Miraculous such as the Gifts of Tongues of Prophecy and Miraculous Cures c. And these Miraculous Gifts as they are of much less Value to us than the Saving Graces so are they not greatly to be Covertd See Enthusiasm Exercis'd before Quoted nor are they at all to be Pray'd for We must be wholly Passive in this Case and leave it altogether to the Wisdom of God when where and how to bestow of these But to pretend Falsly to any such Gifts is down-right Diabolical it is Express Blasphemy against God and by His Law to be Punished with Death All such Enthusiasm or Inspiration is most certainly from the Devil And therefore we must be well aware of it and examine all such Pretences diligently and having detected Falshood in them to oppose them with all Zeal to Cry aloud and give the World warning of the Spirit of Delusion broken loose among them And there can be no Neuters in this War Whoever can be Patient to see the Name of God thus openly and presumptuously Blasphem'd is no Christian has no Zeal for God nor Love for the Souls of Men but is such a Latitudinarian Laodicean as God will Spue out of his Mouth Had the Quakers pretended to never so great Talents in Sanctifying Graces tho' greater than they had they shou'd never have been oppos'd by me Because I wish to them and to all Men much greater than they have and daily encrease of them But when I found them pretend to Miraculous Gifts and upon this Fund to set up Schism and Seduce Multitudes from the Peace and Unity of the Church and introduce Damnable Heresies I thought it an Unpardonable sin any longer to forbear to warn others and seek to undeceive the Poor and Simple sort among them who are â—â—d blindly in their Snares The Lord Rescue them of his Infinite Mercy Amen If G. Fox had set up for the greatest Zeal towards God and to the most Extraordinary Impulse of Spirit and Experiences the then â—and of God and that upon this Pretence he had been carry'd even to Excesses much might have been allowed to such a well-intended Zeal tho' not according to Knowledge But in his Journal p. 83. he despises such a low Dispensation which he turns over to the Priests as he calls them who Disputed against him One of them says he told me That He cou'd speak his Experiences as well as I. But I told him Experience was one thing but to go with a Message and to have a Word from the Lord as the Prophets and Apostles had and did and as I had done to them this was another thing and therefore I put it to them again Cou'd any of them say he had ever had a Command or Word from the Lord Immediately at any time Thus he And here can be no mistake Because he puts the Distinction himself betwixt Immediate Revelation and Inward Impulses those ordinary Assistances or Inspirations which Good Men Experiment of the Holy Spirit of God in their Studies and Meditations upon the Holy Scriptures their Preaching Praying and other Means of Grace which God has appointed Such Experiences the Priests own'd to G. Fox But he pretended to further that is to Immediate Command from God to go with such a Message c. as the Prophets and Apostles had Not a mediate Command by the Mediation of the Use and Knowledge of Scripture Preaching Praying or any Human Means But Immediately without help of Scripture or any thing else from God Himself as when He spoke to Abraham or any of the Prophets or Apostles If George had pretended only to have Reason'd with us out of the Scriptures we cou'd have born with him If Mr. Penn had contented himself to have told us of his great Knowledge in the Scriptures not to give us New to have Celebrated him for a Thousand Virtues or for his Learning or any other Natural or Acquir'd Aibilities He shou'd have Peaceably Enjoy'd all these Trophy's however Deserv'd for any Pains I had taken to the contrary But when p. 29. of his Preface Mr. Penn wou'd persuade us that this Fox had Outward Revelations and Visions from God upon a very high Mountain in Yorkshire and there had his Commission given by God to go to the North c. This obliges us to look more narrowly into the Matter For there is no Medium left by this but either that all these Nations and all the World to whom he directs some of his Papers are Fighters against God in not submitting to his Message by this Prophet Fox Or otherwise that this Fox was a Wizard possess'd with the Devil and that all are Deluded Fatally who follow him or wou'd Recommend him And when all this is but the Preface to Pretended Miracles Exhibited in his foolish Legend of a Journal as Vouchers of his Mission When Miraculous Gifts are not only ascrib'd to G. Fox but to the Rabble of these Quakers whom Mr. Penn ibid. Sect. 10. p. 23. compares to the Ancient Prophets and tells us of their Prophecies particularly of the Plagne and Fire of London in express Terms says be and likewise Particular ones to divers Persecutions I suppose it shou'd be Persecutors which accordingly overtook them and which were very Remarkable in the places were they dwelt and in time they may be made Publick for the Glory of God But Mr. Penn This wou'd be the best time For one Prophecy before it be fulfill'd is worth twenty that are Publish'd afterwards Besides People will be apt to say that you Pick and Choose out of your Register of Prophecies and having many Most if not All Curses and Iudgments some must likely happen or towards it and that you give us only them but throw all those that miscarry behind the Door And some may suspect even Forgery that Prophecies are Coin'd after the Facts come to pass Therefore to obviate all these Objections and to prevent the deceiving of after-Generations who may not be so well able to Examine into matters of Fact said to be done long before their time it is desir'd that Mr. Penn wou'd Now Publish his Register of Quaker Prophecies or for ever after hold his Peace But we must take them as he pleases to give them and by what he has told us we may guess at the rest He names Prophecies of the Plague and Fire of London in express Terms And there he leaves us in the General but tells not who where when that is reserv'd for after Ages when there shall be none alive to disprove it But notwithstanding it is fair in us freely to own what is come to our Knowledge tho' the Modesty of the Persons concern'd might let it sleep in Generals unexamin'd Be it known then unto all Men That one Solomon Eccles a Quaker Preacher and Prophet did go Naked through Bartholomew-Fair the year before the Fire of London with a Pan of Fire upon his Head warning the People to Repent c. But it must
own Will And therefore we are left to suppose if we please that it was obtain'd by their Prayers His words are these VVhen it was intended by them Christopher Atkinson and the Maid to have been hid they were forced from the witness of God in them to Declare it and own their Condemnation And here was a greater Miracle than if they had found it out of themselves if they could prevail with God to force the very Guilty Parties to confess it against their own Wills And therefore no thanks to them And therefore these Quaker Confessors were not bound to Conceal the Confession which C. A. made to them in Prison nor to seek to Restore him but rather to Drive him farther into Despair by quite throwing him off and disowning him There was much more tender Regard shew'd to some Young Women who had given a Confession in VVriting to John Bolton of their Frailty in the Flesh as is told in the Spirit of the Hat Printed 1673. p. 43. but it was hush'd up because as the Quaker Author Declares it touched many Eminent ones in the Ministery who from day to day resorted unto them and giving them these Appellations Innocent Lasses and Daughters of Sion Instances can likewise be given of some of their She-Preachers whom they call Traveling Friends that went abroad to propagate the Faith and to settle the Churches who got something in their Journey which made them Propagate and Travail even according to the Letter It is not good Manners to name Names upon such an Occasion Yet if the Friends will plead Ignorance something may be done for their Satisfaction But let the shame lie at their own Door It is but ask and have But we may make a little more bold with the Mens