G. Fox, I have verified the old Proverb, the Old Fox is caught at laſt.

Mr. M. Yes, and another Proverb too, Set a Thief to catch a Thief.

Mr. L. Mr. Keith, let you and I withdraw a while, that I may fully ſatisfy you about Epiſcopacy, Liturgies and Ceremonies.

Mr. M. What ſay you to us now, Mr. Keith?

I am perfectly reconcil'd to the Church of England: O the Church of England, the Church of England! and I will ſhortly be ordain'd, and then it will be the Reverend Mr. Keith.

Mr. M. Sir, Reverence is your due then. When you came into England, you told your Followers, you would make a Reformation according to the Line of Scripture—And when you were ask'd your Opinion about Singing, that Antichriſtian thing, you anſwered with me, That it was as unlawful to take a Praiſebook, as a Prayer-Book, &c. You are every Body's, and no Body's; a Bird that leaps from one Garden to another. What ſtuff do you diſgorge at one time againſt them, whom you magnify at another time. But what was your Viſion of a Rope you ſo much talk'd of when you firſt came into England, and ſet up for a Reformer.

It is too large to tell; but, That it was a Rope, that ended all.

You are a company of Schiſmaticks all of you, Presbyterians, Independents, Anabaptiſts, and Quakers. It is well known, when Dungal was to be burnt for a Wizard, he confeſt, The Devil told him, when he was forward to renounce his Baptiſm, but not the Solemn League and Covenant, that he would excuſe him here, for Old, Nick proteſted, he was at the making of the Covenant, and had a great band in the drawing of it up: for my part I believe him, do not you?

Mr. M. No not I, any more than I believe you; it is your cuſtom to believe him, not mine; he was a Liar (pray, Mr. Keith, remember I do not ſay you) from the beginning, and will be to the end. When ſhall the World be emancipated from your Impoſitions, whoſe Notions, whoſe Words, whoſe Actions fall out and quarrel continually? You never liv'd in a temperate Zone, but in a torrid one, always, continually, and evermore.

I confeſs I have ſpoken like William Penn, who under the Title of his Sandy Foundation, ſays, By W. P. a Builder on the Foundation that cannot be ſhaken. Yet this Foundation hath been ſhaken to purpoſe, not only by others but himſelf too ſince that time, about the Trinity, imputed Righteouſneſs, the Reſurrection, &c. ſo have I pratled once, and done more than he.

I can hold no longer; O George, I am moved to tell thee, Tophet is prepared for thee, O thou Adamantine Alexander the Apoſtate; thou Gimcrack, thou Bloodhound, thou Moon-calf, thou Miniſter of the Devil, thou Night-bird, one as black as Hell; for ſuch words have I, and other Friends often uſed to others, ſuch as thou now art, and all in the Name of the Lord, and from the Eternal Spirit of Truth, Love, and Meekneſs. I am upon the Throne, and have power to bind and looſe. The Lake's for G. Keith, and G. K. for the Lake, Fire and Brimſtone and all—

Stop G. ſo ſaid Muggleton to thee, thou to him, and you both to whom you pleaſe; God reſtore thee to thy ſenſes. Thou haſt ſaid, Thou wert equal with God—as Holy as God, not only in Quality, but Equality—And thou couldſt know Mens hearts, whether Saints or no, without ſpeaking a word: That every Quaker was infallible. Remember Audly's Letter to thee. Thou wert not only call'd by others, as Ann Gargel, The Son of God, but didſt write thy ſelf ſo. Thou toldſt Oliver Cromwel, and King Charles (as well as others with thee) contradictory things in the Name of the Lord, as Mr. Leſly hath undeniably prov'd to all the World, in his Snake in the Graſs, Second Edition, Chap. 18. p. 200, to 240. If ever you anſwer that Chapter, I will recal all my Narratives, and return to the Quakers once more. If what is there ſaid be true (as God and Man know it is) you are the moſt horrid Villains, the moſt monſtrous Liers, the greateſt Blaſphemers on the face of the Earth, and the moſt bloody ones too, that would have Oliver with the Sword ſet on France, Spain, Holland, &c. And Burroughs propheſyed then the Fall of Rome, and urged Oliver to carry his Arms there, and ſaid, As ſure as the Lord liveth it ſhould come to paſs. Read p. 540, 535, 536, 537. of Burroughs his Works, who denied all when the King returned.

