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duty_n	body_n	soul_n	whole_a	1,004	5	5.1794	4	false

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A35020	The general history of the Quakers containing the lives, tenents, sufferings, tryals, speeches and letters of the most eminent Quakers, both men and women : from the first rise of that sect down to this present time / being written originally in Latin by Gerard Croese ; to which is added a letter writ by George Keith ...	Croese, Gerardus, 1642-1710.; Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1696 (1696)	Wing C6965; ESTC R31312	344,579	528

the Circle of the By-standers addresses himself to them thus It is a barbarous and cruel Spectacle to see Men delight so much in this Exercise fitter for and more becoming Brutes than Men which the wildest of the irrational Creatures abstain from unless provoked and irritated to the same We have another Conflict to mind which is more consonant to our Natures and allowed of God nay which both the Law of Nature and the Common Law implanted within us by God and his Divine Word revealed from above do Approve Command and Encourage I mean that fight wherein we are all engaged as being the Soldiers of Jesus Christ and fellow-soldiers one with another striving with all the endeavours of our Souls and Bodies to encourage and invite one another to pursue this fight of Faith and Piety that at length we may become Victors and obtain Eternal Life Which being spoke though most of the Multitude gave little heed to what he said yet some of them being moved with a sudden heat of Reverence and Fear of God and afterwards bethinking themselves more diligently of these words began to understand their Duty aright and abstain from such vain Exercises and Spectacles altering the whole Scene of their Lives and afterwards conforming to the Doctrine and Religion of the Quakers incorporating themselves into their Society Thus was it that Burrough by his indefatigable diligence pick'd up so many Followers and Adherents both in City and Country The number of the Proselytes at London was afterwards much increased when Fox came to that City For he was the Man among them all who pursued his business with the greatest Application and Diligence maugre all the Difficulties and Dangers stood in his way I may freely say that there is not one Church in any County Fox came into from the beginning of his Ministry to this very time nor any place of Religious Worship frequented either by those of our Profession or others that he did not visit taking occasion there to disprove the received Principles and advance his own not one day on which they used to Congregate for Religious Service that he did not punctually observe betaking himself to some Congregation or other and disturbing their Services with his Accusatory Libels Nor did he refrain from using the same Importunacy with the Military Men among whom though the greatest part of them differed vastly from our Common Soldiers since they only carried Arms for the Liberty and Religion of their Country and lived innocent and harmless Lives yet there were many light vain Fellows dissolute and corrupted in their Conversation who loved rather to be enjoying themselves in Taverns or Alehouses than hearing Religious Discourses Fox used to be running among them boldly and freely reproving them to their faces not only for what he found faulty in their Religion but for the Vices of their private Lives So that by his courage and boldness he overcame all that stood in his way neither did he take it ill to be called bold and forward but rather gloried in being such Nay he came to that length that oftner than once or twice in midst of great crouds he would brand some Women that he had never seen in his life before for being Witches and Sorceresses which he pretended to do by a discretive Spirit within him But in all these his Accusations I do not find that ever there was any Experiment made of the Art of these Women or any Tryal made of it or any Credit given to him unless by some that were prepossess'd with the same Fancy of the Women before Wherefore it is no wonder that he met with such Indignities and Affronts every where insomuch that sometimes several of the People would joyn together and Assault him openly others would lie in wait to take Advantage of him It is much more wonderful that he who was so oft sought after apprehended imprisoned and delivered into the hands of his Enemies should have escaped so oft or survived so great and many Troubles However he always acknowledged and returned thanks to the Almighty for that Divine Assistance which he said he never wanted in time of his bitterest and severest Afflictions nay which appeared so oft in his behalf taking Vengeance after a wonderful manner of his Injurious Enemies and such as contrived or executed such Wickedness against him Among many Examples which might be adduced I know none more wonderful and worthy to be related than this following which he used so often to make mention of among his Brethren and confirm with many words At Olican in Yorkshire a Band of Men had combined together to kill him and for that end came rushing into the Convention where Fox was but so soon as they cast their Eyes upon him they were all so astonish'd and filled with Fear and Confusion that none durst to move or attempt any thing Not long thereafter one of these Men happened to kill another Man and was seized as guilty of Murder Another