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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

than that it might be alledged that any of their Children did cast them out for their Children did believe they did cast out Devils by the Power of God and Christ had far greater cause to say the same to wit that he did cast out Devils by the Power of God Nor doth the manner of Expression If Sathan cast out Sathan argue or imply in the least that Sathan is not divided against himself or that his Kingdom is not divided for the Particle if is not always to be understood to imply a negative but frequently an affirmative as in v. 28. said Christ But If I cast out Devils by the Spirit of God c. the sense is not Negative And hereby it doth plainly appear that Cotton Mather is a Falsifier and Wrester of Christs words who would bring Christs Authority to prove That Sathan is is not divided against Sathan which is utterly false for Sathan is divided manifestly oft times against Sathan and his Kingdom is divided also and therefore it cannot stand but must needs fall and great will be the Fall thereof for there is no true nor real Unity betwixt the Devils nor can there be because they are not in unity with God nor Truth which is the alone foundation ground of all true Unity and tho' Devils may seem to agree and the parts of his Kingdom to be in Union yet that is no real unity and therefore they oft fall at variance as their wicked Actions and Work in wicked men plainly demonstrate that are most commonly divided and discordant And as for thy Book of Witchcraft though I believe there is such a thing that is too frequent as real Witchcraft and too many that are real Witches yet I find little or indeed nothing in all thy book th●t doth effectually prove th●t any of these Children were really bewitched the most it proveth is that some Whimsies and Fancies together with some sits of Madness or Melancholy Distractions did seize upon them or suppose a Diabolical Possession all this doth not prove they were bewitched nor do I find any effectual proof that it was a Bodily Possession of the Devil But whether it was so or not I am little concerned to enquire further than to take notice that C. Mather will needs have it to be so not only to bespatter and abuse the People called Quakers because a whimsical Boy became well when his going to the Quakers Meeting was but mentioned which might be used rather for than against them but really is of no force either for or against but to make simple and too credulous People believe That some of his Brethrens or his own Prayers did conjure the Devil and cast him out And all this to prove the great worth and excellency of the Presbyterian or Independent Religion But I have both read heard as great or rather greater instances of evil Spirits and Devils being cast out of some by Popish Priests which doth no more prove either the truth or worth of Pope or Papacy than this pretended or supposed Ejection and casting out or perhaps the going out of the Devil without any force but on his crafty design to make Cotton Mather imagin it to be so and others of the like silly credulity doth prove the truth or worth of your Religion for C. Mather should remember his own words in that thing call'd his Sermon on Witchcraft p. 36. Sometimes saith he the Devil will use a digression he will seem to give over his intent in one thing but make sure of his intent in another such a Stratagem he ●seth as what Joshua took Ai withal he retires and so he con●uors I say then what doth Cotton Mather know or how can he prove to the contrary but that the Devil used this Stratagem in retiring or going out without being conjured by the force of his and his Brethrens Prayers And though the great worth and power of true Prayer I most willingly acknowledge which is only performed by the Inspiration and Revelation of the holy Spirit yet seeing Cotton Mather and his Brethren generally mock at any at this day laying claim to divine Inspiration and Revelation I cannot own their Prayers to be true they are liker to Charms and Spells of superstitious Persons all such Prayers that are performed without divine Inspiration and true internal divine Revelation Nor doth it content or satisfie Cotton Mather to accuse and speak evil of the honest People called Quakers and to belye CHRIST himself and the Scripture as I have above sufficiently proved but he also falleth foul upon his own Native Country and the People in it saying expresly of the Country of New-England A COUNTRY FULL OF LYES pag. 28. in his discourse of Witchcraft How may the People of New-England relish this a People generally all over few excepted your Church Members and yet by Cotton Mathers Authority full of Lyes Also he doth plainly accuse not a few of them for using and practising manifold Sorceries and Charms Had the People called Quakers so accused them of New-England it would have been judged great impiety But what saith the People of New-England now to Cotton Mather who doth so accuse them let them see to it and if they be not guilty of his