The Causeless Ground of Surmises Jealousies and unjust Offences removed in a full clearing of faithful Friends and a sober vindication of my Innocency and the Friends concerned with me in relation to the late Religious Differences and Breaches among some of the People called QUAKERS in America I Tenderly intreat and desire that none apply or construe any Words contained in these following Lines as intended by me in way of Reflection Blame or Charge against either the Body of Friends in general or any particular Meeting or Meetings of Friends in particular or against any singular faithful Friend or Friends whatsoever being only a full Clearing of Faithful Friends and a sober Vindication of my Innocency and Christian Testimony freely recommended to the tender Consciences of such as may read them I Find weighty Concern upon me to publish this following Declaration to silence and remove these evil Surmises Jealousies and unjust Offences taken both against many faithful Friends in general and Me in particular upon the Misconstructions and Misapplications that some have made of some Passages in my late Printed Books And in the first place I cannot but greatly blame them who have reprinted diverse of my late Books with other Titles than the Titles first given them as An account of the Divisions among the Quakers in Pensilvania A further Account of the Divisions among the Quakers in Pensilvania And to a small Treatise of mine concerning the Resurrection this new Title is given The Christian Quaker or George Kieth 's eyes opened as if the Name Christian Quaker were peculiar to me and some few others called Quakers or as if I had been formerly Blind till of late days both which I disown for whatever I have delivered in any of my late Printed Books touching either the Resurrection of the Dead or any other Principles of Christian Doctrine it hath been my Faith ever since I came among the people called Quakers which is upwards of thirty Years past and it is my charitable sincere Persuasion that the worthy Name of Christian doth truly belong to very many of that People as well as unto me having an experimental Proof through intimate conversation and frequent verbal Communication with many of them that they are sincere in the Christian Faith and whose Life and Conversation doth Seal unto the sincerity of their Christian Profession And whereas it hath been said that I have Printed several Books against the people called Quakers charging them with holding and cloaking more damnable Heresies and Doctrines of Devils than any Protestant Profession would tollerate I answer a great search having been made by many into all my Printed Books it hath not been found and I say it is not to be found that any where in all my Books I have charged the people called Quakers either in general or in the plurality with any such thing And by a Manuscript given forth by some of them that so charged me it is made apparent that I charged but a few and these few did not at most exceed thirteen when I did so charge them And that my innocency may appear in this Matter I need but recite some of the printed Passages in my late Books where I am so far from charging the People call'd Quakers in general or the Body of them that I purposely and with great care and industry have cleared them see for this in the Book call'd Some Reasons and Causes of the late Separation pag. 17. l. 14. where I say That we remain in dear unity with the Body of our faithful Friends all of them in all parts of the World and p. 23. l. 13. of the same Book We declare we are one with our faithful Brethren in all parts of the World both in Spirit Doctrine and Practice of true Christianity And we faithfully believe that our Faith in all things doth well agree to all our faithfull Brethren everywhere and is the real sound and upright Faith as it hath been received not only by ancient Christians in all Ages of the World but also by the most sound ancient and present Friends of Truth called in scorn Quakers Divers other Passages of the like nature might be cited out of my late Books but these may suffice at present and it is greatly to be noticed that notwithstanding the objections and severe Accusations that some have made against my late Books as being hurtful to Truth and Friends of it and giving advantage and strength to Adversaries of Truth Yet after great search into my Books and a strict Examination of them by some that have so complained there is not any Line or Sentence in any of them that they have made to appear to contain any untruth or falshood in them either in matter of Doctrine or Fact And as I have told them and answered divers times Generals prove nothing it is not enough to say my Books have done hurt unless they can instance particular Untruths or Falshoods in them of Doctrine or matter of Fact which they have not done I have also desired them who have so charged me to distinguish betwixt a proper and accidental Cause of an effect as even some of them have been put so to distinguish with respect to some of their own Writings an evil use being made of them by some ill minded men I have granted that some of my late Books might have been an improper and accidental cause of Hurt and Grief to Friends and of strengthening Adversaries but unless it can be proved that they are the proper and direct Cause of such Effects which hath not been proved it doth not follow that they are to be blamed for as they might have been the improper and accidental Cause of Grief to some so as can well be proved they have been of great service to