a better diversion to shake off Melancholly THou scoffing persecuting Ishmael thou blaspheming Devil thou Limb of Antichrist I testify to thee in the Name that thou hast belied the People called Quakers yea I say unto thee the People called Quakers hast thou belyed They are an innocent people and to that do I bear witness Therefore thou Devils Bloodhound thou Thief and Robber that never didst come in at the door but didst climb up some other way Thus saith Thou art not able to judge for thou art blind Thou Beast thou Sot thou Incarnate Devil I am full of Zeal yea with Zeal I am filled ready to burst in testifying against thee thou scarlet-colour'd Beast thou canker'd Apostate thou Son of Belial Thou greedy Wolf in Sheeps Cloathing thou Dog thou dumb Dog thou barking Dog thou Emissary of Satan thou Beelzebub the Chief of Devils Repent and know that this People whom thou hatest and dost not love are dear precious ones To this will I set my Seal and do I bear witness Hear O thou Serpent fiery Serpent biting hissing Serpent thou unclean Spirit thou Devil-driven Sot I am sent to thee to declare against thee I am sent as Mary Fisher was to the great Turk who could speak nothing but English when she came to him as honest Friend G. Bishop is forced to confess in his New-England tryed Now I speak to thee in the same Language she did to him If any of you intend thus to set upon me I wish it may be when I am so costive that no other Physick would make me soluble I am sorry for the Dishonour that such bring to Religion and the Wrong they do themselves and the scandal they give to the Prophane but as for me I find nothing more easy than to forgive them pity them and love the Men though not the Quakers I must despair of understanding any thing or of proving any thing if in this little Book I have not sufficiently proved and that ex abundanti That William Penn and the Quakers are either Impostors or Apostates which they please from their Avowed Principles and Contrary Practices BUT methinks I hear some say We see what it is for men to talk of the Spirit which is nothing else but a warm Fancy following a deluded Judgment What may we think of Prophets of old and their Inspirations and Prophecies so much talk'd off We doubt all were such as these of the Quakers Stop Reader if these thoughts be in thee let us reason together Though I doubt not but that this giddy People have contributed very much to the increase of Scepticism and Atheism and Contempt of Religion Yet why Because there is so much bad Coin adulterate Coin Case-Pieces Clipp'd-Money is there therefore no Good Money or Money of full Weight Is it all alike Because there is so much False News going and so many Mistakes and idle Stories pass for Truth is there therefore no True News or True Relation of things Because we are so often mistaken in men who are often said to be good-natur'd wise and pious whom in our nigh approaches to them we find ill temper'd half-witted and scandalous are there therefore no good-natur'd no wise no pious Men in the World To talk of the Spirit is a Cant among some Men almost a Community of Men who own Scripture and read Lessons out of it They will talk of God and of Christ but nothing or next to nothing of the Spirit I desire them to read Neh. 9.20 Thou gavest also thy good Spirit to instruct them 2 Cor. 1.22 Who hath given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts Rom. 8.9 He that hath not the spirit of Christ is none of his John 3.5 6 8. Except a man be born of water and of the spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God That which is born of the Spirit is spirit Rom. 8.16 The spirit it self beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God Psalm 51.11 After David sinn'd so foully he prays Take not thy holy spirit from me Consider their abuse of such Phrases should not take us off from the use of them Because the Papist have abused the words of Christ This is my Body by their monstrous Doctrine of Transubstantiation and so to worship a Wafer for a God we are not therefore to deny the Bread the honourable Name Christ gave it The Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit is not so call'd from his Essence and Nature for so we might as well say The Holy Father or the Holy Son as the Holy Ghost but from his Office Whom the Father elects the Son redeems and the Holy Ghost sanctifies and makes holy Now a skilful Physician is not to be despised ridiculed because of some Quacks nor a good Lawyer because of some ignorant Pretenders nor a Spiritual Man because of some sensless vain Talkers of the Spirit Though I have written more already than I intended when I begun yet give me leave to add some Directions to cure this Malady which we find occasion'd for want of these things you are now prest to and that our Perfectionists little mind Direction 1. 