THE EFFIGIS OF FRANCIS BUGG OF MILDENHALL THE 60th YEAR OF HIS AGE 1700 I magnifie mine Office If by any means I may provoke to Emulation them which are my Flesh and might saue some of them Rom. XI 13 14 F. H. Van. Hove Sculp THE Pilgrim's Progress FROM Quakerism to Christianity CONTAINING A farther Discovery of the Dangerous Growth of Quakerism not only in Points of Doctrine but also in their Politicks respecting their Government within the Government and opposite to it together with their Fund or Common Bank to support the same With a Remedy proposed for this Malady and The Cure of Quakerism To which is added an APPENDIX DISCOVERING A most Damnable PLOT contriv'd and carrying on by NEW ROME by an United Confederacy against the Reformed Religion and Professors thereof as will appear from the Design of their Silent Meetings their Monthly Quarterly Second-Day Six-Week and Yearly Meeting all which are particularly herein Treated on The Second Edition Corrected and Enlarged By a Servant of the Church Fr. Bugg By thee have I run through a troop by my God have I leaped over a wall 2 Sam. XXI 30. LONDON Printed by R. Janeway Jun. for the Author and sold by J. Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-yard and Ch. Brome at the Gun in Ludgate-Street 1700. To the Right Worshipful the Vice-Chancellors and Heads of the Colleges of both Vniversities and to all other the Reverend Clergy therein of what Title soever the Ensuing Discourse is Humbly Dedicated c. Honoured and Reverend Gentlemen HAVING herein collected my Experience both of the Doctrine and Discipline of the Schism of Quakerism shewing the Tendency thereof from Matter of Fact I thought it but my Reasonable Service to offer the same to your Judicious Perusal and Christian Consideration that so according to the Apprehension you shall have touching the Premises you may put your helping Hand not only to a farther Confutation of the Quaker-Arguments which yet is needful enough but also for the regaining of such as who thro' the Cunning Slights and Plausible Pretensions of these Seducers are misled and carry'd away and thereby not only vindicate the Christian Religion but defend the Church of England from the most horrible Scandals cast upon both by the Quakers I need not acquaint you with the great Labour and unwearied Pains our Protestant Divines have taken to Regain such who have been seduced to Adhere to the Romish Religion and the vast number of Volumes writ on that Account and not without Good and Great Success as we see this Day Thanks be to God But behold Here is a NEW ROME arising which Builds on the same Bottom i. e. INFALLIBILITY c and whose Principles were first Hammer'd at that Forge and Coyn'd at that Mint and are carrying on by the same Craft and unsuspected Policy and as Dangerous to the Reformed Religion which our Martyr'd Ancestors suffered in the Flames for as Rome Her Elder Sister And this you should see had they but Power an Instance of which is their Proceedings in Pensilvania But notwithstanding all this how few are concern'd hereat How few lay it to Heart This is Cause of Lamentation and Astonishment and yet when I consider how long I my self was deceived by them I do the less marvel especially considering what Equivocations and Reserve they make in their Arguments whether Verbal or in Writing how Industrious they are to hide themselves and their Tenets expressing themselves in Dubious Terms that want Explication pretending to Seriousness Sincerity Plainness c. when none so Insincere so Deceitful and False in the World as in a Thousand Things I could mention whereby it is manifest that they are the false Prophets which Christ foretold of Matth. 24.24 Aad therefore if what I can contribute towards the Discovery of this Painted as well as Disguised Harlot may be useful to the Church of God and the Ministers thereof in bringing forth my known Experience I shall be glad and rejoyce therein I cannot but know that herein you will meet with many Deficiences for want of Parts and Learning requisite to such a Work But since your Generosity is so mixed with Christian Charity as to accept the Will for the Deed as in my former Essays I have at this time presumed to present this Rough Draught to your Perusal and as my Mite to cast it into your Treasury hoping that until the Quakers can justly charge me with a False Quotation which as they never yet could do so I hope they never shall this may pass under your Patronage as a Defence against the Quakers Invectives and it may be when I cannot speak for my self especially when there is not a Man of you but are Sharers with me in the same Reproaches for the Gospel's sake Thus Reverend Sirs begging your Pardon for this my Presumption I Humbly Subscribe my self Your most Humble And Devoted Servant Francis Bugg Sen. Milden-Hall Aug. 10. 1698. AN ADDRESS TO Private Gentlemen and Tradesmen Ingenious Reader AS I told you in my First Impression I tell you now that the Wicked plotteth against the Righteous †Ps 37.12 as David well observeth This shews the Churches Calamity and 't is as certain that the Lord laughs at these Plotters v. 13. this is the Churches Remedy Now whilst God Laughs at the Plots of the Wicked his People have no cause to Mourn especially when he would have us to Rejoyce with him saying The Righteous shall see and fear and laugh at him * Ps 52.6 But do you think that we of the Laity ought to see this Plot carrying on by a United Confederacy against the Church and say nothing nor be at all concerned I think not For David said They have consulted together with one consent they are confederate against thee †Ps 83.5 Do you think that because God hath promis'd in his Word that Kings shall be as Nursing-Fathers to his Church * Isa 49.23 or because he has commanded his Servants that wait at the Altar to Cry aloud to give us Notice of these Seducers that therefore we are wholly excused and unconcerned I tell you nay therefore up let us be doing For Christ's Mystical Body which is his Church consists of many Members but all the Members have not the same Office yet the Eye cannot say to the Foot I have no need of thee so that there is some Use and Service for us all provided we keep our Places in the Church Militant if we be living Members and sensible of the Churches Calamity And if so as so it is I beg leave to remind you of what I conceive to be every private Christian's Duty which is to use all Christian and Lawful Means to discover this Plot and to manifest the Contrivers thereof We see now as well as in the Days of Christ how zealous the Leaders of the Quakers are they compass Sea and Land to make Proselytes They appear as the Magicians did
as they say I should have proceeded to as many Instances of their Pretence to Spiritual Discerning but I shall mention but two viz. George Fox in his Great Mystery c. p. 89. viz. The Quakers can discern who are Saints who are Devils and who are Apostates without speaking ever a Word Another Place like unto it is in Judas and the Jews c. p. 58. thus None need to give us Discerning or Judgment Christ hath furnished us already and doth on all Occasions But that I may do the Quakers Justice let me give one Instance where I may shew that the Quakers differ in Doctrine from the Romish Church and if I mistake not from all other Christian Churches And indeed that is one main Reason why I thus Unmask New Rome For as A. S. the Roman Catholick said so say I as in his Reconciler of Religions c. p. 2. The true Church Militant is composed of Good and Bad of Wheat and Tares c. To this Josiah Coale in his Whore Vnvailed c. p. 10. replies like himself i. e. like a right Quaker saying Which thing I do abominate to acknowledge And it is Blasphemy the true Church is not composed of Wheat and Tares of Good and Bad but of Good only * See pag. 254 to pag. 284. whether their Church be all Wheat Another of their Teachers in his Book A Rod to drive out the Wild Boars c. says There is no Hypocrite in the true Church they that say there are Hypocrites in the true Church do erre from the Spirit of Truth c. Read the Fourteenth Chapter herein and see whether the Quakers have not Erred or whether that Grain looks like Wheat nay not so good as Tares but meer Darnel And as to their Fling at me about my Compounding as in their Anguis Flagellatus c. p. 432. I shall say little of it in this place but referr to Chap. 15. herein pag. 295 to pag. 307. only thus much I may add That there was but about a Third Part of my Creditors that Compounded at 10 s. in the Pound the rest I have and must Pay the Whole Nay some of those that did Compound I have since Paid the Whole And this Offer I now make That if the Quakers will Engage that those of their Profession shall Pay me what they Broke in my Debt or that Died in my Debt and have not paid me I then will promise to pay every Man to a Groat and if so the Quakers have no great cause to boast And yet I can in good Conscience say that great part of my difficulties have been by and through the great injustice and implacable malice of my Adversaries the Quakers who have yet no reason since my labour have been for their good though against their Wills and for which they have by all their endeavours sought my Ruin And their resolutions herein have been very strong and prosecuted with great vigour For as on the one hand they have used all possible means to render me unworthy of the Clergies notice a hint whereof you have in p. 299. so on the other hand some of them have suggested by private insinuations to my Creditors that they need not to comply for that the Clergy would assist me nay one Quaker nearly Related to me by Marriage and for whom I have done divers good offices it may be more than any Man living no nearer related than I was yet he reported to a Kinsman of his in order to blast my Reputation when I had most need of his good word and assistance that I designed to Sell my Estate and leave my Wife and Children which thing I call Heaven and Earth to witness I never designed nor did it ever enter into my heart And much more to this purpose could I relate which I shall not but desire to pass by all their Unkindness and Ingratitude in the Day of my Adversity being truly thankful to God in the first place and to his Servants in the next who have enabled me to continue to this Day not only to live free from want but to maintain my Family with all things necessary even beyond what I could have expected for in all Humane probability had not God raised me up Friends I had been miserable enough by reason my Adversaries rage was so extensive who thirsted after nothing more than my utter Ruin as I could shew were it needful in many cases And thanks be to God through my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in whose Cause I have been ingaged though a weak and unworthy Instrument and for whose Sake nothing has been to dear too part withal he has raised me Friends and made me able to say as one of old did That I have been able to run through a Troop and to leap over a Wall which I once thought would have been too high for me so that I will not fear what Man can do unto me for God will scatter mine Enemies and confound mine Adversaries and raise me Friends in despite of the Rage of Satan and all his Instruments But since in their late Prints and Appeals the Quakers do so magnifie their own honesty I shall as I have in the Cage of Unclean Birds p. 249. to p. 286. once more add to the number a third sort not at present thinking it needful to add the fruits of others that lye snuge in the Cage and which as yet have not seen it needful to shew their Feathers since the hint already given have had some effect and I hope may have more towards their Humiliation and Amendment But that they may see if yet they do not see that they are left like other Men and overtaken with the same Infirmities I shall set forth not only Ten of their Teachers of great Note but likewise Ten of their Hearers for I love to proceed by number and weight not that I shall this time put John Kilborn and some others into the Cage to their fellow Birds but as I said in regard they so often brag of their honesty in meum and tuum I shall therefore briefly observe to them and for their Humiliation if by any means they may be wrought upon to be Humbled a few of their miscarriages on that Account that their vain pretence to a Sinless Perfection may be retracted and at last come to make Confession of their Sins and Repent thereof and Amend their ways 1. The first I shall name of this sort is Gerald Roberts who was the greatest Entertainer of G. Fox in that Day a great Preacher and one who kept the Publick Stock into whose custody was put a Rich Orphan worth 4000 l. namely Abijah Trot who by the consent of G. Fox and Alex. Parker got her Married to his Son against the Executors consent i. e. R. Cannam and Fran. Camfield against which clandestine proceeding of Fox Parker and Roberts I have much to say which at present I forbear But he broke 2. Tho
Fundamentals of the Christian Religion as it is for G. Whitehead to Address himself by Dedication to the Clergy and Universities personating a Schism which professes such Doctrine as tends to overthrow the Christian Faith Come George Answer me this Question how came you to be such a Man You know I could shew Books of your Friends Burrough Fisher Fox and others who tho' as great Imposters as any in the World ever knew yet they have Dedicated and Addressed and not only so but Dictated to Kings Lords and Commons Come G. what was your birth Whence came your breeding Were you not Rambling Pilgrims who like Gypsies lay in Barns lived upon Alms with your Feet at other Mens Tables See E. Burrough's Epist to his works What must none Address now but you Must none apply themselves to the Government but you Surely George you are a Pegg too high Come George let us reason together what power have you to summons all Ecclesiastical Courts and Officers more than I have to summon you What Power have you to Dialogue the Bishops and the whole Church more than I have to Dialogue you What Authority have you to Arraign Try Judge and Condemn all the Clergy in a Kingdom more than I have to Arraign you and Try you by your Fruit I tell you George I cannot see you mount the Stage and thus Insult Domineer and Exalt your selves not only above the Patriarchs Prophets Apostles Saints and Martyrs and all Christians with respect to your so much boasted-of Sinless Perfection but above all the King's Subjects as if you and you only had right to Address Dedicate and Present Papers to the Parliament and that it were Treason to confront you I tell you as above noted that you are a pegg too high But George before you had Addrest your selves and Dedicated your Books to the King and Government you ought to have condemn'd your Books mentioned p. 154 157 167. And before you had Dedicated this Book to the Clergy you ought in prudence to have retracted your Books mentioned p. 217 249 250. And as to G. K's Book it was approved by the Quakers and you ought to have retracted the Doctrine of it as G. K. has and likewise W. Penn's and Alexander Skien's mentioned in p. 168 170. But your Temporizing is both seen and discovered to be seen by others And now for your Dedication to the Clergy A Rambling Pilgrim p. 3. An Epistle Dedicatory to those of the Clergy and of the two Universities whose kindness Fran. Bugg boasts of 30 th of the 4 th Month 1629. By George Whitehead Now George to shew you what a kind Reception your Dedication met with from my Benefactors I shall though I have no order present you with part of a Letter which one of them sent me which take as follows viz. March 11. 1699. Mr. Bugg I Cannot but thank you for the service you have done especially among the Common People by your way of Writing and for the plentiful materials you have furnish'd out to imploy others with respect both to the Principles and Practices of the Quakers and your laborious Attendance at Parliament as a Check to the Insolencies of the Quakers in their presenting their deceivable Papers in which they have been too much neglected wherefore be not dishearten'd but go on and Charge the Quakers Party through and through with their Blasphemies against the Blessed Trinity their Doctrine of Infallibility and Sinless Perfection their denying the Fundamental Articles of our most Holy Religion viz. The Incarnation of Christ the Resurrection of the Body and the Day of Judgment For to talk of Lenitives and Gentle Applications is like the old way of sowing Pillows under their Arm-holes and you may as well give Opium in a Lethargy as to fancy to cure some Men into their Senses by your mild and tender Remedies And therefore to deal plainly is the best way to work their Conversion from the Infidelity of Quakerism to the Faith of Christ Crucified which God of his Mercy grant them if it be his Will It was a notable Confession of St. Paul when he drew up an Indictment and Arraigned himself in the Murther of St. Stephen for his standing by and consenting unto his Death and holding the Garment of them that slew him I wish the Quakers were Humble enough to follow his Example whose malice I am afraid is greater and the dignity of the injured Person higher for they have Spirited away our Blessed Saviour and have left us nothing but a Notional and Chimerical Christ so that we may take up the Lamentation of Mary Magdalen They have taken away the Lord and we know not where they have laid him That was well noted in the Spirit of the Hat For I am perswaded there cannot be an Instance made in any Society of Men of that bigness that have gotten more Bastards and more unnaturally dispos'd of them that have drank deeper Draughts of stoln secret Intemperance that have fed higher and fared more deliciously every Day than have some of these Perfectionists in their shining brazen disguises of Religion I am heartily sorry for the poor Quaker I heard lately of who hanged himself * * viz. Will. Rust a Preacher at Chaterice in the Isle of Ely who opposed G. K. with G. K's Narrative in his Pocket and the more for the exact parallel I must make between him and Judas both in his Life and in his Death I pray God give them Grace to lay it to Heart and humbly to confess their Sins to God and to beg pardon by the Merits of Christ that God may give them Repentance unto Life SIR Your most Faithful Friend to Serve you c. It may be some may say why did you not Print his Name to it To which I Answer suppose I had a Friend in my Parlour and knew that if I did open the Door that the Dogs would come in and worry him can any think that if I lov'd my Friend I would not secure him from their Rage yea and with Just Lot rather venture my self out among the Sodomites than suffer my Friend to be torn in pieces And besides that I have Muzzled some and put others of them in a Cage so that they can only Grin Bark and shew their Teeth POSTSCRIPT To the Sincere amongst the Quakers whether they be Thousands Hundreds Fifties or peradventure but Ten who are of the true Berean Race FRIENDS BEsides the forenoted Six Books of the Quakers I have herein Examined and Refuted Four more at least in their principal parts VII Their Anguis Flagellatus or A Switch for the Snake VIII A Rambling Pilgrim c. by George Whitehead IX A Just Censure of F. B 's Address to the Parliament c. X. A Sober Reply c. in Answer to F. B 's Modest Defence To all which you will find in the foregoing and following such an Examination and Confutation as will give you some light into the
