else did they Oppose and that so Vehemently those who Preached this Doctrin and who also own'd the Inward Presence and operations of Christ by His B. Spirit in our Hearts not only as Beneficial but Absolutely Necessary towards our Salvation and without which That the outward Sufferings of Christ and all His Ordinances wou'd be to us as if they were not at all or Worse as before Quoted Why did G. Fox G. Whitehead and all the Quakers oppose this They have Nothing left to say But that those whom they Oppos'd did Deny the Inward opperations of Christ in the Heart and that in this only they did oppose them Which being most False and they not being able to Produce one Single Person who did Oppose them In this shews what that was wherein they did Oppose them Or if they cou'd find such a Single Person why did they oppose Others who had sufficiently Explain'd themselves In this such as these before Nam'd Why did they call These Devils Anti-Christians Sorcerers for Preaching of Faith in Jesus of Nazareth Why did they Belch out in Fury such Spitefull and Blasphemous Contempt as before Quoted against the Person of our B. Lord Jesus Why did they call Him Accursed Let them hear the Apostle That no Man Speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus Accursed 1 Cor. xii 3 And that no Man can say that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost Therefore till they come not only to say but to Believe this they may be sure That it is not the Spirit of Christ but of Anti-Christ by which they are Acted And they cannot Truly Believe this without not only being willing but in an High Degree Zealous to Confess Retract and Condemn the Above Quoted and all other their vile Contempts and Outrages against our B. Lord and only Saviour Jesus Christ I cou'd bring Multitudes of Quotations to the same Purpose of these before Produc'd be sides what are offer'd in the Sn to which G. W. has not answer'd which we may easily suppose he wou'd have done if he cou'd have found any thing tolerable to have said to them And till he or some other of the Quakers shall think fit to Answer to these it is needless to Cloy the Reader with more These being sufficient to let him see into the Depth of the Quaker Heresies and Clear his way from their Little Subtleties with which they use to Hide and Cover them G. W's Immethodical way has carry'd me from p. 30. of his Antid to p. 38. because both speak of the same thing and I wou'd save Repetitions for which Reason I must pass all he says from p. 30. to 35. which is a going over and over the same again and again Denying the Charge but not Answering of the Proofs Their Contempt of the Holy Scriptures XI He comes p. 35. to the Charge against them of Contemning the Holy Scriptures calling them Beastly-ware Death Dust and Serpents-meat c. He cou'd not nor do's he Deny the Quotations where these names are given to the Holy Scriptures for the Quaker Books and Pages are Particularly set down Yet he most Impudently Denies that they have call'd the Scriptures by such Names Tho' perhaps says he p. 36. making a Trade upon Scripture or Preaching for Hire or Moncy hath been so call'd by some or other Here is a Perhaps and a some or other to throw us off again And to make us believe that such Names were never given to the Scriptures but only to the making a Trade of them For which I must Desire the Reader to look again into the Quotations in the Sn. and he will there see what a Guilty and utterly False Excuse and Put off this is For these Names are given to the Holy Scriptures to Matthew Mark Luke and John So that his Perhaps is most Certainly and most Certainly G. W. knew it to be so tho' he with a Quaker Sincerity and Plainess wou'd have it only pass for a Perhaps And for his some or other as if he knew not who it was that said any such thing ther is mention made before of a Passage and it is Quoted in the Sn. p. 342 of the First Edit it is p. 110. of the Third Edit of one George Whitehead in his serious Apology p 49. where he says that what is spoken by the Spirit of Truth in any i. e. of the Quakers is of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and Greater Mark that George of Greater Authority than the Scriptures so that by this all Thy Preachments and of others Thy Quakers which you say are spoken by the Spirit of Truth are not only of as Great but George of Greater Authority than the Holy Scriptures And what more Vile Contempt cou'd be put upon those Sacred Oracles than to compare them to the most Sensless and Blasphemous Ramblements that ever came out of the Mouths of Men Nay to Prefer these and all their Cursed and Furious Venome and Beastly Nastiness see Sn. Sect. xvii to the Holy Scriptures of God! Now George are The Scriptures only the Preaching for Hire when you Question whether the First Pen-man of the Scripture was Moses or Hermes whether ther 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 False Prophets and yet True and some by True Prophets and yet False c. And thy own Excuse for all this that this was meant only against some Parts of the Scriptures as in Sn. p. 86. Was all this only against Preaching for Hire When G. Fox said in his Gr. Mystery p. 302. That the Scripture is not the ground of Faith That the Scriptures being outward Writings Paper and Ink is not Infallible nor is not Divine And p. 246. when he says of the H. Scriptures that They are not the word of God And in his News coming out of the North. p. 39. where he argues against those who Plead for the Scriptures he says Hebrew Greek and Latin is your Original you say that Mathew Mark Luke and John is the Gospel which is Carnal c. was this only Preaching for Hire Now George be Asham'd and Blush if Thou Canst and Confess and Retract if Thou be'st a Christian all your Horrid Contempt and Blasphemy against the H. Scriptures of God and Preferring all your own Gross Delusions before Them which are your Life Deut. xxxii 47. This is all that G. W. says to this Point And yet in his Contents he Intituls this The Quakers clear'd from Calumnies in that Point This is the Clearing But some Read the Contents of Books who Read not the Books And such must think that something Material is Perform'd where so much is Promis'd And such only can be Satisfi'd with this and other Quaker Answers and Defences See more upon this Head of the H. Scriptures in Sect. xiv xv xvi Their Conforming
to the Power of Preaching to Baptize or any Special Command but puts the Case and the whole Dispute was concerning the Obligation that lay upon us to Perform all our Duties to God or Man And whether the Commands in Scripture did lay any Obligation upon us to observe them And this the Quakers Positively Deny or that ther Arises any Obligation to Duty or that any Command is a Duty except what is Enjoyn'd by their own Light Within as W. Penn Expressly See Sn. p. 92 93. so that Burrough here spoke the Genuin sense of the Quakers which G. W. knew well enough But wou'd Turn and Shift it as you have seen For this Principle do's indeed Out-Date the Scriptures like an Old Almanack And Resolves All and Every thing into their Light within that is what every man Pleases to make of it and sets men at Perfect Liberty from all Rules or Laws whether Divine or Human. G. W's Defence of Himself for the Same Wherein is Shewn That the Quakers are Direct Deists And the worst Sort of them XVI But now in the next Place let us hear G. W's Defence of Himself for a much more Gross Expression than that of Burrough's Which stands Quoted in the Sn. next to that of Burrough's Sect. vii p. 110. it is p. 342. of the First Edit The Quotation is p. 49. of G. W's Serious Apology where it was Demanded of him Do you esteem your Speakings to be of as Great Authority as any Chapter in the Bible To which G. W. Answers 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 This has been Quoted and spoke to before And he has Excus'd it in a wonderful manner He says p. 43. that what he meant was only this To Prefer the Preaching with Divine Authority according as Christ did to the bare Reading of the Letter as the Pharisees did which was not says he at all to Lessen the Authority of Holy Scripture But George it is to make the Quakers and Thine own self Particularly to Preach with Divine Authority according as Christ did And then All your Writings and Preachments are as Good Scripture as any He Spoke Nay Greater when spoke by you than His when only Read which was Plainly and Truly thy Meaning Thou didst Grant out of Modesty that His words and Thine were of Equal Authority But that the Difference only lay in the Advantage that words have when spoken viva voce more than the same words when written and only Read And in this Sense Thy Preaching is of Greater Authority and Power than the Scriptures and of as Great as when they came out of the Mouth of Christ Himself so that George thou art come off finely The more Excuses thou make for a Bad Cause they make it still worse and worse The Longer you stand in a Mire you sink the Deeper Ther is nothing will do George but sincere Repentance which cannot be without a Plain and Honest Confession of so Foul Blasphemy and Luciferian Pride to the High Scandal of Christianity Therefore Give Glory to God and take Shame to your selves and then God will Forgive you and God and Man will Love you and with the Angels of Heaven will Rejoyce at your Conversion Why shou'd you think it so Grievous to own that you have been Mistaken and Deceiv'd Who has not It is Glorious and Praise-worthy to Confess and Return from an Error And that Day that you shall Own and Acknowledge your Mistakes they shall be no more Mention'd unto you But till then we must Expose them because many others Simple and Well-Meaning Souls are Caught in your Snares O! at last Lay your hand upon your Heart and think what Mischief you do what Good it is in your Power to do The Lord give you a Heart to think of it and open your Eyes to see your Errors and the Truth And be not so much Provok'd by the Opposition that is Given to you as thereby Prompted to Consider and Reflect Seriously whether these things are so whether they are falsly Charg'd upon you And what occasion you have given in your Writings and Preachings for all that Clamour that is Rais'd up against you And by such as cannot Possibly have any other End or Design in it but to Detect those Errors so Pernicious to the True Christian Faith Such Principles as Prefer what you call the Immediat Teaching of the Spirit IN MAN to the H. Scriptures of God as you Re-assert in the fore-cited p. 43. Such Principles as must make you think that Curse you sent to G. Keith before spoke of to be of Greater Authority than any Chapter in the Bible as likewise the False-Prophesie of Solom Eccles against John Story and many others to be Nam'd Such Principles as make men Inscribe whatever comes into their Heads to the H. Spirit of God and to Give forth Curses Blasphemies and Treasons Blood and Destruction and the most Beastly Nastiness In the Name of the Lord God! and to think them of Greater Authority than any Precept in the Scripture The Letter of the Scripture says Thou shalt not Kill But Fox Burrough Bishop and other Quakers Quoted in the Sn. Sect. xviii Command Oliver and the other Vsurpers In the Name of the Lord God Almighty not only to Destroy all the Cavaliers and Priests in England but to carry their Armes into France Italy Spain c. and there to Kill and Slay Abundantly The Letter of the Scripture says Thou shall not Steal but G. Fox in his Great Mystery p. 77. Justifies the Stealing of an Hour-Glass from the Priests And as for any being moved of the Lord says he to take away your Glass from you by the Eternal Power it is Owned Now G. W. in this Place p. 43. Prefers the Teachings of the Spirit IN MAN to the Letter of Scripture Now here is the Teachings of the Spirit in G. Fox c. Opposite in Terms to the Letter of the Scripture Or will he say That these were not the Teachings of the Holy Spirit in Fox c And then we may easily know whose Teachings they were Will nothing Convince these men To see G. Fox say of Stealing By the Eternal Power it is Owned And G. W. to Prefer this to the Letter of the Scripture To the Plainest Commands wrote by the Finger of God Himself Here is the Mystery of Quakerism to throw off the Scriptures from being a Rule to them And Giving themselves wholly up to be Guided by what they call their Light within that is whatever they are strongly Perswaded of for they can give no other account of it Nor any Rule to know that they do not mistake the strongest Delusions of Satan for the Light of Christ As certainly they have done in the Instances before us and hundreds more mention'd in the Sn. their Inward Light Leading them Directly Counter to the very Letter of
goest c. Nor cou'd this satisfie He sent to Wigan afterwards a long Paper fill'd with Curses and Exclamations of Rage and Fury which he sets down Verbatim Where he calls him Monster strange Birth of the Flesh Dark Hard Blind and such sort of the soft Breathings of the Quaker Spirit No Water-Man or Oyster-Woman have their Artillery more Ready than the Quakers when any Hard Vgly Question is ask'd at them And their Answers are as Artificial Cross Purposes Not a word to the Point For Ill Words are Ill Words however they come in And they save Answering to the Purpose when it cannot be done Thus Wigan tells p. 59. That he ask'd this Question at Margaret Fell. viz. What Parish Priest in England had got more Money with his Tongue than George Fox since he was Journeyman Shoomaker in Manchester It was an Vnmannerly Question indeed and Rubb'd upon a Sore place For the Original of the Quakers was a Company of Poor Ignorant Nasty Country Boys and Sluts Journeymen and Maidservants to Shoomakers Taylors Weavers c. who Breaking loose from their Masters and Mistresses Run a Religion-Hunting as an Easier Trade like that of the Gipsies and of more Prospect of Gain from the Encouragement given them by that Blessed Act of Toleration when the Church was sufficiently Humbled in 1649 and 1650 then Fox first Vnkennel'd and with his Cubbs having Immediately Commenc'd Preachers by Vertue of an Act of State But having no other Reverences settl'd upon them than the Inheritance of the Jesuits Rapite Capite Catch who Catch can their first Effort like that of the Regulars in the Church of Rome was to shake the Tythes and Maintenance of the Secular Clergy that in the Scramble some might come to Their share And the Best Share they have got tho' under the Name of Free-will offerings and Elemonsinary Settlements This made the Quakers first open their Mouths against the small Pittance which was then Allow'd to the Preachers Established whom they term'd Hirelings and Greedy-Dogs for Receiving any thing from the People Yet themselves soon Grew Rich and Thriving upon the Viis Modis the Ways and Means of this their new Preaching Trade And are now Grown so Insolent and High-Crested as to Upbraid others who had something to Lose as the Author of the Sn. for his Losses and being now as they call him Necessitous which makes Good the Old Proverb Set a Begger on Horseback c. Now George Fox having Grown up from his Leathern Britches and Two-footed Pad to Act the Gentleman and Ride with his Man carring of his Cloak before him and having the full Command of the Thousands in the Quaker-Treasury to Pretend to Mrs. Fell the Widow of a Judge it cou'd not but be a Grating Question to her to know how her Gallant from a Journeymen Shooe-maker in Manchester had Arriv'd to be Primate of the Quakers and had both their Persons and Purses more at his Command than either of the Metropolitans of Canterbury or York cou'd pretend to over their Subjects And whether any Parish Priest in England had got so much Money with his Tongue as G. Fox had done Now hear her Answer most Categorical in these words Thou art a Wicked Vngodly Impudent Lyar. Thou Lyar. A Proud Disdainful Spirit A Heathenish Spirit which Torments thee and many more such Night-Owls as Thou art Thou wicked Lyar. The Devil the God of this World is thy God and thou hast done what thou caust in opposing the Quakers to get Him Glory Thou hast a great measure of the Spirit of Envy Malice and Cruelty and Blood And so he stood Corrected And this is every word of her Answer to him This is the Famous Margaret Fell Relict of Judge Fell afterwards Marry'd to George Fox and became the Mother of the Quaker-Church from whom they Expected another Isaac in her Old Age to whom they Pray'd and Pay'd as Great Adoration as the Papists to the Virgin Mary See Sat. Dis. p. 90. But she did not let Wigan get so out of her Clutches She wrote three Letters to him Part of which he has Printed in his foresaid Appendix p. 58 59. There she compares him to Korah to Jannes and Jambres for opposing their Light within that is their notion of it in making it to be God and Christ Therefore she tells him Thou art without God in the World a Minister of Darkness Thy foul sinful Prayers are Abominable Thy fleshly Performances are but Grass and Chaff All thy Rotten Hypocritical Performances Thou hast Committed Sacrilege and hast Blasphemed against the Holy Spirit of God which will never be forgiven thee in this World nor in that which is to Come Thou art under it and it Remains upon thee for Ever Thou art the Man Thou art Accursed and no other Portion can thou have and this is Scripture and Truth to thee Here she has Damn'd him past all Hopes of Repentance Determin'd that he has Sinn'd the Sin against the Holy Ghost And Vouches her words to be Scripture See what before is said p. 52. of the First Part of G. Whitehead's making what the Quakers speak or write of Greater Authority than the Scriptures And here Marg. Fell Chimes in with him to shew this not to be a singular Opinion but the current Doctrin of the Quakers And now ther is no Medium left but either we must believe these Quakers Guilty of the most Dreadful Blasphemy in Fathering all their Vile and Horrid Delusions upon God Himself Or otherwise that Every word of Margar. Fells and all the Rest of their Writers are Scripture and of Greater Authority than any Chapter or Verse in the Bible Even all this that Margaret here like a Bitter Scold spits againg Wigan calling him Thief meer Sot and Ignoramus night-Bird Anti-Christ Black Defil'd Heart who Begins with a Lie and Ends with the Devil and a great deal more of the like Billings-Gate for which a Ducking-stool had been the Properest Answer Nay more all the vile Nasty stuff in the other Letters sent to Wigan from others of these Quakers of Vomiting Spuing Licking it up c. See Sat. Dis. Sect. v. of the Gleanings all this must be of Divine Inspiration and of Greater Authroity than the Holy Scriptures or else these Quakers are the most Horrid sort of Mankind who Vouch it to be so These men Magisterially Bar others from Repentance But if Repentance be hid from the Eyes of any it may be said so of these Men. For after Wigan had wrote the aforesaid Appendix and it had come to the sight or Knowlege of these Quakers who had wrote these Letters to him instead of being Asham'd of it which wou'd have been Expected had ther been any Shame in them one of them William Hilden wrote to him a Long and more Scurrilous Letter than any of the former and Desir'd him to Insert it in his Appendix which he has done And there is such Beastly stuff as wou'd turn any ones
