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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A47164	The Presbyterian and independent visible churches in New-England and else-where brought to the test, and examined according to the doctrin of Holy Scriptures ... : more particulary directed to those in New-England, and more generally to those in old England, Scotland, Ireland, &c. : with a call and warning from the Lord to the people of Boston and New-England, to repent, &c. : and two letters to the preachers in Boston, and an answer to the gross abuses, lies and slanders of Increase Mather and Nath. Morton, &c. / by George Keith.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.	1691 (1691)	Wing K191; ESTC R21261	124,580	240

Christ Jesus who gave himself a Ransom for all to be testified in due time Heb. 2.9 That he by the Grace of God should taste death for every Man 1 John 2.2 He is the Propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but for the sins of the whole World But it is commonly alledged by the Adversaries of Truth that by All in these places is understood not all particulars but some of all sorts or all the elect To this I answer the word All must needs be as full and universal with respect to Christs death and the benefit of it as it is with respect to Adam's fall because the Scripture maketh a plain parallel betwixt all that die in Adam and all that Christ died for as in that fore-cited place 2 Cor. 5.14 If one dyed for all then all were dead Now if All only signifie Some in the first part of the verse the sense must run thus If one dyed for some or a few then all were dead This quite maketh void the Apostles inference for if Christ only dyed for some then only some were dead and not all Again in Rom. 5.18 the parallel is very plain As by the offence of one Judgment is come upon all unto Condemnation even so by the Righteousness of one the free Gift is come upon all unto Justification of Life not that all are actually justified but the free gift is come upon them that they may be justified and so it is that the two sides or parts of Parallels are of equal extent Beside that the word All in Scripture doth most commonly signifie all particulars and therefore to restrict it in respect of Gods Grace and Mercy through Christ savours of a narrow Spirit and this narrowness of Spirit in Presbyterians and Independents is a great evil in them and maketh them so peevish uncharitable and cruel 2. And whereas they object against Christ his dying for all Men because he said he did not pray for the World and therefore he did not die for the World John 17.9 I pray for them I pray not for the World It may be very well granted that he dyed not for the World which he doth not pray for But what World is that It is not any part of Mankind as they are considered when first born into the World and having had a time to live in the World and a day of visitation wherein they might have repented and have been converted unto God but as having finally rejected the great Mercy and Grace of Christ after many tenders and offers of it until that the Lord hath wholly left striving with him by his Spirit in their hearts and then they become Reprobates and that World whereof Christ spoke when he said he prayed not for the World And therefore it ought to be well noted and considered that when it is said Christ dyed for the sins of the World it is only with respect to sins past or any other sins that Men may commit before the precise time and period of Gods leaving them and ceasing any more to strive with them when they are become perfected so to speak in sin and evil and are as the ripe Tares fit for burning having nothing remaining in them of any tenderness simplicity or sincerity or true Love to God or Man no grain of Goodness or Virtue nay not the least Seed but are wholly become as Dross after all the precious Mettal to the least grain is extracted or separated from it for such I say Christ hath neither dyed nor prayed And thus it may be with many and is with many before they die and concerning these John declared saying There is a sin unto Death I do not say that he shall pray for it 1 Joh. 5.16 and this is that sin of final Unbelief and obstinate Impenitency wherein men may be permitted to live some considerable time before they die And this is no Contradiction nor Inconsistency but serveth greatly to clear the understanding of this weighty matter how Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and yet hath dyed for none of these Men after they have wilfully neglected that day of Grace and resisted the Spirit of Grace until he did altogether leave and forsake them And also it is to be considered that though Christ hath dyed for all Men within a day or time of Grace and Mercy beyond which time they have not the benefit of his death and there remaineth no more Sacrifice for Sin unto them yet he hath not died with the same equal intention and degree of Love Kindness and Good-will for them who finally perish as for them who are saved nor are the gracious Providences of God and his dealings both inwardly and outwardly after the same way and manner towards all And therefore all who shall be saved at the end of the World have very great and unspeakable cause to praise God for his more abundant Mercy Grace and Love