your own good too in hopes that our Government will find a time to Examin these things and prevent your walking in Masquerade as well as your deep Design to supplant Christianity 11. And I am willing further to observe that as the Proceedings of Francis Bugg has been a Check upon you so has he been useful in keeping on foot the Petition till a Convenient Season as also in Answering your Books by which you Banter the Grand Juries the Corporations and the Justices of Peace which will be no small Motive to the Prosecution now in hand 12. Not that I believe or desire Persecution will ensue no. I am not for punishing the Swearers and Damners of the Age with Cutting their Throats or a Sea of Blood but that as God permits them to Live so the Nation suffers them tho' not tolerated by an Act of Indulgence no more 't is hoped will you in your Blasphemous Errors and Pernicious Principles unless you do heartily and sincerely retract them and thereby make some Atonement for the great Scandal you have been to the Reformed Religion and so Adieu ERRATA PReface p. 1. line 4. for 1689 read 1698. p. 9. l. 18. f. as r. is p. 37. l. 13. f. have to r. to have Page 28. line 2. Smith's Works and Penington's Question p. 35. l. 15. f. 1560. r. 1650. p. 52. l. 14. f. Country r. Counterfeit p. 61. l. 24. f. writ r. wrought p. 78. l. 15. f. Reason r. Harlot p. 128. l. 4. r. till you have p. 172. l. 27. f. why r. what p. 250. l. 14. f. Reason r. Religion l. 17. r. Boyling Vengeance p. 227. f. every r. ever p. 303. l. 3. f. is r. in p. 305. l. 6. r. which to p. 154. l. 8. r. the Lord. THE Pilgrim's Progress FROM QUAKERISM TO Christianity c. CHAP. I. Giving an Account of my Education in the Profession of the Christian Faith and how I came to Apostatize from it and fall in with the Schism of Quakerism I Was Born at Milden-Hall in the County of Suffolk on the 10th Day of March Anno 1640. and Baptized into the Church of Christ the 14th of the same Month promising then by my Sureties to Fight manfully under Christ's Banner My Father's Name was Robert Bugg second Son of Francis Bugg and Margaret his Wife who was Chief Constable many Years my Mother's Name was Joan the Fourth and Youngest Daughter of Thomas Holman and Mary his Wife who was Baptized the 16th Day of March 1619. living at Lakenheath-Hall My Parents were of a good Yeomen-Family and lived in good Repute and brought me up in the Profession of the Church of England and when I came to Years capable of Instruction they Taught me the Lords Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Apostles Creed and very severe they were in Teaching me the Rudiments of the Christian Religion I remember my Mother who was a very good and pious Woman and religiously inclined would not suffer me to Sleep when I went to Bed e're I had said my Prayers and sometimes part of my Catechism And on the Lord's Day she made me to frequent the Church and at Home on that Day as well as most other Days to read some Portion of the Holy Scriptures They brought me up to School Learning until I attained to the Age of about Fifteen Years whereby I was capable to Write and Read English very well as also to cast Accompt few Lads went beyond me As also the Grammar wherein I was well instructed in the Rules thereof insomuch that I began to make a Piece of Latin but my Father living in a great Farm at Undley-Hall in the Parish of Lakenheath of 200 l. a Year besides a Fen-Farm in his Hands of 100 l. per. Ann. more he had in the Summer-time great Occasion for my Assistance and thereby was prevented of attaining to that Degree they once designed And afterwards being an Apprentice and so fell into Business that I soon lost a great part of that Learning I once had attained I must also confess I was in my Youth inclined to Company especially to Dancing and Musick yet I had in my early Years a Love to Religion and delighted much in Reading the Holy Scriptures sometimes Eight or Ten Chapters together I also lov'd much to hear good Preachers I very well remember that sometimes I went to Milden-Hall where we formerly liv'd on the Lord's Day on purpose to hear Mr. Watson who was accounted a famous Preacher being Four Miles from my Dwelling Thus much briefly touching my early Education Observations on the First Chapter REader I am the more particular in these Remarks for that the Quakers how much soever I was in esteem whilst with them since I left them have traduced me and laid all the Reproaches on me which Malice can invent (a) Non patitur Ludum fama Fides Oculus i. e. A Man 's Good Name his Faith his Eye will not be dally'd with said Luther in his Comment upon Gal. p. 51. as shall be shewed hereafter as well as to shew how excellent a thing it is for Parents to bring up their Children in the Nurture and Fear of the Lord to instruct them in the Principles of Christianity teach them the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments the Apostles Creed and the Church Catechism These Things together with Reading and Hearing the Scriptures Expounded being instiled into them in their young Years they will scarcely forget it when they are Old But if they should yet at one time or other the Remembrance of them may so far be brought to mind that they may thereby be brought to a Sense of their Condition And I speak what I know by Experience for the first Sermon I heard which was Preached by Mr. Smithies of Cripplegate London after I was about 25 Years amongst the Quakers and the very hearing of the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments the Apostles Creed and Confession of Sin did so strike me and bring things to my Memory that it shak'd all my Self-Confidence and brought me to the Consideration of Times past CHAP. II. An Account of my Apostacy and how I came to be carried away by the Quakers Dissimulation ABout the Year of our Lord 1657 Thomas Symonds of Norwich came to Lakenheath and appointed Meetings and many Quakers came from Thetford and other Places And tho' I went to Church on the Forenoon yet I had itching Ears to hear the Quakers and my Mother being dead and much of my Restraint thereby taken off I went to their Meetings in the Afternoon and gave great heed to what was spoken whose chief Subject was The Light within every Man and this Light to be Christ And their great Argument was from Christ's telling the Woman of Samaria her Thoughts saying Come see a Man which told me all things that ever I did is not this the Christ c. John 4.29 Therefore said the Quakers this Light within must needs be the Man Christ and no other
Spirit of Truth in George Whitehead and George Fox the Younger See Title Page And being questioned by a Minister p. 7. VVhether the Quakers Speaking was of as great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible George Whitehead reply'd saying That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in ANY is of as GREAT AUTHORITY as the Scritures and Chapters are and GREATER So that the plain Consequence of this Doctrine is That the Authority of this little Pamphlet of Whitehead's and Fox's VVriting is of Greater Authority than the Bible and not only that but all their other Pamphlets which they give forth as they pretend from the Spirit of Truth or Light within The said Minister proposed another Question to Whitehead viz. Is the Moral Law or Ten Commandments a Rule to the Christian's Life or is it not p. 18. To this G. Whitehead reply'd saying Thou might as well ask If the Moral Law be a Rule to Christ for the Christian's Life and Rule is Christ meaning their Light within From whence it 's plain that the Ten Commandments are not the Quakers Rule No no not unless they be convinced by their Light within of the Reasonableness of their Obedience as Mr. Penn teaches and Edward Burroughs their great Prophet Quakerism a New Nick-name c. p. 71. Burrough's Works p. 47. And by these and the like Arguments our Teachers brought us off from believing the Scriptures to be the VVord of God And as such to have Authority over us and Binding to us whether convinced or not convinced by these Means they brought us from the Practice of repeating the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments and the Apostles Creed in our Families By these cunning Slights they by degrees brought us off the Ordinances of Christ as Baptism and the Lord's Supper asking Forgiveness of Sin and the like Christian Duties in which many of us had been Educated and which the Scriptures command and exhort to And by reason of this and the like Doctrine together with not reading the Holy Scriptures in our Meetings but their Epistles only as in my former Books I have at large shewed we came to forget and not regard nor have Faith in the Crucified Jesus who died for our Sins and rose again for our Justification and that in these Fundamental Points following namely 1. That Faith in Christ as he outwardly suffered at Jerusalem was necessary to our Salvation provided we hearkened diligently to our Light within 2. That Justification and Sanctification is by the Blood of Christ outwardly shed 3. That there shall be a Resurrection of the Body that dieth 4. That Christ shall come without us in his Glorified Body to Judge the Quick and the Dead at the last Day even the same Jesus that was Born of the Virgin Died Rose Ascended and now Sits at the Right Hand of God in Heaven making Intercession for us News out of the North p. 14. As also that there was little need of Preaching the Literal Knowledge of Christ's Death Miracles Resurrection and Ascension because they are generally believed by all sorts professing Christianity See Isaac Pennington's Book The Flesh and Blood of Christ c. p. 29. I say by our Teachers thus slighting the Scriptures as Death Dust and Serpents Food of which I have largely treated elsewhere and by their other Doctrine scattered up and down their Books they brought us off from the Belief and Expectation of these Things as George Keith by his Third Narrative has clearly made to appear and as a Pregnant Instance thereof with respect to my self see my First Book I printed De Chris Lib. Part 2. which altho' it treat of the best part of Quakerism and gave a mortal VVound to the Jurisdiction of their Female Government yet it set not forth any one of these four Fundamental Points For as their Hypocrisie in pretending to be plain sincere simple and innocent was a means to attract and draw me after them so the like Hypocrisie in pretending to gather to the Light leave People to their Light as a sufficient Rule Judge and Guide (c) Yet acting quite contrary as anon will appear c. was one Reason why I left them I do not look upon it so eminently my Business to set forth the admirable Advantage and Use of the Lord's Prayer the Ten Commandments the Apostles Creed Baptism and the Lord's Supper no every Bookseller's Shop is furnished with plenty of such Books which are writ by Men of great Learning and Skill which should I write after them it would be next to light a Candle at Noon-day when the Sun shines in its Brightness Tho' if I lived in a Country where such Arguments were not I thank God I could through the Study of the Scriptures and the Knowledge I have of the Doctrinal part of Christianity thereby speak somewhat to the Point and which might be useful too No I take it to be my Business and Office amongst others to unmask and discover the Errors and Pernicious Principles of the Quakers and therefore refer to Bishop Andrews upon the Commandments Bishop Pearson upon the Creed Dr. Cumber upon the Lord's Prayer and indeed what else the Church teach And to make it yet more evident if more can be that the very Design of these Silent Meetings was to bring us off and wean us from the Articles of the Christian Faith and the Principles of the Christian Religion and thereby to mould us and square us as fit Tools for their Turn to supplant and overthrow it And this I know that the more we obeyed the Doctrine of our new Teachers the more we grew dead to all Instituted Religion For as Universities and other Schools of Learning as well amongst the Jews as Christians had a tendency to prepare Men and thro' God's Assisting Grace were a means and a help to such as were to be Consecrated and set apart for the VVork of the Ministry so I do affirm and that from an Experimental Knowledge That these Silent Universities tends only to empty the Mind of all true and solid Notions of the Christian Religion and only to prepare them for the wild Notions of Quakerism which hath such a sandy Foundation that to this Day they have not been able to produce their Articles of that Faith they pretend to but are as Mr. Baxter said Penitential Confession p. 63. i. e. The Quakers are amongst us a disgraced broken Sect c. notwithstanding their pretence to Unity Uniformity and to be of one Mind referring oft to their Beginning when alas some will pay Tythes some not some shut up their Shops on Fast-Days some not some for Thee and Thou still but most of them not but are like other People some wet Quakers some not some for this some for that and some for neither this nor that as in a Hundred Things I could shew But lest any should think me partial in stating the Case and in shewing the Consequences of our Silent Meetings or Schools
their Ancient Principles and they cannot quit them or retract them in their own Books but tell us their Principles are now no other than they were then only they can word the Matter otherwise I grant they hate abhor and detest these things of my reciting c. But as they lye snug in their own Books they read them in their own Meetings they are sweet Morsels of Quaker Consolation read A Modest Defence c. Part II. p. 22. for more of this where I have Reprinted their whole Book Ishmael c. to avoid their Cavils of Curtailing and Splitting Sentences as well as to shew Quakerism in its Native Complexion In their Sober Reply c. p. 11 14 15. in Answer to the Norfolk and Suffolk Petition c. they say To the first we say It is strange you should fear the Christian Religion should be polluted by the Quakers who of all that go under the Protestant Name are generally acknowledged to be furthest removed from and most averse to Popish Superstition so we always offer our Doctrines and Principles to be examined by the Scriptures To the second we say They desire they may Enjoy their wisht-for Happiness of a peaceful Life we envy it them not but God forbid they should swim into it through a Sea of Innocent Blood c. 1. In Answer to the first That the Quakers are furthest removed from Popish Superstition than any that go under the Name Protestant this I deny in their Name and have made it appear from their Doctrine in their Books as in the Preface to my Pilgrim's Progress 2d Edit c. and that from these following Instances in which they do not hold Negative Doctrines from the Romish Church they only differ which of them twain is the true Church to which these Qualifications are duly attributed c. I. That the Quakers are the One Only Church of Christ II. They agree in the Doctrine of Infallibility III. And that none can be Saved out of the True Church IV. They both agree in the Doctrine of Miracles V. Also about the Judge of all Controversies in Matters of Faith VI. They agree in their Contempt of the Protestant Ministers VII They agree in their Contempt of the Holy Scriptures VIII They agree in the Authority of their Unwritten Traditions IX Also in the Pope of Rome and Pope Fox X. They agree in their Idolatry to each Pope 2. That they always desired their Doctrine and Principles might be examined by the Scriptures this is false in Fact when they did in the Face of the World deny it to the Norfolk Clergy at West-Dereham to George Keith at Turners-Hall being thereunto Invited Four Years one after another to my Self at Milden-Hall See New Rome Unmasked c. p. 1 to p. 9. as also at several other times notwithstanding their false and bold denial A Just Censure c. p. 7. 3. They desire they may Enjoy their wisht-for Happiness of a Peaceful Life We envy it them not say the Quakers but God forbid they should swim into it through a Sea of Innocent Blood If it be to swim through a Sea of Blood only to desire that the Quakers Errors and Blasphemous Principles which contemn the Scriptures deny that Jesus of Nazareth who suffered on the Cross to be the Son of God and damn to the Pit of Hell the Ever-blessed Trinity should lye Censured and Condemned and their Books that so teach Burnt by the Common Hangman then indeed they are guilty But if this be not Persecution but agreeable to the Law of the Land the Votes of Parliament His Majesties Royal Will and Pleasure declared in his Proclamation then they are not guilty of Persecution nor of running through a Sea of Innocent Blood in the Defence of Christianity as the Quakers would impose upon their Readers to avoid the dint of an Examination notwithstanding their pretence A Reply c. p. 11. We are ready to undertake the Proof of every Doctrine we hold by and from the Scriptures I have read in St. Jude's Epistle that as in ver 3. he exhorts us to contend earnestly for the Faith which was once delivered to the Saints so ver 9. That Michael the Archangel when contending with the Devil he disputed about the Body of Moses durst not bring against him a Railing Accusation but said The Lord rebuke thee And now I am Disputing with the Quakers his chiefest Emissaries and immediate Servants I hope I shall not bring a Railing Accusation But as it is Natural for a Worm when trodden upon to turn again and for an Englishman to set the Saddle on the right Horse so I hope I shall as long as Life last especially when St. Jude has so rightly described the Men as ver 8. saying Likewise also these filthy Dreamers defile the Flesh despise Dominions and speak evil of Dignities as I have shewed in my Modest Defence c. Part I. p. 10 13 14 15. But say they A Just Censure c. p. 1 2. The Man he and his Abetters are ill Men. P. 11. It were greatly to be wished that these Zealots would turn their Spleen against Sin what fair Quarter all sorts of Enormities meet with from some of them But that none allow fairer Quarter to Vice and Immorality than the Quakers and Leaders of the Quaker Church is plain See Pilgrim's Progress c. p. 244 to p. 284. And one Reason I take to be is their own Guilt which would make their Reproofs sound like the Kettle calling the Pot Black-A and therefore 't is the Inconsideration of their Hearers that supports the Credit of such Vicious Hypocrites who are upheld by their Character rather than their Vertue and are become much less loved than feared for I demand an Instance of any one Book wrote against their Vicious Teachers and Hearers provided they keep Fox's Commandments about the Hat Thee Thou not Marrying or Burying with us and the like unwritten Traditions but I can give you an Account of Hundreds of Books wrote against such as dissent from them and conform themselves to the Church of England calling them Apostates Betraying Judasses Malicious Informers Renegadoes Beasts Dogs Wolves Children of the Devil Enemies of all Righteousness Devils Incarnate and a Hundred other Names And they call the Publick Ministry for endeavouring their Conversion Witches Devils Thieves Robbers Antichrists the Bane of Soul and Body threatning them with all direful Vengeance and this if rightly considered is not the least part of their Insolent Behaviour to the Government Now whether your Just Censure c. was in Answer to my former Sheet with a Scheme of your Yearly Meeting or to my Modest Reply c. or both since 't is said to be a Just Censure of my Address to the Parliament and I presented none under that Title I will not determine since it seems to the first tho' given in since my last yet I cannot but admire at your Impudence in your Reply c.
