Quakerism Anatomised, by a, Charge against the Quakers, with a Challenge to Richard Ashby, one of their Teachers, to come forth in their VINDICATION.  The wicked flee when no man pursueth, but the Righteous are as bold as a Lion. 
AS I was going to Norwich, April 1694. staying a little at Wymondham, I met with a Paper writ by R. Ashby; wherein he reflects on my Book, Quakerism Withering, and Christianity Reviving, etc. saying, what I writ is false: And seems greatly concerned, That People should like my Book, and glad to see the Quakers Errors discovered. And thereupon I wrote him a Letter, Dated April the 30th, 1694. to meet me the Wednesday following, to agree upon Terms to have a Meeting, to Dispute the Points in Controversy: But he not Answering the same, I sent him another Letter, Dated May the 3d, 1694. a Copy whereof is as followeth, viz.  
To R. Ashby of Thuxton, These.  
FRiend, I have met with your late cautionary Epistle and Warning, wherein you thus write, viz. To the Inhabitants of Wymondham, that have met with Francis Bugg's Book, Entitled, Quakerism Withering, etc. And I am informed, that some of you the Inhabitants of Wymondham, are much pleased and elevated, etc. Now this may certify you, that all this stir that F. B. makes, is but a mere Boast: For I was at London at the same time when F. B. should, according to his word, have met G. W. at Ben. Antrobus his House, but did not. And let this be a Warning and Caution to you for time to come, that you lay not hands suddenly, etc. I say, having seen this your Epistle and Warning, suggesting, that I should have met G. W. at B. A.'s House according to my Word, and did not; though he and others waited long for me, etc. which is false; for I never gave G. W. my Word or Promise to meet him there, or any where else, to Dispute the Points in Controversy, unless that he would first engage under his Hand to retract what I proved him guilty of, and the Quakers Erroneous in. See Quakerism Withering, etc. P. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8. and according to the Terms proposed therein I still engage to meet him, or any Quaker in England. [And were he not conscious to himself, that both himself in particular, and the Quakers in general of Fox's Party were guilty of what I charge them with, no doubt but he would subscribe such an Instrument, since 'tis consonant to their own printed Proposition in the Epistle to Edw. Burrough's Works, that Son of Thunder, true Prophet, and faithful Servant of God, as G. W. and others have styled him in Print.] But since you have undertaken to Defend the Quakers, and seem troubled that their Errors are laid open, and that the People are pleased with my Books, which have been instrumental therein: And not only so, but slily insinuate, That what I writ is false. I do thereupon renew my Charge against the Principles and Doctrine of the Quakers, and do Challenge you R. Ashby to meet me at the Public School-house in Wymondham, on Monday, the 4th of June. 1694 at Ten of the Clock in the Forenoon, where I promise (if God permit) to meet you, and before the People offer to prove the following Charge out of your Approved Books, against all your Allegations to the contrary. And if after the said Dispute you shall exhibit a Charge against me in Writing under your Hand, giving me the like time to prepare for my Defence, I do promise (if God permit) to meet you at the same place, that so the Inhabitants of Wymondham may be more and more convinced of the grand Errors of the Quakers, whose Doctrine and Principles tend to undermine and overthrow the Christian Religion. The said Charge which I offer to prove, is as followeth, viz.  
I. That the Quakers deny Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to be Christ, and the Efficient Cause of Man's Salvation.  
II. That their Books are Blasphemous, and their Practices Idolatrous.  
III. That they deny the Scriptures, by speaking contemptuously of them; calling them Dust, Death, and Serpent's meat, etc.  
iv That they despise the Ordinances of Jesus Christ, as Baptism and the Lord's Supper,  
V That they undervalue the Death and Sufferings of Christ.  
VI That they exalt their own Sufferings above the Sufferings of Christ, and their own Pamphlets above the Prophets and Apostles, as in Quakerism Withering, etc. P. 3, 4.  
Writ and Subscribed per me Francis Bugg.  
