The Spirit of ALEXANDER THE Coppersmith Lately Revived; now JUSTLY REBUKED: OR AN Answer to a Late Pamphlet, Entitled, The Spirit of the HAT, or the Government of the QUAKERS. In which the Confederacy is Broken, and the Devil's Champions Defeated. By a True Witness of the One Way of God, W. P.  
To which are added the Testimonies of those Persons whose Names are chiefly quoted by the Author of that Pamphlet.  Nevertheless the Foundation of God standeth sure, 2 Tim. 2. 19 
Printed in the Year, 1673.   

The Spirit of ALEXANDER THE Coppersmith Revived, and Rebuked: OR, An Answer to a late Pamphlet, Entitled, The Spirit of the HAT, or the Government of the Quakers.  
SAtan, that Great Enemy to the Work of God, failing of his End in all those Attempts he hath made to Hinder, Pervert or Destroy it by the earnest Endeavours of some of the most Envious among the many Sects in this Nation, hath at last pitched upon an Old Kankered Apostate (the best Spoke in his Wheel) and therefore called an Ingenious Quaker by the Publisher, because he has endeavoured to promote the Common Design of our Overthrow in this World.  
It is a manifest Token to me, that the Devil is hard beset, his Affairs brought to a low Ebb, and his Condition Desperate, that he is fled to his last Refuge of Palse Brethren, and very Apostates. A Treachery that shall evermore infame this perverse Alexander with Good Men, and increase his Account with the Great and Terrible Judge of Heaven and Earth.  
But is it not strange to see, that Independents, Anabaptists and Socinians now in Arms against the Quakers, should so heartily hug the Labours of one they esteem such, and which is more Remarkable, as a true and primitive One too; as if they had been all this while angry with us, not for being Quakers, but for being not True Ones; which is such a thing, as would make a Body think them to be the Only Right Quakers, at least Wellwishers to them; and we but a Pack of Apostates. O how Ingenuous is this Author of the Spirit of the Hat! A fit Title for it; in which there is so little Head, or at least no more Brains then in an Empty Hat: and as little Fear of God, and Honesty towards Men, as could be well found within such a Compass. I say, how ingenuous is he to Rail against Power, and Love it; to decry Authority, and seek it; to accuse G. F. for Tyranny, and use so much in doing so; to be Angry, not that there is Rule, but that he has no Share in it; to repute our Censure of a Disturber about such Unprofitable and Unseemly Customs, as to keep on the Hat in public Prayer, a Resemblance of the Church of Rome's Excommunications, and to rebuke a malapert Stickler against the Church's Peace, Usurpatlon and Oppression: But which is rarest of all, Independents, Anabaptists and Socivians, are to Hedge their naked Cause with this Man's Feathers, and his Lies are to be their Refuge, and 'tis that very Hat we would have off in Prayer, they desire to cover their Head within this day of Battle against the Quakers.  
Are they such Friends to that Token of Irreverence to God? Will they Spit in our Faces for not pulling off our Hats to them, and yet glory in the Envious Labours of a Man that denies it to God himself, and therefore cannot be owned of us? Shall we be counted Conceited and Ignorant to forbear that Ceremony to Men; and this Vile Apostate reputed ingenious, etc. for making so bold with God? What! is it become a Crime in the Quaker to perform that sincerely to his Creator, which is with so much Formality every day done by his Opposers? O Partial! O Unreasonable and Downright Impious Generation! who are not only ready to invent, pervert and misconstrue us about Matters of Religion; but can take part with an Apostate, a Clamourer, a mere Alexander, Phygellus, Hermogenes, Hymenaeus, Philetus: in short, a very Mutineer in Religion, to bespatter us and our Principles in the World; and that because we abhor, renounce, and rebuke with Severity that Rude Imagination of the Hat on in Public Prayer which did we use it, we should be but esteemed by you the Worse, or you go from your own Principles. Nay, is it not unjust with a Witness, that we should be so vehemently de●ny'd by some, because we Preach not with our Hats off; If yet we must be run thus furiously down for disowning a Person, that in Praying keeps it on; Certainly it must needs be manifest to all the Impartial World, that such procedure is freighted with the very Ranker of Malice, Fury and Revenge; and which is more, with Folly too: They have writ their own Answer in their base Accusation, for either they, I mean the Professors, that printed, buy and disperse the Pamphlet, own him for a Quaker, or they do not; If not, it is no Discredit to us, that he should pretend to be precisely one, and us to be Apostates: If he be one; then either a better or a worse: if a better, and that by better is understood, more separated from the several Sects of Professors; then behold, how much more kindly they receive a True Quaker in his first Principles and Practice, than such as they conceive to have Apostatised: It would make one think, that they are no Abettors of those Priests and Professors, that writ so sharply against them in their first Appearance: If worse, and that by worse is understood apostatised, or gone back; then is not his End answered, which he pretends was to testify against our Apostasy, that is, Our Running into Forms, Methods, and Discipline, like to other Professions; that is, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptists, etc. and if so, I wonder, with what Confidence those Professors dare undertake our Disgrace by it, when at the same time that he thinks to render us Odious, he makes the Reason of it to be our becoming like unto them. Certainly if our Order, Discipline, and Church-Authority be Apostasy, we cannot be the only People, that are concerned in his Meaning. In short, the Matter is so ordered, that whatever they venture to urge against us, strikes them sorely. What then can the Professors do in all this Bustle? Why thus much; a Turbulent Spirit is disowned by the Quakers: he contemns their Church-Authority which so renounced him: for this he cries; They are like Rome, and are quite Apostatised: and if so, may the sober Professor say, than we are all Apostates too, it being but what we ourselves do practise, and that frequently.  