mean well and can now word their Matter otherwise and yet mean the same thing for our Principles are now no other than they were in the beginning And by Reason thereof and that we cannot quit our Infallibility some that went from us throw in their Bombs amongst us which doth fearfully annoy us and have split our Main-mast of Infallibility and broken the Helm of our Sinless Perfection Civ Now Friend Jacob it grows late I cannot stay I shall only sum up a few Observations from the Premises and then take my leave of you 1. As to F. B. whether he has New Cloaths or not what he had left when his Horse and Pocket-money for his Expedition was discounted make nothing to the purpose he has given as great a proof that he has not been Mercenary in writing 16 or 18 Years together against you without Money as any Quaker can give 2. Your Leaders are very Sawcy to meddle with the Bishops Certificate as in any thing you have attempted Suppose he had been mistaken in the Man he did not say he gave it forth from the Eternal Infallible Spirit of God he only said he had known him some Years this you do not disprove That he appeared to him to be an Honest Sober Industrious Man this might be for ought you either say or know and if he had been mistaken he does not pretend to know the Heart nor to discern who are Saints who are Devils and who are Apostates as the Quakers do and if he had been mistaken it had been no more than some of your Teachers have been That he had taken much Pains to Undeceive and Convert the Quakers by publishing useful Books and not without Success this he might safely say for it was true in Fact for at that time Mr. Rands his Wife and others that had left the Quakers declared to some that his Book The Painted Harlot Stript and Whipt c. was instrumental therein and since that many others are come off who have acknowledged as much And that by the Hardness of Times Charge of Printing he was reduced c. this was true in Fact wherefore says he I apprehend him a Real Object of Charity and that he does truly deserve the Bounty of well-disposed Persons unto whom I recommend him what hurt is in all this And what had your Friends to do with it May you hold a Yearly Meeting with Doors Lock'd issue out your Epistles for Money to relieve your Friends as you say and may not a Bishop of the Established Church recommend one of their Members to well-disposed Persons of the same Communion without your Censure Can you not be content to Censure the Acts of Corporations Grand Juries and Justices but must your Boldness extend to the Exposing and Censuring the Bishops I think you are a Peg too high 3. Whereas they pretend to undertake the proof of every Doctrine they hold this appears to be a Lie told in Hypocrisie Let them Confute the Six Articles above exhibited and Defend themselves from the Ten Instances wherein they are Charged to be one in Doctrine with the Romish Church Let them Answer F. B's Seventy Queries or else it will be taken pro Confesso and that they are never able to clear themselves from being guilty of Idolatry Blasphemy Contempt of God's Word and an Hundred other gross and vile Errors 4. In Oliver's time then the Clergy put in Books into the Parliaments Hands and it was your Business to Answer and but reasonable you should defend your selves and that the Government should hear both sides this Priviledge none deny'd you But now you put Books into their Hands not only in Sessions time but send them the Nation round to their Houses in the interval of Parliaments and F. Bugg Answers them and presents them in Sessions time this now you cannot bear this angers you and you fall upon the Man the Man is an Ill Man the Man is Contentious the Man is Quarrelsom the Man is an Apostate a Renegado this I tell you is very Bold and Imperious in your Teachers that such as forsake your Heresie and conform to the Establisht Religion are by you Censured Apostates and Renegadoes this highly reflects upon the Government and by implication Charges the King and Parliaments Religion to be Heathen For it was always accounted that such as forsook the Heathen Worship and imbraced the Christian Faith were Converts and that such as forsook the Christian Religion and imbraced Heathen Idolatry as some did formerly as well as now were Apostates and Renegadoes now by your Quakers Doctrine the Church of England is Heathen and you Christian how then have you the Face to appear to such as humble Suiters and with such Books too as tell them by implication at least that they are a Heathen Parliament and that such as forsake the Quakers and go to Church with the Parliament are Apostates Renegadoes c. 5. In their Just Censure p. 40. they tell us We are satisfied that it is no other Attestation than he has Collected out of our old Adversaries Books c. this F. B. denies he took not a word of it out of their Adversaries Books 6. Nor does he believe they are able to produce a Letter of the Late Lord Archbishop's to clear W. Penn from the general belief that he is a J t but if they could 't is not one Negative Evidence will do it since some of the very same Order has confirmed that Opinion 7. If your Teachers be ready as they boast to prove every Doctrine they hold let them appoint Time and Place and G. Keith and F. Bugg will not only meet them but prove the recited Charge upon them if not I will be one that shall desire they may be set in the Pillory for Examples on Condition the Quakers will be obliged if they do that they 'll retract their Errors this to be sure is no Persecution tho' the only thing they fear and all in support of their great Idol Infallibility and Sinless Perfection 8. But if they refuse this it will appear that your Teachers Friend Jacob are great Prevaricators impudent Liars horrible Deceivers great Impostors wicked Blasphemers and gross Idolaters Subverters of Laws Religion and that their Principles improved are destructive to all Mankind 9. And therefore Friend Jacob there is not only Bombs sent into your Camp but there is a whole Broadside given which will shake your Strong Hold That is to say by two Books the one by Fra. Bugg Intitled The Pilgrim's Progress c. which shews that your Monthly Quarterly Second-day and Six-week Meetings are nor for Worship as you now confess but for Government and that that Government is contrary to all the Laws above recited the other by Geo. Keith Intitled The Fourth Narrative of Proceedings at Turners-Hall shewing that your Principles are destructive to Christianity and tend to overthrow the Christian Religion 10. And I am glad to see you thus pursued and for
Man Christ do they now own to this Day if they would speak their Thoughts However their Writings prove it and till they condemn them all they alledge to the contrary is nothing worth Well however I and others were catched by these and the like fallacious Arguments not being well grounded in the Principles of the Christian Religion nor understanding the Wiles of Satan and by their smooth and fair Carriage by their suffering patiently the Affronts they then met with And I cannot but still remember how our Minister warned us of the Doctrine of the Quakers and told us they were Deceivers and Antichrists even those Deceivers which Christ foretold us should arise shewing Signs and Wonders insomuch that if it were possible they should deceive the very Elect Matth. 24.24 (b) Which I now also believe But by this their pretended Patience in Suffering by their so much insisting on the Dictates of our Consciences which prompts to Good and checks for some Evils with other fair Words and seeming nay real Truths with which they covered over their poysonous Pills of Schism and Heresie many of us were deceived Again when I saw so much Plainness and seeming Sincerity in the Quakers and consider'd how our Minister lived it was another Motive to induce me to go after the Quakers for our Minister lived with my Father I do think some Years my Father was the chief Man that got him into the Place But both then and afterwards he was such not so exemplary as he ought to have been and I not being capable to judge of the Doctrinal Part I was carried away in my Affections being more apt to be led by Example than Precept which is not always safe However I do believe it was the offensive Practice of our Minister which I beheld in divers Particulars which was one Cause of my Stumbling whereby I fell unhappily into that Schism Not that I now judge the Occasion by him given was or is warrantable for a Separation from an Established Church Observations on the Second Chapter NOW therefore I intreat all concerned in the Ministerial Office as Pastors That they beware they give no ill Example to their Flock contrary to what becomes their Sacred Function but when they Preach well let them Practice so as believing what they say so will their People believe them to be in earnest But if they Preach never so Orthodoxly and tho' their Sermons be never so much Learned yet if they do not live in some tolerable sort answerably their People will Question Whether they believe what they teach and as a Consequence thereof will take that Liberty in Living which is not becoming Christians Or else if Seducers come will be apt to separate themselves in Hopes to get under a purer Ministry which when they come afterwards to examine they may find it to be only in Shew Notwithstanding such is the Prevalency of Example CHAP. III. Gives an Account of the Quakers Silent Meetings and the Tendency of them In which I shall speak sometimes in the Person of a Quaker respecting the time I was one HAving by this time fallen in with the Quakers in a few Years I became very zealous that way and to Silent Meetings I went and sometimes we had a few Words spoken sometimes none sometime an Epistle of George Whitehead's George Fox's Sam. Cater's or some others read in our Meetings and sometimes none But the chief of what we did hear either from our inspired Infallible Teachers or from our Friends Epistles in those private Silent Meetings was To exhort us to wait in the Light out of our Selves out of our Thoughts out of our Willings and Runnings in that which is invisible and then we should receive the hidden Manna yea Manna from Heaven which the World knew not of and that we should feel Christ to come the second time to Judgment and that Judgment was to begin at the House of God which House was our Bodies And from hence divers of us fell oft into a Trembling and Shaking I have seen about five or six together in a Meeting shake like a Leaf in Winter namely Matthew Beesly Jonas Skrook William Eyson and others yea they have shaken the Forms they sat on and this not once nor twice but frequently I do very well remember that John Kilborn the Elder did one Sunday in our Meeting fold his Arms and stood upright and by and by leaped and jumped about 18 Inches at a time until he jumped round the Room I know that some are alive still that know these things are true But let it be noted not a Chapter in the Bible was ever read amongst us but all exhorted to adhere to the Light within to obey the Light within and to follow the Teachings thereof as a Guide sufficient to lead us to Salvation yea above Scripture above Fathers above Councils and above Churches Fran. Howgill's Works p. 602 to 627. This I now confess was a Paradox not Orthodox but absolutely Heterodox For let the Scripture command Subjects to be obedient to Magistrates Children to obey their Parents Wives to reverence their Husbands and live in Subjection to them Servants to obey their Masters Christians to obey their Pastors all this signified little the Light within our Teachers taught us was Christ and Christ the Power of God the higher Power to which every Soul was to be subject yea all Power in Heaven and in Earth was committed to the Light Perverting John 5.23,24 Acts 17 to 31. See Josiah Coal's Works p. 93. And that no Command in Scripture was any further binding than as we were convinced of the Lawfulness thereof by the Light within us Ed. Burrough's Works p. 47. So that all our Obedience to God and his Commands were bottomed and founded on our Conviction by the Light within that being the only Rule Judge and Guide both superior to the Scriptures Fathers and Councils Quakerism a New Nick-name for Old Christianity by W. Penn p. 71. For said they to us That what is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and greater Truth defending the Quakers c. p. 7. By which it is self-evident That these Silent Meetings were designed to wean us off from so much as the Remembrance of all External Religion and also to prepare us to receive the false Notions of Quakerism for had they indeed exhorted us to have regard to our Light within and the Dictates of our Consciences which prompts to Good and checks for many Evils in Obedience to the Commands of Holy Scripture this would have been safe for I believe we ought so to do and 't is the same the Ministers of the Church of England press and exhort us to Oh! but this would not do our Teachers Business they must bring us off from the Scripture Commands as inferior to their Sayings and Speakings for the Book last quoted is said to be given forth from the
if they find it so as that they may for I have ever been willing and still am to produce Book and Page to prove Matter of Fact then let them carry the said Books to their Teachers to condemn and censure as Heretical and tending to overturn the Christian Religion and if not let them if they be wise turn their Backs upon them forsake their Errours and imbrace the Christian Faith so shall the end of all my Labour and Pains be Answered but if they after all the Pains my self and others have taken will still shut their Eyes and stop their Ears my Reward will be with me and they shall bear their own Burthen in the Day of the Lord. CHAP. V. Giveth many Reasons both Negative and Affirmative That George Fox took himself to be a Second Moses and that the Heads of the Quakers attributed to him Divine Honour as Head of their Church and Lawgiver to it TO come to a right Understanding of this I shall first insert an Objection raised by W. Rogers The Christian Quaker distinguished c. Part I. p. 9. and by him taken out of a Manuscript with Names to it next George Fox's Answer and then proceed to other particular Reasons and Demonstrations Object 'T is true Friends in the beginning were turned to the Light in their own Consciences as their Guide but when it pleased the Lord to gather so great a Number into the Knowledge and Belief of the Truth then the Heavenly Motion came upon George Fox as the Lord 's Anointed and Chosen having the Care of the Churches as being the great Apostle of Christ Jesus and as one whom the Lord had ordained to be in that place amongst the Children of Light in this our Day as Moses was amongst the Children of Israel in his Day to set forth Methods and Forms of Church-Government and to establish Monthly and Quarterly Meetings of Men and Women distinct from the Men and these Meetings since are called the Church whose Counsel Advice and Judgment is to be submitted unto by every one who profess himself a Member of Christ's Church and that we ought to believe as the Church believes as G. VVhitehead teacheth viz. I affirm That the true Church is in the true Faith that is in God and we must believe thus as the true Church believes or else it were but both a Folly and Hypocrisie to profess our selves Members thereof G. VVhitehead 's Book the Apostate Incendiary c. p. 16. This Objection W. Rogers made from the Strength of divers Arguments he found in the Manuscript from the VVords and VVritings of divers Persons whose Names he did forbear to mention but for the clearing up this Point VVhether G. Fox looked upon himself the Second Moses the great Prophet and Apostle see his Answer to W. Rogers The Christian Quaker distinguished from the Apostate and Innovator in Five Parts See Part 4. p. 83. George Fox's ANSWER VVilliam Rogers thou say'st There is a Spirit risen at this Day that gives many occasion to be jealous that I am look'd upon by some as that Prophet which Moses testify'd of that God would raise up Deut. 18.15 but who they are thou hast not mention'd And thou say'st Christ is that Prophet that is to be heard c. and he is the only Lawgiver and no Outward Man (m) (m) So W. Rogers said now mark his long-sided Answer Then is not this Prophet to be in Man to give forth his Law which comes after Moses But I cannot deny that Prophet which Moses spake of to be raised up for I know that it is he that is opposed and his Law too by many Talkers of him and the Light of his Glorious Gospel and the Order of it and what I am I am by the Grace and Love of God and will not deny (n) (n) Deny no there was no Body desired that But if he had not owned himself to be that Prophet he ought to have been plain and denied himself to be that Prophet as John did I am not the Christ said John Joh. 1.20 the