Infallibility And I will not go to Mean ones The great James Naylor was brought upon his Knees before their Church where George Fox Presided to acknowledge his Failings And I saw in George Fox's own Hand this Sentence against James Naylor viz. Friends shall not be judged for judging of him J. N. This was preserv'd by one present among many others when he wrote it This James Naylor suffer'd himself to be Hosanna'd into Bristol as Christ was into Jerusalem And I have told you before of G. Fox's ascribing not only the Names and Titles of Christ but his Power and Virtue to himself and others of their Preachers Invoking and Worshiping him as God in the Stile and Attributes of God These are much more dreadful Failings than those before spoke of of the Flesh than those of W. W. of Hallelujah Fish the Saints know whom I mean and several others whom I cou'd name And I had not mention'd one single Person if it had not been against Pretenders to Infallibility which Plea leads us Naturally and Necessarily into this sort of Redargution as giving a Man a Fall is the shortest and plainest Conviction that he is not Almighty And I am very sure that all the knowing among the Quakers will believe that it was meerly the necessity of the Argument which forc'd me to expose the Failings of any for that if it had proceeded from any Inveteracy or Malice Catalogues might have Been produc'd instead of single Instances here set down and those at great Distance But I hope what has been said will be sufficient and then it has reach'd my Purpose to cure Men of this most mistaken pretence to Infallibility grounded upon the Infallibility of the Spirit of God as if nothing cou'd proceed from Infallibility but what was Infallible or from Omnipotence but what was it self Omnipotent But tho' God Omnipotent and Infallible did Create all things that are yet there is VVeakness Error and Sin in the World Of all which there is not any Instance so great as of those who deny this who are not sensible of their own VVeakness and Fallibility but pretend to Perfection and that even Infallible But let such consider that it is a just Judgment from God to give up those to follow their own Imaginations who of their own Heads durst presume to leave those Guides the Bishops of the Church under whose Government God had plac'd them and to rend the Body of Christ by a causeless and Desperate Schism So that even their Error may in this Sense come from God that is as a Judgment upon them And for this cause says St. Paul 2 Thess 2.11 God shall send them strong Delusion that they should believe a Lye And if the Prophet be deceived Ezek. 14.9 I the Lord have deceived that Prophet And it was the Lord who put a Lying Spirit into the Mouths of Ahab's Prophets 1 Kings 22.23 Now whether it be such a Spirit or not which is in the Mouths of the Quaker Prophets we have a plain Rule whereby to know Deut. 18 20 21 22. The Prophet which shall presume to speak a word in my Name which I have not Commanded him to speak even that Prophet shall die And if thou say in thine Heart how shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken VVhen a Prophet speaketh in the Name of the Lord if the thing follow not nor come to pass that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken but the Prophet hath spoken it Presumptuously thou shall not be afraid of him Here is a plain Touch-stone which cannot be mistaken And the case of the Quakers is so hard that if we can prove but one False Prophet among them the Infallibility of all and every one of them must be a Deceit because as above-quoted out of Ed. Barrough the Infallibility is asserted to belong to every one of them in particular And I need not Travel far to find Instances undeniable upon this Head But I will be as merciful in Exposing them as I can Therefore without telling Names the Friends do know that there is a Quaker Glover in Cheapside London who had his Till Robb'd and that a Quaker Prophet came to him and told him he was sent from God to Reveal to him in the Name of the Lord that his Maid Servant who was likewise a Quaker was the Person who had Robb'd him The Maid being thus Charged stood resolutely in asserting of her Innocency But the Prophet endeavour'd to bear her down by his Prophetick Authority and bid her not deny it for she was seen do it Who saw me said the Maid The Prophet reply'd with a Monstrous assurance The Lord saw thee This prevail'd so far with the Glover that he had his Maid before a Magistrate who was persuaded the more to terrifie her to send her to Newgate where she was threatned with the Irons or put in them But nothing cou'd extort any Confession from her and having no Evidence against her at length she was dismiss'd from the Prison but her Master the Glover believing the Prophet turn'd her out of Doors Had that poor Maid been either Threatened or Flattered into any Confession here had been a Prophet as great as
Keith hereafter mention'd Of which he has given us a full Account in Print Entituled The Pretended Yearly Meeting of the Quakers their Nameless Bull of Excommunication given forth against G. Keith c. And in another Treatise which bears this Title The True Copy of a Paper given in to the Yearly Meeting of the People called Quakers the 15th day of the 3d Month 1695. with a Brief Narrative of the most material Passages of Discourse betwixt George Whitehead Charles Marshal and George Keith the said day c. Together with a short List of some of the Vile and Gross Errors of George Whitehead Iohn Whitehead William Penn c. Both these are Printed for R. Levis 1695. and the Bull of Excommunication is inserted Verbatim in the first of these Accounts As to the Justice or Injustice of the said Bull I refer the Reader to these two short Treatises above-mentioned But the use I have to make of it is to shew the Authority which their Church or Meetings do assume over the Light within Particular Persons which was the great Pretence upon which the Quakers first set up and decry'd all Church-Authority as Carnal and Anti-Christian That is as they have done the Power of the Sword till it come into their own Hands See Sect. II. p. 14. This Grace-Church-street Excommunication may be added to the Proceedings against G. Keith in Pensilvania to the Barbadoes Judgment and other Instances of their Church-Authority over Particular Persons which are mention'd at the end of Sect. X. from p. 118. But there is another thing of a more astonishing Nature You will see Sect. IX of the Antient Pretence of the Quakers to Immediate Revelation in the same Degree that the Prophets and Apostles had And as a Consequence of this it is shewn Sect. X. how they have aspir'd to Infallibility and that not only of their Church as they call it but in each of their Particular Persons And Hence they have taken upon them to pronounce Prophecies and Curses as all their Prophecies that I have met with are in the same Stile with the Holy Prophets Thus saith the Lord. This is from the Mouth of the Lord c. Several of which Prophecies thus solemnly Denounced have prov'd Errant Lyes as is shewn from Remarkable Instances 2. Now I did really think that the Present Quakers were asham'd of these Gross Delusions so Palpably Detected past all Contradiction Tho' they wou'd not own it nor Publicly Censure these False Prophets of theirs because of overthrowing their Foundation the pretended Sanctity of these their Leaders And this was the reason that I thought it highly useful to lay open their Horrid Deceit for this purpose chiefly That I might by this bring our Present Quakers under that Happy Necessity as I thought of Disowning the Mad Enthusiasm of these their Adored Guides and thereby persuade them to return to the Sobriety of Religion in Odium to which as a Carnal and Spiritless Dispensation they had been Betrayd by these Pharisaical Pretenders to quit the Communion of a Regularly Constituted and Apostolical Church But Alas the Issue has quite deceived my Expectations for our Present Obstinate Quakers not only refuse to be brought to disown their own False Prophets though they cannot deny the Instances wherein they are prov'd to be such but do still Fearlesly go on and pretend themselves to the