In short, There is nothing, that this Alexander the Coppersmith hath said more Disgraceful of the Quakers, then that the most uncorrupted of them should despise Government (his own notorious Fault; and I know not why, unless because he is not our Dictator) who underwent, and still do all Hardships that befall our Testimony; that the Principle of Truth and Righteousness might govern not only Individuals, but whole Societies. We shall not think ourselves nor Principles much put to it to vindicate these Assertions: 1. That we are a Religious Body. 2. That we have, as such, a Power within ourselves. 3. That by the Power and Spirit of the Eternal God we have condemned, as well as justified many Practices. 4. That being in Holy Peace and Unity, and that Singular Spirit of the Hat getting place with some, and secret Rents, Divisions, and Animosities being like to ensue among us, as among the first Christians, we did with such other Carriages, as were reputed unbecoming the Blessed Gospel, condemn that of keeping the Hat on in time of public Prayer to Almighty God (to whom alone from a sensible Mind we perform that Holy and Due Reverence) as introduced by a singular, Conceited and Deceitful Spirit. 5. That the Author of the Spirit of the Hat, etc. hath resisted many Loving Treaties, Serious Invitations, and abundance of Good and Wholesome Advice, for his own Good, and the Church's Peace, and because he is not owned in that Practice, which, should we, God's Spirit would disown us in so doing: therefore, as a Man enraged beyond all Bounds of not only Christianity, but Manhood, with Folly, Madness, and desperate Revenge has he endeavoured our Ruin among Men. Now that here in he has not shown himself the Primitive Quaker, and great Lamenter of our Apostasy, as he pretendeth, may be clearly seen, in that he doth endeavour to render the Good as well as Bad among us suspected by those, whom he confesseth, cannot have that Discerning he hath; and consequently their Lives and Ministry ineffectual; Next, to do it at this time of the Day; What greater Demonstration of Implacableness can there be, when so many are against us? and that as Quakers in any sense; yea, for owning those Principles, he himself asserts: their hands are strengthened thereby. Lamentation; Murder: Mercy; Revenge: our Recovery; our utter Destruction: and nothing below it must have been sought by that Discourse; but it all retorts from our Impenetrable Armour upon himself, and he will prove at last only to have discovered his own Nakedness by this Impious Attempt. Whence, if any thing appears, it is this, that because he is indeed gone back from what he was, and we remain what we were, the World, that once persecuted him, and still doth us, count him now a very White Boy; and I am persuaded. let him but continue to write against us, though a pretended Quaker, I dare warrant, they will reckon him a very Good Christian.  
It is this Sort of Unruly Beast that the Professors, (who themselves would have cast him out an Hundred times) maintain for an Ingenious Quaker, though their bare Entertainment of him against us, were Ground enough to suppose him either an Imposture or Renegade, as indeed he is little better; since first he pretends to be that in Religion which he is not: And secondly, that he is slipped from what he once was, or at least pretended to be. I will briefly observe the most weighty things of his Libel, and which indeed comprehend the Whole, and so close this Animad version.  
First, That G. Fox should say, No Liberty out of the Power; which he compares with the Papists, thus: No Liberty out of the Church. What! Liberty to the Sectary? No. What! 
p. 12.  Liberty to the Heretic? No. And G. Fox, says he, thus: What! Liberty to the Presbyter? No. What! Liberty to the Independents and Baptists? No; Liberty is in the Truth.  
Upon which he Comments at large: But had this Man but one Grain of that great Stock of Righteousness he unjustly pretends to, and seems to lament the Absence of among us, he would never have dared to suffer this to be so Printed to the World. The Truth of the Matter is this: G. Fox having an Occasion to speak of Liberty of Conscience, said, He never liked the Word, as commonly used; for, Conscience being an Inward and Spiritual Thing, no mortal Man could bind or inthrale it: He meddled not at all with the Outward Exercise of Conscience, as to the Performance of Worship, commonly called, Liberty of Conscience; wherefore he proceeded, No Liberty out of the Power; that is, The Power of God, Nor in reality is there: For all Consciences that are defiled, or enslaved by Wicked Works, they are not truly free; the Power of God has not delivered such into the Glorious Liberty of the Sons of God: And since those Persuasions Deny Liberty from Sin on this side the Grave, at least the immediate Light, Power and Spirit of God, to work it in the Soul, he therefore said, What! Liberty to the Presbyterians, Independents, Baptists? etc. No. That is, What Spiritual Liberty and Freedom of Conscience? No; for then in vain are we become Quakers, as the world calls us: And why should they deny a State of Freedom? In short, He spoke, and meant it of an Inward Liberty of Conscience from Sin, which is called in Scripture, Purging the Conscience from Dead Works, and If the Truth make you Free, etc. and this Alexander the Coppersmith, that Vile and Peevish Apostate, turns to an outward Exercise of Religious Worship, as if G. F. would have had those Professors persecuted by the Civil Magistrate. O Base and Wicked Perversion of an Innocent Man's true Words! But for all this shall the Eternal Just God bring him to Judgement.  
His next great Cavil is about his pulling off the HAT at Public Prayer, either upon Conviction, or the Judgement of the Body; wherein he tells us, That not only some of us counselled, or required him to yield, because the Body would have it; saying, 
p. 14, 15.  That was yielding to the Power: But his not so yielding, but persisting is no Dissension; but our Disowning any Person for that Cause, is a Breach of the Great Gospel-Charter of Liberty. Let him deny this to be the Strength of his Book if he can or dare; and which is as soon blown away, as the Chaff before the Wind.  