many yea to Hundreds of Friends which they have acknowledge and have signified their great satisfaction and joy that God had raised me up and some others with me to appear in a zealous plain and clear testimony to those great Truths of Christianity plainly asserted in my late Books and in opposition to those vile and gross Errours boldly asserted by some that went under the same outward denomination And as this hath had a Service to many sincere hearted Friends of the same profession with us who have blessed God on our behalf for his giving us Zeal and Courage to appear in such a publick Testimony to these great Truths of Christ that had been as it were buried in silence by some and opposed by others the reviving and raising up of which God was pleased to show me in a Heavenly Vision and that he would make me an Instrument thereof with some others concerned for which and for all his other great Mercies I desire for ever to praise him so it hath had a great Service to many of almost all other Professions who had been jealous of us and did frequently accuse us in general as being unsound touching these great Truths
only Representative of the Church in that place at that time and also until they had rejected all our Endeavours and Proposals unto them in order to Reconciliation See a Copy of the said Judgement in the Printed Treatise called Some Reasons and Causes of the late Separation p. 10. And if that particular Meeting or Assembly that they belong unto pass no due censure against them the Errours and defaults of the particulars are justly imputed to the particular Meeting or Assembly they belong unto as we have largely proved both from Scripture and large Citations out of R. Barclays Book called The Anarchy of the Ranters c. well approved by Friends as particularly pag. 32.33 34 48 49 51 52 to which I refer Next as to the Separation which some charge the blame of upon us and lay at my door and them joined with me in our zealous Christian Testimony for these great Truths of Christianity and against the opposite Errours as setting up Separate Meetings in Pensilvania or any where else in America It hath not been proved against us by any sufficient Evidence nor can it be proved that either we began it or continued it for the first Separate Meeting at Philadelphia we began it not but they of the other side as I have made to appear before many Witnesses And there was no other Separation or Separate Meetings amongst us any where in Pensilvania or elsewhere until I and they concerned with me in our Christian Testimony were denyed and disowned by them of the other side by a publick Judgment given out against us and me in particular signed by twenty eight Men called Ministers and that without all Conviction or Tryal And after this I and other Friends of the Ministry joined with me proffering to offer our Gift among them were universally rejected and disowned by a Party in these parts which many Friends seeing and noticing did occasion them to own us and our Testimony and thus the breach happened in many Meetings But had we made the Separation we had been warranted so to do both by Scripture and the express Doctrine of R.B. his Book above mentioned in pag. 33 49 c. to which I refer and to the particular large Citations quoted and Observations thereupon in the Printed Treatise called Some Reasons and Causes of the late Separation and it had been but reasonable and convenient for such as have so positively blamed me and them concerned with me both for the Printing and the Separation to have answered our Reasons from Scripture and R. Barclays Book in our Vindication and to have shown the Invalidity of them and also to have given us plain Reasons and Proofs from Scripture whereby to convince us of Sin and that we were not acted in Gods Wisdom and Counsel therein which they have not yet done and until they so do we must crave leave to differ in our Judgment from them in this particular Matter though we desire to remain in Love and Charity towards them and in unity with the Faithful in the main every where for they must convince us by stronger and better Arguments than to say It is their clear and general Sense But we do well know it is not the General Sense of Friends to blame us for we are well perswaded that no Divine Sense ever will or can contradict or condemn what plain Scripture Precepts and Testimonies do justify as in the present Case we have as also the Example of our ancient Friends who have Printed against lesser Errours in others who differed from them and have also Separated from them though thereby Papists have been gratified and Gloried over all Protestant Professions in general and have strengthened themselves thereby as much as any have against us by our late Printed Books and have said Lo how Hereticks and Schismaticks since they have left the Mother Church of Rome have gone into endless Separations and expose one another and contend against one another seeking to destroy one another by their endless Contentions and thereby concluding that neither their Printing against others Errours nor the Separation of one from another or from the Church of Rome is of God or is acted in the Wisdom and Consel of God as some do so Argue against us But if they know how to answer the Papists Arguments in this Case against themselves they may know how to answer the like Arguments against us And as concerning Vnity we greatly value it to wit that Vnity that is built on Truth and Righteousness without which Vnity is but an empty name and an Idol and when we are agreed in the