Anguis Flagellatus OR A Switch for the Snake BEING AN ANSWER To the Third and Last Edition OF THE Snake in the Grass WHEREIN That Author's Injustice and Falshood both in Quotation and Story are Discover'd and Obviated And the Truth Doctrinally Deliver'd by Us Stated and Maintained in Opposition to his Misrepresentation and Perversion By Joseph Wyeth To which is added a SUPPLEMENT By George Whitehead Psal. 37.12 The Wicked Plotteth against the Just and Gnasheth upon him with his Teeth Prov. 26.18 19. As a Mad-Man who casteth Firebrands Arrows and Death So is the Man that Deceiveth his Neighbour and saith am not I in Sport London Printed and Sold by T. Sowle in White-Hart-Court in Gracious-street and at the Bible in Leaden-Hall-street 1699. Academiae Cantabrigiensis Liber PREFACE Impartial Reader AS I here present to thy View and Serious Consideration Our Vindication against the Attempts of an Enemy So I judge it necessary at least briefly to give thee some Account some Reasons for my so doing I am sensible that Business and Action tread so close upon the Heels of Leisure with very many that tho' this may incline yet that may prevent the bestowing time to read Discourses either tedious in their Length or in their Nature If this partake of both these I can assure thee Reader with respect to its Length it hath so hapned not through any abounding Leisure that I had to swell this but from a necessity to follow the Snake through his Windings or to speak in his Phrase 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thereby to obviate his Objections which were of any seeming force and how far that is done thy Judgment is for thy self to determine Of this I shall only say that as on the one hand I have endeavour'd to avoid prolixity so on the other I have endeavour'd to use such and so many words as might sufficiently express the Matters spoken to If in this endeavour I have prov'd something short or defective in Expression or have sometime used not the most proper and apt Expressions to the purpose intended I hope the impartial Reader will from the Bulk Scope and general Tendency of what I have said find cause to conclude that the fault is only in that and not in the meaning And that this is always sound if that be not always so this being our Duty that so far as it relates to Art being only an accomplishment is tho' a conveniency to them that have it yet a Duty upon none Which as I do not profess to be my Talent so neither will it I hope be strictly exacted of me But as to the Nature or Kind of this Tract that was wholly out of my Power for Controversial it must be and that is not always pleasant to every Reader And what may yet serve to add to that Ground of Dislike is that the Chain or Thread of the Discourse being frequently broken by Quotations from the Adversary and other occasions there often may be an uncertain or uneven Stile Yet I hope the Reader will not be hereby prejudiced against the Truth delivered but accept that tho' meanly drest This in general for the Book I here present And now I may add some few things with respect to that to which this is the Answer viz. The Snake in the Grass Which Title imples a Lurking Practice not imputable to us since the things Charged are mostly from Books that are Publick to all and made so with Design that they might be more generally look'd into than they are so that Lurking is not our Way but his Practice which is yet more manifest in that the pretended Relations of Fact which he gives to support the Title Snake in the Grass are by their Falshood true Evidences that this Title is his Character But as Naturalists observe Things Venomous do often carry with them their own Antidote so it is by this Snake In which the Antidote is near the Poyson and the Remedy near the Disease His Disingenuity is the Poyson its Counterballance is his Self-contradiction and apparent Perversions which are such as may be seen by little Observation For what greater Contradiction can there be than after having Ridicul'd Aspers'd and Prophanely Treated our Belief of the Sufficiency of the Light within and having endeavour'd to represent it as Inconsistent and Impossible by fallacious Arguments in several of his Sections Yet after all this to come and say and acknowledge concerning its Sufficiency as much as we do and to persuade his Reader that it is his belief Thus p. 39. he has endeavour'd to represent wicked Men and Devils to be as Infallibly guided as those who are guided by the Light of Christ in Men which we say is Suffitient to guide Men in the way of true Obedience to God And in p. 60. he hath endeavour'd to represent this our Belief of the Suffitiency of the Light within as that which does totally root up and destroy all Church Government and Order And p. 167. he saith Outward Preaching must be wholly inconsistent with this Suffitiency of the Light within And now in Opposition and Contradiction to all this and much more of this sort scattered throughout the whole Book he seems in p. 319. to be as fully persuaded of the Suffitiency of the Light within as any Sober Quaker as he expresses it and there says of this Light within or Inspiration for he makes them Synonimous It is 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 assured that it will lead us to all Truth that is requisite and necessary for our Eternal Salvation And this he delivers not as his own Sentiment only but also as the belief of the Church of England which if it be it will concern him to prove for himself and them that this Inspiration which is suffitient to lead to all Truth requisite and necessary to Eternal Salvation do not run into the Error of Origen that the Devils shall be finally saved That it do not totally root up and destroy all Church Government and Order That it be not wholly Inconsistent with all outward Preaching And with many other things which he hath said it is as is before quoted But now more Particularly with respect to the Author of the Snake he is disingenious and a false Witness And as a Clipper or Coiner is of no Credit so he by perverting words spoken and forging that for ours which never was has sufficiently shewn what Credit is to be given to him As for his Perversions they are detected in every of the following Sections and are so numerous that to repeat them all I must transcribe a great part of the Book into the Preface wherefore I shall only take notice of one and that is a Quotation which he has made in p. 81. out of W. Penn's Address c. which he has notoriously perverted as I have shewn Sect. V. p. 144 145. And
