Something in ANSWER TO THE Allegations of the QUAKERS, IN THEIR Printed CASE presented to the House of Commons, Decemb. 1693. The INTRODUCTION.
HAVING seen one of your Papers wherein you pray'd That your Word may be taken instead of an Oath, and humbly intreat them tenderly to demonstrate their Christian Charity, reminding them, that being merciful, they may obtain mercy, &c. I know it is written, The merciful shall obtain mercy, and consequently the charitable shall be charitably dealt by; but contrariwise, what shall the unmerciful and uncharitable meet with? and that you are those very Men, your Principles and Doctrine laid down by your most Authentick Authors, have mo [...]e then sufficiently manifested. You know your Books are of two sorts; the one to the World, or the Worlds People; the other to go only amongst your Disciples, directed to be read in your Meetings. In the first you frequently pretend to Charity, Tenderness and Meekness; this I call your Light side; this you turn to the Parliament: the other I call your Dark side, which is so deformed, that you are loath to have it viewed: And yet by the last, I mean by your uncharitable Names and reproachful Term [...], you have added more to your Flock, then by your former; for whoever believes that the [Page 2] Publick Ministers, the Sacraments, the Scriptures, and P [...]otestant Religion to be what you say them to be, are mad if they do not reject them all, and turn Quakers; especially if they also believe you to be what you say your selves to be, viz. the only People of God. And thereupon I shall recite some few Passages out of your Books wrote by your chief Ministers, particularly G. Fox and Edw. Burroughs, two great Prophets in O. C's time; the memorable Works of the last you have reprinted in Folio, and on the Title Page publish'd him to be A true Prophet, a Son of Thunder, a faithful Servant of God, &c. And the Works of the other, some say, are ready to appear in the World. I shall not now recite the Prophesies of G. Fox in his Book stiled, News coming up out of the North, p. 20. nor E. Burrough's in his Works, p. 203, 244. but rather those Passages relating to Scripture, Ordinances, Publick Ministry, and Parliaments, with some few Observations and Queries. In which I shall deal first fairly in citing, and modestly in my Observations and Queries, so that I hope there will not be a hard word in the whole Sheet, unless it be your own. And in regard you pretend to write by an Infallible Spirit, equivolent to Scripture, I hope you will not find fault with your own; nor me, I hope, for calling a Spade, a Spade. But if you do, 'tis all one; I am resolved, God assisting, to go on, concluding that 'tis as laudable for me to vindicate the Christian Religion in print, as for you in print to undermine it, and if it were possible to overthrow it: but of this I will not be my own Judge, but appeal to every Christian Reader, and before ten or twelve impartial Men, offer to produce every Book and Page which I quote. Thus much by way of Introduction.
THEIR CONTEMPT OF SCRIPTURE AND ORDINANCES.
NEws coming up out of the North, &c. p. 14. Their Original is carnal, and th [...]ir Communion is carnal, a little Bread and Wine; so Dust is the Serpent meat; their Original is but Dust, which is but the Letter, which is Death, so the Serpent feeds upon Dust; and their Gospel is Dust, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, which is the Letter. Page 34. A voice and a word to all you Deceivers, who deceive the People, and Blasphemers, who utter forth your Blasphemy and Hypocrisie, that tell People of a Sacrament, and tell them it is the Ordinance of God: Blush, blush and tremble you who live in the witchery, and bewitch the People.
Truths Defence, &c. p. 101. The Letter which killeth is dangerous, and the Ministers of the Letter are Ministers of Death, to you, it is dangerous to read or speak of it.
Saul's Errand, &c. p. 7. All that do study to raise a living thing out [Page 3] of a dead, to raise the Spirit out of the Letter, are Conjurers, and their preaching is from Conjuration, which is not spoken from the mouth of the Lord.
David's Enemies discovered, &c. p. 7. And these (i. e. Quakers) do not call the Letter the Rule, and the four Books Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, the New Testament and Gospel, as thou (i. e. Publick Minister) and thy Generation do; thy Ministry is in the Letter, which killeth.
- Geo. Whitehead.
