Touching the Quakers Government within the Government, and opposite to it, as can be proved from Matter of Fact and Practice.

HAving obtain'd the Key to unlock William Penn's Mysterium Magnum, in his Defence against the [...]ishop of Cork, p. 38. 'And yet where we are vulgarly apprehended to differ most, we differ least; I mean (says Penn) in Doctrine; p. 97. and where we are believ'd to differ least, we most of all differ, &c. For indeed, as [...] Doctrine, tho' the Quakers differ from the Christians, as much, if not more than the Jews, as is well made ap­ [...]ear in a late Dialogue between a Churchman and a Qua­ [...]er, yet I am of W. Penn's Mind, that where they are be­ [...]ievd to differ least, there they differ most of all; namely, [...]ouching Government: And this I shall make appear [...]ro [...] the Quakers Government, which at first appear'd as [...] little Cloud, about the Breadth of a Man's Hand, but [...]ow begins to overshadow the Land: And if God be [...]ot merciful to us, and inspire our Governours with a God [...]y Zeal, to stop the Growth of it, may prove like that of Mahomet, who stuck at nothing, until he had over-run [...]he Eastern Churches; and the Government of the Qua­kers are with as much Keenness levelled against the English Government, as well as the Christian Religion, as Ma­ [...]ome's was, tho' least suspected: A short Account there­of I shall give in these following Particulars.

I. Touching our English Government, viz. 'The Lord is Fisen to overturn, to overturn Kings, Princes, Govern­me [...]ts and Laws, Burrough's Works, p. 244. Again, Dreadful is the Lord, and Powerful, who is coming in his Power to execute true Judgment upon all you Judges, and to charge all your Laws, ye Kings, and all you Rulers must down and cease, and all you underling Officers, wh [...]ch have been as the Arms of this great TREE, all your Branches must be cut down, with the same Power tha [...] cut down the King, ( i.e. King Charles I.) who reign'd ove [...] the Nation, whose Family was a Nursery for Pa­pist [...], and for Bishops: Sing all ye Saints, and rejoice, cla [...] your Hands, and be glad, for the Lord Jehovah will raign, and the Government shall be taken from you pre [...]ended Rulers, Judges and Justices, Lawyers, and Constables. All this TREE must be CƲT down, and Je­sus Christ (in us) will Rule alone. News coming up out of the North, p. 18, to 22.

II. Having given this short Hint of their ancient Anti­monarchial Principles, and they tell us they are the same still, and not changed, neither have they deviated from their ancient Principles in any one Point: I am now come to shew how formidable their Government al­ready is, and that their Yearly Meeting (of which you see a Figure) is this great TREE, which ought to be CƲT DOWN: To use their own Phrase together, with all its Branches, as Monthly, Quarterly, Six Week, and Second Day Meetings; which, tho' I grant therein, is both Preaching and Praying, yet their Business is Government, and not within the meaning of the Act of Toleration. And as it stands in Opposition to the English Government, is of dangerous Consequence; considering 1st, Their Prin­ciples of Infallibility. 2dly, That their Light within is the higher Power, to which every Soul ought to be sub­ject. 3dly, Their Belief in the Motion of their Inspired Prophets. 4thly, That to their Light within all Power in Heaven and Earth is committed, as they teach in Josiah Coal's Works, p. 93. and W. Smith's Primer, p. 13, 43, 44. quoting (tho' quite beside their Matter) John 5.22. and by Authority thereof, when in Counsel Assembled, they exercise their Power, Civil and Ecclesiastical.

