of the entire execution of the Edicts of Pacification so long as you continue your selves within the bounds of your Duty Subjection and Fidelity which you owe unto their Majesties they being the higher Powers set over you by God intrusted with the supreme Authority and your lot and portion being the honour of obedience unto them whereunto you stand obliged by your Birth the dictates of your Consciences and the Favors you daily receive from their Majesties and by all kinds of consideration both general and particular and observe it I beseech you as a singular mark of their Majesties Favor unto you that there be of your Religion in the Kingdom Persons of the highest Quality There be amongst you most Noble and Illustrious Dukes and Peers Mareschals of France Generals of Armies Magistrates and Judges of Sovereign Courts and their Majesties now this very day out of their great confidence they have of your Loyalty and Fidelity have granted you this Assembly at the very Gates of the Metropolis of this Kingdom in the very face and view of all France and of this infinite People of Paris vastly different from you in Manners and Humours Inclination and Religion who will be severe Witnesses and Judges over all your Actions And that all things may be done in that Order prescribed me by their Majesties I am in their Names commanded to acquaint you that all Ministers who are not Natural born Subjects but Strangers are to be excluded this Synod and that none may assist to Vote in it who hath not Letters of Deputation from his Provincial Synod and that during the time it be held you may have no Communication with Forreigners or other suspected Persons and forasmuch as your Assemblies are not by any legal constitution a Body Politick their Majesties have forbidden you to meddle in State Affairs or matters of Justice because your Synod hath no power to judge of such matters but only to treat of Points of Doctrine and Church Discipline Moreover their Majesties do forbid you to print any Books in any place whatsoever concerning your Religion which are not attested i. e. licensed by two manuel Certificates of two Ministers at the least under pain of confiscation of the whole Impression nor may you denounce any excommunication against any Minister or others who shall change their Religion for that of the Roman Catholicks nor treat them reproachfully neither by Word nor Writing Moreover when they speak of the Pope they are not to call him Antichrist nor to treat him disrespectfully nor shall they tax the Roman Church with Idolatry nor the Sacraments nor Ceremonies thereof as humane Inventions and Idolatry c. Nor to make Collections of Money The Moderator's Answer We thankfully acknowledge the great Goodness and Mercy of Almighty God in answering the Prayers of his poor Churches with his heavenly Blessing and their Majesties condescention in accepting our most humble Petition presented by the Lords of our general Deputies and granting us this privilege of holding this Synod and committing the inspection of it unto a Person most Illustrious for his Vertues and well deserving that high Place of Dignity and Honour in the first and chiefest Parliament of the Kingdom All these and many other considerations do enforce our Souls with a sweet and pleasing violence to break forth into enlarged Praises and enflamed Thankfulness unto their Majesties yea and in most ardent Supplications unto our God for the preservation of their Sacred Persons his Benediction upon their Government the Glory of their Crowns under whose comortable shadows the Churches enjoying a sweet Peace will never have any other desire or thought than to practice faithfully and conscientiously that most express command of our Lord and Saviour by his Apostle St. Peter to fear God and honour the King and that with a most entire and sincere obedience And as we have no design to do it so we shall never admit any persons to sit as a Member of our National Synod who hath not a Deputation c. nor shall we hold any correspondency with nor receive any Letters coming from Forreigners nor return any answers to them unless that my Lord Commissioner who represents His Majesty's Person shall have first perused them nor will we debate about matters of State nor make any Orders in relation to them nor shall we set up Provincial Counsels in opposition to His Majesty's Will nor as His Majesty hath demanded of us will we suffer those Canons of our National Synods concerning the approbation of Books that shall be printed on matters of Religion to be violated nor shall we excommunicate any of those Persons who quit the Communion of our Churches for we do not arrogate to our selves any Jurisdiction over them from that minute in which they left us nor shall we tollerate any Sermons fraught with any injurious and reproachful Language against the Members of the Church of Rome nor suffer that Monies be collected c. Thus Reader you see the Protestants ask and the King grants the King limits them sets them bounds the Protestants promise to obey 1. Not to admit Strangers to sit in their Synods 2. Nor to hold correspondency with Forreigners 3. Nor will they debate about State matters 4. Nor make any Orders relating to them 5. Nor print Books unlicens'd 6. Nor excommunicate Persons that quit their Society for they do not arrogate to themselves such a power nor conceive themselves the only true Church in the World like the old Strumpet and the young Harlot 7. Nor will they tollerate any Sermons or Books fraught with injurious and reproachful Language nor will they suffer Money to be collected which as it 's called the Sinew of War so it may be called the Nerve of Heresie I hope to such as will read this Book and others I have wrote will not stand in need of proof that the Quakers are guilty of all that the Christians are herein said to be thus innocent of Having shewed the danger of the Quakers Anniversary Synods upon their Principle of Infallibility read Mat. 22. 