main so as to be one in the principal things of Faith and Doctrine and feel the Spirit of Life and Love in Christ Jesus to knit our hearts together A difference of Judgement in lesser Matters should not break out Unity and without breach of Unity we ought to bear and receive the Word of Exhortation or reproof that any have from the Spirit of Truth to deliver unto us without gainsaying strife or alienation of mind As to the Charge of some concerning Falshood of Doctrine or innovation of Doctrine brought in by me or others joined with me they who have so charged us being mostly convinced of their rashness proceeding from their own Ignorance and mistakes I shall not need to say any thing for our Vindication all the more judicious and understanding among us both of the Ministry and others being generally satisfied with the Manner of Doctrine held forth by me either in my late Printed Books or publick Assemblies of the People called Quakers And as to the charge of my imposing a Faith upon my Brethren in Pensilvania or elsewhere in my own Terms I have sufficiently cleared my Innocency in that respect and none have yet sufficiently proved it against me nor ever will be able so to do I know no Terms of mine that I ever used in Faith and Doctrine I am no Inventor of any new Words or Terms being well satisfied with the sound Words used in Scripture and other Words and Terms used in the savory Life and Spirit of Christ in Harmony with the Holy Scriptures by all sound Christians in all Ages in General and faithful Friends of the same Profession with me in particular And as for that called An account of our sincere Faith writ by me and Printed at Philadelphia by the general consent and request of Friends joined with me in these American parts received by the general consent of some Meetings of the People called Quakers there and by the general consent of that called our Yearly Meeting held at Burrlington 7 th of Month 7 1692. I say I never imposed that Form of Confession on any there or elsewhere in the World but am fully satisfied that if any here or there see not fit to declare their Faith in that form of Words as there declared they may exercise their Christian Liberty to use any other terms or words that the Spirit
of Truth furnisheth them withal or giveth them liberty to make use of out of the Holy Scriptures for the Faith may be one and the same received and confessed by many thousands and yet not the same Forms and Words used by them all but all these Words and Forms will have the same sense and signification and be of the same importance if the Faith be one and the Spirit be one in them all But that some Principles and Doctrines and Points of Faith are necessary to be agreed upon together with the practices necessarily depending thereupon and to be owned professed and declared by us to be as it were the Terms that draw us together and the Bond by which we become centred into one Body and Fellowship and distinguished from others yet not this so the Bond but that we have a more inward and invisible to wit the Life of Righteousness is the express Doctrine and Testimony of R. Barclay his Book above mentioned pag. 48. And whether Friends do not make some Principles and Doctrines of Faith yea and lesser matters called by some The form of Truth as plain Language and plain habit refusing to Salute with the Hat and Knee and some Matters belonging to Church Discipline as Mens and Womens Meetings Terms of their Communion I appeal to all intelligent Friends And how it is that the greatest and most necessary Articles of the Christian Faith professed and owned by us and declared to be necessary to be owned professed and confessed by us as that Faith in the Man Christ as he dyed for our Sins and rose again is necessary to our Christianity Regeneration Sanctification Justification and Eternal Salvation as well as to believe the Inward Appearance of God and Christ by his Grace Light Life and Spirit in our Hearts and that therefore none is a true and perfect Christian in kind and Nature without this Faith and that we must not place our whole Salvation upon any Light Gift or Grace within us so as to say it is sufficient to Salvation without any thing else as some have said thereby to exclude the Man Christ Iesus in whom the fulness of Grace and Truth dwelleth and of whose fulness we receive and Grace for Grace even every new and fresh Supply and increase of more Grace with many other the greatest and most necessary Articles of the Christian Faith must be called Imposition and refused to be Terms of our Communion and yet far less Matters as these abovementioned of Plain Language Habit Salutation c. Mens and Womens Meetings must be made such Terms of Communion so as to exclude them by such a severe Penalty as not to own them to be in Unity with us and yet allow them to be in Unity with us that may differ from us in great and weighty Matters of the Christian Faith for ought we know if they have but the Policy to conceal their unbelief or if they express it as some have done to call it but a Weakness whereas to deny or oppose the other lesser things abovementioned is not reckoned by many a Weakness but such a Matter as for which a Man is Worthy to be denyed for my part I see not the Consistency of these things and so I Judge nor do many more And whereas some have charged me with Imposition for modestly presenting a Paper called Gospel Order and Discipline improved c. some years ago to the Yearly Meeting at Burlington in West Jersey delivered only by way of Proposition and Query being read in