Powerfully Poor sense and a powerful Voice will not do I cannot believe ever God sends Fools about his work and such as expose it to contempt Too many justifie the Quakers in their affected tones theatrical gestures contrary to plain express words of Scripture 2 Titus 7. In doctrine shewing uncorruptness gravity sincerity Vncorruptness respects the soundness of the matter of our Doctrine Gravity the manner of our delivering it Sincerity the Principle from which all should come and end to which all should be directed And for our Hearers many of them are much more ignorant than any one would suspect I know a Man of a great Estate an Entertainer of Ministers who asked lately one of them at his house Whether Abraham were not a Protestant and the Canaanites Papists Whether Joseph that we read of in Genesis that was sold into Egypt by his Brethren was not the same Joseph that we read of in the First of Matthew who was Espoused to the Virgin Mary If you say What difference then between their ignorant Speakers and ours Much every way Theirs despise Scripture and helps Providence puts into their hands of being better informed and pretend to Inspiration and so blaspheme the Spirit and talk how they can confound any of the Priests by the Spirit when others are ashamed of their folly and not flee in the face of an Instructor I have heard such say Wilt thou talk to me against what I feel and handle of the word of Life Alluding no doubt to the 1 Epistle of John ch 1. v. 1. John lay in the bosom of Christ and his natural hands handled the natural body of him who is call'd the Word of life To question them is to question the Spirit I am unwilling to say all I think and know of such filthy dreamers clouds without water Jude 12. Is it not able to make a Wise Man sick to hear what I have heard in their Assemblies remote from Religion Reason and Gravity For a half-witted Fellow and a Jackpudden that unmans himself to stand up and say I have been in many places in Kersendom and I will never sell my reason to think Christ came to save men from sin and yet sin to be in them And now my Freinds ah may you fe feel ah the life ah and the power ah Now you must suppose this was some notable Traveller that had compass'd Sea and Land to make Proselytes according to 3 Matthew 15 verse and sure if his reason were to be sold he would be most lamentably chous'd in a woful pennyworth that should buy it Thou fool and blind said Christ in another case to your elder Brethren 23 Matthew 15. Cannot you believe a Physician should come to give Physick or give a Man ease in order to perfect Health in time if pains atches or any disorders be in him from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot The Women I observed and Women like Men when they heard their affected modes would according to their frequent custom say La La La La c. Now tell me Reader Whether such a speech of incoherent Blasphemies were not able to make a Man purge both ways In the time of great danger when Twenty pound was to be paid by the Speaker they would seldom speak Therefore I remember when an Informer came into a Quakers Meeting he was very busie to find the Speaker that he might pay the Money Where is your Speaker said he Up stood a Quaker Thou art he In many Meetings nothing is said some times only one place of Scripture I have heard that when they sate a long time and said nothing a Quaker was moved to speak a place of Scripture and in my opinion he chose the most suitable place for them he stood up and said O ye fools when will ye be wise and down he sate again When indeed When these sinless Creatures fall out which is not seldom you would think they had gone down to Hell to fetch their Rhetorick from thenee fouly charging and condemning one another But presently the Devil transforms himself into an Angel of Light the Old Man was stirr'd in them nay their chief Leaders complain of one anothers Pride and ill Temper and say Their hearts are ready to break for Friends Disorders And yet they the Perfect Sinless Pure Innocent Lambs all the while I am not more assured that Turcism is not of God than that Quakerism is not or than that I have proved it in this Book I declare before all the world That I am ready at an open Dsputation to prove my Charge against them If what I have writeen recover any Quakers I shall rejoyce Why should we despair seeing the recovery of the Honest and ingenious George Keith Pennyman and many more However I cannot but hope or more than hope this will prevent the fall of not a few who till now knew not the Men as I and others have long known them to be some of the greatest Doctrinal if not Practical Enemies to Christ that ever were in any Age that would sometimes call themselves by the Name of Christians Reader I do assure thee by my Observation and the Observation of others that this People that were wont to talk against Pride are some of the proudest Persons upon Earth so Proud that though they have condemned putting off the hat and kirching as Sins yet some tell you in plain terms they expect it of you and take it amiss if you do it not as the abovenamed L. S. said to a Friend of his and mine And as great is their Pride so great is their ignorance so that some Wise Men leave them and are ashamed Mr. S. of Bristol seldom if at all goes to their Meeting though at their first appearing one of their most Learned Advocates he troubleth not himself much now about Mens Souls but is well acquainted with what is good for their Bodies especially his own by which he much obligeth his Friends not Quakers but any Men of Civility Churchmen and others A late Writer Mr. Norrice hath made this People not a little to value themselves by favouring their Opinion about the Light within and by telling the world That he more dreaded one Barclay than an Army of Bellarmines or Stapletons which make me doubt he is not well acquainted with the latter though with the former I doubt that young rash though ingenious Gentleman hath a design to make a new Party bearing his Name whose grand Particularity is this that we must love nothing complacentially but God I hope whilst he retains this Notion he will continue in Celibacy for he is not fit for Marriage forgetting that of Solomon Let her breasts satisfy thee at all times and be thoâ— ever ravisht with her love Yet by the way observe he asserts That God not absolutely considered but relatively is to be the Object of this Love This is indeed to make our selves the end God the means To love