Prophet which came after Moses nor the Election before the World began tho' all turn into the Jealousies in which they were before they were convinced for I believe few of them that does oppose knows this Prophet that comes after Moses tho' they may speak of him in Words of which Prophet I am not ashamed Reader The Text and Context being duly consider'd I mean W. Roger's Objection touching the common Jealousies which was amongst us at that Day besides the Letters in the said Manuscript c. I say that duly consider'd on the one Hand and G. Fox's Answer on the other Hand which was so far from denying himself to be that Prophet which Moses prophesied of Deut. 18.15 and St. Stephen testified of Acts 7.37 and St. Peter Acts 3.23 and St. John the Evangelist John 1.45 These and many others gave witness to the fulfilling of the Prophesie of Moses in sending the promised Messiah I say G. Fox's Answer was so far from denying himself to be that Prophet which Moses prophesied of that it confirmed us in that Day and since much more that he did not deny but rather owned the Charge But to strengthen my Argument I shall give some small Hints and but name them having been heretofore more large first What he said of himself next What his Followers said of him First Written from the Mouth of the Lord from one who is naked and stands naked before the Lord cloathed with Righteousness whose NAME is NOT known in the World risen up out of the North News coming up p. 1. which was Prophesied of (o) This is News indeed what Prophet prophesied of Fox's Rising in the North Secondly My Name is covered from the World and the World knows not ME nor MY NAME Several Petitions Answered p. 30. Thirdly HE that HATH the same Spirit that raised Jesus from the Dead is EQUAL with God Saul's Errand to Damascus p. 8. Fourthly All Languages are to me no more than Dust who was before Languages were The Battledoor c. Introd Fifthly 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 Ears were filled full of it c. G. Fox's Tryal at Lancaster p. 21. Reader Here was Fulness of Glory if his Head and Ears was so filled c. However 't is plain it alludes to John 12.18 16.14 and 17.1 For nothing would please him but to be equal if not above Christ as One Hundred Instances might be given Next I may just name some few of those High Titles and Divine Attributes which his Disciples and Followers Men of greatest Note amongst them gave him which are only due to Christ who was the Prophet Moses Prophesied of and not the subtle Fox the doting Quakers so much admire and idolize First George Fox the Father of many Nations whose Being and Habitation is
Eminent Quakers I can mention if need be But I understand the World so well as not to make these things the Subject of my Discourse nor did I ever mention any such thing in Print only G. W. gives now Occasion for it 3 dly As to the Author of the Snake in the Grass c. I am sensible G. W. does as much abuse him and indeed what Opponent ever had G. W. that he did not abuse However he has been and still is a Gentleman a Man of great Learning and Piety and cloathed with Zeal as with a Garment for the Christian Religion and well accomplished every way to display the Errours of the Quakers and is preparing an Answer to G. Whitehead wherein he I believe will trace him step by step in all his crooked and by paths But G. Whitehead I have not done with you yet you tell us in the History of your Call to the Ministry saying The Lord hath called me from my Native Country and from my Father's House and from outward Riches and the Honour of the World c. Jacob found in a Desart Land c. p. 8. I do well remember that when I came first amongst you this was a great part of your Cant as if you had been some Lords Sons yea Men of Breeding Riches and Honour and left all for the sake of Souls when alas upon a strict Enquiry of which I have not been wanting I find you in this as well as in almost every thing else horrible Deceivers for you left your poor Country for a Richer and like Yorkshire Hostlers are observed seldom or never to return thither again You came from Penury to Plenty from Labour and Toil to Ease and Pleasure you came from your Father's poor Cottage which I have been told by them that saw it that it is not worth 50 s. to Houses worth 500 l. a good Exchange believe me and you were so far from being possess'd with outward Riches that you came a poor Boy on Foot and liv'd upon Alms amongst us sometimes a Month here Six Weeks there more or less as you could find Entertainment the mean time improving that little Learning you had as well as to instruct the Children in the Family But George thou left thy Honour too how came that to pass What Worldly Honour wert thou endued with Was it to carry a Letter to a great Person sometimes for a piece of Victuals Very well I think that is as much as ever during thy Dwelling in thy own Country thou didst arrive to and for this in time thou hadst the Honour to send thy Servant and ride thy self on Horseback with a London Linnen-Draper riding before thee Benjamin Antrobus and John Kent worth some Thousands for ought I know riding behind thee carrying thy Portmantle and thy self George in the middle like some Peer Thus George instead of leaving thy Riches thy Honour c. thou left thy Penury and Contempt and by Deceit like thy Brother Sam. Cater who pretended he suffered 20 l. when he suffered not a Groat but by that Pretence got 10 l. clear into Pocket Picture of Quakerism drawn c. p. 106 to 111. at large But HARK George I find you so deceitful that I fear thou hast laid a Foundation in this thy Jacob found in a Desart Land and with Design too to have thy Friends after thy Decease when they collect thy Works to magnifie thy Call to thy Ministry out of thy Father's Country for the sake of Souls when alas it was for filthy Lucre-sake in leaving thy outward Riches when alas it was to get Riches and Honour Object 2. But may some say What will the Quakers give such notorious Accounts of their Call to their Ministry And are they generally of such a mean Abstract and yet so advanced Where is the Self-Denial they so often boast of And why do they debase the Clergy as a Tribe of Covetous Worldly Teachers Since if others be like Whitehead none exceed the Quaker Teachers in Worldly-mindedness Answ First Well to Answer this Objection take G. W. for one Instance 2 dly Sam. Cater who was a poor Journeyman Carpenter and when he led James Naylor's Horse into Bristol crying Hosannah to the Son of David and put in Prison he was well acquainted with Vermin Rags and Penury however 't is believed he is worth now besides Portioning out his Children some Hundreds 3 dly John Kilborn another Journeyman Carpenter as poor as either Whitehead or Cater when they first set up for Speakers now a Wealthy Man 4 thly William Bingley a poor Taylor wrought for 4 d. or 6 d. a Day in the North with Tho. Denison or others now a Rich Man 4 thly Samuel Wallingfeild a Glazier formerly but since a vast Rich Draper in London 6 thly Tho. Green a Mason or Bricklayer now a Man worth many Thousands 7 thly George Fox a poor Journeyman Shoemaker died worth Abundance and liv'd in as much Plenty as most Knights in England 8 thly Stephen Crisp formerly a poor Weaver but died very Rich. I have known most of these Eight Persons near 30 Years some longer and setting the Glazier and Mason aside which possibly might make up jointly 100 l. if need were but the other Six I do verily believe was not all worth 100 l. unless they had sold their Axes Saws Thimble and Needles Beds Stools Shuttle and Awl But such is the Art of their Preaching how much soever they decry Gifts and Rewards in others that put what Geo. Fox and Steph. Crisp died worth to what the other Six living for ought I know together and by the most modest Account that I can get together with my own Estimation their Estates thus got by Preaching is not so little as Twenty Thousand Pounds but some think nearer Thirty Thousand Pounds Now then I dare engage to produce 500 Clergymen whose Fathers were Men of Estates who brought them up at Schools and Colledges with great Expence and Charge and that since they came into the World have been frugal Men and liv'd as many Years in their Office of Preaching and yet have not advanc'd their Fortunes to this degree And yet to behold how their Books are fill'd with reproachful Language as well as their Sermons against the Clergy as a Tribe of Mercenary Hirelings Lovers of filthy Lucre Followers of Balaam for Reward seeking their Gain from their Quarters Greedy Dogs Babylon's Merchants Covetous Devils Thieves Robbers A Brief Discovery of a threefold State c. p. 5 7 8 9 10. Yea says W. Penn And whilst the Idle Gormondizing Priests of England run away with above 150000 l. a Year under Pretence of being God's Ministers and that no sort of People have been so universally thro' Ages the very Bane of Soul and Body to the Universe as that abominable Tribe for whom the Theatre of God's most dreadful Vengeance is reserved to act their Eternal Tragedy upon c. The Guide mistaken p. 18. And
none must touch the Hem of their Garment O Proud Hypocrites and also amongst the said Papers was one subscribed by twelve Persons directed to the Second-Day Meeting in London wherein Friends are misrepresented and greatly abused which said Paper we believe the said Francis Bugg promoted Now we being greatly grieved in our Spirits and truly sensible of his herein going from Truth do testifie We have no Unity with him nor can have whilst he is thus Acted OBSERVE First I was judged and condemned behind my Back without a Hearing Secondly The Papers subscribed by Twelve Persons they only supposed to be of my promoting Now if John Lilborn's Judges had been thus implicite in their Faith at his Tryal at Guild Hall in October 1649. he must have been Hang'd for writing The Naked Truth in Oliver Cromwell's time c. The next Instance I shall recite and which I think is to the Purpose is to shew the Quakers implacable Malice against not only W. Rogers but his Book too and no Passage in his whole Book came under the like sad Sentence as that of his admitting a Voluntary Payment of Tythes if the Supream Powers bestowed it on a National Ministry c. His Words are We are so far from condemning all those who freely pay them i. e. Tythes and not by Constraint that we look upon it to be the Duty of all professing Christianity to contribute towards the outward Maintainance of such whom they usually hear and account to be true Ministers of Christ in case they have need And if the Charity of any should be such as to bestow upon them one Fifth Part instead of a Tenth far be it from us to condemn it c. The Christian Quaker distinguished c. Part 2. p. 43. But this was such a horrible Tenet and so much of Liberty of Conscience in it that as you have heard First It was an Errour of Judgment 2 dly It came from an unsound Mind 3 dly That Truth i. e. the Quakers Light allows no Payment of Tythes at all under the New Covenant 4 thly They who do pay Tythes tho' Voluntarily do therein uphold a legal Ceremony abrogated by Christ 5 thly And thereby deny Christ to be come in the Flesh quoting 1 John 4.3 which speaks not one Syllable of Tythes 6 thly That it is downright Ranterism c. Ellwood's Antidote p. 78. 139. Well but W. Rogers was so modest as not to put this Book into the Bookseller's Hands to Sell lest thereby he might widen the Difference which both he and my self at that time thought might have been composed †For I did not then understand their Fundamental Errours but Thanks be to God that as their fair and smooth Pretences proved a Snare to catch me so their gross Dissimulations proved a Means to see them that he put it into the Hands of John Barnard a Merchant being one of the separate Quakers for him to dispose of and to disperse as he in Wisdom should see meet and some Hundreds of them he did disperse Well he was Summoned time after time to the Monthly Meeting in Devonshire-House London to Answer for his Fault and I think he as often appeared But being of too Masculine a Temper to submit to their Arbitrary Authority and Usurped Dominion he still continued selling and disposing of this so sad and so lamentable a Book of which you have heard the greatest Crime namely for admitting a Voluntary Payment of Tythes c. And to say true so it was for there is nothing upon Earth that the Quakers thirst more after than the utter Ruin of the Priesthood and the Abolishing the Maintainance thereof This is the Vein that runs fluently thro' all their Books and Sermons nay rather than the Priests should have it and that it might be a Means to starve them they are willing to pay Tythes to Secular Use For saith G. Whitehead if the King and Great Council of the Nation were pleased †The Case of the Quakers concerning Oaths defended c. p. 50. per G. Whitehead to repeal those Old Laws inforcing the Payment of Tythes and to convert them into some necessary civil Use as for the Poor Oh Judas or some National Service and Benefit Oh smooth George Here is the Face of a Lamb but the rough Paw of a Bear and the Claws of a Leopard it would appear whether we should not pay our Parts and whether the Royal Exchequer would not be conveniently supplied without the Tenths from the Priests c. Thus they could pay Tythes into the Exchequer to maintain a War which they equally Disclaim Oh but do what you will with the Tythes so the Priests do but starve and their Ministry fall and their Religion overturned then HEY BOYS UP GO WE But blessed be God the Fear of that is past Well but let us hear what became of this honest John Barnard Why in short he was Excommunicated ipso facto A Copy of it here followeth Verbatim From the Monthly Meeting at Devonshire-House the Fourth of the Eleventh Month 1681. Whereas there hath been some unruly Spirits gone out from Truth and the Unity of the blessed Power of God which hath gathered us to be a People Writing Printing and Publishing Things Hurtful and Prejudicial to Truth by corrupting of People's Minds tending also to draw them into Disesteem of many of the Lord's Servants ††A Preservative for their Teachers decaying Reputation whose Faithfulness hath manifestly appeared amongst us with whom our Unity stands to our mutual Satisfaction and Refreshment Upon Consideration of these Things we find our selves conscientiously concerned * * Oh! Deep Hypocrisie to take notice of something of this Kind befaln John Barnard Merchant formerly a Member of this Meeting who having dispersed into several Parts of this Nation divers of those Pernicious Books wrote by William Rogers called The Christian Quaker distinguished from the Apostate and Innovator in Five Parts c. which hath manifestly been proved in many material Passages Erroneous and False both in the Historical and Doctrinal Part of it was privately and publickly reproved for that unrighteous Action by several Friends at divers times according to Gospel-Order as they found it on their Spirits from the Lord ††Never was God's Name more prophaned by a People professing Religion as also admonished against it yet after all the Labour and Travel Friends have had on his Behalf being desirous if possible to reclaim him out of the Enemies Snare into which he is fallen he hath from time to time resisted their Advice and Counsel so that now we being wholly clear having used our utmost Endeavours in the good Will of God to reclaim him as aforesaid do not only testifie against that Spirit which hath led him into that disorderly Practice but also against him whilst join'd thereunto * * Both the Man and his Spirit condemned nor can we have Spiritual Communion or
