A Serious CALL to the QUAKERS Inviting them to Return to CHRISTIANITY. THIS Sheet of Paper doth set before you some of the many vile and monstrous Doctrines, Principles, and Uncharitable Say of the Chiefest and most Noted of your Teachers: Faithfully Collected out of their own Books, the Titles and Pages whereof are set down in the Margin, and most of them are attested by Eight Ministers of the Church of England, of known Integrity and Judgement; whose Names hereafter follow. You are earnestly Requested as you Regard your Eternal Salvation, to Consider them, and with Prayer to Almighty God to enable you by his good Spirit to compare them with the Holy Scriptures, by which you may clearly see that your Teachers have led you quite off from the Principles of Christianity, without the Faith of which ye have no ground to expect Salvation. It is hoped that if you will duly and well Consider these things you will not only Renounce your Teacher's Errors, but gladly embrace the Doctrine and Religion of Christianity, to which you are hereby sincerely Exhorted. Concerning their pretended Infallibility and discerning of Spirit and Equality with God. OUR giving forth Papers, or Printed Books is from the immediate Eternal Spirit of G. Fox and Rich. Hubberthorn, truth's Defence, p. 2. God to the showing forth the filthy Practices of the World's Teachers, etc. And thou and you, all that Speak and Writ, G. F. Great Mystery, p. 98. and not from God Immediately, and Infallibly as the Apostles did, and Prophets, and Christ, but only have gotten the Words, you are all under the Curse in another Spirit ravened from the Spirit that was in the Apostles. Do not you George Whitehead Blasphemously take to yourself an Attribute of God, G. W. Truth Defend, p. 24. while you pretend ordinarily to know the Hearts of Men. And tell Mr. Townsend, (Minister of Norwich) in the second Page of your Ishmael, that the Light of God is departed from his Conscience. George Whitehead Answers, I take no Attribute of God to myself, but what God hath given me, by whose Gift I witness that promise fulfilled in me; ye shall discern between the Righteous and the Wicked, between him that serveth God, and him that serveth him not, Mal. 3. 28. Observe, This in Mal. ●3. 28. or any other place of Scripture proves not, that any Man shall have one of God's Attributes given them to know men's Hearts. The Quakers can discern who are Saints and who are Devils, and who are Apostates G. F. Great Mystery. p. 89. without Speaking ever a Word. They that have the Spirit of God, (which all the Quakers say they have,) are equal with G. F. Saul's Errand, p. 8. Francis howgil 's Works, p. 232. God. He that is joined to the Lord, is one Spirit; there is Unity, and the Unity stands in Equality itself. Concerning the Scriptures, GEorge Fox says, The Scriptures are not Infallible nor Divine, but Humane. Great Mist. p. 302. No Command in Scripture is any farther W. Pen in his Quak. a new Nickname for old Christianity, p. 71. Obliging upon any Man, than as he finds a Conviction upon his Conscience, otherwise Men should be engaged without, if not against Conviction, a thing unreasonable in a Man. (Note, According to this, there can be no Sins of Ignorance. He that saith the Letter is the Rule and Guide of the People of God is without, feeding J. Parnel. Shield of Truth, p. 11. upon the Husk, and is ignorant of the true Light. The Question being put, whether the Quakers did esteem their Speaking to be of as great G. W. and W. P. Serious Apology, p. 49. Authority as any Chapter in the Bible. George Whitehead Answers, That which is Spoken from the Spirit of Truth in any, is of as great Authority as the Scripture and Chapters are, and greater. How can, or dare any say, without the highest Blasphemy, that the Scripture is the G. Bishop, Mene Tekel, p. 22. Word of God. If ever you own the Prophets, Christ, or the Apostles, you will own our Writings, which G. Fox Answer to the Westmorland Petition, p. 30. E. B' s. Works, p. 105. are given forth by the same Spirit and Power. You are in the Witchcraft, who