21. Tit. 3. 1. 1 Pet. 2. 13 14 17. Rom. 13. 1 2 3. and Tindal's Works i. e. The obedience of a Christian Man c. p. 111. viz. For God hath made the King in every Realm Judge over all he that resisteth the King resisteth God if the Subjects Sin they must be brought to the King's Judgment if the King Sin he must be brought to the Judgment of God and as it is to resist the King so it is to resist his Officers which are sent to execute the King's Commandment for it is written let every Soul be subject to the higher Power here is no Man exempt but all Souls must obey and so I proceed to the next Head 7. Gen. Hist p. 110. The Quakers also could not but love him King William and Embrace him as their most Effectual Defender without the hindrance or fear of Molestation HEre I find my Author as
Lizards Moles Tinkers Red-coats Cow-dung Green-headed Trumpeters Rare and Base Wheelbarrows Gimcracks Whirlpools and Whirlygigs a Moon-calf their Bell has no Mettle but the sound of a Kettle capers about quivers up and down like a blind Night-bat Ragged Torn Thredbare Tatterdemallions malicious Serpents Vipers grinning Dogs Jack-puddings dunceable Darkness gropable Blindness Then so many leaps of a Louse bo to a Goose Hedge-hogs Fiery fighters Baxter and Tombs as Twins that tumbled out of one Belly the Womb of that Babylonish Bawd c. All which idle Drollery and ridiculous Nonsence is vindicated by W. Penn in his Epistle prefixed to this Sam. Fisher's Works saying It was so ordered by God's Providence that his Fisher's part fell to be most Controversial in which to carry a clear Mind and an even Hand is very difficult However allowing him in some passages the freedom of the Prophet Elijah against the Prophets of Baal 1 Kings 18 27. sometimes exposing absurd things by vulgar Terms and Proverbs to Derision in the view of his ingenious Reader he hath discharged himself as a conscientious fair and learned Apologist c. Now if the Quakers will have allowance from the Prophets to vent this sort of wild Gibberish I hope I may take a little liberty to expose their absurd Principles to the just abhorrence and derision of the People Obj. 3. But some may say was there no way to accommodate this Controversy without this publick method surely a more Amicable and Friendly way had been more sutable to a religious Difference Ans It would be too tedious to recite the many and frequent offers that I have given them from time to time to meet me and that according to the very words of their own propositions but they would not I have sent them Summons after Summons until at last I Summoned 12 of their Hearers to give me a meeting but they would not a Copy thereof is as followeth A third Summons For Jo. Hubbard Thomas Brewster J. Haws Ed. Deeks Jo. Peacock Jo. Cranwell Jo. Carver Jacob Baker William Mead John Knight Sy. Birgis Amb. Friend Hearers amongst the Quakers to bring forth Sheba the Son of Bichri 2 Sam. 20. Alias G. Whitehead to stand to his own Proposition in his printed Sheet deliver'd to the Parliament December 1693. Entituled The Qua. Vind. c. p. 4. otherwise to give me a meeting your selves within 20 Miles of my Dwelling and timely notice thereof and then and there openly and publickly either justify your Teachers Books by Scripture proof and if it be not possible for you so to do then to condemn the Errors contained in them under your Hands for the prevention of further controversies thereabout but if not then know that my hand will be heavy vpon you if God permit July 20. 1696. Fr. Bugg Sen. But this being sent to divers of them near 6 Months since and they will neither hear nor answer any proposition how equal soever it be tho' I have often wrote to them and spoke to them Therefore I now proceed to lay their pernicious as well as presumptious Errors further open and in so doing I shall not spare them nay nor pity them being wholly clear of them Obj. 4. But if this had been sooner before they got to this heighth and to this order and settlement as to have their Classes their Provincial Synods their Anniversary Synods and Councels and the favour of the Government it might happily have stopt their further growth which now seems impossible Ans I grant their Heresie is of long continuance yet the Arrians much longer which continued as I have read more than 300 Years who thro' their subtilty got so much into the favour of the Government as to get the Pulpit and the exclusion of the Orthodox yet they are dispersed and withered away and these have not yet been half a century and their Errors more notorious And 't is my belief they will not remain the other half before they are exploded Why then should any be discourag'd in such a work The Pope and his Superstitions have not gone on without many Testimonies against them 'T is said that our famous Wickliff an Oxford Scholar has wrote more than 200 Volumns against his Errors and Innovations And I hope we are not without some such now in our famous Universities who as they become sensible of this Quicksilver Tribe I mean New Rome and know where to fix upon them and their invisible Tenets which at present they mask under disguise owning in words being examin'd what in their Books they deny For indeed their Books are of two sorts carrying two contrary Faces The one to the World to decoy people the other to their Friends to be read in their Meetings insomuch as 't is hard to know a Quaker who as Irenaeus said in his third Book against Hereticks viz. Whil'st Hereticks speak like the Faithful they not only mean otherwise than what they say but clean contrary and by their Tenets full of Blasphemy they destroy the Souls of those who with their fair words suck in the poyson of their foul Opinions c. And no marvel saith St. Paul for Satan himself is transformed into an Angel of light therefore it is no great thing if his ministers be also transformed as the ministers of righteousness whose end shall be according to their works 2 Cor. 13. 