Now lest R. Ashby should decline to meet me, but like his Brother Whitehead, evade and shuffle; as I do hereby give public notice of my Challenge, so I think it necessary to acquaint the World with their fallacious way of Writing; insomuch that 'tis hard to know a Quaker by what he writes: For their Books are of two sorts, of two Stamps, and carry two Faces, and both contrary to each other; and yet the Quakers mean all one thing, viz. One sort of Books and Epistles to their own Disciples, to confirm them in Quakerism, wrote by the Perfect Quaker: The other sort of Books to the World's People, as they cant it, with some seeming Truths in them; nay, were they but sincere, might pass, wrote by the Counterfeit Quaker, whose chief Art is to decoy and proselyte the World; but still he means the same asserted by the Perfect Quaker. As for instance: When Is. Penington denies Christ, and calls him that was born of the Virgin, A Veil, a Garment, a Vessel, affirming they can never call him Christ; yet G. Whitehead the Counterfeit Quaker, in his Book, styled, The Counterfeit Convert, etc. P. 72. vindicates him, saying, And though I have evinced Is. Penington's meaning, on his Words reflected on about the Body or Flesh of Christ, it follows not that I make his Expressions mine, seeing I note them as his: for [says G. Whitehead] I may see cause otherwise to word the matter, and yet our Intentions be the same, etc. Thus you see he is ashamed to own Is. P.'s Words as his, yet hath showed you his meaning, if you will believe him: And he justifies his not owning his Words, for that he had noted them to be his; nay, tells you he may see cause otherwise to word the matter, and yet their Intentions the same. Who then, I marvel, can know a Quaker, if they can thus equivocate? Is not this Jesuitism with a witness? Or Arius risen again under a new Form and Figure, to deceive the World with a twofold meaning? And yet behold G. W.'s Partiality, who in their Vindication charge me with John Ansloes Query to Sam. Cater as mine, though sufficiently noted by me to be his, and not mine, which I have refuted beyond his glozing in Quakerism Withering, P. 65. Well, but let us have a few Examples of these two faced Quakers, the Perfect Quaker and the Counterfeit Quaker, who, however they differ in wording their matter, and expressing themselves; yea, insomuch as that the one is ashamed to own the Words and Expressions of the other; yet as G. W. and that too truly, they mean all the same thing; they mean what the Perfect Quaker says, viz.  
The Perfect Quaker. The Counterfeit Quaker. Smith's Primer in Octavo, P. 8. How may I know when Christ is truly Preached? Smith's Works in Folio, Leaf 4th. Why, they that are false preach Christ without Only, and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above, in opposition to his being within. But they th●● are true Ministers, they preach Christ within, and direct People to wait to seel him in themselves, and so to believe in him as he makes himself manifest in them. 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.   
OBSERVATION.  
Behold you the Inhabitants of Wymondham, here is one Book Printed and reprinted; the first for W. Smith, when living, in Oclavo, to teach their Children, and instruct them in the Principles ●f perfect Quakerism. And by this Doctrine all such as preach Christ without, and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above, at the Right Hand of God, according to the Christian Creed, are False Ministers; and as such they have censured them to be Witches, Devils, Conjurers, Thiefs, Antichrists, Gormandizing Priests, the very Bane of Soul and Body of the Universe. The other Impression [when W. Smith was dead] in Folio, to go abroad in the Nations to deceive. And here W. Smith's surviving Brethren, the Counterfeit Quakers, as G. W. says, saw cause otherwise to word the matter, and yet their Intentions the same. See his Count. Conu. p. 72.  
And moreover, lest my present Antagonist Rich. Ashby says, that I writ false, and that there is no such twofaced do, nor such Jesuitical Juggles amongst them, I will point him to G. W.'s Sheet, styled, The Quakers Vindication, p. 1. Col. 2. where he confesses in these words, viz. We confess there is one Edition in Octavo reads it as Fr. Bugg quotes it; but the other Edition in Folio the Paragraph runs thus, viz. as above recited under the Counterfeit Quaker. And so much for that Juggle.  