same Extraordinary Commission of Immediate Divine Revelation and thereby a Right to affix God's Seal Thus saith the Lord to whatever their Rage their Malice or their Folly shall suggest If they think these too hard words they shall have harder yet For this matter cannot be compounded No! This is nothing short of Blasphemy Rank wild Blasphemy And the Honour of God must take place of any Respect to Men and I have a great deal for some who are too much herein concern'd therefore I must I cannot help it yea Wo to me if I do it not I must freely and openly Rebuke this Proud Blasphemous Spirit which Seduces the Servants of God and speaks to them in the Name of the Lord whereby they are brought to Worship It What is That What is It which pretends to be God and is not Even That which Inspires Men to think what It Dictates to be the Immediate Revelation of God Himself and Emboldens them to affix to it Thus saith the Lord. This is the Prince of the Spirits of Delusion and this Prince they Worship tho' Ignorantly for God who mistake his Inspirations for God's Now I am to tell the Reader That the same day month after G. Keith was Excommunicated as abovesaid George Whitehead one of the Quaker Metropolitans thought not that Condemnation sufficient but pursu'd him with his Prophetical Curse in the following words Thus saith the Lord Because thou hast poured out great Contempt and Reproach upon My Servants and People I will assuredly pour out and bring great Contempt and Confusion upon Thee This is signed George Whitehead and Dated the 17th of the 4th Month that is June 1695. and was sent to G. Keith But Copies of â—t were likewise given out amongst the Friends that they might admire these Prophetical Gifts and if any thing infortunate should in all G. Keithâ—s Life-time befall him that it might cerâ—ainly be esteem'd as the Consequence of his Curse and G. Whitehead be bought as much a Prophet and to have spoken from the Mouth of the Lord as certainly as ever Jeremiah foretold the Destruction of Jerusalem and the Seventy years Captivity But I proceed to a Man of much greater Consideration It is told at the end of Sect. 10. from p. 136. how the otherwise highly-valuable Mr. Penn pronounced a Sentence of Apostacy against George Keith In the Name of the Lord. It is true this was not taking upon him the Gift of Prophecy like G. Whitehead but it was delivering his own Judgment as the Positive and Infallible Oracles of God And if G. Keith does tell us truth if not he is in a Man's Hands that can and will surely correct him in the second of his Books above-mentioned The true Copy c. p. 14. Mr. Penn did own before the Yearly Meeting That the Glorious Power of God which he felt did so Transport him that he was carry'd beyond himself and knew not whether he was sitting standing or kneeling when he Pronounc'd that Sentence This was like St. Paul 's whether in the Body or out of the Body he cou'd not tell Good God! How great is the force of this Mad Spirit of Enthusiasm That a Man of Mr. Penn's Known Sense and Abilities shou'd not be able to distinguish betwixt the violent Transports of Passion and the Immediate Inspiration of the Holy Ghost O that our Religion and the whole Scriptures shou'd be thus expos'd to loose and Atheistical Wits when they shall compare the Inspirations of the Holy Prophets and Apostles with these of W. Penn G. Whitehead c. and turn both alike into Ridicule O
only as an Extraordinary Inspiration for some time but as an Holy Duty And if it be such it must bind for ever Sam. Fisher in his Rusticus ad Academicos Exercit. 2. p. 18. says As for that Holy Duty it self of Quaking which as Blind a Guide and Brute a Beast as Thou thus he treats Dr. Owen in the Quaker Courtly Dialect art in speaking evil of c. Now if it be an Holy Duty then are the Present Quakers fallen from their Duty and from their Holiness If it is an Effect of the Extraordinary Inspiration of God then have not the Present Quakers such a Degree of the Spirit as the First Quakers had which I suppose they will not be willing to own For then there will be Degrees in their Infallibility And if it be once coming Down Stairs But if as in truth it is that their Quaking and Shaking proceeded from a strong Possession of the Spirit of Enthusiasm it will follow that all was a Delusion then and must be so still while our Modern Quakers take upon them to Justifie those who went before them and their Doctrines And by G. Fox's Sentence above-told all Was and Is Conjuration and their Quaking was the Possession of the Devil and the Quakers now are Inspir'd by Him and are False Prophets Diviners and Conjurers And this as G. Fox teaches must certainly be so if they have spoken any thing not only Against the Word of God but if All that they have said was not spoken from the Mouth of the Lord. Even to make it Heathenism and Idolatry to have the Image or likeness of any Ceature in Heaven or in Earth painted upon a Sign See a Treatise of G. Fox's which was surnam'd Iconoclastes And an Order of his Printed at the end of Tyrany and Hypocrisie 1673. But only a Bed-Staff Fire-Shovel Saw Fork or the like of Man's making And where he Preaches against Skimming-Dish-Hats Unnecessary Buttons on Coats or Cloaks Slit-Peaks behind on the Skirts of Womens Wast-coasts Short Black Aprons needless flying Scarfs Vizard-Masks Bare-Necks c. All which he Dictates as from Immediate Inspiration 5. But because these poor misled Quakers and other Enthusiasts among us are made to believe that the Church of England does wholly throw off all Inspiration of the Holy Spirit and rests only on their outward Forms I will here briefly set down the Doctrine of the Church of England in this Point and shew what sort of Inspiration She allows and what it is which She rejects 1st She constantly Teaches That all the Saving Graces are wrought in our Hearts by the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost Insomuch that of our selves we are not able so much as to think a good Thought And that this Inspiration is as necessary to our Fructifying or bringing forth Good Works as the Influence of the Sun is to the Earths bringing forth of her Fruits That whatever may bear the appearance of Good Works in us and is not wrought by this Inspiration is not Good nor Acceptable to God As it is express'd in our 13th Article Works done before the Grace of Christ and the Inspiration of His Spirit are not pleasant to God Yea rather for that they are not done as God hath Willed and Commanded them to be done we doubt not but they have the Nature of Sin What fuller can be said for the necessity of this Inspiration And if the Quakers will have this call'd The Light within we will not Dispute with them about a Word it is the Thing and Meaning that we Contend for This is the constant Tenor of all our Prayers Almighty God 2d Sunday after Lent who seest that we have no Power of our selves to help our selves keep us c. And because we can do no good thing without Thee Who seest that we put not our Trust in any thing that we do We humbly beseech Thee 1st Sunday after Trinity that as by thy special Grace preventing us Sexagesima Thou dost put into our Minds good Desires Easter-Day so by Thy continual Help we may bring the same to good Effect That 5th Sunday after Easter by Thy Holy Inspiration we may think those things that be Good Grant us by Thy Spirit to have a Right Judgment in all things Whit-Sunday c. And in The Ordering of Deacons this is the first Question Demanded by the Bishop from those who are to be Ordainâ—d Do you trust that you are Inwardly moved by the Holy Ghost to take upon you this Office Do you think that you are truly called according to the Will of our Lord Jesus Christ c. The same is Demanded in the Ordination of Priests and Bishops And the words of Consecration of a Bishop are Receive the Holy Ghost for the Office and Work of a Bishop in the Church of God And the Hymn Veni Creator Spiritus is Sung Come Holy Ghost our Souls Inspire And lighten with Coelestial Fire c. And according to this we Pray that God wou'd Cleanse the Thoughts of our Hearts by the Inspiration of His Holy Spirit First Collect in the Communion Service That He would Prevent and