Invasion from France to Subvert our Religion Laws and Liberty We whose Names are hereunto Subscribed do heartily sincerely and solemnly profess testifie and declare That His present Majesty King William is Rightful and Lawful ††This was a bitter Pill to the Quakers Second-Day Meeting King of these Realms And we do mutually promise and engage to stand by and assist each other to the utmost of our Power in the Support and Defence of His Majesty's most Sacred Person and Government against the late King James and all his Adherents * * Oh! this grated on our new Saints And in case His Majesty come to any violent or untimely Death which God forbid We do further freely and unanimously oblige our selves to Vnite Associate and Stand by each other in revenging the same upon his Enemies and their Adherents and in Supporting and Defending the Succession of the Crown c. This Act of Parliament put the Quakers to a great Consternation and what to do they could not tell they having at the same time spent much Money Time and Pains in procuring an Act of Parliament that their Affirmation should be taken instead of an Oath and it had gone thro' the House of Commons and was under Consideration of the House of Lords For think they if we do nothing our Act will not pass Well at their Second-Day Meeting Mar. 23d 1695 6. their Teachers Assembled together and no doubt great Consultings there were and particularly about those Words Lawful and Rightful King * For the French King had not yet owned him King Of Great Britain also whether they should join â—ith the Protestants in their Uniting and Associating to stand by each other in revenging his Blood in case he had come to a violent or untimely Death c. Well these two Points were largely debated and possibly might hold many Hours However it pass'd in the Negative but yet lest their Bill for their Affirmation to be taken in Lieu of an Oath should not pass they agreed thus far namely to get a Paper printed not mentioning what Meeting it was framed at not Signed with any of their Names to it nor the Name of King William once mentioned and if this Paper think they will but pass it will not do us much Hurt in case our Old Friend come again for none of our Names are to the Paper nor at what Meeting it was contrived nay nor so much as the Name of what King we mean and in regard we have obtained the Repute of an innocent well-meaning People it may do well enough So away they went trudging to the House of Lords and presented divers of them A Copy thereof is as followeth viz. The Ancient Testimony and Principle of the People call'd Quakers renewed with Respect to the King and Government and touching the present Association We the said People do solemnly and sincerely declare That it hath been our Judgment and Principle from the first Day We were called to profess the Light of Christ Jesus manifested in our Consciences unto this Day That the setting Up and putting Down Kings and Governments is God's peculiar Prerogative for Causes best known to himself and that it is not our Work or Business to have any Hand or Contrivance therein nor to be Busie bodies in Matters above our Station much less to Plot and Contrive the Ruin or Overturn of any of them but to Pray for the King and for the Safety of our Nation and Good of all Men that we may live a Peaceable and Quiet Life in all Godliness and Honesty under the Government which God is pleased to set over us And according to this Our Ancient and Innocent Principle we often have given forth our Testimony and now do against all Plotting Conspiracies and Contriving Insurrections against the King or the Government and against all Treacherous Barbarous and Murtherous Designs whatsoever as Works of the Devil and Darkness And we sincerely bless God and are heartily thankful to the King and Government for the Liberty and Priviledges we enjoy under them by Law esteeming it our Duty to be True and Faithful to them And whereas we the said People are required to Sign the said Association We sincerely declare That our refusing so to do is not out of any Disaffection to the King or Government nor in Opposition to his being declared Rightful and Lawful King of these Realms but purely because we cannot for Conscience-sake Fight Kill or Revenge either for our selves or any Man else And We believe that the timely Discovery and Prevention of the late Barbarous Design and Mischievous Plot against the King and Government and the sad Effects it might have had is an Eminent Mercy from Almighty God for which we and the whole Nation have great Cause to be humbly thankful to him and to pray for the Continuance of his Mercies to Them and Us. From a Meeting of the said People in London the 23d of the First Month called March 1695 6. Thus endeth their March Ancient Testimony 1696. Thus Reader I have given you a Copy verbatim of the Quakers Paper presented to the House of Peers and I being then in London wrote a Reply thereunto March 27. 1696. and presented it to the Lord's House who immediately rejected the Quakers Paper notwithstanding all its fine and innocent Words telling the Quakers they must be plain and tell them what King they mean Secondly Whether they believed he was both Rightful and Lawful King Thirdly That they must Sign their Paper Now these three things grated sorely on their tender Consciences for they went home sadly angry with Francis Bugg for being instrumental in the Discovery of their deep Hypocrisie for had that Paper pass'd that no Body Signed no King's Name to it if the late King had returned they had been Fish whole still and as Loyal Subjects as ever they were before Thus Reader to prevent their Cavil that I take but a Piece of their Sentences and wrong the Sense I have recited their whole Testimony Verbatim But before I proceed to give you their April Ancient Testimony let me give the Reason at least one probable Reason why it was rejected and would not pass the House of Lords so as to effect their Design as also what Communication I guess they had about it c. For I being at London the 24th of the same Month I went to the House of Lords where I had one of the recited Testimonies given me I went to my Lodging and perceiving their Prevailing thro' their Pretences of seeming Sincerity and Innocency c. I wrote a Paper by way of Reply and the 27th of March I gave away about an Hundred to the Lords who accepted of them and presently one of the Peers came out and call'd Geo. Whitehead and told him That their Paper would not do for they had not so much as mention'd what King they mean'd nor yet declar'd him Rightful and Lawful King of these
present note the Quakers Hypocrisie in this Point nor shew how far many of their Books and which I take to be the Reason of their Silence are within the meaning of His Majesty's Royal Proclamation which are not only express against the Blessed Trinity but other Fundamentals of the Christian Religion I pray God bless the King and preserve his Royal Person and inspire Him with Holy Zeal to go on with His Royal Resolution and let all true Protestants and good Christians say Amen CHAP. XII By way of Introduction to the Thirteenth Chapter wherein I shall shew several Reasons why I so proceed REader let none marvel why I proceed thus with these Men for they say of themselves Burrough's Works p. 507. They are Raised of the Lord and Established by HIM even contrary to all Men and they have given their Power only to God and they cannot give their Power to any Mortal Man to stand or fall by any outward Authority and to that they cannot SEEK * A grand Lie Who seeks more c. Now as they confess they were raised up contrary to all Men so have their Practice Manners and Deportment been contrary to all Men and therefore shall they be dealt with contrary to all Men. Bishop Jewel and other Reformers wrote smartly against the Papists and for the Peoples sake display'd their Errours unmask'd their Leaders and discover'd their Pious Frauds yet protested they were in Charity and desired nothing more than that they would have hearkened to them and forsake their Errours And I do solemnly say I know of no one thing which this World affords would please me better than to see this People condemn what is Erroneous amongst them and persevere in the Truth and the Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ true God and perfect Man But whilst they 'll excuse justifie commend and recommend such vile Errours as no Protestant Society can endure I shall proceed and if I be blamed better Men than I am as Luther for one was who when John Eccius Jacob Hochstrat wrote to him he quickly reply'd saying By how much the more they rage so much the more I go on I leave former things that they may bark at them and go on to further things that they may have some things more to bawl at The Hist of the Reform c. p. 34. Also consider the Prophet Elijah a Man both Sober Serious and Religious yet when he beheld the Idolatry of the Priests of Baal which did not much exceed the Quakers if at all he could not but mock at them and have them in a Holy Derision in order to the more compleat Discovery of them to the View of the Spectators For it is written And it came to pass at Noon that Elijah mocked them and said Cry aloud for he is a God either he is Talking or he is Pursuing or he is in a Journey or peradventure he Sleepeth and must be awaked c. 1 King 18.27 Besides all this here is more to be said for as the Quakers were raised contrary to all Men as they confess themselves so have they dealt by others as never any besides themselves ever did And therefore give me leave to fill the same Cup to them again which they so plentifully have filled to others yea good Measure pressed down and shaken together and running over Luke 6.38 For G. Fox their great Apostle and High-Priest of their Profession who was but a Journey-man Shoemaker having heard some Body say That Tu was Latin for Thou the Second Person of the Singular Number and Vos was Latin for Ye the Second Person of the Plural Number nothing would serve his Ambitious Brain but he must make for the two English Universities the Magistrates Judges Gentry and Clergy of the Land a BATTLEDOOR to teach them the same and that in Thirty Languages of which he was not Master of one And the present Quakers in order to magnifie their Great Apostle Fox have printed him the Author of the said BATTLEDOOR See the Third Index of Fox 's Journal which is as great a Cheat put upon the present Quakers as Fox put upon us in the Beginning who made us believe he had 24 Languages given him by Divine Inspiration in one Night as my self and others still living did believe for in the Introduction he said All Languages are to me no more than Dust who was before Languages were and am come before Languages were and am redeem'd out of Languages into the Power c. For tho' Fox was not the Author yet his Name is set to it nine or ten times in order to confirm the Cheat for John Stubbs and Benjamin Furley had the chief Hand in it See the Gen. Hist of the Quakers c. p. 165. But in those early Days the Government of the Fund or Common Bank was wholly at the Dispose of Fox who like Simon Magus having a Desire to be esteem'd some Great Man in Learning he hired some Jews to his Assistance as I have been credibly informed by those which heard the Jews say the same yea and since have printed it in these Words Envy and Folly detected by way of Reply to Robert Bridgman c. p. 8. We for our own parts went to the Jews and spake with the Jew that received Eighty Pounds in Mill'd Money †O th is Dagon of the Quakers as Anne Docwra calls it What will not Money do paid by Gerrard Roberts besides the Dozen Bottles of Wine given by M. F. Widow to Judge Fell who afterwards Marry'd Fox as he did affirm for doing the chief part of the BATTLEDOOR And what a Cheat was this to the Ignorant to make them believe as if it had been revealed to G. Fox c. And when R. Bridgman to cover Fox said He George Fox had some Knowledge in Hebrew my Author goes on p. 20. viz. Some Body paid enough for his Understanding in the Hebrew Witness his 80 l. and Dozen Bottles of Wine c. Oh monstrous Oh horrible Cheat Now followeth the Form and Figure of a Penny Horn-Book for Children to learn their A B C as placed in that Book intituled A BATTLEDOOR for Teachers and Professors to learn Singular and Plural c. as set at the beginning of most of the Languages in that Book with a like Inscription Signed on the Handle of the Horn-Book as in this Geo. Fox which could have no other Tendency but to discover his great Presumption to pretend to be Learned in Thirty Languages who was ignorant of his Mother-Tongue neither did this Artifice only discover his Presumption in pretending to be what he was not i. e. a Learned Person but it shewed also his Pride and Contempt thereby designed and Domineering over both Gentry and Clergy as if they understood not the English of Tu and Vos set in the said BATTLEDOOR and with this Inscription A BATTLEDOOR FOR Teachers and Professors TO Learn Singular and Plural Thou to One You to
it not amount to a just Provocation to any Child to see such foul Aspersions and horrible Slanders cast upon his Mother from whose Breasts of Consolation he hath received great Consolation and Comfort both to vindicate her and to set forth what manner of Men they are that thus scandalize his Mother-Church not only privately in their Chimney Corners but in their Meetings yea in Print in all Cities Towns and Villages c. G. Whitehead said That God laid a Necessity upon him to write his Book Judgment fixed c. where he called me and others Apostate Informers Treacherous Hypocrites False Brethren Deceitful Workers Betraying Judas 's Devils Incarnate Dogs Wolves Raging Waves c. And his God laying such a Necessity upon him thus to Write and Rail in Vindication of Quakerism he adds And in the discharging my Duty I neither consult Events nor fear Effects Now in Answer I cannot pretend to such an immediate Motion as the Quakers do but I do really think my self in point of Duty and Conscience to bear these Testimonies against the foul Aspersions of these railing Rabsheka's and have both consulted and considered the Events that may ensue and hope well of the Effects that may follow even the Confutation of their Teachers and Conviction of their Hearers and I hope the Conversion of the Sincere amongst them And now to the Men and what manner of Men they are that thus undermine the Christian Religion Ministry and Worship And thus much by way of Introduction to the Cage of Unclean Birds POSTSCRIPT Note Reader That George Fox the first Bird in the Cage did cause John Fretwell Christ Gilhorn Ja. Nayler and others to go down upon their Knees before him publickly before Friends which is Idolatry and then and there upon their Knees to make their Confession and own Judgment upon what he charged them with before he would own them or receive them into the Unity amongst Friends c. To all People professing the Eternal Truth c. p. 6. per John Harwood one of G. W. 's Fellow-Preachers Babylon is fallen is fallen and is become the Habitation of Devils and the Hold of every foul Spirit and a Cage of every Unclean and Hateful Bird. For her Sins have reached unto Heaven and God bath remembered her Iniquity Rev. 18.2,5 Reward Her even as She hath Rewarded you and double unto Her double according to Her Works In the Cup which She hath filled fill to Her double Rejoyce over Her thou Heaven and ye Holy Apostles and Prophets for God hath avenged you on Her Ver. 6 20. A Cage of Vnclean Birds GEORGE FOX John Harwood George Smith Edw. Burrough Samuel Fisher Stephen Crisp Will. Warwick Jos Helling Samuel Cater Thomas Leacock Allelujah Fisher Solomon Eccles John Audland Jofiah Coale T. Thurston George Whitehead Thomas Ell Rich. Hubberthorn William Gosnell Thomas Biddle William Gibson John Whitehead Sam. Newton Christ Atkinson Daniel Wills Immanuel D Jo. Swinton Sen. Tho. Rudiard John Blaikling John Ty Ezekiel Wooley John Moon Francis Howgill Isaac Pennington Reader I am now about opening the Cage and shall take out Twelve of the Birds and open their Wings and spread their Feathers to the Intent thou maist view them and note their Features and observe their Natures and Dispositions and George Fox the Cage-Keeper shall be over and above with some little Observations upon him and the rather because G. Whitehead has denied That the Quakers call him their Branch their Star their Son of Righteousness c. in his Sober Expost c. p. 55 58. I remember that about the Year 1662. Geo. Fox came into the Isle of Ely and at his Meetings great part of his Discourse was about the Cage of Unclean Birds saying The Church of England as in his Epistle to be read in Churches and the Professors were a Cage of Unclean Birds and the Note he made them sing was thus Come ye Episcopals How do you sing in the Cage Answ No Perfection here no Perfection here Well come you Presbyterians Independants and Baptists what say you How do you sing Let us hear your Note Answ No Perfection here no Perfection here Then said George Come out of the Cage in a very comical Manner Thus did he deride the Professors of Christianity exalting themselves a Figure of which you have in Geo. Whitehead's Sermon in the Thirteenth Chapter And now you shall hear how his Birds chirrup and what Note they sing to his Lute But to understand this rightly I think it necessary to give you a brief Description of Geo. Fox that so when you hear Six of the Birds of one sort sing to his Tune and dance after his Pipe you may the better understand whether they do not call him their Branch c. First He G. Fox a great Liar like Mahomet a great Seducer like Symon Magus a vain Boaster like Ignatius Loyold saying That neither he nor his Name was known in the World Several Petitions Answered c. p. 60. when there was not Ten Men in the whole Nation more universally known Secondly In that he taught That he that hath the same Spirit that raised up Jesus Christ is equal with God that he was before Languages were and that he was come to the end of Languages Saul's Errand c. p. 8. His Battledoor the Introduction c. Thirdly In that he taught That he was come to such a Fulness of Glory as that his Head and Ears was filled full of Glory yea that a Thundering Voice answered him saying I have glorified thee and will glorifie thee again alluding to John 12.28,29 The Examination and Tryal of G. Fox at Lancaster Assize c. p. 21. Fourthly In that he said David's Sepulcher was with the Quakers and that they had seen it Truth 's Defence c. p. 56. An abominable Lie like that of Mahomet's Journey up to Heaven upon an Ass Fifthly In saying That if every People own the Prophets and Apostles Writings they will own the Writings of the Quakers and that they may as well condemn the Scriptures to the Fire as their Papers and Queries c. Several Petitions Answered c. p. 38. Truth 's Defence p. 2 104. Sixthly In that he taught That he wrought Miracles Fox 's Journal the Third Index and yet never wrought a Miracle in the Name of Jesus of Nazareth all his Days only some Lying Wonders forged out of his Luciferian Brain without any Attestation like Symon Magus Seventhly In that he taught That the Breach of the Eighth Commandment Thou shalt not steal was no Sin if moved thereto by the Spirit of the Lord. G. Fox 's Great Mystery c. p. 77. In this Fox if not a Ranter yet joined with them and so are all that own his Doctrine Eighthly In that he taught That to call the Scriptures the Word of God was Blasphemy whilst that he yea even he called his own Writings the Word of God and frequently the Word of the Lord. Way to
