Israel know assuredly that God hath made the same Jesus whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ Acts 3. 6. These were new Articles of their Creed without the belief of which they were such as had nothing to do with Christ as their Mediator Again the whole frame of the Administration was altered from Moses to Christ even the man Christ Jesus as well as God Hath in these last days spoken to us by his Son Heb. 1. 1. And Moses verily was faithful in all his House as a servant for a Testimony of those things which were to be spoken after but Christ as a Son over his own House Heb. 3. 5. We have now nothing to do with Moses Law as such and also the manner of Administration which is not in a multitude of carnal observancies types and resebmlances but in that way which is more real and more purely spiritual But the hour cometh and now is when the true Worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth John 4. 23. They were to worship him in spirit before for where the heart was not in the â—eremonial and typical worship they were not accepted and God never indulged hypocrisie The meaning must therefore be That spirit must be taken in opposition to those carnal Ordinances and the material Temple and Truth in opposition to thofe Types which were not a Lie but were only the shadows of good things to come I might enlarge to the Officers Offices and restrained § 8 Extent of the Mosaical Administration and shew that in all it is Alien to the Administration of Christ come and that wherein Christianity consists For if that Ministration which is done a way was glorious much more that which remaineth is glorious 2 Cor. 3. 11. Now to resume the intent of what I have said § 9 observe that neither the natural light and practices of Heathen nor the revealed light law and practices Judaical were Christian as such though the latter a great part of them had a respect to Christ and the medicinal and remedying part of Religion And the Jews who were immediately before the Church of God yet when the Administration was changed they were cut off from the Church though they retained their Morals and those Ceremonial Respects to an expected Messiah if they did not admit into their Creed or Faith the Articles aforesaid viz. a Christ come That Jesus who was crucified was the Christ and that he was the Supreme Head and Administrator to the Church of God and those who did so were transmitted into the Christian Church the other being dissolved Having expressed with what brevity I could SECT III what Christianity as such is I shall in a few lines give an Account what I intend by the term Quakerism I do not mean thereby that all that are called and reputed Quakers are no Christians for my charity is large enough to believe That many of them would abhorr the Principles of their Leaders did they but well understand them for whose sakes in part I have undertaken this Discovery Quakerism is a Heap of Tenets with the usurped Names of true Christian Principles which are yet really no such things but subverting both Foundation and Fabrick of Christianity And I call him a Quaker that professes the Light within every man to be the only Lord and Saviour and very God So that when I say Quakerism is no Christianity I do not say that common Civility Justice among men or whatever of their principles or practices which are morally good for these are generally owned as the principles of those Christians whom they separate from and bitterly reproach as Antichristian And it cannot be for want of Instructions or Examples in such kind of goodness that they withdraw from the serious Professors that are as far from their opinions as the East is from the West CHAP. II. The Beginning of Quakerism different from and opposite to Christianity THe first Argument which I shall begin my attempt SECT I with shall be from the beginning of Quakerism which I shall take notice of under two Considerations First The manner of the beginning of Quakerism Secondly The time of its beginning Both of which I shall prove exceedingly to oppose and differ from the beginning of Christianity The Christian Religion or Christianity was first § 2 introduced by the preaching of the promised Messias to be come into the world whose humane Nature was pointed at by John the Baptist and visible to the bodily eyes of a multitude of beholders The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him and saith of the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world This is he of whom I said after me cometh a man which is preferred before me for he was before me But Quakerism was introduced by preaching a § 3 Christ within every man born within every man which was never seen with the bodily eyes of any man and this Testimony of John concerning the true Christ perverted for the maintaining of their feigned Christ And as you give up to that measure of light in your Morning-Watch p. 41 own Consciences and wait to be guided by it and exercised in it you will know Christ revealed within you whom you are looking for without you and put his day far off from you and so you live in want of him and know not how to come to him nor the place where to find him but live in the dreamings and night-visions and have a talk of him and what he hath done for you and so spend your precious time in slumbring and dreaming c. This Quakers Text will bear a large Comment but I will take notice of that only which is to the present purpose Here is preached a Christ within in opposition to and contempt of a Christ without which John preached and that faith and hope of the Saints which according to the Scripture are the substance of things not seen and the evidence of Heb. 11. 11. things hoped for reproached as a slumbring fancy and a nocturnal dream But if you would infallibly be convinced of the gross darkness wherewith this sort of men are benighted or their palpable dishonesty in abusing the Holy Scripture weigh the following instance out of the preceding Author Then God sent him John to bear witness to the § 4 light which in him was made manifest that all in Morning-Watch p. 5. the light might believe and he called unto others to behold him and said he was the Lamb of God and was to take away the sins of the world Least you should mistake him and gâ—â—ss that a man that could but write his name should not have so little wit or modesty as to expound that Text of Scripture after this sort he quotes chapter and verse John 1. 9. and the next word is mark in a Parenthesis lest his folly should not appear to all men who should have the hap to read him And moreover at the close of the
parts he seeks for wherein Naylor Love to lost p. 16. none of you can worship who know not the living Word in your hearts to keep them up to God in your worship and that worship which is not in the will of God is the worshipping of Devils If you ask any of them What is the truth in the inward parts They will not answer it is sincerity meanings suitable to our expressions and appearances but it is Christ the light within who is the truth And for knowing the living Word it is of the same sense it is all but the light within every man the Quakers Christ And for the Will of God that is nothing but the immediate life and motions of the light within I have said enough out of their Writings to prove these things neither will they deny them but Naylor telleth you and it is not for any Quaker to resist the Spirit by which he spake that worship not thus qualified is the worshipping of Devils It may be some of the Quakers though they know in their consciences that I speak but the very truth of their Tenets and Notions will say I put my meanings to their words but if they will but bate me speaking from their light within which they hold necessary to qualifie a man to speak truly I dare undertake to expound according to their meaning their ill-meant phrases as well as the most of them and their mystery is none to me at all And although they talk of praying in the Name of Christ yet as Naylor phrases it That is done in the Name of Christ which is done in