Understanding and so the Disputer was raised to Life and that which was for Condemnation having darkned the Light of the Sun form'd it self in the shape of the True Light and so Deceit got the Power and led out of the true Obedience in things before related by which the Simple be-became exceedingly deceived But when he was restored by the Clear Light of Life being guided in that Obedience which was professed by those People among whom he was being the Quakers and his Witness Here is a Clear Testimony that the Truth and Light professed by the Quakers leads out of the Works of the Flesh to worship God in Spirit and in Truth And that by this J. Toldervy's Understanding was opened What hinder'd then that the Work of Regeneration did not go on in him Why they say that he being of a hasty and forward Mind it was in part a Covenant of his own which raised a Fiery Zeal by which he lost his Vnderstanding and thereby the Sun was darkned a very natural consequence of that Covenant which was his own and not of the Spirit of God and here it was that that which was for condemnation formed it self in the shape as they express it of the True Light And thus indeed the Enemy of Man the Devil works in a Mystery to drive Men to make Covenants in their own Wills for their Regeneration which as they can never last so according to the various Disposition of the Person so Covenanting are the extreams which they run into Thus they acknowledge in direct opposition to the Snake that that Deceit which was in J. Toldervy was so far from encouraging him in the Principles of Quakerism that it did lead him out of the True Obedience to that Prinliple which they say he learned from the Quakers Ibid. p. 291. He made a sort of a half Vindication and half Recantation not of the matters of Fact of his aforesaid Delusions for these were undeniable but to free the Quakers from the Imputation and Scandal of them and to clear himself to have been and still continue a true Quaker which makes the Cause much worse on their side Supposing John Toldervy did endeavour to clear himself to have been and still continue a true Quaker at a time and in things wherein we had by Word and Writing denied him I pray how shall that make the Cause much worse on our side any more than it makes bad of the side of the Church of England because the Snake a former Scandalous Member does pretend to have been and still continue a True Member in her Communion But to proceed the Snake is here forc'd to acknowledge that J. Toldervy did free the Quakers from the Imputation and Scandal of his Delusions which whether he had or not the Quakers had freed themselves from them by denying of him both by Word and Writing And as he stood thus denied by them so they could not be chargeable with any of his after Actions But if he had sincerely repented of his great Wickedness and thereby found favour in the sight of God to have restor'd to him the Light of his Countenance and had so been received again into fellowship with those from whom he had been separated this would have been far from making the Cause much worse on their side For with respect to their own satisfaction it would make the Cause much better Because the People of God in all Ages did always rejoice when one that had err'd and stray'd from the Fold did by sincere Repentance return into it again Ibid. p. 292. That same Year viz. the 24th of October 1656. all the Good and Evil Spirits entred into Naylor himself Profane Snake why must both Good and Evil Spirits be thus flouted It shews no true Sense of Religion in one who can with so much ease ridicule both the beginning of all true and saving Religion in Man viz. the entrance of the Good Spirit of God and the beginning of all Misery viz. the entrance of the Evil Spirit into Man But with respect to Jame Naylor and his Great Fall and yet greater deliverance from it I have already spoken from p. 111 to 118. and therefore need not enlarge further here The Snake now turns to Quotations again where in p. 295. he quotes Patrick Levingston in a Piece of his Entituled Plain and Downright Dealing with them that were with us and are gone out from us in p. 10 of which Book P. L. makes an Allusion of the Operations of Physick upon the Body to the Operation of the Spirit or Power of God upon the Soul and shews thence what melting into Tears and Shakings he had known upon his own Body and also what some others had known when the Lord did first appear with a mighty hand as he says p. 9. to bring his People out of Spiritual Egypt in this our Age. And he here goes on and shews that these emotions of Body and terrible breakings the Soul were but for a little time and that the Voice of the Lord was not distinctly discerned there they being only preparatory of that way of Peace Stilness and Quietness in which as they continued obedient they came to be established This briefly is the substance of what the Snake hath pick'd and quoted from p. 10. And I will now shew thee Reader his strange perversion of all this Ibid. p. 296. Now here is a Comparison made betwixt the State of the Quakers from 1650 to 1660. and from thence to this time No Snake the Comparison does not lie in any date of Years but in the Progress of the Work of God in Men. Ibid. Their first State was their time of Physick The first State of all who have been Regenerated and Born again may by allusion be called a time of Purging or Cleansing and so it hath been frequently term'd in Holy Writ Our Saviour speaks of this first State in such Pathetick Terms Mark 3.27 as does evidently denote it to be a State of Trouble For the binding the Strong Man of Sin by the Stonger Power of God is not to be effected while the Soul is at ease and secure in Sin Nor can the Strong Man's Goods be spoil'd in Man unless through Obedience he comes under the Workings of the Power of the Holy Spirit and that will not give Deliverance to Man before he sees the great necessity he is in of a Deliverer Ibid. But there was worse than that For as Levingston here informs us The Voice of the Lord was not distinctly discern'd among them the Mind was so Hurried and tossed so that there was not a clear discerning what might be done or left undone in many things This is a very sad Reckning For what will become of the first Quaker Infallibility This is nothing so Sad a Reckning as the Snake is like to make when he shall account for all that Profaneness Injustice and Hypocrisie which he hath delivered under the gilded pretence of advancing the Glory