III. For once every Whitsuntide they have a Yearly Meeting or Convocation, made up of Deputies from all Parts of England and Wales, together with their Teachers and Agents from beyond Sea, where they sit in Counsel Eight, Ten or Twelve Days together, more or less, where they make and constitute certain Laws and Canons Ec­clesiastical, for the Government of their Society throughou [...] the World: Which, as it is more than the Bishops and Clergy of the Establish'd Church can Legally do, without Licence from His Majesty, and more than any Protestant Dissenting Society desire to do; so is this their Practice against the King's Prerogative, the Rights of Parliament, and the Fundamental Laws of the Land, as at large appears from these Statutes; 28 Hen. 8. c. 19.21. 27 Hen. 8. c. 15. 3 Edw. 6. c. 10, 11. 1 Eliz. c. 12. Magna Charta, c. 29. Pet. Right. 5 Eliz. c. 1. 1 Edw. 6. c. 2. 37 Hen. 8. c. 17. 8 Eliz. c. 1. 1 K. W. & Mariae, N. 307. If the Quakers say I am unreasonable in this Discovery, let them remem­ber this Maxim, Propter quod unum quodque est tale, illud ipsum est Magis tale.

IV. At this Yearly Meeting they vertually (tho' not verbally) Repeal such Parts or Branches of the Laws, as do not Quadrate with their Light within, and thereby absolve the King's Subjects (if the Quakers may be called such) from their Active Obedience to the Laws of the Land; thereby causing them to adhere to a Superior Power to that of King, Lords and Commons; namely, to their Light within; to which they say, all Power in Heaven and Earth is committed, as above noted; and by Virtue here­of, what is made Lawful to Day at Westminster, (to speak comparativdy) they Null and make Void to Morrow at Grace-Church Street, as not only Unlawful, but Antichristian: And h [...]w far this affects the Government, I humbly submit to our Legisators.

V. At th [...] Meeting they keep their Doors Lockt, Barr'd, or Bolted, [...] a Guard of Men, to prevent Inspection, whereby the [...] have forfeited the Benefit assigned them by the Act of Toleration, made the 21. of May, 1689. and in the First Ye [...] of Their Majesties Reign, King William, and the late Que [...]n Mary, of Blessed Memory, in which is this Clause, viz. ‘Provided always, and be it enacted by the Authority foresaid, That if any Assembly of Persons dis­senting from the Church of England, shall be had in any Place for Religious Worship, with the Doors Lockt, Barr'd or Bolted, during any time of such Meeting together, all and every such Person or Persons, that shall come to, and be at any such Meeting, shall not receive any Be­nefit from this Law: But be liable to all the Pains and Penalties of all the aforesaid Laws, recited in this Act, &c.’

VI. At this Meeting they hold a general Rendezvous from all Parts of the World, where they have got footing; who being assembled in Counsel, by their Laws they for­bid their Disciples paying of Tythes, and towards the Re­pairing Parish Churches, Marrying by or with a Publick Minister, Carrying Guns, &c. As Antichristian Yoaks of Bondage, giving Order to their Deputies, and by them, to their Monthly and Quarterly Meetings throughout England and Wales; to collect, and to send up all such Sufferings, as come upon them for Non-payment of Tythes, &c. In or­der to enter into their Record for Sufferings, (thereby ren­dering to future Ages all our Magistrates and Law-makers, who either make or execute the Laws, Persecutors) direct­ly in Opposition to another Branch of the recited Act of Parliament, viz. ‘Provided always, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to exempt any of the Persons aforesaid from paying of the Tythes, or other Parochial Duties, or any other Duties to the Church or Minister, &c.’

VII. They also have a Fund or Common Stock; which this Meeting orders to be raised without Authority of Par­liament; which said Fund is to support their Government, and propagate their Principles. At this Meeting they or­der a Committee of Inspection to view their Accompts; they also have Treasurers, whose Names in 1693. were W. Crouch, J. Staploe, W. Chandler, W. Beech, W. Macket, and N. Marks; which being put together, as it shews their Design to be laid deep, so it appears to be of a dangerous Consequence, especially when they shall think themselves able to Capitulate; for Money answers all things, as the Proverb is, and our English Magistrates have ever looked upon Common Bankers, to be as bad as those that hoard up Arms and Ammunition; and how dangerous that is in this united Confederacy, I leave others to judge.