his Light and Power But when all is done this Christ and Name and Light and Power is but the light within and its teachings and motions It is to me reported on all hands that they never § 5 pray in the Name of Christ as their Mediator much less then do they pray to God in or in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth the Son of Mary or of that one Mediator between God and Men the Man Christ Jesus even that Jesus who was Crucified at Jerusalem between two Thieves above 1600 years since I have put this to many of them and they denied not this Charge neither can I see how they can pray to the Father in the Name of Christ seeing God the Father and Christ with them admit of no distinction and for the Man Christ that was born of Mary they have nothing to do with him The Apostle saith A Mediator is not of one but God is one And whoever they are that deny and disown prayer in the Name of Christ are far from owning the Gospel-Ordinance of prayer Reading the Scriptures and Meditation which are Gospel-Ordinances SECT IV they also deny I need not tell you of the contempt they put upon the Scripture as a dead Letter the carnal Letter and on those who attend to it as dry Letter-mongers Take only one instance of William Pens But all must W. P. Spirit of truth be as unlearned as from their first Birth Education and Traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned that is again become a little child before the secrets of Gods work come to be made known And Fisher calls studying the Scripture scraping in the Scripture I wonder wherefore God ordered and commanded them to be written if they are not to be read and studied The Spirit of Christ within is the end of the Tables Great mystery p. 32. William Deusbuty Return p. 7. Law Works and Books and the Law is now in the heart Whatever thou be whether a Teacher of others or a Professor of what thou comprehends to be truth from the Letter of the Scripture under what form name or title soever thou be thou art a dead man and a dead woman and the wrath of God abides on thee though thou see it not Rom. 7. 9. Miserable man that talks at this rate and will father it on the Scripture too and such a one as is directly against him But we have had enough of this smoak I shall say somewhat of their abundant scorn of SECT V of the Lords Supper and Baptism wherein they express a superfluity of naughtiness not only in their Tenets but down-right railing The Ordinances I have hitherto considered in particular are called Moral from their natural obligation although that substantial and Essential part and qualification of them their respect to a Mediator will require a denomination more Evangelical and without which we cannot call them Gospel or Christian-Ordinances Those two Gospel-Ordinances I come now to consider are purely and perfectly positive and depend meerly upon Divinely-revealed Institution without which they had never come within our notice nor had they been any way obliging to us Yet such is the Sanction that the Lord hath put upon § 2 Institutions of this nature that not only since his revealed Law hath abounded to his Church but also when the Revelation of his mind immediately to his Servants was very rare he did not omit Injunctions of this kind The Sacrifices we read of as early as Cain and Abel Yea Adam in his state of Innocency who then needed not any indication of Moral duties beyond what was within the reach of his natural entire and uncorrupted light and innate to his perfect frame and holy disposition had the obligation of a positive duty from God in the matter of the Tree in the midst of the Garden And to me the main ground of it was that the absolute Soveraignty of the Creator might be acknowledged and man might learn to render obedience to God not only because the matter of it is just in its self and would be so if God had never explicitely commanded it but also because it is the Will of God yea where his Will obliges singly without the respect of natural and unchangeable Equity And God hath so expressed his jealousie over this ◠3. right of his that when sins against not only natural light but superadded Precepts to confirm and strengthen its doubtfulness and decays have been passed by without any special expressions of his provocations sins committed against his positive Laws have been avenged with a high hand Adam's and Eve's transgression was against an Institution and positive Law the Commission of which so stirred up the displeasure of God that he banished them out of Paradise and imposed that Curse under which the World groans to this day And it is not below our notice that although they were capable of sinning against God in many other respects yet God affixes the direful penalty to this positive Law In the day that thou 2 Gen 17. eatest thereof thou shalt surely die The case of Nadab and Ahihu when God bare § 4 witness against them from heaven by consuming them with fire was as a Pillar of Salt to season others with an awful Reverence of God in his purely instituted worship Vzzah was smitten and died on the spot when
incredible that they should worship a false God seeing they own and profess a false God All those who worship that as God professedly and according to their professed Principles which is not God are gross idolaters But the Quakers do so Therefore the Quakers are gross idolaters I shall not prove the first proposition which none will deny The second I prove by their own concession considered with the proof I have made of the light within every man and the Souls and Spirits of men not to be God but you may take the argument in this form All they who worship professedly and according to their § 2 professed principles the light within every man or the Souls and Spirits of any men as God worship a false God But so do the Quakers Therefore they worship a false God Who are not sprung from the noble gentle seed and to those honour is not due neither can we bow unto Shield of the Truth p. 25. them for if we should we should set the Devil in the room of God and give unto him that which is due to God So that to those who are Quakers and have the birth of the light within the noble and gentle seed as they call it to them with respects to that they may bow And withal he tells you it is such a bowing as is peculiar to God for where it is used to such who have not God in them in the Quakers sense it is a setting the Devil in the room of God If it be objected that they bow to none I answer § 3 that they pretend to own no worship but what is inward and yet they pretend to worship God and meet to that end so that if they worship this Light Within this Soul or Spirit in any men as they profess to worship God they give them or it Divine Worship There was a time when many gave honor and worship John Bolton Senior to James Naylor one now a grand Quaker not being then pleased with it James told him that if they did it to him as a Man he disowned it but if they did it to the Light Within him he accepted it If any doubt of the truth of this the Process against him in Richards Parliament will prove it And John Bolton the Elder the Quaker I speak of can tell you more of it and I doubt not but that for the reproach and worse things which would follow it we should soon find it a general practise with the Quakers to give visible worship to the Gods that dwell in the Temples of each others Carcases But I proceed to further proof He that will worship Christ in his fulness in the Majesty Penningtons questions c. p. 24. of his Glory Dominion and Power must learn to bow down at the lowest appearances of his Light and Spirit even at the feet of Jesus He calls it worship by Christ they all mean the Light Within and the lowest appearances must be bowed at which is the least measure of the Light Within Priest 'To say that Christ is within man is to ' worship Angels and not to hold the Head Christ This he makes the Priest to say but whether any did so or no it matters not to my purpose But his answer Answ Which none comes to witness Christ Fox great mystery p. 55. the Head but who