practices of others and to Discourage Persons from Discovering the Wanton and Vnclean Ministers Answ This is another Forgery of the Hat-Spirit for Uncleanness and Wantonness blessed be the Lord they are strange things among us but if any Unseemly thing hath at any time been done such were dealt with according to the Order of the Gospel without Respect to Persons And this we have further to say That none have been more Notorious then some of the Hat-Spirit but we shall not run into such Trash nor have we any such Ministers And whereas the Spirit of the Hat speaks of giving Nick-Names and they put themselves We were called Quakers But do these of the Hat-Spirit now Tremble at the Word Nay if they did they durst not utter forth or speak forth such Nick-Names against the People of God called Quakers nor father such Envious Malitious Language against the Power of Christ and his Spirit in the Quakers as they do And another Filthy Lying Scandal the Spirit of the Hat and his Company casts upon G. F. and sayes He was in such a Rage that W. G. thought he would have struck S. N. Which thing is false there was no Appearance of any such thing as the Meeting can testifie and I am a Witness who was at that Meeting And thus with your Lyes and Slanders you think to feed the Airy Minds and make them a Feast And as for W. G. he hath been heartily Sorry for Unadvisedly Speaking such words And G. F's Books to the Lawyers and Judges did not contradict what was then acted or spoken in the Meeting and therefore the 46th page of the Spirit of the Hat 's Tyranny and Hypocrisie is full of Lyes And also the same Slander and Lye is mentioned in page 42. of the Spirit of the Hat That some there present thought that G. F. would have struck S. N. and thus you add Lye unto Lye to stuff up your Paper which as is said before there was no such thing but the Man that did report it is heartily Sorry for it But it seems you Hat-Spirits torment your selves and are vext about G. F's Marriage but why did not the Hat-Spirit reprove J. P. for his Voluptuous Marriage with his Venison Pasties which were pulled about to the spoiling of the Creature and making a Scramble for the Multitude Oh Shameful Doings In pag. 19 20. of the Spirit of the Hat 's Tyranny and Hypecrisie and in page 32. in all those pages is mentioned John Whitehead's Paper and G. F. is charged with opening J. Whitehead's Letter which was writ by him which is a Lye and a Forgery for G. F. did not open the Letter but it was sent Open only Enclosed to another and left to G.
1st The Presb. Indep And Anab. believe that the Father the Son and the Spirit though three Names denoting three Personalities or Subsistences are One Infinite Eternal and Omnipâ—â—â—t God At which the modern Socinian cryes Blasphemy and Idolatry For sayes he Christ is but purely a Man and the Spirit but a Creature Now come in these Apostates against the Presb. Indep Anabapt We deny your Personalities and Subsistences And to the Socinians We own Christ and the Spirit to be of one Nature and Being with God the Father And it is Blasphemy to say that Christ and the Spirit are Creatures Here 's the first Discord or Jumble between our Adversaries Secondly The Presbyter Indep Anab. and these Apostates assert God to be a Spirit At which these Socinianiz'd Followers of John Bidle say There 's no such thing but with J. Reeve and L. Muggleton That he has a Body like to a Man and inhabits a certain Place Thirdly The Presb. Indep and Anab. concerned chiefly against us hold That God from all Eternity elected a certain Number to Salvation and reprobated the residue to eternal Damnation without respect to any Condition of Obedience or Disobedience thereby to illustrate his own Soveraignity and Glory which Principle these Apostates have so much Understanding yet left as to repute pernicious and damnable The like do some of these Socinians we have to do with others of them having wheel'd off a few years since to the Geneva Predestinarian side Fourthly The Presb. Indep and Anab. believe That by Christ's Life and Sufferings wholely without God's Justice was Satisfied for Sins and Justification compleatly wrought for the Elect not only by Forgiving Sins past but reputing them really Just and Righteous whilst actually Sinful which kind of Doctrine these Apostates deny as also doth the Socinian affirming That God needed no such rigid Satisfaction that this is not to make him Righteous but Revengeful and that Christ cannot so properly be said to be the Cause as the Effect of the Father's Love For God so loved the World that he gave his only begotten Son c. And though such are forgiven who truly Repent and that Remission was sealed by Christ's Blood as a Sacrifice yet Men are not made really Righteous within by any Imputation from another's Righteousness without while they are really Unrighteous within This is the 4th Contradiction Fiftly Presb. Indep and Anab. believe Christ to have now in Heaven an Human Body or one of Flesh Blood and Bones The Socinian and these Apostates say he hath no such Body but that which he hath is more Spiritual and glorified 6ly The Presb. Indep Anabapt and these Apostates affirm the Immortality of the Soul The Socinians deny it 7thly The Presb. Indep Anab. and Socinian deny the Light that shines within to be Christ in his Spiritual Appearance These Apostates though erred from it yet affirm it to be such 8thly The Presb. Indep Anab. deny that it can lead Men that obey it unto Salvation The Socinian with these Apostates affirm that it is able to lead such as follow it to Eternal Life 9ly The Presb. Indep Anab. and Socinian deny the Spirit to be poured out in these as former Ages or that Men ought to wait for the Motions of it to Preach Pray or Praise God These