observe Commands from without from the Letter. So Dust is the Serpent's Meat, their Original is but Dust, which is but the Letter, which G. F. News out of the North, p. 14. and in Several Papers, given forth by the Quakers, p. 45. and 46. is Death; so these Serpents feed upon Dust, which feed upon all these carnal things, and their Gospel is Dust, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, which is the Letter: The Cursed Serpent is in the Letter, R. Huberthorn's Words, Truth's Defence, p. 102. Concerning the Trinity. THE Three Persons which thou dreams of, which thou would divide out of one, like G. Whitehead, etc. in Ishmael, and his Mother cast out. In Answer to Mr. Townsend, p. 10. a Conjurer, are all denied, and thou shut up with them in perpetual Darkness for the Lake and Pit, for thou hast no Scripture that mentions any such things. Since the Father is God, the Son is God, W. Penn his Sandy Foundation, p. 12, 13, and 15. and the Spirit is God, (which their Opinion necessitates them to confess) then unless the Father, Son, and Spirit are Three distinct nothings, they must be Three distinct Substances, and consequently, Three distinct Gods. That frequent, but impertinent distinction, that God is One Substance, but Three in Persons, or Subsistances.— A most absurd Blasphemy.— They the Trinitarians must necessarily conclude their Kind of Trinity a Fiction. It's requisite I should inform the Reader concerning its Original: Thou may'st assure thyself it's not from the Scripture, nor Reason, since so expressly repugnant.— It was conceived in Ignorance, brought forth and maintained by Cruelty. The Scriptures do not tell People of a Trinity, G. F. Great Mist. p. 246. nor Three Persons, but the Common-prayermass-book speaks of Three Persons, brought in by the Father the Pope. Concerning Christ and his Blood, etc. THat the outward Person that suffered was W. Pen Serious Apol. p. 146. C. A. Sword of the Lord Drawn, p. 5. properly the Son of God, we utterly deny Your imagined God beyond the Stars, and your carnal Christ, is utterly denied.— To say Christ is God and Man in one Person, is a Lye. The Devil was in thee, thou sayest, thou art saved by Christ without thee, and so hast G. F. Great Mist. p. 250. recorded they self a Reprobate. The Light which every Man hath that cometh G. F. Great Mist. p. 47. into the world is sufficient to Salvation, without the help of any other Means or Discovery. The Light within (all Men) is sufficient G. W. Antidote, p. 28. for Salvation without any thing else. And this Light in thee, wherewith thou art Stephen Crisp 's Collection, p. 160. Enlightened is the Life of Jesus, John 1. 4. Which he hath given a Ransom for Man, that was not Natural, as some foolishly Imagine; for if it were Natural, it could not be a Ransom for Man out of Sin. The Apostle Preached Christ the Word nigh in the Heart, and in the Mouth, and the engrafted Will. Bayley 's Works p. 600. Word which is able to Save the Soul. So he did not Preach a visible Christ with Flesh and Bones, as you do,— And Paul Preached God that made the World that was not far from every one of us, the invisible God; but you Preach a visible Man with Flesh and Bones, at a great distance from all People above where the Sun, Moon, and Stars are. G. W. says, the Righteousness which God Voice of Wisdom, p. 36. effects in us is not Finite, but Infinite. Faith in the History of Christ's outward Manifestation, a deadly Poison these latter Ages W. P. Quak. New Nickname, p. 6. has been infected with, to the Destruction of Godly Living. Christ's coming in the Flesh was but a Figure. G. W. Truth Defending the Quakers, p. 22. 