A serious appeal to all the more sober, impartial & judicious people in New-England to whose hands this may come ... together with a vindication of our Christian faith ... / by George Keith.

CHAP. II. (Book 2)

IT cannot, with any colour of Justice, be expected by Cot. Mather, that I should give a particular Reply to all things in his Book, called, An Address, said or alledged against the People called Quakers in general, or me in particular, until such time that he give a distinct particular Answer to my former Book, called, The pretended Antidote proved Poyson, &c. particularly directed to him and his Brethren, and to the several Chapters and Sections thereof, which he hath not so much as essayed; wherein, notwithstanding almost the whole matter he doth muster up against us in his late Address, is sufficiently and solidly answered; and therefore until he give a full and distinct par∣ticular Answer to the said Book, I judge not my self obliged so much as to notice many things contained in his said Address, being filled with manifest falshoods, perversions and abuses, sufficiently already Replyed unto, partly by others, and partly by me, but containing no new matter against us, excepting his Personal Reflections against me, which yet I think not to spend much Time or Paper to answer, most of them being so manifestly false and foolish, that of themselves they fall and evanish; only I intend to give a short glance or hint at

some of the most considerable Abuses and Perversions he musteret•• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 against us.

Pag. 3. He saith, If I have one spark of Light in me, Quakerism 〈◊〉〈◊〉 but a profound and deadly pit of Darkness. Answ. This Assertion do•••• not come from any true Light in him, but from his Darkness.

Pag. 4. Quakerism, under pretence of advancing the spiritual Obje•••• of Religion, goes to annihilate all the Sensible. Ans. False.

Again, pag. 4. There is hardly any one Fundamental Article of th•• reformed Religion, whereby we look to be saved, that is not undermined by Quakerism. Ans. But of this he has not given one true instance▪ And as to what he alledgeth, that some of us have said, The Letter is not the Word of God, to wit, properly and without a figure, he him∣self hath said as much, see pag. 59. And that some of us have call'd their Books, Light risen out of Darkness, Shields of Truth, &c. they understood it not, but metaphorically or figuratively, by some Me∣tonymy, as is common in all Titles of Books, but we have alwayes preferred the Scriptures to our Writings. And that the Scriptures may be call'd the Word of God, in a figurative Speech, and also that the True Sense signified in them, is the Word of God, I have acknow∣ledged, and so I do still; but that the inward Testimony of God in our Hearts, is more properly and immediately the Word of God, than the outward Testimony of the Scripture, I still affirm, with Augustine and other antient Writers.

As for his citing William Penn's words agruing against that same Numerical Body its rising at the Resurrection; it is clear that he under∣standeth the same exact Number of the small Particles or Dusts, nei∣ther more nor less than what is commonly buried; and what hurt is there in that? doth not C.M. and his Brethren generally say, as well as W. Penn, That at the Resurrection all shall rise Men, and not Infants, nor lame, nor defective in any part; and yet how many Thousands dye Infants, and defective in some Bodily Members?

That some have denyed the Saints, as such, to be miserable Sinners, it ought to be considered, that according to the common stile of Scripture, Saints and Sinners are distinguished, and the unconverted are called Sinners; for the denomination of a thing is taken chiefly from that which is the greatest part; but ••ecause in all Saints, even the weake••••, Grace and Holiness is the chief and g••eatest part, therefore from that they receive their Denomination, and are said to ••e righ∣teous

and clean, and not to do Iniquity. That one said, The Scrip∣•••••••• ••s not the means by which Faith is wrought, it can receive a candid ••••••••••pretation, as to say, the only means, excluding the inward Grace 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Operation of the Spirit; as some say, Medicine is not the means of 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Cure, though a Means, it is understood not the only means.

••nd whereas he querieth, If their Primmer hath yet been corrected, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 they read, False Teachers preach Christ without, and bid People 〈◊〉〈◊〉 in him as he is in Heaven? If he mean William Smith's Primmer, 〈◊〉〈◊〉 I believe he doth, I Answer, Yea, it hath been Corrected, in the 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Edition of his other Treatises joyned with it, as is plainly to be 〈◊〉〈◊〉, thus, That false Teachers preach Christ only without, but true ••••eachers preach Christ both without us, and also within us.