There is either such a Thing as a Christian Society, sometimes called a Visible Body, or Church, or there is not: If there be not, all is at an end; and why Contend we at all? If there be; then this Church either has Power or not: If no Power, than no Church. If a Body, Church or Society, (for the Word Church signifies no more borrowed from the Assemblies of the Athenians) then there must be a Power within itself to determine; an Anointing to lead into all Truth. Deny this, and all falls of itself. Well, but this I suppose, will be confessed to. The Question than is this, But, how far may this Church in join the Consciences of Individuals any Performance, supposing their Dislike? I answer; It would be first enquired into, Whether those things have been once generally owned by such a Church or not? secondly, Or if it be about some supper added Ceremony, something over and above what each Member at first sat down contented with?  
Now it is manifest, that this very Perverse and Quarrelsome Man, when he at first came among us, and walked with us; that he was not in any such Practice. As keeping on his Hat in time of Public Prayer; but believed, and in some measure walked in the Way we profess, conformable as we are, and we hope, for Conscience sake. He dare not also say, That he enjoyed nor some Comfort from those Prayers that came through an Uncovered Head, but acknowledgeth 
pag. 1, 2, 3.  the contrary; and at that time of Day all was well: It was the Gospel, the Truth, the Way of God, said he; and others, since of his Stamp, they were Zealous also to promote it. This now will be the Question, Whether, If any Person that had given those Signal Testimonies for a Way and People, and so incorporated himself with them, finding afterwards Fault with a Practice so Innocent, so Reverend, as keeping off the Hat in time of Public Prayer to Almighty God, should step out of that ●omely Order, set up a New Mark and Standard, whereby some should have their Heads covered, others uncovered (a most divided, confused and unseemly Sight) the Church in this Case may not Admonish, andafter her due Admonition, and the Parties tenacious, resolute, and captions Disputes for that unsuitable Practice, may not justly disown him as a Disputer about needless Questions; and one that is gone out of the complete Union of the Body, and exercised by another Spirit? Deny this, and Farewell to all Christian Church Order and Discipline, yea, and Truth itself: For it is an absolute Inlet to Ranterism, and so to Atheism, near whose Borders this Author dwells. I say, If the Scripture is to be credited, this is sound Doctrine; If the several Societies or Churches then gathered were not to pass Judgement, till the Heretics or Schismatics were convinced of, and acknowledged their Mistake, they had never done it, since upon such Conviction & Acknowledgement they ceased to be such; unless we should believe, that notwithstanding they were convinced in their Consciences of their Errors or Dissensions, they still persisted in the Belief of them, which I will not affirm. If then a Society or Church so anointed, as aforesaid, have that Power, We do by Authority thereof, as a Christian Society, judge all Persons concerned with the Spirit of this Author to be thus far led by a Delusive, Turbulent, Unchristian Spirit, which, if once given way to, there is no Imagination so Sordid and Scandalous, as it would not lead to; and by this will we stand in the Day of the Lord, when it will be proved no Popery, but Gospel to do so with him, and this Novice appear a Wretched Slanderer.  
His Objection, Were I among you, could I Marry, if an whole Nation, since you deny it to Dissenters from you? is Childish in every thing but the Malice of it. If all 
pag. 13.  the World but he were Believers, he might ask the Apostle Paul that Question, who said, Be ye not unequally yoked together: It is not the Fault of the Body that he dissents, but his own Imaginations and Whimsies. His Suggestion, that we would then deny him a Burial, because we should deny it him always as one of us; but especially our now Usurping his Property in a Burial Place, is a downright Forgery.  
That our Friends require any Man to practise what they are not convinced of, I utterly renounce in their Name, and that as an Infamous Slander. But that we will be 
Pag. 15.  well satisfied with any Member's Dispractice of an orderly Performance, once cheerfully owned, is also true, and most reasonable and orderly.  
That we Exalt ourselves is a Calumny of his making; but we know our Places in the Body. And for his saying, Every Member is Equal; it is false: For though 
Pag. 15, 16.  it belongs to the same Body, yet not to the same Service; some are in that sense more Honourable than others. This shows an Aspiring, Discontented Mind in him, that where he can't be Superior, he would be Equal.  
He saith, that with sorrow hath he seen pulling down, haling out, and thrusting forth of our Meetings, and that we went as far as our Power, and wanted only more to punish. 
pag. 29.   
But could we do so, as he wickedly & falsely suggests, we should have been perhaps more formidable to our Insolent, Envious & Perverse Opposers, who come not for Conscience sake, or to seek Satisfaction, which we shall never refuse, but to Disturb, introduce a Rabble, beget Laughter, or any thing that might disquiet our Assemblies, and as much as in them lies, render them Unprofitable to the People. If we ever so used any Conscientious Inquirer or Opposer, let us know them. It is Baseness itself to suggest our Ill-using of People in general, and none named: perhaps we have refused and condemned the bawling Opposition of such Apostate Slanderers as our Adversary; but we appeal to God's holy Witness in all Consciences, if that has been, or is our Practice, which is insmuated against us, much less that his Uncharitable Expression, If he had Power equal to our Will, we would punish, should have any place; the Suggestion of the common Adversary.  
For his saying, that the Ministers are Ravening Wolves, that prey upon the Flock●: and that if they commit a Fault, they are not to be judged by the Laity, but their Peers or 
pag. 29.  Equals.  
It is easy with him to Slander, but hard to prove. What one Minister ever made a Prey upon this Author's Person or Estate, let him give us his Name. If Preaching the Everlasting Gospel in season, and out of Season, Rising early, and laying down late, Suffering, Travelling, and Spending and being spent in Body and Estate, Sacrificing the Joy, Strength, and Pleasure of their Youth, to the Service of the Living, Eternal God, and the Salvation of People's Souls, if all this makes them Ravenous Wolves of Pray, then hath he rightly denominated them; but if this be Love unfeigned to God and Men, then will that Righteous Judge certainly reckon with this Apostate for all his Slanders and Calumnies against his Faithful and Painful Messengers.  
