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death_n	die_v	sin_n	sin_v	13,883	5	9.2456	4	true

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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A87658	The pretended antidoe [sic] proved poyson: or, The true principles of the Christian & Protestant religion defended, and the four counterfit defenders thereof detected and discovered the names of which are James Allen, Joshua Moodey, Samuell Willard and Cotton Mather, who call themselves ministers of the Gospel in Boston, in their pretended answer to my book, called, The Presbyterian & independent visible churches in New-England, and else-where, brought to the test, &c. And G.K. cleared not to be guilty of any calumnies against these called teachers of New-England, &c. By George Keith. With an appendix by John Delavall, by way of animadversion on some passages in a discourse of Cotton Mathers before the General Court of Massachusetts, the 28th of the third moneth, 1690.	Keith, George, 1639?-1716.; Delavall, John, d. 1693.	1690 (1690)	Wing K192A; ESTC W42984	110,748	234

Opportunity whereby they might have been saved and that they are not saved it is only their own fault for we find that at the Gardeners Intercession the barren Fig-Tree was spared a whole Year over three Years that were past which was a Parable used by Christ to Express how God hath spared both them that are saved and them that perish for Christs Death and Intercession Therefore neither Christs Prayer nor Death is made void to any but hath all its effects that it should have both to them who are saved and to them who perish And the Talent that was given to the evil and slothful Servant was given him for Christs sake who dyed for him and so Christs Death was not to him in vain and though the slothfull Servant did not improve his one Talent yet it was not lost but was taken f●om him and given to another and therefore nothing of the Grace and Gift of Christ is lost and though some loose the benefit of it as to themselves yet that loss is sufficiently made up to another in his place Pag. 86. Ye alledge That I said many are guilty of final Imp●nitency a considerable time before they ●ye which ye say s●e●s a Contradiction But ye wrong my words grosly as your manner is for my words we●e There is a sin unto Death c. 1 Joh. 5.16 And this is that sin of final Vnbelief and obstinate Impenitency wherein men may be permitted to live a considerable time before they dye which ye confess upon the matters saying many are left of God to persist in Impenitency till they dye And why so but because they have sinned that ●in unto Death where of they are not to repent and that may well enough be called Final Impenitency Pag. 87. ye say ye would fain know where I place the inequality since I tell you that God giveth no greater measure of inward Grace to one than another but he sut●s Providences eminently Here ye wrong my words grosly for I deny not but on the contrary I affirm that God may and oft doth give a greater measure to one viz. that is saved than to another viz. that is not saved but it is not alwayes so but in some cases or examples the inward Grace may be the same both in kind and degree in some Note some that are saved ●nd in some that are not as the Parable of the Pounds and Marks plainly declare He●e ye may see how I say only in Some it may be so but not in all for I bring the example of Paul who did acknowledg the Grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant to him with Faith and Love which is in Christ Jesus and even in all who are saved although the Seed or Principle of Gods Grace may be the same as in some who are not saved in degree yet the gracious Providences of God are wonderfully extended towards all that are or shall be saved which are not so extended unto others that shall not be saved And the inequality lyeth here that whoever are saved it is not of themselves but by Grace they are saved Grace hath begun and hath carried on and shall finish or perfect the Work of their Salvation and they are but the instruments of God and hi● Grace and they have loved and chosen God and Christ because God and Christ first did love and chuse them and God wrought that free choice and consent in them of his free good pleasure and thereby did not take away from them the t●ue freedom of Will but begot the true freedom of Will in them which before was rather bound than free as Luther called the Will of unconverted men Servum Arbitrum i. e. servi●e Will and not free Will But on the other hand whoever are not saved one time or another before the end of he World the cause and fault is only they themselves sufficiency of Grace and Means was afforded unto them but they did not improve them which they might and could have done but did not and therefore they are without excuse Nor is it enough for any of them to say If God had done as much for us who perish we should have also been saved It sufficeth that God hath done enough to clear his Mercy and Justice and render them inexcusable Again ye wrong my words as if I had said That al t e difference on Gods part towards the elect i● a ●eer suiting of Providences and which in p. 69. I call gracious Providences and Dispensations and Means of his own chusing All which I did not and do not understand as relating only to outward acts of divine Providence but also and chiefly to inward actings of Gods gracious care love and fathe●ly Providence 〈◊〉 by secret motions invitations and perswasions and allurements of his divine Love and Goodness all which are not meer Moral Swasions but divine and heavenly Perswasions suited to due times places and other ci●cumstances 〈◊〉 which are the effe●ts of Gods disc●iminating love to all such who are or shall be s●ved beyond them who shall not be saved and though th●re may be and i● g●eat variety and diversity in their gracious actings of