14. And for our pattern we have the famous Wickliff who pav'd the way for great Luther in Germany who was wonderfully carryed on even as upon Angels Wings which made the Papists rave and roar fret and fume calling him Apostate Self-condemn'd Apostate insomuch that all Mens minds stood as it were upon their tiptoes to see the issue of Pope Leo's rage and brave Luther's courage who went on undauntedly writing many Books until he finished both his Days and Testimony of whom Beza said Rome tam'd the World the Pope tam'd Rome so great Rome Rul'd by power the Pope by deep deceit But how more large than theirs was Luther's Fame Who with one Pen both Pope and Rome doth tame Go fictious Greece go tell Alcides then His Club is nothing to great Luther's Pen. Jan. 18. 1697. Fra. Bugg Sen. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE Rice Growth and Progress OF Quakerism With a modest Correction of the General History of the Quakers writ in Holland by the Learned Croese Anno 1696. The PROLOGUE WHen I first heard of the said History I thought it might have spared me this Labour hoping it would have given an impartial Account not only of the coming in of that Sect of the names of the Persons of the places of their abodes of their Handicraft professions of their tumultuous behaviours of their belching out their Defamations and scurrilous Languages to Magistrates and Ministers and of their frequent disturbing the Churches and contemning the Ordinances of Christ and all Instituted Religion But also the ways and methods by which Quakerism have grown and increased and prevailed to
this heigth it is now arrived at But when I came to view it and seriously to consider the Contents of it as I find it in many things very well done with respect to the former particulars and thereby will spare me some pains and cost so with respect to the latter viz. to set forth their pernicious Doctrines their horrible Blasphemies their dissembling Cheats and religious Frauds by which they have not only deceived Thousands but almost perswaded many well meaning and worthy Gentlemen to have a better esteem of them and their Tenets than they deserve I found it very deficient viz. In shewing the methods by which they have risen and their Hypocrisie and wretched ways by which they have spread their blasphemous Errors and pernicious Principles and how they have unchurched all but themselves and thereupon it seemed to me that the said History rather tends to strengthen them in their Errors then to help them out of them for it bends too much to the left hand and reflects on our English Magistrates as Persecutors and on our Church as not well disciplired which I charitably presume was occationed by that Learned Authors giving too much credit to the Books and Manuscripts and his conversation with some of them for saith he p. 5. Since therefore I have had the fortune of a long time to be familiarly acquainted and much conversant with these men call'd Quakers and that in many places and besides many of their Writings and Manuscripts of which some are in print some not having fallen into my hands I thought it would be an acceptable Enterprise to write upon this Subject leaving it for every Man to judge as he thinks fit of their Actions Tenets c. And since I find the said History as above observ'd to be deficient in the main Part at least in many main Points I shall write something by way of Correction which I hope neither he nor any other indifferent Person will take amiss since I pretend to have as much experience and knowledge of the Quakers as he can pretend too having the misfortune to be many Years conversant with them and their Teachers as also the good fortune to know their Methods to have of their Writings and Manuscripts by me some in print some not whereby I have been able to derect them and to confute their Errors and so I shall leave it to every Man as he saith to judge as he pleaseth of their Actions Tenets Customs way of Church-Government and principles of Religion and Doctrine which I shall produce from Book and Page of their most Authentick Authors First then that it may appear I have reason to know the Quakers as well as this Learned Author and thereupon as warrantable a Motive to write on this Subject In the Year 1657. I went first amongst the Quakers and in 1659. became one of their Society and continued amongst them about 25 years and since that time I have been a narrow observer of them and much acquainted with many of them I have near 300 of their Books by me besides Manuscripts and old Records and besides all this I was Clark to their Monthly and Quarterly Meetings for the Isle of Ely and County of Cambridge at Haddenham Sutton and Chatterise for about 16 years and more in all which Service I served gratis without Sallery as others had My House was a place of Entertainment for their Teachers for many years together I suffered Imprisonment at Ely and Nislech for their cause in which I was then Embark'd 3 Years and about 4 Months I suffered the loss of more than a hundred Pounds for Meeting contrary to an Act of Parliament made the 22 King Charles II. besides many other affairs in which I was concern'd whil'st with them Sometimes chosen to go to London-Meetings sometimes chosen to end some differences which happen'd amongst us sometimes to assist in Marriages about settlements of Estates in that case as in the Instance of William Read Widower and the Widow Brewster of Brund and divers others as Stephen Clackson and the Widow Young I say put all together and I think I may venture upon my own experience to say as much