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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47167	A refutation of three opposers of truth by plain evidence of the holy Scripture, viz. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast, who pleadeth for water-baptism, its being a Gospel-precept, and opposeth Christ within, as a false Christ. To which is added, something concerning the Supper, &c. II. Of B. Keech, in his book called, A tutor for children, where he disputeth against the sufficiency of the light within, in order of salvation; and calleth Christ in the heart, a false Christ in the secret chamber. II. Of Cotton Mather, who in his appendix to his book, called, Memorable providences, relating to witchcrafts, &c. doth so weakly defend his father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest people called Quakers, that he doth the more lay open his fathers nakedness; and beside the abuses and injuries that his father had cast upon that people, C. Mather, the son, addeth new abuses of his own. And a few words of a letter to John Cotton, called a minister, at Plymouth in New England. By George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1690 (1690)	Wing K199; ESTC W21703	49,228	77

of God revealed in him and therefore he might vvell command it for that time tho' no Gospel Precept But vvhereas thou sayst That Peter and the Apostles did command in Christ Iesus the Lords Name Water Baptism is a thing utterly false the Scripture saith no such thing but That Peter commanded them to be baptized in the Name of the Lord so that the Name of the Lord is relative to their being baptized not to the command and their being baptized in the Name of the Lord doth plainly signifie that their being baptized vvith Water vvas som outward sign that they became the Lords and were true believers in him Next vvhereas thou sayst I affirm that Water Baptism was at that time an abolished Ceremony is false I said no such thing It was beginning to be abolishing and decaying and was decreasing as John said in respect of his Baptism I must decrease but Christ must encrease But that it vvas then totally abolished I say not for it could not be safely abolished all at once but by degrees and after some time as I have above demonstrated And novv that I call this third and last Dispensation that began to take place after the Death and Resurrection of Christ the pure and perfect Dispensation of the Gospel I understand it not as if the first and second Dispensations before and under Moses or before and under Christ as he vvas present in the flesh had any mixture or impurity of sin or evil nay far be it from me but I call it pure and perfect as having none of these Figures and Types of the Lavv mixed vvith it as formerly And though the Apostles after the giving of the holy Ghost did grovv up into the attainment of this most pure and perfect Gospel state and Dispensation yet many Christians vvho had a measure of sincere Faith in Christ vvere short of it and for the cause of such vvho vvere vveak and but as Babes in Christ they savv it meet in the Wisdom of God to use it for some time But after the days of the Apostles and their Successors about three or four hundred years there-after the true Gospel Spirit was generally lost a Remnant excepted of hidden ones who in some measure retained it and the inward Power of Godliness departed from and then Water Baptism and many other things belonging to the outward form became as a dead thing and was more fit to be buried than to be used And none ought to presume to raise it up again unless it could be said That the Power of God had raised it or renewed it in the users or practisers of it and that they could sincerely say and prove that God had sent them or given them Authority to use Water Baptism and other the like things but this I do not find that any called Baptists so much as pretend unto and if they did pretend to it their bare pretence without some real and effectual prooff were not to be believed And that Peter caused Water-baptism to be administred to Cornelius and other Gentiles doth not prove it to be a Gospel Precept for under the Law the Gentiles who became Proselites of the Covenant so called were generally baptized into Water as well as Circumcised long before Iohn's time as the Iews Books plainly declare and as may be gathered from Scripture and as divers Christian Writers relate from the Iews and particularly Thomas Godwin in his Book called Moses and Aaron lib. 1. cap. 3. And seeing it was so commonly practised by the Iews as well before Iohn's time as then and thereafter as both Iewish and Christian Writers affirm and as the Epistle to the Hebrews doth plainly declare Heb. 9.10 how that the Law had its divers Baptisms so the Greek translated into English Washings and carnal Ordinances until the time of Reformation it doth more plainly evince that Water Baptism was a legal thing tho' both it Circumcision with all the other Types and Figures of the Law pointed at Gospel Mysteries and in so far may be said to relate or belong to the Gospel in its more obscure Administration but that whole Dispensation both of Moses and the Prophets is in Scripture stile call'd The Law altho' Moses himself and all the Prophets saw beyond the Figures of the Law and were truly endowed in great part with a Gospel spirit That thou say'st if Water Baptism had not been comprehended in Paul 's Commission then he had done evil in baptizing so many I Answ. It doth not follow any more than that he did evil in circumcising Timothy for things may be done upon occasions without a Command from God and that not only by a bare or simple permission but in a sweet heavenly freedom of Gods holy Spirit inwardly revealed which is the only chief and principal Rule of every true Christians freedom as well as of their Obedience How many good Christians joyn in Marriage having