1. Keep up a due Veneration for the Scriptures and their Authority He that cannot see a God one would think could see nothing Infinity and Eternity must be lodged in somewhat Some Cogitative Being which word with Mr. Lock I like better than Intelligent suited means to end Read him in that excellent Chapter of Human Vnderstanding Mr. Perkins's Cases of Conscience of the Being of God Is the Soul of Man made for God to serve and injoy him Not to say any thing of the Reflex Acts of the Soul That Matter cannot act on it self The tip of my finger that toucheth thousands of things cannot return upon it self touch it self But my Understanding that understands other things reflects on it self and understands it self and therefore the Spirit of a Man is not as the Spirit of a Beast The Poet could say Sanctius his animal mentisque capacius altae Pronaque cum spectant No Creature but Man can turn up his eyes to Heaven for Man hath a Muscle more than they to help to look up to God Doth it not convince you Good Readers as well as this Pagan Ovid Met. That though Man was made in this world yet not for it Are not some men designed for the Recovery of the Lost Love and Favour of God That is hoped by all What then will follow That there must be some Rule whereby Man may know this God and serve him Now this must be either by Revelation or there must be some standing written Rule The former we see is gone and our giddy Pretenders to it prove it Therefore the latter Then say I The Scriptures must be the standing Rule or some other thing But no other thing Therefore the Scriptures If any thing What is it Mahomet's Alcoran I need not confute it None plead for it Nay It is worthy observation
Bishop that false deceitful vile Corrupter and Abuser of History c. What were the Titles of the Books Who were the Authors He could not afterwards tell me This Friend of his told me very soberly and calmly That if the Charge against the Quakers of leaving their Meetings in a time of Persecution were true for which they condemned us I had a just Charge against them and they ought to give me satisfaction No Book meddles with these Questions The next morning I sent him another Letter and told him what Excuses I had heard why he would not meet with me which he knew not to be true that I did believe he knew no Reply could be given and therefore declined it and that he had as good tell me so in plain words as thus practically and by interpretation I had promised him if he could give me a satisfactory rational Answer to my Queries I would turn Quaker but not till then And that I had some more Questions to propose to him about which I desired his sober Consideration and that I challenged him to a publick Disputation about them Question 5. Whether it were not great Folly or worse to say That bowing to a man was Idolatry a Breach of the second Commandment a Sin which rather than Mordecai would commit he would run a Risk for his own Life and the Lives of all the Jews and yet after all this Harangue turn this Custom of bowing to men into a common Practice When we were reasoning with them once Did not Abraham bow to the Children of Heth c They would reply If Abraham were satisfied in it we are not following Scripture-Examples hath undone the world and yet of late years they observe that civil decent Ceremony By the way Reader give me leave to tell a pleasant though plain Story I knew two Grave Learned Divines who parting bowed one to another A zealous Quaker in a great Fury runs to them and said to one of them a facetious man Dost thou not know it is written Thou shalt not bow down The Minister looking on this ignorant impudent Fool with Contempt said to him Dost thou not bow down when thou dost Sh The Quaker replies Thou art a Beast to talk so And said the Minister Thou art a veryer Beast if thou dost not do so Nay Priest said he why talkest thou like a Beast Why said be quotest thou Scripture like a Devil alluding to that Scripture where the Devil setting on Christ cites Scripture of Angels preserving men that they hurt not their feet against the stones but left out in all thy ways Mat. 4.6 So the Quaker names Thou shalt not bow down but left out to graven Images Question 5. Whether it were not unheard-of Dissimulation to tell Oliver Cromwell Thus saith the Lord I have put the Sword into thy hand to to destroy Idolaters the Stuarts and Maâ—nants And yet after all to tell Kâ— Charles II. That all this was Rebellion 〈◊〉 that they gave their Testimony against the mâ— ther of his Father What George Fox and Burroughs did well known He that would fully undâ—stand this wickedness let him read a liâ—â— Tract done by a curious hand call'd 〈◊〉 Snake in the Grass The best Thing tâ— ever was written on this Subject 〈◊〉 Pennyman's Papers once a Quaker wâ— hath out of their Authors shewn hâ— they always shuffled Principles about â—vernment Scriptures Ministers c. Question 7. Whether it were not great wickedâ— to pretend to Inspiration Infallibility Pâ— phecies Miracles and yet expound so 〈◊〉 congruous and contrary to Scripture As Pen and I heard George Whitehead to in Bristol on Prov. 9.1 4. Wisdom hâ— built her a house She cryeth Whose simple let him turn in hither and for 〈◊〉 that is void of understanding A simâ—â— thing said he is a thing unmixt pure So he that is Holy hâ—th no Sin Now â—hough the latter part of the Verse explains the former yet this mighty man of theirs that hath printed so many large Books could not see it Besides though the word Simple be an equivocal word in English yet not so in Hebrew for here it fignifieth foolish That a Quaker about a year since in Cullington prophesied from the Lord All Women that are with Child this Year shall die in Childbirth which was far from being true though some in that Case were in great fear If this cost any of them their Lives I cannot contradict it if any should say that this false Prophet deserved to die as much as any Thief or High way-man whatever Reader know these men condemned all Human Literature and asserted Inspiration But can the Spirit in a Quaker contradict the Spirit in the Scripture They say That as if a man speak through a Cane it is not the voice of the Cane though it pass through it but the voice of the Man So it is not the voice of the Quaker but the voice of the Spirit I needed no more to prove them Deceivers but hearing them Yea some have pâ—â— tended to Miracles One came into a House where a Chillay dead and said to the People Weep no the