THE Dangerous Imposture OF QUAKERISM, Represented in a Letter to a Friend.  
SIR,  
HAVING lately red George Fox's Journal, I sand you the Observations I made concerning The Dangerous Imposture of Quakerism: And that which I am to acquaint you with upon this Subject, may be divided into what relates to its Real Author and Doctrine, or to its pretended Original and Proof.  
I. The Real Author of this Imposture was George Fox: and 'tis worth our taking Notice of, what his true Character was. He was, when he began to publish his Doctrine, a Young Man, who had had a Religious Education, and in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Years of his Age, was exercised with strong Temptations to Despair, and was under great Troubles and Disorders of Mind on that account, such as could not be removed by those Ministers that he had recourse unto.  
Upon this, he betook himself to Retirement and Solitude, Night and Day, to much Fasting, Reservedness, and Melancholy, and estranging himself from Society, went alone into Solitary Places with his Bible, and his own Thoughts.  
By degrees, he imagined that God made known his Will to him; and opened to him( as his Phrase is) that the Light of Christ within Man, was to be his Instructor and Guide in Matters of Religion. And through this Imagination, he sometimes gained Comfort and Joy; and by degrees arrived at extreme Presumption and Confidence.  
When he affirmed, That Christ was in him, he did not mean that the Man Jesus of Nazareth was in him; but that the same Divinity that is called the Word and the Light,( John 1. 1-7-13.) which was in Jesus of Nazareth, was also( though not in the same measure) in George Fox. But the Word and the Light is the same Divinity, as all Orthodox Christians mean by the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity,( 1 John 5.7.) His Fundamental Doctrine then was this, That the Second Person in the Blessed Trinity, dwells as truly in every Quaker, though not as much as he did in Jesus of Nazareth. But although the Third Person in the Trinity, viz. the Holy Ghost dwells in other Men, yet the Word or Son( i.e. e. the Second Person in the Trinity) never did dwell in any Man, but in the Man Jesus of Nazareth only, who was the Christ of God, as in him the Word was made Flesh,( John 1.14.) or the Son of God was Incarnate, and who is over all, God blessed for ever,( Rom. 9.5.)  
But, for George Fox to affirm, that Christ was in him, is an excess of Error and Profaneness, such as no sober Christian, who knows, that by this his Blessed Saviour is distinguished from, and exalted above the highest Angels, can endure to hear without the utmost Abhorrence and Abomination.  
This is the Fundamental Error and Prodigious Delusion that the Author of Quakerism entertained and set up in the World, and this his Followers defend and maintain to this day.  
When he communicated his Notions to others, and at their Convincement( as he speaks) great Horror and Trembling fell upon them; Insomuch, that some of the Company affirmed, that not only the Persons, but also the Church itself( in which they sometimes were) did shake, and they were afraid it should fall upon their Heads.  
The Extravagancy of the Discourses and Actions of this Person, is manifest in his Life. Upon the consideration of which, together with the preternatural Effects his Addresses had upon his Converts, I made these Questions,( 1.) Whether there were fuller evidence that Oliver's Porter in Bedlam was a Madman, than that George Fox was so? And( 2.) Whether( setting aside the Testimony of the Evangelists, who say that demoniacs were brought to our Saviour to be cured) it be more manifest from their Words and Actions, that those Persons were possessed with the Devil, than that George Fox, and other Primitive Quakers, were such possessed Persons?  
Now, every one knows that a Quaker receives the absurd Doctrines, and imitates the melancholy behaviour of George Fox, who was the real Author, and the Original Pattern of this Religious Madness.  
II. The Doctrines of Quakerism may be distinguished into what is Pernicious, and what is Trifling.  
First, The Pernicious Doctrines of Quakerism are so, with respect to Human Society, or to Christian Religion.  
1. The Doctrines of Quakerism which are Pernicious to Human Society, are these,  
( 1.) The denying the lawfulness of an Oath, even in Courts of Judicature: An Oath being the highest Assurance one Man can give another of his Veracity; and the Cases in which an Oath is demanded, being such, wherein the highest Assurance is reasonable, because the Estates and Lives of Men are in Question. But this Doctrine of Quakerism destroys this Security, under pretence that every Oath is a gross Sin.  