God and divine movings in the hearts of them who are to be finally saved yet thi● d th not u●iversally i●fer a difference of the P●inciple of Gods G●●ce either in kind or d●g●ee in all them that are not saved and in all th●m th●t are saved And c●●c●r●i●g this g●eat discrimination that God make●h ●etwixt Men and Men though he call and visit all with his Grace Augustine saith lib. de spir et lit c. 34. Now if any arive us to search into that depth why God doth so swade or call one that he doth perswade him and yet doth not so to another As present only two things I think good to answer O t●e heighth o● the Riches and Is there Iniqui●y with God Who disliketh this answer let him seek more learned but let him beware lest he find Presumers Pag. 88. Ye say Ye thought heretofore that Faith and Love had been Graces Answ And so ye ought to think still for so I did formerly believe and so I do still that Faith and Love are excellent divine Graces and that they are not given to all for all men have not Faith but these Graces viz. Faith and Love are the Fruit and Produ●t of that ●ed of Grace that is sown in all men and as the seed that is sown in all grounds doth not bring forth fruit in them a●l but only in some e●en so it is in this case the divine Seed of Gods Grace is sown in all men but it brings not forth these excellent Fruits viz. Faith and Love in all c. therefore when we say Grace is g●ven to all we do not mean Faith and Love ●he Fruits but the Seed that would produce these fruits in all if men did not willfully hinder nor i● the Se●d lost in these persons in whom it bringeth not

J●stification ye say puts no inward purity or holiness in men But is not Filthiness and Holiness or Purity contrary's and therefore Sanctification or making pure taketh away filthiness of sin Pag. 121. Ye blame me again for alledging They say they are only free from sinning after death But to this I have above answered Let the places I cited be read and it will be found Beside it seemeth too great a School Nicity to distinguish at Death and immediately after Death for ye will not grant that any man is free of all sin one instant or any sensible part of an instant before death and therefore what fo●loweth may be as well said after death as at death for the Distinction as used by you is a Quibble the instant of death is but like a Thought it is easier to understand the time be●● ●o after Death than the precise instant of Death which no wit of man can measure Pag. 124. Ye very injuriously charge me with Blasphemy against God calling him Cruel and Tyranical and worse than Pharoah This is a most false and injurious cha●ge God forbid that I should have any such thoughts I only told what your false and unchristian Doctrine represents the most merciful God to be Your Answer mends not the matter for what men lost in Adam Christ the second Adam giveth Grace to restore and ye confess That true Believers are under the New Covenant and not under Adams Covenant and all to whom the Gospel is preached are called to come under the New-Covenant Ye grosly and most absurdly falsly alledge That Gospel Obedience is shorter and lesser than the Obedience that the Law requireth Whereas Christ under the Gospel not only fulfilleth the Righteousness of the Law in the Saints according to Rom. 8. in conformity to the first Adam but carrieth true Believers further as they follow him to a higher and more perfect Righteousness like unto that of the second Adam but this is done gradually until the Gospel Perfection be attained And that the Gospel Dispensation hath more lenity and gentleness in it than the Law in respect of the plenty of forgiveness that it provides for the true Penitent is granted but still it leadeth on bringeth to a greater Perfection than that of the Law Pag. 125. Ye call me a vile Worm and yet say ye Rail not And ye say An Holy God is not thus to be treated by a vile Worm But I can and do in holy fear and reverence appeal to the holy God before whom I and Ye are Dust and Ashes Whether ye and not I in this matter speak not aright of God Be not too proud and confident but fear to speak or think any thing of God that is so contrary to his Nature or to the Nature of his Gospel as if the Gospel of God gave men more toleration to sin than the Law and to continue therein for term of Life or that God punisheth men with Me● Fire for that he never actually gave them power to forsake Pag. 125. Ye say Believers sin more or less till they dye and yet dye not in their sins This is a too nice Distinction can ye measure the time betwixt until Death and the instant of Death it is too Metaphesical or rather Sophistical but in the Scripture Language they are one for said God Your Iniquity shall not be purged away till ye dye What was that but that they should dye in it Pag. 126. Ye say They that cover and not they that confess their sins are pleaders for it and then ye falsly charge the Quakers That Sin had never such Attornies as they Answ They that cover their Sins do plead for it and so they do who confess it hypocritically stil confessing but not forsaking nor believing that God will enable them by his Grace perfectly to keep his Commands ever in this mortal Life how can ye pray in faith Thy Will be done in Earth as it is done in Heaven That the Quakers are in any sort Attornies for Sin is but your bare Accusation without proof and is but a part of your Railing Langu ge that filleth most of your Book Pag. 126. Ye falsly say I challenge as much Perfection as Christ or Adam ever had I never did say nor think that Believers could be equal to Christ in Perfection it is enough they are like to him Likeness is one thing Equality is another The Saints in Heaven are neither equal to Christ nor to one another and yet all Perfe●t Ye falsly alledge on me That I yeild all ye pretend unto Let the Impartial Reader compare your Assertions and mine