that was set up in the dayes of Daniel which the Lord did and will confound Answ This being a long Query had need be answered in several parts First thou sayst Now it is come to the formal Quakers turn The Formal Quakers are in reality your selves but we understand thy Speech and know whom thou meanest by formal Quakers even the Antient Brethren and Labourers in the Lords Vineyard with all the faithful Friends that having held fast their Integrity to the Lord have stood and do stand VVitnesses in Gods Power against the deceitful creeping Spirit that hath got an entrance and habitation among and in you and by and through you endeavours to draw back the Lord's People from the true Order of the Gospel and from their diligent Care and Watchfulness over themselves and one another therein into a false Liberty and a licentious Loosness These are those thou Stigmatizes with the brand of formal Quakers And now thou sayest It is come to the formal Quakers turn What is this It that is come to their turn to use Violence Excommunicate east into Prison This is and must be the sense of thy Words if thy Words have any sense in them This String thou hast harped on all along This is it thou taxest the Church of England with in thy second Query Compelling and using Violence In thy third thou queriest Whether the Presbyterians did not do like the Church of England which thou explainest to be Excommuncating and cast into Brison In thy fourth thou askest Did not the Baptists do like the former which was to Excommunicate and cast into Prison In thy fifth thou askest Hath it not been so with all other Sects which still relates to the same thing Excommunicating and casting into Prison is come to the formal Quakers turn This is a false suggestion Leonard and of an high Nature Where 's thy proof Whom have those thou callest the formal Quakers cast into Prison Whom have they used Violence to You and your Company 's shutting Friends out of their Meeting houses and nailing up the Meeting house Door looks somewhat like an act of Violence on your parts to wards those you call formal Quakers But what act of Violence have they done to you Whom of you have they cast into Prison Is not this suggestion of thine an horrible Slander Is not this Libelling What else is this but as B. C. says in your Pamphlet to have an unbridled Tongue tht will accuse and not prove and ask Questions to no purpose except to slander and abuse men Besides we cannot but take notice how slily thou dost link together Excommunicating and casting into Prison as if they were alike evil alike to be avoided and condemned This savours of a loose Spirit that would tolerate all disorderly and scandalous Persons in the Church have none cast out how corrupt soever which is the design of the wicked One against which God's faithful People in all Ages have watched and warred and at all times under every Dispensation as occasion hath offered and need required have used and exercised that just and necessary Power which God hath alwayes invested them with of disowning and casting out and testifying against whatsoever was hurtful and scandalous to the Body and this how grievous soever it be to you alwayes will be as it alwayes has been in the true Church And whereas thou askest Are not they whom thou scornfully caâ—lest formal Quakers with all their Strength and Might c. setting up the Form that they have made c. and giving it higher Names then any that have gone before We answer Nay there is in these Words of thine a base Insinuation For neither have Friends made a Form nor are they setting up any Form but what the Power of god leads into nor do the use Strength and Might outwardly muchless are they getting all the Strength and Might they can in most places as thou most falsly and enviously suggests to set up any other Form but tht the Spirit of the living God in and through his People hath set up as to his divine Wisdom seemed most advantagious and serviceable for his Truth and People and by the strength and might of his own eternal Arms of Power he hitherto hath maintained and will maintain and preserve it against all the poysonous Darts of every envious Tongue Thou sayest Some have had the Confidence to say and Preach penly That what * We neither set up nor contend for any Form but what the Spirit and Power of God leads into and justifies in THEY had set up was to keep things sweet and clean Notwithstanding many things thou sayest have happened amongst them in many places which is a Stink and a shame to mention c. In this we believe thou slanderest those Some thou speakest of Who-ever said or preacht openly or privately that what THEY had set up was to keep things sweet and clean this sounds like Truth but like one of thy slanderous Suggestions We own no Form or Order of Mens setting up any further then men are or may be Instruments in the Lords hand The holy God by his holy pure Spirit hath set up his own holy Order in and among his People and the end of it is to keep things sweet and clean and that 's the Reason the unclean Spirit in you rages so against it and them that stand up for it And it any thing hath hapned which is a shame to mention thou Leonard if thou hadst not been past Shame might have been ashamed to have so much as hinted it knowing whom it will gratifie and also considering how it hath been aâ—d is with many of that Party thou appears an Advocate for Thou goest on and sayest Yet calling them holy Orders c. 