no command so to do but knowing and enjoying an inward Liberty by the Spirit of the Lord so to do and therein receiving the blessing of the Lord and many other the like cases might be mention'd Thou givest a very strange and exceeding strained Gloss upon Paul's words That he was not sent to baptize but to preach the Gospel to wit that Water Baptism was not so bound to Paul or any other sent to preach the Gospel that they with their own hands must needs perform that Work of Baptizing and Paul and the other Apostles had such and such for their Ministers as John Timothy and others But what then what Paul commanded other Disciples to do is all one as if he had done it himself as thou arguest in another case but not to thy purpose and therefore it cannot be reasonably judged that if Paul had been sent to baptize either by himself or making use of others to assist him in that work he would have said He was not sent to baptize for that would imply a plain Contradiction to be sent and not to be sent But this thy strein'd gloss on Pauls words is grounded upon a meer supposition of thine That Paul was sent to baptize with Water which thou hast not in the least proved nor art ever like to do Matth. 28. saith nothing of Water Thy similitude betwixt Solomons Temple and the Gospel-Church as thou dost apply it is exceeding vain foolish and proceedeth from great Ignorance as if the Stones that were the Foundation of Solomon's Temple cut out of the Mountains and the Timber-work did signifie that the Foundation of God's Spiritual House should be Water-Baptism But this is plain contrary to Scripture that saith The Church is built on the Foundation of the Prophets Apostles Iesus Christ himself being the chief Corner Stone And thou that sets up Water-Baptism as the Foundation of the Gospel Church preachest another Foundation than Christ Jesus and another Gospel If Solomon's Temple had been built on the Waters thou mightst have had some slender

are not gathered from any express words of the People called Quakers but are only the false and absurd Consequences he gathers from our Principle altogether grounded upon his Ignorance and Mistakes and especially his Prejudice against the Truth A Brief ANSWER to Cotton Mather his Appendix to a little Book of his called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. THe main design of Cotton Mather in this his Appendix is to vindicate and defend his Father Increase Mather as no wise guilty of these Charges which I laid against him towards the end of my late Book call'd The Presbyterian and Independent Churches in New-England and else-where brought to the Test. Now if Cotton Mather had made any true and just Vindication of his said Father it had been a commendable work in him but he is so far from that that his so weak and impertinent pretended Vindication doth not in the least excuse him and he is so far from any just Vindication of his Father that he doth rather more lay open his Fathers Nakedness in the sight of the world and addeth to his Fathers grosly abusing the honest People called Quakers new Abuses and lying abusive Speeches of his own besides that in the judgment of any impartial understanding Reader he discovers himself to be a very shallow man airy and full of froth but showing nothing of Solidity in his whole discourse As for his scornful and disdainful words and reflections on me calling me One Keith a Quaker not deigning to design me by my full Name and Our little Author This new Apostle This waspishman c. I value them not so as to be any discouragement unto me to bear my Testimony for the blessed Truth of God against his and his Brethrens false Doctrine and Hypocrisy and the words of our Lord Jesus Christ left upon record in Scripture in a measure of the sence of that holy Spirit that gave them forth have been are made comfortable unto me Mat. 5.11 Blessed are ye when men shall revile you c. I desire to bless the Lord who hath truly made me little in my own eyes and hath let me see not only my littleness but nothingness as of my self and given me also to know that I am one of his little Ones which to me is greater satisfaction than to have the greatest worldly advantages and that he seems to reflect upon the littleness of my stature as is apparent showeth in him little wit or discretion many excellent men were of little bodily stature far exceeding Cotton Mather or me either and Goliah was a man of great bodily stature who defied the host of God and yet fell before little David and tho' I do readily acknowledge my self little every way yet by the Grace of God I doubt not but to be made able to defend the Truth against all that thou and all thy Brethren can do to withstand it for the Truth is the greatest and strongest of all and when he who is the Truth pleaseth to use an Instrument let it be ever so little or mean it is well enabled to do the work it is raised up for And tho' in the close of his Appendix that containeth little else but silly drolling he saith G. K. has given sufficient cause why his own Sect should be ashamed of him if shame were compatible to such a perfect People Which last part is a meer Scoff yet he hath not made it appear and I hope in the Lord he never shall be able to make it appear that my Friends have any cause to be ashamed of me Before he cometh to his Fathers Vindication he thought fit to tell the world of the strange liberty which the Devils gave to some possessed Children to come to the Meetings of the Quakers and to read their writings And if all this be true what saith it against the Quakers in the least to discredit them or their Religion We know many wicked People whose Souls the Devils possess and that is worse than a meer Bodily Possession may read both our Books and the Scriptures also yet as this is no discredit to the Scriptures so no more to our books yea the Devil could and did cite Scripture to Christ and