witness him in them that the Angels must worship him that died and suffered at Jerusalem and they that worship him in them worship not the Angels and they that are not worshipping him in them are worshipping Men Devils or Angels By the Christ that died and suffered at Jerusalem they intend nothing less than the Son of Mary I have already shewed they utterly deny him to be the Christ and they own Christ suffering at Jerusalem in no other sense than they say he died suffered or was crucified in every one of themselves And that you may be convinced of the truth of what I here affirm mark what follows They are false Ministers who preach Christ Smith Prim. p. 9. Without and bid people believe in him as he is in heaven above but they are the true Ministers that preach Christ Within C. This is a great difference in their Doctrine for the one to pretend to preach Christ Without and another preacheth him Within Father Yes it doth make a great difference and hath no more fellowship together than the East hath with the West So that the Quakers Christ the Light Within is not only some part of the true Christ who may as Christ be Without as well as Within them but they are at such odds one with another that they can have no more fellowship than East and West and this is the Christ they worship and to worship any other as Fox saith is to Worship Men Devils or Angels Thus I have made good my second Argument and thereby proved them grâ—ss Idolaters And there is somewhat in their Idolatry that is S. 6. not common â—dolatry for it is Apâ—tatical Idolatry which is so earnestly and with such an Emphasis exclaimed against by the Lord Hath a Nation changed 2. Jer. 11. 12 their Gods which are yet no Gods but my people have changed their glory for that which doth not profit Be astonished O ye Heavens at this be ye horribly afraid be ye very desolate saith the Lord. And it is no less aggravated in that while the Heathen who had not their means to know God yet were gross Idolaters and as Pen saith true enough worshipped as the Aegyptians an Ape a Crocodile yea Herbs almost any thing these Wretches for better they are not worship that Natural Conscience that Spirit of Man which is not only a Creature an ignorant Creature but full of darkness errour pride all manner of sin and worst of all a Blasphemer of the God of Heaven and his Son Jesus Christ the dear Redeemer But what now doth it boot them to say they Worship § 7 and own the Creator and Christ and the Lord and only him and such like And what folly is it after such Evidences for any to say Sure they are not so had their principles are of a more tolerable at least stamp they are civil zealous people for Religion in their way How will nothing but drunkenness or robbery of men in their outward goods and such like vices render men wicked will not the highest affronts to Heaven must men be believed rather than God in his Word which hath spoken of such persons to arise 1 John 2 Chap. and many other places See how God excused those in the second of Jer. in the 19. 23 and 24. Verses Thine own wickedness shall correct thee and thy back-slidings shall reprove thee Know therefore and see that it is an evil thing and bitter that thou hast forsaken the LORD thy God and that my fear is not in thee saith the Lord God of Hosts How canst thou say I am not polluted I have
abhor a Competition between Jesus Christ and G. Fox And what the Lord and Master did in this case so did his servants the Apostles as I might instance abundantly I will direct you only to Peters Sermons Acts 2. I need not instance in any more He that hath read the Scriptures may easily furnish himself And who can doubt but they who made use of the Letter of the Scriptures for evidence of what in their Ministry they preached or writ were Ministers of the Letter as well as of the Spirit And moreover if we consider the letter of the § 3 Scripture to be the letter of the Spirit written by its direction and to express in its kind the mind of the Spirit This Querie of George Fox may be turned upon himself thus and how can ye be Ministers of the Spirit if ye be not Ministers of the Letter also The latter part of his Sentence is a higher Demonstration § 4 of the fallibility of his Chair And how can they but delude people who are not infallible True indeed if they did perswade people that they could not in any thing be mistaken or be ignorant but seeing only the Quakers pretended Ministry and the Pope of Rome do assume this to themselves they only are in a necessity of deluding the people for our parts who live in all manner of pride as the Quakers by their spirit of Infallibility do charge us we are not yet come up to their Perfection for we freely acknowledge that we may erre in Doctrine and do erre in Practice which we bewail before God and men and also that the people may not be deluded by us we desire them and charge them not to pin their Faith on our sleeves but repair to the Law and to the Testimony and search the Scriptures try whether the things we affirm be so or no And if we speak contrary to the Mind of God there expressed to reject our Doctrine and also that they follow our Example no further then we follow Christ even that Man Christ Jesus who was for a time on Earth but is now in Heaven But what do you think of the Holy Apostles were § 5 they universally infallible could not they erre if you say so Paul will convict you of errour in his charging Peter none of the least of the Apostles with erring and in something deluding the people Gal. 2. 12 13 14. Peter dissembled the truth in practising the Mosaical distinction of Jews and Gentiles and separating from the believing Gentiles as unclean And the other Jews yea and Barnabas also was carried away with his dissimulation But then you will say how can we be sure that what they wrote and taught was truth I answer that although they might in some things be carried away by temptation as Peter was in that case yet their doctrine which they professed to be from the Lord and by the Inspiration of God could not admit of erring or fallibility and that not because they had an habitual infallibility in all things but because of the love of God to his people the regard of his honour and the firmness of his Promises which he made to them those especially John 14. 26. But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost whom the Father will send in my Name he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you John 16. 13. Howbeit when he the Spirit of Truth is come he will guide you into all truth for he shall not speak of himself but whatsoever he shall hear that shall he speak and he will shew you things to come Now these Promises being made to the Apostles for furnishing them with ability for their work as Apostles they may be concluded to be infallibly guided by the Spirit but in other things though by their eminent habitual grace they were not likely to fail as others who were not cloathed with such a measure and degree as they yet it was more then possible that they should fail but according to G. Fox's infallibility and without limitation the Apostles themselves could not but delude the People But to conclude this particular of Infallibility § 6 take beside what hath been said one considerable proof of their non-attainment of Infallibility and that is the most grosly absurd Exposition they give of the Scriptures See what follows with the eyes of Christian men We are accused that we judge people It is written the Saints shall judge the world an infallible proof as if it were a Command or Prophecy of the Saints i. e. the Quakers calling men all to nought how serious so ever who are not professedly conducted and saved by the light within but he goes on more and more infallibly And for Judgement am I come into the World saith Christ Parnel shield of the truth P. 33. As if Christs coming into the World sixteen hundred years ago were to the end that they might pass their rash Censures freely But he grows still And where Christ ruleth in his Saints he judgeth the world as Paul witnessed It is no more I but Christ in me Where Paul witnessed this such a Spirit of discerning as they tell us of must find out for the Scripture hath nothing like it only in two places It is no more I that do it but sin that dwelleth Rom. 7. 