a good Champion in the Snake's Army and well enough to serve to Revile a People more Righteous than himself and for whom his Iniquities would no longer admit him a Companion and was therefore denied by them p. 10. And though now he is grown so hard in Impiety as to revile them that denied him for his Uncleanness Yet while some little tenderness was remaining he agreed to the Judgment of our Friends against him as may further appear by his own acknowledgment cited also p. 7 8. Thus Be it known to all People unto whom these presents shall be read that I H. W. and A. my Wife do acknowledge and confess before the living God and all People that we have sinned and done that which we ought not to have done in suffering the Temptations of Sin in the Flesh to overcome us So this know all People that it was not because the Quakers Judgment or Doctrine or way of Worship is false that it caused us to fall from them But our Fall was of our Selves So here 's H. W. and his Wife against the Snake his reviving this false matter was to vilifie the Quakers and their Holy Doctrine H. W. confesses to his Shame there Fall was of themselves And on their Heads and his let it rest till they Repent and Ask Pardon of God they for their Transgressions and he for his Revilings on their behalf SECT XX. Of Enthusiasm or Inspiration as said by the Snake to be Owned by the Church of England Ibid. p. 314. THe Word Enthusiasm signifies Inspiration and may mean a good as well as an evil Inspiration I am no more in doubt of the Truth of this than I am certain that the Snake did affirm falsly when in Pref. p. 43. he said There is no Enthusiasm where there is not Pride Ibid. These poor misled Quakers are made to believe that the Church of England does wholly throw off all Inspiration of the Holy Spirit The Snake has told us as above quoted there is no Enthusiasm where there is not Pride And if he would so mislead the poor Quakers as to believe that she does wholly throw off all that it would be in him no less a fault than it is to bely the poor Quakers and mislead his Reader concerning what the Quakers do or do not believe Ibid. I will here briefly set down the Doctrine of the Church of England in this Point To which if the Snake could have truly added and my Agreeable Practice as it would have been for his Credit so it would have dwindled his Libel to a much less bulk than that which his numerous and many fork'd Falshoods have swell'd it to But now he spends 4 or 5 Pages in giving Instances from the Service and Liturgy of the Church of England concerning her Doctrine in this point of Inspiration of the Holy Ghost with which I am so far from being displeased that I could with pleasure have read them all over if he had given as many more and am glad that so Essential a Truth as is the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit is owned by her tho' this is not the first Knowledge I had of it for I have some Years since read the same in her Liturgy And after the Instances he has given of the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit he says p. 319. It is made necessary to every good word 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 assured 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 Vnderstandings rightly to apprehend the true sense and meaning of them c. In all this the Snake as he hath said what is agreed to and believed by every Sober Quaker So he hath herein declared the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost to be as Infallible as we believe it is And now before we part from a point in which we do as he says so exactly agree let us a little reason upon it and examine whether he has Squared his foregoing Sections by this Infallible Rule And first I shall observe the Snake says We are directed to it to Follow and be Guided by it and are assured no doubt by a certain Knowledge that it will lead us to all Truth that is requisite and necessary for our Eternal Salvation Supposing this to be true the Snake did very Scandalously not to say worse when he made the Devil as Infallible as any of their Church For in p. 39. speaking of that Light or Knowledge which comes from God which is the Inspiration of the H. Spirit he saith If that Knowledge which comes from God be Infallible then while the Devil follows that Light or Knowledge he must be Infallible And if this be all the Infallibility which the Quakers ascribe to themselves it seems it is all the Snake ascribes to the Church It Distinguishes them not from Wicked Men or Devils This is very hard but there is worse yet For though he does here say That the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost will lead us to all Truth requisite and necessary to our Salvation and so consequently will bring them that follows it to Heaven Yet this they are his own Words p. 40. will no more prove it to be Infallible or sufficient of it self to bring us to Heaven than it will follow that Man cannot die because God breathes into him the breath of Life or that he is Omnipotent because his Strength comes from God These Instances from the Snake though they clash yet in some that follow they will be found to cut one another up by the Roots For here in p. 319. He is very confident That the Church of England does agree with us concerning what we mean by the Light within And I must needs say the same Yet in p. 60. He gives the Light within in which he says we do so much agree with the Church of England a very evil Character and says It does totally root up and destroy all Church Government and Order Nay in p. 96. speaking of this Enthusiasm he says It is Inconsistent to the Government either in Church or State or any Security from all the Dismal and Enthusiastical Murthers Rapines and Outrage of the Zealots among the Jews who went upon the same Principle Fye Snake what the same Principle with the Church These are very ill Characters to recommend that Inspiration in which he is Confident the Church of England does agree with us Indeed he endeavours with a strange Contradiction to make all whole again by adding in the next Words yet shew'd no evil signs of it I would not willingly tire my Reader with Observations of the Snake's Contradictions upon this Head and therefore I shall but gather and add a few more of which this is one worthy of notice That though here in Page 319. he has made