could use the outward names of God and Iesus And thou grantest that that Girle possessed as thou alledgest Bodily with the Devil did read the 59 Psalm And what may be concluded from this according to Cotton Mathers pretended Logick that tho' the Devil would not suffer the Girle to read some Presbyterian Books but gave her liberty to read some of the Common Prayer or other Episcopal Books and Quakers Books and also the 59 Psalm that all these are of the like quality Thou further sayst The Girle so possessed as thou alledgest could hear the Scripture read and called to one to read of Mary Magdalen and I see not what difference the Devil doth make in good earnest betwixt reading and hearing the Scripture read Again That the Devil suffered some of them to come to the Quakers Meetings Supposing it were so is this any more in prejudice of the Quakers Meetings than that Cotton Mather saith The same Girle so possessed came to a study or Closet in his House and entred therein and there read on the Bible and good Books And if he say It was because the Devil had left her how soon she came there Why may not the same be alledged on behalf of the Quakers Meetings Who seeth not how shallow this man is that from so ridiculous an instance would represent the Quakers Meetings and Books such as the Devil had a good liking to But it seems the holiness of his Study drove the Devils away and made the Girle so quiet in his Study as is implied in his words where he saith She added a Reason for it which the Owner of the Study thought more kind than true It seemeth then that Cotton Mather thinketh himself in that respect obliged to the Devils kindness more than to the truth of the Reason That they left the Girle how soon she entred into his Closet But why could not the Devil carry the Girle into his Closet as well as the Devil took Christ into the holy City and set him on a Pinacle of the Temple Mat. 4.5 and as it is in Iob When the Sons of God came together Sathan also came among them and if Sathan can come where the Sons of God are met together why may he not quietly suffer some possessed by him to come either to C. M's Closet or the Quakers Meeting without any just reflection on either of the places But if C. M. think the Devil more kind than true to him he had need beware of his Kindness left it turn to his damage in the end for a kind Devil is the most dangerous Devil In the beginning of the Vindication of his Father he saith One would think that if an Historian did but secure his Veracity from being impeached most of

A REFUTATION OF Three Opposers of Truth By plain Evidence of the holy Scripture VIZ. I. Of Pardon Tillinghast who pleadeth for Water-Baptism its being a Gospel-Precept and opposeth Christ within as a false Christ. To which is added something concerning the Supper c. II. Of B. Keech in his Book called A Tutor for Children where he disputeth against the Sufficiency of the Light within in order to Salvation and calleth Christ in the heart A false Christ in the secret Chamber III. Of Cotton Mather who in his Appendix to his Book called Memorable Providences relating to Witchcrafts c. doth so weakly defend his Father Increase Mather from being justly chargeable with abusing the honest People called Quakers that he doth the more lay open his Fathers Nakedness and beside the Abuses and Injuries that his Father had cast upon that People C. Mather the Son addeth new Abuses of his own And a few Words of a Letter to Iohn Cotton called a Minister at Plymouth in New-England By GEORGE KEITH Zephaniah 3.4 Her Prophets are Light and Treacherous Persons her Priests have polluted the Sanctuary they have done Violence to the Law Philadelphia Printed and Sold by William Bradford Anno 1690. Water-Baptism No Gospel-Precept c. Pardon Tillinghast AFter I had read thy small Treatise in print wherein thou undertakest to prove Water-Baptism to be a Gospel Precept by plain Scripture I was sorry on thy account to find thee with such confidence to publish thy Ignorance and Folly as well as thy great bitterness of Spirit and Prejudice against the Truth and the Witnesses of it so openly in the face of the World But when I call to mind how that God in his infinite Wisdom permits men to rise up to oppose the Truth that the Truth it self may be the more clearly discovered by the breakings forth of Gods Light still more and more the more that the Truth is opposed I am truly comforted and encouraged And for thy Reviling and Reproachful words against me I regard them not further than to pity thee and heartily to desire that God may open thy Eyes and give thee true Repentance Forgiveness for I have that Charity that what thou dost in this thy work of opposition it is through thy ignorance and therefore upon thy Repentance is pardonable But as for me and my Brethren it is a small thing for us to be reproached and falsly accused by thee seeing thou art so ignorantly bold and fool-hardy to reproach the Lord Iesus Christ in his inward appearance and Light in the hearts of men calling him a false Christ as if these who preach Christ in the hearts of Gods Saints were those of whom Christ foretold that should come in the latter days and preach a false Christ saying he is in the secret Chamber which thou understandest as if Christ had meant the secret Chamber of the heart following herein thy Brother in Iniquity Darkness Benjamin Keech who in his Book called The Childs Instructor hath these express words in that Section concerning the Light within Therefore believe not him that saith behold he is here in the secret Chamber viz. the heart The which expression thou seemest to have borrowed from the said Book But if thou hadst any true knowledg in the Mystery of Christ thou wouldst sooner have chosen that thy right hand that pen'd these words had been cut off than to have used them But by this and other the like expressions in thy Treatise thou