And what William Penn argueth as concerning Three Persons, he ••nly argueth against the invented Names [Persons] (as Calvin doth ••cknowledge them, as above-said) which in all proper Language doth signifie Substances, and not meer Properties or relative Attributes, which W.P. will not deny to be in God. Nor are W.P's words so to be understood concerning Justification, as if he excluded Christ's Righteousness, which he fulfilled in his own Person; but only he denyeth that any can be justified by that alone, without Faith and Re∣pentance, &c.

As for Bodily Tremblings, that they are not so common among these called Quakers, as formerly; as good or better Reason can be given, as that these or the like unusual Motions that seized on the Bodies of some Presbyterians in Scotland about fifty Years ago, are not now so common among them, which the Author of The fulfilling of the Scrip∣tures, doth plainly acknowledge, was about that time among them; and indeed many of these Tremblings and extraordinary Motions that seized on the Bodies of some Presbyterians, & many call'd Quakers, in these dayes, did proceed in great part, from the small experience of, and little acquaintance that these Persons had at first with that sensible manner of the working of Gods Spirit, and that there were but few at first that could well advise them to bear with more com∣posure and quiet of Body that manner of workings, whereas by more frequent Experience, many did, and do at this day, witness, and feel sensibly, not only as great, but oft greater inward Workings of the Spirit of God, on all accounts, and yet can bear them, and most willingly and gladly submit to them, with little or no Observation,

of any Bodily Trembling; for as in going to War, and heari•••• 〈◊〉〈◊〉 dreadful Sound of Guns, Trumpets and Drums, the young Soul•••••••••• are oft afraid, even to a degree of Bodily Trembling, yet a••••••••¦wards, having more Experience, they feel not either that Bod•••••• Trembling, nor such fear that is the cause of it; and as Water a•••• Fire at its first breaking forth, is more violent, and yet afterwar•• is fully as effectual, without such Violence; so at the first hearin•• of Thunder, and seeing the terrible Flashes of Lightning, Perso•••• are much more afraid, than after, when they are more acquainte•• with it, by frequency thereof; so it might be, and was so, that the Power and Spirit of God did work in former dayes with a more seeming Force upon many, and yet since doth work as effectually, now, and sometimes more without it, so as not to come under such frequent Observation; and yet even Bodily Tremblings are still wit∣nessed, proceeding from the inward working of Gods Spirit, among us; as the Apostle saith, Knowing the Terrors of the Lord, we perswade men.

Pag. 12. For the words of Humphry Norton, alledged by C.M. I have made inquiry at divers, but can find no intelligence of any such words, in any Book of his; but if any such have dropt from him, or any other, tending to deny the Faith of Christ's being in Heaven in his glorified Body of Man without us, we shall be far from excusing them; for we zealously believe, That the Man Christ is in Heaven without us, in his glorified Body of Man, the same for Be∣ing he had on Earth, but wonderfully changed in Manner and Con∣dition, as is clearly and fully expressed in that late Treatise given forth by our Friends in Rhode-Island, called, The Christian Faith, &c. Vindicated, &c. But yet we cannot approve of the too carnal Con∣ceptions of many carnal and ignorant Professors, that have too car∣nal Imagination of Christ, and confine him altogether to such a Re∣moteness, that they wi•••• not allow any Measure of him to dwell in Believers, plain contrary to the Scripture.

Pag. 12. And whereas he saith, If they own those Principles, why won't they give us leave to own them? I Answer; We blame you not for own∣ing them, providing ye did own them as ye ought to do, in the true and right Faith of them, that proceedeth from the Spirits inward In∣spiration and Revelation, sensibly working, by way of sensible Object upon the inward and spiritual Senses of mens Souls; but this ye

deny; and therefore it is not the matter, but manner of your own∣•••••• them, that we commonly blame, even as some said, that the Lord ••••••ed, yet they swore falsly, because they did it hypocritically, not ••nowing him to live in them; but yet sometimes in these very things, ye err also in the matter.

Pag. 15. That the Quakers adore G.K. either for his outward Learn∣ing, and make him their Head, or for any other thing, is false; nor doth he seek any such false Honour; it sufficeth him to be loved by his Friends, and neither he nor his Friends make any other account of outward Learning, but to be the foot-stool of Christ, and subservi∣ent to his Truth, and as the Spoils of the Aegyptians were made ser∣viceable to the Israelites.

