Quakerism the Path-Way to Paganism, Title page – To the reader
QUAKERISME The path-way to PAGANISME Or A Vieu of the Quakers Religion; BEING An Examination of the Theses and Apologie of Robert Barclay, one of their number, published lately in latine, to discover to the World, what that is, which they hold and owne for the only true Christian Religion.
By JOHN BROWN Minister of the Gospel.
Printed for Iohn Cairns, and other Booksellers in EDINBURGH ANNO MDC LXXVIII.
An EPISTLE to the READER.
CHRISTIAN READER.
Having, in the following Discourse, given (as the Lord was pleased to helpe) at some length; yet with as much brevitie as the matter would suffer, and thy good and edification (which I was called to consult) would permit, my poor Testimony unto those precious Truths, which are trode upon by this late Upstart generation of Quakers; I shall not detaine thee long in the entrie: Only let me say, That, as this impendent Pestilentious Cloud of Heathenish and Hellish Darkness, which the Devil by the ministrie of these Locusts (only Masculine in Malice against Christ, being the very impure Spawn of perfect Antichristian Enmitie to our Lord Jesus his Person, Offices, Work, Institutions, and to the Whole of the blessed Gospel; and in consonancy to that Hel-hatched designe, breathing forth nothing but that putrid Poison, that innate Serpentine Venome of manifest and mad Opposition to all the Mysteries of God, concerning our Salvation; which as they have implanted in them from their Father the Devil, that it may appeare, they are his very Children, by working his works; so they endeavoure to propagate to others) hath now exhaled out of the bottomless Pit; and by their Activity and Diligence, Assisted by his Art, and Prompted by his Spirit, brought unto this Prevalency of darkening our Horizon, and infecting so many even of such, of whom sometimes better things were expected, should, as upon the one hand, make all of us look back with griefe, and fix our eyes upon our misimproving and abusing the faire day of the Gospel, that we enjoyed, until our eye affect our heart, and we, in the conviction of our hainous guilt, in this matter, (the Nature and Aggravations of which are clearly enough seen, in this judicial stroke, which carrieth a Proportion, both as to Kind and Degree, with the Sin, and is therefore much more dreadful, then Famine, Sword and Pestilence would be) become humbled and sorrowful after a godly manner; so, upon the other hand, the consideration hereof should raise in us a more high esteem for the Precious Interests of Jesus Christ, and kindle in us more godly Zeal for his Truths & Cause, and make us heartily receive not only the Truth, but the love of the Truth, that we may be saved; for the neglect of which Duty, it was foretold and threatned, 2 Thes. 2:11, 12. that for this cause, God shall send strong delusion, that they (to wit, who received not the love of the truth) should beleeve a lie, that they all might be damned, who beleeved not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. When the Lion is roaring, ought not we to tremble? When the Jealous and Righteous God is sending on a generation of Undervaluers and Despisers of the great & inestimable benefite of the Everlasting Gospel, a sader stroke, than his three great Plagues would be, that should make populous Countreys and Cities waste, and without Inhabitants, in a very short time, what Christian heart will not tremble and be afraied? When the Lord sends upon a Land his three great Messengers of wrath, which can but destroy the Body, that must at length however return to the dust, are not all called to consider their wayes, and to turn unto the Lord? How much more are we now called hereunto, when the Lord is saying, I will also chuse their delusions; and is giving many up unto this Spirit of Delusion and Apostasie, whereby some, that have been formerly enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, &c. put themselves under that terrible impossibility, whereof the Apostle speaketh, Heb. 6:6. Of being renewed againe unto Repentance, seing they crucifie to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame; and under that dreadful sentence, Heb. 10:26. For if we sin wilfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sinnes, but a certain fearful looking for of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devoure the Adversaries; and under that much sorer punishment (ibid. vers. 29.) which they shall be thought worthy of, who have troden under foot the Son of God, and have counted the bloud of the Covenant, wherewith He was sanctified, an unholy thing, and have done despite unto the Spirit of grace? For I know not, if ever there was a Seck of Hereticks, and Apostats from