is just now since I began this Preface a most clever and Ingenuous Excuse made for this in a Paper Dated at London the 4th of the 4th Month 1695. and Signed on Behalf of the Friends and yearly Meeting by John Vaughton Samuel Watson John Field Thomas Lower and William Bingley Printed and Sold by T. Sowle near the Quaker Meeting-House in Grace-Church-street It is Entituled An Answer to Francis Bugg's Presumptuous Impeachment c. There they wou'd persuade us That all they have said against the Payment of Tythes was only meant by them against Payment of them to the Popish Clergy But by no means against the Right of the Church of England to Their Tythes as settl'd upon them by the Civil Government No! They are not such bad Subjects as to oppose any thing of the Laws of the Land We are not Convinced say they p. 2. that it can be against the Fundamental Laws of the Land either to deny Tythes What When the Law enjoins them now in this Gospel-Day or to deem them Anti-Christian as they were imposed by Popes and Popish Laws which are not the Fundamental Laws of this Realm Are not Acts of Parliament tho' made in Popish times And there are Acts of Parliament since the Reformation for Tythes So that this is a mere Sham But they go on And our Testimony herein does rather affect a Popish Clergy than a Protestant Civil Government And p. 3. they tell that what they are Quarrell'd for was their Testimonies against the Corruption of Priests and Popish Imposition and Oppression of Tythes And p. 5. for Deeming the Imposition of Tythes by the Pope and Popish Laws to be Anti-Christian But hark ye Gentlemen if ye be not offended with that Title there were no Tythes paid to any Popish Priests in England ever since Quakerism appear'd amongst us And if you meant all you said only against them your Preaching was altogether vain But Barclay as before Quoted names the National ministery who had received a Deadly Blow by your witness against Their forc'd Maintenance of Tythes whose Kingdom he says was tottering and shou'd assuredly if he was a true Prophet fall to the Ground Slay Baal crys G. Fox Balaam must be slain news out of the North 1655. p. 31. all the Hirelings must be turned out of the Kingdom These are the Baal's Priests whom this Fox Commands you not to Feed The Beasts the Anti-Christs over whom you are to keep your Authority and Dominion If it be not so Why then do you not now pay your Tythes to the Ministers of the Church of England Why do you boast of your Sufferings and Imprisonments for not paying your Tythes to them as being a sort of Martyrdom for the truth Why do you Persecute and Disown those of your own Communion who pay their Tythes not to Popish Priests but to those of the Church of England Why are you so Zealous herein as not to leave it to their own Conviction or Light within whether they will pay their Tythes to the Priests of the Church of England or not Why will you not allow them what you your selves so much plead for Liberty of Conscience in this Case No This is a Material Cause This is the surest Method to Destroy the Church of England And you have gone a great way in it already For if they are Depriv'd first of the Tythes of all the Quakers who are not so few by the lowest Computation as one hundred thousand here in England and then of all those who to avoid Payment of their Tythes will pretend to be persuaded by them herein if the Tythes of all such were substracted there wou'd not be sufficient left to keep half the Clergy in England from Starving And it is the Desire and Design of the Quakers to Starve them as is plainly Confess'd and Threaten'd or Prophesy'd of in Richard Hubberthorn's Works Re-printed since 1660. in his Answer to John Stellum p. 130. When the Law of the Land says he ceaseth to maintain them the Priests as he calls them which will come sooner than they expect then may they begg their Bread or Perish for want And this the Quakers hope to effect by their Testimony against Tythes and Threaten or Prophesie that it will come sooner than we expect either to have the Laws for Tythes alter'd or overthrown if the Government will not alter them they will overthrow them by Declaring them Anti-Christian and so Abrogated of Course And it is to be observ'd that there is no Principle of the Quaker Religion wherein they are so Zealous as in this They did not think it sufficient to Preach and Print against Tythes but they