17. in me But I am sure Sin and Christ are two things Ye not I but Christ liveth in me But that was not Gal. 2. 20. to censure others but to comfort Paul under the hard censures and usages of others But the passage of coming into the World for Judgment brings into my minde one remarkable Expositor It is a right and sound doctrine to preach him as he is the light of Humphrey Smith the true and everlasting rule c. p 29. p. 32. the World and lighteth every man that cometh into the world But what world is this This is the great Prophet who is come into the World which is set in the heart Eccles 3. 11. which is in the midst out of which Moses saith the Lord would raise up a Prophet Lev. 8. 15. which Prophet being come he saith I am come a Light into the World John 1. 12. and 12. 35 36 46. The World being set in the heart there is the light of him who saith I am the light So that with him the World is the heart Christs coming into the World is his comeing into the heart and as he came into the world the heart so he is also raised up out of the world the heart but how like such a Prophet is to Moses I should too much suspect your understanding if I should trouble you with my sense he that is declined as far as dotage may perceive it without a Guide as also the gross darkness of this Expositor in the rest Let us see what sound Exposition the great Lanthorn § 7 of the Quakers gives for I
message of heavenly prophecy doctrine or exhortation received by the Authâ—r from the Lord through the divine John Story Short discovery p. 1. inspiration of his light and Spiriâ— within therefore may I say it 's a very vain and Idolatrous exhortation which J. A. hath given to J. B. his little Book But further § 5 And J. A. further saith let light without be guide to light within Reply If by this exhortation J A. means that light without should guide the true light within which shines in the hearts of the Saints then I must needs say 't is a very absurd and foolish exhortation and being spoken upon a divine account it is full of Idolatry and evil and greatly contrary to the Gospel and exhortation of Gods Ambassadours to the Saints on earth which was that they should abide in the light or anointing that was in them 1 John 2. 27. Hear one more and I have done And this is your work who at this day set up an James Naylor p. 16. imitation from the letter of what other men have done but have not received your command and power in Spirit from the Lord and to you it will be said who hath required these things at your hands for all the Saints have their commands in Spirit but yours is in the letter But in your vain imaginations are judging you know p. 31. not what and limiting the spiritual Covenant of God to the literal Not in spirit but in the old letter or tradition p. 40. from men I suppose that by this time my Reader is past doubting whether they are guilty or no of this charge it must not be expected that I should take up all these citations and deal with them in all their parts if I should I should often actum agere and give you one thing more than twice The falshood of this Doctrine I shall prove by Scripture and rational evidence and answering what they pretend for the grounds of it The Laws that were given by Moses and the SECT II doctrines and promises also were binding to the Congregation of Israel And afterward all the Children Exod. 34. 32. of Israel came nigh and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in Mount Sinai Who will say these commands were not binding to them These are the words which the Lord hath commanded Exod. 35. 1. that ye should do them Will any one in his wits say that in receiving the command from God by Moses they had it by immediate inspiration from God to say so is a contradiction in its self Moses indeed had it immediately from God but the Israelites of that Generation mediately from Moses For the Law was given by Moses And the Scriptures were John 1. 17. given first immediately from God and that is their authority with us though they are handed to us through many Generations as the Books of the Law and the Prophets were to the Jews And moreover it were a very superfluous thing for § 2 God to send his commands to them by Moses if they had them all at as nigh and as good a hand as he The like may be said of the New Testament Commands and Doctrines c. 2 Thes 2. 15. Therefore Brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or Epistle Did you ever hear of an Epistle come immediately from God and all the Doctrines of the Gospel were conveyed to others except the Penmen or Prophets Evangelists and Apostles by Epistles or what is of the same import in this matter But let us say a little about the obligation of examples § 3 of the Saints That I may not run you out Morning Watch. of one errour into another I am willing to take some pains in this as in the other parts of this Tract To imitate all the Examples of the best of Saints would lead us into sin and therefore cannot be our duty This I will not plead for for then we ought to murmur murther dissemble and be proud which at some time or other some or other of the eminentest Saints recorded in Scripture have been guilty of To imitate and take example by them from the meer authority of their Example is not a little § 4 faulty though the thing be good in its selfe But to take them for our examples and follow their steps wherein they act according to the written Word or are commended and rewarded by God for so doing yea not any where reproved for so doing their examples in the like cases and circumstances it is not only reason to follow but a sin not to follow Yet we are to follow their examples as they are some discovery of the will of God to us which we knew not so well and clearly without them or as they are a farther incouragement to our faith and obedience Neither are we notwithstanding to follow their § 5 examples which were according to the mind of God when they lived but since those Laws are abrogated and repealed by a demonstrative act and law of God As in the case of the Mosaical Rites and Ceremonies with all those things which were Typical shadows the substance and intendment of which is performed and compleated These things premised I shall prove that their examples are binding to us yea are a superadded engagement to duty and render a sin against a command so backed with examples to be more sinful and more deeply aggravated It is lawful and a duty to imitate and fâ—llow the § 6 examples of eminent Saints Beloved follow not that which is evil but that which 3 Ep. of Jo. 11. is good This is spoken of evil and good actions and examples as appears by the 10th verse Leaving us an example that we should follow his steps Whose 1 Pet. 2. 21. Heb. 13. 7 2 Thes 3. 7. and 9. 1 Pet. 3. 5. 3 Phil. 15. faith follow considering the end of their conversation For your selves know how ye ought to follow us But to make our selves an ensample unto you to follow us For after this manner in the old time the holy women also who trusted in God adâ—rned themselves Brethren be ye followers together of me and Mark them which walk so as ye have us fâ—r an ensample These Scriptures are so plain to the purpose that they need not a comment And his sons walked not in his ways It was an aggravation that they did not 1 Sam. 8. 3. only sin against the Laws of God but the example also oâ— their Father Yea in doubtful and difficult cases wherein we § 7 cannot reach the knowledge of our duty and the way God would have us walk in by the evidence of his Laws it is our duty to follow the examples of the greater number of the Saints especially when the most serious and understanding are of the company If thou know not O thou fairest among women go thy