of them who used as he passed by the Quakers to put out his Tongue and ridicule them exposing both himself and the Quakers to the Derision and Laughter of the Multitude had his Tongue swell'd so big that it hang'd out of his Mouth and he could not draw it in which new sort of Disease in a short time cut the Thread of his miserable Life But I return to speak of Fox's coming to London There happened a Memorable Accident both at Weston in Leicestershire and at London Fox was yet remaining in that Country and chanced to be in that place where he was in a Congregation of his Brethren going about Sacred Service when in the mean time some Ministers to Independant and Presbyterian Congregations Address Francis Hacker an Officer in the Army desiring of him that he would send of his Soldiers to suppress that irregular Meeting accordingly the Soldiers are sent and Apprehend Fox in the middle of the Assembly bringing him Captive to the Officer who having examined him sends him away Prisoner for London to be Judged there and undergo the condign Punishment of his Offences After some Years Hacker acknowledged that he did this by the Instigation and Influence of these Ministers which Confession he made the very day before he was hang'd having been found guilty of the Murder of the King Fox arriving at London is laid up in Prison and after having lain some time there is carried to Court to appear before Cromwel then Protector Cromwel after having entertained long Discourses with him backwards and forwards and given many Evidences of his Benevolence and Good-will towards him and his Faction absolves him ordering him to go into a large spacious Closet whither he sent some of his Domesticks to entertain him with Discourse and to invite him in the Protector 's Name to Sup with him But he refuses and as having now obtained all the Liberty he sought after went away Unworthy he was to have such an Opportunity put into his hands of

of the whole They say therefore that every Member of Christ shou'd stir up and try the gifts of the Spirit in himself and Minister to others according to what he has received If he feel himself dispos'd and led by the Spirit he may and ought to aspire to be pastor of a Church and that when or where the Spirit draws or invites And this they make his Call neither here do they require any Preparatory exercise or particular Call from any certain Assembly or Approbation of People whether they be properly enchurch'd or not Yet say they tho one thinks himself fit for and by the Spirit call'd to he must not yet rashly run upon the Ministry till by a company or general Meeting of Ministers intrusted therewith by whose invocation the Spirit may come he be worthily approven And so they try if he be fit for the office or if it be expedient to confer it on him warning him after he has taken it on him so to labour therein that it it may be equally for his and the Church's Ornament and Safety Thus he 's Priested They admit no preparing ordaining or Ceremonies which Protestants use at Inaugurating Ministers esteeming 'em foolish fruitless and trifling And that those new Preachers may be more glib at their work they give letters from a general or particular Meeting that remote Churches where they 're sent may receive 'em more readily to which sometimes they Annex Commendatory Epistles from other famous Friends or Churches As for the Minister's maintenance this is their Method They order stipend to be taken but what is willingly given and so computed that every ones Estate may be regarded and no more than to Answer the occasions of Life to encourage Industry not to kindle Luxury But if any Minister be pinch'd with Poverty by the narrow-soul'd Penuriousness of a People they permit him to leave 'em and shake his Shoo 's dust against ' em So say they Christ commanded and so the Apostles did It falls out with Quakers as with other Societies to insinuate themselves with others upon slight Acquaintance who tho they carry themselves so and so in Company that know them yet afterward with Men of ne're so good note their Words and Actions betray their Insolence and time lets their boldness and importunity creep out of their lurking holes The frequent appearance of this foments the suspicion that the Quakers are all a dissembling Generation and that they 're so far from that Simplicity which pretending to be the best of Christians they make shew of that they 're the refuse gather'd from the basest of Men. This the Quakers know and grant there are some who do neither by the seign'd pretence of that perswasion nor cloaking the Motions of their deprav'd nature but while they adhere to their Fellowship not knowingly nor willingly but by common frailty unexpectedly fall into gross wickedness and that there are others distracted with the Blandishments of this World as not being able to indure its shock who are so fetter'd with the thoughts of Riches that they yield to the Pleasure and Idleness of a more delicate Life some also that are remiss and careless of their Children And lastly that there are some that revolt from the best Examples and Institutions as too harsh and rigid in the Eyes of the World who breaking the shekels that before chain'd 'em affect a more beau-like attire and a Courteous deportmentment in civil Conversation as a certain mark of a good Education This is oft the case of women and those that are youthful For those delinquencies the Quakers say they have the Rod of Ecclesiastick Censure