the hearing of many Witnesses very lately I see not why any should call it an Imposition which is only proposed by way of Query and was never urged or pressed by me at any time but the Paper it self is so fair and innocent and so free of any thing that looks like Imposition that several Friends that have seen and heard it read are well affected with it and do wish that Friends might find it convenient to practice the things therein mentioned they being generally agreeable to Scripture and well Warranted by either General or Particular Precepts of Scripture and therefore cannot be called Imposition And whereas some through ignorance and shortness of understanding have blamed some of the ten Articles or Heads of Doctrine having this Title some of our Principles to which if ye agree lately read before many Witnesses but no ways contradicted I have in readiness to Print a Collection of Testimonies out of Friends Printed Books to prove every one of these ten Articles as well as I have elsewhere proved them out of the Holy Scriptures divers of which have been so much opposed by some and questioned by others and seing there hath been of late so much querying about Principles by some Is it not high time that by the general Consent Advice and approbation of the most judicious wise and understanding of Friends now alive all the most necessary Principles and Doctrines of our Faith both common and peculiar should be published and made known for the great good Service and benefit of Men in General as well as for the Good of Us and our Posterity in particular that in our universal and harmonious Testimony both with the Scriptures and with sound Christians in all Ages and with one another the Posterity that is to come after us and our Children that are growing up may have the benefit thereof and thereby have occasion to bless God on our behalf And also that whatever weak and unsound or unjustifiable Expressions Sayings or Passages are to be found in any Books among us that have happened through humane weakness or inadvertency that are offensive and stumbling to other Professions and hurtful to the Weak among our selves may be Noted Corrected and amended without partiality and respect of Persons and in so doing we shall not only show our Love to Truth but also to those Men not by cloaking but by amending what is amiss in them which is the best way of covering them as God covereth us when he amendeth and reformeth us after the worthy Example of them that have been the Successors of those called Fathers in the Church since the Apostles dayes who having highly esteemed and loved them for their Works sake yet have corrected their Errours impartially having in so doing imitated the Example of Blessed Sem and Japhet who taking a Garment went backward and covered their Fathers Nakedness And as concerning the Advice given me by some to retract the bitter or severe Language that I have given to some of my opposers in some of the late Printed Books which advice they gave with telling me and many others that I have confessed my human Imperfections and Passions to this I answer some who have so advised me should give me their good Example by retracting their much more bitter Language and more hard and severe Names they have given to some who have differed from them in less Matters But why do they not give the same advice to
my Opposers who have far exceeded me as appeareth by their three Judgements and other their Papers and Manuscripts against me As also why do they advise me to call in my Printed Books and yet give them of the other side no advice to call in their false Judgements given out against me without all Conviction Hearing or Tryal However let them particularly tell me what the hard Words are that I have given to any that I cannot prove to be due unto them and I shall yield to their Advice And as to my confessing my Humane Imperfections it is not well so to glory over me and thereby to lessen my Reputation and Christian Testimony among Friends while they are silent wholly of some of their own far greater Imperfections and passionate behaviour used towards me before many Witnesses I Judge it is more Christian and a greater Argument of a Mans grouth towards Perfection to achnowledge his sinful Infirmities in the sight of God or men and to be humbled under the sense of them than like the proud Pharisee to justifie ones self when he may be and is really guilty of greater Evils But as I have again and again said unto them For my inward Defects and Infirmities I am only accountable unto God whose tender Mercies and Forgiveness for Christs sake I have humbly sought and obtained and have a firm Faith and Hope in due time to overcome them all and be made more than a Conquerour through him that hath loved me but to Men I am only accountable for my Words and Deeds and as I have not acknowleged unto any nor seen just cause so to do so they have not proved me guilty of either Words or Deeds that the Truth condemneth in relation to these Matters whereof some have accused me and it is not well to misconstrue my sincere and Godly Zeal in my boldly and sharply reproving gross and vile Errours as well as wicked Practices and to call it passion sinful anger and wrath but it is a small thing for me to be Judged of Men seeing he that Judgeth me is the Lord whose Peace Love Favour and Approbation as to the main I enjoy to my unspeakable comfort strength and supporting who knoweth the Righteousness of my Cause and the sincerity of my heart whatever humane Weaknesses have attended me which are greater