there is no Name given under Heaven by which men can be saved but the Name of Jesus There is no Salvation in any other Acts 4.12 If it be asked Why I am sometimes Comical and Reflect so severely on some of their Leaders I answer Quacks and Jugglers and foolish Pretenders to any thing are not to be treated as wise and sober men Answer says the Wisest of Men a fool according to his folly lest he be wise in his own conceit Prov. 26.25 Says the serious Worshipper at Mount Carmel that approached the Altar of God with all imaginable Reverence and not as a Stage player when he saw the Priests of Baal seemingly most devout cut themselves and leap upon the Altar Cry aloud 1 Kings 18.27 either he is talking or in a journey or sleepeth and must be awaked A goodly God! For my severe Reflections on some Men I lived nigh them knew them well they were some of the great Advocates for their Cause talk'd of all England over for their Zeal among the Quakers who spared not the most Learned Religious Ministers and People in the world for want of self-denial which little appeared in the Accusers for leaving the Places of their open Meetings the Ministers were Hirelings 10. John 12 13. who did flee when the wolf came that cared not for the sheep and that because the sheep were not their own As if to flee from a Place were to flee from an Office And after they had call'd them and the People Hypocrites Children of the Devil Haters of Christ Lovers of the World that should be damned for ever for this their great open Sin and Wickedness they did the same thing themselves when their Fund failed Either what I have Charged them with is True or False if it be False let me be accounted the greatest Defamer upon Earth a Persecutor or what they please If it be true as I call Heaven and Earth to Record it is and can justifie the Charge before God and Man I do say it on mature Consideration and with great Composure of Mind That Pen and the Quakers are Impostors or Apostates Know Reader I have made no use of Books nor Men to help me in this Work tho it is said by some it were impossible I could thus describe them without help from some Man that had been a Quaker I have not troubled you with some stories of Quakers upon common fame though I doubt not the truth of them yet cannot prove them if required as that one Friend came to another and said The Lord hath sent me to thee to tell thee thou must lend me Twenty pound It was a lying Spirit sent thee said the other for the Lord knows I am not worth half the Money Neither have I troubled you with their denying such a sense of Scripture when writing against us and asserting the same sense to serve their own turn and all from one and the same Infallible Spirit Penn is a notorious instance who in a Book call'd Judas and the Jews said on those words Tell the Church 18. Matt. 17. That the Church was to judge of matters of wrong between Man and Man but not of Faith or Conscience yet in another Book to all Protestants asserts The Church had Power about matters of Faith and Conscience when he pleaded for the Church-Quakers Nor much of what I have read of some of them many y s since I remember in the time of a long continued Drought about Twenty year since when many fear'd and talk'd of a Famine out comes Fox and tells us What reason we had to expect a Famine That before the Plague he saâ— the Angel of the Lord with a drawn Sword over the Court. See the Cheat. Rain soon pour'd down You false Prophets tell us your Prophecies before not after their accomplishment I must recommend to you the aforementioned Book The Snake in the Grass If you are Dissenters pardon some warm passages proceeding from intemperate Zeal for Bishops and Liturgies In the Book may you be informed of The Authority of the Church-Quakers for so Penn's Faction are call'd who often Assemble at London and assume to themselves power over the Light within especially in the Separate Quakers for so are the Followers of George Keith call'd a Scholar once Master of Arts who owns Faith in an outward Christ crucified him that died at Jerusalem The Resurrection of the Body Defects to be bewail'd The insufficiency of the Light within without Scripture and speaks favourably of Baptism and the Supper All this George Keith hath printed and told me He proves George Fox their Great Apostle to be a Blasphemer and impostor That he said before some Governors That he said he was equal with God and Judge of the world He receiv'd the Title and Worship of Christ from many who lay prostrate before him he smoothing them on the face and blessing them So did Sabbata Sevi his deluded Followers and Nathan the Prophet in the Year 1666. till he turned Turk to save his Neck Penn pleads for this Fox attributes his abuse of many Terms to his Ignorance What! and yet inspired and sent of God! That he call'd on the Army to fight against Rome and the Turks That Balaam must be slain and all the Hirelings turn'd out of the Kingdom He bad them pull down Mass-houses and Colleges Give the Priests Blood to drink for they are worthy said Burroughs The Blasphemy of many of their Leaders who said they were as holy as God not only in quality but equality and that the preternatural distortions of their Bodies and their Quakings at first were of the Devil Though the Numen that then inspired them hath now left them Though Solomon Eccles a Quaker before the Fire of London went up and down with a Pan of burning Coals yet he was proved to be a false Prophet in other things That the Quakers moved not their Goods believing it was a Delusion and knowing that almost every Week one Quaker or another would go up and down the Streets in London and cry Thus saith the Lord Fire Pestilence Sword c. And if Solomon Eccles prophecied of the Burning of the City all know so did Oliver's Porter That Muggleton hath his Prophecies too to be printed How soon Josiah Coal died after he testified against him That Muggleton a Taylor and Fox a Shoemaker set up for Inspired Persons together Though Fox at first condemned all outward teaching by Man till he had gotten men from the Ministry then he set up Preaching but Muggleton doth not but keeps to the old Principle He saith The Father to whom Christ pray'd was Elijah who governed in Heaven when Christ was on Earth because in his absence there was no God there And such Blasphemous stuff They pretended to the Spirit of discerning Persons and Things and could tell what Men were on the sight of them They now Damn one another the Muggletonians and Quakers call one another Sorcerers Serpents and say
I eat Let it be Fowl or Flesh or Fish It never shall be said But I 'll find fault with Meat or Dish With Master or with Maid Too fat too lean too young too old I ever do complain Too raw too rost too hot too cold I fault will find or feign And when I go to bed at Night I then could even weep For I must part with my Delight I cannot Chide and sleep However this doth mitigate And much abate my sorrow That though to Night it be too late I 'll early Chide To-morrow And Madam when asleep was as quiet as any one in the house and continued so till she awoke Here I have given you a Copy but perhaps many need it not having the Original at home You Loyal Obedient Wives are highly to be commended but the Number is so small a few words may serve the turn And now Friends a Word or two among Friends Doth not sometimes one of your perfect Wives make you perfect Men almost perfectly mad I knew the Woman mentioned before that must fast Forty Days and Forty Nights would not speak to her Husband a Fortnight together upon a Pett though he shew'd her all imaginable kindness She would commonly lye by her self It had been well for her Husband if she had begun her Forty Days Fast Twenty Year sooner A famous Bishop now dead after the Death of his Wife preached on this Text In all things be thankful A most Ingenious Discourse it was how every Condition might afford matter of Thankfulness