and he will find great difference Ye not only affirm That there may be Motions and Tentations to sin in Believers but that they are consented unto and that they sin daily in thought word and deed This I did not yield unto but plead against as Unsound and Unchristian Doctrine And as ye make your Appeal in the Conclusion I do likewise make mine to every Impartial Reader whose Understanding is but commonly enlightned and hath any true m●●sure of a spiritual U●derstanding Discerni●g and Experience in the things of God Whether I have not made good my Charges against you even all of them and Whether ye have not altogether failed in clearing your selves of them and Whether your Answers are not rather manifest Falshoods Slanders Perversions and false Accusations and meer Magisterial Asseverations than having any thing of sollid Truth in them And that our Doctrine concerning the Possibili●y of living without sin by the Grace of God is no Heresie nor was ever accounted Heresie by antient Christian Writers I can easily prove for Augustine who writ zealously against those who were accounted He●eticks in his time and hath set down● Catalogue of all the Heresies he knew being in Number as he reckoneth them Eighty Eight doth not mention the Doctrine of a possibility of living without sin by the Grace of God any of these Heresies nor yet any other of these twelve Articles as held by us in Contradiction to you are judged by him or any other antient Writers Heretical unless ye will say That was condemned by Augustine for Heresie That Children dying without Water-Baptism could be saved And if this be a Heresie in us it is a Heresie in you for ye say the same And Augustine was so far from condemning it as Heresie that men may live without sin by the Grace of God that he saith plainly lib. de Spiritu et Litera cap. 2. If any defend it that some have lived without sin they do not much err nor dangerously seeing be is deceived who thinks so of others by some Benovelence if so a man think not himself so perfect except he do really and evidently find himself to be such But he saith They are earnestly and vehemently to be resisted who think that they can perfect Righteousness by the meer Power of Mans Will without the Grace of God Which was the

called Papists or Roman Catholicks for their charitable judgment of many among them because scarce any Papist hath the least charitable judgment of any one Protestant of any sort so we the People called Quakers have the advantage over you in that we have a real Christian charitable judgment not only of all the sincere hearted among you but among all others that are sincere hearted who hold the fundamenta●s of Christian Religion that they belong to God and Christ and are our Christian Brethren though in many things dark weak and under great mistakes of judgment that doth greatly hinder their growth and endanger their Souls state and therefore we labour if possible to undeceive them but we can have no charity for Hypocrites and such who are not sincere in what they profess but having a form of Godliness deny the Power of it and are Proud Envious Malitious false Accusers Persecutors and of a persecuting Spirit who have killed the Martyrs of Jesus and justifie them who have so done as you do those who put to death our innocent and Christian Friends at Boston and though ye alledge they suffered for their crime That they came purposely to undermine the civil Government and yet it is known generally over almost the whole World where New-England and Boston is named and what they did in that matter that it was simply for their Conscience and for no crime in matter of fact at all but transgressing that unrighteous Law of not returning on pain of Death and if that be to subvert civil Government then all Persecutors are justified and all the many thousands of Gods faithful Martyrs and Witnesses are to be condemned for being subverters of the civil Government for they did generally transgress the unrighteous Laws of men under which they suffered yea Christ himself at this rate is guilty which is blasphemous to think for as the Jews said We have a Law and by our Law he ought to dye and he is no friend to Caesar but that any thing directly or indirectly was ever found in any of these our Friends put to Death at Boston that had any the least tendency against the civil Government ye can never prove nor give the least colou●able pretence nor did I ever hear that any such thing was articled against them except in so far as ye will call that a subversion of civil Government to transgress the unrighteous Laws ye made against the People called Quakers only for their Perswasions in matters of Conscience and their innocent and harmless Practises and Profession accordingly And if any of them have come at time to your publick Meetings of Worship to bear a Testimony against your Formality and Hypocrisie and false Doctrine it is but the like to what some of these well owned and esteemed as the Martyrs of Christ did in Q. Mary's dayes and in other times and places of Popery where they came openly and boldly into the Popish Assemblies and witnessed against them and their Practice is commended in Fox's Book of Martyrs and other Historians as Noble and Heroical yea how many Presbyterians have highly commended the Women for throwing their stools at the Bishop reading Common-Prayer in Edenburgh in Scotland above fifty years ago and judged it as a Noble and Heroical Act and some have imputed it to a divine Motion but as I do not justifie it yet it doth serve justly to stop your mouthes to make that a great crime in others only to witness by word of mouth against your false Way of Worship when many or most of you the Presbyterian sort justifie that Practice by violent hands first of Women th●owing their Stools at the Bishop in the Pulpit and then of men violently rising against him which is a well