and Discipline Which by Christ's Rule in the Gospel of Matthew they say they use gradually to practise They condemn no Man till they hear his defence They write to those that can't be present to Answer by letter what they have to say They more meekly wink at the unfortunate Slips of time and necessity than the free faults of will and Inclination As at present in England and elsewhere they refuse to pay Tythes for War or maintaining the regular Clergy But they 've been so oft vex'd and harass'd for this that they may not again incur the like danger they pay it in its season not asking why it s gather'd Tho the Censors of manners think 'em here peccant yet they pass it as an unavoidable weakness Now for their Marrying They often admonish the younger sort not to rush on a matter of such moment without consent and advice of Parents which here may prove their happiness or bane of their misery They that desire to be married intimate it to their Church-Fellowship They ask 'em if they be in earnest or have consent of Parents kindred or Tutors or if formerly married if they 've order'd their Estate according to the occasion of a Matrimonial Life Then they ask the Company if they know any thing against ' em After the Contract there 's made mention of the Marriage twice on Lord's days before all that are present And sometimes only on monthly Meetings When the time is expir'd the Bride and Bridegroom with Friends and Acquaintances that are willing come all to the assembly There they 're ask'd if they do and will love each other mutually and to promise to preserve their Marriage honourably their Soul pure and the body clean as its vessel and perform the Reciprocal incumbent duties and never to part till that fate divide 'em which is the common and unavoidable Lot of all Mankind Then each of 'em opens their thoughts according to what is prescrib'd in the Commentaries subscribing their Names with those interess'd that are willing Thus their Marriage is consummated There follows some Feasting and Mirth if the Company be for 't but without the usual vanities at such occasions which only feeds the Guts Ears or Eyes and awakens and nourishes Unchastity and Luxury In England and elsewhere their Marriages are now less frequent since disapproved by the Magistrates as an illegal going together and their Children counted bra●● of a spurious Birth Having spoken of their Marriage I shall also mention how they treat their Children A few days after the Child is born they call together the Midwife and other women who were helpful to the woman in her Labour and desire 'em to testify the time and place when such an Infant was born to such and such Parents this they have recorded in a particular book kept for that purpose in one of their houses Of their funeral rites we have already Discoursed It is the general Lot of humane Affairs to continue short while in the same Condition and have a short lease of Ease and Tranquillity After these people for a little had Rest a new storm arose which fell first on their heads whose coming over to that party I mention'd at large and then Rag'd against almost all the Members of the Society For George Keith in Scotland in the year 67 was thrown

the Old Laws and the Primitive Religion and Christian Faith did complain so much of the hard dealings of those whom they looked upon as their Enemies and Adversaries and as they could not deny but that many of their own People did often-times so demean and carry themselves towards them who esteemed them also in like manner to be their Enemies of whom they so far complained as that if their Complaint were not unjust even that Complaint which their Adversaries made against them was just and right also and seeing that those Men would be esteemed as altogether Innocent they gave occasion for Persons to believe that there were wicked ones amongst them who practised Evil Arts and who intimated they would do any Mischief if they had Power to their Will Examples hereof were these to wit some of them cast Scandals and many vile Reproaches upon the Ministers of the Gospel and their whole Churches at the very time wherein they were performing their most Religious Duties and so endeavoured to stir up against them yea the whole Society the Resentments of the Magistrate the Rage of the People and the ill Will and Persecutions of both so that now those few Persons might deservedly be accounted the Tormentors of all the rest and the Betrayers of the whole Multitude of which outragious doings seeing they who were Authors and Actors thereof or doubtless their Friends and Favourers have in their Libels published by them given us Examples glorying in such their Actions there is no doubt to be made but that those which I shall gather and pick out of them are such as that there cannot be had the least suspicion concerning them One Boswel Middleton a Shooe-maker in the City of York was the first that cut out and as it were fenced the way for the rest of them crying out against Edward Bowles while he was Preaching in the midst of his Sermon to the People and in the hearing of all Thou art the Servant of Antichrist and so is thy Flock for which words he was forthwith put in Chains The like bold and impudent Example we have in the same Year done at Oxford by two Women Elizabeth Havens and Elizabeth Fletcher these did first chatter and talk in their way of Cant to the Students in the Streets and then in the Publick Churches and last of all in the Universities but