for he broke Prison stole Goods and run away I have his Confession in Print Signed by John Stubbs William Cotton and Thomas Symonds And it 's worth noticing to see what Grief Atkinson was in because it dishonour'd the Cause of Quakerism in that it could not be kept private from the Knowledge of the World's People But not a Word of Confession of Sin to God nor asking his Pardon for Christ's sake But to the second Stephen Crisp the Eighth Bird. Stephen Crisp in his Circuit going to Norwich by Mendlesham in Suffolk Robert Duncon advised him to carry it wisely at Norwich for said he my Kinsman Sam. Duncon is a Man of a Timerous or Brittle Disposition Well away goes St. Crisp to Norwich sets up his Horse at the Place allotted for their Teachers Horses and then goes to Samuel Duncon's House but Samuel not being at home Stephen takes up Samuel's Wife into the Chamber Anon Samuel comes home where is my Wife says he to the Maid She 's gone up the Chamber said she with Stephen Crisp Well Samuel walks up and down the House he rubs his Elbows scratches his Head and very melancholy he was so between Nine and Ten of the Clock as I was told by some Quakers that knew it down came Stephen and Sam 's Wife And this bred great Discontent between Sam. and his Wife * She was a very handsome Woman and 't was thought too yielding but Stephen wanted no Boldness to carry it off Many such Stories we had of him knowing he was Light and Airy and a great Lover of strong Wines and Waters of 8 s. a Pint and many of us looked upon him little better than a Ranter if not an Atheist W. C. can inlarge on this Subject no doubt If any question the Truth of this let them go to Joseph Carver Tho. Budderyw if living and other Ancient Quakers in Norwich and they can tell you more of this As also of Tho. Murford another of G. Fox's Preachers who used to lay Plaisters to some Parts of Samuel's Wife which oft-times did Incommode her Husband This is so well known at Norwich that none but G. W. will have the Face to deny it But if he do I will set W. I. and W. Mires to talk with him about that and some other things Tho. Leacock the Ninth Bird. Tho. Leacock lived at Emny in Norfolk two Miles distance from Wisbech is the Bird I am now taking out of the Cage his Forepart is like a Rook but his Claws like a Kite or some Bird of Prey He was one of Geo. Whitehead's great Assistants both in Preaching and Disputing and whom George mentions as such in his Serious Apology p. 3. This Leacock was a notorious Drunkard only like some others of thier Teachers as well as Hearers of the Epicurean sort a private one But to be short so it fell out that upon a time being at a Neighbour's House where Drink was free he was so drunken that going out to make Water he stagger'd and fell backward into a Cistern made to catch Rain-Water that had they not from within heard him fall like a Millstone he had been drown'd in that little Sea but from that he was by strong Hands saved yet he broke his Bladder and was forced to wear a Dish in his Breeches to catch his Water to his dying Day And his Wife still continu'd the same Trade if not dead within these two Years who will sit and drink Brandy till she is so drunken that she will p ss as she sits Let her then be hereby caution'd to take warning by the Misfortune of her Sister Quaker-VVoman in London who about a Year and a half ago being drunken with Brandy and alone the Fire by Accident if not in Judgment took hold of her Cloaths and as I am credibly inform'd was burnt alive in her drunken Fit But let it be noted that the said Leacock was a Man extream zealous against Ribbons and Laces in a word for every Commandment of G. Fox And moreover as a Work of Super-errogation he was excellent to convey away a Female Sister if things fell out cross that so Truth might not be dishonour'd by the VVorld's People knowing of it I remember well that about the Year 1662. there was a noted Quaker got his Maid with Child and Tho. Leacock took her into Norfolk and acted so wisely in it that I do think it never was heard of by the VVorld's People and for which he has had many a hot butter'd Loaf I will not say what else Money answers all things John Moone the Tenth Bird. John Moone is the Tenth in number He was an excellent Orator a great travelling Preacher and of great Fame amongst the Quakers of which I need not say much in this place if the Reader be pleased to turn back to the Fourth Chapter he shall see him amongst the VVorthies one of the Eleven Elders to govern the Church one half of them Cage-Birds pray observe from thence what Judges and Elders the Quakers Body is to which the poor Hearers must submit 't is well worthy thy notice However after many Years Preaching and suffering Imprisonment for G. Fox's Cause in England he went into Pensilvania and was a great Preacher there and a Justice of Peace forsooth under the Honourable W. Penn But he could not leave his Vicious Habit for he first got his Maid with Child and so pursued that Course of Life until he died of the foul Disease I would have the Quakers look into G. Whitehead's Sermon and compare it with the Cage of their unclean Birds all VVriters and Preachers and I hope it will humble them tho' my Verses did not which yet were intelligible to them for I was loth to expose them because I do believe that amongst the Hearers there are many honest-minded People but I verily believe that according to the number of the Quaker-Teachers compar'd with the Multitude of the Clergy and other Protestant Teachers I say where there is one of the last mention'd chargeable with Vicious Immoralities there is a Hundred of the Quaker-Teachers yet how impudently have W. Penn and the rest of that Gang bespattered the Clergy Ut supra And particularly W. Penn viz. But to excuse this Brazen Impudence and Hypocrisie his Hackney Mercenary Spirit He Jonathan Clapham boldly calls Christ his Redeemer not observing how unsuitable his Life and Doctrine is with the Redeemed of the World For whosoever is Redeemed by Christ is perfectly so in as much as all his Works are perfect But as this Guide Mr. Clapham 's Conversation manifests the contrary by his Very Great Miscarriages * A base Suggestion I am told by many worthy and good Men that Mr. Clapham was a Pious Man and a good Liver Nor is there any thing so much stumble Infidels and brings a Reproach upon the Christian Religion as Priests and People Writing Talking and Fighting hard for Christ as Redeemer whilst every
sought for a proper place of Scripture and when he had read he then in a friendly manner gave the Minister his Book again and did not fall upon him and call him Conjurer Beast Dog Witch Devil Bloodhound c †As the Quakers does our Ministers but preached out of what he read and expounded it to the People insomuch that the Eyes of all the Assembly were fastned on him when they heard his Gracious Sayings Luke 14.14,16,17,18,19,20,21 and at another time suitable to his own Example he bade the Jews search the Scriptures for they are them which testifie of me John 5.39 And after he was risen from the Dead how did he appear to his Disciples and reasoned out of the Scriptures Beginning at Moses and all the Prophets he expounded unto them in all the Scriptures the things concerning himself saying unto them These are the Words which I spake unto you whilst I was with you that all things must be fulfilled which are written in the Law and in the Prophets and in the Psalms concerning me John 24.27,44 Thus did he confirm the Scriptures by his Holy Example both before and after his Crucifixion he did not question whether Moses or Hermes were the first Pen-man thereof or whether either or neither as the Quakers do in order to invalidate it and to overthrow the Divine Authority of it The Quakers Refuge fixed c. p. 17. no no he confirm'd them saying The Scripture cannot be broken John 10.35 Think not said he that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets No no it is said he easier for Heaven and Earth to pass than for one tittle of the Law to fail till all be fulfilled Matth. 5.17,18 Joh. 16.7 And St. Paul said The Law is our Schoolmaster to bring us to Christ Gal. 3.24 And it was his manner to go into the Jews Synagogue to Reason with them out of the Scriptures opening and alledging that Christ must needs have Suffer'd and Risen from the Dead proving out of the Scriptures that the same Jesus which he Preached who was Prophesied of and in due time was Born of the Virgin Mary was the Christ Read Acts 17. Micah 5.2 Psal 2.2.22.18 Isa 61.1.9,7 Deut. 18.15 Jer. 23.5 Exod. 12.46 Numb 9.12.21.9 Read New Rome Arraigned c. pag. 55 to 58. c. Here we may see that neither the Ministers of the Church of the Jews nor Christ nor his Apostles call'd the Scriptures Death Dust Beastly Wares the Husk Carnal Serpent's Food c. as the Prophane Quakers Blasphemously do as appears from the Books of their Prophets of greatest Note Fox Whitehead c. See the Quakers Plainness c. p. And if you will look into the Apology of Justin Martyr and the Writings of the Fathers as St. Cyprian St. Augustin Origen Chrysostom Isidorus Tertullian c. and into the Practice of our present Church of England you will find the same But for your further Instruction in these Matters I rather refer you to our Reverend Bishops and Clergy who can better inform you Thus having kept nothing back from you which I think may make a Discovery of the Quakers Faith Doctrine and Practice to be contrary to the Faith Doctrine and Practice of the Jewish as well as the Christian Church to that of the Apostles Primitive Christians Saints and Martyrs in all Ages I shall conclude this Chapter begging of God to bless my Labours to those Ends by me designed which are best known to him and my own Conscience which whether you believe it or not is That you may thereby be helped to understand your Errors that thereby you may be prevailed upon to beg God's Assistance to help you out of them and receive the Benefit of it Amen Fran. Bugg July 30. 1698. To write no more I long since did intend But now I hope that Work is near an end For abler Men do daily now come in To finish what I think I did begin * Respecting some particular Discoveries not but there were earlier Pens at work against Quakerism AN APPENDIX DISCOVERING A most Damnable PLOT by a Vnited Confederacy carried on by the chief Emissaries of New-Rome against the Christian Religion and Christian Reputation of the Professors thereof with a Remedy against it both Easie and Safe READER HAving gone thro' many things tho' briefly I do now say that it was not of my seeking nor my Choice I could have been glad to have seen the Quakers to have Retracted their Gross Errors and thereby remove the Cause but they have slighted all due Methods that are consistent with a Reformation Observe what Proposals I and others have made in our Books For when G. Whitehead gave forth a Sheet Entituled The Quakers Vindication c. saying Col. 2. P. 3 4. I G. W. freely offer and am willing to make it plainly appear before ANY Six Ten or Twelve Competent Witnesses who are moderate Men of common Sense and Reason That Francis Bugg has grosly wronged the Quakers both in Charge Citation and Observation c. I then did meet him and we agreed upon the Preliminaries upon which we were to debate but when I came to name Persons he flew off Now by the Contents of his Offer I had my Liberty to chuse any yea all the Men provided they were moderate Men of common Sense and Reason But to avoid his Charge of Partiality I admitted that he should have his equal Choice of one part of the Men And that he might see I would take no Advantage at his Word any whereby I was left free where to make my Choice as well as who I offer'd to chuse out of the Ministers of the Episcopalians Presbyterians Independants or Baptists I mention this here because 't is Rumour'd in Town that he offered to meet me with the Baptists a horrible Lie but none would down with him but Quakers Nay to chuse our Men out of any or of all those Four Christian Societies which had he been sincere he could not have denied since it was his own voluntary Offer Nay when he refused to close on this Bottom as if he feared he could not chuse Six moderate Men of common Sense in all those Societies I then offer'd him to chuse each of us Three Members of the Honourable House of Commons and to them we would leave our Matter in contest Viz. Whether I had wronged them in Charge Quotation or Citation c. Febr. 1693. But this he refused also and there being some Gentlemen present they advised me to send him a Letter to that end and they would subscribe it which I did their Names are as followeth viz. Samuel Grove Samuel Plaice Henry Symons John Fenn and also Danil Hassel But this Offer G. W. also rejected which the Gentlemen above-named as well as to my self and indeed to all that have since understood it was and is a Sign of great Guilt and Insincerity in him which indeed is manifest in most of his Answers to