At last he brought it to the Wife's death Now said the honest Old Gentleman for so he was If she was a Good Wife be thankful you had her so long if she were a Bad Wife be thankful you were troubled with her no longer So in every thing be thankful Now Friends you that take such advantages against Ministers and others What if others should serve you so if they heard what is whisper'd in your Ears Dost thou hear Friends shall know what thou art c. Or the Complaints made among your selves against one another which the World must not know for they would not then believe you were Perfect Men bâ—t Perfect Fools Now I know you will not talk of such a Friend's Sin but of his Fault and when you are sometimes ready to take one another by the Throat you have gone to Prayer and confest others faults perhaps not your own David a better man than you confessed often his sins Though it be a Shame to commit sin it is an Honour to confess it But you Perfect ones and without being so the Old Fox that play'd with you till he caught you said you were all of the Devil must not confess Sin no by no means but will sometimes Faults and to be plain between Friends Notorious ones But tell me If Friends should go to Hell for Faults will it not be as bad as if they had gone there for Sins I appeal to the Light within you you Children and Servants of these Perfect Sinless Men and Women Do you not see your Fathers or Masters come home half drunk or more so Do you not hear them speak falsly now and then and out-wit others You know the meaning of the Phrase Do you not see them fiery and contentious too often Are you not sometimes ready to sigh and say The Men of the World that own the outward Christ and outward Word and outward Prayer are far better than Friends yea Angels in comparison of them I have known some of the greatest Pretenders to Perfection so unquiet so full of Passion that it hath cured some I were acquainted with from desiring their Company when no Dissuasions or Arguments of mine could do the work For my part when I heard Whitehead and other Inspired Persons preach when I saw the vain Conversations of other Quakers what the Queen of Sheba said of Solomon's Wisdom and the Order of his House I must say of their Folly and their Brutality 1 Kings 10.6 7 8. It was a true Report I heard where I dwelt of thine Acts and of thy Folly Howbeit I believed not the words till I came and mine eyes had seen it and behold Half was not told me Unhappy are thy Men and unhappy are these thy Servants which stand continually before thee and hear thy Folly A word to She Friends guilty of the Fault not Sin before-named You Sinless Perfect Scolds I have been the happy Instrument of recovering some sinful ones of your Hue and Complexion I wish I could hope to recover you You like the Pharisees say You see therefore your sin remaineth John 9.41 You whole ones in Conceit need not the Physician but they that are sick I cannot call you righteous ones in your Conceit but sinners to repentance Can your Husbands that being without sin please God in every thing please you in nothing What are you not only as Holy as God I tremble to mention the Blasphemy but more Holy more Wise more Good Thus you are deceived by the Serpent who told the Woman Gen. 3.5 Ye shall be as Gods knowing good and evil You that by your Disorders Passion Revilings would make not only many Heathens but the Devil himself were it possible to blush I tell you these things Friends are Faults great Faults though no Sins So I might lay the like to Unquiet Chiding Restless Turbulent Foulmouth Husbands for such there are though not so common as Women that are so You beg not Pardon of God by Secret Prayer nor Family Prayer None shall you have You that all this while boast of your Perfection and say when we plead against the Commission of Sin but for its Confession we plead for the Devil's Kingdom know you according to your desire God will shortly render to you according to your works To my knowledge many of you take the Name of God in vain and suffer your Children so to do a great though a common sin and a breach of the Third Commandment and have been angry with me for reproving you and yours for this Yet after all this I think there was never such an Impudent Shameless Generation of men since God made man on the face of the earth who disdain to make any Acknowledgment to God or Man of these and other horrid Impieties but boast of a Perfect Sinless State I have not said so much of the Immoralities of this People especially for the sin of Lying as others talk of and I once could not believe but by conversing with them find to be true What Falshood and outwitting of men a new Phrase for Cheating is found under Yea and Nay Who would have imagined that Barclay in his Apology the Goliah of their Camp vilifying the Scripture like any Seminary Priest or Jesuit should dare to say that which carries notorious Falshood in the Front of it That there is hardly any one place of Scripture that two men be agreed in the Sense of When there are so
many Thousands of Places of Scripture not only Historical but Doctrinal that it is hard to find two men but what are agreed in But why reply I to that which is not to be honour'd with a Confutation May such Grand Impertinents and False Speakers learn of Job's Friends Job 2.13 To sit down and say not a word An Argument by the way which this man brought for Silent Meetings But for my part complain who will of their Silent Meetings I will commend them as the best Meetings they have and would theirs were all such Yea Friends hearken to no Priest of them all that advise you to Speak for the Wisest of Men saith A fool is thought to be wise when he is silent No Nonsense no Blasphemy will then be any more heard in your Assemblies This Barclay also tells us If Infallibility be not in his Enthusiasms it is not lodged in Scripture but we must go for it to the Chair at Rome Every thing Poor Robin to its Centre Thy Doctrine came from Rome tends to Rome and many that knew thee believe thou were 't not to be reckoned in the number of Protestants FINIS Books Printed for John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey POol's Annotations Folio Mr. Baxter's Life Folio Mr. Lorimer's Apology for the Ministers who subscribed only unto the stating of the Truths and Errors in Mr. Williams's Book in Answer to Mr. Trails's Letter to a Minister in the Countrey 4 to An Answer of Mr. Giles Firmin to Mr. Granâ— tham about Infant-Baptism 4 to Some Remarks upon two Anabaprist Pamphlets By Giles Firmin 4 to Mr. Firmin's Review of Richard Davis his Vindication 4 to A Proposal to perform Musick in Perfect and Mathematical Proportions By Tho almon Rector of Mepsal in Bedfordshire Approved by both the Mathematick Professors of the University of Oxford with large Remarks by John Wallis P.D. 4 to Mr. Stephens's Sermon before the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London at St. Maryâ—le-Bow Jan. 30. 1693. Mr. Shower's Winter-Meditations Or a Sermon concerning Frost and Snow and Winds c. and the Wonders of God therein 4 to Mr. Slater's Thanksgiving-Sermon Octob. 27. 1692. 