VIII. At this Meeting, Anno 1693. when we were actu­ally engaged in a War with France, even then did they take Care that their People should not be Assistant; nay, not so much as to carry Guns in their Ships: And 'tis worth our Notice, that from their Yearly Meetings they yet never made any one Publick Address to His present Majesty, altho' it was their constant Practice, during the late Reign: Insomuch, that as Quakerism prevail, (so long as they keep to their late Testimony against Fighting) the Protestant Interest is so much weakned: But whenever they shall Re-assume their Fighting Principles, (as in Pensilvania they have already done) they'll be a dreadful People to England, in overturning Kings, Princes, Governments and Laws, owning no King but Jesus, i. e. their Light within, as a­bove observed: Then shall we find W. Penn's Words true, who now tell us, That where we believe they differ least, there they differ most of all.

IX. At this Meeting they receive in, and send out their Intelligence to all Parts, Foreign and Domestick; as also how to spread their Books; the Expence of which, as well as Stipends for their Preaching Emissaries, attending Parliaments, &c. are supplied by their Common Bank: And as this shews their Communication with Foreigners, so does it afford a good Reason why this Communication ought to be CƲT off, which can be done no otherwise, but by Cutting down this Great TREE, i. e. their Yearly Meeting, with all its Branches.

X. And as a further Demonstration of the Truth of the Ninth Head, touching their holding a Correspondency with Foreigners, which is of a dangerous Consequence, (being of themselves already in England, as I have seen in Print, above 100000) and the Extent of their Domini­on, to which they are united, both in our own Plantati­ons, as well as in other Kingdoms; as Maryland, Virginia, Barbadoes, Jamaica, East and West Jersey, Pensilvania, New-England, North-Carolina, Rhoad-Island, Long-Island, An­tegoa, Mevis, Ireland, Scotland, Holland, Port-Royal, Dant­zick, Hamburgh, Brandenburgh, Saxony, Germany, &c. I say, when this united Confederacy are moved, either by their Light within, or by a Motion of their Inspired Pro­phets, to call to their Assistance Two or Three Regiments from each of these Places, what will become of poor Eng­land? Then, tho' too late, we may experience the Truth of W. Penn's Words, viz. Where we believed the Quakers differ'd from us least, there they most of all differ'd.

XI. At these Meetings they Renew, Revive, and Main­tain their Ancient Testimony and First Principles with Vi­gor in all the Parts of it, both against Church and State, viz. Whether it be against the Scripture, being the Word of God, and Rule of Life and Practice, under the Con­t [...]mptuous Names of Death, Dust, Beastly Ware, Serpents Meat, &c. Whether it be against the Ordinances, which Christ Instituted in his Church as Baptism with Water, and the Supper with Bread and Wine, under the Names of Carnal, that arose from the Pope's Invention, and is the Table of Devils, and Cup of Devils: Affirming from Heb. 9.10. That Circumcision is as much in force as Wa­ter Baptism, and the Paschal Lamb as Bread and Wine; and that they (the Quakers) testifie from the same Spirit by which Paul Renounced Circumcision, that they are to be Rejected, as not now Required.

Whether it be to dialogue the Bishops, and call them Monsters; to censure the Book of Common-Prayer to proceed from the Pope's Loins.

Whether it be, that the Clergy, be Witches, Devils, Antichrists, Sodomites, Blood-Hounds, Gormandizing Priests, the Bane of Soul and Body of the Universe; for whom (say the Quakers) the Theatre of God's most dread­ful Vengeance is reserved to act their Eternal Tragedy upon; as they have sentenced them.

Whether it be against the Protestant Dissenters, the Presbyterians, Independants, and Baptists, whom they call, An ill-bred Pedantick Crew, the Bane of Religion, and P [...] [Page]of the VVorld; the old Incendiaries to Mischief, and the best to be spared of Mankind. Against whom, the BOYLING VENGEANCE of an Irritated God is ready to be poured out.

