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were understood by others to deny; and which, in fact, (though they did not so understand themselves,) they frequently did deny, both vir tually and explicitly, when in the heat and acerbity of oral disputation they said, they knew not what; and also, when, under the same belief of immediate inspiration, they committed to writing whatever words came uppermost, as fast as the pen could put them down, and subjected to no after revision what had been produced with no forethought."

This is strong commendation; but Mr. Philip goes still further; he says, "It sweeps the whole circle of the Messiahship of Jesus, and that with a strict logic and in a pure taste. I can never read it without thinking of Dr. Smith's 'Scripture Testimony.' It has all the convincing power of that masterly work, although it acquires that power from common sense alone. ... For ordinary readers it is perhaps the best thing against Socinianism they could read. In this point of view it deserves to be republished and circulated among the poor; for its bearings against old Quakerism are its least merit."

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In this treatise, observes the same writer, Bunyan does not name any minister or book of the Quakers; with the exception of seven questions to them, at the end of it, he does not

even plead with them, but with those who 'lis

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tened to them.' His knowledge of their doc

trine he probably derived from their own lips; for it appears he had often heard them, and had also, like Baxter, been sometimes interrupted and reviled by them while he was preaching.

To Bunyan's treatise, Edward Burroughs, a noted man among the Quakers in those days, published a reply under the following title, "The True Faith of the Gospel of Peace contended for in a Spirit of Meekness; and the Mystery of Salvation (Christ within, the Hope of Glory) vindicated in the Spirit of Love, against the Secret Opposition of John Bunyan, a professed Minister in Bedfordshire." These mild and loving words, however, served but to introduce a most virulent and abusive tirade, of the spirit of which the following passages may be taken as a specimen :-"The Lord rebuke thee, thou unclean spirit, who hast falsely accused the innocent to clear thyself from guilt; but at thy door guilt lodges, and I leave it with thee; clear thyself, if thou art able. And thy wicked reproaches we patiently bear, till the Lord appear for us and we are not greater than our Lord, who was said to have a devil, by thy generation; and their measure of wickedness thou fulfils, and art one of the dragon's

army against the Lamb and his followers; and thy weapons are slanders, and thy refuge is lies; and thy work is confused, and hath hardly gained a name in Babylon's record. . . . If we should diligently search, we should find thee, through feigned words, through covetousness, making merchandise of souls, loving the wages of unrighteousness: and such were the scoffers whom Peter speaks of, among whom thou art found in thy practice, among them who are preaching for hire, and love the error of Balaam, who took gifts and rewards."

To Burroughs' pamphlet Bunyan published an answer, vindicating his former treatise, and maintaining that the Quakers held substantially the same opinions that the Ranters had formerly done, "only that the Ranters had made them threadbare at an alehouse, and the Quakers had set a new gloss upon them again by an outward legal holiness or righteousness." To the charge of preaching for hire, and making merchandise of souls, he replied thus:-"Friend, dost thou speak this as from thy own knowledge, or did any other tell thee so? However, that spirit that led thee out of this way is a lying spirit; for though I be poor and of no repute in the world, as to outward things, yet this grace I have learned, by the example of the apostle, to

preach the truth; and also to work with mine own hands, both for mine own living, and for those that are with me, when I have opportunity. And I trust that the Lord Jesus, who hath helped me to reject the wages of unrighteousness hitherto, will also help me still, so that I shall distribute that which God hath given me freely, and not for filthy lucre's sake."

Burroughs returned to the charge in another. pamphlet, as full of bitterness as his former one. Of this second effusion, however, Bunyan took no notice; he had "delivered his soul" respecting what he conceived to be the errors of the new sect; and having done so, he was too usefully employed, and too peacefully disposed, to continue the controversy for controversy's sake.

From what has been said, it will be seen that Bunyan's first attempt at authorship was a much more creditable one than could have been expected from a young man of twentyeight, circumstanced as he was, and whose education had been so miserably defective. His frequent perusal of the Bible, however, observes Dr. Southey, "had made him fully competent to state what those doctrines were which the Quakers impugned: he was ready with the Scriptural proofs; and in a vigorous mind like his, right reasoning naturally results from right pre

mises. Burton may have corrected some vulgarism in the expression, as well as written the preface, but other corrections, except in the orthography, would not be needed." The printers, if they set up the work from the original manuscript, must at times have been not a little perplexed in deciphering it, if we may judge from some specimens still preserved of Bunyan's handwriting about this time, a fac-simile of one of which will be found in the present volume.

Whether the Quakers, as a body, held the erroneous doctrines charged upon them by Bunyan and others, may be seriously doubted; but that they were inculcated by some of the more intemperate zealots among them is too well attested to admit of successful contradiction; and on some of the points in dispute many of the leaders of the sect have written so equivocally that the Orthodox and Socinian Quakers of the present day both appeal to them in support of their respective tenets.

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