Instances the Quakers have made themselves as Mad as any ever were in the World And have been so esteem'd at Rome and other Places where they had never been before as they were at first when they Rose up amongst us only the Common use of it now has abated of the Strangeness but nothing of the Irrationality and Madness not to speak of the Breach of Justice or Religion for Honour is as much Due to our Superiors as either Fear or Tribute and Equally Commanded Rom. xiii 7. and to Deny it is Immorality and a Sin besides the Singularity and Proud-Humility which Entitles it to a High Degree of Madness And in this the whole Body of the Quakers is Involv'd In making Themselves free from Sin and Equal with God 3. But thirdly wou'd not that man be Counted Mad who shou'd Fancie himself Exempted from the Common Condition of other Mortals to be as Bright and Glorious and Impassible as an Angel And is it not as much to think our selves as Pure and Impeccable as they even while we feel our own Frailty and Imperfections in Dayly and Frequent Instances Yet still to Cry that we are Pure and without Sin Nay Perfect even as God! And Equal to Him and One with Him in very Nature and Substance and a Part of Him Can any Madness be Imagin'd beyond or Equal to this And G. W. p. 88. gives his Consent to secure such Persons in Bedlam if we can find any such among them that we can plainly Prove to hold the Same Now whether this be not Plainly Prov'd in the Sn. Sect. ii iii. and iv I leave to the Reader And G. W. do's neither Deny nor Answer one of the Quotations there Produc'd But stoutly Denies the whole Charge without so much as Attempting to Invalidat any one Particle of the Evidence Which I think I may Modestly say is very like the Answer of a Mad-Man In Assuming to be Prophets 4. But I will put the Case lower than that of Aspiring to be Equal with God Suppose then that a Poor Country Lad shou'd come to London and hapning upon a Rich Widdow shou'd presently fancie himself to be some Duke or Great Prince and as such shou'd Issue forth his Proclamations Commissions c. wou'd not G. W. give me leave to think this fellow a little Craz'd But suppose he shou'd set up for a Prophet sent Immediately from God as Elijah was And as such shou'd take upon him to Dictate to Kings and Emperors and Command them In the Name of the Lord to Give forth Prophesies and affix to them Thus saith the Lord c. And suppose he Cou'd shew no Credentials at all for this High Commission only bid Men take his own word for it wou'd not this make him much more Extravagantly and Blasphemously Mad Now how many Mad-Men of this sort have we had among the Quakers Even Fox their Original and all the way down as many as have Wrote or almost that have Preach'd or Spoke amongst them This is a Talent without which whosoever speaks is a Conjurer as Fox has Determin'd in his Westmorland Petition p. 5. in his Saul's Errand p. 7. and elswhere as shewn in the Sn. Ther is one particular Instance put in the Front of the Preface p. xi of the First Edit of the Sn. it is p. 281. of the Third Edit where a Prophetical Curse is set down of Confusion against George Keith And it is not a Hasty Rash Curse in Passion or so as is usual among the Profane Cursers and Swearers of the World But it is a Deliberat Grave Curse in Cold Blood set down in Writing and sent to George Keith it bears Date the 17th of the 4th Month. 1695. And is subscrib'd George Whitehead And begins in these words Thus Saith the Lord. And it is written not in the Name of G. Whitehead as any Thought or Prognostick of his own but every word in the Person of God as speaking to G. Keith Because thou hast poured Contempt upon My Servants I will assuredly bring Confusion upon thee c. Now for this George Whitehead thus to assume the Stile of the most Extraordinary Prophets of God and to Fancie himself one of them I think will be Judg'd a Greater Degree of Madness than if he had Fancy'd himself to be a Duke or a Prince for a Prophet Immediatly sent from God is certainly Cloath'd with a far Greater Honour than any that can be Bestow'd by the most Splendid of Worldly Titles Therefore this is no ordinary mistake or such as cou'd befall any Man in his Wits Nay farther to shew the Excess of G. Whitehead's Madness Suppose he shou'd think that this Prophetical Curse of his against G. Keith to be not only Equal to any Prophesie Recorded in Scripture but of Greater Authority than any Chapter in the Bible wou'd any body in this case Excuse him from the very Height of Madness And for this see his Truth defending the Quakers An. 1659. p. 7. where this Question was Demanded of him Do you Esteem your Speakings to be of as Great Authority as any Chapters in the Bible And he sets down his own Answer in these words That which is Spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any is of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are and GREATER This he Repeats again in the same words in his Serious Appology An. 1671. p. 49. And Quotes his former Book to shew that this was not spoke by Chance but was a standing Principle among them Now then if G. W. will say That the Curse which he sent to G. Keith was Spoken by the Spirit of Truth he owns by his own words that it is not only of As Great Authority as the Scriptures and Chapters are but of GREATER And then I think we need no further Proof of his being Stark-Mad But on the other hand if he will to save himself from this Imputation Acknowledge that that Curse was not Spoken by the Spirit of Truth then must he own himself Guilty of a most Notorious Blasphemy to Dictate thus in the Person of God and make God to speak his Lies and the Delusions of his Besotted Brain And if this be not put upon the score of Madness then ought G. Whitehead to suffer the Punnishment of a Blasphemer Therefore he shou'd Return his Thanks to those who are so Merciful as to Prove him only Non Compos as of Felo de se to save his Chattels and his Carcass too But this is not only as to this Curse against G. K. that is but one Instance among many nor only as to G. W. but it Reaches to All that the Quakers have Deliver'd In the Name of the Lord not only against Particular Persons but the whole Church of England the King the Bishops and Priests and the Lawyers too they are Particularly mark'd out for Destruction if ever the Quakers do Prevail they are the Midianites whom we must Vex that is Destroy see
the Scripture Now throwing off the Authority of Scripture that is of Outward Revelation is Direct Deism And the Quakers are Downright Deists as shewn in Prim. Heres p. 28. They Differ in Nothing but in Expressing the same thing in Different Words The Deists own a Light within and that it is Divine i. e. Planted in our Minds by God and that it is a Ray or Communication of the Divine Light Wherein then do they Differ from the Quakers only in this That they call this Light within by the Name of Reason Which word the Quakers do not like because they Resolv'd to go out of the Rode of all Common speaking But they Mean the Same thing For they Deny any other Light in the Soul but that which is Divine And this Light within the Quakers and Deists make the Supreame Rule not Controulable by Scripture or any thing else but Sufficient of it self Without any thing else i. e. without Faith in the outward Jesus For that God Requires no more of any man but to Follow this Light within And This is all the Christianity which the Quakers do own This they say is To have Faith in Christ Hence they conclude All Moral Deists whether Jews or Heathens to be Christians G. Fox in his Gr. Myst p. 56. Sets down an Objection against the Quakers viz. That they say that any can have The Sight of the Godhead without Faith in Christ And he do's not Deny this to be their Principle but Justifies it He Answers Can any see the Godhead have a sight of the Godhead and not see Christ and have Faith in Christ By this the Jews have Faith in Christ for they Acknowledge the Godhead And the Gentiles too Because that which may be known of God is Manifest in them for God hath shewed it unto them Rom. 1.19 20. For the Invisible things of Him from the Creation of the world are Clearly seen being understood by the things that are made even His Eternal Power and Godhead In the same manner the succeeding Quakers do Chime in after G. Fox T. Elwood in his late Answer to G. Keith 's Narrative An. 1696. p. 75 76 77. do's Quote and Justifie Will. Penn his Address to Protestants p. 118 119. where he makes Christ not to be any Person but only a Principle in men's Hearts which is Common to All Men. For thus he Describes Christ What is Christ but Meekness Justice Mercy c. Can we then Deny a Meek man to be a Christian And putting the objection against a Moral Heathen thus Why tho' this Person be a Sober Liver yet he is but a General Believer his Faith is at Large 'T is true He believes in God but I hear little of his Faith in Christ Then as T. E. says W. P. Replies very well Do's he not therefore believe in Christ For As he that believes in Christ believes in God so he that believes in God believes in Christ For an Answer to this Mighty Argument of the Quakers see Sat. Dis. Sect. 1. n. x. I am now only shewing That the Quakers are Deists and no more Nay I will say not so much Christians as any the Vilest and most Absur'd of any other Deists Of whom none that we know of but the Quakers will own that most sensless Blasphemy of making Themselves to be God by making their Souls to be Vn-Created and without Beginning and Infinit which is to be God As shewn 2. Par. S. vii n. 2. Quakery is a Scandal even to Deism And as the Quakers out-shoot the other Deists vastly in Non-sense and Blasphemy so they come not nearer to Christianity in any thing that might Ballance No not as to the Acknowledgment which they make to the H. Scriptures For the Deists too as the Quakers will speak sometimes Honourably of the Scriptures say they are Good Books and many Good things in them And Delight to Read them But then not to Trust to Every thing that is in them Only so far as is Agreeable to their own Light within And in this they Endeavour to support themselves by the Various Readings Copies and Translations of the H. Scriptures to Render them Vncertain and Suspected And from them the Quakers have taken up the same Argument against the Authority of the H. Scriptures Tho' they have the least skill in that Critical part of Learning of any sort of Men upon the face of the Earth Yet they Borrow Arrows out of Every Quiver against the H. Scriptures as of the Papists against our Translation as shewn in Sat. Dis Glean Sect. iii. n. 3. p. 79. so of the Deists against All. But All Translations do agree in what is Material either as to Faith or Manners And therefore these and the various Readings of Copies Different both as to the Countries and Ages in which they were Transcrib'd and Translated instead of Militating against the Truth and Certainty of the H. Scriptures are a Mighty Confirmation of Both because this is a Demonstration that such Copies cou'd not have been wrote by Consert And the Differences between them is no more than what was Natural and Easie and almost Unavoidable to fall out in the Common Mistakes of so many Several Amanuenses and Translations But all agreeing in the Full of the Faith therein Deliver'd and Differing in nothing that can make any Alteration in that Gives us the Greater and an Undoubted Assurance of Trusting to the Scriptures so Agreeing in all their various Translations and Editions as a Sure and Certain Rule both as to Faith and Manners But the Ignorant Quakers having got this Objection by the end see what use they make of it even to Render the Scriptures so Precarious and Vncertain as not at all to be any longer Trusted as a Rule to Us And the Consequence is That the Scriptures be now laid aside as now Vseless and Vnprofitable nay more as Dangerous and Hurtful to Us because if Corrupted they may give us Poison for Meat and so Help forward our Destruction Thus that Renowned Quaker Samuel Fisher in what he Blasphemously calls The Burden of the Message of the Lord it self p. 3. and 5. it is p. 19. and 21. of a Collection of such sort of his Messages Printed 1656. comparing of the Light within and the Scriptures says That Prophet whose voice soever hears not and obeys not even in all things whatsoever he saith to them shall be cut off from his People who by a Measure of Light from himself hath Enlightned Every one of you Whose voice is within and not without to you nor heard now without by any of you for the Scripture is not his voice for the Scriptures not as written by the men that were Inspired but as since then Mis-transcribed even in the very Greek and Hebrew Copies how much more as we have them Mis-translated in many things and in so many several Translations these are in some things Fallible and so not fit to be the Rule as in
the Dark for want of the true Light yet shining which now shineth forth they have been suppos'd to be but Christ himself his Light and Spirit which shew Good and Evil in the Heart which are the only Guide Law and Rule And this is Infallible and there is the only sure and safe walking even in the Light in Christ in the Spirit and not in the Letter which is Fallible by false Interpretation and Translation Here are all our Translations and the Originals too both Hebrew and Greek that are Extant of the Holy Scriptures Damn'd at one Blow That is to say All the Bibles now in the world They are no longer a Rule or Law to us But all is Resolv'd into our own Light within without Limit or Controul of Scripture or any other Law or Rule whatsoever And this is the New-Light which the Quakers have brought into the world viz. Before the Quakers came that is In the Dark as Fisher words it for want of the true Light yet shining the Scriptures were Suppos'd to be the Rule That was Dark indeed But now that the True Light which the Quakers have brought Shineth forth the Scriptures are Discarded from being the Rule and the Light within i. e. what any man Fancies so to be is the only Rule Guide Law c. From this Ancient Quaker his Son Will. Penn has Lick'd the Spittle and thus Copies after him and Improves upon him I cannot but Observe says W. Penn after what a suspected Rate the SCRIPTVRES have been first Collected Are we sure that the Judgement of those who Collected them was sufficient to Determin what was Right Rejoinder to John Faldo An 1673. p. 38. and what not What Assurance have our Anti-Revelation Adversaries of their Doctors Choice How shall we be Assur'd that in above three hundred years so many Copies as were doubtless taken shou'd be Pure and Vn-Corrupted From hence we may Observe the Uncertainty of J. Faldo 's Word of God See with what Contempt he calls the Holy Scriptures John Faldo's Word of God! And makes them an Vn-Certainty And calls those who Adhere to them Anti-Revelation Adversaries Not that these Adversaries Oppos'd all Revelation for the Holy Scriptures are a Revelation But they are an Extraordinary Revelation far Exceeding the Discoveries which are made by that Light or Reason which is Common to all Mankind and which the Deists and Quakers do Improperly call Revelation And who will not own this as the only Certain and Infallible Rule of Faith and Practice are those whom Will. Penn calls Anti-Revelation Adversaries He says ibid. That we can never by Authorities prove the Scriptures to be given forth by Inspiration nor that they are truly Collected That is That ther is no outward Evidence for them but only what our Light within tells Us of them And then they wou'd be Vn-Certain indeed How many Men's Light within tells them nothing of the Holy Scriptures of Moses or of Christ of the Law or the Gospel As for what Outward and Human Evidence ther is for these I Referr the Quakers to the Short Method with the Deists wherein they are Equally Concern'd But here see the Reason why they not only Equal but Preferr their own Writings and Speakings to the Holy Scriptures viz. Because we have the Original of their Writings and as they say but Corrupted Copies of the Scriptures And that They have The same Degree of the Spirit the Prophets and Apostles had Gr. Myst p. 213. therefore that what they say Now is of Greater Authority than the Scriptures wrote so Long ago Of which before G W's Sincerity and Ingenuity in some Objections with which he Concludes the First Part of his Book Wherein the Summ of the Quaker Doctrin is laid Open. viz. That they Deny the Humanity of Christ Ard the Divinity of Jesus XVII We are now come to the End of the first Part of G. W's Answer which concludes p. 48. with a Notable smart Repartee upon the Author of the Sn. for calling the Title of a Book Holy What was the Title of the Book Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected And what do's G. W. make of this He calls it Blasphemy But how Blasphemy George Is not the Detection of Gross Error and Hypocrisie a very Good work And is it Blasphemy to call a Good work an Holy work Good and Holy George are very near of Kin. And thou did'st strain very hard against the Author when thou found'st out this for Blasphemy But it falls out further Unluckily in this Matter for the Author never thought of any such Epithet as Holy to give to the Title of that Book or any Epithet at all but just to Name the Book It was a mere Error of the Press And it was put into the Errata to Dele that word Holy And the page and line are nam'd in the Errata p. 351. l. 9. but the Direction of Dele Holy was left out And ther is no other Error in that line which has but Six words in it so that a little Skill and as much Sincerity wou'd easily have found it out At least wou'd have stopt such Ingenious Remarks upon it It was corrected with a Pen in several of the Printed Books And in the Second Edit p. 350. the word Holy is left out But however this being the only Error which G. W. has found in the Sn. and shewing himself so Fond of it it is a Pity to Deprive him of the Pleasure of it And now being Flusht with this First Victory he Hews down G. Keith for company because in that Book of his Gross Error and Hypocrisie Detected about the Title of which we have Quarrel'd he brings Answers to the Seven Queres Presented to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers 1695. and Sophistically Answer'd by the Committee of Seven thereto appointed of which G. W. was one out of the Quaker-Books since they wou'd not Answer Directly themselves But G. W. is very smart upon him and observes with Great Acuteness that those Books being wrote before the Queres were not Intended as Direct Answers to those Queres for says he They cou'd be no Proper nor Direct Answers to those Queries nor so Intended nor by us Adapted to any such Queries therefore the Greater Abuse in him to Collect and Place them for Answers thereto This was a Great Abuse indeed To make you Answer more Directly than you had a Mind to Your former Books spoke Plainly your Gross Heresies against the True Humanity of Christ c. and you had no mind this shou'd be known therefore you Contriv'd your Answers to bear a Double-Face that you might have Room to Escape And G. Keith most Vnkindly considering old Acquaintance wou'd stop your Passage and shew out of your Printed Books the Plain Truth of the Matter and Detect your Gross both Errors and Hypocrisie And all he has left you to say for your selves is That those Books were not Intended as an Answer to these Queries But was