- Christoph. Atkinson.
Several Petitions answered, &c. p. 30. But if ever you own the Prophets, Christ, or the Apostles, you will own our Writings which are given forth by the same Spirit and Power.
Truths Defence, &c. p. 2, 104. You might have as well condemned the Scriptures to the fire, as our Books; for our giving forth Papers, or printed Books, it is from the immediate Eternal Spirit of God.
Edw. Burrough's Works, p. 518. about Water-Baptism and the Sacrament; hear him what he says, viz. We do utterly deny, and do say, it is no Ordinance of God, but is an Institution of the Whore of Rome, and England received it by a Popish Institution; and your Practice of it is Idolatry, and no part of the Worship of God.
William Smith's Primer, &c. p. 36. Quest. How is it concerning these things called Ordinances, as Baptism, and Bread and Wine?
Answ. As to those things, they arose from the Pope's Invention, who hath had power in the night of Apostacy, and hath set up his Devices, which are yet continued in England, though he seemingly is denied; and the whole practice of those things, as they use them, had their Institution by the Pope, and were never so ordained of Christ.
Edw. Burrough's Works, p. 51. Herein have you been bewitched from the obedience of the Truth within, to obey the Letter without. See p. 58. for more of this nature.
Observation and Query.
Let the Reader observe, and see what grounds of Hope you can possibly have to be so tenderly and charitably received and imbraced, who thus contemn the Scripture, prophane the Ordinances of Jesus Christ, and exalt your own Writings, yea make void the Sufferings of the Martyrs, and reject the Practice of the Churches of Christ in all Ages, who received the Sacrament, and were Baptized, and yet had the Spirit as much as you can pretend to have So that as you confess your selves, you were raised contrary to all men, so are your Principles and Practices contrary to all the Churches of Christ since the Apostles days.
And thereupon I Query,
Query 1. Why do you not first Retract and Condemn these erronious Books, if you be now of another mind; if not, with what Face can you appear to begg the Favour of such whose Christian Principles you are undermining?
THEIR CONTEMPT OF THE PUBLICK MINISTRY.
A Brief Discovery, &c. p. 7, 8, 9, 10. The Priests of the World are Conjurers, Thieves, Robbers, Antichrist's, Witches, Devils, Vipers, Serpents, scarlet coloured Beasts, Merchants of Babylon, selling beastly Wares, the Letter, which is Dust and Death, greedy Doggs, really they are Blood-hounds, still hunting and gasping after their prey like the mouth of Hell, ambitious Pharisees, laying heavy Burthens on mens shoulders; Wo, wo, wo, was the Portion of those Pharisees then, and wo, wo, wo is their portion now: And Wo and Misery is the Portion of the Vpholders of that treacherous Crew and deceitful Generation, who are the only Maintainers of the Seven Heads and Ten-horn'd Beast, &c.
The Guide mistaken, &c. p. 18. And whilst the idle Gormondizing Priests of England, run away with above fifteen hundred thousand pounds a year, under pretence of being God's Ministers, and that no sort of People have been so universally through Ages the bane of Soul and Body of the Universe, as that abominable Tribe, for whom the Theatre of God's most dreadful Vengeance is reserved to act their Eternal Tragedy upon, &c. per William Penn.
An Antidote against the Venome, &c. p. 78. Truth allows no payment of Tythes at all under the New Covenant; they who pay Tythes uphold a Legal Ceremony abrogated by Christ, and thereby deny Christ to be come in the flesh, which is a Mark of Antichrist.
Observation and Query.
