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A51023
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Mr. George Keiths reasons for renouncing Quakerism, and entering into communion with the Church of England with other remarkable occurrences that will be acceptable to all orthodox Christians, of every persuasion.
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Keith, George, 1639?-1716.
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1700
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Wing M2265A; ESTC R32938
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22,833
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38
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Labour I commit to Almighty God with whom I leave my Righteous Cause and in whose Mercy I trust through Jesus Christ that he will preserve me in Soul and Body from being a Sacrifice to their Fury and Rage I know their way of Extolling themselves as the only People of God discoverers of Truth vilifying all others as unfound and mistaken that have no such high Pretences whilst it 's a crying Sin that so many false Teachers should be suffer'd that speak Lyes in the name of the Lord pretending the same immediate Message and Authority that the true Prophets had when they can give no Proof of it but many undeniable Proofs can be given to the contrary as particularly their Antichristian Errors publish'd in their Books wherein they Lye for Conscience sake and Entitle their Errors and Blasphemies to the holy Spirit of God The last Objection that they raise against â—e is assign'd as a Reason for refusing to dispute with me at Turners's-Hall is That none of the Quakers that are at Unity with them do acknowledge or regard me Now to confute their Allegation and to prove it all of a Piece with the rest of their Suggestions I am obliged to acquaint the Reader That as an Evidence of my owning the Ch. of England to be a Branch of the True Catholick Church of Christ I did with great Inward Peace and Satisfaction I bless God Receive the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper by the Ministry of Dr. Bedford at his Church in Buttolph-Lane London with others of that Congregation the first Lords Day in the Month of February 1699 and since again at the same place by the same Person the first Lords Day in March 1699 and to let the Quakers know that my Example has influenced others the same day Robert Bridgman and Margaret Everard and some other of my Friends which formerly were Quakers and in great Repute among that People whom God in Mercy has lately enlightened to see their former Error and Renounce it did receive the Lord's Supper in Huntington and have declared That they received it with great inward Peace and Satisfaction In a Letter since of a later date I am imform'd That Ten of my Friends in Huntington Godmanchester and thereabouts who were formerly Quakers of good Reputation do all now go to Church there and that Margaret Everard has had her youngest Son and three Daughters baptized lately By Letters from Bedford I have an Account that some that had been Quakers both in that Town and Country are gone off from the Quakers and go to Church particularly W. Maâ—her and his Wife Also at Reading divers who were formerly Quakers and were so Educated have gone to Church and were Baptized and that others have brought their Children to be Baptized Here in London divers of both Sexes who were Educated under the Profession of Quakers have been lately Baptized and go to Church one of whom is my youngest Daughter my Elder having been Baptized above a year ago So that to my certain Knowledge above forty Persons within a few Months past are come off from Quakerism and brought to the Church which gives a good ground to hope that many more will follow Which God in his great Mercy grant and prosper my Sincere tho' mean Indeavours and Labours and other his Servants whom he has made Instrumental in this Work and for the Success he has been pleas'd to give us therein All Glory Honour and Praise be given to his most Holy Name through Jesus Christ our Lord Amen And whereas my Adversaries George Whitehead and other Quaking Preachers have given it as a Reason why they would not meet me at Turner's-Hall was because they know none who had been in Unity with them since I came into England who did own me or were in danger to be brought off from them that Objection to their own Knowledge and full Conviction is now quite removed for both Robert Bridgman and M. Everard besides divers others that might be named were not only in Vnity with them since my Arrival in England but in great Repute among them Robert Bridgman having not only been a Member of their Mens Meeting in London but one that was enâ—rusted with receiving and distributing the Money Collected for their Poor in the City of London Margaret Everard has for many years till very lately been received and well owned as a Speaker among them both in City and Country And it is most certain That the Quakers refusing to meet and dispute with me in Defence of their own Principles at Turner's-Hall has been a great Means to let many of those formerly in Unity with them see their Sandy Foundation and the badness of their Cause and will yet be a further Means to give many others the like Discovery who are dissatisfied with their not appearing either to vindicate their Books and Authors or to acknowledge the great Errors contained in them and to Retract them They are indeed brought to a very Pinching Dilemma for if they dare not appear to answer the change of Error Heresie and even Blasphemy that is brought against them but invent frivolous Discourses to excuse themselves the People will soon perceive their Cause is bad that stands in need of such weak Props to support it One Pretence for their non-appearance was That they might not offend that Authority that had indulged them with Liberty of Conscience and in the mean time make little other use of it than to Rail against that Religion and Church whereof the King himself and the best of his Subjects are Members and to call me and my Friends for owning that Church and coming into Communion with it and Relinquishing the Errors condemned by it Apostates and Runagado's For his Insinuating that 't is Envy increasing in me that has led me into a disturbance of Mind which in its Course resembles the returns of a delirious Affliction and that has caus'd me to give them so much Disquiet I think it not worth an Answer and therefore shall leave it as an Instance of their Scornful Proud and Haughty as well Vncharitable and Vnchristian Tempers They reckon me their Enemy because I tell them the Truth and labour to Rescue them out of the Snares of Satan But since God has been pleas'd to prosper this Work in my Hand both in America and England none of their malicious Insinuations shall be able to stop my Progress in this Duty to contend earnestly for the Faith of Christ which was once delivered to the Saints and which the Quakers labour to Destroy Having thus answered their Objections and being now by Imposition of Holy Hands Ordain'd a Minister of the Church of England that I may not be thought to desert the Quakers out of any Personal Disgust or for Worldly Interest but purely out of the Dissatisfaction of my Conscience because they had forsaken God and Renounced the Principles of Christian Religion And that I durst not on the Peril of my Eternal Salvation