their Discourses tho' they were otherwise valuable most Nauseous to all men of Sense or Breeding For which Reason I have Insisted so long upon it in this to Cure them if Possible of what is so just a Prejudice against them that we may get them to be a little Sociable and Tame to Converse like other men tho' we Differ from them without Flying in our Faces But if they still continue to Bite they must be Muzl'd If they say that they never Snarle but where they are Provok'd It is Impossible to Begin with them without Provoking of them for if you oppose any of their Errors then they Rave and Rage like Furies Ther is no Provocation like it And the Truth of it is the Author of the Sn. did Begin with Them And has got his Reward for thrusting his Hand into this Nest of Hornets But will they be more Moderate where they Begin with others Invite and Provoke them to the Dispute No. It is all one They are as Fierce upon the Attack as in their Defence Ther was one John Wigan an Annabaptist Preacher who was Prisoner with George Fox and others of them in the Castle at Lancaster in the Year 1664. And without his ever opening his Mouth to one of them only Passing thro' a Common Room where they were they Attack'd him and the first words were Leave off thy Deceiving the People Thou art a Deceiver To which he return'd no more Provoking an Answer than to Ask wherein he was a Deceiver and how they cou'd Prove him to be such Then they Challeng'd him to a Dispute To which he not being over Forward They Drew up a Paper of 24 Queres against him which they Fixt upon the Hall Door This Forc'd him to Undertake a Publick Dispute with them in the Hall of the Castle of which has given a Particular Account in a Book Intituled Anti-Christ's strongest Hold overturned Printed 1665. But this Debate not sufficing them they fix'd up many other Papers upon the Door and Gave him a Paper wherein as he tells p. 52. They Challenge All the Sons of Adam to Discourse with them of this their Fundamental Principle viz. The Light within Which was the subject of their Debate with Wigan who held That Christ doth not Lighten Every man that cometh into the world with a saving Light p. 10. This was all the Provocation he Gave them Besides Proving it so Effectually that they were not Able to Answer him But when their Arguments were spent they fell to their old Artillery of the most Bitter and Beastly Rayling and Pronouncing Curses against Him In the Name of the Lord. To All which he Return'd Answers truly Christian and which shew'd that he Deserv'd that Character which Jos Wyeth gave to the Author of the Sn. That he was a man of Temper Yet all this notwithstanding see how they Treated him not only in the Heat of Dispute when their Passions who have none but in Absolute sway might be put upon the Frett But in Cold Blood by Letters under their Hands Some of which he has Added to his Book by way of Appendix from p. 56. Thomas Curwen who was the Man first spoke to him and call'd him a Deceiver going thro' the Hall in the Castle at Lancaster and Challeng'd him to the Dispute writes thus to him John Wigane Oh the Plagues of God will be thy Portion and be Poured out upon thy Head Thou filthy Deamer who Vomits up thy own shame Thy Book will be thy overthrow For it 's no more to me than Chaff and Dirt under my Feet This was a Full Confutation However it do's not Deny the Matters of Fact and Truth of Wigan's Relation of this Conference and therefore we may Depend upon this Book of Wigan's for so far True as it Concerns the Quakers that they are not thereby Mis-Represented But what they found fault with Curwin tells him in another Paper which he sent him Thy ill-bred Behaviour says he to Wigan thy ill-bred saucy Tongue un-nurtured and un-bred And besides thy saucy Language Thy Hypocrisie and saucy Tongue and unmannerlines and ill-breeding To see Quakers set up for Breeding And Reprove Sauciness But Wigan Provok'd them to Instance any the least Ill-Breading or Sauciness which he had shou'd towards them and they cou'd not for he carry'd it all along the Dispute with great Moderation But it is all one for that when the Quaker-Blood is up it minds neither Right nor Wrong Friend nor Foe True nor False G. Fox and Margaret Fell whom he afterwards Marry'd were Both Present at this Dispute Chief Managers and most Obstreperous as Wigan words it in his Narrative p. 12. where he Describes George Fox Entring the Hall after the Dispute was Begun and strutting like the Colosus at Rhodes he clapt one foot upon a Seat and the other upon the Table about which the Rest were standing And with his Vnwieldy Bulk look'd as Big as Both the Giants in Yield-Hall It was Present Death to any Man that he Fell upon And it shew'd the Courage of Litle Wigan who Durst Dispute betwixt his Legs But George was this Breeding Did this look like Good Manners No Matter If it was not Civil it was very GREAT In this Posture Fox propos'd some Scriptures in support of his Light which when Wigan had Answer'd without one word of Reflection or Abuse upon the Quakers only giving a Fair and Calm Exposition of those Scriptures which the Quakers had Strained in Favour of their Notion of the Light within Margaret Fell seeing her Huge sweaty Lover Reduc'd to his Principles first Open'd in his Rescue and Cry'd out to Wigan having now the Giant at his Mercy Thou art a Miserable Creature This was seconded by James Brown says Wigan p. 20. with great Fierceness saying Thou art an Enemy of God Thomas Davenport put in his Thrust and said Thou hast Deny'd Christ to Day Richard Cubban wou'd not be behind he said Thou hast Deny'd the Lord that bought thee and wou'd undertake to Prove that Wigan was one of those False Prophets mention'd 2 Pet. 2.1 This was struck home like Brutus But they had not Leasure in that Fray to his hear Proofs and so the Knight escap'd for that time But afterwards the Fox Giant having Recover'd Breath and Courage yet but Faint Attack'd Wigan in these words Thou art not a Rational Man This was much below his ordinary Mettle He was out of Breath But he was Seconded to Purpose by a young Hardy Champion John Berley who Hewed him thus The Eternal Judgments of God will fall upon thee and Burn the up as Chaff Thou art worse than a Drunkard At which the Knight Fled but did not Escape so For James Park Pursu'd him to his Chamber and there gave him the Parting Blow with great Vehemency says Wigan p. 21. in these words Thou art a Lyar and a Deceiver and the Curse of God will be upon thee in thy Bed-Chamber and Closet and wherever thou
tho' they Thee and Thou the Worlds People yet they do not care to be Thou'd by them They Love very well to be Master'd and Mistress'd by them And will say to them sometimes when they call the Quakers after their own fashion by their Bare I had almost said Christen'd Names why do'st thee speak our Language seeing thee do'st allow of giving Titles Thee shoud'st speak in the Language thee do'st approve of V. Again if you object the Common Place which All the Quakers Insisted upon so much at the Beginning when they were Poor That it was Anti-Christian for any Man to Sue another at Law And a Plain mark of the Reprobate and People of the World In the Describing of whom G. Fox in his News out of the North. p. 19. Among many other Wicked and Abominable Practises as he Reckon'd them sets this down as a Main one These wicked Folks Are such says he as Sue Men at the Law which Christ forbade Yet now that the Quakers are Grown Rich and have something to Sue for They Sue as fast as the World's People Yet this is no Contradiction to their Principle No. But only a Contrary Testimony to Clear the other when Objected VI. 1. If you object their not observing of Times Set apart by the Church as Festivals c. They can shew the Contrary Principle of their General Councils their Yearly Meetings in London which they always Appoint to be Celebrated in Whitson-Week that being the Great Festival ordained to be kept in Memory of the Miraculous Descent of the Holy Ghost upon the Apostles at the Feast of Pentecost If it be said That this time is appointed only upon Account of the Season of the Year because the Quakers come yearly to attend this their most Solemn Meeting from Foreign Countries even from the West-Indies That Excuse will not do for this Feast is Movable sometimes a Months difference And if they Respected only the Season of the Year they wou'd keep to some Constant Month that all might know But that they shou'd Always stumble just upon Whitsun-Week will not pass merely upon Chance But their Reason is plainly because they Pretend to the Greatest Effusions of the Holy Ghost which they have made Peculiar to Themselves And therefore keep their General Meetings in Whitsun-Week and at no other time which is a most Solemn Observation of that Great Festival of the Church And yet they Exclaim most Bitterly against the Observation of Times as being Carnal and forsaking of the Truth c. Nay G. Fox in his News out of the North. p. 23. Names Whitsuntide with Christmas and Easter among the Holy-Days which he Runs down So that here are Contrary and Re-Contrary Testimonies 2. They now Generally observe The Lord's Day for their Publick Worship But if any shou'd object this as an Observation of Times they have Ancient Testimonies to Produce where the Quakers have Preach'd and Printed against the observation of That Day as Superstitious Carnal c. And Solomon Eccles and others of their Prophets have got themselves into Churches before the People Met and carry'd with them a Pair of Briches Gloves or something of their Trades and set themselves in the Pulpit or upon the Communion-Table and there were found busie at work when the People came to Church and some of them have Opened their Shops on that Day purposely as a Contempt of the Day and to bear their Testimony against it Which G. Whitehead Vindicates in his Truth Defending the Quakers Printed 1659. p. 20. 21. where he Repeats this Question that was put to him Did that Quaker Sin therein or not who brought lately on the Lord's Day an old Dublet into Dr. Gell 's Church in London and sat upon the Communion Table mending it while the Doctor was Preaching the Parishioners forbidding him And his Answer is in these words What wilt thou Continue a Papist that thou Countest it such a Great Crime to Work upon the Communion Table as if it were a more Holy Place than another And like a Papist thou callest the Steeple-House the Church which thou hast no Scripture for And if any Quaker did as thou sayest whether thinkest thou was his working there or a Priest 's Preaching for Money and setting forth his ware to Sale there as in the Market-house the Greater offence And where do'st thou Read in Scripture that men must do no work on the First days of the week Thus he Yet now the Quakers Cease from Work on that Day And set up for the Observation of it as well as others Tho' formerly they us'd to make up their Accounts on that Day to Pay and Receive Money c. which I can Prove from those to whom they have come upon that Errand But to save them on all sides the Quaker Infallible Spirit can go both ways For and Against the Observation of the Lord's-Day And Both as Directed by the same Spirit Thus G. Fox Determins in what he calls An Epistle to All the Christian Magistrates and Powers in the whole Christendom London Printed An. 1659. p. 12. So all Friends says he of the Lord God that be Moved to set open your Shops or to do any work on the First Day which the false Christians call their Sabbath Do not ye Judge all that do not as ye do that be not moved to do the Service as ye are to do that Day And all that doth not do that service on that Day as ye do as are not moved by the Power of the Lord God do not Judge them that doth such a Service on that Day Here he makes them the False-Christians who call the First-Day their Day of Sabbath or Rest. And if the calling it so be such a Crime sure the Observation of it as such must be much Greater Yet he Graciously gives the Quakers leave to be such False-Christians if their Light so Direct The meaning is That their Light is Equally Infallible when it Commands Contradictions But he casts the Ballance against the Observation of the Christian Sabbath only wou'd not have those Precious ones to be Judged who do Observe it I cannot Refrain from giving you his Reason against the Observation of it which is Worthy of his Infallibility You will find it in his Great Mystery p. 101. viz. That it was not the Seventh but the Eighth Day That is It was the Eighth of the Seven Days Unless the Quakers make more than Seven Days in a Week And if it was the Eighth Day why do the Quakers call it the First Day But it is well enough if the Light so Direct Was this too from The Mouth of The Lord Yea Verily or else G. Fox has Decreed Himself to be a Conjurer But the best of it is No body will believe him who ever knew him or have Read his Books VII 1. Let me give Another Instance of the Contrary Testimonies of the Quakers At their first setting up when they were Poor and Beggarly it was their
Meant than to Keep to his Light within Cou'd that have told him all that was Commanded in the Law of Moses How came all the Heathen then not to Know it for they had the Light within As little cou'd it of it Self without the Help of outward Revelation have Discover'd a Messiah the Son of God to be Incarnat and offer'd up a Sacrifice for the Sins of the World This Faith as the Apostle truly Says All men have not None Ever had it by Means only of their Light within But either by Express Revelation such as was Given of it to Adam to Abraham and the Prophets or by the outward Means of Hearing as the Apostle says in that same Chap. of the x. Rom. ver 17. Describing how that same Faith commeth of which he spoke ver 8. And he says That it cometh by Hearing viz. The outward Preaching of it For as he says ver 14. How shall they Believe in Him of whom they have not Heard And how shall they Hear without a Preacher So Mad and Void of all Common Sense as well as most Impious and Heretical Is that Quaker Exposition of Deut. xxx 14. And Rom. x. 8. Whereby they wou'd Exclude the outward Christ from being the Object of the Christian Faith And Blasphemously Translate it to Themselves that is to their own Light Within And by this make the Christian Faith Common to all Mankind even to those who never Heard of the outward Christ Which is To make Him His Blessed Death and Passion Vseless and Vn-necessary to the World Another Text they urge mightily for the Vniversality of their Light within is Joh. 1.9 That was the true Light which Lighteth Every man that cometh into the World This they Understand of Faith the True Saving Faith and so suppose that Every Man must have it But the Apostle from the beginning of this Chap. was speaking of the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Divine Word by whom All things were Made And therefore not only what Light but what Life Every man or any Creature has is from Him Act xvii 25.28 Seeing He giveth to All Life and Breath and All things For in Him we Live and Move and have our Being Now that Light which He giveth to All Men is not the Light of Faith which All Men have not But the Natural Light of our Vnderstanding which is Common to All Men. And is a Ray Communicated from the Supreme 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Reason The Quakers to Avoid this set about that Mad Task of Proving that All men have not Reason as before is shewn And yet wou'd give All men Faith of which no man is Capable without supposing him to have the use of his Reason Otherwise a Tree or a Stone might Believe as well as a Man I will Name but one Text more upon which they Chime Exceedingly that is 1 Joh. 2.20 27. But ye have an Vnction from the Holy one and ye know All things And ye need not that any man Teach you but as the Same Anointing Teacheth you of All things This they Interpret of the Light within which is Common to All Men. But then by this it wou'd follow That All Men do know All things Quite contrary to what the Apostle there Supposes who speaks of those who Knew not the Truth And Applys this of the Anointing only to those who Knew the Truth Ver. 21. I have not written unto you because ye know not the Truth but because ye Know it c. Therefore this of the Anointing was spoken only To and Of the True Believers and not of Infidels or Generally of All Men as is Plain to any who Read that Chapter These are the Chief Texts they Insist upon for the Vniversality of Faith which they call