Shewing the design of the following work, with a just comparison 'twixt the Quakers and Muggletonians.
THE controversy with the Quaker Dissenters, has not been pursued by the Church of England with the like zeal and pains as those against the Presbyterians, Independents, and other Dissenters, because the Quakers were not so Considerable, either for their Learning, or for their Influence upon the Publick Revolutions, which the others caus'd both in Church and State.
But their numbers (increas'd by being neglected) are now become Formidable, chiefly for the many Souls seduced by them: they not only swarm over these Three Nations, but they stock our Plantations abroad.
{Page 2} It is wholly for the love of Souls, that I have enter'd into this Controversie. And, therefore, to do Right to All, I have made a Distinction between them in the very Title.
I name many of their Principal Leaders; because I have great Charity for the generality of the Ignorant sort of them, some of whom I know to be very Honest and Well-meaning Men, and Devout in their way, and who suspect nothing of the Depth of that Mystery of Iniquity wherein they are Blindly, and Implicitly led. And therefore it is chiefly for the sake of these that I detect the Errors of their Leaders and Ministers, that they may now at length, if it be the Will of God, recover themselves out of the Snares of the Devil, wherein they are taken Captive by him at his will.
Secondly, I name the Subtilty of these Rabbies of the Quakers: for though they are generally thought the most Ignorant and Contemptible Sect amongst all our Dissenters, and therefore are most neglected by us; yet, since I have perused their books and conversed with some of them, I have much altered my opinion as to that.
I find them to inherit the Hypocrisie as well as Heresie of the Arians and Socinians, who were the most Subtile, and hardest to be Detected, of any of the Christian Heretics. And the Quakers do defend themselves with the same Distinctions, and even add to their Arts, as you shall see.
But they are now at a very hard Lock. For many of them have really gone off from that height of Blasphemy and Madness which {Page 3} was Professed among them at their first setting up in the Year 1650, and so continued till after the restoration, Anno 1660, since which time they have been coming off by degrees; especially of late, some of them have made nearer advances towards Christianity than ever before: And, among them, the Ingenious Mr. Penn has of late refin'd some of their gross Notions, and brought them into some Form, has made them speak Sense and English, of both which George Fox (their First and Great Apostle) was totally Ignorant, as you will see in the few Quotations which I have Transcrib'd out of his Great Mystery in his own words. But so wretched is their State, that though they have in a great measure reformed from the errors of the Primitive Quakers, yet they will not own this, because, as they think, it would Reflect upon their whole Profession, as indeed it does, and Argues that their Doctrine was Erroneous from the Beginning, and their Pretence False and Impious, upon which they first left the Church, and run into Schism: Therefore they endeavour all they can to make it appear that their Doctrine was Uniform from the Beginning, and that there has been no Alteration; and therefore they take upon them to defend all the Writings of George Fox, and others of the first Quakers, and turn and wind them, to make them (but it is impossible) agree with what they Teach now at this day.
{Page 4} On the contrary, they have, by these Arts brought back their New Reformation to the Old Standard; and while they wou'd Reconcile, they, in effect, Justifie and still maintain their first Blasphemous Pretences; only have Dress'd and Couch'd them more Craftily, which is more Wickedly.
Therefore to rid them out of their Difficulty, I would persuade them, openly and above-board, to Renounce George Fox and their first Reformers, and all their Blasphemous and Heretical doctrine.
Which whoever refuses to do, must be concluded to remain still in that Root of Bitterness and bond of iniquity.
For this Reason I have taken my Rise from the Writings of George Fox, and others of their Scribes, and shewn the little pretty Distinctions, which the Modern Quakers make use of, to Cover, Palliate, and Reconcile those Doctrines of Devils at first taught by them.
And I hope I have perform'd thus much, that our present Quakers must either plainly Renounce George Fox, and other their Original Rabbies; or otherwise, that they are not to be believ'd in that fair Face which they, at present, would put upon their Doctrine.
There is nothing so Monstrous or so Senseless for which excuses may not be made, and some seemingly plausible meaning put upon the grossest Absurdities.
No Quakers in the World do Defend themselves with greater vehemence and self-assurance than the Muggletonians do.
{Page 5} And they go (as the Quakers do) upon the Pretence of an Infallible Inspiration of the Spirit of God, or the Light within, and are as positive as any Quaker of them all.
And, I must say it, they give the same proof for their Extraordinary Inspiration as the Quakers do, that is, none at all, but their own confident averring of it.
Mr. Penn, in his Winding-Sheet, p. 6, calls Muggleton the Sorcerer of our Days.
Now I wou'd beseech Mr. Penn (who has more Wit than all the rest of his party) to let us know what ground he had for leaving the Church of England more than Muggleton? Or, than others of the Separate Quakers have for leaving of him and his Party?
Or why we shou'd trust the Light within Him, or George Fox, rather than the Light within Lodowick Muggleton?
Has Lodowick wrought no Miracles to prove his Mission? No more have George Fox or William Penn.
Are they very sure that they are in the Right? So is he. Are they Schismatics? So is he. Are they above Ordinances? Have they thrown off the Sacraments? Muggleton has done more: He has discarded Preaching and Praying too: For these are Ordinances. Is He against distinct Persons in the Godhead? So are They. Is He against all Creeds? so are They. Does He deny all Church-Authority? So do They. Yet does He require the most Absolute Submission to what Himself teaches? So do They. Does He make a Dead Letter {Page 6} of the Holy Scriptures, and Resolve all into his own Private Spirit? so do they. Does he damn all the world, and all since the Apostles? So do They. All which will be shewn at large in what follows. These are Twin-Enthusiasts, both born in the year 1650, (for then it was, Muggleton says, he got his Inspiration,) and have proceeded since upon the same main principle, though in some particulars they have outstript one another, and persecute one another, as if they were not brethren : but though, like Samson's Foxes, they draw two ways, their Tails are join'd with Fire-brans, to set the Church in a Flame.
It will be proper, in this place, once for all, to obviate a Prejudice, which some may take at a little Raillery I am forc'd to now and then, in Answer to such senceless Arguments and Pretences, as deserve no otherwise to be Confuted: For there are some things so very Ridiculous, that a serious Disputation against them would appear no less Ridiculous.
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