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one of his disciples, William Sympson, who was 'moved of the Lord to go, at several times, for three years, naked and barefoot before them, as a sign unto them, in markets, courts, towns, cities, to Priests' houses, and to great men's houses, telling them: so should they be all stripped naked. Another friend, one Robert Huntingdon, was moved of the Lord to go into Carlisle Steeple-house with a white sheet about him.' (1). We are told of a female Friend who went stark naked, in the midst of public worship, into Whitehall Chapel, when Cromwell was there;' and of another woman, who came ' into the Parliament House with a trencher in her hand, which she broke in pieces, saying: Thus shall he be broke in pieces.'-One of the Friends came to the door of the Parliament House with a drawn sword, and wounded several, saying: 'he was inspired by the Holy Spirit to kill every man that sat in that House.' (2). But in no occurrence has George Fox and his followers been so embarrassed to save their Rule of Faith, as they have been to reconcile with it the conduct of the noted James Naylor. (3). When certain low and disorderly people,

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May-games, with fiddlers, drums, and trumpets to play at them, with such-like abominations and vanities, be encouraged, or go unpunished, as setting up of May-poles, with the image of the crown a-top of them, the nation will quickly turn, like Sodom and Gomorrah, and be as bad as the old world, who grieved the Lord, till he overthrew them: and so he will you; if these things be not suddenly prevent. ed.' &c. G. F's Journal, p. 225.

(1) Journal, p. 239.

(2) Maclaine's note on Mosheim, vol. v. p. 470.

(3) See History of the Quakers, by William Sewel, folio, p. 138, Journal of G. Fox, p. 220.

in Hampshire, disgraced their society, and became obnoxious to the laws, G. Fox disowned them (1), but when a Friend, of James Naylor's character and services, (2) became the laughing-stock of the nation, for his presumption and blasphemy, there was no other way for the Society to separate his cause from their own, but by abandoning their fundamental principle, which leaves every man to follow the spirit within him, as he himself feels it. The fact is, James Naylor, like so many other dupes of a supposed private spirit, fancied himself to be the Messiah, and, in this character, he rode into Bristol, his disciples spreading their garments before him, and crying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Hosannah in the Highest! Being scourged by order of Parliament, for his impiety, he permitted the fascinated women, who followed him, to kiss his feet and his wounds, and to hail him the Prince of Peace, the Rose of Sharon, the fairest of ten thousand,' &c. (3).

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I pass over many sects of less note, as the Muggletonians, the Labbadists, &c. who, by pursuing the meteor of a supposed inward light, were led into the

Fox, p. 320.

(1) Journal of G. (2) Ibid. p. 220. Sewel's Hist. of Quakers, p. 140. (5) Echard's Hist. Maclain's Mosheim. Neal's Hist. of Puritans. In closing this account of the Quakers we may remark, that there is no appearance yet of the fulfilment of the confident prophecy with which Barclay concludes his Apology: That little spark (Quakerism) that hath appeared, shall grow to the consuming of whatsoever shall stand up to oppose it. The mouth of the Lord hath spoken it! Yea; he that hath risen in a smali remnant, shall arise and go on by the same arm of power in his spiritual manifestation, until he hath conquered all his enemies; until all the kingdoms of the earth become the kingdom of Jesus Christ.'

Allied to these

most impious and immoral practices. are the Moravian Brethren, or Hernhutters, so called from Hernhuth in Moravia, where their Apostle, Count Zinzendorf made an establishment for them. They are now spread over England, with Ministers and Bishops appointed by others resident in Hernhuth. Their rule of faith, as laid down by Zinzendorf, is an imaginary inward light, against which the true believer cannot, sin. This they are taught to wait for in quiet, omitting prayer, the reading of the Scriptures, and other works. (1). They deny that even the moral law contained in the Scriptures is a rule of life for believers. Having considered this system in all its bearings, we are the less surprised at the disgusting obscenity, mingled with blasphemy, which is to be met with in the theological tracts of the German Count. (2).