In a Word, whether it was their Ancient Principles; that Kings were SPIRITUAL EGY [...]TIANS; that all People, since the Days of Christ, that Loved, Honour­ed, and Obeyed Kings, were APOSTATES; that all Par­liaments chosen by the People, and elected by most Voices, were Enemies to God and his People; yea, any, or all, or a Hundred times more than I here have mention'd, were HEATHEN APOSTATES, &c. by their Ancient Principles; and because of which Principles, they were glad of an Act of Oblivion upon the Re­stauration; yet at these their Yearly Meetings, where their Doors are shut close, and where they can freely debate; there they can so far forget themselves, as that they Renew these their old Seditious and Bloody Principles: And to prove it so, shall be my 12th and last Head on this Subject.

XII. At their Yearly Meeting, 1696. by way of Revival of all and singular their Ancient Erroneous and Seditious Principles, which I have in this or other of my Writings objected against them; they Ratifie and Confirm in these Words; VVe cannot but Recommend to you (say this general Councel to their Deputies and Disciples) the holding up the HOLY Testimony of TRUTH, which hath made us to be a People, and that in ALL the PARTS of it; for Truth is one, and changes not; and what it convinced us to be Evil in the Beginning, it reproves still, &c. Viz. Whether Kings or Parliaments, Magistrates or Ministers, Scriptures or Ordinances, &c. Again, to Confirm what I say at their Second Day Meeting, 1698. in their Book there approved, intituled, Primi­tive Christianity Continued, p. 6. They assert, saying, ‘Our Principles are now no other than what they were when we were first a People, &c.’ And what their Principles were in the beginning, I have here and elsewhere given a large Account.

And now for a Conclusion, and by way of Apology, I have this to say: That altho' none can be Ignorant, (who are conversant in the Quakers Writings) how bold they have been in all Governments to Dictate as Prophets of the most High, and in the Name of the Great God, to prescribe Methods, both to Kings and Parliaments, Judges and Justices, as well how to make, as execute the Laws already made, yet I hope I shall not follow their Example therein. But when I have discharged my Conscience, and performed my Duty, as an English Man, and a Christian; all I have said, or what I have still to say, I shall humbly submit to the Wisdom of my Superiors, not doubting but to make good Proof of every thing suggested, either from Matter of Fact out of their Books, or by my own Ex­perience, which they shall not be able to gainsay.

But if after all, the Quakers shall say they are Misre­presented, which is the usual Refuge for all Hereticks to fly unto, yet let this be observed; that as on the one Hand, if it were enough to Condemn a Man, meerly to accuse him, then none would be Innocent, who are in Controversie; so on the other Hand, none would be guilty, if it were a sufficient Excuse, to say, I am misrepresented: And therefore I shall once more ac­cept of George VVhitehead's Offer, if he think I wrong the Quakers, as in their Vindication, printed 1693. p. 4. col. 1. viz. ‘ I George VVhitehead freely offer, and am willing to make it plainly appear before ANY Six, Ten, or Twelve Competent Witnesses, w [...]o are moderate Men of Sense, and common Reason, That Francis Bugg hath grosly and wickedly Abused and Per­verted Truth, and Wronged the People called Qua­kers, in Charge, Citation, and Observation, &c.’

Now, in Answer and Acceptation hereof, I do say, and freely offer to meet him on these Terms, let him chuse the one half of the Six, Ten or Twelve mo­derate Men, and I will chuse the other half of them out of the Ministers of any of the four Christian Socie­ties, whether Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Indepen­dants or Baptists, and to them I will leave my Cause, if he will engage to do the same: But if he shall say he cannot find so many Men of common Sense and Mo­deration amongst them all, that he dare trust his Cause withal, it either shews that he is Conscious that he has a bad Cause to defend, or so faithless, as to think he cannot find Six such Men that will do him Justice as far as his Case will bear: And so I conclude a Lover of my King and Country, and an earnest Contender for the Christian Faith. Francis Bugg. Postscript. Since I wrote the foregoing, I have seen a Scurrilo [...]s and Scandalous Pamphlet, subscribed (tho' like Ahab disgui­sed) by a pretended Member of the Church of England, whilst I have Reason to believe the Author thereof to be a real Quaker, tho' ashamed (as well he may) to subscribe his Name; suggesting in the said Pamphlet, that the De­sign of the Petitioners is to raise Persecution; which as it is altogether False, and without any Ground, as may be seen by the Petition, so likewise do the Quakers not fear Persecution, since that would turn to the Account of their deceivable Teachers, who are Men of De­sign, and have Ends to serve, being Originally, and generally speaking, Men of no Fortunes: As Jour­neymen Carpenters, Taylors, Shoe-makers, Combers, Weavers, &c. And Persecution would be a means for their Implicite Followers to open their Pur­ses wider, and so enlarge their Fund or Common Bank, as well as thereby give them cause to glory i [...] their Sufferings, in Hopes thereby to advance themselves: No; this is not their Fear, but their Fear and Dread is, that they should come to be Examined; their Errors Discover'd; their Followers thereby Inlightned [...] their Holy Cheats Manifested, and their Jesuitical Cra [...] grow into Disesteem.