went about and got Subscriptions of many thousands of the Quakers throughout all England against Tythes and sent them up to the Parliament in an Humble Threatning Manner And as if this had not been sufficient the VVomen must be assembled in the several Counties and They too must sign the like Subscriptions and sent them likewise to the Parliament And then they Printed them to let the Nation know their Force I have now before me the Printed Testimony and Subscriptions with all their Names at length of above Seven Thousand of these Quaker-women against Tythes sent to the Parliament as they call'd it the 20th Day of the 5th Month 1659. They were resolvâ—d to Batter them down And all who thus Subscrib'd were in their Fashion Canoniz'd by them For they are thus stil'd in the said Printed Account The Hand-maids and Daughters of the Lord. But these seven thousand who had not Bowed to the Baal of Tythe wou'd not have you think that there number was so small for they subscribe not only for themselves but as it is there Printed in the Names of many more of the said Hand-Maids and Daughters of the Lord who witness against Tythes c. And G. Fox in his Letters of Licence hereafter inserted for these Subscriptions complain that All the Good Women had not Sign'd I have not yet seen the Subscriptions of the Men. But we may compute by this of the Women what vast Numbers the Men Subscribers must have been And we may reasonably suppose their Arguments to have been much the same with these of the Women being likely drawn by the Men at least with their Concurrence And the VVomen do positively Declare for Annulling the Laws for Tythes if the Parliament wou'd not Alter the Laws The Commands of men say they p. 3. must be Annulled that take Tythes and not to be obey'd by them that live in the Covenant of God And they tell p. 4. That they bear their Testimony for the Lord Iesus Christ in opposition of Tythes against the Commands of men set up in opposition to him since the Days of the Aposties c. which to you say they is the word of the Lord God And. p. 21. The shout of a King is amongst Us the Lord God Omnipotent Therefore we with our Names and Hands bear our
Ribaldry and Billings-gate But the Furies which breath in their Spirit can go along with it into Breasts of more Free and Generous Conversation Mr. Penn's Sense and Breeding cou'd not secure him from the Tincture of this Leaven which transported him for nothing else cou'd do it to treat his old Friend Mr. Firmin at this course rate calling him in his VVinding-Sheet Printed 1672. p. 2. That Little Great Pragmatical Thomas Firmin a Monster all Tongue and no Ears I abhor his Folly Lightness and Foul Mouth And he calls Mr. Hedworth p. 1. a very Night-bird a VVanderer one that looks and creeps about like an Angry Vagrant Momus p. 3. Bursten'd with Folly and Revenge p. 4. Stuffed with dull Ignorance and Cavils Shallow Head Envious Heart an Idle Shifter Bombast a Lye as black as Hell All this in one Sheet of Paper In the Conclusion of which in one line he calls Mr. Hedworth a Busie Body Caviling Conceited Proud Wrathful Equivocating Slandering Cowardly Man And in a Pamphlet Entituled The Spirit of Alexander the Copper-Smith c. Printed 1673. p. 1 2 14 16. he calls William Muggleton his Opponent an Old Canker'd Apostate a Clamourer a New Alexander Phygellus Hermogenes Hymenaeus Philetus a very Mutineer in Religion a Dark Envious Inveterate Man An Adamantine Alexander the Apostate c. Such sort of Railing and Effeminate Spite one wou'd not have expected from a Man of Education and Excellent Natural Parts But it shews the strength of the Poison and how hard it is to touch Pitch and not be defil'd This VVrathful Spirit of the Quakers shews it self yet three times more Deform'd and Ridiculous when it is vented Naturally by the Mechanick Gang who have no Art to hide its Natural Colours Take some of their Poetical Elevations against some of their own Separatists which is Recorded in T. C's Animadversions hereafter Quoted p. 10. Rogers Team Crisp * This Pen is not William Penn who is not one of their Separatists but one John Peniman contracted into Pen for this sweet Verse Pen Bullock and Bugg Dark Devil-driven Dungy-Gods desperately Lugg That are ty'd to the Tail of the separate Schism Popish Libertine Heathen Judaism Atheism Such Filth and Nonsensical Venom could never proceed from the Spirit of Purity or of Wisdom