several Opposers Well I was not yet willing to give over this Meeting but I offer'd him to lay aside these Men and the Advantages I had thereby and to have a Publick Meeting with him provided he would first engage under his Hand to retract and condemn what I proved Erroneous Blasphemous and Idolatrous in the Quakers Books but this he also refused As at large in my Book Quakerism Withering c. pag. 5 6 7 8. Which to me is a sufficient Evidence that he is Self-condemn'd and Conscious to himself of the Quakers Manifest and Apparent Errors which he is not able to Vindicate as in an hundred Instances I might mention but I will only name one in this place viz. W. Rogers having wrote That the Quakers looked upon George Fox to be in that Place amongst the Children of Light in this our Day as Moses was amongst the Children of Israel in his Day to set forth the Methods of Church-Government c. The Christian Quaker Distin Part 1. p. 9 Part 4. p. 3. To this Geo. Whitehead replied saying And for Geo. Fox to be in this our Day in that VERY Place amongst the Children of Light as Moses was amongst the Children of Israel in his Day this Comparison we own not c. Now there was no Body said that he was in the VERY Place upon the VERY Spot of Ground on which Moses stood at Mount Sinai No but that George Fox was with respect to his Power and Authority to give forth Laws Statutes and Ordinances in the same Place that is endued with the like Authority And in this Sence G. W. did not deny but only that he might quibble it off as his manner has been and thereby blind the People for which he has a sore Cup to drink Read Burrough's Works pag. 515. and G. W.'s Serious Search pag. 51 52 53. and Third Part of the Quakers Quibbles p. 33 to 44. 85 to 95. and Dan. Leed's Voice of a Trumpet pag. 4 to 40. He that deceives willingly and of set purpose as I am certain has been his Custom What shall we say to such a one but must leave him to God the Righteous Judge G. Fox Jun. speaking in the Person of the Quakers Light viz. You have in your Imaginations put me afar off and will not own me the Light and Life in you I the Light will overturn Kingdoms Nations and gathered Churches which will not own me the Light in them I will make you know that I the Light which lighteth every Man that comes into the World am the true Eternal God c. This Whitehead vindicates The Light and Life of Christ within c. p. 11. Yea if we may consider what Titles G. Fox puts upon himself as Dan. Leeds says News of a Trumpet sounded c. pag. 109 110. Professing Equality with God A brief Relation c. p. 2 3. Gr. Myst pag. 67. 127. Saul's Errand pag. 6 7 8. News coming up c. p. 1. Quakers Challenge c. p. 6. And G. Whitehead and W. Penn's Vindication of those Divine Attributes given to G. Fox in their Books A Serious Search p. 58. Judas and the Jews c. p. 44. Judgment fixed c. p. 19 20. Innocency against Envy c. p. 18. The Accuser of our Brethren c. pag. 40 41. together with Fox's being set up a Worker of Miracles too I say says D. L. should the Jews give equal Credit to the things contained in their Books with the History of St. Luke how shall they know who is the Messiah G. Fox or JESUS of Nazareth especially since W. Penn denies that outward Person to be the Son of God which suffer'd at Jerusalem who was called JESUS of Nazareth See his Ser. Apol. c. pag. 146. Good Christian Reader says D. Leeds yea and Fr. Bugg consider the Event and Effects of these things be we intreat you otherwise minded than G. Whitehead is who says he neither consults Events nor fears Effects in what he writes See his Judgment Fixed c. Introd Thus then does it appear not only by what is here quoted but by what is taken from the Quakers Books in this and other of my Books in D. Leed's Books in G. Keith's Books in Th. Crisp's Books and others that Quakerism is a Plot against Christianity and strikes at its Root and Branch I cannot but foresee that my old Friends will be half angry with me for mentioning W. Penn's Plotting to Subvert the Government But this I can tell them honestly that since the Danger of that is over and His Majesty has out of his Gracious Favour pardon'd them I should not speak a Word of it did I not see that he and his Brethren are in a most Damnable Plot against the Christian Religion of which I gave Notice in The Pict of Quak. p. 72 to 102. But since that Alarm did not sound loud enough I have already and shall yet sound a little louder so that all Ears may tingle and Hearts may lament when they see the Honour of our Christian Religion defam'd and the Holy Profession thereof invaded by these Impostors But why should they be angry W. Penn has given me a Challenge to it saying This open Challenge I make That if amongst the many Plots that have been spoken of and several have been hang'd for that there has been one known Quaker found amongst them I confess that the Magistrate is excusable in his Discreet Jealousie over Us c. But then if one Instance of a Quaker-Traytor is sufficient to justifie the Discreet Jealousie of the Magistrates over the Quakers as William Penn truly says then to make up a Pair I may give a second Instance namely John Yates a Quaker who liv'd at Hull a Master of a Ship who for carrying Lead into France in the time of the late War had his Estate seiz'd but himself fled from his Dwelling and was forced to hide as his Partner did or else in all probability he might have been Hang'd for tho' they cannot Fight as they say yet they can carry Lead to make Bullets for the French to kill the English with All which shews that the Magistrates Discreet Jealousie over the Quakers is excusable by W. Penn's Allowance and truly I am of that Opinion too and not only in that Case but in their most Horrible Plot against Christianity which tends directly to subvert the Faith in the Crucified Jesus and therewith the Foundation of Christianity and I pray God to give the Magistracy a due Sence hereof and then to inspire them with an Holy Zeal to find out a Remedy For I do say that to me it does plainly appear and to as many as of late have been conversant in their Writings and who have observed the Tendency of them together with the whole Frame and Model of their Church-Government that Quakerism is a most Formidable Plot and a United Confederacy both against the Christian Religion the Professors thereof together with the
Holy Scriptures and Ordinances of Baptism and Supper instituted by Christ Jesus also his Death and Sufferings and that in order to exalt their own Laws and Ordinances set up amongst them by their second Moses whom they said was raised up to be amongst them in the same place that Moses was amongst the Israelites tho' not in the very same Place respecting Mount Sinai where Moses's Feet stood as above observ'd But that I may not impose upon my Reader I will yet give some other or more Instances than I have given Tho' I think I have given sufficient Reasons already Read W. Penn's Apol. c. p. 150. where he saith We have a Red Catalogue that shall stand recorded against our Presbyterian and Independant Persecutors that their Names and Natures too may stink to Posterity c. Read also the Books referr'd to viz. Judas and the Jews c. p. 41. A Rejoynder c. p. 410. The Anarchy of Ranters c. p. 42. A Ser. Apol. p. 150. The Picture of Quakerism c. pag. 102 103. has them at large Reader This is the fourth Warning we have had from the Quakers themselves of this Plot which they are laying and which they are preparing for future Ages against the Christian Name and Reputation of the English Magistrate And that the Quakers Plot is against the value of the Death of Christ the Exemplary Suffering of the Apostles and Martyrs read Burrough's Works p. 273. where they say That the Sufferings of the People of God call'd Quakers in this Age is a greater Suffering and more Unjust than in the Days of Christ or his Apostles or in any time since Here you see that the Ten Persecutions the Bloody Massacres and Queen Mary's Reign are all less than the Sufferings of the Quakers in seven Years time Oh Monstrous Oh Horrible What was done to Christ and the Apostles was chiefly done by a Law and in great part by the due Execution of a Law And hereby it appears the Suffering to be more Unjust because what the Persecutors of old time did to the People of God they did by a Law and by the due Execution of a Law Now Reader consider what these new Prophets say and if thou art a Christian I do solemnly appeal to thee whether this Doctrine of the Quakers hath not a Tendency to cause the Names of the Martyrs to stink in regard it implies they were Criminals and suffer'd under the Emperors by a Law and the due Execution of their Law for it could not be a just or due Execution unless the Law were Just Do they not hereby what in them lies acquit the hard-hearted Jews the Barbarous Emperors and Bloody Papists of their Bloody Cruelties and Implicitly Charge both Christ and his Apostles and Martyrs with the Breach of some Just Laws for which their Penalties say they were duly Executed And if so is not this a Damnable Plot Not to name other Blasphemies which lye Couched under this Doctrine as also the Quakers Pride and Arrogance thus to exalt their Sufferings from 1650 to 1657. to be greater than the Sufferings of Christ his Apostles and Martyrs And this Plot is still carrying on with Vigour not only against the Presbyterians Independants and Baptists to make their Names and Natures stink in the Nostrils of future Generations when the surviving Quakers bring out their Books of Sufferings alias Martyrdom But behold this Book of theirs with the said great Sufferings greater than that of Christ and all his Martyrs since was reprinted Anno 1672. and Witnessed to by the Approbation of Geo. Fox Geo. Whitehead Josiah Coale Francis Howgill and their Hireling Ellis Hooks For what one writ the other avouch they speak all one Thing are of one Mind so that when they have gathered up all their Sufferings in the Reign of K. Ch. II. K. J. II. and K. William III. for they are still collecting all their Sufferings compleat and full as in Pag. 84. herein no doubt but they will make them to exceed all the Sufferings of the Patriarchs and Prophets from the Blood of Righteous Abel to the Days of Christ and from thence to the end of the Chapter ad infinitum O rare This will be according to their Ancient Testimony in G. Whitehead's Sermon insomuch that this Hellish and Damnable Plot is against the Patriarchs Prophets Christ and his Apostles Saints and Martyrs in all Ages and Generations And this is the main Business of their whole Body in their Convocations both in their Monthly Quarterly Six Week Second Day and Yearly Meetings which ought to be taken Care of at least Inspected tho' they have their Liberty of Meeting in those Houses Licensed to Preach and Pray for at those Meetings there are so many Spectators that they cannot do that Hurt and Damage to the Christian Religion they do in these Private Lockt and Barr'd-up Private Conventicles Thus then it appears that this Plot is carrying on against King Lords and Commons against Judges Councellors and Lawyers against the Reverend Bishops Clergy and all Protestant Ministers against Sheriffs Constables and Headboroughs and indeed against the whole Race of Mankind that profess Faith in Jesus Christ And therefore how doth it concern all Christians that have any Love to and Faith in our Lord Jesus Christ that have any Respect to our Martyr'd Ancestors who suffer'd in the Flames for our Holy Religion to take Care of the Growth of Quakerism as they will answer the Neglect of it at the Great and Notable Day of the Lord. Objection I. By this time some may be ready to object saying Francis Does not thy Zeal exceed thy Judgment What wouldst thou have Fire come down from Heaven and consume them as Elias did 2 Kings 1.10 Luke 9.54 Wouldst thou have the Government fall upon them and destroy them Answer No by no means I would not be understood so for this I solemnly declare in the Fear of God as I hope for Mercy at the Great Day of Account when both they and I shall appear before his Great Tribunal I do desire neither I would not have a Hair of their Head hurt Besides if I did desire the Growth of Quakerism that is the ready way to increase them for they glory in nothing more than to be thought great Sufferers No let them have Liberty in their Licensed Meeting-Houses to Preach Pray and Exercise their Talent equal with others if the Government think fit And as this is all that other Dissenters desire or expect so if they had not a further Design this would content them being that which answers the Substance of all their Petitions and Addresses to the Parliament from one Reign to another together with not being compell'd to go to any other Worship And they having both granted I think 't is all that is necessary to answer the Ends of all their frequent and endless Solicitations And nothing of this do I desire them to be debarr'd of Object II. But then
some may say What other Way is there to put a Stop to the Growth of Quakerism if they have this Liberty Such an Expedient would be requisite if such an one were to be found Answ I have once offer'd my Thoughts in this Case and shall now enlarge thereon For as I then said so I still believe that the main Requisite to work a Cure is to know the Disease which when found out an ordinary Practitioner may prescribe a Remedy sooner than an able Physician who knows not the Disease Besides this I have heard that when a Bill for the well-Tanning of Leather was brought into the House of Parliament one of the Honourable House of Lords being willing to inform himself into the Nature of that Affair he apply'd himself to a Cobler discourses with him about this that and the other Default in Leather and what VVays might be found to remedy the Abuses thereof for the Publick Good The Cobler tells his Honour what he knew by many Years Experience and told his Lordship how it might with Ease be remedied insomuch that when the said Bill came under Debate in the House his Lordship was so well skill'd not only in the Means to be used but in the Terms of Art that his Lordship spake like some experienced Tanner who by his Discourse gave Light to the whole House Now whether this was so or no I will not determine but 't is not improbable since the wisest of Men may sometimes improve by such weak Helps as in other Cases 't is frequent such a Virtue is Humility And thereupon in answer to the Objection I shall say thus much I. Let G. Whitehead and some others of the Quakers chief Leaders and Fr. Bugg c. be summoned by Authority to appear And whereas G. Whitehead c. has given in a Sheet to the Parliament Anno 1693. suggesting that Fran. Bugg c. has wronged the Quakers in Charge Citation and Observation and if G. W. can make it appear so for our Law judges no Man before it hears him let Fran. Bugg c. be made an Example Again on the other Hand if it appear that Fran. Bugg c. has not wronged the Quakers nor falsly charged them either in Book or Page and that those Points of Doctrine objected against the Quakers by F. B. c. be found to strike at the Foundation of the Christian Religion and to subvert the Faith then let the Quakers be oblig'd to renounce them and condemn those Books which so teach This yea this would strike Quakerism to the Heart This is the thing feared by G. W. c. when they cry out Fran. Bugg would stir up Persecution and give it a Mortal VVound and preserve the Quakers too and the Books being condemn'd to be burnt as it would remove the Scandal brought upon the Christian Religion so would it be a Means to rescue their VVives and Children from the Jaws of Quakerism that Fatal Mischief to Mankind and preserve others from falling into it For now many of them think their Teachers write and speak from the Eternal Spirit whose so speaking is of greater Authority than the Bible Truth defending the Quakers c. pag. 7. And that 't is as lawful to burn the Bible as their Books Papers and Queries Truth 's Defence c. p. 2.104 Then would those who are now Tinctured with the Leaven of Quakerism vomit it up and forsake their Errors This I take to be one proper Remedy and possibly might effect the Cure If not II. If the Quakers would Apologize That now they Believe otherwise than they did formerly then as a Proof of their Sincerity and Conversion let them having first condemn'd their Books as aforesaid set out certain Articles of their Faith in Plain Clear and Positive Words agreeable to Scripture since of late they have so much pretended to be Orthodox therein and at the Close of them condemn all their other Books which teach the contrary particularly by Name III. The next thing requisite to make a firm and lasting Cure to them their Heirs and Successors is to admit each Congregation of Quakers to have their Teacher or two if one will not do And likewise that thse Teachers may attend only their own Flock and not to range all the World over at most not above Five or Ten Miles to Hold-forth lest this Putrified Sore break out again and the last end be worse than their beginning And as this thus granted is what other Professors Dissenters from the Church of England are content with so will it answer all the just Ends of that Liberty of Conscience so much by them sollicited for and so graciously already granted by the Government IV. Let them not be permitted to hold Yearly Convocations with Doors Lockt Barr'd or Guarded by Men on Purpose to prevent Inspection in order to make Laws against the Laws of the Land and with respect to their Subjects to repeal such Laws as suite not their Design which shews that they are a Government within the Government Whose Laws thus made they keep private even from many of their own People For as this Practice no Dissenters Quakers only excepted do desire and indeed without His Majesty's Licence more than the Bishops of the Established Church can Legally do so would it be a Means to work a perfect Cure of this so much to be lamented Gangrene of Quakerism V. Lastly That they may not be permitted to Teach School Publickly for thereby they corrupt the Youth and lay a Foundation for the next Age for the Seeds of Quakerism to spring and put forth again for they teach G. Fox's Journal which contains such Doctrine as tends to undermine the Christian Religion Object III. G. W. in his late Book Truth and Innocency c. p. 41. objects Our Adversaries would make as if we promoted Regnum in Regno not only independent but opposite to the Civil Government which none of our Meetings are being to promote real Practice of Piety Christianity and true Religion among us as a People and to prevent the contrary We know of no such Supream Assemblies among us as gives Laws and makes Orders for the Government of our People suppressing Books c. Answ This is all fallacious he knows they do and I can prove it And not only make Laws for their People but make Laws or Orders contrary to the Laws of the Land And as for his Pretence that at these Meetings they do not promote Regnum in Regno since their Meetings are to promote real Piety c. 1. When the Bishops and Clergy meet do they not promote the real Practice of Piety as much as the Quakers pretend to Yet if they should meet as do the Quakers without Licence from His Majesty it would as Lawyers say be against these Statutes 28 Hen. 8. c. 19 21. 27 Hen. 8. c. 15. 3 Ed. 6. c. 10 11. 1 Eliz. c. 12. Magna Charta c. 29. Pet. of R. 5 Eliz. c. 1.