The Perfect Quaker. The Counterfeit Quaker. A Quest. to Proff. p. 33. Now the Scriptures do as expressly 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 Veil which veiled it; there was 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. The Quak. Vind. p. 4. We sincerely believe and confess, that Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Virgin Mary, is the true Messiah, the very Christ, the Son of the Living God.  
OBSERVATION.  
Reader, here you see plainly, that Penington, writing in the Name of the Quakers, calls the blessed Jesus a Veil, a Garment, a Vessel, which they can never call Christ; yet you see he was not infallible; for Whitehead doth now see cause otherwise to word the matter, as under the Counterfeit Quaker, where he, and divers others, confess plain enough that they sincerely believe and confess that Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Virgin, is the very Christ of God; yea, this Body, this Garment, this Vessel, which was born of the Virgin. This they confess too: But how? Because G. W. sees cause to word the matter so, judging it high time, or down goes Quakerism. Not but that he means as Penington, and the Perfect Quaker means: For if he did not, at the same time they make this new Confession, they would condemn and censure the Perfect Quakers Heretical Doctrine, which says, they can never call him Christ, but a Garment, etc. as if the Prophets foretold that a Virgin should conceive, and bring forth a Garment, etc. And for more of this, see my Book, New Rome ununmasked, etc. New Rome Arraigned etc. Quakerism Withering, etc. where I have at large unriddled their uncoached Doctrine, and Erroneous Principles.  
The Perfect Quaker. The Counterfeit Quaker. News coming up, etc. p. 4. Their Original is carnal, and their Communion is carnal, a little Bread and Wine: so Dust is the Serpent's 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. The Quadratus Vind. p. 4. We confess that the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testament are of Divine Authority, as being given by Divine Inspiration of God. David's Enemies, etc. by G. W. and his Brother Atkinson, p. 7. The Ministry (meaning the Minister) is in the Letter which killeth. The Count. Conu. p. 26. That we prefer the Holy Scriptures before all the Books extant in the World.  
OBSERVATION.  
For more of this see my Sheet to the Parliament, and my former Books; yet you see that George Whitehead sees cause so to word the matter, as that now the Counterfeit Quaker confesses, that the Scripture is of Divine Authority, and given by Divine Inspiration, and value it beyond all the Books extant in the World. Not but that he and the Perfect Quaker mean and intent all one thing, viz. That the Scriptures are Death, Dust, Serpent's Meat, and that such as preach out of them are Conjurers; that 'tis questionable whether Moses or Hermes was the Author of the first Five Books of Moses, or whether either or neither, as in my former Books I have at large showed. And until the Sergeant Quaker do condemn the contemptuous Say of the Perfect Quaker, there is no ground to believe him sincere in these new-moulded Confesions, which G. Whitehead and his Abetters make to serve a turn, who now see cause thus to word their matter, whilst he tells you, they intent the same, viz. They still mean, that Matthew, Mark, Luke and John is Dust, Death, and Serpent's Meat; that 'tis Conjuration to preach out of them, and dangerous to read them. Read their Books, Truth's Defence, etc. Saul's Errand, etc. David's Enemies disc●v. etc. Several Petitions Answered, etc. A  Estate of Antichrist, etc. I say, read these their Books, and their Count. Conu. p. 72. where G Whitehead says, He may see cause otherwise to word the matter, and yet intent the same thing. And then judge Oh ye the Inhabitants of Wymondham, and all Christendom, whether we have any ground to believe there is any Sincerity in these new-moulded Confessions, until they censure and condemn their old Heretical Books and Pamphlets, which they say are given forth from the Eternal Spirit of GOD; and boldly affirm, we may as well burn the Bible, as their Writings, Papers and Queries. See Truth's Defence, p. 2. 102.  