as the Author of the said Hist and yet notwithstanding I shall not impose upon my Reader but in the main of what I shall write I shall prove from matter of Fact and then as he says shall leave every one to judge as he thinks fit being at all times ready to appear and maintain what I write according to G. W.'s own proposition in his printed Sheet stiled The Quakers Vindication c. And when I meet Mr. Croese I shall go along with him in this History as far as he goes my way and when he turns aside to the right Hand or to the left I shall part friendly with him and deal kindly by him as we us'd to do to strangers But since his Book came over the Water and reflects upon the Government Implicitly charging the Magistrates with the crime of Persecution a thing they are much averse to I shall therefore endeavor to Rectifie it and shew him 't is not persecution but prosecution and to shew that I am not alone in this matter I received a Letter wrot by a dignifyed Clergy-man of the Church of England to a Neighbouring Minister An Abstract thereof is as followeth viz Worthy Sir Since I had the happiness of your good Company here I read over the general History of the Quakers which came from Holland I find it wrote so much to the advantage of that pestilent Sect and so much to the disadvantage both of the Government and Church of England that I think it necessary to be again done by some other hand whom we may confide in for a better performance of it and I know none better sitted for it respecting matter of fact than your Neighbour Mr. Bugg and I doubt not but with your Assistance he may be able to give the World satisfaction in this matter I earnestly desire you would perswade him to it and in Truth the daily growth of that Sect makes it necessary to have it thorowly laid open that Men may thereby be warned the more to beware of it This will be a Service to God and the Church Your humble Servant And so I enter upon my Work SECTION I. The Reason of their Name GEorge Fox was born Anno 1624. in a Village call'd Draton in Leicestershire his Father's Name was Christopher Fox his Mothers Name Mary who gained their Living by Weaving This George afterwards learned the Trade of a Shoomaker and wrought Journy work with George Gee of Manchester who having gained so much Learning as that he could read print pretty well but writing he could read but little of neither could write except very rudely And this was the only piece of Learning he attained too all his Life long For neither then nor any time after did he apply himself to any Liberal Study So that he not
same Channel issuing from one and the same Fountain especially when you consider that from their said yearly Meetings they never made one Address to his present Majesty nor wrot one Book in favour of the present Government 3. That by both their Addresses a Sample of them you 'll have by and by and by their Books they have joyntly and severally born against the Church of England as with one Shoulder Thus have I briefly shewed what a Writer W. P. hath been and how he has bestowed his parts even against the Protestant Interest the Establish'd Religion and the common cause of Christianity and so I conclude this Head SECTION VII Their horrid Blasphemies their Self-exaltations and vain boastings of their Learning c. GEN. Hist p. 165. About this time came forth a Book call'd a Battle-door for Teachers and Professors to learn singular and plural mark'd in every page with the Form Figure of a peny Horn-book The work was neatly done by John Stubs and Benja Furly but Fox who besides his Engglish Tongue knew none of the Languages therein being Thirty in number as Latin Greek Hebrew Caldee Italick Syriac Arabick c. was so desirous to seem to be the Author of this Book and that what ever it contain'd of Industry and Praise-worthiness had its Original from him that he even here and there subscribed his Name to every page and by him confirmed p. 240. George Fox sent a Letter to John III. King of Poland Written originally in English and sent into Holland and there Translated into the German Tongue This Epistle was so Learnedly done that it looked not like the work of a single Person yet so as that they left it to Fox an ignorant Fellow who Subscribed it only Geo. Fox And hence it is apparent that there is no Mind so humble but is apt to be carried away with the Air of vain Glory yea oftentimes applause is most coveted by those who most condemn it in others c. Now Reader tho' my Learned Author and I differ'd about W. Penn in some Points yet in this we agree in every punctilio touching the Pride vain Glory and Ambition of George Fox who was an ignorant Fellow yet would seem to be Author of a Learned Book containing Thirty Languages as also of a Learned Letter sent to John III. King of Poland in both which as well as in divers cases he gave out that himself was some great learnt Man attributing to himself that which he never had which doubtless was the occasion of a discourse rumour'd about our Country about the Year 1663. or 1664. That George Fox had in one nights time 24 Languages given him by Divine Inspiration and I did believe it and divers others of us for near 20 years I also spake to a Quaker now living and still eminent amongst them who told me he ever did believe it until the late divisions Thus by his counterfeit Miracles his gift of Tongues he still like Simon Magus gave out that he was some great Man for thus he wrot in the Introduction viz. All Languages are to me no more than Dust who was before Languages were c. and towards the end of the Book thus next follow a few words to the whole matter by George Fox who is before confusion and many Languages were c. This together with what I elsewhere have quoted out of his Books and Journals shew that he was willing to be esteemed a great Man an old Man a learned