Revelation p. 74. Sect. V. Concerning Infallibility p. 85. Sect. VI. Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures p. 150. Sect. VII Concerning Idolatry p. 173. Sect. VIII Concerning the Holy Three Bearing Record in Heaven p. 184. Sect. IX Concerning the Divinity and Incarnation of Christ. p. 191. Sect. X. Concerning the Satisfaction of Christ. p. 230. Sect. XI Concerning the Resurrection p. 239. Sect. XII Concerning Baptism and the Supper p. 258. Sect. XIII Shewing Popish Emissaries did not set up Quakerism in England p. 276. Sect. XIV Shewing that we do not Damn all but our selves p. 293. Sect. XV. The Quakers clear'd from the Charge of Venom and Nastiness and it shewn to be his own True Character p. 308. Sect. XVI Of Fâ—ghting and Loyalty p. 316. Sect. XVII Concerning Tythes p. 376. Sect. XVIII Shewing that the Pretensions of the present Quakers as of the former to the Spirit of Prophecy Infallibility c. is according to and agreeable with the Scriptures of Truth p. 434. Sect. XIX Visible Possessions by the Devil Examin'd and Refuted p. 442. Sect. XX. Of Enthusiasm or Inspiration as said by the Snake to be own'd by the Church p. 462. Sect. XXI His Falsly Entituled Impartial Comparison between G. Fox L. Muggleton and Oliver's Porter shewn to be Prophane c. p. 472. A Supplement by G. Whitehead p. 486. Sect. XXII A Reply to some Remarks upon as it is call'd by the Snake G. W's Creed p. 486. Sect. XXIII Some Reflections by G. W. upon A Supplement pretended upon occasion of his Answer to The Snake in the Grass p. 343. p. 507. ERRATA PAge 32. l. 24. things r. thing p. 34. l. 23 it r. is p. 64. l. 17. Teâ—â— r. Fell p. 76 l. 16.21 r. 28 p. 91. l. 7. after gave us add to discenâ— p. 94. l. 5 swearing r. to swear p. 111 l. 17 after have add little 〈◊〉 p. 126 l. 32. it r. is p. 144 l. 27 dele unless p. 152 l. 27 after is 〈◊〉 as p. 168 l. 1. after was add said to be ib. l. 22. r. as before is p. 180. â— 34 word r. world p. 197 l. 19 after that add it p. 202 l. 30 〈◊〉 here add desire him to p. 216 l. 9. after to add the ib. l. 10 land 〈◊〉 lamb p. 272 l. 28 after what add it p. 286 l. 13 dele Qua p. 398 〈◊〉 28 after of dele the p. 413 l. 30 dele all p. 431 l. 5 drink r. druâ—â— Anguis Flagellatus OR A SWITCH FOR THE Snake in the Grass INTRODUCTION Wherein also the Preface and Introduction of the Snake are Consider'd and Reply'd to AGainst the Venome of the Snake as it at first appeared an Antidote has been already given in an Answer under that Title by George Whitehead to the First Edition of the Snake in the Grass Of which Answer the crafty Sophister having gotten notice hastned a Second Edition of the Snake so different from the First that it might rather seem a New Book than a New Impression of an Old One. For besides the Additions which he made he alter'd the Frame and Contexture of it by choping and changing the Parts and melting as his Phrase is a Preface of above 350 Pages and bigger than the Book it self into the Body of the Book which as himself says in his Account of the Second Edition renders it in a manner a New Work and he calls it a pulling down the whole and rearing it in a new Form Thus the Snake cast its Skin chang'd both Colour and Shape in the several Subsequent Editions By which Artifice the Answer which was designed and adapted to the First Edition was render'd less Serviceable and Useful The Reader not knowing by the Pages referr'd to in the Antidote where to find in the later Editions the Matter treated of As this together with the Adversary's Allegations in his latter Editions that in the Answer to his first his Quotations were not disproved was the Ground or Motive to this Second Answer So also the Reasons why this Answer came not sooner forth were partly that we might see in what Shape this Proteus who has transform'd so often would at length settle that we might not be again obliged Actum Agere And partly that we might have had his Reply to G. W's Antidote which is his Third Edition p. 358 and 366. He hath as good as promised that That also might have been considered But since our Adversary has thought fit to suspend if not wholly to throw off his pretended Intention of giving a particular Reply to the Antidote I was not willing longer to delay this Answer to the Third and Last Edition of the Snake And do here acquaint such Readers who have the Second Edition of the Snake that though the Pages differ so that the References by them do not agree yet the Sections in both the Second and Third Editions standing in the same Order and bearing the same Titles and this Answer being adapted to each Section mostly separatim it will not be very difficult for the Reader herein to find the Matter referr'd to in the Second Edition of the Snake also Thus having given some short Account both of the Reasons why this Answer was delay'd till now and why written now It will be necessary to proceed to the Work in which that I may not omit any thing in the Snake deserving notice I shall begin with his Preface The Preface considered THE Snake that he might not miss any occasion of shewing the World the Squint Opinion he has of us is pleased to link us in his Preface with one Antonia Bourignon of whose Principles he pretends to give some Account and that she perfectly agrees with us Pref. p. 11. even in those things wherein himself says she hath writ against us and takes up a great part of 44 Pages of which his Preface consists to shew some Instances of those Wild Heretical and Barbarous Notions which in Pref. p. 4. he says Antonia holds and which he in order bestows upon us thereby to prepossess his Reader Not unlike the Fellow who to shew his Squint and Blasphemous Opinion of the Apocalyps bound up St. John's Revelations and Aesop's Fables in one Volume But as St. John's Revelations had another Origin than the Imaginary Fables of Aesop So the Revelations of the same Holy Spirit at this day do vastly differ from all Imaginary Flights from all Heretical Wild and Barbarous Notions and does give Solid Reasons of that Faith it begets in us and which we are ready to give to the Sober Inquirer As for Bourignon her Errors concerns not us if she be what the Snake says she appearing an Enemy as well as he by having writ against us not but that there is some reason to suspect he wrongs her from the certainty we have of his often and greatly abusing us Pref. p. 11 12. The great design of the Devil is and has always been to beat down the Priesthood and outward