The Light within And they All prove Directly against them Ther are others so Forc'd and Strain'd as need not Confutation As 2 Pet. 1.19 We have also a more sure word of Prophesy c. which they apply to their Light within Whereas it was plainly spoken of the Holy Scriptures as the next Verse do's Expressly Determin it Knowing this first that no Prophesy of SCRIPTVRE is of any Private Interpretation I wish the Quakers wou'd Reflect Seriously upon this It wou'd correct the Exorbitancy of their Private Interpretations by what they call their Light within Different from the Sense of the whole Catholick Church in All Ages And let them see and Consider that ther was Great Reason for that Caution given in this same Epistle Ch. iii. 16. That the Vnlearned and Vnstable do wrest the Scriptures to their own Destruction The Quakers pretend sometimes to be Determin'd by Scripture and to admit of no Interpretation which is not in Express words of Scripture See a Book of theirs call'd The Divinity of Christ Wrote by G. Whitehead and G. Fox where in the Epistle they speak thus Where do the Scriptures speak of three Persons in the Godhead in these Express words Let us see where it is written Come do not shuffle for we are Resolv'd the Scriptures shall Buffet you about And where doth the Scripture speak of a Human Nature of Christ in Heaven And where doth the Scripture say the Soul is Part of Man's Nature Give us plain Scripture without Adding or Diminishing Come let us see Chapter and Verse c. Now the Quakers cannot Refuse the same Measure which they have Meated to others Therefore let us see Chapter and Verse where The Light within is spoke of In these Express words wher is ther any thing of Faith in the Light within of Believing In The Light within as this Appen do's often speak Where is it said that Christ was not the Lamb but that the Lamb was in Christ where is ther a word of the Manhood of God of Christ's Heavenly Flesh Blood and Bones of His Flesh that was Crucify'd when Adam Fell Where is His Body call'd a Garment or a Vessel where shall we find the Distinction of Christ Without and Within of an Outward and an Inward Christ of the Shedding of His Blood within Vs of the Blood and Bones of our Light within where is it said that the Person who Suffer'd upon the Cross was not Properly the Son of God He is oft call'd The Son of God what Text says that He was not Properly so In these Express words Come Produce Chapter and Verse Where are the Holy Scriptures call'd Beastly ware Serpents meat Death and Dust Where is the Text for Theeing and Thouing and for not taking off your Hats For your Silent-Meetings For the Ceasing of Baptism and The Lord's Supper For Womens Preaching and Womens Meetings which you call the Good Ordinance of Jesus Christ what Text do's Abolish Tythes in these Express words or Declare all going to War to be unlawful To keep Holy-Days or Marry by a Priest Where is it said that the Quakers are Infallible That their Preachings are of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and GREATER And
in Pennsilvania An. 1695. And by this the Reader may Judge whether it proceeded from Want of Capacity or Sincerity in George Whitehead and the Rest of the London Quakers That in their Printed Answer to these Queries they say They are Not Plain and Direct Queries therefore cannot Positively be Answer'd by our Single Yea or Nay to Each Query as Desir'd We therefore at present send this General Answer to the Queries Of which Sufficient has been said in the First Part Sect. v. p. 9. c. But here I wou'd observe That the Pennist Quakers in Pennsilvania durst not trust their own Light within to Answer these Queries And bound themselves to stand by the Answer of their London Friends Whereas those who with G. Keith had Return'd to the Truth of Christianity took no time to Consider nor Ty'd themselves Implicitly to the Determination of Any Whatsoever They said not that the Truth was farr off beyond the Seas in Old England And they must stay till some Good Body shou'd Fetch it to them with Safe Wind and Tyde and Deut. xxx 13. See before Second Part. p. 225. From all this we may take Notice of the Different Assurances which Proceed from a Rational Faith Founded upon the Rock of the H. Scriptures And that which is Built upon the Sand of our own Imagination which the Quakers call their Light Within A FAITHFUL RELATION Of the great Opposition made by some Preachers among the Quakers to three great fundamental Doctrins of the Christian Faith at Two several Meetings at London in the year 1678 appointed to hear the Charges made by them against me George Keith for my asserting the said Three Fundamental Doctrins in my Book call'd The way cast up Printed 1677. AND The Reasons of my Publishing the said Relation IN the Year 1678 at London there being great Whisperings and Complaints privately spread among the People called Quakers against Me on the Account of Certain Principles laid down by Me in a Book of Mine Printed in the Year 1677 called The way Cast up And I happening to be then at London and hearing of the said Complaints against me and my said Book I spoke to diverse of the Ministry of the People called Quakers that they would appoint a Meeting to hear the Complaints of those Persons that Objected against some things Contain'd in my Book charging them to be False and Erronious and also to hear my Defence and Vindication touching the things to be charged against me A Meeting was procured at a Friends house call'd John Osgood a Merchant in White-Hart Court in Grace-Church-street London in the winter Season which began about the Sixth hour at Night where a Considerable number of those called Friends of the Ministry were met together with divers other Persons of account among the Quakers among whom were William Penn George Whitehead Thomas Green William Mead William Gibson George Watt Francis More Thomas Hart James Claypowl John Bull And many other besides The persons that appeared against me at the said Meeting were chiefly Samuel Newtown a great Preacher then among them who not long after Broke and went to Virginia and still Preacheth there among the Quakers as I have been certainly inform'd by some that heard him and are ready to bear witness to it and William Shewen a Preacher and a great Writer among them who hath Printed divers Books highly approved by many of the People called Quakers Containing some abominable Principles whereof I have given some account in my Second and Third Narratives of the Proceedings at Turners-Hall This man was never Censured by Friends of the Ministry for his Antichristian Doctrin Contained in some of his Books but lived and dyed in Unity with them and had Solemn Commendations and Testimonies given him by some of the Ministry at his Funeral The first Meeting not having time sufficient to hear all that was to be said for and against appointed another Meeting at the house of James Claypool Merchant in Scotch Yard in London when some others were present and mostly all the foremention'd the Meeting began about the Sixth hour at night as did the former The particulars were Three especially wherewith these two above named Persons severally charged me and blamed my Doctrine and opposed against it to be Contradictory to the Ancient Friends Books whereof they brought a Considerable number which were laid on the Table but it happened that none of them were used but instead of them the Bible was called for and some places in it read and Discours'd upon The First Particular they blam'd in my said Book and charg'd to be false was that I had affirmed that Christ's Body that was Crucified on the Tree of the Cross and was Buried pag. 131. Rose again and Ascended into Heaven and was in Heaven Diverse spoke their mind to it one after another some against it and some for it and some very doubtfully which I was greatly astonished to find I Quoted that place of Scripture in defence of the Resurrection of Christ's Body Psal 16.10 compared with Act. 2.30 31 32. Thou wilt not leave my Soul in Hell nor suffer thy holy one to see Corruption Will. Mead said to me dost thou understand this of an outward Body that which was not to see Corruption was the Seed within I answered let the places be read and compared and it will be found that they are to be understood of Christ's Body that was laid in the outward Grave so these two places of Scripture were read and several gave their assent to it that by the Holy one that was not to see Corruption was to be understood Christ's Body that was laid in the Grave whereupon Thomas Green an ancient Preacher said Friends one of two things we must needs say either that Christ's Body remains in some hole or cave of the Earth or that it Rose and Ascended for it did not see Corruption and for my part I rather think it Rose and Ascended into Heaven as George Keith affirms than that it remains in any hole or cave of the Earth Diverse other places of Scripture I had to bring forth to prove the truth of the Resurrection of Christ's Body as his own words to the Jews Destroy this Temple meaning his Body and after three days I will raise it up and his appearing to his Disciples after his Resurrection having said as it is Luk. 24.39 Handle me and Feel me for a Spirit hath no Flesh and Bones as ye see me have After Thomas Green had spoke as is above related George Whitehead said that whereas many both Priests and Professors had questioned Friends much concerning Christ's Body what was become of it and where it was by occasion of Friends Preaching Christ within so frequently he confesses that Friends were at some stand to give a possitive answer but rather evaded the Question And though in former times Friends were shy to answer the Priests and Professors Questions about Christ's Body fearing they sought
this time of Day have put on towards our Clergy And do their Vtmost to stir up the Civil Power against them Even to Destroy them And not to Suffer them tho' Charitably This was in the Year 1695 when Sir Thomas Lane was Lord Mayor of London In the Post-Man 14 January 1699. The Quakers have Publish'd the following Paragraph WHereas there have been several Fabulous Accounts in the Post Boy concerning a dispute at West Deerham in Norfolk between some of the Clergy of the C. of E. and some Quakers which by reason of its partiality the Quakers were willing Charitably to suppose the said Clergy were not the Authors of Since which there is a larger account called the Quakers Challenge made to the Norfolk Clergy which altho far from an impartial relation yet in it may be seen notwithstanding the Title that the Quakers were not first in the Challenge but Defendants to the Clergys Charge of Blasphemy c. taken as they say out of their Ancient Writings which the Quakers offered to meet them upon provided they might have a Coppy of their Charge Authors Names Titles and pages of such Books with convenient time to prepare their Defence which was denyed them altho timely demanded and at the said meeting was insisted upon and again prest thereto THE QUAKERS NOT QUESTIONING BUT TO ACQUIT THEIR ANCIENT FRIENDS AND THEIR WRITINGS FROM THOSE BLACK CHARGES NOT BEING CONSCIOUS OF DEVIATING IN ANY ONE POINT OF DOCTRINE FROM WHAT THEY FIRST HELD And that no people have a greater detestation of the Sin of Blasphemy against God Jesus Christ and the Holy Scriptures then they and one of the said Clergy was heard to say that he believed the Quakers of this Generation to be Orthodox N. B. This has been fully Answer'd by the Norfolk Clergy-Men I insert it here only to shew That the Quakers Adhere still to All the Blasphemies Errors and Heresies that can be found in Any of their Ancient Writings For which Purpose it is Referr'd to in the foregoing Sheets A DECLARATION Against Wigs or Periwigs Phil. 3.3 Jer. 22.24 Wigs no Peri-wigs 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Peri in composition signifies Excellency as well as about 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 excellent cut as well as cut about SEveral Testimonies having been given by Friends against Pride in Apparel relating to Women 't is considerable whether Women being reflected on may not reasonably reflect on Men their artificial frizled Hair for Womens Hairs on Mens Heads swarm like one of Egypts Plagues and creep in too much upon and among Christians And a Nehemiah is desirable that might pluck off this strange Hair of strange Women lusted after Nehem. 13.25 And the Heathen may rise up against us for an Ambassador coming before a Senate with false Hair a Grave Senator said What credit is to be had to him whose very Locks do lie And if upon necessity the Locks of any amongst us do lye 't is fit they should lie to purpose viz. so as not to be discerned from native Locks For to seek to deceive so as to be perceived argues as much want of Wit as of Sincerity and a want of an endeavour in it not to be perceived argues a want of Humility and Moderation Isocrates a Famous Wise Virtuous Graecian seeing his Neighbour wear his Hair of another colour than Natural because in Fashion gave this ironical excuse for him viz. That it was lest any should ask Councel of him intimating that none should seek Wisdom in so Fantastical a Head Philip King of Macedon put a Courtier of his out of his Office because he wore Hair of another colour than Natural saying He would not be true to the Publick that was treacherous to his own Hairs And the Emperour Titus thrust one from him because he smelt of Perfume saying He had rather he had smelt of Garlick and denied him his Suit Plato in the Tyrant Dionysius's Court said He would not wear Womens Attire Then What wonder Women wear Gay Gold and Pearls When Men Religious wear Gold Locks of Girles Should Christian Guides affect a Whorish Guise Which Heathen tempt by Tyrant did dispize I have read in our Chronicles I think it was about the twelfth Age that the Clergy wore Periwigs of a light Colour as our Priests and others do now though I have heard that of late the Bishop of Exeter censur'd his Priests in his Visitation for wearing them The Physician is but a course Covering as if wearing of Gold and shaving of Heads were Wholesome This pretence for Pride is no better than that which is for Drunkenness and Whoredom for they will say 'T is Physick to be Drunk once a Month And Oxford Scholars had half a Crown a Month allow'd to go to a Whore ad purgandos renes But the Protestants of Bohemia disputing at the Council of Basil about Fifty Days on Four Questions one of them was That no Sin should be Tolerated to prevent a greater Then much less to prevent a bodily Infirmity which may be done by other lawful means and not by working Confusion in wearing Womens Coverings Deut. 22.5 1 Cor. 11.15 Some say Shaving is to prevent the Pox Small honour to Wig-wearers to incur such a suspition of it or of any Infirmity or Defect If Heat cause Head-ach sure a Wig under a Hat is not a means to cure it The Prophet Elisha likely had neither when Bethel Boys cried A bald Head Polling of Heads came first in Fashion by occasion of the Emperour Charles the Fifth his being troubled with the Head-ach whose Example all his Court followed and all Europe theirs see ye the force of Example and the abuse of it yet they wore no Wigs Insomuch that a Ruffian with long Hair meeting Earl Cromwell and excusing himself that he had a Vow for it the Earl told him He should lie in Prison till 't was ended One would think that they that have for wearing Wigs the most excuse should have most care to stop the abuse coming by Example that it may not produce the taking of an Ell through the allowance of an Inch and that they should stir up Sober Virtuous People to take notice how far they that wear them are necessitated thereto and if so what Modesty they used therein This as cold Water to dash them expects something a coming hotter than a Crisping-Iron to burn them John Milliner a Friend about Northampton a Wig-Maker left off his Trade and was made to burn one in his Prentices sight and Print against it John Hall a Gentleman of Northumberland being Convinced sitting at a Meeting was shaken by the Lords Power pluck'd off and threw down his Wig so 't is considerable whether care may not be taken that conceited counterfit Calvinists may not continue amongst us Calvus bald nor that any of the People of God make themselves bald for Pride now as they did of old for Sorrow Levit. 21.5 Objection Wigs may be worn not only for Vse but