Mr. George Keith's REASONS FOR Renouncing Quakerism And Entring into COMMUNION WITH THE Church of England WITH Other Remarkable Occurrences that will be Acceptable to all Orthodox Christians of every Persuasion LONDON Printed and are to be sold by the Booksellers of London and Westminster 1700. Mr. George Keith 's REASONS FOR Renouncing Quakerism c. BY vertue of an Evangelical Precept it is an incumbent Duty on every Convert to endeavour the strengthening of his Brethren in the Faith of the Lord Jesus Christ and to Reduce all those that by any indirect Offices or for want of regular Instructions have wandered out of the strait ways of Peace Truth and Holiness into the crooked Mazes of Sin Schism and Heresie to the hazard of their eternal Interests How much I have concerned my self in the Discharge of this Duty is legible to all that have either had the Justice or Curiosity to inform themselves about it for as soon as it pleased God to open the Eyes of my Understanding and shew me the Error of my own ways I industriously set my self upon the good Work of Reclaiming others and have cause to bless his holy Name that I have not altogether laboured in vain but have been an Instrument in the Hand of God to convince some of the necessity they were under of â—enouncing their Errors and Delusions and returnâ—â—g to the Lord their God in Truth and Sincerity In this attempt it is notoriously known also what Injuries Contempts Slanders and ill Usages I have encountred both beyond Sea and in England from the Quakers with whom I have inoffensively associated above Thirty Years And that for no other Reason but that I endeavoured by all the fair candid and honest ways imaginable to convince them that they lived in many gross Errors and Heresies and that they ought to make some compensation for the Evils and Errors they were guilty of by a speedy return to the Truth as it is in Jesus and by an unfeigned Repentance for all the Evils they had been guilty of in seducing so many well-meaning Souls into Principles and Practices that border upon Death and Destruction It would be altogether needless in this Discourse to enumerate the several steps I made in order to the Conviction and Conversion of the Quakers and to shew all the Arts their Chiefs employ'd to frustrate my good Intentions and to keep up their own Reputations with their Party since I have already published the whole Proceedings â—n Four Narratives to which they have as yet made no satisfactory Answer and therefore shall only now having totally renounced all their Errors deserted their Meetings and by Imposition of Holy Hands entred upon the Ministery in the Church of England answer some Objections and Calumnies that the Quakers have made upon my Change and shew the Reasons for which I left them In both which I hope to acquit my self with so much Justice though I have no hope to stop the Mouths of those clamorous Persons that are become my Enemies for telling them the Truth yet to satisfie all that are honestly and soberly inquisitive into the Motives and Reasons that caused me to leave the Society of the Quakers and embrace the Doctrine and Discipline of thâ— Church of Englaâ—d The first quarrel that of late they seemed to have against me was that in exposing their Principles in publick Audiences and in my Printed Narratives I had dealt unjustly and this false Report they have been exceedingly industrious to divulge not only to possess them of their own Way but any others they could influence into an ill Opinion of me for falsly quoting their Authors and thereupon without any kind of Proof call me Lyar False and Treacherous Man Deceitful and Malicious all which Names return upon themselves since I have printed a Certificate in my third Narrative under the Hands of some eminent and judicious Ministers of the Church of England whom I procured to hear and examine all my Quotations that fully vindicates my Innocency in that particular which being well considered I have reason to expect a more favourable Censure in relation to their other Calumny viz. That the ground of my Contests with the Quakers was out of meer Prejudice and Revenge arising from their ill treatment of me and not out of Zeal and Love to the Truth of Christianity whereas nothing could be suggested more False and Scandalous for the only motive that I had to oppose the spreading Gangrene of their vile Errors which have already leavened many Thousands in these Nations and if not prevented will corrupt many more was purely out of Zeal for the Cause of God and his true Religion and not out of any private Pique I had with any of them of which as I have given no Evidence so my Conscience bears witness to my Innocency Seeing then my Charges are just against them as is proved in all my Narratives and their Clamours and Accusations against me are wholly false and scandalous the Crime will be laid at their own Door in calling Names and I shall bear their Revilings with greater Patience since 't is universally known that this is the way they commonly treat all Persons how Innocent and well-deserving so ever that touch them in the tender part and oppose their Errors so that the Proverb may be fitly applied to them That their Tongue is no Slander But the great Argument that they make of my Insincerity is my having been formerly so long among them and yet never till of late pretended to know that they held such gross Errors as I now accuse them of That I have been a Quaker long I acknowledge and am of Opinion that none are sorry that I was so once but they that are angry that I did not continue so always let them make what Reflexions they please upon my Weakness and want of Consideration in continuing among a Society of People whose Principles I was so much a stranger to I confess my Weakness and am ashamed to think that I have been so long deceived by them but yet this is no impeachment of my Sincerity unless knowing them Guilty I had connived at it flattered them in it or dâ—fended their Errors contrary to my Conviction or against the Light of my own Conscience had encouraged them to Perseverance But in this I am no way culpable for though I know some of them were Ignorant and Vnsound I did not dissemble with them or cloak the matter but upon all occasions check'd and reprov'd them as will ere long be shewn in several Instances Yet I was wholly unsensible that either George Whitehead William Penn and many other of their chiefâ—st Teachers had been guilty of these Errors having read but few of their Books and them but slightly too and when I found any thing that I disliked a blind Affection swayed me to an over-charitable Judgment and I imputed lesser Faults rather to their Inadvertency than their deliberate Judgment until they sided with my