And further, this Pamphlet suggests, that F. Bugg is Judas, the Church of England the Jews, and cons [...]quent­ly, that the Quakers are Jesus: All which shews this obscure Author to be a real Quaker; and from [...]ence I cannot but observe a Story I lately heard of a Project proposed, and carried on, to Acquit VV. P. of t [...]e then general Suspicion of being a J—t, tho' I think it ra­ther increased it: For P. E. and W. P. both jugg [...]d toge­ther, and P. E. was to be the Gentleman, and [...]s such, to write a Letter, thus superscribed, To the Honourable William Penn, Esq; Proprietor and Governor of Pens [...]lvania, and VV. Penn to answer it. Well, an Answer to it was written, and both printed 1688. No matter whether each wrote their Part, or one wrote Both, they were then both Quakers, and it was for a Design; and to serve a Turn, they can turn their Dialect into any Shape. In like manner I take this Subscription of the Obscure pretended Member of the Church of England, (by his Scandalous Reflections) to be a real Quaker.

But as this is no new thing with the Quakers, so I shall shew, that there is not a Member of the House of Commons, that keeps a Coach, and a Man to wait up­on him, that have not lain under as hard a Censure, as the being accounted a Judas. For the Quakers in this have no Regard to Persons: Nay, I shall prove by their Doctrine, that all the Gentlemen in England are the CHILDREN of the DEVIL, as amply as I have al­ready proved, that all our Kings, since the Days of Christ, were SPIRITUAL EGYPTIANS; and that all that Loved, Honoured, Feared and Obeyed them, are and were APOSTATES: And my present proof shall be (omitting many I might make mention of) out of a Book, wrote by one of their most Celebrated Authors, intituled, The Trump [...]t of the Lord, blown by a Servant of the Lord, &c. printed 1 [...] and in p. 10. said to be VVritten from the Spirit of the Lord, and p. 13. From the Mouth of the Lord. I am the more particular herein, because George Whitehead, in his Book, Truth defending the Quakers, &c. says, p. 7. That which is spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any, is of as great Authority as the Scriptures or Chapters are, and GREATER. And having thus proved the Au­thority of this Book of James Parnell to be GREATER than that of our Bible, by the several Quaker Testimo­nies, I now proceed to my Proof, viz. p. 1, 2, 3. ‘Wo unto you Lords, Ladies, Knights, Gentlemen and Gentlewomen, who are called Master, Sir, Mistress, and Madam; you must have your Ale, (saith this Prophet Parnell) and your Wine; your dainty Dishes, Dives like, your fine Attire, Silk and Velvet, Gold and Silver, Waiting Men, and Waiting Maids; your Curious Buildings, Lofty Horses, Coaches to ride in, all which are the Fruits of the Devil: And you shall be cast into Hell, and the Pit, as was Lucifer, Dives, Haman, Pharoah and Herod, and the rest of your Fore-Fathers, whose Portion is in the Lake that burneth for ever and ever; you are all Heathens, both Priests and People; away with all your Profession, ye Chil­dren of the Devil.’ And further, to corroborate and strengthen my Evidence from the Joint Testimony of the Quakers, read Geo. Whitehead and W. Penn's Serious Apology, &c. p. 185, to 189, where this James Parnell is not only called their dear Friend and Brother, but they have bestowed about Three Pages in Quarto, most of it in red Letters, to Canonize him for a Saint, and to suffer Martyrdom for their Cause, tho' I have been credibly informed that he starved himself, by o­ver-long fasting in Colchester Goal: But did not W. Penn forget himself, when he Canonized this Monster Par­nell, for a Saint, since he himself transgress his Doctrine, and must go to Hell for Riding in his Coach? If he says that his is no Coach, but