Man a wise Man an Angel one that see the Heavens open as St. Stephen did and much more to this purpose By all which it appears that he was a great Deceiver And thus Quakerism grew and by deceit prevail'd in its progress And since this learned Author hath given such a full proof of Fox's Pride who being an Ignorant Fellow as he stiles him and yet desirous to be taken for the Author of the said Battle-door containing Thirty Languages I will give him a third Instance viz. Anno 1659. George Fox puts forth a Book Entituled A Primmer in contempt of Learning for all the Doctors and Scholars in Europe c. wherein are contained 2434 Queries in this Method viz. What is a Participle what is it in it self and by whom it came and out of what Ground And why are these declined who was the First and Author of it and by whom it came And why is the Word called Adverb and what is an Adverb the word it self and who was its rise And why do you call the word Conjunction and who was its rise and why the word Preposition and who was its rise And who was the Author of the word Interjection and what are these two words in themselves and whether or no these did not come by the Art of Man What is a Vowel in it self and what was the word Vowel And what is the word Diphthong and who was the Author of these and where are they called by such Names in Scripture so who was the Author of these Names in themselves and of themselves and came they not from the Art of Man yea or nay Why do you call the word Masculine Feminine Neuter and Epicene and what was the ground of these words in themselves What are they and why do they use the word Declension and what is in the word it self and what was its root And why the word Comparative Positive and Superlative and what be these words as they are words of what Author and Root came they from and who gave them these Terms first who was the first Rise and Author of them c. Thus have I taken out six entire Paragraphs as they lye in the said Primmer but I profess I cannot answer these why then should I cite more I cannot tell who spake these words first no more than I can tell who spake the word to first or spake the word and first and who was the first Rise and Author of the word of which to know is as unnecessary as it is ridiculous to query Well take a few more as they lye scattered up and down the said Primmer What is a Major What is a Minor What is Extraction What is Geometry What is Dog-madness What is Badger-madness and what is Wolf madness c. nay what if I add one query what was Fox-madness and folly and whether was not Pride and Ambition the Author of Fox's Madness answer G. W. Having thus far proceeded I shall next recite a few of Fox's words by way of challenge to the Doctors and Scholars viz. These queries are to call you out into the Field let them come out now to little Children little Davids are risen who have the Bags and the Slings and the Stones yea that profess your selves to be Wise and Learned Men and Scholars and are Novices and Fools Answer me draw out your Weapon if you have any and Answer me these things come out of your holes do not hip nor skip from them answer
a Miracle as any thing can be found in the Popish Legends for if setting a Man's Neck aright that had gone awry by a fall be a Miracle then many Miracles have been wrought in England and elsewhere for it is very common and yet was never called a Miracle until now that these who published his Journal have so called it and like to this is that one recovered from Sickness after G. Fox had prayed and if this was a Miracle many such Miracles are wrought by Ministers of the Church of England and others SECTION IX Divers particulars contracted out of the General History and branched into six distinct Heads where their Anniversary Synods and their Church Government and private Devotions are Treated of shewing the effects to be disparaging the Scripture withholding Tythes refusing to pay Church Rates neglecting to read the Bible in their Meetings refusing to vindicate it from the aspersions of the Papists throwing of the Sacraments allowing Women to Teach and Vsurp Authority in their distinct Womens Meetings omitting private Duties censuring and reproaching the Church Liturgy Magistrates Ministers such as write against them and for Conscience sake separate from them their gross Hypocrisy in making Legal punishments to be persecutions in saying and recording that they suffer great penalties when they really do not c. GEN. Hist p. 50. to 56. They the Quakers have likewise Meetings like to those we call Classes and Provincial and National Synods or Councils these Conventions are celebrated but so as to allot each Sex both Men and Women their distinct and particular Meetings other Meetings are appointed every Month others every three Months in which they consider their Provincial affairs In these they inspect into and recognize all Books that are to be printed after they have been perused and approved by the Censors appointed for that purpose The Acts of these Meetings are put into Registers they have Anniversary Synods in every considerable Kingdom to whom belong the Care and Administration of all the Affairs of that Kingdom In England their Metropolis they have a fixed Anniversary Synod on the third day of Penticost continuing sittting 4 or 5 days together They have Delegates also come to this Synod from all their Churches in all Counties or Places where the Quakers obtain footing but these must be such as are in the Ministry At this Meeting they make a Catalogue of the Sufferers for their Religion discovering what their Sufferings were and for what causes they were inflicted and by whom when the Synods are dismissed all their Acts and Decisions are enregister'd by the publick Authority of the Synod which are afterwards copyed from the Records in order to