with more hazard and greater danger than they imagined and yet they might easily have done it For these Persons being as it were taken with such Polite Conceits as these gave them forth with a more pleasant Entertainment or that I may be in earnest and tell the truth as these Waggs are more especially exceeding arch and wanton they draw them into their Colleges Pump them and throw them into the Privy and did again afterward take one of them to wit Elizabeth Fletcher and threw her into a Grave that was opened for the burying of a dead Corps with such violence that she received such hurt by her fall that she afterwards died thereof But when they were got free from this hardship they go again to the Church and while one was silent the other spoke there openly so that both of them were taken away and thrown into Prison amongst Rogues and Burglars and afterward when they were brought to a Tryal before the Mayor and that he had turned them over to some other Magistrates of the City and to the Vice-Chancellor they were by their Command thrust out of the City as Vagabonds but seeing we have many of these strange Examples and them done not in one place nor at one time it will not be improper to set forth what have been done by these sort of Men all this time in the City of Bristol and which has been recorded by their own Companions and real Defenders as being famous and worthy Performances and the rather because that in this Relation some other things like unto these do offer themselves unto us and others also are not to be omitted and past over This City after these mens Dogms and Opinions were broached in that Country was as it were the Seminary Receptacle and Refuge-place of these Sectaries and as it were the Theatre of those things which was proper and peculiar for these Men both to do and to suffer Which thing did very much nettle all Men of all Religions wherewith the City was full And though these same Men dissented one from another in respect to their various Religions and many other businesses and were at very great and almost deadly Enmity among themselves yet they all agreed in this one thing for to oppose and resist the Quakers At this time came John Audland and John Camie and soon after them Francis Howgil and Edward Burroughs Names that were well known and dear there into the City Audland and Camie in a short time after departed but the other two tarryed and were cited before the Magistrates they appeared the Magistrate commands them to depart out of the City they refuse and added that if the Magistrate would exercise Power they would not resist whatever was imposed upon them Upon this the whole City was so chafed agitated and exasperated against the Quakers that where ever they saw them especially when they were gathered together and as they went to the place and departed from thence all People almost of all degrees kind and Age derided mocked threw dirt upon them thumped kicked and cast stones at them But notwithstanding all this the Quakers were not repressed and diverted from their Undertakings but some of them even as if they were intent upon that very thing for to increase and heighten the Anger and Rage of Men against them and all their Party undertook also some new ways and Methods from which they could not only hope for and procure no good but from which they might easily know it might conduce further to their hurt for Elizabeth Marshal during the time that the Minister of the Church Rodolph Farmer and the whole Church were met together to preach and hear the Word of God to pray to him and to celebrate the Lord's Supper stood all the while over against Farmer and when he was going about to Administer the Lord's Supper she cryed out Wo Wo Wo hangs over thy Head from the Lord O Farmer who takest the Word of the Lord into thy mouth when the Lord never sent thee at which words all the People being in an Uproar and many of them enraged against her they fell violently upon her and thrust out the Woman dragging her headlong out of the Church and the Boys without threw stones at her and pursued her until she got into and saved her self in her own Habitation and there remained secure from more Outrages This Fact might have been severely punished by the Magistrates but they chose rather to forget or to defer it to another time But she as if she had done a good deed undertakes the same thing on the next Lord's

of the rending asunder or laceration of Christ's Body in Men for laceration implyeth division or separation of the parts asunder which cannot happen to the life of Christ in men Nor did or do I understand Christ to have Flesh or a Body in the Saints but only in an Allegorical and Figurative sence as when that of Christ which the Faithful perceive in them which they tast and which is to their Souls Meat and Drink whereby they are Spiritually refreshed and nourished is called in Scripture Milk Honey Bread Wine Oyl Fatness and the like all which are Names of a Bodily substance and therefore cannot be applyed to this Mystery but by way of Allegory and that for the defect of proper words P. The same Such a Dogma as this of Keith was entertained by Hereticks and published by Gul. Postellus a Frenchman of which Keith was not ignorant The Annot. Altho in some words and phrases I may seem to agree to these in this Author's esteem or others yet I no-wise agree in sense with them nor have I followed their words but the words and phrases of Scripture which the Hereticks used but wrested to a forraign and contrary sense to the Truth as if by the presence and inhabitation of God and Christ in Men these Men were deifyed and made God and Christ and the same honour were due to them as to God and Christ which never came into my mind yea I always abhorred such sort of Doctrine as not only Heretical but Mad and only proper to Men demented And as concerning Gulielmus Postellus I saw but little of his Writings at any time and what I saw I did not well understand for the obscurity of his stile and diverse things in him did not please me But what I have Writ concerning the Birth or Begetting and Formation of Christ in the Faithful I would not be understood to mean it in the sense of Hereticks but in the sense of Scripture Gal. 4. 