For not being judged by the Laity, but their Peers, as he wickedly distinguishes; be it known to all, That if any such Person have committed an Injury against any of those, who are not exercised in the Ministry; then as well those as the Ministry are proper Judges: but in Cases that may more strictly concern the Exercise of his Gift, it is most equal & reasonable, that such other faithful public Labourers as may be gotten together with some of the more approved among us, whom we can call Elders, should be Judges in the Case. But how? Only as they are upon serious Waiting to receive Counsel and Wisdom from God, directed of his Holy Spirit to speak, act, or determine. Now what great Matter of Evil, Apostasy, Popery, Tyranny, Lordlings, etc. can there be in so orderly a Practice? O this Libertine, Ranting Spirit! that therefore hateth us, because we would have it Ruled, Guided and Governed with the Curb of Truth; and not under a Pretence of Gospel-Liberty run out into all Excess, in which we have some Cause to fear this pretended Lamenter hath too deeply involved himself. True Liberty is not to Commit Sin Innocently, as some fancy, but to be freed from Sin, which is ever Nocent, and will prove destructive of all who are seduced by it.  
Nor is he less untrue and unrighteous to us, when he says, That as others Erred in setting up the Scriptures as the Standard, Trial, and Touchstone of Doctrines and Spirits, so we do 
p. 21.  greatly Err in setting up the Body above the Spirit.  
There is no such Doctrine as the Latter maintained among us. It is well known that the Former is by the many Professors, yea those, who boast in his Treachery and Lies; But this always hath been, and still is, and we hope, ever will be our Belief, that no mere Body of People, without the Guidance of God's Spirit, are capable of Determining in Matters of Religious Concernment: For it is not an Hundred Persons (singly void of the Holy Spirit) coming together, that makes them any whit more certain in their Judgement. The only and indispensable Qualification to that great Work being Discoveries and Assistance of the Holy Spirit? A Body then, without the Holy Spirit, can be no Touchstone; but a Body, attended with the Holy Spirit, certainly is. The Question than is not. If we prefer the Body above the Spirit? for that is the False Insinuation of this Apostate, who is enraged, that we should so severely censure him, and such Contentious Persons as he is; But, Whether we, as a Believing Body have the Holy Spirit, or no? Of which much hath been said by way of Vindication already in other Tracts; and we shall leave it to God's Witness in the Consciences of those we are concerned with in Matters of that Import, whether we are acted by that holy Wisdom and Direction, which gives true and sound Judgement. We know we are of God; and the World, whether Apostates or others, that thus withstand our Testimony, are in the Gaul of Bitterness, and Bond of Iniquity.  
His Objection, That the Hat on in Prayer is a Trifle, or of no such moment, as justly to occasion such a Bustle, makes for us; since he can't be other than a Trifler at best, for all his high Pretences, who hazards the Church's Peace, gives this Disturbance, bears this Ill-will, and shows that Revenge for a Trifle; 'Twere well if his Conscience were so nice in Cases of more Weight: I fear he is as well a Demas as an Alexander, and that his Cries against our Ministers decent and clean Apparel, is but a better sort of Coyer for his own Rusty Pharisaical kind of Garb, the Effect perhaps of his fordid Avarice. It seems by his Letter, that the Quakers mean Clothes made up much of his Convincement at first. Truly, that Faith which came in by the Outside, will go out by it too.  
But it is a Wonder to me, that the Costly Clothes and Prodigal Feast (to Excess and Derision) of that Exalted J. Penniman, and his Beloved Mary Boreman (who in Token of her Self-Denial, and Attainment to a more excellent Administration, exchanged her Cloth Waistcoat for a Silk Farendine Gown, her Blue Apron for one of Fine Holland, and her Ordinary Bodice for Rich Satin itself; to say little of her Riding in Fine Coaches, and several other things (once accounted by her Self-Righteousness Abominable Things) did never offend this Author's Nice and Squeamish Stomach: But we are they only, who must be condemned; and I perceive that must be reputed a Sin in us, which is accounted a Virtue in them. Away with such Deceit for Shame.  
He says, That we desert the Light, for the Judgement of the Body; A wretched Begging of the Question: 
pag. 18.  We do deny that to be Light in him, which opposeth it. He at other times grants the Body has Light, though not some Elders: But the Body judgeth him; How will he do then? For him to say, he believes the Body to be in the Right, and yet subject them to his own Conceits, is what deserves to be disdained of all understanding Men. He should have gone to those Elders, and cleared himself, if he had aught against them, and not place their Miscarriages (as he thinks) to the Account of the whole Body. Were he any thing of a True Quaker (and that he pretends to) he would have abhorred to add thus to their Endeavours, that strike at True as well as False: And if by True is understood something more refined than we are, he may be said to add to our Sufferings so much the more. What, but a Dark, Envious, Inveterate Man would have done such a thing at any time, but especially at this Juncture and Season?  
Behold the Hat now, and what a notable Spirit it affords us; one drop of which, by Antipathy, were enough, one would think, to cure any one, not too far gone in Prejudice and Schism! O that all who profess the Truth of the Living God, may be kept out of such Temptation, that they may never sacrifice the Peace of the Church, and Quiet of their own Souls, to the Introduction or Promotion of any thing so Unserviceable, Senseless and Unprofitable both to Soul and Body; but Eyeing the Blessed Truth in their Inward Parts, may by it be Exercised in Body, Soul and Spirit, to all Godly Conversation among Men; so will God be glorified, and they preserved.  