Further us Last Collects in all our Works And that of His only Gift it cometh 13th Sunday after Trinity that we do unto Him True and Laudable Service Nay not only our Works 3d. Sunday after Trinity or Prayers but that our very Desire to Pray is his Gift We Pray for Pensons to be Baptized that God wou'd Wash them and Sanctifie them with the Holy Ghost Baptism And our Catechism teaches 1st Collect. that we are not able of our selves to walk in the Commandments of God Catechism and to serve Him without His special Grace And lastly for I must Transcribe our whole Liturgy to name every place where the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost is Witnessed and Prayed for thus the Bishop Prays for Persons to be Confirmed Strengthen them we beseech Thee O Lord with the Holy Ghost the Comforter and daily increase in them Thy manifold Gifts of Grace Confirmation the Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding the Spirit of Council and Ghostly Strength the Spirit of Knowledge and true Godliness and fill them O Lord with the Spirit of Thy Holy Fear now and for ever Here is an Enumeration of the Principal Gifts of Grace for which we Pray And in the Exhortations before the Communion it is earnestly Inculcated upon us that if we be not thus Spiritually prepared all the Outward Ordinance will avail us nothing For otherwise as it is there worded the Receiving of the Holy Communion doth nothing else but encrease your Damnation And there is not one Book of Devotion us'd among us that does not tell us the same That the Inward is the Soul of Religion without which the Outward part is but a Dead Carcase and stinks before God And that the Inward Purity of the Heart cannot be wrought but by
the Operation of the Holy Ghost who is the only Author of all Holiness So exceedingly groundless is that mistaken Prejudice taken up against the Church of England in this point that I do not believe there is one Man to be found in our Communion so Ignorant or so ill Taught as to think the Outward Performance can make us accepted with God unless the Inward does go along with it And if the Quakers or any other thought that we too much neglected the Inward their Admonitions and Example wou'd have been well receiv'd but not to accuse our Doctrine as denying Inspiration For this Doctrine of the Inspiration of the H. Ghost is the Alpha and Omega of our Religion I have shewn it in our Offices of Baptism Confirmation and Holy Orders of Bishop Priest and Deacon In our Catechism and Common Prayers And to all who are acquainted with these I have taken very needless pains at least they might think that one Quotation or two had been sufficient But I have enlarg'd for the sake of these Quakers and others Enthusiasts who are possess'd with the most False and Violent Prejudices against our Doctrine and Worship and then are strictly forbidden so much as to look into our Liturgy Articles or Homilies whereby to undeceive themselves and are led in as Blind and Implicit a Faith in their Leaders as any is to be found in the Church of Rome it self If they think I have wrong'd them let them then be persuaded to Read and Judge as they shall find And for this particular subject we are now upon of Enthusiasm as to what sort of Enthusiasm is allow'd and what Censur'd in our Church be sides our Homilies and Liturgy I recommend to their serious Perusal Dr. Hammond 's Postscript concerning New Light or Divine Illumination which is added to his Annotations upon the New Testament And that Excellent Sermon of Dr. Hicks called The Spirit of Enthusiasm Exorcised Preached before the University of Oxford the 11th of July 1680. I have briefly shewn what sort of Enthusiasm or Inspiration is allow'd and own'd in our Church And it is full as much as any sober Quaker can mean by the Light within Which therefore in this Sence is not Disowned but Avowed by us And as much stress is laid upon it as they can reasonably desire It is made Necessary to every Good Work and Thought And the Cause of all the Good that is in us And we are Directed to it to Follow and be Guided by it and are assur'd that it will lead us to all Truth that is requisite and necessary for our Eternal Salvation It is this which opens the Scriptures to us and our Understandings rightly to apprehend the true Sense and Meaning of Them and which inclines our Will to Love and duly to follow the Divine Precepts therein Commanded If any Quaker as I am confident all that are in the least sober-minded will say that this is all they mean by their Light within then where is the Difference Why do they break off and separate from our Communion upon the Pretence of the Light within wherein we agree with them What Reason have they to Censure ours and all other Ministeries but their own as Mr Penn says in his Preface to Fox's Journal p. 38. We have seen says he the Fruit of All other Ministries by the few that are turned from the Evil of their Ways First This is a very bad Argument for Mens being Evil may proceed from their own Preverseness and not from the Fault of the Ministery We find but about 120 that were Converted by the Ministery of Christ in all his Life-time Acts 1.15 And by Mr. Penn's Consequence this must be charg'd upon the Ministery and as a Proof that it was not Good And to justifie rather the Ministery of Thendas Acts 5.36 37. who got about 400 to follow him and Judas of Galilee drew away Much People But Secondly This is a most Uncharitable Presumption and the Heighâ— of Spiritual Pride to Condemn All the World but themselves While they cannot deny that there are many in other Communions of Sober Honest and to all appearance Religious Conversation But that is no matter It is all Formality in them The Quakers only have the Spirit and truly follow its Inspirations or the Light within Therefore Mr. Penn in the same Page of his Preface Censures ours with others as A Dry Doctrinal Ministery That can reach but the Ear and is but a Dream at the best And p. 21. They the many Ministeries in the World declare of Religion say many things true in words of God Christ and the Spirit of Holiness and Heaven c. But which of them All ever directed a Man to a Divine Principle or Agent placed of God in Man to help him c. I Answer which of them has not Not one that I know of Did any ever yet deny The Candle of the Lord searching the Inward Parts Prov. 20.27 I have sufficiently Vindicated the Church of England in this And the Sects amongst us Presbyterian Independents Anabaptists and all the way down to Muggleton himself have set up upon great Pretences to the Spirit But Mr. Penn says that is only in Word none Feel or Experiment the Power of the Spirit but the Quakers And being Infallible we must take their Word As likewise That it is plainly possible for one that hath received the Word of the Lord Penn Ibid. p. 39. to Miss in the Division and Application of it Which is a very Pertinent Caution Mr. Penn bestows upon his Beloved and much Honoured Brethen that are in the Exercise of the Ministry among the Quakers And if they may Miss how do we know but they have Miss'd How did he know they cou'd Miss but by their having Miss'd And how does this Missing consist with Infallibility Such Infallibility as they set up Sect. IX X. and Mr. Penn in this same Preface p. 36. For being quickned by it says he that is by the Light within in our Inward Man we cou'd Easily Discern the Difference of things and Feel what was Right and what was Wrong and what was fit and what not both in Reference to Religion and Civil Concerns Here is an Infallibility of as large a Latitude as can be desir'd It is both Spiritual and Temporal And yet it may Miss in the Division and Application of The Word of the Lord And be nothing the less Infallible But will they give no Body leave to Miss but themselves Must wâ— be Conjurers and They Apostles and all for our Missing Is their missing too from the Mouth of the Lord If not then G. Fox has Pronounc'd them all to be Conjuters Even Dear George Thou who excellest them all 6. But I shall exceed the bounds of a Preface I have shewn what Inspiration or Enthusiasm is own'd in our Church which is that of Sanctifying and Saving Graces I come now to speak of that Enthusiasm which is Extraordinary and