be printed and sent to all the Synods of their Associates throughout the World They have no President to their Synod which place say they is supplyed by the Holy Ghost but they have a Clark who marks down every thing moved by the Assembly Moreover it is their custome in their Houses never to express a Religious Duty with an outward voice as Praying to God craving a Blessing e'er they take Meat or go to Bed till they feel the impulsion of the Spirit c. Having contracted the sense of several pages wherein my Author relate the Way Manner and Method of the Quakers Church Government and Family Behaviour now I shall make it my business to shew how Quakerism grows encreases and makes its progress in and by these Ways and Methods and thereby discover not only that Quakerism tends to root up the Foundations of the Christian Religion Instituted by our Lord Jesus Christ who so loved the World that he laid down his precious Life for lost Man but also tends to unhinge the Government both of Church and State and in order to make some further discovery hereof I shall digest the matter into a few Heads and speak briefly and distinctly to each in their place 1. The Quakers in their Synods have no President the Holy Ghost supplying that Office 2. The Quakers at their Synods make a Catalogue of them which suffer for their Religion what they suffer and by whom 3. That the Quakers at their Synods inspect Books to be printed and recognize the same 4. About the Womens distinct Meetings and their way of Government 5. The Quakers custome observed in not Praying to God in their Families nor craving a blessing before they Eat 6. About their Anniversary Synods particularly that at London with some of its Fruits and Effects And lastly with some observations upon a passage in the General History p. 110. The Quakers also could not but Love King William and embrace him as their most effectual Defender c. And so shall conclude these seven particulars 1. The Quakers have no President in their Synod which place they say is supplyed by the Holy Ghost c. This is the great Foundation upon which the Church of Rome build their Faith touching the Doctrine of infallibility and of which they mightily boast over all Protestant Churches For tho' all true Protestants believe that the Holy Ghost is with and will continue with his Church to the end of the World according to Matth. 28. yet that thereby any Synod Councel or Church is infallible in their Precepts and Councels that as such they are to be indispensably obeyed as was the Precepts of the inspired Apostles this they deny and none hold it but the Papists and Quakers And as this vain glorying of infallibility in the Papists has been refuted so it will be in the Quakers also and in order to it let us examine how and in what manner the Holy Ghost is the President of the Quakers Counsels and Synods c. It is written John 5. 23. For the Father judgeth no man but hath committed all judgment to the Son v. 27. and hath given him Authority to execute judgment also because he is the Son of man And to this agrees that Apostolical saying Acts 17. 31. Because he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained whereof he hath given assurance unto all men in that he hath raised him from the dead Now this Text in St. John the Quakers do not like it as translated and therefore to bend the Scripture to serve their design and to quadrate to their principles they have perverted these Scriptures in Josiah Coal's Works p. 93. saying All Judgment being committed to the Light that Lighteth every Man the Light that is in every Man must of necessity be Judge of all controversies c. So that it plainly appears from hence as also in my First Chapter in the First Part. That whereas God Almighty hath committed all Judgment to the Son and hath ordained him to be Judge of quick and dead because he is the Son of Man Therefore the Quakers translate this Prerogative from the Son of God Christ Jesus to their Light which by their Logick is the Son of Man which
People may be heartily thankful yet it plainly appears that your Leaders and Teachers and Anniversary Synods are of another mind for had you been as hearty and zealous for the present Government as in point of gratitude you should and ought to have been your People had not been so divided and so confused touching the Protestant interest as now they are the sad and evil Effects of which must and will be laid at your doors Consider what is said repent and amend your ways for this Government and the Protestant Interest are so link'd together that those who are not true to the one cannot be true to the other whatever their pretences are or may be This I wrot and caused it to be printed and dispersed as a Testimony against their lukewarmness to the present Government and their Zeal to and for the late Reign as this Section and Sections 5 6 do make plainly appear Obj. But possibly some may object that these are private Addresses by some few particulars and be ready to demand whether they ever made a publick Anniversary Address that thereby they might in all Kingdoms shew their Loyalty to the late King c. Ans Yea that they did and that it may more evidently appear that William Penn's Books mention'd in Section V. VI. run in the same channel I will write part of their said Anniversary Address Anno 1688. viz. The humble Address of the People call'd Quakers from their yearly Meeting the 6th of the Month called June 1688. viz. We the Kings peaceable Subjects from divers parts of his Dominions being met together in this City after our usual manner to inspect the affairs of our Christian Society throughout the World think it our Duty humbly to represent to him the blessed Effects the Liberty he has graciously granted his People to worship God according to their Consciences hath had both on our Persons and