The Perfect Quaker. The Counterfeit Quaker. News coming up, &c, p. 18.20. Dreadful and powerful is the Lord, who is coming in his Power to execute true Judgement upon all you Judges, and to change all your Laws, ye Kings— Sing all ye Saints, and rejoice; clap your hands, and be glad; for the Lord Jehovah reigns; and the Law shall be taken from the pretended Rulers, Judges, Justices, Lawyers and Constables: All this Tree must be cut down, and Jesus Christ (that is in us) will reign alone. The Q. Vind. p. 4. And that Magistrates or Civil Government is God's Ordinance for the punishment of Evil-doers, and praise of them that do well.  
OBSERVATION.  
Reader, here is a little hint of their Antimagistratical Principles; and when you compare their Practice of Non-submission to the Laws of the Land, which require payment of Tithes, which they say, whoever do, bear about them the Mark of Antichrist; and which require payment to the Church-Rates or Lays, which they throw off as a Yoke of Bondage; and their observing the Public Fast, when one is at Blow, another at Cart, others in their Shops with their Windows open in Public Testimony against both the Command of the Magistrate, and Formality of the Fast; only they tell you, as in their Vindication, P. 3. For the Intent, Substance, and End of a True Fast— This we are frequently mindful of, etc. But how? Why, they think of it when at their Employment, and at their Meetings on contrary days: I say, when these, and a hundred things of like nature are considered, together with G. W. the Counterfeit Quaker's seeing cause (as he says) otherwise to word the matter, and yet intent the same thing. This is a plain Discovery, that they account Magistracy a cumbersome Tree that must be cut down with all its knotty Branches, as Rulers, judges, justices, Law●●rs and Constables; and this shows them as good Friends to the State as to the Church, only for the present they see cause otherwise to word the matter; though like Arius, they still mean and intent the same thing. However they, as yet, neither sing nor clap their Hands, the Tree is still standing; neither do they clap their Hands for Joy; for if they should, then might all true Protestants wring their hands, mourn and lament, they would soon see all things turned upside down. For Instance, Down with the Scriptures, and up with their Pamphlets; down with the Ministers and Dispensers' of the Gospel, as Witches, Devils, Robbers, Antichrists, Gormandizing Priests, etc. and up with their Impostors, Deceivers, and Seducing Teachers; down with Baptism and the Lord's Supper, Instituted by Christ, and practised by his Apostles and Martyrs, and all true Christian Churches, and up with their women's Meetings, ordained by G. F. down with the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, the Apostles Creed, and all that bear the Face of true Christianity, and up with their Silent Meetings, those Nurseries of Ignorance, or Silent Universities; A woeful day for Christendom would this be; which God of his mercy prevent.  
The Perfect Quaker. The Counterfeit Quaker. Fox's Mist. p. 77. And as for any being moved of the Lord to take away your [i. e. the Priests] Hour glass from you, by the Eternal Power it is owned. etc. See the Paper against J. P. Aug. 10. 1670. And we also testify, that if any person whatsoever shall act or speak any thing that is evil, under pretence of a motion from the Spirit of God, we utterly deny that motion to be of God.  
OBSERVATION.  
Oh ye People of Wymondham, behold and consider of the pernicious Principles and dangerous Doctrine of the Perfect Quaker! 1. Charging all such as preach Christ without, and bid People believe in him as he is in Heaven above, to be False Ministers; and as such call them Witches, Devils, Thiefs, Robbers, Wolves, Antichrists, Hellhounds, seeking after their Prey like the mouth of Hell, Gormandizing Priests, the Bane of Soul and Body of the Universe. 2. That they deny Jesus of Nazareth, who was born of the Virgin, to be Christ. 3. How they run down Magistracy as a Cumbersome Tree; and the result was, (as by their Doctrine appears) that under colour of a motion from the Lord they might lay waste meum and tuum; and with these, and many other horrible Principles they pressed into the World in the Year 1650. as afterwards, and God assisting and giving me length of days, I may further make appear. But when this Defective Coin would not pass for True Metal, than the Counterfeit Quaker he gets up, and appears in the Person of G. W. and some few others, and they tell you, they may see cause otherwise to word the matter, but yet mean or intent the same thing. All which considered, I dare appeal to the Inhabitants of Wymondham, yea, to all Christendom, Whether any Credit ought to be given to their new-moulded, new-coined and counterfeit Confessions, until they have first condemned by Public Censure their old Heretical Principles, which tend to overthrow the Christian Faith.  
