of the Truth as were in few years gathered then the Heavenly motion came upon George Fox as the Lord 's Anointed as being the Great Apostle of Jesus Christ and as one whom the Lord had ordained to be in the 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 of Women distinct from Men and these Meetings are since called the Church whose Counsel Advice and Judgment as occasion shall offer is to be submitted unto by every one who Professeth himself a Member of the Church And saith George VVhitehead We are to Believe as the true Church Believes c. Christian Quaker Part 1. p. 9. 1680. I was told by one present at the Quaker-Meeting at Radcliff on Sunday the 17th of February last 1694 5. that Mr. Penn having Preached and after George Keith rising up and Expounding some Scripture in another manner than Mr Penn had done that Mr. Penn stopt him and solemnly Denounced these words against him In the Name of the Lord I Pronounce him an Apostate over his Head Upon which occasion I have these few Questions to ask 1. Whether this was a Sentence from Mr. Penn himself or from their Church If the latter it comes in the Class just before-mention'd of their Church-Authority over the Light within particular Persons But if the former then here is Private Light against Private Light And Mr. Penn will please to tell us by what Authority he Pronounc'd this Sentence against G. Keith in the Name of the Lord. If by an Ordinary Commission of Succession to Christ and the Apostles by Regular Ordination That I should be glad to hear But if by an Extraordinary Commission such as the Prophets and Apostles had we wou'd desire such Credentials as they had that is Miracles Otherwise any Reason why this is not rank Enthusiasm and liable to the Sentence of those who spoke In the Name of the Lord when He had not sent them Mr. Penn owns the Enthusiasm but does not shew the Miracles for he said publickly in their last Yearly Meeting in May 1695. in Excuse or Justification of his above-said Sentence of Apostacy against G. Keith That he was then so Transported with the extraordinary Power of God upon him that he knew not whether he was sitting standing or kneeling when he spoke the words But whether this Enthusiasm proceeded from Divine or what other Inspiration will be best known from the Doctrine it supported and which was the ground of the Contest And it was thus told to me by one who was present viz. That Mr. Penn at a former Meeting had Explain'd this Scripture 1 John 1.7 The Blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin in this manner That the Blood was the Life and the Life was the Light within This Resolves all into the Light within which as will be further shewn they make to be the Archi-Type and Substance of what Christ's outward Body Blood and all that He did or suffer'd in it were but the Types and Shadow and so of much less Value and Consequence to our Salvation But to go on with our present matter of Fact At the fore-mention'd Meeting the 17th of Feb. 1694 5. G. Keith taking occasion to Discourse upon the above-said Text 1 John 1.7 did Expound it in a quite different manner from what Mr. Penn had done but without naming of Mr. Penn Said that it ought to be taken Literally that it was the outward shedding of Christ's Blood which cleanseth from sin and that this was not to be Resolv'd into the Light within nor to be Spiritualiz'd away from the Letter For that this was overthrowing of the Faith Upon which Mr. Penn rose up and Interrupted him in the middle of his Discourse which I am told is contrary to the Method and Freedom of their Meetings and Church-Discipline and taking it to himself and his former Exposition of that Text which is told above he inveigh'd not without great Passion against G. Keith concluded with the Sentence of Excommunication above-told and stopping G. Keith from any Reply immediately Dissolv'd the Assembly I will not here enlarge upon the Subject matter of this Dispute betwixt them because it will be fully Discuss'd in the following Sections Particularly Section 12 17 and 18. But for the present I only apply it to the point of their Church-Authority over the Light within particular persons which was their Original and Great pretence SECT XI Concerning the Authority of the Holy Scriptures THE Quaker's Refuge Printed Anno 1673. p. 17. states this as truly own'd by the Quakers in these words VVhether the first Pen-Man of the Scriptures was Moses or Hermes or whether both these are not one or whether there are not many words contained in the Scriptures which were not spoken by Inspiration of the Holy Spirit whether some words were not spoken by the Grand Impostor some by wicked Men some by wise Men ill Apply'd some by good Men ill Express'd some by False Prophets and yet True some by True Prophets and yet False And from these Suppositions he goes on and concludes that some part of the Scriptures concerning the Redemption and Salvation of Mankind were True And p. 18. That the Scriptures as above Distinguished are a true Record c. Instead of Answering these Diabolical Suggestions against the Sacred Authority of the Holy Scriptures of God and which evidently overthrow the Certainty of the whole G. VVhitehead in his Innocency Triumphant Printed 1693. in