Estates for whereas we formerly had long and sorrowful Lists brought to us from almost all parts of his Territories of Prisoners and the spoil of Goods by violent and ill Men upon account of Conscence We bless God and thank the King the Goals are every where clear except in cases of Tythes and the repairs of Parish Churches and some few about Oaths and we do in all Humility lay it before the King to consider the hardships our Friends are yet under for Conscience sake in those respects being in the one chiesly expos'd to the present Anger of the offended Clergy who have therefore imprisoned some of them till death and in the other they are rendered very unprofitable to the publick and themselves for both in reference to Freedoms in Corporations Probats of Wills and Testaments and Administrations Answers in Chancery and Exchequer Tryals of our just Titles and Debts proceeding in our Trades in the Custome house serving the Office of Constables c. They are disabled and great advantages taken against them unless the King's Favour do interpose and as we humbly hope he may relieve us so we confidently assure our selves he will ease us what he can Now since it hath pleased thee O King to renew to all thy Subjects by thy last Declaration thy gracious Assurances to pursue the Establishment of this Liberty and Property upon an unalterable Foundation and in order to it to hold a Parliament in Nov. next at farthest we think our selves deeply engaged to renew our assurances of Fidelity and Affection and with God's help intend to do our part for the effecting so blessed and glorious a Work that so it may be out of the power of any one party to hurt another upon the account of Conscience And as we firmly believe that God will never desert this righteous cause of Liberty nor the King in maintaining of it so we hope by God's Grace to let the World see we can honestly and heartily appear for Liberty of Conscience and be inviolably true to our own Religion whatever the Folly or Madness of some Men on that account may suggest to the contrary These are the sayings of their Anniversary Synod Here you see is nothing wanting but bended knees here is in all Humility in all Fidelity with all Affection yea all all all all Prayers for him for long Life for a prosperous Reign Laud and Praise in the highest for his Deliverance for the defeating his Enemies the excluders yea it would be too long to enumerate them Besides Book after Book in favour of the Government and Letter after Letter printed and dispersed a first a second and a third for the repealing the Penal Laws and Tests that so the Papists might sit in Parliament to Establish them a new Order even St. George's Order as compleatly as their Grandfather Ignatius Loyola had his Order confirmed by the Popes Bulls October 3d. Anno 1540 as at large set forth in a Discourse concerning the Idolatry of the Church of Rome c. p. 281. But God in his righteous Judgment deserted their King their Cause and will in time more fully discover their Order to be of the same tendency and carried on by the same Holy cheats that Ignatius Loyola's Order of the Jesuits was And so much briefly to shew how Quakerism grew and after what manner it made its progress and how they bent their strength against the Protestant Interest Church of England and all Orthodox Religion But Reader did you ever hear of an Anniversary Address to King William No such matter Did you ever see a Book put forth in favour of the present Government No such matter no no 't is as in my printed Letter 1690. above recited No Salutation no Message no Prayer for nor no Address to King William III from this their yearly Synod nor a Book wrot in favour of the Government no in all Humility no in all Affection no publick Prayers for his long and prosperous Reign no Laud and Praise that his Enemies are defeated here is no no no no. Come George Whitehead and foreman of your Anniversary Synod what can you say for your selves Why are you mute Why have you not brought forth one publick Anniversary Synodical Address this seven years nor publick Prayers or are you still like those we read on 1 Sam. 10. 27. But the children of Beliel said how shall this man save us and they despised him and brought him no presents no Prayers no Addresses but the King held his peace But that I may not leave out one cluster of the Quakers Vine by which Quakerism has been nourished I shall now mention a notable passage to discover the Quakers aversion to the present Government viz. The Widow Whitrow formerly a Quaker wrot a Book in favour of the Government about four years since but it did so cross the Quakers current that they made an Order for the calling it in and suppressing the same the which I have together with their not addressing His present Majesty more largely handled in my Book New Rome unmask'd p. 26.
by any legal constitution a body Politick therefore they should not meddle in State Affairs viz. to condemn Acts of Parliaments as Antichristian and Oppressive to the Subject and thereby absolve their Disciples from their obedience to their Lawful Magistrates whom they ought to obey as the higher Powers set over them by God entrusted with the supreme Authority and their part is to yield a dutiful subjection and faithful obedience as whereunto they stand oblig'd by the commands of Christ and his Apostles and the practice of God's faithful Saints and Servants holy Apostles and Martyrs in all Ages by their Birth as natural born Subjects of these Realms by the dictates of their Consciences and the many Favours they daily receive in being defended and protected in their Liberty and Property and by all kinds of consideration both general and particular c. 4. That they print no Books but what are licens'd by Commissioners appointed by His Majesty for that purpose under pain of forfeiting the