Child is not dead but sleepeth And iâ— imitation of the Prophet 2 Kings 4.3 Stretcht her self on the Child saying In 〈◊〉 Name of Jesus of Nazareth arise I suppose Reader I need not tell thee that thâ— Soul of the Child returned not to it againâ— A Story well known and by whonâ— among Bristol Friends A Quaker told me that it was said George Fox could by Inspiration speak aâ— Languages where the Lord sent him anâ— restored a Man to Life who broke hiâ— Neck Impudent Falshoods I knew a Woman about 22 years since who must fast 40 days and 40 nights bâ—â— soon died and would have eat but couâ— not L S of Bristol before named asserted he was as much Inspired as waâ— the Prophet yea as Balaam's Ass Thiâ— Inspired Ass after a continued idle Life fell ill of the Diabetes by drinking alwayâ— Red-streak Cyder When on his Death Bed he said to his Physician Dr. Griffin who told me the Story I shall not die â— shall be in such a place by such a day If should now die the Lord would reveal it to me But the Fool soon turn'd up his Trotters and died The Spirit say they is Infallible What then doth it make us so God is Omnipotent Omnisicient doth he make us so This L S the Inspired Ass once found out a notable place of Scripture for taking away Baptism and the Lord's Supper Isa 3.1 For behold the Lord takes away the stay of bread There is the Supper said he and of Water there is Baptism as honest Mr. Blinman a Minister had it from him and told me the Story Now who would talk with such profane Wretches thus playing with Scripture AFter this I receiv'd a Letter from William Penn who told me That he had consulted some Bristol Friends and they told him I was a Hot-headed man and a Persecutor
other answer it if they can I am sure it much concerns them to do it I saw a Letter from a Quaker to his Sweetheart no Quaker and he began thus In my Bed the other Night a word passed through me Here was my Person but my Heart was with thee I can remember no more of the stuff such bring all Religion into Contempt What saith the Scripture said one to me Every Tub must stand on his own bottom They saluted one of their Leaders as the only begotten Son of God who lay from everlasting in the bosom of the Father He received of some Divine Honour as was proved I knew a Minister disturbed in Preaching by a Quaker Woman He got her at last into discourse of practical matters in which she betrayed so much ignorance that she got away as fast as she could An unhappy Boy followed her to the Church-door I pray thee said he tell me who sent thee here to day Who said she God No said the Boy I am sure God never sent thee here for if he had thou hadst never spoken so many things contrary to Scripture And for my part said he I cannot tell what to say to it for I cannot easily imagine the Devil sent thee here for I thought be had more wit than to send such a Fool as thou art about his work She never disturb'd them after The heads of many of their Children are Dungeon dark about Scripture only learn some of their Cants Question 3. Do not many Ministers mistake and that grosly in some words and in their Exposition and in their Doctrines too and many Hearers talk ignorantly as well as Quakers The Answer is easy They pretend not to Infallibility or Inspiration but acknowledge the imperfection of their Understanding as well as Faith and Affection and the necessity of Human Literature and much studying But this is not the Case of the Quakers but the quite contrary Now if I prove a man that pretends to Inspiration in all that he preacheth and that therefore he needeth not the knowledge of Tongues to speak quite contrary to the Scripture and says the Spirit tells him that is the meaning of such a Scripture which is as obvious as the Sun to be quite contrary to what the Spirit there intended I prove that man to belie the Spirit and so to be a Cheat and an Impostor And this is done thousands of times by these Quacks in Divinity The great mistakes of some of our Ministers arise from their want of the culture of good Education How often is it with us as in those times of Jeroboam 1 Kings 12.31 He made priests of the lowest of the people They expose themselves and work to Contempt I pray all true Protestants under what Denomination soever to take care in this respect that their Preachers be not gifted with Ignorance and Confidence like Quakers Speakers The Stories of the three motions of the Sun and the one was when he stood still and the four sort of Seekers one was them that never sought are well known but I will name some not commonly talkt of which I had from worthy persons who know the truth of them by men which are it may be adhuc in vivis One preaching on that Text Psal 139.14 I am fearfully and wonderfully made Read I am fearfully and wonderfully mad The e being left out by a mistake of the Printer this Observation was drawn from the words and drawn to purpose it was That the best Saints may fall into mad Fits On goes Mr. Parson to shew what mad Fits the Saints may fall into 1. Of Anger Anger is a short Madness Till the Hearers thought he had been wonderful mad indeed Another Tradesman sets up for a Preacher and to work goes he on that Text Nahum 3.8 Art thou better than populous No which No is taken to be Alexandria in Egypt Now Beloved saith the powerful Preacher I shall inquire into two things 1. What No was 2. Why he was call'd populous No was the eighth person a Preacher of Righteousness and he was call'd populous because all the world was once in his Ark. Another Reverend Mechanick very lately preach'd a Sermon and a Funeral one too on that Text Psal 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be seen no