betwixt Oliver's Porter and the other less Mad-Men who call'd him Mad and he call'd them Wicked and Prophane and Pronounc'd Curses against them In the Name of the Lord for Despising his Gifts and Mission so do the Quakers and Muggletonians Curse one another bitterly and call one another Serpents and Sorcerers I have heard a Quaker say that Muggleton deserv'd all that he met with that is New-Gate Pillory and his Books Burn'd because said the Quaker he was a Deceiver of the People And Muggleton says the same of them and that Fox met better Treatment than he deserv'd And the Authority of the one is as good as the other And there we leave them But this I must say that Muggleton sticks truer even to Fox's Principle of Enthusiasm than either Fox himself or his Followers For Fox 's Chief and only Principle was at first to Direct Men to the Inward Anointing and that They needed no Man to teach them See his Journal p. 5 31 and 57. but as the Anointing teacheth them Therefore that they shou'd come off from all Mens Teaching unto God's Teaching For that God was come to Teach His People Himself But Fox wou'd not trust to this for he went about Teaching outwardly and has Erected an Outward Church-Discipline and Authority to over-rule that Anointing if it prove Refractory And though they have rejected the Sacraments as Outward things yet they keep up an Outward Ministery and Preaching which are more Inconsistent with their Principle of Reducing all to the Inward and waiting for the Lord in silence within c. But Muggleton has no Outward either Sacraments or Teaching nor any Outward Worship or Assemblies for any thing Relating to Religious Matters But leaves every Man Free to follow his own Impulse and to an Vniversal Liberty of Conscience If any Embrace his Principles Welcome If not let them go This is true Liberty of Conscience And sticking to the Inward Principle With which the Quaker Preaching and Church-Discipline is altogether Inconsistent even as at first Taught by themselves However Muggleton and Fox must be allow'd to be Brethren tho' not in equal Perfection because they both set up to Destroy the Outward or whole Body of Religion and Reduce it all to a Skeleton or a Ghost upon Pretence of giving Preference to the Spirit or Inward part of Religion which none denies as if one should Destroy the Cask to Preserve the Wine upon Pretence that the Cask is no part of the Wine But these two Mad-Men Fox and Muggleton being totally Ignorant of this thought themselves Spiritual by running down all Outward Forms And both their Inspirations came from the same Author The Father of Lyes who in that Hurricane of Schism and Rebellion got an Act of Parliament for Toleration and Liberty of Conscience to sow his Tares at Noon-Day with Doors open c. and he made full use of his Liberty He enter'd into the Herd of our Swine the Beasts of the People and drove them over Precipices of Enthusiasm to Perish in the Ocean of Heresie and Error Amongst these Jannes and Jambres Fox and Muggleton were Chiefs of greatest Note But Fox has got more Followers and of late some tho' very Few of more Sense and Learning Whose Labours have rendered their Cause much more Deform'd like a Monkey Dress'd in Mans Clothes and set on Horse-back or as a Jewel hung in a Swines Snout The Jargon was something agreeable to the Enthusiasm of Mechanicks both alike Intelligible But to see it Dress'd up in the Guise of Learning and set off in Mr. Penn's Elegant Stile 'T is such a Sight And it has undone them by Discovering them For being now made to speak Sence they are capable of being answer'd by Reason 8. But Nothing so Diverting as to see them sick of their Prophecies and spue them up again when they happen to interfere with their Interest How they endeavour since 1660 to stifle and conceal the Flattering Prophecies they gave to Oliver and the Cursed ones against the King and Cavaliers But in the Re-printing the Works of their Prophets since 1660 they leave out these Now unsavory Passages Their Infallibility needs an Index Expurgatorius as well as that of Rome through which we suppose George Fox's Works are to pass which are design'd as a Second Volume to his Journal Of this Cleanly Art they have given us a fair Specimen in the Re-printing of the Works of Edward Burrough one of their main Pillars or Posts wherein they leave out at p. 100. the following Prophecies which he directs thus To all you who are and have been always Enemies to the very appearance of Righteousness who are called Dilinquents and Cavaliers And he holds forth to them as follows Thus saith the Lord my Controversie is against you And you are become Cursed in all your Hatchings and Endeavours i. e. to Restore the King and from time to time my Hand hath been against you in Battel Your Kings and Princes and Nobles have been cut off in Wrath You are given to be a Curse and a Desolation and a Prey in Houses and Lands and Persons to them whom I I have raised up against you i. e. Oliver Cromwel and then he goes on to Prophesie for the Future in these words And you and your Kings and Lordly Power by which you have thought to Exercise Lordship over my Heritage shall be Enslaved by the Devil in the Pit of Darkness in Everlasting Bondage where He shall Reign your Lord and King for Evermore These are the Mildest words they can bestow Pillars of Fire and Smoak like the very opening of the Infernal Pit In all whose Caverns there lodges not a more Furious and Cursed Spirit than that which Inspires these Prophets of the Quakers whose Breath is Fire and Brimstone That Book of Burrough's out of which I have Quoted what is above bears this Title A Trumpet of the Lord or Fearful Voices of Terrible Thunders uttered from the Throne Declared and Written by a Son of Thunder c. 1656. How does it make ones Hair stand on end And how ought it to raise the Indignation of every Christian to see such a Blasphemous Wretch Pretend that all these his Hellish Thunderings were Uttered from the Throne of God! To see him begin in such a Stile as this By Order and Authority says he given unto me by the Spirit of the Living God King of Kings and Lord of Lords the 31. day of the 10th Month in the Year of the World's Account 1655. about the 4th Hour in the Morning when my Meditations was of my God upon my Bed in Kilkenny City in the Nation he wou'd not say Kingdom that was too Monarchical at that time of day of Ireland at that time The Word of the Lord came unto me saying Write my Controversie with All the Inhabitants of the Earth unto All sorts of People as I will shew thee by this same Authority and Commission Declared this I send unto
c. This is plain Language They will not yet take Arms not For the present not till they see their time But they have enter'd a Caveat to secure their Right and Title to it till they think fit to set up their Claim for their Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth But this is a Secret and to be kept under their Thumb for the present And therefore in their New Edition of Edward Burrough's Works Anno 1672. This Passage is left out with others against the King c. But no ways Disclaimed or Censur'd by them Which is now Requir'd from them or otherwise they must give us leave to believe that it is their Principle to take Arms and to Fight to set up their Heirship to any Kingdom they please when their King the Son of God Commands them And they believing that their Light within is that very Christ the Son of God as is fully shewn in what follows the Consequence is that they are free to take Arms whenever they say it is the time Or if the Mission of a Prophet be necessary to signifie the Command of their King to Fight for Him and for their own Heirship that can never be wanting to them because they do pretend to keep up a continual Succession of Prophets among them And the Word of every True Prophet being the Command of God Himself consequently whoever believes such a one to be a True Prophet must at his Command think themselves oblig'd to pull down any King and to set up whomsoever that Prophet names in his Place As Hazael was made King of Syria and Jehu of Israel by the Command of Elijah 1 Kings 