known Passage and there are yet alive in Scotland who can bear witness to it Ye say ye shall have no returns from me except those of Rage and Wrath which ye shall not count it worth the while to publish any Reply unto but what the Arch-Angel gave to a Railing Accusation But I hope through Gods help to disappoint you and to give you no returns of Rage and Wrath at all and tho' in my former Book I used some sharp words against you from love and zeal to the Truth and good will unto you and the People of New-England yet I am not conscious of any Rage and Wrath I used against you though ye charge me with Pride and Gall and Slandering and Cal●mniating with bitter Invictives c. but I stand not to your judgment however as I retract nothing of what I then charged you with so at present I hope so far to disappoint you as not to give you any just cause to say I give you any Returns of Rage and Wrath for I shall most willingly and freely acknowledge your skill ability of using hard words and speeches doth far exceed my Capacity if I durst allow my self a liberty as I dare not to contend with you in that manner but I can say it singly I love rather to contend with strong and sollid Arguments than any hard words whatsoever and so far as it shall please God to give me leave I shall labour to refrain them to take away all occasion from you of making excuse not to answer only remember that ye confess in some passages ye have done your work cuttingly excu●ing you● selves that some are to be rebuked But what Apology can this be more to you than to me you must take all liberty imaginable yea exceed all bounds to answer me cuttingly and yet this is no Wrath or Rage in you but love and good will to me ye will say for I hope if I be judged your Enemy ye will say ye ought to love me but if I use but a small part of hard words towards you and withal expressing my love ye will needs construe it to be Pride Gall Rage and Wrath if this be not partial let all impartial Readers judge However though your words seem cutting yet since your Reasons and Defences by way of Argument are blunt and dull I feel no wound nor smart by any thing ye have done and am in no fear of any thing ye can do against me for the Truth which is the strongest of all is my defence against you and all your assaults Ye not only indulge your selves to use most hard and uncivil Language against me but against that Wa● professed by me called by you the Contagion of Quakerism and the peculiar Plague of this Age saying in Quakerism ye see the vomit cast forth in the by-past Ages by whole Kennels of these Creatures for whom the Apostle has found a Name licked up again for a new Digestion and once more exposed for the Poyson of Mankind and it is especially say ye the more ignorant and unwary and envious part of Mankind which it is adepted unto and abundance more of this sort Which is a shame to hear or read such odd kind

during a day of visitation it doth not follow that Habitual Sanctification is in all men a Seed of Holiness is one thing and the Habit Garment or Clothing of Holiness is another as the Seed of Flax is one thing and a Habit or Ga●ment of Flax is another for the Seed must g●ow to bring the Flax that can be made in●o a Habit or Garment And as for the School-notion of Habits it is so old and threed bare being a Popish contrivance in their Popish P●ilosophy promoted by J●suites grounded upon some mistaken notions of A●istotle that it i● generally exploded by learned and Judicious Protestants as well as their other absurd Notions of material substantial Forms and Qualitie● of innumerable sorts CAP. VI. PAg. 82. Ye greatly mistake that Scripture Rom 5.13 and contradict it by your bold Assertion That Sin was imputed be●ore the Law whenas Paul saith it was not imputed when there was no Law which is not to be understood simply but comparatively for the Times generally before Moses Law were Times of Ignorance at which God wi●ked and as the time of the Worlds Infancy even as Parents wink and connive at the failings of Infants and therefore a fortiori I did well agrue Tha● sin is not imputed to new born Infants Pag. 84. Ye pervert my words as if I meant That the World the Church were the same thing because I bring Scripture to prove that C●r st is the Saviour of the World Joh. 4.42 the Saviour of the Body Eph. 5.23 But I brought these Scriptures to prove that Christ was not only the Saviour of Believers in a special way but of all men in a general way yet this doth not say the World and the Church is one Pag. 85. whereas I brought many Scriptures to prove that the Love and Grace of God i● universally extended unto all because the word All is as expresly mentioned frequently in Scripture with respect to Gods Love and Grace and Christs Death as with respect to that damage suffered by Adams fall and therefore as it is conf●ssed that all have s●ffered a damage by Adams fall and sin so all have received a benefit by Christs Death and the Parallel brought by the Apostle Paul doth prove it which ye say nothing solidly against only nibble a little alledging that it will follow that then all shall be saved by Christ. I Answer it doth not follow unless ye could prove that all were eternally lost by having a Sentence of Eternal Damnation equal to that of the Wicked at the end of the World past upon th●m as to argue thus the Sentence of Eternal Damnation did pass upon all men after Adams fall and therefore the sentence of Eternal Justification hath passed on all men because of Christ But the Sentence that passed on all men was not that of Eternal Damnation for it was not said to Adam Thou shalt dye the second death and be cast into the Lake of Fire for the Second Death implyeth that there was a first death and that first Death was only th●t Adam was deprived of his enjoyment of God inwa●d●y and his Soul became dead unto God and Righteousness a●d his body