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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A50679	An antidote against the venom of Quakerism, or, Some observations, on a little pamphlet, stiled, The Christianity of the people commonly called Quakers by John Meriton ...	Meriton, John, 1666-1717.	1699 (1699)	Wing M1816; ESTC R11247	24,688	49

26 27. I know that my Redeemer liveth and that he shall stand at the latter Day upon the Earth and altho' after my Skin Worms destroy my Body yet in my Flesh shall I see God Whom I shall see for my self and not another Mine Eyes shall behold him tho' my Reins be consumed within me We say the Quakers sincerely Believe That God will Judge the World in Righteousness by his Son Jesus Christ in the Day appointed even in the Great Day of Judgment and that Harvest which is the End of the World Observe their sincerity to that end see G. Whitehead's Light and Life p. 41. What is that Glory of the Father in which his Coming is Is it visible to the Carnal Eye And when was that coming to be Is it now to be looked for outwardly We do acknowledge the several Comings of Christ according to the Scriptures both that in the Flesh and that in the Spirit but Three Comings of Christ not only that in the Flesh at Jerusalem and that in the Spirit but also another Coming in the Flesh yet to be expected we do not read of Vid. his Nature of Christianity p. 29. Dost thou look for Christ as the Son of Mary to appear outwardly in a bodily Existence to save thee if thou dost thou maist look until thy Eyes drop out before thou wilt see such an Appearance of him c. To this purpose see Dewsbury's Discovery of Man's Return written from the Spirit of the Lord p. 7. Printed 1654 where he quotes Rev. 20. 12 13. I saw the Dead small and great stand before God and the Books were opened and another Book was opened which is the Book of Life and the Dead were judged out of th●se things which were written in the Books according to their Works and the Sea gave up the Dead which were in it and Death and Hell delivered up the Dead which were in them and they were judged every Man according to their Works And 2 Cor. 5. 10. We must all appear before the Judgment-seat of Christ that every one may receive the things done in the B●● Observe here his gross Perversion he applying all this to the Light within and the Judgment within so that the outward Judgment at the Last Day which is here so plainly described is not by him professed as a thing to be expected His words are these Every one arise out of your Earthly Wisdom and mind the Light in thy Conscience and wait on the Power of the Lord in it and it will bring thee to Judgment before the Throne of the Lamb viz. within thee where the Righteous Law will be opened in thy Heart that will cry through thy Earthly Heart for Righteousness and Judgment and the Book will be opened IN THEE where thou shalt see all written that thou hast done in the Body and shalt give an account for every idle word i. e. to the Light within and receive thy Reward for what thou hast done and thy Reward is Wrath and Condemnation which will pass upon thee from the presence of the Lamb within thee for thy Disobedience and breaking of the Righteous Law And thus according to Scripture i. e. according to their Interpretation of Scripture do they believe the Doctrine of Eternal Judgment viz. the Judgment of the Heart or Conscience accusing or excusing them We Believe say the Quakers That the Soul of Man tho Created is Immortal and never dies c. OBSERVATION They seem here to Confess and Believe That the Soul is a Created Being and indeed to it is as also Immortal But hear what G. Fox says in his Gr. Myst p. 100. where he makes the Soul to be part of God Is not this that cometh out from God which is in God's Hand part of God And is not that which came out from God which God hath in his Hand taken up into God again which Christ the Power of God is the Bishop of is not this of God's Being lb. p. 91. Christ the Bishop of their Souls brings the Soul up into God from whence it came whereby they come to be one Soul If it be of God's Being it cannot be a Creature And that it is not a Creature see further G. Fox's Myst p. 29. One Magnus Byne had said The Soul is not Infinite in it self but it is a Creature and saith R. Baxter It is a Spiritual Substance c. To which he answers Now consider what a Condition these called Ministers are in They say That which is a Spiritual Substance is not Infinite in it self but a Creature That which come out from the Creator and is in the Hend of the Creator which brings it up and to the Creator again that is Infinite in it self And p. 90. Is not the Soul without beginning coming from God returning into God again who hath it in his Hand And Christ the Power of God the Biship of the Soul which brings it up into God which came out from him hath this a beginning or ending And is not this Infinite in it self A Infinite in it self it must be God nothing being Infinite in it self but God consequently the Soul is then no Creature or Created Being These Passages are vindicated by W. Penn in his Tract Entituled A Brief Answer to a False and Foolish Libel