19.15 16. Now the Quakers do pretend to have still Prophets and with as great a Power 9. For by their Printed Injunctions from the Meeting of Sufferings in London the 18th of the 6th Month 1693. to the respective Monthly and Quarterly Meetings in England and Wales for preserving and spreading Friends Books for Truths Service among other of their Works to be carefully by them spread by way of Epistle Warning Caution and Exhortation they add likewise Prophecy And by a Canon of their General Assembly in London the 27th of the 3d Month 1675. they strictly Caution and Forbid to say That the Faithful Friends Papers which we say they testifie have been given forth by the Power of God are Mens Edicts And in their Paper of Orders from London in the 3d Month 1666. they reckon them as Heathens and Infidels who will not submit to the Judgment of their Church and dare oppose it as the Judgment of Man This is beyond all Acts of Parliament they are but the Edicts of Men And we pretend our Canons and Ecclesiastical Injunctions to be no other But whatever a Quaker Dictates if it were to Depose the King and set up their Universal Monarch above-told and to assert by Arms their own Heirship to the uttermost parts of the Earth If they should abrogate any or all of our Laws as they have done that of Tithes or any thing else whatever their Arbitrary Enthusiastical Spirit shall suggest to them this must not be look'd upon as any thing that is Humane that is below a Quaker's Pride but as the very Words of God as if pronounc'd by an Angel or an Apostle So that we must look well to our selves These are no Ordinary Men believe it 10. And their Design I mean of their Leaders is not only Liberty of Conscience that 's but a poor business but the total overthrow of the Church of England And that by a very Crafty Policy first to take away their Maintenance that is the Tithes and then they are sure it will fall to the ground And this Rob. Barclay does not conceal Anarchy p. 42. An. 1676. That Anti-Christian Apostatiz'd Generation says he the National Ministery have received a Deadly Blow by out Witness against their forc'â— Maintenance and Tythes So that their Kingdom in the Hearts of thousands begins to Totter and shall assuredly fall to the Ground But what if the Light within some Quakers shou'd allow them to pay Tythes And think that they ought in Conscience to do it as being Legally Established c. Wou'd the Quakers Rulers allow them Liberty of Conscience and give them leave to follow their Light within No. No. That is but scaffolding to pull down our Church and to build their own And they will not have their Cannon turn'd against themselves See his Animadversions on George Whitehead 's Innocency Triumphant 1694. p. 30. For when Thomas Crisp and other Quakers thought themselves oblig'd to pay their Tythes and did so accordingly they were Proceeded against as Rebels under no less a Denomination and that not only as against Men but against God Himself For their Writings as above told are not to be look'd on as the Edicts of Men. But as G. Fox Proclaims in his Answer to the Westmorland Petition p. 30. If ever you own the Prophets Christ and the Apostles you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power And in another place See G. F. and R. H. Truths Defence c. p. 2. 104. 107. You might as well Condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as our Queries Our giving forth Papers and Printed Books it is from the Immediate Eternal Spirit of God You are Answered from the mouth of the Lord c. And from the same mouth of the Lord Thomas Ellwood Denounces Antidote against the Infection of W. Rogers c. p. 78. That they who pay Tythes thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh which is a mark of Anti-Christ And G. Fox in his Decretal Epistle bearing Date the 3d Month 1677. See his Journal p. 431. Commands severely that the Friends Testimony against Tythes be kept up with vigor He says That for any to cry against the Priests in words and yet to give them means and put into their Mouths is a Contradiction And therefore take heed says he for if the Lord God do Bless you with outward Creatures and you do bestow them upon Baal's Priests the Lord may justly require the outward things from you again So all the Preachers for Tythes and money and the Takers and Payers of Tythe must be testified against in the Lords Power and Spirit and therefore in the power of the Lord maintain the War against the Beast that is as well Payers as Receivers of Tythes And that is the whole Kingdom King and Parliament who made Laws for the Payment of Tythes and all who dare obey those Laws are The Beast Anti-Christs and have deny'd Christ's coming in the Flesh as T. Ellwood and therefore G. Fox concludes his Epistle above-said keep your Authority and Dominion That is over that Beast and these Anti-Christs This was wrote 1677. and Printed 1694. whereby we may understand what Church they mean to which Tythes are paid and against which they have Proclaim'd War 11. But there
not the Seed and Christ Himself as the Quakers Blasphemously Dream only a Ray or Communication of His Light and Life to us How then can the Quakers have the True Christian Faith how can they be esteem'd as any Christians at all who will not allow Christ to be the Promis'd Seed or that He was more a Man in the Body of Jesus than in the Body of any other Man who make no more Reckoning of His Blood than of any other Saint who do not believe Him now to be a Man and as such our Mediator and Intercessor at the Right Hand of His Father These things I offer to their serious Consideration and I Pray God to Discover to them those Depths of Satan and that Bond of Iniquity wherein they are Captivated But I wou'd ask Mr. Penn one Question before I go upon his Hypothesis of the Light within being the Promis'd Seed And that is since the Quakers make this Light within to be in every Man that comes into the World how was it Promised Gen. 3.15 Was it not Then in the World And how then were they to look for it as to come But Mr. Penn has another Argument Ibid. to prove that the Outward Christ cou'd not be the Promis'd Seed which he says must be Inward and Spiritual Why Because says he One outward thing cannot be the proper Figure or Representation of another nor is it the way of Scripture so to teach us the outward Lamb shews forth the inward Lamb c. I am sorry Mr. Penn should tell us that this is not the way of Scripture because it is the Common High-way of the Scriptures For all the outward Sacrifices under the Law were Types or Figures of the Sacrifice of Christ the outward Christ upon the Cross Of whom St. Paul said 1 Cor. 5.7 Christ our Passover is Sacrificed for us So that the outward Paschal Lamb in Aegypt and the striking of its Blood upon the Side-Posts of their Houses Exod. 12.7 13. that the Destroyer might not come in was a certain Type of the outward Blood of Christ which keeps off God's Wrath from us and not of any fansy'd inward Lamb slain in our Hearts c. as the Craft and Malice of the Devil has suggested to deface and wear out of our Minds the Faith in Christ's outward Blood by which only there is Salvation And by the help of this Distinction of an outward and Inward Christ outward and inward Blood c. the Quakers do keep themselves out of sight of all Men not throughly acquainted with their Deceits They can upon a Pinch subscribe the whole Creed and yet not mean one word of it of God or Christ at all that is of any God or Christ without Men or what all the World believe by God or Christ as existing without us tho' by their Blessed Influence operating within us But their Gross Ignorance cou'd not at First distinguish betwixt God and his Influence and those of them who know better now think themselves obliged to Justifie at least to Palliate and Excuse the Failings of their Leaders because they once own'd them to be Infallible By this means all the Non-sence and Blasphemy of G. Fox lies upon Mr. Penn's Shoulders If he will maintain him right or wrong then must Mr. Penn answer for G. Fox's calling himself Equal with God And his senseless Argument to prove it in his Saul's Errand before Quoted p. 8. because forsooth he had