I wiſh (tho Colonel Fletcher would not) yet Samuel Jennings had hanged thee in Penſilvania when thou didſt refuſe to try thy Doctrine by Friends Books, particularly William Penn's (as commanded) but wouldſt by Scripture, which was juſtly denied thee. Friends ſaid, Thou wert bringing Men again to the Scriptures, and the Profeſſors Chriſt. I wiſh the Ship that brought thee from thence into England had ſunk into the bottom of the Sea. Since thy change thou haſt cenſured Leſty for what he ſaith of Witchcraft (in that Book) and didſt ſay, There was an appearance of God in the thing (Quakeriſm) tho wofully midwiv'd into the World. What then becomes of Giles • ermin's terrible Letter, pag. 297. Snake in the Graſs, ſeeing thou thus blaſphemeſt? I ſay, O thou filthy Beaſt, who doſt purge upward and downward—Thou haſt need of one to wipe thee—Thou makeſt a pitiful ſtink wherever thou goeſt: By thy vomiting and purging, thou makeſt every one ſick that comes nigh thee; thou ſtinkeſt all the Country over; thou art like a Horſe with a gall'd back; thou makeſt People to vomit and ſpue to hear thee, &c.

All this Rhetorick have I heard, and read too, over and over. And ſo you ſpeak one to another, Now, and all in the Name of the Lord; Impoſtors, Deceivers, Devil-driven Men; read Rogers of Briſtol, and others. Leſly ſays, Being men of Honour, he believes you all—Thou mayeſt well be called George Fox the Elder.

Mr. M. Right, Sir; and may not you be called, not George Keith, but George Fox the Younger? for if ever any Man plaid the Fox, you have with us, with others, eſpecially Friend Y. and ſome believe you will with the Church of England in time: if they do not haſten your Preferments, they ſhall hear of it in both Ears.

Had the Money for the Rent, and to pay the Hireling (thy ſelf) at Turners-hall been eaſily rais'd, and not Friend C. and others dropt from thee, thou hadſt never ſo ſoon left the place, and cryed Schiſm, Schiſm. But when thou heardſt that F. B. got at one clap an hundred pound at Cambridg, thou thoughteſt it high time to go to the ſame profitable Church he did, and to beſpatter all Diſſenters as Leſly did, who compar'd the Quakers to young Vipers, who eat out the Bowels of our Mother Presbytery, and ſays, pag. 57, 58. They (the Apoſtles) frequented the Jewiſh Temple and Liturgy: They acknowledged the Authority of God's High Prieſt, and ſubmitted themſelves to it as one commiſſion'd from God—Tho they were againſt the Goſpel, &c.

Mr. M. Hear Mr. Leſly; Were the Phariſees long Prayers read? Would you own a Church ridiculing the Goſpel? In ſhort, Sir, if a Church muſt not be ſeparated from, that crucified Chriſt, and put Apoſtles to death, muſt a Church be left that pluck'd King James a Papiſt, and a Tyrant too, from his Throne? that prays for a Proteſtant King, and chuſeth ſober Biſhops? Is it a greater Sin to dethrone King, James, than to crucify Chriſt and murder the Apoſtles? That you and others go not to Common-Prayer and Sacraments openly, but run into Corners now as well as others once did.

George Keith, it is revealed unto me, Thou art a Hypocrite, I know it by the Spirit of Diſcerning. I know alſo what Money the Biſhop of London gave thee, and what Money L. hath procured for thee, and others too.

Yes as the Glover, and his two Quaker Prophets did in Cheapſide, one declared it was the Servant Maid, another the Servant Man that ſtole—but at laſt it was a common Thief afterwards executed who confeſt all. When the Foxonian Quakers excommunicated Story, Wilkinſon, Rogers, and others, and they them, and all in the Name of the Lord, they would ſay, This is the Word of the Lord from me to thee—Yet the Quakers were always One. Thou in thy Journal telleſt of being led into Paradiſe, and knowing the Virtues of all the Creatures, of being as perfect as Adam before he fell, as Chriſt himſelf; that thou didſt wade through the Blood of a thouſand Martyrs (by which tricks thou goteſt thouſands of pounds.) I have told the People from the Pulpit, the Miſchief of Toleration, and that all is not Perſecution Men call ſo, &c. I am ready to ſpit in the faces of my old Schiſmatical Friends, Y. in particular. I cannot for my heart love a Diſſenter: I ſtudy Hooker's Eccleſiaſtical Polity, the Chief Book for the Church of England, and make the World believe his Arguments are mine.

Mr. M. I believe from thence you will go to Parker's Eccleſiaſtical Polity too, and with him call for Axes and Hammers, and ſay, The Cannibals in America are Philoſophers (or Gentlemen) if compared to the Diſſenters—And that the conſcientious Villain is the worſt of Rogues, and not to be born with; and that Chriſt ſometimes acted like a Jewiſh Zealot, which Joſephus ſays were Cut-throats.