plainly discovers thy self to be a man altogether ignorant of the true knowledge of Christ yea thou seemest ignorant of the very Letter of the Scripture which in plain and express words doth mention Christ dwelling in the heart and Christ within the hope of Glory the Mystery hid from Ages and Generations And said Paul to the Corinthians Know ye not that Iesus Christ is in you unless ye be Reprobates And said Christ in his Prayer unto his Father Thou in me and I in them And when he told the Pharisees who looked that the Kingdom of God should come with Observations as to say lo here or lo there he said for behold the Kingdom of God is within you Luke 17.21 and surely where the Kingdom of God is there are God and Christ● So that the plain letter of the Scripture is against thy most absurd and Anti-christian Doctrine That the Christ in the hearts of men yea even of the Saints as thou wouldst have it for thou makest no distinction is a false Christ for the plain tendency of this thy Work of Darkness is to make People believe that Christ is not a Light within the Saints because as thou alledgest the Light within was not crucified for us but Iesus Christ of Nazareth And in this absurd distinction and dividing of Christ thou acts the part of Socinus and his followers who are called Socinians that affirm most absurdly That Christ is only a meer man and that he had no being nor existance before Mary But if thou say thou believest that Christ is both God and Man and that he was from the beginning to wit that Word by whom all things were made then why dost thou deny that Christ as he is that Word is in the Saints for though Christ only suffered in the flesh and as Man upon the Tree of the Cross yet he who suffered was not meer Man but God and Man and yet still one Christ. And thus also Christ within spiritually and inwardly revealed in the Saints is not another Christ from him that came in the flesh and was crucified for us even Jesus of Nazareth And hadst thou taken a little pains to read my book and consider it impartially and fairly thou shouldst have seen what a plain and single account I give of mine and my Friends Faith concerning the Man Christ Iesus as he came in the flesh and dyed for our sins and rose again and ascended c. even Jesus of Nazareth and that true faith in Christ Jesus is not only a believing in him as he is the Word c. but as the same Word did take flesh and was God manifest in the flesh c. to wit Christ crucified and risen again made of a Woman made under the Law c. and that the true faith of a Christian doth not divide Christ c. as false Christians do who say they believe in Christ without them but do not believe and receive Christ within them as God the Father doth inwardly reveal him or as Ranters and other high Notionists who pretend to believe in Christ as the Word and Light in them but slight and blaspheme against Christ that was crucified without them as is plainly to be seen in my late book pag. 131 132 133 and pag. 103 104 108. and p. 229. and hereby it doth plainly appear how safely I guard against both extreams of false Teachers some preaching Christ without but denying him within as thou Pardon Tillinghast and most of thy

Supper did not really eat and drink sufficiently to refresh nourish the Natural Body as well as together with that their Souls were refreshed and nourished with spiritual food for it is most clear that in the Church of Corinth they did eat together to refresh the outward man and this the Apostle did not reprove but their disorderly manner of eating so that some were hungery and others were drunken and some eat at home in private and others did not but tarried to eat together with their Brethren and were at times disappointed This plainly proveth they used to make a real Meal of their eating together but your manner of eating about the quantity of a Nut in Bread and a spoonful one or two in Wine we find no where in all the New Testament and that ye give the cup but once and Christ gave it twice as I have showed in my late book this ye can give no account of and thou hast not taken the least notice of it although it is material to you who pretend to observe every thing as Christ did And why are ye not as zealous for washing one anothers feet and anointing the sick with Oyl I am sure more expresly commanded by Christ and Iames the Apostle than your Water baptism ye can give no just account It seems thou art zealous for laying on of hands which thou reckons also as belonging to the foundation of the Gospel falsly citing and perverting these words in Heb. 6.1 2. for though that place mention the foundation of Faith and Repentance and afterwards the Doctrine of Baptisms and of laying on of hands yet it saith not that either Water baptism or laying on of hands is any part of the foundation and the Doctrine of Baptisms and the laying on of hands is one thing the use of Water baptism is quite another The Doctrine of all the legal Rites Figures and Types remaineth in the Church at this day but the practice of them is abolished and so of Water baptism Before the close of this my Answer I shall further take notice of some other of thy gross impertinencies First Thou usest these idle words by way of reproach So that upon hearing Peter's Testimony not of killing the Light within as the Quakers preach c. Here thou makest it a matter of derision to say Christ who is the Light and the Life may be killed or crucified by mens sins whereby thou declarest thy great ignorance of the Letter of the Scripture that said of some that they crucified the Son of God afresh and surely that was within them and not without and said Iames Ye have killed the just and he hath not resisted you which cannot be understood as if all these to whom he had writ had been guilty of outward Murder But understand how these call'd Quakers mean that Christ is inwardly crucified or slain by mens great