Answer to F. Bugg's New Rome Arraign'd p. 28. does own the whole by way of an Excuse for it and says That this question'd but of some words in Scripture not all But the Holy Scriptures confirming the whole of themselves one part Quoting another if the whole be not therefore True the whole must be False And we must take this to be the Opinion of the New Quakers as well as the Old because Non Asserted G. VVhitehead endeavours to solve this Ibid. p. 21. in Answer to the Quotations which F. Bugg had brought out of their Authors which call'd the Holy Scriptures by the Wicked and Contemptible Names of Dust Death Serpents Meat c. Whitehead says that was only in opposition to those who wou'd have the very Paper and Ink and Characters to be the Word of God and the Gospel wherein they were oppos'd says he Christ being the Word and the Gospel the Power of God which Endures for ever which the Books and Letters or Characters cannot Here Whitehead says that there were some Priests in the North in and before the year 1653. when those Books which Bugg Quoted were Printed who were thus Ignorant And that this was the Reason for those Expressions in these Quaker Books First This had been no Reason for these Barbarous Expressions if it had been so But Secondly I will joyn Issue with
words Our Ministers do not teach that the Name of Jesus and Christ belong to every Member in the Body or Church as Amply as to Christ the Head And that you may take notice of it the word Amply is put in a different Character in old Black Letters lest you shou'd mistake and think that George was Christ as Amply as Jesus That was modest indeed But then George Thou art Christ as well as Jesus tho' not so Amply and then your first Art above Quoted which calls Jesus the Christ means no great matter but is rank Sophistry and Dodging and casting a Mist before the Eyes of poor deluded People For I have that Charity for a great many of your Followers as to think that they do not know those Depths of Stan and that Mystery of Iniquity into which thou and others have led them And out of which thou dost not desire to Rescue them but to bind them faster in it by this thy Equivocating and Jesuitical Confession of Faith As Article 2. where you confess with the Socinians Christ's coming in the Flesh That is as before explain'd taking Flesh upon him as a Veil or Garment but not in the Language and true Sense of the Scripture That he was made Flesh John 1.14 that is took it into his Person and joyn'd it in a Personal Union with his Divine Nature so that as it is express'd in the Athanasian Creed as the Reasonable Soul and Flesh is one Man so God and Man is one Christ. If you had believ'd what is contain'd in these words you wou'd not have scrupl'd setting it down in these words which must have given the best satisfaction if it had been your design to have given satisfaction without any reserve for that wicked Heresie which you wou'd seem not to plead for yet in such words as you might easily afterwards explain to mean nothing against it Article 7. You say We own no such saying as that the Holy Doctrine or Divine Precepts of Scripture is either Dust Death or the Serpent's Meat But you say that wicked Men have Perverted the Scriptures That no Body can deny to You. But what then Is the Holy Word of God therefore become Death and Serpent's Meat because you have made it Death unto your selves God forbid says St. Paul Rom. 7.13 in answer to the same Argument which you bring Wherefore the Law is Holy and the Commandment Holy and Just and Good tho' the Vnlearned and the Vnstable wrest them to their own Destruction 2 Pet. 3.16 But what was it you call'd Dust and Serpent's Meat Was it nothing else but the Ink and the Paper Did any Body ever say that These were not Dust Or is that any part of the Contest betwixt us Was it the Ink Only and the Paper of which you doubt as before Quoted in the Quakers Refuge whether Moses or Hermes was the Pen-Man Thou meanedst verily which of them made the Pen that was all upon the word of a Quaker Was it the Pen or Ink of which you doubt that some of it was not spoken by the Inspiration of the Holy Spirit And whether some of it was not spoken by the Grand Impostor Some by False Prophets and yet True some by True Prophets and yet False The Ink or Paper are neither True nor False but the Doctrine only which is written in them And therefore George notwithstanding all thy mealy Modesty it is It is indeed George it is the very Doctrine of the Scriptures which you Blaspheme as Dust and Death and Serpent's Meat on purpose to bring Men off from trying your Pernicious Heresies by those Sacred Oracles and to make your Followers trust wholly to your New Light within in comparison of which it is that you vilifie the written Doctrine and Precepts of God which are most opposite to all your Gross Delusions it is not the Ink nor the Paper that you quarrel at No they do you no hurt But it is the Law and the Testimony according to which written Word if any do not teach the same Holy Scriptures do Instruct us it is because there is no Light in them Isai 8.20 No Light George Mark that Your false Pretences to the Light within is here over-rul'd and to be measured by the written word without These are hard sayings