Reader, Note their uncharitable Sentance of the Publick Ministry, as Gor nondizing Priests, Witches, Devils, Blood-hounds, &c. upon whom God's dreadful Vengeance is to fall; but above all, that such as pay Tythes deny Christ come in the Flesh, and are therefore so many Antichrists; by this they have condemned the Martyrs, and all Christians, yea Kings, Parliaments and People who pay or take Tythes, &c. and thereupon I Query of you Quakers, who say you are raised contrary to all men:
Query 2. Whether you be of the same mind still? if you are, how then can you have the Face to ask any Favour at the Hands of such who not only pay Tythes, but receive Tythes; nay not [Page 5] only so, but make L [...]ws that Tythes shall be paid; and consequently by your Doctrine are Antichrist's, and deny Christ come in the flesh; if you say No, your Minds are altered. Then [...]o make them believe so, there is two things requisite: first condemn your Books that so teach, and let your Sincerity be confirmed by your paying them, as the Law directs: for if you say we never so said, so writ, nor so affirmed, remember the P—for I have the Books by me; and let your Brother Jacob Baker be a warning to you.
THEY DENY JESUS OF NAZARETH.
William Smith's Primer, &c. p. 1. How shall I know God?
Answ. Thou must wait to know something of God in thee, which in thy own Conscience he makes manifest.
Quest. P. 8. How may I know when Christ is truly preached?
Answ. They that are false (Ministers) preach Christ without, and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above; but they that are Christ's Ministers preach Christ within.
Quest. P. 9. Here is then great difference in their Doctrine?
Answ. Yes; and no more fellowship then East with West.
W. Smith's Catechism. Quest. p. 57. And is that which is within you the only Foundation upon which you stand and the Principle of your Religion?
Answ. That of God within us is so; for we know it is Christ; and being Christ, it must needs be only and principal; for that which is only admits not of another, and that which is principal is greatest in being: And thus we know Christ in us to be unto us the only and principal.
Quest. 64. What is your Faith concerning Christ in you, as a Mediator?
Answ. We believe that Christ in us doth offer up himself a living Sacrifice unto God for us, by which the Wrath and Justice of God is appeased towards us.
Quest. What is your Faith concerning Christ in you as an Intercessor?
Answ. We believe that Christ in us doth intercede the Father on our behalf.
Edw. Burrough's Works, p. 149. Is that very Man, with that very Body, within you, yea or nay?
Answ. The very Christ of God is within us; we dare not deny him.
Saul's Errand, &c. p. 32. Did'st not thou write a Paper, that he who thinks to be saved by that Christ who suffered at Jerusalem, would be deceived.
Answ. If I cannot witness Christ neerer then Jerusalem, I shall have no benefit by him; but I own no other Christ but that who witnessed a good Confession before Pilate, which Christ, I witness, suffering in me now.
REMARK.
The that which they mean that made this Confession, was the Life or Spirit, or Substance which spake through him, and not Jesus of Nazareth, which was born of the blessed Virgin, who sate on Jacob's Well, who was smote with the Palms of their Hands, run through with a Spear, died, rose again, and in the same Body ascended up into Heaven in the sight of the Galaleans, and there sits at the right hand of God, making Intercession for us, and shall come again in like manner at the last Day to Judge both Quick and Dead: I say, the that which they mean was not this Jesus of Nazareth, but the Light, Spirit, and something in that Body: And this I shall prove by a Text of their own Scriptures, which they call the Word of God, which Term they will not allow the Bible, &c.
A Question to Professors, &c. p. 33. Now the Scriptures do expresly distinguish between Christ and the Garment which he wore; between him that came, and the Body in which he came, between the Substance which was vailed, and the Vail which vailed it: There is plainly he, and the Body in which he came; there was the outward Vessel and the inward Life; this we certainly know, and can never call the Bodily Garment Christ, but that which appeared and dwelt in the Body.
Observation and Query.
Now since 'tis evident (as heretofore I have from Scripture proved) they deny Jesus of Nazareth, and the Testimony of God, Angels and Men, I Query thereupon,
Query 3. How can you seek to Authority, until you have, under your Hands, condemned these erronious Books, with any hopes of a tender acceptation? or can you rationally think they will take no notice of these [...]our Antichristian Principles which you slily insinuate into the Minds of the People, under the Notion of a New Gospel, and a New Religion.
THEIR CONTEMPT OF GOVERNOURS.