sins to wit not in himself for his Life is an Immortal Principle but unto them so that by their sins they wholly deprive themselves of the enjoyment of it 2 dly Thou sayst While Peter is speaking not mentioning ought of the Light within altho' we deny it not where God would have it spoken of Behold here another bitter and satyrical Scoff against the Light within and what altho' Peter mention not the Light within in that place Acts 10. in express words let the place be considered and it shall be found plainly enough implied in that very discourse of Peter see v. 42. said Peter that it is even Jesus of Nazareth who was ordained to be judge of quick and dead And can this be without the Light within that shall be as a thousand Witnesses against the wicked in that great day of Judgment when the books shall be opened not only the book of Conscience but the Lords Light in the Conseience that did see and reprove them and witness against them when they sinned And whereas thou sayst thou denyest not the Light within when God would have it spoken of I say thou denyest it in so far as thou denyest Christ in the heart who is the true Light callest him a false Christ and also that thou blamest the Quakers for pretending to inward Revelations which ye Baptists generally deny therein agreeing with the dark Priests and other dark Professors 3 dly Thou dost represent the Quakers as denying that Christ is come in the flesh and carrying it in a subtil notion that he is come in their flesh This is a most false and injurious Accusation we most faithfully believe and embrace it as a most faithful saying That Christ Iesus is come in the flesh to wit in that very Body of Flesh which was conceived by the holy Ghost and born of the Virgin Mary dyed and rose again c. and yet according to Scripture we also believe That the Life of Iesus is made manifest in mortal Flesh and that the Bodies of the Saints are the Temples of God and of Christ of the holy Spirit and that the Saints are his Members and He their Head and that they enjoy and possess a measure of the same holy Spirit that dwelt and dwelleth in him in all fullness and tho' some divine Illumination and manifestation of the Spirit of God be given to all men in a day or time according to plain Scripture yet we do not say tha● all men have the holy Spirit or are baptized with it as thou dost falsly represent us for many men are sensual not having the Spirit and the Spirit of God hath left many men and doth no more invite and call them to Repentance the day of their Visitation being over 4 thly Thou dost insinuate as if we did not believe any other Coming of Christ than his inward coming in his Saints which is false as also is that other gross alledgance of thine That our opposition to Water Baptism is raised against the Person of Iesus Christ and the remembrance of his last Coming This I altogether deny as False Wicked and Injurious we do believe and make it our care to remember that our Lord Jesus is in Heaven in his glorified Body Soul and Spirit of true Man that Seed of David and Abraham and that he shall come again and jud●e both quick and dead even the Man Christ Iesus And as for thy other many false Accusations and hard bitter and reproachful Speeches against us and me in particular I shall not waste paper nor time to repeat them but heartily wish thy Repentance and the opening of thy dark Understanding to the acknowledging and confessing to the Truth if it be the good will of God that so it may come to pass before thy dayes be expired And now ye Water Baptists who plead so earnestly for Water Baptism though in opposition to the living and glorious Appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ in the hearts of his Saints some of you calling Christ in the heart a false Christ in the secret Chamber the which

his other fauls were pardonable c. But to this I Answer That Increase Mather hath not secur'd his veracity from being impeached for it belongeth to Veracity and to him who hath it not only to tell some true matters of fact but to tell them with a true intention and for a true and upright end and to assign the true and right Names to the Persons that have done the things alledged as when a man is murdered tho' the matter of Fact be true yet if he who relates it doth charge it upon a person or persons no wise guilty his Veracity may justly be impeached and so the case is here as to I. Mather suppose the matter of fact be true yet it is as gross and false a charge and imputation to cast these things acted and done by Tho. Case and his Crew upon the Quakers as to cast them upon any other People whatsoever yea as upon them whom he may judge to be true Christians or suppose Presbyterians and Independents for what tho' they call themselves or that others ignorantly call them Quakers doth it therefore follow that they are owned by that People or are of their Society no wise no more than it doth follow that they are Christians because they call themselves also by that name And suppose these of T. Case's crew should call themselves Presbyterians Independents or Members of the Congregational Churches of New-England doth it therefore follow that ye of New-England should be charged with these things And whereas I said in my last book That I. M. relates these stories on purpose to abuse the honest sober People call'd Quakers without making any distinction thou Cotton Mather leavest out altogether the following words that were most material for the clearing of the Quakers and proving I. M. guilty of slandering and falsly accusing an innocent People my following words being these nor giving the least information to the world how that the Body of the People call'd Quakers doth not in the least own these ungodly and wicked People c. But what doth his Son C. M. answer to this that may satisfie the impartial Reader surely nothing but answers with a Scoff like to