whereby it 's manifest their Innocency so much boasted of is not Triumphant as G. W. says in his Book Innocency Triumphant c. And therefore the way to deal with these cunning Sophisters G. W. c. is still to pursue them with Challenges to call them into the Field and thereupon I will pitch my Standard here on Behalf of the Christian Religion and Protestant Profession against Quakerism Head and Tail and once more challenge G. Whitehead to appear on his own Proposition to the Parliament viz. For each of us to chuse four or six moderate Men of common Sense and Reason out of the Professors I call it his because he did voluntarily offer to meet me before any Six Ten or Twelve moderate Men c. of the Christian Faith and let us dispute it out fairly and above-board And thereupon I shall renew my Challenge and let it stand here as a Monument of the Quakers Cowardice and Self-Condemnation if they 'd rather lye under this heavy Charge following than to come out and make their Defence viz. First That they deny Jesus of Nazareth who was Born of the Blessed Virgin Mary who suffer'd without the Gates of Jerusalem to be Christ the Son of the Living God Secondly That they deny the Scriptures by their speaking contemptuously of them calling them Carnal Death Dust Beastly Ware Serpent's Meat c. and that Preaching out of them is Conjuration Thirdly That they exalt their own Sayings and Writings above the Scriptures as being of greater Authority and more Certainty not only in Words but in Practice Fourthly That they undervalued the Death and Sufferings of Christ Jesus by granting they were inflicted by or for the Transgression of a Law and executed in a great Measure at least by the due Execution of a Law Fifthly That they exalt their own Sufferings as greater and more unjust than the Sufferings of Christ his Apostles and Martyrs yea even than all the Persecutions from the Days of Christ to the Year of their Rise namely 1650. Sixthly And that for these and the like Reasons the Quakers Books which thus teach are Blasphemous and their Practices in their Adorations are Idolatrous This is my Charge which I have often laid down and which I now renew and offer to make good upon them if he will chuse his Men and meet me according to his own voluntary Offer and my Acceptation thereof or otherwise because I will give him his Choice of two Methods viz. or on Condition At Oxford I offer'd Sylas Norton to prove the same Charge against the Quakers and their Doctrine that he George Whitehead will engage under his Hand to Retract their Errors if proved upon them out of the Quakers Books wrote by their approved Authors and condemn the Books which teach this Horrible Doctrine promising my self also to Engage under my Hand to Retract what he shall prove Erroneous in my Books or False in Fact relating to my Charging the Quakers thereby making them publick Satisfaction and to Burn my Books if found Guilty as a Testimony of my Injustice A Sign of my not being Conscious of Guilt herein And to this I subscribe my my Name Aug. 3. 1698. Francis Bugg This then is my Flag of Defiance which I hold out to G. Whitehead c. this is my Standard which I have pitched ON Behalf of my Saviour JESUS CHRIST which the Quakers have Contemned Disown'd and Denied to be the SON of GOD ON the Behalf of the Scriptures which the Quakers say are Dust Death Beastly Ware Serpents Meat c. ON the Behalf of the Holy Ordinances of Baptism and the Lord's Supper which Christ Instituted ON the Behalf of the Church of ENGLAND both Magistrates and Ministers which the Quakers have most wickedly Traduced and Abused as Intolerable to bear and Seditious in its own Nature Let them come forth out of their Dens and Holes and acquit themselves like Men if they think I wrong them or else be content to lye under my Charge as self-condemned Persons and let them also know that my Book New Rome Arraigned c. stands unshaken and that George Whitehead is not Triumphant but forced by the Guilt of his Conscience to submit to the Charge above exhibited which is Ignoble and Base on his Part and will lower his Topsail to his great Abasement Shame and Confusion of Face in the Eyes of all sorts of Intelligent Persons Thus having stated the Contest between G. W. and me and advised my Friends and Fellow-Labourers not so much to Answer the Quakers Books as to Charge and Recharge them again and again till they at last being confounded with Shame Horror and Confusion be forced to come out But I shall shew Whitehead's Fallacy in his way of answering Books only by one Instance for I having in my Book New Rome Arraign'd c. pag. 47. by way of Retaliation upon the Quakers who call the Publick Ministers Antichrists and Deceivers and the World's Teachers given Fifteen Instances why the Quakers are the World's Teachers and Deceivers the second of which was this The Quakers who teach that the Name JESUS and CHRIST belongs to the whole Body and every Member in the Body as well and as amply as to Christ the Head are of the World and Deceivers New Rome Arraigned c. pag. 47. Now this was no Quotation but a Charge which rests for me to prove I grant the Word amply is by me added by way of Illustration but the Words as well that G. W. neither mentions nor disowns Isaac Pennington's Words are Doth not the Name Jesus and Christ belong to the whole Body and every Member in the Body as well as to the Head So that the Name is not given to the Vessel but to the Nature in the Vessel A Question to Professors by Isaac Pennington c. p. 27. P. 33. The Scripture does expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore between Him that came and the Body in which he came between the Substance which was vailed and the Vail which vailed it Lo I come a Body hast thou prepared me there is plainly He and the Body in which He came there was the Outward Vessel and the Inward Life this we certainly know says Isaac and can never call the Bodily Garment Christ c. And whoever read the Scriptures may clearly see that the Quakers are False Teachers in that they first teach that the Name JESUS and CHRIST belongs to every Believer as well as to CHRIST the Head since they can first call him as you have heard A Garment a Vessel a Vail a Body but in express Words they say they cannot call Him Christ but whoever read the Scriptures by me quoted in the Sixteenth Chapter I hope they will be convinced And St. John says Then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him Then came Jesus forth wearing a Crown of Thorns Then the Soldiers when they had crucified Jesus they took his Garments but one of
about your Cottage you that can forge Certificates and set Mens Names to it without their Privity Knowledge or Consent as you did that from Huntington in your Book Judgment fixed as Anne Docwra in her Letter to Mr. Crisp March 25. 1684. says you did what credit is to be given to it And besides those three Certifiers conclude thus On credible Information we verily Believe Here then is but their belief on Information and I am credibly informed of what I wrote so the Reader is left to believe as he is perswaded The like may be said of Will. Mead touching his saying to William Harris that Fox's Journal is a better Book than the Bible this Will. Mead does not deny under his Hand I have only Geor. Whitehead's word for it and he that can forge Certificates is not to be believed Again p. 38. What Earnings didst thou F. B. make in the late Discourse before the Bishop of Norwich and the four Members of Parliament where I discovered thy repeated Falshoods Forgery Deceit and Wickedness in divers Matters And how thou wert counfounded when Matters were closely urg'd against thee c. Now George thou knowest in thy own Conscience that this is a Lie spoken in Hypocrisie on purpose to mislead thy Disciples for thou didst not prove one false Quotation Matter or Thing against me But I proved thee guilty of contempt of the Scriptures in exalting your sayings above them as of greater Authority and for the truth of this I submit my self to those Five Persons present one of them having often shewed his Approbation of my management of that Affair These things George do not redound to thy Credit and I can truly say I am sorry for thee George we both grow Ancient let us write for the good of others not for Victory for my part I do upon the word of a Christian design it and if I saw my self in an Error I should willingly submit Again P. 46. Beside the false Printing and bad English as Fr. B. has exposed my Book Ishmael there is another defect after the words The Lake is thy Portion which is the Portion of Liars the words except thou speedily repent are omitted there and in some other places To which I Answer let any body compare your Book Ishmael and his Mother cast out c. in the Original Impression in Quarto and the Reprint in my Modest Desence c. Part 2. and they shall find it for English Comma's and Points and Words the same For in the Quarto Impression p. 3. l. 15. there is we for wo as in Mod. Def. p. 7. l. 13. there is also we for wo and so in all other places where it was bad English and false Spelled and false Pointed so it is Reprinted And as for the words except thou speedily repent being left out I do positively say 't is a most horrid Lie there is not a word in the whole Book left out so careful was I. And how then canst thou pretend to be a Consciencious Writer when in the face of the Sun thou canst thus Prevaricate Dissemble and Lie and that knowingly What is become George of thy seriousness sincerity and plainness thou so often boasts of Again P. 34. He F. B. assumes the boldness to promote in Print an Abstract of two Letters of two Clergymen I pray God open the Eyes of our Governours and cause them to take into Consideration this too much and too deplorable unlimited and unbounded Tolleration especially as the Quakers both claim and use it c. as in Pil. Prog. p. 175. was not this says George a piece of insolent confidence to expose this in Print and thus openly to oppose the Liberty Granted and legally Confirmed by King and Parliament and thus to render our Governours blinds c. Now as I think this was a good Prayer so do I think it no boldness to expose it in Print For George it was not the Liberty Granted and by Law Confirmed which these Clergymen either called unlimited or unbounded for the liberty granted is both limited and bounded as from divers branches of the Laws appear and particularly by the very Act of Tolleration see p. 86 88 101 189 339. No the unbounded Liberty which the Quakers take claim and use is what the Clergy is against and which they Pray the Government would take into their Consideration and I am sure it is a base bold and insolent thing George in you to expose in Print that the Clergy would represent the King and Parliament blind But I have not herein room to set forth your baseness in calling all Kings Spiritual Egyptians all that own any King since the days of Christ Apostates that Parliaments chosen by most Voices are not like to Act for God or the Good of his People that Parliaments are the Beast that carry the Whore Nay in your Book The West Answering to the North c. you justifie the Murther of King Charles I. saying The cutting off his Head was a remarkable Record of the Righteous Judgment of God and for a true sight of these your Antimonarchical as well as Antimagistratical Principles see p. 157. to p. 175. hereafter And George you tell us in Print that your Principles are now no other than they were in the beginning And what they were in the beginning I in this Book the Pilg. Prog. c. have set forth And I think it is both bold and insolent Confidence in you to revive all these your horrid Principles destructive to Government and Humane Society by telling us you are the same in Principles still and I am afraid we may in this believe you In the next place I shall shew even thee George what Liberty the Quakers both use and claim which not only those two Clergymen but many Ten Thousands both of Laity and Clergy are against First Your sending into the Churches Challenges as your Friends did at West-Dereham Secondly Your going from House to House like the Popish Priests to seduce the People inviting them to your Meetings giving them Books which say the Quakers are the one only Church of Christ and that out of your Church there is no Salvation Thirdly That your Monthly Quarterly Six Week Second Day and Yearly Meetings where you revive your old Treasonable Principles which Meetings are expresly against the very Act of Tolleration these and the like as in the ensuing Discourse are the Meetings and the Practices both used and claim'd by you Namely to hold Convocations which the Established Church without Licence from His Majesty cannot legally do These and the like Practices of yours all good Christians and the Laws of the Land are against and I still pray God to give the Nation a sight and sence of it before it be too late In Answer to your 48th Page I query thus Whether it be not as proper for me to Address His Majesty on the behalf of the Church of England and other sound Protestants who hold the