towards them in Christ Jesus and that he and not they did make them to differ from others yet none that perish can have any just cause to complain against God for when that that is sufficient is given to them they have no cause to complain But all who are saved God is pleased at one time or another that suiteth with his infinite Wisdom and good pleasure so to draw perswade move and incline them to come unto him and when come so to preserve them with him and in him or if at any time he suffer them to depart infallibly to reclaim them before the end that they shall certainly be saved and this the Lord can well do so as to put a difference betwixt Cattel and Cattel or Men and Men without their observation and so as neither to give unto the one any occasion of Presumption nor unto the other of Despair and without giving any greater measure of inward Grace although he may and oft doth give a greater measure to one than to another for he is free to give of his own as he pleaseth but only by suitable Providences and Dispensations and means of his own chusing the one may be taken and the other left the one gained and saved and the other not the inward Grace being the same both in kind and degree in some that are saved and in some that are not as the Parable of the Pounds and Marks plainly declare every Servant had his Pound or Mark which is an equal sum and some improved it and some not And of this more abundant Love of God towards Paul he himself taketh special notice with great Thanksgiving unto God 1 Tim. 1.14 16. And the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all Long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to Life everlasting And the like notice he taketh of the

among the Jews of a two fold sort of Proselites one of the Covenant that received Circumcision and the Law another of the Gate that did not receive Circumcision yet this is but barely alledged without all proof But if he was a Proselite of the Gate it is certain at that time when the Angel was sent unto him he had no express Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified for that was the thing which Peter was sent to preach unto him by hearing of which he was to receive the holy Ghost and be saved for the Angel told him that Peter should speak Words to him by which he and all his House should be saved see Acts 11.14 Now altho' at that time when the Angel appeared unto him Cornelius had no Knowledge nor Faith of Christ crucified yet he was in a good estate and well were it for many called Christians that they were in as good estate as he then was in When the Angel appeared to him he told him that his Prayers and his Alms were come up for a memorial before God Acts 10.4 And it is said of him verse 2. He was a devout Man and one that feared God with all his House which gave much Alms to the People and prayed unto God alway And with respect to this Peter began his Preaching saying Acts 10.34 35. Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of Persons but in every Nation he that feareth him and worketh Righteousness is accepted of him Now who dare be so bold to say Cornelius at this time had no real and true beginning of Salvation or of saving Grace and Faith before Peter did preach Christ crucified raised again unto him For although Cornelius had not at that time Faith in Christ crucified yet he had without all question Faith in God and in the Word of God that was in his Heart and that Word was Christ in him though the Mystery of Christ was not fully revealed unto him at that time and in that state he was accepted of God yet not for his Works sake but for Christ And therefore Men may have a beginning of true Faith and of a true Work of Salvation begun in them when the Mystery of Christ crucified and raised again is not revealed unto them For that Mystery being so great as it is was not in that Day to wit before Christ came and suffered in the Flesh preached as one of the first and most necessary things to be first known and believed as without the Faith and Knowledge of which no Man could be in any degree blessed otherwise when Christ began to Preach he would have preached it as one of the first things and when he sent his Disciples to preach the Gospel before he suffered Death he would have given them an express Commission to preach it to all People how he was to be crucified and raised again the third day but the Mystery of it at that time they knew not and therefore could not preach it then Nor did he preach it himself when he began his Ministry nor for a considerable time afterward● until the time drew near that he was to suffer In all that excellent Sermon of his on the Mount not one Title or Word doth he mention of his Death and Resurrection expresly but he taught the Law and the Prophets and expounded the Spirituality of the Law in its extent far beyond the reach and conception which the People had of it at that time and withal dropped some Evangelical Precepts unto them and taught them the right way of Prayers Fasting and Alms and pronounced them blessed that hungred and thirsted after Righteousness and were poor in Spirit that were Merciful that were Meek and Peace-makers and that mourned c. and suffered for Righteousness sake And therefore it may be very safely concluded that the express Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified is not of absolute and indispensible necessity especially where it hath not been preached nor revealed unto the beginning of a Man's Salvation although it is really of absolute and indispensible necessity unto the finishing and perfecting of it because as hath been already said our inward renewing unto God when perfected in us is a renewing us perfectly and not in part only into the Image of God and a part of that perfect Image is the perfect Knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ whom to know is Life Eternal and that perfect Knowledge requireth men to know him as he came in the Flesh and died and rose again which is that great Mystery of Godliness as Paul called it 1 Tim. 3.16 But if these Men who own that said Confession of Faith enquire whether all these honest Gentiles that lived in the world or do now live in the world who have not had Christ crucified outwardly preached unto them but were diligent to frame their Lives according to the Light that was in them died in a state of Salvation I say yea they did and this I may the rather say according to their own Doctrin For what if they had not the perfect Knowledge and Faith of Christ crucified when they lived Yet they might have it at their Death to wit in the passing through the Valley of the shadow of Death according to Psal 23.4 Even when they are not able to demonstrate unto the Living what is then revealed unto them And as it is in Job 33.22 23 24. When a Mans Soul draweth near unto the Grave and his Life to the Destroyers there may be a Messenger with him an Interpreter one of a Thousand to show unto Man his Vprightness then he is gracious unto him and saith Deliver him from going down to the Pit I have found a Ransom or Attonement see the Hebr. or Margin of the English Bible Or if I should say they receive this perfect Knowledge of Christ after Death it is according to your Doctrin who say The Souls of the Righteous generally or universally after Death note after Death being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens c. These are the express Words of your Catechism cap. 32. sect 1. But when and how or at what precise time these honest Gentiles who used their greatest diligence to frame their Lives according to the Light that is in them and yet have not had the Death and Resurrection of Christ outwardly preached unto them when they then lived in the World is not my present business to determine It doth suffice that I have demonstrated from Scripture that Men have been in a state of Salvation and acceptance with God who have not had the mystery of Christ his Death and Resurrection made known unto them and surely these Men continuing faithful to what they had received when they died could not perish For it is impossible that any Man who hath the Work of Salvation really begun in him though but as a Child in Knowledge that holdeth fast the beginning of his Confidence firm unto the end

and holy Men witnessed of Old is ceased 11. That human and outward learning without the saving Grace of God and the holy Spirits inward Revelation and Inspiration is sufficient to qualifie a Man to be a Preacher of the Gospel 12. That the Scriptures ought to be believed only for their own outward Evidence and Testimony and not for the inward Evidence and Testimony of the holy Spirit in Mens Hearts I expect your Answer some time this day and remain your Friend G.K. Having received a Blasphemous and Heretical Paper subscribed by one George Keith our answer to it and him is IF he desires Conference to instruct us let him give us his Arguments in writing as well his Assertions If to inform himself let him write his Doubts If to cavil and disturb the Peace of our Churches which we have cause to suspect we have neither list nor leasure to attend his Motions If he would have a Publick Audience let him Print If a private Discourse though he may know where we dwell yet we forget not what the Apostle John saith Ephes 2.10 July the 12th 1688. James Allen Joshua Moody Samuel Willard Cotten Mather To James Allen Joshua Moody Samuel Willard Cotten Mather called Preachers in Boston I Received yours wherein ye give no satisfactory nor reasonable answer to my fair proposal ye call my Letter unto you A blasphemous heretical Paper But wherein it doth contain either Heresie or Blasphemy ye have not mentioned far less demonstrated I pity your Ignorance and I perceive ye are in the same darkness and blindness of Mind that the Jews were in who accused the Lord Jesus Christ of Blasphemy and if he were now among you in the Flesh he would meet with the same entertainment from you for the measure of the same Spirit of Truth which is in his Servants that dwelt in him in all fulness ye blaspheme against But it is well ye have not the Magistrates Sword now at command which your Brethren sometime ago had and made a woful and miserable use of it to turn it against the Innocent And now that ye have no Carnal weapons to fight with we can find no Spiritual weapons that ye have But by silly and frivolou Excuses ye seek to lurk and hide in Corners when ye are fairly and justly required to appear in open Field to defend your false Doctrin To whom shall I liken or compare you but to Night-birds and Beasts of prey as they are described Psal 104.20 21 22. Thou makest Darkness and