was as oft Deceiv'd by it Cou'd this then be a Good Spirit which so oft call'd it self the Evil Spirit For it is plain by his Story That it was the same Spirit which all along Possess'd him till he was finally Deviver'd from it by Returning to the outward Ordinances of the Church which he had Forsaken Was it a Good Spirit which Mov'd him as he came from the Fidlers to Proclaim through the streets as he went I am the way the Truth and the Life And William Dodding the Quaker in his Company who did not Reprove this Blasphemy for it was Common with the Quakers See § vii But said that he had no Power to Leave him as he tells p. 7. This was the Power Tormented Gilpin which was surely no other than the Devil who Tempted him thus to Blasphemy and Self-Murder But this G. Fox will not allow but says Gr. Myst p. 299. That it was The Devil who was made to Tremble in Gilpin Not that it was the Devil who made Gilpin to Tremble No They say that was God And that it was the Devil not who Tormented but who was Tormented in Gilpin I will not Detain the Reader with the Rest of Gilpin's story which is indeed Prodigious only make this Observation upon it that if it be True ther can be no Doubt of what many Now a days will not Believe That ther are Diabolical Possessions And that it is True we have not only Gilpin's own Account but it is Attested by the then Mayor of Kendal where Gilpin then Liv'd And was so Possess'd by the Minister and several other Persons of Credit there Present But now suppose it was not True Is it not as Great a Degree of Possession to make a Man Believe That he had been so Possess'd and Heard such Voices c. if it had not been so And the Transports he was in were many of them such as Exceeded the Power of Nature which any one will Acknowledge that Reads his Narrative Nor can this be put upon the Common Effects of Madness for no such Effects were ever seen in Gilpin Before or after he Return'd from the Quakers Or if it was Madness of what ever sort it was Visiby Caus'd by the Quaker Preachings and their Doctrine And Cur'd by Returning from them And no doubt but Possessions of the Devil when to a great Degree will Transport Men even unto Madness Their is an Enthusiastical as well as a Natural Madness It is observ'd hereafter that neither the Apostles or any other Recorded in the H. Scriptures were Converted to Christianity by such Violent and Monstrous sort of Convulsions of their Bodies These are the Transports of Euries But the Spirit of the Gospel is all Meekness Sobriety and Gravity But how will G. W. Reconcile his charging this of Gilpin's upon Madness and G. F's saying Gr. Myst p. 298. That he came to be almost a Distracted Man How will they Reconcile this with what others of the Quakers nay and themselves at other times say that these Extraordinary Quakings and Convulsions of Gilpin were the Workings of the H. Ghost in him Do the B. Influences of God's H. Spirit bring Men to Distraction and Madness G. Fox says ibid That the Lord smote Gilpin that he came to be Almost a Distracted Man That is true it was the Lord who smote him but how by Delivering of him to Satan for the Destruction that is the Punishment of his Flesh that his Spirit might be Saved in the Day of the Lord Jesus 1 Cor. 5.5 which Punishment God did usually Inflict in the beginning of the Gospel upon Excommunicated Persons who Despis'd the Authority of His Church for the Terror of others as well as the Reclaiming of Themselves And in these later days God has Exerted His Power in the same signal manner upon many of those who have willfully Excommunicated Themselves and Trampled under their Feet that High Authority with which Christ has Invested His Church even the same that the Father gave unto Him Of these Scorners the Quakers are the most Outragious and Blasphemous And therefore this Judgment from God has fallen most upon Them And this is the greatest Part of their Judgment that they know it not to be such But mistake the Strokes of God's Executioner the Devil for the Workings of the H. Spirit of God And so Construe that as an Approbation of their Cursed state which was sent to Reclaim them from it At least to be a Warning to others how they fall into their Snares who are by the Just Judgment of God deliver'd up to the Devil both Soul and Body even in this Life This is a most Material Point Therefore I Insist so long upon it And I desire the Quakers and all others to Consider that as this Gilpin was thus Deliver'd over to Satan upon his Forsaking of the Church and Publick Ordinances of the Prayers and Sacraments So upon his Return to these Holy Institutions he was by the Great Mercy of God Rescu'd from the Power of the Devil and Restor'd to his Former State Which he Amply Acknowledges and Desires the Christian Reader to joyn with him in Returning Praises unto the Lord for his Goodness towards him p. 14. This Provok'd the Rage of that Cursed Spirit which Possesses the Quakers to the utmost which Return'd this Answer p. 23. of The Standard c. The Reader if he be a Christian will Return Plagues upon thee thy Praise is Abomination And as to the outward Ordinances being Means of Grace in the Conscientious use whereof God hath Promis'd to Reveal Himself to His People and to give them Comfort as Gilpin says p. 13. That same Spirit which Tormented him Return'd Answer p. 22. of The Standard I Deny that God ever did or will ever Reveal Himself by any of those things And says ibid of Gilpin's charging these Possessions of his upon the Devil that all this was Only to Reproach the Living God which the Saints Witnessed in them This was their Light within which they say is God Whose Workings they suppos'd those Possessions of Gilpin's to be And therefore that it was Blaspheming of God to say that these came from the Devil To the same Purpose Answer'd G. Fox in his Gr. Myst. p. 298. where he Repeats the words of Gilpin thus He saith he began to Consider how he had offended God by his neglect of the use of External means Reading Hearing and Prayer and Rejecting the Revealed will of God in his Word and Hearkning to the Voice of God only within And in Answer falls like the Rest upon Running down all External Means of Reading Praying c. for a whole Page together And Directs Only to the Light within as that which is Wholey and Soley and of it self sufficient So when that Voice was neglected says he then was John Gilpin Confused c. whereas as himself tells and the thing shews it self it was the Hearkning only to that Voice which brought him into all
Spirit of Truth in George Whitehead and Geo. Fox the younger as it is said on the Title-Page of this Book And p. 7. That it is of as Great Authority as the Scriptures and Greater this puts it past a Jest and ought to be Animadverted upon as a most Outragious Blasphemy And shews moreover the Mad Delusion of these Quakers that they are out of their Wits and their Brains turn'd by an Enthusiastical Distraction For as before has been shewn the meaning of the word Figure in this Dispute is a Type or Shadow whether Christ was a Type or Figure of something else i. e. of the Light within Vs And to Prove this by the Figure that is the Shape or outward Appearance of His Body and Raiment being Chang'd in His Transfiguration upon the Mount if these Men believe themselves is such a Portion of Ignorance as sets them not out of the Rank of Children But their thinking it to be Divine Inspiration makes them Mad-Men and Blasphemously so Then again to make Figure even in this sense that they wou'd take it to be the same as an Example which is Express'd in both the Answers of G. F. and G. W. this is not to know at all what they say but to set down words at Random For let Christs Transfiguration be a Figure in whatever sense yet how is it an Example to Vs Are we to be Transfigur'd while upon Earth as He was upon the Mount And must the Cloaths we wear become White and Shining as His was then Who wou'd have found fault with Hubberthorn for saying that Christ was to be an Example to Us Tho' the word But cou'd not have past even there To say that Christs coming in the Flesh was But an Example as if it had been Intended for nothing else And neither G. F. nor G. W. find any fault with this But of Hubberthorn's tho' it was objected but Justify Hubberthorn in the whole For it is the very Quaker Doctrin viz. That the Birth Sufferings and Death of Christ are but Types or Examples of all those things to be Perform'd more Eminently within Vs what Christ Did or Suffer'd Outwardly they make but the History and even Facile Representations as before has been said of what was to be Accomplish'd in Man Where the Atonement and Satisfaction for Sin is made by the Birth Sufferings c. of the Light within and not by any thing which Christ suffer'd Outwardly for Us. For that we must Suffer the same our selves even Eternal Burnings and are Justify'd only by what We suffer or the Light suffers In us And not by the Sufferings of any Christ without Vs as before shewn p. 61. And this Regeneration wrought by the Light in our Hearts they make to be a greater Mystery than the Incarnation of Christ and His taking our Flesh upon Him in the Womb of the Blessed Virgin who according to them was But a Type or Example of their Virgin Hearts where the True Christ is Born c. But G. W. has another Text for his Figure it is Heb. i. 3. where Christ is said to be The Express Image of His Fathers Person Which G. W. will have render'd thus The Express Figure of his Fathers substance He gives no Reason for the Fault he finds with our Translation Yet I suppose he gave all he had But however what use can he make of it That Christ was the Figure or Example of His Fathers Substance what is the Example of a Substance And was Christ an Example to His Father Alas poor Quakers Every thing goes wrong with them But Pursue this Antidoie G. W. says p. 39. That the Quakers do own that Christ's outward Blood is a Part of His Sacrifice But George what Part is it this was put in but to Amuse And by what is said above if it be a Type tho' the Chief Type it can be no Part of the Sacrifice or Atonement for let me ask thee George Is not the Light within sufficient without something else was ther no Atonement before Jesus suffer'd under Pontius Pilate or was it the Vertue of that Death and Sacrifice of Jesus which did operate backward to those before Him by Faith in Him who was to Come or was ther then another Atonement before He came if so was not that Atonement Perfect then the outward Blood was no Part of it Or were ther Two Atonements was that First which the Quakers suppose made by the Heavenly Body which as G. Fox says was Crucified when Adam fell was that Perfect and Sufficient If so what needed Another was the other which follow'd 4000 years after any Part of it And if not a Part then how is it a Part now But George thy Light and Life p. 55. has been before Quoted p. 97. where thou opposes the outward Blood of Christ being Any way Meritorious to Salvation Yet here thou allows it us as a Part of the Sacrifice Great wits have short Memories G. W. in the same p. 39. offers two mighty Arguments why the Quakers do not make Christ without but the History and the Light within the Mystery or Substance First Argument The Quakers make him Christ no otherwise than the Father has Appointed and made Him to be This was strong And in favour to George I pass it without any Reply Second Argument He Christ as in Himself is the Substance of all Shadows and the fulness of Light and Life Who Doubts it George But what Christ do'st thee mean Thee say'st As in Himself did'st thee not mean by this The Light within yea verily then thy meaning is that the Light within is the Substance of all Shadows And this is the very thing that is Charg'd upon thee and thy fellow Quakers Why did'st thee not say that the outward Jesus of Nazareth who was Nail'd to the Cross was the Substance of all Shadows That wou'd have been speaking Plain But that was none of thy meaning But by this Dodging way which thy Sincerity uses we see thy meaning plain enough 1. Their Spiritual Body of Christ which they Suppose He â—â—d from Eternity And their Denial of his now Human Body in Heaven X. Yet they have a Salvo even for this tho' full of more Contradictions for as before shewn p. 13. c. they have a Notion of a Body which Christ had all along before His Incarnation And which sort of Body they now allow him to have in Heaven but not that Body which He took of the B. Virgin in which He Suffer'd Dy'd and Rose again And by the help of this Private Notion of a Body they Deceive many People who know it not in their Confession to the Body of Christ now in Heaven as if they meant the same Body that we do which they do not but they mean it only of that Spiritual Body of the Second Adam's Nature as they Phrase it which they say Christ or the Light had before the First Adam was Created And they say that this
Great Distance from all People Above where the Sun Moon and Stars are And p. 24 25. Whosoever Preacheth or causeth People to Believe their Saviour is without them and that the Carnal Eye may behold His Glory who is to be Revealed I say whosoever Preacheth to People of a Saviour without them and of a Kingdom without them I charge all such in the Name of the most High God To be Horrible Blasphemers and Ministers and Messangers of the Devil He adds by way of Amusement while the Light of Christ condemns them within and while the Kingdom of God Suffereth violence within them For even then and then Chiefly is the Faith in the outward Christ to be Preached to them to Reclaim and Convert them O no say the Quakers the outward Person of Christ is not the Mediator or the Lamb of God who takes away Sin but only the Light in the Heart for Christ is not any Person See Sn. p. 140. and Sat. Dis. p. â—3 c. but only a Principle or Quality in the Heart As Will. Penn says What is Christ but Meekness Justice Mercy c. who then can deny a Meek man to be a Christian And W. Bayly here p. 38. Humility and Meekness in the Heart of God's Child is a Mediator it is the Lamb of God that taketh away the Sin And this the Quakers do worship as Christ in them G. Fox falls upon those that are not worshiping Him Christ In them Gr. Myst p. 55. But for the outward Christ and His Sufferings the Quakers Despise them to that Degree That they Prefer their own Sufferings to them They say that Their Sufferings are Greater and more Vnjust than the Sufferings of Christ. See Sn. p. 134.135 c. That the Blood of Christ was no More than the Blood of another Saint Nay they make it not so much as the Blood of a Quaker For of Christ's Blood they say Can outward Blood Cleanse the Conscience c. as we have heard But of the Quakers Blood they say The Guilty Covered Clergy Man Vnvail'd p. 17. An. 1657. That those who shed it cou'd not be Purg'd from that Guilt but by The Same Blood of the Quakers which they so Cruelly shed I desire any Quaker to shew such a Term of Respect to the Blood of Christ which was shed upon the Cross in all the writings of the Quakers No. That cannot be done But on the Contrary The outward Christ and His Blood was that at which they Levell'd all their Venomous Darts They set up the Doctrin of Perfection in themselves say They are Free from Sin and therefore from Repentance But they will not allow that Prerogative to our B. Lord. It is told Sect. xiii how R. Hubberthorn calls his opponent a Lyar and a Slanderer for saying That Christ Himself was not Capable of Repentance and says He was Capable of Repentance Which cou'd not be without being Capable of Sinning For we are not to Repent of Good But see how Differently some of them Treat James Naylor They say of Him That he Made himself of no Reputation Hidden things brought to Light p. 37. An. 1678. yea Sin that Knew none Yet I cannot think they will say That Christ had Sin But their Malice to Christ is because the Christians do Worship Him Which Transports the Evil Spirit that Possesses them beyond all Rules of Sense or Reason In a Paper of Queres of some Quakers about Cambridge An. 1655. Subscrib'd by Thomas Biddal they say thus to the Christians there The Great Delusion Sorcery and Bewitched Doctrin that you are under of these Bewitching Simon Magus Sorcerers which have put you upon a Christ Crucify'd without you notwithstanding you and the Rest are in your Filthiness and First Nature This is there said to be Written from the Spirit of the Lord and that The Lord Reveal'd this by His Spirit in them These Queres are Printed by one Thom. Moore in his Antidote against the Spreading Infections of the Spirit of Anti-Christ An. 1655. p. 68. c. And pretended to be Answer'd by G. Fox in his Gr. Myst. p. 132. c. but no notice is taken of this Passage Which G. F. do's not Deny As for that Softning stroke at the end of this Quotation Notwithstanding you and the Rest are in your Filthiness it has been Answer'd already to be no Reason against Preaching of the Crucifi'd Jesus but rather on the Contrary as the Best Remedy against Sin But the Quakers sometimes Pretend That by their Preaching against the outward Christ they only mean to oppose those who Totally Exclude the Sanctifying Graces of His H. Spirit within Vs But this is a most Horrible False Pretence against their own Consciences for they know that ther were none such who Oppos'd them And all those Books that I have seen to which G. Fox Answers in his Gr. Myst are Particularly Large and Full upon that Point This Moore p. 32. Says That Jesus who is Personally Absent from the Believer is Dwelling in the Believers Heart by Faith of and in Him and so the Father in and through Christ Which G. Fox Opposes p. 135. And will have the very Person of Christ in Believers Another one Ra. Farmer wrote against the Quakers in the same year 1655. a Book which he Intitul'd Mysterie Babylon the Great c. where in his Preface he Explains himself thus Though God and Christ and Scriptures and Ordinancies be and be never so Glorious and Excellent yet if they be not In thee in their Life and Power and Efficaciously Reforming and Conforming Virtue they are to thee as if they were not at all or Worse But whenever they shall be in thee let the Measures and Degrees be never so High they will and must also be Without thee and shall never be Indistinctly the Same with thee This he Prosecutes further in his Book p. 26. and speaks against such a Notion of God and Christ within as to make Void the Efficacy of His outward Sufferings at Jerusalem And this too G. Fox Opposes in his Gr. Myst p. 173. I could give a Multitude of such Instances I am the Larger upon this because it is the only Fig-Leaf the Quakers have left to Cover their Hellish Heresie in their Contempt and Blasphemy which they Spue out against our B. Saviour His Precious Death and Passion for our Redemption Let me take this Place to answer the Last Effort of the Quakers upon this Head and which being sufficiently Cleared leaves their Cursed Heresie Naked and Expos'd to the Abhorrence of All Christians The Quakers are told of this their Artifice in Sat. Dis Sect. 1. N. ix p. 12. To. which G. W. Replies in this Antidote p. 210. 211. And Repeats the Charge against them thus To my Adversaries confidently Asserting says he That J. Faldo nor any other did ever oppose this That they shou'd Preach Only the Incarnation and Sufferings of Christ at Jerusalem i. e. without Freaching