65. — Faith in Christ without Men is contrary to the Apostles Doctrine. This we deny, viz. Justification by the W. P. Serious Apol. p. 148. Righteousness which Christ hath fulfilled in his own Person for us (wholly without us) and boldly affirm in the Name of the Lord to be the Doctrine of Devils. and an Arm of the Sea of Curruption, which does now deluge the whole World. Observe. The Words (wholly without us) relate to the meritorious Cause of Men's Justification before God; for which God doth justify them which is the Righteousness of Christ's Person, by his most holy and perfect Obedience unto Death, and shedding of his most precious Blood, and that was wholly without us, and that was the true state of the Question betwixt W. Penn and his Opponent, and is here denied by W. Penn. Death came by actual Sin, not imputative; therefore Justification unto Life came by actual W. P. Id. 148. Righteousness, not imputative. Christ (in us) offereth up himself a living Light and Life, p. 44. Sacrifice to God for us, by which the Wrath of God is appeased to us. Vindicated by G. W. The Blood of Christ was no more than the S. Eccle 's Letter to R. Porter. Blood of another Saint. It is confessed that God by his own Blood G. W ' s. Light and Life. p. 56. purchased to himself a Church, Acts 20. 28. Now the Blood of God, or that Blood that relates to God, must needs be Spiritual, he being a Spirit, and the Covenant of God, is inward and Spiritual, and so is the Blood of it. The Suffering of the People of God (that is Quakers) in this Age, is greater Suffering, E. B ' s. Works, p. 273. and more unjust, than in the Days of Christ, or of the Apostles, or in any time since. What was done to Christ or to the Apostles, was ●hiefly done by a Law, and in great part by the due Execution of the Law, etc. Concerning Baptism and the Supper. I affirm, by that one Scripture [Heb. 9 10.] W. P. Reason against Rail, p. 108. 109. Circumcision is as much in force, as Water-baptism, and the Paschal Lamb, as Bread and Wine, they were both Shadows, and both elementary and perishable. And we can testify from the same Spirit, by which Paul renounced Circumcision, that they are to be rejected, as not now required. To say that sprinkling Infants with Water E. B ' s. Works, p. 109 191. is Baptism into the Faith of Christ, is the Doctrine of Devils. Your Baptism and Sacraments as you call G. F ' s. News out of the North, p. 14. it, and all your Ordinances, and Churches, and Teaching, it's Cain's Sacrifice. Their Sacrament, as they call it, is Carnal, Their Communion Bread and Wine is the Table of Devils, and Cup of Devils. The Book out of which this passage is taken, is entitled, News out of the North, Written from the Mouth of the Lord, from one who is naked, and stands naked before the Lord clothed with Righteousness, whose Name is not known in the World, risen up out of the North, which was Prophesied of, but now is fulfilled, called, George Fox. Concerning the Resurrection. I do utterly deny that this Text, 1 Cor. 15. W. Pen in his Invalidty of J. Faldo 's Vindication, p. 369. 370. 44. It is sown a natural Body, it's raised a spiritual Body, etc. is concerned in the Resurrection of Man's carnal Body at all. But the two States of Men under the first and second Adam, Men are sown into the World natural, so are they Sons of the first Adam: But they are raised spiritual through him who is the Resurrection and the Life, and so are they Sons of the second Adam. Who came to raise up the Sons of the first Adam from their dead to his living; their natural to his Spiritual Estate. But perhaps it will be objected that the 47th. Verse, The first Man is of the Earth Earthly; and part of the 49th. Verse, We shall all bear the Image of the Heavenly, seem to employ a bodily Resurrection, but let the whole Verse be considered, and we shall find no such things, etc. The Apostle (1 Cor. 15. 14.) does not say, T. Ellwood in his Answer to G. K 's 1st. Narrative, p. 149. The natural is made a Spiritual Body, or the natural Body and the spiritual Body is one and the same Body; but he sets them in opposition, as two distinct Bodies. The Body that is put in the Grave is a natural Body; but the Body that's raised is a spiritual Body. And that none might think this spiritual Body was the same, he adds, There is a natural Body, and there is a spiritual Body. If a thing can be the same, and notwithstanding W. Penn 's Reason against Rail. p. 134. changed, for shame let us never make so much stir against the Doctrine of