the Truth once received, since the Apostasie of the Iewes, unto whom these passages are more truely and emphatically applicable, than to the Apostat-Quakers; who at length shall know, how fearful a thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, though now they be so bold & wicked, in their way, that it is not enough for them to Apostatize from the Truth; but they must also with a furious madness persecute the same Truth which their souls do now hate, with their blasphemous mouthes and pens; and with their railings and Rabshakeh-language reproach the Wayes of God, and all who follow the same. Sure I am, a due pondering of the desperat Designe, pernicious Wayes, hellish Doctrine, & wicked Practices, which these Emissaries of Satan project and follow-forth with a stupenduous activity, should affect us otherwayes, than (alas!) we seem to be at present. What, are we asleep? Are we not crying to the Lord, night and day, that he would arise, and vindicate His own Truth, when an enraged company of Runagadoes are destroying (so far as they can) the whole of our Religion, and driving us back to Paganisme, and betraying the whole of our sacred Interest into the hands of their Master, the Devil? Can we hear our blessed Lord and Saviour thus blasphemed, as he is by this Paganish Antievangelick Seck of Quakers, and not be so much moved with Indignation against them, as even Turks (who blasphemously assert our Lord to be no more, than a Prophet, inferiour to their deceiver Mahomet) would be, of whose just severity, in punishing a Iew, who, in his rage, striving with a Christian, did blaspheme the blessed name of Iesus of Nazareth, according to the sentence of one of their Muftees, we have heard, and found standing on record, to the shame of Christians, who have not so much Zeal for Him, whom they profess to owne for the true and living God, and for the only Son of God, and Saviour of Man, as Turks have for a Prophet of God? Thus it ought not to be; and a redress is called for, at the hands of one and other, according to their Place and Station. And however, it is the duty of all, who love our Lord Jesus Christ, and hope to see His face, one day, with joy, and of all who would carry as true and loyal Subjects unto Him, and would not be charged with the guilt of this God-darring, Christ-blaspheming, and Spirit-despiting generation of the prodigiously profane and arrogant Seck of Runagad-Quakers, to be this day, holding them up in their addresses unto God by prayer, to our Lord Jesus, the righteous Judge, as His sworn and stated Enemies, and as standing in perfect Opposition to His Kingdom and Interest; and to cry unto Him night and day, that He would arise and appear against them, and plead His own cause, in His good time, for the glory of His name; as also to be mourning for those sinnes, that have provoked the Just and Jealous God to suffer such Hellish Locusts to arise, and darken with their pestiferous blasphemies all the Glorious & Comfortable Truths of the Gospel; and to be manifesting the truth and sincerity of our Repentance, by the native and kindly effects thereof, mentioned by Paul 2 Cor. 7:11.
And if it were thus with us, sure I am, it would not be needful to say much, to move all unto a fixed abhorrence of the Errours, Wayes and Practices of these Men, and to a fleeing from them, as from Men, carrying about with them the very Credentials of Hell, and the Devils Commission to go forth, and pervert the right wayes of the Lord, and to destroy Souls. We would not need to inculcate the duties already pressed in the Scriptures, in reference to such Hereticks and false Teachers; to wit, to beware of them, to avoide them, turn away from them, to reject them, and not to receive them in our houses, or salute them, lest we should be partakers of their evil deeds, Mat. 7:15. Rom. 16:17. Phil. 3:2. 2 Tim. 2:5. Tit. 3:10. 2 Ioh. vers. 10, 11. For every one would, of his own accord, by a special Christian instinct, flee from them, more hastily, then from persons having the blak botch, upon the account, that when these could endanger only the Body, those were actively seeking to destroy the precious Soul: And all, who feared to fall under that sad sentence of summar Excommunication from Heaven, Anathema Maranatha, durst ever enter into a friendly communing with them, have any followshipe with them, or give them the least token of kindness and affection, by word or deed, yea or by a cast of the eye, let be by more homely Discoursings and Conversings. And it is more then probable, that if this course had been followed with them at the first, they had not prevailed so much, as they have done, to our Shame, Sin, and Sorrow, this day. O that this were yet thought upon, and amended!