a Leathern Conveniency, yet, as I have heard, he hath curious Buildings, and good Wine, Waiting Men, and Waiting Maids, and ofttimes good and dainty Dishes of Meat, Dives like, (to use his deceased dear Brother's Words) and then to Pot he goes; yea, to the Pit, to the Lake, to Hell and the Devil, by this Doctrine of his Canonized Saint: But does Will. Penn believe the Doctrine this Fellow preach'd and writ, and pretended he had it, and gave it forth from the Mouth of the Lord? I suppose not; for if he does, and thus evidently transgress the same, he must be a self-condemned Apostate; if he does not, but believe him to have been a Cheat, and an Impostor, and that he only writ so, to affrighten some silly ignorant People, to drink Water, to live in poor Cottages, like G. Whitehead's in the North, and so thereby prevail upon them to be Quakers, that he, as well as his surviving Brother, G. Whitehead, might get good Horses and Houses, and dainty Dishes out of them. I say, if W. Penn believe this, as I am apt to think, the Original will bear this Interpretation▪ Then Wi [...]l. Penn is a gross Hypocrite, let him and his Brethren get out of this Dilemma if they can, I know they'll be angry; for nothing does more anger these Men, than to touch them (as witty Erasmus once said to a Monk) in their tender Part, their Belly; or in plain English, to speak Truth of them, this they account un­reasonable; but if any shall object, that this is old Quakerism, the new Quakers have now more Wit, I answer, as before told, that at their Yearly and Second Day Meetings they revive these their Ancient Testi­monies, and say, (to make their Followers think them Infallible) That their Principles are now no other, than what they were in the beginning; for as God is un­changeable, ( Mal. 3.6.) so are his People, and there­fore they advise to the holding up their Ancient Testi­mony in all the parts of it. And they have inserted a long Paragraph in the Postman, Numb. 568. upon oc­casion of a late Conference at West-Dereham, in Norfolk, wherein are these Words; ‘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 this not the least part, I am sure; but some may still object, that they hear nothing against Quakerism from the Presbyte­rians, Independants and Baptists, save only the Church of England, &c. To which I answer, on their Behalfs, that they are one with the Church in this Case, and are sorrowfully affected, that they are join'd with them in the Act of Toleration, to see Christianity suffer so deeply by their Antiscriptural Doctrine; and not only so, but I have a Testimony well Attested of their Ab­horrence of their Blasphemous Tenents, which, up­on Examination before a Committee, I shall shew; an Abstract thereof is as followeth, viz. ‘That the Qua­kers render the Holy Scriptures to be of no more Au­thority than Esop's Fables; That the Blood of Christ is no better than the Blood of another Saint; That the Quakers are the Spawn of the Ranters; That the Quakers owning Christ is no other than a Mystical Ro­mance; That the Tendency of all the Quakers Reason­ing about Instituted Religion is to debauch Mankind; That their Principles Improved are destructive to all Humane Society; That their Teachers are Cheats and Impostors, and Implacable Enemies to the Chri­stian Religion, &c.’

Here you have the Unanimous Consent of all Prote­stants, both Conformists and Nonconformists, for the Examination of the Quakers, and for the Censuring or Suppressing their Errors, and that for their Good too, especially for the Good of Thousands of honest well-meaning, tho' miserably misled People, of their Fol­lowers; and as this will tend to the stopping of the Gangreen of Quakerism. So it is hoped, and earnestly prayed, that the same may be taken into your Serious Consideration.