himself it seems he hath largely accustomed himself to sit in the Seat of the Scorner saying But what Mettal is this mans fore-head made of and then he proceeds to alledge That his Father very carefully made a distinction because once or twice he calleth them the late singing and dancing Quakers And again that he saith The Quakers are some of them possessed with evil Spirits But I Answer Thou C. Mather rather bearest in thy forehead the print of him that hath a face of Brass than of an ingenuous man in thy undertaking so to palliate and excuse thy Fathers gross abuse and slander Doth not every one that knoweth what a distinction is know that it consisteth at least of two Members or parts and not of one only member or part Now I challenge Cotton Mather to produce one word or syllable in all Increase Mathers discourse where the other Member or part of the distinction is named or exprest in the least whereas if he had indeed made any distinction he would at least have informed the world That there is another s●rt of People called Quakers that doth no wise own Thomas Case or any of his Crew nor their Spirit nor Doctrine nor Practices but abhor them and their way as much as any People can do and do as widely differ from them as white from black or as one contrary from another yea it is easie to show that Tho. Case and his Crew are more near to many called Presbyterians and Independents than to the honest Quakers both in Doctrine and some Practices for the honest People called Quakers own no carnal Singing and do not own dancing on any account and yet to my certain knowledge many called Presbyterians do both own and practise carnal Singings and Dancings and Pipings and Fiddlings also at Feasts and Weddings all which practices are more like to the mad Crew of Tho Case than to the sober and honest Quakers who own no singing but what is truly spiritual and holy and it doth not appear that when I. M. nameth the late singing dancing Quakers that he intended any distinction but that he gave such Names only as certain Epithets to the Quakers or to some of them as when Cott. Mather calleth us absurd and angry People it doth not appear that he intendeth a distinction as if some of us were not absurd nor angry or as when his Brethren used to call us The Cursed Quakers that they intended any distinction as if some of us were blessed or if he had called us The late upstart Heretical Quakers as some have called us as if some or us were not late nor heretical but Antient Orthodox nor is it any real or true distinction to say Some of the Quakers as implying not all for all and some are no specifical distinction but only numerical whereas I said in my book without any distinction it is most clear from my following words in that book purposely as it seemeth omitted by C. M. that I meant a specifical distinction for what I. M. alledgeth on some of the Quakers as such belongeth to all of the same society even as what belongeth to some men as men belongeth to all men and if these wild and mad and abominable Practices do not belong to T. Case's Crew as Quakers then why doth he so charge them as ●uakers or why doth he not inform the People of New-England That T. Case's Crew are no Quakers any more than real Christians altho' they falsly are so called and are no wise owned by the Body or Society of that People this he hath not done in the least and no man that hath not some better Information what the Quakers are than what I. M. hath given of them can know any other but that the Quakers generally are all singing and dancing Quakers or at least own these mad Practices for as I said before I say again he maketh no distinction betwixt them he calleth Mad Quakers and others that are sober and there are many hundreds in New-England that reading I. M's Book will be ready enough to believe the Quakers generally are such as these of T. Cases Crew seeing he mentioneth no other sort and they have no other intelligence what the Quakers are having never seen any of them nor heard them nor read their Books But C. M. perceiving this pinch or strait how he could not make it appear that his Father made any real distinction takes another course and plainly telleth us His Father needed not make any distinction at all and rather than C. Mather will allow the least Charity to the Quakers he will fall at variance with his Father and show himself of a contrary mind as one would think to his supposed reverend Father that whereas he thinketh or would have it believed

we believe him for he saith in his Book of Witchcraft he and others with him could cheat the Devils when they spoke one thing and meant another pag. 38. And seeing this is Cotton Mathers way with Devils to speak one thing and mean another why may it not be supposed that he thinks to take that way with men or how can he assure us to the contrary But it is a most intolerable Abuse in Cotton Mather to say as he doth There is far more to be said for the Iustification of our antient Severities on two or three Quakers here than the World has yet been acquainted with Is this then the manner of your Justice to hang men for Crimes meerly alledged but not proved no not so much as charged in the face of the World till many years after they are put to Death Is not this highest Injustice with a witness first to hang men and then to publish their supposed Crimes or rather only to accuse them being innocent Is not this worse than that call'd Abbington Law where it is said Men were first hanged and afterwards tryed But what thou Cotton Mather dost alledge in this case is notoriously false and hath not the least shadow or show of probability for surely those who put these men call'd Quakers to death at Boston if they had had any thing further to charge them with than what they openly charged they would have done it for they wanted no will to Charge them after the highest manner But I charge thee Cotton