The next system of delusion which I shall mention, as proceeding from the fatal principle of an Interior Rule of Faith, though framed in England, was also the work of a foreign Nobleman, the Baron

(1) Wesley, in a letter which he inscribes, To the Church of God at Hernhuth,' says, 'There are many whom your brethren have advised, though not in their public preaching, not to use the Ordinances-reading the Scripture, praying, communicating; as the doing of these things is seeking salvation by works. Some of our English brethren (Moravians) say; you will never have faith till you leave off the Church and the Sacraments: as many go to hell by praying as by thieving.' Journal, 1740.-John Nelson in his Journal tells us, that the Moravians call their Religion The Liberty of the Poor Sinnership; adding, that they sell their prayer-books, and leave off reading and praying, to follow the Lamb.'

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(2) See Maclaine, Hist. vol.vi. p. 23, and Bishop Warburton's Doctrine of Grace quoted by him.

Swedenborgh. His first supposed revelation was at an Eating-house in London, about the year 1745. After I had dined,' says he, a man appeared to me sitting in the corner of the room, who cried out to me, with a terrible voice: Don't eat so much. The following night the same man appeared to me, shining with light, and said to me: I am the Lord, your Creator and Redeemer: I have chosen you to explain to men the interior and spiritual sense of the Scriptures: I will dictate to you what you are to write.' (1). His imaginary communications with God and the Angels were as frequent and familiar as those of Mahomed, and his conceptions of heavenly things were as gross and incoherent as those of the Arabian impostor. Suffice it to say, that his God is a mere man, his Angels are male and female, who marry together and follow various trades and professions. Finally, his New Jerusalem, which is to be spread over the whole earth, is so little different from this sublunary world, that the entrance to it is imperceptible. (2). So far is true, that the New Jerusalemites are spread throughout England, and have chapels in most of its principal towns (3).

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(1) Barruel's Hist. du Jacobinisme, Tom. iv. p. 118. (2) Ibid, Tom. iv. p. 118.

(3) Since the above letter was written, another Sect, the Joannites, or disciples of Joanna Southcote, have risen to notice by their number and the singularity of their tenets. This female Apostle has been led by her spirit, to believe herself to be the Woman of Genesis, destined to crush the head of the infernal spirit, with whom she supposes herself to have had daily battles, to the effusion of his blood. She believes herself to be, likewise, the woman of the Revelations crowned with twelve stars, which are so many Ministers of

I am sorry to be obliged to enter upon the same list with these enthusiasts, a numerous class, many of them very respectable, of modern religionists, called Methodists; yet, since their avowed system of Faith is, that this consists in an instantaneous illapse of God's Spirit into the souls of certain persons, by which they are convinced of their justification and salvation, without reference to Scripture or any other proof, they cannot be placed, as to their Rule of Faith, under any other denomination. This, according to their founder's doctrine, is the only article of Faith; all other articles he terms opinions, of which he says, the Methodists do not lay any stress on them, whether right or wrong.' (1). He continues: 'I am sick of opinions; I am weary to bear them; my soul loaths this frothy food.' (2). Conformably with this latitudinarian system, Wesley opens heaven indiscriminately to Churchmen, Presbyterians, Independants, Quakers, and even to Catholics. (3). Addressing the last

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the Established Church. In fact, one of these, a richly beneficed Rector and of a noble family, acts as her secretary in writing and sealing passports to heaven, which she supposes herself authorized to issue, to the number of 144,000, at a very moderate price. One of these passports in due form is in the writer's possession. It is sealed with three seals. The first exhibits two stars, namely, the morning star, to represent Christ, the evening star, to represent herself. The second seal exhibits the lion of Juda, supposed to allude to the insane Prophet, Richard Brothers. The third shows the face of Joanna herself. Of late her inspiration has taken a new turn: she believes herself to be pregnant of the Messiah, and her followers have prepared silver vessels of various sorts for his use, when he shall be born. (1) Wesley's Appeal, P. iii. p. 134. (2) Ibid, p. 135. (3) Appeal.

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