Charge whether is he not severely to be reprehended And what say his Brethren the men called Ministers in Boston who have so highly praised his Book have they no Garment to cast over their Naked Brother Here follow a few words of a Letter to Iohn Cotton called a Minister at Plymouth in New-England John Cotton HAving seeen a few Lines from thy hand attested by thee and other two Witnesses wherein thou and they declare That in the Town of Plymouth in New-England last Summer save one ye heard me affirm That the Scriptures are the Word of God My Answer to thee and them is That ye have not dealt fairly nor as becoming true Witnesses in this case for every Witness should declare all the Truth and conceal nothing of the Truth which they heard Now this ye have not done but diminished from my words as your Consciences may bear witness if your Memory be not bad for I very well remember my words at that time which were these That I did acknowledge the true Sense of the Scripture to be the Word of God and that in the same I was not singular in my Perswasion from the People called Quakers for Samuell Fisher in his Book called Rusticus ad Academicos that hath been in print upwards of twenty five Years hath affirmed the same to wit That the true Sense of the Scripture is the Word of God And at that time I further said That not every one who had the Letter of the Scripture had the Word of God to speak properly because they had not the true sense of Scripture which none have but such to whom it is given by the Spirit of God I also did further affirm That the Letter or words of Scripture may be called the Word in a figurative sense as the Map or Card of England is called England and that the Greek word is used in Scripture in divers acceptations All this and more to the same purpose I spoke to thee at that time G. K. The substance of this I have more largely asserted in my late Book printed called The Presbyterian and Independent visible Churches c. cap. 1. THE END

Brethren called Baptists most Anti-christianly have done and yet continue to do Oh Pardon Pardon God Almighty give thee pardon through unfeigned Repentance for this thy great sin others not these sober People called in scorn Quakers but Ranters and high Notionists who pretend to own Christ within them but deny him without as come in the Flesh c. And though thou call'st thy self in thy title page A Servant of Iesus Christ yet thou hast plainly discovered that thou yet art ignorant of him and in this thy Work thou hast rather proved thy self a servant of Anti-christ for what greater opposition can Anti-christ make against Christ than to oppose the presence and in-being of Christ in his People who is their Life And if he who is their Life be not in them they cannot live yea if Christ live not in thee thou art dead in thy tre●passes and sins and the old man is alive in thee and his servant thou art and Christ is not like to live in thee as he did in Paul and as he doth in all true Christians so long as thou judgest That the Christ in the heart is a false Christ. Oh Pardon Tillinghast thou hast made too great haste in this thy undertaking as in many other thy works wherein possibly thou mayst imagine thou art tilling and plowing in Gods field but remember that the Scripture saith The plowing of the Wicked is sin and when thou makest haste to till without the true knowledge of God and Christ thou hadst better let alone and imploy thy self in some other lawful occupation Hast thou no other way to defend thy Idol of Water-baptism but to smite against the Lord Jesus Christ in his inward appearance in his Saints But know O vain and foolish man that as that idol Dagon did fall before Gods Ark so thy idol of Water-baptism shall fall before the Lord Jesus Christ inwardly appearing in thousands and ten thousands of his Saints and let none be offended that I call thy Water-baptism an ●dol for whatever man sets up in opposition to the inward appearance of Christ in his People they make it unto themselves an Idol and it will fall and they together with it But as for Iohn's Baptism with Water or that baptism with water that others of the Disciples of Christ used I call it not an Idol far be it from me it had its blessing and service in its day and pointed as a figure to Christs inward and spiritual Baptism and if there be an inward baptism of Christ then is not Christ the inward baptiser and minister of this inward baptism yea certainly and yet thou denyest Christ within calling him A false Christ in the secret Chamber of the heart And as for thy undertaking to prove thy Water Baptism to be a Gospel Precept by plain Scripture I question not but through Gods assistance I shall prove that thou hast grosly perverted mis-applied the scriptures not understanding the scriptures nor the power of God like unto the Sadduces of old Thou comparest thy self to David with his sling his few stones smiting at Goliah But alas poor man that sling and these stones and that River or brook out of which he did take these stones according to the deep Mystery signified under that