more And you must suppose this warm Man laying about him beating the Air O! my Friends said he is one Scripture word and is used by Daniel three times in one Verse Dan. 9.19 O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken Spare is another Scripture word and is joined with Shield and Buckler I remember Col. Crook told me a Story of Col. L preaching in a great Church in Ireland on that Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Rev. 22.17 The i by a mistake of the Printer that should have been put after the Letter r was put before it and now most devoutly and fervently goes our Preacher to work and reads And the Spirit and the Bird say Come Now enquiry is made what is meant by the Bird the Church what Bird was the Church here compared to Some said he think the Nightingale As if the Man had consulted many a Commentator to find out the Mystery Others thought the Dove and now a Comparison is made between the Church and the Dove for Innocency Chastity Purity Another setting up for a Preacher in a Parish I knew would speak something from those words from no doubt nothing to that in all things he might have the preheminence when he came to this hard word he could not read it well but said That in all things he might have the p r e pre h e he m i mi n e n c e nence preheminence Colos 1.18 I lately saw the Notes of a Tradesman that had been a Speaker thirty years leaving his Trade full of prodigious nonsense The world abounds with them The Bishops have too often Ordained such I knew one who gave a Spiritual receit Take a pint of Repentance with a quart of Faith and so walk forth into the fields of Meditation I knew also one that was made Deacon and told this story at his return When we sate down at Table my Lord bid me Eat he had Two or Three Questions to ask me Eat thought I I fell a sweating sure my Lord will ask me Questions in Divinity and in Divinity said he I am one of the silliest Rogues in the world pray said my Lord Is such a Great Man come to Town No my Lord O thought I that the other Questions may be no harder pray said the Bishop When doth he come to Town He is expected my Lord very speedily Where doth he lodge when he comes said the Bishop My Lord at such a place When said he I heard what the Questions were I fell to it Now such Fellows justify our Quakers in their work If one Tradesman why not another Obj. But the Quakers say some Preach very
shall signifie such a thing is not that sufficient Quem penes arbitrium est jus norma lequendi Barclay's Objection is vain What if Apol says he a â—cholar should say to his Master Vos amas Vos legis I say we put the Verb al 's in the plural number in English we say not You lovest you readest but You love you read I put it to their Conscience Is it Sinful thus to speak If not Why then trouble they the world about nothing I am not willing to run out much into other things that many have written well of Read Faldo's Quakerism no Christianity who hath done his work like a Workman and the aforementioned Tract which will commend it self and to which little need be added And now tell me Reader What thinkest thou Was there ever such a giddy Generation upon Earth As great Apostates from Reason most of them are as from Religion It is true some few Men among them have shap'd their Notions for them and made them more intelligible than once they were When such a Question as this hath been under Consideration Whether it were Lawful for their Women to Speak in their Meetings I have been Answer'd That Jesus Christ was Crucified and that the Priests accused him and Pilate condemned him c. I remember I have read Where dost thou read thou Hireling that ever any of God's Messengers stood on a Carnal Pulpit When that Scripture hath been urged 8. Nehem. 4. And Ezra stood on a pulpit of wood and read the law and gave the sense the Answer hath been What hast thou to do with Ezra Ezra was a Holy Man and thou art an Hypocrite Or when the Question hath been about Swearing and that Scripture hath been urged 10. Rev. 6. The Angel swore by him that liveth for ever and ever Time should be no more the Answer hath been But to which of the Angels said he at any time Thou art my Son to day have I begotten thee Some say That Ministers must not be paid because it was said The Priests bear rule by their Meant 5. Jer. 31. That Ministers must not use helps in Reading for Paul would not meddle in another man's Line Some have asked one another Hast thou experienced that Scripture in thee The sun shall be turned into darkness and the moon into blood The Answer hath been Yea The Spirit was in them and the Spirit was not to be tried by any thing Scripture nor Man's Reason So that a Man had almost as good go into Bedlam and talk with the Wise Men there as with many of our Inspired Quakers I advise any that engage with them to get a Promise of Two things 1. To end one Argument before entrance be made on another 2. To have as much time allowed you to speak as you allow them So have I understood some of them and there hath been some coherence or consistency in our discourse When they have multiplied words and crack'd many of them and run on to things nothing to the Question they go away and say That such Ministers could not say a word to them or could not resist the Spirit by which they spake that a She Friend should silence any Priest of them all though they have talk'd such prodigious Nonsense that might make any Man sweat to hear them If I knew such glorious nonsense among their Leaders by my little and yet too much converse with them I may easily imagine how much they that hear them often meet with such triflings May what I have said be an