And whereas G. W. in his Count. Conu. Epist. says, I do hereby sincerely declare, that 'tis not for Controversy sake that I am so much engaged therein; nor am I the beginner of these Controversies, being wholly Defensive, etc.  
Although I am not minded to Reply to his Book at present, for as much as I find that he hath taken notice but of part of mine, Entitled, Quakerism Withering, etc. and what he has, does rather confirm what I have said, than otherwise; yet I am willing to let Richard Ashby, my present Antagonist, know, that his Brother Whitehead is false in this also, which at the Dispute I shall make appear: For he writ against Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Independents and Baptists, before ever they wrote against him; and ever since has been such a contentious Scribbler, that he has wrote Ten Books against others, to One Book against him, of any one Man's Writing: And in Nine months' time he wrote Three Books against me, to one of mine against the Quakers; and two of them without any fresh occasion given him: With what Face then can this impudent Juggler appear then in Print, to render himself such a Scandal to his own Fraternity? I would have said Christianity, but he does not deserve to come so near it; though he, and his Brethren the Counterfeit Quakers, have so ordered the matter, as that by their black Art of railing on the Public Ministry, Contempt of Scripture, despising the Ordinances of Jesus Christ, and the like Antichristian Principles, they have made such Rents and Divisions in Church and State, as will take much time to repair: Though I do verily believe, Quakerism hath such a Sandy Foundation, that it cannot stand long, but in due time will fall, die and whither away: And G. W.'s Practice in writing to Mr. Smithies, Mr. Archer, and others, to stop me, is a sign to me, that he gins to fear it. As for my Dedications, I never yet met with any Reproof; but my Books have met with kind Acceptation. I do not expect that any Man should so concern himself, as to justify every particular Passage; that's most properly my own business; and 'twas my Persuasion, that what I wrote was true; which made me submit the same to my Lord Bishop, and I still abide by it. But for G. W. thus to wait upon, seek to, and beg the Favour of the Clergy to stop me, is a sign that he fears their Building is tottering, and that his Cause is at a low Ebb. What! Seek to the Contemptible Clergy! Such as you account Beasts, Dogs. Wolves, Devils, Thiefs, Robbers, Conjurers, Bloodhounds, Gormandizing Priests, the Bane of Nations, bred up at Oxford and Cambridge, a Nursery for Baal's Priests, crying Woe and Misery to the Parliament who uphold them. And what! Do you now seek to these despised and contemptible Creatures in your Eyes to stop me? Do you think them so tame and so gentle, as to assist you, who have been undermining them and their Religion this forty or fifty Years? Oh! mistake not yourselves, but be humble, and retract your Errors, and that is your way to find Mercy with God, and Forbearance with Men: And this at present I am willing to present to my present Opposer R. Ashby, assuring him, That as I never refused to meet his Brother Whitehead when I promised, nor to dispute the Points in Controversy, on condition that he would have engaged to retract what I proved on him and his Abetters false and erroneous, so I do now assure R. Ashby, if GOD permit me Life and Health, not to refuse to meet him at the time and place appointed.  
Fra. Bugg. May 8. 1694.   

POSTSCRIPT.  