Quakers And therefore his saying that the Quakers are Bely'd in saying That they will not Pray for Themselves will not hold notwithstanding of all their Prayers For their Prayers are Panegyricks upon Themselves and Commonly Invectives against others and Curses instead of Prayers The Pharisee was Modest to George Whitehead he only Prefer'd himself to the Publican and thank'd God that he was not like him But G. W. not only Prefers himself before others but upbraids them in his Prayer of Rancor Fury Hatred Reviling Slander c. He Judges them as having Crucifi'd Christ to themselves and Prays God to Judge them for these things This is his way of Praying for them He supposes some of them to have Sinn'd out their Day and to be Judicially Hardened and these he Excepts from his Good wishes of Opening their Eyes and all that are Guilty of wilful Opposition and Hatred against the Quakers from which Few of their Opposers will Escape Let them name one for an Instance and All these are Excluded the Benefit of the Quakers Prayers so that when we come to compute the whole Account we shall find that the Quakers neither Pray for Themselves or any Body else And what they call Prayers are nothing Less only Great Braggs of Themselves and the Utmost Contempt if not Cursing of others And this is the Consequence of their Super-Pharisaical Perfection for which they may Read their Doom And find their Remedy Luk. xiv ii Three Matters of Fact Relating to the Quakers Contempt of the H. Scriptures which G. W. Denys after his Fashion XIV From p. 40. to 44. G. W. comes again upon the Subject of the Scriptures which has been spoke to before Sect. xi saying they want Proof for their Contempt of them That none value them more than they do And that They are wholly Ignorant of any such thing as their Despising of them or setting up their own writings as Equal to them c. And yet Reader he do's not so much as Name one of those Many Quotations which you will find for all these points which he Denies in the Sn. Sect. vii yet he Crys Let 's have plain Proof for we are wholly Ignorant of any such thing George if thee had but the Honesty to have Nam'd the Proofs which were brought thee woud'st have found them Plain enough and that is the Reason thee wou'dst not name one of them But by thy calling so Impudently for Proof thee thought'st the Reader wou'd Suppose ther was none And well he might if he had never Read the Sn. for who cou'd Imagine that ther were so much Brass in any Humane face I do not think ther is such another Instance to be Produc'd in the World He certainly thought to have Provok'd me to have set down all the Quotations in the Sn. over again and that this shou'd have Nauseated the Reader as no doubt it wou'd to see such tedious Repetitions and so to look no more into such an Un-pleasant Controversy And to avoid these Repetitions which this Im-methodical Answer forces me to I wou'd have said nothing to these pages of G. W. concerning the H. Scriptures having spoke to it before but for the Sake of 2 or 3 matters of Fact which G. W. Names and stoutly Denies The first is p. 323. of the First Edit of the Sn. it is p. 105. of the Third Edit where it is told of a man being Rudely thrust down several steps of the Gallery in the Quaker Meeting house in Grace-Church-street for Reading a verse out of the Bible there To this says G. W. p. 41. We know no such Indignation or Action shown by any of us against the Bible nor any Person because thereof neither do we Believe it Let the Author Prove it if he can Do'st not Believe it George why then do'st thee Confess it in the very Next words after thy Moody Simpering fashion Possibly say'st thee some Publick Disturber might by some or other present be Gently turn'd out of Doors not because of the Bible but because of some Offensive Turbulent Behaviour Here is Possibles and Mights and Some or Others as if G. W. knew nothing of the Matter or ever had Enquir'd into it tho' the Year and Day were particularly Set down and Richard Smith vouch'd as then Present and who did Attest it But George no doubt thee knew'st well enough that the Person who came into your Meeting was Mr. John Pennyman an Ancient Grave Gentleman and as In-offensive as any man upon the face of the Earth I do not think he cou'd Return an Injury much less Offer one And he offer'd none at that time or any thing like it other than Reading a verse out of the 14th of St. Luke And the man who Rudely thrust him down stairs was William Mead and let him or let thee Name any other Disturbance or Offensive Behavour that Mr. Pennyman was Guilty of at that time or else George this Excuse of thine and putting the Author to Prove it and saying Neither do we Believe it will make thee look like just such a Sincere and Plain man as thou Art The next story is told p. 330. c. of the First Edit of the Sn. Sect. xxiii n. viii of the Third of a Grave Council of the Quakers met upon these to them Abstruse Points 1. whether the Body of Christ Arose out of the Grave 2 whether Christ was to be Pray'd to 3. whether we must come to the Father thro' Christ For George Keith having asserted these 3 points they were thought so strange of among the Quakers that he was Accus'd for them and a Council of their Chief-Priests and Elders met to Determin of these Which they cou'd not do so far as I can learn but left them as they found them But G. W. takes no Notice of all this nor do's he Deny it at all but takes hold of one Expression which is Mention'd in the Debates of a Quaker who being Prest with the Authority of St. Paul said That PAUL was Dark and Ignorant and that they saw beyond him This G. W. Denies and calls again upon the Author to Produce his Proofs who those were that so said That Paul was Dark c. or otherwise says he for ever be Asham'd of such odious Defamations But the Annex'd Account under the hand of a much more Credible Witness than G. W. will shew this to be no Defamation and Consequently the Odious which is Pinn'd to it must Return from whence it came as belonging to G. W. his Natural or Quaker Assurance who was Himself Present and bore a Principal Part in that Learned Quaker Council The Account of which I have Annex'd not only to Clear this Matter of Fact but because ther are several other things in it which are well worth our Notice Ther is another Instance of the Quakers Respect to the Bible which G. W. mentions p. 43. of a Quaker Servant-Maid who Burn'd the Bible Publickly against the Church for
same they were from the Beginning and not Chang'd at all Do's it then seem Tolerable to our Clergy and Magistrates to Ly under the odious Names of Beast False-Prophet Dogs Witches Anti-Christs Devils Incarnate c Did the Quakers for their Vindication Indict Bugg at the Sessions in London and object to him their own Dayly Practice of Printing without License Did they Complain against him to the Secretary of State and upon a False Information That his Papers were Seditious and against the Government Procur'd them to be Seiz'd taken from the Book-sellers and Deliver'd into the Hands of the Quakers Did they Imprison William Bradford a Printer in Pensilvania seize his Letters or Types and Forc'd him out of the Dominions of the Quakers for Printing G. Keith's Defences against Them and Prosecuted likewise the Publishers and G. Keith himself for his Life Improving his Disputes against Them into a Design against the Government Are they so Watchful so Industrious so Impatient lest any Indignity shou'd be Past upon Them And must all orders of Men among us Ecclesiastical Civil and Military Bear their most Bitter Reproches without any Sign of Repentance And Court them and do them Favours for it or suffer them to Usurp Favors that were never Intended them It is Plain the Act of Toleration do's Except those who Deny in their Preaching or writing the Doctrin of the Blessed Trinity as it is Declar'd in the Articles of Religion That is in our 39 Articles These are the words of the Act. And it is as Plain that the Quakers have all along done it G. Fox says in his Great Mystery p. 246. The Scriptures do not tell the People of a Trinity nor Three Persons but the Common-Prayer-Mass-Book speaks of Three Persons brought in by the Father the Pope Here it is Plain that the Quakers do not Acknowledge that Trinity which is own'd in the Common-Prayer And the Common-Prayer-Book being every word an Act of Parliament it is Plain what Trinity is Intended in the Act of Toleration And the Opposers of That Trinity are the Persons Excepted out of the Act. To which the Quakers have no Pretence Unless they will Disown G. Fox herein They must likewise Disown Will. Penn who wrote a Book in the year 1668. to which he Gave this Title The Sandy Foundation shaken Or Those so Generally Believed and Applanded Doctrins of one God Subsisting in three Distinct and Separate Persons of the Impossibility of God's Pardoning Sinners without a Plenary Satisfaction Of the Justification of Impure Persons by an Imputative Righteousness are Refuted And p. 12. The Title of that Section is The Trinity of Distinct and seperate Persons in the Vnity of Essence Refuted from Scripture I know for a Pinch they will own the word Trinity as the Sabellians and Socinians meaning three Manifestations or Operations but not Three Persons But that is not the Trinity Intended in the Act. But the Trinity which is Profess'd in the Creed of St. Athanasius and more Briefly in our Litany viz. The Holy Blessed and Glorious Trinity Three Persons and one God This is that Trinity Intended in the Act of Toleration And which whoever opposes are Excluded from Claiming any Benefit by that Act. And this is that Trinity which the Quakers have and still do Oppose And therefore they are altogether Excluded from any Benefit of that Act. But their Opposing is not so Intolerable as the Manner of it Their Cursing and Damning Horresco Referens The Holy and ever Blessed Trinity into the very Pit of Hell And making it nothing but Conjuration Ther is a Book wrote by George Whitehead and three other Quakers viz. Christopher Atkinson James Lancaster and Thomas Symons of whose Character see Sn. Sect. vi n. v. p. 43. c. Intituled Ishmael and his Mother cast out c. Against Mr. Townsend a Minister in Norwich Where p. 10. they tell him And here is the three Persons thou Dreams of which thou wouldst Divide out of One like a Conjurer And ibid. He Mr. Townsend is shut up with the three Persons in perpetual Darkness for the Lake and the Pit This is thus Quoted by Christoph Wade in his Quakery slain p. 9. To which G. Fox Replies in his Gr. Myst p. 246. who Denies not the Quotation but Re-Blasphemes against the H. Trinity in the words above-quoted and more which you will find in the same place Christoph Wade wrote an Answer to this Gr. Myst which bears this Title To all those called Quakers c. To which G. Whitehead Replies in his Truth defending the Quakers An. 1659. And denies not the above Quotations out of his own Book Ishmael c. But as the Quakers use when Pinch'd he slips it over and takes no notice of it Not that he was Converted from his Heresie for in several other Places of the same Book he continues to Blaspheme at his old Rate against the H. Trinity as in p. 40. 41. c. But finding that the Matter was not thus Forgot being Re-Objected against them about the year 1690 in An Epistle to the Friends c. at their next General Meeting in London Subscrib'd N. N. Ther was Publish'd an Answer to this and two other Books wrote against the Quakers by Some of Them Intituled The Christianity of the People commonly call'd Quakers Vindicated c. Printed An. 1690. There p. 28. coming to this Objection they go a New way to work and lay the Fault Partly upon the Printer And Looks on the words as wrong writ or wrong Printed Wrong Writ and wrong Printed are two things But they Jumble them here that the Reader might mistake and overlook the Author and so think it only an Error of the Press But what was this Error Why they say That instead of And the three Persons it shou'd have rather been About the three Persons which makes it non-sense but not less Blasphemy But however was this taken Notice of by the Quakers in all that time from the writing of that Answer to Townsend which the Quakers say in this last book ibid. was about the year 1654. till this Book of theirs An. 1690 that is for the space of 44 years No. That is not Alledg'd But they say ibid. that G. W. Corrected it long since where he has met with that Answer How do's this Appear O you must take his own word for it for is not He Infallible But was not so Fatal a Slip of Infallibility fit to be Corrected in Print to Remove that most Hideous and Blasphemous Scandal which cou'd not be done otherwise For to what end was G. W's Correcting it with a Pen upon a Book that came in his way if he did it How shou'd this Un-deceive the World Who had never heard of it if he had not now told them And it is at their Pleasure how far they will Believe him This is like another Error of the Press which they let slip 28 years together See Sat. Dis. Sect. ii N. iii. p.
will Generally find in Fox's Gr. Mystery But we know what they Hold by what they Oppose Of a Kin with this is their never failing Allegories by the Force of which they can Wrest any Text in Scripture From or To what Meaning they Fancy Much has been said as to this Point in their turning the Humanity of Christ His Birth Passion Resurrection and Ascension the Resurrection of our Bodies and Future Judgment with the Sacraments of Baptism and The Lord's Supper and other outward Ordinances into an Inward and Allegorical Sense to the Total overthrow of the Whole Christian Faith I find some Pleasant Instances of this Kind in William Haworth his Quaker Converted to Christianity An. 1674. p. 7. 8. of his Prefatory Epistle to John Crook Where the Quakers turn this Text He brought his Son out of Egypt thus out of the Egyptian Darkness of our Hearts And this The only Begotten Son thus Begotten in Vs And speaking of those who were Beheaded for the Testimony of Jesus they Explain it thus That to part with Carnal Wisdom and Reasonings that is Beheading And thus we must Allow what they so much Boast in viz. That they have Beheaded their Carnal Wisdom and Reasoning And it is a very full Proof of it which Mr. Haworth tells us ibid. p. 3. I told says he Christopher Taylor a Quaker who Disputed with him What Will. Penn said to a Friend of mine viz. That G. Fox was as Good a Prophet as Isaiah And Taylor did not Deny it but did Affirm it likewise Nay the Quakers must think so Mr. Penn must think so if He or They believe the Half of what He and They have written of George Fox particularly in the Preface to his Journal Their Reason Mr. Penn his Wisdom and Reasoning was Beheaded Murder'd Drawn and Quarter'd when he cou'd believe thus of so Consummated a Brute as this Fox And which is more strange he must by the same Rule think thus of Himself See in the First Part. p. 32 33. the Quaker-Interpretation of Gal. iii. 13. Cursed is Every one that Hangeth on a Tree i. e. on the Tree of Knowlege that is what Knowlege is got by the outward Carnal means of Hearing Reading Catechising c. Tho' they cou'd bring Contrary Testimonies to this of Their own Hearing Reading Catechizing c. But here is that Carnal thing of Knowlege Wisdom Reason their Mortal Foe Hang'd and Crucify'd as before they had Beheaded it Here is Their Plain Easie Natural way of Interpreting the Scripture But why shou'd it be Natural For the Natural Man knoweth not the things of God! And the Letter Killeth Therefore they will take Nothing according to the Letter But they Mistake the Letter or the Spelling sometimes As one that I have seen who lately being Press'd with Christ being so often call'd The Son of Man in the Gospel And that their Light within cou'd in no Sense according to their Notion of it be call'd the Son of Man seeing they believe it to be God and Christ from Everlasting The Quaker Answered very Gravely Ah Friend ther is much in those words Mind mind them then Pointing upwards to the Sun said The Sun of Man that is The Light of Man or the Light in Man And so the Matter was solv'd Another of their Preachers Holding forth in a Publick Meeting I can Produce witnesses obviating that Text 1 Thess iv 17. We shall be Caught up in the Clouds to meet the Lord in the Air did thus Learnedly Expound We must meet the Lord in the Heir that is in the Light which is Christ who is the Heir of All things Another speaking of the Resurrection of the Body And having heard some say That we shall then have Angelical Bodies Thence Prov'd that the same Body which Dies do's not Rise again Because our Bodies now are not made of Angelico As it is said they will be then being Angelical Bodies This is like what is told in Sat. Dis. p. 42 43. of Another of their Preachers mistaking that Text Joh. xiv 2. In my Father's House are many Mansions where instead of Mansions he cry'd Manchets And thence Improv'd what a Good House God kept There was Plenty of Bread many Manchets And Another Applying that Text Matth. xi 30. My yoke is Easie and my Burden is Light to the Light within I cou'd Multiply upon such Fooleries of the Quaker-Infallibility But you must Excuse such Blunders in their Learned Clerks for many of them Learn by the Ear and not by the Eye They cannot Read And so know not the Difference of words which sound alike as Son and Sun Air and Heir c. This is one of the Reasons that they Play with Us at Cross-Purposes and is one of their Glorious Methods in Answering what is Wrote against them Not to take an Answer Upon which I will Insist here no Longer But go to the Next 5. Another Method they have in Answering is never to take an Answer But to Insist upon the same thing over and over again without taking any Notice of the Answers that are Made to them of which some Instances are given above And then on the other hand if they Publish any thing which they call an Answer to such a Book if any thing in that Book tho' not touch'd at all in the Answer shou'd after be objected they Cry that is Answer'd already Confuted overthrown c. Thus in this Appendix p. 10. the Quakers say no more to all those several Charges which are laid against them in the Sn. And to save Repetition Referr'd to in Primitive Heresie but That these Charges are near All of them already Answered by George Whitehead in the Antidote This was spoke a little Guiltily Near All of them That confesses ther were Some not Answer'd If you mean a Fair and Full Answer then the truth is not one of them is Answer'd But ther are a Great Many and not Near All that are not so much as once Mention'd or the least Notice taken of them in that Antidote and these of the Greatest Consequence yet this must serve for an Answer to them All And to afford this Appendix to say in the same place That His Abuses and Falsities are therein lay'd at his Door Yet is ther not one Abuse or one Falsity in the Sn. made appear in either the Antidote or this Appendix Thus that Author's Discourse concerning Baptism is serv'd At the end of the Antidote ther are not two Leaves spent upon it with this Title Some Notice taken of the said Author's Discourse for Water Baptism And it is Some Notice indeed it is Nam'd and Rayl'd at that is all Not one of his Arguments Consider'd or Objections Answer'd Yet this passes among the Quakers as a Full Confutation And when I have urg'd something out of this Book to some of them they have said O that is Answer'd tho' not one word of it in this Some Notice of Whitehead's And this Appendix p. 34.