it is Night wherein all the Beasts of the Forest do creep forth the young Lyons roar after their Prey c. The Sun ariseth they gather themselves together and lay them down in their Dens For now that your Sun of Persecution is gone down and the Sun of Peace is arisen ye have no courage to appear in the open and fair Field to defend your evil Cause only in your Dens and Houses into which ye have crept where the honest People called Quakers have not occasion to hear you ye speak Evil of things ye know not and lie and rail against the Truth And that ye and not we the People called in scorn Quakers are Blasphemers I have not only charged but demonstrated in sundry particulars in this Treatise And yet because I judge ye do so in ignorance I believe it is pardonable and if ye sincerely Repent of it it shall be forgiven you But why are ye afraid of the Light to appear in publick to try your Spiritual strength and weapons when your Carnal are gone Is not that Scripture fulfilled upon you Job 24 16 17. In the dark they dig through Houses which they had marked for themselves in the day time they know not the Light for the Morning is to them even as the Shadow of Death if one know them they are in the terrors of the shadow of Death I do say it in uprightness I writ not this boastingly or glorying in my strength as of self my alone glorying is in the Lord and in his Truth which is the strongest of all that God in his infinite Mercy hath made known unto me and the Truth in the Mouth or Pen of the youngest Child is too strong for all the Goliahs among you Remember that memorable passage of the Barley-Cake that tumbled into the Host of Midian as it was represented to one in a Dream which was the occasion of Gideon's taking courage to go out against the Midianites who was prospered with great success though he and his Men were but a small company Judge 7. And also remember how at the sounding of the Rams Horns the Walls of Jericho fell down flat to the Ground Men of an evil Conscience are commonly afraid Or if ye fear your People lest if any publick Dispute should be they might be in danger to change their mind Is it not the most effectual way to rescue your Sheep if they be in danger suppose we be Wolves as we thank God we are none to appear openly and in a manly way against us and not to suffer the Wolves to hunt the Shepherds for that were a strange thing but that if ye be Shepherds ye hunt the Wolves and seek them out every way and by all means and be glad of every occasion to find them And is your Preaching to the People so little effectual that many Years teaching them is not sufficient to save them from the danger of two or three Hours fair debating of things If your People were built on the Rock ye needed not fear that they would be so soon shaken In your very short Letter ye have very many idle and frivolous Suppositions If this and If that so that in six Lines or seven ye have five needless Suppositions and labour as Men in a Sweat or at least seem so to do to find out the design or intention of my Writing unto you the which is plain without any enquiry for I told you very plainly the end of my writing was to inform you That ye preach unto the People many false and unsound Principles pernicious to the Souls of People And if ye could not receive my Information I profered to debate these things fairly with you And though I neither had nor have the least mind to Cavil yet I most assuredly believe that the Peace of your Churches is not the true Peace of Christ but that both ye and they are set down in a false peace and rest And therefore he who at the command of Christ Jesus and by the motion of his eternal Spirit doth proclaim a holy War and soundeth an alarm in your Ears that Christ himself is come and more abundantly coming to take away your false Peace and to send a spiritual Sword and Fire unto you is really your best Friend and such a Friend I am unto you whether ye will hear or forbear For I came not unto you in my own will but a necessity from the Lord by his living

assured that the Spirit of God never teacheth nor leadeth any to think say or do what is contrary to the declared Will of God in the holy Scriptures nor to that holy and righteous Law that is writ by the Finger of God upon the Hearts of Men universally which is the substance of the Decalogue that God writ upon the two Tables of Stone And we readily grant that whoever pretend to follow the Spirit of God to be their inward Guide and Rule should be very cautious and wary lest the evil Spirit that doth and can transform himself into many Likenesses but always short of the Truth step in and deceive But there is a most safe and sure way for every one to be sure that they are not deceived and shall never be in any matter of moment and that is for every one to be faithful unto God in these moral Duties or any other things which they know infallibly and are generally agreed upon by all Christians to be good things for such have the Promise of God that they shall be preserved from being deceived And whereas the said Increase Mather hath writ so many remarkable Judgments of God that have come upon notorious Offenders on purpose to record them in Print and that he saith Cap. 11. We may not judge of Men meerly by outward Accidents which befall them in this World c. And some Lines