figure or allegory thou understandst not it is a dark Riddle and Parable unto thee and thou thy self art more a kin to Goliah than to David In the beginning of thy work thou dost not fairly state the Question first that thou takest no notice of my plain and express words in my book pag. 184. where I say expresly as followeth If any were raised up by the Lord as John was and could prove and instruct their being sent to baptize with Water as he was these to whom they should be sent ought gladly to receive it but to do it by bare imitation or a meer pretended Call which they cannot prove to be either mediate or immediate is great Presumption yea Superstition This one short section is enough to overthrow thy whole Work and yet thou hast made no Reply to it nor given the least notice of it in thy book and all that thou hast said for Water-baptism doth not in the least give any ground for thy Water-Baptism thou and thy brethren set up in your vain Imaginations without any call either immediate or mediate from God so that your work in your Water-baptism is a Will-worship Secondly Thou dost not fairly cite my words in thy stating the Question saying That I affirmed that the Apostles practiced it viz. Water-baptism Only by permission c. The word Only is thy addition and is not in my book but my words are these following The Apostles generally thought fit both to use and tolerate the use of Water-baptism that belonged to John and divers other things of the Law which was by permission for a time and not by any Gospel standing Commission c. Now the word Only being added doth derogate from my words as if I did understand that the Apostles only baptized by a bare dry or naked permission whereas I did understand and so I do still that it was not a meer or bare permission but they they thought fit both to use it and tolerate the use of it and that which made them think and judge it fit to use it for sometime was really the Spirit of God in them that gave them not only a spiritual and chearful freedom to use it for some time but let them see a great service and conveniency in it for somtime until men began to contend about it and lay more weight on it and other things of the like nature than they ought to have done for as in the change of an outward form of Government or a new administration of worldly and civil Laws the former Laws and the execution of them cannot in an instant be removed but gradually otherwise great inconveniences would follow as when a house is to be supported with new Pillars the o●d Pillars must not be first removed else the House would be in danger of falling but the new Pillars must first in great part be well placed and fixed and then the old are by degrees safely and wisely removed Even so Iohn's Baptism and other things of like nature were not presently and suddainly to be removed because many both Iews and proselited Gentiles laid great stress and weight on them And therefore I say the Apostles not by a meer bare and naked permission but in the wisdom and counsel of God used Water-baptism for a time and yet all this will not prove that it is a Gospel Precept or a standing Gospel Ordinance that was to continue in the Church to the end of the World Nor art thou more successful in managing this Controversy about Water Baptism than in stating it for almost throughout thou fight'st against thy own shadow and takest much pains and usest many Arguments to prove many things no wise denyed by

of evil Spirits may befall one of your Communion What then the Possession does not move any to be of that Communion we see the contrary But the stories recorded by thy Father thou sayst plainly enough demonstrate that Diabolical Possession was the thing which did dispose and incline men unto Quakerism Also thou sayst their Quakerism was the proper effect of their Possession and not an unconcerned consequence Answ. This is most wretchedly alledged but no wise proved for none of these Instances prove in the least that Diabolical Possession did dispose and incline any man to be really of our fellowship or Society tho' it may well enough be granted that the Devil may dispose and incline men to think or imagine themselves to be true Christians but it doth not therefore follow that he doth dispose or incline them to be really such And let Cotton Mather answer me this Question Whether he thinks it not possible that some Diabolical Possession may incline or dispose a man to pretend to be in outward Profession a Presbyterian or Independent This he cannot deny for there is no outward Profession of Godliness but the Devil may incline men unto while in the mean time he have the Government of them he careth not what they profess yea he may incline them to the highest Profession so as even to confess to Christ to his true Servants as is most clear in the case of those Devils that did Bodily possess some who did confess to Christ Mat. 8.29 and also to his true Servants Acts 16.17 These men are the Servants of the most high God which shew unto us the way of Salvation Now what sayst thou Cotton Mather to this doth