Transubstantiation, for the Absurdity of it is rather outdone than equalled by this carnal Resurrection. His Envy hath reached to Heaven, to prove, Richard Hubberthorn ' s. Collection, p. 119. That the Saints in Heaven are not Perfect, but wait for the Redemption of their Bodies; which now, if People mind the Scripture, there is no such Doctrine in it, as the Saints in Heaven have not received the Redemption of their Bodies. If the Complete Happiness of the Soul rest in a Reunion to a carnal Body, for such it is W. Penn 's Reasons against Rail. p. 138. Sown, than never cry out upon the Turks Alcoran; for such a Heaven, and the Joys of it, suit admirably well with such a Resurrection. Concerning Christ's coming to Judgement. WHat is that Glory of the Father in which Christ's coming is? Is it visible to the G. W. Light and Life, p. 41. carnal Eye? And where is that coming to be? Is it now to be looked for outwardly? We acknowledge the several coming of Christ according to the Scriptures, both that in the Flesh and that in Spirit. But three come of Christ, not only that in the Flesh at Jerusalem, and that in the Spirit, but also another coming in the Flesh yet to be expected, we do not Read of. Dost thou look for Christ as he was the Id. Nature of Christianity. p. 29. Son of Mary to appear outwardly, in a bodily Existence, to save thee? If thou dost, thou may'st look till thy Eyes drop out, before thou wilt see such an Appearance of him. And as for that, 1 Thess. 4. 15. concerning the coming of our Lord from Heaven which Id. Brief Discovery of the dangerous Principles of J. Horn, p. 9 Men blindly put afar off; the Saints who then were alive remained unto it.— So their Conversation, was in Heaven (viz. a Heaven within them) they did not say their Conversation was at a distance, above the Clouds, from whence you look for a Christ. Concerning Heaven and Hell. THere is none have a Glory and a Heaven but within them. G. F. Great Mystery, p. 214. W. Penn Rejoin. p. 179. To deny the Locality of Heaven and Hell not very offensive, and it looks too Carnal and indeed Mahometan (viz. to assert it.) Concerning doing Servile Work on the Lord's Day, and of the Moral Law. DId that Quaker Sin therein or not, who lately brought on the Lord's-day, an old Truth Defending Qua. p. 20. Doublet into Dr. Gells' Church in London, and sat upon the Communion Table mending it while the Dr. was Preaching? G. W. Ans. What wilt thou still continue a Papist, that thou countest it such a crime to work upon the Communion Table, as if it were a more holy place than another? Where dost thou read in Scripture that Men must do no work on the first day of the Week. Obs. But to save them on all sides the Quakers Infallible Spirit can go both ways, for and against the observation of the Lord's Day: And both as directed by the same Spirit. Thus G. Fox Determines in an Epistle to all Christian Magistrates and Powers in Christendom, p. 12. So all Friends of the Lord God that be moved to set open your Shops or do any work on the First-day which the false Christians call their Sabbath.— Do not ye Judge all that do not (open Shops) as ye do that be not moved to the service as ye are to do that day. And all that doth not do that service (viz. open shop) on that day as ye do as are not moved by the Power of the Lord God, do not Judge them that doth such a service on that day. Obs. Here he makes them the false Christians who call the First-day of the Week their day of Sabbath or Rest. Is the Moral Law, or Ten Commandments P. 18. a Rule to a Christian's Life or is it not? G. W. Ans. Thou Might as well ask if the Moral Law as thou callest it be a Rule to Christ? For the Christian's Life and Rule is Christ, who is the end of the Law for Righteousness who came not to destroy but to fulfil it. Concerning the Church of England 's Ministry. THere is a Cup prepared for you, being mixed Taken out of W. Mather's Appendix, which he Collected out of a Noted Quaker's Book, Entitled, A Strict Account of Babylon's Merchants, etc. by R. Crane. Printed for Tho. symmond's at the Bull and Mouth, 1660. with Plagues, Woes, Miseries, Sorrows, Torments, and Eternal Burn, which you shall not pass, for you are found from the Lord God worthy, and a triple Portion is to be given unto you.