he has left us to guess who set it up in England For he having enumerated some Instances in which Enthusiasm is owned in the Liturgy and Offices of the Church Does declare p. 317. There is not one Book of Devotion used among us that does not tell us the same What Same Why the same Enthusiasm or Inspiration p. 119. Full as much as any sober Quaker can mean by the Light within Now if this same Enthusiasm came chiefly from Rome and Labade a Jesuit set it up in Holland he will be yet more particular if he can help us to his Name and Character who set it up in England But the Snake says R. B. was tinctur'd with it in his younger Years in the Stotch Convent at Paris What it was R. B. tinctured with If with the same Enthusiasm that he says is allow'd and own'd in the Church full as much as any sober Quaker can mean by the Light within Can there be any fault in that And that it was not the same Enthusiasm he has no where prov'd nor attempted to do it no more than he has attempted to prove that it was the same Enthusiasm with which R. B. as he says was tinctur'd and which Labade set up in Holland But the Snake's Argument has yet another Branch to shew that Popish Emissaries set up Quakerism c. viz. John Vaughton and William Southby formerly Roman Catholicks are now Preachers one in London the other in Pensilvania Therefore c. Reader It may be worth thy while a little to consider the unconcluding Rodomantade of this our Adversary in this point Enthusiasm came chiefly from Rome Labade a Jesuit set it up in Holland Therefore Popish Emissaries first set it up in England Robert Barclay when Young was at the Scotch Convent in Paris J. Vaughton and W. Southby were formerly Roman Catholicks tho' neither of them were more than Infants if born when Quakers first appear'd in England yet he will have it hence follow that Popish Emissaries first set up Quakerism in England Besides that his reasoning is false I take it to be foolish for if all the Religious Societies of Men in England who have in their Communion Persons formerly Roman Catholicks were set up by Popish Emissaries it will be harder for the Snake to shew which of them Popish Emissaries did not set up than which they did because there is hardly any Community in which there is not one or more who have formerly been Roman Catholicks And to carry his Folly to its full length he might with as great force of concluding say That the Quakers set up the Church of England for Francis Bugg formerly a Quaker is now a Member of that Church Ibid. p. 188. But God has punished them by sending the same Spirit among themselves and has made a Great Fraction in the Church of Rome Here is a Soloecism could Rome dress Enthusiasm in several Shapes and set it up in Holland before they had it among themselves I think they could not But as much a Novelty as the Snake would insinuate Fraction to be in the Church of Rome If he will rub his Eyes and look upon the Church of England's Apology afore quoted p. 21. Art 50. He will find her there to object against the Romanists Vix enim unquam inter se conveniunt nisi forté ut olim Pharisaei Sadducaei aut Herodes PÃlatus contra Christum They scarce ever agree among themselves unless perchance as the Pharisees and Sadduces or as Herod and Pilate against Christ. This Character was given by at least as good an Authority as is the Snake's and that long before Robert Barclay was at Paris or John Vaughton and William Southby were Preachers nay indeed many years before they were born Ibid. p. 188. The Quaker-Infallibility was contrived on purpose to bring Men back to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome It is both false and impossible that there should have been any such contrivance because they stand in direct opposition to each other For that Infallible assistance of the Holy Spirit of which we speak we say continues not with any Man or Men longer than they continue subject and in obedience to the workings of it But the Infallibility to which Rome pretends is from the Person of the Holy Apostle Peter by a Continual Succession or by Ordination not Qualification not alienable from the Church Concerning which I have more largely spoken in the Section particularly treating of Infallibility Ibid. p. 188. First the Infallibility was placed by G. Fox and all the Primitive Quakers in every single Quaker And all the Modern Quakers do continue to say with the Primitive ones that not only every single Quaker but every single and individual Person hath given him from Christ a manifestation of his Grace Light or Holy Spirit to which as People come to be obedient it will infallibly guide them into all Truth in all those things that pertain to Salvation Redemption and Eternal Life This tho' the Snake in his profane manner calls a Ridiculous pretence yet it is a Gospel Truth and will continue when his Profane and Ridiculous Attempts against it shall vanish Ibid. p. 188. 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 Yes there is one step more behind and that is the Infallibility of the Snake which is also to be disputed For it cannot be doubted but he too set up for Infallible certainty because of the frequent great assurance with which he delivers himself in Matters utterly false If the Snake had not an Infallible certainty that what he calls the Qua-Quaker-Infallibility was contriv'd on purpose to bring back Men to the Infallibility of the Church of Rome and that it was impossible it should be so contriv'd I have shewn what confidence must it be in him to affirm that to another of which he hath no such certainty himself Ibid. p. 188. And the Issue of this who does not see when their Succession and other Marks of the True Church come to be compared together The Issue may with more certainty be seen when the Dispute is ended and the Comparison made Tho' for the present I can see that if the Snake be the Manager Rome will not lose in any Question with any Protestant Dissenters whatsoever Ibid. p. 189. Of all the Dissenters now in England the Quakers have come nearest to the Church of Rome They only have taken the pretence of Infallibility unless they will bring in Muggleton for a Third Man none other except Papists and Quakers do set up for it Neither any of the Dissenters nor the Church of England do hold more Negatives in Doctrine to Rome than do the Quakers for we do not only hold all the Negatives which any of them do hold but also more And in the Doctrine of Infallibility as held by Rome there is not any manner of