after he saith Nevertheless a Judgment may be so circumstanced as that the displeasure of Heaven is plainly written upon it in legible Characters And in this he saith true but he should have added that such Men who can read the same must not be blind but have the true Eye opened in them otherwise they will make a wrong Construction of these things There wants to be inserted or added to his Book the many signal and manifest Judgments of God that came upon the People of New-England in general and upon divers particular Persons the main actors for that horrible Persecution they raised against that honest People called Quakers and putting to death four of the Lord's Servants for which the Name of these Actors and Abettors are a stink over many places of the World And of these Judgments in general the blasting of their Wheat generally ever since they put our worthy Friends to Death at Boston and the Indian Wars that soon after followed whereby many English were destroyed And after that but of late Years a dreadful Visitation of the Small-Pox called by some the Black Pock that cut off very many both at Boston and else-where of which they were fore-warned by a Woman that came from Barbadoes and went into some of their Meetings with her Face all made black for a Sign of what was coming upon them she being one of these People called Quakers and owned by them in that very Testimony which she declared she was moved by the Lord to come from Barbadoes to bear among them her Name being Margaret Brewster to which may be added the taking away their Charter and Power which they so grosly abused in turning the Sword against the Innocent one cause of which was their persecuting the Quakers unto Death and the manifest Judgments of God that came upon divers particular Persons notorious Persecutors of that innocent People are very observable as Major Adarton who joyned in passing sentence of Death against some of these Servants of the Lord who suffered Death at Boston who not long after was killed with a Cow and that Horton Preacher at Boston a great Persecutor who dyed suddainly as he was walking in his House after Sermon and Captain Davenport another great Persecutor who was killed with Lightning And though the said Increase Mather doth relate the suddain Deaths of both these men he altogether omitteth these great Circumstances of their being great Persecutors the which ommission whether it was wilfully in him or not I shall not determine But it is the more memorable that the said Major Adarton being warned before-hand of the Judgment of God he made light of it as I was informed by some in New-England who had the Relation of it from some that did so warn him being of that persecuted People And also it is very memorable how one of these persecuted Servants of the Lord called Quakers did plainly fore-tell that the House of Governor Indicot a greater Persecutor should be left desolate and become a Dunghil as did accordingly come to pass and hath been observed by divers to have been a real Prophecy divine Justice and Providence did so bring it about There are many other Instances and Examples might be mentioned some of which I refer to George Bishop his Book called New-England Judged to be there read and considered I shall only add one passage more which I was informed of and had it writ from some of the People of Barnstable how that from an honest-man a Quaker in the Town of Barnstable were taken four Cows with some Calves the Quaker's name being Ralph Jones who is yet alive and these Cattel were taken away by the Preacher of that Town his Son-in-law who had married his Daughter and returned to the Priest as a part of his Wages The Priest sent to Ralph Jones to tell him He might have two of his Cows returned to him if he would send for them But he never sent and so the said Priest used them and disposed of them as his own killed one of the Calfs and sent a part of it to his Daughter that lay in Child-bed she no sooner did eat a little of the Calf but fell into a great trouble and cryed Return home the Man's Cows I hear a great noise of them and so dyed in that trouble The Priest alledged the Quakers had bewitched his Daughter although it cannot be proved that ever they had any business with her But to what evil Construction will not Malice and Hypocrisie and Covetousness bend a thing Some time after the said Preacher killed some of these Cows to be eat in his House saying He would try if the Quakers could bewitch him and not long after he dyed even before the Flesh of these Cows were all eat The passage is so fresh in that Town that it is acknowledged by divers of the Neighbours to be true And as great havock was made upon this honest Man and upon many in Sandwich a neighbouring Town and in many other places so much more might have been expected had not their Violence been restrained by the King 's granting an Indulgence to all tender Consciences Next as to Nath. Morton in his Book called New-England's Memorial pag. 157. he chargeth the Quakers with corrupt and damnable Doctrin in the following particulars 1. That the holy Scriptures were not for the enlightning of Man nor a setled and permanent Rule of Life The which charge is false for we have granted that the Scriptures are a Rule of Life so we do still the best outward Rule that can be found but