G. Fox, thou toldſt the World twenty four Languages were inſpir'd into thee one Night, who never underſtoodſt thy Mother Tongue. Thy Battledoor proves that thou knoweſt thy ſelf to be an Impoſtor. The Hiſtory Books thou didſt put thy Name to, and prideſt thy ſelf as thine, were done by others; thou underſtoodſt none of them, but madeſt the World believe, all was by Revelation—I have heard ſome Quakers ſay, Thou were equal to Chriſt, wert born of a Virgin.

Had Friends thought ſuch a precious Friend as George Keith would have come to this paſs, they had wiſh'd that the pieces of Money they gave thee had been all caſed: That the Spit had ſtood ſtill, or the Pot boil'd over when they prepared for thee. Many a good Dinner coſt thee but a Groan—G. Whitehead's Prophecy is now fulfill'd, Contempt is poured on thee—For W. C. a Church-man wrote againſt thee, and T. M. himſelf now.

If this be to propheſy, I will propheſy of him, That he ſhall ſometimes feel pain, hunger, and thirſt—That be ſhall die—As for T. M. I have offer'd him a Publick Diſputation, but refuſe a Private one, about the Liturgy, Epiſcopacy, and Ceremonies.

Mr. M. I have heard him ſay he will accept it, get you him Protection, without which you are no Man to make ſuch an Offer: If you ſo do, you ſhall never ſay of him as of Mr. Penn, That he abſconded, and would not appear—Shall I be plain with you, Mr. Keith, for once, and ſpeak my mind freely to you; and will you hear me patiently?

Keep to your Word, let it be but once; but I cannot promiſe Patience; for every one knows I and Patience have been ſtrangers theſe threeſcore years.

Mr. M. How came you to preach in Churches, where are Jacobitiſh Prieſts (are you turning one too?) who dare leave out King William in their Prayers, and ſo are open Trumpeters of Rebellion, praying only for his Confuſion, and the Proſperity of King James? Beſides, may not dancing on a Firſt Day be as lawful as playing on Organs, not for Devotion, but for Diverſion, as before the Firſt Leſſon, and after the Sermon? How diſmal is it to hear twenty Bills in the Desk for ſick Perſons, ſome going to Sea, others drawing nigh the time of Travail—And a cold Prayer read for all afflicted in Mind, Body, or Eſtate—Do you think you come to a Quakers Meeting, when you now aſcend the Pulpit, and underſtand not your Text, nor Scriptures you cite? but all know you are a woful Expoſitor of Scripture, tho otherwiſe ingenious, to ſay nothing of Common-Prayer, in your Prayer before Sermon, and nothing but Common-Prayer, if any at all, after Sermon. I am afraid, having ſo many bad Symptoms on you, you will at laſt be found among ſuch conforming Prieſts that tell us in print, That reading Scripture by all is not convenient, makes them Rebels. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Search the Scriptures, may be read indicetively, not imperatively. That Magiſtrates, if they make Laws againſt God's Laws, muſt ſometimes be obey'd, as 2 Chron. 32.33. That King Hezekiah, and his Parliament, appointed the Paſſover, ſhould be kept the ſecond Month, tho God had ſaid the firſt. That the firſt Table of the Decalogue was made for no other end than to obſerve the Duties of the ſecond; and therefore the End is more noble than the Means inducing to it. So that to do as we would be done unto, is all; and pawn their Souls for it: and at laſt ſay,

But if all Religion be expreſt in thoſe words, Mat. 12. As you would that Men ſhould do to you, do you even ſo to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets; there is no neceſſity of Prayer, Creed, Sacraments: ſo that in this ſhort cut five of the Articles or Points, or what you call them, may be left out. You will ſay in good time (or bad time, I fear) That it is better to go to a Whore-houſe, than a Meeting, as others have ſaid—And at laſt carry your ſelf as ridiculous as, 'tis ſaid, ſome of your Family do in publick: that ſome ſay, Are theſe your Miniſters—Wo to King William when you turn Jacobite.

Am I a Dog that I ſhould do ſuch things as theſe?

Mr. M. So ſaid Hazael, and yet you know what he did. Your Church is an Arminian Synagogue: Imputed Righteouſneſs is ſcofft at by thouſands, and hardly heard of from the mouths of any one of her Prieſts: And one of them lately, whom God hath knock'd down, greatly bewails it. But no end is there of your corrupt Doctrines and Diſcipline.