4 to His Sermons at the Funerals of Mr. John Reynolds and Mr. Fincher Ministers of the Gospel 4 to The Jesuits Catechism 4 to Dr. Burton's Discourses of Purity Charity Repentance and seeking first the Kingdom of God Published with a Preface by Dr. John Tillotson late Archbishop of Canterbury 8vo Remarks on a late Discourse of William Lord Bishop of Derry concerning the Inventions of Men in the Worship of God Also a Defence of the said Remarks against his Lordship's Admonition By J. Boyse 8vo The Works of the Right Honourable Henry late Lord Delamere and Earl of Warrington consisting in Thirty two Original Manuscripts under his Lordship 's own Hand 8vo Bishop Wilkins's Discourses of the Gift of Prayer and Preaching the latter much enlarged by the Bishop of Norwich and Dr. Williams 8vo Mr. Samuel Slater's Earnest Call to Family-Religion being the Substance of Eighteen Sermons 8vo Mr. Addy's Stenographia Or the Art of Short-Writing compleated in a far more Compendious way than any yet extant 8vo The London Dispensatory reduc'd to the Practice of the London Physicians Wherein are contained the Medicines both Galenical and Chymical that are now in use Those out of use omitted and those in use and not in the Latin Copy here added By John Peachey of the Colledge of Physicians in London 12 s. Mr Hammond's Sermon at Mr. Steel's Funeral 8vo History of the Conquest of Florida 8vo Mr. Aikin's English Grammar Or the English Tongue reduced to Grammatical Rules Composed for the use of English Schools 8vo Mr. John Shower's Discourse of Tempting Christ 12o Hs Discourse of Family Religion in Thres Letters 12o Mr. Daniel Burgess's Discourse of the Death Rest Resurrection and Blessed Portion of the Saints 12o Mr. George Hammond's and Mr. Matthew Barker's Discourses of Family Worship Written at the request of the united Ministers of London 12o Miscellana Sacra Containing Scriptural Meditations Divine Breathings occasional Reflections and sacred Poems 12o Monro's Institutio Grammaticae 8vo Sir Jonas More 's Mathematical Compendium The Third Edition 12o Mr. William Scoffin's help to true Spelling and Reading Or a very easie Method for the teaching Children or elder Persons rightly to Spell and exactly to Read English c. 8vo The Triumphs of Grace Or the last Words and edifying Death of the Lady Margaret de la Musse a Noble French Lady aged but Sixteen Years in May 1681 12o The Map of Man's Misery Or the Poor Man's Pocket-Book Being a perpetual Almanack of Spiritual Meditations Containing many useful Instructions Meditations and Prayers c. 12o Man's whole Duty and god's wonderful Intreaty of him thereunto By Mr. Daniel Burgess 12o Advice to Parents and Children By Mr. Daniel Burgess 12o Mr. Gibbons's Sermon of Justification 4to Scala Naturae Or a Treatise proving both from Nature and Seripture the Existence of good Genii or Guardian Angels 12o Graaf de Succo Pancreatico Or a Physical and Anaâ—omical Treatise of the Nature and Office of the Pancreatick Juice 8vo Dr. Packs Praxis Catholica Or the Country-man's Universal Remedy Wherein is plainly and briefly laid down the Nature Matter Manner Place and Cure of most Diseases incident to the Body of Man 8vo English Military Discipline Or the Way and Method of Exercising Horse and Foot according to the Practice of this present time With a Treatise of all sorts of Arms and Engines of War c. 8vo Orbis Imperantis Tabellae Geographico-Historico-Genealogico-Chronologiae c. Curiously Engraven on Copper Plates 8vo Clavis Grammatica Or the Ready way to the Latine Tongue Containing most plain Demonstrations for the Regular Translating English into Latine fitted to help such as begin to attain the Latine Tongue By F. B. 8vo Cambridge Phrases 8vo Mr. Stephens's Thanksgiving Sermon April 16. 1696. Mr. Showers Thanksgiving Sermon April 16. 1696.
WILLIAM PENN And the QUAKERS EITHER Impostors or Apostates Which they please Proved from their avowed Principles and contrary Practices Inest sua gratia parvis 2 Tim. 3.8 9. Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses so do these also resist the truth men of corrupt minds reprobate concerning the faith But they shall proceed no further for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men as theirs also was By Trepidantium Malleus LONDON Printed for the Author and are to be Sold by John Lawrence at the Angel in the Poultrey 1696. TO THE Humoursom READERS My Brethren IN this quarrelsome Age wherein little that is written can please all or most I must expect to fall under the Censure of not a few Perhaps in an angry fit you will be ready to Object Is there not enough and more then enough in this scribling Age written against this People already I Answer There is too much and yet too little Many trouble the world with long vagaries about things less material or their more weighty things are not express'd in so few words nor their arguments managed with that conciseness as could be wish'd He is the best Soldier who attacking an Enemy runs on him and stabs him to the heart whether I have so stab'd Quakerism to the heart if you will be sober be you judges or the Quakere either who have any intervals from their Deliriums Two things are often enquired about Books How large they be And what they cost If they be too large or cost too much Men either neglect them or read them with a running eye but if short and of little cost not only their Money but that which is more precious to Studious men their time is well saved Here is a little Book and of small price and things not written of by others Some may ask What should induce you to this work A. I have sought for William Penn many years and coming as a stranger to London have here found him and I think the Queries sent to him are unexceptionable and unanswerable and I have more reasons than one to think William Penn is of the same Opinion for this I appeal from his mouth to his conscience if he hath any he may say as Ahab to the Prophet Hast thou found me O mine enemy 1 Kings 21.20 It may be you will say You are too hot A. Perhaps you are too cold read the after-account of the Man before you are so waspish and quick If you say I like not this Dispute then let it alone and leave it to them that do If the Bookseller have been deceived by me it is pity you should be so by him Look well to your Pockets and be sure you throw not away your Money for nothing especially when good Money is as scarce as good Subjects Many Writers get others to recommend their Books to the world but I care not to trouble any such for they overvalue their Freinds and so their Writings I will therefore do it my self In short I tell you I am a quick writer of sudden flights Yet if you will have my opinion I think it is not jejunely done nor to be reckoned among the meanest Books against this People However I have pleased my self and that is something and many an honest man too I doubt not and that is more But if I please not you I care not and so till you and I be in a better humour Farewell QUESTIONS SENT TO William Penn. Question 1. WHether He or any of them will or dare stand forth and say I desire no Pardon from a Holy God for any Imperfection in Thought in Word or in Action in the close of a Day of a Week of a Month of a Year since his or their imaginary perfect sinless State I