the Spirit of God as he Pretended whence he Argues in these words He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God Nor is this Madness peculiar to Fox alone it runs in the Blood of the Quakers The Renowned Francis Howgil is yet more Express in this Blasphemy if more can be His Works in Folio Reprinted 1676. Entituled The Dawnings of the Gospel-Day p. 232. The first thing thy Dark Mind stumbles at says he to his Opponent Edward Dodd is that some have said that they that have the Spirit of God are Equal with God He that hath the Spirit of God is in that which is Equal And he that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit there is Unity and the Unity stands in Equality it self Thus he and lest you should think too little of the word Equality he gives it you with an Emphasis Equality it self But he seems to come into a calmer mood a few lines after and says There is Equality in Nature tho' not in Stature But instead of bringing him off this sets him deeper in the Mire For first it is Nonsence for whatever is equal to God in Nature must be so likewise in Stature Since His Nature is Infinite And for that Reason secondly making us equal to God in Nature is the highest Equality it is indeed Equality it self Which Expression Howgil repeats twice in the distance of three lines that he might be sure of it Having thus made themselves Equal to God in very Nature it is not strange to see them denying any other God or Christ but themselves They pull God out of Heaven and upbraid those who believe that there is any God or Christ there as I have hereafter Quoted their words out of a Book of theirs call'd The Sword of the Lord drawn c. p. 5. Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly deny'd to say this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye I will here add to this how careful they are to instill into their Children according to their Capacities these Principles of their most Anti-Christian Religion and exceeding the Blasphemy of all that we ever yet heard among the most Barbarous of the Heathen Nations There is a Primmer put out for the Quaker Children by W. Smith There p. 8. you have this Question asked How may I know when Christ is truly Preached And the Answer is They that are False Ministers Preach Christ without and bid People believe in Him as He is in Heaven above but they that are Christ's Ministers Preach Christ within Here was an admirable Cue given to young Children to prevent their ever receiving the least tincture of Christianity that if they shou'd at any time hear of a Christ in Heaven or of any Christ out of themselves they might immediately stop their Ears and believe all who spoke of it to be False Ministers Sure Satan never advanc'd his Kingdom in any Age so high as in these miserably Deluded People But lest the Child shou'd think that there might be only difference of Expression betwixt the Quakers and others who Profess'd a Christ Personally in Heaven tho' Present with us and operating in our Hearts by the Influence and Graces of His Spirit there is another Question p. 9. Here then is great difference in their Doctrine Answer Yes and no more Fellowship than East with West This Answer is true indeed For the difference is not only in the Expression but in the Doctrine And
Elijah But however the Prophet stuck to his point and those who were so inclin'd believ'd him rather than the Maid But Alas this Story did not end here For the Devil ow'd some Body a shame And these Quaker Prophets resolv'd to try their hands round since they had begun and see if they could terrifie some or other to Confess to their Infallibility and then all the Nation shou'd have been Deafened with their Miraculous Gifts In order to this soon after the Glover had turn'd off his Maid as above-said there came to him in the Power and Spirit of the Lord as he Blasphemously pretended one John another Quaker Prophet and told him that as God sent Prophets to the Children of Israel so had he even now Prophets among his People that he was a Prophet sent to him from the Lord and did pronounce to him in the Name of the Lord God that his Apprentice then present was the Person who had Robbed him The young Man the Apprentice tho' a Quaker knew his own Innocence and therefore did boldly before his Master confroâ—â— this Prophet and that with so much assurance and such Circumstances as overcame the Prophet's Confidence who thereupon own'd to his Master and to him that he was mistaken in the Person for that it was not the Apprentice who had Robb'd the Till The Glover then asked the Prophet if he had spoke of this to any The Prophet said Yea to one Robert a Friend and a Shooe-maker in Martins near Aldersgate Then said the Glover Thou canst do no less than to clear my Apprentice to him which he promis'd to do And away went the Apprentice with him to see his Reputation vindicated When they came there and the Quaker Shoe-maker had gone with them into a Room the Prophet being loath to fall to his work sat silent Humming and Groaning as if moved by the Spirit till the Apprentice having waited very long minded him of the end of their coming there and related to the Shooe-maker how the Prophet had confess'd himself mistaken in charging the Robbery upon him and had come there on purpose to own so much before him the Shooe-maker because he had aspers'd him to the Shooe-maker And therefore desired the Prophet to proceed and perform his Promise But the Prophet having bethought himself gave no answer but continu'd in his Humming posture The Shooe-maker seeing the distress of the Prophet interpos'd very seasonably and said to the impatient Apprentice Perhaps he desireth some longer time to consider of it And turning to the Humming Prophet said Doest thou not John Yea cry'd the Prophet hastily finding himself reliev'd And the Apprentice was forced to return to his Master without the satisfaction which was promised But on the contrary John the Prophet upon second thoughts found it best to stick to his Infallibility and therefore return'd to the Glover and repeated his Charge in the Name of the Lord against the Apprentice But after this the Robber was taken Robbing a Till at another Shop and among other of his Robberies Confess'd that he had Robbed the Till of this Glover Then was this Prophet again confounded And nothing left to the Friends to salve up the Deceit of this Prophet otherwise than by concealing it But they see it is not conceal'd nor a great many more Instances which if they will join Issue upon that point shall be produc'd Only for the present let me mention one yet more Notorious and Remarkable mistake in a greater Prophet and Preacher of theirs call'd Solomon Eccles And the Proof is not Hear-say but under his own hand in a Letter of his which he did not send but carry and deliver to a Fellow Quaker of his one John Story who was one of the Opposers of the Womens Preachings and the Jurisdiction of the Womens Meetings set up by G. Fox as an Ordinance of Christ This Letter bears Date the 1st Day of the 1st Month 1677. and is Printed by Thomas Crisp another Quaker Opposer of this Prelacy of the Women in their Church in his Babels Builders c. The first Part Re-printed at London 1682. Where he likewise tells us that for the greater Solemnity Solomon Eccles carry'd with him two Eminent Friends and Espousers of G. Fox and his Party to be present at his delivery of his own Letter to this Back-sliding John Story in which Letter being Usher'd with so great Ceremony after very sharp Reprehensions to the saiâ— John for opposing himself to their Great Apostle G. Fox he Denounces thus This is the word of the Lord to thee says he That this Year shalt thou John Story die because thou hast taught Rebellion against the Living God Note That as T. Crisp tells us in his Book above-Quoted this John Story was at that time ill and not like to live long And to Men possess'd with such Enthusiasm as the Quakers are and Languishing under the Infirmities of Sickness such a Cordial as this administred with such Circumstances of Terror might have wrought the Effect it fore-told which in all probability was Solomon's Design and if he had not liv'd to see himself prov'd to be a