There needs no Argument to discern betwixt Perfume and Stench The opening of the Box does it And this shews the true Picture of the Quaker-Spirit exposes it to our Touch we Feel See and Abominate it by the very Conviction of our Senses As Heaven and Hell wou'd discover themselves at first sight No less distinguishable are Blessing and Cursing Meekness and Fury His Delight was in Cursing says David Psal 109.16 and it shall happen unto him He loved not Blessing therefore it shall be far from him He Cloathed himself with Cursing like as with a Raiment Psal 14.5 The Poison of Asps is under their Lips their Mouth is full of Cursing and Bitterness Thus much for their VVrathful Spirit next for their Pride Pride is involv'd in Wrath and Wrath proceeds from Pride But of all Pride there is none so dangerous and wicked as that of Spiritual Pride It is this which makes us likest to the Devil But when Wrath expresses it self in the Contempt and Disparagement of others then it is direct Pride which consists in a Comparing of our selves with others and a Preferring of our selves before them And when this is upon Account of Religion of our own suppos'd Holiness above that of others Stand by thy self Isai 65.5 come not near me for I am Holier than thou These are a smoke in my Nose says God a fire that burneth all the day Now the Quakers in this exceed all the Sects upon the Face of the Earth And that most Uncharitably They Damn all the World to Hell all since the days of the Apostles but themselves as above is shewn Sect. 4. They make themselves as Infallible as Christ or the Apostles as hereafter will be shewn They Explain not their Light within to be only an Illumination from Christ as Mr. Penn has of late Ingeniously turn'd it but to be the very Person of Christ in them and that there is no other Christ no Personal Christ in Heaven or any where without them Which I will shew abundantly from G. Fox and others of their Apostles and therefore that the Title or Name of Christ does belong to them to every Member as well as to the Head as well as to that Man Jesus Christ in whom Christ or the Light dwelt no otherwise tho' some of them will sometimes say in a Greater Measure than in every one of the Quakers Nay G. Fox says that their Soul is a Part of God Gr. Myst p. 273 100 91 229 90 29 207 282. of his Being and Essence that they become one Soul with God that their Soul is Infinite in its self And that God is not distinct from his Saints as I come to shew They pretend to a Perfection even Equal with God as I will shew in express Terms out of G. Fox And therefore they say they are without Sin and they never beg Pardon for Sin but Laugh at us and Upbraid us for confessing of selves to be Sinners or Praying to God for Mercy Alas poor Souls says Mr. Penn of the Church of England in his Truth Exalted Reprinted at London 1671. p. 9. are you not at Have Mercy upon us miserable Sinners there is no Health in us from seven to seventy And p. 8. He accuses the Church of England as Opposers of Perfection They think it not Honour enough to stand before the Throne of God but G. Fox places them upon the Throne p. 31. The Quakers says he are in the Power of God and in the Authority of the Lamb above all Houses and are upon the Throne And according to this high Dignity in which they place themselves they give to themselves and to one another the most peculiar Titles of Christ as that of the Branch and the Star and the Son of God which are attributed to G. Fox New Rome Arraign'd p. 33 34. and which he takes to himself I saw the Copy of a Letter of his to Oliver Cromwel transcrib'd by a Quaker and preserv'd as a Precious Pieceâ— He there calls himself the Son of God and says of himself My Kingdom is not of this World But because some wou'd turn it off and pretend that he spoke these words of Christ and not of himself I will set down verbatim that part of the Letter and leave the Reader to judge These then are his words I who am of the World call'd George Fox do deny the carrying or drawing of any Carnal Sword against any or against thee Oliver Cromwel or any Man in the presence of the Lord God I Declare as God is my witness by whom I am moved to give this forth from him whom the World calls George Fox who is The Son of God who is