Mather seeing thou art so impudent to charge these worthy men after they have now above twenty eight years been put to Death of things that the World hath not yet been acquainted with to produce these things against them otherwise thou art to be accounted A most Infamous Defamer and False Accuser of Gods faithful Servants who are long since deceased and at rest in the Lord. Thou praisest thy self and others there call'd Ministers I suppose at Boston for their Voluntary Poverty and Transcendent Self-denyal that hath scarce its Parralel in the Christian World saying further If any Maintenance extorted from Quakers hath ever been paid unto them thou art confident it was without their knowledge or consent Answ. This is a very fair Testimony in show but coming from thy bare self is not worthy of credit I question much and so may thousands more whether your so call'd Voluntary Poverty doth near equal that of the thousands of Beging Fryars and Monks pretending as much to Christianity as ye do And if ye have not so large Sallaries as some of your Brethren in other places have it doth not appear that it is your own choice that maketh it so but that ye know not where to get more or where to have a better convenience and the least any of you have is far too much beyond what ye deserve for preaching false Doctrine and mis-leading the People for instead of turning them to Gods Light and divine Revelation in their hearts ye turn them away from it in that acting more the part of the Ministers of Anti-christ and Sathan And tho' little or perhaps nothing hath been extorted from these called Quakers at Boston because very few have had Estates there to extort any thing from yet seeing thou dost not condemn this practice in many or most of thy Brethren but justifiest it in all places in New-England where great extorting of Goods hath been used from the People called Quakers not only at Plymouth but at Hampton and many other places in New-England as well as in Old England Scotland Ireland and else-where thou art equally guilty with them Nor doth it excuse thy saying That the Grants of Lands there made by the Court have still been with an express Condition and Proviso That the allowed Ministry be therewith supported to wit at Plymouth or some other places for supposing this were so which yet in great part may be justly questioned for some of the Quakers Relations and Parents had as good a Right to their Lands in New-England as any others and that before any such Grant of Court it doth not therefore follow That they are obliged to uphold a false Ministry not sent of God for no man is bound to a thing unlawful saith both the Law of God and man The Popish Clergy use to argue at the same rate for all the great Lands and Revenues that were given to them in Old England Scotland and Ireland but this saith nothing that they do justly belong to them no more it doth that our Friends are bound to maintain these in New-England whom they cannot own in Conscience to be true Ministers of Christ and all true Ministers of the Gospel ought only to live by the Gospel and not by the Law of any earthly Court None of the Apostles or Ministers of Christ in the Apostles days had any such way of Maintenance allowed them but as they freely gave so they did freely receive without any extorting what was necessary Thou sayst The Barnstable story is a Romance of the same piece with the rest but of this thou givest no proof but that thou hearest so But is a bare Report or Hear-say sufficient to discredit a Passage that is known to so many living Witnesses in that Town the Persons are yet living that testified these things and if need were their Testimony can be produced under their hands being of good Credit and Report yea not only these called Quakers but some of New England Church can witness to the substance of it Thou Mockest after thy wonted manner not minding how far he who fits in the seat of the Scorner is from the state of the blessed man Psal. 1.1 at my saying My hope is in due time your Meeting-Houses shall no more receive you into them where after thou hast diminished from my words most unfairly and disinguously thou puts thy false and malicious Gloss upon them as if I did guess from either the private Conversation I had with your Persecutors as thou callest them or their Publick Administration there that your Churches were quickly to be overturned All which is notoriously false It is manifest whom thou callest Persecutors viz. some eminent in Authority at that time whom I did not know to have persecuted you for ye had your liberty for your Profession of Religion as much as could be desired or as any others unless ye call that Persecution that ye were restrained from persecuting others And as for worldly concerns and transactions betwixt these in Authority and you I had not the least meddling neither in private nor publick But finding that the Governour was favourable to our Friends in New-England in restraining some Persecuting Priests and Justices to strein our Friends goods for Maintenance to the Priests I judged it my duty to visit him being also thereunto particularly recommended by a Person of good Quality and Report of his former Acquaintance and I must needs say that both He and They