For his other Stories, Some things are true, & hurt us not, but show our Care to preserve Unity & Order, though they will the JUDAS, that both revealed & augmented them: Other Passages are greatly abused, and downright Lies told, as before, three of which I cannot forbear to mark out, with a Challenge to prove them, notwithstanding the following Testimonies. First, That our Ministry is Vicious and Wanton, guilty 
pag. 22. 23, 43.  of Whoredoms; and that Strumpets are among them. This we do in the Name of the Holy God deny, and defy any Man on Earth to prove any part of this Ungodly general Charge against our Ministry, to so much as belong to any one Person by us accounted of it: If any such thing be, let the Accuser, his Witnesses, and the Accused be brought forth, and an Hearing shall never be refused. But let me ask this Apostate, If ever he knew such a one? If he admonished him? If upon Continuance in such Ungodly Living he told it to the Church, before this Publication of his Ungodly Slanders to the World: If he says he did, he adds to his Lies; be it then True or False in itself, he has done but like a Treacherous Renegade; I fasten an Action of Defamation upon his Head, and that in the High and Holy Court of Heaven, before God the Righteous Judge, who will avenge the Cause of the Innocent upon their false Accusers.  
Next, That we, with the Papists, prefer a Loose Person before a Nonconformist, or such like, is an horrid Lye. We own, and cannot but cherish Sobriety, and a Conscientiousness to God in all, which we never could Profaneness; but where Men, like the Pharisees, have a Show of Religion, and their Fury hath eaten out their Moderation, insomuch, as that they are become Envious and Persecuting, such we say are worse than Publicans, as saith the Scripture, Whoremongers and Adulterers shall enter the Kingdom of God before them. But neither is this the Case in hand; for he is far less excusable, who having walked with Upright People, deserts them, than those Non-Conformists that were never of them. Nonconformity may be Ignorance, but Apostasy is wilful distorting, and erring from the Faith, Worship and Discipline of the True Church: and as a Christian turned Turk is observed to be most Cruel to the Profession; so none so great Enemies to the Poor Quakers, as those who have been reputed of them. The worst Enemies are those of a Man's own House: 'Twas Judas the Disciple that betrayed his Lord; and none we hear of, did Paul more wrong than Alexander the Coppersmith.  
Lastly, His Judging their Recantations, that denied their former Acts of Dissension, and gave Testimony against them to have been done in an hour of Temptation, is a Lie in itself, and in him high Incharity, and at most but a Begging of the Question: I Challenge him to prove it; If he can't, he is a Belyer of God's Convictions upon the Soul. Their professed Sincerity and Brokenness of Heart, and Contrition of Spirit, had been enough to have Melted any thing but an Adamantine Alexander the Apostate, who not only was Bad; but we never heard that he proved Good again; the Doom I fear of this Perverter of the Right Way of the Lord, who will certainly reward him according to his Works. But because I design not to be long, nor yet to give an Account to the World of our Church-Procedure, nor are we obliged to it for every nameless Accuser, let this suffice to show the Baseness and Revenge both of the Author and his Publisher, and their great Inconsistency with the Designs of each other, and his with sound Reason, Scripture, and Himself.  
God will Raise the Horn of his Salvation above all their Opposition; he will Prosper his Truth, Bless his People and Dissipate every Mist that Ignorance, Rags or Malice of Ungodly Men may for a time cloud the Beauty of the one or call in question the Unspotted Reputation of the other by; and He shall have the Glory, whose it is, forever.  
I am a Servant to the Truth, and them that Love it, William Penn.   

Innocency further Cleared, And the Spirit of Alexander the Coppersmith Further Detected.  
Or, The Full and Plain Testimonies of those very Persons (whose Names are quoted by the Author of the Spirit of the HAT, in favour of it, which doubtless give the greatest Credit to that Malicious Piece in the Minds of People) given forth against the Wicked and Pernicious Design of him that writ it, and for the Clearing of God's Truth and People.  

WHereas the Author of the Spirit of the HAT insinuates▪ That our Ministry is guilty of Uncleanness, Whoredoms, and such like Beastly Practices, under a feigned Commendation of us under-written; as Prosecutors of such Persons, that they may be brought to Judgement. We do declare in the Fear of the Everlasting God, That though we abhor with our whole Souls such Unrighteous Practices, and if such things were, we should, we hope, clear our Consciences for God, and his Living Truth, and People: Yet we do declare in the Uprightness of our Hearts, that we know of no such, nor can acknowledge any such to be either of our Ministry, or our Body, much less those who are Eminent among us, (as hath been Wickedly Suggested by the Author of The Spirit of the Hat) whom we have found Painful and Faithful to God, his Truth and People. Therefore to say, we were hindered from bringing them to Judgement, whom we never went about to charge, neither can we, is a Wicked, Envious and Palse Suggestion of the Adversaries of the Truth; and this in God's Fear we testify to the World.  


John Bolton,  
Samuel Newton.     

AS for that part of the Bemoaning Letter (so called) which doth more particularly concern me, I observe this; That the Author under the specious Show of Pity and Compassion to the Oppressed, doth traduce me, as well as others; First, In setting me in Opposition against John Bolton: Next, In Insinuating as if I had been so Hipocritical▪ as for Peace sake to Judge that in Public, which I Justified in Private. As to the first I say, There may be between two of one Judgement, through a Misunderstanding of each others Words and Intentions a seeming Opposition, and yet really none; and so was the Case between J. B. and myself: For the Intent of my words, and that which answered my Judgement, was, That it would not recommend any to us, to judge a Thing for Evil, unless they believed it was so; but that every one should be left to God's Witness in their Consciences, to Condemn what that condemns, and to Justify what that justifies; and not to condemn or justify barely upon the Motion or Judgement of others; which is true, and will stand to our Justification against this Slanderer, who would introduce, That the Tyranny of our Elders is such, as to impose upon the Weak and Simple that which they cannot believe: But I being misapprehended, there was an Occasion to call for the Judgement of the Meeting; for if my words had extended so far, as that nothing was to be accounted an Evil, unless the Guilty Party saw it to be so, (which is the Principle of the Ranters, and not of the People of God called Quakers) the Zeal of the Lord might well rise against it, where it was supposed to be; for that would excuse all Scared Consciences, who commit Sin with Greediness, and drink up Iniquity, as an Ox drinks Water: But when my Words were repeated, and explained, and the Intent of my Mind seen and understood, J. B. was satisfied, and all others, as far as I know. So it appears that I had no Occasion, neither did Condemn that in Public, which I Justified in Private; and the False Accusation is cast off, and returned upon the Author. And herein I must commend the Care of J. B. that he would not have any thing of a Wrong Judgement remain with a Brother.  