Apostates in words confess to maintain the contrary 10ly The Presb. Indep Anab. and Socinian affirm That the Scriptures are the only standing Rule to measure and try Doctrines and Spirits by under the Gospel These Apostates believe no such thing 11ly The Presb. Indep Anab. and Socinians disown the Practice of Keeping on the Hat in time of publick Prayer These Apostates call the Pulling of it off a Tradition of Men a Romish Tradition c. Yet Reader for our seasonable and due proceeding against them as Innovators upon the Church of Christ and Disturbers of our Peace by this new unprofitable and irreverent Practice denying them in their persistence and rejecting their Motions as not coming from the Spirit of God are we furiously fallen upon by some of each of those fore-mentioned Parties who as Men forgetting their own Essential Differences and that Persecution they have followed one another with for years like the ancient Scribes Sadducees and Pharisees unanimously endeavour our Disgrace Overthrow in the World as if they were all of one Faith in Doctrine who scarcely in any two most weighty Points hit which shews that Men under divers fundamental Differences may be acted by one and the same Spirit of Envy and Bitterness against the Truth and them that live therein What else can I call that which has given these Apostates that place in their Hearts that while Faithful hated them as they still do us who Judas-like have run away from us to inform our Enemies which way they may take us at an Advantage These Men they hug commend and vindicate at so high a rate as if they were the only great Pilgrims on Earth for Righteousness as much as they differ and we a Crew of Tyrants and Hypocrites Their Innovation must be called Gospel-Liberty but our Religious-Government Tyranny They justifie the Motions of these Apostates and condemn Us for refusing them whom themselves both deny Motions and the Way to know them They put me in mind of the Jews of old who were seldom wanting in the Promotion of the Christians Sufferings by the Heathen nay they were glad and improved the least Occasion to set the Infidels upon their backs alwayes the Jew and Heathen said Amen to the Destruction of the Christians yea that very thing for which the Jew in his time suffered from the Heathen to wit That they worshipped an Ass's Head was after abusively made the Reproach of Christians both by Jew and Heathen What others have we received from the Separatists of this Age who make us to inherit that sort of Suffering which they once thought Ungodly in their Adversaries How welcome was a Renegado Christian to the Heathen or a Backslider to the Jew How cheery were they of such an one's Intelligence and how apt to aggravate it to the Wrong of Christianity But if that was nevertheless True because of the Unfaithfulness and Treachery of its Professors neither is our Way to be concluded False nor our Society Criminal because a few stragling Renegadoes have in their Discontents furnisht some common Enemies with a broken imperfect Account of our Church-Proceedings But as this will turn little to their Credit with Wise and Just Men so have we Confidence in God that having brought us through many Difficulties he will continue to preserve us through the Peril of False Brethren and all other Tribulations which do and will but work a far more exceeding Weight of Glory yea of that Glory which was with the Father before the World began and in the Possession of which the now despised Flock of God shall rest with him in that World which never had Beginning and is without End William Penn. THE END ERRATA READER THou art still desired to continue thy Kindness in Correcting such Faults as have through Speed of Work escaped the Press whether they be Words Letters Points or Parenthesis some of the most Considerable are here collected Page Line Error Corrected 4 17 that blot out 9 15 shewn shown 19 time blot out 28 time blot out 33 head hear 18 24 those these 21 15 entitle entitling 25 20 a and 26 12 the Hat the Spirit of the Hat 33 8 Introductoction Introduction 37 Godliness Godliness undeservedly 34 37 an on 35 1 the these 36 21 of in 38 6 and Indep Independents 9 God given God hath given 37 had hath 49 21 ever never 54 14 were was 29 that both that the Intent of both 57 36 Cowardness Cowardize 59 26 upon upon it 62 17 as blot out 71 3 a Paper part of a Paper pag. 4 5. 1 Joh 2.20.27 Mat. 7.15 and 24.4 Joh. 10. 2 Tim. 4.14 15 16. Math. 18.17 Prov. 30.12 Mat. 6.22 Spir. of the Hat p. 10. Tyran Detect p. 5 23 24 25. Spir. of the Hat pag. 13 14. How came this Letter into this Socinian's hand Doth not this prove a Cabal and that Quondam Quakers now Apostates are their Spies was this my Reward for a loving and curteous Letter which kindly invited him to my House for further Satisfaction Treacherous Person to give it up into proclaimed Enemies Hands such Baseness is like an Apostate and not to grapple with one part of its Strength so disingenuous an Adversary Tyr. Hyp. Detect p. 9 60 61 62. * as Dr. Gell. and a certain Person of worldly Quality said That had not the Quakers come the Ranters had over-run the Nation Ibid. p. 24 p. 14 15. pag. 16.17 pag. 51. pag. 50. pag. 19. p. 19 20 21 29. * Blood Blood thou seekest O Envious Man pag. 29. * But is not this to render us Obnoxious to the Government I abhor that Practice But Base Self-Ended Spirits are to be humbled and not think themselves fit to cry down other Peoples Religion that have by Treachery Persecution and Falseness too much reproacht all Religion Let tehm leave Scribling Snarling with their Writings Repent p. 29 30 31 32. p. 52 53. p. 11. p. 13. pag. 43. See Plain Dealing pag. 7. pag. 48 58 59. pag. 55. pag. 56. Rev. 21.27 2 Thes 2.12 2 Thes 1.8 * Spir. Hat Tyran Hyp. Detect