became subject to death but this doth not infer the same degree or kind of Pun●shment with that of the Second Death that is inflicted for contempt of the Gospel and final Unbelief Therefore the Parallel still holds good that whatever loss or d●m●ge is come upon Adams Posterity by occasion of the fall it is restored unto all men who are Adams Posterity through the offer of the remedy to wit Jesus Christ who dyed for all and if they neglect that remedy finally they shall be punished with the Se●ond Death that is g●eater Punishment than the first death in Adam and though the Remdy of Christ and his Grace be offered and applyed unto all in a day of Visitation yet it doth not follow that Christ and his Grace hath not sufficient Efficacy if all are not Saved no more than that it doth follow that a ●ose of good Physick is not a sufficient effectual Medicine to cure a Disease because some to whom it hath been applyed are n●t cured by it though the same dose of Physick hath cured many of the same Disease which proveth its sufficient Efficacy in it self although eventually it hath not that success on some for their own fault that have not duely observed the Physicians Rules and after application have done some things that did hinder its operation And as to 2 Cor. 5.14 Whether I or y● pervert the true sence of it I do freely leave to the Impartial Reader your sence being this I● one died for all Gods Elect only then not only Gods Elect but all others that are a mu●● greater number were dead but this would make Pauls argument alt gether void and reflect upon that hol● Spirit that did dictate these words in him for it doth not follow from the particular to the general as every Shool-Boy doth know as to say Christ dyed for all Gods Elect which are but a part of men and therefore all both Elect and others were dead this is an u●lawful infe●ence in the common reason of men but this is a most just and necessary inference Christ dyed for all men universally t●erefore all men were dead Pag. 86. ye perve●sly alledge on me That I own Chr●sts Death and Prayer to be lost and his Redemption void and ye say why are they not saved for whom he came to dye Ans That I own Christs Death and Prayer to be lost and hi● Redemption void is most falsly alledged it hath its effect perfectly unto the Salvation of all that believe and continue in Faith unto the end and to the great Condemnation of them that do not beleive and to the glorifying the Justice of God in them that beleive not and because of Unbelief pe●ish in their sins most justly whereby they are rendred without excuse for if Christ had not dyed for them they could not be guilty of denying the Lord that bought them as the Scripture plainly declareth And the death of Christ hath its various effects on them that are saved for as all are not saved at one time nor in one Age of the World so all do not partake of the same measure of Grace but to some it is given as one Talent to some as Two to others as Five and yet he who hath received the Grace of God as two Talents doth not make void the Grace of God because he hath not received as much as the other who had five And though such who are saved partake most plentifully of the Effects and Fruits of Christs Purchase yet even all such who are not saved partake of great and considerable Effects of Christs Death here in this World as that God hath spared them and exercised much long-suffering towards all of them for Christ's sake who dyed for all and hath given all a Day of Visitation and an

expr●sly affirmed pag. 112. Now let us hear your Answer ye say They had believed in a Christ to come though at present they knew not that ●e was come in the fl●sh till it was further rev●aled to them A●sw At this rate ye make all the Jews throughout the whole World true Believers in Christ because they all profess to believe i● a Christ to come even as ye say Nathaniel and Cornelius believed in a Christ to come But as it was the true Faith to believe in Christ to come before he was come so it was not the true Faith but a great mistake or error at least though pardonable to believe in Christ to come in flesh when the true Christ was already come for their Faith could not be the true Faith which had not the true Object for to believe in a Christ yet to come in the flesh is a false Faith such as the faith is of those hardened Jews who generally believe not in Christ who is already come in the flesh but in a Christ or Messiah whom they imagine yet to come in the flesh And before that Peter preached to Cornelius Christ was crucified and raised again And seeing ye grant Cornelius had not faith in Christ crucified until Peter preached unto him and yet was in a good state ye quite give away your cause Beside that ye meerly alledge it without proof That Cornelius had any sort of Faith of a Christ to come in the flesh at that time for it only appeareth that he was a devout and religious Gentile but no Proselite to the Jewish Religion A Third Instance I gave you of Christs Apostles who had not the true knowledge and faith of Christs Death and Resurrection for some time for it is expresly said in Scripture when Christ told them he was to be put to Death and to rise again the third day They understood it not and yet who will say they were altogether in a state of Damnation Ye are so pinched here that your Cause is desperate and that makes you so angry and fretful Ye say Faith in God without Christ viz. come in the Flesh and crucified c. is not saving citing John 14.6 Acts 4.12 I have answered you it is not in that degree so as to perfect the work of Salvation but yet it hath a preparatory work and may begin it otherwise ye must say the Apostles that were ignorant that Christ should dye were not in any state of Salvation Pag. 95. Ye imagine that ye have got a wonderful advantage saying What then shall we say to his New Doctrine that they