intreat them into whose hands this Book shall fall to take notice That I kept no Copy of my Queries to him not intending them for open view much less for the Press I dare not therefore pretend strict exactness to words but sense and for this I dare challenge him to deny it Now if they are as Perfect as Adam was before he Fell as some have said I say he then needed no Pardon if they be as Holy as some have blasphemously said as God himself I say God need not Pardon himself Perfection in Scripture is sometimes put in opposition to Hypocrisy So all the Saints are Perfect God so loveth Holiness that he calls the least degrees of Holiness by this honourable name Perfection to encourage men in the thoughts of their present acceptance with him and to let them know the unshaken foundation is now laid So Noah Abraham Job and others are said to be Perfect that is no Hypocrites but Sincere ones Yet they were guilty of great and visible Sins and made Confessions of them to God in this their perfect State The instance of Asa is most pregnant it is said of him That he put the Prophet in Prison who Prophecied to him in the Name of the Lord that he was wroth with him very great sins sure and of a deep die and one would think inconsistent with true Grace When he was pained in his Feet he sought not to the Lord but to the Physician one would think he could be no Good Man yes says the Holy Ghost He was no formal Hypocritical Man he was good in the bottom and how is this express'd 1 Kings 15.14 Nevertheless the heart of Asa was perfect with the Lord his God all his days What is that Without Sin Then the sense is this Asa committed very great sins nevertheless he sinned not all his days Sometimes perfection is put in opposition to imperfection This distinction is clear in the words of Paul 3 Phillip 13 14. Not as if I had attain'd or were already perfect I press on as many as are perfect be thus minded In the first place he speaks of Perfection in opposition to Imperfection I have not attained it says he if he had not by the way we have mad men running up and down among us that say they have but without the breach of Charity I dare be bold to assert the Perfection they have attained to is a perfection of Stupidity and Obduration but saith Paul I press forward I have perfection in my Eye tho not in my Heart as many as be perfect that is sincere upright be thus minded For they that in the former sense are perfect cannot be said not to have attained it or to press after it Job says of himself of whom God gave this testimony There was none like him in all the earth a perfect man that is a sanctified man 1 Job 1. If I should say I were perfect that would prove me perverse say it no he detests it in the next words I perfect for those words are only found in the Original I would not know my own soul 9 Job 20 21. Who can say his heart is clean says Solomon Yes A Pharisee a
Harangues have I often heard from the Quakers as incoherent and unintelligible and so have many others which makes us weary of conversing with some of them who after all triumph for Victory Would not such a profound Speech stun the wisest Judge that ever sat on the Bench And might not the Welchman say after all Her had baffled Her so that Her had not one word to say to Her not being able to remember no nor understand what her said And now William Penn not to convince thee for I think thou art convinced already of the madness of this People for Blaspheming the Name of the Lord for Railing for Incoherencies for vain Predictions I will suppose any of us should accost thee as the Quakers do us many a time Wouldst thou not say We were so far from being Christians that we had forfeited the Name of Men I shall leave out the words after Thus saith the Eternal God Living God the Lord. Let none be offended if their Folly be thus display'd Suppose I should thus say FRiend For this is the Name by which you speak one to another and Christ to Judas the Traytor the Son of Perdition thy elder Brother and to no single Person but to him I say by the same Figure Christ said to Judas Friend Penn though I and others have taken pains to intellectuate and prudentiate thee yet all in vain Bray thee in a Mortar thy Folly will not depart from thee and therefore in the Bowed-downess of my mind I do declare unto thee Thou hast Unreligion'd thy self Thou Croaking Frog of Egypt Thou Babylenish Brat Thou goest up and down the world in the pride of thy heart O Lucifer Son of the Morning Where are all thy mortified Self-denying Garments that Friends of Old went up and down with Thou who art of many years in the world hast lately gone after Flesh Young Flesh Yea I say unto thee Very Young Flesh And because thy mind hath thus stray'd after the Visibles I bear my Testimony against thee Thou art yet in the Carnal Mind This is the word of to Thee Repent Repent For thou lovest the Things of the world yea the things of the world dost thou love William Penn hear O William Penn I testify to thee in the Name that because thou haft loved the Man pull'd down and contrived yea hatched mischief against the Man set up Thou shalt die this year because thou hast committed Rebellion for which thou Friend deservest now the Captivity of the outward Tabernacle so one Quaker lately wrote to another that lived four years after Now thou Serpent thou Deceiver thou Scarlet-Whore that fittest upon many Waters What if all thy Converses with Jesuites and Popish Enemies to WILLIAM the King were written in thy Forehead where yea where wouldst thou hide thy impudent Face thy brazen Face thy iron Forehead Friend William it is a great Principle and common Saying among you That what you once hold you always hold for the Spirit is the same and it dictates the same but in this thou liest Thou art changed in many things yea thou art fallen Thou Apostate Thou Conjurer my Spirit testifieth to thee in the Name that thou art full of all Subtilty the Child of the Devil one of his Imps if thou sayest I speak not the Truth I know I do it by the Light within me the infallible Testimony And I know I have stab'd thy Doctrine to the heart for so it is revealed unto me yea to me is it revealed As I was looking yea as these fleshly Eyes of mine were looking I saw thee in thy fine Attire and Things of this World And I looked and beheld and lo thou wert much like to the Sons of Men the Children of Men Thou art an Offence unto me c. PArdon me you that read this for I declare at this rate do many of the Quakers whom Penn owns as Inspired speak sometimes to the best Men Ministers and Christians and so have they written Now what mad Discourse would this be and worse should I so apply my self to him But if William Penn should die this year then were I a famous Prophet But if he should not die not a word must be said of it or some other sense must be put on the words And now I humbly beseech and intreat all that are serious in and zealous for the Protestant Religion to consider whether their Time and Parts and Zeal used one against another who are sound in the Fundamentals of Religion and so Brethren were not better used against the Quakers who have crafed the Foundation of Christianity and so are the worst of Hereticks The design of the Holy Scripture is to bring man to the sense of two things 1. His own vileness deficiency in the best of his Duties his imperfect state when in his Zenith for Wisdom and the love of God O how much do we debase the most High in our apprehensions of him when they are most refin'd and rais'd How imperfect is our Love to God and Christ when most flaming What an infinite disproportion is there between our Love and its Object What if our wandring Thoughts in the heart in Prayer or other good Duties should or must have vent through the mouth and gush out into words how should we flee from one another or whither should we go Thoughts are before God what Words are before men How fail the best in Principles and Ends Humble Nehemiah when zealous against Prophaners of the Sabbath 13. Nehem. 