And this I have further to add, that though latet anguis in herba, yet the Snake is seen in the Grass; and that this twining Serpent hath no place in my Heart, but is forever judged by me, as coming from the Bottomless Pit, and thither must return; and God's Truth is over all Justified, and shall spread over the whole Earth to his Glory, who has begun the Work, and will finish it in his Time; and these Mists and Fogs, that do arise from the Pit, cannot darken the Son of Righteousness, who is appeared in the Hearts of a Remnant, and whose Glory shines, and will shine over all, to the fulfilling of that which was prophesied of him in Times past, That God would give him the Heathen for an Inheritance, and the utmost Parts of the Earth for a Possession.  
James Claypool.   

AS concerning the Letter called, The Spirit of the Hat: This I testify, It proceeded from a Subtle, Dark, Insinuating, Treacherous and Malicious Spirit; in words seeming to magnify the Name of the Lord; but its Workings ever brought reproach and dishonour thereunto, of which to my great Sorrow I have been a Concerned and Experienced Witness: For, Reader, this know, That the Lord God Everlasting, having visited this Nation with the Dayspring of Eternal and Immortal Life, how were our Hearts affected, and our Spirits revived, and our very Souls made exceeding and unexpressibly glad! Ah! how did the Solitary rejoice! How were the Mourners comforted▪ How beautiful were the Feet of them that brought us Tidings of this blessed Day! We knew throw Judgement and Burnings, and no otherwise the Oil of Joy, and River of Gladness; for the Ancient Path, which is Holiness to the Lord, that was, and is cast up, and the Joy of many Generations was, and is come, and the Angel of his Presence that rewarded Disobedience with Judgement, was known; and his Mighty Arm, that wrought Wonders of old, that was and is with us. And Oh! that the Nations knew this their Day of Visitation! For of a certain Truth, the Lord God of the Hebrews hath appeared unto us, and his Message is, He hath seen, He hath seen the Afflictions of his holy Seed, by reason of Sin and Iniquity, and he is come down to deliver out of spiritual Darkness and Bondage; Many have been and are the Witnesses hereof, and are raised and raising to testify thereunto, and their Testimony shall endure and remain. Yet notwithstanding as of old, many that have confessed to this Testimony, have turned aside, and given heed unto Fables, and forgotten the right Way of the Lord; and many Spirits have risen up to Stop the Passage of this blessed Work, and many have turned aside, and some are fallen, as in the Temptations and Provocations in the Wilderness in Israel's journeying toward the blessed Land; and as record is made in the Scriptures, of what befell them in their Travels, that Ages to come may hear and fear, and not tempt and provoke the Lord as they did; The same in some measure being in this Age also manifest, in which I myself was concerned, and saw the Snare, and through the Goodness and Mercy of the Lord am delivered from, and have often had it in my Heart, to leave it on Record to Ages to come; Therefore let him that reads understand. When we had seen the great Plunges in Egypt's Land, and had traveled through the Red-Sea, and saw the Wonders of the Lord in the Field of Zoar, and Sang the Song of his Praises upon the Banks of Salvation, and were Travelling on in the Wilderness to Canaan's Blessed Land, we were Proved, Tried, Tempted and Assaulted by many Enemies; and as we kept unto the Angel of his Presence, we were kept and preserved from all Danger; That was a Pillar of Fire by Night, and a Cloud to cover us from hurt by Day; and Angels Food we knew, and the Water out of the Rock we saw, and drank of the River of his Good Pleasure; and the Desert did rejoice, and the Wilderness did blossom as a Rose: But after all this we tasted the Waters of Merra, and through want of Watchfulness liked not the Food of Angels; but desired other Meat (and Quail sell amongst us) upon which Judgement came; and many fell for Disobidience, and some are yet Monuments of his Mercies; and some yet withstand their Visitations. And that none may pretend Ignorance, and that all may be left without Excuse, the thing was this: A Spirit arose in John Perrot, pretending, that the putting off the Hat in prayer was a Romish Tradition, and that a higher Dispensation was to be waited for. This, and much more was asserted under a pretence of a more excellent Way, accompanied with pretences of a more strict and mortified Life, which I sought for; and was grieved, that some that made a profession thereof, did not walk answerable unto this: in which trouble I, with several was amused and muddled, and not Watching in that, that discovers the Enemy in every Appearance, did not understand the working of that Spirit, nor that Power that withstood this Spirit, though often warned thereof by them that kept their Habitations: For in a Mystery it did wotk, and still doth, and lead many to the Chambers of Death, and Death is its Food: for into prejudice it brought many, that did eat as a Canker, and the Good was not discerned; but they were, and some yet are as the Heath in the Desert, that knows not when good comes. And the Spirit, that introduced that Practice, is manifest; and him by whom it was first asserted, hath merited in the Hearts of several the Appellation and Detestation, as of Jeroboam the Son of Nebat, that caused many in outward Israel to Sin.  
And now as to the Insinuations by the Author of this Letter, concerning the Meeting at Devonshire house, in which my name is mentioned, and my Case stated as a grand Proof of the Lordlyness and Corruptness of the Second Days Meeting there, I have this to say; I have as often been refreshed and comforted in the Good Presence of the Lord, that there I have found and felt, as in any Meeting I ever was in. And the Opposition I had there, related not to my Marriage as a Marriage, or to hinder my proceed therein, for that J. B. and all said at that time, he had nothing against; but that the Meeting could not pass it as their Approvement, I being not in Unity with the Meeting as to that matter aforesaid: So that the Letter doth not present the Matter truly as it was; but in a prejudiced Spirit states things, to render the Meeting, and its proceeds odious, both in that and several other particulars, which I expect others may reply unto.  