Much less would there be any necessity to use much seriousness, in disswading all, who had any love to their own souls, from hearkning to their discourses, even though assurance were had (which who, that know what their Principles and Designes are, can expect?) that they should say nothing, but what is consonant to Truth; seing it will be easily granted, that the Devil, speaking in whomsoever, and uttering whatsomever, should not be listned unto, lest afterward he cause these same persons either question, or deny these same truths, because held and declared by such, who by their other abominable Errours, declare whose Slaves and Emissaries they are; beside the advantage he hath, when he getteth an hearing ear, to distil and insensibly drop-in soul-destroying venome, suggared over with faire Speeches, and plausible Insinuations.
Moreover, were all affected with this matter, as they ought to be, there would not be much need of Arguments, disswading from a Perusal and Reading of their Scripts and Pamphlets: For this impression would prompt them to an abhorrence of such Libels against the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, against blessed Jesus of Nazareth, (of whom these Quakers say, as their Father the Devil did before them, what have we to do with thee, thou Ie…us of Nazareth?) And against the holy Spirit of grace. Is it not obvious to all, that beside the advantage the Devil hath in our losse of so much precious time, spent in reading of their heretical and blasphemous writings, (which may be one end why the Devil prompteth them to be at so much paines and charges, to Write, and Printe so many pernicious Scripts, and distribute them so freely) he hath this also, that the reading of their Impertinent Reavings, in and about the holy things of God, and with all, of their Presumptuous and ridiculously confident Assertions, doth oft excite the Reader to laughter, who should rather be weeping over the manifest Effrontry done to the holy and precious Truths of God; and Indignity done to the Holy Lord, when His name is thus taken in vaine: And much more, when the reading of their Blasphemous and Outragious Speaches against the Holy One; of their Profane and Temerarious Abusings and Wrestings of the holy Word of Truth; of their Audacious and Wicked Overturnings of the whole Gospel of the grace of God; of their Subdolous and Craftie Undermining of the Fundamental points of our Religion; of their Supercilious and Effronted Rejectings of, and Mockings at the sacred Truths of God; and of their Irreverent and Fearless Prattings about the Mysteries of Divine and Unsearchable Wisdom, cannot but insensibly debauch the spirit of the Reader into, at least, unsutable thoughts about these great Matters, if he be not more then ordinarily ballasted with the apprehension of the dreadful Majestie of that God, whose Truths these are. The consideration of which should, me thinks, coole our Curiosity; and cause us, even when some necessity is laid upon us, which we cannot evite, to read them, as when called to write against them, and to discover their abominable and blasphemous Assertions, for preventing of further mischiefe (a necessitie that lyeth not upon every one of our Common People) to live nigh to God, and to be oft praying for a stayed frame of heart, that our spirits be not debauched, by the reading of such things, as have a native tendency thereunto; nor place be given to one thought of these great and glorious matters, as if they were but indifferent, or of small moment. Who can dive into the depths of Satan, the mysteries of their Blasphemies and Abominations, and not be in hazard of receiving hurt thereby, if the Lord do not strengthen and steel the Soul?