22. Spare me according to the greatness of thy mercy The Quakers disdain thus to pray When Isaiah beheld the King the Lord of Glory he cries out Wo is me for I am undone I am a man of unclean lips Isa 6.5 These make no such Confession and were he now alive they would say he was of the Devil 1 John 3.8 These if they sleep in the time of their Worship if Passion never so much break out among themselves and hateful Words and many notorious visible Enormities they disdain to say what Christ taught his Disciples to whom God was a Father to pray Mat. 6.12 Forgive us our trespasses So that I am not more sure of any one thing in Religion than this That no Perfectionist can be saved 2. To shew man the Want and then the Worth of Christ the Saviour The Apostle preached nothing more he tells the Corinthians 1 Cor. 2.2 I determined to know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified Nothing in comparison of this Now it is well known in their Meetings they determine to know nothing less than Christ and him crucified Salvation by an outward Christ is disowned Penn and Whitehead expounded the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world in a large Folio to be the opposing the Lamb-like thing The Light within Thou talkest they were wont to say of the Man crucified at Jerusalem sixteen hundred years ago Dost thou believe to be saved by Blood shed upon the ground Now
what was inflicted by the Civil Magistrate on one another was just That Penn defended and engaged so to do Pensilvania by Soldiers and Arms against the Indians Commissions were given to Fight for the recovering of a Sloop taken from some Privateers that they Imprisoned some Quakers for Printing some Books without a License though but in their own defence That Burroughs said God could Arm Thousands of his Saints yea and Ten Thousands to Fight his Cause but for the present must not be so till Christ command them and this Christ is the Light within He asks this one plain Question of Friends Is not force of Arms necessary in England and all other Nations though condemned and that by the Spirit of God as Antichristian and Diabolical This Gentleman entertains you with a very pleasant Comedy how they play their Infallibilities Inspirations Prophecies one against another how they damn all the Christian world and yet assert the Salvation of Heathen How Fox and especially the Old Cheat George Bishop told Oliver How much they loved him and stood by him and what should be done to prevent the coming in of Charles Stuart And yet when he came in told him They acted not against him but mourned for him And talk much how they suffered as he did and what was their Loyalty till Billin a great Quaker Protested That if it cost him his life he would declare against any such pretences for said he we were not for the King but against him Howgil stole whole Paragraphs out of Mr. Selden of Tythes verbatim Yet this in others hath been highly condemned where not practised but injuriously charged He gives you an account of their horrid Blasphemies about Scripture as Serpents Meat dust about Christ and the Light within about Perfection Ordinances c. AND now I advise all Persons of Parts and Wisdom that look into the Controversie between us and the Quakers especially Gentlemen and Ministers to buy and peruse the aforenamed Book the best in my opinion that ever I saw I have given you some of the dainties there to invite you to a more plentiful eating What shame is it for Men to pretend as Preachers to convince Gainsayers and yet know not the most convincing Arguments to confute their Folly whom they know to be the worst of Hereticks and oppose them as such Or what a shame is it for Gentlemen who should be advocates for truth not to know what can be said against such Deceivers as these These are Hereticks indeed some of the worst when others cannot be so call'd though they are too often so but rather Erraticks and perhaps we are all such though some more than others As I have recommended the Snake in the Grass so I will Pennyman's Paper call'd The Quakers Contradictions according to the Times and their Interest Once a Quaker but left them for their Folly and Madness Some have said as he proves out of their Writers That their Writings are equal to the Scriptures and of as great Authority Some That the Scriptures are Carnal Dust Death Others have declared before the Lord That such words were never spoken by Friends which if not great impudence must be great ignorance For it may be Friends in one place know not what Friends in another place do say or Print I therefore commend Pennyman for sometimes repeating their words and no more He proves that they that have denied the Scripture to be the word of God have called their own Writings so Some have said That they are no Ministers but are under the curse that be not infallible and speak not immediately from God that cannot resolve all doubts and convince all Gainsayers What a cursed sort of Teachers then say I are most of the Quakers Teachers who are so far from this that they cannot speak tolerable sense nor pronounce right many common words They also have said That they that have not the Spirit of discerning and know not Mens state infallibly upon the sight of them cannot apply themselves to them accordingly not knowing whether they be holy or unholy But did they know all the Priests and Jesuits that came among them whom they almost adored Bedlo told my Brother how often Whitebread and he as well as other Papists had been at Quakers Meetings that Whitebread Executed was a Speaker Why discerned they not such Speakers that have been found to have lived in Drunkenness Whoredoms Must you know hearts too this is the work of Christ Judas was not smelt by the Disciples Some say they know Thousands of Friends that are free from Sin Once they all pretended to be so and that they that were not so were not of God but of the Devil Some say That Friends be all of one Mind and Soul Yet we know there are great divisions among them here at home and beyond Sea He tells you of a Quaker's stealing the Hour-glass out of a Church and that Fox said If a Friend be moved to such a thing by the Lord by the Eternal Spirit it is defended Now you Priests and Steeple-house Wardens look to the Silver Vessels used in the Sacrament for if a Friend should be moved to take them away by the Eternal Spirit it would be defended Some of the Separate