mysteries as clear a contradiction as it is nor fleshly comprehensions as much untruth and nonsense as according to their meaning of it it comprehends nor his little Child unman'd as good Philosophy as it is for I have not room to spread all his rubbish What is to my present purpose is in the last part of his saying all must be as unlearned from their traditional read knowledge as he is unmanned c. Sure the Scripture knowledge being read knowledge or knowledge that comes by reading as one means is a most hateful thing to God that he will impart none of his secrets to those that will understand any thing by his written Word How came God to fall out at such an irreconcileable rate with his own off-spring his expressions of his mind contianed in the holy Scriptures how can you have the face to call them holy Sciptures and yet make knowledge attained by reading them so nauseous to God that they shall be none of his Children that learn any knowledg by that Book or forgo it not all Did God write and cause it to be written and yet never intend we should read it or that reading it we should not believe a word on 't nor understand nor be the wiser for it Shall they be judged â—â— by the Law who lived under it and yet the knowledge of God thereby be a sin and hindrance to their salvation To what a height of wickedness and folly do they quickly grow who are poisoned with that abomination of holding the light in every mans conscience to be God Father Son Spirit Christ Scripture all But Mr. Pen what means your Latine and Greek § 6 your foreign Authors your attempted though mishapen Logick your quotations of so many Scriptures though some of them in a pitifull manner all to a bad end Did you learn all those things by immediate inspiration Had you them not by reading and tradition Could you tell that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 signifies light rather than 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which signifies thick darkness but by tradition and reading But I smell your design you would have us throw away all the knowledge we have by reading or tradition 'till we come to be regenerate that is Quakers and then you are out of its danger But in the mean time you Eph. 5 13. would have us without the Armour of light for whatsoever makes manifest is light that we may not Eph. 5. 13. be able to defend our selves against the most ignorant nonsense that the meanest of your votaries can attempt us with But the God above and the Scripture without hath taught us better things I am not unwilling though I hope few need it § 7 to quote a few Scriptures that people may have them in a readiness against these untruths of the Quakers Rom. 13. 12. Put on the Armour of light c. the Scripture makes it day in the World but especially in and with the Saints for it makes manifest abundantly There is your defensive Arms. The Word of God is quick Heb. 4. 12. Eph. 6. 16. 17. and powerful sharper than any two edged Sword c. There is an offensive Weapon Above all taking the shield of Faith wherewith ye shall be able to quench c. 17. and the Sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God A Sword of the Spirits making and is effectual when of the Spirits manageing Observe faith in the 16. ver is preferred above the Word of God in the 17. verse therefore it is not Christ the Word but the Scripture the Word for Faith is not above Christ Jesus Christ who had less need of the Scriptures than any of us all resisted Satans temptations by the Math. 4. Scriptures it is written it is written and what was written being opposed to Satans temptations silenced and confounded him But it seems since then he hath gotten more confidence Consider that the Quakers will allow the man Christ to leave us a perfect example CHAP. X. The Quakers deny the Scriptures to be read to any profit any further than they are before hand experienced by those that read them THey may as well say that hearing the word SECT I preached is to no profit neither any farther than it is experienced before hand for there is the same reason of the one as of the other But this is a strange Doctrine that at one blow cuts off both hearing and reading the matter contained in the Scriptures by men unregenerate For what I pray you have they experienced who are according to your notions stark blind and utterly without sense of the things of God Quest But if there be not another way to God c. § 2 Answ Why Child all that are faithful to God in Smiths prim p. 29. 30. what he makes known unto them they are not judged This is pretty charitable but hear farther the reason he gives why they that read the Scriptures profit not in the knowledge of God c. is but they read in that book notionally before they have passed the judgment experimentally Again p. 30. For people wanting the life and power of Christ in themselves they are betrayed into the words c. And such were the Scribes who were ever scraping in Fisher Velata quaedam revelata the Scriptures to find God and his life yet never knew him at any time nor saw his shape because they heard not his voice nor heeded not his word within themselves John 5. 37. What a vile insinuation is here of the Scriptures and the study of them as if the Scriptures were but a dunghil and every unregegenerate person at least which all are with them whâ— adore not the Light within as Christ did but the part of a Brute which scraping implies in searching the Scriptures to know the things of God For his blasphemous insinuation that God hath a shape and that they who heed his voice within themselves see it I am too sensible of the invisible Majesty of God to work my thoughts on such a horrid subject yet he dares quote John 5 37. to countenance it which so far as it reaches it doth deny any such to be seen To reprove this evil Spirit of worse than errour 3. John 5. 39. 40. read and understand this Scripture wherein there is not any great difficulty Search the Scriptures for in them ye think â—e have eternal life and they are they which testifie of me and ye will not come to me that ye might have life I have known more than a good many of the men of this controversie expound this Scripture as if Christ rebuked them for searching the Scripture and having such a fallacy in their opinion as to think eternal life were to be had by searching of them and instead of and which gives the absurdity of their searching the Scriptures to find the true Christ by their testimony and its testimony being so plain and clear that
baptize therefore it was an Ordinance and that he baptized so few in that Country it was rather Providential than designed by Paul for he being so famous an Instrument of converting the Gentiles they began to cry him up as if he had not been Christs Minister but rather his Competitor and therefore he thanks God he baptized no more lest they should have said he baptized in his own name But though he did not baptize there might be enough beside for that work and we read not of one that omitted it when they understood of the Ordinance and had any to administer it to them Object It was to confer the Holy Ghost § 6 That was but one consequence but not what Baptism signified Beside the giving the Holy Ghost was of a miraculous nature for the Confirmation of the Disciples in the newness of the Christian Religion and conviction of others and the friends of Cornelius had the Holy Ghost before Baptism Object None were called to baptize but those that § 7 were sent to preach to all Nations Answ Ananias baptized Paul yet was not so sent The ends of Baptism which was a sign and seal of what interest they had in Christ and of Regeneration and the righteousness of Faith remain and therefore that remains to be dispensed by the ordinary and mediate Officers of the Church who are Stewards of the Mysteries of God of which this is one It being also a Cognizance of Christianity there is the same reason for it and it is in vain to talk of Ordinances abolished without some proof when and why they are so Naylor saith Paul preached the Love to lost p. 41. Baptism of the Spirit in its stead Let that be proved and something is said But John Higgins saith That Water-Baptism was Warning c. p. 5. but the administration of John is known and confessed I say no more to him but I perceive he is but little acquainted with Confessions I must bring in the sentence of the great Patriarch Geat mystery of great Whore p. 65. §. 