( 2.) The denying outward Respect of Persons( such as putting off the Hat in the presence of Superiors, is among us) weakens the Reverence that the greatest part of Men ought to have towards those in Authority, which Reverence cannot( according to the Opinion of all Nations) otherwise be preserved in the Vulgar, than by visible Marks of Distinction and Distance. But, such Formalities requisite to Government, the Quakers deny, under pretence that 'tis their necessary Duty so to do; and that they have received a greater Honour from God than this which their Superiors require from them.  
( 3.) The denying the Lawfulness of Fighting( or the use of the Carnal Weapon) for Private or public necessary Defence, is a Doctrine which( so far as it is received) weakens a Nation, and renders the Protection of Right, impossible, against those who shall by open War, or private Violence, invade it. And did not the Quakers receive Protection through the Labours, and Sufferings, and Blood of others, they would soon be made sensible( when too late) of the pernicious Nature of this Error.  
These Doctrines of the Quakers are Pernicious to Human Society; and therefore ought not to be received, or encouraged by any who love their Rights, their Liberty, and their Country.  
2. Besides these, there are other Errors pernicious to the Christian Religion; and they are such as these:  
( 1.) The denying the use of the Two Sacraments, Baptism and the Lord Supper, by which Christians are distinguished from Infidels, and obliged to live according to the Holy Laws of their Religion. The Son of God judged it expedient to establish these Sensible Rites for Religious Purposes, to be used by Men who must live by Sense; but the Quakers deny the Obligation, Use, and Benefit of them.  
( 2.) Another Doctrine pernicious to Christian Religion, is, the denying and vilifying a Learned Ministry as unnecessary and unlawful; whereas it is not possible rightly to understand the Doctrine of God delivered in the Language of Men, without that Learning which is necessary to the understanding of that Language; and such necessary Learning is very much more than an unlearned Man( such as George Fox was) can be ware of. Add to this( and in Order to the Subverting of a Learned Ministry) their forbidding the payment of tithes, as if so doing were denying of Christ. By this means, they rob the Ministers of that maintenance which the Laws of the Land have provided for those who spend their whole time in the Study and Teaching of Religion; calling such Learned and Godly Ministers of Christ, by the opprobrious Name of Hirelings; though Christ himself said, Luke 7.10. The Labourer is worthy of his Hire; and though the Laws of England give every Incumbent as good a Title to his tithes, as any Landlord hath to his Rent, or to his Estate.  
( 3.) Again, the Quakers deny the Sufficiency of the Holy Scriptures, and pretend that no Man can understand them, unless he hath the same Spirit by which the Doctrine of the Scriptures was given forth. Nor will they( that I can find) allow any one to be in that Spirit which is necessary to the understanding of the Scriptures, who is not a Quaker. This is to affirm, That God has so spoken in the Scriptures,( which contain his Revelation) as no Man can( without a repeated Revelation) understand what he has spoken in them; and that the Quakers only have this Privilege. This Doctrine is manifestly pernicious to the Christian Religion, whereby Arbitrary Enthusiasm is set up for the Interpreter of the written Word of God, and Rule of Religion.  
And now I appeal to any Reasonable Man, whether the Doctrines aforesaid be not Pernicious to Human Society, and to Christian Religion? I appeal to George Fox's Journal, whether these be not Doctrines of Quakerism?  
2dly. Besides these Pernicious Doctrines, there are others which are Trifling; such as these,  
( 1.) Their making it a kind of Religious Duty, to say Thou and Thee to a single Person, and pretending it unlawful to say You to such an one; which, at worst were but an Impropriety of Speech. But if Custom be the only Rule of Language, as certainly 'tis; then is You( in Conversation) good and lawful English when used to a single Person, or to many; though Thou be only the Singular Number, and Ye be only the Plural; whereas You is both Singular and Plural; but to make Religion of this, is Trifling.  
( 2.) Again, to adhere Religiously to the particular English words, Yea and Nay, is another weakness, when Yes and No are as good English, and more commonly used.  
To these Doctrines which are Trifling, we may add,  
( 1.) Their peculiar Custom of Marriages and Burials; their unreasonable Opposition to the Form and Manner of Solemnization of Marriage, established by Law, as a distinguishing Separation from other Christians, who universally( on such occasions) have the Solemn Prayers and Benediction of the Ministers of Christ. Their refusing to Bury their Dead in any place but by themselves; as if they would extend the Marks of their Religious Delusion beyond their Lives.  