Quakers have desired Liberty of Conscience in things not Evil as was once pleaded for but they cannot be heard Some have condemned asking any thing of outward Rulers Others have often Petitioned King and Parliament The Quakers Speakers take the chief Seats in their Assemblies now though once they condemned it Many now in Disputes and Discourse use terms others condemn as wicked Some have said It is laid on them by Christ not to Sue any Man at Law others I say have done it and as I have been credibly informed they that would not take an Oath in Bristol have in London Pennyman tells you how Penn blamed the Church of England in the Reign of the Late King James for Censuring the King's Acts and Reflecting on Roman Catholicks as not Manners nor Justice He cites the Book Some have said If the Spirit direct to fight we have nothing to say against it Others say they can never be directed by the Spirit to any such thing for it is not of God He speaks of their rudeness to him saying he deserved to be whipp'd at a Carts tail that they thrust him in the side with a stick Yet all these were Inspired and Infallible in contrary Doctrines Now having given an account of these two excellent Writers Let me a little consider the Plea of some among us for this People Question 1. Are not the Quakers more sober than once they were Yes and many know not the Opinions nor Practices of their first old Leaders No Men or Women run up and down Naked now c. Question 2. Are they not a People very Temperate above others Let every Man speak as he finds I lived long next door to one who was found out to be a
God did him good Noah was a Preacher and no doubt a Liver of Righteousness an Hundred and twenty years To have seen but one Convert a year had been sad but he sees none at the end of Twenty Forty Threescore an Hundred years No pricks of Conscience did them good The Spirit strove for a time Men may roar that never Repent No threats of God do them good when they were told of a Deluge they feared not Yet Man's Nature before Sin was conformable to God's Image his Will to God's Law he was designed to serve God here and enjoy him for ever yet after Sin he is call'd Flesh as if dispirited a Worm as David saith of himself a Dog for without are dogs saith Paul nay a Devil so Christ called not only Judas but Peter when he would hinder him from Suffering Get thee behind me Satan 16. Mat. 23. What Devils are the best and much more the worst for Pride Passion c. Now how little the Quakers regard the Fall is notorious Some make Adam Paradise the Tree of Life Serpent and all an Allegory and laugh at Original Sin and believe all come Sinless Creatures into the world Here is the foundation work this makes Man loathe himself Another thing the Scripture teacheth as necessary to be known and which our Perfectionists will not understand is 2. Man's recovery by a Crucified Christ the Son of God Who so fit as he who was the Son of God by Eternal Generation to be so by his Conception Who so fit to make Man the Son of God by Adoption as he that was the Son of God by Nature Who so fit to be a Mediator that in some respect was so for ever Mr. Ainsworth well observes from 3. Gen. 21. God made of Skins Coats and cloathed our first parents That this represented Man's being cloathed by the imputed Righteousness of Jesus for saith he their Cloathing was not of the Skins of Beasts eaten for no Beasts were for food till the time of Noah's Deluge was over 9. Gen. 3. Every moving thing that liveth shall be meat for you even as the green herb have I given you all things Nor yet of Beasts that died of themselves for there was a Ceremonious work of Sacrificing as did Cain and Abel therefore it was saith he of Beasts Sacrificed which were Types of Christ's As Men be Redeemed by the Blood of Christ so are they cloathed by his Righteousness Bishop Hall in his excellent savory Paraphrase thinks this is the sense of the words of Solomon in the Book of Canticles 8. Can. 5. I raised thee up from under the apple-tree there thy mother brought thee forth there she brought thee forth that bare thee as Christ speaking thus to the Spouse O my spouse I raised thee up from under the tree of offence there Eve brought thee forth under the curse she brought thee forth that bare thee Now Mr. Cotton observes when the Church commends Christ She commends his hands but when Christ commends the Church he commends not her hands Canticles chap. 4. and 5. Man is Justified by Christ's Obedience not his own Now Paul preached a Crucified Christ to all the Gentiles idolatrous and prophane Gentiles But when do any Quakers hear any thing of this in their Christless Assemblies God the Father chose some from everlasting gave them to Christ to be Redeemed to the Spirit to be Sanctified else we cannot as some observe talk of a Predestination but may of a Postdestination if Men be Saved on foreseen Holiness 2 Ephes 5 6. By grace are ye saved and are made to sit down in heavenly places in Christ Jesus The Church is the lower Heaven they above and they below make one Family in whom the whole Family in Heaven and Earth is named saith Paul As the Kitchin below and best Room above Christ may say to every Believer as Pharoah's Daughter of Moses I drew him out of the waters Justice placed us all at the mouth of Ruine the Son of God as the Daughter of Pharoah comes and hath Compassion Without understanding Salvation by Christ there is no hope They that reject the outward Crucified Christ reject life Now they once took all in a Mystery an inward Christ was inwardly Crucified This is saith Penn and Whitebread The Lamb slain the Light within opposed by the Sons of Men. 2. Another thing the Scriptures shew is the way God and Christ have appointed to Salvation so we call the Scripture the word of God Christ is seldom so call'd 1 John 1.19 Rev. 13. The Word was God His Name is called the Word of God Why He declareth the Mind and Word of God to men but 30. Proverbs 5 6. Add thou not to his word What is that to Christ You received our testimony not as the word of man but as it is indeed the word of God saith Paul If they are called Gods to whom the word of God came and the Scriptures cannot be broken said Christ You read of them that corrupt the word of God What did they corrupt Christ The Quakers have thousands of times cursed them that call the Scriptures the word of God Heathens could not find out the way to life by any Light within but by Scripture-Revelation Many Atheists and Quakers object against it though now some more sober Some object Moses 1 Gen. 16. makes the Moon greater than the Stars which all Astrologers know to be so only in appearance What an unnecessary noise do some Divines make to answer this to tell what it is Subjectively what it is Objectively Doth Moses say he made the two greater Bodies the Sun to rule the Day the Moon to rule the Night No Now though a Star is a greater Body than the Moon yet the Moon is a greater Light sure So 9. Acts 7. it is said They that were with Paul heard a voice but saw no man yet in the 22. Acts 9. They that were with me saw indeed the light but heard not the voice of him that spake There is an Inarticulate and an Articulate sound or voice they heard the sound but not the voice not the sense spoken How do some triumph in such trifles If any Learned Men be perplexed about things of this nature let them read Searphius his Symphonia If any Unlearned Man be let him read a Book call'd The dividing of the Hoof both which Books have done this work incomparably well of reconciling seeming contradictions in Scripture Our Perfectionists care not to direct their Children to Scripture Consider how the Old Testament ends and the New begins I have sometimes pleased my self not a little with this Meditation Mal. 1.4 5. what a Prophecy is here of Christ and John Baptist and it is a good Providence that the Jews though in unbelief never added any thing to the Cannon of Scripture since none comes now to tell them how large read Isaiah 53. and the Gospel May not he well be call'd the Evangelical Prophet If you be