And they Bow after the same Fashion Who wou'd speak Three words to Purchace their Ungainly Conges as Stiff and Grave as an Elephant's or to see them thrust out a Limb for a Salute as if they were going to make a Pass at you But ther is a Mystery at the Bottom of Iniquity and Rebellion All that was Couch'd under the Parallel that is made to them of Judas and his Gaulonites And we may the Rather Believe this because the Quakers in this Appen do in plain Terms Justifie Judas for having Repeated his Principle as given in Prim. Heres out of Josephus That he and his Followers wou'd Expose themselves to all Torments rather than call any Mortal Man Lord or Master Appen Answers p. 49. Now Believe me Friends I cannot See the Heresie of this Doctrin Here then the Charge is Confess'd And the Parallel Acknowleg'd to be Just betwixt Judas and the Quakers who own That they Maintain the same Principle with Him And who can Doubt but that it is to the same End They Quarrel Prim. Heres for bringing the Testimony of Josephus as they wou'd make the Reader believe instead of one of the Primitive Fathers which Appen p. 48. calls Canonizing this Jew Whereas Josephus is only Quoted to shew the Principles and Sect of Judas Galilaeus not for the Condemning of them That is shewn from the Apostles And what Canonizing is hear of Josephus Can the Reader bear with this Trifling But these men will Complain nay Boast if they are not Answer'd But whether is this so much a Canonizing of Josephus as Appen do's of Judas who Justifies his wicked Heresie And Consequently must Rank his Sufferings for it upon the score of Martyrdom as of the Quakers for the same Cause And is Every Primitive Father that is Quoted therefore Canoniz'd But what Patience can hold out to see these Quakers make objections for want of Primitive Fathers And to Quote them too as Gibson before and others Do they lay any stress upon the Primitive Fathers or Pretend to Follow Them O yes by all means They wou'd fain be in Good Company And they call Quakerism now of Late Primitive Christianity in which Book ther is not one Syllable of what the Primitive Fathers held not one Quotation from one of them nor any of them so much as Nam'd How then do's their Christianity appear to be Primitive No matter for that Primitive is a Good word especially to stand upon a Title-Page which 100 Read for one that Reads the Book This shews They wou'd be Primitive or have the Reputation of it And so they have As Primitive as Judas whose Doctrine they Espouse and the Apostles Oppos'd But if they are so much for Primitive what say they to those Quotations which are brought in Prim. Heres out of the most Ancient and Vn-doubted of the Fathers And which Confront their Tenets very Expresly For them They care not two pence for as many more of them Appen p. 10. 11. calls them Stale Tracts of Vncertain Persons Do's he shew how they are Vncertain No not he Let them look to that or have the Quakers any Better Editions or other Works of those Fathers than those which are come to our Hands No no no They have None of them they Hate and Abhor them they were a Company of Bishops and Doctors But ne'r a one among them like George Fox or Edw. Burrough or G. Whitehead or Little Appen No not one of them Therefore says Appen p. 10. We shall not need to be at all Afrighted if we do find our selves to Differ from what is to be found under the specious Names of Ignatius Polycarp c. tho' Living within 150 years after Christ nor under the Great Names of them call'd Fathers in the Succeeding Ages And p. 5. It will not Avail tho' he bring many Clouds of such Witnesses And notwithstanding he calls this a Cavil we learn'd from Elder Dissenters we are not Afraid to stand by it and therefore Pay little Reverence to those nor any thing not Purely Apostolical But Ignatius and Polycarp liv'd in the Apostles Days and were Disciples to the Apostles What is that to Us Quakers It is no matter what they were or where they were We will have None of them So set your heart at Rest We have Better at Home We never Lik'd G. Keith since he was so Insolent to Compare the Books of our Friends to them call'd the Greek and Latin Fathers as supposing Friends Books to have been written by no Better Guidance See Sat. Dis Sect. iv n. v. p. 47. nor Clearer Light than theirs who Lived and wrote in those Dark times For which Thom. Ellwood has Pay'd him to Purpose And it is no wonder that he has left Us. For when any once get Fathers and Councils and Antiquity and such stuff into their Heads they can never Endure Us afterwards Therefore we Hate all Schools and Colleges and Learning and Human Reason for all these things make against Us. And now that we are Setting up Schools c. of our own I 'm afraid we shall not be Long-Liv'd That by the bye Therefore Appen wisely throws off all your Fathers and Primitives which serve us only for Title-Pages But says p. 5. Indeed if he can Absolutely Determin the Question by the Scriptures the work is done Yet in the Last Case against Judas and the Quakers the Proof was brought from Scripture and from nothing else And yet the work is not done For then you call'd for the Fathers then he has not Perform'd his Promise of Giving us Quotations out of the Fathers but puts Josephus upon us and Canonizes him for a Father But will the Scriptures do Then indeed the work wou'd soon be done Will you let the Scriptures be the Rule we will Ask no more Appen Denies it as shewn before Yet they will stand to what the Scripture Commands Provided the same thing be Requir'd by Their Own Spirit Anew See Sn. Sect. vii p. 92 93. that is if they Like it They cannot Deny but that the Scripture Requires Honour to be Pay'd to Magistrates Or that Taking off the Hat is not a Paying of Honour as Prov'd above And therefore Except the Reason I have Given which they will not Give I cannot Conjecture the shadow of a Reason for their Refusing it They say as Howgil before That God has not Commanded it Not Particularly as to the Hat Neither has He Commanded to take off our Hats at Prayer Why then did they Contend so zealously for that They Render themselves Self-Condemn'd They will as Judas call no man Lord or Master Why then do they call any Man Father for both are Forbidden in the same Place Matth. xxiii 9. And in whatever Sense they take the one they may take the other But their Practice shews their meaning They do call their Quaker Masters by the Name of Masters And they do now use the word Lord Speaking of or to Noble-Men but
not Publish'd except to the Friends for their Book-Sellers Refuse to Sell them unless they know to whom they Refus'd it to some that I imploy'd A Discourse of the General Rule of Faith and Practice of which the whole Argument is ex professo to Prove That the Scriptures cannot be that Rule Wherein all the Popish Artillery is Muster'd up against the Holy Scriptures being the Rule It has Receiv'd a very Substantial Answer by G. Keith therefore I say no more of it here But to take Notice of the Deceit of the Quakers in their Quoting of Scripture For to what Purpose do they Quote them when they Own them not to be the Rule And Consequently will not be Determin'd by them This is only to Amuse and to bear a Face as if they Own'd the Scriptures And to use them ad hominem against those who do Acknowledge them Yet they have no Proof but what they Pretend from Scripture for their Foundation-Principle of The Light within which they make the only Rule being Christ and God They cannot say that the Light within do's tell them this of its Self For then it wou'd tell others so Seeing they make it Common to all Mankind And if it tells None so but the Quakers or if it do's not tell all Others so as well as the Quakers then how is it the General Rule to All Men as the Quakers wou'd have it Therefore they have Recourse for this to Joh. i. 9. That was the true Light which Lighteth every Man that Cometh into the World And to other Scriptures which they Wrest to their own Destruction And yet they will not Own the Scriptures for the Rule But when Pinch'd they Fly back again to their Light-within This is all they have for their Principle of the Hat and their Sulleness which they call Gravity But I wou'd have them Distinguish betwixt the Gravity of an Angel and a Devil Both are Grave But if an Angel Appear'd we must Suppose with his Gravety the Greatest Sweetness and Attraction that can be On the other hand if a Devil Appear'd he wou'd be Grave too but it wou'd be an Abhorrent and Frightfull Gravity like that of a Lyon when he was going to Devour or of a Mastiff Dog with Grin and Snarle Ther is nothing Exotick or Sour in the Gravity of Religion It is all Decent and Comely It is the Beauty of Holiness But in a Quaker-Meeting Especially their Silent Ones their Phiz and Meen Hats pull'd over Eyes their Habit their Grunts and Dogged Demureness the Deformity of Holiness is Drawn to the Life No Stranger but wou'd think himself at a Bedlam or a Funeral or as indeed it is among a Company of People Possess'd and Bewitch'd But if he saw them fall to their Convulsions and Quaking-Fits their Rolling and Roaring Fomeing Swelling and Yelling as at first was Common among them I dare say it wou'd never bring into his Mind the Extasies and Tremblings of the Holy Prophets thro' the Excess of the Revelations given unto them which the Quakers urge as their Precedent But rather that of Feinds in their Torments For the Devils believe too And Tremble as the Quakers do I have now gone over the Several Heads Mention'd in Prim. Heres And Consider'd the Defences which Appen has Produc'd for them This brings him to his Conclusion Wherein is Nothing but what has been Answer'd already Only their Vapouring How Bravely they have Acquit themselves Which I leave them to Enjoy And Hasten to the Last Section that I may have Done SECT VII The Asurdity and Blasphemy of the Quakers Notion of the Light Within They hold That ther is no Natural Light or Reason in Man But that All in him is Divine 1. I Now go on to Examin the Defence of Will. Pen against the Friendly Expostulation with him in Prim. Heres This begins in Appen p. 53. And it says p. 55. That the Author of Prim. Heres wou'd have Will Penn to suppose That nothing but the Divine Light cou'd Reprove of Evil. But Says Appen I have looked and find no such Supposition And therefore no further Notice need be taken of the Consequences he draws as depending on that Supposition This is Positive and Impudent to a Degree that cou'd befall none but a Quaker He says he has Look'd Therefore I beseech the Reader to Look too The Charge is in Prim. Heres p. 20. where the Pages of Will Penn's Primitive Christianity are Quoted viz. p. 29 30. and 31. And a short Account of them given to wit That the Scripture makes no Distinction between Natural and Spiritual Light That Will. Penn Provokes any to give so much as one Text to that Purpose That he makes it as Absur'd as to talk of a Natural and Spiritual Darkness within That he says That ther are not Two Lights from God in Man that Regard Religion Not that Reproves or Condemns a man for Sin These are the words in Prim. Heres I must ask the Reader 's Pardon for Trans-Scribing them And also for Setting down Will Penn's words more at Large to satisfie the Importunate and Guilty Clamour of this his Appen to Amuse those who have not Lookt into the Books Will. Penn first supposes what All Agree to That ther is a Light in Man which as he words it yields him the Knowledge of God And likewise Reproves or Discovers that which offends Him But whether this can be done by the Natural Light or only by the Divine Light in Man is the Question Or whether ther be any such Natural Light in Man that can do Both or Either of these Now take Will. Penn's own words in Answer to this p. 29. It is Granted says he that what we call Divine and some Mistakenly call Natural Light can do Both. Secondly If this Light be Natural Notwithstanding it doth Manifest our Duty and Reprove our Disobedience to God they wou'd do well to Assigne Vs some Certain Medium or Way whereby we may truly Discern and Distinguish between the Manifestations and Reproofs of the Natural Light within from those of the Divine Light within since they Allow the Manifestation of God and Reproof of Evil as well to the one as the other Let them give us but one Scripture that Distinguishes between a Natural and a Spiritual Light within They may with as much Reason talk of a Natural and Spiritual Darkness within All this is in p. 29. and 30. and p. 31. he pursues the same Argument Neither is there says he so much as one Scripture that affords Vs a Distinction between Light within and Light within or that there are really Two Lights from God in Man that regard Religion And p. 32. Therefore there are not Two Distinct Lights within but one and the same Manifesting Reproving and Teaching Light within And that this One and but One Light within is not any Natural Light he Particularly Explains and Distinguishes with Exactness that none can unless wilfully mistake him
Human Nature of an Human Soul and Human Body And likewise Truly and Properly the Son of God Contrary to Will. Penn. And that He is not such in Any Other Person Whatsoever Not in the Person of Will. Penn G. Whitehead or Any of the Quakers Reader forgive me for using so many Words Less Particular and Positive will not do with these Men. It is for their sakes that I do it That I may by any Means if Possible Open their Eyes to Discover their Horrible Delusions They have by this Means of Allegorizing the Incarnation and Birth of our Blessed Saviour from the Letter to their Imagined Conception Birth Passion Death and Resurrection of the Light within taken away all Certainty whereby we may know Whether ever ther was Such a Man in the World as Jesus Christ or that He ever did any Miracle or had any Attestation from Heaven for His Ministry That Most Express of the Glorious Appearance of a Light from Heaven Descending Leasurly and Hovering upon the Head of Jesus at His Baptism after the Manner that a Dove Lights upon the Ground the Quakers have Deny'd that is turn'd it to an Allegorie Doest thou believe says G. Whitehead to his Opponent in his Truth Defending the Quakers p. 42. That it was visible to the Carnal Eye as a Created Dove is or its Lightning I believe he Meant Lighting upon Him as a Dove was in respect of its Nature and Comliness By this they Mean That Innocency and Simplicity like that of a Dove was all that did Light upon Jesus or which Exprest His Nature and Comliness at that Time And then indeed they might well Ask Was it visible to the Carnal Eye But by this they have Quite Overthrown the Validity of that Miraculous Attestation given to Christ And so they have done to all the Rest That as I said they have not left One Single Proof that Ever ther was such a Man in the World For that can not be known but by Outward Acts and Attestations And if they can be thus Turn'd ther is an End of all Proof from them But they wou'd have no other Proof for Christ or His Mission than ther is for their Own Since they vouch Themselves to be Christ and God! Indeed as many Gods as ther are Quakers For if as they say the Seed in them can Grow up to be God That God do's BEGET Himself in them Then I do not see how they can avoid the Consequence of a Multiplication of Gods Of God's having a Beginning and being Created For if He be Begotten in Time Every Day in Every New Quaker He must be Created and so is both the Creature and the Creator If He be Capable of Encrease of Growing up from a Seed to a Child c. He must likewise be Subject to Dissolution He must be Lyable to Infirmities and Passions as We are And this the Quakers do not Deny Nay they Argue Expresly for it They take in a Literal Sense those Expressions in Scripture Where God is said to Repent to be Weary to Suffer c. several of which G. Whitehead Quotes in his Divinity of Christ p. 56. as Isai 63 10. Amos. 2.13 Hos. 11.8 9. Psal 95. Gen. 6.6 Psal 78.40 Isai 1. and chap. 43.24 These he brings as an Answer to the Argument of Thomas Vincent against whom he Disputed That Christ as God Cou'd not make Satisfaction for our Sins because as God He cou'd not Suffer The Contrary of which G. W. here Endeavours to Prove and brings these Texts to shew That God can Suffer These are the Natural and Necessary Consequences of this Mad Foundation of the Quaker Faith in Setting up their Light Within for Christ and God I am Weary in Pursuing their Blasphemies But it is Necessary in Order to Un-Deceive the Simple and Deluded among them Who know not these Depths of Satan into which they have been Led Especially Considering the Tenacious Obstinacy of their Leaders Who tho' they know these things Yet for Popularity or other Ends will not Suffer their Implicit Followers to Repent But Buoy them up with all the Artifice and Cunning they are Able to Believe That all is Well And to adhere firmly to All that they haue Taught them from the Begining And that IN ALL THE PARTS OF IT Some Texts Rescu'd from the False Glosses of the Quakers to favour the Universality of what they call The Light within 3. Let me for a Conclusion Rescue some Texts of Scripture which the Quakers have wrested to their own Destruction And upon which they build their wild Notion of the Light-Within That being undeceiv'd in this they may by the Blessing of God see their Error and Return Their Chief Text which they have Constantly in their Mouths is Rom. x. 8. The word is Nigh thee even in thy Mouth and in thy Heart that is the word of Faith which we Preach This word of Faith they take to be the Light which is in Every man of the World and not to Refer to the outward Christ or to the Faith in Him His outward Sufferings and Death but to the Faith in their Light within which Every man has even those who never heard of Jesus of Nazareth But the very next words ver 9. shew the Apostle's Meaning to be quite otherwise and to Refer wholy to Faith in the outward Christ This is the word of Faith which we Preach says he That if thou shalt Confess with thy Mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt Believe in thine Heart that God hath Raised Him from the Dead thou shalt be saved Now that by Faith the Apostle did not mean that Light which is Common to All men is plain from 2 Thess iii. 2. For all men have not Faith Says he You see here That in the very next verse following Rom. x. 8. which is the Quakers Text the Apostle do's Limit it Expressly not to the Light within but to Faith in the outward Jesus So in Deut. xxx 11 12 13 14. Whence the Apostle Quoted it the very next Verse immediately Before viz. Ver. 10. do's Limit these words in Moses to the outward Book of the Law and not to their Light within For thus says he If thou wilt hearken unto the Voice of the Lord thy God to keep His Commandments and His Statutes which are Written in this Book of the Law For this Commandment which I Command thee this Day is not far off It is not in Heaven or Beyond the Sea c. And Chap. xvii 18 19 20. The King is Commanded to Write him a Copy of this Law in a Book out of that before the Priests the Levits And to Read therein all the Days of his Life That he might thereby Learn to Fear the Lord his God to keep all the words of this Law and these Statutes to do them Was he to write a Copy of the Light within in a Book out of the Levits Book And by Keeping the words of this Law was no More