to the Infallible Friends And it was for the sake of these and such like Texts which Detect and Explode the miserable Ignorance and Blasphemy of these Pretenders to Light which made Thee Friend George in this same Book to which Thou hast prefix'd Thy abovesaid Affirmative Confession of Faith p. 28. Excuse and Justifie the Diabolical Suggestions in the Quakers Refuge against the Authority of the Sacred Scriptures by saying that it Question'd but of some of the Scriptures not all as I have shewn before But now come George we are near an end and we know not if ever we shall meet again tell me in the Plain Downright Honesty and Simplicity of thy Light within Didst Thou mean no more by this but that only some and not all the Ink was thick and muddy and fit for Serpents Meat and that only some Sheets of the Paper or Parchment or Barks of Trees on which they wrote in ancient time and might write the Scriptures for ought thou knowest was course and ugly Is all thy Malice only against those base Printers or VVriters who Prophane the Letter by poor sneaking Impressions and provide not good Ink and Paper If thou thinkest all this to be Railery not becoming thy Gravity See I pray thee if it be any thing more than what thou settest forth as the very true and only Reason for those vile Epithets which thou and thy Friends do bestow upon the Holy Scriptures of God And be asham'd and blush if thou canst for that Silly and Childish come off with which thou Gravely undertakest to Banter all Mankind as if all your Ignominies and Contempt cast upon Scripture were to be understood only of the Ink and Paper Nor is thy salvo more Ingenious in the Eleventh Article of thy aforesaid Creed wherein thou endeavourest to reconcile the Heretical Notions of thy Sect against the true Incarnation of Christ calling his Body a Figure Veil c. It is really say'st thou contrary to our Faith and Principle to make Christ Jesus himself only a Figure a Veil or Garment Here the word only as the word Amply in the tenth Article is put in great Black Letters to shew the stress thou layst upon it And to discover thy Sophistication thou sayst That Christ Jesus is not only a Figure or a Garment Not only No more is a Cloak or a Veil It is not only a Garment for it is Cloath or Stuff and may be put to many other uses There is no one thing in the World that is only one thing It may be taken under more considerations than one But this as I observ'd at first of thy Equivocating manner is but a Negative Confession
Acts 8.19 but George Magus own'd no other Holy Ghost than what was within himself of which he was the Possessor and Owner These have far out-strip'd their Master For Simon Magus was the Father of the Quakers Socinians and all the rest of the Anti-Trinitarian Hereticks He first Blasphem'd against the Holy Trinity slighted the Scriptures Epiphan Haer. 21. Iren. Advers Haer. l. 1. c. 20. denying the Law of Moses to be from God set up Magic Idolatry and Sensuality In all of which he was not more follow'd by the Gnosticks than the Quakers as I think I have sufficiently shewn I hope without Exception unless it be that sometimes I do not name every Voucher and sometimes set down but the two first Letters of their Names which is but seldom and then only when they were not willing unless upon necessity to clear the Truth which they will not refuse to have their Names expos'd to the Fury of the Quaker-Spirit which throws so much Dirt upon any who dare oppose them that no Man tho never so Innocent wou'd desire to be so bespatter'd which is the Reason given by the Ingenious Author of The Third Part of the Quakers Quibbles Printed 1675. why he did not let himself be known And may be one Reason why they have not yet attempted any Answer to that Book alone I think I may say of all that have been wrote against them being depriv'd of their beloved Topick which they use instead of Argument to Vilifie and Discredit all that is in their Power the Good Name of any who writes against them Let the Reader take this for one Reason if he please tho' I say not that it is the only one why the Author of this small Treatise has not troubled the World with his Name For he desires no stress to be laid upon who says but upon what is said Besides he thought it needless to tell his Name to these Gentlemen with whom he has to do because as hereafter Quoted p. 71. George Fox says That they the Quakers have an Infallible Judgment to judge Personâ— and Things Which yet has not discoverâ—d to them the Author of The Quakers Quibbles and this Author may perhaps escape as well tho' his Concern is not great if it prove otherwise But this by the bye To return to Edw. Burrough p. 47. of his Works determines clearly that the Scriptures are not now of any Authority at all to us at this day Why Because they were Commands given to others and not to us For example That the Epistles to the Corinthians bound no other Church that to the Galatians had respect only to those of Galatia and so of all the rest And that the old Prophets were only to be hearkened to at that time by those particular People or Nations to whom they then directed their Prophecies For it being objected that the Quakers held this pernicious Principle That the Saints were not to do