Amulet to prevent infection from their poisonous Doctrines especially such as are incompatible with true Grace As the Doctrine of Perfection of a Christ within in opposition to a Christ without This word Outward is in great Contempt with them The outward word the Scriptures the Outward Christ Christ Crucified and some an Outward Heaven that Glorious State above Baptism and the Lord's Supper were Outward Ordinances But why do not these Men Contemn Outward Meats and Outward Drinkâ— and Outward Cloathing If they did the Controversie would soon be at an end And now William Penn I once more declare to thee and all the world that I am ready to meet with thee at an open Disputation when thou wilt to deâ—â—te the Questions before us or the main Question which is this Whether your putting in practice our Principles by you condemned as you say from the Lord in the time of Persecution doth not most certainly and evidently prove you to be either Notorious Impostors or Notorious Apostates There is nothing more evident to me and I suppose to thee that so it is Then is the Mask fall'n off thy Forehead and let me ask thee or rather thou thy Conscience a few Questions Question 1. Art thou not ashamed to hear Folly Falsehood Ignorance father'd on the Holy Spirit by thy Followers Question 2. Dost not thou frequently do what they condemn us for use Philosophical Terms and Distinctions in thy Writings which they say is from the Serpent Question 3. Couldst thou understand any Physician or Lawyer speaking of Physick or Law in that way these do of Religion Here for a diversion will I present thee with a Paper given me above twenty years since and which lately I saw in Print and tell me how much like hath been the old common way of the talk of our Perfectionists A Welsh Letter Good Cousin A Coording to my promise I am to let you understand the unkind dealing of Edward towards Marmaduke when Thomas was arrested by Henry at the Suit of Leonard Charles came in with Robert to entreat Richard to go to John to certify William who was sorry that Jeffery had been at variance with Anthony considering that Matthew had done so much for Bartholomew when old Father Timothy was contented to take wrong of Gregory notwithstanding his Kinsman Ralph was abused by Rowland sending for James without the consent of Cuthbert when Edmond for the love he bore to Silvester gave warning to Hugh that in case George should make much of his Vncle Peter little thinking that Simon had play'd the knave with Nicholas in causing of Walter to give Clement knowledge how that Martyn had invited Humphrey to Bernard 's house to Breakfast Now cunning Roger perceiving by Godfrey what was told by slie Ambrose that if Alexander was not reveng'd upon Lawrence for the Love that he bare to Oliver whereas Erasmus had it not been for Jarvase had like to have slain Nathanael which Jasper perceiving had certified Luke that Tell-tale Francis was the cause of all their falling out and all this was for Adam 's White Nag which was left in Erastus 's Stable by Andrew and because Hopping Giles would not believe him without Philip would bring him some money whereupon Barnaby and Christopher sent for Arthur who by the help of Felix brought the same to a general Conclusion and was thus ended VALE St. Taff'y's Day I declare such kind of
there is no Name given under Heaven by which men can be saved but the Name of Jesus There is no Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 If it be asked Why I am sometimes Comical and Reflect so severely on some of their Leaders I answer Quacks and Jugglers and foolish Pretenders to any thing are not to be treated as wise and sober men Answer says the Wisest of Men a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.25 Says the serious Worshipper at Mount Carmel that approached the Altar of God with all imaginable Reverence and not as a Stage player when he saw the Priests of Baal seemingly most devout cut themselves and leap upon the Altar Cry aloud 1 Kings 18.27 either he is talking or in a journey or sleepeth and must be awaked A goodly God! For my severe Reflections on some Men I lived nigh them knew them well they were some of the great Advocates for their Cause talk'd of all England over for their Zeal among the Quakers who spared not the most Learned Religious Ministers and People in the world for want of self-denial which little appeared in the Accusers for leaving the Places of their open Meetings the Ministers were Hirelings 10. John 12 13. who did flee when the wolf came that cared not for the sheep and that because the sheep were not their own As if to flee from a Place were to flee from an Office And after they had call'd them and the People Hypocrites Children of the Devil Haters of Christ Lovers of the World that should be damned for ever for this their great open Sin and Wickedness they did the same thing themselves when their Fund failed Either what I have Charged them with is True or False if it be False let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to Record it is and can justifie the Charge before God and Man I do say it on mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind That Pen and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates Know Reader I have made no use of Books nor Men to help me in this Work tho it is said by some it were impossible I could thus describe them without help from some Man that had been a Quaker I have not troubled you with some stories of Quakers upon common fame though I doubt not the truth of them yet cannot prove them if required as that one Friend came to another and said The Lord hath sent me to thee to tell thee thou