c. p. 16. after a very Brief Vindication he thus concludes Where is the Heresie of this For a Conclusion if the Quakers be Sincere in this their Profession if this little Pampalet under Consideration as well as many others of the like nature of late dispersed about the World do really truly and unfeignedly contain their Faith it is but then reasonable to expect that they should by some Publick Act of theirs Retract Censure and Condemn all those Tenets or Doctrines which as I have shown are directly opposite and contradictory to these New Creeds THIS INDEED and NOTHING but THIS can satisfie or convince the World of their Honesty and Sincerity But how little of Sincerity there is in these Confessions I leave it to the Reader and the World to judge for they are so far from Censuring Condemning or Disowning those Books which contain in them these Horrid Blasphemies that they tell you They have not deviated in any one Paint of Doctrine which they first held For Joseph Wyeth in his Primitive Christianity Continued p. 6. Printed 1698. thus affirms That our Principles are now ●o other than what they were when first a People And in their Yearly Epistle Printed 1696 they say We cannot but recommend unto you the holding up the Holy Testimony of Truth which had made us to be a People and that in all the Parts of it for Truth is one and CHANGES not And in a Piece called the Quakers Cleared p. 7. thus they declare God is the same his People the same and their Principles the same And says G. Whitehead in his Counterfeit Convert Printed 1694. p. 72. I may see cause otherwise word the Matter and yet our Intentions be the same Thus do they stifly maintain That they are not changed in any Point of Doctrine they do but word the Matter otherwise they mean the same with them only it is convenient now to disguise our Meanings for at the same time we will stand by the Testimonies of our Ancient Friends as being all given forth by the immediate Dictates of the Holy Ghost to this end they inserted a Paragraph in the Postman Numb 568. upon occasion of the late Conference at West-Dereham in Norfolk wherein are these wards The Quakers not questioning but to acquit their Ancient Friends and their Writings from those black Charges nor being Conscious of deviating in any ONE POINT of Doctrine from what they first held So that as I said at first there is just Cause to suspect them in all they say FINIS

but deny a Trinity which is to confess the same thing in English and deny it in Latine Trinitas being only Latine for the Three they Profess to Believe in the Holy Three or Trinity of Father Word and Spirit as Penn tells you in his Key p. 15. but not as Three Persons But if not Three Persons What Three are they But for your satisfaction give Ear to the Ancients in their Ministry to that end hear what their Great and First Apostle George 〈◊〉 says in his Great Mystery p. 246. who earnestly opposed his Adversary one Christopher Wade for affirming That the Holy Ghost was a Person and that there was a Trinity of Three Persons before Christ was Born The Scripture saith he doth not tell People of a Trinity nor Three Persons b●t the Common-Prayer-Mass-Book speaks of Three Persons brought in by thy Father the Pope And Will. Penn tells us in his Sandy Foundation p. 13. Printed 1668. That if we pretend to Credit the Scriptures we must necessarily Conclude our kind of Trinity a Fiction And lest the Reader should not be satisfied with his Scripture Proofs and Interpretations he labours hard to refute it from right Reason so called by him as in p. 13 14. to give you a Taste of them The Divine Persons are either Finite or Infinite if the first then something Finite is inseparable to the Infinite Substance whereby something Finite is in God If the last then Three distinct Infinites Three Omnipotents Three Eternals and so Three Gods Secondly If each Person be God and that God Subsists in Three Persons then in each Person are Three Persons or Gods and from Three they will Increase to Nine and so ad Infinitum c. Again in p. 32. he tells us That our Trinity or our imagined Trinity as he Terms it in p. 16. has not so much as a Foundation in the Scriptures it being but Man's Invention and doubtless it hath occasioned Idolatry See further George ●●itehead and Three other Quakers in their Book Entituled Ishmael and his Mother cast out p. 10. where is this Passage He i. e. Mr. Townsend a Minister in Norwich against whom they Disputed is shut up with the Three Persons in perpetual Darkness for the Lake and the Pit I shall add here nothing by way of Inference but leave it to the Reader to judge whether they own the Trinity being Those Three Divine Witnesses that bear Record in Heaven the Father the Word and the Holy Spirit But what Heaven is that which the Quakers mean not the Glorious Heaven above but it is the Heaven within thee where these Three Divine Witnesses are for says Geo. Fox in his Gr. Myst p. 214. There is none have a Glory and a Heaven but within them Again see his Trial at Lancaster Assize c. p. 21. I was moved to Pray and the Thundering Voice answered I have glorified thee and will glorifie thee again and I was filled so full of