Duties by or from a Command without but from a Command within and that the word Command in Scripture was not a Command to them till they had the word within them Burrough owns and justifies it I answer says he That is no Command from God to me which he Commands to another neither did any of the Saints which we read of in Scripture act by the Command which was to another not having the Command to themselves I Challenge an Example of it they obey'd every one their own Command and thou or any other who goes to Duty as you call it by Imitation from the Letter without which was Commands to others your Sacrifice is not accepted but is Abomination to the Lord c. Here it is made Abomination to the Lord to obey the Command of Scripture or to live by Imitation as he calls it from the Letter that is not to follow our own Imaginations without the controul of Scripture or any other Law This is the same Principle which is hereafter p. 156. related from Mr. Penn and almost in the same words That what was a Command of God in old time that is in the Scriptures is not so to us unless requir'd by the same Spirit Anew Here the whole Authority of Scripture is at one blow cut down For no Command in Scripture is by this Rule obligatory unless it be Commanded Anew by the Quaker Light within that is by every Man's Roving Imagination and if it be Commanded by their Light within then they think that it is Dictated by the same Spirit which gave forth the Scriptures of old and upon that account only that it is obligatory but not because it is contain'd in Scripture which was only a Command to those in former Ages but not to us who have another Rule given unto us Anew that is our own Light within So that the Scriptures are by this as much out-dated as an old Almanack And we must no longer search the Scriptures we must not live so much as by Imitation of what we find there Burrough says it is Abomination to the Lord. And therefore it was no strange thing to hear George Whitehead in his Serious Apology p. 49. Prefer not only their Writings but their Extempore Preachments and even all whatsoever they speak upon any account to the Holy Scriptures themselves The Question demanded was this Do you esteem your Speakings to be of as great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible And his Answer is in these words That which is spoken by the Spirit of Truth in any is of as great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and Greater And therefore tho' they have let no suppos'd contempt of their own Books go unrebuked as in the Instance before of Chandler yet we never heard of any Censure they have pass'd upon those many much grosser contempts of Scripture which daily are found among them Particularly that we may always name some Instance of Mary Tucker a Quaker Servant to William Reyman a Barber now living in Queen-street Cheap-side but formerly in Bread-street where this Mary then his Servant took the Bible and in the open day publickly Burnt it against the Church in Bread-street to shew her Zeal Pursuant to this their Principle in their Disputes among themselves they appeal to their own Writings instead of the Holy Scriptures Thus when in their Publick Meeting at Philadelphia upon Sunday 11. Dec. 1692. G. Keith was Accus'd of Heresie See Heresie and Hatred before Quoted p. p. in saying That the Light within was not sufficient to Salvation without something else i. e. Christ Jesus as without us And that G. Keith desir'd to have that Pretended Heresie prov'd against him by Scripture it was Reply'd by Sam. Jennings as the Mouth of the Meeting we are not to prove it from Scripture but from Friends Books for the Question betwixt us and George Keith is not who is the best Christian but who is the best Quaker And indeed they did rightly distinguish betwixt the Christian and the
because if what the Scripture Commands be anew required by their Spirit they are bound to obey it because required by their Spirit But if the Scripture Command the thing they are by their Principles not bound to obey it unless it be requir'd by their Spirit Anew Which is most effectually overthrowing the Scriptures and resolving all into their Private Spirit or Light within This will yet further appear in the Sections which follow But let me first give an Authority for the last thing that I have said and it is such a one as does astonish me because first it is from the ingenious Mr. Penn secondly it is where he accuses others of Mis-representing the Quaker Principles and rescuing them from such Mis-representations Reason against Railing 1673. p. 150. Article 21. he sets them down in their most Moderate and he says True sense And he averrs That what was a Commandment to any Servants of God in old time that is in the Scriptures That such are not Commandments to us unless required by the same Spirit Anew And he instances in those Elementary Types Shadows and Figures appointed as he says for a season and to pass off These are the Sacraments of Baptism and the Lords's Supper which he calls Elementary Types and Figures But that they were appointed only for a season and to pass off that is not to be prov'd from Scripture which enjoins them till Christ's coming again 1 Cor. 11.26 always even unto the end of