G. W.  
SInce I sent up the foregoing to the Press. on the second reading your Epistle to your Count. Conu. etc. I perceive how uneasy you are, and how smooth you appear, as in your Letters to Mr. Smithies and Mr. Archer; and by the tenure thereof methinks I hear you say, Good Gentlemen, be so kind to us the distressed and perplexed Quakers, us to stop F. Bugg from writing against our Errors; for if you cannot persuade him, we know of none that can, he does so strip us naked, lay us bare, and so effectually unmask us, and take off our Vizard, that we cannot walk in Masquerade, or two Faces in one Hood, but we are seen and discovered: And this we, nor our Elder Sister (i. e. Rome) could never abide. Indeed we cannot deny but we Dedicated our Books to K. Charles II. and his Council, and to all Rulers in the Christian World, which we never saw nor spoke to, much less acquainted them therewith: nay, sometimes to our Dear Friend O. Cromwell, calling him Dear Friend, Noble Oliver, etc. see our Books Rusticus, etc. E. B.'s Work, etc. 702, 846. and the Quaker Unmasked, wherein we not only called and compared the Public Ministers to Serpents, Vipers, grinning Dogs, etc. but boldly told the King and Parliament what they might do, and what they might not do; how far their Power reached, and the utmost Confines of it; and that if they went contrary to our Infallible Directions, all their Proceed were false and unjust, etc. and we find that Fr. Bugg is discovering all our Intrigues, anad filling the same Cup to us by a just retaliation: Insomuch, as that the Pit [which we have been digging for others this forty Years, by our supplanting and undermining the Christian Religion and Protestant Interest, rendering both Bishops and Clergy, Magistrates and People so ridiculous and contemptible, as not to understand tu and vos, or what a Genitive Case is, as by our Battledoor and Primer is manifest, pretended to be put forth by our Elder Brother and great Apostle G. Fox, who was but a poor Journeyman Shoemaker] we are now justly fallen into; and now we see cause otherwise to word our matter, and not to behave ourselves so sawelly as we have done, when we called the National Ministry, Thiefs, Robbers, Witches, Devils, greedy Dogs, Bloodhounds, Baal's Priests, Gormandizing Priests, etc. and the Parliament that upheld them, the Beast which carries the Whore; yet notwithstanding all that, those Books being then wrote by and from the Eternal Spirit, we cannot retract them; and tho' we otherwise word the matter now, yet we Intent the same, are of the same Judgement, yet we must needs beg your Assistance to stop F. B. for he does so strip us and whip us, he does so unmask, unveil and discover us, that all People in a little time will see us, and loathe us, and cast us out of their Esteem, as our elder Sister is; and 'twas by the like Treatment she met with from her Apostate Adversaries, Martin Luther, and others.  
Come, G.W. have not I rightly interpreted the Purport of your Letters to Mr. Archer and Mr. Smithies, and your fawning and flattering Deportment to the Bp. o● Gloucester; if not, tell me in your next; for I desire none to stop you; for the more you writ, the more your Hypocrisy and Deceit is manifest, and your Errors discovered, etc. Well, G. W. let me in ●ew Words answer the Purport of your two large Letters aforesaid, viz. It is well known to some of you, how loath I have been to expose you; how I have gone alone to your Meetings, and told you, that if any Four, Six or Ten of the ablest of your Teachers would come forth and give me a Meeting, according to your printed Proposals, Epist. to E. Burrough's Works, viz. To justify what in any tolerable sense might be warranted by the plain Text of Scripture, and what could not be so justified (which was written in your Books) you might censure and condemn. Upon this, for the sake of many amongst you, that are (as I once was) misled, I should never have exposed you, tho' all the Clergy in England had requested it at my hand: But as they never put me upon writing against you; so I can assure you, they are far enough from stopping me; therefore you must get other Advocates than such, who have given me Thanks for my Labour and Service done to the Christian Religion and Protestant Profession: Neither did Col. Goldwel ever reprove me, but always approved of the Substance of what I wrote; and approved of my delivering the Sheet to the Parliament, which was kindly accepted by the Members; and do believe it was useful to them, who were not so well acquainted with your juggling Tricks, and deceitful Painting and Glosses as I was, who am your Friend, tho' I tell you the Truth.  
Francis Bugg. May 10. 1694.  
FINIS.