and more in some that do so accuse me though they have neither the sincerity nor humility to acknowledge it And lastly as to that advise given me by so me to labour to make up the bleach that is already made among them called Quakers in these American parts I hope I shall endeavour it but it can never effectually be done but in Truths Way and on Truths Terms and they who so advise me should advise and admonish them of the other side that they call in the many false Judgements given out against me from divers Provinces in America without all Hearing Tryal or Conviction and particularly that of the 28 false Judges from Pensilvania which is the rotten Basis and Foundation of all the rest and which was given out against me without all Hearing Conviction or Tryal and also they should advise them to give out a Testimony aknowleging their Errour first in giving out a Proclamation against me signed by S.J. and others of their Ministry and Elders which they caused to be cry'd against me by the Common Cryer at the Market place in Philadelphia without all Conviction or Tryal contrary to the Fundamental Laws of all Nations to the danger of my Life as well as of my Reputation wherein they charge me with Words in a Printed Sheet called an Appeal having a tendency to Sedition and disturbance of the peace and subversion of the then present Government in Pensilvania but I produced a Certificate signed by the deputy Governour and Consul of Philadelphia clearing me of all these Charges and amply declaring my Innocency and Peaceable Behaviour towards the Government and them in Authority at that time which was Solemnly read before many Witnesses of the People called Quakers that gave great content and all this only for asserting or rather Querying concerning the Inconsistency of the late Practices of some of them with the professed Principles of the People called in scorn Quakers in these parts as did sufficiently appear when solemnly read before many Witnesses with my answer to the said Proclamation Secondly in Fining Thomas Budd and me each of us Five Pounds a piece for Reproving S.J. his pride in our just Defence in answer to his false defamatory Judgment against us saying concerning him that He was too high and Imperious both in Friends Meetings and Wordly Courts and of His being an Ignorant Presumptuous and Insolent Man which last Words did no wise respect his Magistracy but his being a Minister and by profession one called a Quaker which I do declare we did Conscientiously and have sufficiently proved to be true and is but too well known to be true among the Neighbourhood in that part of the World and which he did most palpably discover when going out of the Court where we were Fined for reproving his Pride in the high Street to the observation and hearing of divers honest persons that have attested it stretching out his hand he said to some of our Friends that were expostulating the case with him If I draw forth my hand I will not pull it in again until I have quelled you all as also for his Committing to Prison two Friends of truth for uttering or publishing the said Printed Sheet called An Appeal now if this be not impartially censured and judged and that he without giving any publick Testimony of his Repentance and owning his Iniquity in these matters be permitted or allowed to Preach and Pray in Meetings after solemn Complaint hath been made against him in an orderly way what will the People in New England say who have formerly Persecuted our Friends there and what will others say that have fresh in Memory the frequent Outcries and Complaints of Friends against Persecution in former days and how oft have many Friends both in Print and otherwise reproved the Pride and Imperious behaviour of Magistrates in former days and yet we find not that the Magistrates have Persecuted any by Fining or Imprisoning them for so saying or Printing nor do we find it in any Law either in England or America that it is Penal to call a Justice of Peace High or Imperious especially when he is not in the exercise of his Office and when our Complaint hath been made in an orderly way against the said S.J. and the Record of the Court produced and read in their hearing and signed with the Clarks own hand the verity of which S.J. denied not why should any put it off with saying the Legality or Illegality of these Proceedings according to Men it appeareth not proper for them to meddle with but since they have greatly medled with the illegality and arbitrary Proceedings
of other Courts against the People called Quakers hâ—rein England as Witness their many Printed Books and divers Printed Tryals to that effect why will they not meddle with the illegality of the Proceedings of that Court in Pensilvania and particularly S.J. being personally present before them when complained against If it be said what they did they did by a Law as that Law has not been nor can be produced so it will be said that they in New-England had a Law when they put our Friends to Death and the Jews said they had a Law when they put our Blessed Saviour to Death But if they do not think it proper to meddle with the illegality of these Proceedings as to Men why do they not at least meddle with the illegality of it as to God and Truth and Righteousness to remove the Scandal and offence out of the Minds and Consciences of Many tender Friends that are greatly wounded and scandalised to hear S.J. Preach and Pray in the Meetings of the People called Quakers and to be Countenanced and allowed so to do without his having given the least