( 2.) Their refusing to wear Lace and Light Colours, as undoubted marks of Pride in the World's Children,( i.e. other Christians) and at the same time to allow of flowered Silks, and richer Velvet, in Friends,( i.e. Quakers) though of mean Condition: is more truly the part of Shameless Impudence, than of Christian Gravity. And the Green Apron is almost as singular, as the Reason I am  told has been given from it, viz. that Adam and Eve wore Green Aprons. By these Doctrines and Customs, the Quakers are distinguished; and of these Doctrines George Fox was the Author.  
III. The pretended Original of these Doctrines George said was Divine, and that God opened these things to him, by the Word of the Lord that came unto him; and that God sent him to Teach these Doctrines, the Fundamentals of which are, That the Light of Christ is that which every Man ought to be taught by, and that so far as Men are not enlightened by this, the Scripture is a dead Letter unto them. He that can believe such a Man as George Fox,( who never had any learned Education, nor had lived long enough for such an Education, when he began to entertain and publish these Opinions; who by the disorders of Temptation, and near approaches to Despair, wanted the true and free use of his Reason; and accordingly discoursed more like a Religious Madman, than a Prophet or Apostle; who had no other Teacher of this Doctrine, but his own disturbed Imagination( as is evident, by the Folly and Confusion of all his Discourses); I say he, who can believe such a Man as this to be taught of God, merely because he says it, one would think, had as little use of Reason, as George had, when he became the first Quaker. No sensible Man can relish such Discourses as those of George Fox,( in which he uses the Holy Scriptures as a Phrase Book; and( in a Sense never designed by those Words, delivers his own Doctrines) unless he lays aside the use of Reason in Matters of Religion; without the use of which, 'tis impossible there should be any such thing as Religion among Men. But this may be excused in a Quaker, whose Religion indeed is but the Spectre of Religion murdered by Ignorance and Enthusiasm.  
I confess I have so much regard to Sense and Reason and so honourable a persuasion of God and his Wisdom, that there is no Proof sufficient to convince me, that God spake by such a man as this. But,  
IV. There is Proof which he pretends to, and that no less than( 1.) Voices; and( 2.) Visions; and( 3.) prophecy; and( 4.) Miracles; and( 5.) Discerning of Spirits; and( 6.) The knowledge of Nature, and the whole Creation; and( 7.) Being in the same State that Adam was before the Fall; which are more than ever any Prophet or Apostle attained to.  
To which add( for a colour) first; the Sufferings of George Fox, which I confess were very great,( as he says) but they manifest nothing, excepting the obstinate Folly, and insolent Provocation of him that suffered; and sometimes the Vices and Passions of those by whom he suffered.( 2.) The Judgments, which he says, befell the Enemies of him and his Doctrine. Some of these Pretences prove nothing; and others of them need be proved themselves.  
And now I desire( if any doubt the truth of what I have said) that they would red George Fox his Journal, as I have done, and see if what I affirm of him, and his Doctrine, be not found there. I think no man can Expose this Sect so much as George Fox his Journal exposeth it: And therefore, because I believe Quakerism to be a dangerous and wicked Imposture, I desire men would red the History of its Author. And let not any who call themselves Friends, count me their Enemy, for really I am not such, but do hearty pity them as Religious Madmen; and never did them any harm, and am resolved I never will.  
I would expostulate with Them, out of compassion to their Souls, but that they seem so desperately conceited and prejudiced, that it must be in vain. God grant them the true Light of Religious Knowledge, and Wisdom, that they may see the error of their way, and be converted to the acknowledgement of the Truth as it is in Jesus.  
And as for Those who are not yet of this Persuasion, but think favourably of it; I exhort them, in the fear of God,( 1.) Never to part with the Use of their Reason in the study of Religion, where there is the best Exercise, and the greatest Need of it. And( 2.) never to think, that what God has revealed( or made known) in, and by the Scriptures of Truth, cannot be understood( or cannot be known) without a repeated Revelation( i.e. e. unless it be made known again.) We are sure there is no such Revelation now, and that all pretences to it( such as George Fox made) are Imposture. The good God deliver his Church from this, and from all other Impostures, and make men thoroughly sensible, that to ascribe their own wild and foolish Imaginations to the Spirit of God, has in it the Nature of Blasphemy.  
I am 
 Your Friend and Servant.   

London: Printed for A. Baldwin, near the Oxford-Arms in Warwick lane. 1699.