# What was the Puritans' beef with the Quakers?



## Tom Hart (Apr 19, 2016)

Reading some Puritans, I noticed that they had some issues with the Quakers. In _The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification_, for example, Walter Marshall mentioned something about the errors of the Quakers, and although he didn't go into much detail he lumped them in with Papists, as I recall. I've read other such mentions in other Puritan works. What specifically were the issues that led some Puritans to decry Quakerism as heretical?


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## PointyHaired Calvinist (Apr 19, 2016)

Early Quakers had a low view of Scripture and ministers, and thought that everyone had the "inner light" of the Holy Spirit which was more than sufficient for godliness. Also, early Quakers were known for entering Puritan (Baptist, Independent, AND Presbyterian) and disrupting them. Many quakers of the time were religious anarchists rather than quiet and meek seekers.


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## Tom Hart (Apr 19, 2016)

PointyHaired Calvinist said:


> Early Quakers had a low view of Scripture and ministers, and thought that everyone had the "inner light" of the Holy Spirit which was more than sufficient for godliness. Also, early Quakers were known for entering Puritan (Baptist, Independent, AND Presbyterian) and disrupting them. Many quakers of the time were religious anarchists rather than quiet and meek seekers.



In some ways not so different from charismatics today, then?  Thank you for the help!


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## Don Kistler (Apr 19, 2016)

The last part of John Owen's "Biblical Theology" is entitled "A Defense of Sacred Scripture Against Modern Fanaticism." It is Owen's response to the Quakers and their "Inner Light" teaching, which was that God gave an inner light to everyone, which is why no one had any authority in a Quaker church since they all had that inner light in them. That's why you won't find a pulpit in a Quaker church. It has been my experience that the Puritans wrote as much against the Quakers as they did against Roman Catholicism.


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## Ajay (Apr 20, 2016)

I have some collection of questions raised by John Bunyan to the quakers:

1. If thou sayest that every one hath a measure of the Spirit of Jesus Christ within him, why say the scriptures that some are ‘sensual having not the Spirit’ (Jude 19). And when Christ tells his disciples of sending them the Spirit, he also saith, The world cannot receive it (John 14:17).

2. What is the church of God redeemed by, from the curse of the law? Is it by something that is done within them, or by something done without them? If thou answer, it is redeemed from the curse of the law by something that worketh in them; then I ask, why did the Man Christ Jesus hang upon the cross on Mount
Calvary, without the gates of Jerusalem, for the sins of the people? (Gal 3:3; 1 Peter 2:24). And why do the scriptures say, that through this
Man, is preached to us the forgiveness of sins (Acts 13:38). That is, through his blood (Eph1:7; Col 1:20) which was shed without the gates of Jerusalem (Heb 13:12).

3. What scripture have you to prove, that Christ is, or was crucified within you, dead within you, risen within you, and ascended within you?

4. Is that very Man that was crucified on Mount Calvary between two thieves, whose name is Jesus, the Son of Mary, I say, is he the very Christ of God, yea, or no?
5. Is that very Man, with that very body, within you, yea, or no?

6. Was that Jesus, that was born of the Virgin Mary, a real Man of flesh and bones, after his resurrection from the dead, out of Joseph’s sepulchre, yea, or no? For the scripture saith he was, as in Luke 24:39. If so, then did that Man that said handle me and see, for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have; I say, did that Man go away from his disciples (and not into them, in his body) as these scriptures declare (Luke 24:39,40 compared with 50,51, also Acts 1:9-11) or did he with that body of flesh go into his disciples,
as some fond dreamers think?

7. Hath that Christ that was with God the Father before the world was, no other body but his church? If you say no, as it is your wonted course; then again I ask you, what that was in which he did bear the sins of his children? If you answer, It was ‘in his own body on the tree,’ for so saith the scripture (1 Peter 2:24).
Then I ask you further, whether that body in which he did bear our sins, (which is also called his own body) was, or is, the church of God, yea, or no? Again if you say he hath no body but the church, the saints, Then I ask, what that was that was taken down from the cross, and laid into Joseph’s sepulchre (Luke 23:53). Now I know, that as Christ is the head of his church, so the church is the body of the head, which is Christ. But as Christ is the mediator between God and man, I say, as he is mediator, so he is a man (1 Tim 2:5) and absent from his saints in the world, as is clear (2 Cor 5:6). Therefore as he is a mediator, and a Man, so he hath a body that is absent from his church, which body is ascended from his disciples, above the clouds into heaven (Luke 24:51; Acts
1:9-11). If you say no, then I ask you, Did he leave the body behind him, which was born of the Virgin Mary, which walked up and down
with his disciples in the world, was afterwards hanged upon the cross (Luke 23:26,33,53), buried, rose again from the dead (Matt 24:3,6,15,41,41,39,50) with which body he did eat, drink, and likewise walk with his disciples after his resurrection from the dead (Acts10:41), and did bid his disciples see if he were not flesh and bones, yea, or no?



For Further reading http://www.chapellibrary.org/files/5313/7642/2875/bun-truths.pdf


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## Logan (Apr 20, 2016)

Part of that "inner light" belief manifested itself in strange and unbecoming ways. Even some of the women called themselves prophetesses, and Deborah Wilson (among others if I recall) walked naked through the streets to signify the people's spiritual nakedness.


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## jwithnell (Apr 20, 2016)

In some ways, the Friends mirrored the puritans in their concern regarding the established church and its huge hierarchy, ties to the crown, and ornamentation. My family fled England due to persecution from the church, hence state. Like so many errors, much seems to rest on a faulty view of man after the fall. If a person is born "innocent" with a divine light inside, what is one saved from, or for that matter, saved to? And why should one have more authority in a fellowship than another? The egalitarian thinking extended even to the way the congregation is seated for worship. It the Friends House where my family attended up until just a few generations ago, the congregations is split in two and seated facing each other. A few chairs at the front (now to everyone's side) could be filled by anyone as he or she were led.


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