were very civil who were with him but as to any Worldly or Civil Concern either with him or any other or as to any intention or purpose that he or they had to hurt or damage you in any of your Religious or Civil Concerns I had no knowledge nor have from any of them But the ground of my saying what I have affirmed in my Book was simply and wholly as I there in my Book have affirmed That my hope is that in due time many People both in Boston New England shall have their Eyes opened by the Spirit of the Lord which ye blaspheme to see you to be these false Teachers who bring not the Doctrine of Christ and the Houses ye preach in not being your Houses buc the Houses of the People they shall not any more receive you into them c. Hereby it doth most evidently appear that I had not the least ground in my most remote thoughts that these in present Authority or any others by any outward Force would destroy your Churches or extrude you out of your Meeting Houses but that in due time God would open the Eyes of the People to see you to be that sort of false Teachers who bring not Christs Doctrine and that on that account the People would not receive you into these Houses being their Houses and not yours It is therefore most evident this gloss of thine upon my words is a meer Forgery and Calumny as if I did either wish or predict by some conjecture That any in present Authority at that time were e'er long purposed to destroy or overturn your Churches or Meeting-Houses But it is no wonder thou putest such false Interpretations on my words when thou and thy Brethren dare so frequently put false Interpretations on the Scriptures themselves And I never had the least ground to think or conjecture that any at that time in Authority had the least intention to overturn any of your Churches or in the least to straiten you in the Profession of your Religion and I believe they had none And as to my words that I laid In due time my hope was that God would open the Eyes of many People both in Boston and New-England thou also makest a Mock of that Expression In Due Time saying Ay no doubt of it in due time but I pray friend George sayst thou when shall this due time be I Answer thee sooner than thou dost expect or thinkest of but as to the precise time of what Year Moneth or so I leave it wholly to the Lords ordering who hath said He will Overturn Overturn Overturn till He come to reign whose right it is and that is the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually and inwardly revealed to reign and rule in mens hearts whom ye oppose and blaspheme against and all his Enemies will fall before him in Due Time according to Deut. 32.35 To me belongeth Vengeance and Recompence saith the Lord their feet shall slide in DVE TIME for the Day of their Calamity is at hand and the things that shall come upon them make hast So thou mayst see that the true words of Prophecy in Deut. 32.35 are so expressed with a respect to the Due Time As for us and me in particular neither we nor I have any evil will or wish in our hearts towards the Land or People of New-England but we and I in particular can and do say I wish the Well-fare and Happiness of it every way and my Hope is great and my Faith sure and firm That God hath a chosen Seed and People in it to whom he will inwardly reveal himself in great Power and Glory and gather them to the living knowledge of himself and into a living acquaintance with himself and his living Way and Truth and this will make them indeed a blessed and happy People but as for all such who shall be found continuing to oppose and resist the heavenly inward and spiritual Appearance and Revelation of God and Christ in the hearts of People and shall be found saying as these Scoffers of whom Peter prophesied who should come in the last dayes and say Where is the Promise of his coming and as this Cotton Mather in the same scoffing nature and spirit hath said When is that due Time that I have said shall come that God will open the Eyes of People c both thou and all such and all Hypocrites and all false Teachers of all sorts who do all that ye can to uphold your Babylonish buildings shall be greatly disappointed of all your vain and false Hopes and a dreadful Cup of Wrath and Judgment will be given to all such who shall still continue to gainsay and oppose yea to blaspheme this heavenly inward Appearance and Revelation of Christ in his People And therefore I do sincerely and earnestly exhort and request both thee C. Mather and Increase Mather thy Father if this ever come to his hands and all others of you call'd Ministers and Teachers in New-England to Repent of all your hard Speeches Revilings false Accusations and Calumnies that ye have raised against the Truth and Witnesses of it and bow and submit to that divine Light of Christ in your hearts that ye have so long and so much gain-said and blasphemed against heretofore And as for thy Conclusion in thy Appendix it is so dirty and unclean that it is not worth mentioning being an old Latine Rhyme made by some old doting Priest or Clergy-man in the former time of Ignorance and as it hath no good favour to any that understand a little Latine so no more would it have if translated into English But we may well bear it to be called or esteemed by thee in thy ignorance and darkness of understanding as Dung and Filth when the Apostles of the Lord by men of thy dark Spirit were made as the Filth of the World and the Off-scouring of all things 1 Cor. 4.13 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 There is another Passage in Cotton Mathers Appendix which though I could easily have passed by altogether without any just Reflection on us yet because it showeth now foolish and inconsiderate he is to accuse others for that which these of his own Society have been sufficiently liable to I shall take some notice of it He saith That the Quakers fall out amont themselves is but a natural Consequence of their Tempers and Errors which cannot be otherwise than incoherent and sometimes their Credit forces them to explode in one another what they wish they could but can't excuse Answ. That we have denyed Thomas Case and all his ungodly Crew and Followers is not the least proof that the Quakers fall out among themselves for tho' they or others may falsly call them Quakers as being of our Religion and Society yet it doth not follow any more than that many of the most Wicked called Christians are of the true Christian Religion or are Christians because falsly so called But in this thou actest more like Celsus