8. George Fox to decide all for after his words 't is not fit any of his inferiours should speak again Where was Matthew or Mark or Luke or John baptized and many more which the Apostle Paul thanked God he had not baptized Baptizing is making Disciples to the Lord Jesus and baptizing them into his Name that is his Power but he Paul told of the Spirits Baptism and brought the Saints off from the things that are seen and Water is seen and its Baptism Strange arguments as if the Command and abundant instances of its practice had no force unless we have an account where every Believer was baptized and because Paul did not baptize all therefore they were not baptized at all But for Baptism being a making Disciples if it be understood of Water-Baptism it will be no small friend to Infant-Baptism if of the Baptism of the Spirit I suppose George Fox will eat his words again and acknowledge that the Apostles had not power to bestow the Spirit of God on persons and make them new Creatures that was the mistake of Simon Magus and now of George Fox But the last argument is such an one as never offered § 9 it self to such a service till the Quakers light which they say is Almighty had the management of it and so may make an effectual instrument of any thing Paul brought the Saints off from the things that are seen and Water is seen and its Baptism He 2 Cor. 4. 18. that shall look into the Text to which his words refer will admire his sharp-piercing Genius or his non-such ignorance that could find such a meaning of that Text or tell the world it was there But if all that is seen must be cast away and rejected I counsel the Quakers not to be such eager pursuers of the world and that I dare ground upon the Text But above all to reject their proud dreaming intolerable notions the ignorance and delusion of which is so gross that it is not only seen but may be felt also But for all this the Quakers will affirm they own Baptism and believe that George Fox is sent of God because he speaks of the Scripture right as they are The Quakers disown the Ordinance of the Lords Supper SECT VII to be now a Gospel-Ordinance or any Ordinance of God at all As of Baptism so of the Lords Supper they will say they own it at least many of them but they call quite another thing by that name which is the way they have to delude people in all other matters of the 1 Cor. 11. 23. Christian Religion If what the Apostle Paul saith he received of the Lord 1 Cor. 11. 23. do express the true Lords Supper the Quakers deny it Feeding upon the husk and shadow which is carnal Parnel Shield of the truth p. 13. For the bread which the World all that are not Quakers breaks is natural and carnal so also the Cup which they drink and here is no communion but natural outward and carnal They Bread and Wine in the Lords Supper are Smith prim p. 39. the Popes invention The Priest gives it to the people and tells them it is the Bloud of Christ which is shed for them when it is Wine and not Bloud I will not trouble thee with so unnecessary a thing as a reply to these silly Cavils and plain contradictions to the Scripture The main Objection the Quakers have against this § 2 Ordinance beside that against all forms and all things that are seen is That Christ is câ—me and his Disciples were to do it in remembrance of him till he was come but Christ is come in the Spirit to them and therefore this Precept doth not bind them But who would think the Spirit or Christ in the Spirit was not come either in shedding it abroad miraculously as in the 2 Acts or as a Sanctifier in the hearts of his people when the Disciples and whole Church at Jerusalem were so frequent in this Ordinance and when the Apostle Paul tells the Corinthians The 1 Cor. 1â— 16. Bread which we break c. But that none must be ingaged by this Ordinance but those to whom Christ was not come by a Spirit of Sanctification is exceeding gross For whereas the Ordinance is for the Saints this renders it to be peculiar to those in a state of sin and unconverted to Christ and they are not ashamed to own it to be so Which was the thing Christ in tender love to his Disciples Naylor love to the lost p. 58. at his departure warned them on knowing that their nature would draw to the Earth-ward not yet being changed nor having Christ born in them to keep them and for all this Warning and leaving this as a Sign c. If Christ born in the soul be not till the light within be obeyed as Christ the Son of the living God we
in the minister saying Answ But God and Christ is in the Saints and dwells in them and he the Priest is a reprobate and out of the Apostles Doctrine If it were only out of ignorance in not understanding the word distinguished or of the manner of Gods Being in his Saints it should not be his Charge in this place But you shall if you read further see he intends no less than the wicked import of his words But to call him reprobate and out of the Apostles Doctrine is over measure a great deal he might have spared him that in charity John Bunion saith He God is distinct from the Saints and Bunian is deceived who saith he is distinct p. 16. from the Saints and so you are a company of pityful Teachers By these expressions he renders not only the Souls and Spirits of the Saints the same being with God but their whole man without distinction Again thou makes a great pudder that any one should witness he is equal with God Answ A Catechism of § 3 the Assembly of the Priests and put forth to the nation in which they have laid down that the holy Ghost and the Son is equal in power and glory with the Father Fox great mystery yet if any come but to witness the Son revealed in him or come to witness the Holy Ghost in them as they gave out the Scriptures or witness the mind of Christ and witness that equal with the Father they cry out horrid blasphemy Observe he doth not in the least deny the priests charge as he calls him but calls it a pudder he makes as if the most horrid blasphemies opposed or charged on the blasphemers were but making a pudder And to heal his sore he would wound the assembly of Divines by laying the like monster at their door but herein he shews his ignorance with his malice and slander For the rest of his phrases I shall only say this that they make no difference between the Spirit of the Quakers yea of all men and the Son of God or the Holy Ghost And is not that of God which comes out from God § 4 is not that of his being the soul which he hath in his Fox great Mystery hand and so divine There is a great difference to be of God with respect to relation or creation and to be of God as of his being or the same being with him the one is common to the whole Creation for of him are all things the other is peculiar to the blessed Creator Magnus Bine saith the Soul is not infinite in it self but Fox great mystery p. 29 is a Creature and Richard Baxter saith it is a spiritual substance Answ Now consider what a Condition these called Ministers are in they say that which is a Spiritual substance is not infinite in it self but a creature that which came out from the Creator and is in the hand of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again that is infinite in it self which the hand goes against him that does evil in which hand the Soul is which is immortal and infinite which hand is infinite which brings it up to God is infinite If any man can match the ignorance confidence blasphemy and nonsence of this passage out of the mouths or pens of any but the Quakers he may be reckoned a great discoverer But this is received by those poor deluded souls as infallibly true and divine mystery being the dictates of George Fox whom none of them dare or will contradict such is the stupendious captivity of these poor people Is not the Soul without beginning come from God It is not horrid Blasphemy to say the Soul is a part of God