their Sufferings more Vnjust than the Sufferings of Christ That the Blood of Christ was no more than the Blood of another Saint That ther is no Heaven or Hell but Within Men That ther shall be no Resurrection of our Dead Bodies or General Judgment at the End of the world These are the men who call for Scripture for every thing And will allow of no Inferences But will have All in Express Words And yet they have set up the most Vn-scriptural Jargon that ever was heard of in the world They Demand Scripture for Christ's having any Human Nature in Heaven because they Deny it They Require Scripture for the Soul being Part of Man's Nature because they make it a Part of God as before shewn Let them then Produce Scripture for the Soul being a Part of God Gr. Mystery P. 90. for its being Infinit and without Beginning which they Assert in these Express words Will. Penn speaking of Baptism and The Lord's Supper Denies them to be Ordinances of Christ And for this Reason says he Reason against Railing p. 108. The Appellation Ordinances of Christ I therefore Renounce as Vn-scriptural and In-Evangelical Yet the Quakers call Womens-Preachings and Womens-Meetings set up by G. Fox The Good Ordinances which Christ Jesus hath set up in His Church And Accus'd those who oppos'd them Solom Eccles â—â—tter to 〈◊〉 Sto-John Babels Builders 1st Part. p. 15. of no less than Rebellion against the Living God This to all Considering men is sufficient to Render them Self-Condemn'd But they have a Salvo which will carry with their Deluded Followers that is That their Appealing to Scripture is only an Argumentum ad Hominem against those who do own the Holy Scriptures for their Rule which the Quakers do not but Resolve all into the Guidings of their Light within which they make the only True Gospel and Faith And my Design is not so much to Confound as to Convert them Therefore I wou'd Intreat the Sober-Minded among them to Consider of that Gospel and Faith which the Apostles Preached Whether they Taught a Faith in the Light within or rather a Faith in the Outward Jesus What was it which St. Peter Preach'd to Cornelius Ther was not a word of the Light within or Reading within Listning to that Within or the like But of Faith in the outward Jesus of Nazareth Act. x. 38 c. That through His Name whosoever Believeth in Him shall receive Remission of Sins And Cornelius had the Light within before and the Attestation of God that he had truly Follow'd it ver 2. And if that had been sufficient for Remission of Sins what needed another Faith in an Outward Man Jesus of Nazareth have been Preach'd to him And why was that Faith which Peter Preach'd call'd Words by which Cornelius and all his House shou'd be saved And that God had granted to the Gentiles Repentance unto Life Act. xl 14 18 by allowing the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth to be Preached unto them if Faith in the Light within and obedience to that had been Sufficient without any thing else If Good Cornelius had Dy'd before the Gospel had been Preach'd unto him as I before have said I will not take upon me to Determin of him but leave him to the Vn-covenanted Mercy of God But if Cornelius had Rejected the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth for the Remission of his Sins when Preach'd to him all his Former obedience to his Light within had not been Sufficient to Save him And therefore the case of the Vn-converted Gentiles upon which the Quakers do so much Depend will be no Relief to them who do after the Preaching of the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth set up their Faith in their Light within as Sufficient without It for the Remission of their Sins I do beseech these Quakers likewise to consider that large Description which the Apostle Paul gave of the Gospel which he Preached whether it was the Faith in Jesus of Nazareth His Outward Sufferings Death and Resurrection or the Faith in the Light within Moreover Brethren says he I Declare unto you the Gospel which I Preached unto you by which also ye are saved 1. Cor. xv 1 2 c. if ye keep in memory what I Preached unto you unless ye have Believed in vain For I Delivered unto you first of all that which I also Received how that Christ Dyed for our Sins according to the Scriptures And that He was seen of Cephas then of the Twelve After that He was seen of above Five hundred Brethren at once After that He was seen of James then of all the Apostles And last of all He was seen of Me also This cannot be Apply'd by any means to the Light within which cannot be seen of any body And this Great Article of the Resurrection of Christ was the Chief thing in consideration of which Matthias was Chosen in the Room of Judas Wherefore of these men which have Company'd with us Act. 1.21 22. all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us beginning from the Baptism of John unto the same Day that He was Taken up from us must one be Ordained to be a witness with us of His RESVRRECTION This was the Great Foundation of the Christian Faith 1 Cor. xv 14. for says St. Paul If Christ be not Risen then is our Preaching vain and your Faith is also vain Do's not this make the Faith in the Light within to be a Vain Faith At least this is a Demonstration that it was not the Faith which the Apostles Preached For the Apostles do Testify that the Faith which they Preached had been Vain if Christ be not Risen Yea and we are found False Witnesses of God say they because we have Testify'd of God that He Raised up Christ whom He Raised not up ver 15. if so be that the Dead Rise not But against all this Conviction the Quakers will not let this be Meant of the outward Resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth but of the Rising up of the Light in their Hearts And therefore they come in for Witnesses of the Resurrection of Christ jointly with the Apostles Which is Monstrous to Believe But it is true For thus says Edw. Burrough in his works p. 42. We witness the same Christ made Manifest in Vs and His Resurrection not because Paul said so But we have seen it And are Witnesses of it And Will. Penn in his Primitive Christianity p. 103. Describing those who are True Ministers of Christ says Ministers of Christ are his Witnesses And the Credit of a Witness is that he has Heard Seen or Handled And thus the Beloved Disciple states the Truth and Authority of their Mission and Ministry 1. Joh. 1.1 3. That which we have Heard which we have Seen with our Eyes which we have Looked upon and our Hands have Handled that Declare we unto you I say if Christ's Ministers are His Witnesses they
and Faith that is in us to every sober Enquirer and indeed are glad of an opportunity to satisfie any such Person who may be in doubt of the soundness of our Faith in the saving Fundamentals of the Christian Religion we have with the full and Unanimous Consent of this our said Yearly or General Meeting given a plain positive and we hope Christian Answer to each of the said Queries which that they may give thee full and ample satisfaction of our soundness in the Christian Faith in the sincere desire of Us who in behalf and by appointment of the said Meeting do subscribe and remain They Loving Friends Rich. Dungworth John Hampton Thomas Martin Geo. Hutcheson John Hart Thomas Budd Here follows Dr. Lancaster's Queries with the above-named Meetings Answer to each Query To the Quakers assembled in their Yearly Meeting at London this Whitson Week 1695. GReat objections have been made against you in many Books which of late Years have been writ as well by those who have departed from your Communion as by others But because we would not willingly take an Account of you only from your Adversaries no nor yet the advantage which may be had from some of your own Apologists we have chosen this solemn Time of your most general Assembly that you have in the World where there comes of your Number out of all parts where any of your Profession live even as far as from the West Indies on purpose to attend this your Yearly Meeting at London We have chosen this most solemn and convenient time for you to vindicate and clear your selves and to give satisfaction to the World particularly to the Church of England as to these great and grievous objections which are made against you It is said of you that as Hymeneus and Philetus 2 Tim. 2.18 did construe the Resurrection spiritually saying It was perform'd inwardly within our Souls and so avoided the litteral and outward Resurrection of the Body which the Scripture calls Overthrowing the Faith so that you do construe the Resurrection in the same spiritual manner to be the rising again of Christ or the Light in our hearts and consequently that the Saints generally have attained the Resurrection already and that ther will be no Resurrection of these our Bodies after they lie down in the Dust And not only this but That you construe likewise those Scriptures which testify of our Lord Jesus Christ in this Allegorical manner to mean no more than what you call the Light within and That this Christ or Light is Born and Crucified Dyes is Buried Rises again Ascends and is Glorified within you That it sheds its Bloods within you and thereby quenches the Wrath of God in you as your Sacrifice or Propitiation And that Christ has now no other Blood or Body than what he has within his Saints or other than he had with his Father before the World began That the outward Blood of that Man Jesus that was shed at Jerusalem was not the Propitiation or any Satisfaction to the Justice of God for our sins but only the spiritual Blood shed inwardly within us And by these means when you are asked Whether you believe in Christ that Dyed for our sins Rose again and Ascended and that by his Blood we are saved c. You can readily answer Yea That you believe all this and yet mean it all in an inward Allegorical sense that is The Blood shed within you The Light or Christ suffering within you c. and thereby deceive others and your selves and keep your meaning hid and double that the Truth of what you hold may not be known which if in plain words told and asserted would grate all Christian Ears and shew you to be those miserable Hereticks before told who brought in damnable Doctrines denying the Lord who bought them Therefore that you may clear your selves from this great and grievous Charge you are desired to give a plain positive and direct Answer to these following Queries Your Reasons or Explanations are not required this not being intended for a Dispute but only your plain Yea or Nay to each of these Queries that your Doctrine and Faith may be known Query 1. Do you believe in a Christ without you now in Heaven The Christian Quaker answers Yea. Qu. 2. Hath he now in Heaven the same Body tho' changed in Qualities and Glorify'd which he assumed in the Womb of the blessed Virgin in which he Suffered Dyed was Buryed Rose again and Ascended outwardly Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 3. Will he return in that same Body outwardly or without men to judge the World in the last day Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 4. Will our dead Bodies arise the same Bodies though altered in Properties and Qualities which we now have and shall lay down in the Dust Or do you believe an outward and litteral Resurrection contrary to Hymeneus and Philerus Do you believe that the Saints generally have already attained the Resurrectien either before or since Christ came into the World Ch. Qu. To the former part of this Query we answer Yea To the latter Nay Qu. 5. Do you believe that Christ or the Eternal Word was so made Flesh as that he truly and really became Man as truly Man as he was God and not only as the Socinians say that he dwelt in or did inhabit the Person of that Man Jesus Christ as a Garment or a Vail as he dwells in or inspires other holy Persons though not in so high a Degree or as Angels assume Bodies like men wherein they appear without taking them into their own Nature or thereby becoming Men Ch. Qu. answ Yea. Qu. 6. Is Christ now at this day and for ever to come truly and really a Man in true and proper humane Nature without all other men Ch. Qu. To this we answer Yea under the Qualifications contained in the second Query viz. changed in Qualities and Glorify'd Qu. 7. And lastlv Was his outward Blood outwardly shed at Jerusalem the true Propitiation and Satisfaction for our sins Is this the true saving Faith Was not his outward Blood that Blood without sheding of which there could be no Attonement Heb. 9.22 Ch. Qu. Answer Yea not excluding the work of the Spirit of Christ in our hearts The above Queries were signed by Dr. Lancaster Chaplain to the Lord Bishop of London and delivered Fryday the 17th of May. 1695. into George Whitehead's own hands in their general Assembly in Grace-Church-street and there publickly read They were desired to return their Answer to Dr. Lancanster at Mr. Wiseman's House a Chyrurgion in Long-Acre But we hear of no Answer that they returned Wherefore the said Queries were presented to the Yearly Meeting of the Quakers in Philadelphia That Party which have Excommunicated Mr. Keith returned Answer as set down in the Preface But that Party which joyn with Mr. Keith presently returned the Answers above inserted after each Query THis is Verbatim what was Printed at Philadelphia
to have that Child brought into the World This is the true Quaker Notion shewn in the Second Part from p. 215 to 220 That the Child Promised Gen. iii. 15. as the Saviour of the World is a Child born within Every Regenerate Person in their Hearts and not any Child Conceiv'd in the Womb of a Woman For as to what is Recorded of the Outward Jesus His Birth Passion Resurrection c. they can apply it to Oliver or any other of their Favourites They turn it all into an Allegory and Suppose it Perform'd within Themselves And that the Merit of their Salvation Lies Within Themselves and not in the Merits of the Outward Jesus Of which See more in the Said Ms And whereas he accuseth us for denying Christ's Merits Ms p. 46. I say that which can be merited is of self And that which is of Christ is freely given But such a word is not in Scripture as Christ's Merits but is fetch'd from the Whore at Rome by them To all these that pretend to wait for that which they call a personal Reign p. 70. for which they have no Scripture but makes themselves manifest to be these that know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God for they were Written for our Admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come 1 Cor. 10.11 Mark they knew the ends of the world come at that time where sin was put away by the Sacrifice of Himself Heb. 9.26 Now unto all you this is the word of the Lord God you that waits out of the Light wherewith you are Inlightened waits out of the way c. Tell me have not many of your Brethren and Sisters pretended this waiting who are dead take warning and said they looked as you do for a Christ to come in another's Person and not in your own Are you not looking afar off like Fools with your Eyes a broad Pro. 17.24 Answer these Queries and prove what you speak by plain Scripture Whether is not God and Christ one in every thing Yea or Nay p. 71. or wherein do they differ in any thing and whether he is not the same in this Generation that he hath been in all others the I AM. Is not the righteousness fulfilled in Christ and is not God satisfied with this Righteousness where it is put on as it is written put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ Rom. 13.14 Whether any one man visibly can put on another and therein satisfie God for another man's Sins Yea or Nay or must not every Man or Woman put on the Lord Jesus Christ and then no more a Carnal Christ seeing it is written woe unto them them that are covered and not with my spirit And now all ye that speak of a Personal Reign Answer this from whence must this Christ come which must Reign Personally Seeing the promises of God was but one and to one And all the Prophets of God prophysied but of one and they declared of what Stock and Family and House and Generation he should be off Read Math. 1. and Luke 3. And also where he should be born and of whom to wit of a Virgin which things are fullfill'd and come to pass we are Witnesses of it according to the Scriptures Now Answer in plain words whence must this Christ come you wait for And in what Generation Of what Family And out of what Country And of whom must he be born that they may no Longer be deceived by you who have kept them Gazing after a false Christ Well may it be called Gazing But leave it and mind these in white Apparel which reproves you for it Acts. 1.10 11. And Seeing the Scripture saith that Christ is the way to the Father p. 73. then is not this the Spirit of truth that Leads into all truth to the God of all truth And doth not these that Look for a Christ to come deny the way to God tell me What way must people go to God if Christ be not come Seeing they die dayly Joh. 14.6 Joh. 16.30 Some Queries with there Answers put forth by John Draper Answered by H. Norton pag. 81. IN one of thy Queries thou asketh me whether the Saints shall partake of any other Glory or Perfection then that they now Injoy or whether we that are called Quakers shall partake of any other Glory or perfection then what we now Injoy Ans I say the Saints can partake of no other Glory nor Perfection then what they now Injoy And we that are call'd Quakers partakes of the same But if our Hope Glory and Perfection were only in this Life we were of all men most miserable Wherein thou asketh me if there be any other Heaven then what 's in the Saints And where that Heaven is that Christ Ascended up into I know and believe that there is no other Heavens then that the Saints are in wherein dwells Peace Righteousness and Joy And that the Kingdom of Heaven is where that Christ himself preach'd it Luke 17.21 viz. The Kingdom of God is within you And whereas thou asketh me what I do believe concerning the second Coming of of Christ or whether there is any other Coming of Christ besides what is in his Saints I believe that there was p. 81. five hundred Brethren at once that saw his Second coming And that there is a Thousand now that sees the same And that there is no other coming then what is revealed in his Saints For herein is the righteousness of God revealed Rom. 1.17 and 19. therefore follow no more after the Lo hear and Lo there 's Wherein thou asketh me whether it be not that very Christ that is in us that was Crucified at Jerusalem whose hands and feet was nailed to the Cross and side peirced and whether we do expect any benefit by Christ Crucified at Jerusalem I say no other Christ we own but Jesus the only begotten Son of God the brightness of his Glory the express Image of his person Heb. 1.7 who in our Vanity his Sides often we peirced for which now in our bodies we bear his marks And this benefit we have Redemption by him alone from the filthiness of flesh and Spirit and Saved by him from the Pride and Vanity the World lives in and cleansed from all Sin by his Blood according to that Scripture 1 Jo. 1.7 N. B. What Blood this was which he means you will see in the First Part p. 14.94 95. viz. The Blood of God's Heavenly Manhood which He had from all Eternity And not the Blood of our Nature which Christ took upon Him and shed upon the Cross They here Renounce any such Christ Any Christ that do's differ in any thing from God as before Quoted Or who Suffer'd upon any other Cross than that Metaphorical Cross which He commanded His Disciples to take up Daily Luk. ix 23. And upon which He Daily Suffers in the Hearts of Wicked Men as appears by his following Quaere Querie