whole impression this would be a great means to restore England to its Pristine Glory which once it had when it was famous for extirpating Heresie whereas of latter years 't is reported by the Historian of the Quakers History to be a Nurse for Heresie c. 5. That they do not arrogate to themselves the power of excommunicating such as dissent from them and conform themselves to the Establish'd Religion nor treat them Reproachfully but that they study to be quiet and mind their own business 6. That they be not permitted in their Books and Sermons to call legal Punishments Persecution calling the Magistrates Persecutors thereby rendering them odious to the common People 7. That they be not permitted in these Synods to approve of such Books nor to teach such Doctrine as call the national Ministry Witches Devils Antichrists nor the Parliaments Judges Justices and other Magistrates the Beasts that carry the Whore Persecutors of the Saints nor to impeach their judicial Proceedings 8. That they be not permitted to Summons Try Judge Arraign Condemn and Dyalogue the national Ministry Magistracy and People and thereby lift up and extol themselves as the only Catholick Universal Church of the First-born which cannot err and Curse Damn and Reprobate all other Christians This has been their frequent practice and a main Pillar of their Heresie for when they gain upon the common People that the Apostolick Order of the Church of Christ is re-establish'd only amongst them and that all other Societies are Apostates Antichrists Heathens and Infidels they then have gained the point and will soon claim the Chair and reach at the Scepter 9. That they be forbidden to make Collections and Tax the People and lay by Funds as their manner is for as Money is said to be the Sinews of War so may it be call'd the Nerve of Heresie but let each Society of Quakers maintain their own Teacher and not have a common Bank at London and Feoffees entrusted therewith to give 8 10 or 20 l. at a time to their Travelling Teachers who range all the World over bantering all other Ministers who have a settled maintenance and are far less chargeable to their Hearers than are the Quakers Teachers who come uncall'd for like Flies and Mice eat up the provision of others as saith the Historian 10. That they be not permitted to call the Scriptures of the Prophets Christ and his Apostles by those contemptible Names of Death Dust Beastly-Ware Serpents-Food and the like 11. But that they be compell'd to condemn those Books of theirs which so teach for thus do they bring the Christian Religion into contempt in order to raise Quakerism as the most excellent of all Religions 12. Let them not be permitted to call the Church of England an Adulterated Harlot nor to charge her with Witchcraft and Sorceries to be an Adulterous Womb which brings forth monsterous Births neither let them be permitted to call the Book of Common Prayer which is grounded on the Holy Scriptures composed and professed by our Martyred Ancestors and confirmed by Authority of King and Parliament a branch which proceeded from the Pope and from his Loyns say they it draws its Strength Neither let them be permitted to print and publish to the Nations that they have ript up the Bowels of the Church of England and discovered her Adulterous Womb and all the false Conceptions conceived by her and that without any fear of her or her power 13. Neither let them be permitted to teach Schools for there they read W. Smith's Primmer and Geo. Fox's Primmer and a certain portion every day of Geo. Fox's Journal all which enveigh bitterly against the Church of England and all instituted Religion which tends to instil corrupt Principles whil'st the Bible and other good Books are laid aside These things ought to be noted and for the Generation of years sake to be guarded against 14. Upon the whole matter these sayings contained in the 12 particulars being great contempt upon the Magistracy and Ministry upon the King and his People and upon the whole Nation Yet thus do their Books Teach thus do they print and publish even in so many words if they deny it I am ready to prove it And notwithstanding this and much more that might be said of the same nature yet they are so high and rampant that when I printed my Book New Rome Arraign'd c. and laid open some of these Errors they indicted me and prosecuted me at Law to my great cost and damage seized my Books and prosecuted me with all the aggravations imaginable And that it may yet further appear how tender they are of their own Church their own Ministers their own Writings and Epistles I shall recite one of their Anniversary Injunctions viz. From our Yearly Meeting in London 27 of 3d Month 1675. To all our Quarterly and Monthly Meetings in England c. Concerning Mens and Womens Meetings it is our Judgment and Testimony in the Word of God's Wisdom that the rise and practice setting up and establishing of Mens and Womens Meetings in the Churches of Christ in this our Day and Generation is according to the Mind and Counsel of God and done in the ordering and leading of his Eternal Spirit And it is our Sense Advice Admonition and Judgment in the fear of God and in the Authority of his Power and Spirit to Friends and Brethren in their several Meetings that no such slight and contemptible Names and Expressions as calling Mens and Womens Meetings Courts Sessions or Synods that they are Popish Impositions useless and burdensome that faithful Friends Papers which we Testify have been given forth by the Spirit and Power of God are Mens Edicts or Cannons Elders in the Service of the Church Popes and Bishops with such scornful sayings be permitted among them c. Behold what Names and Expressions are contained in the recited 12 particulars given by themselves to the Scripture Bishops and Clergy Ministry and People