it was Muggleton says he got his Inspiration and have proceeded since upon the same main Principle tho' in some particulars they have out-stript one another and Persecute one another as if they were not Brethren But tho' like Sampson's Foxes they draw two ways their Tails are joyn'd with Fire-brands to set the Church in a Flame I desire here before I go farther to obviate a Prejudice which some Readers may take as a little Railery I am forc'd to now and then which they may think not becoming the Gravity of the Subject in Hand But there are some things so very Ridiculous as to make a serious Confutation of them no less Ridiculous I am to tell the Reader likewise that I do not in this undertake to give an Account of all the Errors of the Quakers And some of those which I do name I dismiss very briefly intending chiefly to insist upon some of their more Material and Monstrous Heresies 1. Therefore first As to their Principles concerning Government I shall only refer you to the Quakers Unmask'd Printed at London 1691. where p. 14 15. you will see them to be Commonwealths-men against Kingly and Hereditary Government and making all Governours Accountable to the People And p. 18 19 20. They Court Oliver Cromwell at no small rate justifying the Murther of King Charles I. whom they call Traytor Common-Enemy c. and yet after the Restauration 1660. they come about again and compare the same Oliver to Abab Haman and Pharaoh They had got a New Light See more of this in the latter part of Sect. XI SECT II. As to Their Principle against using the Carnal Weapon or Force of Arms. I Will dispatch this Head with a pleasant Story I find in the Printed Tryals of G. Keith and others in Pensylvania where the Government is in Mr Penn as Propriator and under him chiefly Manag'd by Quakers who are Justices of the Peace and in other Commissions there But so it fell out that some Pirats took a Sloop of theirs This put them into great Distress betwixt their so much cry'd up Principle against using outward Force tho' in their own Defence which a whole Dozen of them and George Fox the first Sign'd in a Declaration to K. Charles II. in the year 1660. to be Anti-Christian which Declaration is inserted in the said Tryal with other Testimonies of the Quakers against even Defensive War tho' to save their Throats or Goods from Thieves Robbers and Cut-Throats I use their own words as being Atheism and a Mistrusting of Providence in Restraining Evil Men. They were in great pain how to save this Principle and the Sloop too But that was impossible And all their Sloops and all that they had might have gone the same way if they wou'd not oppose Force to Force which at last was resolv'd upon and they re-took their Sloop and made some of the Pirates Prisoners They soon found that necessity in Government when it was in their own Hands which they cou'd not be convinc'd of while it was in the Hands of others But they must not go from any former Principle for spoyling of their Infallibility Therefore they Coyn'd or Borrow'd a pretty Distinction and said that they did not use the Carnal Weapon as Quakers but as Magistrates And now all is whole again This is the same Salvothe Pope has for his using the Temporal Sword And this is not the only thing which the Quakers have learnt from the Church of Rome which I briefly touch upon SECT III. That the Popish Emissaries first set up Quakerism in England EDward Burrough who wrote the Preface to George Fox's Great Mystery Printed 1659. tells us that the Quakers first appear'd in England Anno 1650. and came first into London Anno 1654. Then it was that Rome was reaping a plentiful Harverst which they had long been sowing by setting up in that Universal Toleration Multitudes of various Sects on purpose to Divide and so Confound their only substantial Adversary the Church of England They dress'd Enthusiasm in several Shapes and Forms of Presbyter Anabaptist Independent Quaker Muggleton and a long c. which differ only in degrees Of this many Instances may be given See Foxes and Firebrands Printed 1680. p. 15 c. and Proofs undeniable Enthusiasm when it is a Delusion or falsly pretended is the surest means to overthrow all Church-Government and Order and all Sobriety of Religion for it is no less than Blasphemy fasly to pretend to Extraordinary Inspirations from God And this Doctrine of Enthusiasm came chiefly from the Church of Rome Labbade a Jesuit set it up in Holland and Rob. Barclay the Quaker was tinctur'd in his younger years in the Scotch Convent at Paris and John