Finally, were we as we ought to be, there would be no necessity of dehorting any from giving countenance, in the least, unto their Synagogues of Satan, and Diabolical Conventicles, where some, out of curiosity or some other corrupt ends, sisting themselves within the jurisdiction of Satan, who there reigneth, being there solemnly Served and Worshiped, have been) as the Quakers themselves do boast, and this R. Barclay professeth himself to be a clear instance) catched by the Devil, and made to drink of the same Cup of Delusion, with the rest; and to devote themselves to the same service of the Enemy of God and of Mankinde, in which these Master-workers are so active and busie. It is not good to approach too nigh to a rageing Devil, nor to tempt the Lord: The history of the two persons, that would be present at stage playes, is known; and the Reader may see the same related to his hand, by the worthy Author of the first Epistle to the Reader, prefixed to Mr Durham's Exposition of the Commands. Let any sober and judicious person consider that, which these Quakers call their Solemne Worshipe, as this R. Barclay hath laid it forth before us, and judge, whether there be not there to be found, without any narrow search, such plaine Vestiges of Devilrie, that may cause all, in whom is the least mea…ure of the fear of God, run far from them, as from persons possessed with an evil Spirit, and acted by the Devil, the God of this world, the Prince of the power of the aire, the Spirit, that now ruleth in the Children of disobedience. Nothing, that I ever heard or knew of them before, did so much confirme me of their Devilrie, as the reading and examining of that, which thou hast here Chap. XXII. Beside that, every one may know, that it is something more then Humane, for persons Illiterat, and of meane Understandings, when turning Quakers, to learne in so short a time, in a few dayes, if not, in a few houres, all their Notions, Errours, Blasphemies, Prancks and Practices, (all so contrary to the Way and Profession, wherein they have lived from their Infancy) that they can act their wayes, and utter their Abomination, in their very dialect and tone, so exactly, as if they had seen nothing else, all their dayes; to speak nothing of Persons civilly educated, who yet, turning Quakers, can so suddenly and so perfectly imitate and follow their rude and rustick carriage, as if they had never seen civility with their eyes: All which may confirme Rational Persons, that it is not humane, but the work of some powerful Spirit, possessing them; And what this Spirit is, which Teacheth, Possesseth, Prompteth, Acteth, Leadeth, and Driveth them, and Speaketh in them, the Word of God doth sufficiently evidence, and may satisfie all Christians: By the fruit we know a tree; and by their doctrine, we may as infallibly know, that it is the Spirit of Satan, that rageth in them, if we will be satisfied with, and submit to the Decision of the Spirit of Truth, speaking in the Scriptures. Their Unsavoury, Pernicious, and Blasphemous Positions and Assertions will put this matter beyond all debate. I have gathered together an heap of such, to the Number of Three Hundered and Fiftie, and moe (and the Reader may possibly finde yet moe, that have escaped me, and that without noticeing such things, as may be drawn by just consequence from their Positive Assertions; for if these were collected, we might soon finde out the number of the Name of the Beast, Six hundereth Sixty and Six) to which may be added Sixty and Five, found in one book of G. Keiths, set down here at the end, after the Postscript; by which, thou mayest judge, what a Masse would be found, if all their Books were searched. But I suppose, the fearer of God will say, there is here enough, and more then enough, to cause all Christians abhore them and flee from them, as from the Devil himself.
I shall not trouble thee, with any Apologie for the work it self; Only because I apprehend, some will think I am too large, and might have contracted the whole into narrower bounds; I must tell thee, that considering the genius and temper of these Quakers, and knowing how ready they would be to vaunt and triumph, as if any thing they said were unanswerable, if I had passed over any thing said by their Patron and Advocat, and had not examined particularly, not only his Erronious and Blasphemous Assertions; but also all that he did alledge for confirmation of the same; and also all that he belched out against the Truth; I was constrained to leave nothing untouched: and that the book might be of more universal use, I saw a necessitie of clearing and confirming the Truths Opposed, by other Grounds and Arguments, then this Contradicter of the wayes of Truth had taken any notice of: And yet I have done it with that brevitie, that maketh me apprehend, Moe shall blame me, upon the other hand, for not confirming the Turths at greater length; seing, as to several Heads, here touched, Others now a dayes, beside Quakers, are appearing against the Truth, once received. The Heads, it is true, are many; and I have in most, for confirmation, adduced only our Confession of Faith, and Catechismes, to the end, that one and other may be enduced to peruse that book more, as a good Antidote against the many Errours of this time, pointing withall the Readers to apposite passages of Scripture, for the ground of their faith. And if I had handled each Controversie, here touched, at full length, how many volumes should I have been necessitate to have written? What intertainment this shall finde with the Quakers (a sort of Men, that cannot be silent) I am not much concerned to enquire; And if they examine it, as Rats or Mice use to deal with books, snatching at a word here, and at half a sentence there, and no more, I suppose no man will think me called to notice the fame; nor yet to be troubled at their Railings, and Barkings: And as for any answere to the whole, that shall savoure of Reason, Religion, Candor and Plainness, I do not expect it from them.
Farewell, J. B.