it not here plainly appear that the Devil in this possessed Damsel did acknowledge Paul and Silas to be the Servants of the living God and consequently that the Religion they professed was the true Religion Doth it therefore follow that Diabolical Possession in this Damsel did incline her to be of Pauls Religion Doth not both thy Fathers weakness and thine also manifestly appear in this Charge for if either thou or thy Father had lived at that time when the Devil gave that Testimony to Christ and to Paul and to Silas by your Argument the Christian Faith and Religion was not true Thou and thy Father also are very ignorant of the Devils devices if ye know not that he can transform himself as an Angel of Light and incline or dispose men to any outward form or profession whatsoever and also to confess to the Truth it self but not to live and walk in the Truth But however seeing by this instance of Rob. Churchman brought by thy Father thou grantest That thy Fathers design was to show that Diabolical Possession was the thing that did incline men unto Quakerism By this thou quite over turnest what thou saidst formerly That thy Father made a distinction betwixt Quakers Mad and Bodily possessed with the Devil and other Quakers for now thou plainly confessest That thy Father brought these Stories to prove that Diabolical Possession did dispose and incline men unto Quakerism And that our Religion called in scorn by thee Quakerism was the effect of Diabolical Possession without making any distinction It seems thou didst not mind that true saying A Lyar should have a good Memory Is this thy Vindication of thy Father as if he had made a distinction betwixt Mad Quakers and Others and presently again to say They are all one It is rather Ham-like to uncover thy Father Nakedness as I leave to every impartial Reader to judge And whereas I said in my Book That I. M. hath shewed his rashness and folly in some other passages of his Life if not Malice that hath occasioned him for some time past to abscond c. In answer to this thou art so far from covering thy Fathers Nakedness that thou layest it open in the face of the world telling a long story How thy Father did declare in a Letter to a certain Person that several shrowd things would make him suspect a Person he nameth the Author of a Letter that was a most villanous Forgery filled with Treason and Madness whereupon that Person sued him in an Action of Defamation Now doth not Increase Mather's Folly and Rashness plainly appear to charge a man with a Crime he could no wise sufficiently prove and fearing the event of the Tryal being sued in an Action of Defamation did abscond and so privately escaped to England all which C. Mather cannot deny only he telleth the World That his Father intended a Voyage to England to endeavour the service of his afflicted Country But whether it was so or not doth not clear him of great Rashness and Folly to charge a man with what he could not prove and for his Success of Affairs in England whatever Cotton his Son boasteth of it it doth not yet appear It had been more becoming Increase Mather if he had been a true Minister of Christ not to meddle so much in worldly Affairs as to have left them he calleth his Flock now for some years without returning to look after them And it had been better for New-England that the men called their Ministers had not meddled so much with their outward Affairs and Concerns which hath proved to their great damage in many respects I can truly say I bear a good will to the People of all sorts in New-England and do heartily desire their well-fare in all respects but am very sorry to see them so mis-led by their blind Guides to their great danger both as to their Eternal and Temporal state O that the Lord may open their Eyes so as no more to follow these blind Leaders of the blind which I hope in due time he will do to many As to these scurrilous and most indecent Expressions and Words he useth against some lately in outward Authority I need say no more but that he showeth thereby the meanness of his Spirit and ill breeding He quarrelleth against my Book because some of the Copies were bound up in Ozenburgs Linnin which he calleth Canvas and thereupon maketh a silly jest as if like one of the Witnesses I would prophesie in Sack-cloth But that some of my Books were bound up in Ozenburgs was only that the Printer could not have Leather to bind them all up in the condition of the Country at present after so new and late settling not affording largeness of Leather nor is this manner of binding up Books in Ozenburgs unusual in some more antient Plantations than this And must this Cotton Mather turn this into a Jest Hath he forgot how the first settlers in New-England not very long ago were reduced to a few grains of Indian Corn many of them and had no other Bread But now Iesurun like many of them through plenty are waxed fat kick He professeth as seemingly to be against the Magistrates inflicting any punishment upon any supposed Heretick But how shall

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