Vaughan was a Roman Catholick who was a great Preacher among the Quakers in London and a Preacher now among them in Pensylvania But God has punish'd them by sending the same Spirit among themselves And has made a great Fraction in the Church of Rome by the growing Sect of the Molinists or Quietists in Italy There is a Sect like unto these rose up in Germany call'd Pietists some of whom I am told have been in London and own'd as Brethren by the Quakers and gone many of them to Pensylvania The Quaker Infallibility was contriv'd on purpose to bring Men back to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome by these steps First the Infallibility was plac'd by George Fox and all the Primitive Quakers in every single Quaker which I will shew This most Ridiculous Pretence the Jesuits well knew cou'd not long be Tenable and that it would roll naturally into the Infallibility of their Church or Meetings which it is already come to as shall be abundantly made appear And now there is but one step behind and that is to Dispute the Infallibility betwixt the Two Churches that of Rome and that of the Quakers And the Issue of this who does not see when their Succession and other Marks of the True Church come to be compar'd together SECT IV. Their Damning all the World but themselves since the days of the Apostles GEorge Fox in his Great Myst p. 89. says That the Quakers have a Spirit given them beyond all the Forefathers since the days of the Apostles in the Apostacy George Whitehead would fain come off of this and thus endeavours to excuse it in his Charitable Essay Printted 1693. p. 5. in these words The very Intent and Meaning of George Fox's words herein was not beyond all the Fore-fathers without Exception but beyond all in the Apostacy That is George Fox did not think that all the Fore-fathers were in the Apostacy and that he only spoke of those who were in the Apostacy So that some were in the Apostacy and some were not in it Now here it wou'd have been incumbent upon George Whitehead to have nam'd those whom he or George Fox did believe were not in the Apostacy But that he cou'd not do for in truth they
Condemn all the World but themselves Tho' here George Whitehead wou'd fain mince the Matter Let us hear George Fox explain himself in other places of the same Book you will best know his meaning from himself p. 217. he says That since the days of the Apostles All the world went after them i. e. after those who as he there expresses it did inwardly Raven in the Sheeps Cloathing And now says he are People but coming from them to the Rock p. 219. That the whole World was standing against the Light and against the Saints and the Lamb. p. 226. Since the days of the Apostles All that dwelt upon the Earth went after them the False Prophets and the Beast p. 175. Since the Apostles Decease the Faith hath been departed from the Unity among All Christians hath been lost in All Christendom From that ye have Ravened You and the Papists and All Sects upon the Earth p. 253. Such as differ from us differ from Christ p. 267. You all Priests and Teachers who call your selves Ministers since the days of the Apostles who inwardly are Ravened from the Spirit of God are turning and have turned All People from the Light to the Darkness and so have kept Thousands and Millions of Souls in Damnation and turning and keeping them in the Path and Way unto Hell p. 98. And Thou and You All that speak and write and not from God Immediately and Iufallibly as the Apostles did and Prophets and Christ You are All under the Curse in another Spirit Ravened from the Spirit that was in the Apostles only have had the Sheeps Cloathing inwardly Ravening Wolves so deceived the world and the Nations And so Power hath been given to the Beast over All Kindreds Tongues and Nations p. 153. Which have deceived the Nations and led the World and brought them all upon Heaps and have Never heard the Voice of God nor the Voice of Christ and have not the same Infallible Spirit as the Apostles had and no Immediate Revelation nor Inspiration as they had So these have taken away the Key of Knowledge from among People since the Days of the Apostles p. 158. Of his Christ's Body are All Professors Protestants and Papists upon the Earth Ignorant Therefore be All in the Unity one among another p. 111. And All upon the Earth that be from this Light which the Quakers set up they be in the Error