pretends to be a Lover of Souls to be really a Hater of Truth and a gross Perverter of Words Is it any Excuse for False Prophesies or Wild Whimsies to say of those who are guilty of them That they are got up into Pride and Exaltation of Spirit and that they are run out from Truth I think it is not but is on the contrary a Sound and Substantial Denial of them as it was an evidence of their Return who had so been guilty when from a sight of and sorrow for the Wickedness they had been guilty of they did Condemn their Wickedness and return into the Way of Truth which they had forsaken and when Erring Persons are so return'd it is no less than Wickedness imperiously and by way of Taunt to object to them their past Miscarriages and much more so to throw them Evils so forsaken and repented of at a Community for their Scandal Ibid. p. 289. I will trouble the Reader but with one Instance more Then we are not like to have very many for we have had yet but two And were I dispos'd to vie Numbers with the Snake I could enumerate more pretended Members of the Church of England who have in Wicked and Freakish manner pretended falsly to Revelations and Inspirations Ibid. John Toldervy has Printed a very Punctual Narrative of his Conversion to Quakerism and of the most Astonishing Possession of the Devil in which he was held after his said Conversion even to the Apparitions of Evil Spirits dancing and Singing about him and directing him what he should do and encouraging him in the Principles of Quakerism The Snake has taken up near three pages with the story of this Man of which the foregoing words are the substance which are a complex of falshoods as I shall presently make appear But first I shall desire my Reader to observe that the Snake affirms that the Astonishing Possession of the Devil did encourage this J. Toldervy in the Principles of Quakerism which is so venemous a falshood that nothing short of Envy could lead him to affirm it and that in opposition to the Authority he quotes viz. the Book Foot out of the Snare which is the Book which the Snake here calls a Punctual Narrative and also quotes in p. 290. I will give my Reader some account both of the Man J. Toldervy and his Book above-mentioned from both which it may fully appear how far the Astonishing Possession of the Devil or bewitched Imaginations in which he was was from being either owing to or encouraging of the Principles of Truth which we profess And first for the Man He was one who I shall anon give my Authority for what I say had been zealously affected in divers ways of Worship at length he made a shew of a Convincement upon his Spirit and did come to our Meetings but it was not long before he did discover himself not to have any true work of Regeneration upon his Mind but run out into very strange and wicked Imaginations for which he was soon reproved by the Quakers but he persisting they did separate from him and deny him both by Word and Writing because of his following a Bewitched Spirit The Quakers being thus discharged of him his Wild Imaginations turn'd to Envy and he endeavoured to charge his Crimes upon the Principle of the Light of Christ in Men professed by us in order to which he writes a Book Entituled Foot out of the Snare and to give it greater Grace it hath Eight Warrantees or Subscribers for the truth of it Wherein they pretend to set forth the Manner of his Separation from the Quakers In answer to this of theirs James Naylor wrote a Piece entituled as above Foot yet in the Snare in which he shews and often repeats it that J. Toldervy was denied by the Quakers and that they had Testified against him And for the fuller evidencing that the Quakers had denied him he does in p. 21 22. refer to their Book Foot out of the Sare and says In p. 33. Do you not confess that when he came to the Meeting at the place where the Quakers were shewing the holes he had made in his Thumbs and telling of those Lying wonders which he had been acting many of the Quakers being there all of them Judged him with one Consent charged him to be silent and told him that he was in Darkness and had slain the Witness of God in him Thus by their own Testimony nay by the Testimony of Toldervy himself for he was it seems the Author The Quakers had denied him of which we can desire sure no better proof than his own Confession attested by Eight Witnesses of which Tho. Brooks Tho. Jacomb Geo. Cockaine Joh. Tombs and Will. Adderly were part Having thus shewn that the Quakers did deny and therefore not chargeable with him nor his Actions I shall further shew from the same Authority which hath testified our denial of him as above that those his strange and wicked Imaginations were neither owing to nor encouraging of the Principles of Quakerism in him as the Snake has wickedly said For proof of this see Foot yet in the Snare p. 20. where James Naylor clearing our Principles from this suggestion saith thus quoting their own Book before-mentioned And have not you confessed p. 49. the Cause of these Distractions and Confusions in his Mind was having been zealously affected in divers ways before There was begotten in him much Fleshly Wisdom in which his Hope did rest believing it to be the Holy Spirit revealed in him and that he was covered with Deceit and could glory in that Condition Here in their own Testimony they say he was Covered with Deceit did rest in Fleshly Wisdom and believed it to be the Holy Spirit and in this he had been zealously affected in divers ways which was as themselves say the Cause of his Distractions and Confusions and all this before he came among us and staid not long when he was come But yet further James Naylor does in p. 26. quote them more amply clearing the Quakers Principle from his Delusions where they clear the Truth and say He J. T. being fully persuaded by what he learned from the Quakers of the Truth which was made known by the Light in us which Light is Spiritual and guides out of the Work of the Flesh to worship God in Spirit and Truth he was then to wait out of Thoughts and Imaginations c. And his Understanding being now thus opened he was possessed with much Joy in the Sense of that Love he had received whereupon he was resolved to give all diligence that his Calling and Election may be made sure But being naturally of a hasty and forward Mind and his Resolution in part being a Covenant of his own there was speedily begot in him an extream Fiery Zeal so that in the general he was hastily carried forth before the true Light by which in a short time he became lost in his