may receive it after death Ye further say We shall have a new Quakers Purgatory erected ere long But if ye were not very partial ye might see I did principally argue so with you ad hominem because of your Principle according to your own Doctrine in your Conf ssion of Faith that saith The Souls of the Righteous after Death Note after Death being then made perfect in Holiness are received into the highest Heavens These are the expres● words of your Catechism as I told you cap. 32 sect 1. and that ye say It is a bold Vntruth for they say no such thing there I A●swer Let the Reader but be at the pains to read that place cited cap. 32. s 1. and he shall find it expresly so and therefore the bold Untruth is your own and not mine and if they contradict it in their shorter Catechism by saying at the instant o● death what is that to me they must answer for their own contradictions and not I for them And for my saying after Death it was by way of Hypothesis If I should say And whereas I brought you a Scripture out of Job cap. 33.22 23 24. to show the wonderful dealings workings of God with men on their death bed or at death without the outward Ministry of men to show unto them their Uprightness and the Ransom or Attonement see from v. 14. to v. 30. Even by his own speaking to them in a Dream in a Vision of the Night when deep sleep falleth upon men in slumberings upon the Bed then he openeth the Ears of men and as it is on the Margin he revealeth or uncovereth Heb. and sealeth their Instruction What say ye to this weighty place of Scripture that deserveth so great consideration as holding forth the wonderful love of God towards men in general for the word Man indefinitely is to be understood universally or generally see v. 29. Lo all these things worketh God often times with man and his care over them that where outward helps and means of mens Ministry fail he supplyeth by his own speaking to them yea when deep sleep falleth upon men whether that sleep be understood natural or figurative is not very material to determine and all to keep back their Souls from the Pit and that they may be enlightned with the Light of the living Certainly this place of Scripture hath much in it yea very much more than ye or most are aware of to prove that Gods love and care is exceeding great towards Mankind and his patience and long-suffering is greatly extended towards them to keep back their Souls from the Pit which altogether doth overturn that most cruel and Cannibal-like Doctrine of yours that saith God damneth many Infants to H●ll and universally all who have not have had Christ preached unto them by the Ministry o● men except in some singular cases of Abraham and some others that were Prophets But to this weighty place of Scripture ye say nothing at all but are as mute as a Fish it is a cunning way in you to pass by with a dry foot as ye phrase it that which most pincheth you lest by medling with it ye should not only wet your feet but be in danger to drown your sinking and desperate Cause All sober Protestants as well as others will condemn you for your great uncharity to Damn not only so many Millions of honest Gentiles but of poor Infants that ye say never sinned actually in thought word or deed but meerly for the sin of another that was forgiven to him and thousands more yea not only the Episcopal but many in the Church of Rome are not so uncharitable Your great Uncharitableness maketh you cruel and ha●d-hearted and this begetteth in you a spirit of Persecution But is it not a great sin in you to be so uncharitable when ye have no ground but your own mistakes of some place of Scripture hard to be understood Oh! Repent of this your great sin not only of Un●haritableness towards so great a part of Mankind but of your evil and sinful thoughts of God Almighty rendring him so cruel and so short in his Mercy who hath declared himself to be good unto all and his tender Mercies to be over all his Works and that he is slow to Wrath long-suffering and with much long-suffering he endureth the Vessels of Wrath perfected for

points at Christ as both God and Man that most excellent middle that unites God and Men together for in all the Creation we see how the wonderful Wisdom of God and his wonderful Power hath united extreams by certain means or middles and these do plainly point unto us how as the highest and lowest Creatures are united by a certain medium or mediating nature partaking of both extreams so God the Creator and most high over all is united with men the noblest of his visible Creatures by him that is both God and Man made like to us in all things but without si● and therefore behoved to dye and rise again to lay a Foundation for our Faith and Hope that though we dye we shall also rise again Nor is this my single Perswasion but that of very judicious and wise Men long before me and Paulus Ricius a Jew by Birth but who became a Christian in his Treatise de Coelesti Agricultura lib. 1. from pag. 40 to 52. showeth how there are many excellent Symboles in the Creation that as Types and Examples hold forth that great Mystery of Christ God Man that were to be united in one and that this man could be but one only single man in the intire nature of Man of Soul and Body in all essential parts who should be both God and Man and for this he citeth a saying in Aristotle which is this lib. 10. Metaph. In quolibet genere rerum daturmum maximum et omnium ahorum summum i. e. in every kind of things there is one the greatest and highest of all others And who is this but the Man Christ Jesus who only among all men is both God and Man and the Head of all m●n And by exce●lent Symboles and Examples he showeth how this one man was to dye for all othe● men rise again And therefore however strange it may seem unto you not only many things in the Creation but the whole Creation it self is a Book full of Symboles Vails and