out of the Covenant of God and strangers from the Covenant of Promise And in plain terms p. 249. he asserts all others to be so Equivocating Deluding Hypocrites except Quakers And p. 267. That the Quakers are the Onely Ministers of Christ not made by Men but by the Will of God And adds Is not All Sects join'd with you against them p. 111. All the Earth doth Rage against them And that we may be sure that England is included he says p. 311. The Ministers which are so call'd in England bath gotten the Name but are found the Ministers of Unrighteousness and are Wolves indeed in Sheeps Cloathing What Greedy Dumb Dogs are these c. I will not trouble my self nor the Reader to apply all this and shew that George VVhitehead 's Exposition above-nam'd is a meer Sophistication and quite contrary to the meaning of George Fox The thing shews it self But if George VVhitehead was really mistaken in George Fox 's meaning then I do expect from him if he be a sincere honest Man that upon examining the above mention'd Quotations and many more which he may find in the same Book to the same purpose he will Publickly and in Print acknowledge his Error because the satisfaction to the World ought to be as Publick as the Offence which was given and that he and all the rest of the Quakers will for ever hereafter own and confess that George Fox did Damn all the World since the Apostles but the Quakers and not only those in the Apostacy as George VVhitehead wou'd turn it off for that he held they were All in the Apostacy SECT V. The Watchful and Proud Spirit of the Quakers HAving thus Damn'd all the World it is not strange to see them Heal all the rest of Mankind with a Respect proportionable For what shou'd Damnation do with Respect There is nothing which discovers the inward Disposition and Temper of the Mind more than our VVords and Language to one another Kind and sweet Expressions are natural to Love and Good Nature as Furious Spiteful Envious and other Grating and Violent Passions do Naturally vent themselves in the like wicked and hateful Ebullitions of a distorted Soul Hypocrisy covers these Embers sometimes but the least wind disperses those thin Ashes and kindles all into a Flame Thus the least Provocation nay no other Provocation than that of Disputing against them raises up a strange Spirit of Fury in them such as possesses no other sort of Mankind that ever I heard of And I believe there is no one who has engag'd against them that has escap'd this sort of Treatment And yet they are out of all Patience at the least return of this sort to themselves They love not to be approach'd but with the greatest Ceremony of Deference and Regard to their High Character far beyond that of all the Kings upon the Earth which I will shew in its place George Fox in his Great Myst p. 237. Thus corrects VVilliam Thomas Minister of Ubley for Reflecting as he said upon two sorts of them The work of the Ministers of the Gospel says he is not to Reflect upon Persons And so thou that art Reflecting upon Persons doest shew a Mark of thy self to be a False Prophet And this Reflecting upon Persons was never the way to beget to God And yet in the same Breath while he thus Reproves VVilliam Thomas for Reflecting upon others he calls him a False Prophet Which is as severe a Reflection as cou'd be put upon any who own'd himself as a Minister of the Gospel The Devil was in thee says he to Christopher VVade p. 250. You be in the Diabolical Devilish says he to some Priests in the Bishoprick p. 321. And thou talkest foolishly he replies to Tim. Trevers p. 326 and given up to the Devils Power And in the foregoing Section you see what Reflections he makes upon all the Priests and Teachers in the World calling them Raveners from Christ VVolves Dogs Equivocating Deluding Hypocrites c. Take some more of their sweet words Some of the Quakers Principles c. Printed 1693. p. 8 9 10 11. such as these Conjurers Thieves Robbers Anti-Christs VVitches Devils Scarlet-colour'd Beasts Blood-Hounds gaping like the Mouth of Hell raging like Sodomites Lizards Moles Tinkers Green-headed Trumpeters VVheel-barrows Gim-cracks Whirlpools Whirligigs Moon-Calfs Thred-bare Tatterdemallions Serpents Vipers Ministers of the Devil Ravening Evening VVolves and Bears Devils Incarnate Devil-driven Dungy Gods c. Much of this is owing to the mean Education of these Scribes which furnish'd them with such Mechanick