Glory that my Head and my Ears was filled full of it Mark Reader here was Thunder within Glory within yea full of Glory aurum tenus up to the Ears And says W. Penn in his Rejoinder p. 179. To deny the Locality of Heaven is not very offensive and that it looks too Carnal and indeed Mahometanism viz. to assert it Now Reader let this serve to Construe their meaning in their Pamphlet when they speak of Three Divine Witnesses bearing Record in Heaven that is to say the Heaven within them Quest Do you believe the Divinity and Humanity of Jesus Christ the Eternal Son of God or that Jesus Christ is truly God and Man Answ Yes we verily Believe that Jesus Christ is truly God and Man according as Holy Scripture Testifie of him viz. God over all Blessed for Ever the True God and Eternal Life the One Mediator between God and Man even the Man Christ Jesus OBSERVATION Now let us see whether they believe as they say or whether it be only Paint or Varnish to deceive the Hearts of the Simple To that end see Geo. Whitehead s Nature of Christianity p. 41. where he thus speaks That Christ Existeth outwardly Bodily without us at God s Right Hand What Scripture proof hath he for these Words See also his Truth Defending the Quakers p. 22. where he affirms Christ s coming in the Flesh to be but a Figure or Example Which is also the saying of R. Hubbertborn and Justified by G. Whitehead in his Judgment Fixed p. 336. who tells you plainly what Man Christ the Quakers own i. e. their Light within only His words are these Therefore the Man Christ Jesus was before he came in the Body or Flesh And Christopher Atkinson in his Book called The Sward of the Lord drawn which was written as he pretended from the Mouth of the Lord and this I cannot omit quoting for tho his Person was disowned and denied after he was Hanged for Felony by some of the Quakers at West-Dereham Church at the Conference yet I never heard it before No he was a good Man then and Inspired however fallible afterwards and therefore those his Writings must be Valuable and Venerable and that they are by them so accounted is evident from matter of fact for when the Quakers were pressed by a Clergyman and others there present at the Second Day Conference to reject and disown his Writings under their Hands they would not be brought to such a reasonable compliance I must therefore beg leave to insist upon this Book where in p. 5. he hath these words Your imagined God beyond the Stars and your Carnal Christ is utterly denied and testified against by the Light And that this Christ is God and Man in one Person it is a Lie And again Because as Will. Penn says it is not reasonable that a Body of Men should be Concluded by the Word or Act of any one Member vid. his Brief Answer to a false and foolish Libel c. p. 25. Printed 1678. I shall therefore add One or Two more to that end see G. Fox Gr. Myst p. 206. If there be any other Christ but he that was Crucified within he is the false Christ And says Smith in his Primer p. 8. Printed 1668. They that are false Ministers preach Christ without and bid people believe in him as he is in Heaven above but they that are true Ministers they preach Christ within and direct People to wait to feel him in themselves And in p. 9. he affirms That these have no more fellowship than the East hath with the West Nay Will. Penn in his Address to Protestants p. 119. makes Christ nothing but Meekness Justice Patience Charity and Vertue in perfection In short nothing but an Holy Princiciple as he elsewhere hath it Now whether these Quotations do not amount to a plain denial of the Humanity of Christ let the Reader Judge whatever in this Pamphlet or in Will Penn's Key is pretended to the contrary But yet once more to corroborate

Office tho' the Scripture tells us of one Mediator betwixt God and Man the Man Christ Jesus 1 Tim. 2. 5. the Quakers tell you that Christ was never seen with Carnal Eyes nor heard with Carnal Ears Woolrich's Declaration to the Baptists p. 13. But did not the Jews that Crucified him see him Yes no doubt they did What then is their Meaning Why their Meaning is that was not Christ that the Jews Saw and Crucified that was but the Outward Garment which the Quakers can never call Christ See Pennington's Question to Professors p. 33. As a Confirmation of this they teach That Christ hath no Body but his Church See Josiah Coale's Works p. 332. It appears then from hence that they deny the Mediator the Man Christ Jesus Nay further if they deny the Blood of the Sacrifice which Christ our High Priest offered upon the Cross it must then be granted that they deny the Priestly Office of Christ and that they do scornfully Contemn the Blood of Christ I have already shown how then can they own Christ s Priestly Office Neither indeed according to their Principles is it at all requisite they should own this or stand in need of a Mediator for if they are Perfect as see G. Fox's Great Mystery p. 282. and without Sin ib. 101 and 231. and are come to the end of Faith as Lawson says in his Untaught Teacher p. 10. and if Edw. Burrough in his Works says true p. 33. That God doth not accept any where there is any Failing or who do not fulfil