'T is thou and you that in your scoffing flouting Spirit use to talk of holy Orders c. We say God is an holy God and he is the god of Order and the Order which he is the God of and hath set up in his Church is an holy Order They that love Holiness love it They tht are for Unholiness and Looseness contend against it And Leonard had not Envy blinded thy Eye and strangely clouded thy Understanding even as a Man thou wouldst not have publisht thy Weakness and Folly as thou hast done in this matter If any thing hath happened amiss among those that profess the Name of the Lord doth that prove either tht the order of Truth establisht amongst us is not Holy or hath not a tendency to keep things sweet and clean Is the Scripture of Truth or the Spirit of God e're the less holy because some unholy Professors of it don't observe it but walk contrary to it Did not the holy Ghost in the Apostles dayes set up an holy Order in the Church of Christ Was not the intent of it to keep things sweet and clean and from running into Disorder Yet too many things happened among them that bore the Christian
Men use to send the Hue-and-Cry after him that takes away their Goods not after him that finding them stragling abroad sends them home again And as for scurrilous Language and Falshood you speak of if that be it which you have printed in your 5th and 7th Pages who-ever shall impartially view your Work throughout your Book may clearly see who the envious Person is and whose the scurrilous Language is For what Page is there in your whole Pamâ—hlet that doth not shew forth both your Envy and Scurrilousness The Person that sent you your Books again is called in your Pamphlet formal Apostate no less than five times in three Pages envious Person treacherous Person Night Wanderer one that cheats Men little less than picking thâ—ir Pockets false Tongue one that like Lucifer thinks to make his Nest among the Stars This sort of Language is to be found in your Pamphlet And whether this be Scurrilous or no let all that read it judge And also whose Tongue hath been most at Liberty and who have spoken as though their Tongues were their own without fear and regard How often do you call that Person you are so angry with for sending you Packets written between the Lines of your Book Libeller 'T is the title and common strain of your Pamphlet Libeller Libeller But who-ever it be that you mean why do you so often call him Libeller Is it only because he set not his Name to the Packets you say he sent you We can find no other Reason you give in your Pamphlet but this And this you seem to give over and over and call him so often the nameless Author as if ye feared you should have wanted Matter to fill up your Sheet without it And when you had thus vented your Enmity in part against him then you Quarrel about your Money your fourteen and eighteen Pence for Postage as you say and Wrangle about a Name as though they were the two main things that troubled you But that will not cover you for in your 7th Page you say Observe so many as have an Eye to him are zealous for the Form c. What! do you know who it is they that are zealous for the Form as you say have an Eye unto and yet do you not know his Name Is not this an hidden Work of Darkness thus secretly to smite in the dark But through all your Coverings the Light discovers you You say in Postscript Here 's a short Description of him meaning the Person that sent home the Books A short Description indeed but a long Villification and foul Reproach In the 2d Page thou saâ—est Benjamin If this Libeller will come forth and own his Work he shall have a fair hearing But we must tell thee if he have thou and some others must Repent and amend first for it is more then some of us can say we have had from you since you have gone into such Work as is here discovered Further thou sayest This is to give notice that whosoever mark the Word Whosoever you intended your Pamphlet it seems for all sorts of People can give certain Intelligence of his Name and place of Residence or Habitation shall have reasonable satisfaction for his Pains And yet in Postscript Leonard thou sayest It is left to some that have made a great talk of their inward sence to make a further discovery of this nameless Author What shâ—â—â—…ing and juggeling is here between you Is this the way you intend to â—aâ—e who call your selves honest men first to say Whosoever can give certain Intelligence shall have reasonable satisfaction and afterwards say It is left to some that have made a great talk of their inward sence to make a further discovery What do you intend your Scoff at last shall be the reasonable satisfaction for your pâ—omise you made at first Is that reasonable Is this like honest men as you are fain to call your selves Is this like men of understanding which you are so desirous to be taken for first to propose it to whosoever and then say it is left to some One while to all without exceptions