for it § 5 Fox great mystery came out of him and that which came out of him is of him Thus I have proved not by remote consequences but their open and plain assertions and that pleaded for after their wild manner hat they hold the Soul of Man to be God apart of the Divine being infinite in it self without beginning-part of the creator here is enough of blasphemy and idolatry for one author to fill the mouths of many I shall cite yet more of them that none may think it is but one Quaker though I may stand for a thousand who is so prodigiously wicked § 6. Fisher velata quaedam revelata p. 17. And whereas you Querie whether the said Spirit the Spirit of man is mortal or immortal I answer it is immortal and neither mortal nor corruptible but the immortal and incorruptible seed of God even something of the living word which is said to be made flesh What the word is that was made flesh John saith was God 1. John 1. That which the Lord from Heaven begetteth of his own Penningtons Quest 27. Declaration against poverty query 27. image and likeness of his own substance of his own seed of his own Spirit and pure life Speaking of the Saints the members of Christ Whether do you wait and believe to have the same mind which was also in Christ Jesus who thought it no robbery to be equal with God And Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God yet he was no Pharisee though of the pharisees judged a blasphemer and as he is so are we saith the Saints And they who dwell in the truth witness Parnel Shield c p. 37. one with another For the light of God owns its own for God cannot deny himself They own the Spirit of God Christ the seed and the § 7 spirit of man to be but one and the same thing but some times will deny any to have a Spirit at all but the regenerate that they may not say the unregenerate have the Spirit of God or God the Spirit in them See Fishers rare distinction to serve this turn Fisher velata quaedam revelata p 13 As to the Spirit of man which concurres to the constituting of man in his primitive perfection it is the breath of life which God breathed into his Soul after he had formed him as to his body of the dust of the earth whereby he came to be a living Soul a Soul that did partake something of Gods ovvn life this Spirit of man is that living principle of the divine nature vvhich man did before his degeneration and shall gâ—vin after his regeneration partake of This Charge being of so black and horrid a nature I did not judge it unmeet to prove the truth of it by abounding instances and now Reader judge and put on the largest Charity that a man or Christian ought in any case to exercise and give thy verdict if I have not made appear That the Quakers are gross Idolaters so far as owning and professing that to be God which is not God will contribute to a demonstration I shall manage my second grand argument but briefly SECT IV for the work I have done will render it not very
Holy Ghost 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 acted carried Some of them viz. the Prophetical part were so far from being attained by the use of Natural Faculties though sanctified that their very wills which are the first movers even in intelligent Agents did not ordinarily so much as direct their understandings to the finding out the Truths which were revealed to them but when their thoughts in their present posture had no tendency to any such particular things no more than a man in a deep sleep they were then moved by the H. Ghost that whereas ordinarily they are fixed and bent to such or such ends by the humane will here the Divine will takes its place and doth all And for those Historical parts of the Scripture § 6 as of the Creation Fall of Man written by Moses c. and the Doctrinal parts written by the Apostles c. although the things in general might be the scope and aim of their intentions yet the Gale by which they were driven steadily and infallibly was not the utmost of their natural and sanctified and highest improved faculties but the supernatural guidance of the Divine Spirit whose product was like it self without the least stain or spot of humane frailty and wâ—aâ—ness Whereas that illumination of the Spirit which in the kind of it is common to all Saints flows in by the Lords blessing on the improvement of their understandings and judgments whether on Creation Providence or matter divinely revealed without them originally viz. that contained in the Scripture which although their faith be resolved into and determined by yet the highest pitch of their spiritual understanding is raised by a right and sanctified ratiocination from those principles comparing spiritual things with spiritual And experience teacheth that though an idle Loyterer may grow giddy with empty swimming notions which are rather the disease of a spiritual pride and intoxication yet God doth mostly if not only bless those with high and solid illuminations who humbly wait on him and beg the concourse and assistance of the Father of Lights and Spirit of Truth That God doth bless in such ways to the such § 7 illuminations of the Spirit is clear from this Scripture Heb. 5. 12 14. For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the Oracles of God and are become such as have need of milk c. It was their sin which was rebuked as the cause of their ignorance and what that should be but their slothful unfaithfulness in the use of advantages I know not But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age this must not be understood of number of days but measure of knowledge even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil They were thus illuminated by the Spirit in the way of the use and exercise of their sanctified Natural Faculties and the Ordinances of God for that end If any Quaker shall say True we are illuminated not by Study and poring as they call it on the Scripture or any thing else but have our knowledge without such carnal toil and the wisdom of the flesh and therefore it is by inspiration immediate Let such know that they must shew somewhat more than palpable errour gross ignorance and unparallel'd confidence e're they gain credit with any but those simple ones in a silly sense who believe every word Pro. 14. 15. §. 9. A third Difference is that Apostolical illuminations and immediately inspired are not habitual they are not the more constant frame of the soul but have their fluxes not as Springs or running Rivers or Tydes which have their ebbings and flowings yet the Chanel alway plentifully supplied but as bourns and flouds that sometimes rise high yet the grounds they cover for a while are sometimes and ordinarily a long time dry and no appearance remaining of those inundations The Apostles and Prophets had not such a Well and Spring of this sort as alway run or out of which they might ordinarily give advice and teachings of this kind Whereas the Spirits most ordinary illuminations common to all Saints do in their several degrees and measures in dwell in their souls and are as qualities adhering to their subjects their minds and faculties being so united to them as Sugar being melted in the Wine its sweetness is constant and abiding thereby And hence it was that the Apostles though they could alway teach from the habits of light and knowledge they were blessed with yet in some cases at some times could not speak as inspired by the Holy Ghost witness Paul who in the body of his Epistle to the Corinthians makes this distinction 1 Cor. 7. 6 12. to the end of the Chapter But I speak this by permission ver 6. but to the rest speak I not the Lord ver 12. Now concerming Virgins I have no commandment of the Lord yet I give my judgment as one that hath obtained mercy of the Lord to be faithful 25. But she is happier if she so abide in my judgment and I think also that I have the Spirit of God The same Apostle gives instruction concerning the Choice of Bishops that they be such as are apt to teach 1 Tim. 3. 2. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The word signifies both the habit or faculty and also a promptitude and readiness to imploy it And to Timothy to be instant in season and out 2 Tim. 4. 