Figures pointing at Christ even the Man Christ who was to suffer Death and rise again for the Salvation of men and yet I do most freely acknowledge that the Books of Moses and the Prophets did mo●e fully and distinctly hold forth this great Mystery But seeing ye grant That the Vails and Types of the Ceremonial Law did suffice to the Jews and People of Israel so far as outward helps and means were requisit to shadow and hold ●orth Christ unto them the same may be said as concerning the Gentiles that in some sort sufficient as in respect of outward helps and means for that day and time until more knowledge should come into the World was the Book of the outward Creation together with that knowledge they had that they were to sacrifice unto God as is above said And as God gave to the Jews and People of Israel his good spirit to instruct them in the signification of the Mosaical and Ceremonial Law and the Types and Shadows thereof so no doubt he gave a measure of his good Spirit to instruct the Gentiles what these Types and Figures legible in the Book of the whole Creation did signifie for as the Book of Wisdom saith The incorruptible Spirit of God is in all that is confirmed by Scripture for God gave his Spirit unto and by his Spirit strove with the People of the old World and it is the Light of Christ the Word and of the Spirit that convinceth and reproveth of sin that lighteth every man that cometh into the World which however ye call it only natural and humane we have good cause to believe it is divine and supernatural yet lightning the dark nature of Man and as it is absurd for any to hold a Book to a mans face in the dark and bid him read therein when he hath no sufficient light to read with so it were absurd that God hath set so excellent a Book as the whole Creation before the Eyes of men universally I mean the Eyes of their understanding and not give them sufficient Light in some measure to enable them to understand what is writ therein and seeing that Book contains true and real Types and Symboles Figures and Shadows of Christ as he was to come in the flesh and suffer death and rise again it followeth God hath given all men so much inward Light as whereby they might read and understand what is written therein concerning the Man Christ altho the express Hebrew and Greek Names Messiah and Christ be not known to them in such an obscure way and manner as might serve to that time but the great Glory and Light of the Mystery of God manifest in flesh which is Jesus Christ come in the Flesh who is both God and Man and yet one Christ doth incomparably surpass not only what all Vails Types either of the Law or outward Creation can discover but all declaration of words and cannot be perfectly known but by a very high degree of divine Revelation and no doubt the full discovery of it is reserved to the Life to come where it shall be matter of eternal Admiration and Adoration to Saints and Angels And lest you should say This is some new Fancy of mine and some other late Writers or apostate Hereticks as ye use to say I shall recite a Testimony of a very antient Writer who is judged to be either Ambrose or Prosper above twelve hundred Years ago in that famous and noted Treatise De vocatione Gentium i. e. of the calling of the Gentiles much esteemed and cited by Protestants of great note and particularly by Vossius and Grotius learned and judicious Protestants In the said Treatise de vocatione Gentium lib. 2. cap. 1. ad fin he saith in express words citing Acts 14. And indeed he left not himself without a Witness giving Rains from Heaven and fruitfull Seasons filling Your hearts with Food and Gladness But what is this Testimony that was alwayes serviceable to the Lord and never was silent of his Goodness and Power but the very indeclarable Beauty of the whole World and the rich and orderly largition o● his indeclarable benefits by which cretain Tables o● his eternal Law were given to the hearts of men that the common and publick Doctrine of divine Institution might be read in the pages of the Elements and in the Volumns or Books of the Times therefore the Heavens and all heavenly things Sea and Land and all things in them by the ●armonious Consent of their kind and order did attest the Glory of God and by a perpetual preaching did speak the Majesty o● their Author But this is not all he further saith And yet the greatest number of men who were permitted to follow the ways of their own will did not understand and did not follow this Law and the Savour of Life which breathed or inspired unto Life Note is not this in some degree Evangelical was made unto them the savour of Death

were once in a ready way to have broken up all the Good Order whether Civil or Sacred in the Infancy of this Plantation which occasioned the Authority whom they would have undermined then to turn a Sharp upon them by Laws not so severe as those in the Realm of England against their Fathers the Jesuites on the same Account yet those Troublesom Hereticks who had no Business here at all but the overthrowing of our whole Government would push themselves on the Swords point and tho' repeated Banishments with merciful Entreaties to be gone were first used unto them nevertheless two or three of them would rather Dye than leave the Plantation undisturbed Reply How or after what manner the Plantation in its infancy was in such danger our Author is silent in True it is that upwards of thirty Years past some of our Friends as faithful Servants in obedience to their Lord and Masters command the great God of heaven by the spirit of his Son in their hearts did visit N. England in true and tender Love to the Inhabitants thereof for whose Immortal Wellfare they earnestly travailed and were bowed down before the Lord being amongst them in much brokenness of Heart and contrition of Spirit they were grieved and weighted in their Souls