— You are, viz. Antichrists, Deceivers, Sorcerers, and Ravening Wolves.— Flames, Flames. Flames of Fire, is prepared by the Lord to consume you as dry Stubble. In the Light of the Eternal God, I have beheld you, and all your Actions.— If I should parallel you with Savage Beasts, I could not truly do it, I think, be they never so fierce— but Men of Prey, such as you are, is quite out of kind, and not to be paralleled by any thing that draweth Breath. — Oh! Full of all Subtlety, Children generated of the Seed of Deceit, brought forth out of the Womb of Wickedness, and nourished up at the Breasts of Withchraft, and rocked in the Cradle of Idleness.— Oh! What shall I say concerning you? God's everlasting decree is Sealed against you, Burn, burn, burn, with unquenchable fire, is your Portion from the Lord God of Heaven and Earth. Concerning the Dissenting Ministry. AN Ill-bred Pedantic Crew, the Bane of Religion, and Pest of the World, the old W. P. Quak. a new Nickname, etc. p. 165. Incendiaries to Mischief, and the best to be spared of Mankind: Against whom the boiling Vengeance of an Irritated God is ready to be poured out. And we have nothing for them but Woes and Plagues, who have made Drunk the Nations, W. P. Serious Apologue, p. 106. and laid to Sleep on Downy Beds of soft Sin-pleasing Principles, while they have Cut their Purses, and Picked their Pockets. Tophets prepared for them to Act their Eternal Tragedy upon, whose Scenes will be renewed, direful anguishing Woes, of an Eternal Irreconcilable Justice. The Quakers are the ONLY Ministers of Christ. G. Fox. Great Mist. p. 267. The Quakers are in the Truth, and NONE but they. Quakers Chall. p. 3. Now though G. Whitehead and other of your Teachers have Published some late Creeds seemingly Orthodox and repugnant to the errors above Quoted (in divers particulars.) Yet considering what he hath said in his Counterfeit Convert, p. 72. Printed 1694. I may see cause otherwise to word the matter and yet our intention be the same, and that Joseph Wyeth in his Primitive Christianity, p. 6. Printed 1698. hath said in behalf of the Quakers, our Principles are now no other than what they were when we were first a People. It is left to your serious Consideration whether the Quotations here given, are consistent with those New Creeds, and whether Joseph Wyeth's so saying, is not a full confirmation that your Teachers are not in the least changed from their former vile and monstrous Principles. Note- As above said, most of these Quotations (none of which are Retracted by the Quakers) are Attested with near 200. more of the same Nature in G. K 's Third and Fourth Naratives. By Eight Ministers of the Church of England, viz. Dr. Isham, Rector of St. Botolph Bishopsgate. Dr. Wincop, Rector of St. Marry Abb-Church, Dr. Bedford, Rector of St. George Botolphlane. Mr. Altham, M. A. Rect. of St. Andrew Undershaft. Mr. Bradford, M. A. Rector of St. Marry le Bow. Mr. Whitfield, M. A. Rect. of St. Martin's Ludgate. Mr. Butler, M. A. Rect. of St. Mary Aldermanburic. Mr. adam's, M. A. Rect. of S. Alban Woodstreet. Note, That the Quotations above given, do exactly agree with the Books out of which they are taken as cited in the Margin. I George Keith do affirm and offer to prove before any impartial Auditory to the Quakers Faces, if they will dare to deny them, and if they will dare to own them, I offer to prove them monstrous, Heretical and Antichristian, and so far as they reflect on the Persons of their opposers most uncharitable. POSTCRIPT. From the above-cited Quotations, it is plainly evident that the Quakers Belief in these Ten Articles is as followeth. 1. COncerning their Infallibility: They affirm that they are Infallible, that God hath given to them his Attribute to know Men's Hearts, and that they are equal with God. 2. Concerning the Holy Scriptures: They say that the Scriptures are Humane, and that no command in them is in itself obliging, that what they speak is of greater Authority than the Holy Scriptures, that the Gospels of St. Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, are Dust, and the Serpent's Meat, that is the Devil's Meat. 3. Concerning the Holy Trinity: They damn the Holy Trinity to the Pit of Hell, and call it Conjuration, affirming the Three Persons of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost are Three Nothings. 4. Concerning Christ and his Blood: They utterly deny that Jesus Christ who suffered under Pontius Pilate, was properly the Son of God, or that we are to be saved by his Merits, but affirm that the Light which every Man brings with him into the World, is sufficient for every Man's Salvation without any thing else; and that the Blood of Christ is no more than the Blood of any Saint. 5. Concerning Baptism and the Lord's Supper: They affirm that Baptism and the Lord's Supper are no more Duties to Christians than Circumcision is, which they renounce (as they say) by the same Spirit, by which St. Paul renounced Circumcision. They call Infant Baptism the Doctrine of Devils, and the Lord's Supper the Table of Devils. 6. Concerning the Resurrection: They deny the Resurrection of the Body after Death, calling that Article of our Faith as absurd as the Doctrine of Transubstantiation is. 7. Concerning Christ's coming to Judgement: They deny the Article of Christ's coming to Judgement at the end of the World, saying, that there will be no other coming of Christ, than what has been already, or that be within Men. 8. They deny any other Heaven or Hell than what is within Men, calling all other Mahometism. 9 They allow doing servile Work, as opening Shop on the Lord's Day, to sell Goods, and Tailors to mend Clothes on that Day, and deny the Ten Commandments are a Rule to Christians, and especially the Eighth Commandment, for a Quaker said he had a Command immediately from Heaven to take away the Priest's Hourglass, which being complained of, G. Fox. makes this answer. Great Mist. p. 77. viz: And for any being moved of the Lord, to take away your Hourglass from you, by the eternal Power it is owned, Note by the same pretence, they may take away the Church Plate, or any thing else, for as E. Burrough their Prophet saith, Our HEIRSHIP is to possess the uttermost part of the Earth, in a Declaration of the Quakers signed by E. Burrough and 15 more, p. 9 which is the same Principle with John of Leiden, and other Germane Enthusiasts, that all right to any worldly Substance is founded on Grace, and that none had a right to any thing but the Saints. 10. For these Reasons they call all Ministers of Jesus Christ, and Preachers of his Gospel (always excepting themselves) by most unchristian and uncharitable Names. The Quakers are not wronged in any one Citation, and it is left to the Judgement of all serious Christians, whether these are not the Doctrines which are contained in them. All good Christians are desired to have this Sheet in their Houses, and as they have opportunity to show the poor deluded Quakers their Errors, which 'tis hoped many of them do not know, and will reonunce assoon as they do. ☞ Note Reader, 1st. That the Quakers have printed a most fallacious answer to this Sheet, to which they give this Title, The Christianity of the People called Quakers asserted, etc. containing sundry Quotations out of my former Books, writ by me, when I was too much leavened with the Errors of Quakerism, (though I thank God I never had the worst of their Errors, nor ever denied any of the Fundamentals of Christianity as they have done, whereof this Sheet is a Suffitient proof) all which I have retracted in Print several Years ago. and therefore they are most unfair and unjust, either to charge me with them, or make what I then writ te be their defence. 2d. That they have not in all their Printed Sheet discovored one unfair Quotation, in that called a Serious Call, only blamed two or three Marginals wrongly paged, that are in this Sheet Corrected. LONDON: Printed for W. Haws, at the Rose in Ludgate-street, 1700.