evidence of his Repentance for those Evils whereas for much lesser matters men have been disowned and a Judgment in Writ given out and Recorded against them and chiefly in order to make up the Breach in America and to prevent any hurt here they ought to pass an express Censure and Judgment upon all and every one of these gross and vile Errors that I have proved divers of them guilty of in Pensilvania by Manuscripts and Papers signed with their own hands and to procure the persons guilty of these Errors to Condemn them otherwise not to own them as Friends and Brethren And whereas some say wherein G. Keith apprehends himself injur'd or aggreived by any particular persons he ought to exercise a Spirit of Forgivness c. I Answer And so I hope I do towards them and all Men who have wronged me yet doth or can my so doing clear S.J. and his Brethren who have so apparently Injured me without his and their Repentance And if this be the Method and way to answer all the Complaints of Injur'd and Oppressed Persons who cry and complain against the Injuries and Oppressions done to them and lay it before Meetings appointed for the Exercise of Church Discipline who profess to hear and judg impartially in all cases of Complaint to tell them they must exercise a Spirit of Forgiveness towards them whom they apprehend to have wronged them without requiring the persons that have done the wrong to clear themselves by some Testimony of their Repentance then why is it that in all other or most cases of less Importance they require them that are Guilty to Write Papers of Condemnation that they may be Recorded for the clearing the Truth yea what need of any Meetings for Discipline at all if this method and way take place to tell them that are wronged they must exercise a Spirit of forgiveness towards such who have wronged them without either giving due Judgment against the Guilty or requiring them to Judg themselves for the same or if they give any Judgment against them yet in such a manner as without any publick Testimony of their Repentance to allow and countenance them as Brethren and in unity with them But why should any represent me as the provoker and them as the provoked Where as the plain Contrary is true that the Provocation began on their side and what I said of Samuel Jennings or any of them was in defence of my Christian Testimony and Innocency FINIS POSTSCRIPT I Declare my real and sincere Intention to remain in unity with all faithful friends and Brethren every where and to continue to meet with them and to exercise my gift of Ministry among them as God shall be pleased to enable me in a Spirit of Love and Peace so long as I can have the free Exercise of my gift among them without interruption or disturbance as it is not my purpose nor hath it been my way nor I hope shall it be to use any interruption or disturbance towards any but to behave my self orderly and peaceably towards all and I would have none to entertain Jealousies and evil thoughts concerning me as if I did design any breach among faithful friends having so long laboured for 30 years past in the work of the Ministry by preaching and writing and God having blest my Labours with great success in being an Instrument to the bringing many into the blessed unity and fellowship with his Spirit and one with another in the same and my Love remaining intire towards many and their Love so remaining towards me why should any be jealous over me as if I did intend a breach among the faithful or to scatter what I have been endeavouring with many brethren in much labour of mind and body and great sufferings to gather or to destroy what I have by the Grace and help of God been building up I earnestly request and beseech all faithful friends and brethren every where who have had any former true knowledg of me in the truth and more especially those who have received any spiritual profiting and edification and Consolation by my Ministry and Testimony or Writings to have Charity towards me and keep in that Love that thinks no evil for I have had great and still have so great an interest room and place in the Christian Love and Esteem of many Friends and Brethren by my Christian Testimony and innocent manner of Conversation and spiritual Fellowship with them in the Life and Spirit of Truth that I cannot be so easily separated from them as some may suggest and I hope I never shall whatever some may surmise to the contrary but as I neither intend nor desire any breach among faithful Friends so I freely declare I greatly desire and hope for a greater degree of Reformation to take place among us in general and for a greater growth and increase in Grace and in Knowledg and in Holiness than is yet attained to by us and it is my belief and hope with earnest expectations and desires and frequent Prayer and Supplication unto God that he will be pleased more and more to refine us to make us every way a more Pure People to himself and to separate and purge out from among us the many Impurities and Imperfections that cleave to many of us as well as the many hyocrites otherwise unqualified persons that are among us that the many stumbling blocks and offences that are in the way of many that hinder them from receiving our Testimony and joyning with us in the same may be removed being firmly persuaded in a sincere Faith that the Lord is about to make a short and speedy work in the Earth even to refine all professions on Earth and to gather out of them all a pure and holy seed and people to himself Amen George Keith LONDON Printed for R. Levis 1694.