And that he saith, This Keith it is, who has given the greatest ad∣vantages to Quakerism, and that with no little Alterations; How this is consistent with his representing me, as if I were Mad, pag. 44. and extreamly Ignorant, doth not appear. And as for Alterations, great or small, that I have made in the Quakers Principles, as rightly understood, delivered by our most Antient Friends, of best account in general, he hath not proved. He calleth my late Catechism, A wily Catechism, wherein Quakerism is so disguised, as that one would almost suspect him a real Protestant; and yet he will needs have it, that the Juice of Toads is as wholsom a Potion: But it is strange that such a Wily Catechism, and so politically contrived should proceed from a Mad-man, and extreamly Ignorant, as he would have me to be. But however, I say, that Catechism is writ and given forth in true sincerity, without any disguise, and doth as really bespeak me a true Protestant, (as all true Quakers are) as it doth seem to represent me to be, and will be found to have nothing that's hurtful in it, but profitable and wholsom, I hope, upon impartial Examination.

That the inward excusing or condemning Principle, as he chargeth on us, p. 15. which all men are born with, is the Man Christ Jesus, is not asserted by any called Quakers, that I know, unless by a figure called Synecdoche, of giving the Name of the whole to the measure, and by a Metonyme, as where in Scripture the second Adam is called the quickening Spirit, and the Light of the World; but the Quakers, so called, generally acknowledge, that the Spirit, Light and Life dwelleth in all fullness only in the glorified Body of the Man Christ Jesus without them, and the measures of it not seperated from the Fullness, more

or less, as he is pleased to give in Believers. Nor do the Quakers sa•••• that men bring with them into the World these inward Illumination and Convictions, and other Operations of the Light or Spirit, whe∣ther common or special, that men feel by experience in them, when at Age, although none can come into the World but as the Almighty Power and Arm of God, who formed them in the Mothers Womb, doth bring them, and as that eternal Word, without which nothing is made, doth appoint them in their several Ages and Generations. And for Christian Lodowicks Challenge against our Friends in Rhode-Island, it is already answered, and they are cleared from his Calum∣nies, and our Christian Religion sufficiently distinguished from either Paganism, Judaism or Mahumatism. And the Exceptions he makes against my Catechism are soon answered, if his Perversions were but detected. 1st, That some who are left without either the help of the holy Scriptures, or holy Men, do yet so rightly improve the inward help of Christs Light, as to be accepted with God; This he saith is altogether contrary to Rom. 1.21, 22. but in this, as mostly every where, he perverteth my words and sense; for he hath left out my following words, [according to the present state] And what I mean by them I show a little after, That such who have a measure of sincerity in their Gentile state, but having no Faith in Christ crucified, are but Servants, and not Sons of the free Woman, but are under the Law, and though accepted so far as sincere in the Servants state, as I proved from Acts 10.1, 2, 34, 35. yet not thereby justified as Sons; for I have acknow∣ledged, that without the Faith of Christ crucified and raised again with∣out us, none are or can be so justified (yet they are as the Kings Pri∣soners, and as the Man-slayer was in the City of Refuge under the Law, till he heard of the Death of the High-Priest) and such are shut up under the Safeguard of the Law, (as Beza translates it) unto the Faith that is afterwards to be revealed, Gal. 3.23. So there is a place of Re∣fuge, although C.M. know it not. Nor doth Rom. 1.21, 22. con∣tradict it, for that place speaketh not of all Gentiles, but these of the worst of them. 2dly, That some may be saved without outward hearing or preaching, is granted by the Westminster Confession, in the case of Infants, and Deaf and Dumb Persons; and therefore how devout and Con∣scientious Gentiles can be saved, hath not the least shadow of greater difficulty to understand: And that none are eternally saved wi••hout the Faith of Christ, I have granted in my Catechism, and other Trea∣tises,