other answer it if they can I am sure it much concerns them to do it I saw a Letter from a Quaker to his Sweetheart no Quaker and he began thus In my Bed the other Night a word passed through me Here was my Person but my Heart was with thee I can remember no more of the stuff such bring all Religion into Contempt What saith the Scripture said one to me Every Tub must stand on his own bottom They saluted one of their Leaders as the only begotten Son of God who lay from everlasting in the bosom of the Father He received of some Divine Honour as was proved I knew a Minister disturbed in Preaching by a Quaker Woman He got her at last into discourse of practical matters in which she betrayed so much ignorance that she got away as fast as she could An unhappy Boy followed her to the Church-door I pray thee said he tell me who sent thee here to day Who said she God No said the Boy I am sure God never sent thee here for if he had thou hadst never spoken so many things contrary to Scripture And for my part said he I cannot tell what to say to it for I cannot easily imagine the Devil sent thee here for I thought be had more wit than to send such a Fool as thou art about his work She never disturb'd them after The heads of many of their Children are Dungeon dark about Scripture only learn some of their Cants Question 3. Do not many Ministers mistake and that grosly in some words and in their Exposition and in their Doctrines too and many Hearers talk ignorantly as well as Quakers The Answer is easy They pretend not to Infallibility or Inspiration but acknowledge the imperfection of their Understanding as well as Faith and Affection and the necessity of Human Literature and much studying But this is not the Case of the Quakers but the quite contrary Now if I prove a man that pretends to Inspiration in all that he preacheth and that therefore he needeth not the knowledge of Tongues to speak quite contrary to the Scripture and says the Spirit tells him that is the meaning of such a Scripture which is as obvious as the Sun to be quite contrary to what the Spirit there intended I prove that man to belie the Spirit and so to be a Cheat and an Impostor And this is done thousands of times by these Quacks in Divinity The great mistakes of some of our Ministers arise from their want of the culture of good Education How often is it with us as in those times of Jeroboam 1 Kings 12.31 He made priests of the lowest of the people They expose themselves and work to Contempt I pray all true Protestants under what Denomination soever to take care in this respect that their Preachers be not gifted with Ignorance and Confidence like Quakers Speakers The Stories of the three motions of the Sun and the one was when he stood still and the four sort of Seekers one was them that never sought are well known but I will name some not commonly talkt of which I had from worthy persons who know the truth of them by men which are it may be adhuc in vivis One preaching on that Text Psal 139.14 I am fearfully and wonderfully made Read I am fearfully and wonderfully mad The e being left out by a mistake of the Printer this Observation was drawn from the words and drawn to purpose it was That the best Saints may fall into mad Fits On goes Mr. Parson to shew what mad Fits the Saints may fall into 1. Of Anger Anger is a short Madness Till the Hearers thought he had been wonderful mad indeed Another Tradesman sets up for a Preacher and to work goes he on that Text Nahum 3.8 Art thou better than populous No which No is taken to be Alexandria in Egypt Now Beloved saith the powerful Preacher I shall inquire into two things 1. What No was 2. Why he was call'd populous No was the eighth person a Preacher of Righteousness and he was call'd populous because all the world was once in his Ark. Another Reverend Mechanick very lately preach'd a Sermon and a Funeral one too on that Text Psal 39.13 O spare me that I may recover strength before I go hence and be seen no more And you must suppose this warm Man laying about him beating the Air O! my Friends said he is one Scripture word and is used by Daniel three times in one Verse Dan. 9.19 O Lord hear O Lord forgive O Lord hearken Spare is another Scripture word and is joined with Shield and Buckler I remember Col. Crook told me a Story of Col. L preaching in a great Church in Ireland on that Text The Spirit and the Bride say Come Rev. 22.17 The i by a mistake of the Printer that should have been put after the Letter r was put before it and now most devoutly and fervently goes our Preacher to work and reads And the Spirit and the Bird say Come Now enquiry is made what is meant by the Bird the Church what Bird was the Church here compared to Some said he think the Nightingale As if the Man had consulted many a Commentator to find out the Mystery Others thought the Dove and now a Comparison is made between the Church and the Dove for Innocency Chastity Purity Another setting up for a Preacher in a Parish I knew would speak something from those words from no doubt nothing to that in all things he might have the preheminence when he came to this hard word he could not read it well but said That in all things he might have the p r e pre h e he m i mi n e n c e nence preheminence Colos 1.18 I lately saw the Notes of a Tradesman that had been a Speaker thirty years leaving his Trade full of prodigious nonsense The world abounds with them The Bishops have too often Ordained such I knew one who gave a Spiritual receit Take a pint of Repentance with a quart of Faith and so walk forth into the fields of Meditation I knew also one that was made Deacon and told this story at his return When we sate down at Table my Lord bid me Eat he had Two or Three Questions to ask me Eat thought I I fell a sweating sure my Lord will ask me Questions in Divinity and in Divinity said he I am one of the silliest Rogues in the world pray said my Lord Is such a Great Man come to Town No my Lord O thought I that the other Questions may be no harder pray said the Bishop When doth he come to Town He is expected my Lord very speedily Where doth he lodge when he comes said the Bishop My Lord at such a place When said he I heard what the Questions were I fell to it Now such Fellows justify our Quakers in their work If one Tradesman why not another Obj. But the Quakers say some Preach very