John Osgood.   

I Having seen a Printed Paper (to which the words above relate) wherein my Name is made use of by way of Instance, I find myself concerned to testify on this wise; That as the Blessed Eternal Truth was received by me, in the Love of it, through the Testimony of that Blessed People called Quakers; I being, soon after I was Convinced, shut up in a Close Prison, and continuing a Prisoner for divers years: though the Bend of my Heart was after the Lord, in a measure of Singleness; yet the Enemy of Truth and my Soul being permitted to bring forth his work in a Mystery, and therein to assault and gain Ground upon several of that People, some whereof I had an Affectionate Esteem for, hoping and believing well concerning them: And I being at a Distance, and much alone, that spirit had an Influence upon me, to the betraying of the Simplicity in me, to the writing of that Paper therein mentioned, and thereby to be an Occasion of Stumbling to others, and to Weaken the Hands of them I should have been a Strength to, and to Strengthen the Hands of them I should not have been a Strength to: And when I came to see it, I came forth in absolute Judgement against that Paper, and the spirit in which it was writ; and what I did in it, I did it absolutely to the Lord, and to answer his Pure Manifestation and Appearance in my Heart, and durst not do otherwise in the Pure Fear of the Lord (who in a signal Manner Appeared in me. and by a strong Hand and lifted up Arm opened my Heart, and raised a pure Zeal and Indignation in it against that Treacherous Lying Spirit) and my care was, to clear Truth, and its Testimony and Faithful Friends, whom I found the Enemy had struck at through me; and the Judgement I gave forth against that Paper, was not given forth in an Hour of Weakness and Temptations; but in the Strength and Dominion and Evidence and Clearness of Truth, and stands and will stand forever.  
And I do further testify, that the Spirit, that hath wrought in a Mystery against Friends, and to break their Unity, under swelling Pretences of further Discoveries and a Singular Larger Zeal, whether of that Spirit which leads unto the Practice of wearing the Hat in Public Prayer, or such like, to Catch the Mind of the Young and Simple, they not being aware of his Devices, is the same (though under diversity of Appearance) that works in the Children of Deceit & Disobedience to incline and entice them to all manner of Cruelty, Lust and Vanity, and is the Ranting Spirit, is Corah's Spirit, that resisted & murmured against the Servant of the Lord in former days; and therefore we find, that Apostates from among us, and Professors of all sorts and Profane can and do centre here in one Spirit of Enmity, and Opposition against the Truth, and its Followers and Witnesses: and of this the Lord hath made me deeply sensible, and through the Mercy and Power of the Lord God a Zeal and Indignation lives in my Heart against that Cursed Twining Spirit, and a Care and Travel in measure for all that have been Entangled by it, that they may see, and be sensible of it, and may be raised up to come forth in a clear and full Testimony against it without Reserve.  
John Swinton.   

ANd whereas it is said by the Author of that Scandalous Pamphlet called The Spirit of the Hat, that he remembers a Paper to have been sent down to Hartford subscribed by a Dozen of the Great Ones, as this Malcontent scoffingly terms them, & that it had this Passage in it, That if any Person had (as he thought) a Command from God, to do any thing, or put forth any thing in print, he must come, and lay it before the Body, and AS THEY JUDGE, THEY MUST SUBMIT, (p. 18.) querying, If this was not an Arbitrary Government, bound by no Law, but what G. F. and a few more please? and affirming, That it was much disliked there. This we under-written say, and that in God's Fear, who are Men well known in that Place, that we know of no such Paper, so signed or sent; Consequently there could not be any such passage: Neither was it possible that we should dislike it, unless we should dislike what was not. So that five great and manifest Lies meet in these few Lines. (1.) That there was such a Letter. (2.) That it had that Passage in it. (3.) That Twelve of the Great-ones, as he reproachfully calls them, signed it. (4.) That it was disliked: And Lastly, that he remembers all this. He that can remember things that never were, may be reasonably supposed to make those things: It shows his Malice to invent, and great Wickedness to affirm such Invention for very Truth: God will plead with this Traducer of the Innocent, in a Day when he shall not escape his Indignation. This is our true Testimony for the Clearing God's Truth and People.  


Henry Stout,  
Nicholas Lucas,  
Richard Martin.     