19. which speaketh after this manner And in the sence of Augustine and Erasmus who both have Writ If Mary had not conceived Christ in her heart or Soul although she did bear him according to the Flesh she could not have been Saved by him Nor did I ever dream there was such an Union betwixt Christ and the Faithful as to make up one Person as the Soul and Body of Man make up one Man But such an Union I did and do understand betwixt Christ and the Faithful and betwixt God and the Faithful by Christ as is by the sincere Faith and Love of the Faithful begot and wrought in them by the Spirit of God Moreover that I have Writ some things of the Incarnate Word in the Faithful in my Book called The Way Cast Vp. I meant it no otherwise than Allegorically for I never thought that our corruptible flesh which we carry about is the Flesh of the Word but in an Allegorical sence I understand it as Orig●n and other Ancient Writers by the Flesh of the Word of God Mystically speaking they understood the inward Life and Virtue of Christ which feedeth the Souls of the Faithful as the flesh of a Lamb or Calf feedeth the Bodies and by the like Allegory the same Life of Christ in the Faithful is called Bread but there is a shortness and disparity and that great in all these Similitudes which Life of Christ in the Saints is a certain influence or efflux from the Man Christ or from that fullness of life and Grace in him as he is without the Saints Glorified with the Father in Heaven But this efflux or influence flowing from the Person of Christ without the Saints into the hearts of the Saints too few Christian Teachers do acknowledge They confess indeed that Grace is given us of God for Christ's Merits and so they affirm that the Man Christ is the Moral Cause of the Grace which we have of God which is true But that the Man Christ sendeth down from Heaven the Influences of Grace the Divine Rain and Dew of Grace out of his fullness to few acknowledge for they understand the Grace of Christ to be nothing else than a certain quality after the manner of an accident inherent in the Soul And because it is the very being of an accident to be inherent in its subject therefore they will not own that it comes down from Christ out of Heaven In which I acknowledge I much differ from them in my Perswasion P. 280. Towards the end And these Books he took care to get Printed not in England but in Holland not consulting the Society of his Prof●ssion nor letting them know it that they might not refuse their Consent The Annot. In this also he doth not well relate the matter of Fact I procured indeed two Books of mine to be Printed in Holland the one called The Way Cast up the other called The Way to the City of God not consulting the English Quakers I not being an Englishman nor living then in England nor the 2d days Weekly Meeting at London but I consulted the Scots Friends where I lived And notwithstanding that some London-Quakers of the Ministry accused both these Books to contain False Doctrine in some Articles yet George Whitehead recommended the first in Print and both George Whitehead and William Pen at a Solemn Meeting of the Ministry held at London about the year 1678. defended it against the gainsaying of Three Ministers of Note among the Quakers diverse beside the Ministry and my self being present tho of late the same two men have risen up against me after a most offensive manner for my standing up to defend the same Heads of Christian Religion contained in these Books and generally confessed by all True Christians against these most ignorant men who opposed them in Pensilvania The which doth plainly demonstrate the great Hypocrise of these two men The Heads of Doctrine were chiefly Three on which these three Ministers above-mentioned accused my Book and me being the Author of it The first was that in my Book I had affirm'd That the same Body of Christ which was Nailed to the Cross and was Crucified and Buried Rose again and afterwards was taken up into Heaven The Second was That it is the Duty of all Christians to Pray to the same Jesus Christ who was then Crucified and to Worship and Adore him and by him our alone Mediator to Worship Adore and Pray unto God the Father The Third was That the most Holy Men in their highest Attainments of Holiness are to approach unto God with Prayer and Thanksgiving by the Mediation of the Man Christ Jesus But these three men above-mention'd who had divers others even of the Ministry who favoured their Errors did openly and boldly in that Solemn Meeting deny these Three Heads of Doctrine above specified and my other Book called The Way to the City of God cited by the Author in this History some of the People called Quakers when I was absent in