and another while to some and that with a limitation to such as have an inward sence What silly contradiction is this are not you now found to be Libellers who call the Person you write against formal Apostate five times over without any shew of proof thereof And yet you say You do not know his Name nor place of Habitation Your work is seen by them that keep their Habitation in the Light to be a Work of Darkness and the Fruit of Envy Strife and Contention are in your Hearts Rage and Anger possesses your Breasts your Spirits fret and are disquieted within you Contradiction is among you and the line of Confusion stretched over you for you are fighting against that divine Power that will be too hard for you and all that rise up against it And now having thus far taken notice of the first Part of your Pamphlet to which thy Name Benjamin is subscribed we shall go on to Answer the other part also to which thy Name Leonard is underwrit or put But in the way we take notice that between your two Parts there is this Scripture set down Ephes 5.11 12. To which we say that as a Testimony That we have no fellowship with your unfruitful Works of Darkness we do reprove them and because it is indeed a shame to speak as well as a grief to think of those things which have been done by some in secret we do in Modesty forbear to mention them Now Leonard to being with thy Preamble to thy Queries thou sayest Here is the Work of a formal Apostate manifested and some Observations and Queries made publick c. Herein Leonard thou hast said true thy Work is indeed the work of a formal Apostate the Observations and Queries which thou hast made publick do sufficiently manifest it so to be For hadst thou not apostatiz'd from the Truth and fallen from the living Power and inward Vertue of it into a dry withered lifeless Formality thou wouldst never have publisht those Queries and Observations which so directly tend to Reproach and Vilifie the People of God and expose the holy Truth which they profess to the Scorn and Contempt of every prophane Reader By thy self therefore and out of thy own Mouth is thine own Work condemned to be the work of a formal Apostate and therefore to be the less regarded However we are willing to look through thy Work and manifest more particularly of what sort it is thou joynest thy Observations and queries together saying Some Observations and queries made publick that was long since delivered to some of the formal Preachers in Reading Now Leonard we make no question but by formal Preachers thy flouting Spirit meaneth us two for to us two thou knowest thou didst send they Queries whom in a lofty but empty conceit of thy self being a powerful Preacher thou scornfully
Brethren stand fast and hold the Traditions which ye have been taught whether by word or our Epistle 2 Thes 2.15 And again Now we command you Brethren in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you with-draw your selves from every Brother that walketh disorderly and not after the Traditions which he received of us 2. Thes 3.6 Come Leonard consider seriously of these things Were these things which the Apostle exhorted to and commanded out of the way of Truth or in it We think thou wilt not dare to say it was out of the way of Truth Well then if it was in the Way of Truth was it without Track Did it leave no Impression of Form behind it Was it like the way of a Ship in the Sea How then could it be holden fast Now you that in words for Contention sake cry out against the Lo here 's and Lo there 's are not you in the Lo here 's and Lo there 's one while saying God is the God of Order as in all the Churches of Saints There 's one of your Lo here 's Another while saying The way of Truth is without Track or like the way of a Ship in the Sea which is as the way of an Adultrous Woman that is without Order There 's one of your Lo there 's Thus you are unstable up and down to and fro tossed about like the Waves of the Sea divided between your own Lo here 's and your own Lo there 's The Apostle who abode in the Doctrine of Christ which brought People off from the Lo here 's and Lo there 's but not from the Form of Godliness for that he directed Believers to said We see Jesus And Christ said While you have Light walk in the Light lest Darkness come upon you Now had you seen Jesus and abode with him who brings off from the Lo here 's and Lo there 's and had continued walking in his Light by which you were enlightned you had not been found in such Darkness Confusion and Contradiction as this before-mentioned which shews you are gone from the Spirit 's Teaching Qu. 5. And hath it not been so with all other Sects when they have erred from the Spirit which was given to be for a Leader and have runs into the setting up of outward things which have proved a snare in all Ages read and set how it was with rael of Old when they forsook the Lord how did their Enemies prevailover them Let it be a warning to all in our days Answ The beginning of this Query is Hath it not been so with all other Sects c So How So as it was with Baptists Presbyterians and Church of England viz to compel and use Violence by Excommunicating and casting into Prison as the second