with the Hypocrisie in New-England against which they witnessed sealing it with their Blood their hearts being filled with that Message the holy Apostle Paul in his day was imployed in Acts 26.17 18. To open their Eyes and to turn them from Darkness to Light and from the Power of Satan unto God directing them to the manifestation of the Spirit of God in them A Teacher not to be removed into a corner nor that would any ways deceive them or suffer them to be at ease in sin This High way of the Lord cast up in his Son Christ Jesus the Light of the World the Sound thereof offended the Ears of New-England's Teachers who not unlike Demetrius the Silver-smith Acts 19.24 proved notable Incendiaries against the Lords Servants left their craft should be in danger so far did they kindle the Rage and Fury of their bigotted Rulers that by cruel Usage and inhumane Laws they far exceeded any thing in the Realm of England against the Jesuites And whilst I am writing there livingly springs up in my heart to you the Inhabitants of Boston New-England a weighty Exhortation and that in tender Love That you would mind the Grace of God that bringeth Salvation and as the holy Scripture testifies hath appeared unto all men 2 Tit. 11. that in the same you may see your blind Guides for if the Blind lead the Blind both shall fall into the Ditch Beware that it be not your Condemnation that Light is come into the World and that you love Darkness rather than Light because your Deeds are Evil I have neither Envy nor Malice against the Priests or People of New-England but earnestly desire the Eternal Well-fare of both yet I cannot but lament the present state of New-England as well as its former whose Priests to the life are drawn out in the 3d of Micah v. 5. Thus saith the Lord concerning the Prophets that make my People Err that bite with their Teeth and cry Peace and he that putteth not into their Mouthes they even prepare War against him vers 11. The Heads thereof judge for Reward and the Priests thereof Teach for Hire and the Prophets thereof divine for Money yet will they lean upon the Lord and say Is not the Lord among us none Evil can come upon us O New-England New-England is not this your present state Are not your Priests crying Peace unto you as if no Evil could come upon you in the midst of these Cloudes of Dangers that are hanging over your heads some of them you have for more than a Twelve Moneth felt to wit A Bloody Cruel War with the Heathen the loss of so many Lives hath humbled me before the Lord and at this time the earnest Cry and Supplication of my Soul unto God is That you may by your speedy sincere Repentance unto him prevent his Judgments for the future That the Jesuits may be properly termed the Fathers of New-England Priests none can doubt if they differ not from their Brother John Cotton of Hampton who in a publick Dispute with G. K. owned To have received his Ministry by the Pope of Rome whose Emisaries they are Beside as they can never prove the Quakers guilty of any one Jesuitical Error yet we can prove these Priests of Boston guilty of many and more especially in their being Incendiaries against the Peace of the Government The further calumniating those who suffered Death to answer your Crucity is but a mean way to expiate the Crime of their innocent Blood which crys aloud for Vengeance and the Lord unto whom it belongs will repay it Thou Cotton Mather nor all thy Fraternity will never be able to prove these 4 Worthies troublesom Hereticks that patiently endured Martyrdom for the Testimony of Jesus by their crul Hands neither will thy poor Insinuation help That two or three of them would rather dye than leave the Plantation undisturbed They had no reason to hearken unto your Hypocritical entreaties to be gone it was their Birth-right as free-born Subjects of the Kingdom of England and so might claim it to inhabit N. England as well as any that there resided as not being forbid to them by either the Law of God or the Realm of England so that being innocent they feared not man that could only hurt the Body but feared him that could cast both Body and Soul into Hell Fire C. M. It is possible a Bedlam had been fitter for those Frantick People than what was inflicted on them and for my own part I must profess with regard unto such Hereticks Ad Judicium sanguinis Tardus sum nor have I the least inclinations to Hereticide as a fit way to suppress their Errors Reply Here our Author doth not a little impeach the Authority of N. England at that time who were accessary to the Death of those ● Worthies by him call'd Frantick People for if according to him a Bedlam had been fitter surely they greatly sinned in passing and executing Sentence of Death upon them the present Governour Simon Broadstead then a Magistrate is greatly concerned in this Charge which amounts to no less than the taking away four Lives by an unjust Judgment for how can that Sentence of Hanging be just against such for whom a Bedlam had been fitter Such as this Author renders our Friends to have been are by the Laws of England exempted from the punishment of Death as also it s reckoned amongst the Abuses of the common Law That such who kill People by false Judgment be not destroyed as other Murderers as may be seen in that noted Book called The Mirror of Justice C. 5. Sect. 108. in express words thus It is abuse that Justices and other Officers who kill People by false Judgment be not destroyed as other Murderers which K. Alfred cause to be done who caused forty four Judges in one Year to be hanged as Murderers for their false Judgments which in the said Book are particularly noted and in the 4th Case he instances how King Alfred hanged Cole because he judged Ive to death when he was a Mad-man Cotton Mather forgot his respect to the venerable Mordocai of his Country as he at other times terms him when he thus exposed him M. C.