must lend me Twenty pound It was a lying Spirit sent thee said the other for the Lord knows I am not worth half the Money Neither have I troubled you with their denying such a sense of Scripture when writing against us and asserting the same sense to serve their own turn and all from one and the same Infallible Spirit Penn is a notorious instance who in a Book call'd Judas and the Jews said on those words Tell the Church 18. Matt. 17. That the Church was to judge of matters of wrong between Man and Man but not of Faith or Conscience yet in another Book to all Protestants asserts The Church had Power about matters of Faith and Conscience when he pleaded for the Church-Quakers Nor much of what I have read of some of them many y s since I remember in the time of a long continued Drought about Twenty year since when many fear'd and talk'd of a Famine out comes Fox and tells us What reason we had to expect a Famine That before the Plague he saâ— the Angel of the Lord with a drawn Sword over the Court. See the Cheat. Rain soon pour'd down You false Prophets tell us your Prophecies before not after their accomplishment I must recommend to you the aforementioned Book The Snake in the Grass If you are Dissenters pardon some warm passages proceeding from intemperate Zeal for Bishops and Liturgies In the Book may you be informed of The Authority of the Church-Quakers for so Penn's Faction are call'd who often Assemble at London and assume to themselves power over the Light within especially in the Separate Quakers for so are the Followers of George Keith call'd a Scholar once Master of Arts who owns Faith in an outward Christ crucified him that died at Jerusalem The Resurrection of the Body Defects to be bewail'd The insufficiency of the Light within without Scripture and speaks favourably of Baptism and the Supper All this George Keith hath printed and told me He proves George Fox their Great Apostle to be a Blasphemer and impostor That he said before some Governors That he said he was equal with God and Judge of the world He receiv'd the Title and Worship of Christ from many who lay prostrate before him he smoothing them on the face and blessing them So did Sabbata Sevi his deluded Followers and Nathan the Prophet in the Year 1666. till he turned Turk to save his Neck Penn pleads for this Fox attributes his abuse of many Terms to his Ignorance What! and yet inspired and sent of God! That he call'd on the Army to fight against Rome and the Turks That Balaam must be slain and all the Hirelings turn'd out of the Kingdom He bad them pull down Mass-houses and Colleges Give the Priests Blood to drink for they are worthy said Burroughs The Blasphemy of many of their Leaders who said they were as holy as God not only in quality but equality and that the preternatural distortions of their Bodies and their Quakings at first were of the Devil Though the Numen that then inspired them hath now left them Though Solomon Eccles a Quaker before the Fire of London went up and down with a Pan of burning Coals yet he was proved to be a false Prophet in other things That the Quakers moved not their Goods believing it was a Delusion and knowing that almost every Week one Quaker or another would go up and down the Streets in London and cry Thus saith the Lord Fire Pestilence Sword c. And if Solomon Eccles prophecied of the Burning of the City all know so did Oliver's Porter That Muggleton hath his Prophecies too to be printed How soon Josiah Coal died after he testified against him That Muggleton a Taylor and Fox a Shoemaker set up for Inspired Persons together Though Fox at first condemned all outward teaching by Man till he had gotten men from the Ministry then he set up Preaching but Muggleton doth not but keeps to the old Principle He saith The Father to whom Christ pray'd was Elijah who governed in Heaven when Christ was on Earth because in his absence there was no God there And such Blasphemous stuff They pretended to the Spirit of discerning Persons and Things and could tell what Men were on the sight of them They now Damn one another the Muggletonians and Quakers call one another Sorcerers Serpents and say
notorious secret Drunkard as his Wife confessed but would have hid it she being a Quaker too I have known others that selling strong Waters would let the vilest of the Parish drink as much as they would till Drunk and yet one such would say to me Wilt thou tell me against what I feel and handle of the word of life Wet and drie Quakers is a distinction in other places besides Bristol Question 3. Are they not very humble Persons No They are more proud of their plainness than others of their bravery Baptism and the Lords Supper are things too mean for them Shells c. but they were not too mean for the Son of God What good will a little Water a little Bread and Wine do me It is true the things be not changed in their Nature though in their Use What good will a little Paper a little Ink a little Wax do me may a Pardoned Man say when he reads the King's Pardon to him Some now use the Lord's Supper Barclay in his Apol. says He would not condemn them that do Question 4. Are they not more just in their dealings than others and most careful not to tell a Lie and say one thing and do another These things are among some of them and among others too yea Turks themselves Yet by the way It is not unlawful to say one thing and do another on the change of the mind 19. Gen. 2 3. The Angel was desired by Lot to come into his House Nay said he but we will tarry in the street all night yet when Lot pressed upon them they went in They observed Providence their intentions altered If they had Sinned had