the VVorld Matt. 28 19 20. But all this signifies nothing These Commandments are not required by the Quaker Spirit Anew And so they pass off This we are sure is not Aggravated upon them Indeed Mr. Penn does in the same place find fault with those who would improve this Principle of theirs to justifie Immoralists and things inconsistent with Government As if says he that Eternal Holy Omnipresent Light with which we are enlightned did not continually declare and require Just and Righteous things at our Hands This with submission instead of an Excuse is a full Confession oâ— the whole Charge unless Mr. Penn can make it appear that the Quakers and every one of them in Particular have this Light more than other Men Or if they have it that they must necessarily be guided by it Because otherwise they may commit Theft Sacrilege and all Immoralities under this Umbrage And no Command of Scripture can Restrain or Convince them by this Latitude here granted because if they shou'd Enthusiastically Believe or Hypocritically Pretend that such Command of Scripture was not required by their Spirit Anew it is ipso facto superseded by this Principle Thus it being Objected to G. Fox that one of his Quakers had Pretended an Immediate Call from Heaven to commit Theft or Robbery Great Myst p. 77. and Sacrilege in taking out of the Church an Hour-Glass G. F. does vindicate it in these words And as for any being moved of the Lord to take away your Hour-Glass from you by the Eternal Power it is owned And if another shou'd pretend an Immediate Call to take away the Communion-Plate for that is us'd to Superstitious uses where is the end of these loose Principles Mr. Penn can tell whether he did not solicite G. W. to return a Letter Some of the Quaker Principles p. 8. which another Quaker had stoln and given to him and whether G. W. did not make this Answer That unless the Lord requir'd him he wou'd not return it again See more of this in Tyranny and Hypocr c. p. 37. But as for things Inconsistent with Government which Mr. Penn supposes their Light can never dictate I refer him to the first Section and to some of the Quakers Principles Sect. 10. to 18. These concern the Government of the State But as for Church Government I think Mr. Penn will not say but their Principles are wholly Inconsistent Have they not broke off from the Church-Government established in England and in all the Christian World And â—o they not pretend that their Light guides them in it Have they not by the same Light Rebell'd from Episcopacy which they cannot deny was in the times of the Apostles and through all Ages of Christianity to this day If they think this a Light sin let them read the 16th of Numb and see if the sin of Korah was small Or if it was for any thing else but Church-Government And St. Jude tells us ver 11. of those under the Gospel who perish in the gain-saying of Rorah But if disobedience to Church-Government be no such great matter why do the Quaker-Church treat their Separatists with such violent fury and strain their Invention to find Names bad enough for them Devil-driving Dungy Gods c. as if already smoaking in Hell Why do they charge them so desperately with the heinousness of Schism It is true indeed that the Church cannot subsist more than any other Society without Government But it is as true that the Quaker Pretence to the Private Light in Particular Persons as a Principle over-ruling Scripture and all outward Ordinances is Inconsistent with Government either in Church or State or any security from all the Dismal and Enthusiastical Murthers Rapines and Outrage of the Zealots among the Jews who went upon the same Principle yet shew'd no evil signs of it nor I do Charitably believe had at first any Evil Designs nor knew more than Hazael 2 Kings 8.13 whither these Principles would at last hurry them But if Hard Words are a Natural Presage and shew and Inward Disposition to come to Blows no People have shewn more Virilence in the First nor do I believe that they are Infallibly securâ—d from the Latter But no Tempting occasion has yet offer'd it self to them For it is a very convenient Principle to be protected by other Mens Swords without running any of the hazard our selves to enjoy the Benefits of Peace equally with others and to be freed if not from the Charge at least from the Slavery and Dangers of War It is good to sleep in a whole Skin But yet if they had a Government of their own they wou'd not part no not with a Sloop And I do not think any sort of People wou'd less encourage under their own Government their now Pretended Principle of Enthusiasm or the Private Spirit We see how violently they now oppose it in their Separatists They call any Opposition to the Orders of their Church no less than Rebellion and that against God Himself Thus Solomon Eccles told John Story in his Letter above-Quoted That his opposing the Divine Right of the Womens Preachings and Womens Meetings set up by G. Fox was Rebellion against the Living God More Instances of this see in some of the Quakers Principles Sect. 13. And they make Orders in direct opposition to the Laws and make it Rebellion against God to obey the Laws T. C's Animadversions upon G. W's Innocency Triumphant p. 16. and 30. as in the