Stranger when I was in Prison with these words Thy Name shall be no more James Naylor but Jesus This I judge to be written from the Imaginations and a Fear stroke me when I first saw it and so I put it in my Pocket close not intending any should see it which they finding on me spread it abroad which the simplicity of my Heart never occasioned So this I deny also that the Name of Christ Jesus is received instead of James Naylor or after the Flesh for the Name is to the Seed to all Generations and he that hath the Son hath the Name which is Life and Power the Salvation and the Unction into the which Name all the Children of Light are Baptized So the Name of Christ I confess before Men but not according to Men which Name to me hath been a Strong Tower in the Night and in the Day And this is the Name of Christ Jesus which I confess the Son and the Lamb in the Seed where he speaks in Male or Female but who hath not this in himself hath not Life neither can have by Idolizing my Person or the Person of any Flesh but in whom the Heir is born and hath spoken or doth speak there he must not be denied the Mouth to spake by who is Head over all and in all his own God blessed for ever And all those Ranting Wild Spirits which then gathered about me in that time of Darkness and all their Wild Actions and Wicked Words against the Honour of God and his pure Spirit and People I deny the Spirit the Power and the Works thereof and as far as I gave advantage through want of Judgment for that Evil Spirit in any to arise I take shame to my self justly having formerly had Power over that Spirit in Judgment and Discerning where-ever it was which Darkness came over me through want of Watchfulness and Obedience to the Pure Eye of God and diligently minding the Reproof of Life which condemns the Adulterous Spirit So the Adversary got advantage who ceases not to seek to devour and being taken Captive from the True Light walked in the Night where none can work as a wandring Bird fit for the prey And if the Lord of all my Mercies had not rescued me I had perished for I was as one appointed to Death and Destruction and there was none could deliver me And this I confess that God may be justified in his Judgment and magnified in his Mercies without end who did not forsake his Captive in the Night even when his Spirit was daily provoked and grieved but hath brought me forth to give Glory to his Name for ever And it is in my Heart to confess to God and before Men my Folly and Offence in that day Yet was there many things formed against me in that day to take away my Life and bring Scandal upon the Truth of which I am not Guilty at all as that accusation as if I had committed Adultery with some of those Women who came with us from Exeter Prison and also those who were with me at Bristol the Night before I suffered there of both which Accusations I am clear before God who kept me at that day both in Thought and Deed as to all Women as a little Child God is my Record and this I mention in Particular hearing of some who still cease not to reproach therewith God's Truth and People that the Mouth of Enmity might be shut from evil speaking though this touch not my Conscience And that Report as though I had raised Dorkas Erbury from the Dead carnally this I deny also and condemn that Testimony to be out of the Truth tho' that Power that quickens the Dead I deny not which is the Word of Eternal Life And this I give forth that it may go as far as the Offence against the Spirit of Truth hath gone abroad that all Burthens may be taken off with the Truth and the Truth cleared thereby and the True Light and all that walk therein and the Deeds of Darkness be condemned and that all that are in Darkness may not Act in the Night but stay upon God who walks in the Light who with the Workers of Iniquity hath not fellowship which had I done when first Darkness came upon me and not been led by others I had not run against the Rock to be broken which so long had born me and of whom I had so largely drank and of which I now drink in measure to whom be the glory of all and to him must every Tongue confess as Judge and Saviour God over all blessed for ever And this further is given me to say to every particular Person to whom this Writing shall come Whatever is thy Condition walk in the Light which lets thee see it there is thy Counsel and thy strength to be received to stay thee and recover thee Art thou tempted to Sin Abide in that which lets thee see it that there thou mayst come to feed on the Right Body not on the Temptation for if thou mind the Temptation it will overcome thee but in the Light is Salvation Or having Sinned art thou tempted to despair or to destroy thy self mind not the Temptation for it's Death that Sin hath brought forth feed not on it nor mind it least thou eat Condemnation for that 's the Wrong Body The Body of Christ is felt in the Light in which is Life from Death Grace and Truth to Feed on which will overcome for thee being followed but if thou follow the Temptation Fear and Condemnation will swallow thee up If there appear to thee Voices Visions and Revelations feed not thereon but abide in the Light and feel the Body of Christ and there wilt thou receive Faith and Power to judge of every appearance and Spirit the Good to hold fast and obey and the False to resist Art thou in Darkness mind it not for if thou do it will fill thee more but stand still and Act not and wait in patience till Light arise out of Darkness to lead thee Art thou wounded in Conscience feed not there but abide in the Light which leads to the Grace and Truth which teaches to deny and put off the Weight and removes the Cause and brings Saving Health to Light Yea this I say to thee in the Name of Jesus Christ that tho' thou has made thy Grave as deep as the nethermost Hell or were thy Afflictions as great as Job's and thy Darkness as the Depths of the Sea yet if thou wilt not run to vain helps as I have done but stay upon the Lord till he give thee sight by his word which commands Light to shine out of Darkness from thence will he bring thee forth thy Eye shall guide thee and thou shalt praise his Name as I do this day glory for evermore and this word is nigh thee which must give thee Light tho' Darkness Comprehends it not And hast thou Gifts Revelations Knowledge Wisdom or