Lied they had never found their way back again to Heaven By the way let all look to it of what perswasion soever if they lie for Gain they are not upright To say things Cost them so much They never sold them Cheaper They are as Good as can be had for Money and know all to be false and continue in this Sin they may call themselves Christians and others may call them so but Christ will call them workers of iniquity The getting of treasures by a lying tongue is a vanity tost to and fro by them that seek death saith Solomon 21. Prov. 16. Death seeks not them but they court it When I wrote to you did I use lightness according to the flesh saith Paul that with me it should be yea and nay but as God is true he makes God his Example But as Christ is true saith Paul to the Corinthians 2 Cor. 1.17 18 19 20. all the promises of God in Christ are yea let ours be so To say I will do such a thing bring it to you at such a day and know you cannot or resolve you will not and so for paying of Money and to make this a common practice is no more consistent with Grace than Drunkenness or Theft Complemental Lyes are an abomination in the sight of a Holy God To say I am glad to see you I thank you for your good Company Pray eat You eat nothing When not a word of this is true and the person that says it was weary of their Company as it may be vain and therefore undesirable and know they eat very freely or more than they need Some Quakers are careful here and so are others would all were so such as are not are cursed The Quakers the great ones in Talking and Printing are not free from Lying George Bishop in his Book of Martyrs called New-England judged not by man's Spirit but the Spirit of the Lord How doth he represent the Whipping of the Quakers there What Strokes were fetch'd Flesh brought off with the Whips Which Mr. Blinman then of New-England professed to me he never there heard of They cursed Magistrates and Ministers in the street blasphemed Christ and Scripture If they were banished they returned again so that some were put to death I know some of their Chief Leaders whose Tenderness this way was not very great but spoke as if they thought a Lye now and then for Friends might be excused Q. Have not the Quakers more of the Spirit than others No nor as much They poor men must not run before their Guide Must wait for the Spirit 's Call to Prayer I pray How came they and the Spirit such strangers that it calls them not all the Day long all the Week long all the Month long all the Year long to pray alone or in their Families Always to pray in their sense is never to pray and every day a Sabbath is no day so I knew a Quakers Meeting where I believe was not a Sentence spoken from Month to Month in a time of danger but when a Toleration came out then they were inspired by it to purpose They all talk of The Light within a Phrase that was never used but once in Scripture and that too what was seeming Light but real Darkness Mat. 6.22 yet they mean not the same thing by it Commonly they understand by it Conscience and that this Light tells a man when he doth evil and when he doth good and that it was in all men always And when we press'd them with such places as these They that kill you shall think they do God good service John 16.2 I verily thought with my self that I was bound to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth saith Paul when he persecuted They could not tell what to say But now Barclay tells us The Light comes in the time of the Lord's Visitation or day of Grace to every man if it be received it abides if not withdraws That this Light is not God yet some inspired Friends by the way said it was nor a Quality but a Substance and calls it a Vehiculum Dei That the Turks have a Light sometimes that tells them Mahomet was a Deceiver the Christian Religion is true Away Poor Robin with thy borrow'd Collections out of the Fathers Now says he this is a Supernatural thing that comes not at the will of the Creature therefore we are no Arminians yet it is a Resistible Work and so we are no Calvinists but our way is a middle saith he between both I was surprized when I read it knowing all the Quakers I conversed with had no such Notions of the Light within I pray How shall I appeal to the Lord's Witness in every man and the Testimony of God in his Conscience Why it may be I speak too soon the Light is not yet come or too late now it is gone Any thing Now it is not God which some Friends said and that it was to be worshipped as if a man should worship his own Convictions and this made some call the Quakers Idolaters as the Scots and others and now R. Vickris defends Barclay against Norris Any thing Though some Quakers know not the depth of Satan and seem to speak Orthodoxly of God Christ the Soul c. yet their
Not one Family among Christians we can hear of turn Turks The Ignorance and Prophaness of the Man shew what his Writings are Well then It is not what Objections men can make against Scripture being a Rule but what better can they put in its place Now consider we What Signatures and Marks are on Sacred Writ to satisfy us How is it morally impossible or more that the world should be imposed on Was there such a man as Abraham so call'd of God Did the Twelve Tribes come from the Loins of the Sons of Jacob or Israel Were these Slaves in Egypt brought out thence by a mighty Hand Was Pharaoh and his Host drowned in the Red-Sea in the pursuit of them Did they wander in the Wilderness were fed with Manna and the Cloud before them Were they brought into Canaan by a mighty Hand How well writes Jâ—sephus against Appion on this subject I remember Bishop Stillingfleet in his Orig