False Prophet he might have been hang'd for a real Murtherer But this John Story liv'd about four years after this to the Eternal Confusion of the Quaker pretence to Infallibility But that is not all If losing their Plea to Infallibility were all they wou'd still stand upon the Common Level with other Men. But now it is made apparent that that Spirit which possesses them is the very Spirit of Lyes which is the Spirit of the Devil and consequently that their Light within is Darkness and then as our Saviour said O how great is that Darkness How Great indeed to see a miserable Wretch possessed with the Devil pronounce his Delusions as the Immediate Revelation of God with a This is the Word of the Lord. And the same horrible Blasphemy is in all pretended Extraordinary Inspirations from God O therefore let those Christians beware who are led away with Pretences to the Spirit in any Men not only Against but Beside that which is Written Who break the Unity of the Church which Christ calls the tearing of his own Body to pieces and forsake the Communion of their lawful Bishops whom Christ has left as his own immediate Representatives and Vice-gerents and as the Principles of Unity in their Respective Churches upon pretences of Extraordinary Inspirations in those Teachers whom they have heaped to themselves For Extraordinary Inspirations are not to be Credited unless vouch'd by Miracles which God always sent to attest to his Extraordinary Commissions And if they are pretended to come from Him and are not then it is a Demonstration that they come from the Devil And let us take this one Mark more to judge when such Inspirations are from God or from the Devil Those from the Devil generally tend to Schism and Rebellion as in that of Jeroboam and the Ten Tribes who broke off
Christ did Inspire the Person of that Man Jesus in an higher measure than other Men. But they deny any proper Incarnation of Christ that is that he was made Flesh or that He and Jesus were one Person Yet they allow Jesus to be call'd Christ from the Dwelling of Christ in him But for the same Reason they take the Name Christ to themselves and say that it belongs to Them as well as to Jesus from the same Dwelling of Christ in Them as was in Jesus They say that Christ did raise up the Body of Jesus from the Dead but they say not that Christ did carry it up with him into Heaven So that tho' there be a Christ now in Heaven that is as he was before his Descent upon Jesus as he is the VVord of God yet they do not confess that there is any Jesus now in Heaven or any where else they know not what is become of him or what Christ did with that Body of his after he had rais'd it from the Dead They say there is no Christ without them no other Christ but what is within them They allow him now no other Body but their own they call themselves his Body that is the Church And as they give him no other than a Mystical Body so they Spiritualize all his Life and Death to his Spiritual Living and Dying within them As one of their Preachers Pray'd at a Solemn Meeting O God who was Crucify'd Dy'd and rose again in us And G. Fox says That if there be any other Christ but he that was Crucify'd within Great Myst p. 206. he is the False Christ this Christ that was risen and Crucify'd within Devils and Reprobates make a talk of him without And he disputes against those who say That the Man Christ that was Crucify'd his Body is now in the Presence of his Father Gr. Myst p. 211. or that Christ is absent from them the Quakers as touching his Flesh p. 210. and p. 254. they that profess a Christ without them and another Christ within them here is two Robert Gordon was the first among them that I find who taught the Orthodox Faith in this point of the Divinity of Jesus and his Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins by which he purchas'd Redemption for us through Faith in him as outwardly suffering Death for us upon the Cross and now Personally Reigning in Heaven and not only as a Light within us Tho' he denies not that Light within but strongly asserts the necessity of it as it is an influence sent from the Spirit of Christ into our Hearts to guide and enlighten us but not the very Christ it self and the only Christ and Saviour as the Quakers Impiously do Blaspheme denying any other at all The Book wherein Rob. Gordon taught as above-said he Entituled A Testimony to the true Saviour or Jesus Christ of Nazareth as having already purchas'd Redemption for us in the Body of his Flesh and revealing it within us by his Spirit It was Printed in London in the year 1670. Against this wrote George VVhitehead with three other Quakers And Rob. Gordon Published an Answer to every one of them severally which was Printed 1671. and call'd Christianity Vindicated And in R. Gordon's Reply you will find the abominable broad Blasphemous Heresies which these Quakers did hold as p. 20. That Christ was never seen with any Carnal Eye nor his Voice heard with any Carnal Ear. Hereby says Gordon plainly denying him to be the Son of Man And p. 21. You neither confess nor Preach him Christ as a Man but as a Light in that Man Christ and as a Light in every Man as it is in every Man as he comes into the World And p. 30 Behold the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the VVorld a Voice not heard among you says Gordon of the Man Jesus Christ the Son of the Virgin Mary as now perishing Outwardly Bodily without us but apply'd by some among you to Meekness Humility and the life within you And p. 33. The Light the Seed within is Christ then I am he that speaketh then Hosanna The Son is equal with the Father I witness the Son in me so I witness Equality with the Father The Light in me is Christ Christ is the VVord by which the VVorld was made then it was said of Christ that he was in the VVorld and the VVorld was made by him and the VVorld knew him not so it may be said of this Prophet G. F. as is said by S. E. in his Paper Entitled The Quakers Challenge p. 6. Christ is the VVay the Truth and the Life Christ is in me and must not he say where he is I am the VVay the Truth and the Life He that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus from the Dead is Equal with God Jesus Christ the Mystery passed before the same Spirit takes upon it the same seed where it is manifested as it is mentioned in G. Fox's Book Entituled Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 7 8. Here you see them making themselves Equal to God by their having the true Christ in them Now see them for the same reason Preferring themselves before that Man who was called Christ they make that Man Christ and all that he suffer'd and did to be but a Type or Shadow of what is really perform'd in them by the true Christ as you may see in Gordon's Testimony to the true Saviour above Quoted p. 36 37. The same things are fulfilled in thee speaking to the Quaker that was figured in him Christ But tell us plainly says he p. 37. is that one Sacrifice of the Crucify'd Body of our Lord once offered to bear the sins of many a Pattern and Figure of things to be done over again in us the Blood without Typifying Life and Spirit within Is this Sacrifice so weak so empty a thing that it is a Pattern and Figure having nothing in it self but as Painting to another to wit this Light enlightning every Man How are you beguiled does Gordon Reason with them to Preach up the Light enlightning every Man that comes into the VVorld for the true Christ to cry up a Light within to cry down the Blood without to Preach him as an Example to cast out the Atonement to speak of him as a Figure pointing at this Light within as the abiding Substance p. 40. Denying him to have any Real Outward Individual Glorified Bodily Existence in his Father's Kingdom The Preaching of a Christ without them they call old Beggarly stuff and those who have formerly Preach'd him as without us tho' Prophets or Apostles to be Low and Carnal in their day according to their Cant which he there Repeats See more Quotations of this sort in T. C's Animadversions above-mentioned p. 35. Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly deny'd That this Christ is God and Man in one Person is a Lye This is in p. 5.