I Perceiving the Wicked Design of this obscure Author of the Spirit of the HAT, is not only to bring a Reproach upon Christ's Government and good Order among us his People, as Tyrannical and Oppressive to tender Consciences, (which is an abominable Slander) but also to sow▪ Discord among us; I must signify this to the World, that his Work is neither of Credit nor Effect with me, or us. For (1) he hath manifested himself to be a Belialite, or a Son of Belial, without a Yoke, and without the Bounds of Truth and Good Order; so that for him the Spirit of Ranterism is more proper and significant, than the Spirit of the Hat; however he makes that his Cover. (2) He is deeply a Partaker not of the least of those seven Abominations Prov. 6. 17, 18. 19 Being guilty of a Lying Tongue; an Heart that deviseth wicked Imaginations; and is a false Witness that speaketh Lies; and one that soweth (or rather would sow) Discord among Brethren: And wherein he attempts it between me and that upright Man of God G. F. I tell him, and the World, That his Bait and Wicked Device shall not take with me, since the Lord in Mercy hath opened my Understanding, to see beyond Prejudice and Darkness, upon which the Adversary of Mankind seeks occasion to Divide and Scatter where God hath Gathered and United: And the occasion that this Son of Belial, and Spirit of Ranterism takes wickedly, to represent me and G. F. to the World, as divided; was a Mistake that I was under, and an unadvised Expression privately spoken, which did reflect upon the holy Zeal of that Man of God; which when I came to see, it was my Burden; and the Lord's Reproof I owned on that; and to his Testimony and Judgement I stand against that Spirit of Prejudice, which did in days past weaken and veil my Understanding, while I stood not in the Unity of his Ministers and People, in which State the Life and Refreshments in the Body were not partaken of, as now felt thorough the Lord's Love which hath reached my Soul, and engaged my Heart to himself and People, not in any thing to offend, but to watch against the Dis-uniting Spirit, and to live in Union with the Church of Christ, whose Light is sprung up and arisen out of Obscurity, Praises to our God for ever; for whom I stand a Witness, in my Measure, against all loose disobedient Spirits, Backsliders & Ranters, and against that disorderly irreverent Carriage of keeping on the Hat in public Prayer, and the dis-uniting Spirit that sought to set it up & impose it among us, which, when it could not carry one its Design, but was opposed by the Power of God ●mong us, it cried out, Oh! Imposition upon Conscience, Pope, Arbitrary Government; Rule without to lead us from the Movings of God's Spirit, Rule and Government of Christ within; as this Apostate, who one while pleads Conscience; another while, the Spirit's Requirings; another while, a further Dispensation; another while, the Rule and Light within; another while, the great Charter of Liberty: And what for? What's the great Matter and Drift of the Business, but for keeping on his Hat in Public Prayer? But in pag. 24. he confesseth, They keep it neither off nor on, upon a Religious account; which is a manifest Contradiction to the former; which being read together amount to this sense (or as if he should say) I keep on my Hat in public Prayer on the Account of Conscience, at the Requirings of the Spirit, Light and Rule within, etc. but not upon a Religious Account. Oh monstrous Work! Irreligious, and void of both Conscience and Spirit, and yet pretend both as the Main Stress of his Work. By this the Ingenuous Reader may see his gross Hypocrisy in pretending Conscience, and the Spirit of God for that, which he hath no Religion in▪ And while he pretends to be a Deep Mourner in Israel, pag. 44. he is Reviling and bringing forth evil Reports against the Lord's People, as one that will both By't and Whine; who falsely accused the Body with the same Spirit of Reproach being entered, that is in the Papists; because of the Phrase [Spirit of the Hat, or Hat▪ men] (though it be confirmed in the Title of his Pamphlet) and yet his tender Conscience will serve him Scornfully and Reproachfully to call our Unity (which is the Unity of the Spirit professed by us) The Foxoman Unity: Oh fordid Hypocrisy and Scorn! This is he that is against the Spirit of Reproach, and Names of that tendence; and yet can thus Reproachfully Nickname our Unity.  
And whereas this pretended deep Mourner in Israel would appear very Zealous for the People called Quakers, as in the beginning; but now in the current of his Work charge them or the Body with a great Apostasy, Tyranny, Persecution, Violence, etc. and therein would be looked upon both as a Master Controller and Judge over them; as also to be a Quaker, standing in his first Purity, both as to his Life and Principles, viz. For Christ's Government, Guidance of his Spirit, Light Within as the only Rule, etc.  
Let it be considered how the Quakers were at first treated, and his Pamphlet now received and embraced by their open Enemies and Persecutors; the Quakers were Persecuted and Reviled by the World, by whom his Pamphlet, is owned and cried up as an Ingenious Pi●●e, and he as an Ingenious Quaker, even by the Envious▪ Dippers, and others, who are of a Persecuting spirit, who are of the World, by whose Slanderous Tongues and Pens the Quakers are Persecuted and Reviled: ●o that this pretended Mourrer is no real Quaker; but appears plainly to be one of those Antichrists, who are of the World, and whom the World heareth, and applaudeth for his Envious Work against the Quakers. And seeing that some Anabaptists and Socinians own his Pamphlet in the Publication and Spreading of it, and cry it up as such an Ingenious siece: We charge manifest Contradiction upon them, in their opposing the Spirit or Light of Christ Within as the Rule, which this Mourner▪ owns in words; unless they Recant of their opposing this Inward Rule, and acknowledge themselves to be real Primitive Quakers, only opposing the Body of us as Apostates; and hereupon we challenge them to be ingenuous, and not to shuffle; but be plain, and tell us, Whether this shall be the Matter in Controversy? or, whether they really own, what they publish of this kind against us? if they do not, than what they do, will the more appear to be of mere Malice and Revenge. And as for this Author, We challenge him to signify his Name, if he dare stand by his Work in this Spirit of the Hat? otherwise, let the World judge, how Infamously he has notified several Persons by Name, and yet dare not appear, nor discover his own.  
We can manifest him guilty of many gross Lies and Forgeries in his Pamphlet, more than we have mentioned, both against particular Persons, and the Body in general; who being a Vagabond from Christ's Light, Government and Order▪ he is one of them that despise Government, while he asperseth those Helps and Governments that Christ hath set up in his Church, which hath Power to mark, abstain from, and reject all such Contentious and Disorderly Walkers, of which number the Author of the Spirit of the Hat is, and so do warn him to Repentance; as also exhort him to the Calling-in that Envious Letter, or Book, called, The Spirit of the HAT, and commit it ●o the Fire, and send forth into the World from an Honest 〈…〉 Denial of the same, in a due Acknowledgement of the Evil of his so doing, that so, if possible, he may find Mercy from the Lord, whose Name, Truth and People he hath dishonoured, and so appears not one (though he pretends to it) of the Principle and Practice of the People of God called Quakers, whose Work, Travel and Service is for the Prosperity of the Truth, and not against it, as his hath been.  
William Gosnell   
THE END.