and third Queries express for these Queries hang all one upon another and this thing of using Violence Excommunicating and Casting into Prison is the vein that hitherto runs through them all Now to this we say We do not know that it hath been so with all other Sects There hath been other Sects besides those thou hast named which have not used Violence nor cast into Prison that ever we heard of but thou speakest of running into the setting up of outward things which thou sayst hath proved a Snare in all Ages They that have erred from the Spirit are in the Snare though they never set up outward things but otherwise to them that keep and dwell in the Spirit the setting up of outward things hath not proved a Snare in all Ages Thou runnest too fast Leonard to see thy way The Apostle Paul by the Spirit did set up outward things did he thinkest thou set up a Snare The setting up of outward things in the Error from the Spirit is denyed but the setting up of outward things in and by the Spirit never was a Snare in any Age whatever the Abuse of it afterward might prove Thou biddest us read and see how it was with Israel of old when they forsook the Lord but thou dost not â—irect us where to read and see it As formal Preachers as thou representest us to be we can both read and see that thou dost not divide the Word aright here Dost thou make no difference between setting of outward things and forsaking the Lord Which then wilt thou stick to that Paul did not set up outward things or that he therein forsook the Lord That he did set up outward things the Scripture speaks fully One Instance of many may be given from 1 Cor. 16. And 1st where speaking concerning the Collection for the poor Saints he says As I have given Order to the Churches of Galatia even so do ye And then goes on to direct the manner What wilt thou say to this Was not this the setting up of an outward thing Did he forsake the Lord in doing it We hope thou wilt be more considerate and rather acknowledge thy own Error in confounding things that differ Thy instancing Israel of Old to prove the setting up of outward things a Snare in all Ages is a very unapt comparison for the Administration and Worship of Israel of old stood most in outward things set up by Moses the Servant of the Lord. It is true when Israel forsook the Lord their Enemies did prevail over them as your evil Surmizings against the Work of Truth and you perverse Wills your Enemies have prevailed over you since you forsook the Lord and have set your selves in Opposition to what he hath set up And did not he prove an Enemy to Israel who set up a seperate Altar at Bethel in subtil Policy to keep the ten Tribes from communion wiâ—h their Brethren the Children of Judah in Jerusalem under a pretence that it was too much for them to go thither which indeed proved a Snare to them And the made them a Feast like unto the Feast that was in Judah but it was in a time of his own devising And so by rejecting Gods appointment by going from that which God had set up and setting up a Form of their own devising not of the Lords ordering but in opposition to that which he had set up they became a Sect and so were scattered from the Lord and from his gathering And now read your selves in this and let it be a warning to all concerned in our day Qu. 6. And now it is come to the formal Quakers turn and are not they with all thâ—ir strength and might they can get in most places a setting up the form that they have made and giving it higher Names than any that hath gone before And some have had the confidence to say and preach openly that what they had set up was to keep things sweet and clean notwithstanding many things have happened amongst them in many places which is a stink and a shame to mention yet calling them holy Orders and such like names as they in their Imaginary Minds could think on too much like the Golden Image
Name then which were a shame to mention What! then doth it therefore follow that they fault was in the Order or in the setting up of the Order Nay rather is it not manifest and certain that the Fault was in those loose disorderly spirits that like thee and thy Party would not be subject to Truth 's Order but rejected it and walkt contrary to it Thou persuest thy evil suggestion and sayest That this which thou hast mentioned of setting up Forms calling them holy Orders c. is too much like the golden Image that was set up in the dayes of Daniel which the Lord did and will confound But Leonard was that which thou in derison callest the Quakers Form and Holy Orders ever set up under the Penalty of being cast into a fiery Furnace or under any outward Penalty as the Image was in Daniel's dayes Hast not thou herein shewed thy self to have too much Ignorance as well as too much Envy Besides they that set up the Image in the dayes of Daniel were such as had not believed on nor known the true and living God But they whom thou abusest under the Name of formal Quakers do both know him and are led and ordered by him even in those things that relate to Godliness and Christian Charity among them as a Religious People So here they Comparison is Lame as well as Malicious And it is not thy crying against