Edward Burrough's Works, p. 507. But as for this People (the Quakers) they are raised of the Lord, and established by him, even contrary to all men: and they have given their power only to God, and they cannot give their power to any mortal men, to stand or fall by any outward Authority, and to that they cannot seek. P. 501. We stand Witnesses against Parliaments, Councils, Judges, Justices, who make and execute Laws in their Wills over the Consciences of Men, or punish for Conscience sake; to such Laws, Customs, Courts, or Arbitrary usurped Dominion, we cannot yield obedience. P. 621. Nay, their (the Quakers) Kingdom is from above, and th [...]y reject the Countenance of the Beasts Authority; and they rej [...] any confidence that the Draggon and unjust Power can repose in th [...]. P. 53. For we are gathered up into the Life which the holy men [...]f God lived in, and are fall'n from the World, and its Ways and Nature. P. 50. For even the Father bears Witness of us, and therefore our Witness is true. P. 522. — A running to the Powers of the Earth, what have you Ministers lost the Lord to be your strength, that you must flee for help to Men? Must they make Laws to establish you, and set you up? Is not this the Whore that rode upon the Beast, and that the Beast carried? And p. 524. to the Parliament thus, viz. You do but cause People to drink of the Whores Cup; and you are but them which carry the Whore, viz. the false Church: and this is plain dealing to tell you the Truth, &c.
Observation and Query.
Reader, Note they say they were raised contrary to all men, (and indeed so I think, in that their Principles are contrary to all mens) but to reject the Countenance of Men, and yet seek it, and condemn others for seeking to men, and yet do the same, what Contradiction is here? But if they say, they are of another Opinion and Judgment, as that they should be by their Practice, why do they not condemn these erronious Books: for it was W. Penn's way with the Papists, in his Book, A seasonable Caveat, &c. p. 35. To conclude (saith W. P.) if we would not receive a Thief until he has repented, let the Papists first recant of his voluminous Errors. So say I, let the Quakers first recant of their Errors, condemn their Books, and make a Confession of the Christian Faith, and all under their Hands; and then, and not [Page 8] whilst then, let Compassion be shewed to them. To which let me add a Query:
Query 4. Whether 'tis not the Fruit of this Spirit that thus slights Authority, which hath lead you these two Summers, that when Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independants and Baptists, [who in obedience to their Majesties Proclamation for the keeping a strict Fast] humbled themselves in Fasting and Prayer for their Sins, and the Sins of the Nation, praying for his Majesty's good Success and safe Return; that you (being as you say raised contrary to all men) took no notice of it, but one at Plow, another at Cart, and others with their Shop Windows open.
Query 5. Whether was the Sufferings of Christ, or the Sufferings of the Quakers greatest?
Answ. See Edw. Burrough's Works, &c. p. 273. And this is to go abroad in the Nation, and in the World, That the Sufferings of the People of God (called Quakers) in this Age is greater Sufferings, and more unjust, than in the days of Christ, or any time since: what was done to Christ and his Apostles, was chiefly done by a Law, and in great part by the due Execution of a Law.
Query 6. If it be Criminal to conceal Treason against my Natural Prince, what is it to conceal these horrible Blasphemies of these wretched Imp—rs, who undervalue the Death and Sufferings of Christ, contemn his Laws, despise his Ordinances, revile his Magistrates, reproach his Ministers? which to set forth, with the Fruits of it, require a Brief History of the Rise, Growth, and Progress of Quakerism, which in time possibly you may see: not only manifesting your Principles to be Antichristian, Anti-Scriptural, Anti-Magistratical, unreasonable, and irrational, from the day of your Date, viz. 1650. to 1693. but also your delusive Arts whereby you have multiplied your Proselytes, and advanced your worldly Interest. And that a Spirit of Persecution hath been amongst you from the beginning, is manifest in their Trial of G. Keith, &c. who are Quakers, for matter of Conscience, and saying, That no such damnable Heresies and Doctrines of Devils were tolerated in any Protestant Society besides the Quakers, before a Court of Quakers (being Justices of the Peace) at a Quarter-Sessions held at Philadelphia, Decemb 1692. and were fined and imprisoned, as appears by their Trial, A seasonable Caution against the prevalency of Quakerism.