Sacra says If I meet with any Passage in Prophane History contradicting Sacred History I laugh it away with that of Justin That Moses was the Son of Joseph That the Jews were driven our of Egypt because of the Itch that the Egyptians might not be infected Were it possible for the Jews to impose upon the world this way Gen 49.10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah How unlike was it to an eye of sense the Scepter should come to any Tribe When it did it came to Moses who was as a King of the Tribe of Levi then to Saul of the Tribe of Benjamin and at last to David who was of the Tribe of Judah and there continued The famous Story of Josephus about Alexander's Conquest of Judea when he swore to Parmenio his General That he would destroy all the Jews is great Jaddus the High-Priest and the Jews fasted three days and three nights and God revealed to him what he should do Alexander approaching with Fury nigh the Gates of Jerusalem Jaddus as God directed him opened the Gates and went out to meet him in all his Priestly Attire Alexander fell down and worshipped him Parmenio asking him What he meant to worship the man whose death he had vowed He said Three days ago this man in this dress appeared to me in a Dream in Dio in Macedonia Jaddus carried him into the Temple and shewed him the Prophecy of Daniel concerning him who was the Grecian Goat Dan. 8.21 22. A clear Prophecy let Antiscripturists consider it So he gave the Jews great Treasures Could Josephus mention a Story so little time before if not true when thousands of Jews and Pagans could contradict all Could the Evangelists tell the world such a loud Lye in Matters of Fact Place Time Circumstances of Christ's feeding so many Thousands with a few Barley-Loaves and Fishes his opening the eyes of the Blind making the Lame to go raising the dead especially Lazarus and all with their Circumstances had it not been true The Disciples knew they saw his Miracles that they conversed with him forty days after his Resurrection and saw him ascend into Heaven They often say as we read in the Acts We are his witnesses saith Peter Paul could not be mistaken whether he heard the Voice from Heaven Saul Saul Why persecutest thou me I am Jesus Acts 9.4 5. Or whether he were blind three days and recovered his fight by Ananias laying his hands upon his eyes He and the Disciples as they were not deceived themselves could have no design to deceive others Not one of them in their most exquisite Torments confest a Combination and which is more it was never pretended by any of their Adversaries they did When I was a Lad about Seventeen Years old I often conversed with a Jew who had the Old Testament almost memoriter My urging that of Paul to him struck him to the heart and he was afterwards baptized Tell me Reader if thou hast with the men of Herod men of War set Jesus at naught Doth not thy heart now burn within thee as Luke 24.32 Yet the Scriptures by our Perfectionists were at first as nothing You speak the words of David and Paul They were wont to say But at last it was agreed upon Scripture should be used in their Meetings The story of turning one man down stairs for looking in a Bible in their Assemblies is well known I am glad some have more Veneration for Scripture now Some say They be as good as Friends Writings A few say Better What would the Church do without a Bible but as Mariners at Sea without a Pilot or Compass Q. What did they do before Scripture was written A. Revelation and Oral Tradition was their Guide which was at last upon Record Obj. But say some You make Scripture not only a Rule but the only Rule So the Assembly in their Catechism And make not the Spirit a Rule at all I answer The Spirit is not the Rule but the Author of the Rule A Counsellor is not his Counsel nor a Director his Directions Where did the Heathen wander that had no Scripture What a woful System of Divinity is Ovid's Metam though he borrowed so much out of Moses and corrupted it Ante Mare Terras quod tegit omnia Coelum Vnus erat toto naturae cultus in Orbe Quem dixere Chaos rudis indigestaque moles Gen. 2.2 Sic erat instabilis tellus innabilis unda The Golden Age was a corrupting of the Account of Man before the Fall Nec supplex turb a timebat Judicis ora sui Per se dabat omnia tellus The Scriptures acquaint man with things necessary to be known and which the Quakers have contemn'd in their adoring of the Light within the Pharisaical Light which Christ call'd Darkness I say the Scriptures acquaint us with 1. The Fall of Man and the Corruption of Human Nature thereby Our Head Foederal Head sell Acts 17.26 God intended of one blood to make all Nations Now that was tainted and a clean thing cannot come out of an unclean Had he stood we had stood by him and there had been no doubt a state of Confirmation for all Adam's Descendants How long it was Adam stood some think Months Years is easy to conjecture That it was before the Conjugal Act else they being before under the Blessing Increase and Multiply had had some Child born without Original Sin but Cain was the first Child and therefore I conclude the Fall was before Adam knew Eve and therefore the same day in which they were made And it may be had Adam overcome in the first Assault of Satan the Serpent he and all his had been confirmed Our first Parents by Sin murthered themselves actually were under the Curse though it may be recovered by Grace they murthered their Posterity virtually that they then not born should be cursed they murthered Christ occasionally as their Sin was the occasion of Christ's death to make Satisfaction to Divine Justice In the day thou eatest thereof thou