the Law and answer every Demand of Justice and if Will. Penn's Assertion be true That Justification is from the Actual performing and keeping God's Righteous Statutes see his Sandy Foundation p. 25. then what need have they of the Mediatory Office of Christ Without any further Enlargement this may suffice to satisfie any Impartial Reader that the Quakers do not own the Priestly Office of Christ But then Thirdly Do they own his Prophetick Office Yes verily says the Quakers we believe and own him to be Prophet to and over his Church and People and we are to hear him in all things But pray observe how can this be when they so plainly deny His Humane Body as above shewed The Scripture indeed tell us That we are obliged to hear this Prophet Christ speaking to us as in Acts 3. 23. Him shall ye hear in all things whatsoever He shall say unto you And it shall come to pass that every Soul which will not hear that Prophet shall be destroyed from among the People This is He that God the Father from Heaven testified of Mat. 17. 5. saying This is my Beloved Son hear ye him And the Quakers seem to join issue with us in this Matter saying in their Pamphlet p. 6. We are to hear him in all things but notwithstanding this Profession they neither do nor will hear Him no their Christ within which is that which they are obliged to give ear to tells them other things than our Outward Christ or Prophet does For Instance our Prophet Christ frequently preached from the Scriptures Matth. 21. 42. For saith he Did ye never read in the Scriptures the Stone that was set at nought by you Builders the same is become the Head of the Corner Matth 22. 19. Ye do err not knowing the Scriptures John 5. 39. Search the Scriptures c. And what was more frequent than for our Lord Christ to preach from the Scriptures and to convince his Adversaries by them But the Quakers reject this Way For when one Matthew Caffyn had affirmed That the Scripture was the Touchstone to try Spirits withal Lawson's Untaught Teacher p. 14. his Answer was this That is another Lie the Scripture is not the Trier of Spirits And whereas Matthew Caffyn affirm'd ibid. p. 15. That the Law without Man is that which convinces Man of Sin He answers That is another Lie See Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 7. Where you may find that it was objected to the Quakers that they had said Whoever took a Place of Scripture and made a Sermon of it or from it was a Conjurer and his Preaching was Conjuration To which G. Fox answered All that do study to raise a Living Thing out of a Dead to raise the Spirit out of the Letter are Conjurers and their Teaching is from Conjuration which is not spoken from the Mouth of the Lord. Thus do the Quakers oppose the Teachings of Christ's Prophetick Office And further that the Quakers deny the Prophetick Office of Christ is even demonstrable by their denying his Gospel Ordinances which leads me to the Examination of the next Head in their Pamphlet p. 6. Quest Do yo believe or own Baptism as essential to Christianity or necessary to Salvation and for the Ingrafting us into Christ and His Church Answ We believe and are fully perswaded that Baptism which is essential to Christianity and the saving Baptism or the Cause without which none can be true Christians or saved is the Inward or Spiritual Washing of Regeneration by the Word of Life This is the Saving Baptism into Christ and His Church which produceth the Answer of a good Conscience towards God of which the Outward was a Figure 1 Pet. 3. 21. This is that one Baptism of Christ by one Spirit into that one Body whereof Christ is Head and for Dipping or Sprinkling Infants or young Children we find no Precept or Precedent in Holy Scripture for the Practice thereof and Ergo we cannot think our not believing it essential or necessary to Salvation or making Christians a sufficient Argument to prove us no Christians c. p. 6 7. OBSERVATION By this their Answer they do not Insinuate to but plainly tell the World what Baptism it is that is essentially necessary to Salvation or making Christians that is the Inward or Spiritual Washing of Regeneration by the Word of Life the Washing or Cleansing of the Heart or an Inward Conversion to God by this their Confession it is evident enough that they make void and abolish the Sacred Ordinance of the Outward Baptism by Water Whether Infants are to partake of this Outward Ordinance is not my Business here to prove but whether Outward Baptism by Water is the Sacred Ordinance of Christ as necessary to be believ'd and saving or Inward Baptism i. e. the Washing or Cleansing of the Heart or an Inward Conversion to God Let them first own the Outward Baptism by Water as our Saviour's Baptism then they may expect a Proof of our Practice in admitting Infants to be made Partakers of this Ordinance but this they utterly reject and disown and for the Proof of it observe that we have Christ's own Command his own Example and the Practice of the Apostles for it the Words of our Saviour by way of a Command to His Apostles are plain Matth. 28. 19. Go and teach all Nations or as the Original has it Go and disciple all Nations Baptizing or Washing them