and do still grant, see Sect. 4. Quest. 10. but how this Faith it wrought in such, is best to leave it until God be pleased further to open it, seeing, as the Westminster Confession saith, God worketh by his Spirit when, where and how he pleaseth; and as Christ said, The Spirit bloweth where it listeth, the greek word can well be translated Spirit, and is so by some Translators. 3dly, That the Principle of the New-Covenant is in all Men, is not contradicted by Ephes. 2.12. but is con∣firmed by Rom. 10.8, 9, 10. compared with Deut. 30.14. and Christs Parable of the Seed sown in four grounds. And why may not the Seed of the New Covenant lie in the hearts of unregenerate Men for a Season, as the Seed of Wheat may lie not having root in the cold dry ground for a Season, till it be moistened & warmed with the Showers & Sun's warmth in the Spring. 4thly, That having more Wives than one was unlawful under the Law, is not contrary to Mat. 19.45, 48. for altho' Man had but one wife given him at the beginning, yet the Law that permitted such a thing to men, as the like in the case of Divorce came in afterwards. And it is absurd to think that Abraham sinned against the Law in his Conscience, writ in his very Nature (and therefore commonly call'd the Law of Nature, in having two Wives at once; for all sins against the Law of Nature are hainous sins, and of great aggravation, as the Westminster Confession acknowledgeth. But see∣ing no such sin is charged on Abraham, and that he was in great fa∣vour with God at that very time, it cannot be said to be against that Law writ in his Nature, though it be against the Law of the New-Covenant now under the Gospel. 5thly, That we are to wait in Silence for some aid and assistance of the Spirit, to help us to pray, doth not con∣tradict Acts 8.22. for as Peter commanded Simon Magus to pray, so he bid him Repent and Pray; and that he had not the Spirit, was his own fault, as it is the fault of all others (who have it not to assist them, both to wait and pray also) Nor doth mens want of the Spirit, because they depart from it, and resist the gentle Motions thereof, excuse their neglect of Prayer, no more than a mans want of Money excuseth him to pay a just Debt, yet he must not go to pay his debt with fals•• Coyn, no more should a man pray with a Hypocritical Spirit. Nor, 6thly, doth Rom. 3.28. prove that Repentance, as well as Faith, is not a necessary Condition and Instrument of our Justification; for true Gospel Repentance is not the Work of the Law, but of Faith; and his Reverend R. Baxter doth hold with the

Quakers against him, That Faith and sincere Obedience are necessary Conditions and Instruments of Justification, and to teach so, he doth not think Popish, as doth sufficiently appear by what he hath printed on that subject; see his Aphorisms of Justification, pag. 80. where he saith, Some Ignorant Wretches gnash their Teeth at this very Doctrine, as if it were flat Popery, viz. That Men are justified by Faith, as it is an inward Obedience. Nor 7thly, doth Rom. 9.11. prove that Esau was a Reprobate before he was born, or at any time afterwards; yea, Cotton Mather, with his Boston Brethren, in their former Book, dare not affirm, That Esau was a Reprobate, and that men are not born Reprobates, (though some are preferred to others before they are born) but become Reprobates after they have nothing good left in them, is clear from Scripture, that calleth reprobate men Dross, after the precious Mettle is extracted from it, and Chaff that hath no grain of Wheat in it. Nor 8thly, doth Acts 8.38. prove that Christs Bap∣tism is with Water; for as the Practice of Circumcision, after Christs Resurrection, doth not prove it a Gospel-Precept, no more doth the practise of Water Baptism, but both Christ and John did teach, That Christs Baptism was with Fire and the holy Ghost; but no where is it said, that Christ baptizeth with Water. Nor 9thly, doth 1 Cor. 11.26. prove, That Believers may not feed upon Christ by Faith, and so sup with him, and he with them, as well when they eat not, as when they do eat together outwardly, remembring the Lords Death, with Solemn Prayer and Thanks-giving, which we grant is good frequently to be done.

And thus I have fully answer'd all his frivolous and weak Objections against my Catechism; so that he hath not discovered the least grain of Error in it; nor doth any thing that I have said in my other printed Treatises contradict the Doctrine of my Catechism, as he doth falsly alledge, perverting my words, in most things, to a sence contrary to my mind, or to what they can bear, so far is he from that Candor of giving them a favourable Construction. But I intend not to follow him in his manifold Impertinences, to weary either my Reader or my self, and shall come to give a brief and plain Answer to his Five Arguments, whereby he would perswade the People in New-England to turn away from hearing me; the which Arguments savour more of bitter Prejudice and extream Folly and Rashness, than of ••••y Wit or Judgment, and hath nothing of Truth in them, and

might be easily retorted upon himself, where they have the best seem∣ing show, according to that Latine Verse, Fabula narratur mutato Nomine de te; i.e. Change the Name, and the Tale is told truly of thy thy self.