2. of season that is not only at necessary times in a constant course but occasionally and he could not so preach the Word as became it and an Evangelist but from habitual illumination Mat 13. 52. Then said he unto them Therefore every Scribe which is instructed to the Kingdom of Heaven is like unto a man that is an Housholder which bringeth forth of his Treasure things new and old A fourth Difference the inspiration of the Spirit § 10 doth not grow and increase gradually and according to time and industry Samuel had as elegant and powerful an inspiration or revelation when a Child as when he was old And the Apostles on the sudden at the effusion of the Spirit in that way of ministration had as eminent inspirations as ever afterward But the illumination wherewith God doth usually by the efficiency of his Spirit bless his people doth ordinarily grow at least is capable of it Some to whom John writes were grown to be Fathers For when for the time ye ought to be Teachers Heb. 5. That is ye might have grown to such a degree of il 〈…〉 nation if you had stood in the way wherein the Spirit of God doth usually bless therewith as to have been able to teach others Yea the Lord Jesus Christ himself as man did increase gradually in these habitual illuminations Luke 2. 45 46 47. Jesus grew in wisdome and instature And that it was meant of divine light oâ— light in
Quakers Pope 4. Do the Popish Councils with or without the Pope pretend the Spirit to be present with them and its Authority for all their Determinations to be Infallible Wherein do the Quakers differ from the same Arrogancy when they affirm themselves to meet by the Operation of the Spirit of Truth That the presence of the Lord is with them in their Confulâ—s and then testifie and impose them in the name of the Lord 5. Do the Romists call the Pope or the Pope with his Conventicle of the Prelates the Church and impose their Sentiments and Determinations as the mind and Laws of the Church The Quakers are herein not a hairs-breadth differing from them For that which they call the Light and Sense of the Body and its Determinations is no other than the Dictates and Opinions of George Fox and some of the Leading Quakers which yet are imposed on the rest of the Quakers as the Light of the Body or of the Church of Christ 6. Do the Papists obtrude a submission of the private Sentiments and Opinions of any of their Members to the Determination of the Pope or Pope and Council So do the Quakers requiring That no mans particular Opinion do lift up it self against the Light of the Body but be determined thereby and acquiesce therein 7. Do the Papists reject the Scriptures from being their Rule while they advance Traditions in their rooms The Quakers have gone beyond them who give not that Authority to the Scriptures which the Papists allow them and to over-match the Popish Traditions bring in the Doctrine of Good ancient Friends as their Rule while the Scriptures are denied that Preferment 8. For Implicite Faith the Quakers are no way inferiour to the most strict Votaries of Rome The pretended Light and Inspiration of their Leaders they have a swallow for that a Monster as big as a Whale will pass without haesitation And that these pretended Inspirations are indeed from the Spirit of God they have no other proof but the Opinion of their Infallibility or the Miracles in Spirit which George Fox talks of which are as indemonstrable as the other 9. The continual Sacrifice of Christ in the Popish Mass hath a good Preparative in that Principle of the Quakers That Christ in them doth offer up himself a living Sacrifice to God for them by which the wrath of God is appeased towards them 'T is but removing the invisible Sacrifice from the dark and close corner within to the Altar in some visible sign 't is all one Which may in time appear as agreeing to the light as W. Penn's Ceremony of keeping the Hat off in Prayer doth fitly signifie the Veil removed from their hearts It would yet seem a lame Comparison between the Papists and Quakers if among the Quakers there be no Idols nor yet the Image of the Pope the greatest Idol of all the rest But the Jesuites and Factors of Rome have not been such unskilful Artists and unfaithful Servants to their Master as to do their work so imperfectly 10. If the Light within be not God as certainly it is not then do they professedly give Divine Worship to a Creature or to an Imagination of their own framing And if the Souls and Spirits of men are God or a part of God and of his Being by their Principles which are as truly their Principles as words can express then they are Idolaters with a witness 11. But the Romists give Divine Worship to Saints which is not as most believe the Quakers Idolatry If I do not prove them herein to overmatch them I am greatly mistaken and whether I am or not I will leave it to my Readers judgment The Quakers Worship as they profess is inward Worship which all confess to be the most excellent part of Worship And therefore if they affirm Worship to be given to those whom they put in the room of Saints it must be acknowledged that they worship them though their bodies bow not down to them They profess to worship those who are sprung from the noble gentle Seed and that with Divine Worship and to bow down to the lowest appearances of Christs Light and Spirit Yea George Fox tells us That not to worship Christ in them is to worship Men Devils or Angels This kind of Idolatry may explain the mystery of the Quakers looking so devoutly for a considerable season in each others faces when they meet continuing all the while in a deep silence And there are sufficient witnesses living of the bodily and visible Worship which James Naylor received from divers of them Herein they exceed the Papists Idolatry in the number of their Idols being all that have Christ in them or that are sprung from the noble gentle Seed viz. All thorow Quakers And in the quality of their Idol-Saints for in the room of S. Peter Paul the Virgin Mary are William George c. who are as like to those Saints as the blacker sort of white Devils And also in point of Time for the Papists worship their Saints after their death but the Quakers worship theirs while living See Quakerism no Christianity Chap. 16. for a fuller proof of this 12. To find a Pope or somewhat like him among the Quakers we need seek no further than George Fox who is among them a Pope and more than a Pope His Supremacy among the Quakers is sufficiently known among them and by some lamented But I shall descend to some particulaâ— instances in which George Fox equals or out-does the Pope in his Papal Arrogance and Blasphemy I could produce woful instances from the hand of credible Reports but I shall decline them and present you with a Letter to him from Josiah Coale one of the Quakers chief Ministers which contains a Map of a world of Blasphemies in a small room This Letter I had out of the Quakers Registry it being there preserved as a Testimony of the greatness of George Fox And as bad as it is I having printed it in my Vindication William Penn undertakes twice in print to vindicate every line of it DEar George Fox Who art the Father of many Nations whose Life reached thorow us thy Children even to the Isles afar off To the begetting of many again unto a lively Hope for which Generations to come shall call thee Blessed whose being and habitation is the power of the Highest in which thou rules and governs in Righteousness and thy Kingdom is established in peace and the encrease thereof is without end Doth the Pope pretend that from Peter's Chair Ministers were sent out to convert all those Nations who professed or do profess the Christian Religion Such an one is George Fox said to be for he is called The Father of many Nations and indeed of almost all who are Quakers who with them are the only Christians Doth the Pope pretend to be Christs Vicar and clothed with his power So is it pretended of George that his Habitation is in the power