whatever thou mayst read on in the Scriptures of Truth and do not abide in the Light and feed on the Body of Christ whence the Gift springs but feed on the Gift thou mayst be up for a while in thine own sight but certainly thou wilt wither and die to God and Darkness will come upon thee and thy Food will turn to Condemnation in the Sight of God And this I have learned in the Deep and in Secret when I was alone and now declare openly in the Day of thy Mercy Glory to the Highest for evermore who hath thus far set me free to praise his Righteousness and his Mercy and to the Eternal Invisible Pure God over all be fear obedience and glory evermore Amen James Naylor Ibid. p. 48. These are much more Dreadful Failings than those of the Flesh than of Hallelujah Fisher of W. W. the Saints know who I mean and several others whom I could name All those dreadful failings which Men are overtaken with whether the Lust of the Flesh the Lust of the Eye or Pride of Life they all happen to Men when they are gone off their watch and are departed from the guidings of the Grace of God This Hallelujah Fisher did and this others may do not through any shortness in God or weakness in his Grace but through their own default and all that can be done by a Community professing Christianity is after endeavours to restore in the Spirit of Meekness and their impenitency to reject that Brother who thus walks disorderly this was done by H. F. and is by any other whatsoever when known Ibid. p. 48. But tho' God Omnipotent and Infallible did create all things that are yet there is weakness error and sin in the World Did God create Weakness Error and Sin as the Snake here insinuates If he dare so say let him speak in plain terms The Scripture says otherwise for Gen. 1.31 it is said God saw every thing that he had made and behold it was very good Tho' it is true that through Disobedience to that Power which made all things very good Weakness Error and Sin are entred into the World Yet it is as true that the end for which Jesus Christ came into the World Suffered and Died for Man was according to the Vision which Daniel saw Chap. 9.24 To finish Transgression and to make an end of Sin And as many as come through obedience to his Spirit to witness the Power of his Resurrection may measurably say they know him to be Binding and Casting out the Strong Man and spoiling his Goods I come now to his Seventh Head of Distinction VII But let such consider that it is a just Judgment from God c. It might indeed with some shew of probability be objected against us by this Snake that the Defection and Failings of particular Persons pretending to be of us were a Judgment from God upon the whole Body Nay and it might probably be that that Judgment came upon that Body because of their Separation from the Church If that Church he pretends Membership in could boast she had none such but the contrary is too true in the several instances which may be given as of himself and some others Scandalous Members who in their ill Practices are no Credit to the Church of England which they may pretend to be of Yet this by the Snake's Argument is a Judgment upon the Church of England Who they are the Snake's words of their own Heads durst to leave those Guides the Bishops of the Church under whose Government God hath placed them and to rend the Body of Christ by a causless and desparate Schism of which see more p. 16 17. foregoing This Reader is another Stroak at the Reformation and will it not be a pretty Argument for the Romanists against it Ibid. p. 49. So that even their Error may in this sense come from God that is as a Judgment upon them I suppose truly much in the same degree for that it is a Judgment upon us to have naughty Persons under our Profession and that it is not a Judgment upon the Church of England to have at least as many in her Communion may be boldly and impudently as the Snake says p. 16. averred but not proved and as he cannot prove it a Judgment so I have already proved it no Error in Principle of Us because I have abundantly shewn that the Grace of God is sufficient for the purposes for which God hath given it viz. the Salvation of Man Ibid. p. 49. And for this cause says St. Paul 2 Thes. 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. 18.2 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 Dye And if thou say in thine Heart How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken When 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 shalt not be afraid of him Here is a plain touch-stone which cannot be mistaken c. Thus the Snake But the Snake is much mistaken in applying this touch-stone for the first text viz. 2 Thes. 2.11 He has done by that as he does by our Books cut off the Conclusion For the Apostle does there give the reason why they were given over to strong Delusion because they received not the Love of the Truth that they should be Saved And for the other texts it is not to be concluded from them that every Prophesie spoken in the Name of God is therefore false because not fulfilled in the terms pronounced for then should those Prophesies mentioned Exod. 32.10 14. 2 Sam. 24.16 Psal. 106.40 44 45. Jer. 26.18 Amos 7.3 Jonah 3.10 be false and the Prophets that gave them forth be false Prophets but that is not so And the reason why the Prophets and their Prophesies are true is given by Jer. 18.7 8 9 10. At what Instant I shall speak concerning a Nation and concerning a Kingdom to pluck up and to pull down and destroy it if the Nation against which I have pronounced turn from their evil I will repent c. And accordingly God hath as is recorded in Holy Writ often repented himself of the Evil he hath threatned and in great Mercy and Compassion upon Sinners relenting hath lengthned out their day of Visitation Ibid. p. 50. And the case of the Quakers is so hard that if we can prove but one false Prophet among them the