Forms in general and comparing us with others in their Formality that will cover or excuse thee and thy party in your unbridled liberty Hast thou forgotten how the same Spirit of Opposition in Truth 's Enemies did appear and strive and work against Truth and Friends in the beginning much after the same manner as now it appears works and strives in thee and others against Truth an the Friends thereof For after Truth had been declared and many convinced and made a Profession of it then some turned from it again and run out into a corrupt Liberty and therein brought forth such things as are indeed a shame to mention and a grief to the truly Religious to think on And then the Enemies of Truth appeared against the Work of Truth bringing up those bad Actions which had been brought forth by some that had made a Profession of Truth and stung them at Friends saying These are the Fruits of your new Light c. just as you have done against the Work of Truth now by saying where any have gone into bad Actions These are the Fruits of your new Orders And thus you have judged and condemned the Order because of the disorderly walkings of some as those in the beginning condemned the Light because of the bad Actions of some that professed it And here with Truth 's old Enemies you have joyned and have set up an imaginary false envious Judgment against Truth which God confounded in those before and is also confounding in you And look to it in time before it be too late lest you also be confounded in and with it Qu. 7. And doth not many of the formal Preachers sit with their Hats on when many of the Lord's Servants are moved to Pray Answ No those thou scornfully callest formal Preachers do not sit with their Hats on when the Lord's Servants are moved to Pray but it is when such as are not the Servants of the Lord what-ever they may pretend but his great Enemies take upon them to Pray That those thou callest formal Quakers sit with their Hats on as a Testimony against that envious and contentious Spirit in which such undertake to pray The Lords Servants are such as are ruled by him and are found in his Work and Service which is not a work of Strife and Division as you have been and are found in David saith If I regard Iniquity in my Heart the Lord will not hear my Prayer But have not you regarded that Spirit of opposition and W. Roger's and other pernicious Books brought forth by it works of Iniquity so heeply in your hearts that you will rather deny us all than you will give judgment against those work of Iniquity Nay have not some of your Company been found in the like practice of keeping on the Hat which thou so frowardly condemnest others for And those of you that put off your Hats when such as you call formal Quakers and formal Apostates Pray do not you therein act Hypocrisie Is this the Liberty of Conscience you make such a brawling for to joyn in Prayer with those you have rendred formal Preachers formal Apostates Setters up of Forms of mens making c Are not you herein found bowing at that which you clamour so loud against And is not this vile Hypocrisie and base Dissimulation to seem to own the Fruit to be good even while you are rendring the Tree so bad Qu. 8. And doth not many others imitate them in that ungodly Practice so that it maybe said as it was in times past like Priest like People which is a trouble to many and a stumbling block to the weak that behold it And may it not be said as in times past The Teachers of the People have caused them to err Answ If the weak sees any imitating an ungodly Practice they are weak indeed that will hurt themselves with that they see to be Ungodly And it seems it is those that are in the Imitation that are a trouble to many and a stumbling to the weak not those that are in Reality And so thy secret smiting doth not reach us but if the weak stumble and fall it will lie at your Doors who have joyn'd to and follow'd that Spirit of Opposition and Contention and those in it that hath caused Division and done Mischief And you that have falsly and maliciously rendred the Antient and Honourable in the Truth Apostates Innovators and Incliners to Popery whereby you have corrupted the minds of some and given an occasion of stumbling unto many it is not your telling of Hats nor your sometimes using good Words and fair Speeches to beguile the Weak and Unstable that will cover you much longer And canst thou expect Leonard any should think that thou hast any regard to the Weak who in your malicious Pamphlet in Print hast laid so many Stumbling-Blocks in their way Qu. 9. And do not some of the formal Preachers send great Packets by the Post directed to honest Men in the Country without any Name to them on purpose to put them to Charge Answ If any such Packets have been sent they that sent them best knows the occasion and reason of sending them we are strangers to it How comest thou to suppose they were sent by formal Preachers seeing thou dost not know who sent them Mayest thou not be as much out in being so positive that they were directed to honest men in the Country to put them to charge as thou art in supposing they were sent by some of us whom thou callest formal Preachers in Reading for